July 2014 - RIW Hobbies

Volume 1, Issue 1—June 2014
RIW HOBBIES
SUMMONER
Tome of Knowledge
JULY IS BOARD GAME MONTH
CALANDAR
NEW RELEASES
Can't Beat The Heat? ... Come To RIW To Chill With Your
Friends And Play A Board Game Or Two.
FORUMS
EBAY STORE
FACEBOOK US
RIW is pleased to
announce that July is "Board Game
Month."
All
through
the
month of July RIW
will be a unique
board game every
day. Grab some
friends and come
on up to pass the
time with fun and
laughter. If you
cannot find someone to accompany
you don't worry
about it, we will
introduce you to a
fellow gamer who
is looking for another person to
join their group.
Don't know the
rules to the game?
It does not matter
if you are familiar
with the game or
not because we
will have instructors on-hand to
help guide you
through
your
BUY LISTS
CONTACT US
Inside this issue:
Bazinga!!
game.
If
the
game is at a balancing point our
instructors
will
either jump in or
sit out to ensure
a fun gaming exp e r i e n c e .
Specials
of
the month!


So c'mon down
and join in on the
f
u
n
.
Weekdays start
after 5PM. Weekends are all day!

15% off all board
games in stock!
25% off of the
board game of the
day!
20% off of a special
order of a game we
don’t regularly stock!
JULY IS BOARD GAME MONTH
1
BOARD GAME SCHEDULE OF
2
EVENTS
JULY EVENTS
3
RIW INDEPENDENCE WEEKEND
4
THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT
5
DEVON’S CORNER
6-8
NEW RELEASES
9
ABOUT US / NEWSLETTER
10
ANNUAL BOARD GAME MONTH
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
We are pleased to announce that July is our annual board game month. In the month of July we are
featuring a new board game every day. Everyone is invited to come up and enjoy the fun.
Have you ever wanted to play Netrunner but did not have anyone to play against; play Star Wars
Miniatures game but didn’t have the models; or, play Battlestar Galactica but thought it was too
complex? Have no worries, there will be someone on-site to instruct / run the game, so no experience is necessary. Come alone or with your friends, either way you are guaranteed a good time.
Below is the July schedule, look it over and plan your month of awesome games.
Hope to see you there.
~ July 2014 ~
◄ Jun 2014
Sun
Mon
Tue
1
6
7
Wed
2
Aug 2014 ►
Thu
3
Fri
Sat
4
5
ARE YOU A
WEREWOLF?
TERRA MYSTI- ALIEN FRONCA
TIERS
RACE FOR
THE GALAXY
CARCASSONNE
12
8
9
10
11
WARHAMMER DOMINION
DISKWARS
ROBINSON
CRUSOE ADVENTURE ON
THE CURSED
ISLAND
GAME OF
THRONES:
THE CARD
GAME
CASTLES OF
BURGUNDY
TZOLKIN: THE TICKET TO
MYAN CALAN- RIDE
DAR
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
BATTLESTAR
GALACTICA
ANDROID:
NETRUNNER
LORD OF THE AGRICOLA
RINGS: THE
CARD GAME
MUNCHKIN
DESCENT:
JOURNEYS IN
HE DARK
SETTLERS OF
CATAN
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
KING OF TOKYO
MAGE WARS
BETRAYL AT
HOUSE ON
THE HILL
THE RESISTANCE
STAR WARS X WARHAMMER 7 WONDERS
-WING: THE
INVASION
MINIATURES
GAME
27
28
29
30
31
DC COMICS
DECK BUILDING GAME
LORDS OF
WATERDEEP
STAR WARS:
THE CARD
GAME
PUERTO RICO LEGENDARY:
A MARVEL
DECK BUILDING GAME
Page 6
Notes:
Week night events will
start between 5and 6pm.
Weekend events will be
announced
WHAT… ALL DRESSED UP AND NOWHERE TO GO?
Here Are Upcoming Events Happening At RIW This Month.
July 2014
Sun
6
Mon
7
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
1
2
3
4
5
8
9
10
11
12
Pathfinder


Vanguard
Prerelease

MERCS
13
14
15
16
17
18
19

20
21
22
23
24
Flames of
War

27

MERCS
Page 3
25
26

28
29
30
31
Ponies
Yughio
Independence Weekend - July 2014
Have you made your 4th of July weekend plans yet? Spend it with us!
FRIDAY, JULY 4th.

FNM Standard (Red, White and Blue Decks!)
SATURDAY, July 5th.





1K TCG Player Event.
Yugioh at 1pm
Card Fight Vanguard at 5pm
BBQ from 12:00—6:00
Bonfire after dusk
BOARDGAMES FOR THE WEEKEND



Race for the Galaxy, July 4th
Carcassonne, July 5th
Diskwars, July 6th
Come celebrate Independence Weekend with us July 5th
RIW is happy to celebrate our independence from those Brits by having a good ol' time grilling
up hot eats by our su grill master Chuck Paul. Look for Chuck in the rear parking lot between
the hours of 12:00 and 6:00.
RIW will be providing the following items for a nominal fee:

hotdogs: $ .50

bag of chips: $ .50

cans of pop: $ .50

limited time special item: $ ?
After the sun sets, we will break out a bonfire for all to attend. The bonfire will also be held
in the rear of the Store. Bring a chair, wood, and/or drink. Ending the night with a warming
fire sounds like the perfect cap for a day full of fun.
The Long And Short Of It
WYSIWYG: The Key to Miniature Gaming
As a long time Warhammer 40K player, I take pride fielding well balanced and thematic forces that are
fun to play against and a challenge to overcome. What I field often reflects the mood I’m in for the day.
Am I here float like a butterfly or sting like a bee? Am I looking for a direct approach or will flanking
and misdirection be my allies for the session? My options can vary but I never play with items that I cannot accurately represent on the table with my collection. I always play WYSIWYG (“What You See Is
What You Get”).
WYSIWYG is very important to miniature gaming. I contend that outside of sportsmanship and having
fun, playing with models that actually represent the units on the table is critical to the enjoyment of all
involved.
Think about it. You are playing a miniature game with your opponent for the afternoon. You are trying
to put a plan in motion that includes a solid army, sound deployment, efficient maneuvering, and smart
decision making all while dealing with an opponent intent on routing your forces from the table. You
remain wary of the rules and playing the game correctly. These are all things that contribute to the enjoyment of the game. Now add in playing vs someone who has a collection of figures that do not mirror
the units he is playing with.
If you’re a fan of 40K, picture playing with someone that uses Orks to represent Marines or (even worse)
the guy that wants to tell you the piggy bank on the table is actually a Land Raider. How much does
keeping track of your opponent’s proxies drag on your game? With all of the consequential things you
have to keep in mind while playing, now you have to try and remember the models on the table are not
what you are actually battling against.
The imagery of miniature games is very engaging. Onlookers are drawn to how the game looks as players
push around their painstakingly assembled and beautifully painted models. Participants play the role of
battle commanders pushing the pieces on the chessboard to accomplish their goals. What takes away
from that imagery is when players go the easy route and proxy what they are playing on the board. In
my opinion it cheapens the experience and makes it difficult for the participants to focus on the game –
compared to remembering what is on the table actually isn’t.
-Ed Long
DEVON’S CORNER
WHAT TIPS LURK INSIDE THE CRANIUM OF A MAD GENIUS?
Probably the most important part of playing a magic tournament is the deck, so if you will let me we should start
there! Standard, since Theros, has been dominated by decks playing pairs of very powerful cards making up the most
common decks:
Thoughtsieze and Pack Rat. Sphinx’s Revelation and Elspeth, Sun’s Champion. Thassa, God of the Sea and Master of
Waves. Each of these pairs make up the three most successful decks in recent Standard: Mono Black Devotion, UW/x
Control, and Mono Blue Devotion respectively, with each of these decks playing some of the most powerful cards in
the format and being reasonably consistent. Reasonable however was not good enough for me. I wanted all the cards
in my deck to feel like threats that must be answered, so the first deck I looked to was Jund Monsters, a deck filled to
the brim with powerful cards: Stormbreath Dragon, Polukranos, Domri Rade, Xenagos(s), Reaper of the Wilds, and
Rakdos’s Return. But on further inspection the mana wasn’t ideal and hands without Elvish Mystic or with the Mystic
but too many Temples, was unwieldy and prone to slow starts. This brings us to the deck I played:
LANDS:
NONCREATURE SPELLS:

4 x Temple Garden

4 x Selesnya Charm

6 x Forest

4 x Advent of the Wurm

3 x Plains

2 x Banishing Light

2 x Selesnya Guildgate

2 x Ajani, Mentor of Heroes

2 x Mutavault

3 x Ajani, Caller of the Pride

2 x Mana Confluence

4 x Temple of Plenty
SIDEBOARD:

2 x Setessan Tactics
CREATURES:

3 x Mistcutter Hydra

3 x Fleecemane Lion

3 x Celestial Flare

4 x Boon Satyr

3 x Unflinching Courage

2 x Polukranos, World Eater

2 x Scion of Vitu-Ghazi

4 x Elvish Mystic

2 x Reprisal

4 x Voice of Resurgence

4 x Loxodon Smiter

1 x Scavenging Ooze
Continued from page 5.
The core of the deck is the high power of the creatures at every spot along the curve, Fleece mane Lion at 3 power,
Boon Satyr and Loxodon Smiter at 4, and Polukranos and Advent of the Wurm at 5. Alongside the high lethality of
those creatures is the versatility of Voice of Resurgence, Banishing Light, Ajani Mentor of Heroes, and Selesnya
Charm. While Ajani, Caller of the Pride and Elvish Mystic provide explosive hands that can beat the best draws of any
deck.
The sideboard plays two types of cards; the first is those that are virtually unbeatable in the correct matchup. Cards
like Unflinching Courage, which dominates aggressive matchups, especially burn, and Celestial Flare, which is very
hard for the hexproof deck to beat. The second type of card is strong against the decks that have a more versatile
arsenal of threats. Like Setessan Tactics and Reprisal which are good against the midrange decks, and Mistcutter Hydra which is strong against any of the blue decks.
The Matchups:

Naya Midrange 3-0 in Swiss, lost to in top 8.
In this matchup being on the play means a lot, if they get ahead with an explosive draw like Caryatid into Polukranos
or Archangel of Thune, you can get into a slugfest that they will usually win with an Elspeth. When we are on the play
a Smiter on 2 or curving into Fleeceman Lion and Advent of the Wurm is usually enough to pressure to put them away,
if not an Ajani can finish the job.
Sideboarding: +2 Scion of Vitu-Ghazi, +2 Setessan Tactics.
-2 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes and -2 Selesnya Charm
Scion creates a ton of pressure and a very fast clock which we need to race Archangel of Thune and their Planeswalkers. And Setessan Tactics is a very safe spell against decks without much instant speed removal, while creating huge
blowout potential.

UW/x Control: 2-0
This is easily our best matchup; the majority of our cards are naturally strong against control. Loxodon Smiter cannot
be countered and presents a 5 turn clock alone, Voice turns all of their instants into sorceries and leaves behind a
token after being destroyed, Advent of the Wurm, Boon Satyr and Selesnya Charm create instant speed threats that
prevent them from properly correctly whether they should + or – their Jace and forces them to counter spells on their
turn or get attacked, both Ajanis create pressure and generate advantage for us that survives Supreme Verdict.
Sideboard: +3 Mistcutter Hydra
-3 Selesnya Charm
Mistcutter is better than Charm, but not by much, its a small advantage and yet another serious threat as the game
goes on.

R/W Burn: 3-0
Games against Burn are very indicative of how I feel about much of the format: if you draw a specific card you will
win. Specifically Satyr Firedancer, when Boros Charm does 4 damage to our face and kills a Smiter it feels (and is)
very hard to win. However games where the burn player draws hands with all Skullcracks and Lightning Strike we feel
in command.
Sideboard: +3 Unflinching Courage, +2 Setessan Tactics
-2 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes, -3 Selesnya Charm

Mono Black: 1-1
Here is another match like Burn where we can be crushed by a specific card, in this case its Lifebane Zombie. Other
than that most of their cards are one for ones and we have strong plays against removal like that with Voice of Resurgence and Fleecemane Lion. It’s worth nothing that Pack Rats can only even trade with a Boon Satyr or Smiter after
they have invested four cards and eleven mana.
Sideboard: +2 Scion of Vitu-Ghazi, +2 Reprisal
-2 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes, -2 Polukranos
Reprisal fights Pack Rat and Desecration demon reasonably well and Scion is very hard for 1 for 1 removal decks to
deal with.
Going forward I am very happy with the maindeck, all of the core cards performed very well, however for the Starcitygames.com Invitational I will be making changes to the sideboard. Reprisal underperformed, with no truly reliable
targets beyond Desecration Demon. And against many of the midrange decks Setessan Tactics was much better. Two
Glare of Heresy will take its place, with Elspeth, Banishing Light, Detention Sphere, both Ajanis, and Archangel of
Thune being strong targets, most importantly it’s a removal spell for Elspeth that doesn’t get Banishing Lighted allowing your opponent to cast a 3 mana Elspeth.
-Devon Payntor
OH LOOK... SHINY
This Month’s New Releases.
BGG Hotness
Splendor
Camel Up
Marvel Dice
Concept
Thebes
Blue Moon Legends
Istanbul
Android: Netrunner
Planes
Concordia
Rococo
Maharani
Kaijudo: Elite Series: Horde Onslaught
D&D Starter Set
Star Wars: X-Wing
Star Realms
Potato Man
Myth
Eldritch Horror
Blood Bound
Caverna
Lewis & Clark
Terra Mystica
Samurai Spirit
Descent
Robinson Crusoe
Star Trek: Attack Wing
Sanssouci
Geister, Geister
Mage Knight Board Game
Battle Sheep
Through the Ages
LOTR: Card Game
Yardmaster
Flizz &Miez
Richard Ritterschlag
Unconditional Surrender
Love Letter
Praetor
Marvel: Legendary
Machio Koro
Eclipse
Twilight Struggle
Heroes of Normandie
Cosmic Encounter
Russian Railroads
7 Wonders
Dead of Winter
SOS Titanic
Sentinels of the Multiverse
Page 9
Michigan’s Leading Game and Hobby Store
RIW HOBBIES
Primary Business Address
29116 Five Mile Road
Livonia Michigan, 48154
Phone:
734-261-7233
E-mail:
[email protected]
We’re on the web
We started our Monthly Friday Night Magic League, in June,
during which players accumulated points based on their
weekly finishes and after the final FNM on that month won
the following prizes:

1st place; a Custom Magic: the gathering/RIW hoodie and
a free entry to fnm

2nd place; a custom RIW Playmat and a free entry to fnm

3rd/4th; a free entry to FNM.
We will be hosting My Little Pony Store Championship on July
19th, at 12pm
We will be hosting a Magic Tournament, called a; TCGplayer.com Platinum. with $1,000 in cash prizes guaranteed on
Saturday July 5th. Entry is 25$, Format is Standard, and it
will start at 11am.
ABOUT US
We’re here in part because we love games as much as our
customers do. To this end, we order from a variety of suppliers, are open to alternate sources of supply, and strive to
stay informed of trends and new developments in any areas
our customers are interested in.
Our customers are the most important of the many Communities we belong to. We strive to go to extraordinary
lengths to make them feel welcome, valued, and satisfied.
We cultivate our gamer community by providing a clean safe
environment for our customers to play games. We want to
meet and exceed their expectations every time they set foot
in our store.
Page 8