WoW TCG The Band. No Seriously, That's Their Name

We first heard about the group WoW TCG [MySpace] in a thread the official World of Warcraft TCG forums. In that thread there's a link to the band who classify themselves as Powerpop / Electronica / Rock.

At first we laughed, then we cried, then after a somewhat failed rap prologue the theme of King Mukla (TCG TDP) kicked into gear ... and we didn't know what to think. We ain't music critics, but half of us found the novelty of this music growing on us - and fast - even though we've assumed it's total side project material.

We'll leave it to you to decided if it's any good or not.

Now you can listened to the music on Myspace, but you can't download it there since the songs are embedded in that streamy thing of theirs. Another post in the WoW TCG Forum linked to this download site where you can download the stand alone mp3s. Unfortunately it's one of those convoluted sites where the actual download link is nested in chaos, so here's what ya need to do:

1. In the center middle are three colorful letters in CAPS. Type those letters into the adjacent text field on the right, and click the Download Button.
2. When the next screen appears, wait for the countdown near the bottom of the page to reach zero. Then click the Download button that appears there.
3. The files are in a .RAR archive, so you'll need to download a RAR utility like Win RAR to get to em.

Enjoy!

Critical Gamers Staff at Permalink

World of Warcraft Minis Announced - Joyous Seizures Ensue

Houston, we have a problem. Upper Deck has just announced another World of Warcraft gaming franchise: World of Warcraft Minis.

We haven't been into many other mini games. In general we enjoy collectable games partially for its library of binders filled with cards neatly tucked away on our bookshelves. Figurines.. can be a bit messy; amassing on the floor of our closet in droves. And that's compounded by the fac that we all live in a city so space is at a premium. But if the WoW Minis game follows suit with the level of quality and fun of the WoW TCG franchise, then we just might have clean house, get rid of our DVD collection, and make room for a new obsession come Fall 2008.

With Wow Minis product announcement Upper Deck has also launched WoWMinis.com, a website which currently hosts some preliminary details of what will be included in the game. It seems that Terrain will vary and play a role, and we're sure this will affect positional combat as players scramble to guard clothies with armored tanks slugging it out in 1v1. Raids will also be part of the deal, though no details yet on how many or what sort of raids from the WoW MMORPG will appear in the set.

Here are some details from the official announcement:

" Each premium pre-painted miniature will showcase a detailed version of an iconic World of Warcraft character and be mounted on a uniquely engineered removable base, allowing each figure to serve as both a game piece and a collectible. In the spirit of the action and adventure of the MMO, the World of Warcraft Miniatures Game will offer standalone raid and dungeon scenarios, letting players battle either individually or cooperatively against other teams of players or the game itself.

UDE will also launch a robust Organized Play structure for the new World of Warcraft® Miniatures Game, including everything from hobby and in-store tournament programs to Darkmoon Faire events and National and World Championship tournaments."

The WoWMinis.com website also makes special note to check back in for more details of the detachable bases that the models will be built on, which will sport some sort of announced feature. It seems that each figure - er mini - has the same exact foot stance, so perhaps these, too, will be interchangeable across all figures. Perhaps some bases themselves will be collectable and offer some sort of buff?

We'll let you know as soon as we find out more as the World of Warcraft Minis game marches toward release this fall.

Critical Gamers Staff at Permalink

5 Ways to Make WoW TCG's Magtheridon's Lair Challenging

We’ve been hearing a lot about how Maghteridon's Lair is a push-over for players who’ve horded WoW TCG cards since the game’s release in 2006. We’ve played through the raid twice now, and though Magtheridon is a heckuva jerk if he’s allowed to live too long, he does seem to have some very obvious weaknesses early-on. Achilles heals even, especially if he can't attack.

Now we're generally amazed that Upper Deck didn’t release a series of alternative rules to scale the difficulty of raid to match the various play levels. After all, the WoW TCG – and World of Warcraft in general – is all about mass appeal and bringing many different types of gamers together. But here we see one Raid Deck which can only be cusotomzied by buying another deck, and even then it does the same stuff it did before – just potentially better.

But what if there are some fundamental weakness to the deck itself? For instance, a group of mages could just sit back and frostbolt poor Mag every turn, until he’s a block of ice with four legs. Not very scary, and Mag can’t do shizzy about it even with combined decks from 2 Decks.

Below you’ll find our house rules suggestions, listed in ascending difficulty. We like to play with some or all these rules, depending on how many people are raiding Mag and their deck level:

1. No Infinite Combos - A raid boss shouldn’t die when he still has 80 life left, period.
2. Channeler Allies Have a Permantent Attack Value - That is, instead of reading "+X to attack while attacking" it should read "+X to attack where X is 1 plus the number of Warlocks that have left your party.” Killing these guys off with allies just became a bit more difficult. Not only that, but maybe – just maybe – they’ll live long enough to actually use their abilities on turn three.
3. Magtheridon May Not be Forced to Discard From His Hand - The poor flesh eating sap already draws one-fifth to one-half as much as the players . His hand should be sacred.
4. Magtheridon cannot be prevented from attacking - A lousy ice bolt shouldn’t slow down a 3 story tall demonic quadruped. Players can – however -force him to tap or continue to protect against him.
5. Abyssal Allies have the keyword "Protector." - These guys cost two blood each and Magtheridon only gets really deadly when he's got a lot of blood. This ssmes like a pretty fair trade off.

We’re also toying with a raid night where Maghteridon teams up with Onyxia against a group of 4-5 raiders for a monster battle royal. But maybe that’s just crazy talk.

Critical Gamers Staff at Permalink

WoW TCG Magtheridon's Lair Deck Is Out!

Alright WoW TCG players, it's time to determine how bad-ass your heroes really are -- Upper Deck has finally shipped the third in a line of Cooperative Raid Decks for the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game. Magtheridon's Lair [Amazon, Funagian] brings one of the first raid encounters of the Outland to the the TCG, where players team up to take down the Pit Lord Magtheridon in his very own prison.

We're pretty psyched about this one.

Now killing a 'man' sleeping in his own jail cell doesn't sound very noble, even if the man is a 3 story half dragon pit fiend. But in the scheme of things it's for the greater good; in the WoW mythos Magtheridon's Blood is being used to create an army of Fel Orcs to serve Illidan, the grandmaster jerkhole demon who's become the capital evil burden of Outland. The death of Magtheridon means Illidan won't have his army to act as a shield, and thus be severely weakened and open to attack. If we were to take wild stabs in the dark - then tackling Illidan in the Black Temple will be the next Raid Deck release in the Outland series.

The floating undead citadel of Naxxramas is rumored to be the next Azeroth-based WoW TCG Raid Deck release (following the line of Onyxia and Molten Core).

But enough back story, we gotta start playing. Like the other Raid Decks Magtheridon comes with his own set of Loot Cards to act as a gold foiled reward for defeating the raid. Now Upper Deck hasn't yet finished previewing the cards - they're usually pretty lethargic about prerelease news and details- but you can check-out the complete list of rewards thus far at WoWTCGDB.com, which has always been on top of the latest card details as they're released.

We're quite giddy over this one. Here are the brief Official Raid Deck details:

Play as the powerful pit lord Magtheridon and his minions, and defend your citadel from the foolhardy heroes who crave your treasure! Or, form a raiding party with your friends and try to defeat the deckmaster's ultra-powerful Magtheridon deck! Each Raid Deck expansion set requires players to build their raiding parties using cards from the World of Warcraft TCG.

We'll have our thoughts on the Magtheridon's Lair raid deck as soon as we've put it through its paces. For those of you who dive-in before that: Good Luck!. This is one helluva raid in World of Warcraft, and you're going to have been pretty darn smart in your strategies if you're going to tackle this beasties before he goes bezerk.

For more information on the World of Warcraft TCG Raid Decks checkout our previous coverage of Onyxia's Lair and the Molten Core.

Critical Gamers Staff at Permalink

WoW TCG Magtheridon's Lair Raid Deck - January 8th, 2008

Boy howdy - it feels odd to start typing 2008, but it's just around the corner. And on just the other side of the new year comes the long awaited - and delayed - release of the WoW TCG Magtheridon's Lair Raid Deck [Amazon, Funagain].

We can't wait to get our hands on it and stomp our overachieving heroes into juicy bits of goo. With every expansion release our decks have become more lean and mean, violent (we love the Horde) and powerful. The Molten Core was a challenge, but we still tackled it with our 5 elite heroes built off the first two sets: Heroes of Azeroth and Through the Dark Portal. Since then our decks have become even more stack with powerful cards from the Fires of Outland and the latest March of the Legion expansion, which really takes the game to the next level. Hopefully Magtheridon's Lair can keep pace.

Here are the the official details :

"You’ve taken down the dreaded Onyxia, and you’ve taken Ragnaros’s mace from his dead grasp. But what are you going to do against a pit lord so powerful that Illidan has to keep him locked up? Well, you’re going to have to figure it out quickly, because on January 8, the third WoW TCG Raid deck is hitting shelves. Players will have to figure out how to deal with Channelers, Abyssals, Manticron Cubes, and one big, angry Demon. You’ll have to try new strategies and work around the exciting new mechanics if you’re hoping to take down Magtheridon to get your hands on some of the twenty exclusive new treasure pack cards. "

Critical Gamers Staff at Permalink

WoW TCG 25% Off Sale at Upper Deck on Heroes Through the Dark Portal

Upper Deck is cleaning stock just in time for the Holidays. For today only all at the Upper Deck Entertainment store Heroes of Azeroth Starer Decks, and Booster Boxes are 25% off. Both the inaugural raid deck Onyxia's Lair, and the second in line the Molten Core Raid Deck are also discounted, as well as all sorts of Through the Dark Portal expansion sets including Starter Decks, Booster Boxes, and even the slick Through the Dark Portal Playmat. All products can be found on sale here.

This is all due to the 12 Days of Christmas Sale across the Upper Decks store, which has snaked through and discounted all of Upper Deck products for the last 11 days. Today is day 12, and with the final day of Christmas Upper Deck focuses on the Wolrd of Warcraft Trading Card Game sale which ends today!

Critical Gamers Staff at Permalink

World of Warcraft TCG Crafting Guide 2007

We’ve received quite a few questions about the new World of Warcraft TCG Player Crafted Items – specifically “How the heck do I get my hands on them? – and so we decided to make this one stop shop for all your TCG crafting needs. We break down the cards you need to collect, the items that are available to craft, and the mailing instructions on how to get them in your hands all in this easy to read reference pamphlet! So create a bookmark and enjoy.

Overview
The theme for the crafting program stems from the crafting system of the original World of Warcraft MMORPG: players in the game collect goods off of fallen monsters, or skin freashly killed animals, or pick herbs – all of which can be combined in specific formulas to produce player items. These items include Armor, Weapons, Potions, etc.

In the WoW TCG, just replace "animals" and "monsters" with Booster Packs, and there you go! Players collect trade goods cards contained within Booster Packs, and then combine them (mail them in) and UDE will award the player an item card. This first series is limited to special WoW TCG Armor cards and two Weapons which are all quite powerful, and we hope in future iterations – which there will be – the crafting will expand further, potentially releasing new potions and even stronger variety of weapon types.

The cards in the crafting system are all Purple - which means that they're super rare, epic even. . It also implies they're good, and thankfully they really really are a cut above the rest. Read on for more details.

Continue reading: "World of Warcraft TCG Crafting Guide 2007"

Critical Gamers Staff at Permalink

World of Warcraft TCG: March of the Legion

March of the Legion Starter Deck
Starter Deck [Amazon, Funagain]

March of the Legion Booster
Box of Boosters [Amazon]
Individual Booster Pack [Amazon, Funagain]

The next WoW TCG set was released over the weekend, and with it come some new keywords and new rules. Yes, just over a year after the original Heroes of Azeroth set release we finally see not just a injection of new content, but new mechanics which should add another level of interesting complexity to deck-building, and should make the gameplay a bit more dynamic than it was before.

This is definitely a good thing, because we started to get concerned that game might have stagnated otherwise. However, as of now these new rules are divided on faction lines of the new Blood Elf Scryer order versus the Aldor consisting entirely of Draenei (though these sides are neutral so Blood Elves could appear in Alliance decks and vice versa). Our concern is that these new gameplay elements will never mix, which could limit the gameiness of deck building more than it would have otherwise. We'll have more of our thoughts in a review once we've been able to put the set through its paces.

Read on for a description of the new rules, and links to every official March of the Legion feature article:

Continue reading: "World of Warcraft TCG: March of the Legion"

Critical Gamers Staff at Permalink

Critical Gamers 2007 Holiday Gift Guide - World of Warcraft TCG Gift Ideas

We cap off our series of Holiday Gift ideas for 2007 with probably our most focused list: one tailored specifically for the World of Warcraft Trading Card Player.

Since you're reading this chances are you know someone who plays World of Warcraft on the computer, or you know someone into collectible card games. Either way you probably know a candidate for a World of Warcraft TCG fanatic, or someone who is one already. In this list we explore the latest and greatest WoW TCG products coming out just in time for the Holiday gift giving season, and lucky for you almost all of them fit into a stocking!

Continue reading: "Critical Gamers 2007 Holiday Gift Guide - World of Warcraft TCG Gift Ideas"

Critical Gamers Staff at Permalink

WoW TCG Feast of Winter Veil

The WoW TCG has just sent out a sweet little stocking stuffer for the Holidays. The Feast of Winter Veil [Amazon, Funagain] is somewhat of a first in the line of World of Warcraft Trading Card Game releases. It’s not a set, nor a raid, but instead a mini set themed release. It includes: ten rare holiday themed cards, a booster from each of the standard set releases of Heroes of Azeroth, Through the Dark Portal, and Fires of Outland, and it’s all packaged in a slick little deck box with which to lug around your favorite decks.

A very nice release we might say. In fact we do say. The cards are play dynamic on the gameplay front and are very well themed for both the World of Warcraft MMORPG Feast of Winter Veil content and for the true holiday season - which makes them fun – but they’re also quite useful, too. Going down the list we've all nod our heads in appreciation of how well these things fit into all of our decks. Plus a deck box carrying case to boot? Sign us up!

Here are the 10 cards in the Feast of Winter Veil mini-set:

1. Hardpacked Snowball
2. PX-238 Winter Wondervolt
3. Greatfather Winter
4. Great-father Winter
5. The Abominable Greench
6. Metzen the Reindeer
7. Gingerbread Cookie
8. Mistletoe
9. The Reason for the Season
10. Treats for Great-father Winter

Critical Gamers Staff at Permalink