Infinite Crisis was the first full set I worked on as a part of R&D. It’s so fascinating to watch the progress of a set from design through development and to see all of the different designs turn into what our finished product looks like on the shelves. This brings me to my preview card:

I remember being new to the process and hearing about terms such as “tension.” What is tension? Tension is what makes a card interesting to play. These are the questions we ask ourselves with each and every individual card we make. I never thought about such questions when I was a player. Being a player makes you think differently; you think about how to break a card or which card will be added to your arsenal of decks. But as a developer, the more important question is, “How interesting is this card?”

When lead designer Justin Gary submitted the Infinite Crisis file to the development team, Ahmed Samsarra was 5 ATK / 5 DEF and didn’t have loyalty—reveal or concealed—optional yet. He searched for a location but put it into your hand. He had the chess mechanic (as we call it in R&D) from the get-go.

Being new to the process and only having experienced Vs. as a serious professional gamer, the first thing I did with this character was try to break it. I put him in combo decks that required locations (like Fantastic Fun) and in decks like League of Assassins so that my Merlin and other effects were always at full force. The card was great. I was able to do things I was never able to do as a player with this card.

We created more tension between the card’s stats and his effect by making him 6 ATK / 6 DEF in development. Now we had a very powerful character with a very powerful ability that would present an interesting decision point. Do you give up 6 ATK and maybe character advantage for a location? Do you go get a location for your location-themed or combo deck at the cost of giving up a stun? We had created tension, hence making the card more interesting.

Another way we increased tension was by giving the card concealed—optional. A 6 ATK / 6 DEF for 3 usually wants to be in the visible area. You can dominate the board for two turns with it. But in this case, Samsarra’s King mechanic really wants him in the hidden area so he doesn’t risk being KO’d.

We also gave Samsarra loyalty—reveal, a new keyword defined as: “If you don’t control a character that shares an affiliation with this card, then as an additional cost to recruit this card, reveal a character card from your hand or resource row that shares an affiliation with this card.”

Example: Ahmed Samsarra has loyalty—reveal and the Checkmate affiliation. You may recruit Ahmed Samsarra if you control a Checkmate character. If you don’t control a Checkmate character, you must reveal a Checkmate character card from your hand or resource row as an additional cost to recruit Ahmed Samsarra.

I really enjoyed playing with the King mechanic because it makes you play a different game. It changes the way you attack and the way you recruit, and it ultimately does what we strive for, which is to change the play pattern so that a new team feels different from any other team designed in the past. That’s the first thing I look for when a set gets turned over to the development team; I look for the cards that have the same mechanics or keywords and try to build decks with them. If playing with those cards feels different than playing with any other team, I usually like to push those mechanics as much as I can.

In addition to playing “honest” with the Kings, there are other ways to use them. The biggest danger when playing with the Kings is that you will get two of them stunned and be forced to KO one. Whenever I see a card with a significant drawback, my first impulse is to try to cheat it. Cards like Insect Swarm and Threat Neutralized (also previewed today) let you play as many Kings as you like with impunity and can even protect you from scary Finishing Move effects. Even without playing cards specifically to protect your Kings, their big stats help a lot with making sure that they don’t get KO’d. Just be careful about putting out more than one King before you are prepared to win the game. Remember, if your opponent is at below 0 endurance before your King gets KO’d, you still win!

Ahmed Samsarra is a fun, interesting, and powerful card to play, no matter what your goal is. Whether you want to get lots of locations or just overwhelm your opponent, he is the right man for you.

Have fun at the Sneak Previews, and watch out for Finishing Move.

Cheers,