Hey Gang! Well, some stupid Squadron Member had this retarded idea that he was gonna retire. Then, he starts thinking he's gonna take a vacation. Next thing you know, we miss last month's Galactic Update! Geez! What was he thinking!?! Well, here's a brief summary of what happened over the course of last month and the month before. Matt Sokol comes into DecipherCon, places 36th on Day 1 of the Star Wars CCG World Championship and then rides a whirlwind of victories to win Star Wars CCG Champion of the WORLD! Big industrial sized props goes out to Kevin Shannon for placing 4th during the World Championship... Todd Feldman, ever the reliable master, places 12th overall. Is Northern California the best? Well, we put two guys in the upper 12 spots at the World Championship... That tells you something. On October 25th the new Jabba's Palace Offical Tournament Sealed Decks (JPOTSD) released for public consumption. I'm heading over to 1st and 10 Sports cards to pick up my obligatory 2 boxes... The cards in these boxes are definitely no slouches, either! We get a ROps hoser out of Ounee Ta, a Honor Of The Jedi/ Enodr Local Uprising/ TR Mains hoser through No Escape. We also get a new Jabba, new (and really cool) Lando, and two new Objectives that gives Alien Representation and whole new meaning! Also, in late October we've finally started seeing some new cards from Young Jedi's new expansion set Duel Of The Fates! This set alone is going to redefine how we play Young Jedi. With new Starship rules, Effect usage and new Duelling Rules, this game is definitely not for the squeemish! Finally, in late October we're given the very first glipses of Jedi Knights, Decipher's newest and boldest incarnation or a Star Wars card game. Have you guys SEEN Gold 2?! All of this is done on computer, my firends! Kind of makes the art clowns at WoTC stand up and take notice! There's a "Be There First" sign up sheet for you guys to access. You can win a chance for some really great prizes (like a complete set of Jedi Knights or even an uncut sheet of Jedi Knights signed by the artists and designers who made the game!) Here's the address to go to: http://www.DECIPHER.com/jediknights/registration/ Now, a look at what's in store for us: >> Star Wars CCG- > Reflections II: Wonder what's gonna happen with the Shadows Of The Empire set? Wanna chance at some more cool foils cards? Decipher has the answer. Releasing sometime next month, I believe (because Tom Lischke noted in a Q&A session that R2 will release before Jedi Knights (and Jedi Knights released in December/ January)). Here's what you can expect: *** Each pack will contain: 1 New foil of a premium or rare card that has not previously been foiled 1 "literature" card (these are the cards that you would have seen in SOTE) 1 "combo" card the possibility of getting a Japanese card an assortment of product from previous expansions Cards that will be foiled will be from the following products (This is tentative--some cards from these sets may not make the final cut, but Decipher will make every effort to represent all these sets): Premiere - Death Star II Enhanced Premiere Enhanced Cloud City Enhanced Jabba's Palace Official Tournament Sealed Deck Rebel Leader Cards 3rd Anthology Premiere 2-player game Hoth 2-player game *** > Battle Of Endor: If you haven't had a chance to play in one of these Death Star II closed tournament formats, you'll have your chance coming on Nov. 19th. You know it's gonna be interactive and hecka exciting! Why? Well, look at where you're fighting! There's very little places to hide in this format... You've got Endor, the Death Star II and a few system locations... That's it. Now, you know there's gonna be a FIGHT! You could ask for this much excitement out of a game. > The Trilogy Tournament series: Starting next year, I will be offering you the chance to walk through time with me. I will be offering a special scenario style tournament format where you can experience each of the three movies through Star Wars CCG. Here's how it's going to work: January- April, 2001 will be A New Hope- Each month there will be one tournament where only cards from the Premiere and A New Hope expansions will be allowed (including several utility cards from other expansions). May- August, 2001 will be The Empire Strikes Back- Each month in this block will be one tournament where only cards from Hoth, Dagobah and Cloud City will be allowed (including the obligatory utility cards for balance). September- December, 2001 will be The Return Of The Jedi- Each month in this block will be one tournament featuring only cards from Jabba's Palace, Endor and Death Star II (including the utilities). Each of this tournaments will be sanctioned. I can sanctioned scenario tournaments per the tournie guidelines, so, you won't have to worry about missing out on chances to better your rankings. More information on this will be forth coming! I'm really excited about this type of scenario formats and I've been wanting to do something like this for a long time. I hope you'll all take a trip with me through the movies like this. >> Young Jedi CCG- > Duel Of The Fates: Just when you thought Young Jedi was a cute little game to pass the time with... DotF comes at you with both fists! New Dueling rules! You think you can hide your Qui-Gon Jinn behind a hord of Gungan patsies? Think again! Now, my Darth Maul can duel you! New Effect rules! Probably the most pivitol new rule for Young Jedi. The ability to go and grab an Effect of your choice when you start on a new planet is going to open up a lot of cool new possibilities. Just look at all of the Effects you have to work with. Many of these can dramatically change how you play the game. Each one strengthening your strategy or hurting your opponent. Starship rules! At least, now your starships aren't simply garbage in your hand for you to flush. Put 'em in hyperspace and finally make deck management mean something again. Duel of the Fates releases sometime this month. To celebrate, I will be holding a special Duel of the Fates Sealed Deck tournament. I will provide the starters all you have to do is get some DotF boosters. What do you say the grand prize is something like... A special boxed Epsiode 1 movie pack? Keep you eye out for more info when I learn of DotF's release date. >> Jedi Knights TCG- > Rebel Strike Team: I'm not sure if I can tell you this or not, but, I'm gonna blurt it out anyway. Right now, Decipher is taking names of people who would be interested in joining the new Jedi Knights volunteer group (called the Rebel Strike Team). If you were listening to the recent broadcasts of Radio Free Decipher, you heard Kyle Heuer mention a little about this. If you're interested in getting in on the ground floor with this great new game, email Jennifer Ketterman at Jennifer@decipher.com. Tell her you're interested in becomeing a Jedi Knights volunteer and give her your name, email address, and mailing address. She'll be able to help you out. >> DecipherCon West Coast- Well, I've talked about this a little bit several months ago. However, my financial position prevented me from making this a reality. Next year will be different! I'm going to announce, right now, that DecipherCon West Coast 2001 will be on December 1st, 2001. Set your calendars! More information, like location, events and pricing are on the way. >> Prize Support- Some of you out there have been whining about prizes. You know who you are. Well, I HEAR you! In addition to the T-shirt (even the backwards one that Alfred Dong has), the plaque and the signed Rebel Leader cards that you've come to know and love from me... I will be unvieling a new prize at my Nov 12th tournament. I will also have a new and improved T-shirt for you all to drool over. Here's how my new prize supprt scenario is going to work. 1st place will receive my new special prize (I'm not going to tell you what it is... You'll have to see it for yourself). 2nd place will receive the plaque. And the T-shirt will be randomly given to one of the players that finishes the tournament. This is all in addition to the wonderful Decipher provided prize support. >> Lightsaber Tournament- You bet I forgot about this didn't you. I am tentively scheduling Mike's "End 2000 with a bang" Lightsaber Tournament for Saturday December 30th. I think I might want to do it at either Kriers in Modesto ('Cause that place is just too cool!), or KK's in Pleasanton. Any preferences? Whew! Well, that's it for now. I'm sure I missed something, so, you'll most likely see a Mid-month Update. Until then! "Stay in Attack Formation!"