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WoW TCG Darkmoon Faire is hearthing to an inn near you
The World of Warcraft Trading Card Game traveling show, the Darkmoon Faire, is coming to Columbus, Ohio on April 11th through April 13th. For those of you who enjoy a few moments away from your computer, but dream of returning to the Sunwell every second you're gone, the Faire is the event for you! Get a little fresh air, meet some fellow Azerothians, and pick up some new cards to add to your deck. Tournament prizes include a home theater system, a high end gaming rig, and your travel expenses reimbursed!Traveling with the caravan will be some new cards for preview and use. At the event, a Limited Darkmoon Faire Championship will be held using the March of the Legion and Servants of the Betrayer decks. This will give players a chance to sample some of the new cards during tournament play. Go ahead and log off, enter into some contests, partake in the festivities, have a little fun, interact with people from the WoW community, and defeat challengers in competitive matches!
TCG Servants of the Betrayer Sneak Peek
I'd like to interrupt your patch 2.4 coverage for this important announcement. This Saturday, 29 March is your first opportunity to get an early look at the Servants of the Betrayer expansion to the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game. Upper Deck welcomes players of all skill levels. If you love Vanity pets, this may be the time to start playing WoW TCG. The new set will feature the new super common consumable loot card: Papa Hummel's Old-Fashioned Pet Biscuit, which adds growth counters to a party pet in the TCG. It can be traded in the MMORPG for biscuits that boost the size of cosmetic pets.
Upper Deck introduces Traitor cards for the WoW TCG
Those of you who are fanatics of the WoW TCG have probably heard of the new Servants of the Betrayer expansion already, but even if you have, it's worth checking out this new article on the official Upper Deck TCG site. It goes into greater length about the philosophy behind the new cards, and introduces the basic ideas, mechanics, and lore behind the new Traitor Heroes. While "Servants of the Betrayer" rightly assumes you'll be able to control Vashj and Kael, they decided that they did not want to make those two central to deck building, since they already plan to release a new Black Temple raid deck later on. Instead, they will be possible allies of a new series of "Traitor Heroes."
WoW TCG: Darkmoon Faire Orlando this weekend, and new boosters to come
The first Darkmoon Faire event of the year is set to kick off this weekend (and indeed, has probably already started) in Orlando, Florida. If you're around down there and have any interest in the TCG at all, it's a lot of fun -- they're going to have lots of beginner and advanced tournaments, of course, and an ingame leveling contest on an event server, as well as tips on how to build the best deck and do some card crafting. I went to the Chicago event a little while ago, and I can confirm it's a fun way to spend a weekend afternoon. As always, if you go, take pictures and drop us a note when you get back.In other TCG news, reader Dave (thanks!) sent us a note about what looks to be a brand new booster set, called The Hunt for Illidan. The set was announced quite a while ago, but with a release date of July 2008, retailers are just now ordering the cards. And there will be new loot cards in the new set, so we'll keep an eye out to see what else Blizzard has up their sleeve for new TCG rewards.
Upper Deck's Spectral Safari tourney is tomorrow
Tomorrow's the big day for the Spectral Safari tournament that Upper Deck is organizing. At various locations all around the country, TCG players will be competing for prizes of all kinds, including the coveted Spectral Tiger mount. The good folks at Upper Deck have also posted a guide for would-be tiger winners -- they've broken down a few classes in the TCG game, so even if you haven't been practicing maniacally for the last few months, you can still read up and and have a chance at winning the tournament.And don't forget that even if you're not playing, Upper Deck wants you to go anyway; send them pictures or reports of the event, and you might get chosen to win even more prizes. And if you do go, drop us a note here on WoW Insider about what it was like -- obviously, UD is hoping for this to be a big event tomorrow, so it'll be interesting to see who shows up at the various locations. If you are going to compete, good luck! Win yourself a tiger mount!
Details on the WoW Minis game
WoW Insider has obtained a copy of the "sell sheet" sent to distributors about the upcoming WoW minis game, and it contains information about pricing, pack size, and even some hints at a release date. var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/WoW_Insider_obtains_details_on_the_upcoming_WoW_Minis_game'; Basically, the minis will become available in three different ways: there will be the core booster sets, which will contain three minis of the same Horde or Alliance faction, plus three character cards and six ability cards, and will have a suggested retail price (SRP) of $14.99 per booster. Additionally, each booster will have a chance to include an ingame Loot Card, supposedly from the Trading Card Game (there is no word if there will be loot cards specifically for the minis game), and a 1/8 chance to have an "epic" character.More info on the starter sets, including the full text of the "sell sheet," after the break.
A closer look at the WoW miniatures
Are you looking around your WoWspace and thinking, "gee, I could really use more World of Warcraft action figures" then you may just be in luck. As we announced recently, coming this fall, from Upper Deck Entertainment, is the World of Warcraft Miniatures Game. You will be able to acquire miniatures that will serve as both game pieces and collectibles, as each one "will be mounted on a uniquely engineered removable base". Each miniature will reportedly be a highly detailed 3-D rendering of characters in the game, including not only each race and class, but bigwigs like Thrall and, evidently, Leeroy Jenkins, who has already appeared in the Trading Card Game. Your minis will face their opponents in head-on battles as well as raid and dungeon scenarios, which can include player co-operation, much like in-game. These little guys and gals even have their own site, over at WoWMinis.com. Let's take a sneak peak, shall we?
Upper Deck announces WoW minis game
Upper Deck has dropped an announcement about the final conquest of the Warcraft universe over the complete whole of nerd-dom: they're going to make a WoW minis game (yes, there's already an RPG system, so until someone puts together an official LARPing league, I think we're done here). The miniatures will come out in Fall of this year, and the game will feature standalone raid and dungeon scenarios, which means you can play against your friends or play by yourself against "automated dungeons." Upper Deck also says that there will be an Organized Play structure for the game, including Local and World Championships.There's nothing yet about any "loot minis"-- Blizzard is apparently working closely with Upper Deck to put this together, so you'd think they might try to replicate the loot cards of the TCG, but I'm sure that if they do come up with something like that, we'll hear about it. There's also no word on actual gameplay yet, but Upper Deck says that they'll update the site with a downloadable gameplay demo, so we can see exactly how it will work.Excited about this? Halo has been to the mini universe already, as has Marvel and DC. Will Warcraft have success in this, the last of the realms of nerd-dom?
Upper Deck announces new booster set and Spectral Safari details
Two big pieces of news today from Upper Deck about the WoW TCG-- first of all, they've announced details about their latest booster set, called Servants of the Betrayer, and available this coming April. The set will have new sub-factions, new ally types, and heretofore unreleased abilities for your deck. Additionally, the booster packs will continue the trend set in the last expansion, and contain 19 cards per pack, with those extra loot consumable cards showing up more often.Second, Upper Deck has also revealed details of the Spectral Safari, a series of events at local card stores at which players will be able to win the Spectral Tiger Mount card. The contests will take place on March 1st at selected retail locations, and the winner of each contest will take home a Spectral Tiger Mount, while a Robotic Homing Chicken will be given away as a door prize, and Upper Deck will give out other prizes to winners as well.So mark your calendars for March 1st if you plan to attend one of the tournaments, and look out for Servants of the Betrayer in stores in April (that's the booster set, not actual servants of Illidan).
Upper Deck interviews TCG artists Zoltan and Gabor
Upper Deck continues their series on the art of the game by talking to two artists who've done some terrific work for the TCG, Zoltan Boros and Gabor Szikszai. The two partners talk about how they make some of the art of the card game (with a Wacom Cintiq-- drool), and specifically how they made a couple of multi-card pieces. For the most recent raid deck, they had to make a mural of Magtheridon and his channelers that went across five cards, and that the challenge wasn't just creating an interesting piece of art overall, but also making each card interesting enough to stand on its own.Very cool interview, and definitely neat to see what these two guys are like, working on the forefront of digital painting.
TCG goes on a Spectral Safari
Our friends at Upper Deck have announced an interesting series of tournaments with one of the best prizes they could give out: a Spectral Tiger card. There'll be more info on January 31st, they say, but apparently retail outlets all over the country are going to hold tournaments of their own, and the grand prize at each and every one is a Spectral Tiger mount card.There'll also be booster packs given out (of course), and a lucky door prize winner at each event will pick up the Robotic Homing Chicken card. Pretty cool to see that UD is going to spread the love around a bit (although they haven't yet announced just how many tournaments are going down). If there are a lot of retail places participating in this, you could see a lot more ghostly tigers around the realms.More info is coming to Upper Deck's site on January 31st. We'll keep an eye out and let you know when and where your chance to pick up the loot cards will be.
WoW TCG 2007 reviewed, 2008 previewed
Our friends over at Upper Deck's WoW TCG site have been running a little review of their biggest stories from 2007 over the last week (including this terrific piece about the Lady Kath card), so if you haven't been keeping up over there all year, or just want to look back at what happened in the trading card game, go check them out.They've also posted two pieces looking forward as well. The first is a look at what the Organized Play schedule looks like for 2008-- they're going to have a new award to honor the Player of the Year, starting with the just-finished World Championships, and they're also going to have a Group Championships tournament as well. They're also looking for names for both events, so if you'd like to win a Wraith Scythe card, check the bottom of that page.And there's a preview of what's coming in 2008 as well-- an art book is due out soon, and the Magtheridon's Lair raid deck is coming out soon also. We'll keep an eye on what else they've got planned over there-- while the online game is headed to the Sunwell, they've only just scratched the surface of possibilities on Burning Crusade content.
Enter to win a TCG Feast of Winter's Veil set from Upper Deck and WoW Insider
Didn't (like most TCG players) win anything in this past weekend's World Championships? Worry not! Upper Deck has kindly provided us with not one but two special Feast of Winter Veil collector's gift sets (valued at $24.99) to give away. Yes, just in time for the holidays, here's your chance to win a set for the WoW TCG player in your life (even if that's you).To enter, just leave a comment on this post telling Greatfather Winter what you want for Winter's Veil (and no, saying "a Feast of Winter's Veil gift set!" will not help your chances of winning these) before Friday, December 7th at 3:00pm EST. You can enter only once (and we'll know it if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness' sake!). Two winners will be selected randomly from all the comments on this post within that time to win a set each, so use your real email, and check it within 24 hours of the contest's end, or you'll lose your prize. You must also be over 18 and a US resident due to legal red tape-- click here for official rules.Good luck everybody, and have a merry Winter's Veil!Update: Contest over, comments closed. Check your email.
WoW TCG World Championships wrapup
Upper Deck's first WoW TCG World Championships are over, and the $100,000 winner is Guillame Matignon, who crushed his opponents (including the US Champ Brad Watson) with-- what else-- a Blood Elf Paladin. Unfortunately, it looks like UD's Ben Drago was far too busy to blog, but UD's official site has lots of great information and recaps. This really was a World Champs-- players hailed from countries all over the globe. Here's a great walkthrough of the artists' table, including a few good insights from the artists about where the card art comes from. Unfortunately, Upper Deck didn't let us into that dinner with the developers that they held, but here's the two guys who got to go. And finally, the players: they put together not only profiles of the top 8 players, but after it was all said and done, an interview with the $100,000 winner. The French player ran undefeated for 12 rounds to win it all, and how'd he do it. "Aggressive Horde, always." For the Horde! All of Upper Deck's coverage is available on their website. Odds are that you didn't win the tournament, but worry not-- WoW Insider has your chance to win another WoW TCG prize later this week. Congrats to all the winners in San Diego, and cheers to Upper Deck for putting on what sounds like a terrific TCG event.
Friday at the TCG World Championships
The competitors are just getting started this morning in San Diego, but here's a wrapup of everything that went down yesterday at the WoW TCG World Championship tournament there. First and foremost, they played some cards. Brad Watson, who we interviewed, is doing well, and Upper Deck also put together a huge list of the top constructed decks from Day One. Today, we hear, will be all about Draft decks, as players continue to fight for the Top 8. Here are the standings as of round 9. Manager of Organized Play Ben Drago made some announcements regarding the future of organized play for the TCG-- he rounds them all up on his blog. Looks like UD is going to choose a "TCG Player of the Year," and the contest starts right now at World Champs. Multiple TCG artists were in attendance at the event, including Blizzard's Samwise, a Warcraft icon (literally). Bloody Mary, he says, is his favorite card. There was also some chaos from the online game, as Blizzard reps went head to head against a Warsong Gulch, and brought everyone from Jaina Proudmoore to Hogger into the battle. Upper Deck: you've got to give us bigger versions of those pictures. That looks hilarious. Lots of fun in San Diego. Stay tuned to both Ben Drago's blog as well as Upper Deck's official coverage page for more as we head towards a $100,000 winner at the end of the weekend.
Upper Deck's WoW TCG World Championships coverage begins
Upper Deck has begun their live coverage of the biggest event the TCG has ever seen: the World Championships. They are live from San Diego, as a few hundred players are battling it out in the card game for a $100,000 prize. There are other tournaments going on there as well this weekend-- the Darkmoon Faire is in town and giving away tons of great loot. And Blizzard is there as well-- they're even giving away a Dinner with the Devs, where winners of a certain tournament can sit down and talk shop with the devs: Chris Metzen, Shawn Carnes, J. Allen Brack, Lee Sparks, Scott Mercer, Cory Stockton, Travis Day, and Tom Chilton. Artists are in the house, too: Samwise, Glenn Rane, Alex Horley-Orlandelli, Jonboy Meyers, and Dan Scott will be signing cards and doing sketches for attendees throughout the weekend. Pretty rad if you happen to be as big a fanboy/girl as we here at WoW Insider are.Ben Drago, the manager for Organized Play (who we interviewed a while back) is also blogging live from the event, and been posting updates, both small and big, from his hotel room and the tournament floor. Expect to see lots more coverage, including photos and results, from Upper Deck on the tournament over the weekend.And we'll have more here at WoW Insider, too-- our coverage started yesterday with an interview with one of the top TCG players, and we'll be keeping an eye on the results all weekend. And even if you're not in the tournament at all, you still have a chance to win something-- watch WoW Insider all next week for results of the tournament and our very own consolation prizes.
WoW Insider interview with Brad Watson, top WoW TCG player
As we mentioned the other day, the WoW TCG World Championships are just around the corner-- they're kicking off in San Diego this coming weekend-- and WoW Insider got the chance to speak with one of the top players of the card game, Brad Watson. He's the US National Champion this year, and he, along with a long list of other qualified players, is going to sit down in San Diego to try and win the $100,000 First Place Prize.Brad spoke with us about how he got started in the card game, the best and worst cards to use during play, and how Upper Deck's TCG has changed over the last year or so since it began. He gave us interesting insight on how sets like Fires of Outland and the holiday Winter's Veil set have affected tournament play, and we even asked him about what average TCG players think of the loot cards that online gamers seem to go crazy over.Our interview with Brad Watson starts right after the jump. Stay tuned later this week for more news from Upper Deck's World Championships in San Diego.
Upper Deck hiring TCG designers
Lots of action in the WoW TCG this week, as Upper Deck heads to the World Championship in San Diego next weekend. WoW Insider will have more coverage heading into the event (billed as "one of the biggest TCG tournaments ever"), but before we get to that, here's an interesting opportunity for those of you who know the card game so well you might actually like to design it: Upper Deck is hiring.They've got an R&D position open, so if you have an interest in designing or updating card games for Upper Deck, look it up. They don't specifically say that you'd be working on the WoW game, but the ad is linked from the WoW page, so if you do want to work on the TCG, now's probably your best chance. They do ask for a couple years of card game design experience, so I'd imagine the pool for this is pretty limited already, but you never know-- could be that with the right background and interests, you could be coming up with cards for the next expansion release.Stay tuned for more info about Upper Deck, the WoW TCG, and this weekend's World Championships.
Darkmoon Faire dazzles London
The World of Warcraft TCG Darkmoon Faire has been touring Europe, and most recently stopped in London, England for a small tournament filled with fierce competition. Blizzard in partnership with Upper Deck Entertainment sponsored previous competitions in Frankfurt, Germany and Milan, Italy, and the two winners from those tournaments were on hand to battle it out in London. Victory smiled on the home favorites this time out, and both Frankfurt's champion Pierre Malherbaud and Erik van der Laan winner of the tournament in Milan lost to their UK challengers. In the end Paul Stuart, who had previously swept the UK tournaments, won the day, becoming the DMF London champion.Players got the chance during the event to raid against Blizzard CMs using the Molten Core deck. The CMs are a tough group to beat, seeing as how in their 19 1v1 matches, they only lost 5. Despite valiant efforts, the raids were defeated by Baron Geddon in all his fiery glory. As a TCG fan myself I find it an inspiration to see lovers of the game gather together. Pardon me as I break out my deck to slaughter the next unsuspecting challenger. Any takers?
How to get a loot card for yourself
The Queen of Spades on WoW LJ asks the million dollar question about Upper Deck's loot cards: so how many do I have to buy to really get one?Good question. nantena points us to this thread over on Upper Deck's site that has the odds set from the Heroes of Azeroth loot cards at 1:96 packs for the tabard, 1:288 packs for the Hippogryph pet, and 1:566 packs for the turtle. That means you have to buy 566 packs, which is about 24 boxes (there were 24 packs per box in Heroes of Azeroth) at about $60 each, just to mathematically come close the odds you need. That's already $1,440, and even then, considering all the cards are randomly placed, you're not guaranteed a card.Now, the latest set is a little easier-- March of the Legion has more cards per pack, and the odds on the loot cards are better. We don't know what they are, but you'd probably get at least one loot card (and probably more) if you shelled out $1,000 right away. However, if all you want is the loot card itself (you could get a nice tournament set out of $1,000, no doubt), you're better off checking prices on eBay. $500 for a Spectral Tiger seems like a lot (and trust me, it is-- if you're spending $500 on a virtual item, you have too much money), but it's nothing compared to what you'd have to spend trying to grab the card randomly.
