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A recent article here on Hex Vault showed a somewhat forgotten image of the Set 1 art for the Wild PvP troop “Pack Raptor” (rather than the Kickstarter Exclusive Alternate Art version). Perhaps more importantly this article also showed the Extended Art and sparked a discussion about this rarely discussed feature within HexTCG.

 

As a brief interlude, I am Hammer, and I have been playing TCG’s and dTCG’s for more than 10 years. I am an avid collector at heart; loving alternate art, extended art, foil  and any other promo card! It shouldn’t be hard to understand why my $500 pledge for the kick-starter went against 2 of the collector tiers This is my first article focussed on HexTCG and I am excited to start expanding (no pun intended!) on the original Extended Art feature.

 

Each card in HexTCG has a “Double Back”, listing a set of challenges that enable the unlocking of a Foil effect, Extended Art, or both (i.e. an Extended Art Foil Effect card).  It appears that every piece of card art for Hex has either been drawn with the Extended Art in-mind, or with the full art being cropped, to hide an element of the art to allow the art to fit within the card frame.   The complexity and difficulty to unlocking these art features isn’t known yet, but based on the full art revealed on the HexTCG.com website we do have a pretty good understanding of how some of the Extended Art might look.

 

This article will take a look at the images we have seen so far and, hopefully, spark a discussion on whether it will be desirable to unlock the Extend Art and the type of “Easter Eggs” we might expect to reveal within the larger piece of card art.

 

Disclaimer: the cards below have been mocked-up using the full-art images taken from the HexTCG.com site and overlaid on the card. For reference, the mockups have been overlaid on to the un-extended art version of the card. This is for illustrative purposes only – the exact look of the Extended Art cards will likely vary.

 

I mentioned previously that I had backed the Kickstarter for HexTCG: the Extended Art Urunaaz in the Dragon Blood Starter caught my eye early on, and memories of this were jogged recently by the news and spoiler from the Dragon Lord Dinner of the Sapphire Dragon “Zeedu”. We also got to see the full art version of the wonderful Jadiim.  The first image below shows how the Extended Art is likely to reveal Jadiim’s lower body, the rock out-crop which Uranuuz is wrapped around and the stunning scene that Zeedu is swooping over.

 

Dragon Alternate Art Cards?

Dragon Extended Art Cards?

 

I then went in search of other full art images and I was amazed at just how many of these had been used to promote the Kickstarter and/or were included in Art-Feature articles on HexTCG.

Cast your eyes over these images below and get a feel for how many of the Extended Art cards might look once you have taken the time and effort required to unlock them.

 

 

Extended Art Cards?

Extended Art Cards?

Extended Art Cards?

Extended Art Cards?

 

It is likely (as seems to be the case from the Pack Raptor spoiler) that the art will extend both at the top and the bottom, revealing new things about the card and the character. Who knew that Sensei of the Milky Eye is balancing on one leg?

 

Extended Art Cards?

Extended Art Cards?

Extended Art Cards?

Extended Art Cards?

 

PvE cards are also set to have the Extended Art feature – I’m sure the race will be on to acquire a play set of Extended Art Princess Cory. :) The Lady Cassandra full art looks incredible.

 

Extended Art Cards?

Extended Art Cards?

 

We might also have the option to unlock PVP Champions or for tokens to be Full Art too:

 

Champion Extended Art Cards?

Champion Extended Art Cards?

 

The art in HexTCG is mind blowing, and I personally love the potential of the Extended Art and the chance for us to see more of the rich images created by the artists working on Hex.

 

Will we be able to trade Extended Art cards or will they revert to normal on trade? If so, will they be desirable? Will you be actively looking to unlock your cards?

 

Let us know what you think in the comments below or on the Hex Vault forums.

 

I hope you enjoyed this look at the potential extended art cards – until the next time!

 

Hammer

Proud Member of The Unnamed Council

Here is Part 2 (of 2) of Funktion’s review of everything Hex-related at GenCon:

 

 

Some of the topics discussed:

  1. Hex Vault Announcement
  2. Initial Impressions of HexTCG
  3. Standout Decks & Cards
  4. Portensio of Avon Giveaway – subscribe to FunktionFails on YouTube!

 

Enjoy! Enter our iPad/HexCon and Jadiim Sleeves giveaways!

  • Bloated Sporeburster
  • Faith Rewarded
  • Arena Medic

Hello, I’m Gage “HyenaNipples” Lawhon, and it is my pleasure to be this week’s guest contributor to Hex Vault’s “Card Mechanics” column! For my contribution, I have something completely new.  This idea bounced right out of my brain, so this definitely isn’t something the Cryptozoic team has up their sleeves.

 

My concept is a new Keyword, but unlike any of those already in the game, this one is a detrimental Keyword.  I call it ‘Infected,’ and here’s what it would do:

 

‘Infected:  at the beginning of each turn, the controller of this troop takes 1 damage.’

 

Before I go deeper, let’s take a look at the two cards featuring this new Keyword.  The first card is essentially a Wild version of the Blood card, Zombie Plague, except that it works a little differently.

 

Fungal Infection

Fungal Infection

Read more »

This week’s Kickstarter update mentioned that we should start to see some of the extended art assets in the relatively near future. BossHoss uncovered the earliest extended art preview we know about (Pack Raptor) from a video released quite some time ago:

 

Pack Raptor Extended Art

Pack Raptor Extended Art

 

I’m really excited to see more of the extended art in the coming weeks. especially for many our little Shin’hare friends.

 

What cards are you most excited to see the extended art for? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below.

 

And… remember to enter our giveaways!

Another Friday, another Kickstarter update! Curiously the update references “a very special time-sensitive piece” of artwork – this intrigues me a great deal. And… it gave me an idea for another GenCon-related giveaway. Post on the “Guessing” thread on the Hex Vault forums with your guess as to what the “very special” artwork might be. Once the secret is revealed, the person with the closest guess (or a random roll between people with the same guess) will win a set of the GenCon-exclusive Jadiim sleeves:

 

Jadiim Sleeves (GenCon Exclusive)

Jadiim Sleeves (GenCon Exclusive)

 

Remember, the ONLY way to get these sleeves was to have played Hex at GenCon or to get someone who did to give you a code. They’ll end up being much rarer than either of the mercenaries of the alternate art cards! I look forward to reading your guesses. As a bonus, any entries in this giveaway in the next couple of weeks also qualify for the other Jadiim sleeves giveaway we’re doing too! 2 chances!!! What are you still waiting for? :) Enter today!

High quality images of Uruunaz and Jadiim were hiding out amongst all of fantastic images of Zeedu on the Dragon Lord USB drive. Zakiir was also there – I hadn’t planned to spoil his art (even though 40+ people have the image) until I realized he’d already been revealed on The Wrath of Zakiir (thanks for the tip, Icepick). So, here you are – a high quality image of Zakiir, the Ruby Dragon:

 

Zakiir, the Ruby Dragon

Zakiir, the Ruby Dragon

 

Image is a copyrighted work of Cryptozoic Entertainment (CZE), © 2013 All Rights Reserved.

 

Here is Part 1 (of 2) of Funktion’s review of everything Hex-related at GenCon:

 

 

Some of the topics discussed:

  1. Hex PTRs
  2. Tournament Cash Prizes
  3. Gold Sinks
  4. Guilds vs. Teams
  5. PVE Content
  6. Funktion’s Conversations with Ben (and there were many!)
  7. Dragon Lord Dinner – Zeedu
  8. Portensio of Avon Giveaway Coming Soon!

 

Enjoy! Enter our iPad/HexCon and Jadiim Sleeves giveaways!

 

Our forums are now live! To commemorate the occasion we’re giving away a code (well, at least one!) for the GenCon exclusive Jadiim, the Emerald Dragon. All you have to do is create a worthwhile post in the newly opened Hex Vault forums! I’ll randomly select a winner to send the code to on September 8th, 2013.

 

No official picture of the sleeves yet, but this image of Jadiim should tide you over (and it was the image associated with the sleeves reward at GenCon)…

 

Jadiim

Jadiim

Jinuyr has very kindly provided me the video he took of Cory’s speech at the GenCon Dragon Lord dinner. Here it is:

 

 

There’s still time to enter our giveaway!

I got a chance to have a conversation HEX Lead Developer Dan Clark at GenCon. We discussed a wide range of topics including:

  1. Dan’s GenCon experiences throughout the years
  2. His thoughts on interacting with the KickStarter backers
  3. How much time he gets to play/test Hex, his favorite deck types and cards
  4. Some interesting thoughts on a number of game design-related areas:
    • Novel Mechanics
    • Not letting his personal preferences impact the overall design

You can find the audio in this post. Here’s the full transcript:

Read more »