Embracing Chaos
/From the Battle of the Aspects rule book released by Cryptozoic Entertainment on August 7, 2012:
CHAOS: A NEW MULTIPLAYER FORMAT
“This product also includes five oversized heroes, the Dragon Aspects. These heroes are not legal for tournament play but are intended for use in the new Chaos format.
They are all functionally dual class heroes, and can play with their choice of Alliance or Horde allies alongside Monster and Neutral allies. However, since they do not have class icons, nor classes listed on their type lines, they do not count as part of that class. As an example, Kalecgos the Spell-Weaver's deckbuilding rules state that he can include Mage and Warlock cards. However if you play Anastina, Herald of the Fel with no other allies in your party, her Empower will not trigger, since Kalecgos is not actually a Warlock. The same applies to cards that count the number of Horde or Alliance cards that you control.
The Chaos format also includes a new game rule: all allies may protect your hero. There is reminder text on each card's front side about this rule, and it also applies to any deck in the Chaos format. As if those weren't enough powers, each Aspect has both a standard flip on the front and a static power on the back. Some of these heroes have effects on the back that relate to the effect generated by the front flip. With these heroes, it is important to note that since flipping the hero is a part of the cost the static effect will be active by the time the flip effect resolves. For Example, Ysera the Awakened's flip allows her to heal 5 damage from all heroes and allies in her party, and the static power on her back side allows you to draw a card whenever damage is healed from a character in your party. The second effect will be active by the time the heal 5 effects resolves, allowing you draw a card for each hero and ally in your party right away! The only thing that tempers these Dragons' vast power is their deckbuilding restriction. Rather than the usual four of a single card restriction, these Dragon Aspects are limited to merely one copy of any specific card.” - Drew Walker
Do you want to play a big, epic multiplayer game of WoW TCG with your friends? Do dual-class heroes tickle your fancy? Maybe you wish hero flips made a bigger impact on the game? Personally, I say yes to all these questions, and I don't think I'm the only one.
The History Lesson
In 2012, Cryptozoic Entertainment released a product called Battle of the Aspects. The main feature was the Deathwing Raid (super cool btw), but the part that intrigued me the most were 5 new over-sized heroes based on each of the dragon aspects. They each could play 2 classes, and they had 40 health and crazy cool flip powers.
The rule book introduced Chaos, a new format where these heroes were legal. As an early and avid player of the Commander format from Magic, I was giddy that my favorite game now would have something similar.
The rules were (frustratingly) brief, so to the forums I went. The Champions of the Black Flame (the game's official ambassadors/event organizers) had come up with some more rules for the format that they had been using. And with that I was off to the races exploring one deck idea after another, excited to play.
The next Raid set, Caverns of Time, was slated to include 3 new heroes for Chaos. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. I never heard why, but I can only imagine Cryptozoic didn't see enough interest to keep going with it. It wasn't long after that production of the WoW TCG stopped completely.
In the 5 years that followed, I never stopped playing or thinking about WoW TCG. My group played a lot of Cube Draft, and I kept building decks. And while I do love the Classic format my real passion is Chaos.
In this time of rebirth, I think Chaos is a format that absolutely deserves a second run. And, well, because I can, I'm going to spearhead that initiative!
The Rules, Old and New
First, choose a hero. There are currently 8 special heroes just for this format, the five dragon aspects plus Jaina, Sylvanas, and Tirion, but you can play any Classic-legal hero if you'd like. If you're not playing one of the special heroes, your hero's health is doubled.
Your deck must contain a minimum of 80 cards. No two cards in your deck can have the same name. (Note that Unlimited cards are NOT exempt from this rule.)
In addition to the special heroes and all Classic-legal cards, the following cards are also legal:
As usual for all Reborn events and formats, proxies are allowed and encouraged.
During the game, any ally you control can be exhausted to protect your hero.
Multiplayer is encouraged, but obviously not required.
The Future
Let’s get out there and start brewing a chaotic future! We haven't scheduled any official events yet, but my deepest hope is for everyone to have a Chaos deck to play at unofficial side events wherever WoW TCG players gather.
In the coming weeks, I'll be posting Chaos deck tech articles, and eventually previews for our new Chaos set releasing in August!
Until next time, armies of the Scourge, RISE!