The Hunt for Illidan edition

Greetings all, I know that you have all been excited about the Sneak Preview for the World of Warcraft TCG’s newest set, The Hunt for Illidan. Here in Upper Deck Entertainment, we were just as excited, but one of the perks of working here, is that we get to have our Sneak Previews a day early.

Hondo was able to secure my packs today and helped me crack them. Sadly, I didn’t get any loot.  I think Hondo is not a good loot charm, like I originally thought he was. I sorted out all my cards and looked over what I had to work with.  Mage was right out, only two abilities and one of them was an Arcane Research. I had an AOE ability for Paladin, but no weapon and the other two abilities were less than stellar. My Rogue was in the same boat, no weapon and lackluster abilities. Nothing in Druid and only a Lighning Arc in Shaman. Hunter is where it started getting interesting.  No weapon, but I did get a Shadow. The problem was the Viper Sting and Track Demons weren’t good enough to put me in Hunter. Warlock showed me a Vicious Circle, Velnoth, and a hand full of curses. Priest was a bit better with a Mental Anguish and a couple of combat tricks in the form of Lesser Heal.  Here is what I ultimately decided on –

Despite not having any good gear, except a Platinum Shield of the Valorous, Warrior was still the way to go. I had double Finishing Shout and with no Tatulla in the environment, they would be a house. The Darkeater, a couple of Chipper’s dad “Scrapper” Ironbane, and the most equipment hate pushed me into Alliance. I had some early protectors so I thought I could run Retainer Marcus and keep him alive. The deck was rounded out with 8 decent “draw” quests.  I was ready to fight, so I went and saw how everyone else is doing.

Marketing Events Specialist, Russ Pippin was busy building his sealed deck. He pulled double Element’s Fury and double Lightning Arc. Shhh…he also has a bomb 11-drop.

Tournament Sanctioning Specialist, Javier Casillas, is also scrambling to build his deck in between calls to retailers. So many stores have been re-ordering this set.

The Hunt for Illidan Lead Designer, Ben Cichoski, was agonizing over his card choices. “Seeing these as actual, printed cards was a realization of a dream come true. It’s not every day that you get to see something that you worked so hard on come to life.”

Why does it seem like everyone in R&D always gets loot.  It’s not fair I tell you. Here Head Designer Danny Mandel showed off his Footsteps of Illidan.

See!!!  Game Designer Jeff Liu got a Loot too! He got the Disco Ball.

Game Designer and “Rules Guy” Paul Ross got in on the action of the loot cracking. I think the team R&D is the good luck charm for Loot.

Andrew Yip didn’t realize that it was time to make his deck.

Master Dave Humpherys showed his Priest tech. This guy is such an artist.

Drew Walker (Ragnarok) and APM Angel Sanchez tested their decks before the festivities started.  It always helps to make sure you got your build right and, of course, get all the bad draws out of the way before the tournament starts.

Other than pride being on the line, you also get prizes and the big ticket item—getting your name on the plaque in the office.

If there’s one thing that Upper Deck Entertainment has, it is an endless supply of Dans and Bens. Here Mandel and Bojanowski faced off to the death.  Can you guess which hero Dan was playing?

Brandon Male and Ben Drago faced each other with Jeff Donais studying their masterful moves. I think he might have had something in his teeth from lunch.

The tournament went 4 rounds.  I won vs. Andrew Yip, Patrick Swift and Russell Pippin.  All of them great matches.  My play of the day was sitting on a Finishing Shout until Patrick played his Maiev. In the end, I ended up victorious after suffering through a grueling match against the Master Dave Humpherys in the final match. I got my name on the plaque, a cool loot card, and of course what matters most…Hondo was proud.

Top 3

Michael Girard

Dave Humpherys

Andrew Yip