Project Lore

Upper Deck Entertainment was one of the first companies to jump on board of the World of Warcraft band wagon, and now it is also going to be one of the first to leave it.  According to ManaNation, a Magic: The Gathering site, Upper Deck Entertainment and Blizzard have split.  Fear not, like so many of my high school relationships it was a mutual, or "ami­ca­ble" in business terms.

ManaNation's sources could not locate the exact reasoning for the split, but the website assumes it has something to do with Upper Deck's recent legal troubles.  The card company has had not one, but two foul ups recently.  The first over another licensed card game, the ever popular Yu-Gi-Oh from Konami, and a more recent tiff with one of the company's longest-standing partners, Major League Baseball.

Blizzard's disembodied head hit the official forums shortly after the news broke to clear the air.  Zarhym is quick to point out that although the rumor is true, Blizzard is not going to let the game die. 

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Three hours into the fight...

Since day one, I have been trying in earnest to score myself one of the TCG loot cards.  Any of them.  Every time I hit Target or see a pack of cards laying around a random EBGames I snap it up in hopes of scoring something.  To date, I have been enticed by a few dozen packs of cards, covering all the available expansions.  Yet, I have nothing to show for it.  Not a Turtle Mount, Paper Flying Machine, nor even the swanky Fishing Chair.  I can't really complain though, I simply haven't paid my dues.  Even if I had purchased 50 packs of the Fires of Outland set I would only have over a 25% chance to score that chair.  Not what I would call gambling odds. Starting March 24, I will have a new expansion pack to fail at collecting.  Upper Deck Entertainment's Blood of the Gladiators will offer players - or collectors - a new trio of loot cards.  Unlike previous releases, I can't see any of the following cards going for hundreds on eBay, but there is some fun stuff.

• Sandbox Tiger - Remember those old horsie things that sat on a giant spring in the playground?  They were the things you'd jump on, rear back and forth a few times, get bored and head off to the monkey bars till you fell and went crying to Mom.  Well that is what this is, only instead of a horsie, it is a miniature Spectral Tiger.
• Center of Attention - This baby enables players to fill one more slot with a purpal - the shirt slot.  Center of Attention grants players the in-game Epic Purple Shirt they always wanted.  Finally, my character's lust for violet can be completed!
• Foam Sword Rack - Like the Owned! card before it, this one is a gag item.  Players will be able to toss out the aforementioned rack full of s-words and bonk unsuspecting players with their Nerf quality weapons.

Upper Deck Entertainment's announcement of the loot cards did not include their respective rarities this time.  But I don't think that will matter to me.  Thanks to coincidental timing, the cards are available for beta testing on the PTR right now!  Players who wish to battle it out at 1 DPS, get nostalgic about their favorite rocker or implement the digital "Look At ME" saying, can do so via Landro Longshot and the following codes:

• Sandbox Tiger: 1111
• Epic Purple Shirt: 2222
• Foam Sword Rack: 3333

Being able to play with the loot items before they are launched won't stop me from dropping more money on the booster packs though.  I have lived through another Square Root Day, so I am one step closer to my victory over the mathematical world and its bastard child known as probability.

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