This year’s Kaiju Brooklyn, the third such event, was by far the largest to ever be held, with over 2000 Kaiju fans from at least three countries making their way to Industry City in Brooklyn from Friday, May 30th to Sunday June 1st! Fans commiserated around multiple Kaiju-based fandom, but many came to celebrate the Ultraman Card Game, which became the talk of the convention with a number of huge events and reveals!
The first major event happened smack-dab in the middle of the first full day, Saturday May 31st, when the very first Ultra League Rise Cup in North America kicked off at noon at Brooklyn Game Knight in Industry City!
With higher stakes than a Galaxy Cup, the players present brought their very best decks in hopes of winning the exclusive Ultraman Gaia V2 prize card.
In the end, the top spot was taken by New York’s own Joel Diaz, with his Tiga/Blazar deck. A fixture in the local scene, Joel got to walk away at the end with pride, being potentially the most accomplished player in the country at this point!
In the aftermath of the Rise Cup, the largest sealed UCG tournament in the country kicked off, but there was one event happening that ended up being considered the biggest challenge of the evening.
Our own Ultraman Connection editor-in-chief EJ Couloucoundis was present at Kaiju Brooklyn, even running the Rise Cup. A passionate card player, EJ has been one of the architects of the New York community — and as he likes to say, “Nothing makes a player better than a challenge to overcome.” EJ was happy to provide such a challenge, with his “Beat Belial” open event starting at noon at the Ultraman Connection booth, across from the primary Ultraman Card Game shopping booth run by Pop Culture USA,and running all the way until the show closed Sunday night.
Armed with an extremely powerful Kaiju deck featuring Ultraman Belial, EJ would take on all comers, rookies and veterans, with the ruthless skill befitting the bane of the Land of Light. To defeat him would net players the rare Zetton promo used in several Kaiju decks, including EJ’s own showcase deck. Of course, the way EJ played across the two days made it clear that it wouldn’t be a cakewalk… In the first 100 matches, he only gave away five promos. Perhaps next time you see him, you’ll be ready to take on the challenge.
Later that evening, at the world premiere screening for the English dub of Ultraman Arc the Movie: The Clash of Light and Evil, EJ appeared again, this time giving out free promo cards that had once been available in Japanese theaters during the movie’s run. These promos were Japanese and thus could not be fit into English decks, but collector-mania quickly spun up, with people trying to swap with each other to complete their set of all three potential pulls.
The next day continued supporting the UCG as Ultraman Connection held a special panel with hosts EJ and Jeff Gomez introducing some of the artists that had helped make the exclusive art the English edition has become known for, including Jamie Noguchi, John Bellotti Jr., and Klenda V, and Chrysoula Artemis. Each gave heartfelt thanks to the fans and long, serious discussions about how the process had even begun, for some of the face a killer question.
EJ was once again emcee, and he went slightly over the top this time, preparing a full adventure presentation to help the viewers with reveals, but built around revealing secrets that could fundamentally shift opinion; AKA the BP04 preview cards! Fans got to hear deep thoughts from the panel guests, especially Klenda, who arrived with a dynamic new rendition of Ultraman Z she prepared for the next edition of the game BP04.
After the artist segment ended, EJ’s “performance” began, as he took the fans through the first three sets of the game; what has changed, what has remained. All of this led up to the reveal of the game’s new Ultra, the announcement and unveiling of Ultraman Victory through his first card by John Bellotti Jr. Even that wasn’t the end though, as EJ continued, announcing the Ultraman Card Game US Open! The championship is happening at GenCon this August, with more details soon to come!
After the panel, EJ’s Beat Belial challenge continued (and some say it continues even now, the way he plays), so we’ll call our coverage here. Come back again tomorrow to find out what else Ultraman Connection was responsible for during Kaiju Brooklyn!
