Beginning Observerhits stores on May 24th, which means its time to get excited and look at all the spoilers released so far. There are ton of very cute cards in this set, and some cards from the Digimon Seekers web novel. While the official release was a bit disappointing, it wasn’t so bad once I fixed it up a bit. Regardless if you read the novel, there are some cards in this set you’re going to want in your collection.
TCG Player is having their May’s Mayhem celebration on May 17 where players can earn store credit on singles, booster boxes, and everything else TCG. If you’re planning on placing your preorder for Beggining Observer, I would wait till the 17th. The amount you can earn hasn’t been announced yet, stay tuned to learn more.
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The first chapter of Digimon Liberatorwas released on the official Digimon website, and Bandai has botched its release. If you can get the comic to load, it’s off to a strong start, but I gave up when it stopped loading halfway through. The comic is supposed to bring new people into the hobby with its compelling narrative, memorable characters, and story-inspired product. Unfortunately, botched releases like this continue to hurt the growth of the Digimon fandom. While long-time fans will find ways to struggle through the official content or find fan-driven alternatives, newer or casual fans will give up. I hope that Bandai listens to its fans enough to fix the comic moving better, but I read through Digimon Seekers and know better.
That said, the Digimon TCG is getting a Liberator themed set sometime in September, and we got some spoilers! The cards look sick! I was ready to give up on the comic, but after seeing some of these cards, I might struggle through or find an alternative.
Always support your LGS, but you can always pick up Digimon, like the upcoming Beginning Observerset on TCG Player through my affiliate links. If you enjoy these updates, 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 Battles Spirits Saga on my YouTube and TikTok.
Grand Archive has officially turned one! In celebration, the devs held a special celebration stream where they talked about the history of the game and had fun with the community. As someone just picking up Grand Archive, it was cool to see the history as well as the passion from both the devs and the community. You can check out the VOD of the steam on the official Grand Archive TCG YouTube.
The anniversary also marks the beginning of spoiler season for the upcoming Mercurial Heart set hitting stores on May 17. There are a lot of spicy spoilers that have me reaching for my wallet. Silvie is getting some amazing support with this set there is going to be a good amount of Tristan to keep fans happy. This round of spoilers definitely has me reaching for my wallet. I can’t wait to see what else they show at Worlds. Preorder Mercurial Heart today!
Silvie, Slime Sovereign
Tristan Shadowdancer
Other Spoilers
Conclusion
Worlds will also act as the official debut of Mercurial Heart, which means we’re getting more spoilers! I can’t wait to see how the meta is defined for worlds, and what else this Grand Archive has in store. If you want to pick up any Grand Archive, like the new Alchemical Revolution set, pick it up on TCG Player through my affiliate links.
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World Beyondis officially live on the Akora website. If you’re trying to get into Akora, this is a solid set to start with. The set will include some exclusive promos you’re going to want to get your hands on. While I enjoy the cozy vibes of the older sets, this new set has some art cards I want in my collection. Too bad I don’t get paid till Tuesday. Stock is still available, but it is limited. Act before they’re gone!
You can find out more details about World Beyond from the official website and Discord. I’ve also collected all the spoilers in a post for those who want it. If you enjoy these updates, please leave a like, comment, and share this with your friends. Don’t forget to follow the socials. I am opening packs of Spellbound Wings on my TikTok and YouTube.
I was sent a free copy of the Dragonbane Bestiary 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 of the supplement. If you enjoy my reviews, please leave a like, comment, and share this with your friends. Don’t forget to follow the socials!
The Dragonbane Bestiary is beautiful. I have always been a huge fan of the art for this game, and this is no exception. The pages are nice and make it feel like you’re flipping through an old monster manual or reading an old storybook. I know you can get away with using the PDF instead but flipping through the book just hits differently.
What is it?
The Bestiary is a supplement. You will need the Dragonbane rulebook to run the adventure, but the Bestiary is optional. This is meant to be a resource for the GM who needs a little help with their next campaign. The book introduces nine new playable races, 63 new creatures, and a handful of adventure hooks. There is also a decent amount of lore and beautiful illustrations to flip through. If you love Dragonbane and need some new ideas for your campaign, it’s a solid resource.
The Art
Sample Pages
Impressions
I loved running Dragonbane at my table, and the Bestiary brought some nice flavor and variety. I don’t think you need the Bestiary to run a successful Dragonbane, but it is nice to have. I like having stat blocks available, and the adventure hooks are a nice bonus. It certainly gave me a good amount of ideas to build from. I think it is worth it if your adventure calls for it, my campaign certainly did.
If you’re looking for a way to spice up your next Dragonbane campaign, go pick up the Bestiary. You can pick up the PDF for $19.99 on DriveThru RPG, or you can pick up a physical copy for $39.99 on Amazon using my affiliate link.
World Beyond has officially been announced, which means we have a few new spoilers to get excited about. World Beyond will be the first direct-to-consumer set, which is an exciting development. Collectors should especially be excited because there are some beautiful cards you’re going to want to get your hands on. World Beyond will release with two new theme decks, a collectors box, and a blister pack. The set breakdown:
9 NEW Akora Chains
9 Full Art Akora
10 Full Art Alchemy
10 Full Art Battlezones
41 Holographic Akora/Alchemy Cards
10 Holo Relic Shards
100 Mechanically Unique Cards
9 Stage 1 Akora Extended Art Box Toppers
10 Character Relic Shards
18 Stage 2 & 3 Extended Art Akora
9 Stage 2 Extended Art Akora
9 Stage 3 Extended Art Akora
2 Serialised Generational Rare Akora
1 Serialised Box Topper
Ancient & Secret Rare Cards (Limited to 5 copies each)
Make sure you join the official Akora Discord if you want to stay on top of all the news. Check out the official post for all the details.
Collectors Box
The World Beyond collectors box will be up for preorder on April 26. There will only be 100 of these available, so make sure you get yours before it is too late. Collector boxes will include new exclusive art rares, and they are beautiful. These will look amazing in a binder and are a fantastic way to bling out your deck.
The Buy a Box Promo card has also been announced, and it is beautiful. I am a huge fan of the Akora artwork, and it continues to blow me away.
2 New Theme Decks
Conclusion
I can’t wait to see more spoilers, but I am excited. I might at least get the decks to play with, but I’ll have to see how much money I can get together by then. If you want to pick up any Akora to begin your collection, pick it up on TCG Player with my affiliate links. If you enjoy these updates, please leave a like, comment, and share this with your friends. Don’t forget to follow the socials! I am doing daily pack openings of Spellbound Wings on my TikTok and YouTube.
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 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.
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.
I was sent a free copy of Mutant: Year Zeroto 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.
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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 Zerois 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.
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.
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.
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Ascent Worlds is coming to Las Vagas on May 11 to the 12th. It will be an exciting time for fans of the competitive scene, I can’t wait to see what deck comes out on top. Tickets are still available.
Recently, Weebs of the Shore announced the Path of Silver event that will also be happening at Worlds. Collectors will have a chance to compete for some exclusive promos without having to play the game. This is fantastic news for those who aren’t good at the TCG or collectors of the game and still have a chance at some of the beautiful promos Weebs of the Shore hands out as prizes.
How it Works
The competition is limited to 200 participants. Participants must build a 50-card deck from their collection. You can look up the card value on the official database. A special multiplier will be announced during the day of the competition to shake things up. The person with the most points wins. You must submit your list through Omnidex before the event and have the physical card on hand. Make sure you have an account. Check the official post for the full details.
Top Prize Promo
These promos are so cool, and they’re going to look even better in person!
Catagory Prize Promos
Mystique
Ferocity
Valor
Conclusion
This is a very cool idea to encourage collecting. I like that it rewards collectors who want to enjoy the game, but don’t want to dip into the competitive scene. The multiplier is an interesting idea for making the contest a little less pay-to-win, but I have to see it in action first.
The contest has some solid prize support, so make sure you go through your collection and get out there. Always support your LGS, but if you need Grand Archive singles for the competition, you can always pick them up on TCG Player through my affiliate link.
If you enjoy these updates, please leave a like, comment, and share this with your friends. Don’t forget to follow the socials! I’m doing pack openings of Battle Spirits Saga on my TikTok and YouTube.
