Close

Results 1 to 4 of 4
  1. #1
    Lead Developer / Designer Gondorian's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    England (GMT+0)
    Posts
    24,080
    Tournaments Joined
    1000
    Tournaments Won
    999
    Blog Entries
    1

    Vera and Ergon Special

    The Vera and Ergon Exclusive bundle includes the following:

    * 2700 shadow crystals

    * 2 Pick a Cards (get any 2 foils or other cards found in booster packs, including Legendaries!)

    * Exclusive, limited time card sleeves featuring Vera and Ergon from Lost Lands Part 2 and matching playmat! (Priceless! And yes, you will get to use them forever)








    Please note that this offer will only be available until March 13th, when our next monthly bundle will replace it.

    How to buy on iOS/Android: Head to the Bundle Offers section of the in-app Merchant and you will see it there.

    How to buy on PC/Mac: Do the same, but clicking on it will bring up the online store page.

    Direct store link: http://www.shadowera.com/store/index...roducts_id=581

  2. #2
    Lead Developer / Designer Gondorian's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    England (GMT+0)
    Posts
    24,080
    Tournaments Joined
    1000
    Tournaments Won
    999
    Blog Entries
    1
    Designer Spotlight

    I thought this bundle would be a good opportunity to share some designer insights from the creator of Vera and Ergon, who has recently joined the Board of Directors and will be leading the new Design Team for Lost Lands Part 3, Nik Pokimica (Veles).


    When designing cards, there are usually two ways to go about it. One is to have an idea of the card's effect and then build its flavor around it; the other one is to start from the card's flavor and think of a fitting effect for it. Vera and Ergon are exception to them and are examples of a middle path …

    I wanted to make an impactful high-costing ally for Priest that should be a prime example of what I saw as the Priest identity. When thinking of a Priest in Shadow Era, things that come to mind are: card advantage through draw and efficient board control; outlasting the opponent with healing; and inflicting arcane damage. But if all of those are to be combined in a single card, no matter the cost, it would probably be a broken card. Just imagine Confluence of Fate, Lingering Essence and Embers of the Just being merged into one card!

So the idea of splitting up the effects for the card to be used differently in specific situations came to mind. The player should have a choice of drawing and healing or board control. With a clearly defined dual purpose, the next idea was to literally split up the card in two cards that play off each other, depending on which one is in play. With that, the passive abilities of Vera and Ergon were made.

    Flavor for them was shaped based on how dependent they are on each other and the fact the effects were powerful enough to warrant Unique status for both of them. So they were made as a married couple, who are high ranked and very respectful members of Templar Order. Drawing cards and healing lead to one of them gaining title of High Priestess; inflicting arcane damage represented harsh judgment upon enemies so the other one gained the title of Grand Inquisitor. Vera's name means Faith in Slavic languages, reflecting her caring nature. Ergon's name comes from Ancient Greek ethics, representing whether an object is fulfilling its function correctly, which reflects his insistence of following rules as an Inquisitor. Their stats are also mirroring each other, with Vera having more defensive stats and Ergon more offensive.





    When Gondorian reviewed these card ideas, he was really keen on including them in the set, but was not sure if the passive abilities were enough. This led to us adding activated abilities in an attempt to make them useful beyond the turn they were summoned. Reusing their already powerful passive abilities was an obvious option, but retreating them to hand would provide potential for repeating combos too easily and shuffling to deck would be too slow.

    So we considered adding one more step by tying them to other Priest cards. Ergon as Grand Inquisitor would go to investigate to gather knowledge within the deck that may already have been seen and put on the bottom with Glass Chalice of Knowing; Vera goes out to perform in a similar way to Forgiveness by bringing a card from the bottom of the Resource pile. This is then taken one step further through being able to get Ergon back with Glass Chalice of Knowing and Vera back with Forgiveness!

    As you can see, based on the original version that only had passive abilities, the flavor was subsequently made for them, and then, from that flavor, their activated abilities were shaped.


    Once we had these two cards completely designed, I thought they warranted some special artwork. And the rest is history ...

  3. #3
    Chat Mod Vexmaw's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Virginia, USA (GMT-5)
    Posts
    146
    Tournaments Joined
    0
    Tournaments Won
    0
    Quote Originally Posted by Gondorian View Post
    Reserved for something special
    Sweet! The diptych art is a great addition, would love to see a Shadow one.
    IGN: Vexmaw
    Twitter: @Vexmaw

  4. #4
    DP Visionary tman507's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Location
    U.S.A, GMT -7
    Posts
    4,627
    Tournaments Joined
    6
    Tournaments Won
    0
    Great insight into these two cards and great choice for a special. The diptych makes for the perfect playmat, and the fact that they are a married couple is perfect for Valentine's Day.
    "IT'S TIME TO DUEL!!!"
    "The Magnificent."
    Account for any future SC transfers by Gondorian: BP tman507

    Member of PFG3
    Master of Hand-to-hand Combat
    Warrior of the Blue Phoenix
    Greatness, Reborn

    Official Shadow Era Wiki Moderator

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •