5th Annual Clallam County Magic: the Gathering Championship 2016

The Annual Clallam County Magic: the Gathering Championship took place on 8/20/16.  This year Anime Kat and Mark’d Body Art were the sponsors.  We had a good turn out for our small town.  A total of 17 players competed to win a part of the prize pool valued at over $1,000.  Big prizes include a booster box of Eternal Masters and a certificate for a tattoo at Mark’d Body Art.

There was a nice variety to the decks this year.  Final standings were:
1. Evan – Merfolk
2. Casey – R/G Tron
3. Connor – Dredge
4. Dan – Infect
5. Joey – Abzan Company
6. Dillon – Esper Control
7. Joel – R/G Tron
8. Jake – Living End
9. Kyle – G/B Elves
10. Colin – Storm
11. Travis – Mono Red Artifacts
12. Conan – Mono Black Demon
13. Tyler – Pillow Fort
14. Marcus – Bogles
15. Will – Mono Red Goblins
16. Troy – Soul Sisters
17. Ben – W/U Knight Control

Watch the final match between Evan and Connor.

Watch our award presentation.

 

Game Review: Infinity the Game

By Drew

Infinity is the first Featured Game of the Month for Anime Kat, and with that, the first game to get a review.

Background
This is a miniature hobby game where players buy 28mm high metal miniature model kits, paint them, and then play the game.  From their website: “Infinity is a tabletop wargame in which sci-fi themed miniatures are used to simulate futuristic skirmishes.

Infinity recreates Direct Action operations, high-stakes missions in the battlefront or behind enemy lines, where victory or death are a trigger pull away.  Players command a small group of elite soldiers, chosen for their adequacy to the mission parameters at hand.  Each battle calls for a different composition, and building an effective team from hand-picked members of different regiments is key to a successful operation.

Infinity is a groundbreaking, dynamic system that allows you to make meaningful, fun choices throughout the entire game sequence, and gives you the tools to implement any number of strategies with realism and flexibility.”

Initial Thoughts
I really enjoy Infinity.  There are currently 8 factions with their own play styles.  The art style is very anime/manga inspired.  Unlike some miniature games, the scale of your force is smaller.  An Infinity player typically has between 5 and 10 units to his or her side.  Aside from being tactically more manageable, it also means players don’t need to purchase as many models to play making the game more affordable.  With the mechanics, there is no waiting for your opponent to finish before you can do anything.  Your units can respond to actions taken by your opponent while it’s your opponent’s turn.  There is really no down time for either player.  You don’t have to wait until it’s your turn to shoot back at your opponent.

Review
You may not agree
Pros: Inexpensive (a good starting army is $55 and the rule book is legally available online for free), Both players are active (you still have options of play when it’s your opponents turn), Interesting mechanics (hackers, camo, mechs, paratroopers, minelayers, and more), Smaller army force, the rules are less complex than many other miniature war games

Con: Metal models (makes kit bashing more difficult), not all named units have a representative model, Smaller army force (there are no real vehicles except for mechs)

Final Thoughts
Regardless of if you are an existing miniature wargaming fan or new to the hobby, Infinity is a good game to try out.  The relatively low cost of the models, free access to the rule book, and the less complex rule set of other miniature games makes Infinity one of my favor miniature games.

Nomad faction Starter Pack

Hang With Garruk; Win a Box of M15

Hey everybody.  We just finished a contest that ran from the release of the Magic 2015 Core set until last Saturday’s Magic Game Day.  The contest was simple:

1. Take a picture with the cutout of Garruk in the store
2. Post it directly to Anime Kat’s Facebook page
3. Tag yourself and anyone else in the picture
4. Add Anime Kat as the location tag for the post
5. Share the post with anyone you know.

The person with the most “Likes” would win a free box of M15.  6 of our players took the challenge and with a commanding finish of 48 “Likes,” Greg won!  Congratulations Greg with your impressive photo with Garruk.

Anime Kat’s Move to a Larger Store

It’s been two months since our last article.  We’re very, very sorry for the long delay, but we were busy in the store.  Since May of 2013, we’ve been looking for a larger location.  We outgrew our 1,000 square foot store.  It was getting harder and harder to host events, and there were products we wanted to carry (I’m looking at you board games) that we had no room for.

We had a few requirements for a new location.  We wanted a location that was at least twice the size of our last one.  It needed to be relatively square shaped to make it easier for us to keep track of everyone and everything when we’re working.  Lastly, we wanted to stay in downtown Port Angeles.

After looking for 8 months (including walkthroughs at 3 different locations), we found out that Trading Post (an antique store) in the same building as we were already in decided to move out in March of 2014 and switch to online sales only.  From January to March we prepared to move.  The entire month of March 2014 was mostly spent preparing to move.  On March 25, we received the keys to the new location and we had lest than a week for painting, building, moving, and set up (I didn’t want to pay rent on two locations at the same time).  On April 1st, 2014, we opened our new 2,100+ square foot store only two doors away from were we started exactly four years priors.  The following Friday, we hosted a grand reopening event and ribbon cutting.

Robynn and I would not have been able to move without the support of everyone we know.  Family, friends from work & church, frequent customers, and other people we can’t even think of right this second helped us.  They helped us in more ways that we can think of: emotionally, physically (so much painting and moving), financially (thanks for buying stuff from us during the last 4 years), and other ways.

Robynn and I thank all of you for the support, and hope for continued support in the years to come.

The beginning.

The beginning.

The beginning.

The beginning.

The painting.

The painting.

The painting.

The painting.

The painting.

The painting.

The painting.

The painting.

The painting.

The moving.

The moving.

The moving.

The moving.

The moving.

The setup.

The setup.

The setup.

The setup.

The setup.

The finished store.

The finished store.

The finished store.

The finished store.

The grand reopening.

Born of the Gods Prerelease

The second set of Magic the Gathering’s Theros block is Born of the Gods.  On February 1st and 2nd, players got to participate in a prerelease event where they were able to play with the newest cards before they are released on February 7th.  Born of the Gods is a smaller with only 165 cards.  The set introduces a new planeswalker: the blue/green Kiora, the Crashing Wave.  As a continuation of the Theros’ gods, the set also introduces the ten demigods of Theros.  The demigods are dual-colored and uses their controller’s devotion to both of the demiogods’ colors.  Born of the Gods will feature five of them with allied-color combinations while Journey Into Nyx (the final set of the block) will feature the remaining five.

We want to thank everyone that came out to the store for the prerelease event.  A special thanks to the players who came to our Sunday event (Go Seahawks).  Hopefully, next year Wizards of the Coast won’t schedule the prerelease during Super Bowl weekend.

Anime Kat Supports the Seattle Seahawks with Free Booster Packs

Greetings and salutations.  It’s been 2 months since our last entry.  The holiday season is a busy time for everyone, and we wanted to wait until things slowed down a bit.  But, things aren’t slowing down; they’re speeding up.  Last week’s Yu-Gi-Oh! Sneak Peak started off 4 weeks straight of card game weekends at Anime Kat.  In the middle of all  that is the Born of the Gods prerelease event on February 1st and 2nd.

What else is on the 2nd of February…the big game!  All season Anime Kat has supported the Seattle Seahawks.  If you listen to the radio coverage of the Seahawks’ games on Twilight 96.7, you’ve hear Anime Kat and Mark’d Body Art‘s joint radio ads. (If you haven’t, feel free to listen to the ad here).  You may have noticed we were closed during the Saints and Seahawks playoff game (we were at the game!)

Now, we are giving a gift to other fans.  If you play in any of our three Born of the Gods prerelease events (Feb. 1 & 2) in Seahawks colors or team apparel we will give you a voucher valid during the release weekend for a free pack of Born of the Gods.  That’s right.  Get a free booster pack for supporting the Seahawks.  Only at Anime Kat.  Go HAWKS!

Tanksgiving 2013 at Anime Kat

On Sunday November 10, 2013, Anime Kat hosted our very first “Tanksgiving” event.  Tanksgiving is a Warhammer 40k event.  Each participant in the Tanksgiving event fought in a free-for-all vehicle battle against all other participants.  When a player’s vehicle was destroyed they re-spawned from any table edge on their next turn.  When the game ended prizes where awarded based on points. (1pt-immobilized enemy, 2pt-killed enemy, 3pt-killed enemy by ramming, 5pt-killed enemy Super Heavy).  Players also got 10 points for getting the Tanksgiving Cup from the center of the board and successively leaving the battlefield with it.

We had 9 players for our event with some interesting choices of vehicles and obvious winners and losers.

1. Duke – 37 points – Ork Stompa
2. Jeff – 13 points – Imperial Guard Baneblade
3. Carlton – 12 points – Reaver Titan
4. Brandon – 10 points – Chaos Space Marine Helbrute
5. Ben – 6 points – Chaos Space Marine Helbrute
6. Brian – 6 points – Tau Hammerhead Gunship
7. Kieth -5 points – Necron Triarch Stalker
8. Drew -1 points – Space Marine Land Raider Crusader
9. Marcus -0 points –  Ork Bommer

The mighty Ork Stompa took out the mightier Reaver Titan half way through the game.  The Stompa was the only model to take down the Titan.  While Marcus’s Ork Bommer didn’t score any points, it is very important to note that he had the most assists.  It was his craft exploding into flames twice that allowed Duke’s Ork Stompa to pick up the trophy twice and scoring 20 points.

The combatants line up on the store’s brand new Citadel Realm of Battle Gameboard

The Stompa takes on the Titan and wins.

An Ork Bommer lines up for a bombing run.

An Ork Bommer takes on a Titan and fails.

Magic the Gathering Commander Event at Anime Kat

On Saturday, 11/9/13 Anime Kat hosted its first Commander Tournament.  According to Wizards of the Coast, Commander (sometimes called “Elder Dragon Highlander”) is a multiplayer Free-for-All game in which any number of players compete against each other as individuals.  It’s played with the Singleton format (in other words, except for basic lands, each card in your deck must have a different name), and each player starts with a life total of 40 rather than the usual 20.  Most importantly, the centerpiece of each deck is a legendary creature that serves as that deck’s commander.

To build a deck, you first choose a legendary creature, called a “commander” or “general,” then construct a Singleton deck around it containing exactly 99 other cards. Only cards of the commander’s color(s) and colorless cards may be included in the deck.

Appropriately enough for a format named after the legendary creature that’s leading your team, your commander works differently from other cards in the game.  Before the game begins, each player removes his or her commander from the game.  You may play your commander from the command zone (no matter how it got there) for its normal costs plus an additional {2} for each previous time it has been played this way.  If your commander would go to the graveyard or the exile zone from anywhere, you may put it into the command zone instead . In addition to the normal Magic loss conditions, if a player is dealt 21 points of combat damage from a single commander over the course of the game, that player loses the game!  Currently, MTG Commander hosts the complete rules for the format.

For our event, we ran 2 rounds (which turned into 3).  All players were divided up into 3 groups for the first round.  The winner of each group went on to play all other winners in a second round.  Because of a great play by Mike,  he and one other player lost simultaneously in the second round forcing a draw.  They went on to a third round were Mike was the last person standing.

Fighting to win Round 1

Fighting to win in Round 2

Breimh’s Anime Review: Angel Beats!

By Breimh

Otonashi is a boy on the verge of manhood, living in the afterlife, with no memories of his life before his death. He joins a school organization called the SSS whose mission is to fight against going into the realms that lay beyond and those who rule them.

Released in 2010 by Aniplex, this is one I highly recommend, and give it 4 of 5 stars.

When I first began watching, the animation looked great, but I had reservations about the story and just where it was heading. (The bloodshed and violence at the start made me think it was going to be just another slasher-type anime, really.) But there were mysteries that intrigued me, and some great comedy that had me laughing out loud, so I continued.

Am I glad I did! This was a magical, tragic but wondrous ride with a cast of characters that made me both happy and sad to see where their adventures would lead them. Beautiful, melodious and filled with as many touching moments as action and comedy. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a well-rounded story with suburb animation.

Halloween Port Angeles 2013

Greetings ghouls and gals!  Every year, the downtown Port Angeles merchants pause their normal day to day activities to pass out candy to all the trick or treaters downtown.  Thousands come downtown to trick or treat in the safe and familiar downtown stores.  This year Anime Kat gave out almost 2,200 pieces of candy and Magic: the Gathering cards (we track how much candy we give out).  We want to thank all of the kids and parents who stopped by our store for candy and a thank you to the fellow businesses to gave out candy.  Happy Halloween to all!

Queen Paula is in charge of handing out candy and Magic: the Gathering cards.

Waiting for candy and Magic: the Gathering cards.

Trick or Treating in downtown Port Angeles.

Trick or Treating in downtown Port Angeles.

Trick or Treating in downtown Port Angeles.