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The Twelve Days of Winter Veil: Day eleven
WoW.com continues celebrating Winter Veil with our Twelve Days of Winter Veil contests. Today is day eleven of our countdown and we are giving away a Feast of Winterveil TCG Collector's Set to three lucky winners courtesy of Upper Deck. Each Collector's Set comes with all the following goodies: 10 exclusive Feast of Winter Veil cards that can't be found anywhere else and feature new content that are all usable in your favorite WoW TCG deck! Two exclusive Pet mini-cards that allow players to customize their experience even more! An exclusive holiday deck box featuring Feast of Winter Veil artwork One Heroes of Azeroth booster pack One Through the Dark Portal booster pack One Fires of Outland booster pack The contest is open to legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia, and Canada (excluding Quebec), and everyone who enters must be 18 or older. To enter, leave a comment on this post before 12pm ET (noon) Thursday, December 24, 2009. Please be sure to use a real email that you check often to enter, so we can contact you should you be one of the winners. You may enter only once and three winners will be selected randomly. Each winner will receive 1 Feast of Winter Veil Collector's Set with a retail value of US$25. Click here to read the official contest rules. And if you don't win today (or even if you do!) check back later today for loot card giveaways and tomorrow for more contests -- the prizes only get better as we count down the Twelve Days of Winter Veil! EDIT: Contest closed. Thanks everyone!
Win even more loot from WoW.com
While the entries for our Guild of the Month contest for September flow in, we've decided to also hand out a little bit of instant gratification. Loot codes, anyone? This afternoon we have, once again, a few Slashdances to hand out, courtesy of Upper Deck. In case you've forgotten, each of them gives you a stack of 100 Party G.R.E.N.A.D.E.s which you can use to start impromptu dance parties in your capital city of choice, or if you're that guy you can use them to drive your raid nuts and prevent them from devouring that delicious Fish Feast we all love so much.All that you need to do to win one of these is leave a comment on this post. At 11:59 pm tonight, I'll be disabling comments and picking three lucky winners at random. Please remember to use a valid email address to leave your comment, because that's how I'll be getting you your code. If I send you a mail and it bounces, you're out of luck and I'm moving on to someone else. Please only comment once. If I find you commenting multiple times to increase your chances, you will be disqualified.If you're looking to win something a little more substantial from us, don't forget to enter the Guild of the Month contest for $100 worth of gear from Swagdog, where you can get some awesome custom guild apparel.
Make a costume, win a trip to BlizzCon from the EU
Blizzard EU has a pretty sweet offer to you European players out there: If you like cosplay (and you're good at it) you could win a chance to go to BlizzCon for free. The official contest page states, "All you have to do is create a costume inspired by one of our game universes, pose in it, snap a photo, and send it to us!"Of course, certain rules apply, contests are never that simple, as I'm sure you've noticed with some of the contests right here on WoW Insider. The contest will begin on May 20th, 2009. It will end on June 22nd, 2009. Submissions sent early (or late) will be discarded. Entries are also limited to individuals 18 or older residing in the following countries: France Belgium United Kingdom Luxembourg Germany Austria Sweden Finland Denmark Norway Ireland Spain Check out the official contest page for the rules in their entirety and the full range of prizes, including the free trip to BlizzCon as well as products from SteelSeries, UpperDeck and Panini.%Gallery-34205%
World of Warcraft miniatures game launches
One of the biggest names in the trading card industry is Upper Deck Entertainment. Given the success of their World of Warcraft Trading Card Game, they've released a follow-up game this week: The World of Warcraft Miniatures Game. The World of Warcraft Miniatures Game went on sale worldwide as of Tuesday, November 11th. There are 70 different miniatures, including Warchief Thrall, Varimathras, and yes... even Leeroy Jenkins. There's a bonus for your actual WoW characters as well -- miniatures booster packs come with sample packs from the WoW Trading Card Game which might include Loot cards. Essentially, they're unlocks for "cosmetic in-game upgrades for their online World of Warcraft characters". Check out the Upper Deck launch announcement for their World of Warcraft Miniatures Game for the full details. One of Azeroth's millions of citizens? Check out our ongoing coverage of the World of Warcraft, and be sure to touch base with our sister site WoW Insider for all your Lich King needs!
Congratulations to our Upper Deck Art Card winners!
WoW Insider's Art Card contest is over, and we have to sincerely thank every one of you that sent your fan art in. There were some really incredible entries, and every piece sent in looked really good-- we had a tough time choosing the winners.But we had to, and so, as planned, we picked one Alliance piece and one Horde piece to each receive their version of Upper Deck's exclusive WoW TCG Art Card set. Each winner will get their faction's copy of the set, which includes 8x10 art cards by your favorite Warcraft artists, 1000 UDE points, redeemable online for ingame items, and a special playable foil card. If you didn't win (or just want a set), we're told they are exclusively available at Gamestop and EB Games. A huge thanks to Upper Deck for helping us with the contest!And without further ado, the winners. Our winning Alliance piece is the one you see above, put together by Bernadette V. It's her hunter, Jynxiee, in her Tier 6 armor-- just as with all this art we're posting, please do click the pic to see it big. Congrats, Bernadette! More art, including our Horde winner and a few Honorable Mentions, after the jump.
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Last day for the WoW Insider Art Card Contest!
Don't forget: today is your absolute last chance to submit your artwork for our huge Art Card contest-- we're giving away two very exclusive Upper Deck WoW TCG Art Card sets to two different artist. Just send us a JPEG of your Horde or Alliance fan art to wowinsidercontests@gmail.com, and the best Horde art wins the Horde set, and the best Alliance artist wins the Alliance set.Each set has 35 8x10 art cards (including art by all your favorite Blizzard artists), a special playable foil card, and a card redeemable for 1000 UDE points (which you can use to buy ingame items like the Ogre suit!). These sets are super exclusive, and all you have to do to win one is send us your best original WoW fan art. If your art is chosen as our Horde or Alliance winner, the Art Card set is yours.But act fast-- today is the last day. Email us a JPEG at wowinsidercontests@gmail.com to enter, and please include your name, age, mailing address, and email address-- that'll make things easier later when we mail out the winners. Official rules are right here. Good luck! Get that art in quick!
Make some great WoW art, win TCG Art Cards from WoW Insider
We've seen some amazing World of Warcraft fan art out there, and considering what fans we at WoW Insider are not only of WoW, but of what its community is capable of, we're holding a contest to find two amazing art pieces. Upper Deck has provided us with two Art Card sets (one Alliance and one Horde, pictured above), including 35 8x10" art cards, a special playable foil card, and a card redeemable for 1,000 points at Upper Deck's UDE rewards site (where you can get actual in-game items as well, including an Ogre Suit!).To win, just submit a digital scan of an original piece of WoW fan art to our contests email, wowinsidercontests@gmail.com, before September 20th (so two weeks from today). It can be whatever you want-- an ingame NPC, your own character, a scene from Azeroth or its history-- just as long as it's original and it's yours. Then, on September 20th, we'll post the winners, and the best Horde piece will win the Horde Art Card set, and the best Alliance piece will win the Alliance version.We're rewarding art for art's sake here at WoW Insider, so get out those pencils, crayons, paints, or whatever other medium you want to use, and send us a copy of your piece at wowinsidercontests@gmail.com, and you could be chosen as the best Horde or Alliance artist around.A few rules apply (as always), and they are found right here. The short version: must be over 17 (13 with parents' permission), and must be a US resident (sorry, EU folks, legal's decision on this one). To make things easy, please include your name, age, mailing address, and email address in your email to us, and you can attach your art as a JPG file in your email.That's it-- good luck! Get us your art by September 20th to win the rare Art Card set!
Winter's Veil CCG cards previewed
A little while back, we heard from Upper Deck that there would be a new set of holiday cards coming out for the Feast of Winter Veil ingame holiday, and now reader Dave C has spotted a preview for the cards in the aptly named Previews magazine. If I recall correctly from my comic collecting days, Previews is a magazine for retailers published by a distributor so they can know what's coming in the next few months and how many of each product to order.At any rate, what's important is that they have a short preview of the upcoming holiday set, and while specifics are still unclear, we're told that each set will have ten exclusive game cards, two Pet mini-cards, three booster packs, and a special "Feast of Winter's Veil" box in it. Unfortunately for the MMO players, none of these cards will be ingame loot cards, but as we said when we first heard about this set, it might be a nice gift for someone who plays the card game itself.Dave also says the Previews issue has a three page preview of the WoW comic book, and obviously WoW shows up on the cover as well. So expect a lot of WoW-related goodies hitting your local comic book store this holiday season.
Changes to loot items coming in 2.2
Drysc tells us that there are changes coming to the latest Upper Deck loot items in 2.2. The Goblin Gumbeaux Kettle is going to keep its one hour cooldown, but everyone who loots it will get Gumbeaux (warning: may cause intestinal gas) for the entire three minutes it stays on the ground. Can't wait to see those pop up around Shattrath (or, as Drysc says, in the middle of raids).And good news for the few who were able to grab the Spectral Tiger Mount (or just picked it up on eBay). Apparently the cat is getting "a little more armor" and the ethereal effect of it will be improved. Sounds great. I still haven't seen one of those ingame yet-- have you?People are still complaining about the hourlong cooldown on the gumbo (sorry, Gumbeaux), and I'm torn. One on hand, an hour is a really long time for an item that's just a joke. I get to summon Vargoth every few minutes (and often do when I get bored). But then again, it is just a joke-- who really cares whether you have to wait five minutes or an hour to burp your heart out? It's a fun loot reward-- be happy you got one and enjoy it as is.
Playing the WoW TCG at BlizzCon
I've never really had an opportunity to play Upper Deck's World of Warcraft-based TCG. Sure, I own some cards, I've skimmed the rulebook, and shuffled through them admiring the artwork. But my friends all play World of Warcraft -- not the TCG, which means I've never really had an opportunity to play the game. But with our BlizzCon goody bags we received a free Heroes of Azeroth starter pack and an invitation to bring our sealed pack of cards to their beginners' tournaments -- so Saturday afternoon, after getting a game demo from one of the members of the Upper Deck team, I signed up to see what gameplay was really like.So if you're curious for a beginner's look at the game and how it plays -- keep reading!
Two new TCG sets (and new loot card series) coming in November
Saturday at BlizzCon, WoW Insider got a chance to sit down with a couple of folks from Upper Deck (including David Baumgartner, who worked on designing the original TCG, and also showed up at the BlizzCon WoW Insider meetup), and in between the turns of a short game, they hooked us up with info about a few upcoming releases for the WoW TCG.You probably already know about the Fires of Outland set, coming on August 22nd (that's the one that has the Spectral Tiger Mount in it), but we were also told about the next set release, which will be called March of the Legion, and will drop in November. There will be new loot cards for that set (we've haven't been told what they are yet, but when we hear, so will you), as well as the introduction of "sub-factions" (I'm assuming this is factions like Scryers or the Mag'har), demonic allies, and new powers for Heroes. Also, each booster pack in this set will have 19 cards instead of the current 15, and 19 cards will be the standard from now on. More cards for the buck!The other new set we heard about is a special holiday set, also in November-- Upper Deck is going to release a Feast of Winter's Veil collector's set, and it'll have stuff from the ingame holiday to use in the TCG, as well as 10 exclusive game cards (not sure what that means), and Pet mini-cards. As far as we were told, the collector's set won't have any loot cards in it, but if you're into the TCG (or know someone who is, as they're marketing it as a gift set), maybe it'll pique your interest.At any rate, the thing we're most excited about, of course, is the new loot cards coming with March of the Legion, which hopefully we'll hear deets on soon. I still haven't quite been sold on actually buying these things-- the card game is fun, but all of my WoW spending money is going to playing the MMO at the moment. Still, if you're into it, a new set is always exciting to hear about.
BlizzCon 2007: Thank you!
Robin, Elizabeth, Amanda, Barb, and I all had a great time at BlizzCon, and there's quite a few people that we should thank for helping us out there. First, a huge thanks to Blizzard for putting it all together, and especially to their CM staff and the PR department for setting us up with a press pass and getting us the access we needed. Another big thank you to all the guys at Xfire, who not only co-presented coverage with us, but did a terrific job of their own, and even let us in a few doors that we couldn't have opened otherwise. Upper Deck also was kind enough to sit down with us (and provide some information on their upcoming products that I'll be posting soon). We were excited to meet Ian Beckman, maker of Azerothian Supervillians, as well as the two guys who run WoW Drama, a blog about serious business in WoW. And Kevin Kelly from Joystiq joined us for most of the convention, and helped out immensely with his experience and knowhow. Back here at the ranch, we have to thank our homebound bloggers for filling in the blanks of our coverage, and we have to give a nod to our friend Boubouille over at MMO Champion, who was not only instrumental in getting some of the leaks out (and getting Frank Pierce angry at us), but also hooked us up with a few links and said some very nice things about our coverage. The guys at WoW Radio were also seen almost nonstop at BlizzCon, and gave us a nice nod as well.And last but farthest from least, we have to thank you, our readers, who not only came up and said hi, hello, and thank you to us at both the WoW Insider meetup on Thursday (the video above is a short sweep of the crowd there at the Lost Bar, right before our trivia contest), but also on the floor as well. Back here on the site, you read your way through our 99 posts over the weekend, gave us record numbers of page views, and helped us out with comments, questions, and tons of support. Thanks very much for everything-- we really, really appreciate it.We're far from done (we've got more BlizzCon news to report on, and of course we need to get around to the discussion of whether we really want siege weapons or not), but now that the event itself is over, we just wanted to take a second and say thanks. So thank you.
Even more pictures from the BlizzCon floor
Here are even more pictures from the floor of the BlizzCon exhibition hall, including tournament action, pictures from the various exhibitor booths (Richard A. Knaak is in here, as well as the artists hanging out and creating artwork at the Upper Deck booth, and even one shot of the Nvidia girl.Additionally, I'll be adding pictures to this gallery throughout day 2, so keep checking back to see what else there is to see in BlizzCon's main exhibition hall.%Gallery-5527%
Grats to the winner of our Spectral Tiger Mount
We have to give a big shout out of "Grats!" to Keane, commenter #2329 and random winner of our ginormous Spectral Tiger Mount contest. We sincerely thank all 5920 of you who entered (!), but we only had one mount to give away, and Keane (above) got it. He says he can't run through Ironforge now without getting bombarded by "OMG WHERE U GET THAT" whispers. I have to say: even I'm jealous. Looks awesome.Thanks again to all the folks at Upper Deck for helping us out with the mount-- don't forget that the actual STM card is a loot card in the new Fires of Outland booster packs, which release on August 22nd, but which you'll be able to get your hands on at the sneak preview tourneys, held all over the country August 11-12th. And of course we'll have more contests coming soon, so keep watching.Grats to Keane, you lucky, lucky, Spectral Tiger-riding commenter, you.
WoW Insider gives away a super rare Spectral Tiger Mount
See that? That's a Spectral Tiger Mount, a super-rare steed available only from a special loot card in Upper Deck's new World of Warcraft TCG expansion. Sure, the cards aren't even out yet but that hasn't stopped Upper Deck and WoW Insider (Joystiq's totally fabulous all-things-WoW blog) from teaming up to give one away to a single lucky reader. Entering is simple! If you play on a US or EU realm, just head over to WoW Insider and leave a comment before 7pm EDT tomorrow. That's it!While you're over there, check out their coverage of Blizzcon, going down next week. Already going? Stop by the first ever WoW Insider meetup while you're in town. Tell 'em Joystiq sent ya.
Enter to win a Spectral Tiger Mount from WoW Insider!
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/World_of_Warcraft_Spectral_Tiger_Mount_Giveaway'; I think this is the most awesome thing we've ever given away. WoW Insider and Upper Deck have hooked up to provide you with the friggin' coolest ground mount in game: The Spectral Tiger Mount. It's one of the three loot cards from the WoW TCG expansion just announced for the new Fires of Outland booster packs (coming to a store near you on August 22nd). Usually it's only available from the special foil card in these packs, but this time, you can win a code for it just by leaving a comment on this post. Yup, put a comment on this post in the next 48 hours (the loot is so good we had to go twice the normal contest length), so before Friday, July 27, at 7pm EST-- and please use an email that you check often, so we can get back to you when you win!-- and one person from the comments will be randomly selected to win a code that gives them this mount on the in game character of their choice!Just a note: in game, you will need to pay the regular mount gold and have the skill for it, just like any other mount (you can buy it either regular or epic, 10g or 100g). But that's a small price to pay to be riding around on a rare mount from a loot card that isn't even available in stores yet. And if you don't win the mount in this contest, don't worry, because you will have a chance to get it by checking out the Fires of Outland sneak preview tournament, run by Upper Deck all around the country, and happening August 11-12.So put down a comment and hope for the mount. Oh, and one more thing-- while most of our contests are US only, this one works on both US and EU realms, so for this one, you're in, you crazy EU players! We love you too! Good luck!Update: Time's up. Check your email!
Upper Deck shows off the new loot cards
Upper Deck has confirmed those three loot items we mentioned the other day, coming in the Fires of Outland booster set. Goblin gumbo is a summonable pot that conjures a tradeable food (that makes you burp). There's a fishing chair as well (and Upper Deck has posted the first pictures of it-- looks like you're able to actually sit in the chair while you fish, which might make all that repetitive clicking a little more fun). And of course there's the much awaited Spectral Tiger Mount, available in both regular and Epic flavors (strangely enough, they're making you pay the regular mount price for it, even after getting the special loot card code.And if you're actually playing the game (not just using the codes for the cool in game stuff), Mike Hummel also reveals what each card does in game-- the Spectral Tiger card provides a buff to allies in your party with the Elusive and Ferocity qualities. Cool stuff. All of the cards will be foil cards, so if you're planning on grabbing some of the Fires of Outland packs (coming to stores in late August, we're told), keep an eye out.
Three new loot cards for the WoW TCG
We actually heard from Upper Deck last month that there would be new loot cards coming in the "Fires of Outland" booster release from the WoW collectible card game, but now PHD Games has announced exactly what they'll be. Strangely enough, PHD is a distributor, and there's no word on Upper Deck's site about this, so this may actually be an unapproved leak-- wonder if PHD might face consequences for apparently telling us all of this early.At any rate, here's the random cards that will be showing up in Fires of Outland: Goblin Gumbo, which will make you "burp outlandish gas" A Fishing Chair, for relaxing while angling And the best one: A Spectral Tiger mount (!). MMO Champion has actual pics, which you can see above. Pretty! Also, all the loot cards will now be foil cards (which is a first for the WoW TCG), and they'll have a different design as well. Fires of Outland, says PHD, is coming in late August.Update: Commenter boulee points out there were foil cards in the Onyxia raid deck. Thanks!
Enter to win a signed WoW TCG playmat from WoW Insider
The other weekend, I went out to Schaumberg, IL to meet up with the guys from Upper Deck at the WoW TCG Darkmoon Faire. And not only did I walk away with a couple of interviews and a lot of pictures, they also hooked me up with these two rare playmats, which we're giving away to two lucky readers!The one on top was given away to everyone who participated in the main tournament at the Darkmoon Faire events, and the one on the bottom features art by none other than Gabe of Penny Arcade. Oh, and you can't see it in the picture, but both mats are signed by none other than Mike Hummel, head of Upper Deck's R&D, and co-creator of the WoW TCG.To enter, just leave a comment (one comment and only one comment) on this post right here. As usual, the contest is only open to US residents age 13 and up (rest of the official rules here). Tomorrow morning at 11am EST, I'll close the comments and we'll choose two at random to each receive one playmat each. Good luck, comment away!Update: Contest over, comments closed. Thanks for entering everyone-- check your email to see if you won.
WoW TCG: Interview with Mike Hummel, Senior Game Designer
Mike Hummel has been playing collectible card games since the beginning. As leader of the R&D team at Upper Deck, he created the Marvel/DC VS system, as well as worked on Yu-gi-oh, one of the most successful CCGs of all time. And he's one of three main designers behind the World of Warcraft card game. So when I asked for a demo game, and he sat down to play across from me, I was suitably intimidated.It didn't help that I had never actually played the game before. But Hummel knows card strategy in and out (he should know this card game-- he made it), and so I followed his instructions as I laid down my first quest cards and resources. I took his advice in choosing my first allies and playing my abilities. I was given a Warlock deck to start with, and it became a classic PvP duel when his Druid dropped into Cat Form and started ripping me apart.
