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Baine Bloodhoof stomps his way into WoW TCG's War of the Ancients
As one of the featured races in the upcoming WoW TCG Timewalkers block, the tauren received the powerful Tribe keyword, which lets them activate each others' powers when they come into play. But they can't protect the timeways alone -- they need a chieftain to lead the charge and protect them. Enter Baine, Son of Cairne, the epic tauren ally in the upcoming War of the Ancients set that Cryptozoic sent us to preview. Baine comes packing the powerful War Stomp keyword, knocking out a hero or ally when he swings, and further damaging them when they exhaust. His high health pool and Protector keyword will let him protect your weaker allies to keep their Tribe powers rolling in the late game. We previewed the ultra-rare extended art version of the Malorne the White Stag master hero card last week, and Cryptozoic has begun their own official previews of War of the Ancients, which features playable lore characters as heroes for the first time in a standard WoW TCG set. Play as Malfurion, Queen Azshara, Broxigar the Red, and more heroes from every era of Warcraft history as you protect the timeways of the Caverns of Time with the Timewalkers faction. Timewalkers: War of the Ancients releases October 2nd.
WoW TCG North American Continental Championship is now
Cryptozoic Entertainment is hosting its first-ever World of Warcraft TCG event in Las Vegas, and it's happening now! The WoW TCG North American Continental Championship runs from today through Sunday, but even if you're not in Sin City, you can follow the events online via Cryptozoic's liveblog. What's at stake at the championship? Only $80,000 in prizes for challenge winners, and those who participate in any of the numerous side events have a chance to win iPads, Macbook Pros, iPods, gift cards, and (of course) loot cards. They're even giving away prizes all weekend to fans who watch live video coverage of the event here. Good luck to all the competitors and to Cryptozoic for their first big event!
Death Knight class arrives in the TCG
Upper Deck has announced that the Death Knight class is coming to the WoW trading card game. Just like in the MMO, the class plays differently than any other -- their website has a series of previews posted that show just how different their DKs are. The class is designed to do crazy damage with two-hand weapons, and there are options to do extra damage by sacrificing allies or equip gear that provides you with solid armor even as you're churning out DPS. There are Death Knight Horde and Alliance allies as well, and each of them has a Death Knight-specific ability -- lots of Shadow damage, exchanging protection for more damage, and even some Frost-tree cold debuffs. And there are quests to go along with the Death Knight class as well, where DKs get extra bonuses for completing and playing certain quests.Starting on June 16th, you'll be able to pick up 36-card deluxe starter decks for Death Knights at a store near you, and those decks will get inserted into the game just like any other class -- they come with a Hero to play, associated spells and quests, and three "Ghoul token cards" to play as allies. While this is the first time Death Knights will be playable as Heroes, the very first Death Knight cards were actually included in the Wrath of the Lich King Collector's Edition -- a pair of Ally cards named Lord Anton Nightbane (Alliance) and Conqueror Kagon Blackskull (Horde). If you like the TCG but have been looking for a new twist (or a way to bring your Death Knight character into the game), this definitely seems worth a look. And speaking of the TCG, they are now on Facebook, so if you're a fan, go say hi over there as well. The MMO and TCG crowd still seem to run in different circles (though you'll definitely see the game at BlizzCon), but there are quite a few intersecting points between them.
Testers summoned to Wizard101 Beta
Back in late May, Massively presented an in-depth look at Wizard101, the new family-friendly MMORPG from KingsIsle Entertainment, in which players take on the role of novice wizards studying spellcraft at the Ravenwood School of Magical Arts. Notable for its emphasis on suitability for young people, Wizard101 uses an innovative card game based system to resolve combat and features several addictive mini-games. We loved the doodle-style illustrations, too - reminiscent of the Order of the Stick. The free beta test has now started, so prospective sorcerers can get in line and wait to build up their decks of spells. You can also use the online character creator on the Wizard101 website to find out which school of wizardry you ought to belong to: Fire, Ice, Myth, Storms, Life, Death or Balance.
Upper Deck starts "Road to Worlds"
Upper Deck has announced the series of tournaments that will bring them down the road to the World Championships for the WoW trading card game -- "The Road to Worlds," they're calling them -- and the events began this past weekend. You can check on their website right now to see what's going down where -- odds are that if you're near a metropolitan area, there's something happening near you. These events aren't that big themselves (the prizes are a few art pieces and some extra cards, including this awesome Robotic Chicken quest card), but the big deal here is that the top two from each event move on, and eventually will try for a chance to compete in the World Championships later this year.Good luck if you do go, and as always, bring your camera and let us know if you get pictures of the events. This is the small end of Upper Deck's tournament year (things will get much bigger later on as they move towards the big Championships), but all the same, every time they show up somewhere to play cards, there's a lot of fun to be had.
World of Warcraft TCG: Ally Cards
These two preview articles highlight the different allies you'll have access to in-game, and what they can and can't do for you. There are different allies for players playing alliance and horde heroes, which I imagine adds some distinct flavor to playing either side in the game. Each ally has a resource cost (the number of resources you must expend to put it into play), an attack power (the amount of damage they can do to an opponent), a health rating (the amount of damage an enemy has to do to kill them), and sometimes special abilities. One ability of note is the "protector" ability - which I would describe in in-game turns as a warrior's taunt. When one player decides to attack another in the TCG, they choose an ally to attack with and an ally on their opponents' side to attack - however, if their opponent has any allies with the protector ability, they may use those cards to defend against the attack instead. The alliance preview introduces us to the dwarf paladin Maxum Ironbrew (who can heal himself) and everyone's favorite king of Ironforge, Magni Bronzebeard (who summons a dwarf warriors each turn to fight with you and also allows all dwarves in your deck to be protectors). The horde preview introduces us to the Orgrimmar grunt (which becomes more powerful the more grunts you have in play) and Warchief Thrall (who increases the attack power and health of all your horde allies).
World of Warcraft TCG: Quest Cards
The most recent TCG preview features quest cards - three of them in fact: Your Fortune Awaits You, Are We There, Yeti?, and Tooga's Quest. I find it interesting that these cards more or less mirror existing in-game quests, though fit neatly into the TCG's own structure. What's the point of quests? Well, they offer you rewards - usually extra cards, but sometimes other useful things - in exchange for resources. So what are resources? During every turn a player may play one card face down (any type of card? I'm a little unclear on this). You can use this card to pay a single resource cost. Thus, the further into the game you get, the more you can afford to pay for skills, abilities, and interesting quests.
World of Warcraft TCG: Weapon Cards
The most recent TCG preview focuses on weapons cards, highlighting the two-handed polearm Flame Wrath. In explaining how the weapon works, we get a lot of information on how the game's combat system is going to work as well. At this point, I'm curious - the highlighted card is usable by warriors, paladins, and hunters, but I don't see anything that differentiates the warriors' use of this weapon from the hunters' - so will melee hunters be a force to be reckoned with? Will bow-wielding warriors be viable without the in-game advantage that hunters receive from autoattack? There's still a lot we don't know about the dynamics of gameplay. And, again, WoW TCG news gives an excellent rundown of what these text-heavy previews tell us.
World of Warcraft TCG: Armor Cards
This TCG preview tells all there is to know about "armor" cards by showing off the Deathdealer Breastplate card. This article doesn't seem give us as much new game information as yesterday's preview - armor works much as you might expect it to work if you play World of Warcraft. The more I read about it, the more it sounds quite like the Azeroth I know and love, only without the need for an internet connection - and I'm all for that. Again, WoW TCG news has a nice summation of the information given in the preview.
Sneak Peek at the WoW Trading Card Game
This week's Sprawl's Scrawl has an interesting preview of the upcoming World of Warcraft trading card game. I've certainly been wondering how the World of Warcraft is going to be converted into card came format, and this certainly makes it sound like an interesting game - though details on gameplay are still very sparse. The game is packaged in starter decks, which contain a pre-constructed 33 card deck that's styled around one of the nine possible classes (which is random), two booster packs (with 15 additional cards each, to customize your deck), and 3 oversized "Hero" cards (of unknown use). The game will focus primarily on one on one PvP combat - as you test your cards and skills against those of another player - however, there are also rulesets for multiplayer and raiding. For raiding, there are 60-card raid decks that may be purchased and played, with one player acting akin to pen-and-paper dungeon master for the players attempting the raid.Can't wait to find out more? Well, the game is set for a Halloween release, but you can already pre-order starter decks and boxes of booster packs at Upper Deck's online store.
