Blog

Kyle Heuer

I’ve spent quite a number of hours this week with a puzzle that I’ve been trying to work out. It’s only fair that I share this tale of second-guessing, discussion upon discussion, and ultimate fun that I’ve had with this puzzle. I’m trying to figure out what promo cards we should print for OP programs starting in June of 2012 through the end of the year. Yea, let’s play this game a bit together and think through the following:

-          Since the promo cards I’m working on will come out in June, I want to focus on Aftermath block cards.

-          No one has really seen any Crown of the Heavens cards, so picking cards from that set which are going to be desirable is not a sure thing

-          Art and card names for set 18 aren’t final yet.

-          The only set that provides me information within those guidelines is Throne of the Tides, but players will want some variety.

And thus you see the puzzle in front of me. Currently, there are 38 cards on my list and each one is for a specific program that has a specific goal. We’re also looking at new ways to do cards like sketch cards, but let’s focus on the 38. Now that we know how many cards we need for our programs during that time, let’s look at rarity buckets we can sort into to try and break this up into manageable pieces.

-          I’ll need 4 Epics (one also has a sketch/extended art version – hello Continentals!)

-          I’ll need 13 Rares (two of which have sketch/extended art versions)

-          I’ll need 9 Uncommons

-          I’ll need 9 Commons

So now comes the fun puzzle. The first thing we want is that these cards should be fun and exciting for players. When we announced the Deathwing the Destroyer and Ysera the Dreamer alternate and extended art cards for the upcoming Realm Qualifier and Realm Championship season in Rotterdam at the World Championships, we got a ton of feedback on them from the players in attendance and it was 100% positive. We want to live up to our “Fans First” motto and that means creating programs that the fans will love.

The second thing we have to do is research. This is a matter of looking at tournament decks to see what is and what isn’t being played, combing the forums to see what people are and aren’t talking about (which we do frequently), and try to determine what’s in demand from our community as a whole. Tons and tons of theorycrafting discussions.

For those that haven’t yet seen them, and are interested in picking one of these bad boys up, here is how you can get the Deathwing the Destroyer and Ysera the Dreamer alternate/extended art cards. I highly suggest you visit the Realm Qualifier page today to find a location near you!

Realm Qualifier WInner	Realm Championship Top 8

Will we see a Grand Crusader foil? How can we make Battleground foils more exciting? How can we top the Realm Qualifier and Realm Champ cards? Where do we go from here?

These are all good questions, and ones I’ll have to figure out over the next few weeks. Deadlines are the killer of a fun, creative processes.

Feel free to play along at home; just don’t expect us to make a lenticular/oversized/microchip-talking/one-of-a-kind/solid gold promo card because you think it would be UBER COOL!!!1!!11!!!!ONE

Lastly, I just wanted to mention a fun thing we did at lunch today. We’re doing a Toys for Tots drive in the office right now, and many of us here work very busy schedules and haven’t had time to give this the attention it deserved. Some enterprising souls took it upon themselves to organize a trip to Target for lunch today so we could all get into the spirit together, and just some fun. What I give you now is the only photographic evidence of Thor-Cory Jones, defender of Asgard and Cryptozoic!