Happy New Year! (This is Jen on Jeff's computer.) Sadly, we're still deep in cold and flu season over at our place. But we hope for healthier times that allow us to pick up the newst sets as well as making it over there to play with them!

I just want to say thank you to all the people that came out for the tournament on Saturday! One even drove out from Tahoe that morning! Not to be outdone by Deathjester26 who came all the way from San Diego. It was great to have a significant group together, and if all indications are correct, our next event should be even bigger.

To all those that stuck with this Meta when we were down to 2-3 regular players, thank you. You're dedication has paid off. We are expanding, and the bigger we get the more people in our store seem to be intrigued by us. I am extremely excited for the future of this game in the East Bay!

We had 8 players in a LCG Joust format.

2 Martell

2 Stark (one Winter Agenda)

2 Lannister (One Summer Agenda, one Shadows agenda)

2 Baratheon

Sadly, Targaryen and Greyjoy did not make an appearance. I thought this was strange, seeing as they are two extremely viable joust options at the moment. No matter, in their first tourny legal setting in our meta, the Martells came out on top. I wonder if this harkens to a renaissance of Martell domination? I certainly hope so, because I was the one playing the winning deck. Thanks again to everyone that came out, and if you're reading this and thinking of coming out to Concord, please do so-you will not meet a more supportive and welcoming group of gamers-period.

Thanks guys for having the tourney on a day when I was still in town. I had a blast as usual.

Well our second tournament of the New Year did not yield as many players as I had hoped (we had 7 show up) and so again the Melee had to be postponed. This is good news for all you slackers out there who have not been able to participate yet because this Melee with our Martell special rules is going to Rock! Stay tuned and I will email everyone once we decide on a day and time to try again...

The house breakdown went like this:

3 Lannisters

2 Greyjoys

1 Martell

1 Stark

The top four players were as follows:

Dan (cha0s) playing Lannister went 3-0

Joey (no board name yet) playing GJ (winter) went 2-1

Luke (Syd) playing Martell (summer) went 2-1

Jim (laughingtree) playing Lannister (shadows) went 2-1

In the first round of finals Dan beat Jim and Luke beat Joey. Then Dan and Luke matched up for the final match and Luke won solidly.

Congrats to Luke for his second tournament Win in a row! Thanks to everyone who came out and participated. See you next month...

This was a really fun tournament. I did eventually take victory, but not until after being humbled by Joey's nasty Winter Greyjoy deck. He made it Winter first turn, and that was it for me. I was drawing only one card, and he starting hittin my hand with claim 2 plot after claim 2 plot. When you only draw one card in the draw phase...all of a sudden you are out of options. ESPECIALLY in the face of two claim.

I was happy we took a little lunch break after Round 2, because it gave me time to think about the loss and how to fix what went wrong for me. I knew that I had to control the season if I wanted to win (there were other decks being run that were Winter themed). So my main strategic focus was to either keep the season neutral or summer. After I established that in each game, it was just about letting Martell unfold. I love the new Martell set, and the way it makes your opponents just sweat making challenges against you.

Great time had by all, and I can't wait for the next one. It will probably be in mid february sometime. Check back here for details.

Syd (Luke)

This message goes out to all the Threat from the East Bay oldtimers. Remember when we came up with our own logo and put it on some custom power counters? Well, look at the new spoiler card Wildling Wisewoman on the latest AGOT news item. The chapter cycle logo next to the card number, I'm pretty sure it's identical. Go Go Mt. Diablo! Featured on the newest set!

Syd

Syd said:

lol..... ~sure I see it too.... <wink, wink>

We had 11 people show up for Thrones last night!!! More people on a regular play night then at our tournaments...what is going on here?!?!?

Congratulations you guys. Best of luck to you both!

hey chaos, what's your contact info? you lead the tourneys in SF, right? PM it to me if you wouldn't mind

I'm glad to hear things are going so well in the East Bay! I look forward to meeting more of your guys some day.

As for the South Bay, I just found out that the Game Kastle meta is more alive than I thought. Dr. Cornelius reports that he has a couple of people with whom he plays semi-regularly.

Personally, between work and the birth of a baby, I haven't had any time since September. But with any luck maybe I can start playing again in April.

The Game Kastle (Santa Clara) scene is picking up. Three of us play around once a week and a couple of new guys just picked up a core set and some packs.

Anybody going to be at DunDraCon in a couple of weeks?

-Dr.C

I definitely can't make it this year. I have new roommates moving in with me...so we are going to be busy with that next weekend...

Keep your eyes open for some kind of Thrones event down the road at KublaCon this year!

KUBLA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(sorry, got excited)

Already 1 month down into the new year...where does the time go? (maybe Germany? lol) Lets talk about our next tournament:

When: 2/28/10 (Sunday)

Where: Black Diamond Games

Time: 11am

Format: LCG Melee <- I'm not joking this time, lets get enough people to show to actually do this!

Any questions?!?!

KublaCon Update!

A Game of Thrones now has 3 superb events scheduled for KublaCon weekend in Burlingame, California for May 29-30.

Saturday 11am-5pm : LCG Joust Tournament, 4-5 rounds of Swiss with a cut to top 8 and single elimination.

Saturday 6pm-11pm : Legacy and LCG CUBE draft! If you have never experienced draft, this is your chance to experience an incredibly fun format. All draft supplies are provided...all you need do show up ready to put your skills to the test. Draft may be the most fun, unpredictable format in Thrones.

Sunday: 10am-4pm: LCG Melee. We will have 3-4 table rounds, with a cut to the final four table. Melee is the ultimate test of skill and awareness. Pit yourself against three opponents at once for some seriously mind-bending and swingy play. There's no telling who will finish atop the midden heap in a melee!

The Ironmen of the Easy Bay would like to invite all California players to this amazing Con. Even if you're not from California, there are many that can attest to the quality and fun of KublaCon. There are so many games to choose from, a weekend spent here will never be boring. Come on, make the trip, you know you want to!

www.kublacon.com

If you purchase an advanced weekend pass on or before February 28th, the cost is only $35 for four days of unlimited gaming. The pass gets you into ALL games at the convention, not just Thrones!

Hey all you NorCal players, the Ironman's meta is starting it own Thrones League. We are doing a round-robin style where each player plays a game against each opponent once. Then after all the games are finished we will cut to the top 6-8 players. This is a great way to add that small competitive aspect to our regular play and also serves to help boost your level on our local meta ranking system. If you are interested in participating send me a PM.

Hello? Anybody home?

Hi Khaleesi,

They're home, they're just too lazy to post

Kublacon is on... Are you guys going?

Yes! We were sure that this year would be out. But, at the last minute we have trained our new office employee and secured lodging at the Holiday Inn across the street from Kubla. They only had regular rooms at the Hyatt. So, thanks to work and my mother wanting grandkid time, Jeff, myself and my camera will be there.

Awesome!!!!

We're really hoping for a great turn out ths year. It'll be good to see you gauys again!

Khaleesi said:

HURRAY!!!

Now we just have to see if we can remember how play. This only playing a couple times a year is just not enough to keep the AGoT wits sharp.

On the upside I got this new OCTGN thingie installed over the weekend, downside is I'm still trying to figure out how to deck build with it. I miss Tzumainn's deck builder.

WOOO!!!

Ya'll just made my day! Freerider and Khaleesi! SO happy to hear that you are both going to make it! Chaos, Deathjester and I really have a great weekend planned. I had a feeling we could get Freerider to come with another shot at the Grand Maester title up for grabs.

I'll bring kid pics if you bring wedding pics. Deal? Wahoo!

Syd

Syd said:

Hmm, it just occurred to me that I may be jumping the gun. I knew about your engagement, but it seems I can't recall an actual wedding! Haha, I'm dumb! I do still expect pics after the wedding!

Syd