Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

by Cody "Micajah" Bye

I love games. My love isn't specifically delegated to computer games either; any sort of game that allows me to eke out strategies and valiantly try to turn my enemies into piles of goo or mental mush quickly snatches up my attention. I've owned so many random cards from so many card games, I've nearly lost count. I've collected cards from Magic: The Gathering, BattleTech, Star Wars CCG, the Wheel of Time TCG and more, making me a veritable chronological clock when it comes to trading card games. Thus when my boss (and Warhammer Online battleground teammate), John "Boomjack" Hoskin offered me a chance to play-test the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game, I jumped at the chance and instantly set in motion my plans to dominate the WoW TCG tournaments and bring home uber loot for my apartment. Unfortunately, my plan for world domination has yet to be completed, but I have been able to play enough of the basic WoW card game to devise a thorough review for the Ten Ton Hammer readers. Those of you who are looking for a review of the "raiding" sets may want to look elsewhere, this is a review of the basic gameplay from a WoW TCG beginner, and my initial experiences with the game.

The World of Warcraft TCG already has two expansion sets and two raid decks..

With $50 of spending money in hand, I wisked to my local card game shop and sifted through the various packs and decks available to me. Since the cards are made by long-time sports card giant, Upper Deck, they marketing propaganda and box art are amazing, and it would take a giant's will to withstand the attraction. Through some deliberation and a few recommendations from another WoW card game player, I picked up a Heroes of Azeroth starter deck and eight booster packs - six from the Dark Portal expansion set and two from the original Heroes of Azeroth release. Loot in hand and $50 lighter, I drove back to my apartment to pop open the packs and see what sort of loot I scored!

To begin with, I popped open my starter deck, which comes in a box that reminded me of a old school Disney VHS box. The big, bulky plastic case popped open, revealing a pre-sorted 30 card starter deck and two booster packs to supplement the deck you cam with. That bumped my booster pack total up to ten, which is what I'd planned in the first place, but before tearing into the various booster packs I did a brief tour of the rulebook. The rulebook is a colorful, glossy, picture laden step-by-step instruction guide on the how-to's, what-for's, and why's of the WoW TCG, and the production value of the rulebook is something that other trading card games should emulate. When I began playing Magic: The Gathering or the old Star Wars Collectable Card Game, the rulebooks were initially fairly short and were often cryptic in their wordings. Starter packs for other games may include a color booklet, but nothing like the WoW TCG's guide. It was a great help getting started, and pretty much laid out the core concepts of the game enough for even beginners to get started.

Like the Legend of Norrath Online Trading Card Game that I reviewed earlier this week, the point fo the World of Warcraft TCG is to kill the opposing player's Hero or make him the run out of cards before you do. Each player chooses whether they want to be Alliance or Horde, and then they proceed to fight against each other. Every player has constructed a deck based around one Hero, which is often represented by a notable NPC from the World of Warcraft MMORPG. My initial hero was Timo Shadowstep, a Gnome Rogue. Not my favorite race or class - in fact I really despise Gnomes - but I shrugged my shoulders and carried on. Heros have a large chunk of life, making them fairly difficult to kill, and each of them has a particular ability that they can employ when they wish to. After studying Timo, I carried on with my initial look at the deck and the guide.

This is what $50 can get you in WoW cards.

The game is broken into three phases per each player's turn, and the two competitors alternate turns back and forth. Each player gets three phases: the Start Phase, the Action Phase, and the End Phase. The beginning and end phases of each player's turn are fairly simple. During the Start Phase, players "ready" their cards and draw a card, and the End Phase pretty much is simply a wrap-up step where players play any "instants" that would be appropriate during that time.

However, the Action Phase is where most of the card playing takes place. In the action phase, players can play any of six different card types: Ally, Weapon, Armor, Item, Ability and Quest. On their first turn, must players will typically only "place a resource," which is the way players pay for cards during the game. Resources can only be place one at a time and can be any card the players hold in their hand. Typically players would want to play "Quest" cards down as resources, as they're only playable as quests. Quests basically act as resources until they're completed, which can typically be accomplished by paying a certain number of resources to activate them.

Going through the rest of the card types, an Ally acts as your "standing army" in your fight against the other hero. While Allies are nowhere near as powerful as a hero, they can certainly do damage if they get the opportunity to attack a hero one-on-one. While there are abilities and other cards that can choose to "protect" a hero, it's often a measure of strategy to determine how you're going to be pressing your advantage against your opponent. Weapons and Armor are typcially played only on a Hero, as they each bestow certain advantages onto those heroes. Items have several different uses, from potions that make your Allies immune to particular effects to any sort of combination of enhancement you could think of. When it comes to various Abilities, my best explanation of these cards is to compare them with any sort of power you exert in an MMOG.