Magic: The Gathering - Kaldheim Expansion
Moxie work for Wizards of the Coast | Social Campaign | 2020-2021
The amazing "Music to Shred to" animation created and edited by Avery Robinson.
Wizards of the Coast came to Moxie based on the social content our team had been doing for years for Arby's. They said, "We want that team for Kaldheim."
Because we had proven that we "got" Gamers with a non-endemic brand, they came to us for the social piece.
And we were all VERY excited to actually have a gaming brand's social to work on.
Kaldheim introduced several new elements into "Magic: The Gathering" for us to play up:
- Kaldheim's lore was largely built around a Norse-like mythology with elements of Viking history and weaponry (Gods, multiple "worlds" and lots and LOTS of axes)
- Metal, an element not seen in the game before
- "Boast" and "Foretell," two new gameplay mechanics
- Sagas and Snow returned to the game
The Challenge
Wizards of the Coast's "Magic: The Gathering" was already over 25 years old before the Kaldheim expansion set was scheduled to release; and while their players were some of the most passionate in the gaming world, many had lapsed or refused to get excited about a new expansion set.
Wizards was also struggling to reach the next gen of "Magic: The Gathering" players (18-24 year-olds), so social media was identified as the best way to reach that audience where they were most active.
The Big Ideas
(Provided by Wizards of the Coast)
Piercing Insight: Vikings are metal. They quest for glory in the land of harsh cold, awesome gods and brutal foes, is about the boldest living on in eternity while all others fade away. Vikings of legend forged their destiny with steel and conquered overwhelming odds so that their tale would be told in every hall for generations.
Brand Connection: Magic lets players delve into fantastical worlds represented by eye-popping art that sparks the imagination. What happens when we take what people know and love about Vikings and infuse it with planeswalkers and sagas? You get a flaming Viking warship, oars out, headed to battle against a 60-foot-tall demon lord, bent on destroyin the entire world. Now that's how legends are made.
Succinct Expression: FORGE YOUR LEGEND.
The Insights
Our Strategy team identified four target audiences for us to build Kaldheim content for:
- Tacticians: Players who would be excited by in-depth strategy and who would stay up-to-date on the latest changes in the meta-game
- Lore Enthusiasts: Players who would be in it for the lore who would devour the latest stories on Magic's website
- Casuals: Casual players who occasionally play in the kitchen with their roommates for fun and who are up-to-date on the latest memes and internet trends
- Art Lovers: People who appreciate the artistic style of "Magic: the Gathering" and love seeing and celebrating fan creations like card alters, cosplay, fan art, etc.
The Execution
We created a LOT of social-first content that would be activated over the course of a single month in 2021 for the Kaldheim release, hitting each of the four audiences multiple times a week.
We were REALLY pushing to open a pack of cards via axe throwing as a play on the typical "unboxing" video.
It <almost> happened.
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YouTube Units
Facebook & Instagram Units
Video Deliverables
Static Deliverables
Unique Deliverables
Instagram Plays Magic
Key Target Audience: Tacticians
We used Instagram Stories to have the audience “play” with cards from the new Kaldheim set.
Viewers voted between certain cards to play, each serving to show off new or returning mechanics.
The experience used channel endemic features to make interacting simple as the audience attempted to win the game via crowdsourced voting on each turn.
The really fun part of this was creating the deliverables for all four possible play scenarios knowing that only one of them was ever going to be seen.
Good Morning Magic: Metal Hijack
Key Target Audiences: Tacticians, Casuals
We hijacked the "Boast" introduction episode of "Good Morning Magic" with host Gavin Verhey and metal-ized it.
Gavin works for Wizards of the Coast as a Senior Designer and produces weekly episodes of "Good Morning Magic" to introduce viewers to new game mechanics among other things. He introduced the "Boast" video like normal before his voice was replaced with a metal artist we found on Fiverr.
Avery also did a Rob Zombie treatment to Gavin's face with a filter effect every time the metal voice came into play.
Click to watch it here, and then stay to watch more of "Good Morning Magic."
Interactive Pack Opening
Key Target Audiences: Tacticians, Art Lovers
This was built around the insight that people love unboxing content, and "Magic: The Gathering" fans love opening new packs of cards.
We created several Instagram Stories and let users vote for which pack they wanted to open between a Set Booster and a Collector Booster. We then showcased each card in the pack on their own frame of the Story. Special double-sided cards would get a video frame to show off both sides of the card.
At the end of the story, we used the Questions Sticker to poll the audience to find out what cards they were most excited for, or what card they would draft from the deck.
Because several of the cards featured a foil treatment that wasn't shown on the assets sent by Wizards of the Coast, we filmed every one of those cards being flipped over in stop-motion to get the full effect. Once we did that, we saw how the overall look of the real, printed cards was a better experience than the purely digital art of each card when they were shown side-by-side. As a result, I ended up requesting a full set from Wizards so I could photograph EVERY card in the expansion... all 406 of them.
Deck Generator
Key Target Audience: Tacticians
We took a tried-and-true social format known for driving engagement and reimagined it for fans that enjoy a strategic challenge.
We created a deck generator that gave users two cards they must build their deck around. Initials, birthday, etc. will determine what cards you build a deck around from the new Kaldheim set.
This post drove engagement, sparked deck inspiration, and really appealed to the tactician audience.
Panoramic Views of the 10 Realms
Key Target Audiences: Lore Enthusiasts, Art Lovers
The 10 realms were a big part of Kaldheim, so we showed them off with channel hacks that gave users an uninterrupted view.
Using the organic Instagram gallery feature, we posted several images and videos that appeared to be one continuous, panoramic view of a realm.
The videos included subtle (and not-so-subtle) animations and effects that brought the world to life.
The accompanying copy Orin wrote for each was meant to read like a postcard from that realm:
"Greetings from Bretagard, home of more Vikings than you can shake a staff at. The boat ride here on the Kirda Sea was rather choppy, and I’ve found dry clothes and warm hospitality inside Beskir Hall, right off the coast. The Beskir are one of five Viking clans here in Bretagard––and with that many Vikings inhabiting one realm, I’m guessing I’m either in for a party or a fight… or both?"
Lofi Channel Goes Metal
Key Target Audiences: Lore Enthusiasts, Art Lovers
We proposed creating the heavy metal version of the ever-popular live Lofi channel by either repurposing a scene from the trailer or turning card art into a short repeating animation and blasting metal music 24/7.
It kept to the theme of having music on in the background, but bringing it to the metal audience while keeping Kaldheim branded content on users’ screens for hours.
Avery took the static visual of The World Tree and animated it, creating a video for YouTube that was fed by static organic posts on Facebook and Instagram.
Hands on the Lore with Instagram Sagas
Key Target Audience: Lore Enthusiasts
We celebrated Sagas returning to the game by telling those stories natively through Instagram Stories.
Using existing key art where possible, we visually told the story across multiple frames—immersing users in the lore of Kaldheim and paying homage to the emphasis of storytelling in the world.
Metal Theme Songs
Key Target Audience: Casuals
We utilized the interactive nature of Instagram Stories to have the audience pick which metal-centric music better matched the vibe of each new god character.
Each video featured a single frame showing two gods and their descriptions, alongside (good) stock metal and a Sound On sticker.
The frame featured a Poll sticker added natively at activation asking the audience to vote for which god the song best fit.
All music was purchased/licensed stock, so we were not limited to the brand-safe music library available on Instagram at the time.
Predictive Hype
Key Target Audience: Casuals
We jumped on the popular text-only social trend where users took a prompt and let their keyboards auto fill the rest.
This is old news now, but with AI predictive type recently being built-in on the majority of mobile devices by 2020, most users had only just gotten used to keyboards that produced auto-fill suggestions unique to them.
We used the prompt to make the topic about Kaldheim to build hype around the new release by tying in the expansion's “Raise Your Axe” tagline.
This led to some hilarious results in the comments... as we expected.
The Team
Jennifer Barclay - Creative Director*
Scott Hunt - Creative Director, Photographer, Animator
Clarke Modlin - Art Director
Hughston May - Graphic Designer, Animator
Orin Heidelberg - Copywriter
Avery Robinson - Animator, Motion Editor
*This was one of Jen's last projects with Moxie before she went to Wunderman Thompson Atlanta. I inherited the full Creative Direction of this project when she left at the end of November, as well as Jif Peanut Butter. I'd already been running all of the day-to-day Creative leadership for Arby's for most of 2020, so this took me from one major account's Creative to oversee to three of them... with an ACD title. I ended up working on packaging the final deliverables for Kaldheim until almost 9 pm on Christmas Eve of 2020.
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