The Fincastle Pokemon Gym and Dark Moon Cards & Games have got several new videos up to kick off 2020. Check them out!
Alolan Sandslash GX box review
Discussion of new TCG rules w/Sword & Shield
Enjoy the videos and see you at the Gym!
The Fincastle Pokemon Gym and Dark Moon Cards & Games have got several new videos up to kick off 2020. Check them out!
Alolan Sandslash GX box review
Discussion of new TCG rules w/Sword & Shield
Enjoy the videos and see you at the Gym!
The Fincastle Gym Leaders came back home from their trip to the 2018 Pokemon World Championships in Nashville, TN. Upon returning, we immediately had to pack up for GEXCON, in D.C. on the following weekend, so we are unfortunately delayed in getting this report out. While not competing in the main event, Gym Leaders Joel, Logan and Georgia did try their hand at the Nashville Open, a regional-level tournament held on Saturday. They were also there to cheer on Ridge and Anna Radtke, as they competed in their first Video Game World Championship. Overall the weekend was a really cool. There were a multitude of things to see, including a massive Mega Construx Blastoise accompanied by its previous forms, a diorama to end all dioramas, a decked out Pokemon Center full of unique things to buy and of course, lots of Nashville themed decorations throughout the hall. The weekend full of competitions had its strikes and gutters, ups and downs for The Gym. As the Dude once said, you know, sometimes you eat the bar, and, sometimes uh, you know…. Alas, The Gym abides. Continue reading
Comments Off on 2018 World Championships Recap & Photos From Nashville
Posted in Hee Haw's Generals, Pokemon Organized Play events
Tagged Fincastle Pokemon Gym, gym leader, pokemon trading card game, Standard Format, trading card game, video game tournament, World Championships
The Fincastle Pokemon Gym is proud to announce that two of its own are on their way to the 2018 Pokemon World Championships in Nashville, TN, this coming weekend, August 24th – 26th. Siblings Ridge and Anna Radtke have both qualified for the video game event in their respective age divisions. They are the charter members of The Gym’s team, Hee-Haw’s Generals, and are the first active members of The Gym to earn invitations to the event under the tutelage of its founders, Joel & Marthe Honts and their children, Logan and Georgia. Logan and Georgia have earned a combined 6 invitations to past World Championships, stretching back to 2011. In 2016, Georgia became the 1st from Fincastle to earn an invite to the video game event. Georgia, who qualified for both the trading card game and video game championships in 2016, was forced to choose between the two, ultimately picking the card competition. This year marks the first time local players will compete in the video game event. Continue reading
Comments Off on Fincastle’s Own “Generals” Ready For World Championships
Posted in Hee Haw's Generals, Pokemon Organized Play events
Tagged Blue Ridge Regional, Championship points, Fincastle Pokemon Gym, Nashville, regional championships, video game, video game tournament, World Championships
The goal of the Fincastle Pokemon Gym regarding league/premier challenges is to conduct one of each (TCG & VG) each month. Well, its March and unfortunately we’re busier than a cat covering poop on a marble floor this month. However, we do have a solution to help those chasing championship points not miss out on a chance in the month of March. While it’s not something that we intend to do often, this Sunday, we will host both challenges at the Gym. Registration for both events will take place at our regular time. We don’t want either event to fall short of the required number of players to make it official, as we have several trainers at the Gym that play both the TCG & VG. So, should it Continue reading
Comments Off on TCG & VGC Challenges This Sunday At Gym!
Posted in Pokemon Organized Play events
Tagged League Challenge, Premier Challenge, video game tournament
The challenges facing the “powers that be” at Pokemon vary from season to season. When it comes to deciding the format and rules for each year’s VGC season, those decisions are very consequential, as once they are released, that’s what you get for the entire year. There are no major shifts in the format like there are in the TCG as various sets are released throughout the year. Sometimes the VGC format is pretty wide open and sometimes it becomes painfully narrow. Two seasons ago, the addition of the “Primals” (Groudon and Kyogre) was devastating to the format, as it narrowed it so much that almost all of the top 32 teams at the Virginia Regional Championship were identical. Inversely, the 2017 season was much more open, seeing a much wider variety of teams take the top spots at events throughout the year. 2018 is here and so is the new Ultra Sun & Moon format. Each new season usually brings a surge of new players with it with the hopes that the season will provide a fun, different and creative environment for the players. While we can’t see the future, we like the 2018 format and its possibilities. Continue reading
Comments Off on January 2018 VGC Premier Challenge Results
Posted in Pokemon Organized Play events
Tagged Championship points, Fincastle Library, video game tournament, World Championships
The Fincastle Pokemon Gym took a well-deserved break following the Blue Ridge Regional Championships before diving into the task of sorting and putting away materials (which we did not complete until the end of last week). Following that, we did some data collecting from the event that we’d like to share with everyone. The Regional Championships exceeded our expectations and went as smoothly as any event that we’ve ever attended (more so than many). We know that those results would not have been possible without the strong response from players, fans and staff. We hope that all who attended were as satisfied with the weekend as we were. Now, we sit and wait and hope that we are awarded another Regional next year, a decision that is beyond our control. Should we be so lucky, we are already thinking of ways to improve upon and expand what we did this year. Only time will tell. Continue reading
Comments Off on 2017 Blue Ridge Regional Wrap Up
Posted in Blue Ridge Regional Championship
Tagged anime con, Berglund Center, Blue Ridge Regional, comic con, Cosplay, Fincastle Pokemon Gym, Play!Pokemon, pokemon live stream, pokemon trading card game, Pokken, regional championships, video game tournament
One of the first ideas that came to Gym Leader Joel upon learning in July of 2016 that we would host and organize Roanoke’s first-ever Regional Championships event was to develop a program to prepare trainers from our leagues for the tournament. Joel outlined the details for Hee-Haw’s Generals, the Fincastle Pokemon Gym’s juniors team, shortly after and waited for the response. And waited, and waited… and waited. The service that the Gym is offering is the same that many pay-to-view deck sites offer, for a fee of course, with one big difference. Our service does not cost a dime. We have several promising TCG prospects that are perhaps a bit young (5 & 6) for a day-long tournament. However, we did get a video game trainer who wanted to give the Regionals a whirl. While we feared that our first taker jumped in the game a little too late to properly prepare for the event, Gym Leaders Dean, Noah and Joel scrambled to help him gather a team together and then put the rest in his hands. Ridge R, now known to us as “The First General”, showed what a quick study he is. Ridge stepped up, practiced with his team and at the Blue Ridge Regional Video Game Championship, claimed 4th place, falling one match short of potentially winning the whole thing. Continue reading
Comments Off on Gym’s First General Takes 4th Place at Blue Ridge Regional
Posted in Blue Ridge Regional Championship, Hee Haw's Generals
Tagged Battle Fiesta, Blue Ridge Regional, Fincastle Gym Leaders, Top 4, top cuts, VGC Regionals, video game tournament
The next aspect of the Blue Ridge Regional Championships that we are going to look at is the planned TCG and VGC Side Events. Side events have been a staple of the Regional Championship format since we at the Fincastle Pokemon Gym have been playing the game. Typical “sides” have been 8-person, single elimination pods in formats ranging from Standard to Expanded to Theme Deck contests. In more recent Regionals, Day 2 (usually Sunday) has included a League Challenge. While these are great additions to the main events at these weekends, we are looking for (and have found) some great ways to expand those options and, in the process, bring you the 1st event of its kind on the east coast (maybe USA…, 1st that we’ve heard of anyway). The Battle Fiesta events are exciting new events for us to try out. We’ve read some amazing articles from American and European players that have been lucky enough to travel to Japan to compete in the real thing. Their tournament reports make for some fascinating reading. On both Saturday and Sunday, we will hold Japanese-style Battle Fiesta contests. Let us break down some details on all of these events. Continue reading
Comments Off on Blue Ridge Regional Championships – Battle Fiesta & Side Events
Posted in Blue Ridge Regional Championship
Tagged Battle Festa, Battle Fiesta, Blue Ridge Regional, Fincastle Library, pokemon trading card game, Pokken, regional championships, video game tournament
Yay, we have a computer again…. (can you hear the excitement in Gym Leader Joel’s voice?). In case you can’t tell, Joel is a real lover of technology… kind of in the same way that most people love skunks. We at the Gym are a little disturbed at how easily the loss of an electronic device (i.e. our laptop) can completely cripple one’s ability to carry out day-to-day tasks. That being said, our new computer (supposed to be “in-store” on the next day from the time of order) has arrived (now 6 days after the order date). The timing of this computer crash was bad for us at the Gym, as this Sunday’s video game tournament was to be our 1st Premier VG event. Gym Leader Marthe is frantically working to get “TOM” (the pokemon program used to manage and record tournaments) up and running on our new laptop. Once some vital data is transferred from our old hard drive, we’ll be good to go. However, that will not happen by this Sunday. Fear not… the tournament will still take place. Continue reading
Comments Off on Video Game Tourney Sunday 9/21!
Posted in Pokemon Organized Play events
Tagged video game, video game tournament