Greetings Condemned! It’s Friday, and I’ve got a metric ton of cards to spoil. But I’m at 2D Con, not at my computer. What’s up with that? How do I do it? With the magic of scheduled posts! But in all seriousness, if you’re not here, you’re missing out! Make sure you’re following me on X, I’ll be sharing pics of the awesome cards people pull this weekend. But let’s talk about the card I’m going to spoil today.

This Weapon actually underwent several changes as it was designed. It started out with more Durability, lower Damage, and at one point, it was even ambidextrous! Even the name was completely different, too! During testing, it was called The Inciter. It wasn’t until I started working with Ngyuen Xuan Hong Ngoc to make the artwork that that changed.

One of the challenges with making a bunch of cards is that sometimes you know exactly what you want for a card and other times you don’t. This was one of the times where the latter was especially true. I knew that Kris Evangel would be holding it, that it’d be a Bio Weapon, but I literally had no idea beyond that. And so, when I gave the card description to her, I gave her a lot of freedom to work. This was the description she received:

An improvised device that looks like it’s meant to remove something from the intended target, could be blood/bodily fluids, could be a chunk of their flesh, this one is very open to interpretation. The Leech keyword means it heals the wielder when it deals damage to enemy Condemned. Perhaps a reservoir with blood hanging off the side?

Kris Evangel will hold this one. Depicted holding it in his right hand, pose is open to interpretation. His torso and head are all that really need to be visible. Kris is not the focus of the image, however. The emphasis should be on the strange contraption he’s holding in his right hand, and what potential damage it could do to his target.

As you can see, I had some loose ideas, but I gave Hong Ngoc a lot of room to work. Sometimes my artists get this freedom, sometimes not. It really depends! But after a little bit of time, I got the art back, and now I can share the new card with you!

When Hong Ngoc sent me this, I knew I had to change the name of the card. The Extractor simply didn’t work. I ruminated on it for a few days, and then it hit me.

Griplash

It sounds like something a bad marketing team would come up with to try and sound edgy, and I think that’s why I like it so much. Kris Evangel is the kind of Condemned that loves being the center of attention, and he would come up with edgy awesome cringe fests like this. I don’t even hate the name! I think it’s a perfect fit for the artwork and the Weapon!

I had to change the flavor text around for this card, too. Not that that’s a bad thing, mind. Just something that had to be done as well. The overall vibe of this card just works. And in the hands of Kris, this card absolutely slaps. The Leech 3 from Griplash stacks on top of the Leech 2 that Kris Evangel gives Bio Weapons, meaning this weapon gets a net Leech 5! If you want abilities that will keep you alive in The Arena, this is one Weapon you absolutely cannot sleep on!

It’s kind of weird to say, but I miss writing these blog posts spoiling cards. I had a ton of fun doing this for Enter The Arena, and now I’m able to do it again with Chaotic Assault. Which is nice, I’m loving this! I can’t complain at all. With this card announced, we’re now up to:

6/128 Cards

This process has always been slow, but I’m excited to finish out the set and get it going! Depending on what I do, I may wind up running another Kickstarter for Chaotic Assault. We’ll see if that’s…in the cards…

Anyways, thanks for reading. And I’ll see you in The Arena!