World of Warcraft Trading Card Game

Following in the footsteps of the popular online game, the World of Warcraft trading card game is another insanely popular entry in the Blizzard gaming universe.

Basically the online game has been translated into a trading card game so Raid decks are designed to mimic how Raids are handled in the MMORPG and characters who are difficult to kill in the online version of World of Warcraft, such as Paladins and Shamans, remain so in the TCG version of the game.

You can begin playing the WoW TCG by getting a Heroes of Azeroth Starter Set, which contains a Rule Book, two boosters, 3 Oversize and Rare Hero Cards, and a 33-card pre-constructed deck for one of the nine playing classes. You won't know what class you have until you open up the box as they are distributed randomly.

The first thing you should do if you've never played the World of Warcraft trading card game before is to check out the official website for the game. They have the rules and instructions how to play and there's even a sample starter deck that you can print out so you can test out the game mechanics for yourself.

Once you're sure you want to play, you'll need to get a Starter deck and some boosters. You'll find both easily on both Amazon and Ebay and I've included links to both here.

If you have friends who want to play the game, then you can start there, but you can also check the official site to find other players or visit your local hobby shop and see if they hold tournaments that you can join.

A pre-constructed Starter deck consisting of 33 fixed cards (one hero and 32 others) built around one of the nine classes; two booster packs; three oversized hero cards; and a rulebook.

The oversized cards can be used in many play formats since hero cards are not shuffled into play decks. These decks contain one rare, six uncommons, and the rest are commons.

Starter decks for both of the first two card sets are available, as follows:

• Heroes of Azeroth Starter Deck - Contains cards solely from the first set, Heroes of Azeroth. 9 different 33-card pre-constructed decks are available.

• Through the Dark Portal Starter Deck - Contains cards only from Through the Dark Portal.

Boster Packs contain 15 randomly distributed cards - you'll get ten commons, three uncommons, one rare or epic, and one regular-size hero (which is considered an uncommon). Each epic card is roughly twice as hard to get as any specific rare card.

Booster packs also have one UDE point card redeemable online. These codes are worth 100 points each. You will log into your account and register these codes to accumulate points that can be cashed in for both digial and physical items.

It's usually a good idea to pick up a couple of booster packs when you get your Starter Deck so you can start customizing your Deck.

Loot Cards are rare cards that are distributed within Warcraft TCG Treasure Packs and/or Booster Packs. Treasure packs come as part of the Raid Decks available and you are more likely to come up with a Loot card in a Raid Deck treasure pack than in the Heroes of Azeroth booster packs.

Loot Cards are additional versions of rare cards and they each contain a scratch-off code that gives you a cosmetic upgrade for your character in the online World of Warcraft game so they are desirable even among those players who don't play the TCG.

There are three cards in Heroes of Azeroth that have Loot card versions. Each card corresponds with a specific reward:

• Landro Longshot - Tabard of Flame
• Thunderhead Hippogryph - Unique in-game Hypogryph Pet
• Saltwater Snapjaw - Unique Turtle Mount

There are also loot cards in the expansion decks and loot cards that are given out at special events such as BlizzCon.

The newest loot cards that players -- both online and off -- are clamoring for are from the Dark Portal and Fires of Outland Expansion sets.

Dark Portal:

King Mukla - he gets you your online Warcraft character a pet monkey

Fortune Telling - Gets you a fortune telling imp in a glowy green ball

Rest and Relaxation - Picnic Basket lets you summon a big beach umbrella and bbq grille :)