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Phil Cape

Hello there.  My name is Phil Cape.  You may remember me from such tournaments as World Championships 2011, North American Continental Championship 2009, or your local battlegrounds.  I’m the newest member of the Cryptozoic R&D team, working specifically on the World of Warcraft TCG.  I’ve had a crazy month, what with the holidays, moving cross-country, and getting acclimated here.  I'm going to post my blog every Tuesday and you can join me as I learn the R&D ropes, get accustomed to life without snow, and try to find some spicy fajitas. The last week I’ve been getting a glimpse of the future, processing all the awesome new goodies in our upcoming releases Crown of the Heavens and Tomb of the Forgotten.  I’m working here in development, which means I’m responsible for making sure the cards we produce are balanced and promote enjoyable gameplay.  To that end, today I want to discuss good card designs.  Well, not just good designs – great designs.  More specifically, your favorite design for a WoW card ever! 

For me, that distinction goes to Shadowfiend. Like most favorite things, this one has a bit of a sentimental edge.  See, at this game’s inception, I was a die-hard Priest player.  I don’t know why, since I didn’t have a priest character in the MMO (or any character, for that matter), but for some reason that particular set of cards appealed to me.  I liked the sneaky efficiency of Power Word: Shield and the direct aggressive force of Omedus the Punisher’s flip.  I enjoyed the fact that Shadow Word: Death was an efficient removal ability that could also damage the hero, but the drawback engouraged you to play the card “correctly.”   So I played Priest at every big event I could.  I brawled with a mid-range Priest at the first regionals way back in January 2007, and I brought a Priest rush deck to US Nationals in 2007 as well.  Imagine my elation, then, when I first saw the card Shadowfiend.  It was like they made the card specifically for me! 

There’s a lot going on with Shadowfiend; Its an efficient, ferocious threat, but it can’t be killed by non-instant removal.   It neatly works around the pet uniqueness rule by allowing additional copies to be used as ally removal, and it never gets killed by your opponent’s mopey 1/1.  At the same time, it’s not exceedingly difficult to kill, and really appreciates the protection a priest can provide.  All in all, I think it’s a super-balanced and fun card.  Of course, I took priest to the World Championships in 2007 as well, and my 8-1 first day record may factor in to my fond memories of the card. So what about you?  What’s your favorite card, and why?

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