World of Warcraft Demo on Free Comic Book Day

Jay over at Happy Harbor Comics has a great line up of events for Free Comic Book Day. Included will be demos for the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game.

There will be costumed characters you can get your picture taken with, local artists doing custom portraits and live professional wrestling.

I will be there running the demos for WoW and James Klatt will be teaching Heroclix as well.

I have to say I am quite excited to be part of what looks to be a pretty entertaining day.

Warlock Pets: Old School vs. New School

I am going to focus on the Warlock pets for the World of Warcraft trading card game. The Heros of Azeroth provided 4 pets (Grimdron, Helwen, Infernal, and Sarmoth) and Dark Portal gives the Warlock 3 more (Doomguard, Morfiel, Piztog).

First I'll give a quick overview of the cards:
Old School
Grimdron - a 1 cost pet with 0 Attack and 1 Health. Grimdron is elusive and has the ability to exhaust to deal 1 damage to a target hero or ally.
A pretty useful small ally that I did not play a lot He was generally pushed out of my deck by removal abilities like Shadow Bolt and Vanquish. Can be a powerful card when facing a weenie rush as he will destroy Apprentice Teep, Vesh'ral, and Leeroy Jenkins.

Helwen a 4 cost pet with 2 Attack and 2 Health. Here ability is to exhaust and take control of an ally. Helwen is a very powerful card especially if you can get her into a party that contains Mezzik Darkspark. Using her ability to take control of an opponents ally. Use it to attack and then destroy the ally with Mezzik. She is difficult to keep in play with only 2 Health.

Infernal - a 6 cost pet that was the rare card included in the warlock starter deck. This 6 Attack and 6 Health ally is a massive beast that also deals 1 damage to all opposing allies. When I first built warlock decks this was my victory condition. When he hits the borad you are looking at a 2 for 1 exchange or better for your opponent to remove him.

Sarmoth - a 3 cost ally and the best protector in the game. Sarmoth has 1 Attack and 5 Health and if an opponent can attack Sarmoth they must attack Sarmoth. This little voidwalker can buy you a turn or more to build up. I can't think of the last time I built a warlock deck without 4 Sarmoths incuded.

New School
Doomguard - A 7 cost ally that is a true beast. 8 Attack and 8 Health and destroys a target opposing ally at the end of your turn. The downside of this is that you destroy a friendly character in your party when the Doomguard enters play. This is another potential victory condition.

Morfiel - a 4 cost with 4 Attack and 4 Health. While in play Morfiel forces opposing players to pay 1 extra resource for abilities. A 4/4 ally is pretty good and the added control benefits. Add a Morfiel to a pair of Curse of Tongues as your opponent is looking at a 3 resource penalty to play abilities.

Piztog - a 1 cost, 0 Attack and 2 Health pet. Piztog buffs other allies in your party with +1 Health. The same benefit that Nerra Lifeboon grants for the Alliance but much cheaper. Like Grimdron he is also elusive and can make a difference against rush decks.

On the surface the old school seems to have the advantage here. Sarmoth is a must have in every warlock deck. Helwen is more likely to show up in Alliance builds. Infernal will appear in many decks. Grimdron will show in some decks but not a majority. The new school has Piztog that, like Grimdron, is not going to appear in many decks. Morfiel will likely appear in more decks than Helwen. The big hitter from the new school is Doomguard and the possibility of self desctruction when the card enters play will mean he doesn't show up in as many decks as he would otherwise.

I put Sarmoth by himself - this card is too good and will not be replaced by a card in the new set. Sarmoth is the best tank ally in the game everything must attack him and even though he does only 1 damage per attack his 5 health means that of the 202 allies in the game only 37 have the 5+ Attack value to defeat him without help (this does not include allies like Stitches or Tewa Wildmane that might have a high enough attack value). And unlike protectors he doesn't have to be ready to stop an attack.

The other 6 cards can be paired together in 3 sets. Early game (Grimdron vs Piztog), mid game (Helwen vs Morfiel) and late game (Infernal vs Doomguard).

Grimdron vs Piztog
Both these little imps cost 1 resource to bring into your party. While a +1 Health buff to your other allies is an excellent effect, Piztog is not a game breaker in any deck. Were you able to bring in multiple pets his +1 buff would be very powerful indeed but because you can not stack his effect it limits his effectiveness in the game. One thing he will do is keep Vesh'ral and Apprentice Teep from being destroyed by a Frost Nova. Grimdron seems to be the better of the two early game pets. He is very fragile with only 1 health but he can take out a lot of early game allies and he has a chance at destroying a Searing Totem if he is on the field before the totem is played. I am not a fan of either Grimdron or Piztog, I have to give the edge to Grimdron as he has an small outside chance of getting into my side deck.

Helwen vs Morfiel
Helwen is a great ally, if you can protect her for a turn, and you can get control of a good ally, and you can then use that ally against your opponent. Too many conditions. If I play Helwen turn 4. Turn 5 I take control of an Ally. Turn 6 I can use the ally to attack. By turn 7 or 8 the game is usually getting close to completion. So if the controlled ally is destroyed on turn 6, I need to capture another ally turn 7 and then hope to use it on turn 8. I think her power is great but takes too long to have an effect. If I can capture ferocious allies or have other tools like Into the Fray, Mezzik Darkspark, or Sever the Cord she becomes a bit more useful as I can use her each turn past turn 5. Morfiel also costs 4, but with 4 health is a lot tougher than Helwen and its effect comes into play immediately and remains in effect until Morfiel is destroyed. Having your opponent pay extra for abilities is a good effect but really the effect of Morfiel is to force your opponent to play a turn or more behind you. On turn 5 you can play a 5 resource ability but your oppoent is forced to wait for turn 6 - the effect is multiplied if they failed to drop a resource on one of the early turns. I have played Helwen in a Mezzik Darkspark combo deck but I will give hte edge to Morfiel as i can see this pet sneaking into quite a few of my warlock builds.

Infernal vs Doomguard
Infernal was my favorite card early on. I liked the area of effect damage dealt at the end of each turn and with a 6 attack value and Radak Doombringer's flip power you can deal 12 damage in a single turn. With 6 Health he is pretty much guaranteed to be a 2 for 1 exchange and with 6 Attack he can take out almost anything. His only drawbacks were a high resource cost of 6 and a potentially high upkeep cost - discard one card or he his given to another player. Late game the upkeep payment for Infernal can be a bit of a problem but if this is your winning condition you should be able to hold onto him long enough to win the game. Doomguard is more expensive at 7 resources but his payment cost can be devastating. When Doomguard enters play a random friendly character is destroyed. This could include your hero ending the game with a loss. If your hero survives the processes you get a monster 8 Attack and 8 Health ally in play that destroys target ally at the end of your turn. I will probably split deck space between Infernal and Doomguard and will add in a few more little allies to help increase the odds of surviving playing Doomguard.

When I started looking at the Warlock pets I was thinking I would have to conclude with who "wins" old school with Sarmoth and Infernal or new school with Morfiel and Doomguard. Now that I have spent some time looking at these pets the winner is the warlock class. Anyone who wants to play a warlock can build a pretty effective deck. Rush decks with Sarmoth and Grimdron and Piztog. Control decks with Sarmoth and Morfiel and Helwen. A power beat down with Sarmoth and Infernal and Doomguard. The big conclusion I have found is that Sarmoth is the best pet getting the player at worst a one card and one turn advantage and potentially mush more. So for the warlock heroes out there, use your pets wisely.

Note: I have reviewed the cards linked in this article on tNook. If you disagree with my assessments, feel free to post your own reviews of the cards on tNook and post a response here telling me how wrong I am.

tNook - Trade Anything With Anyone

I am really excited about tNook (disclosure - I am good friends with and I am related to the owner). I have been working with it for over 6 months and it seems to me to be an interesting and effective means to track and trade your collection online.

I only use one tNook - World of Warcraft Trading Cards, but there are currently five tNooks:
Comic Books
HeroClix
VS
Wizkids Pirates
World of Warcraft
and more tNooks are coming. You can also request a new tNook if the one you want is not there.

I have been posting reviews here and on tNook reviews for cards in the Heros of Azeroth set for the card game. I am going to continue to review cards and items on tNook. And if anyone doesn't like my tNook reviews they can always post their own as any tNook member can post reviews and rating for items on tNook. Here I am going to change and start posting a regular post called Old School and New School. These posts will continue to reference reviews that I will be posting on the tNook site but they will combine a couple of related cards together and review not only the card but a look at a comparison in the cards. For the most part the reviews on tNook will focus on the cards while the posts here will discuss and compare similar powers and effects from one set to the next.

I primarily use tNook to keep track of what I have in my collection, in what I want, and what I am willing to trade. Right now with the release of the Dark Portal set for World of Warcraft I am busy updating my collection and adding all the new cards into my collection. I am also reviewing what I want to put up for trade and what I need to list in my wants. One great feature is the tNook match. Each night tNook looks to see who has items for trade that I have listed in my wants. This is a great tool for me so I do not have to constantly look for people that have added new items to their trade list. I can also manually run this matching process afcter I have added items to my trade or want list.

I am constantly amazed at the implementation from the tNook team. I make comments about the interface and in a week or less in some cases the changes are in place and ready to use.

The only down side I can find in the site is that there are not enough people using it for World of Warcraft. I think there are only 5 people with their World of Warcraft cards in the system - but that is most likely because World of Warcraft is new, the more established tNooks like Comics and HeroClix have more users and more traffic. So go and sign up, put in your cards and lets get trading!

Soul Link

As a warlock you should really consider having a Soul Link in your deck. This Demonology Hero Only (Radak Doombringer and Zenith Shadowforce) ability allows you to place a damage onto an ally in your party to prevent 1 damage to your hero this turn.

This can be used defensively (obviously) but also on offense. If you attack with Ya'mon then buff his attack by putting a couple of damage on him (Ya'mon has +1 Atk for each damage on him). You can buff Blood Guard Mal'wani in the same way. CArds like Arnold Flem and Vexra Darkfall can be damaged to activate thier destruction effects. If only Life tap damage could be prevented...

Overall this 4 cost ability is a pretty good card to pack in a warlock deck.

This post was posted both as a review on tNook and as a Church of the Game post.

Local World of Warcraft Sneak Preview

Recently Gamers Lair held a sneak preview sealed deck compitition for Dark Portal expansion fo the World of Warcraft the card game.

Stormtiger gives his view of the event here.

I was the judge at this event so I can't say how much fun it was to play in the event but anyoine i have talked to has mentioned that it was a great time. The only bad thing at the event was the tournament software failed after the first round so myself and the store owner had to manually pair the remaining rounds. Then after the tournament I had to manually calculate the tie breakers.
It was exciting to see the new set and watch as the players opened their packs and looked through for the card that might be a game winner. I got to see a lot of new cards as players asked me how the powers would be affected.

Through out the afternoon I was called a couple of times to rule on plays. So far I have only found two errors I made during the tournament.

1. Someone asked me the effect a card IN HIS HAND would have when he played it. I told him the card would be unaffected by an ability in play on his opponents side of the board. This was incorrect as I was NOT judging but advising the player. The correct course of action would ahve been to tell him I could not rule until he played the card.

2. The length of the effect of Korthas Greybeard's effect. "Exhaust: Prevent the next 1 damage that would be dealt to target hero or ally."

I ruled that the effect lasts until the end of turn but according to the comprehensive rules
"714.3 A continuous modifier from a link usually has a specified duration. If no duration is specified, that modifier lasts until the game ends."

Fortunately neither of theses mistakes meant the difference in a game.

Next time I hope to have a camera and do a better job of recording the experience. I the meantime stormtiger did a great job chronicling his experience.

Regionals will be back at Gamers Lair in June and weekly tournaments are held on Wednesday nights.

Multi-Shot

When you absolutely need to clean the board there are few options that work as well as a Multi-Shot. Multi-Shot is a 5 resource Hunter instant ability that deals 2 damage to up to 3 targets. Parvink, Ka'tali Stonetusk, and Warden Tonarian are all cheap protectors. But even Warden's elusive will not save them from the damage dealt by a Multi-Shot.

I like this card as a mid to late game answer to allies on the field. It clears the way for Fury to attack or it sweeps the field clean to remove threats to your hero. Either way the value of the card is difficult to overlook.

I can say without any fear of exaggeration that Multi-Shot won me a match at a regionals tournament. My opponent had brought out a Parvink from his graveyard and had the opportunity to recurse a second via a Medoc Spiritwarden (He chose to put some armor on the field instead). When my turn came I was able to remove his little gnome protector and deal an additional 2 damage to his hero. After that there was nothing he could do to stop me from using Fury or Sentry Gwynn from taking his hero out.

For a hunter deck, the value of Multi-Shot should not be overlooked.

This post was posted both as a review on tNook and as a Church of the Game post.

Wraith Scythe

Wraith Scythe is a very useful weapon, and one of the few healing option available for the Hunter and Warrior. While anyone can heal with Freya Lightsworn or Deacon Joanna the options for healing without resorting to allies is limited outside of the Priest and Paladin classes.

A bit pricy at 4 resources but relatively cheap with a strike cost of 2. As this weapon deals 2 damage and heals 2 damage (without any modifiers) that is really a 4 point swing. And by allowing your hero to heal this axe opens up some attacks that might have been avoided without it. It has enough power to destroy Parvink and heals enough to negate the Gnome protectors attack.

If a Warrior manages to equip this axe, drops a couple of Demoralizing Shouts and then adds a Heroic Strike - suddenly the axe is dealing 5 damage and healing for 5 damage. If attacking an ally the Demoralizing Shouts reduce the damage being dealt back. A couple of turns of that kind of muscle and anyone will be looking for a way to neutralize this weapon.

I can't see this axe supplanting Annihilator as a staple in most solo decks - but it should remain a solid second or third choice among players that are looking for weapons.

This post was posted both as a review on tNook and as a Church of the Game post.

Caught Off-Guard

Caught Off-Guard is a pretty basic (and common) ability card. For a cost of 1 it allows you to reduce the attack of one target by 2.

I have never seen this played in a competitive tournament but I have faced it a couple of times in casual play. It is a nice common card that unfortunately doesn't see a lot of play because so many other cards seem to bump it out of decks during construction. The biggest benefit for this card is that it lasts the entire turn so once played it will reduce all the attacks form that source. So played against a Feral Thangral, or a Windseer Tarus, or a Galeway Steamwhistle buffed Warrax the effect will carry over to the second (and in some cases third and fourth) attacks as well.

I can't see this card getting a lot of play because it just doesn't give you a lot of bang for your buck.

This post was posted both as a review on tNook and as a Church of the Game post.

Stronghold Gauntlets

Stronghold Gauntlets are a a crucial piece of equipment. I faced a warrior at regionals that used these gloves to do some serious damage. This armour card not only gives you 1 damage prevention they also give your weapons +1 attack and block your opponent from targeting your weapons for removal. All that for only 3 resources.

I had problems finding ready answers for my opponent once these hit the table. It meant that playing out something like Moria Darkheart or Shattering Blow only got rid of the gauntlets and left the weapon on the field ready to do more damage.

I would rank this card as one of three that should be in any warrior deck. Along with Deathbringer and Deathdealer Breastplate this is a card that will make a warrior deck something to contend with. For someone like me that does not play a warrior or paladin one redeeming quality for the card is that it is limited to those two classes.

This post was posted both as a review on tNook and as a Church of the Game post.

Lessons Learned: Regionals

I finished 6th overall at the regionals last weekend.

This is frankly better than I expected to do as my deck is not a powerful deck. I played an Elendril rush deck but I tried to beef it up and remove some of the weenie elements. I did not want to play a cookie cutter Elendril deck, but there are elements of the deck that work well. I ran a very ally heavy deck with 4 furys and 4 Bloodclaws. I also had limited abilities. 4 Aimed Shots were ready for a late game push or for instant ally removal.

Round 1: Gorebelly. I was a little worried as I have played this player before but I had never faced his solo warrior deck. I started out okay, but I knew that the early turns would be in my favor as he built up. I managed to rack up quite a bit of damage but I stalled late in the game and could not get the final damage done. His buffed weapons tore through my defense and I did not have a late game answer. Game two went much the same way as game one, but I was able to clear away some of his weapons but I was blocked from doing any real damage by his armor. I managed to come away with the victory because an aimed shot top decked and I did just enough to end the game. Game three did not go my way. I did not get any early game advantage and again his weapons started tearing through my allies. He also got defense up early that negated any attack I might have mounted. A feeble late game surge did not do enough to allow me to get a victory. So match one ended and I had a 0-1 record.

Round 2: Timmo. I know this player and deck very well. We play at least one a week and sometimes as many as 5 or 6 times a week. The first game went perfectly in my favor. My opponent made a tactical error when he got threw and did damage but did not have the resources to poison my hero. He conceded when I had enough board control to defeat his hero and he had no defense available. Game two I got a near perfect draw. I dropped multiple allies turn two and turn three and even with my opponent destroying allies as fast as he could I had a overwhelming board advantage and was able to rush my was to the victory. At the end of round 2 I was 1-1.

Round 3: Warrax. This was actually a type of mirror match. We both had rush decks. I put myself in a huge hole when I misplayed and was assessed (correctly assessed) a game loss penalty in game 1 of the match. I was very worried as we started game 2. I drew poorly and after a mulligan had a below average hand. I managed to weather an early Latro and Teep attack and took control of the board. Late game I managed to top deck Aimed shot again and evened the match. I drew well for game three and started out with a lot of small allies. My opponent cleared the board but I was able to keep grinding away. I used two Aimed shots to take out 1 health healing allies. Late game I had Fury and Sentry Gwynn out. he was very low on health so was looking to block my final attack. He top decked Skullflame Shield and played it and a Parvink. He later expressed that he should have taken a second Parvink from his graveyard and put it on the board. It would not have mattered. I was sitting with a Multi-Shot. I pulled a card, laid it as a resource and hit his hero for 2 and destroyed his Parvink. He conceded the game as once Parvink was destroyed either Gwynn or Fury would do enough to finish his hero. This was a significant match for me as it was the first time I have beaten someone at a tournament that is not part of my gaming group. After round 3 I was 2-1.

Round 4 (final round): Sen'zir. I have played against this deck before and had not performed very well at all. This match did not take long, nor did I put up much of a fight. I was defeated on turn seven of the first game, and after turn six of the second. I could not keep allies on the field as he managed to clear any threat I managed to bring out. I tried stalling late in game two but he was able to remove any obstacles and deal me a lot of hurt. So the day ended with me at 2-2.

So I finished 6th over all.

So I came away with a very nice Zy'lah playmat and some new goals. I want to finish a tournament over the .500 mark. I think I might have been able to do that playing a more traditional weenie rush, but I still want to play a more powerful deck, and be able to withstand a few Frost Nova like splash effects. The competition was a bit more serious compared to the other tournaments I have played in. I was issued a warning (illegal play - targeting a weapon when stronghold gauntlets were in play) and got the game loss penalty for my moronic mistake with Parvink on turn two. Going forward I think I need to put a few more defensive cards in to answer for the solo decks and perhaps that Arcanite Reaper can find a place in my hunter deck.

Overall it was a lot of fun.

Unfortunately I could not stay for the Lazy Peon tourney that followed the regionals. I think I will build a lazy peon deck around Radak or Dizdemona and see how it performs.

Starfire

Starfire was my first rare card. I got it in my first starter (Moonshadow). I was quite excited as I looked through that first deck. I built my first strategy around Starfire as a game winning condition.

I like this card. Other than Pyroblast it is the highest direct damage ability in the game. Other cards like Backstab can do more damage but they rely on other cards or effects to be in place to be able to do that kind of damage. Chain Lightning and Multi-Shot do more damage (6 each) but they spread the damage over multiple targets.

So Starfire is the biggest ability you can pack in the game. At a cost of 5 it is a little expensive but there are not many allies that can withstand the damage inflicted by Starfire, in the Heroes of Azeroth set only 13 allies (not counting Tewa Wildmane) have 6 or more health. And you get to draw a card to boot. The biggest limitation is that it is not an instant, so you need to play it during your turn and you can't use it to respond to a big threat.

One interesting Moonshadow combo available is Starfire and Nature's Swiftness. On turn 3 you can play Nature's Swiftness for 3, which allows you to play your next card for 5 less than the regular cost. A big 5 damage Starfire on turn three can really put a dent into your opponents plans.

Contrary to my first plans Starfire is not an effective victory condition. It can help with pesky cards like Lady Jaina Proudmoore. In my druid deck I run a couple for ally removel in the mid to late game stages. It can be as good as a vanquish against most decks and can turn the tide of battle.

This post was posted both as a review on tNook and as Churchof the Game post.

Vesh'ral

Vesh'ral is one of the most valuable allies in horde rush decks. He is fairly cheap at a cost on only 3 and with 3 Attack he can do some damage. With Ferocity he can start dealing the hurt as soon as you play him.

However, Vesh'ral is on the weak side as this troll mage has only 1 Health. This leaves him open to the mass damage effects of Frost Nova and the Skullflame Sheild. So although he can dish out the damage he just can't take it.

It is pretty easy to see why this card is popular in many players decks. You play him on turn 3 and start hammering away at your opponent. It doesn't matter that he is easy to kill, with an attack of 3 he is usually a 1 for 1 trade.

Of the ferocious allies Vesh'ral is my pick for an early game card because of his big attack and with a protector in play to keep him around he can become a problem to your opponent. An effective grouping is Vesh'ral with Voss Treebender and Guardian Steelhorn. You use Voss Treebender to get Vesh'ral through protectors to your opponents hero and Guardian Steelhorn to keep Vesh'ral around for a turn or two.

This post was posted both as a review on tNook and as Church of the Game post.

Kor Cindervein

This is the first in series of short card reviews for theWorld of Warcraft Trading Card Game.

Kor Cindervein seems to be a pretty plain Alliance ally. A simple 3 resource ally with 3 attack and 3 health. This Dwarf Paladin is included as part of the Moonshadow,Timmo, Elendril, and Graccus starter decks (from Heroes of Azeroth Set). At first glance this common card seems pretty boring and uninspiring. However, if you look at the card more closely Kor does have some good in game value.

While Kor does not have any fancy powers he is a valuable assets.

• With 3 attack he will take out a significant list of allies on a one for one trade. Of the 52 alliance allies 29 have 3 or fewer health, on the horde side 34 of the 52 allies have 3 or fewer health, and 8 of the 12 neutral allies and pets have 3 or fewer health. Some significant allies that fall into this category are Latro Abiectus, Parvink, Tristan Rapidstrike, Confessor Mildred, Guardian Steelhorn, Vaerik Proudhoof, Windseer Tarus, Fury, Helwen, Landro Longshot, Saltwater Snapjaw, and Thunderhead Hippogryph.
  
• With 3 health he is above the damage threshold of Fire Blast, Frost Nova, Frost Shock, Multi-Shot, and Skullflame Shield he also performs well against Chain Lightning, Cleave, and Sinister Strike.

So if you are concerned that your Apprentice Teep and Sha'lin Nightwind will be vulnerable to any of the "deal 1 damage to all allies" effects then consider this dwarf as a replacement. I pulled Apprentice Teep from a deck I am building for regionals and I have been happy with Kor as a replacement. I did and now I have learned to like this card a lot.

Now that I have played with him I would rate him as a very good support card. He does not supplant Parvink as my favorite 3 resource ally, and he will never be the first ally I think of when building a deck, but I can see now why he was included in so many of the starters. He can be very effective in game even without special effect powers.

This post was posted both as a review on tNook and as Churchof the Game post.

Lessons Learned

I am really enjoying the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game.

Now that I have been playing for a while I am starting to see some of the errors I made when I was just starting the game. When I started the game I saw all these cards that allowed you to interact with your graveyard. There are cards that let you pull allies from your graveyard and put them back into play or back into your hand. Cards that pulled allies out of your graveyard (or better yet your opponents graveyard) for an in game effect.

Early on I focused on this aspect of the game. I loaded my decks with 4 Chasing A-Me 01 quests. I had 2 Call the Spirit in every deck I built. I made sure that the horde decks had Ophelia Barrows and alliance decks had Medoc Spiritwarden.

I also put at least 2 Blueleaf Tubers into each deck because I thought that would allow me to reuse cards that I have put into the graveyard earlier in the game. I was thinking... it doesn't matter that I only have 1 Starfire. IF I use it I can always use Blueleaf Tubers and reuse the same card again.

The first lesson learned: focus on your deck not your graveyard.

Then I shifted my focus to abilities. I saw that the abilities had a really big in game effect. Pyroblast, Chain Lightning, Starfire, Healing Touch, all of these can turn a game around. So I started to remove allies from my decks to allow more of these abilities.

Unfortunately, this justified my original mix of graveyard scouring cards. I could put in just a couple of Sarmoths and keep bringing him back again and again. I added a lot of protectors because I could stall the game with them and have some slow burn (Curse of Agony) or big splash (Pyroblast) abilities for a quick end game.

Finally I started to notice that I was being beaten by decks because I was focused on at best stalling techniques and at worst purely defensive mechanics. Stalling can be a valid game strategy but stalling is best suited to take control of the board and then take some action. My decks were stalling and after I had control of the board I didn't really have anything to act with, so I would gain the upper hand and wait for my opponent to take it back. A purely defensive strategy is likewise fairly weak as you are preventing your opponent from winning but you are not making any progress to winning yourself.

Second lesson learned: focus on your victory conditions, not on blocking your opponents victory conditions.

So I have started to rebuild many of my decks nearly from scratch.

I started by looking at the decks that I play against in local tournaments and casually. In tournaments many of the decks I have faced have been rush decks. Casually the decks are more of a mix with more burn decks than I see in tournaments.

So I started by building a Warlock control deck. I started by stripping out the extra quests and abilities that were not giving me some board advantage. I stacked my deck with some bigger allies for my end game, and dropped quite a few protectors. I kept some early game protectors to allow me to develop the game I wanted. I dropped a few of the slow damage over time abilities and pared down the abilities in my deck looking for viable removal.

What I ended up with is a fairly effective warlock deck. I also built the deck so that it could easily switch to horde or alliance.

The next step was to rebuild my hunter. This deck had been quite effective casually but did not preform well at the one tournament I it in. I looked at the deck and again took out the extra quests and the unimportant abilities. I realized when I started rebuilding the deck that I had built a deck that on paper would perfrom well but that did not match my personal play style. SO I started to pull out allies like Apprentice Teep and replace her with bigger allies that would survive a Frostnova or a Skullflame Shield.

So after a few months of playing I am starting to get of the rust on not playing a CCG in many years and I am starting to see the better strategies of the game. I am focusing on my own victory rather than preventing my opponent form working towards his victory. I am concentrating on my deck rather my graveyard. I am also focusing on the current game rather than trying to force the current game into the pattern of previous games.

I find the game tremendously fun to play and I look forward ot the lessons I will learn in up coming tournaments. I look forward to the new expansion and can't wait to see some of the new cards that will be released with the Dark Portal set.

Sneak Preview

After Regionals Mark at Gamers Lair has a sneak preview of the new Dark Portal expansion set.

March 31st, 2007 9:00 am at Gamers Lair

Sealed Pack with 4 Dark Portal Boosters and 2 Heros of Azeroth boosters.

Looks like I will be spending another Saturday at Gamers Lair.

Regionals Are Here

I really like the World of Warcraft card game and I am very excited that the regionals are coming to Edmonton. Gamers Lair will be hosting regionals On March 24, 2007.

I can't wait. I am building decks for both the regional tourney and the lazy peon events.

World of Warcraft: the card game

So I have found a new addiction to take up a ridiculous amount of my time.

The World of Warcraft Trading Card Game. I have spent too much time and way too much money on the game so far.

The game play is good, fast paced and with rules in place to limit the type of deck implosion that was common back when I played Magic the Gathering.

You play a hero and fight in battles against another hero. You can recruit allies to assist you and use your heroes abilities and equipment to defeat your foe. I have played quite often casually with friends and have entered a few tournaments.

One type of game that I have net seen in a trading card game before is the raid deck. You can buy a raid deck that represents a dragon and battle the dragon with a party of heroes.