Convention season is about to get started. With the release of Shadowar and SC IV, many people are excited about the game. The recent free decks and boosters that went out to stores may have helped get new players involved. So, what can we expect for Nationals and Worlds this year? Will Origins and Gencon have another strong showing from proud UFS'ers? We all know that the 'name' players will be there but will new players make the journey to challenge the best? What kind of attendance are you hoping for? What special formats will you indulge in? Who will take it all?

Tekken 6 before Worlds?

I think Worlds will be big. Maybe not 07 big, but hopefully with all the new support the game's had, along with Hata's new direction should be pretty successful.

Also...

It's about time Steve tells us the prize for winning worlds with a Shadowar character lol.

i'm not attending both but i have one "request". I want Fred (proto) to win US nats. so we can have the complete King games linup on singles character cards. Oh if Omar could win worlds, that would be funny has hell.

but an unknow played winning something could be pretty epic as well as it never happened since the first year

Admiral Ren said:

Id love to win nats, except that I cant ever go to them because they arent conviently located in Philly anymore and happen, like what, 3 weeks before Gencon? I have to pick my battles.

I really think Nat's will show how awesome set 12 is we got a taste at POTM . In just hope the reprints will be legal by then I think they will have a huge impact .

I agree with Scuba, the reprints becoming legal will be huge in a way...

I for one, am checking the boards every day to see if they do become legal fro Can Nats, granted Can Nats is only a hop skip and jump away ^^

- dut

i hope they don't become legal for can nats as i have just sorted my deck based on them not being around

Yeah. I'm good either way Tuesday... All I know is depending on if they are or if they aren't will change the way I sort my deck quite significantly ^^

And I'm glad to see that it is important to most players. Maybe we will get an answer soon.

- dut

Here are my predictions for who and what is gonna win Nats/Worlds:

Can/US Nats: Someone not named myself or Jon Herr. No offensive meant to ol' Johnny boy, but someone (preferably a Canucklehead) is going to take this here event that hasn't won a major tournament before. Much like the Chicago Blackhawks or the Washinton Capitals (if you follow hockey) UFS is finally turning the page into a new group of young (as in to the winner's circle of major tournament) up and comers. One only need look at three recent Regionals (Oshawa, Montreal, and Rochester) to see that those who won weren't your usual winners. Folks like Mike Lowe (Link), Andre *insert last name here* (from Ottawa) both took regionals. I've had the pleasure of playing against them both (Mike at least several hundred times) and both show a great skill for the game and it's intricasies (or however ya spell it).

As for myself, well as much as I'd like to say I'll win, it's my first major national tournament (my only other "major" ones being FoPs, AoPs, and the Shwa regional) so I dunno how I'll do. Plus I still don't even know what I'm playing!

Worlds: It's hard to say right now, but unless the set released before World's drastically alters things, someone piloting Evil Jon Herr will more than likely take World's. His toon is just too buff and Evil's lineup is per usual, insanely powerfull.

B-Rad said:

Andre Picknell's Akuma is disgusting powerful. I will be honestly wondering what the hell was that if he doesn't at least make pre-diversity top 8 at the Can Nats

Protoaddict said:

Origins June 24-28th. Gencon AUGUST 13th to 16th.

Doing both is very reasonably possible.

AND This year like last year, at Origins, there is the Comfest http://www.comfest.com/ happening. So if you were hesitant about hitting both, well that just sealed the deal. (comfest is essentially a out door music festival with like... 6 stages, beer tents, crafts, junk, lots of people, fair food, hippies, all outside and within one block of the convention center).

AND I'm working on securing/verifying Karaoke at Origins again this year.

...

And everyone knows that that Philly con was a bit of a bust... what time did the convention center close at every day? like... 5pm?

Unifiedshoe said:

...

SHOE! ... Where the heck have YOU been the past 3/4 of a year? lol

I need some fantasy shops! bring them to Origins!

for can nats maybe a suprise english man

seriously though there are so many good players out ther at the moment that anyone with a number of characters could win with a stiff breeze behind them on the day.

i think the uk nats may not be won by jon herr character as nobody will have the effort to try get him (hopes lol)

B-Rad said:

I might be the only person who got it, which is interesting, because I'M AN AMERICAAAAAAN! >:|

Ugh...as much as I hate to think about it, Evil's got a tremendous chance at worlds. All it took was Midnight Launcher and Knight Breaker to keep it afloat. Not like it would've been bad without them, what with Tsurane Kiri and all its other cards. But yeah, Evil's got the tools to do it, that's for sure, and it sucks that John Herr's character is amazing, but not Matt Kohls amazing, meaning it likely won't see errata despite otherwise free abilities.

I'm hoping my friend will take his Harrier Bee *Hsien-Ko*. As soon as he gets 1 to 2 Harrier Bees in play, it's pretty much game over from that point.

MarcoPulleaux said:

I don't really think it is surprising that Evil has a good chance at the Worlds, a lot of symbols will probably have good chances at the worlds (well, more than last year it looks like). Evil, as long as it is a symbol close to it's principals (timely negation and control), will probably always be a competitive symbol becuase in the world of card games (or any game with luck involved) taking as much luck out of the outcome as possible tends to provide the best results.

Enter Jon Herr's character card, and you can see exactly why it is being toted as one of the more powerful cards out there (i.e. it can foresee upcoming checks and eliminate some of the luck component that most every other deck has to deal with). Give it the ability to draw a new card and it has a counter to your opponents attempt at controlling their own fate (seeing your hand before making a big move).

All that said, I'm not yet convinced that Herr will take Worlds. Believe it or not there are some answers to his character card, and there are more answers to Evil every day.

I don't think we can reasonably expect anything except an exciting con season this year round, the Worlds event pre-empted by a release that will change the face of UFS, and a lot of tech against forerunners of character cards.

-dut

Link has been playing the game since the 80's. All of Foxhound are perfectly capable of getting a card this year. Expecially Keith, Mike, and Danny.

What do you all think of Earth doing well at Worlds?

I see Herr as a good Leona. They both reveal the top of their deck, but Herr simply has better symbols and better vitality.

I don't think Herr's character will win Worlds simply because it's won enough, and even though Hata won all his events with a form of Ibuki, I don't think he'll have that much consistant luck.

Another thing going for Herr is that he's the closest to Tag Along-proof you can get. If you cancel his first ability, Visions of Destiny will just help out. If you cancel his second, he might not be able to tutor draw, but he still knows what's coming.

I wouldn't be surprised to see any symbol Donovan take Worlds. Much like Herr, he's close to being Tag proof since he has two amazing abilities, and it's almost a pick your poison trigger for Tag Along.

MarcoPulleaux said:

Quick fact check, Hata only won Worlds 08 with Ibuki, he won Nats 07 with Cassandra***, and I don't remember what he ran for Team Worlds 07 but I'm pretty sure it wasn't Ibuki.

Anyways, I think Herr does have a shot at winning Worlds and or Nats, but unlike Ibuki, his character isn't a girl and can't constantly fetch back Rejections to keep himself alive...

He ran Twelve at teams.

I've got the same problem Fred has, more or less (though I almost had enough money to manage Can Nats), but I hope the field will be the same size or larger as it was this past year at worlds (113 is fine in my book!).

As for winning? Couldn't tell you. I'll give my input after Can Nats.

HolyDragonCloud said:

And I've the same problem as you two. Except I'm going to Can Nats and not to Worlds.

ShippuJinrai said:

It's gonna happen.

This nationals is going to feature all of canada's best players from Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Calgary and Manitoba. I think people always have the same problem as before where they forget the past and immediately go to all the new shiny stuff. This nationals should be interesting and only time will tell if the top 8 will be constructed of the same old guys from the states (Ohio/Michigan) or the new feirce canadian players that I have had the pleasure of meeting.

Ideally I would prefer someone in my immediate playgroup to win this one, if I had to bank on one of my players to win this one I would have to say Mike Lowe as he just came victorious from a brutal regionals where my team was able to dominate the top tables.

ShadowDragon said:

Whoops, got Hata confused with Herr's Can Nats victory, my bad =/

Earth has a LOT of great things, but Evil's had the fortune of ALWAYS getting EXTREMELY amazing-stats'd cards.

Also, does Ibuki even see play these days? She must be pretty cool at unleashing combo brokensauce

sir_shajir said:

His deck is probably marginally better than when I faced him then. Interesting.

MarcoPulleaux said:

I'll be playing it at Worlds for sure, unless something comes out between now and then that completely catches my eye and shares the All/Evil symbol.