There will be three Pokémon TCG: Black & White theme decks arriving in stores nationwide today. Each theme deck- Green Tornado, Red Frenzy, and Blue Assault includes a special code to unlock an identical digital deck in the recently announced Pokémon TCGO: Trainer Challenge Online! You’ll be able to use any of the three brand-new decks to battle against fourteen virtual TCG players in three lLeagues. Pokémon TCGO: Trainer Challenge launches this month at www.pokemontcg.com.

In addition, 10-card booster packs for the new expansion will arrive later this month, April 25. The four boosters will feature new Pokémon on the packaging: Reshiram, Zekrom, Zoroark and, Zebstrika, and with each booster pack is guaranteed one parallel foil card!

Thankfully, our trading card enthusiasts are not left out of the hype either. The Pokémon Company have announced the new Pokémon trading card expansion to complement the release of the video game, available as either theme decks or as booster packs. This expansion will include 70 new Pokémon from the Unova region, including new starter Pokémon Snivy, Tepig, and Oshawott, as well as powerful new Pokémon like Zoroark, Galvantula, Reuniclus.

The new card layout promises space for an expanded image of each Pokémon, and look out for the Reshiram and Zekrom cards, which will receive a unique foil and full-art treatment.

Added bonus for people considering the theme decks (Green Tornado, Red Frenzy, and Blue Assault) – these theme decks will include codes for an identical digital deck in the new Pokémon TCGO: Trainer Challenge online game. These theme decks will be available on April 6 2011, with the 10-card booster decks to arrive in retail stores on April 25.

For more information about the Pokémon TCG: Black & White expansion, head on over to www.pokemon.com. You can also check out the Pokémon TCGO: Trainer Challenge at www.pokemontcg.com.

This event marks the tournament debut of February’s highly-anticipated Storm of Ragnarok card set. This set introduces new monsters from the past into Duelists’ Decks, including the Viking gods – Odin, Thor, and Loki – and the Legendary Six Samurai from the far east. In Dallas, Duelists will be able to see how these new monsters fare against the top decks from 2010, like the sword-wielding X-Sabers and the high-flying Blackwing monsters.

Pre-registration runs from 3:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Friday, February 11th and resume promptly at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday, February 12th. Round One starts at 10:00 a.m. The Top 16 YCS finishers, along with the top Duelists of the weekend’s Regional Qualifiers, will earn invitations to participate in their respective 2011 World Championship Qualifier events, to be held later in the year. Duelists, upon paying their registration fee, will receive five Storm of Ragnarok booster packs just for participating in Konami’s Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series.

Here’s the full list of prizes available:

• 1st place – Set of Ultra Rare YCS Prize Cards; Trophy; Paid travel to their World Championship Qualifier (if underage, then winner and guardian) or a local-market YCS (flight and accommodations) if the Duelist has already won an earlier YCS in the current year; YCS Game Mat; Netbook plus 500 BoosterPass Points for Yu-Gi-Oh! Online Duel Accelerator; a free ticket to the Yu-Gi-Oh! 3D movie; and an invite to their 2011 World Championship Qualifier
• 2nd place – Set of Super Rare YCS Prize Cards; iPad Wi-Fi 32 GB; Konami iPad game codes to be used on the iPad; YCS Game Mat; a free ticket to the Yu-Gi-Oh! 3D movie; and an invite to their 2011 World Championship Qualifier
• 3rd place – Set of Super Rare YCS Prize Cards; 32GB iPod Touch; Konami iPhone game codes to be used on the iPod Touch; YCS Game Mat; a free ticket to the Yu-Gi-Oh! 3D movie; and an invite to their 2011 World Championship Qualifier
• 4th place –32GB iPod Touch; Konami iPhone game codes to be used on the iPod Touch; YCS Game Mat; a free ticket to the Yu-Gi-Oh! 3D movie; and an invite to their 2011 World Championship Qualifier
• 5th – 8th place – DSi XL with Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s World Championship 2010 Reverse of Arcadia ; YCS Game Mat; a free ticket to the Yu-Gi-Oh! 3D movie; and an invite to their 2011 World Championship Qualifier
• 9th – 16th place – 24 booster packs of Duelist Revolution; Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s World Championship 2010 Reverse of Arcadia; YCS Game Mat; a free ticket to the Yu-Gi-Oh! 3D movie; and an invite to their 2011 World Championship Qualifier
• If attendance exceeds 513 Duelists:
• 17th – 32nd place – YCS Game Mat and an invite to their 2011 World Championship Qualifier

We have a new preview from the folks at Nightfall. The next card for preview is the Enraged Wight. This was actually voted on by fans of the Nightfall facebook page. So here is the breakdown of the Enraged Wight card. He looks pretty angry!

“Enraged Wight is interestingly enough the only ghoul minion in the base set! There is an action that features ghouls, but as of yet ghoul activity isn’t as widespread as that of the vampires and werewolves, but one might expect that to change as expansions release…

Enraged Wight  is another of the starter deck cards and as such only links to his own color, and features a self-removal trait and the chain effect to inflict a direct 1 damage straight to your opponent. He has two strength, more than Charlotte did, which can also damage the opponent if he gets through to them. He wields a mean tombstone from the look of it too.”

Next up will be action cards.

Konami has announced the latest deck in the Yu-Gi-Oh! series has a release date. Duelist Pack: Yusei 3 is based on the newest season of the television series and will be out on January 5th. The deck includes 8 brand new cards, four new monsters, two new spell cards, and two new traps.

Duelist Pack: Yusei 3 – 30-card set includes:
17 Common Cards (4:1)
Seven Rare Cards (1:1)
Four Super Rare Cards (1:5)
Two Ultra Rare Cards (1:15)
Each pack comes with five of these Game Cards, plus one Strategy Tip Card

Yes, I am regretting leaving SoulSilver at home while I am in Sydney this weekend, with all of this inspiration from the Pokémon world!

But out of thousands, there could be only one. Well, only a few hundred. Those few hundred made it to the big stage on August 14­-15, to fulfill their dreams at the 2010 Pokémon World Championships in Kona, Hawaii. It was a perfect backdrop for fun and relaxation, even with the difficult battles ahead for the young, hard-working Trainers!

Many of the world’s elite Pokémon trading card and video game Trainers traveled to Hawaii to compete in the prestigious, invite-only Pokémon World Championships. It was not without its perks – Trainers were vying for the title of World Champion as well as custom Nintendo DSi XL consoles, trophies, vacations, and more than $100,000 in scholarships.

Staged as two separate tournaments under the same roof at the Hilton Waikoloa Village, the two-day event emphasized the skill, strategy, creativity, sportsmanship, and fun involved in playing the Pokémon Trading Card Game and Pokémon HeartGold/SoulSilver  console games. Trainers enjoyed an entire weekend of action-packed battles in the tropics to determine the world’s best.

When the dust settled after two days of intense competition featuring more than 375 players from over 25 countries, five World Champions were crowned.

2010 Pokémon Trading Card Game World Finalists

Junior Division (born after 1999)

World Champion: Yuka Furusawa from Japan
Second Place: Juan Pablo Arenas from the United States

Senior Division (born between 1995 and 1998)

World Champion: Jacob Lesage from Canada
Second Place: Mychael Bryan from the United States

Masters Division (born before 1994)

World Champion: Yuta Komatsuda from Japan
Second Place: Michael Pramawat from the United States

2010 Pokémon Video Game World Finalists

Junior Division (born after 1998)

World Champion: Shota Yamamoto from Japan
Second Place: Santa Ito from Japan

Senior Division (born before 1997)

World Champion: Ray Rizzo from the United States
Second Place: Yasuki Tochigi from Japan

Congratulations to all of the champions and finalists, and for more information on the action, head on over to http://www.pokemonworldchampionships.com!

After 12 months of tournaments and hundreds of Qualifying events across the globe, 37 players, from 18 countries travelled to Long Beach, California, in the hopes to be crowned with the top Yu-Gi-Oh! honours of the year – the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game 2010 World Champion, or the Video Game 2010 World Champion.

It was an amazing weekend-long Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship event, with dramatic Duels and roller coasters of emotions. But the congratulations this year go to Galileo De Obaldia from Panama, who played his final card to defeat Vincent Paglia from Las Vegas, NV, and is now the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game 2010 World Champion.

Heading into the Final Round Sunday, all eyes were upon 21-year-old De Obaldia and 18-year-old Paglia, as they brought their cards to the table. De Obaldia started with a Cold Wave card from his FROG One-Turn-Kill Deck and Paglia activated Royal Oppression and  Mask of Restrict cards from his Blackwing Deck.  Well into the match, it was still unclear who was going to take home the top prize but in the final minutes it was Galileo De Obaldia’s unwavering skill and strategy that helped him to prevail and to capture the title of 2010 World Champion.

The Yu-Gi-Oh! Video Game World Championship was also held at the same time, pitting world-class Duelists from around the globe on the center stage. Competitors have battled for months, to make it to the World Championship event, with only twelve players skilled enough to earn a trip to the Championship. After seven rounds of playing Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s World Championship 2010: Reverse of Arcadia it was Arturo Oviedo from Spain that proved to possess the unwavering skills and strategic moves that lead him down the winning path and ultimately to be crowned the Video Game 2010 World Champion.

Congratulations to all of the finalists, and of course to Obaldia and Oviedo for their hard work to become the 2010 World Champions!

It’s called Play! Pokémon.

And the new logo is awesome.

It is a nice spin, isn’t it? I love how it echoes the style of American Major League Baseball. Pokémon looks to be promoted as a keen sport!

Konami announced this new venture on August 4, inviting Pokémon fans worldwide to join the fun at official, year-round Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) and video game events. Whether a seasoned player or a Pokémon newbie, the Play! Pokémon program will provide events suitable for all levels of Pokémon knowledge.  Some players will opt to visit a local Pokémon League, where they can learn about Pokémon games and win prizes, while others may choose to test their strategies and training at competitive tournaments.  No matter where Pokémon fans decide to join the fun, players at all levels are sure to have a great time.

It is building the Pokémon community into something that is both a fan base and also a participatory game. It is also something that reaches to both trading card enthusiasts and fans of the video game series.

The new name and logos announced today will appear initially on hats, binders, playmats, posters, and other printed materials.  Players and fans at the 2010 Pokémon World Championships in Kona, Hawaii, August 14–15 will see the newly branded materials firsthand.  For more information about Play! Pokémon, including where to find Play! Pokémon events, players should visit http://www.pokemon.com/us/organized-play/.

Another summer release for card game fans, with Pokemon’s new expansion, HS-Undaunted, due to hit the shelves on 18 August.

Players will have access to 90 cards in this expansion set, and the new theme deck packaging has not only a clear preview window to see the first card in each deck, but will also include a bonus booster pack. It will up the price of the theme deck  to $12.99, and is anticipated to be a trend that will continue for future Pokemon releases. The booster packs are set to sell for $3.79 each.

New features of HS-Undaunted will include:

• Introduction of Daybreak and Nightfall theme decks with bonus booster pack
• Rare and Legendary Pokémon teamed up in pairs: Kyogre & Groudon and Rayquaza & Deoxys
• New Pokémon Prime cards including Houndoom and Scizor
• New Stadium cards including Ruins of Alph
• New Trainer cards including Legend Box

Further info is available at http://www.pokemon.com/us/trading-cards/hgss-series/hgss3/

And this set is truly a sweet little arsenal for Yu-Gi-Oh! fans. For starters, it boasts the negation power of the first of the Naturia monsters, “Naturia Beast” (this sweet little beast can cancel your opponent’s Spell Cards at will!), and duelists will be able to add more Naturia Monsters to their decks with the upcoming Duelist Revolution and Starstrike Blast booster sets.

However, Hidden Arsenals 2 also packs a bit of attack power with “Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier”, a powerful ally of Hidden Arsenal’s popular “Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier”.

It will also include monsters from nine different deck types, including the new “Jurrac” dinosaurs and “Fabled” fiend monsters, and new Allies of Justice, including “Ally of Justice Field Marshall”.

Hidden Arsenal 2 is a 60-card set, with 20 Secret Rare and 40 Super Rare cards. Each pack (MSRP $3.99) will contain one Secret Rare and four Super Rare foil cards.

Head on over to www.yugioh-card.com for more information.