I'm an art student at St. Mary's College. In one of the art labs, we have access to copies of ArtNEWS magazine (one of the oldest and most popular art magazines) dating back to 1930. I was looking at one from 1950 and found this:
What does that look like? Keep in mind that Tajiri started working on Pokémon in 1991. I showed this to some people at my league who pointed out it even has the right number of them (i.e. you can hold up to six Pokémon in the video games and have up to six in play in the TCG)!
This seems to be one of the artist's earlier pieces. I cannot seem to find any references to it at all online. I remember this being from a 1950 issue of ArtNEWS, but my memory could be off a bit. If anyone does happen to know the correct year of this work, please correct me. His webpage can be found here.
More Invites Will Be Given Out At the Pokémon TCG World Championship LCQ
The Last Chance Qualifier tournament gives Pokémon TCG players one final opportunity to the make the cut to compete in the 2008 Pokémon TCG World Championships. This intense tournament takes place the day before the World Championships, and Pokémon Organized Play has just increased the number of invites that are on the line.
Before this announcement, only the top four players in each division were eligible to receive invitations to compete. Now, the top 16 finishers in the Junior and Senior Divisions and the top eight finishers in the Masters Division will receive invitations to compete in the Pokémon TCG World Championships on Saturday, August 16th.
If you didn't earn an invitation to compete at Worlds, why not give it one more try at the Last Chance Qualifier tournament? If things go your way, you could find yourself competing against the best players in the world at the 2008 Pokémon TCG World Championships!
Computer Trouble and Shameless Promotion of Advertisers
I was hoping to have the latest episode of the SoMD PTCG Podcast up a few hours ago. However, my Dell 4600C Desktop has a piece-of-junk proprietary fan that failed while I was using it for no apparent reason.
However, I can still post news items as long as I have access to a computer and can get on the internet. I just went on ebay and ordered a fan, so it should be here in a few days.
Until then, listen to previous episodes of the SoMD PTCG Podcast if you haven't already. And vote for us in order to put us higher on the Podcast Alley ratings. It would be appreciated. The more votes we receive, the more aware I am that we have fans and that we are appreciated. In other words, the more votes we get on Podcast Alley, the higher the chances of us continuing this show into the future. And remember, if you have something you'd like to advertise in the podcast, send the webmaster an e-mail. That is a great way to help us out.
Episode 17 will be up when I can get my computer fixed.
...Speaking of ebay, ebay is a great place to buy Pokemon single cards! Go to the Aardvark store on ebay (there is an ad on this page that links to it). You can find plenty of Pokemon single cards, as well as commons in sets of four. Due to a recent stepping up of their efforts, the store is now one of the top stores on ebay (if you search for "Pokemon" stores, Aardvark's shows up on the first page!). A supermajority of the cards from the Diamond & Pearl sets are available on this store. Aardvark is an advertiser, and you can be one too- just click on the advertise link!
...while I'm at it, I am also an advertiser (nkirkpatrick.com). I am looking for work. If you or anyone you know is in need of graphic design services (or even a little web design) check out nkirkpatrick.com.
I know that some players from SoMD will be going to the World Championship in Orlando. I will not, but I would like to have photos of the event. That's where you come in! Were you invited to Worlds? Going to the Last Chance Qualifier or any of the other great events they have in addition to the World Championship? Please take photographs. I would love to add them to the Photos/Videos section. Videos would be nice too.
Speaking of photographs, I received some photographs of US Nationals 2008, which I hope to upload by Thursday. Someone also gave me video, so that will be added to the website as well.
We now have a date for the LA Prerelease. Here's the info:
:::Lusby Legends Awakened Prerelease::: Aardvark Videos, Comics, and Games 300 Clubhouse drive Lusby, MD 20657 August 10, 2008, 12:00pm
Entry Fee $25
If you have any questions about this event, feel free to reply to this post or send an e-mail to ninetales1234@hotmail.com.
From the POP website:
Frequently Asked Questions
What are Pokémon TCG: Diamond & Pearl—Legends Awakened Prerelease tournaments?
Pokémon TCG: Diamond & Pearl—Legends Awakened Prerelease tournaments allow players to receive and play with cards from the upcoming Diamond & Pearl—Legends Awakened expansion up to two weeks prior to the official release date of the set!
Participation prizes are awarded to all finishers in each of three age divisions (Junior, Senior, and Masters).
Prerelease events are operated by independent Tournament Organizers across North America.
When are the Pokémon TCG: Diamond & Pearl—Legends AwakenedPrerelease tournaments?
Pokémon TCG: Diamond & Pearl—Legends Awakened Prerelease tournaments are being held from August 9th through August 24th. Stay tuned for a detailed list of tournament times and locations.
The admission charge includes 6 booster packs of Pokémon TCG: Diamond & Pearl—Legends Awakened, from which each player will build his or her deck. These cards are yours to keep after you complete the event.
How much does the event cost?
Tournament Organizers charge a minimum $25 fee for these events.
The admission charge includes 6 booster packs of Pokémon TCG: Diamond & Pearl—Legends Awakened, from which each player will build his or her deck. These cards are yours to keep after you complete the event.
What do I need to know?
Bring your POP ID, if you have one. If you don't have a POP ID, one will be given to you at the event.
Make sure you arrive on time. If you are late for registration, you may not be able to play in the event.
To participate in the event, you must be a player in good standing and abide by the Tournament Rules.
See the Legal Notice for certain eligibility requirements and other information, including information concerning limitations on Pokémon USA, Inc.’s liability.
What is the tournament structure?
The tournament is run using the Limited Format and Age-Modified Swiss pairings. If attendance is appropriate, some Organizers may choose to run straight Swiss pairings. See the Pokémon Tournament Rules for information about the Limited Format and Swiss. The number of Swiss rounds to be run will depend on total attendance at the event.
In addition to the standard Prerelease tournament structure, some Diamond & Pearl—Legends Awakened Prerelease events offer the more casual Theme Deck Challenge.
For the Theme Deck Challenge, registration costs are the same as for the standard event, but players receive a theme deck from Diamond & Pearl—Legends Awakened to play in the event. At the end of the event, all participants receive 4 booster packs.
The Theme Deck Challenge uses standard Swiss pairings, not Age-Modified Swiss.
What are the prizes?
All participants will receive a Pokémon TCG: Diamond & Pearl—Legends Awakened Prerelease promo card and a Diamond & Pearl—Legends Awakened promotional item, while supplies last.
In addition, all players who complete the event will receive 2 additional booster packs of Diamond & Pearl—Legends Awakened.
All Prereleases count toward your Pokémon Player Rewards credits. Click here for information regarding the Player Rewards program.
The results of Prereleases do not count toward a player’s Premier Rating.
What happens after the tournament?
After the tournament ends, the Tournament Organizer will submit the tournament results to Pokémon USA, Inc.
What are the chances of getting two heads if you flip six coins? Three heads if you flip four coins? One heads if you flip seven coins? It's all here, in the Coin-Flipping Probability document.
Check it out! There are four players from the area going to the 2008 World Championship! Congrats to Jacob LeJeune, Steven Yun, Michael Pramawat, and Dean Nezam. We will be sure to provide you all with coverage of how they perform. August 16-17th!
New card scans! Expect the entire set of MD to be posted tomorrow. It seems that the DP scans on this site are not 100% of the set. Expect that to change within the next few days.
I am going to get US Nationals photos up this Sunday. I only have photos from one person, but was hoping to get some more.
The seventh Diamond & Pearl set, Intense Fight in the Destroyed Sky, contains a reprint of the Charizard evolution line from Base Set. This reprinted version is better than the original, as it requires the player to discard 2 fire energy instead of 2 fire energy cards. Looks like this card will combo well with Double Colorless Energy! Click the thumbnail to see the larger image.
I plan on uploading Photos of the US National Championship soon.
I looked at the Ratings page from POP. Congrats to Jacob Lejeune, who is the only SoMD player who will be invited to the World Championship through Premier Ratings. If you see him, be sure to congratulate him. This is not all. There are a few players from SoMD that plan on going to the World Championship Last Chance Qualifier. If they make it through that, we may have some more of "our" players competing in Worlds.
We just received a tournament report from Peter Miles, the winner of St. Mary's City Championship 2007, Mechanicsville Battle Road Autumn 2007, and MD State Championship 2008. Go to the "tournament reports" section to check it out!
