I have a Dream...blade

Believe it or not, The General used to be a very big Magic: the Gathering player. The card sets that I collected in my day were Beta, Unlimited, and Antiquty just to name a few. At some point, probably when Wizards of the Coast started making sets tournament ILLEGAL, I came to the realization that the game was changing merely to separate me from my money. So I sold all of my cards and bought new computer with the proceeds. Some time later I returned to Magic but only for sealed deck tournaments which, to me, maintain what the game was supposed to be about: deck construction with limited resources and not a race to spend the most to get the best cards. I actually LOVED it when the tournaments would play for ante.

Anyway, about a week ago someone introduced me to Wizards' new "clicky" (Collectible Miniatures) game Dreamblade. For whatever reason I found the game to be fascinating and reminded me a lot of Magic with miniatures. In this game, which is played on a 5x5 grid, the object is to maintain control of scoring squares. To make life interesting the scoring squares worth the most points are closer to the enemy side of the table. Each turn you generate spawn points and put monsters into play. These monsters can then ALL MOVE or ALL FIGHT so you are presented with some interesting tactical challenges: do I move, to score or fight the enemy in order to deny their score, etc.

Wizards is putting a lot of money behind the tournament scene with a $20,000 prize tournament at Gen Con and many regional $1,000 tournaments. In these days where the market is saturated with clicky games will this one survive? That I do not know but the concept is unique and the game has lots of strategic play. Given the fact that I like this game and I normally HATE clicky games, this one might actually have a modicum of success.

For me, I purchased two starters and two boosters (equivalent to two "sealed deck" style sets) and, while, I won't play in open or constructed format tournaments I would certainly consider playing in sealed tournaments that are in my area.