WCA Updates

By Dave Gerspach (dgjedi) WCA Co-Chair

With a decision to officially recognize his significant contributions, Don Tresca (Tarafan) has been named Co-Chair of the WCA in the North America. Don continues to single-handedly maintain the CRD and Judge Program. He has been very active in making rulings on the board and participating in the (unofficial) Dream Card Contest. And if you’re looking for tournament kits in the western part of the country, he’s the one you contact. His efforts have gone a long way toward keeping the Buffy CCG community alive and active.

Now it’s everyone else’s turn. Do you feel you have the time and desire to help the Buffy CCG community? Would you like to take a shot at a CRD Update? Would you like to edit and produce the monthly newsletter? Just contact Don or myself on where you’d like to help and we can get you started.

One last bit of news. Look for the newly revised Judge Guide. It’s a must read for Watcher’s, Judges and anyone interested in knowing how tournaments are supposed to work.

Buffy CCG Tournament Rankings Update

By Dave Gerspach (dgjedi), WCA Co-Chair

This month we delve into the latest Buffy CCG tournament trends, and they are indeed positive. The number of reported tournament games continues to grow at an astounding rate. Since reporting began in January 2004, the following tournament games have been played each month.

January 2004 – 18

February 2004 – 20

March 2004 – 18

April 2004 – 12

May 2004 – 43

June 2004 – 115

July 2004 – 41

August 2004 – 187

September 2004 – 46

October 2004 – 50

November 2004 – 63

December 2004 – 92

January 2005 – 105

February 2005 – 116

A very positive trend. The total number of players who have played in a Buffy CCG tournament during the current rating period is up to 140, from 131 reported last month.

During the most recent 12 month period 890 games have been played. Here’s how they break down by type.

Local Tournament Games – 590

Convention Tournament Games – 300

Classic Format – 274

Extended Type A Format – 417

Extended Type B Format – 199

Let’s look at the character ratings this month. The most popular decks continue to be Buffy (148 games), Spike (135) and Willow (117). Here are the top 10 rated characters through Februrary.

1^st Buffy – 1304

2^nd Spike – 1277

3^rd Adam – 1224

4^th Willow – 1187

5^th Drusilla – 1153

6^th Anya – 1119

7^th Faith (Villain) – 1103

8^th Giles – 1101

9^th Dark Willow – 1095

10^th Riley – 1082

However, here’s how the characters rank based on Win-Loss Percentages with a minimum of 10 games played.

1^st The Geek Trio – 82%

2^nd Adam – 74%

3^rd Dark Willow – 73%

4^th Glory/Ben – 73%

5^th Faith (Hero) – 70%

6^th Riley – 64%

7^th Anyanka – 61%

8^th Tara – 56%

9^th Ken – 56%

10^th Quentin Travers – 55%

You can see an immediate impact from including the Dream Card essences in the ratings. That’s this month’s edition of tournament trends. It’s easy to see from the tournament listing on the boards that Buffy play in 2005 is still on the increase and Type B tournaments have added a little spice to the tournament flavors.

Gen Con 2005 Update #3

By Dave Gerspach (dgjedi), WCA Co-Chair

This month I’m going to focus on Thursday night’s Highlander tournament, as well as, the Hero of the Week/Villain of the Week and Hot Dog Surprise tournaments being held on Friday. But first, the latest prize update.

As announced in the Tournament Forum, we’ve added Diamond Select Toys and Cinequest.com to the list of companies supporting our tournaments at Gen Con. If you’re a fan of the wonderful action figures produced by Diamond Select, you’re almost sure to have a shot a taking one or more home from Gen Con. We should easily have 30-40 to give away as prizes. And Cinequest.com has added a couple of exclusive hand numbered figures to the list. Now, back to the tournaments.

Thursday, August 18, 2005 – 7:00PM

Buffy Classic CCG Highlander Tournament

The Highlander format simply means that you can only have one copy of each card in your deck. This would include any and all versions of the same character. For example, you could only have one copy of Level 1 Spike in your deck, not one WW Chicago version, 1 PP version and 1 CO99 version. Likewise, you could only have one Testosterone in your deck, not one each of the PP and CO99 versions. Deck size is still the normal 60 card minimum limit.

You’ll run across people using many cards they otherwise wouldn’t use, which can make this a very fun tournament. It’s a Classic Buffy CCG tournament meaning that only cards actually printed and released by Score Entertainment are legal in your deck. It’s very difficult to metagame this type of tournament, which also makes this a little easier format for Newcomers to be competitive.

This tournament was the second most popular tournament at Gen Con in 2004 with 16 participants. We expect this to be even more popular this year. When the tournament is finished, stick around for our annual Amy-a-thon. This year we’re starting a new convention tradition by adding the cry of “I’ve Got B.O.” to the mix. If you were there last year, you know what I’m talking about. If not, you’ll just have to show up to find out.

Friday, August 19, 2005 – 9:00AM

Buffy CCG Type A – Hero of the Week/Villain of the Week Tournament

For long time players, you may recall this format run by Score throughout 2002 and 2003. Basically, virtual essences and cards were created around popular, but less regular characters from the show. For this tournament, all Score Entertainment printed cards are legal, as well as, all HotW/VotW virtual cards created by Score. The Broken Links cards are not legal for this tournament. The only other rule is that you must use a HotW/VotW character as your main character in the tournament. The following is the list of legal main characters for this tournament.

Catherine the Great

Natalie French

The Pack

Moloch

Ted

Der Kindestod

Coach Marin

Ampata

Principal Snyder

Lady of Buffdom

Ghost Willow

Amy Madison

Private Harris

Jenny Calendar

Ethan Rayne

Wesley Wyndham-Pryce

Gwendolyn Post

Old Man Essence (Hans and Frederick Gruenshtaler main characters)

Ken

Anne Essence (Lily main character)

Darla

The First Slayer

Quentin Travers

Veruca

Luke

Sid

We have a four hour limit for this tournament, so the number of participants is being limited to 16. I strongly suggest pre-registering for this and all other tournaments being held during the day on Friday or Saturday. Time limitations will restrict the number of players we will be able to accommodate. The evening and Sunday tournaments have flexibility to allow additional players.

Friday, August 19, 2005 – 2:00PM

Buffy CCG Classic “Hot Dog Surprise”

This is a Classic tournament, meaning that only Score Entertainment printed cards from the Pergamum Prophecy, Angel’s Curse and Class of 99 Expansions are legal. A number of commonly used cards will be banned for this tournament only. The goal is to test the experienced player’s ability to find and effectively play seldom used cards. The game may also be fun for newcomers, as they won’t have worry about knowing the most powerful combinations as most won’t be legal in this tournament. Here’s the list of banned cards for this tournament at Gen Con.

All character “only” cards

Locations (16)

Sunnydale High School Library

Cemetary

Hyena Exhibit

Sunnydale School Lawn

Warehouse

Sunnydale High School Auditorium

Lair of the Master

Hospital

Dragon’s Cove Magic Shop

Natural History Museum

St. Du Lac Mausoleum

Garden Shed

Hell

Fountain Quad

Bizarro Streets of Sunnydale

Bizarro Sun Cinema

Skills (2)

Watcher Training

Primal Connection

Items (17)

Empty Puppet Case

Stake & Crossbow

Ring of Prophecy

Manacles

Spike’s Car

Disembodied Arm

Orb of Thesulah

Silver Locket

Mark of Eyghon

Formal Wear

Balthazar’s Amulet

Disturbing Features

Faith’s Knife

Love Tattoo

Glove of Myneghon

Compound Bow

Chains

Events (2)

Snow

Day of Ascension

Episodes (1)

Bad Girls – Parts 1 & 2

Actions (29)

Testosterone

Priority Check

The CPR Thing

Watch Zebras Mating

Bow Before the Idiot Box

Thrown to the Hyenas

Hit the Streets

The Old Madison Body Switch

Dig Up the Corpses

I Quit

Clumsy Fingers

A Friend In Need

Trading Clothing

Oh, the Other Cemetary

Offer of Ugly Death

Circle of Kayless

Go Home and Listen to Country Music

Run, Fast

Join the Pep Squad

Will You Go To The Dance

Grounded

Drive Like Crazy

A Crazy Plan

Ambushed

Been There, Killed That

Hidden Allies

Blood and Crumpets

Tiny Victory

Wish, the Weirding

Next month we’ll focus on Tabula Rasa (finally revealing the conditions that will be used at Gen Con), the Sealed Deck and the Dream Card Tournament (also revealing those cards which will be legal at Gen Con). Finally, in May we’ll discuss the Grand Patrol and the “Showtime” formats. That should give everyone the information they need by the time Event pre-registration opens up in May. Last year, the Buffy CCG had pre-registration numbers higher than many established games showing once again how loyal our players are. I expect this year to be no exception.

The next Newsletter (Volume 2, Issue 4) wil be released in April, 2005.

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.