WoW TCG Servants of the Betrayer Review

The Servants of the Betrayer [Amazon, Funagain] release marks 5th set of the solidified World of Warcraft trading card game. No longer the new kid on the block, Upper Deck now has a foundation of cards and mechanics to work with, and as the middle set release in the Outland series (between March of the Legion and The Hunt for Illidan coming later this year) the Servants of the Betrayer has the potential to both solidify the style of the game, the set, and steer the entire franchise in new directions at the same time.

But does it pull it off?

The Setting
This set release includes a standard lot of heroes, each sports new flip powers, specialization the works -- as is the norm. But Upper Deck found the story of Outland - the shattered and floating home world of the orcs that the current detailed focus is the World of Warcraft MMORPG - needed an extra oomph beyond the stock set of heroes.

Outland is ruled over by a particular bitchy demon named Illidan Stormrage who's nicknamed The Betrayer, hence the name of this expansion release. Outland's story is saturated with backstabbers, traitors, and unsavories, and Upper Deck aimed to bring that feeling home in the WoW TCG version of this setting.

The Traitors
Enter the traitor heroes - each sport alternate storylines and reciprocal 'atttitudes' in more aggressive flip powers compared to their standard hero counterparts. Take the horde hero #26 Vor'na the Disciplined for instance, who possesses the pretty straight forward frost-mage flip abillity: 3 -> Allies Can't Attack this Turn. Compare the flip ability to to her far more destructive Traitor counterpart #35 Vor'na the Wretched: 3-> At the end of this turn, the player whose turn it is destroys each ally in his party that neither attacked nor entered play this turn. You can see how that's a bit more of a game changer. There are also class specific traitor-hero=only ability cards, which are quite powerful for their cost, and some traitor only allies to boot. It's a regular cornucopia or treacherous destruction.

So what's the drawback? Well Traitor heroes can't play any specialization cards, because their specialization is - in fact - "Traitor". That means Vor'na the Wretched can't play any Fire Specialization Hero Required, nor Frost, nor Arcane. But considering the low cost traitor-only abilities, this isn't such a bad deal. And for this set only - at least - it might be worth deconstructing some of your older decks and taking the Traitor plunge. They're fun, evil, and a breathe of fresh air.

But Upper Deck has also turned the sands of time against these new mechanics. From what we understand, the Servants of the Betrayer expansion will be the only release that supports Traitor cards. With the innumerable onslaught of future ability cards tied to the standard three specializations of heroes, the Traitor heores will become more and more obsolete. We'll surely give this portion of our collection a sarcastic smirk in a few years, and feel like we've been slightly gypped.

You can read more about the design philosophies of the Traitor heroes in the WoW TCG Upper Deck Feature Preview "Servants of the Betrayer Previews: Acts of Betrayal"

The Aldor and Scryer Save the Day
Thanfkully the Inspire and Sabotage mechanics of this cycle (March of the Legion, Servants of the Betrayer and The Hunt for Illidan) get a nice boost from the Betrayer set release. The set includes a lot of tap powers to aid the growing fleet of powerful Aldor Inspire cards (who untap particular types of cards at the begining of every turn), and it's in this area where toying with game mechanics is really starting to shine in the budding WoW TCG franchise.

Meanwhile the Scryer Sabotage cards (which tap or destroyer enemy abilities, armor, or allies instead of fighting them in combat) click the deviousness notch up to 11. Aside from being a more diverse collection, in Betrayer some of the rare / epic cards Scryer cards start messing with new areas of the game, like Spymaster Thalodien's ability to sabotage a player's deck. And if you're lucky enough to get Magistrix Larynna into play near the end game, then it'll make your the Aldor Inspire knuckleheads seem like Disney characters.

Over all we're very please with where the Aldor and Scryer factions have gone in this set, so much so that we actually think of the Traitor heroes as a sideshow. We can't wait to see whats in store for these factions when the Hunt for Illidan brings it altogether.

The Supporting Cast
While the warring Scryer and Aldor certainly have a place in our decks, the standard Horde and Alliance allies still form the major ranks. It also seemed like allies have continued to band togheter around common damage types, at least for the casters. March of the legion had the fiery Hoxie Mettlemelt, and this set continues with:

• Barous the Storm Baron: Nature allies in your party have [tap] -> This ally deals nature damage equal to its ATK, divided as you choose, to any number of target allies."
• Lunen the Moon Baron: Arcane allies in your party have [tap]->Draw a card
• Roke the Ice Baron: Elusive; Frost allies in your party have " Target ally can't attack this turn.
• Lifemistress Tanagra: Nature allies in your party have +1 ATK for each other Nature ally in your party.

We love this sort of stuff. There have been few reason to make themed decks, other than the fact that attacking someone with legions of gnomes can be good fun. Finally Upper Deck gives us good-reason to start throwing in hordes of fiery, arcane, or naturalist bad boys who rally behind particular captains. Sure, they're rare, but they can make deck building far more entertaining after having slugged it out against decks usually defined by the class of hero than anything else.

Some Complaints
Aside from the Traitors being a one-trick pony, we do have a major complaint about the game. It doesn't stem from the art, or balance, or any other weakness of content. One could even label our complaint as bickering.

To us the problem apparently stems from straightforward laziness of Upper Deck's editing staff. The words on the cards are far too confusing for their own good in some cases, and the rules are so vague that sometimes it feels as though they want your own group to play with their own creative interpretation of the rules. Unfortunately, considering that the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game is a tournament game, this is simply not the case.

No, Upper Deck just doesn't try enough to iron stuff out. And it's inexecusable at this stage in the game's lifespan. Take Unbalance's description, for instance:

Unbalance: Exhaust all opposing heroes and allies. If you have an equipment, each of them can't ready during its controller's next ready step.

Turning a critical eye to this, the word "them" in the second sentence refers to the subject of that sentence, which is the "equipment". In a strict interpretation of this card, the rogue's weapons would remain tapped instead of readied. But the intention was that the allies do not untap, but the Upper Deck rules team was out having beers instead of cleaning up their rhetoric.

Likewise, Titan's Grip doesn't mention that you can have a one-handed and two-handed weapon - which you can according to the FAQ. In fact, the card's wording is specific in the details on offhanded item, but since two handed + one handed isn't mentioned at all, the card's lazy wording implies that it's illegal.

Another needlessly confusing card description includes the minimalist Anchorite Fareena, where only valid attachments can be brought over (ie: you can't transfer a weapon attachment to Anchorite Fareena). Simply-put - there's gobs more room on that card to be a bit more detailed, but Upper Deck wanted to take longer lunches.

Conclusion
Servants of the Betrayer is a solid release. It's full of nice cards that yet again adds to the game without making too many older cards and mechanics obsolete. And it does this over 8 well-balanced classes, which is definitely nothing to sneeze at. The cards of this set also rejuvenate many other have been gathering dust in the back of your collection; playing well in new combos and enhancements that we're there before.

While the Traitors might not be long lived, they're a fun addition of focused aggressive tactics for a nice change of pace. We can't wait for the final cap to be put into place on this set later this year to see how everything rounds out.

We had some substantial questions on the direction that the WoW TCG was going. It seemed like the title might stagnate. But that was before the March of the Legion release, and more importantly the Servants of the Betrayer release. Now we have high hopes once again.

WoW TCG Servants of the Betrayer

Servants of the Betrayer Booster Boxes
Box of 24 Boosters [Amazon, Toywiz, Troll n'Toad]

Servants of the Betrayer Boosters
Individual Packs [Amazon, Funagain, ToyWiz]
Packs of 3 [Amazon]

The second set in the Outland series of WoW TCG releases is now in stores! WoW TCG: Servants of the Betrayer introduces a new hero type to the mix: The Traitors. Playing a betrayer unlocks some pretty powerful and aggressive cards, but heroes lose all other trait abilities. Thankfully this set includes some pretty exciting replacements, and should bring quite the interesting twist to deck building potential.

Additionally the Aldor and Scryer factions with their Inspire and Sabotage abilities continue where they left off in March of the Legion. You'll have even more interesting possibilities on that front, too. With so many options the WoW TCG is really opening up for a variety different play styles. It's hard not to get excited. Seriously. If you're not then check your pulse, cause you might be dead.

Please see our other stories for more Servants of the Betrayer information:

• WoW TCG Servants of the Betrayer Previews Week 1
• WoW TCG Servants of the Betrayer Previews Wrapup Week 2
• WoW TCG: Stephen Colbert Puts the Horde on Notice

Upon release we've found stores packed with booster packs (19 cards), and boxes of boosters, and preorder boxes of starters (Starters slated to ship April 15th) for sale in various places and in various forms. But no Starter Decks at release? Maybe they really don't exist.

We'll keep the list at the top updated as much as we can for the next few weeks. Enjoy!

The Company Line:

"Prince Kael'thas Sunstrider and Lady Vashj grow in strength, extending their reach across Outland as they corrupt the land. They twist the energies of the Nether and drain the waters of the Zangarmarsh. Who dares to confront the might of the Sunfury, or face the wrath of the naga?
Will you stand against them or betray your allies? Decide quickly-before your fate is sealed! You are not prepared!
New changes are taking place in the 5th Expansion titled Servants of the Betrayer. New Configuration! Find 4 additional cards in each pack for the same price! that's a total of 19 Cards Per Pack!! Along with this a New Consumable Loot item will be randomly inserted into booster packs providing better chances of upgrading your Online WoW Toon!

Fans will enjoy a once again Art-Filled Set of Rich and Detailed Illustrations from the WoW Universe as they have come to enjoy with each set thus far. UDE Point Cards will also be found 1 per pack that can be used at the UDE Rewards site in exchange for Special TCG Cards, Promo Materials, and Online Upgrades only available through this redemption."

WoW TCG Servants of the Betrayer Previews Wrapup

The Servants of the Betrayer Preview Weekend is upon us, and so the exciting conclusion of the class preview articles from Upper Deck's official website comes to a close. And we really like what we see. The new standard heroes look pretty sweet in this set, sporting some pretty slick flip abilities. But even more interesting is that they contrasted by the new traitor heroes, who do similar things but more aggressively. Overall the traitor abilities look pretty darn powerful, and they should be since Tratior Heroes lack any other specializations, and their abilities are a flash-in-the pan release and they may not be expanded up on any time soon.

Some people might see that as a drawback - a waste of cards that might sit dusty in their collection. We welcome it. After the first three set releases we began to become wary of a lack of specific themes in the sets. Things seem to be improving, though. The Aldor & Scryer lineage which started in March of the Legion, continues on in Betrayer. And now we have some focused Traitor content that can be very, very interesting and unexpected ways.

And the game hasn't even touched the foundation of the heroes' tradeskill abilities yet.

Here are this week's feature articles. For information about the Druid, Hunter and Mage, checkout WoW TCG Servants of the Betrayer Previews Week 1.

Class Articles:

Paladin

• Wrath of Turalyon: Commander Michael Goodchilde, Lelora Sunlancer, Wrath of Turalyon
• Seal of Betrayal: Crusader Michael Goodchilde (traitor), Lelora the Dawnslayer (traitor), Seal of Betrayal

• Shadow Silhouettes: Sister Remba, Runetusk, Shadow Silhouettes
• Spiritual Domination: Remba, Abbess of Ash (t), Bloodtusk (t), Spiritual Domination

• Evasion: Resssa Shadespine, Jonas White, Evasion
• Gut Shot: Ressa the Leper Queen (t), Jonas the Red (t), Gut Shot

• Totemic Recovery: Ixamos the Redeemed, Kil'zin of the Darkspear, Totemic Recovery
• Totem of Decay: Ixamos the Corrupted (t), Kil'zin of the Bloodscalp (t), Totem of Decay

• Shadow and Flame: Plague Fleshbane, Marlowe Christophers, Shadow and Flame
• Ripped through the Portal: Marlowe the Felsworn (t), Plague Demonsoul (t), Ripped through the Portal

• Shield Slam: Fallingstar, Lionar, Unbound, Shield Slam
• Bloodbath: Fallenstar (t), Lionar the Blood Cursed (t), Bloodbath

WoW TCG Servants of the Betrayer Previews Week 1

Upper Deck kicks the prerelease media blitz this week for the next WoW TCG set release Servants of the Betrayer due out in early April. Following the March of the Legion set release - one that we thought really did well to increase the deck building potential of the franchise - Betrayers will expand upon the faction-specific Aldor and Scryer themes.

But even more importantly, Betrayers asks the question of "What if your hero chose a darker path?" Answering that question will be a new set Traitor Heroes, who are darker and more aggressive forms who appear alongside the standard heroes also slated for release in this set. Most of these Traitors have flip powers that push them on the offensive in some very interesting ways, including the ability to play cards out of your opponents graveyards. Very, very nice. Supporting the traitors, and the Aldor and Sryer, will also be a new cast of allies pulled from the Outland mythos of the World of Warcraft MMORPG, and are only valid to be played from Traitor hero decks.

To balance these new abilities, the Traitor keyword replaces the Hero Specialization key words, which removes the ability for the Traitor heroes to play Talent Spec abilities. For instance, while a Traitor Mage couldn't play cards which require a Frost Mage, or a Fire Mage, because you sir, are a Traitor Mage. Jerk.

Upper Deck feature writers have truly outdone themselves this time around, writing up a storm of great card and mechanic previews articles. It all kicks off with "Acts of Betrayal" which describes the intension behind the Traitors, the issues in balancing them, and how they fit into this second Outland set release. Things spiral into bad-ass bliss from there.

We think that Servants of the Betrayer really has a good chance of shaking things up in some very interesting ways. March of the Legion answered questions we had about if the game was turning stale. As it turns out, it wasn't. And Servants of the Betrayer really could take it to that next level.

Overaching Set Introduction:

• Acts of Betrayal: An design foundation and an introduction to the Trator heroes
• And Now for the Encore . . .: Details how the Aldor and Scryer allies expand in their second set appearance.
• Needs More Quests: A look into some of the new power quests in Betrayers.

Class Articles:
The articles then went onto detailed the new heroes in the set. Two articles were released every day, one detailing the two standard heroes for each class. The second article decscribes their corrupted Traitor counterparts:

Druid:

• Chew Toy
• Tainted Earth (Traitors)

• Feign Death
• Death Trap (Traitors)

• Invisibility
• Tomb of Ice (Traitors)

WoW TCG: Official Upper Deck Accessories Released

Upper Deck has released a pretty slick new line of WoW TCG accessories centered around card protection and storage, as well as spicing this up with a little World of Warcraft flavor. The products include deck sleeves stylized with either Horde or Alliance patterns, deck boxes, and card binders for collection storage. There's also a neutral variety for players who vote for Nader.

The deckbox is similar in style to the deckbox that shipped with the Feast of Winter Veil pack last fall - which was a pretty solid and snappy - but has been printed with a more of a generic World of Warcraft pattern. The binders look pretty slick, too for the WoW head, but we have to be honest - black binders at CVS are pretty darn cheap. The card sleeves look like the prize of the group with some bold patterns that should make the decks pretty slick while in play.

All accessories should be available at the Upper Deck Store by the end of today. Until then details about the product can be found in this feature article.

WoW TCG: Stephen Colbert Puts the Horde on Notice

A few weeks ago there were stories about a failed pitch that Upper Deck made to Stephen Colbert, who they wanted to appear in the next set WoW TCG Set Release Servants of the Betrayer. The image went around the web like wildfire, but now, after some copyright scares Upper Deck has let the artist post images of the entire card.

And it's hilarious (click image to make it go big now!) The official story can be found on multichannelnews.com.

We generally don't like when celebrities intrude on well set themes and settings - like when Perry Mason aka Raymond Burr appeared on the Flintstones - but we'd be behind Colbert and Upper Deck 100% in this case. It's a shame Colbert's agent poo-pooed the idea, 'cause Upper Deck would have had one of the most perfectly collectible mix of pop culture and gaming for 2008 on their hands.

WoW TCG The Band. No Seriously, That's Their Name

We first heard about the group WoW TCG [MySpace] in a thread the official World of Warcraft TCG forums. In that thread there's a link to the band who classify themselves as Powerpop / Electronica / Rock.

At first we laughed, then we cried, then after a somewhat failed rap prologue the theme of King Mukla (TCG TDP) kicked into gear ... and we didn't know what to think. We ain't music critics, but half of us found the novelty of this music growing on us - and fast - even though we've assumed it's total side project material.

We'll leave it to you to decided if it's any good or not.

Now you can listened to the music on Myspace, but you can't download it there since the songs are embedded in that streamy thing of theirs. Another post in the WoW TCG Forum linked to this download site where you can download the stand alone mp3s. Unfortunately it's one of those convoluted sites where the actual download link is nested in chaos, so here's what ya need to do:

1. In the center middle are three colorful letters in CAPS. Type those letters into the adjacent text field on the right, and click the Download Button.
2. When the next screen appears, wait for the countdown near the bottom of the page to reach zero. Then click the Download button that appears there.
3. The files are in a .RAR archive, so you'll need to download a RAR utility like Win RAR to get to em.

Enjoy!

World of Warcraft Minis Announced - Joyous Seizures Ensue

Houston, we have a problem. Upper Deck has just announced another World of Warcraft gaming franchise: World of Warcraft Minis.

We haven't been into many other mini games. In general we enjoy collectable games partially for its library of binders filled with cards neatly tucked away on our bookshelves. Figurines.. can be a bit mess, amassing on the floor of our closet in droves; we all live in a city so space is at a premium. But if the WoW Minis game follows suit of the WoW TCG franchise, then we just might have clean house and make room for a new obsession some Fall 2008.

With Wow Minis product announcement Upper Deck has also launched WoWMinis.com, a website which currently hosts some preliminary details of what will be included in the game. It seems that Terrain will vary and play a role, and we're sure this will affect positional combat as players scramble to guard clothies with armored tanks slugging it out in 1v1. Raids will also be part of the deal, though no details yet on how many or what sort of raids from the WoW MMORPG will appear in the set.

Here are some details from the official announcement:

" Each premium pre-painted miniature will showcase a detailed version of an iconic World of Warcraft character and be mounted on a uniquely engineered removable base, allowing each figure to serve as both a game piece and a collectible. In the spirit of the action and adventure of the MMO, the World of Warcraft Miniatures Game will offer standalone raid and dungeon scenarios, letting players battle either individually or cooperatively against other teams of players or the game itself.

UDE will also launch a robust Organized Play structure for the new World of Warcraft® Miniatures Game, including everything from hobby and in-store tournament programs to Darkmoon Faire events and National and World Championship tournaments."

The WoWMinis.com website also makes special note to check back in for more details of the detachable bases that the models will be built on, which will sport some sort of announced feature. It seems that each figure - er mini - has the same exact foot stance, so perhaps these, too, will be interchangeable across all figures. Perhaps some bases themselves will be collectable and offer some sort of buff?

We'll let you know as soon as we find out more as the World of Warcraft Minis game marches toward release this fall.

5 Ways to Make WoW TCG's Magtheridon's Lair Challenging

We’ve been hearing a lot about how Maghteridon's Lair is a push-over for players who’ve horded WoW TCG cards since the game’s release in 2006. We’ve played through the raid twice now, and though Magtheridon is a heckuva jerk if he’s allowed to live too long, he does seem to have some very obvious weaknesses early-on. Achilles heals even, especially if he can't attack.

Now we're generally amazed that Upper Deck didn’t release a series of alternative rules to scale the difficulty of raid to match the various play levels. After all, the WoW TCG – and World of Warcraft in general – is all about mass appeal and bringing many different types of gamers together. But here we see one Raid Deck which can only be cusotomzied by buying another deck, and even then it does the same stuff it did before – just potentially better.

But what if there are some fundamental weakness to the deck itself? For instance, a group of mages could just sit back and frostbolt poor Mag every turn, until he’s a block of ice with four legs. Not very scary, and Mag can’t do shizzy about it even with combined decks from 2 Decks.

Below you’ll find our house rules suggestions, listed in ascending difficulty. We like to play with some or all these rules, depending on how many people are raiding Mag and their deck level:

1. No Infinite Combos - A raid boss shouldn’t die when he still has 80 life left, period.
2. Channeler Allies Have a Permantent Attack Value - That is, instead of reading "+X to attack while attacking" it should read "+X to attack where X is 1 plus the number of Warlocks that have left your party.” Killing these guys off with allies just became a bit more difficult. Not only that, but maybe – just maybe – they’ll live long enough to actually use their abilities on turn three.
3. Magtheridon May Not be Forced to Discard From His Hand - The poor flesh eating sap already draws one-fifth to one-half as much as the players . His hand should be sacred.
4. Magtheridon cannot be prevented from attacking - A lousy ice bolt shouldn’t slow down a 3 story tall demonic quadruped. Players can – however -force him to tap or continue to protect against him.
5. Abyssal Allies have the keyword "Protector." - These guys cost two blood each and Magtheridon only gets really deadly when he's got a lot of blood. This ssmes like a pretty fair trade off.

We’re also toying with a raid night where Maghteridon teams up with Onyxia against a group of 4-5 raiders for a monster battle royal. But maybe that’s just crazy talk.

WoW TCG Magtheridon's Lair Deck Is Out!

Alright WoW TCG players, it's time to determine how bad-ass your heroes really are -- Upper Deck has finally shipped the third in a line of Cooperative Raid Decks for the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game. Magtheridon's Lair [Amazon, Funagian] brings one of the first raid encounters of the Outland to the the TCG, where players team up to take down the Pit Lord Magtheridon in his very own prison.

We're pretty psyched about this one.

Now killing a 'man' sleeping in his own jail cell doesn't sound very noble, even if the man is a 3 story half dragon pit fiend. But in the scheme of things it's for the greater good; in the WoW mythos Magtheridon's Blood is being used to create an army of Fel Orcs to serve Illidan, the grandmaster jerkhole demon who's become the capital evil burden of Outland. The death of Magtheridon means Illidan won't have his army to act as a shield, and thus be severely weakened and open to attack. If we were to take wild stabs in the dark - then tackling Illidan in the Black Temple will be the next Raid Deck release in the Outland series.

The floating undead citadel of Naxxramas is rumored to be the next Azeroth-based WoW TCG Raid Deck release (following the line of Onyxia and Molten Core).

But enough back story, we gotta start playing. Like the other Raid Decks Magtheridon comes with his own set of Loot Cards to act as a gold foiled reward for defeating the raid. Now Upper Deck hasn't yet finished previewing the cards - they're usually pretty lethargic about prerelease news and details- but you can check-out the complete list of rewards thus far at WoWTCGDB.com, which has always been on top of the latest card details as they're released.

We're quite giddy over this one. Here are the brief Official Raid Deck details:

Play as the powerful pit lord Magtheridon and his minions, and defend your citadel from the foolhardy heroes who crave your treasure! Or, form a raiding party with your friends and try to defeat the deckmaster's ultra-powerful Magtheridon deck! Each Raid Deck expansion set requires players to build their raiding parties using cards from the World of Warcraft TCG.

We'll have our thoughts on the Magtheridon's Lair raid deck as soon as we've put it through its paces. For those of you who dive-in before that: Good Luck!. This is one helluva raid in World of Warcraft, and you're going to have been pretty darn smart in your strategies if you're going to tackle this beasties before he goes bezerk.

For more information on the World of Warcraft TCG Raid Decks checkout our previous coverage of Onyxia's Lair and the Molten Core.

WoW TCG Magtheridon's Lair Raid Deck - January 8th, 2008

Boy howdy - it feels odd to start typing 2008, but it's just around the corner. And on just the other side of the new year comes the long awaited - and delayed - release of the WoW TCG Magtheridon's Lair Raid Deck [Amazon, Funagain].

We can't wait to get our hands on it and stomp our overachieving heroes into juicy bits of goo. With every expansion release our decks have become more lean and mean, violent (we love the Horde) and powerful. The Molten Core was a challenge, but we still tackled it with our 5 elite heroes built off the first two sets: Heroes of Azeroth and Through the Dark Portal. Since then our decks have become even more stack with powerful cards from the Fires of Outland and the latest March of the Legion expansion, which really takes the game to the next level. Hopefully Magtheridon's Lair can keep pace.

Here are the the official details :

"You’ve taken down the dreaded Onyxia, and you’ve taken Ragnaros’s mace from his dead grasp. But what are you going to do against a pit lord so powerful that Illidan has to keep him locked up? Well, you’re going to have to figure it out quickly, because on January 8, the third WoW TCG Raid deck is hitting shelves. Players will have to figure out how to deal with Channelers, Abyssals, Manticron Cubes, and one big, angry Demon. You’ll have to try new strategies and work around the exciting new mechanics if you’re hoping to take down Magtheridon to get your hands on some of the twenty exclusive new treasure pack cards. "

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WoW TCG 25% Off Sale at Upper Deck on Heroes Through the Dark Portal

Upper Deck is cleaning stock just in time for the Holidays. For today only all at the Upper Deck Entertainment store Heroes of Azeroth Starer Decks, and Booster Boxes are 25% off. Both the inaugural raid deck Onyxia's Lair, and the second in line the Molten Core Raid Deck are also discounted, as well as all sorts of Through the Dark Portal expansion sets including Starter Decks, Booster Boxes, and even the slick Through the Dark Portal Playmat. All products can be found on sale here.

This is all due to the 12 Days of Christmas Sale across the Upper Decks store, which has snaked through and discounted all of Upper Deck products for the last 11 days. Today is day 12, and with the final day of Christmas Upper Deck focuses on the Wolrd of Warcraft Trading Card Game sale which ends today!

World of Warcraft TCG Crafting Guide 2007

We’ve received quite a few questions about the new World of Warcraft TCG Player Crafted Items – specifically “How the heck do I get my hands on them? – and so we decided to make this one stop shop for all your TCG crafting needs. We break down the cards you need to collect, the items that are available to craft, and the mailing instructions on how to get them in your hands all in this easy to read reference pamphlet! So create a bookmark and enjoy.

Overview
The theme for the crafting program stems from the crafting system of the original World of Warcraft MMORPG: players in the game collect goods off of fallen monsters, or skin freashly killed animals, or pick herbs – all of which can be combined in specific formulas to produce player items. These items include Armor, Weapons, Potions, etc.

In the WoW TCG, just replace "animals" and "monsters" with Booster Packs, and there you go! Players collect trade goods cards contained within Booster Packs, and then combine them (mail them in) and UDE will award the player an item card. This first series is limited to special WoW TCG Armor cards and two Weapons which are all quite powerful, and we hope in future iterations – which there will be – the crafting will expand further, potentially releasing new potions and even stronger variety of weapon types.

The cards in the crafting system are all Purple - which means that they're super rare, epic even. . It also implies they're good, and thankfully they really really are a cut above the rest. Read on for more details.

Continue reading: "World of Warcraft TCG Crafting Guide 2007"

World of Warcraft TCG: March of the Legion

March of the Legion Starter Deck
Starter Deck [Amazon, Funagain]

March of the Legion Booster
Box of Boosters [Amazon]
Individual Booster Pack [Amazon, Funagain]

The next WoW TCG set was released over the weekend, and with it come some new keywords and new rules. Yes, just over a year after the original Heroes of Azeroth set release we finally see not just a injection of new content, but new mechanics which should add another level of interesting complexity to deck-building, and should make the gameplay a bit more dynamic than it was before.

This is definitely a good thing, because we started to get concerned that game might have stagnated otherwise. However, as of now these new rules are divided on faction lines of the new Blood Elf Scryer order versus the Aldor consisting entirely of Draenei (though these sides are neutral so Blood Elves could appear in Alliance decks and vice versa). Our concern is that these new gameplay elements will never mix, which could limit the gameiness of deck building more than it would have otherwise. We'll have more of our thoughts in a review once we've been able to put the set through its paces.

Read on for a description of the new rules, and links to every official March of the Legion feature article:

Continue reading: "World of Warcraft TCG: March of the Legion"