I'm in exactly the same boat. I played Magic all through high school, then sold most of my cards for booze money in college because I didn't know anyone who played. Now I'd really like to get back in to a CCG, but without knowing someone to play, it just seems silly to buy the cards.

However, I'd start playing instantly for that. :-p

Yeah I'm in that boat too, can't wait to get my cards. Sad thing is I already played more then 20 "semi new" decks via proxies + the sealed events. Contrary to what we originally though I think the set resist well to inflation in general but still manage to improve a lot of the weaker area.

I'm a bit disappointed by no new real ferocity ally in that set though, but I guess I understand why. Was that a conscious decision? Some new class cards to help decks deal with ferocity while at the same time not improving on pretty much any of the traditional allies like vesh'ral, hippogryph or moko (or even adding new one that can fill the holes, unless you play an orc). Maybe I'm a bit fast in proclaiming that ferocity while still be the dominant "keyword" though in tournament play, who knows.

The game is a combination of VS. and Magic, both of which Brian Kibler played on the pro tour. I miss VS.

This got buried under the PTR stuff, but I wanted to drop the info on the art sets here, since some people requested them:

http://entertainment.upperdeck.com/w....aspx?aid=2350

check out the art that comes with the alliance set

Probably better posting on the UDE boards, but I happen to be reading here...

Why the skip from Molten Core to TBC material for raid decks?
Will we ever see Nef or KT in card form? I can handle missing AQ, but I would have liked a blast through NAX or BWL. Hell, ZG seems a great place to convert to card form.


I'd also strongly disagree with previous posters assertions that Magic/stack is the best/only game/way. Magic is a very dated game with glaring holes in it. It survives and thrives purely on being the first past the post and the huge market share that garnered it. That just about every game produced since has tossed those facets that don't work aside would indicate it's not some perfect game.
Even WoW at the moment as issues with disparity between going first/second that are throwbacks to that issue in Magic (which in turn is probably a throwback to Chess, but at least the tournament scene in Chess acknowledges the fact and has mitigation methods).

As to the stack, well I've playtested plenty of CCGs that didn't have a stack mechanic and handled inter-player interaction fine. Admitedly, some that didn't. LIFO system is what works as a baseline symplistic system that doesn't constrin you in design, but it's perfectly possible to devise other systems if you incorporate them right from the ground up as you design the game.

It's reinventing the wheel, but not a case that there's only one true wheel...

Well anyway. I like the WoW TCG and had a barrel of laughs at both my DP pre-release and the release celebration. Now, if only my constructed performance was half as good!

Speaking of the artwork, I was really excited to see Kev Walker art included in this set. I hope to see more of Michael Kormarck too -- Boneshanks is amazing art.