Shadow Era at Gencon: Organised Play Galore!

Howdy, Shadow Era peoples! It's Mojumbo here, bringing you some highlights of the tournaments we held at GenCon. It was an exciting 4 days for me, overseeing Shadow Era community members and new faces alike duke it out for glory, shadow crystals, and shiny exclusive foils. I would definitely say the physical tournaments were a success!

For this blog post, however, I’m going to focus on two tournaments we ran in particular: the first ever physical Shadow Era Sealed Deck tournament we held on Friday and the first ever physical Constructed tourney with a 10 card Sidedeck we held on Saturday. I’ll go into detail regarding the rules for both formats as well as the impressions the players gave after participating in the competitions.

Sealed Deck Tourneys 101:

Sealed Deck tournaments are a ton of fun and ideal entry-level tournaments for players new to the game. The way it works in Shadow Era is simple: a selection of Class Decks is made available (usually multiples of each) and the players roll a dice to determine the order they get to choose one from the remaining selection; after Class Decks have been selected, 2 booster packs are given to each player (making 3 boosters in total) and they use the contents of their packs to strengthen what was in their Class Deck. The normal deck building rules apply, meaning the deck size is 40 cards minimum (including hero) and all class and faction restrictions are in place. It’s that simple! After your deck is built, you play in a single-elimination tournament, best-of-3 games per round, against opponents who have also built their own decks with a 60-card Class Deck and 3 boosters.

The reason a Sealed Deck tournament is ideal for beginners is because each of the ten Class Decks is made with a specific faction/class in mind and gives you cards appropriate for executing their given strategies. As a result, you will have a good idea what you’re looking to find in your booster packs. For example, if you picked Human Mage, then naturally you’re going to know that the cards you want from your boosters are Human cards, like Jasmine Rosecult, or Mage cards, like the trusty Fireball. The Shadow cards and those from other classes will naturally be unappealing to you (although it is theoretically possible to switch hero/class/faction if you get the right cards in your boosters). Contrast this to a booster draft: for a beginner, a booster draft is actually quite difficult because it is no easy task to know precisely which cards you will need to have a competitive/viable deck and it's even harder to know what cards your opponents are going to be aiming for, which might adversely affect your ability to draft a given class card or deck strategy.

However, just because the Sealed Deck format may be ideal for a beginner, it doesn't mean tournaments can't still be highly skilled - far from it. In fact, at Gencon we held a 16-player Sealed Deck tournament and it was a serious competition! In particular, there is quite a lot of strategy to be found in selecting the right Class Deck based on what the competition is playing, as well as which class best suits your play style. Resident forum-goer, Ninjaducky, for example, played a Mage deck so he could attempt to pull off his trademark DFFTW (Double Fireball For The Win!) because that's what he was most comfortable and confident with.

The finals ended up being a Human Mage mirror, but it wasn't two Eladwen Frostmires duking it out, it was Eladwen vs. Nishaven! Nish's hero ability is sure to be quite the wrecking ball in all Limited formats. I could easily see a variety of other hero choices, such as warriors, priests, elementals, etc. rise up and claim a victory for their respective class as the metagame for a Limited competition is quite dynamic and ever-changing, given that the cards you will both be playing with and against are different every time.

Sidedecking in Shadow Era:

On Saturday we held an 8-player single-elimination Constructed tourney with a 10 card Sidedeck allowed. What this means is that during the second and third games of a best-of-3 set, players were allowed to swap out cards from their main decks with cards from their Sidedecks to help them against the specific opponent they were playing.  Note, however, that our Limited formats (Meltdown, Drafting, and Sealed Deck) currently do not use Sidedecks.

Not everyone participating in the tournament chose to use a Sidedeck, but the feedback I received from those that opted to was completely positive. I had one player tell me that he thought Sidedecks would be good for the competitive future of the game - despite him being convinced he'd lost due to sidedecking in cards that didn't help him out as much as he would've liked! Also worthy of note is the fact that the eventual winner of a tournament was a Majiya player who opted not to use a Sidedeck. This is a good thing because it suggests that a Sidedeck will benefit those that choose to use it, but not make it impossible for those without Sidedecks to win.

I consider good Sidedeck building and Sidedecking decisions just as important as good deckbuilding and sacrificing decisions. For example, if you choose to play Lance, you might not have room for a situational yet powerful card like Spelleater Bands in your main deck but it could be the perfect choice for your Sidedeck for use against Mage opponents like Majiya. Now you may be thinking, what would Majiya do to counter a Lance that is Sidedecking powerful anti-mage cards to win? Well, Sidedecking is a two-way street so the Majiya player could then have a card in their Sidedeck, such as the underutilized Shadowspawn, specifically to deal with our hasty Rogue. Essentially, Sidedecking allows more heroes to gain exposure because of the fact they can prepare strategies to deal with specific match-ups, especially what would currently be considered an "auto-loss" matchup. I consider that a good thing for Shadow Era to have.

Radiant Sunlight: Maindeck Worthy? Perhaps not. 

Sidedeck Worthy? Almost definitely.

Going Forward:

Well, that does it for my Gencon blog post. Be sure to read fellow DT member NachyoChez's upcoming blog post regarding clever ways to keep track of things when playing physical Shadow Era. I found myself borrowing from his stash of dice, counters, etc all weekend long at Gencon, so I know his advice will be worth reading!

Hope you enjoyed the post, good luck in your games, and make sure you have fun! This is Mojumbo signing out. 

Gen Con 2012 Visual Diary

Greetings, players and fans of Shadow Era! GDC is in the house ... writing this blog post!

Just over two weeks ago, the Design Team and Kyle headed to Indianapolis for Gen Con 2012, where we had the privilege of meeting players in person and running organised play events for the physical game.

What follows is a visual tour of our four days at the convention.

Day 1

We kicked things off with a 4-player Meltdown tournament at 10am. In the photo below, you can see the finalists, Demnchi and Orange Hat Guy, facing off in the background, with yours truly, GondorianDotCom, playing TrueGrit for 3rd place in the foreground.



Four Forum Folk Face-Off In Fight for First

The rest of the day was spent doing demo games for new players and retailers who were interested in stocking the game, along with more Meltdown tournaments. Many of our new players wanted to come back the next day for a bigger tournament, so we lined one up ...

Day 2

More demo games were done in the morning, and then the highlight of the day was a 16-player Sealed Deck event, where each player made their deck from a Class Deck and 2 booster packs.



With each player building from the contents of a Class Deck and two booster packs,
Sandra Trueblade and Katrin Shieldmaiden had never seen so much action.



The battle rages on whilst Jasmine Rosecult distracts our photographer with her two resources.

The winner of the tournament was none other than A1's own sexy-voiced Mage-master, NinjaDucky. He won a very special prize, which will be revealed later in this post.

Day 3

With our new players now building up reasonable collections, we were able to run an 8-player Constructed tournament on the Saturday. The final was between NinjaDucky and another forum user, Jobber, who ended up winning 2-1.

Later that day, NinjaDucky took on his arch-rival, Soothslyr (a.k.a. Design Team member, Luis). I have no idea what the result was, but it looks like they enjoyed themselves.



Mojumbo unleashes some Poison Gas on an unsuspecting NinjaDucky.


We finished up early that night (i.e. before midnight), so I headed out to a bar with Soothslyr to (unwittingly) learn the dangers of Long Island Iced Tea. The rest of the guys either got an early night or stuck around at the convention to try out some other games.

Day 4

The last day of the convention was pretty quiet. Three of us decided to take part in a Magic: The Gathering beginner's tournament with NinjaDucky, where pretty much everyone except me seemed to know what they were doing already. I guess they were using alt accounts.

The convention closed early, so we headed to Kyle's favourite day-time hang-out, with our special guest/stalker, NinjaDucky, who kindly took a photo of the team after dinner.



I wish I'd worn my Shadow Era T-shirt for this photo,
but it was in a sorry state from the night before.


We then presented NinjaDucky with his prize for winning the Sealed tournament two days previous. He was asked to pick a girl for us to base a card on for the next expansion. Below is his choice.



Double Fireballs all round!


This completes our brief visual tour of Gen Con 2012. Look out for another post soon, with more coverage of the 16-player Sealed event and the 8-player Constructed tournament, written by our very own Design Team member and Physical Official Organised Play Specialist, Mojumbo.

Expansion Spoiler 4: The Warrior’s March

Welcome to the 4th part of our first expansion spoiler series. Last time, we looked at the two factions of Shadow Era, exploring their distinguishing features and what new cards you might see for them in the expansion. Now, with that foundation in place, we can start focusing on individual classes, finding out what makes them tick and which direction(s) the forthcoming cards will take them in. With seven classes to choose from, we've arbitrarily chosen to start with Warriors, based on the card numbering for Call of the Crystals - although we're sure they would be the first to volunteer to bravely march into uncharted territory if they could! Let us start our tour by taking a closer look at the heroes leading the charge.

Field Generals: - (Basic Profile of the Heroes)

Staring over the hills into the vast armies of their foes, these four heroes lead the way for their armies into battle. Each is a commander deserving the utmost respect and fear in their own way, and none shy away from a battle, or wipe the blood from their hands once it is through.

 

Boris Skullcrusher

Since the Last War, a few Gaderi tribes have kept small forces in the borders of Layar, as part of a test for their passage into manhood.  Boris proudly led a sizeable group of these men in raids against unsuspecting caravans and the like for years without any type of incident.  When the Shadow began appearing in his homeland, his raids started against them as well, earning him the powerful weapon they called a ‘Shadow Crystal’.  With it, he gained notoriety and respect, eventually guiding him to be a field-commander against the armies invading Balor.

 

Amber Rain

When the Shadow first began its attack on the people of Balor, no village was safe. Everyone within miles of their rapidly growing territory was either taken as a slave or outright killed by the marauding monstrosities.  It wasn’t until they came across the small village of Reeph that a lone housewife took up weapons against them to save the people she could.  Her natural mindset proved an ally in combat; an ally that improved dramatically as she sharpened her skills on foe after foe.

 

Ter Adun

The denizens of Thriss are known for only two things: their brutality and  their destruction of everything they come across.  When they first came into the world of Balor, the fury of their assaults quickly earned them the nickname of ‘Ravagers’, a name they adopted as their actual name once they joined forces with the Shadow.  Few warriors among the ranks of any army epitomise the Ravager’s traits more than Ter Adun.

 

Logan Stonebreaker

When the first Shadow Gates appeared in Tinnal, the minotaur had no hesitation in moving through to escape their Wulven captors, who had enslaved them for generations.  Their raw physical power made them an undeniable asset to the forming might of the Shadow; a brokered deal granted them freedom and access to Shadow Crystals of their very own.  Logan, leader of the newly formed Minotaur Army, has no qualms with slaughtering any who would pose a threat to his people or their new allies.

Each of these four champions evoke fear wherever they go, but they all do it in their own way. Logan Stonebreaker brings his mighty axe down hard on foes, killing them in a single blow; Boris Skullcrusher sweeps away lesser combatants with his mace; Amber Rain wields her blades swiftly and skillfully, dispatching of enemies as she fights; Ter Adun uses his prowess to dictate the terms of war and leave his opponents unarmed for the fight.
 

When played to these strengths, two distinct battle styles emerge, each of which is favored by one hero from each faction. Amber Rain and Logan Stonebreaker impact their battles immediately, through their uses of weapons and direct attacks on opposing allies; neither is comfortable dictating the terms of battle by any other means other than the sharp edges of their swords and axes. Boris Skullcrusher and Ter Adun, meanwhile, differ from Amber and Logan by controlling the ebb and flow of battle like the true generals they are, dictating battles through strategy, and out-maneuvering their opponents with their armies. None of these heroes, however, would be anywhere near as feared without the support around them.

First Charge: - (State of the Class in the Core Set)

In Call of the Crystals, each hero discovers their crystal and chooses to embrace its power in different ways to help their cause. With 10 Class exclusive cards at their disposal, as well as 8 different armors and 6 weapons, each hero has a bevy of options to choose from to help decide how they're to dispatch of their enemies. One of the ways that Warriors shine is using their card pool to help enrich their prowess on the battlefield directly. This use has enabled them to become stronger leaders, and rally their armies into ferocious forces. Let's look at a few ways that was demonstrated in the first set:

War Banner is a prime example of the warrior spirit and tenacity. Marching into battle shedding all fear, they strike with fervor and determination, using their powers and numbers to take down their opponents. Crippling Blow is also another example of their might. Reducing the offensive capabilities of a combatant in a single blow, few can really stand tall against the armies that these warriors bring to the fight.

Blood Frenzy provides another way for these mighty generals to lead by example. Being the tip of the spear for their troops, they rally more to their cause, and help you draw more cards from your deck. Being the first into the battle also puts you at the most risk, and these warriors not only lead by example, but they fight with little regard for their own health.

In a final push to gain an advantage over their opponents, all 4 heroes look to heavy armors that help support their comrades against opposing tactics and trickery and high powered weapons that get stronger with every swing. Legion United and Berserker's Edge are prime examples of both. Legion United helps support and unite friendly allies, while Berserker's Edge demonstrates the heroes slugging it out in the fight with their allies, and getting stronger with each swing

Second Wave: - (Upcoming additions to the Class in the Expansion)

As a continuation of the escalating war, in the upcoming expansion, these heroes reach into their forgeries for stronger, more commanding weapons, more allies join the cause, and new abilities. This amounts to 10 new class cards to assist in the fight, as well as new armors and weapons.


Out of these 10 new class cards, a good number of them are class-exclusive allies that come to the direct aid of these 4 warrior heroes. These allies will be usable by all four heroes, regardless of their faction, and each lends their sword in their own way. This means that decks can use these allies as main focal points, and advantages to be leveraged over opposing classes. They will be their to assist in the early game, as well as in the late game to put away opponents with hammering final blows. New friends have been made, and they are indeed the kind that command attention when entering the field.


Outside of exclusive class allies, more class abilities have been added as well. These abilities both help to strengthen the Warrior class in areas where it faltered, and shore up areas where it shined. As Logan Stonebreaker and Amber Rain are heroes who love to get their hands dirty, several new abilities will help them do just that, and make them enjoy the process all the more. Knowing that both Ter Adun and Boris Skullcrusher are more strategically minded, cards have been added that help rally their armies in the early game and the late.


Lastly, as mentioned before, commanding new weapons and armors are being unleashed. These weapons are not to be trifled with, and let their impact be known immediately. While not always known as weapon experts, both Boris and Ter Adun are swinging for the fences with these new toys, just as Logan and Amber will surely be. The new armors are no different. With these game-changers, crushing their foes has never been so simple, or easy. Donning these new armors, all four heroes have never looked so formidable, or fearsome!

Until next time, this is soothslyr signing out. Stay tuned for our next post in the series, where we will tempt the hunters out of the forest and find out what makes them tick.

Characters in Profile 4: Fire Snake

Nope, you're not reading the title wrong.  In this week's post, hot off the press, I bring to you the truth behind the inflamous Fire Snake!
-Nachyo/Kev

About the Card:
Ah, Fire Snake. Thanks to Top-3 forum-poster, N3rd4Christ, this card can barely be mentioned without near hysterics from most players. There's no way I can possibly write a troll nearly as good as the ones everyone else creates, so I'm going to do something unique, unexpected, and entirely out of character for myself (and the Fire Snake).
I'm going to be completely serious.
Cost: 1
Faction: Shadow
Ability:  (blank)
Flavor:  ’Quick and deadly'

Background: When the first Shadow Gates opened in the country of Layar, they did not open in the middle of cities. Nor did they open in the temples, the homes, or in the schools. These first few doorways to other worlds opened in scarcely visited areas of the countryside and could go months without being seen by any traveler. This fact was not true just in Balor, but in the worlds these Gates connected to.  Due to the seclusion of these magical forces, the first beings to travel between worlds were simple animals; well, simple where they come from.
    The first of these animals to be captured was a snake with four eyes and the ability to breathe fire. These unique traits caused few explorers to risk travel to these new worlds. One lucky expedition made it to a place so terrible that the researchers who survived long enough to actually describe it referred to it as hell. The only survivor from that trip managed to gain the name of this world from the denizens; the world of Emore.  A molten world of pain and fire.
     More of the snakes were captured over time, and series after series of experiments were ran.  At least attempted at being run, since the creatures proved themselves clever enough to escape many of these facilities and no shortage of researchers were harmed in these escapes. Some information was gathered though, even if the cost was more than most believed worth it.
     This information was carefully recorded in massive texts of cryptozoology. As time passed and more intelligent beasts came, these books were often updated to reflect the dangers of the growing army calling themselves the Shadow. Ironically, it wasn't until this army controlled most of Layar, and thus its libraries, when the information correctly had the beast labeled as coming from Rackack; the world of the Snake.

Expansion Spoiler 3: The Clashing Factions

Welcome back to the 3rd installment of our spoiler series for the first expansion. Last time we spoke about the expansion set as a whole, and went into some of the themes and goals of the set. Today, we will go deeper into the Shadow and Human factions and talk a bit more about what sets them apart, and what sorts of new cards we might see that help to distinguish them from each other.

Two Opposing Forces

Shadow Era currently has only two factions. These two factions sit opposed to each other and have a natural differentiation from each other. Like yin and yang, night and day, the factions of Shadow Era are practically polar opposites.

The Human faction survives because of its interdependence; its numbers provide superiority. While not as strong as the shadow, they are more resilient, harder to morally break in a battle, and more dynamically creative.

The Shadow faction exemplifies the power of the individual, it's a much more direct form of aggression, and while they do not have the same resilience and staying power as the Humans, they hit that much harder.

Two generally accepted strong cards: one does a lot of damage on its own; the other supports the group to get ahead.

We see the community strength of the Humans in Call of the Crystals, with allies like Jasmine, Aldon, Birgitte and Puwen. These low-cost allies provide a cohesive support system. The Shadow faction, in contrast, can potentially forgo early board control and leverage their stronger brute-force allies like Plasma Behemoth, Brutal Minotaur, Shadow Knight and Molten Destroyer.

The Humans make up for their lack of power with pizzaazz. For example, they have abilities that subdue their opponents (Raven, Marshland Sentinel) and others that provide utilitarian functions (e.g. Zoe Silversmith).

Two similar kinds of cards with the same resource cost: one is aggressive and has an additional cost; the other is flexible, but contrastingly less effective but with no additional cost.

Looking at the factions more broadly, the Shadow-side is a lot less concerned with taking losses and more focused on destruction. A card like Shriek of Vengeance highlights this: you lose a resource to destroy an enemy card. This contrasts sharply with human cards like Shrine of Negatia, which bounces a card instead of destroying it. Cards like Retreat and Shrine of Negatia provide Humans with added flexibility that the Shadow faction generally lacks. There are games where it makes sense to Retreat your own card if it was crippled by an attachment; the Shadow faction, on the other hand, can kill it with Sacrificial Lamb to draw cards from it instead.

So whereas the Human faction supports others and the group, through heroic or selfless acts, Shadow allies (and heroes) tend to use each other in order to get ahead.

Shadow faction increase the level of Shadow Energy available, whereas the Human's tend to limit and reduce it.

The relationship to shadow energy itself also differs sharply between the two factions. The Humans are mainly seen in Call of the Crystals as fighting off the darkness of the Shadow, as reflected by cards like Radiant Sunlight and Priest of the Light. Whereas the Shadow faction seeks to amplify it with cards like Shadow Font.

The future?

So what might the prophets say about the future of these two opposing forces? In the first expansion, we will see a continuation of the above themes, and a touch of evolution in both of them.

The Shadow forces are building and, as a result, their ability to win through sheer numbers is increasing. In contrast, the Human faction has stars that are rising, Legends being born. In the expansion, we will see more possibilities for Human decks to be able to focus on higher cost allies or to make important figures shine from their ranks.

From the meek, the heroes shall rise, and from the strong, the horde shall follow... two different angles to produce two different landscapes. In practice, this will mean that it will be more feasible to build human decks that forgo low-cost allies and, for the Shadow faction, it will mean that they have more capabilities of focusing on low-cost ally decks. They will still retain their existing flavors from the current set, but they will gain access to a wider variety of play styles.

In terms of card numbers, the two factions will be getting 15 allies and 10 ability/artifact cards each, along with 10 neutral ability/artifact cards that they can both use.

The new faction-restricted allies will range from low to high cost and fill holes in existing strategies, as well as open up many new avenues of play.

The Humans get some offensive high-cost allies and some useful utility allies in the lower / mid-cost range. Several of the new allies should make a good fight for a place in your decks. The Shadow will get a lot of aggressive allies that offer advantages in various situations as well as several new high-cost allies that will make your opponent tremble.

Both sides will get several allies that support distinct deck types and help to widen the variety of deck concepts available. Many allies have also been added to support particular heroes in areas that they needed assistance.

Each faction will get new solutions to deal with many different things, including things like: bypassing/stopping stealth, countering or supporting enemy and friendly attachments, countering being disabled/frozen.

In the Call of the Crystals, all the allies had attacks based on unarmed (claw icon) or armed combat (sword icon). In the expansion, we will start to see allies with other types of damage appearing. A few of the allies will get attack types like Ice, Fire and Electrical, which will provide better opportunities for synergy within a deck.

Finally, both sides will also be getting at least 1 ally-attachment that is certain to turn the tide of at least one of your upcoming battles...

When we next meet again, we will be looking deeper into one of the 7 classes in the game: Warriors!

Stay tuned, Razcrux-out.

Characters in Profile 3: Katrin the Shieldmaiden

It's that time once again!  This week, we're going to delve a little bit into a human ally who gets discussed more often than she's used.  I have a feeling she's alright with that though, since she does love some attention.  Hopefully you guys enjoy the text beside the picture too!
-Nachyo/Kev

	About the Card:
	Katrin is, in my humble opinion, one of the most undervalued cards in Shadow Era. Gaining +2 health in the right place can be devastating, especially if combined with Protectors and a few other weenies (not that Erika isn’t a prime target too!).  She might not be rocking the tournament scene right now, but Katrin has the synergy that makes human allies so good, and I think she's an ally who will only get better with time.
	Cost: 2
	Faction: Human
	Ability: 1: Target friendly ally gains +2 health. This ability can’t be used again while that ally is in play.
	Flavor:  ’There was a sudden increase in targets needing shielding…’
Background: The Lord of Protection, Rilard, is prayed to by any standing force in Layar. Even the hardened people of Lyth have been known to say his name before stepping out for one their more treacherous hunts. His clerics offered the safety of their walls to many of the refugees during the Last War, despite the strict laws against it. This action forced the king of that time to send his General, Arthyle, to take one of the temples by force. When Arthyle's army arrived to break down the walls, the legends say that people from every country united, chanting Rilard's name and held the walls against the assault for so long that the armies of Layar turned away and went back to their war. This legend was cited several times during the formation of special camps to school others in the art of protection.      These schools created a specialized force of guardians, capable of aiding allies through almost any situation.  Though there's been no war since those days, the followers of Rilard have kept their training at the absolute peak to ensure that, should another war arise, they would be ready.  Among these stalwart soldiers, Katrin Elory had been something of a rising star.       Katrin's father had been no one of note, and her mother had always worshipped the Seven Gods of Layar with great fervor, so, when the time came for the young girl to make a choice, her family were elated that she should enter the service of such a prominent deity.  Thus, the young girl grew into a woman with a shield in her heart and her hand, ready to leap out at the very first sign of danger, to defend anyone in need of protection.      And such signs of danger soon became commonplace once the Shadow began its invasion of Balor.  The first Shadow Gates formed in her country, and their armies were organized quicker than anyone thought possible.  Though the sinister forces took temples and fortresses from nearly every group, the people of Rilard have yet to lose a single holding.  Katrin and her people were quick to unite with the refugees and military forces in Layar to begin the fight to take her homeland back.

Expansion Spoiler 2: The Big Picture

Welcome to the second post regarding the upcoming Shadow Era expansion!

You can also go back and read the first post in our expansion spoiler series.

Today, I'd like to talk about what the expansion will be like, from a thematical perspective. We spent a lot of time reviewing the core set and documenting various needs. We looked at games played, win/loss statistics, we listened to players on the forums, and we asked the first Players' Focus Group (PFG) to give us their opinions. Within the Design Team (DT), we also had various debates regarding our own thoughts, as well as the analysis of the data collected.

All of this together painted a nice picture of documented needs that we wanted to address in the 150 cards. Some of these needs were specific to a certain hero, and others were more general to the set as whole.

Future posts in this series will dig into the specific classes with the expansion, but for today I will be focusing on the big picture instead.

The expansion will contain 150 cards, broken down as follows:

• 15 Human class-neutral allies
• 15 Shadow class-neutral allies
• 10 Human class-neutral abilities/artifacts
• 10 Shadow class-neutral abilities/artifacts
• 10 Neutral abilities/artifacts
• 10 Warrior cards
• 10 Hunter cards
• 10 Mage cards
• 10 Wulven cards
• 10 Rogue cards
• 10 Elemental cards
• 10 Priest cards
• 10 Weapons
• 10 Armor

Every single class is getting at least 2 allies added to their class-specific card pool, often more. This means that the total number of allies in the set will be around 50.

Our goal is for the expansion to be balanced well enough that no one will be fully able to predict what deck or hero is the "best" - far far into the future. "A good game builds its own legs".

Given that the expansion's impact on the game is currently undetermined, because we are still play-testing our cards, it is hard for anyone to really say exactly what will be "king" in the future. What I can tell you though, are the goals we aimed for with the expansion, in broad strokes. We have faith that the hard work of the Players' Focus Group and the Design Team, in these coming weeks, can help to ensure that some, if not all, of the below goals will be achieved.

Quality is of the utmost importance. We are working to deliver cards that will multiply the depth of the game into uncharted territory. We're hoping, after the release of the expansion, that we won't know for months which deck-type or hero is really at the top!

Part of this process has been defining and refining the "Style of Play" (SoP) for each hero, class and faction, in terms of its distinguishing gameplay features (i.e. strengths, weakness, main strategies and abilities). We will be posting to our blog in the coming weeks a review of each faction and class in turn. The new cards we are adding to the set will all be working in harmony with the core set to bring out the distinct personalities of each individual class and hero.

Each hero was carefully analysed to see if they had certain gaps in their card pools. We've taken a careful look at things like card draw, and worked to add new draw engines to some heroes in areas that they need, in a manner that suits best how they play.

Heroes that are currently too similar to each other will be getting cards that help to foster a greater variation in play style than we currently see today.

We looked at what archetypes are currently viable, and have attempted to add at least 1, if not 2, new deck archetypes for each hero. We also are making an effort to restore the viability of certain deck-types, like the all popular Rush, Burn, Mill, Solo-Hero, and a couple of other (new) "mystery" TBD archetypes. (You can learn more about deck archetypes in this mini-article from Soothslyr, DT member and leader of the PFG.)

Hero-attachments are a principle way to bring out a hero's innate character. Classes that did not get any hero-attachment cards in the core set are getting at least 1 such card in the expansion. (This indirect boost to Jericho Spellbane is one of the reasons why his ability had to be tempered during the balancing of Call of the Crystals, since we knew he would gain the potential to become the bane of any hero in the future.)

Broadly, we have also been focusing on cards that help players regain control or reverse the initiative in the late game. The addition of reversal cards should help to further minimize any current advantages that a player may currently get from going first or second. We're aiming to keep the game exciting to the very last turn.

Quite a number of allies will be added that have a better ability to stay on the board until your next turn (such as higher life at the expense of a lower base attack), or to have an effect that helps reverse the initiative when played.

A good number of allies/abilities in this set will offer immunity or an ability to counter a specific sort of effect/scenario/mechanic/play; this will make it a lot harder for players to assume that their strategies will always work. This should provide yet more depth to the meta, and fewer auto-pilot situations.

More tech counters will increase the level of strategy, as well as to force players to think harder about what kinds of cards they want to use. Our goal is that the cards your pick and play will have yet an even greater impact on your success.

Balance-wise, we're working to help the heroes who are winning fewer games right now, to get some stronger cards in areas they need, to move them up a step or two. Heroes that are already doing well will get some exciting new cards too, to help open up a wider diversity of play, tech-counters and alternative archetypes.

Finally, it is worth noting that, as a side objective, the set also adds a number of ally-attachments to the game. Currently, allies do not tend to survive very long; once the expansion hits, whilst ally counters will still be an essential part of your success, no longer will every ally you put down be immediately counterable by your opponent. A certain minimum number of ally-attachments were required to achieve a variety of inter-related goals. This will help heroes like Elementalis, who specializes in investing in friendly allies, and further help Jericho, who specializes in curing and controlling what attachments and effects are present on the board.  

Ally-attachments, and cards that help attachments to last longer, become cheaper or increase their gameplay value, will open new avenues of play and creative deck building, and provide a solid foundation for future expansions/sets to develop upon.

I hope you enjoyed learning more about what to expect in this first expansion!

I'll be back again next time to talk more about the Shadow-Human factions as a whole, what makes them "tick" and sets them apart from each other, and how we might be seeing some of those differences showing up in the expansion.

Best regards,

Raz.

Characters in Profile 2: Belladonna

Welcome to the second post in our Characters in Profile series, this time focused on the very beautiful, and very dangerous, Belladonna. (We had originally planned for her to be the first in the series, but Kristoffer Wyld was just too hasty to observe the tradition of "ladies first".)

-Nachyo/Kev

	About the Card:
	Belladonna’s largest rise to fame came in an early version of the game, within a Gravebone deck created by forum-goer Killtrend, affectionately named ‘Gravebella’. Nowadays, in version 1.5, her low health limits her in many player’s eyes, though Portal Majiya, Moonstalker, and Elementalis have all been seen making use of her outstanding attack power and card draw on occasion.
	Cost: 4
	Faction: Shadow
	Ability: When Belladonna is summoned, draw a card.
	Flavor: ‘Beautiful but dangerous...’
Background:  The country of Irum’s government has confounded outsiders for centuries beyond counting.  The Vale, which foreign dignitaries consider to be the nation's capital, is home to the Queen of Irum, who is believed to be a vessel for the Swan.  The laws laid there, however, only belong to the cities that pay homage to the Swan herself; the tribes outside of their walls have no need for these rules.      The tribes believe they are all the embodiment of their god, the great Raven.  The leaders of each tribe meet in council to govern the laws they obey, and these leaders are picked based on the attributes of the Raven.  Strength of mind is the only strength they care about, though the mercenary companies they produce for other nations are the fiercest in Balor.  When the Last war came to their doorstep, the forces of the Swan and the Raven united and held Arthyle at bay for so long he opted to simply go around them to attack the Gaderi.      Belladonna was born into the family of the Swan, rulers of the Vale in Irum.  She never got along with her parents, who were content to let the elder siblings simply rule uncontested; nor her aunts and uncles, who never dealt with the tribes of the Raven to her satisfaction.  Over the years, the discord escalated until she attempted a minor coup; an act which labeled her a traitor.   At only fourteen she was forced to run away, moving into the priesthood of Layar.  Here, she was able to educate herself to such a point that she eventually became a teacher herself.      Belladonna's hatred for the people of the Raven and Swan never faded, so when the Shadow first began attacking the people of Balor, she did not hesitate to join their cause in the hopes of seeing her former family struck down.  She’s worked diligently to train them in the ways of Balor, and has helped to cement their foothold in Layar.

Expansion Spoiler 1: The Story So Far

Greetings, players and fans of Shadow Era! It's GondorianDotCom here again, with another domain-defying blog post, to officially launch our spoiler series for the first expansion!

Over the coming weeks, we will steadily be revealing more about the story, the theme, new mechanics, class differentiation, and the name of the expansion itself. Following on from that, when we've done sufficient testing and balancing on the Design Server, we'll publish a card list (with names and types) and progressively reveal the cards themselves until the expansion is ready to go on the Test Server.

Given PFG feedback so far, we're confident it's going to be a really exciting journey from here - for us developing the game and for you finding out more about it - and I hope you will stay with us for the duration.

We'll be making the first step of that journey today, with this story-based post, which presents a recap of the story so far and then two story excerpts to set the stage for the first expansion, all brought to you by the Design Team's own, NachyoChez.

Prologue for Call of the Crystals

The howl of the wolves chilled the air around Nishaven as he made his way through the forest towards the borders of Layar. At least, he assumed they were wolves. Ever since the fall of King Rothem it was getting harder and harder to tell what creatures were lurking in the trees. He tightened the hooded cloak around his body and pressed deeper into the forest, hopeful to be free of the woods all the sooner. The large beast that stepped into the path before him, however, seemed to be no particular rush to let him escape. Nor did the other three who slipped into sight from the shadows behind Nishaven.
He'd dealt with these things on more occasions than he liked; beasts spewing forth from the Shadow Gates that had been appearing all over his lands. Wulven, they called themselves. The largest of these Wulven surrounding him sniffed the air before speaking. "Trying to run away, little human? Did you think the scent of what you stole wouldn't call to us?"

He sighed softly in frustration as his eyes narrowed onto the creature that had invaded his homeland from another world. It had the audacity to walk through a portal and claim the powers of this world as its own? Were it a man Nishaven might have been convinced to simply scold and send him on his way; but this monster before him was no man. The scolding would need to be much, much more severe. So the Mage reached beneath his cloak, pulling forth the Shadow Crystal the Wulven was hunting, falsely complying with its demands.

Instantly he felt its power hum, the energies within calling to him for release. Nishaven let them flow through him, growing, forming into a force to be reckoned with. The beasts leapt at him ferociously, no doubt praying the closer they got the less likely he could unleash some horrific magic to stop them. As the lightning roared outwards, lashing at each one and incinerating them in a streak of glorious power and light, he spared a moment to wonder if they'd even had time to realize their mistake. Shaking the thought away, he placed the crystal once more in his bag before moving again through the shadows.

Epilogue for Call of the Crystals

The bitterly cold wind swirled around Arthyle as he looked out over the valley, not that it chilled him anymore.

Since his return from the dead, it took far more for his body to take notice, or maybe it was the shock of returning that had lessened his senses.

It'd been so many centuries since he'd been killed; assassinated by the Vozitian that served as the King's hand at the time. The fool had thought that was the last they'd seen of Arthyle, but that was when magic was reserved for poets and legends. Of course, it was before humanity had discovered the Shadow Crystals and believed theirs to be the only reality.

The last two years had changed many things.
Now his master, known only as the Man of Shadows, had gathered an army from across a dozen other worlds. They stood united against the human kingdoms, poised to take the world of Balor and its new found powers for their own. Of course the natives wouldn't allow it. They'd formed an alliance of their own, surrounding the Shadow's controlled lands. The only thing left was to begin the war.

Prologue for the First Expansion

Legs burning almost as much as his lungs, Loest actually considered taking a moment to catch his breath. Running had, after all, seemingly become his new favorite past time since the fall of Arada's temple so long ago. First, he'd escaped Layar for a short time, trying to tear himself from such a brutal past. Then, soon after, he'd fled again, trying to stop the prophecy his father had given. Fate seemed to have other ideas though, as it led him to the very height of Mt. Balor and the fortress that'd been erected there.
It'd been stupid luck - emphasis on stupid - that he'd not been captured once he'd stumbled across the marching armies of the Shadow.

The memory spurred him on.

Somehow, more worlds had been brought to bear against the warless people of Balor; even some of its citizens had joined the cause to rule it. Monstrosities that the past two years had not prepared him for, creations of darkness given flesh. He knew he had to get back to the leaders of the alliance to warn them, and he forced his body over the last crested hill.

At last he set his eyes upon the forces of the united human armies, drawn from around the world as ancient grudges were forgotten and forged into a single purpose. He'd come to warn them, but now he wondered if the Shadow were the ones unprepared.


Now that we've set the stage for the first expansion, we hope you'll join us again next time, as we delve deeper and reveal more about the theme of the set as a whole.

Characters in Profile 1: Kristoffer Wyld

As promised in our previous post, the first Character in Profile is here. And what better turn 1 drop than good ol' Kris! Now make haste and enjoy the newest glimpse into the growing world of Balor!

-Nachyo/Kev

	About the Card:
	Kris is one of my favorite allies because of the level of versatility he brings to the game.  He can be anything from extra damage, a target for your own abilities (like Assassinate), heck he can even knock off the durability of some armors and weapons.  He might not be an auto-include, but no human deck should be built without at the very least giving him a glance.
	Cost: 1
	Faction: Human
	Ability: Haste
	Flavor: ‘From the cold north he came’
Background: The country of Lyth was formed during the Last War, when General Arthyle sent a surprise force through the mountains to cross the seasonal ice bridge that connected Gaderi and the northern mountains (also named Lyth).  The path proved too treacherous, and the massive force was unable to cross in time.  Before they could retrace their steps, though, winter had settled into the mountains once more, sealing them in the bitter wasteland.         Centuries later, the people of Lyth have learned to endure. They’ve kept the militant discipline of their ancestors, and earned the right to be called a country all of their own, even going so far as to abandon the vestiges of the seven gods in favor of a more atheistic approach; after all, what god would create a blighted land such as theirs?  Their truest claim to fame is that of Lythite; a special metal said to be near indestructible, and also the very name of the people who consider themselves harder than that metal!         Kristoffer Wyld exhibits these virtues in himself; in a land where hesitation can leave you buried in 7 feet of brutal ice, he’s learned to prize his quick thinking and combat prowess.  His love for fighting shines through in every aspect of his life, a virtue no doubt instilled by his father.  Kris learned from some of the most elite battle masters in Lyth, dedicating himself to complete mastery of the combat arts.  Speed and precision became his weapons more than the brute force of other warriors, making him a prime choice for personal guard.      Kris's years had him working for all matters of esteemed persons.  He'd traveled the oceans to Vozit and Ellos, seen the stoney wastelands of Irum, walked alongside Gaderi tribal leaders, and even shaken the hand of Layar's king once, before being awarded a position guarding the most elite school in Balor.  Though it was good for the Lythite to be in his homeland, some part of the man still needed to see everything the world had to offer.      So when the school fell to an attack from the Shadow forces, who were hunting the Shadow Crystals sent there for study, Kris took up arms with the forming Human alliance and set out to do his part. He knew the struggle would be long, but deep down he knew this was the fight he'd always been training for.

Characters in Profile Introduction

Hello, my beloved!

     When I accepted a role on the Design Team many months ago, I did so with the understanding that I was going to be creating a massive world for the backstory that our favorite heroes live and do battle in.  The support from all of you, the players, for my previous work, has been tremendous; which only means that your expectations for what comes next are equally daunting.  Then again, I love a good challenge, and with the help of the entire Design Team I believe the world of Balor is ready to have a bit more life breathed into it.
     I'm not going to say the world is finished; in truth, I doubt it ever truly will be.  That doesn't mean that there's not plenty to begin sharing.  Already small snippets have been released (HERE and HERE for those playing the home game) but the total scope of the work won't shine through a few excerpts every couple of months.  A world this large, and fans this awesome, deserve new methods of storytelling, and we on the Design Team have decided that our blog is the place to do it.
     To that end, I've created a series of articles detailing the persona and history of some of my favorite allies in the game.  Races, languages, religions, countries, and entire worlds will be revealed over the course of the next few months in preparation for the upcoming expansion's expanded world! (See what I did there?)  I'm calling this series 'Characters in Profile', and while none of these are overly long, I like to think of them as little pieces to a large picture. These posts will be broken into three basic sections, 'About the Card', 'Information', and 'Background'.  These sections will help me make sure that the posts matter to nearly everyone, not just the Lore fans.
     'About the Card' will be a section where I detail out potential uses for the card, and some of my personal likes/dislikes.  The views are mine alone and I'm not some renowned tournament player, but a little insight never hurt anyone.  With any luck, some old hand might spot it, trigger a response and use one of these allies in a way never thought possible!
     Next up, we have the 'Info' section.  This is nothing new to most of you guys, but remember that there's a chance this blog will be picked up by people from outside the game and it might help if they had something besides just the name.  Of course it'll also have the ally's picture, so there's no chance of getting them mixed up!  Plus, it fills space, and my entries tend to be relatively short.
     Lastly we have the 'Background', which is the meat of these little beauties.  This part will give some history of the ally, like what country/world they came from.  It might tell why they joined the fight, or how the war has affected them.  It might even answer why Fire Snake is so abominably powerful - who knows!  Well, I know since I wrote them. GDC probably knows because he proof-reads for me (what, you thought my typos MAGICALLY vanished?).  Kyle knows because he threatens me... But WHO ELSE?
     These entries won't be on the regular blog schedule; they'll be released randomly to help entice more readers to keep following and piece the puzzle together, but I will put a link to the next one in the series once they do begin appearing.
     There probably won't be any contests from these, and I doubt my little insights on the card's uses will revolutionize the game, but those looking for a little more lore to add to their fan-fiction... well this will be your one stop shop!!  You can still expect more excerpts in the coming months, so hold on to your seats.  The ride is about to get wild!!

Nachyo/Kev
P.S.: Anyone ever notice the 'writer' of the Design Team has the shortest blog posts?