mDuo13

As I'm getting ready to head to Grand Archive Worlds in Singapore, there are a lot of things I'm looking forward to but definitely high on my list is drafting .asphodel/paradise (PRD) for the first time. I'm a huge fan of drafting in general and I'm very excited to see what lessons the Grand Archive devs have taken from their past draft formats. With .asphodel/paradise cases (with included draft packs!) hitting stores in less than two weeks, it seemed like a great time to share a few tips I've picked up so you can take your Grand Archive drafting to the next level.

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Grand Archive TCG is a great game with a vibrant competitive scene, but if I have any complaint with it, there's a lack of written strategy content. I decided I could help a little bit with that by sharing my guide to the deck I know best: Genbu. Read on for my ultimate guide to how to play Genbu, through the Radiant Origins (RDO) season!

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In the past year, I have gone deep down the Grand Archive TCG rabbit hole and I'm very excited to see what the top players have cooked up for the upcoming Ascent Boston tournament. Looking ahead to that, I've put together a tier list of decks and where I feel they fit into the current metagame. I don't do as much testing as the top players, but I spend a lot of time studying tournament results for my other site, Fractal of Insight, including spending time trying to figure out how to classify all the strange and exciting decks people cook up. I'm sure everyone has their own opinions, so if you're curious about mine, read on. I've made sure to link examples of what I feel are representative decklists for each one so you know which deck I'm talking about.

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I recently returned from a vacation in Japan, where among other things I hit up Yellow Submarine in Akihabara and bought some board games that can (currently) only be found in Japan. As a bit of a pet project, I've translated one of them, "Brigare" from Domina Games, including putting together inserts that you can sleeve into the cards. I'm also sharing a translation I made for another Japanese board game, "San Jose" by Studio Turbine, which I did after my previous trip to Japan, before the pandemic.

• Brigare: Rules [pdf, 178kb], Inserts [pdf, 9mb]
• San Jose: Rules and Inserts [pdf, 16mb]

A few notes about these translations follow.

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Voting is my American civic duty, which I take seriously. Voting is also a huge pain: frustrating research into contradicting statements and esoteric rules. You have to read between the lines, predict the outcomes of complicated legal mechanisms, and judge both the sincerity and expertise of candidates while having very little to base your judgments on. It's no wonder people get overwhelmed. That said, I've done my best to research the issues on my ballot and come up with some simple recommendations. I'm sharing them here so if you're looking for a quick summary to make voting easier, I've got you covered.

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Aside from my day job documenting the cutting-edge finance technology at Ripple, I've been fortunate enough to be contracted by Fantasy Flight Games as a contributor for several books in their Star Wars role-playing line. Working with them has been an absolute pleasure, so I figured I'd share some of the writing and development credits I've earned.

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