World of Warcraft Trading Card Game

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World of Warcraft Trading Card Game

Designer	Mike Hummel, Brian Kibler, Danny Mandel
Publisher	Upper Deck Entertainment
Players	Two and up
Age range	13 and up
Setup time	< 3 minutes
Playing time	approximately 20 minutes
Random chance	Some
Skills required	Card playing Arithmetic

The World of Warcraft Trading Card Game is a collectible trading card game based on Blizzard Entertainment's MMORPG, World of Warcraft. The game was announced by Upper Deck Entertainment on August 18, 2005, and released on October 25, 2006. Players can fight against each other one-on-one, or can join others in order to defeat raid bosses such as Onyxia and Ragnaros.

1 Game details
- 1.1 Raid decks
2 Artwork
3 Card Types
4 Products
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Game details

In this trading card game (TCG), each player uses a hero card and a deck consisting of allies and other supporting cards. In booster and starter packs, gamers can find cards representing weapons, abilities, armor and quests. Some booster packs also contain legendary cards (i.e., special versions of normal cards) which contain a scratch-off code. This code can then be redeemed in the online game for a virtual prize. The prizes are purely cosmetic, such as special tabards, or a mount that moves at the same speed as walking.

During play, players start with a single hero, and then play additional cards to augment the hero's powers or add additional members to his or her party. As in games such as Magic: The Gathering, the goal is to reduce the remaining health of the opponent to zero. Unlike in Magic, combat attacks are always directed at individual heroes or allies, rather than simply declaring an attack with a number of creatures. Furthermore, damage done to allies accumulates between turns, making combat more expensive for both the attacker and defender.

[edit] Raid decks

In addition to standard two-player game play, the game also features "Raid Decks", representing struggles involving large numbers of players against epic foes (although far fewer players are involved in the card game). These need one "Raid Master" (like the Dungeon Master in Dungeons & Dragons) and 3 to 5 other players. The Raid Master controls all monsters and foes, while the other players control the characters participating in the raid. Players who are victorious may be able to win certain "loot" cards from a 10-card treasure pack.

This treasure pack contains the only holofoils within the Warcraft TCG as of March 2007, and also contains a random insertion of the "loot" cards which trade aggressively due to their popularity with online Warcraft players.

The first raid deck, released in December 2006, features the dragon Onyxia (including stage 1, 2, and 3). The second, set within the Molten Core, is planned for April 2, 2007.

[edit] Artwork

As with many trading card games, the card art is drawn by a variety of different artists with different styles.

Some of the card art is being done by Penny Arcade's Mike Krahulik ("Gabe"). In the May 26, 2006 update of the Penny Arcade site, Krahulik revealed his artwork for a card that was based on the exploits of Leeroy Jenkins.

Other artists include Doug Alexander, Julie Bell, Mauro Cascioli, Matt Dixon, Alex Horley, Todd McFarlane, Jeremy Mohler, Ariel Olivetti, Dan Scott, Greg Staples, Mike Stufin, and Boris Vallejo.

[edit] Card Types

The following types of cards are featured in the game:

Hero - The character which a given player is playing as. Each player starts with a hero, and it is the hero which determines what other cards can be utilized or included in the deck (e.g., Horde heroes can only have Horde allies). The hero card provides information about starting health, race, class, specializations, and professions. Lastly, each hero has a unique power which can be used once per game (after which, the hero card is turned face down).

Ability - Cards played from the hand (often after paying a resource cost) to cause some immediate impact to the game. Abilities can either be of the standard type, able to played only during one's turn, or can be instant abilities, able to be played at virtually any time. As with a number of the cards, many abilities include a trait icon, which limits what classes can include the card in their decks.

Armor - Defensive cards which protect the player from damage. Once played, by paying the appropriate resource cost, armor can be exhausted each turn in order to reduce damage dealt to a player's hero. Players are limited in how many different pieces of armor they may equip on any given body part, e.g., only one piece of chest armor at a time. Armor cards may also have additional effects above and beyond their defensive value.

Weapon - Offensive cards which can augment a player's melee or ranged capabilities, as well as provide other benefits. As with armor cards, players are limited on how many weapons they may have equipped (in play) at once. In order to use a weapon card to increase attack power during combat, a player must pay a resource cost associated with the weapon (which also exhausts the weapon). Weapons can be used when either attacking or defending, but only one weapon can be used per combat.

Quest - Special cards which act as resource cards, but with additional abilities. Quests can be completed by fulfilling a condition described on the card. When this is done, a reward is earned (e.g., drawing additional cards) and the quest is converted into a normal resource (by turning it face down).

Ally - Other individuals and companions who assist and fight on behalf of the main hero. Most allies are affiliated with either the Horde or the Alliance (although neutral allies do exist), so only cards matching the hero's own affiliation are permitted in a deck. Once brought into play by paying the appropriate cost, allies remain until killed or discarded. Allies can attack (or be attacked), and can also provide special powers or abilities.

Loot - Loot cards are special versions of cards which can be used within the card game (e.g., as normal allies), but which also contain a scratch-off code. This code can be entered into the website for the online game, providing a unique in-game item, such as a pet, mount, or tabard.

Additionally, any card can be played as a resource card (with a limit of one per turn) by playing it face down to a designated area. All resources are equivalent and can be exhausted to pay any cost.

[edit] Products

The initial base card set is named Heroes of Azeroth, which includes 361 different cards. The color of the set number on the card indicates its rarity, using a rarity system similar to that of the online game; white for common, green for uncommon, blue for rare, purple for epic, and red for legendary. The only legendary cards in the base set are the three loot cards, which are variants of rare cards that have a scratch-off code. There are 22 epic cards, which are about twice as rare as the 110 rare (blue) cards. 99 uncommon, 114 common, and 16 hero cards complete the set. ^[1]

The first raid deck is named Onyxia's Lair, and contains five types of cards. Most of the cards in the box are intended for use by one player, who controls the actions of Onyxia, a black dragon within the World of Warcraft MMO. Whereas it takes a large raid (30-40 players) to take down the dragon in the MMO, three to five players are intended to be the raiding party in the TCG -- although, with allies, they will control many more characters. The five card types are Onyxia hero cards (cards 1-3 in the Onyxia Raid set), ability cards (two copies each of 30 designs numbered 4-33 in the Onyxia Raid set), Onyxia Whelp token cards (20 copies of the same one design), Onyxia Event cards (one copy of cards 1-30), and Onyxia loot cards. Unlike the other four types, the loot cards are intended for use in player decks. There are 33 different loot cards, eleven each of three different rarities. A Treasure Pack (there is one in each Raid Deck product box) contains ten random cards: two of the epic cards, three of the rare cards, and five uncommon cards. These Treasure packs are also more likely to contain Legendary Loot cards.

The following products have been announced:

Starter deck - This UDEck box contains: one of nine preconstructed decks consisting of 33 fixed cards (one hero and 32 others) built around one of the nine classes; two booster packs; three oversized hero cards (out of the full set of 16); and a rulebook. The oversized cards can be used in many play formats since hero cards are not shuffled into play decks.

Booster pack - 15 random cards - 10 commons, 3 uncommons, 1 rare or epic, and 1 hero card or loot card. Booster packs also have one "Ninjas vs. Pirates" point card redeemable online. ^[2]

Onyxia's Lair Raid Deck - 3 epic raid boss cards, a 60-card ability deck, a 30-card event deck, 20 Onyxia Whelp tokens, and a 10-card treasure pack, as well as special rules for the deck. Cards in the treasure pack are not available in boosters, and any other raid deck exclusive cards are not considered part of the base set.

Future set expansions (not counting additional raid decks) are planned at a rate of roughly 2 to 3 per year. The first such expansion, Through the Dark Portal, is planned for April 11, 2007, which has been announced to feature 319 cards and 18 new heroes. The second raid deck, Molten Core, is currently scheduled for release on April 2, 2007. ^[3] A third expansion, Fires of Outland, was also recently announced and is planned for release in August, 2007.