I spent the weekend in Atlanta Georgia at Dragoncon, one of, if not, THE largest Science Fiction convention in the US.

Amongst the many companies showing off new product was Upper Deck. They had Demos running non stop on the exhibition floor, showing off all of their card games including Bionicle. Although my schedule did not permit me to sit down for a demonstration of the game I did manage to chat with Mark Irwin for a few minutes and buy a few booster packs. That’s right I said booster packs! They were for sale at the show and when I asked for a general sale street date they told me they should be in stores NOW! They said they shipped out to distributors about two weeks ago and should be available for order by retailers by now, if you haven’t seen them be sure and call your specialty card retailer or local comic shop and ask if they can get you some.

The cards are very nice, those who have already purchased the starter decks will recognise a lot of cards they already have, this time without the First Edition markings.

Fear not though, this is just to insure that players can find all the elements they need for decks in the booster packs. There are plenty of new cards making their First Edition appearance in the boosters.

The story cards are a nice addition to the set, they feature comic style art where the card back usually is and a small piece of storyline on the back along with tips on strategy and deckbuilding.

A number of new Bonus and Penalty expand the possibilities as well but the REAL attraction of the boosters is the All new Foil Cards. They come one per pack and I can say they are some of the more attractive Chase cards I’ve seen, the refractive foil really pops the card art! Of the three I got however the foil surface had a “break” in them where kind of seam was visible in the foil, marring the effect and clean beauty of the card.

But overall the cards are very nice and well worth the purchase price, I’ll be ordering at least one box from my local retailer as soon as I recover a little physically (and financially!) from my vacation! I took some pics of the Upper Deck booth while I was there, they had the TOA to end all TOA, a TAHU replica that must have been 9 or ten feet tall!

Big fun!