Welcome to the Official Zulu’s Board Game Cafe Newsletter!
It’s been a very busy summer for Zulu’s, filled with exciting events, new releases and, of course, delicious new food items. But there’s even more games, delicacies and events on the horizon, so to make it easier for you, our customer, to stay on top of it all, our team has put together a newsletter that we plan to share with you monthly! Our goal with this project is to showcase some of the most exciting things that have happened at the store (as well as at the Event Center), what’s the big stuff that’s coming up next, and invite you to join us on all our new adventures, be it card game tournaments, rpg meetups, or board game bazaars!
This month we will take a look at the Catan Championship we hosted at the Event Center as part of our monthly board games-centered tournaments, then give you insight on launch of Spider-Man’s cross-over with Magic: the Gathering!
But before we start, a reminder that we are hosting our fall Board Game Bazaar on October 4th and 5th at the Event Center! If you haven’t had the chance of participating in our previous iterations, this is a super fun board games swap meet, where you can help your older board games find a new home, while adopting new ones made available by our community! If you want to learn more, click the link at the end of the newsletter!
So with that out of the way, let’s get started, and happy reading!
Q: What’s the right move?
A: Show up and PLAY!
Did you know that the first tournament in the Zulu’s Board Game Organized Play season recently happened? Players came together from around the area to claim their spot at the Catan Regional championships. It was a great day of gaming, celebrating a classic.
Twenty-three players registered for 3 rounds of round-robin CATAN play followed by a top 4 finals. The prize? A regional qualifier invitation, plus cool fuzzy playing pieces and unique art terrain tiles for the top 4 players.
After 3 rounds there was a clean break to the top 4 finals. The finalists included three CATAN regulars and a relative newcomer. Looking at the final board, Logan, the top seed, chose to place his pieces third. The second seed went 2nd and the third seed went 4th. Players nervously joked about their important first big decision before grabbing dice and playing.
Would Logan’s plan pan out? Initially it made good sense as he got off to a solid start. Loads of early negotiations made it appear that the game might devolve into a 2 v 2 team match, but then the dice fell in love with Andy. Everything was going his way, prompting a new round of negotiations, breaking any apparent coalitions & making it anyone’s game. A nice late game swing saw Jordan reach 10 points first, in a very close ending.
Missed the event? No problem. The Organized Play series is just getting started. Jump into the next one that appeals to you. [If you’re a CATAN fan we are hoping to host a “Last Chance Qualifier” early in 2026!] For all the most popular games our overall event schedule is here. Next up: registration is now open for a 6 week Dominion League, starting in about a week, as well as a one-day DUNE: Uprising tournament on Saturday, October 11th.
Zulu’s Organized Play is a new-ish series of events whose purpose is bringing together and building our Board Game community. Just like our Monday and Tuesday board game meetups, players of all skill levels and abilities are welcome to join. Winners get their name on a wall of fame. Other participants get to enjoy their favorite games while building the BG community, one game at a time.
A world of gaming information and opportunity awaits you on Zulu’s Discord
There are two main types of events: leagues and tournaments. Leagues typically span 6-8 weeks, with players playing one game or match each week, with top players either determined by cumulative standings or meeting in a finals, depending on the game and the size of the community. Tournaments are usually a single day, culminating in a finals game to determine an overall winner. Both event types are great for meeting people and improving your game. Join as at a BG Meetup or pop into our BG channel on Discord to learn more and find you next game!
Zulu's was packed last weekend as players got their first chance to play with the awesome new Marvel: Spider-Man cards. I played in three events and loved the chance to play villain in two of them. Before I dive into that, let me say: there are infinity (stone) reasons to come play & collect the latest cards. Let's take a look at a few of them.
Soul Stone. You know you want one! Nuff said!
Clean, well-thought-out mechanics ... the way they should be! Mayhem, Modified and Web-slinging are all very easy to play and very flavorful. Each has a huge impact on your deck construction choices as they need enablers, encouraging you to draft/play cards that other decks wouldn't rate very highly. This helps players make deck construction choices with confidence.
New player friendly (Neighborhood Spider-Man). Yes, both this set, and its associated 2-pick draft are very new player friendly. The mechanics make sense. The design very strongly favors allied color decks. In fact, one of the most common questions from new players this weekend was "what does this [hybrid mana] symbol mean?" They grokked it on the first try. Sweet!
Blocking just got more important! If you think your opponent is on a web-slinging strategy you think about blocking very differently, which is fun. Ditto for letting the City Pigeon keep doming you for one.
I'm a blue mage at heart and this set's counterspells are both strong and at every rarity level. Yes, I first picked a Spider-Sense out of one of my packs even though I was playing a Dimir deck with zero web-slinging.
Legend & Historic-loving decks just got a huge shot in the arm with a huge release of uncommon Legendary creatures. This is a two-edged sword in limited, but it's great for Magic overall. I say this partly because modern Magic design has put abilities on nearly every creature. The opposite of vanilla is a world where every card feels unique, and yes, even legendary. This also feels correct due to the high number of cards that care about Legendary in SPM.
Prerelease is not over! There are two more events to consider. On Wednesday there's a 2-pick draft as part of the Autumn Draft series with a special promo + packs for everyone.
Thursday (always free all day commander play) is the best day to web-sling into the sealed-box 4-week commander league. If you bought or were thinking of buying a box of play boosters this is pure value-town. What makes this so much fun is its unique deck construction rules. Your deck can have any number of copies of cards ... as long as you opened them in your sealed box. (But watch out for the legendary rule!). Plus, your commander doesn't have any color restrictions! You heard that right! And if you need a 3rd player for your pod, feel free to borrow mine and give it a go. (Just ask at the front desk)
I promised villainy so here it is. In my first sealed event and my first draft I had the good fortune of getting both Mysterio, Master of Illusion and Chameleon, Master of Disguise. They scream PLAY ALL VILLAINS! So I did, and it was very, very good. I haven't seen equally good Hero payoffs yet (Spider-Mobile? LOL!), but the designers of Spider-Man got one thing very right. The best part of this universe is the VILLAINS! Bwahahahaha!
Here is our list of prerelease and release week events for the next 10 days. Come play!
Our ever popular Board Game Bazaar is coming back in early October. Sell some of your games that are hogging space on the shelf and pick up some new gems you never knew you needed. Follow this link to learn more about selling your games and how the process works!
