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From the Vaults of the Kaijudo Masters Reddish
November 26, 2012
By JMatthew

With the extensive use of social media, the landscape of the Kaijudo social world has already differentiated itself from that of Duel Masters by leaps and bounds. During the days of Duel Masters the anonymous writer behind the computer screen, pounding out words in hope that someone, anyone cared to read them was the norm. Now with the likes of Twitter, Facebook and the ungodly behemoth known as Youtube, players of all sorts have found an outlet to more fully express their support for the game they love. In the few short months of Kaijudo’s existence, more words have been spoken and written regarding Kaijudo than Duel Masters had during its entire existence.

It is from that understanding which “From the Vaults of the Kaijudo Masters” is born as a series of articles. These articles are intended to present a series that may function as a primer of sorts. With this I hope that we might more quickly introduce new players to some of the great and passionate content out there. In addition, for those already familiar with said content I hope that I can help bring us a bit closer as a community with new perspectives and understanding regarding those content providers.

Being from the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex I figure I must first pay tribute to a friend of mine known as Tony…er…sorry “Carl Reddish” aka Thundersultan. Sorry, I’ll always know him as Tony – his own fault.

         

Anyhow, Thundersultan has been is an avid gamer and has always put his best foot forward into whatever endeavor he was crass enough to embellish in. From Pokemon to Duel Masters to Dreamblade and now Kaijudo (sorry, we lost touch during his MTG days so I can’t vouch for them ;) ), Reddish has been one of the greatest and most passionate supporters and cheerleaders. He has devoted more time, resources and passion than anyone might imagine and it’s never been on the big budget some seem to imagine (wish I had the “Thundersultan Bling, Bling” photo to put right about here).

With all of this drive I was not really surprised to hear him jump into the idea of creating his own YouTube channel supporting Kaijudo. Since his first videos Reddish has come a long way. In fact, if you start with his earliest videos, give Reddish a chance. In the earliest of videos it is rather evident that his passion is there, however he feels a bit out of his element. That diminishes rapidly and currently the Thundersultan is chatting up the bandwidth of 232 subscribers, over 16000 views for an average pushing over 200 each video (with one video topping out at nearly 1300!).

Stats:

Thundersultan

Subscribers: 232

Views: 16,126

Type of Videos: Matches, Cases Openings and News & Commentary.

Web Address: http://www.youtube.com/user/thundersultan/videos?view=0

Interview with Carl Reddish aka Thundersultan

JMatthew: So, who are you in real life?


Thundersultan: My name is Carl Reddish. I am 32 years old. I work for Marriott hotels and I have been playing TCG's and mini's games since 1998. I have played and traveled for Magic the Gathering, Pokemon, Duel Masters, Dreamblade, World of Warcraft Mini's, Battle Spirits and most recently Kaijudo.

J: What part of the country do you play in?


T: I live in the Dallas/Fort Worth Texas area so it's not uncommon for me to travel around Texas or visit Oklahoma and Louisiana for an event.

J: Why do I play Kaijudo?

T: The mechanics of the game and the friends I have made playing Duel Masters/Kaijudo is why I play Kaijudo. Years ago I fell in love with the mechanics of Duel Masters because they were fun, balanced and the game could be played casually or competitively. This lead to me meeting so many great people and players all over Texas and traveling to small and big events like the Tournament of the Five Civ's and the Continental Championships in Los Angeles and South Carolina. Many of the friends I made playing Duel Masters have continued to be my friend years after Duel Masters lost it's support from WotC. Kaijudo has shown to produce the same amazing mechanics and I have starting meeting people like EarthP0w3R (Carl Miciotto) that I know I will be friends with for life.

J: Do you have a favorite card and why?

T: Splinterclaw Wasp is my favorite card. I am partial to this card because the communications manager for Kaijudo, Andrea Cole gave me the card to preview right before The Dojo Edition set released. I collect that card and many of my Youtube subscribers have mailed or traded me multiple copies of the card. I have a personal collection of over 150 Splinterclaw Wasps.

J: What is your favored play style?

T: In general I am a control player but in a high level event I will usually always play the best deck of the format no matter what style it is. My favorite deck to play in Kaijudo League right now is Fire/Nature Hyperspeed Dragons. It is fun but not overpowered. Reap and Sow and Evo Fury Tatsurion have made the deck a lot better.

J: What made you decide to start your own Kaijudo Channel on Youtube?


T: I knew Texas had a lot of old Duel Masters players that would be interested in Kaijudo. I decided to start a Youtube channel to help connect with those Texas players and get the ball rolling on tournaments and coverage in Texas. The amazing thing about Youtube is that it has allowed me to connect with not just Texas Kaijudo players but with Kaijudo players all over the United States, Canada and many other countries.

J: Many former Duel Masters players have discussed that from a set design perspective, Kaijudo offers a different feel from Duel Masters thanks to increased mana cost to play card, cards designed specifically to interact with a creatures level and so forth. From this set design perspective, where would you like to see the developers of Kaijudo take the game?

T: I had the opportunity to speak with the lead designer of Kaijudo Ryan Miller, at Gen Con 2012 and he said that Kaijudo is not 100% designed with the sealed and draft format in mind. From a set design perspective I would like to see the sealed and draft format for Kaijudo be explored 100% before it is printed. A perfect example of this would have been making Helios Rings an Uncommon or a Rare because of Evo Fury sealed and draft. It's too power at common.

J: Amongst the more outspoken of the community there has been a great deal of concern with regards to how WotC is handling competitive play. At this point, WotCs response seems fearful toward creating a true competitive play environment at the risk of “placing one player on the podium above the others.” Where do you stand as far as the competitive play issue goes? Does Kaijudo require the serious competitive environment traditionally offered by CCGs or is WotCs vision of a less competitive, more cohesive play environment the way to go?


T: I feel WotC has designed an absolutely amazing game with so much simplicity, depth and strategy to it that both casual league play and competitively organized play can both be successfully achieved. Right now we have league play so one player is not on the podium above another. Why not have casual league play and competitive organized play so we can put someone on a podium if they wanted to be there proving they are a Master Kaijudo Duelist? I think the community can support both. I think for the health of the game, the overall stabilization of card values, and booster sales for stores, we need both casual and competitive organized play. My feeling is that if we do not see a large scale competitive organized play tournament by Gen Con 2013 the Kaijudo TCG will fail. I don't think booster pack sales from casual play alone will keep this game alive. Competitive organized play will keep the cash registers ringing, will make both casual and competitive players happy, and most of all keep Hasbro from pulling the plug on the Kaijudo TCG.

Carl Reddish - May all your shields be triggers!


 


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