Your Dream Card
by Bruce Stark
brucestark4life@yahoo.com

2002 Raw Deal World Champion Mike Canu: “First Of All”

2003 Raw Deal World Champion Bryan Witte: “Can U Believe The Witte Retort?”

2004 Raw Deal World Champion Wess Victory “The Road To Victory”

2005 Raw Deal World Champion Frankie Ho: “Frankie Goes Ho-llywood”

2006 Raw Deal World Champion James Kandziolka: “For The Love Of The Game”

Win the 6th Annual Raw Deal World Championships at WrestleMania 23 this Saturday in Detroit at RIW Hobbies and you not only get the adoration of the thousands of players around the world, but also the moniker—World Champion—that will follow you all the rest of your days plus the chance to do something only a few have had the privilege to do:

Make your own WWE Raw Deal card.

Of the thousands and thousands of cards that have printed, only a handful aren’t the product of co-designers Mike Foley and Barron Vangor Toth. When history realizes what many of us have known for a long time—this is the best [edited by Comic Images]ing game ever created—it’ll just make this moment all the more sweet for one of you.

I’m still out here in Las Vegas for another few weeks with my girl but I got an email from one of the World Championship Participants asking my advice as to what card he should make when—not if, when—he wins the World Championships. While I admire hubris as much as the next guy, since his name isn’t World Champ James Kandziolka he cannot logically think himself a favorite. So I figured my advice would best go to all sixteen players as well as those of you out there who enjoy making “fantasy” cards of your own creation.

As the only playtester living in Connecticut, I’ve been there firsthand when many of the cards created were birthed into existence. This means that more than anyone else outside of Barron and Mike, I can give you specific thinking as to what will and won’t make the cut in Raw Deal. While I’m sure to the layman it seems simple (figure out what you want the card to do and cost it correctly) the reality is that the difference between an “okay” card and a card worthy of being printed in the game is the difference between a steak from Outback and a steak from Homestead. The Outback steak is adequate (my apologies to David Marks as I know Outback is the national treasure of all Australians) but it isn’t the same thing as you’d get from Homestead.

I’ll try to gear this advice to everyone from World Champion to “fantasy” card creator, but one bit of advice specifically tailored to the first group if you please: don’t be stupid. What do I mean by being stupid? Well, Barron and Mike are letting you make a card in Raw Deal but it’s not like you can just print anything you want. It’s at their approval as they want to make sure what you make is good for the game and all its players. That means if you win don’t suggest this as your card:

Stark Raving Mad
Reversal: Any
You win the game via Pinfall Victory.
You now own all your opponent’s cards.
F:0 D:0

Use some common sense. If you have none, I’ll personally offer my services to whoever wins the World Championships to help them with their card before they send it off to Barron and Mike as I can make it ready to be printed with minimal, if any, alterations. Or email Barron and Mike. Wess Victory, for example, talked his card through with Barron over a few emails and while the wording was slightly changed from his original vision, what he wanted the card do stayed in tact as he was sensible with what he wanted and presented his reasons for the balance in a logical fashion that Barron and Mike, plus all of us playtesters, agreed.

After you realize you shouldn’t be stupid with the type of card you want to make, think about what card you want:

Maneuver?
Antic?
Reversal?
Pre-match?
Mid-match?

Personally, I’d recommend against a Maneuver as you will fall under a lot more restriction than you will other types of cards as the Assaults, Holds, Throws, and Extremes are regimented and balanced to a degree heretofore unknown pre-Revolution. You want your card to be special but when it comes to Maneuvers they are all equally cool which means nothing is going to stand out too much. Sure, you can try and go with a Maneuver, but at the end of the day you’re going to have to be in line with all the other Maneuvers so that you don’t make previous ones useless and I wouldn’t bother if I were you. Unless you want a Unique Maneuver, but we’ll get to that in a moment.

As far as a Reversal goes, what kind of Reversal would you want? Most already exist. Also, like Maneuvers, you’ll need to not put the balance out of whack because you don’t want overly-powerful Reversals or else it’s a negative in the game. But let’s look at a type of general Reversal that doesn’t exist yet. Let’s say you want to make an omni-Reversal in Revolution:

Stark!
Reversal: card with [Revolution logo]
F:? D:0

How much should the above cost? It reverses cards with the Revolution logo only, it deals no damage, and it has no text. Think about how much you think it should cost.
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If you answered anything between 13-17 Fortitude, you’re right. The above card should cost about 15F. However, just because it would be properly costed at 15F doesn’t mean it should be printed. Does Raw Deal need that Reversal to exist? I don’t think so. Maybe if it was Unique but, again, we’ll get to that later.

By process of elimination, you’ll see what I recommend would-be World Champions: make a Pre-match or an Antic (Mid-match or regular). These are places where you truly can leave your mark on the game, make a creative evocative card, and have something people will remember you for. Especially with a Pre-match, because then it’s getting played right out of the gate. And when it comes to Antics and Pre-match cards there isn’t the heavy regimentation as there are for Maneuvers and Reversals. Think about something cool and wacky you’d love to see in the game that Barron and Mike have yet to introduce (is there anything?) and implement it via an Antic or Pre-match.

Let’s talk about whether you want to be Unique or not. Sure, everyone wants to be “unique” but I’m talking about Unique in the game. A non-Unique card would be one you get out of booster packs like Revolution 3: Judgment Day this summer. A Unique card would be one you get from a holiday set (like if Barron and Mike make a Revolution 4 Unique Holiday Set this November—I don’t know if they are or not so don’t take that as a spoiler). While the distribution is slightly different so is what you can do. Remember when I talked about how the non-Unique Maneuvers are mathematically all in line? Well, since there are so few Unique Maneuvers, you can play a bit of jazz when you come up with your “Jack-knife Overhand Vertical Stomach Cruncher OF DOOOOOOOOOOM!” The same can be said about Unique Reversals. Or you really could go nuts with a crazy-good (yet balanced!) Pre-match or Antic that’s Unique.

Your options are limitless … as long as you stay within reason and stay true to the Raw Deal game. I know Barron and Mike do what they can to make sure the World Champion’s card is as true to their original vision as possible but you have to remember that they must first serve the game and its players, not your ego if you cannot be sensible with your requests and insist on something like:

Stark Contrast
Antic
Requirement: Fewer Cards in Hand
Your opponent overturns cards equal to the number of cards in your Ringside.
F:10 D:0

Until Next Time when I’m back in the 203 and out of the 702.
—Bruce of Stark

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BONUS INFO FOR THOSE WHO STAYED THIS FAR:

As everyone knows, Barron and Mike assisted the guys at Worlds Apart with developing the Stargate TCG for Comic Images. Because of this, cleaning out my emails now, I’ve got a bunch of questions for folks asking me about the Stargate game. I don’t want to ignore the questions so here’s what I can answer without breaking my non-disclosure agreement. I’ve played countless games of Stargate against Barron over the last six months, assisting him as a playtester for it. The game is a lot of fun and does capture the flavor of the Stargate license in an interesting way. I cannot wait to get the cards in April as well as get my online account going as well for the online game. Those of you asking about if I know any cool combos, yes, I do, there’s an especially neat one with [edited by Comic Images] and [edited by Comic Images] where if you’ve [edited by Comic Images] and your opponent [edited by Comic Images] then you can drop [edited by Comic Images] and he’s done for. The last time I did that to Barron he stormed away from the table and yelled [edited by Comic Images]. Good times. Good times. So, if you’re looking for a great second game after Raw Deal, check out Stargate this April. After all, it’s the first game Barron and Mike have lent their name to since the debut of Raw Deal at Gen Con 2000—you know that means it’s amazing.