NEWSLETTER - 06/09/2007

Hey Galactic Explorers!!!

I have managed to extract myself from a beach side hammock, put down the beer, dodge through James & Ci Ci Whites' extraordinary hospitality and friendship then past the wall of drinks my flatmates Kate & Bronnie put before me to finally make it back into SGC after 2 and a half weeks of travelling bliss. And straight from the outset I'm going to say that everyone on this newslist MUST one day visit Gencon Indianapolis, it is games MECCA! I was there for 4 days and saw maybe 28% of it, had a blast, met LOTS of cool people and absolutely enjoyed myself to the max. Whoever you are, start saving NOW!!!

And on the subject, thanks and great work to Obiwan Foggobi, Sexy Vickey and Snorelax Tony for keeping things at the fort running smoothly. I always have said things run better when I'm not around, this in another example of it. Maybe I should have some more time off :)

Anyway, LOTS happening as usual at The Place to Play, details as follows:

WORLD OF WARCRAFT TRADEABLE CARD GAME:

The bigger TCG's all have National Championships of some kind, and this weekend its one of the newest TCG's to shine. Its the World of Warcraft TCG National Championships and the prizes are NUTS!!! It will be held at Parramatta RSL(corner of Maquarie st & O'Connell sts Parramatta) Saturday and Sunday from 9am both days. Day 1 is constructed, day 2 is draft. HEAPS of prizes up for grabs, with the first 2 finishers receiving trips to San Diego in December to represent AU in THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS!!! The winner also receives a laptop computer, runner up and iPod, and HEAPS of booster and promo prizes for the rest of the field. And the cost of all this- FREE!!! However, there is a catch, you have to have qualifed already for this event.

Haven't qualified yet??? Don't panic, Sydney Games Centre is hosting 2 Last Chance Qualifiers Friday 7th September where the top 8 finishes get a ticket into the big game at Parramatta! Friday is the APAC public holiday in Sydney, and if you're new to WOW TCG no worries, the first qualifier is SEALED! Details as follows:

WOW NATIONALS LAST CHANCE QUALIFIERS When: Friday 7th September. Sealed tournament Noon registration, 12.30pm start. Constructed registration 5.30pm registration, 6pm start Format: Noon LCQ sealed(you get 6 boosters to crack and make your best 30 card deck with), 6pm LCQ constructed(all 3 expansions allowed) Entry: $35 for sealed tournament, $15 for constructed Prizes: Top 8 of each LCQ qualify for the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS!!! Plus HEAPS of boosters up as prizes and a fun day & night of playing WOW TCG! If you're already qualifed you can play anyway and win some cool prizes, your invite will pass down. Most people will qualify for the Nationals who play in these, so this is a great opportunity for all players, or wannabe WOW TCG players, to try their luck in the big time! If you're in town and looking for some practice SGC will be running practice drafts pretty much all day from 1pm onwards tomorrow. Draft represents around 50% of the format, so come on in and practice, it could be the difference between San Diego and boosters!

And for those out at Nationals, either playing or looking, Obiwan Foggobi will be running 8 player sit and go's all day with lots of Fires of Outland boosters up as prizes. You can play constructed, sealed or draft till your hearts content, cruise along and immerse yourself in this fine TCG. We play WOW TCG every Saturday arvo at 2pm. Its Hobby League, constructed, costs just $6 to play and everyone wins a prize. The US Nationals had 471 players for their first ever Nationals 2 weeks ago, it was amazing! The game is great. The new set,Fires of Outland, is setting the format on fire and the organised play for the game is terrific. Sydney Games Centre is going to start cranking out bigger quarterly events, as is Good Games. Chris Zantides is very focused on making the game the envy of others, so its all looking good for WOW! If you'd like a demo, cruise in anytime, and if you lke what you see, we have base set boosters, the foundation of the game, for just $5!!!!

MAGIC THE GATHERING COLLECTABLE CARD GAME This week its on! Its make or break time for the 75 or so players who have scored points in our Player of the Year season 2006/2007! This Sundays Timespiral Block Constructed tournament is the last round before the September 16th Duplicate sealed top 8 finale! And the winner of that wins an airfare to Grand Prix Brisbane October 20 & 21!!! Thats around $300 in prizes PLUS the Sydney Games Centre Player of the Year Title! Even if you're not in the running to make top 8 in the POTY, this week is probably your last chance to play the fun format that is block constructed and win HEAPS of prizes! Details as follows:

TIMESPIRAL BLOCK CONSTRUCTED TOURNAMENT When: Sunday 9th September. 11am registration, 11.30am start Format: TSP Block Constructed Entry: $10 Prizes: Heaps of boosters & t-shirts up for grabs plus Player of the Year points to the top 8!This will be a fun event, cruise in and have a game

For those who don't make the Player of the Year play-off September 16th don't despair, we're kicking of the 2007-2008 season that day with a $100 type 2 tournament! Details as follows: $100 TYPE 2 PLAYER OF THE YEAR TOURNAMENT When: Sunday 16th September. 11am registartion, 11.30am start Format: Type 2 Entry: $10 Prizes: $100 to the winner! Heaps of boosters up for grabs, plus Player of the Year points to top 8 Players in the 2006-2007 duplicate sealed play off will also receive Player of the Year points for that event pending where they finish- so its a mega points grab day-don't miss out!!!

And looking forward, the new MTG expansion, LORWYN, is being pre- released September 29th & 30th!!! Flyers are available NOW, and we can start pre-registering players starting NOW!

We have this week our usual Thursday night drafts for just $12, our Friday Night Magic tournament, type 2, for just $6, and our Saturday afternoon junior 14 & under tournament from 2pm, also just $6. MTG is a terrific TCG. Its the original, and some would say the best. MTG has organised play for all levels of players. We have heaps of starters, boosters and single cards for al budgets, and Chris, Tony and Kieren are all long time experienced MTG players who have played the game at high level(though not very well in Field Commander Foggo's case!)If you'd like a demo cruise in anytime for a game, we'd love to show you how its done!

YUGIOH COLLECTABLE CARD GAME Great work from Bodan who won the first YGO Regionals for the 2007- 2008 Nationals season. Nationals will be held in Melbourne next year and Bodan can start making his travel plans early! Well done! The Winter Regionals series is being replaced by something funky, that I can't divulge just yet. Needless to say, the next BIG Sunday YGO tournament will be on Sunday 30th September! Winner will take home a box of Tactical Evolution boosters and the format will be advanced constructed. Put this date in your palm pilot now!

This Saturday is our usual Hobby League tournaments. Store opens at 9.30am, registration for the event closes at 10am, its UDE sanctioned, just $5 to play and everyone wins a prize.

Then at 1.30pm we have our funky new 2 on 2 player tournament. Its $5 per player, goes till around 4.30pm and has boosters up as prizes! The Duelist packs and the Yugi/Syras structure decks are back in stock after we sold out AGAIN on Tuesday(where do they all go???) We have nearly every YGO booster ever printed on sale, and most structure decks, and a solid range of YGO singles. We play here every Saturday, and once a month on a Sunday, so you'll always get a game. Plus in school holidays we run tournaments on Tuesdays & Thursdays at noon for CRAZY amounts of prizes. If you'd like to have a go at YGO, cruise in anytime and we'll point you in the right direction(and on Saturdays get someone GOOD to show you how its done!)

NARUTO TRADEABLE CARD GAME Great work by Donny Nog(Kenny Nguyen)for winning last Saturdays weekly tournament, beating big Stephen Roberts into second. Great ninja work guys! The next BIG anime game that is Naruto is on again this Saturday at 2pm. Its constructed, costs just $6 and everyone wins a prize. Naruto is a great game. Its cool looking, has excellent gameplay characteristics, is easy to learn and a great group of players, including Chris & Vickey. We play every Saturday so you're always going to get a game and we have a hot range of singles to help you tech out your deck, as well as heaps of boosters on sale as well. If you'd like a demo cruise in and see either Chris or Vickey on any day except Mondays & Tuesdays. Saturdays is the best. We'd love to show you how its done, Naruto is a great game

STAR TREK 2ND EDITION COLLECTABLE CARD GAME This may take a while! The reason I went to Gencon was to play Star Trek world championships, and it was worth every cent, and every minute of the 23 hours travel time to get there! I qualified by coming fourth in the second of 2 heats, then in the main game was 3- 2 after 5 rounds before jetlag, last nights beer and pure bad play caught up with me and I lost the last 3(needing to win just 1 more to make the play-offs!). But as I said, it was worth it, I had a blast. And now I'm back I can't wait to play more! I stopped at The Star Trek Experience in Vegas(where I got assimilated by Borg and chased by crazy Klingons!)and picked up HEAPS of cool shirts to give out as prizes and another set of Genesis to give away as a prize, as well as LOTS of those cool Trek deck boxes. So anyway, next Trek tournament that is scheduled is September 16th, details as follows: When: Sunday 16th September. 12.30pm rego, 1pm start Format: Constructed Entry: $10 Prizes: Boosters, deck boxes and t-shirts from Vegas up as prizes, plus the most fun you can have without a Trek uniform on! But don't let the lack of a scheduled event deter you from coming in! We usually have a spontaneous event each Sunday afternoon, and of course we have casual play each Tuesday night from around 6pm that is not only heaps of fun, ITS FREE! Trek absolutely rocks. I'm going to Worlds again next year(and to Caleb Grace, champ 2 years running, fantastic work from a class act!). We have a GREAT beginners special starting soon, but I'll tell you more next week. If you'd like a game, cruise in and ask for Kieren the Klingon for a demo, its awesome-we event have Trek singles available! Do yourself a favour, play Trek NOW!

VS(Marvel & DC)TRADEABLE CARD GAME Last Saturday I was lucky enough to play a win a box tournament in Auckland where 19 players duked it out for superhero supremecy and regretably after 5 rounds Arkham went 3-2 to come in 9th, missing the play-offs by tiebreakers. The good thing was that it inspired me to start a new series of VS events in Sydney, called the Just FRIGGING play series! The events will be held over September and October on a Sunday, be cheap to enter and have great things up as prizes. The first such event will be September 23rd, details as follows:

The VS JUST FRIGGING PLAY SERIES When: Sunday 23rd September. noon registration, 12.30pm start Format: Modern Age Entry: $5 Prizes: Boosters, t-shirts and promos up as prizes, plus a fun day of playing a great TCG. More BIGGER VS events are planned for the November-December months, more details as they come to hand

And in exciting news the new expansion, Marvel Legends, will be out next week, so we're having a sealed tournament to celebrate its release September 16th! Details as follows: MARVEL LEGENDS RELEASE TOURNAMENT When: Sunday 16th September. Noon registration, 12.30pm start Format: Sealed(you get 5 boosters to crack and make a 30 card minimum deck with) Entry: $35 Prizes: T-shirts, boosters, promos and a fun day of playing the new VS expansion VS is a great TCG.

The Elite series is coming to Australasia (Melbourne & Auckland)before the end of the year, and like I said earlier, bigger events and in the works shortly. We have pre-made decks for just $10, boosters start from $2 with most $5, and fun play group and an insanely good range of VS singles you can use to make pretty much any deck you want. The game plays great and is a deckbuilders dream with over 40 of your favourite superhero affiliations available. If you'd like a demo cruise in anytime, ask Obiwan or The Klingon to slip on the hero tights, and have a demo.

POKEMON TRADEABLE CARD GAME The game for everyone is on again this Sunday from 12 noon till around prize giving time at 3.30pm. its a league so you can play as much or as little as you like, its just $6 to play and everyone wins a prize. We have oodles of boosters and starters, both new and old, available and LOTS of people come along to play and trade, so you're going to get a game and a trade f you want it. Its lots of fun, if you'd like to learn cruise in on a Sunday and we'll show you how its done!

HEROCLIX COLLECTABLE MINIATURES GAME This Sunday clix is heading for some SIlver Age madness! Silver Age means players can use figures from the last 4 expansions only, so it should be a very even contest! Details as follows: When: Sunday 9th September. 1.30pm rego, 2pm start Format: 400pt Silver Age(last 4 sets only allowed) Entry: $5 Prizes: Linited Edition figures and cracked boosters up as prizes, plus a fun arvo of playing Clix!

MECHWARRIOR COLLECTABLE MINIATURES GAME Just making everyone aware that each Sunday we play Mechwarrior at Sydney Games Centre and around 8 players religiously turn up at 3pm to try to blow the living tar out of each other with futuristic robots with laser beams and gause cannons. Sounds like you? Well it could be! Just come along on a Sunday at 3pm, pay your $5 entry and join in! The game is fun, the guys are always looking out for fresh mea...I mean players and everyone has a jolly old time. Boosters start at just $10 and there are heaps of pieces yu could borrow off others if you just wanted to try before you buy.

LEGEND OF THE FIVE RINGS COLLECTABLE CARD GAME Another gane that is in an elite group of TCG's over 10 years old and still running(MTG and Trek the 2 other standouts)has a meeting at Sydney Games Centre every other Friday night from around 6pm. Next night will be Friday September 14th. Format changes from meet to meet, so bring lots of decks along. And we have a special on L5R at the moment where if you buy 6 boosters you get a very sexy L5R deckbox FREE! T-shirts and boosters are given out as prizes on Friday nights, and every one has a fun time. Murray or Brent are always happy to show new players the ropes, and will nearly always have a spare deck to lend out, so if you'd like to try, Friday 14th is your night!

HORRORCLIX COLLECTABLE MINIATURES GAME The moon must be full! This Friday night is Horroeclix night! Gruesome Tony is in charge of proceedings from around 6.30pm onwards. It costs just $5 to play, is constructed, with LE's and cracked boosters up as prizes That's about it for this week, lots happening, cruise in soon for a game!

Cheers

Chris, Vickey & Kieren