First Expansion "Battle for Zendikar"

[HeroTempest]

Sweeeeet!

[Hogg]

Great scans, thanks!

[GaryLASQ]

Thanks for sharing, bradtato. Just used the Amazon prime account and placed an order. Are all the blue and red figures in the same kind of translucent plastic as the base set? The pre-release photos showed some of the figures in solid red/blue.

[Kajoq]

Amazon is on their game! Mine was on my doorstep by 8:15AM

[chas]

Nice! Card closeup photos would also be appreciated if you have time.

[gamjuven]

Interesting, so after looking at all the cards and the new rules, with the new 600 pt value of the armies, you simply add all the new units (besides the eldrazi) to their respective colors. Every new unit costs 100 pts so it's a simple addition. One still doesn't really have army building with the exception of using Eldrazi or the two new Planeswalkers. It's not necessarily a bad thing, just an observation.

There is a new green spell that boosts a hero creature, even though green does not have a hero yet (although if you use Kiora I suppose you could heal the roilmage).

Still no common squads or artifact cards, so plenty of room to add more stuff.

I can't wait to hear how the new scenario is! I'm also looking forward to good debates about the ideal decklists since we definitely have a lot of deckbuilding choices to make!

[Johngee]

I was just on BoardGameGeek-dot-COM and notice in one of the sidebar adds that the "Magic: the Gathering - Arena of the Planeswalker" starter sets are going for $17.99 (that's 40% off the original $29.99 price) somewhere. Sorry I didn't click on it to follow up and get the details since I already have four of them for the extra terrain tiles.

But that just tells me that they are *NOT* selling as well as the corp. bean-counting logisticians had anticipated. However, I have noticed that there's usually only one or two left in all my local Walmarts, K-Marts, and Targets, so there will probably be a bunch of them under Christmas trees soon, which is what Hasbro expected.

[obfuscatedhippo]

Originally Posted by Johngee

I was just on BoardGameGeek-dot-COM and notice in one of the sidebar adds that the "Magic: the Gathering - Arena of the Planeswalker" starter sets are going for $17.99 (that's 40% off the original $29.99 price) somewhere. Sorry I didn't click on it to follow up and get the details since I already have four of them for the extra terrain tiles.

But that just tells me that they are *NOT* selling as well as the corp. bean-counting logisticians had anticipated. However, I have noticed that there's usually only one or two left in all my local Walmarts, K-Marts, and Targets, so there will probably be a bunch of them under Christmas trees soon, which is what Hasbro expected.

Amazon had a strategy board game sale yesterday only (12/4) and it was $17.99. It is now back up to $29.99.

[GaryLASQ]

Thanks for the photo, Kajoq. Interesting. So it looks like the Goblins are in an opaque red, not translucent like the Phoenix and Firecats.

[darthporkchop]

Gary: just cracked mine. You're correct, the goblins are opaque. The elven sqaud is only two creatures, which is interesting. Also the big Eldrazi has a little sheen to it. The only way I can describe it would be like a gloss paint while the usual figures are a bit more of a flat color type.

Also, I don't know it my base set was from a late product run where quality was slippimg, but my PW's look waaay better in the expansion. The color looks almost hand painted.

[vegietarian18]

Really excited to actually be able to make decks now. I think that Kiora is going to be the most fun to build with since she has access to twice as many cards and figures. Looking forward to a combo deck built around Paths Revealed + Twisted Image/Overrun on the Leyline Phantoms combined with all of Blue and Green's card draw, especially the new card Anticipate.

I'm just happy to see that this game is actually getting expansions; it's more fun than Heroscape for me to be honest.

[Kajoq]

Originally Posted by gamjuven

I can't wait to hear how the new scenario is! I'm also looking forward to good debates about the ideal decklists since we definitely have a lot of deckbuilding choices to make!

I played it today in 3 player mode, but on the end of a giant Heroscape map instead of on the official setup.

The good guys narrowly won on turn 22/28 with Kiora's team having 3 Phantasmal Images remaining and Ob Nix's (my) team with 1 HP Ob Nix, 1 Reaver, 1 Vampire alive.

One thing to note with the 'Lay Waste' ability. It's not very clear about it, but I believe the intention is that this can only trigger if he actually ATTACKS something, not just 'at the end of his attack phase' Otherwise, he can just disengage every turn and AOE damage basically the whole table 2-3 turns in a row and deal 1 to himself while dealing 6-10 across the Planeswalkers' units.