What I Did on My Summer Vacation (Part 4-The End)

By Dave Gerspach (dgjedi), WCA Co-Chair

Wow!  I sure hope everyone else had as much fun this summer, especially in relation to the Buffy CCG.  For myself, I managed to attend Origins, the San Diego Comic Con, Wizard World Chicago and Gen Con.  I played in well over a dozen tournaments and met more than 40 other Buffy CCG players, not to mention several cast members from the show.

So in 2004 we’ve established a post-Score Entertainment baseline for the Buffy CCG, and it’s not too bad.  Tournament attendance is down a little from last year, but not far off of the first year of the games release.  There are some areas of the country that still lack a sufficient following for regular tournaments.  I’m not sure how we can help there.  Yet there are other areas of the country where the game is a popular as ever.

I think we’ve also established that Gen Con will be the highlight of our annual events.  Just so everyone can start planning now, here are dates for next year’s major conventions in the US.

Origins                                    June 30 – July 3        Columbus, Ohio

San Diego Comic Con         July 14-18                  San Diego, California

Wizard World Chicago         August 5-7                 Rosemont, Illinois

Gen Con                                 August 18-21             Indianapolis, Indiana

The Buffy CCG North American Championship will be back at Gen Con next year.  Instead of counting only four scheduled tournaments, participants will count their highest four finishes from among nine official tournaments.  Here’s a tentative schedule.

Wednesday, August 17        7:00pm           Sealed Deck

Thursday, August 18             7:00pm           Classic – Highlander

Friday, August 19                  9:00am           Sealed Deck

Friday, August 19                  1:00pm           Classic – Format to be announced.

Friday, August 19                  7:00pm           Extended Type A – Format to be announced.

Saturday, August 20             9:00am           Extended Type B – Dream cards TBD

Saturday, August 20             2:00pm           Extended Type A – Format to be announced.

Saturday, August 20             7:00pm           Classic – Grand Patrol

Sunday, August 21                10:00am         Extended Type A – Three Challenge

We have formats in mind for the TBA formats, but need to work out details within our group of organizers.  Formats will be announced well in advance of Gen Con.

That’s not to say that Gen Con and the other aforementioned tournaments are the only source of Buffy CCG summer fun.  I think we’re all aware of the other conventions and tournaments being run in our local areas.  In particular the-big-bad was present at Conquest in California teaching and playing.  I’m very optimistic that there are more people out there just waiting to hear about and learn to play the Buffy CCG.  We need to continue to share with them how much fun the game can be.

September CRD Update

By Don Tresca (Tarafan), WCA Member

The new September CRD Update will be out within the next week.  There are really only a couple of changes to the CRD this time, but one of them is a pretty major issue.

There will be clarifications of only two cards:  Mobile Tracking System and Vampire Embrace.

Mobile Tracking System will simply be clarified to the way most players have already been playing it.  Basically, it will just state that the chosen character that is "moved" as a result of this card does not have to be at the same location as the attached character.

The ruling on Vampire Embrace will be that if the fight ends in a tie and both characters are discarded, the Human character is still to be considered losing the fight.  Therefore, the Human character is returned to play under the control of the player who controlled the Vampire in the fight, even though the Vampire was
discarded as well.

Now comes the big ruling dealing with resolving talents in fights.  The ruling will distinguish between changing the resolving talent in a fight and altering the initial resolving talent in a fight.  While fights always default at the beginning of the fight to Butt-Kicking, there are certain cards that make the initial resolving talent one of the talents other than Butt-Kicking (such as Once More with Feeling; The Gentlemen; Mr. Pointy; and Cordelia, level 2 (AC)).  These cards do not "change" the resolving talent; they simply create a different starting talent for the fight.  Therefore, if Cordelia, level 2 (AC) starts a fight with Gaelic Angelus (whose card power does not allow the opponent to change the resolving talent of the fight to Charm or Smarts), she can make the resolving talent Charm because she is starting the fight with Charm as the resolving talent; she is not "changing" the resolving talent to Charm.  Only certain cards "change" the resolving talent (such as the standard talent changers (Book Learning, Hair Flip, Testosterone, Creep Factor) and Flashy Swordfight).

Again, as before, if anyone notices any rules discrepancies or rules issues they feel need to be addressed, feel free to contact me, Tarafan, on the buffyccg website or email me at dontresca@yahoo.com.

See ya all in Sunnydale!

Pop Quiz

By Dave Gerspach (dgjedi), WCA Co-Chair

And now for something completely different.  Listed below are 19 questions related to the Buffy CCG.  The first 18 questions are worth 5 points each and the last question is worth 10 points.  Answers can be submitted in a private message on this web-site to dgjedi. 

So why take the quiz?  Well the responders with the three highest point totals will each receive a complete set of the four plastic essences from Angel’s Curse.  In addition, the person who scores the highest number of points will also receive one “black” card printed on Buffy CCG stock.  These were blank cards used to fill up space on printed sheets.  If you weren’t at Gen Con, they were given away as participation prizes during the Highlander tournament, with leftovers given away at the Three Challenge Tournament.

Well, there’s still a few more left and you can look forward to seeing these one of kind, unique cards show up occasionally as tournament or contest prizes.  So you’re thinking these are just novelty items.  Maybe, or maybe not.  But that’s a story we’re still developing.

Anyway, have fun with the quiz.  I will award bonus points where more than one correct answer exists and they are all provided.  In case of a tie, the winner will be based on the earlier  of the tied responses received.  Answers are due no later than September 30^th and will be explained in next month’s newsletter.  Winners will be announced on the web-site in the WCA forum shortly after the end of the month.

1.      Under the Score Entertainment Redemption program, how many total stake points did you need to redeem for one copy of each of the following?

Whistler, Full Moon, Dudes, Ripper, Lyle and Candy Gorch, non-foil Primal Connection and Snow

2.      In what city and state did the first Grand Patrol take place?

3.      What was the official release date for the Buffy CCG Class of 99 Expansion?

4.      Who was the chairman of Madison/Buffdom ’03?

5.      In the original Judge Guide, what was the final tiebreaker for deciding who is the winner in a timed game?

6.      On what date did Score officially let the community know the Buffy CCG game was “dead”.

7.      Based on the number of cards produced, what is the rarest promo card from Pergamum Prophecy?

8.      The promo card Sucked Dry was originally released in what magazine?

9.      Who is the “sausage king of Chicago”?

10. What two cast members were on hand at Wizard World Chicago in 2001 to help kick-off Score’s prerelease of the Buffy CCG?

11. How long does the WCA plan to provide prize support for Buffy CCG tournaments?

12. Based on the new system, if two players have a timed out game end in a tie, how are tournament points awarded?

13. The 2004 Buffy CCG German Open was held in what city?

14. When will the next CRD update be published?

15. In the Introductory Game Event held during the 2004 Gen Con, which main characters with Pergamum Prophecy essences were not represented among the decks built?

16. Who is the 2004 Buffy CCG North American Champion?

17. Assuming you meet the destiny requirements and have no other companion or minion in play, can you use A Friend in Need to search your resource deck for a level 2 companion or minion?

18. How many action cards in the Pergamum Prophecy expansion have talent icons that can boost Smarts by 2 and Weirdness by 1?

19. The following describes a specific situation in a make-believe Buffy CCG game.  Your goal is to determine which player, by playing a specific sequence of cards cannot be stopped from winning the game, irregardless of their opponent’s response.    Name that player (by naming their main character) and list the sequence of plays they must make in order to win the game.

Two players are facing-off in a tournament.  The active player this turn is playing a Kakistos deck.  The other player is playing a Cordelia deck.  In turn five, they are tied at 9 Destiny Points and the only characters still in play at this point are their respective main characters.  In the Conflict phase, Kakistos is in Sunnydale Park and Cordelia (Class of 99 hero version) is at Bizarro Streets of Sunnydale.  Neither has a challenge at their location.  Both are refreshed.  Kakistos had named Jenny Calendar as his target at the start of the turn and has already beaten her in the only other fight he started this turn, giving him the 9 Destiny Points.  Kakistos has a Compound Bow attached, but no skills.  Cordelia has Balthazar’s Amulet attached, but no skills. 

Kakistos decides to go for the win and announces he will use the Compound Bow’s ability to attack Cordelia.  After the draw stage, they will each have 10 cards consisting of the following.

Kakistos – Crushing Blow, Demon Theory, Eliminati Swords, Faith’s Knife, Fast Pace, Grounded, Lust for Her Death, Superior Fighting, Testosterone, and Watcher Training.

Cordelia – A Friend in Need, Amber Grove, Attack of the Stunt Doubles, Bad Alcohol, Buffy Summers (companion), Hair Flip, Hair Flip, I Quit, Drive Like Crazy and Oh the Other Cemetery.

The fight battle stage begins.

Slayer Strategies

By Don Tresca (Tarafan), WCA Member

Have you ever wanted to put Gingerbread in that Spellcraft deck of yours, but worried that the -1 penalty to all talents made it too difficult to defeat?  Well, fear no more.  Willow makes that challenge much easier to defeat simply by Finding Her Destiny. 

For this strategy to work, naturally, you need to make sure that Willow has the Spellcraft trait.  During the Movement Step, move any characters you want to face the challenge to the challenge's location, except for Willow.  Move Willow somewhere where she'll be able to take maximum advantage of her talents, such as Sunnydale High School Library to give her a bonus to Smarts or Hyena Exhibit to give her a bonus to Weirdness.  Then, at the start of the Conflict Step, play Finding Your Destiny to ensure that Willow will be able to participate in a challenge at any other location than her own.  Then in your next action in the Conflict Step, attempt Gingerbread and declare that Willow is facing the challenge as well.  

Since the only Spellcraft characters that lose -1 to their talents are the ones actually at the location of the challenge, Willow does not get a penalty to her talents and can use her full talents toward the defeat of the challenge.  If the other Spellcraft character you have facing the challenge is someone with fairly high talents (like Tara, Quentin, or ascended Giles), you have a really good chance of defeating the challenge without much trouble and gain an easy 5 Destiny Points.

The next Newsletter (Volume 1, Issue 9) will be released sometime in October, 2004.J

All logos, characters, and likenesses thereof are TM & © Twentieth Century Fox. All game mechanics and card likenesses are © Score Entertainment. Use of these are without permission and are not meant as a challenge to any copyright held.