WoW TCG Wrathgate Expansion Previews Begin

Cryptozoic Entertainment from 10,000 feet must look like a busy hive of army ants. In the last few months they've not only have they spun-off the traditional design team and publishing rights into a new company when Blizzard and Upper Deck parted ways in February, they've also worked on the next expansion of the WoW TCG in that time, too. Somehow, amidst all the turmoil they've found enough time to appease the audience with some nice previews of the upcoming Wrathgate set, too, which is slated to ship in just a few short weeks on May 25th.

Now, to be honest, their blog isn't kind to the eyes, at least not for disseminating large amounts of information. Their blog is boxed and framed in some crazy style sheet that's smaller than a postage stamp on a hunger strike. Somethings lost when viewing the cards' gorgeous art when you can only see 1/3 of a card at a time. We hope they work on that.

Until then here links to the full-page format articles:

What does the expansion hold of us? It seems the design team isn't introducing any new keyword mechanics. Instead they're toying with varying combinations of keywords in the current toolbox o' fun.

For instance, some allies with sport both Mend and Assault abilities. Death Rattle has jumped off Abilities cards and landed on allies. This means your armed supporting forces will have nice effects both in life, and in death, and isn't that what Northrend and the Wrath of the Lich King Expansion are all about?

Speaking of which, looks like there will be an emphasis on cultivating your own pile of friendly corpses, too, as many cards will become even more powerful when your graveyard is bursting at the seams.

Finally the Argent Crusade's cast and crew will be joining the fight. Unfortunately their appearance pushes out any hopes for a strong showing from the killer Nerubian faction. Considering that Wrathgate will probably be the last we'll see of the Nerubians for a while we would have hoped that the designers would have fleshed out this faction a bit more. With the current set of cards they seem like a smaller, flat, brute force choice when weighing them against the Aldor or Scryer factions, which have more personality and are far more more nuanced.

We'll keep you posted of any more interesting tidbits as they surface close to Wrathgates's launch. Till then, cheers!

May 5, 2010

WoW TCG Wrathgate Expansion Previews Begin