Cheng Zhi

Just to help the checklist makers.

The Last Spoiler

Today is release day for 24 TCG First Edition and that makes it is the last spoiler. I would write more about this card but everyone knows how good direct wounding is. Plus Chaz and I have some First Edition packs to open!

Happy Release Day!

A Chase Chase

I'm sending out the spoilers for this week, the last week of spoilers since First Edition releases this week. This week is going to be Chase Week, all the of spoilers will be chase cards. Each booster set will have a sub-set of 24 chase cards. A chase card is an alternate image of a base-set card and it is foiled.

Since Ed is away this week, leaving me almost in-charge (man what a scary thought) I decided I wanted two spoilers this week. I want to kick off Chase Week a day early with a very special card, a chase Chase. How cool is that?

I don't really want to talk much about Chase Edmunds other than to say I'm pretty sure he works well with Going Rogue. Check back tomorrow for the other spoiler this week.

This Spoiler Day is brought to you by the letter R.

In honor of Talk Like A Pirate Day all of the spoilers today start with the letter R. Of course it could easily have been in honor of Sesame Street, today's show is brought to you by the letter W - E - I - R & D (as in Ed's article is weird) and the number 2 (it took me two times to actually read the article to believe he was actually going to post it). Enough with Pirates, Big Bird, and how silly Ed is, onto the spoiler!

Who says only Insurgents get direct wounding. So far really only Terrorists and Infiltrators (with a little Head Shot for everyone) have direct wounding. Not anymore, now Agents have it as well. The difference with Terrorists, Infiltrators and Agent is that the Agents can wound someone at the Briefing Room in addition to the Field. Chloe, Ira, or Alexis are no longer safe just chllin' in the Briefing Room. It is an Agenda so you can see it coming and it does require you to be running mostly Agents but I know I wouldn't want to get Raid'ed

Elite Week!

It is Spoiler Day and Elite Week and that means it is an Elite Spoiler! Okay, I know that was not very exciting but I just got off a plane after a two day trade show. I'm tired but so much stuff to do to get First Edition ready to ship, plus I had to come in and give out the spoilers.

Who doesn't like William Devane, I mean really, he is great as James Heller. I picked on some of the messageboard users a few weeks about the potential of an upcoming James Heller card. Most major characters will be introduced as an Elite first (just ask Tony) and then in a set or two later that character will be given the full range of cards. James Heller is another example.

Heller is the Secretary of Defense which means he usually sends other people to do his dirty work. The Special Forces team that takes out the evil Insurgents is under orders from the SecDef but the SecDef isn't sharing the harm. Send in the 1 Skill Agent and have him go unblocked, bam switch to James Heller and get 4 points instead. Know your opponent has two Head Shots, let them play one and then switch to Secretary Heller and make sure that mission remains opposed. There are a ton of ways to take advantage of Heller's unique ability.

A quiet spoiler

With only a week or two until First Edition releases we don't have enough time to give every card type their own week. This week is everything else week. Last week was character week and next week is Elite week, this week you get a glimpse at all of the other cards in 24 TCG, Agendas, Equipment, and Events.

Quiet Kill is one of my favorite cards in First Edition. Lethal is a very strong Trait, some would say the strongest of the four Traits. I think Focused is really good and the other two are very underrated however you can't deny how strong Lethal is and the shift in board position it can create. This card can give Lethal to anyone. Now you're probably not going to win the mission that you use Quiet Kill but you'll probably kill the opposing character.

Make sure to check the other spoilers and my designer blog on Friday, I'll probably have a few more spoilers then.

Charles Logan, Needs Help

I wanted my first spoiler for 24 TCG First Edition to be unique and a little off the wall. Charles Logan sure is unique and very much off the wall. Logan was introduced in Day Zero as the iconic character in one of the three Insurgent decks. If you watch the incredible season 5 of 24 you know that Logan is not exactly helping the good guys despite being the Chief of State. However in season 4 (and again later on) Charles Loganw while a little incompetent, isn't only in it for personal gain. He is trying to help stop Habib Marwan, he just isn't very good at it.

This version of Logan represents the season 4 persona. Logan is the President but he does need help. You can sacrifice him to search your deck for a President or Vice President. Right now Logan can help you search for David Palmer, Wayne Palmer, or James Prescott. Eventually that list will grow to include the likes of Noah Daniels, Hal Gardner, or even another version of Charles Logan, not to mention some of the foreign Presidents that show up on 24.

I picked Logan to spoil for two reasons. First is the alternate uniform. Season 5 of 24 is the favorite in the office so most versions of Charles Logan will be Insurgents. However we do love the alternate uniform leeway we're allowed with 24 TCG. With so many characters changing allegiances there will be many characters switching back and forth between CTU and Insurgents, not all the time but enough to keep it interesting. We started it with Mike Novick and a few more get different versions in First Edition. In fact one of them was spoiled at Gen Con.

The other reason I wanted to spoil Charles Logan was his keywords. Some of the keywords in 24 TCG are very easy to understand what they mean and represent, others not so much. Some of the more common questions at Wizard World Chicago and Gen Con Indy were "what does Almeida mean" or "Why doesn't Alexis have the Drazen keyword". I will go over all of the more subtle 24 TCG keywords on my first www.24tcg.com Designer Blog on Friday. Until then, feel free to speculate what Gifted means, which is actually pretty easy. The hard part is figuring out where it comes from.