Author: Niko

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Kardboard Outlook

08/25

It’s the start of the work week. Plenty to do today as we get ready for the World Championship Decks 2024 coming out this Friday. Well not really a lot to do, it’s not like it’s a regular release with all new cards we have to take a look at. But, still we have some things to do before hand.

Other than that, the day was spent finishing up the weekends orders.

08/26

I usually get a call on Tuesdays if there’s a release coming out that week. And, today is Tuesday, and I haven’t received a phone call yet.

That means that they’re either really busy, or they haven’t received them yet. I’ll give them a call tomorrow to figure out what’s going on.

Opus XII restock on TCG Player and eBay.

08/27

I have Opus XIII ready to go, and did that restock for it on both TCG Player and eBay.

Called my distributor today, and they don’t have a clue on when the World Championship Decks are coming in.

I still need some product, so I ordered plenty of Gunslinger in the Abyss. It’s selling like hot cakes, and these singles are fire.
Got to wait a day for those to come in.

Took the kids to soccer practice spent an hour there, just watching them go. All they need to do now is have fun.

08/28

Gunslinger in the Abyss came in today as it was scheduled. Now it’s time for us to crack open some packs, and list those singles. But, not until later, so we can upload it to YouTube.

Spent the afternoon, posting singles on eBay. And, some of them sold in minutes! That’s something that we always like to see.

Played some 99 Nights in the Forest with the little ones before bed time, and we finally made it to day 11. Only 88 more to go. Thing is you have to restart from the begining each time.

08/29

These boosters are half way gone already! Might have to order some more. Just have to wait for the money to clear on TCG Player and eBay and PayPal. eBay and PayPal are pretty quick, but sometimes TCG Player takes up to two weeks for the money to reach my bank account.

We’ll worry about restocking once we sell out, we still have a Master Case available, so if you’re on the lookout for some, we got you covered!

Yes, sometimes I’ll just insert an image that has nothing to do with what I’m writing.

Restock for Opus XIV – Crystal Abyss on TCG Player and eBay.

08/30

Time’s flying by, I can’t believe that GConnn will be tomorrow. I have to get everything set up for it. Luckily, most of it is already ready from other events. about 70% is Final Fantasy, trading cards and toys. The rest is .. well it depends on what I feel like bringing,

I’ll probably bring some Pokemon for it.

Other than that, I spent the whole day at the restaurant.

08/31

6AM, Wake up, time to go.

Had to be at the Orland Park Civic Center at 7AM to start setting up. I probably could have arrived later, but it’s always good to be ready before hand. You never know when the unexpected can happen. It’s not like you can expect it.

It was a good show, had about 275 people show up. Made some money, made some trades, and found an Final Fantasy VIII Siren GF Action Figure still sealed.

I picked that up before anyone else had a chance to.

Went home took a nap, and headed out for a little BBQ. It’s Labor Day weekend, we got to relax a little.

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Delays for the Championship

Yes, you read that right. The World Championship Decks 2024 have been delayed. I spoke to our distributor, as well as fellow card shops and they all have no clue as to when they will be arriving.

That is also why we have taken them down. If you are one of the few that have preordered it. We will send them out as soon as they get here.

We’ll keep you all updated with any new information.

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Kardboard Occean

08/18

Started off with finishing the restock of Opus XI. On both TCG Player and eBay. I still need to get some new Opus XI listings on eBay, I just have to find out where I placed those cards.

Tried Organizing the office again. The shelves in particular. Sometimes items come in, and I just throw it all on the shelves. And, that makes a big mess, because if you don’t do it right the first time, you won’t go back to it anytime soon. It does look a lot better now compared to before, but it is nowhere near to finished. And, I don’t think it ever will be.

We can always hope.

We’re really getting into 99 Nights in the Forest. I’ll play a game with the kids every night. We’ll make it to the end. So far we reached day 7, and I always die trying to save them from whatever is attacking them.

08/19

Toploaders came in today, now we don’t need to worry about them until we run out again. We got our last batch in April. 4 months. Let’s see when we’ll have to order our next batch. Let’s try for 3 months this time.

Also a batch of Heroes came in including Foils. I just wanted to pick up one card, the Full Art Ultros from Crystal Dominion, and I can’t stop at one card. I ended up stopping at around 350.

We might even have bulk Hero lots coming soon.

Did the restock for Opus XII – Crystal Awakening. Tcg Player and eBay.

Also got a deck up for The Twelve. They look like they’ll be fun to play.

08/20

Had a 125 card order today, that took me a couple of hours to put together. Mainly because it was an eBay order, and you can’t download a pull sheet that is sorted like they do on TCG Player. Maybe you can, I just haven’t figured out how. If it was a TCG Player order, it would have taken me maybe 30 minutes.

It was a busy day with the kids today. Meet the Teachers, and Soccer Practice. They’re starting to do really well, and they enjoy playing soccer. School it’s 50/50 on that one.

Going to have more Bulk lots soon. They’re all halfway done at the moment.

Also, I found a case of Rebellion’s Call Prerelease Kits! It was a nice surprise. Now if they were Opus XI, that would have been a whole lot cooler. But, if you need one they should be up on the site, so go ahead and grab one.

08/21

After a long hot summer, the kids are finally back to school. Now we can start focusing on Trading Cards. It’s always a slowdown during the summer for me, just because I can’t get as much done as I can during the school season. It’s mostly cause I like hanging out with the little ones.

Have I ever mentioned Before Dawn?

It’s something I have been working on for 20 years. On and mostly off. I keep trying to restart it from the begining, the last couple of years I’ve been getting it going. It started off as an RPG, now it’s taking on many forms, and I have some plans for it. I’ll have more info on that soon. I won’t say much more about it … for now.

08/22

I’ve been working on Before Dawn all day, almost forgot to head to the Post Office because of it.

And, that was all I did. Yesterday and today, I probably spent a good 10 hours on it.

Oh, and Dreamlike Oceans was announced. Not today, a couple days ago. We already made our announcement on it. And, yes we are excited!

08/23

The kids have a game today. Got to wake up early, open up the restaurant, and then head to the game which is about 30 minutes away.

I got there, my kids were both starters. We started off the game good, and then well, we need a Goal Keeper. They play in quarters. The first quarter they had a kid that was great. The second quarter, the kid was day dreaming, playing with the net on the side, the third quarter same thing. Last quarter they put in someone else again. We ended up losing 5-0.

At least they’re having fun.

08/24

Sunday was quiet.

Slow day.

Ended up taking one of the kids out to play soccer.

Got some dinner, and finished the orders.

Also worked on Before Dawn a little bit.

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Dreamlike Oceans

Square Enix gave us a look into the future. And, it means we’re going on vacation. Picture this a beach a dreamlike ocean, a daiquiri in your hand sitting under an umbrella, and Yuna performs the Sending as she guides the spirits of the dead to the Farplane.

Well something like that.

This is actually the first time that Final Fantasy X has graced the box art. And it might just be the best one yet. And, I’m not a big fan of Yuna, so that’s saying something. And, let’s not forget the Golden Signature. This one is Yuna’s second. And, I see this one commanding a high price in the future. (That’s just speculation.)

Scheduled for release on March 27, 2026. We’ll have a smaller set with 124 cards, and 38 Full Arts.

Along with Yuna, there are sample cards of Garnet, Edward, Lumina, Cloud, Cecil and Yoshikiri.

Looking at Yuna’s card, Maybe the Gullwings will come back. YRP! I can’t say that we’ve seen a good Rikku and Paine in quite some time. At least not one that I liked.

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The Dirty Dozen

After seeing “The Twelve” in Gunslinger in the Abyss, you know we had to see what we can make out of this. The plan was simple. Throw all of The Twelve cards into a deck, and add in another 14 cards and see what we can get.

The Twelve work great together. As they will search for each other, grab another member out of the Break Zone, have abilities that go off when you have a certain number of The Twelve on the field, and it goes on and on.

But, since The Twelve are in every element, how will we get them on the field?

This in my opinion is the hardest part. As if you don’t get the hand you want when you start off, you’ll be in a bit of trouble. Luckily, we’ve added cards that can kick start your game plan.

First things first. You will need either Llymlaen, or Menphina in your starting hand. If not I suggest you Mulligan, because you will need Llymlaen to make everything easier. As Llymlaen allows you to pay for The Twelve with any color of CP. Then why am I talking about Menphina? Well, she can search for Llymlaen and play her straight to the field. This way you’ll have a better chance at starting off the match right.

The rest of The Twelve play nicely together as mentioned before, and there are a few cards that are worth mentioning. Nophica, will allow you to grab a card from the Break Zone when she enters the field, and when she is put into the Break Zone. That’s 2 cards, making Nophica a Free Play. Rhalgr who will Break one of your opponent’s Forwards when he enters the field. And if you already have another 8 of the Twelve members on the field, Rhalgr is also a Free Play. Nald’thal, is a great Backup as well. Nald’thal will play one of The Twelve, from the Break Zone, straight to the field.

As you can see, there are plenty of ways to recycle. And, recycling is good for the planet, and your deck. Captain Planet would be proud.

We kept the deck Main deck filled with Final Fantasy XIV Characters, the main ones we added are Emet-Selch, and Hythlodaeus. We all know what these 2 do together. And, since you’re playing with a deck that has every element in it, it will be good to be able to bring in some cards at once, without worrying about paying for them.

And, let’s not forget Hien. The Legend from Rebellion’s Call. And, you should know why. Cause whenever Hien attacks, you will activate all of the FFXIV Forwards, and guess what The Twelve are. I’ll just leave it at that, you can use your imagination here. Did we mention that Hien let’s your FFXIV Forwards attack twice in the same turn?

The rest of the deck consists of Ra-La, Vrtra and Azdaja. Just one copy of each as they can fit in any deck.

Just one Summon, and that is Amaterasu. Cause it’s Amaterasu.

The Limit Break Deck, is a mix with Leo taking the top spot at 3 copies, because you just might need to draw a card in the begining of the game if you don’t get a good starting hand. The rest are just cards that you can use in certain situations.

Forwards

26-047H – Oschon x3
26-094C – Byregot x3
26-108C – Thaliak x3
17-016L – Hien x3
23-062H – Emet-Selch x3
26-001R – Azeyma EX x3
26-078C – Nophica x3
26-121L – Ra-La x1
26-037H – Halone x3
26-085L – Vrtra x1
26-103L – Azdaja x1
23-070H – Hythlodaeus x3
26-097R – Rhalgr x3

Summons

12-002H – Amaterasu x2

Backups

26-059R – Llymlaen x3
26-063R – Althyk EX x3
26-040R – Menphina x3
26-113R – Nymeia EX x30
26-012H – Nald’thal x3

Limit Break

22-123R – Leo LB x3
25-111H – The Emperor LB x1
22-119R – Maat LB x1
23-129H – Lunafreya LB x1
24-115R – Tenzen LB x1
25-115H – Sephiroth LB x1

And, that is are first draft on The Twelve. What cards would you put in this deck?

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