Unseen Forces Pre-release!

Yeah baby, at last a little action.

Sarah and I were sooooo bummed when we realized we couldn't go down to the Pokemon World Championship in San Diego this month because her play is in production that weekend. Arg! But she's got a couple of good roles in this play and we like to support her in this endeavor, which is considerably more important in the long run, than is Pokemon. ...I think...

So there we are, all bummed out and heading over to Eight Ball for a couple of packs of cards as salve on the wound. We figured the Unseen Forces stuff was out, and even though we'd missed the pre-release, we could go pick up some cards, and see what the new theme deck had in store for us. But ho! The young lady who runs the store, and finds it highly amusing that I buy cards, told us that the release was moved forward to August. Delayed. Not yet released. More bummer news.

That sent me running to the official Pokemon Official Play website to see when the pre-release event would be held and whether or not we might still be able to find one in our area. Yesh! August 13th in Irvine at the Atrium Hotel, just like always. I pre-reg'ed us, and we're are ready to rock 'n roll. Sarah is going to ask her friend, Makenna, if she'd like to come along too. Makenna had been a new member of the gym just before the gym lost its lease, so to speak.

I don't know that much about the official, hardcore culture of TCG, but I do find it interesting that they would release a new theme deck only a week before Worlds. Isn't that just going to mess people up nicely! And of course, EX Emerald was only just released in last month; master decks are out too. Man, it's a wild and wooly scene...if you have some cash. I wonder if most Worlds decks will be old school.

I love pre-releases because you have to think fast and work with odds 'n ends of cards randomly given to you. I also love the loosely connected culture of regional people that you only see at events. You feel you know them, from playing a day of cards, and their faces are familiar. I expect we'll see the San Diego college kids, very funny, full of swagger and yet able to laugh at themselves when they don't do as well as they should. They go to several pre-releases to score lots of cards before they hit the store shelf. There will be the little kids from the Orange County who usually win something in their age category. They come with their dad who reads outside. Maybe we'll see the family (an older woman and two sons in their 20s, I think) that drives down from somewhere like Bakersfield. I wonder if the Team Magma kids will be there.

Meanwhile, there's scant online info about the new deck, because of course pre-release is just that, before the general commercial release. We'll have to wait a couple of weeks for the big theme decks and booster packs to hit the stores.

Stay tuned for a report from Unseen Forces Pre-release Event.