Hearthpwn

This Week's Finalists

Competition-Specific Restrictions:

• Your card must thin your opponent's deck, such as by forcing them to draw from it (Example: Naturalize) or by pulling cards directly from it (Example: Deathlord).
• Alternatively, your card may instead benefit from your opponent having more cards in their hand, something that occurs quite often in Mill decks in Hearthstone. This could be more than a specific number (Example: Goblin Sapper) or a large number of cards in general (Example: Clockwork Giant).

We have whittled down ~161 valid entries to just 16 of the community's favorites. 
Check out all the finalists below and vote in our poll (vote for as many or as few as you like) to help decide the winner and be sure to check back after the poll finishes for the announcement of the winner and the start of a new theme!

NOTE: Cards with a black border have additional material, like explanations or unique tokens, located in a spoiler at the bottom of the finalist gallery. They are listed in order of position in the final poll.

by Dxiled
by mantels
Daring Reporter
Nat, the Darkfisher
by nobravery
Tracking
by pui980178
Jade Golem
by ShadowsOfSense
Cursed!
by Zanywoop
by EustassGFM
by 0ceanMan
by thebangzats
by AngryChicken
by Sword
by Asylum_Rhapsody
by CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkey
by crasyherbz
by RedneckBudha
by trombone23

 Beneath the Vault

Quote from Telefonkabel >>

hmm, seems my card is missing?
Have 11 votes on page 9 - Grinning Trickser and Dark Encryptor (who possibly copied my idea) only 10 :-S
A

OH, it seems I missed Imgur after editing my race-tag - even veterans could stumble over this ^^

Great Cards:
Acolyte of Wisdom - well balanced
Interview with Nat - nice flavour

Felonies:
Coldlight Operative - Discover means you get that card, sry, but that is the way hearthstone works. As a new mechanic it should have been worded like "Discover a card in your opponents deck. Give it to your opponent." or "Discover a card for your opponent...".
Fishing - Card-stealing is a no-go in  hearthstone
Dark Encryptor - you don't post a similar idea on the same page, that is lazy, negligent or intentional

I'm not gonna do an in depth analysis on each card, but I will add a quick comment on each card on what I think about them. 

Also for future reference I get that the cards need to fit the theme, but I also put in my opinion based on the usability it would have in-game as well. Also if I said I liked some and didn't say i'd vote them, its because i'm trying really hard to limit it to my top 5 favs.

Coldlight Operative: Very cheeky card, which I do love. Only issue is it seems extremely weak even though you know what card they drew. EDIT: Reread it. Ok, not so weak now. Still seems a bit odd to see a Murloc in Priest though, especially one with this kind of effect...

Acolyte of Wisdom: Also like this card for the references. It has a good risk with its statline so I think it is balanced (although Priest/Pally might be able to abuse this so i'm not entirely sure...) Voted

An Interview with Nat: Loving the flavor, loving the fact that its a usable high cost card for Rogue. Unfortunately it is too strong for Rogues. This works very well withing different Rogue archetypes but the fact that Rogues can abuse this with Prep is what's keeping me from voting it. It may even be stronger than pre-nerf COTW.

Taran Zhu: I love that this card can fit into a Mill Rogue deck without having to sacrifice to much, also appreciate the fact that its low health wont make it broken. It might be slow but at the same time it probably wins Mill games faster. Voted.

Lotus Turtlerider: Its a really good card that fits in a Jade deck. I can see this pulling out any Gang'd Up Jade cards for Rogue, and a couple Jade Idol activators for Miracle Jade Druid. Pretty solid, but might not always be helpful (Won't save your face).

Grinning Trickster: Really neat idea, being able to utilize Cursed! while maintaining board presence. Only thing is it doesn't look like something you want to draw late game. Still really good tho.

Dark Encryptor: I see where you were going with this, but probably not executed the best. If anything this card should have at least 1 more stat point and more Health than Attack to make it useful. Its hard to finish off an opponent using this because you would almost always have to play it T6, which is awful, since T4 it will get killed or nerfed. Also think it could've been worded better.

Ozumat: This card super cool IMO. It gives your opponent a new limitation on how to play, and I believe its balanced, because out of all the different deck types it is its either really good or useless. Voted.

Back-alley Deal: Simple, Balanced, and effective. This card would allow some of the more expensive Rogue cards to be able to be used. Only thing is 2 drop spot is pretty crowded in Rogue. Still Voted.

Backhand: Its a nice idea, but it reminds me of the days of Clockwork Giant and this can easily go terribly wrong for you. A little too risky to me. 

Goblinish Experimenter: Really like the idea behind this card. It's a Barnes for your opponent. Honestly though, I can't think of a way off the top of my head that can utilize this effectively. It's a risk reward card, but honestly not something I personally would bother gambling with. Its still a great 3 drop for tempo plays, so who know what decks could use this... Voted.

Manahouse Millstorm: This card is super strong (its balanced though), and a good 4 drop. I also like that its a Kabal card, because it shuts out any way for some other classes to abuse its stats, as most on T4 wouldn't be prepared to face the mighty... i'll stop there.

Voidform: As much as I like the idea behind this card, I don't like that it can be used as a powercreep to Shadowform. I understand that it's a drawback that gets you to that point, but for Aggro Priest it doesn't seem to be that big of a deal. Just not a fan.

Beneath the Vault: Let me first state that I love the flavor behind this card (although the MSG watermark would've completed it for me), and I think the effect is really good for Mill. Only way I can see this backfiring is if you're playing a super Zoo deck or if Valeera misplaces her Murlocs. Seems useless as a card outside of Mill though, even more than Purify, which you can pick up on the fly to at least draw a card.

Nature's Blessing: I like the idea behind the card but that looks way too expensive. Also I think the effects aren't balanced to each other. The Emperor effect is about 2-3 mana and the card draw is 4. Even if this card is for Mill Druid its asking for too much.

Fishing: Really cool idea but I gotta shut it down. Taking your opponent's cards before they can play it is a huge no-no. Sometimes you'll totally destroy their deck by taking their win condition. Even Dirty Rats have to abide by these rules (Also why Illidan Stormrage was nerfed).

Quote from Asylum_Rhapsody >>

Quote from Boethion >>

Manahouse Millstorm - Obvious Troll/Meme-card is obvious and its kinda disappointing to see this from a Fan Creation Moderator who should know better and the fact that this got into the finals.

While the card is in part intended to be a humerus parody, it was actually very thoroughly mechanically considered.

I had originally simply set it as a 2-mana 4/4 whose effect only triggered from spells to make it more easily comparable to Millhouse Manastorm, but at that mana cost and only triggering from spells it would potentially be far too problematic because, played on curve, the opponent wouldn't have enough mana to take advantage of the effect. Additionally, even after changing it to trigger from any card type, it would have been brokenly good in Priest's early game, where it could take out pretty much any subsequent 3-drop from the opponent, survive, and heal. At a cost of 3, it overlaps in function for this week's theme purposes with Coldlight Oracle, which I wanted to avoid, and it still potentially leaves the opponent too little mana when played on curve to take advantage of the effect to the degree necessary for it to be balanced unless I lower the stats too much for it to be interesting.

It was also originally a neutral minion, but it would have just been too problematic with Shadowstep, and I also wasn't crazy anyway about supporting Rogue and Druid more. I then considered just making it a Mage card, where I think it could actually see some mill deck potential (I'm normally not a proponent of making mill decks viable, but that was sort of the theme this week) with support from effects like Duplicate and Echo of Medivh, as well as the new Manic Soulcaster, but I ended up making it a Kabal card because I wanted to broaden its potential.

When determining the balancing implications of such a battlecry, looking at cards like Dancing Swords, Mulch, and Naturalize help a lot, taking into account for the first that Deathrattles are generally considered to be about half as powerful as battlecries. That being the case, while I know that a 4-mana 7/7 is kind of a meme, 7/7 actually does come out to be about appropriately balanced stats by my calculation for a 4-drop minion with this effect. Indeed, others commenting have agreed on the balance.

That said, I get that the humorous intent involved in the cards thematic inception might not be everybody's cup of tea, and I also see how the card's thematic and meme-like qualities (being a parody of an existing minion, using its name as a pun, and also ending up as the whole 4-mana 7/7 thing) could overpower its mechanical considerations. =/

Quote from Dxiled >>

Quote from Asylum_Rhapsody >>

Quote from Boethion >>

Manahouse Millstorm - Obvious Troll/Meme-card is obvious and its kinda disappointing to see this from a Fan Creation Moderator who should know better and the fact that this got into the finals.

While the card is in part intended to be a humerus parody, it was actually very thoroughly mechanically considered.

I had originally simply set it as a 2-mana 4/4 whose effect only triggered from spells to make it more easily comparable to Millhouse Manastorm, but at that mana cost and only triggering from spells it would potentially be far too problematic because, played on curve, the opponent wouldn't have enough mana to take advantage of the effect. Additionally, even after changing it to trigger from any card type, it would have been brokenly good in Priest's early game, where it could take out pretty much any subsequent 3-drop from the opponent, survive, and heal. At a cost of 3, it overlaps in function for this week's theme purposes with Coldlight Oracle, which I wanted to avoid, and it still potentially leaves the opponent too little mana when played on curve to take advantage of the effect to the degree necessary for it to be balanced unless I lower the stats too much for it to be interesting.

It was also originally a neutral minion, but it would have just been too problematic with Shadowstep, and I also wasn't crazy anyway about supporting Rogue and Druid more. I then considered just making it a Mage card, where I think it could actually see some mill deck potential (I'm normally not a proponent of making mill decks viable, but that was sort of the theme this week) with support from effects like Duplicate and Echo of Medivh, as well as the new Manic Soulcaster, but I ended up making it a Kabal card because I wanted to broaden its potential.

When determining the balancing implications of such a battlecry, looking at cards like Dancing Swords, Mulch, and Naturalize help a lot, taking into account for the first that Deathrattles are generally considered to be about half as powerful as battlecries. That being the case, while I know that a 4-mana 7/7 is kind of a meme, 7/7 actually does come out to be about appropriately balanced stats by my calculation for a 4-drop minion with this effect. Indeed, others commenting have agreed on the balance.

That said, I get that the humorous intent involved in the cards thematic inception might not be everybody's cup of tea, and I also see how the card's thematic and meme-like qualities (being a parody of an existing minion, using its name as a pun, and also ending up as the whole 4-mana 7/7 thing) could overpower its mechanical considerations. =/

In addition, Blizz does occasionally release meme-esque cards. We've seen them go with the Funnel Cakes meme (Priest of the Feast and Undercity Huckster). Reno Jackson was a meme for the longest time, and he got successors in the latest expansion. I actually like meme cards, provided they're based on Hearthstone memes and they're relatively balanced. 

Furthermore, it's actually pretty difficult to create non-parody cards. In the finals alone:
Acolyte of Wisdom is based loosely on Acolyte of Pain
Goblinish Experimenter is a nominal parody of Gnomish Experimenter and a functional parody of Barnes
Manahouse Millstorm is a parody of Millhouse Manastorm
Beneath the Vault is a parody of Beneath the Grounds
Fishing is a parody of Tracking
Even my own Coldlight Operative is a functional cross between Coldlight Oracle and Drakonid Operative. 

Hearthstone even has half an expansion of parody cards from Whispers of the Old Gods. (Ragnaros, Lightlord, Nat, the Darkfisher, Corrupted Healbot, Twisted Worgen, just to name a few)

Heck, a 2 mana Priest spell that reads: [Silence an enemy minion. Your opponent draws a card.] would probably do pretty well in this competition. 

Fishing has got to be BY FAR the weakest card I've ever seen in the finals, seriously this card is SO bad that I'm shocked it somehow made it in.

Coldlight Operative could’ve been good, but the statline is too weak. Your opponent drawing cards is a drawback. He couldn’ve been a 3/4 or at least 3/3. 2/2 is abyssmal. You can use the mill argument because 1) It still should be a drawback, and 2) No one’s heard of Mill Priest.

Acolyte of Wisdom is a deceptively powerful addition to any mill deck (since a 3-mana 7 health minion is really difficult to remove).

Backhand is excellent removal in the right deck. Great work.

Lotus Turtlerider’s edge for me is that it applies to two of the most common mill decks: Rogue and Druid. I’m surprised no one else thought to make a Lotus card simply due to this fact.

Back-alley Deal is mine so I won’t toot my own horn too much, but I just like having a second Coldlight effect with that added utility of making expensive cards you wouldn’t otherwise play cheaper. Rogue is the most reliable mill class after all.

Speaking of mill Rogue, Beneath the Vault seems excellent, with one minor flaw. A mill deck wants to burn cards, not simply add them to your hand. You’re very likely to just burn Greed and instead of destroying your opponent’s deck, you’re just giving your opponent 3 more cards.

My vote goes to Nature's Blessing, because i really missed Mill Druid. I hope Blizzard next releases will bring some new card for Mill decks especially druids.

Sorry I am not an English native speaker. I just go with the similar form of "gnomish experimenter".

Gnome=>Gnomish, Goblin=>Goblinish. That's why I name the card like this.