Special Report: Hellofest Anima Expo 2013 Arena Tournament

Last weeks’ Hellofest Anima Expo 2013 becomes the venue for Arena Tournament that was held for the first time. Arena tournament is a game competition (table-top, card game, board game, etc) that was planned to be held annually by Stormidea Games. This year, together with Vandaria Internasional, Stormidea Games held Vandaria Arkana and Combo Card card game tournament with a total prize of 4 million rupiahs at the second day of HelloFest.

The online registration for the games was started a week prior to the tournament at Vandaria and Combo Card’ fanpage. Limited to 18 participants for each game, the quota was nearly full prior to HelloFest date. The remaining seat was taken by participants that registered at Arena Booth at the first day of HelloFest. Surprisingly, most participants are from Bandung! It’s great to see that they made the effort to go to Jakarta only for HelloFest and Arena.

Arkana Tournament started at 12 PM in the afternoon, continued by Combo Card Tournament at 3 PM. The rules of the games are as follows: Each round’s duration is limited to 50 minutes where it was ended at the player that got the last turn from the first round and the score counted based on each player’s conquered area. For Combo Card tournament, the time limit is 50 minutes and it ended by opening Sudden Death more for the remaining players (had not becoming Ghost yet). With this arrangement, both games can be finished to final round in two hours.

The crowding visitor of HelloFest did not disturb the participant’s concentration. Even just a tiny slack can be fatal since players’ scheme and conspiracy play a huge part in winning Arkana tournament. Fransiska, the only female participant in Arkana tournament also admit it. “It’s my first time playing this game and this is really fun! Playing Arkana improved people’s diplomacy skill since we have to provoke other players in order to sabotage other players’ progress.”

Meanwhile, Combo tournament requires the players to be sharp and agile since other players’ incantation is a constant threat. Surprisingly, one of Combo Tournament winner, Dery, learned to play Combo card merely a day prior. “Seeing his skill in this tournament, I admit that he deserves the winner title. However, I’m glad even though I was defeated by a rookie, this game is really fun and full of challenges.” said Mufti, one of the Combo Tournament finalists. Dery’s winning also proves that new players also have the chance in winning a Combo game.

Other than receiving the prize, several special titles also given to Arkana tournament participant that was successfully finished certain mission during elimination round. They received King, Princess, Knight, Peacemaker, Tyrant, dan Conqueror exclusive badge. What do these titles have to do with Arkana? Maybe we can find out the answer next year.

For Combo tournament participants, each team received Creatio Cards expansion as the special prize. Combo Card creator, Henry Darmawan, explains how to use Creatio Cards in playing Combo after the tournament ended. Creatio Cards are cards with special spells; some automatically activated at the beginning while some others needed Action Point to activate. A player that wishes to use a Creatio Card should trade it with an extensive element combination, but it worth the card’s power. Want to know more about Creatio Cards? Don’t miss the next Combo Tournament!

Henry also introduces a new game using Combo Card called The Quintessence. This game is easier to play compared to Combo Arena and can be quickly understood, even by kids or adults that are unfamiliar with card games. Just like Chain that was introduced at Battle of the Toys two weeks ago, The Quintessence was designed to make Combo Card a truly enjoyable game for all family members.