World of Warcraft Trading Card Game

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World of Warcraft Trading Card Game
Game data
author Mike Hummel ,
Brian Kibler ,
Danny Mandel
publishing company Upper Deck Entertainment (until 2010)
Cryptozoic Entertainment (from 2010)
Windseeker (Beijing) Culture Development Ltd. (since 2012 for China)
Publishing year 2006-2013
Art Trading card game
Teammates 2 and more
Duration from approx. 20 minutes
Age from 13 years

The World of Warcraft Trading Card Game (short: WoW TCG ) is a collectible card game , which at the MMORPG World of Warcraft from Blizzard Entertainment oriented. It first appeared in 2006 on Upper Deck Entertainment , and since 2010 on Cryptozoic Entertainment . The game was discontinued in 2013.

The content is the conflict between the two factions of the Warcraft universe, the righteous alliance and the chaotic horde . The game was constantly expanded to include new options, so the so-called "raids" were taken over from the computer game template as a novelty in the genre, in which several players have to join forces to fight outstanding opponents such as huge dragons. There is a large scene in which both regular swap and game evenings as well as highly endowed world championships are held.

history

The game was announced by Upper Deck Entertainment on August 18, 2005 and was finally released on October 25, 2006 in the United States . Since March 2010 it has been published by Cryptozoic Entertainment . Three times a year the game was expanded with a new set of thematically related cards, each year forming a so-called block , which in turn is dedicated to a main topic. It is sold in ready-to-play starter sets, randomly assembled booster foil packs or larger collector's sets.

On August 23, 2013, Blizzard Entertainment announced that the 21st set, Timewalkers: Reign of Fire , would be the last set released and that the game would be discontinued thereafter.

Game details

Each player plays with a 60-card deck and a hero card. The hero determines which other cards may be played in the deck (allies of certain factions, characteristic abilities of the hero, items of equipment). The game starts with a player initially only controlling this hero card. He can play additional cards to expand his powers or add allies to his group. As in many other trading card games, the goal is to reduce the opponent's life points to 0 through combat.

A not inconsiderable part of the fun results from trading in playing cards, collecting and building individual decks.

Game formats

Game formats determine which card supply a deck may consist of in order to participate in a game. These sets of rules can also be combined.

Classic, Core and Block

All cards that have ever appeared can be played in a classic deck. Since this corresponds to an unmanageable number of cards and there are differences in playing strength between old and new cards, the popular core format was launched. It limits the available map selection to the last two blocks. As a side effect, successful decks are usually monotonous due to a few dominating cards. The block format goes one step further , in which only the maps published in the current block may be used.

Constructed and proxies

Such a deck may also contain so-called proxies : The player does not own the original card. He has photocopied it or noted the necessary data (play costs, attack power, life force, special effects, if applicable) on a piece of paper and uses this proxy in the game. A constructed deck, on the other hand, only consists of cards that are actually present.

Draft

In so-called drafts , participants take turns drawing cards from booster packs. Coincidence has made its way into the game to a large extent, because it is important here to put together the most powerful decks possible from the randomly provided cards. Nobody can rely on previously purchased, particularly powerful cards, which are not available to everyone due to their rarity and high price.

Lazy peon

This format with a recreational character is particularly popular with beginners, in which only cards of the two lowest rarity levels are allowed. Corresponding cards are available to everyone and very inexpensive, as experienced players usually have an abundance of them. But even experts are challenged by this limitation, as it puts their own skills in the foreground.

Raid decks

In addition to the classic 2-player game, there are so-called raid decks , which several players can use to face a special challenge. The model was the cooperative multiplayer raids in World of Warcraft. This type of game requires a raid master , similar to a game master in pen and paper role-playing games , and three to five normal players. The Raid Master controls the raid deck that the group faces while the players represent the raid. The victorious players can win valuable cards from the treasure - an enclosed, re-buyable card pack.

Artwork

As with many trading card games, the cards were designed in a variety of styles by several artists including Penny Arcades Mike Krahulik ("Gabe"), Doug Alexander, Julie Bell, Mauro Cascioli, Matt Dixon, Alex Horley, Todd McFarlane , Jeremy Mohler, Ariel Olivetti, Dan Scott, Greg Staples, Mike Sutfin and Boris Vallejo .

cards

Card types

The following types of cards are available:

  • Hero - This is the character that a player plays. Each player starts with a hero who determines which other cards can be used or used in the deck. For example, Horde characters can only have Horde allies. The hero card also provides information about how many life points the hero has at the beginning of the game, as well as about class, race and occupation. In addition, each hero has a unique ability that can only be used once per game; once this has happened, it is turned over.
  • Skill - Skills are played by hand, often after "Resources" have been paid for, to have an immediate effect in the game. They can either only be played during your own turn (this is the normal case) or at any time, including during the opponent's turn, if this is noted on the card ("instant ability"). Many skills cannot be used by all classes in the game.
  • Equipment - There are three different types of equipment: armor, weapons, and items.
    • Armors are defensive item cards that protect the player from harm. Once armor has been played, it can be "depleted" to reduce the damage a player takes. The player cannot wear as many pieces of armor as he likes at once, for example he can only wear one chest armor at a time. Armor can also have other properties in addition to its protective effect that expand the hero's abilities.
    • Weapons are offensive cards that, on the one hand, expand the hero's close combat or long-range combat skills, but on the other hand can also give other advantages. Like armor, players can only have a limited number of weapons equipped at one time. In order to be able to use a weapon, the resources indicated on the card must be paid for and the card must be "exhausted". Weapons can be used both when attacking and defending.
  • Items are all other items from the online game, such as potions, jewelry, rings and bags.
  • Quest - Quests are special cards that act as resource cards. Quests can be ended by fulfilling the printed condition to enable special actions, such as drawing another card. Then the quests are turned over.
  • Ally - Allies are cards that, as additional characters, help the "hero" in battle. They are for the most part faction specific, which means that Horde allies only help Horde heroes, as is the case with the Alliance. Allies remain in the game after playing and paying the costs until they are discarded or killed. They can attack or be attacked and give the player special abilities if mentioned on the map.
  • Loot card - Sometimes the booster packs contain rare loot cards, which are offprints of normal cards and also contain a scratch-off code that can be exchanged for virtual items in the online game World of Warcraft. These do not bring you any advantages in the game - they are fun objects, pets or mounts - but have a certain prestige value due to their rarity.

Each card can be played as a "resource", but only one per turn, they are completely equivalent and are used to pay the various costs of the cards.

Rarity of the cards

The color of the card number stands for its rarity, white stands for common ( common ) cards. Green colored rare ( Uncommon ) cards while blue rare ( Rare ) and purple epic ( Epic ) cards features. Orange cards are considered legendary and represent the loot cards.

Released sets

A new set appeared three times a year, which was supplemented at irregular intervals by raid decks, starter decks and other special editions, for example for the Christmas holidays.

Heroes of Azeroth (Block 1)

  • Heroes of Azeroth ( Azeroth ) was the first set of cards released, and it introduced the game's basic mechanics. The theme is the classic edition of World of Warcraft before any expansions are released.
  • Through the dark portal ( Dark Portal ) appeared on April 11, 2007. It contains the novelties of the WoW expansion pack Burning Crusade , such as the blood elf and draenei peoples . The key words “Unselectable as a target” and “Trap”, as well as people-specific cards that can only be played by heroes of the respective people, were introduced as playful innovations.
  • Outland Fire ( Outland ) was released on August 22, 2007 and resolved the imbalance that previously two player factions were not able to use the same hero subspecies ( talent specializations ).

March of the Legion (Block 2)

  • March of the Legion ( Legion ) represents the fight against the demons of the Burning Legion , which are now playable alongside neutral cards of the factions "Aldor" and "Seer".
  • Betrayer's Servant ( Betrayer ) was released in early 2008 and contains twice as many hero cards as usual - 36 pieces - due to the fact that every normal hero was still available as a malicious traitor version. Also included are cards that can only be played with these heroes.
  • The hunt for Illidan ( Illidan ), a demon ruler , and his lackeys began on July 1, 2008.

Drums of War (Block 3)

  • Drums of War ( Drums ) is the first booster edition of the third block, which is dedicated to the arena battles from the online game. It introduces locations, two- tier skills, and PvP equipment sets as new map types. The publication date was October 28, 2008.
  • Blood of Gladiators ( Gladiators ) continues arena battles.
  • Fields of Honor ( Honor ) extends the fighting to battlefields.

War of the Scourge (Block 4)

  • War of the Scourge ( Scourgewar ) started on November 24th, 2009, thus a new block with the theme of the WoW expansion package Wrath of the Lich King . Accordingly, it contains a new class, the so-called "death knight".
  • Wrathgate ( Wrath Gate ), a battle scene, was released on 18 September, 2010.
  • Icecrown ( Icecrown ) deals with the struggle of a composite of the Alliance and Horde, the good Argent , against evil in the form of the Undead Scourge . The usual hero cards have been replaced by counterparts from these factions.

Worldbreaker (Block 5)

  • World Breaker ( Worldbreaker ) was published on 11 January 2011. Shortly after the start of the WoW expansion Cataclysm dedicated to this set a world quake.
  • Element War ( Elements ) was released at the end of April 2011 and contains many maps that represent the four elements.
  • Drachendämmerung ( Twilight ) on July 30, 2011 added a variety of dragon characters to the game.

Aftermath (Block 6)

  • Throne of the tides ( Throne ) with an underwater theme expanded the game on October 11, 2011 to include so-called monster heroes and allies, with whom you can now play mythical creatures such as murlocs, ogres and naga .
  • Crown of Heaven ( Crown ) of February 7, 2012 added dryads and satyrs to the game .
  • Crypt of the Forgotten ( Tomb ) was released on June 12, 2012

Time Walkers (Block 7)

  • War of the Ancestors ( Ancients ) from October 2, 2012 supplemented the game with characters from the classic games Warcraft I - Warcraft III.
  • Betrayal of the Guardian ( Betrayal ) was released on February 22, 2013 and was only available in English.

Raid decks

The raid decks are based on the dungeons of the same name, which offered full-length challenges for large groups of players in the online game.

  • Onyxia's Lair was the first raid deck. The set contains 3 oversized "Onyxia" hero cards, 60 skill cards, 20 dragon puppy tokens, 30 event cards and a treasure card package with 10 different of 33 treasure cards. The latter are intended for use in player decks.
  • Molten Core , allows players to fight their way through either six of the ten opponents in normal mode, or through all ten opponents in "Full Clear" mode. The raid deck contains 137 cards, including 10 oversized boss heroes, a 45-card main deck, a 25-card boss deck, seven rune cards, a 30-card ally deck and 20 ally tokens. There is also a treasure map package with 10 random cards out of 30, which the players receive after defeating their last opponent. It was released on May 30, 2007.
  • Magtheridon's Chamber , published on January 9, 2008, like Onyxia's hoard, focuses on the fight against a single boss opponent.
  • The Black Temple - the fight against this bastion of demons appeared in September 2008.
  • Naxxramas focuses on the fight against an entire fortress full of the undead .
  • In the Assault on Icecrown Citadel , players face the malicious Lich King and his eleven undead creations.

Organized play

The Organized Play Program for the World of Warcraft TCG offers events and programs that are designed to give buyers of the product the opportunity to play with the product, get in touch with other players and get a decent amount of added value for their cards.

Battlegrounds

Battlegrounds are store-based events. Shops have a battlegrounds kit that contains promo cards, t-shirts, and other sundries.

Holiday Celebrations

Tournaments with reference to actually existing holidays take place over the year. These are carried out in a predetermined format. These events also take place every year in the MMORPG World of Warcraft .

If you take part in all of these events in the year, you can achieve the success “What a long, strange trip it's been”. This will be rewarded with unique prizes from Cryptozoic.

Darkmoon Faire (DMF)

In the online game, the Dark Moon Fair of Silas Dunkelmond is a small event that is held every month alternately at the Alliance (before Stormwind) and the Horde (before Thunder Bluff).

At the TCG, the Darkmoon Fair was a big event, with not only a big tournament but also many small events, LAN competitions, fair stands and more. The first two events took place in Austin, Texas from April 27-29, 2007 and in Frankfurt am Main from May 12-13, 2007.

National Championships

Once a year, national championships were held in almost every country where the game was popular. Players had to qualify for the Nationals beforehand at regional tournaments, so-called Regionals . The first German championship took place from September 8th to 9th, 2007 in Fürth , the first Austrian one on September 22nd, 2007 in Schwechat .

World Championship

  • The first world championship took place between November 30th and December 2nd, 2007 in San Diego . World champion was the Frenchman Guillaume Matignon, who took home prize money of US $ 100,000.
  • The second World Cup took place in Paris , France from October 16-19, 2008. Jim Fleckenstein from Virginia became world champion .
  • The third world championship took place in Austin (Texas) from October 9, 2009 to October 11, 2009. World champion was William Postlethwait.
  • The fourth world championship was held from August 4 to August 7, 2010 in Indianapolis . The German Jonas Skali-Lami became world champion.
  • The fifth world championship was held in Rotterdam from November 10th to November 13th 2011. This won the German Hans Joachim Höh.
  • The sixth world championship took place from November 1, 2012 to November 4, 2012 in Atlanta . The American Brad Watson won the title of WoW TCG World Champion and prevailed against the French Raphael Ait-Slimane.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Blizzard Entertainment: World of Warcraft Trading Card Game. Retrieved August 25, 2013 .