Electrogenesis/Dynamotor Electric Pokemon Standard Deck Tech

The Pokemon TCG, if you will excuse the pun, evolved over the years. What was once a top-tier, tournament winning deck is now easily swept aside. Part of this is due to power creep, but most is simply due to there being more options. There are two ways to handle this: continually tinker with your deck to make sure it remains viable, or make whatever you want because it sounds fun. I opted to do the latter.

Pokemon cards in play
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One Piece Trading Card Game from Bandai

Based on the long-running manga and anime, the One Piece Card Game released to a market hungry for the product. The game features an automatic resource mechanic more in line with digital ccgs like Hearthstone, albeit with a few extra tricks. Overall, what could have easily been a quick cash-grab game has several interesting designs. The Official Site has more information for new players.

One Piece card in mini snap holder in BCW Deck Case LX
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MHA Universus League of Villains Prerelease Tournaments

Prerelease tournaments for the newest MHA block release for Universus begin on on Feb 23rd and run through the release of the set on March 3rd. A list of stores participating can be found on the official site. These tournaments use the sealed format, which has different considerations than standard play.

To begin, each player receives 6 booster packs, which forms the available card pool to build your deck. Additionally, each player should get a promo card, which is also usable in the event. Where sealed differs from standard begins with deckbuilding. First, you ignore resource symbols on your cards; anything you pull can be used. Second, you ignore the 4 card limit. If you pull 6 copies of the same card, you can use all 6. This can open up a lot of interactions and decks that could never work in standard. Without further ado, here are my unsolicited and non-professional insights.

6 packs of the League of Villains set for Universus
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Interlocking Card Frames

If you want to display your favorite sports or game cards on a wall, BCW Interlocking Card Frames are an amazing system. Each frame has a black border and looks great individually, but it’s the interlocking system that makes these frames special. With the turn of two screws, each frame can connect with a neighboring frame, allowing you to form a grid for however many cards you want to display.

Flesh and Blood cards in Interlocking Card Frames
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Collecting the My Hero Academia CCG

On October 15th, North America saw the release of the My Hero Academia card game, based on the hit anime and manga series. The game uses the UniVersus system to replicate fast head-to-head fighting action. The system has its roots in the Universal Fighting System series released in 2006. The name was changed as the game stopped focusing exclusively on fighting games like Street Fighter and Soul Calibur and used properties ranging from the Mega Man to Cowboy Bebop.

Players select a character to build their deck around. Players build foundations and assets, use action cards, and unleash attacks to try to reduce the opponent to 0 life. Each card has a difficulty printed on it and success is determined by putting the top card of the player’s deck into the discard pile, hoping for a check number that is equal or higher than the difficulty. A successfully played card remains in the staging area, increasing all other card difficulties by 1. For more information, check the resources page.

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Protecting and Storing Your Flesh and Blood Cards

Released in October 2019 by Legend Story Studios, Flesh and Blood quickly became a smash hit, appealing to both players and collectors. The first game by the studio, Flesh and Blood is proving to be one of the most exciting new releases in recent memory.

At the most basic, Flesh and Blood is a dueling game. Players represent one of several unique heroes, use various equipment, and exchange attacks until one player deals the fatal blow. On the surface, the game is deceptively simple, but as you dig deeper into the mechanics, the complexity grows without becoming overwhelming. A quick how to play video can be found below.

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Protecting Dragon Ball Super Cards

Fans of Bandai’s Dragon Ball Super Card Game – Are you looking for the best sleeves to show off and protect your deck? Give BCW Elite2 Gloss Deck Guards a test and you’ll agree these sleeves are your best value. These sleeves have a textured back, that other companies call matte finish, with a clear glossy front to make your DBS cards pop. So if you’re playing with starter Broly, milling players out with Janemba, or just smashing the format with Super Shenron Storm, protect your cards with BCW Elite2 Gloss Deck Guards at your next event.

Dragon Ball Super decks use 50 cards, with a 15 card sideboard. BCW Deck Cases LX, with the flip-top lid, are the appropriate size to protect a DBS deck. Larger Deck Vaults are also available for 80, 100, or 200 sleeved cards.
DBS cards with Deck case LX and elite2 sleeves

Introducing Elite2 Deck Guards

To keep gaming cards in good condition, BCW’s standard Deck Guards are a great value. In 2017, we introduced Elite Deck Guards for players that demanded thicker sleeves for better durability and better protection for their cards. While BCW is proud of the quality of Elite Deck Guards, we received feedback from Team BCW and the gaming community, suggesting refinements. This evolution has led to our next generation of premium card sleeves – Elite2 Deck Guards.

As with the previous Elite Deck Guards, the Elite2 versions have a nice textured back that’s great for shuffling. Strong seams will keep the layers welded together through numerous games. Team BCW members have not reported issues with sleeve splitting after using Elite2 Deck Guards through several SCG Opens.

Elite2 Deck Guards are available in matte or gloss finish. This characteristic refers to the clear layer, not the colored layer. While the gloss sleeves present the card artwork and foil reflections best, you may prefer the matte finish sleeves to reduce glare.

We made the following refinements to Elite2 Deck Guards, based on feedback from the previous Elite Deck Guards:

Single BCW Elite2 deck guard

To ensure all Elite 2 Deck Guards are 100% opaque on the colored back layer, we added a blackout layer. This will make all colors of Elite2 Deck Guards tournament legal for games that demand you cannot view anything through the sleeves, such as Magic: The Gathering. This added blackout layer makes the Elite2 Deck Guards slightly firmer than the original Elites.

We added two millimeters to the height of Elite2 Deck Guards, as compared to the original Elites. This is to accommodate some brands of inner sleeves. While BCW Inner Sleeves fit perfectly inside standard Deck Guards and the original Elite Deck Guards, some inner sleeves from other brands are slightly taller. Adding the extra height to our Elite2 Deck Guards will allow all brands of inner sleeves to fit inside the sleeves appropriately.

We have increased the number of sleeves per package and now offer the Elite2 Deck Guards in packs of 100. The original Elite Deck Guards were only offered in packs of 80. The increased quantity is better for Commander players, or simply provides some extra sleeves.

Package of mulberry Elite2 matte sleeves

Elite 2 Deck Guards are available in Black, Blue, Red, Green, Teal, Cool Gray, and Mulberry, with more colors coming soon.

Elite 2 Deck Guards are a great value for premium card sleeves. Why pay more for great sleeves? Try our Elite2 Deck Guards today and see for yourself what a great value BCW offers.

While quantities last, the original Elite Deck Guards and other discontinued gaming accessories are available at 20% off their normal price.