An Afterword for After World's

So the World of Warcraft TCG's first Worlds tournament came and went pretty quickly, leaving a bevy of internet coverage and one very happy Frenchman in its wake. It marks the end of the first successful season for UDE's latest card game, as well as the beginning of a whole new year for the card game with new sets, a new raid and some new additions and changes to the structure of Organized Play.

I wasn't able to attend Worlds this year because of the demands of both work and school, but I stayed within arms reach of a computer whenever possible to check the progress of the event. What did I see? Surprise Attacks. A lot of Surprise Attacks. It seems like despite UDE's attempt at shaking things up pre-Worlds with the release and legalization of the Feast of Winter Veil set, much of the meta remained fundamentally the same. It was a little bit of a let-down not seeing exciting new decks tramping through the World's scene from the internet spectator's point of view, though it was nice to not see the dreaded number of Night Elf Wintervolt combo decks that the forums were fearing would show up en masse. What World's revealed was a more or less stabilized meta, for not only were Alliance Combat Rogue decks out in force but they were the ones piloted by players who were talented enough to make it to top 8. Granted, there were interesting things to be seen in some of the subtle choices that players made in their deck construction (World Champ's choice of Snowball + Inventor's Focal Sword is a prime example, as was his prediction that he'd see a lot of solo decks), but the deck choice difference between a few main decked Kicks or main-decked Blade Flurry among the rogue decks provides for less than interesting commentary.

Granted, TAWC's Victoria Jaton deck was a pretty interesting innovation. I remember commenting with a laugh when I first saw Gauntlets of Vindication how Rend would suddenly become viable. I also really liked their idea of using Andiss Butcherson and Stellaris. I much prefer seeing new deck ideas and attempts at different heroes and builds breaking into the tournament scene and I would always strongly encourage other players to make decks of their own rather than net-deck. Jeremy Blair made a comment to the effect that just the "surprise factor" in a innovative deck can add effective power to a build that otherwise lacks the strength of the more traditional net-deck of the moment, and I think he was dead on here.

But amidst all the round and round coverage were a few gems of information on the near future of WoW TCG gaming. Maybe you missed them, or maybe you heard about them peripherally through some other forum or from a friend across the table who's shooting the breeze with you while you're playing a friendly game.

A Peak into Magtheridon's Lair

One of the things casually dropped amongst the sound and competitive fury of the main event was the teaser for the upcoming Magtheridon's Lair raid set. A new card from the boss deck was revealed (a 2-cost spread 15 damage among the raiding party's heroes and allies however they see fit burn) along with some of the mechanics on how the raid deck will work.

Turns out, when the game begins there will be 5 channelers to try and stop your attempt short before you've even faced the wrath of the head honcho (if you've ever been in a raid group trying Mag for the first time, this may be a familiar situation for you). Two of them can summon 6 attack, 6 health infernal tokens, two will be shadow bolt volleying your crew while the other one will be trying to keep his buddies healed. Oh, and for each channeler that's killed all the others get +1 attack. Magtheridon himself will be wielding his glaive and some armor, there will be some way to organize heroes or allies to use the Manticron cubes to stop him from roasting your whole raid party (could be as simple as just having enough allies to exhaust) and by the sound of things, he'll be getting stronger the longer the game goes on.

Organized Play Shake-Up

The other item of information dropped was on the changing face of Organized Play. The big thing here is the addition of the Player of the Year title, basically an incentive for interested players to get out to as many events as possible to rack up their finishes for the Player of the Year award (almost abbreviated it PotY...). The other change is the breaking up of Regionals into 3 seasons. It's a little unclear, but how they have it phrased on the website sounds like season 2 will provide direct qualification for Nationals while season 3 will have a few rare slots for winning players to qualify directly for next years Worlds. Sounds ok to me. It'll sound even better as I'll be graduating from college come April of next year.

Also, it's definitely worth your time to go through and read some of the match coverage, in particular the day 2 drafting reads, particularly if you feel a little less than confident about your drafting game. Because unless you've drafted competitively and done so frequently, your drafting skills may not be as tested as you think. Check out the draft profile on Brad Watson. His day 2 drafting performance was good enough to carry him out of the top 96 into the top 8.

In the Future

There's been a lot of talk about casters lately. Many people were reporting huge warlock success from their Sneak Preview events and also from the limited format MotL events at Worlds/DMF San Diego. Then there's the Spellstrike Hood and the new gray caster gear that allows for some fantastic and efficient ally removal (hello Runesong Dagger and Devil-Stitched Leggings). Sounds like we may start seeing more casters at the top of the rankings next time around.

I hope to start seeing some big shake-ups in the meta as the new season begins (because growing stale in its competitive environment is the last thing this or any TCG needs) and I think the addition of the Aldor/Scryer dilemma will add greater impetus to experiment with and try out new decks. A recommendation? Set yourself goals, like trying to make the best bear-form Feral Druid deck you possibly can and see how competitive it can be (my goal), or make a Beast Mastery hunter deck that tries to stand up against the best your local meta and the tournament environments has to offer. Read reports, previews, posts and analyses online, take part in them, but do some experimenting of your own with the cards you pull. Build decks around the powerhouse cards that everybody sees coming, but look for those combos that no one else is expecting. A turn 5 Venomstrike + Hunter Training anyone?

So anyway, welcome to the first entry in my new feature blogging series Decking Out. While this blog was more a personal reaction to Worlds and a veritable news/gossip column, look in the future (also known as 'the end of this week') for the beginning of an article series on how-to deck building as well as a theoretical piece on the state of the game and where it looks like UDE will be taking it in the near future.

Until then, drop me a comment. Tell me what you think and what you'd like to see.

-Ryan