With the wild whirlwind of events and organisation that's been occurring here at Brokenvase's home base in Sumner, it makes me very happy to announce that not only does our Christmas Holiday Program exist, but it's currently ready for your perusal! Professor Frank has let me (Gym Leader Tom) off the leash this time to go ham on preparation. Currently we don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but we're gonna find out together! Thank you to all of those who inquired about it and thank you very much for your patience!

Without further ado...
The BVG Christmas Holiday Program 2022 - 2023!

 "Holy dooley!" I hear you say. "Tom, ain't that one jam-packed syllabus!?"

Well, good sir and/or madam and/or other, your choice of words frighten and confuse me. I haven't the faintest clue at what a "jumbuck silly-bus" might be, but what I do have for you is a simplified breakdown! If the above image is too much to look at (and believe me, it is. I'm the one who made it) all you need to know is...

 

1. Wednesdays will have an extra Beginners Tournament in addition to an awesome new event, created by one of our regulars, known as Blitz Format (more information below)
2. Thursdays will have an extra Intermediate Tournament with follows onto the usual Masters or Pro Tournament for those wishing to try their hands at the big-leagues amongst stiff competition
3. Fridays will also be host to a Blitz Format Tournament, followed by free time throughout the day to enjoy playing and trading at your leisure before the Bandai card games (read; Digimon & One Piece) come out to play in the evening

 

Now, I can already hear the mortified cries of those who admire the morphing blob:
"Tom! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?"

"WHERE'S THE DITTO DRAFT!?"

And to that I must reply "please let go of my arm, you are hurting me!" After much deliberation on the topic of the beloved & transformation-based format, Boss Lady Kat and myself have made the decision to allow Ditto Draft at all opening hours as long as you have a four-person pod to play it! In addition to this decision, because GYMSiRL has concluded for the year and gems are not currently able to attained, we would like to introduce the creation of Ditto Points! These points will be earned by playing and/or winning Ditto Draft games and can be used to purchase individual booster packs after your pink & blobby escapades are concluded. Rejoice, fans of the morphing monster!

 

"What's a Blitz Format? Is that one of Santa's reindeer?"

It kind of sounds like it, doesn't it? But no, Blitz Format is a fantastic creation from our own equally as fantastic & talented Nate! Originally created as a way to balance quick learning & fast-paced gameplay, Blitz Format is an awesome & fresh mix-up to current Pokémon TCG rules. The best part is that you basically don't need to relearn anything at all. The only rules are: 30 card decks, maximum of three (3) copies of each card, three (3) prize cards, and no Pokémon with a rule box may be used (sorry to all V and Radiant lovers). Remember, the rule of three!

I have high hopes for Blitz and have recently become somewhat addicted to constructing decks for it myself. We'll also have preconstructed Blitz decks available for purchase starting next week as a way to help springboard you into this fast & furious format!

 

"Build & Battle Royale? Will we be thanking the bus driver?"

Alas, my friend, you are mistaken. While it's important to thank the bus driver, no jumbuck silly-bus will be making its way into our store unless we pivot into farming and party supplies. Build & Battle Royale is a sealed format in which all participants select and purchase any one (1) of our available Build & Battle kits (typically used for prerelease sealed format), construct a deck of 40 cards in the same usual fashion reserved for prereleases, and duke it out with off-the-cuff strategies and top-notch calculated prowess!!

 

"Mixed Mutant Metronome? Look, I'm a John Carpenter fan, but this is ridiculous..."

WAIT, DON'T CLICK OFF! Hear me out for a second. It's the Pokémon that are undergoing spontaneous mutation! ... Hrmm... That sounded better in my head... Regardless, this one is Professor Frank's baby, so I'll tell you what he told me:

Mixed Mutant Metronome is an absolutely WILD sealed format in which players acquire 4 booster packs from random sets in order to construct a 40 card deck. As you can imagine, considering the name, there are some interesting rule changes! Firstly, you aren't restricted in how you evolve Pokémon normally. Monsters can evolve one stage higher into ANY Pokémon of the same type as them! A Basic Grass-type such as Caterpie could evolve into a Stage 1 Grass-type such as Cherrim, and then into any Stage 2 Grass-Type, like Venusaur. Quite the spontaneous tranformation, no?

In addition to the above rules, at the beginning of each round, two (2) random round rules will be applied to all players's games. These rules vary from beneficial effects such as drawing extra cards... To total hinderances such as always being Burned or Poisoned! Round rules don't stick around however, they'll change between rounds, so stay on your toes! (Heh, get it? "Around"...)

 

"Raid Boss, huh? Sounds like some kinda bug spray..."

From the Raid Boss's perspective, it very well might be. Exactly what you may expect from the name, Raid Boss involves multiple trainers facing-off against a single, ultra-powerful opponent (piloted by yours truly). We're still ironing out the kinks in this one before we reveal more information about gameplay, pricing, and prize-support, so please stay tuned for more information!

... I also encourage you to inquire about it so that Gym Leader Tom doesn't forget about doing some actual testing of this event format.

 

"A Very Bandai Christmas. Is there an app for that?"

Don't worry, this one's nice and simple. Come in to play some Digimon or One Piece and receive some extra goodies as a lil' Christmas gift from the team. Goodies have yet to be determined, but that's okay. You won't know what it is until you open it anyway.

 

 

... And there you have it! Hopefully that covers everything we've got going on. Thank you very much for sticking through this exceptionally long read. Our apologies if you got bored or if my strange humour wasn't quite as palatable as it is for my own self. If you've got any questions regarding events or... Any other form of query, really... Don't hesitate to reach out to the BVG crew via our Facebook or directly to me at tom@brokenvase.games!

 

And to all those we may not see until the festivities are concluded, from all of us at Brokenvase Games...