Latest News
Here are results from the evening:
1st - Dion Erbes - Willow
2nd - Chris Reynolds - Master
3rd - Dan Joelson - Willow
4th - Jeff Prentiss - Buffy
5th - Joellyn Ackerman - Adam
6th - Eric Ayers - Faith
7th - Colleen ??? - Dru
Here is the tentative schedule as it stands as of January 1st, 2008.
Thurday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Log in at buffyccg.com to volunteer or check up on the latest updates!
GenCon 2008 in the works!
dgjedi is finalizing plans for Buffy at GenCon this year. Yes, it's quite a way in the future, but things need to be finalized before January 31st, 2008 - that is just the way GenCon works. As dgjedi reports on the buffyccg.com site, "The 4 to 5 tournaments we have scheduled is a healthy number, but there are still up to 5 more open spots if anyone is interested in running anything. I do need a Gen Con ID to list someone as a Gamemaster, but if someone knows for sure they plan to go and do not have an ID right now, we can work something out."
Wednesday, August 13
6:30pm - If there's enough interest (Deck Swap, Type A all score virtuals allowed)
2:00pm - Open
6:00pm - H/VotW
9:00am - Sealed Deck
2:00pm - Highlander or Costume
6:00pm - Open (might conflict with Austin Powers)
9:00am - Classic Grand Patrol
2:00pm - Open
6:00pm - Open
10:00am - Open
It was a little while ago, but it was an amazing and very full weekend of Buffy playing at the 3rd annual Welcome to the Harvest event. 8 game events spanned 4 days, with 20 players registering for a couple of the tournaments! Top three finishers from each event are included here, for full results visit the Buffyccg forums.
Thursday 10-25-07
Multiplayer
1st : Ace Folkers - Ken
2nd : Caroline Boehmer - Buffy
3rd : Andy Schnieders - Cordy
Friday 10-26-07
Sealed Deck
1st : Holly Boehmer - Willow
2nd : Andy Schnieders - Cordy
3rd : R.J. Boehmer - Buffy
Dual Essence Dream Cards
1st : Holly Boehmer - Buffy and Riley
2nd : Sam Flanigan - Anya and Rupy Engaged
3rd : Matt Butterfield - Master and Dark Willow
Saturday
Team Buffy
1st : Maggie Iverson and Andy Iverson - Adam and Adam
2nd : Patrick Parker and Dave Gerspach - Faith and Buffy
3rd : Caroline Boehmer and Holly Boehmer - Drusilla and Drusilla
Extended Type A
1st : Lee Finholt - Anyanka
2nd : Justin Francis - Giles
3rd : Caroline Boehmer - Tara
Hero - Villain of the Week
1st : Caroline Boehmer - The Old Man
2nd : Dave Gerspach - The Pack
3rd : Matt Scarbrough - Luke -tie
3th : Matt Butterfield - Ken -tie
Down A Darla
1st : Dave Gerspach - Adam -tie
1st : Holly Boehmer - Buffy Bizarroland -tie
3rd : Matt Butterfield - Adam
Sunday 10-28-07
Highlander
1st : Matt Butterfield - Drusilla
2nd : Caroline Boehmer - Spike
3rd : Sam Flanigan - Angelus
As most of you know, Pandora's Box has officially closed, so this was the final in shop event, but it is definitely not the last "weekend of Buffy fun" that will be hosted by Holly and Caroline. Plans are in the works and it looks like the next Weekend Of Buffy will be in June of 2008. Regular weekly gaming continues, check the buffyccg.com forums under 'Tournaments and Player Groups' for upcoming events.
Highly addictive Buffy Trivia game!
Are these long winter nights leaving you bored? Fear not! Facebook has a fantastic BtVS based group called Addicted to Buffy. Several buffyccg.com members have formed a trivia team and are doing a bit of Butt-kicking! If you are on Facebook and would like to join the team (current buffyccg.com members include: memorywitch, wapuche, scullyangel and demonmagnet) in their trivia endeavors, send a PM on the buffyccg.com site to either scullyangel or memorywitch with your Facebook info., or simply propose a friend request on Facebook to Caroline Boehmer or Holly Boehmer!
With the holiday season, I don't think this discussion got the attention it deserved. New formats help keep the game vital, so take a minute to read the post and add your thoughts. Remember, we love the game to pieces, but nothing is sacred - if you have a new idea speak up!
Be sure to send an e-mail to BuffyCCGNews@aol.com to be notified when the newsletter updates!
Featured Deck
Type A Extended deck: Gwendolyn Post
By: Mophat
Essence: Gwendolyn post Villain of the Week
Main Character: Gwendolyn Post
Challenges:
Abduction
Bring Me My Amulet
Lunch Special
Reviving the Master
Jigsaw Judge
Through the Demon Portal
Slayerfest '98
Locations:
Bizarro Sun Cinema
Hell
St. Du Lac Mausoleum
Warehouse
50's Time Capsule
Cemetary
Lair of the Master
Natural History Museum
Actions:
A Crazy Plan x3
Calling in the Heavy Artillery x3
Dig Up the Corpses x3
Offer of Ugly Death x3
Oh, the 'Other' Cemetery x3
Priority Check x3
Shaky on the Dismount x3
Tiny Victory x3
Rivalry x2
Trading Clothing x2
Circle of Kayless
Join the Pep Squad
Items:
Glove of Myhnegon x3
Manacles x3
Spellcasting Dolls x3
Bathazar's Amulet x2
Disembodied Arm x2
Sledgehammer x2
Minions:
Der Kindestod
Hansel and Gretel
Hellhound
Ken
Lunch Lady
Pat
The Harbingers
Tucker Wells
Villains:
Adam
Angelus
Anyanka
Glory
Kathy
Other:
Black Card
So this is the Gwen deck.
This deck is designed to face both good and evil challenges to give you the ability to defeat your opponent’s challenges no matter their alignment. This gives the deck more options for destiny and allows it to win faster. Now everyone may wonder why this deck is running Lunch Special. Well Lunch Special has the text:
If Lunch Lady is at this location, add her matching talents to the talent goals, and this challenge is worth 1 extra Destiny Point.
Now usually this text is ignored because this challenge is played in good guy decks that can't play Lunch lady and most bad guy decks don't play Lunch Lady. So I decided since Gwen can face good and evil challenges why not run a pretty easy 4 point challenge. Now you might be asking how is this pretty easy? Well if you pay close attention to the text of Lunch Special you'll notice you only add her matching talents to the challenge, which is 0 smarts and 1 weird. Also since the challenge doesn't say printed you can do some fun things. For example if Lunch Lady is fatigued you add -1 smarts and 0 weird. If she's fatigued and Der Kindestod uses his ability on her you need -2 smarts and -1 weird. This brings the challenge down to needing 6 smarts and 2 weird. A pretty easy challenge for 4 points. Most of the other challenges I feel are pretty self-explanatory.
The primary locations for this deck are Bizzaro Sun, Hell, Warehouse, and St. Du Lac Mausoleum. If you can't get one of those out, use one of the back ups. Natural for Bizzaro, Lair for Hell, Cemetery for St. Du Lac, and 50's for Warehouse.
This deck incorporates a lot of search and draw to get what it needs. Action wise the deck runs Calling, Dig, and Trading. The nice thing about trading is Gwen starts the game with a Glove and can't be crypted by it. This allows you to search out Gloves for your other characters. Shaky, Tiny, and Rivalry all help lower your opponent's destiny. Crazy and Oh make it hard for your opponents to defeat challenges. Offer and Priority are just good cards. Finally Circle and Join are here to help against those body drop decks that just throw a mass of characters at you.
Now, on to the item section of the deck. Glove makes the character a demon, which is good for Hell, and gives them +1 to all their stats. The Amulet allows you to boost with useless cards in hand. Couple either of those cards with Sledgehammer for good effect as well. Manacles removes cards from your opponents hand. Spellcasting Dolls allows more characters to face good and evil challenges. Disembodied Arm allows both a good weird boost and the ability to defeat Jigsaw Judge.
This deck tries to run as many demons as possible to take full advantage of Hell. It does not run Bathazar, since a trapped Villain demon is often useless. The non-demons in the deck all have good effects. Pat increases talent requirements and Tucker searches for a Hellhound. Adam is just pure win, Glory can attach the Glove without fear of crypting, and Angelus has all the talents you could ever need.
Finally the last card in the deck is the Black Card. The Black Card along with the main character and Gwen's ability to start with a Glove in play allows for the deck to be undersized by 3 cards. This along with the search/draw cards in the deck allows for me to get whatever I need in the game. If any one has any questions on the deck feel free to pm me on the Buffy boards.
Thanks,
Mophat
Player Profiles
Where and when did you first play Buffy CCG?
I started playing Buffy when Jeff, owner of Outpost 2000 & Beyond, came back with a paper demo deck for me from Wizard World in 2000. (Not sure if the date is correct) This was before the game was released. I taught my self to play from the rules online and the paper demo deck. I was very excited about this game. I contact Score and became a volunteer for the game. This was before the game was released.
Is there a story there?
See above.
What's your favorite deck to play, and why?
WILLOW! I like the flow of that deck. I think it's a very fast deck and easy to play. Willow is a favorite character.
Do you have a favorite Buffy CCG tournament memory?
Not one specific one I can think of right now. However, when ever Chris Reynolds and I play in a tournament it's always a fun, but challenging match up.
Any advice to newer players out in the Buffy CCG community?
I would suggest playing a challenge deck to start with. Don't worry about those fight decks. Let them take out your smaller characters. Do the challenges with your heroes. Play a character you like. Don't be afriad to find new things. HAVE FUN!!!!
Current Rankings
Do you know???
. . . that only your most recent 100 games in the past two years count toward your rating?
. . . no more than 50% of your rating can be based on games more than a year old?
. . . that you will not appear on the current rankings if you haven't played in an official tournament in the past 13 months, but any new tournament will reactivate your status?
. . . reporting your tournaments (and including main character information) is the only way to receive character ascension points?
. . . it only takes 1 four round tournament per month to reach maximum games within two years?
Character Ascensions
Due to the fact that character ascensions update far more frequently than the newsletter is published, this spot will host a permanent link to the current the ascension announcement in the buffyccg.com forum.
Monthly character ascension listings!
Do you know???
How the character ascension ratings work?
To reach a new level with a character . . .
- Level 2 - 1020 rating (7 full wins)
- Level 3 - 1050 rating (17 full wins)
- Level 4 - 1100 rating (34 full wins)
- Level 5 - 1200 rating (67 full wins)
What does this mean?
Not only does this system show the strength of a player using their tried and tested, but it can also show the flexibility of a player using a first time deck.
Is it easier to achieve ascension with two characters (14 total wins needed) or to ascend to level 3 with one character (17 wins needed)?
The more you play a deck, the more comfortable you are and the more streamlined a deck becomes. Even though you need more wins, it might just be easier to achieve more wins with a deck you are familiar with. Why not test that theory?
On the flip side, are you in a rut, only ever playing one or two characters?
Challenge yourself to ascend with someone new!
Any way you look at it the ascension ratings are a fun way of checking what decks you favor, and what you are likely going to face against certain opponents!
Players, if you aren't seeing your name on the rankings or ascension list ask your local Watcher to submit your results!
Offbeat Strategies
This item is often overlooked due to the availablity of so many powerful items and skills in the dream card environment.
We've all heard players complain about losing a game due to a stolen challenge, well here is a great solution. The Word of Valios used in combination with either Natural History Museum or The Bronze Balcony creates an environment where it is almost impossible for your opponent to leave you without a challenge.
In addition to helping you to outplay that all powerful Oh, The Other Cemetary, placing an additional challenge into play can be a game winner. With enough characters on the board, or in combination with cards such as Proactive With Pep or Young At Heart, multiple challenges can be defeated in one turn!
Offbeat Strategy
This section is meant to highlight those less than popular cards, and help point out where or how they can best be utilized.
PP #136 - Action
Reassign 1 skill to another eligible character you control.
Trans-posession has rarely been used in the Classic / Extended environment. Frankly, skill manipulation isn't terribly important in most decks. It's generally not a great idea to run tons of skills, after all attaching a skill keeps a character out of play for a turn.
In the Classic / Extended environment Trans-posession has found a place in the occasional Spike deck and often in a Ghost Willow deck. After all, as long as the skills are already being run, it makes sense to maximize your ability to focus them onto the desired characters. It can also be the only answer to those trick decks. How else will Faith defeat Price of True Evil on her own?
This action card gains a whole new dimension in the dream card environment. So many decks run skills, not to enhance their own characters, but to cripple their opponents key characters. Trans-posession allows you to move the skill to a less important character. Why not just run Lounging About With Imbeciles? Well, you can, but some skills can be recycled or have a negative impact when they are discarded. Keeping those skills in play is actually an advantage. In addition Trans-posession has boosts, preventing that dreaded 'dead card' in hand when you need to boost for challenges or fights!
If there is a certain card you would like to see featured in Offbeat Strategies, drop a note to BuffyCCGNews@aol.com!
Ask Spike
Dear Spike -
I make a LOT more money then this guy I am seeing. While I try to pick guys who are super confident, I think that this is just turning out to be too much for my guy. Can I save this sinking ship?
- Titanic Tendencies
Dear Titanic,
I'm not sure I have any advice for you. But I do have some for your guy. After several centuries I have figured something out that would have been good to know when I was alive, so listen up all you guys out there! Strong, powerful, intelligent women are hot. And they're the only kind of women that strong, powerful, intelligent men want to be with. Trust me. So get over your silly inadequacies and be the best man you can be. This includes not being afraid of women who make money, have careers, have opinions, and can turn your knees to jelly. So man up and be happy that such a woman has taken an interest in you.
(If he doesn't—then dump him and find someone who can be both supportive of you and does what he loves, even if it doesn't make tons of money.)
Spike, lover of The Slayer, aka former woman-fearer William
Every time we are outside doing anything our neighbors come over with the constant why and what for questions. When we are not outside they will often send their granddaughter over to peek into our windows to see what we're up to. Is barbed wire my only solution?
- Sick of the neighbors
Dear Sicko,
Two hundred years of not taking any crap makes me want to say: burn down their house! There might be an easier way, talking it out, getting mediation, but threats can work just as well. So toss on your leather coat and bang on their front door and tell them you'll chop off the next nose you see pressed against your window. If you don't think you can pull of the scare tactics, hire a biker gang (or your friendly neighborhood vamps) and have them threaten them.
Spike
I have good reason to suspect that my boyfriend is cheating on me. We've been together about 9 months and I feel like I've fallen in love with him. I think I want to ignore the problem. What should I do?
- D.V.
Dear DV,
This is easy. If you can love a cheater and you can live with a cheater, then what is the problem? People live with worse things. If you ignore it in the hopes that the cheating will go away, then you're bloody stupid. Love it or leave it. Because you can't change someone or expect someone to change for you. Period.
Spike
How do you keep your hair so perfectly platinum and always in place?
- JMB
Dear JMB,
Eternal life, baby. Eternal frickin' life.
Spike
Who do you think you are handing out advice left and right? What gives you the authority to tell people things that might mess up their life?
- The Stupendous Yappi
Dear Yappi,
Jealous much? Not very stupendous of you. Of course the decades of experience, the hair and the coat all add up to someone people admire.
What can I say? I deserve to be admired.
Spike
Fun and Games
Upcoming tournaments for Waterloo, Iowa:
1-5-08: Extended Type A : starts at 6:00 PM : Caroline's place
1-12-08: Sealed : starts at 5:00 PM : Caroline's place
1-19-08: Extended Type A : starts at 6:00 PM : Caroline's place
1-26-08: Three Challenge - Extended Type A : starts at 6:00 PM : Caroline's place
2-2-08: Extended Type A : starts at 6:00 PM : Caroline's place
2-9-08: Dream Cards - Extended Type B : starts at 6:00 PM : Caroline's place
2-16-08: Dual Essence - Extended Type A : starts at 6:00 PM : Caroline's place
2-23-08: Extended Type A : starts at 6:00 PM : Caroline's place
Upcoming tournaments for the Minneapolis Area, Minnesota hosted by Outpost 2000:
Tentative plans for April 2008. Nothing currently scheduled
Upcoming tournamets for the Maryland - Virginia area:
Unannounced events to be held at JohnCon - details as soon as they are available!
Far too many posts in their Yahoo group forum for me to slog my way through. Someone e-mail or pm me with upcoming local public events!
Q: Fill in the blanks: I'm an old fashioned gal. I was raised to believe that men dig up the _____ and woman have the _____.
Q: How does Giles break Ethan's Halloween spell?
Q: In season 4 Tara and Willow share a kitten that is suddenly gone from the show. Do we ever find out what happened to Miss Kitty Fantastico?
Q: Which Buffy CCG card reads: When this event is played, all players may look at their Challenge Deck and rearrange it in any order.
Answers at the bottom of the newsletter, click here to view answers.
Whedonverse Trivia
Q: Camden Toy has played all but which of the following characters?
- Gnarl
- Gentlemen
- Hellhound
- Ubervamp
Answers at the bottom of the newsletter, click here to view answers.
With the writers strike going on, there isn't a heck of a lot that has definite dates, but here's what we do know . . .
Summer Glau (River on Firefly, Prima Ballerina on Angel): The Sarah Connor Chronicles - two night premier January 13th (8 PM EST) and 14th (9 PM EST) - previews look outstanding!
For those of you reading the Buffy Season 8 comics, you might want to take a look for the Angel Season 6 series! Angel: After The Fall
Eliza Dushku and Joss Whedon: It's far too early to assume fruition, but the announcemnet of the TV series Dollhouse sounds like a wonderful combination of Whedon and everyone's favorite naughty slayer.
Anthony Stewart Head (Giles of course!): I caught a preview of Repo! The Genetic Opera! on the Spike TV SCREAM Awards and it just screams gory cult classic in the making.
James Marsters (Spike): Slated to star as Piccolo in the James Wong (X-Files uber deity) written and produced Dragonball.
Whedonverse Industry Gossip
Coming soon from our favorite Whedonverse players . . .
Q: Fill in the blanks: I'm an old fashioned gal. I was raised to believe that men dig up the _____ and woman have the _____.
A: corpses, babies
Q: How does Giles break Ethan's Halloween spell?
A: He smashes the statue of Janus.
Q: In season 4 Tara and Willow share a kitten that is suddenly gone from the show. Do we ever find out what happened to Miss Kitty Fantastico?
A: It was never directly shown, but during season 7 Dawn mentions an accident with a crossbow.
Q: Which Buffy CCG card reads: When this event is played, all players may look at their Challenge Deck and rearrange it in any order.
A: AC #21 The Plan
To view previous newsletters click the appropriate link below.
September 2007
Older newletters can be found on the BuffyCCG.com website in the section WCA Newsletters.