Infinite Possibilities

That is the phrase that arose in my mind when Wonders of The First appeared inside my Instagram feed April of 2024.

Wonders of The First is a new collectible card game that boldly experiments with the idea of no reprints built upon two pillars of playability and collectability. With a design that incorporates a set match duration, nested set principle, and a Dynamic Balance Score system, Wonders certainly creates the potential for wild possibilities.

Along with the game design, Wonders also created controversy when they announced that their art team utilized AI-assisted tooling in the generated of 10,000 Art Proofs. Moreover, this was done before, much of the work on game design was in full development. In traditional CCG development workflows, the game design along with the mechanics are established first then art pieces are created to match the design. In this case Wonders did the reverse and established a pool of art pieces that could be pulled from and then incorporated into the design work. Since there are 10,000 pieces - that could potentially sustain ten years’ worth of sets. But there was a loud resistance that saw this utilization of AI-assisted generation as an afront to the authenticity of artistic expression. The irony being that art that ended up making the Existence set was iterated by human artists multiple times.

It was a piece of art that drew me into exploring more of this mystical world. Nexar Voidchild is the card that hooked me into Wonders and ultimately connected me to a larger ‘underground’ community I would immerse myself in over the next year and a half. The game consists of six Orbitals that pulse with unique attributes. There are four types of cards - Items, Lands, Spells, and Wonders. Wonders are the fighting units that Stoneseekers (players) use to capture Stones in battle. The player with the most Stones at the end of Round 7 is the victor.

Nexar is a Wonder from the Boundless Orbital. He is an Orbitalwalker Mystic that was created by stellar artist Romall Smith. When I saw this card, I immediately fell in love with the bold composition. Wonders of The First chose an open framework that omits the traditional ability box that we are accustomed to in traditional CCGs. By opening the bottom half of the card up along with leveraging the sides for card attributes, the art is allowed to ‘breathe’ and is prominently featured. Nexar’s gold armor crackling with energy has a stunning contrast against his white robes overlayed upon the black mask and gloves hiding his full features.

As I learned more about the game, I became enamored with all of the cards in the Boundless Orbital, and it became my favorite. When I received my Collector Booster Boxes I had a moment of kismet while opening my first box. On the fifth pack I hit an Orbital Color Match! OCMs are a serialized variation of a card from the Existence set. Numbering is based on rarity starting at /99 for a Common and up the way to /10 for a Mythic. My OCM was Mythic. Not just any Mythic – Aetherion of Boundless which is a First Form Myth. These First Forms represent deities in their respective Orbital. My copy was 01/10. What a hit!

Having played for hundreds of hours at this point, I enjoy introducing others to the game and you can find me active on the official Discord server (My handle is Philaxeno). I encourage any player with an interest in fantasy gaming to take a serious look at Wonders of The First. You may find your own resonance within its infinite possibilities.

www.wondersccg.com
https://discord.gg/wondersotf