WAR Blog Post: Vanguard Supports (6/18/19)

Brigby
Brigby ADMINISTRATORS Posts: 7,757 Site Admin
edited June 2019 in MtGPQ General Discussion

WAR Vanguard Blog Post

By Matheus Funfas, Oktagon Game Designer

With War of the Spark and the introduction of the Vanguard cards, you will be able to use the most interactive card type in MTGPQ as of yet. Vanguard packs will be permanently available at the store, with content from old and new collections alike.

Initially, only Vanguards from WAR will be available. However, we will actively increase the number of those cards, as updates are added to the game. Planeswalkers from sets existing in MTGPQ will belong to their collections and follow the same set rules. Planeswalkers from non-existing sets in MTGPQ will belong to the promo collection when their Vanguard cards are added.

We hope you enjoy all the new options these cards add to the game! Have fun brewing!

How do Vanguard cards work?

Vanguard is a new support subtype introduced in War of the Spark. They are supports that can’t be affected by effects that don’t specifically name Vanguards as targets. Those supports have different abilities, which can be: passive, triggered or activated, just like the Magic: the Gathering version of Planeswalkers.

Passive and triggered abilities work as long as the Vanguard support remains on the board. Activated abilities have a cost in Shield, which can either increase or decrease the current shield value by the number displayed on the ability. You can only use one activated Vanguard ability per turn, per each Vanguard you control.

All Vanguards are considered to be Legendary permanents, so effects that care about legends, such as cards with Historic or Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God ultimate ability, will benefit from Vanguards as well.

Just like any other support, a Vanguard enters the board with a shield value. This shield represents the tabletop version of Planeswalker Loyalty and is intentionally spent or increased to activate the Vanguard abilities.

Players can use Vanguard abilities only during their turn before making a match. If the Vanguard doesn’t have enough shield to activate a given ability, that option will be disabled. If the Loyalty shield reaches 0, the Vanguard is destroyed. Also, matching the gem where the Vanguard is attached will make it lose 1 shield.

How to acquire Vanguard cards?

With the release of War of the Spark, players will be awarded 6 different Vanguards cards: 5 earned by playing the first WAR tutorial and 1 as a free gift, sent to your inbox with the new update.

Those Vanguards are:
  • Angrath, Captain of Chaos (tutorial reward)
  • Arlinn, Voice of the Pack (tutorial reward)
  • Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner (tutorial reward)
  • Nahiri, Storm of Stone (tutorial reward)
  • Vraska, Swarm’s Eminence (tutorial reward)
  • Ugin, the Ineffable (free gift)
The other Vanguards will be sold in packs containing 1 card each. Those packs are purchased with Mana Jewels and come in two different options:
  • Vanguard Rare+ Pack, which contains both Rare and Mythic cards;
  • Vanguard Mythic Pack, which contains Mythic cards only.
In order to provide additional sources of Mana Jewels for players, and therefore easier access to Vanguards and Elite Packs, the upcoming events will focus more on Mana Jewels rewards. Also, a limited-time offer containing the currency will be made available at the store that is purchasable with Mana Crystals.

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Comments

  • Mburn7
    Mburn7 Posts: 3,427 Chairperson of the Boards
    Wow this is awesome.  Thanks!
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    This content has been removed.
  • Azerack
    Azerack Posts: 501 Critical Contributor
    It will be interesting to click on a support on the board, and click on IT to get something to happen. Love the + and - shield part of it, too... Makes some cards very much "do I need to use this ability to keep it on the board, or do I sacrifice it to use the minus ability?".
    Love it, good job! Hope it's as fun in-play as it is described.. ;)
  • Brigby
    Brigby ADMINISTRATORS Posts: 7,757 Site Admin
    edited June 2019
    Fun Fact: The Vanguard Supports are the result of our team going, "Wait...there's HOW many Planeswalkers in War of the Spark?!" :D 
  • gozmaster
    gozmaster Posts: 256 Mover and Shaker
    Loving the set so Far!

    Just a little miffed at the set up for getting the Vanguards...

    ...Didn't realize they'd only be available by "Pinky" purchase...

    Was this announced?

    Also, is it true that we can get duplicates when we purchase Vanguard's with pinks? Even the 300 Pack?

  • Azerack
    Azerack Posts: 501 Critical Contributor
    gozmaster said:

    Also, is it true that we can get duplicates when we purchase Vanguard's with pinks? Even the 300 Pack?

    Yes, I spent 600 jewels and got the same Chandra support for both. 
    Not happy about that.  :(
  • ArielSira
    ArielSira Posts: 520 Critical Contributor
    They're pretty cool but whenever a Vanguard gets destroyed my game softlocks 😛
  • ZW2007-
    ZW2007- Posts: 812 Critical Contributor
    Brigby said:

    In order to provide additional sources of Mana Jewels for players, and therefore easier access to Vanguards and Elite Packs, the upcoming events will focus more on Mana Jewels rewards.

    Can you elaborate on this? My feelings on this set, and specifically how we go about acquiring the most exciting part of the set, hinge on how genuine this statement is.
  • Matthew
    Matthew Posts: 605 Critical Contributor
    ZW2007- said:
    Brigby said:

    In order to provide additional sources of Mana Jewels for players, and therefore easier access to Vanguards and Elite Packs, the upcoming events will focus more on Mana Jewels rewards.

    Can you elaborate on this? My feelings on this set, and specifically how we go about acquiring the most exciting part of the set, hinge on how genuine this statement is.
    Agreed. It's pretty terrible that these cards which are tied to a massive percentage of the rest of the set, mechanically speaking, are locked away behind a pay wall. Not only that, there's massive potential for bad feelings, like @Azerack mentioned just up above.

    @Brigby

    Riddle me these following questions, please. They are pretty important. Ignoring them will make a pretty profound point about the team's give-a-damn with regard to the player base.

    1. Will Vanguards ever be craftable?
    2. Why is it possible to pull a duplicate card?
    3. Will that policy ever be reversed, altered, changed, etc?

    The problem here is that Oktagon have done almost exactly the same thing that Hibernum did with the Energize mechanic way back in Kaladesh. They've locked away the most interesting mechanic for only a select few to access. Not only that, it's a mechanic upon which nearly the entire set is based. Will you please be a dear and remind Oktagon that from a player perspective, this was one of the final nails in the lid of Hibernum's coffin?
  • Matthew
    Matthew Posts: 605 Critical Contributor
    Also @Brigby, what is the hold-up with the iOS update? Can we expect it some time this month?

  • madwren
    madwren Posts: 2,259 Chairperson of the Boards
    I definitely like Vanguards so far. They seem to be well implemented and add an excellent new layer of utility/strategy. Well done.

    I'm not a fan of them being locked away--Matthew's statement about Kaladesh is on point--but if there really will be accelerated jewel income, that will go a long way towards ameliorating it.  I'm just not confident that'll be the case.
  • nerdstrap
    nerdstrap Posts: 180 Tile Toppler
    These mana jewel packs do not guarantee non-dupes! AVOID AVOID AVOID
  • ElfNeedsFood
    ElfNeedsFood Posts: 944 Critical Contributor
    Now they're going to essentially de-value the unobtanium... Which means that they'll need to create a new currency for the next thing that should be hard to get...
  • Azerack
    Azerack Posts: 501 Critical Contributor
    nerdstrap said:
    These mana jewel packs do not guarantee non-dupes! AVOID AVOID AVOID
    Yeah, honestly, this needs to change,. MAYYYBE for the 120 Jewel I could see it, but spending 300 jewels for a support should NOT end up with a duplicate... I had false hopes and I ended up with Chandra, Fire Artisan, a card I'll probably rarely use, and spending more crystals to get another, I immediately ended up with a duplicate Chandra... Quite the disappointment. :(

    Also, I DO hope that somehow VIP's can get Vanguard supports, because, again, $15 or $30 a month for this game... yeah, that's an investment, too.. 
  • hueyTW
    hueyTW Posts: 31 Just Dropped In
    Will Vanguard Supports be get from VIP pack?
  • Kinesia
    Kinesia Posts: 1,621 Chairperson of the Boards
    Split the packs so the rare only gives rare (no chance of mythic) and the mythic only mythic and make them both non-dupes.

    Even then it takes thousands of pinks for someone to potentially collect them.

    Isn't that expensive enough?

    Why allow duplicates at all? Hadn't that lesson been learnt from the Elite packs already?


    I'd prefer them to be in normal packs, but if you DO want them this way then allowing duplicates pretty much counts as premeditated abuse since the feelings about such things were already well known from the Elite Packs.


    They actually look awesome, but even with more ways of getting pinks I can't afford to spend them on a dupe. The "bad feeling" level of that is insane and already known, and the capitulation to make Elite packs non duplicate means D3Go have already admitted and agreed that the old situation was abusive.
  • Shadowslayer
    Shadowslayer Posts: 35 Just Dropped In
    Congrats to everyone able to play with any of the new set! It all looks fun, but being charged for error messages is just about the final straw. No sense in spending real money on this game anymore. 
  • wereotter
    wereotter Posts: 2,070 Chairperson of the Boards
    Brigby said:

    How to acquire Vanguard cards?

    With the release of War of the Spark, players will be awarded 6 different Vanguards cards: 5 earned by playing the first WAR tutorial and 1 as a free gift, sent to your inbox with the new update.

    Those Vanguards are:
    • Angrath, Captain of Chaos (tutorial reward)
    • Arlinn, Voice of the Pack (tutorial reward)
    • Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner (tutorial reward)
    • Nahiri, Storm of Stone (tutorial reward)
    • Vraska, Swarm’s Eminence (tutorial reward)
    • Ugin, the Ineffable (free gift)
    Hey, so..... how do we claim Ugin? He's not in my inbox since the update....
  • Machine
    Machine Posts: 857 Critical Contributor
    Can the other Vanguards also be attained by opening booster packs? Or are they only attainable via the special Vanguard packs for pinks? If only by pinks, that's pretty lame. You've just created another "special" set of cards.
  • rafalele
    rafalele Posts: 876 Critical Contributor
    Machine said:
    Can the other Vanguards also be attained by opening booster packs? Or are they only attainable via the special Vanguard packs for pinks? If only by pinks, that's pretty lame. You've just created another "special" set of cards.
    Mythic and rare Vanguards are only shown in Pink packs, so I think they have planed to be available just in them.

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