By Evan Lorentz ("Heimlich"), Game Designer
The tenth set for Legends of Norrath, Doom of the Ancient Ones, is right around the corner, arriving this month! It brings the Travelers storyline to an exciting conclusion in a series of new scenarios, and the cards themselves offer players all kinds of interesting new strategies. Let's take a look at how the Travelers block gameplay will be wrapping up.
Shift Comes Full Circle
For the designers, the final evolution of shift is one of the most exciting aspects of this last Travelers block set. That's because some of these "final" shift cards are actually among the first ideas we ever came up with when we were fleshing out the mechanic. Now we're finally getting the chance to reveal them to players.
The entire shift mechanic was actually born from a simple idea: what if we made a lamp card that you "rubbed" to make a genie card pop out of it? As we refined that idea into "cards that turn into other cards (and maybe back again)", we discovered a wide array of game text we could write, countless "stories" we could convey. It was frankly too chaotic and unfocused to present all in one set, so we set up guidelines for which kinds of shift cards could appear in the first set, and which would have to wait for later. Cards that actually shift from one card type into a different card type were something we decided to keep for later, so our "lamp with a genie in it" had to wait.
But now, in Doom of the Ancient Ones, the first shift card ever envisioned is being released:
The self-readying text on the Escaped Genie can be useful in an attack-minded deck, or you can just use the item-unit as a "blocker" you can repeatedly throw in front of your opponent's units whenever you need it.
Another type of shifting that we saved for this set is cards that don't state one specific thing they shift into. Check out Undying Magus:
This shape-shifting Mage unit can turn itself into a copy of any non-Legend unit in your discard pile. There are as many ways to use it as there are units to discard, and several interesting combinations with other cards (such as Prichard Fizzburn).
When the set launches, you can look for a few other new kinds of shifting too! (For example, who says digital cards are limited to just two "sides?")
Conquest Spreads Out
Conquest is another mechanic of the Travelers block that has evolved with each set. Originally appearing only on abilities, it expanded to units in Vengeful Gods. Now it makes the jump to tactics and items:
The chance to "filter" your card draws for something specific is prized by some players more than others. But on a card like this, where Conquest can potentially drop the cost down to 0, there may be plenty more players taking an interest!
Maintaining Your Influence
Influence has been another core element of the Travelers block. It returns in this set in the same stalwart role, but also appearing in a few new contexts.
Fans of the Monk-themed Fighter cards from Oathbreaker may have been concerned that those cards were passing out of the Standard environment with the release of Doom of the Ancient Ones. Challenge not only rewards influence, it shows that the "unarmed Monk" concept will continue after this new set releases. In fact, the Two-Hand restrictions seen on the older abilities may be broken up into separate Primary and Secondary cards, as you see here.
Marked for More Than Death
The idea of marking units debuted in Vengeful Gods rather than Travelers, but we still consider it a central mechanic of the entire block, and it continues it in this new set. In fact, there are a few cards that deal with marks in ways other than simple damage dealing.
If you want to use mark in the conventional way – looking to pile on extra damage – Sign of Pacification will let you do that. If you want to take it one step farther, you can do that too, using this ability to bounce a marked unit back to its owner's hand.
An Unexpected Attack (and Damage Bonus)
We didn't want new takes on existing ideas to fill up the set all by themselves. But at the same time, there was such a variety of design possibilities in these Travelers mechanics – particularly shifting – that when we were looking for one more dash of excitement for the set, we wanted it to be something simple. What we've added is something never before seen on abilities, but a change every player should immediately understand:
In Doom of the Ancient Ones, abilities aren't limited to defense and levels for their stats. Stealthy Charge has attack! (So do other abilities. And you'll find a few with a damage bonus as well.)
In addition, the game text of this particular "ability with attack" shows off a new theme that Scout players can explore in the set. Scouts cards often portray the "lone wolf," the swashbuckler, assassin, or rogue that stands alone against any number of adversaries. Now there's a suite of cards that brings that concept to units as well, encouraging you to "attack alone" with a single unit at a quest. In addition to Stealthy Charge, you'll find other cards that reward a single unit attacker, and a couple of units that are eager to take that job.
Along with the promo card Clockwork Thingamajig (another cross-card-type shift card that you can get in the week leading up to the release), you've now got a good picture of the kinds of things you'll see in this new set. Get ready for Doom of the Ancient Ones!
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