This week on Metagame.com, you’ve all been reading the articles that will lead up to two weeks of previews. I hope you’re enjoying them, as I know I have. If you spend some time perusing the reading list, you may even find some hints about what you can expect to see in the set. At the absolute least you will get to read (or re-read) some good stories.

That said, previews are always nice too. The problem is that no preview was scheduled for my article this week. I was planning on writing about the upcoming Marvel Vs. video game, but spoiling cards before people are expecting them would be so much more fun. I knew if I wanted a spoiler for this article I was going to have to go outside the system to do it.  

WARNING: This is not your usual card preview.

My plan to obtain a card would require a bit of cunning, some slight of hand, and a great deal of luck. I decided my best course of action would be to get in and get out quickly before anybody noticed me. I spent the weekend making my plan and chose Monday morning to pull it off.

Cue Mission: Impossible music.

My plan was to arrive in the office at 7:30 AM, a good thirty minutes before the rest of the staff usually gets in.

7:10 AM – I leave my place and begin my seven-mile commute to the office.

7:29 – Only three miles to go! Gotta love that Monday morning So Cal traffic.

7:32  – I saunter into the main lobby. I exchange greetings with the security guard. He comments about how I’m getting an early start and for a split second I panic. Who tipped him off? Could he know? Nah, of course not—I’m just letting my imagination run wild. I casually proceed up the stairs to UDE.

7:33 – Looking good. I think I’m the first one here. As I make my way to my desk I do a quick recon of the area.

7:35  – It seems the only other person here is our Project Coordinator for WoW. We’ll call her “Leeroy” because of her fondness for the Leeroy Jenkins card and yelling “Leeeeroy Jeeeeeeenkins!” every opportunity she gets.

7:37  – Just as I’m about to leave my desk and make my way towards the Vs. R&D room, “Leeroy” decides to come by and tell me all about her latest department league victory and how she whooped some poor fool on Friday. I smile and nod, but I’m not really listening. My mind is on the target: the Marvel Team-Up production samples under lock and key in the R&D room.

7:46 – Whew! Boy, can she talk! I make a beeline for R&D.

7:47 – The coast looks to be clear. I enter the code on the door, and I’m in! Unfortunately for my plan, so is Andrew Yip. He says hi and kind of looks at me as if to say, “What are you doing in here?” My mind races. I need to get him out of here and get what I came for before more people show up. For a moment, I almost throw in the towel. Then it comes to me: Egg McMuffins! Yip loves the things.

“Really?” he says. I see his eyes light up and know I’ve struck gold.

“Yeah, someone had a coupon or something and got a bunch of extra. If you hurry, you can probably get some.”  That did it—he was off.

7:50 – No time to waste! The others will be here soon, and I doubt I can lure them away with the promise of free McDonald’s goodness. It takes me a moment to locate the correct tray of cards, and I start to rifle through them. I can hear people passing by the door as they arrive to work; my time is about up. I grab a handful of cards and spread them out on the desk. Just as I’m about to snap the picture the door starts to open. I bump the table and the cards get kind of messed up, but at this point I can’t be picky. I snap the picture and throw the cards back in the tray as quickly as I can.

I turn and see Dave Humphreys coming in. I ask him if he’s seen Andrew and he says no. “Oh well,” I say, “I’ll catch him later,” and I make a quick exit.

7:54 – As I’m walking back to my desk I pass Andrew. “Hey, they didn’t have any McMuffins down there!” he says.

“Better luck next time,” I respond, and just keep walking. I remind myself not to look back.

While I didn’t exactly get the quality image I was looking for, I did manage to get a shot of some Marvel Team-Up cards. See what you can make out from the picture.

See you all next week!

Best,

Scott