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Grand Archive TCG: Rai Dominates 420 San Jose Regionals

April 23, 2024 josechurape Leave a comment

The San Jose, CA regionals happened over the weekend, and it looks like Rai and Lorraine dominated the format. While the different flavors of Lorraine are interesting lists, it’s nice to see Rai carving his place on top. The VOD of the event is still up with commentary for those who want to see some competitive Grand Archive. I’ve collected the top three decks from the event and left links for singles for those who want them. If you would like to see the rest of the list, check out the Omnidex.

If you enjoy these updates, please leave a like, comment, and share this with your friends. If you need some Grand Archive, like cards from the latest Alchemical Revolution set, get it over at TCG Player through my affiliate link. Don’t forget to follow the socials!

1. ChromatiK #671 – Rai (5-1-0)

Material Deck

Main Deck

Material Deck
1 Spirit of Wind
1 Rai, Spellcrafter
1 Rai, Archmage
1 Rai, Storm Seer
1 Chalice of Blood
1 Grand Crusader’s Ring
1 Nullifying Lantern
1 Safeguard Amulet
1 Tariff Ring
1 Tome of Knowledge
1 Storm Tyrant’s Eye
1 Tome of Sacred Lightning

Main Deck
4 Careful Study
4 Dungeon Guide
2 Peer into Mana
3 Resolute Stand
4 Scry the Skies
4 Beseech the Winds
4 Disorienting Winds
4 Windrider Invoker
3 Zephyr
3 Advent of the Stormcaller
3 Anger the Skies
4 Arcane Blast
2 Arcane Elemental
4 Arcane Sight
3 Erratic Bolt
3 Power Overwhelming
3 Spellshield: Arcane
3 Voltaic Sphere

Sideboard
1 Fire Resonance Bauble
1 Mana Limiter
2 Peaceful Reunion
1 Quicksilver Grail
1 Viridian Protective Trinket
1 Water Resonance Bauble
1 Wind Resonance Bauble

2. Sano #4458 – Lorraine (4-0-2)

Material Deck

Main Deck

Material Deck
1 Spirit of Wind
1 Lorraine, Wandering Warrior
1 Lorraine, Blademaster
1 Bulwark Sword
1 Fire Resonance Bauble
1 Grand Crusader’s Ring
1 Ornamental Greatsword
1 Poisoned Coating Oil
1 Smoke Bombs
1 Sword of Seeking
1 Water Resonance Bauble
1 Wind Resonance Bauble

Main Deck
4 Deflecting Edge
4 Esteemed Knight
4 Gildas, Chronicler of Aesa
4 Imperial Recruit
3 Inspiring Call
4 Lurking Assailant
3 Woodland Squirrels
4 Aesan Protector
3 Attune with the Winds
2 Displace
4 Dream Fairy
4 Favorable Winds
2 Hurricane Sweep
3 Phalanx Captain
2 Rallied Advance
3 Shimmercloak Assassin
4 Windrider Vanguard
4 Zephyr

Sideboard
1 Eye of Argus
1 Nullifying Lantern
1 Safeguard Amulet
1 Tariff Ring
1 Viridian Protective Trinket
3 Spellshield: Wind

3. Weiyee #2465 – Lorraine (4-0-2)

Material Deck

Main Deck

Material Deck
1 Spirit of Wind
1 Lorraine, Wandering Warrior
1 Lorraine, Blademaster
1 Lorraine, Spirit Ruler
1 Drawn Blade
1 Grand Crusader’s Ring
1 Nullifying Lantern
1 Safeguard Amulet
1 Sword of Adversity
1 Sword of Seeking
1 Tariff Ring
1 Prismatic Edge

Main Deck
4 Academy Guide
4 Banner Knight
4 Dungeon Guide
2 Dream Fairy
2 Fairy Whispers
3 Favorable Winds
4 Hurricane Sweep
4 Phalanx Captain
3 Rally the Peasants
4 Reclaim
4 Swift Recruit
3 Tactful Sergeant
4 Veiling Breeze
4 Zephyr
3 Crux Sight
4 Ghosts of Pendragon
4 Spirit Blade: Ascension

Sideboard
4 Exorcise Curses
1 Fire Resonance Bauble
1 Quicksilver Grail
1 Viridian Prote ctive Trinket
1 Wind Resonance Bauble

Board Games and TCGs

Dragonbane is a Beautiful Addition to my TTRPG Collection

April 21, 2024 josechurape Leave a comment

I was sent a free copy of the Dragonbane core rulebook to review for my blog. While I am very grateful for the opportunity, I won’t let it sway my opinions. This will be my honest review. If you enjoy my reviews, please leave a like, comment, and share this with your friends. If you need to buy any trading cards, pick them up on TCG Player through my affiliate link. Don’t forget to follow the socials!

The Book

The Rulebook includes the rules, bestiary, roll tables to get you started on your own adventure. It also includes an introductory adventure if you need a good starting point.

Quality

I am a little disappointed that the cover has a glossy finish because it is going to be covered in fingerprints by the end of any session. You can easily clean it, but I wish it were matte instead. This is not a deal breaker because the book is beautiful. The images truly pop on its fine paper, and it is going to look great at your table. I have the PDF, and while I enjoy the convenience of the search function, nothing beats flipping through the pages and looking at all the pretty illustrations.

What is Dragonbane?

Dragonbane is Fantasy TTRPG brought to us by our friends over at Free League Publishing. It is an easy-to-learn system with some terrific flavor and interesting mechanics. If you’re looking for a new RPG, you are going to want to look into Dragonbane. I’ve covered this game before, so make sure you check out my older posts if you want to know more.

What I enjoy about Dragonbane

What makes Dragonbane unique is its leveling system. Classes in Dragonban act as a starting template, but players have the freedom to explore their character in whatever way feels best. Want to play a wizard who is also good at sword fighting? Dragonbane can accommodate, so long as you pass the checks.

What I enjoyed most about Dragonbane is how experience points are handled. At the end of every session, players are asked:

✦ Did you participate in the game session?

✦ Did you explore a new location?

✦ Did you defeat one or more dangerous adversaries?

✦ Did you overcome an obstacle without using force?

✦ Did you give in to your weakness (optional rule)?

Players get a point for every yes. We didn’t play with weaknesses, so they had 4 points every session to level. These points could be used to attempt to level up their skills once. Players need to roll a D20 and roll a number bigger than the skill they are trying to level. Say they have a 4 in their sword skill, they will need to roll 4 or higher to level up. My players liked this tangible form of XP, and the gambling aspect made things interesting. Sometimes you leveled all 4 skills, sometimes you didn’t level any.

What I particularly appreciated about this system is that it made creative with their encounters. They would always try to get out of an encounter without using force. This always led to interesting roleplay and took my players from being somewhat murder hobos to more developed player characters.

Dragonbane also has an interesting combat system that I enjoyed as both a player and a GM. Dragonbane uses cards for initiative which eliminates rolling and bonuses. Players and creatures draw from the same card and the lowest number goes first. These turns can be traded, which gives potential to some cool strategy. Players only have one action or reaction per round, which means they are either attacking or defending. There were times when players were on death’s door, and a lucky dodge roll kept them in the fight long enough to earn that epic kill.

I particularly enjoy that monsters have roll tables for their actions. Running a monster had the excitement of uncertainty. Would the monster kill a player with a powerful attack? Will it stun the party for another turn? Some of the tabled do need tweaking because they felt underwhelming, but I enjoyed the randomness.

Final Thoughts

I’ve been championing Dragonbane for a while now. I’ve run through both the quickstart and the prewritten adventure and enjoyed every minute of it. I did go off-script a lot in this game, but I used as much of the flavor as I could fit. The game is a great little system, and the book is a beautiful addition to my collection. This is one of the books I really wanted because of how much I enjoyed the game and how much I love the art. I fell in love with Dragonbane because of the art. My interest in Dragonbane is also why I have the wonderful opportunity to try all these cool indie TTRPGs.

You don’t need to buy the rulebook to play Dragonbane. I recommend you check out the free quickstart guide below, or on Drivethru RPG to get you started. The quickstart has a prewritten adventure to run and pre-generated characters to choose from. It is a streamlined version of the game, but it provides a solid snap shot of what to expect from Dragonbane.

Dragonbane_Quickstart_Guide_v1 Download

Once you fall in love with Dragonbane, you can make due with the PDF, pencils, and paper. If you like physical media, the book is so pretty and printed to the high quality standards I’ve come to expect from Free League Publishing.

Pick up your copy of the Dragonbane Rulebook on Amazon for $39.99.

video game reviews

SolForge Fusion Falls Flat as it Attempts to Redefine CCGs

April 20, 2024 josechurape Leave a comment

I was sent a free copy of Solforge Fusion to review for my blog. While I am very grateful for the opportunity, I will not let it sway my opinions. This will be my honest review of the game. If you enjoy my reviews, please leave a like, comment, and share this with your friends. Buying cards from TCG Player through my affiliate link is also a great way to help me out. Don’t forget to follow the socials!

What is Solforge Fusion?

SolForge Fusion is a CCG card battler out now on Steam. The game features single-player and PvP modes where players face off against opponents with uniquely fused decks. Do you have what it takes to outmaneuver your opponents and come out on top?

Gameplay

The gameplay loop is where this game becomes an acquired taste. You are either going to love SolForge or find it boring. The game is split into rounds where players can perform one action per turn. Players have two alternating turns in each round. During their turn, a player can cast a spell, summon a creature, or move a creature between spaces on the board.

At the end of a round, the cards auto battle depending on whether the player is defending or attacking. Creatures of attacking player will attack the opponent directly if there is nothing blocking them, players of a defending player can only attack adjacent enemy creatures.

Cards that aren’t used in a round level up and are shuffled back into the deck. The strategy seems to be choosing the right cards to hold onto for later in the game. Players also have access to a hero ability that also levels up as the game carries on. A player wins when their opponent’s life drops to zero.

In the roguelike single-player mode, players can fuse or choose a deck to make their run. The game plays like any other deck-building roguelike but without deck-building. Players earn special buffs and abilities along their run. The run is over when a player gets to the end, or their life drops to zero.

Review

SolForge Fusion is an interesting concept that is ultimately held back by its gameplay. I was intrigued by the random fusion deck building and found the boardlike game mechanics interesting, but found the game boring. Even with the animation turned up, the game feels slow and repetitive. These might be personal preferences, but there are more fun CCGs with a campaign I could be playing instead. Shadowvese has a neat one for free.

Playing a card per turn makes the game feel more luck-based than your traditional card game. You either pull the cards you need to fill your board properly, or you’re just playing from behind. Movement is always an interesting concept, but I don’t think this game does it well. When choosing between moving or playing a card, it is almost always better to play a card. There are cards that do damage when moving which might be how they balance things, but it felt kind of like a pointless mechanic.

The evolving card mechanic is an interesting one. You either play your cards for an early advantage, or you save your good cards for more explosive rounds later in the match. Finding a balance between what you play and what you level on top of keeping a healthy board state has the potential to create an interesting strategy. Unfortunately, the game just feels too slow and boring.

The deck fusion mechanic is what is going to kill this game. While I love playing random decks, it doesn’t work in this game. You either get a decent deck to play or have to try again. This game already feels very heavily reliant on luck, I can only assume that the ladder is overrun by the luckier players. I understand that all card games have some luck involved, but it should at least feel like there’s some skill involved. I don’t think I would have minded the Fusion mechanic as much if it were just a roguelike, but there’s PvP and people want to build their own decks.

SolForge is still in early access, and future updates may make this game fun, but the game didn’t create enough interest in me to find out. While I do believe it comes down to preference, there are better card games with similar mechanics out there. If you’re curious about the game, try the demo first.

You can pick up SolForge Fusion on Steam for $19.99 (currently $14.99 until April 23).

Other TCGs

Akora TCG: Theme Decks Teased

April 19, 2024 josechurape Leave a comment

There were a few new developments in the world of Akora tcg that I wanted to share. We got a few new spoilers for the upcoming Worlds Beyond set and the prizing for the upcoming season. I recommend you join the official Akora Discord if you want to stay up to date on all the news or meet some chill people who just want to play Akora and have a good time.

420 Tournament

As a reminder, Jaxonation is hosting a casual tournament this Saturday, April 20, on Tabletop Simulator. The winner receives a Spellbound Wings Full art card. This is a beginner-friendly event, and a fantastic opportunity to practice playing in a competitive setting. The event is free so if you have some time, sign up today!

New Prize Card Teased

The creator also teased the artwork for the upcoming season’s prize card, it is so cute! I am a huge fan of the style, and it really leans into the cozy aesthetic that I’ve come to love from Akora. Guess that means I need to try to get good at Akora for next season.

World Beyond Decks Teased

Make sure you follow the Akora TCG Instagram page if you want to stay on top of the spoilers. Akora is doing their social media push, and its nice to see regular updates. We got teased the Fire and Dark theme decks for the upcoming set, and I am hyped. I can’t wait to see a deck list, and more of the set in general. Traditionally, theme decks come with exclusive and playable promos. It might be worth picking up a couple, especially if you want to get into the game.

Manga Reward

In the last bit of news, the Akora Manga is getting a rework. From the Discord:

I like the push for lore and look forward to seeing what they come up with. The Akora History book will be an endeavor, but one I see paying off if done properly. Akora has some cool flavor, and having something tangible to expand on that flavor is always good for the health of the game.

Conclusion

I am excited to see what comes out of this game with the next expansion. Akora feels like if your friends made a TCG, and I want to see it doing well. I enjoy the art, the gameplay is interesting, and the community is chill and welcoming. If you’re looking for a new card game, you should check out Akora.

If you enjoy these updates, please leave a like, comment, and share this with your friends. If you need to buy your first packs of Akora, pick them up on TCG Player through my affiliate link. Don’t forget to follow the socials. I am opening packs of Spellbound Wings on my TikTok and YouTube.

Board Games and TCGs

A Solid First Impression of Mutant: Year Zero TTRPG

April 19, 2024 josechurape Leave a comment

I was sent a free copy of Mutant: Year Zero to review for my blog. I haven’t had a chance to run a game of Mutant, but I did read through it. These will be my honest impressions of the system.

If you enjoy my content, please leave a like, comment, and share this with your friends. Don’t forget to follow the socials!

The Book

The quality of this rulebook’s printing is expectantly phenomenal. You have a sturdily bounded book printed on high-quality paper. I have the PDF of Mutant: Year Zero, but nothing beats flipping through the pages and actually seeing the illustrations in person. I am a huge fan of the artwork, so I had a lot of fun flipping through the pages and admiring the illustrations. You don’t need the book to play Mutant, you can get by with the PDF, but it’s cooler with the book out.

The Story

The World as we know it has ended. War, famine, and illness have ravaged the land, leaving it a desolate and inhospitable place. Humanity’s only survivors have twisted and mutated to become unrecognizable to their ancestors. As the world falls into chaos, the Arc becomes humanity’s last remaining claim at civilization. Here, the lucky few have formed a community away from the brutality of the zone. But those peaceful days within the Arc’s walls are numbered. As supplies begin to dwindle, and tensions begin to rise, it is time to venture into the unforgiving unknown and search for salvation. What adventures await?

What is Mutant: Year Zero?

Mutant: Year Zero is a post-apocalyptic tabletop RPG that uses the award-winning Year Zero engine to tell its story. If you haven’t played a game that uses the Year Zero engine, it is a super easy system to learn that uses D6s to run. Players succeed based on the number of sixes they roll.

In the simplest terms, Mutant is a post-apocalyptic world filled with X-Men. Players start the game by picking a role, rolling stats, and rolling for a random mutation. Players can’t choose their mutation, but they can roll for a second ability at the cost of some skill points. Having a random ability is bound to spark some cool narratives.

The core book has everything you need to run a campaign in Mutant. It has an expansive lore about the world, abilities, and communities. While you don’t have a module to run, you do have access to a decent list of hooks and encounters. You’re going to need this rulebook to run a complete campaign of Mutant, but there are some prewritten modules if you need them.

What sets Mutant apart is its survival mechanics. Players will consistently push their limits as they fight to live another day. Food is scares, gear will break, and players will be forced to use their mutations. It is not a giddy dark survival that you would expect from Alien RPG, but isn’t easy either. If you’ve ever wanted to play a superhero campaign, Mutant: Year Zero is a fantastic place to start.

Free Starter Booklet

The best place to start with Mutant: Year Zero is the starter booklet. The booklet offers a streamlined condensed version of the rules, a prewritten campaign, and a set of pre-generated characters to run your first campaign. It is always a good idea to test if a system is a good fit at your table. You can get a copy of the free booklet from the official site, but I’ll leave it below for your convenience.

MYZ_starter_booklet-1 Download

Impressions

I am a huge fan of the artwork. I love the comic book style of the illustrations, and I appreciate the amount of flavor that fills its pages. The jobs and mutations have some fantastic flavor. I am interested in seeing how my players react to their random mutation. I definitely see the potential for shenanigans.

This seems like an easy system to pick up with a solid amount of potential. Combat seems fine, but the fact that gear can break and players can use mutations is sure to keep things interesting. Ultimately it comes down to you enjoying the flavor and wanting to break out of the fantasy real. It’s going to be a while before I run a campaign of Mutant because my players prefer their fantasy, but I’m slowly getting there. I did manage to break away from D&D, so I’ll hold on to my faith.

If you’re looking for a new TTRPG about survival and superpowers, check out Mutant: Year Zero. You can pick up the Mutant: Year Zero core rule book on Amazon for $49.99 using my affiliate link.

gaming news, Tech Reviews

GLYDR Announces Partnership with CRE8 for Revolutionary Controller

April 18, 2024 josechurape Leave a comment

I first wrote about GLYDR when it’s Kickstarter launched. It not only met its but blew past its goal by $70,000. In a bit of new news, GLYDR has partnered with leading design engineering firm CRE8 to complete the design and engineering of their revolutionary gaming peripheral.

What is GLYDR?

GLYDR is a unique gaming peripheral that aims to revolutionize the way we play games by giving players the ability to play with their feet. This controller features 16 programable actions designed to give your hands some much-needed relief. These actions can be saved into game-specific profiles that you can easily pull up through their software so you can always have the loadout you need. There will also be a library of community loadouts for those like me who are less creative.

What the CRE8?

CRE8 is a design engineering firm tasked with the final consumer version of the peripherals. They are responsible for some well known gaming designs like Cougar Gaming products. While the Kickstarter prototype looks fine, I wouldn’t mind something with a deeper gaming aesthetic.

Impressions

I get pretty bad RSI after all the gaming and typing I do. It gets so bad that my hands become unusable. I’ve worked hard to find the perfect ergonomic set up for gaming and work, but the pain still comes through with certain games and tasks. Having something like GLYDR that takes away some of the strain from my hands seems like a fantastic addition to my arsenal. I will need to try it first, but I am at least curious. With the news of this partnership, I am excited to see the final product.

If you’re looking for a way to unload some of that hand strain, GLYDR seems like a fantastic solution. If you missed the Kickstarter, you’ll be able to reserve your unit soon. Stay tuned for the official announcement.

If you enjoy these updates, please leave a like, comment, and share this with your friends. Don’t forget to follow the socials!

Other TCGs

Wondrlnd has Some of the Most Beautiful Art in Any TCG

April 17, 2024 josechurape Leave a comment

I just came across the Wondrlnd TCG and was blown away by how beautiful the art for this game is. The cards have such a good layout, and while I don’t know how to play the game, I am willing to learn. As a collector, I want them all. If you’re a fan of Anime and are looking for a new tcg to get into or collect, Wondrland might be the one.

I’ve collected the card list for the Binary-Mind set which is available now on their site. You can get a booster box now for $80 (normally $100) which is a fantastic way to start collecting. Maybe you can split the cost with a friend and draft. I’m not affiliated with the game, I just thought I would share because I think the art is cool.

If you enjoy these updates, please leave a like, comment, follow, and share this with your friends. Don’t forget to follow the socials! I am currently doing pack openings of Battle Spirits Saga on my TikTok and YouTube.

Other TCGs

Played my First Game of Lorcana on Pixelborn it was Awesome

April 17, 2024 josechurape Leave a comment

I finally got around to playing Lorcana, and I am a fan. The game is easy to learn, and you can play online through the third-party Pixelborn app for free with a minimal amount of tinkering.

How to Play Lorcana

The best way to learn Lorcana is by playing, but Dicebreakers has a fantastic tutorial on their YouTube if you need help getting started. I recommend setting up Pixelborn so you can try out the game for free to see if you like it, but starting with your favorite starter deck is a valid option.

Gameplay

The gameplay is pretty casual TCG. All the actions happen on a player’s turn, so you don’t have to worry about things like counterspells. The main trick to this game is managing resources. You need to be aware of what cards you throw in your ink well, when to challenge other characters, and when to send characters on quests. Keywords add some complexity to this loop, but Lorcana never felt like it was an overwhelming ammount of moving parts. At least based on the games I played with a friend who was also playing for the first time.

How to Play Lorcana for Free

There are three ways to play Lorcana online for free: Tabletop Simulator, untap.in, and Pixelborn.

Tabletop Simulator

Tabletop Simulator is a fantastic piece of software, especially if you enjoy playing board games and trading card games. Indie trading card games always typically have official TTS modules and a vibrant community around them. The issue with TTS is that you have to buy the software ($30), but the modules are free. Another issue with the TTS is that it is a little clunky. Once you get used to the software, you don’t notice it, but it is there. Lastly, you have to be a bit more active with your matchmaking. You either find the discord to find people to play with, have friends who also have TTS who are down to play, find a room playing Lorcana, or make your own and wait for someone to join. It’s not an impossible task, but it is a little inconvenient compared to Pixelborn. That said, Tabletop Simulator is a fantastic option, especially if you’re interested in other board games. This is the Lorcana Module I used.

Untap.in

Untap.in is a browser-based solution for Lorcana and other popular TCGs. If you don’t have the hardware to run TTS or want something more simple, untap.in is a fantastic solution. The problem with untap is that you either have to have friends who play, find a lobby hosting a game, or look for a game on Reddit. It’s not impossible, but again, lacks convenience. But if you want to jump between other TCGs for free, it’s a great and simple tool that doesn’t take too many resources.

Pixelborn

Pixelborn is my favorite way to play Lorcana. It does take a bit of tinkering to get it to work, but it isn’t a complicated process. There is a fantastic tutorial on this fansite to get you started. Pixelborn looks great, runs well, and has a lot of phases and mechanics programmed to make learning easy. Best of all Pixelborn has integrated matchmaking. It can take some time to find a match depending on when you get on, but it should get easier if the game gets more popular. There are ranked and casual ladders, and tournaments as well. If you want the easiest, freest way to get into Lorcana, play it on Pixelborn.

How to Install Pixelborn

There are instructions on the official Pixelborn Discord on how to install the program. I’d join the Discord to meet other folks who also love the game, and to be on top of the news. This fan page has a great tutorial and all the links you need to get you started.

Impressions

I enjoyed Lorcana. I’ve always been a fan of the art, but I enjoyed the mechanics of the game. Now that I have a friend to play with, I will be playing it more regularly. I never get to see this friend, so its nice to have something we can share. If you’re looking for a casual game that is easy to learn and teach, Lorcana is a fantastic place to start.

Other TCGs

Getting Fit With TCGs: The Beggining

April 15, 2024 josechurape 1 Comment

I got a couple of packs of Meta Zoo when I was thinking about collecting it. The next day, the game died. I was left with a couple of packs for a TCG that didn’t exist anymore. I decided to do pack openings on my YouTube after every workout as a way to reward myself and keep myself accountable. That tune changed quickly when I opened my first-ever pack of Meta Zoo, and the cards were warped. I know I could have probably gotten boxes or even cases of Meta Zoo for cheap after its death, but seeing the cards in person left too much to be desired.

I got a box of Akora instead because I found a box of Spellbound Wings 1st Edition for cheap. I ended up liking the cards, learned how to play, and the cards aren’t warped! I’ll be continuing the series but will be breaking into different games for variety. It all depends on what’s affordable at the time of resupply. So far, it’s been a very cool experiment and one that has helped me get into a consistent workout routine.

Exercising has been a tricky endeavor for me because I got lazy and unmotivated. I’ve tried over the years to pick up a routine, but nothing ever stuck. I am currently 48 days into this experiment, and I am starting to notice the impact. I haven’t lost much weight, but I do notice a change in my motivation and physical health.

Opening packs was a solid motivating reward. Whenever the bike ride got too tricky, or I didn’t want to go to the gym, the desire to open that next pack helped get me off the couch. I started recording the series on YouTube not to go viral or make money, but as a way to keep me accountable. It was a way of documenting my journey, and the idea of other people being able to see the posts made it more real. If I didn’t go out and post a pack opening, people would see I was being lazy and I didn’t want that.

Not losing weight is a bit discouraging, but I understand that it is my fault. I still eat like garbage and that is something I need to work on. It’s scary to think that even though I am more active, I eat too much and cancel it out. At least I am not gaining weight.

I have noticed that my physical health has gotten better. When I first started this project, a 30-minute workout would leave me dead for the rest of the day. Now I can function and go about my day. I still get an early crash towards the early parts of the evening, but that window keeps getting bigger. On bike rides, I feel like I can go faster and farther, but it never gets easier. The hills still kill me, and I still get home winded, but that distance is slowly climbing. At the gym, I can go longer on machines that would destroy me and lift more weight. I am also getting comfortable working out in front of people which was a huge deterrent in the beginning. It is awesome to see muscle start peaking from the fat. I’ve got ways to go, but this has been something that has helped me get active, and stay motivated.

I am not here to be a health guru or be a doctor, I am just speaking on my specific experience. I’m not going to run any marathons or have a life-changing transformation, it’s just nice to be able to live my life a little less winded.

For me, the motivation of opening a pack of some random trading card game was enough to get me off the couch. Those moments of reflection, even brief sentences of how my workout felt are even more crucial. Even if no one reads them, it helps me see my progress and keep myself accountable. I don’t know if I will do any updates on my progress here, but I thought I would share in case someone needed to read it.

If you enjoy my content, please leave a like, comment, and share this with your friends. You can also buy your TCG products at TCG Player through my affiliate links. Don’t forget to follow the socials:

Grand Archive TCG

Grand Archive – Get your Tickets now for Ascent Taipei

April 13, 2024 josechurape 1 Comment

Grand Archive Ascent is returning home to Taipei for what promises to be a fantastic weekend for fans of the competitive TCG June 8th – 9th. Players participating in Ascent Taipei will have a chance at $3000 and exclusive promos. Check the official announcement for all the prizing details. Tickets are on sale now, so make sure you get yours today!

Gwednolyn, Spirit of the Wind

The top players will receive the beautiful promo Gwendolyn, Spirit of the Wind, which you can use instead of Spirit of the Wind.

Top 32 Promo: Excorsize Curses

Everyone who makes it to day 2 will receive the beautiful Excorcise Curses promo with the Ascent Taipei stamp. Not only is this a very usable card, it is going to look fantastic in your deck or collection.

Entry Promo: Fireworks Display

Participating in the event will earn you the Fireworks Display promo, and it looks so cool!

Other Activities

Ascent Taipei isn’t just for players on their grind for worlds. There will also be drafts, casual events, and vendors for all types of fans of Grand Archive to enjoy. There will also be the special Ascent store that will have exclusive official Grand Archive merch like Playmats, uncut sheets, and other TCG accessories (some of which you can only get at these events). Most importantly, the developers will announce their roadmap for the rest of the year. I am very excited to see what else this game has in store. If you haven’t done so, get your tickets today!

If you enjoy these update, please leave a like, comment, and share this with your friends. Don’t forget to follow the socials! I am currently doing pack openings of Battle Spirits Saga on my YouTube and TikTok.

1. ChromatiK #671 – Rai (5-1-0)

Material Deck

Main Deck

2. Sano #4458 – Lorraine (4-0-2)

Material Deck

Main Deck

3. Weiyee #2465 – Lorraine (4-0-2)

Material Deck

Main Deck

The Book

Quality

What is Dragonbane?

What I enjoy about Dragonbane

Final Thoughts

What is Solforge Fusion?

Gameplay

Review

420 Tournament

New Prize Card Teased

World Beyond Decks Teased

Manga Reward

Conclusion

The Book

The Story

What is Mutant: Year Zero?

Free Starter Booklet

Impressions

What is GLYDR?

What the CRE8?

Impressions

How to Play Lorcana

Gameplay

How to Play Lorcana for Free

Tabletop Simulator

Untap.in

Pixelborn

How to Install Pixelborn

Impressions

Gwednolyn, Spirit of the Wind

Top 32 Promo: Excorsize Curses

Entry Promo: Fireworks Display

Other Activities

Gaming News and Review