EX Sandstorm, Gameboy, and Other News

»Side Event Info for the EX Sandstorm Tournaments @ San Diego and Las Vegas: Thanks to PT&E1 from PokéGym, who is also the TO for the Las Vegas and San Diego EX Sandstorm tournaments, we now know more information on the side events:

Side Event: Booster Draft
Cost: $15
Players: All ages, 8 players per tournament
Format: Single elimination
Prizes: 1st = 8 Sandstorm packs, 2nd = 4 Sandstorm packs
Details: As long as we have 8 players who want to draft, we will have booster drafts going. Players will receive 5 Sandstorm boosters, will draft all 5 boosters, build a 40-card deck, then play for prizes.

Side Event: Constructed Tournament
Cost: $5
Players: All ages, no limit
Format: Single elimination
Prizes: Based on attendance, basically for every 8 players the prizes will be equal to those for booster drafts
Details: Legal sets include Expedition, Aquapolis, Skyridge, and EX Ruby & Sapphire–only cards from these sets are legal. There are no banned or restricted cards. Players must have a 60-card deck with no more than 4 of any one card except basic energy. Players will use 6 prizes. Build your best deck and come and play for prizes and glory!

Side Event: GBA Tournament
Cost: $0 (yes, there is no cost to enter)
Players: All ages, limited to 32 per tournament
Format: Single elimination, battle tower (same format as for R&S GBA rounds), must have GBA to play
Prizes: Based upon attendance
Details: Same rules as for R&S GBA rounds, including: 3 Pokemon of level 50 or lower; all different; all with different items; Groudon, Kyogre, and Rayquaza banned; and no altered cartridges. The time limit will be extended to 15 minutes with certain powers restricted after 13 minutes into the match. Feature match on GameCube/TV each round.

Side Event: Sealed Deck Tournament
Cost: $20
Players: All ages, no limit
Format: Swiss play, single age catagory
Prizes: Based upon attendance
Details: This event will start after the first flight is over; there will be only 1 age catagory; Promo card to all players (while supplies last); prizes based upon attendance; Same build and play rules as for Prerelease; Random booster drawing each round.

»EX Sandstorm Tournament Help: As everyone should know by now, unless you have been living under a rock or in a cave, I will be attending the EX Sandstorm pre-release tournament in San Diego. When I go, I will be bringing my scanner and laptop and hooking it up into a generator in the car. So, anyone who is going, I will be needing your help to scan the EX Sandstorm cards. After the tournament, I will be needing everyone’s help to get as much scans as possible, so I can post them here the next day and beat all the other websites. So, if you will be attending the San Diego tournament and want to help me scan the cards, e-mail me at [email protected] to discuss what I want to do. AND, if you help, I will post your names/nick names on this website for helping to scan and contribute the cards.

»Digital Animation Mistake: As I reported a few days ago, I stated that the Unknown G episode airing in a few weeks would be when the animators would begin to use digital animation for the TV episodes. Well, today when I was watching the Elekid episode on Kids WB, everything was in digital animation, as you can see with the pictures on the right. Thus, I was mistaken on when the digital animation would begin to show, which will be now and all of the future new episodes. Sorry for the incorrect information!

»Pokémon Center Gotta Catch ‘Em all Machine Giveaway: The Pokémon Center in New York will be having a three day promotion, starting today, featuring there Gotta Catch ‘Em all Machine. With this machine, you simply plug in your Ruby or Sapphire game cartridge and it automatically downloads Pokémon to your game. Usually, you have to wait one week to get a Pokémon downloaded to your game before you can get another, but for this giveaway, you will receive four Pokémon at one time! Now to the good stuff. After plugging in your game, you will receive two Gloom, one Pikachu, and one Staryu. But, that’s not even a third of the story. With the Pokémon will come an evolutionary stone! One Gloom will come with a Leaf Stone, the other Gloom will come with a Sun Stone, the Pikachu will come with a Lightning stone, and the Staryu will come with a Water Stone. But, that’s not even two thirds of the story! Each Pokémon will come at Level 50, which means they are ready for you to play in Battle Tower. All you really have to do is evolve them and you are fighting fit! The right shows a diagram that I made of the Pokémon, the stones they come with, and who they evolve into. Please excuse my drawing of the stones.

»More Info on the Onyx and Flame GBA SP’s: Remember how I reported two months ago that Nintendo would be releasing an Onyx and Flame GBA SP? Well, I just received in e-mail from Nintendo saying that it will be released on September 8th. There is really no other special information besides that they are Red and Black in color and are exactly the same as any other GBA SP. So, if you are interested in getting these colors, head down to your local Target or Toys R Us (We) store.

»Pokémon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire Review: Gamepro.com has created a review for Pokémon Pinball: R/S. The game got an excellent rating of a 4.5/5, and the person who wrote the review even said that if your not a PokéFan, the game has unusually satisfying gameplay, which means that the game is fun for everyone, PokéFan or not! To read the review, click here.

»Pokémon Celebrates it’s Fifth Anniversary in America!: In the year 1998, Pokémon first came to America and took off like a rocket. (In Japan, it came out in 1996) Now, next month will be the fifth anniversary that Pokémon came to America, and it will be celebrated at the last Eon Ticket Tour in Topeka, Kansas, which is tomorrow and was where it was first introduced to America! How long have you been involved in Pokémon? Personally, I became involved in it one month after it came out because, I spent the first month making fun of it because everyone was talking about it and I found it annoying. So, I have been a fan for five years. It seems like I just started to watch it yesterday. Anyways, to read the full press release from Nintendo, click here.

»New Shining Pokémon Action Figures: After the release of Pokémon action figures at the Pokémon Center in New York, a new series has come out! And these aren’t any normal action figures, they are painted to look like Shining Pokémon you can catch on your Gameboy games! For example, if you catch a Pikachu on Ruby or Sapphire, it’s usually a normal one with normal colors. But, if you happen to come across a Shining Pikachu, it is different colors and is more powerful than a normal one. So, these action figures are painted in a semi-glossy paint to look like a Shining Pokémon, and are painted so well that they actually shine when light hits them! Also, each action figure has it’s own special feature. The Blastoise on the right can shoot water from it’s cannons by hitting a button. And don’t worry, each action figure is made of high-impact plastic, so they are meant to be played with. To view more pictures of the Shining Pokémon figures, click here.

»News Archive: The August News Archive is now up! To view it, go to News Archive under PokéBeach in the left menu and click August, 2003.