Time to come clean. I've been working on a custom set of cards, along with a story that's meant to explain why the characters in this set are corrupted. It all began in May of this year. I had heard that Blizzard had job openings and became curious. There was a job posted, one in the design department for Hearthstone. I had been developing cards for various custom card competitions, originally dabbling in creating really bad custom League of Legends custom cards. I knew I had been wanting to get a job working on video games, but didn't really have the resources or money to start on my own project, so I figured I'd attempt creating something rich, diverse, something interesting. What began as a simple desire to get a job doing something fun became something much larger, something much more important to me.
May 6th, 2017, I erected a thread, one that would host my set and showcase updates. While the set was slowly developing, I would host discussion on many of the cards and make appropriate edits. With many revisions and posts, I worked tirelessly on the set. Originally, I had intended on creating a 200 card set. When I had "completed" that first bulk amount, I realized I was still hungry to do more, and so, the expansion was increased by another 60 cards, along with a great many number of token cards. The logic was that I could create more for Aggro, including finally creating Murlocs for the set, something that had to be done if the set was going to feel inclusive to most every field of play. The benefit to creating more was that I would have 2 full expansions worth of cards.
One day, lightning would strike my project. It was July 1st, and I had wanted to check the Careers page to see what the application would look like if I were about to submit something. To my horror, the job posted for card design with Hearthstone had been taken down. I had been working for 2 months on a project that I couldn't send to them. Then, the new expansion theme was leaked before Blizzard made an announcement, an expansion that had me slightly in pieces, as I had created a Lich Queen Sylvanas for the set. It would be not long after that Spirit Lash (a new Priest spell) would be revealed, one that had closely identified in function with a Priest spell I created, prompting a revision to the card text.
Finally, on July 17th, I had finished the set, wrote 28 paragraphs of story, created an Arena blacklist for some cards that shouldn't appear in an Arena draft, explanations for each function that might appear confusing, and so much more. Since the announcement of the next time we'd see more from the set from Blizzard, I decided I would attempt making contact with Mike Donais, Ben Brode, and Blizzard's Career page at Twitter. I have tried to get in contact with someone, and was going to refrain from making a public post if I were able to email someone. Unfortunately, I have no way to email anyone, and none of my tweets have seen a response. I have since decided to make an immense Reddit post concerning my set and my goals with the set. I was told that the Devs keep something of a close eye on the Reddit Subforum for Hearthstone custom cards, and I wanted to make an official post before anything more was shown to us, as I need to keep from having any of my designs looking like copies of what exists in their new set.
I have worked very hard to produce one of the most diverse, lore-intensive sets around, one that looks to bring new, fresh ideas, including new mechanics (of course). My goals are many in number with this set:
1. I've kept all of the images I used to create the set, in case Blizzard wanted to offer employment of some sort to those whose art has been featured in the set. Each individual card partially serves as a Business Card for the artists that have helped make each individual card as attractive a piece I could make. 2. I have many friends, and many of them have children. I'm not fond of hoarding wealth, so when I have the opportunity, I intend on starting a number of College funds. I love my friends, and I want the best for them. 3. I want to help manage Hearthstone's community as best I can. Considering this is a set that was created by someone within the community, and because a number of you within the community had some good advice to give me on some of the balance changes needing made, I want to help keep the fire alive and talk directly with much of the community about important things that could prove useful in the honing of this amazing game.
Enough talk! It is time I released the set, officially. Behold, Azeroth Untold!
Story
Azeroth Untold - Prologue
The place was Azeroth, and the time was that of its Ordering. The planet was seeing drastic change, as a host of beings known as the Old Gods were wreaking havoc across the plane. Where there was darkness, suddenly there was light, as Aman'Thul, one of the mightiest of Titans, reached down from the sky, ripping Y'Shaarj from the planet's surface. Aman'Thul, realizing what had been wrought upon Azeroth, worked with his titanic brethren, seeking to imprison the remaining Old Gods below the surface, while working above the surface to terraform the land as they see fit. What they had not accounted for however was the initial contact with Y'Shaarj by Aman'Thul.
When Aman'Thul had made contact with the Old God all those years ago, a residual amount of the Old God had latched itself to Aman'Thul's skin, bringing part of the Old God back with him when he left Azeroth's atmosphere. Since that time, the remnants of the Old God festered within Aman'Thul, studying ancient knowledge as time flowed. The remnants of Y'Shaarj, in this time, found a way to survey and keep watch on the plane below, with Y'Shaarj learning all he could while occupying Aman'Thul. While the remnants of Y'Shaarj festered, a secret floated its way into Y'Shaarj's knowledge, that the Titans were holding communion with mortals outside of this reality. This communion was the source of all direction that Azeroth's history would take. These mortals would be referred to as The Great Writers in the Sky, for they were the source of all creation that has ever taken place in the whole of Azeroth. These Great Writers were currently charged with writing the next few hundred years of Azeroth's history. Y'Shaarj knew that if he were to have any hope of coming back to Azeroth in one form or another, he would need to bide his time and use knowledge of the Great Writer's plans to better coordinate his next move.
When Aman'Thul was slain, the height of Y'Shaarj's presence within Aman'Thul was at its highest, with Aman'Thul and Y'Shaarj's power joining as one, as Aman'Thul was no longer a vessel, but a fragment of something that once was, as was Y'Shaarj's presence at the time. While Y'Shaarj became stronger, Aman'Thul became more subservient towards Y'Shaarj's goals, willing absolute and total corruption of the stories to come for many a lifetime. After Aman'Thul's destruction, the Titan's soul was about lost, until a close friend to the Titan created a spell, one that would save Aman'Thul and Y'Shaarj in their time of need. After some time, the two souls found their way to Azeroth, entering the body of one of Aman'Thul's servants, Highkeeper Ra. Unaware of the Old God's tampering, Highkeeper Ra was honored to have Aman'Thul's presence.
After hardly a moment with Aman'Thul's presence, however, the Old God started seeping into Ra's mind, taking notes and leaving imprints, rendering corruption of Ra's mind ensured. Because the Old God had knowledge of Lei Shen's sudden appearance in the coming years, Ra would wait and surrender some of Aman'Thul's power to Lei Shen, as a total corruption of the mighty warrior would ensure a near total administering of a corrupted storyline. Upon Lei Shen making his arrival, Ra did as was instructed of him, helping Lei Shen ascend to power. Lei Shen did not understand, but understood that he was meant to have this power, as it was written that Lei Shen become leader to a great civilization, even being shown his own defeat. And so, Ra found a seat among Lei Shen's most trusted, serving as Advisor.
As Y'Shaarj was coming closer to having complete and total control over Lei Shen, plotting to convert the Mogu Empire into the Black Empire, Aman'Thul attempted to resonate within the two great beings. His tortured soul began to crackle, attempting to speak to Lei Shen and Ra. "You mustn't continue... things are not as they seem..." The Titan's words fell on deaf ears with Ra, while Lei Shen began to have doubts, becoming conflicted. The empire that Lei Shen had established had started to feel less like his own as he pondered. While Lei Shen contemplated on all that had happened since meeting Ra, how strange it was that everything was just handed to him, Ra was beginning preparation of the Mogu Empire. As though Lei Shen could taste the air of his city, he realised that he must correct his relationship with Ra the only way possible. With Aman'Thul's power at his disposal, he began gathering energy, enough to hopefully open a portal, one that would take him to a time before absorbing Aman'Thul's power.
While Ra was making preparations that would help convert an entire empire, Y'Shaarj made communication with Ra, warning him of Lei Shen's plans. As this was dire enough of a problem, Ra abandoned everything and made his way to Lei Shen to stop him. As Ra found his way to Lei Shen, Ra's presence was felt, with both taking to a defensive stance. They both stood in silence, as they knew only one of them was leaving that field alive. As weapons left their resting place, with both Lei Shen and Ra ready to kill one another, the struggle of two became the struggle of four, as Aman'Thul and Y'Shaarj became fully realized forces. It wasn't long before the four began their clash. Chaotic energies leapt from Ra and Lei Shen as they fought, with the planet shaking violently. The struggle became so immense, the world's surface began to crack. And with a single swing from both mighty combatants, they had slewn one another, causing a devastating shockwave of energy to spread Y'Shaarj's dark magic over the whole of the planet, influencing a corrupted version of Azeroth's history to become a reality. With this mighty destruction of Ra and Lei Shen, the planet became cracked, with an immense force beginning to rise. Its presence was that of pure darkness. Azeroth, they called her, as she is the first and only child of the planet of Azeroth. With her sudden emergence from the planet being a rude and angry one, she fled the planet, becoming the new Watcher of the planet.
During this new age of rule under Azeroth, the Titan began to curse the planet. The universe, as a result of Azeroth's will, began to "shift" its contents, wiping out the memory of many people on the planet. Magical energies began changing as well, shifting, swapping existence with non-existence at a random rate. Whole races of people and creatures were either changed or entirely forgotten. The darkness of Azeroth would soon lift, but what would come of it would be dramatic, drastic in change. Because Azeroth knew only slumber, pain, and darkness, the will of Y'Shaarj's vision had influenced her mind to do exactly what was instructed of the story. With a freshly altered planet, Y'Shaarj's will of the world would come about, as characters that existed once before hadn't become notable or important yet. Y'Shaarj, however, did not factor Aman'Thul's true power as a guiding light. Because of this, the world known as Azeroth would have some hope, as Aman'Thul had dispersed power as best he could in the same way Y'Shaarj had, hoping to hold the darkness back and attempt balancing the world's karmic energies.
And with this, a new Azeroth was founded. This is the untold story of Azeroth. Be careful, dear onlooker, as nothing is what it seems. Tread cautiously... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -Chapter 1: Aftermath of Lei Shen and Ra's conflict- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It all began, with the corruption of Azeroth. Many allegiances fell to pieces, with the world over bearing witness to drastic change. As a result of the changes to the world, new relationships forged, old ones being broken, and a war breaking out, between newcomers to Azeroth and many of the already existing inhabitants. Referred to by a number of people as barbaric, these newcomers would see the world shaken up as a result of their sudden appearance. Planted by the Great Writers in the Sky, in an attempt to push a new set of conflicts, the Men and Women of Clan Battleground would have their way, even if they had to kill innocent people. Created by Y'Shaarj's spirit, powered by the motives of the Great Writers, they would become quite powerful in a short amount of time, but will they overcome Azeroth's army of defenders, the Hozen?
As with every new force of invaders, Clan Battleground was not ready for, nor expecting the alliance forged by many of Azeroth's strongest. Led by Chen Stormstout, Gul'dan, and Aya Blackpaw, the resistance led by these three would have their army fed to them by many talented warriors within the Hozen. The Hozen, being many in number and quite talented in the martial arts, would band together, in hopes they could push back against the invasion of Clan Battleground. Acting with the power that is Aman'Thul, the Hozen would stand firm, as this was their newest and most arduous of challenges. With Azeroth being as large and challenged at the time, the Hozen would engage in a war with Clan Battleground that would last for a time.
With the land being almost wholly consumed by violence, many an armorsmith would emerge to sell their work. As this was their way of making proper use of an industry involved almost primarily in the war effort, both the price and quality of armor would increase. Many of these armors saw enchantments of all sorts, to help entice the correct buyer. Weapons, however, were plentiful, and production of a good weapon was a scarce idea, as there were many weapons being re-used, with a whopping 95% of weapons being pulled off of battlefields littered with the dead. With this sharing of weapons came many markets. Markets were notorious for hiring mercenaries of all sorts, as there were taverns not far from any one of these markets. With the near absence of magic creatures, rumors were circulating at an almost whisper's intensity of the existence of a truly black market, a black market that can be found when entering one of the many portals that have been opening unexpectedly around Azeroth. These portals began appearing around the plane sometime after Lei Shen attempted opening a portal shortly before the Great Corruption had taken hold, and while the influence these portals have had on the land feels only slight, taking a closer look at the situation helps tell a different story...
While many of these portals have been explored, few people have returned. Those that have returned either find themselves blessed with great power and knowledge, or bring grave news of the future, shortly followed by being cursed with madness as punishment by the planet's Watcher for bringing news of the end. Because the portals have a tendency to close violently, given their unstable nature, many have lost their lives, while many creatures have crept out. It is believed that the many unrecognizable creatures that enter Azeroth from the portals are a direct result of people going in and never coming out, that those lost to the portal are reborn and emerge as something different. What is certain is the nature of those having returned unrecognizable. They are called the Nameless. As the Faceless are rumored to have been almost entirely altered, possibly lost to the corruption, or wiped from the memory of Azeroth, the Nameless emerge from these unstable portals, with their true calling being the field of battle, as there have been countless reports of unknown entities making their way to encampments, demanding a place among the camp's ranks.
Some of these portals, however, are being used by a group known as the Black Empire. With the area still rife with corruption, N'Zoth, who is now a human, plays Empress to the Black Empire. Considering Y'Shaarj's impact on the new Azeroth, N'Zoth's become quite powerful, as she held daily communion with Demons while still quite young. She commands an immense fleet of pirates, varied in caliber and ferocity, all ready and waiting to help kill the competition. As the ships used by the Black Empire are sentient demonic beings, she commands the mightiest of Naval forces, securing the seas, allowing her empire to sail on with little to no issue. In this time, she has solidified many a trade route agreement, supplied both sides of the war effort, and helped orchestrate a ritual that's meant to help bring Edwin VanCleef from the dead to assist her. It is not known whether or not her attempts to bring Edwin back were successful, however. Through the power of harnessed "Portalmancing", she is able to bring items of dread through what has been referred to as the "Nightmare Portals", even using this power to get her ships through one door and out another. The Nightmare Portals themselves are unstable doorways of dark power that, when entered, bring about all manner of darkness to the visitor. As these openings can be used to visit the Black Empire, they are almost entirely made of Fel energies. These same Portals are a notorious danger, and not meant to be walked through. This, however, doesn't deter many, as rumors of power have been circulated enough through the land, warnings of peril have almost entirely been ignored in pursuit of endless power.
Of the few who were instrumental in helping N'Zoth become Empress, it was C'Thun who helped establish the Empress' place within the Empire. The spiteful and calculating heir to Uldum had made contact with the Empress some time before lending aid to those attempting to bring Edwin back from the dead. At the time, N'Zoth needed desperately to get through a blockade, a blockade owned by the Ramkahen. It was a potential trade route that had meant a lot to the Black Empire. It was because of this exchange that C'Thun realized her destiny, for she would find Uldum's salvation in this relationship, striking a deal with the Empress and her company. The current state of Uldum was that of mass oppression. The Ramkahen had promised the city of Uldum safety from destructive forces, so long as they're installed as the new leaders of Uldum. The paralyzing hold the Ramkahen had was that of a Titan's grip. As Uldum's current leadership were incapable pushovers, having become a city nearly enslaved by outside entities, C'Thun took to demanding the current leadership establish the trade route and remove the Ramkahen with the help of the Empress. When denied, C'Thun merely took up a blade, angrily driving it through all that stood in her way of the throne, stabbing, slicing, eviscerating ever so passionately, rightfully taking the throne for herself. She wanted her home back, angrily shouting "THIS LAND WILL SEE THE RAMKAHEN AS ENDANGERED. BY THE BLACK EMPIRE, I COMMAND A WAVE OF DEATH UPON THE RAMKAHEN. NOW IS THE TIME!" With C'Thun at Uldum's helm and assistance promised by the Empress, she would deliver the lands back to the people. With this began a small war, one that would not last long, as the Empress' vast numbers eventually overtook the Ramkahen. After the dust had settled, Uldum and the Black Empire would become allied, as much of the Black Empire would now call Uldum home.
As the need for mortals fighting their own fights is instrumental to the plot set in motion, a new concept was presented to Azeroth. "If the state of our world is a direct result of magical energies at work, would having Elemental beings alive be a good idea?" Soon thereafter, fear of the unknown set in, as cultists, participants of rituals and ceremonies, and the Elemental lords themselves were all placed on watchlists, with many of these groups being hunted to feed the hunger of those who believe magic to be the root of the problem. A direct result of this witch hunt had Al-Akir attacked by several thousand, pushing his existence to mere memory and secret worship, while Ragnaros had seen an assault from a sizeable force as well, resulting in an eternal dousing of his mighty flames, a magical seal being placed, and shackling of the Elemental Lord, leaving him as a display for all to see in the Swamp of Sorrows. After the assault on Ragnaros, Therazane had been communicating with the planet as the second of her brethren came under attack, taking on a human form until the time was right. Since then, no one has seen Neptulon. With his whereabout being currently unknown, no one knows for sure if he even exists anymore.
In this dark period of Azeroth's current reality, many mage cities had come under attack. Fueled by fear, as the Scourge look on in amazement and excitement, many mortals that had seen magic as the source of the problem had started becoming anxious, looking to hire many more Mage Hunters. As a result, the Scourge offered humanity a champion of their own, a Mage Killer named Jaina. She's one of the most grim and methodical of Mage Killers, as she had been taken from her family at a young age, having her trained and infused with Fel energies in the Twisting Nether, learning for many years the art of Mana Drain, an art that had become Forbidden before the Great Corruption. To the delight of many, she was brought to Azeroth, caught up in a tip that an important circle of Mages were gathering in Dalaran. This gathering included Antonidas, Tyrande and Velen, among others. Their meeting was of the utmost importance, as it had concerned not only the decaying state of the land, but also of the Kirin Tor's relocation to Dalaran, as the fear mongering tactics of mages being the source of all that had gone wrong with Azeroth were getting a lot of innocent people killed. Considering how it was expected of Dalaran to have visitors clamoring to get in, the Hozen were called upon to aid the city. Of the Hozen that came to Dalaran's aid, it was Gul'dan, a General to the Hozen, alongside Kargath, someone who had helped establish the Hozen as a fighting force, with Gul'dan being brought to task specifically due to his understanding of Demons.
While forces gathered outside the city's walls, Gul'dan began communication with one of Jaina's Lieutenants, who had informed Jaina of a way to get inside the city. In an attempt to draw out the city's inhabitants, Jaina would command a total destruction of both Crystalsong Forest and the area around Dalaran, enacting an arcane hex that would take terraforming to an unspeakable level. The decaying state of the land after Jaina's tampering would erode the city after a period of time, forcing Dalaran to investigate. Unfortunately for Jaina, the Elves that guarded the forest were many in number, the same forest that had been marked for destruction. Lead and stationed by Vereesa Menethil, the Elves would stand guard against the likes of many a roaming Murloc and the occasional Battleground force. Fortunately, however, there existed the field report that detailed the defeat and imprisonment of the Lich Queen, Sylvanas. The report detailed the location of the Lich Queen, reading "As Sylvanas' forces dwindled, so they were pushed back by the might of Azeroth, forcing the Lich Queen to the mountains, where it was decided that she would forever remain imprisoned." With this, Jaina would leave a small group behind to keep watch. While Jaina traveled, word had been sent by Dalaran to many of the surrounding areas that led up to the Lich Queen's resting place. Of the many to receive a note, it was Garrosh who had been the first to act. As Garrosh had been an outsider to many groups, the many Nameless that were leaving from Portals had gathered among his presence, asking for great leadership they could fight behind. As Garrosh had been a fairly nameless individual, he felt great honor and pride from this, and gave support to Clan Battleground whenever a struggle was to be had. With his sizeable force, he had started his own tribe, one that would not take on a name of any sort, interestingly enough. Garrosh's pride, however, would not last long, for when he attempted intercepting Jaina and her group, the Nameless left Garrosh's service immediately, as they had sensed greater promise in her than they had in a nobody like Garrosh. To Jaina's surprise, she had doubled her own force, and made a fool of Garrosh simultaneously. "You simple worm. Heel!" With those words, Garrosh would be turned to dust, with Jaina trapping his soul in a longsword, for later use. As Jaina marched, the land became fearful, as her army numbered close to a thousand. All that stood in the way either perished or burned.
The last of Jaina's traveling challenges came in the form of the Defias Brotherhood. As the forest was of great interest to Vanessa VanCleef, the Brotherhood and the Black Empire, a swelling of numbers showed up to play. Jaina would smirk at this, and merely unleash on the opposition present. With Jaina's numbers being larger, and the failure to account for a force the size of Jaina's, the Defias would fall, but not so easily, as both sides would lose approximately 600 each. With none left standing in her path, she would make her way to the resting place of the Lich Queen. As Jaina's talent is draining magic, she would apply this anti-magic to the area, to discern the location in the mountainside and identify any magic that may have been installed to keep people away. After enough time, the Lich Queen would be located. Considering the time spent with the area, Jaina's abilities would have put defenders under at least a lesser slumber. Upon reaching the tomb, the many magical seals placed to keep the Lich Queen imprisoned would be removed. And with this, Sylvanas would appear before her adoring crowd of murderers. With the promise of Prince Menethil's location and the slaughter of Vereesa Menethil, considering the Menethil's were responsible for leading the fight against Sylvanas, Sylvanas would help overtake the forest, bringing almost certain death to the Elves with her. Armed with the blade that held Garrosh's soul, Sylvanas became a much deadlier force. And so, they left, barreling down the hill after the Elven encampment. As this force was returning to the forest, many who stood in their path were met with a swift end. What was not accounted for was Sylvanas wielding this new weapon, which had been claiming many a life, turning any who stood in their way into raised nightmares of flesh, all vying for the same end result.
As the smell of death became denser, Anduin of the Dalaran Priest Initiative would round up a sizeable group of Paladins, attempting to bolster the numbers of the Elves below. Vereesa, feeling the end coming sooner than anticipated, would agree to Anduin's force entering the forest, attempting to bolster the numbers below. With Jaina's force numbering three to Vereesa's one, the Elves would begin firing upon Jaina's approach. They would hold for a time, but would be pushed further back by the swelling smelling of rotting flesh. Unable to hold a viable defense against both the physical force and the wretched stench, the Elves found themselves falling to the ground, producing vomit and bile while their bodies seized. Witnessing this most ghastly of sights, Anduin, who was still only just in training, remained stiffened by horror, unable to conjure the proper spell to keep himself sane. With his mind having snapped, Anduin would flee the city, both unnoticed and screaming. With the haze of death still thick in the air, Vereesa would be unable to maintain her post, and attempted gathering as many of her people as possible to flee the besieged area. With news of having lost Vereesa to the wild, Sylvanas would turn on Jaina. Jaina would plead with the Lich Queen, but words would be powerless against Sylvanas, for Sylvanas had felt deceived. Sylvanas would hear none of it, and strike at Jaina. Infuriated, Sylvanas would leave Jaina lying in a pool of blood. The wind held Vereesa's scent still, something Sylvanas would pursue until the day one of the two would perish. With that, the Lich Queen would set off on her course of fate, leaving the forest behind.
With the state of the forest below being so chaotic, Antonidas and Velen would both imbue the land with much of their power, freezing the forest below in an immense ice block, one that would preserve the nature of the area below until more could be done. With this one selfless act, Antonidas and Velen would both suffer permanent damage to their bodies and minds, with Antonidas going blind, while Velen became mindless, resulting in an attack on the inhabitants of Dalaran. While the air still contained much of Y'Shaarj's corruption, when at his weakest, Velen would deal with Y'Shaarj seeping into his mind, blaming the approach of Jaina's forces on the people of Dalaran and the Kirin Tor. During this conflict between Velen and the city, Velen would fall, but would not die, as he would be exiled to an area that housed the shackled Ragnaros'. It was at this time that enough had happened to the land that Y'Shaarj would return in human form. As he had been an entity that preyed on the weakness of people, Azeroth, the planet's Watcher, would grant him a human form, as it was written by the Great Writers. However, because of Aman'Thul's influence on the land, he would serve as a doctor to those in dire need of help. Like a flash of lightning, Y'Shaarj was born again, a complete adult, planted not far from Dalaran. Because it was Y'Shaarj's essence on the wind that fed Azeroth the energy needed to have the Old God reimagined, he would maintain much of his old self, but have no prior knowledge of his involvement before the Great Corruption, nor would he be as powerful as before. With Anduin racing through the forest, scrambling to get away from the sights he bore witness to, the Doctor would take him in, having heard Anduin's screaming from nearly a mile away. With his housing of Anduin, the Doctor wondered if there were wounded characters of interest still among the horrid site. The Doctor found not only a forest encased in ice, but a pale individual, Jaina, who was just barely keeping herself alive. The Doctor would take Jaina in as well, as all those who were with her were no longer at her side. After some time with the Doctor, Jaina and Anduin would be unleashed to the world again, but as darker beings, going wherever they felt satisfied their mortal pleasures best.
In an ironic case, 12 great beings (Alexstrasza, Malygos, Nozdormu, Ysera, Archimonde, Kil'jaeden, Mannoroth, Sargeras, Freya, Mimiron, Thorim and Tyr) have been subject to individual Polymorph. As the Great Writers had wanted for Azeroth itself to struggle mostly on its own, it was willed that the powerful are kept out of the frame for the most part, and to have the land struggle with itself based primarily around the many great conflicts that mortals could engage without the help or presence of greater beings. The Dragons, Demons and Titanic Watchers/Keepers have all since become stray creatures. Fortunately, they're no longer wandering creatures in the wild, as these creatures have since been captured and/or housed. Collectors with a very particular eye have since taken to the creatures naturally. Some ended up owner to cats that were once Demons, some ended up with Dogs who were once known as Dragons, and the rest, being Murlocs, who were once mighty titanic beings, were either made to help the Hozen in the war effort, made to fight alongside Clan Battleground, or escaped to where they felt they were meant to be, in the wild, among other untamed species. Of these Murlocs was Tyre, once known as Tyr. Tyre would come to serve under Katrana Prestor, the new Queen of Azeroth. Prestor, who was once a Dragon herself, had been situated in quite the seat of power, as much of her notable life before the corruption involved tampering with the higher authority of the land. As is the theme, the corruption of the land plopped her at the highest seat of power, with Varian Wrynn being tossed into the wild, making good friends with the Horde, eventually becoming a Captain.
With Varian Wrynn having become one of the Horde's Captains, he has quite the storied past. From working alongside some of the Hozen's finest, including Kargath and Chen, to discovering many unusual Battleground constructs, referred to by some as forges. Before becoming a Captain, however, he worked closely with Thrall, the Horde's Captain at that time. Thrall was nothing but loyal to the Horde, always keeping the Horde's interests at heart first. With the introduction of a human, Thrall felt incapable of trusting the human, not to mention the acceptance of a human among the Horde's ranks felt taboo, as the relationship with the Trolls couldn't be compromised. While Y'Shaarj's essence still lingered on the air from the Great Corruption, a whisper crept into Thrall's ear, chilling him. He began questioning his place among the Horde. Feeling threatened from Varian's rise through the Horde's rank, Thrall ventured out in search of something that could make things right. With Vol'jin feeling curious, a detachment of scouts were sent, keeping on Thrall's trail. It was at this time that Thrall found himself approaching blackened sails. Thrall had done it. He had found himself in the midst of the Black Empire. It is here where Thrall would be welcomed into the company of the Black Empire, with Vol'jin's scouts quickly heading back to camp, as Vol'jin himself was serving the Legion as a spy. From Vol'jin's post, the news would travel to Tirion Fordring, a Captain with the Alliance that also happens to work with the Legion, a secret kept between few. With spies everywhere, it wasn't long before the Horde had gotten word back about Thrall's activities. With this sweeping wind of news having overtaken those who've been listening, Varian Wrynn would serve as the new Captain to the Horde, as Thrall's betrayal had him barred from ever coming back to the Horde. Thrall's barring from the Horde was deliberate, however, as Thrall knew exactly what would come of working with the Black Empire.
It was at this time that the land was razed by war. Thrall knew that acquiring a massive amount of power at the cost of his own person would give him the strength he needed to help end the war, as he had felt for the longest time that the Horde wasn't doing enough. The Horde had been a part of war for since the Horde's founding. He wanted the land to calm and for the sun to shine uninterrupted. With his aiding of one of the most prominent sides in the war, he could help push the land in a number of directions, helping Azeroth finally make up its mind in a world where only one side can win. With this, Thrall would make his way through a Nightmare Portal, where he would be imbued with much of the chaotic energies of the Black Empire. Before being sent back to Azeroth to begin work with the Black Empire, he would be tested in combat. Upon leaving the Nightmare Portal, he would be made to kill Varian Wrynn. If Thrall were to become one with anger, he would have to show he had no qualms with taking an innocent life. The result of that fight has yet to be given, as both are quite talented warriors, and we have yet to see such a battle between these two.
To maintain pace of this unusual nature that has beset the land, concerning the many Dragons that used to exist, Daval Prestor, also known before the corruption as Deathwing, sits without Dragon powers or a Dragon form. Daval's life was altered by the Great Writers in the Sky, having been brought into the world like every other mortal, in place of the original events that took place as a result of his involvement. At this time, he is feeling quite settled, working currently with dogs, among other creatures. The Great Writers had seen much pain and manipulation in his previous life as a feared dragon. Because of this, the Great Writers saw to it that he would eventually find himself aiding the war effort instead of being a great destructive force that could inspire war all on his own.
Yogg-Saron was seen by many as being one of the most powerful beings in Azerothian history, and the Writers didn't like how one of the final threats of mankind was practically established. This was seen as un-interactive with their plans, and so, the Great Writers sought to stay true to their plot, "nerfing" Yogg to something unrecognizable, which felt like the best approach that could be taken. To be turned into a young woman who, instead of working to corrupt poor Daval in the original story, will now be forced to work with him, as a dog groomer. This doesn't mean she only works with dogs, as many of Yogg's customers had more than dogs to toss her way. After some time however, Daval and Yogg would both work closely with Maiev, someone who was well versed with taming animals. With beasts of war being in demand, Daval, Maiev and Yogg would work together, outfitting many a force. Maiev, a Warden to many dark creatures in the original story, who was seen as something of an avenue left unexplored, had a new story written for her as well by the Great Writers. They took it upon themselves to dwell on thoughts of Maiev being someone experienced with wild animals, one who could take on a gentler life for once, taming and training animals for those with the coin to spend. With many understanding the cost of war, Daval, Yogg, and Maiev would begin working together, having cornered the industry, becoming quite wealthy as a result. With this, they have since become known as the Lord of Beasts.
With many at war, and with the many stories dying to be told, the fates of all those graced by the corruption in this alternate Azeroth will be determined in due time. From here, it is up to the reader to write the next chapter, for in this story, the destiny of many lies in the balance, and it's up to you to decide how the story plays out.
The Great Writers in the Sky (3/3) Story Cards (30/30) -------------------------------------------------- -Erratic Adoption's Stray Animal tokens- --------------------------------------------------
Auto-Cast: Cards with Auto-Cast are immediately cast when they're drawn or added to the hand. This does not cost mana, and ignores Battlecry and Combo effects.
Duality: Both players are affected by cards with Duality. Starcrossed Sorrow makes use of this by having both players discard the same number of cards from their hand. If both players were holding Ragnaros and N'Zoth, both players would discard those cards from their hand.
Might: The maximum attack of a minion. If a minion with Might 3 were to be targeted by Blessing of Kings, the attack of that minion would stop at 3 and wouldn't ever go beyond this number.
Intercept: Cards with Intercept are discarded when a condition is met, activating the card. I wanted to make it clear that you can't play it from hand for an effect, as the wording on the card isn't detailed to keep players from getting an effect for more than the first instance.
Bedrock: Cards with Bedrock will always remain at the bottom of the deck. Cards that get Bedrock from another source, when they are in the deck, if a player put a card with Bedrock in their deck before entering that match, their card will always have priority over cards getting Bedrock, as it was the original bottom card in the deck.
Edge: I wanted to make weapons that could be crazy, but not at the expense of needing a fix to the stats or cost of that card. With Trusty Javelin, I wanted to give Warrior a new finisher that could guarantee damage regardless of taunt, so I put a limit on the card's maximum damage. I needed to make more cards for aggro, as I had made a lot of control and midrange cards.
"Affected only by damage" is something else I decided I'd involve in this set. Cards with A.o.b.d. can't receive healing, can't receive attack or health buffs, can't be silenced, the only thing that affects these cards is damage. For example, Earth Shock would deliver 1 damage, but the silence would be ignored. I made this effect scarce, but plentiful at the same time, as enough of this set has this effect tacked on. Handbuffs are also instantly scrubbed from a minion when summoned to the board, and won't count towards a minions stats when cards like Snipe activate. Ranger Corps produces a total of 5 minions when you play it. They have this effect. Some players will want to play Devolve against Ranger Corps, but it won't work. The only thing that trumps this effect are effects that specifically state that a card's text is ignored. For example, Trap Hole is a secret that ignores card text and shuffles the summoned minion back into the owner's deck. A.o.b.d. does not ignore its own card effect, however. Some minions that have this effect also have Taunt, for example. The remains with the card, as it's part of the card's design.
"Deals its damage before X/Y/Z": Some minions deal their damage before attackers, some minions deal their damage first when attacking, and some just always deal their damage first. Minions that "ALWAYS" deal their damage first:
1. When attacking minions that deal their damage first to attackers, the defending minion deals their damage first if the defending minion has more attack.
2. When defending against attacking minions that deal their damage first, the attacker deals their damage first if they have more attack.
The above two function rules should serve as reference for conflict between minions that deal their damage first based on attacking and defending. Short version: bigger number always win.
Cards that "add a random Portal spell" to a person's hand or deck concern only Classic, Nightmare, and Wondrous Portals. This is to generate use of the portals and tokens made for the set, and also to keep from having the pool of different portals being too large.
Cards that are "considered text-less" have that effect for when you play Alchemical Tampering. Alchemical Tampering affects cards that have no card text, so cards that are considered text-less are affected as well.
Clarifications on Card Functionality, the Arena Blacklist and Miscellaneous Details
Tri-Class cards.
I wanted to make Tri-Class cards for this set, due in part to the story's theme being infection/corruption. This set is corrupting everything, including other Hearthstone sets. I wanted to implement a sort of cross contamination, so one of each class from the Kabal, Grimy Goons, and Jade Lotus, are each cleverly mixed in with each other.
Band of Adventurers (Mage, Warrior, and Shaman) The Warring Keepers (Warlock, Paladin, and Druid) The Drifting Shade (Rogue, Priest, and Hunter)
The Band of Adventurers are your traditional meta group of adventurers that travel together. The Mage, with potent spells, the Warrior, with sword and shield at the ready, and the Shaman, herbalism, magic, and healing, all rarin' to go, this is the sort of group you see running through dark dungeons, forests, all hoping to cash in on some rare loot after a tough kill.
The Warring Keepers are those responsible for holding good and evil in check, as well as preserving the land wherever necessary. With the Warlock's dark and deadly magic, the Paladin's dedication to holding evil at bay, and Druid's adverse nature concerning corruption, the Warring Keepers are all things concerning both the high and low end of balance throughout the land.
The Drifting Shade are the finest killers, tricksters, bards, gamblers and thieves across the land. This nightmare composition features deathly Rogues, demented Priests, and ruthless Hunters. Sure, they might be capable of healin' ya, but at what cost are you willing to pay for it? ---------------------------- -Card Clarifications- ---------------------------- Each Ranger Corps minion has to die for the summon effect to stop triggering. These minions do not benefit from Crystal Core, can't be returned to the hand, silenced, transformed, buffed, healed, or destroyed with destroy effects. Only damage affects the Ranger Corps.
Dalaran Traitor can die to his own effect. This doesn't negate the summon that occurs last.
Tavern Cheat's Combo draws a card after your hand is replaced.
Silver Hand Interrogator does not Discover a Secret if she dies to damage from attacking a minion, as the theme sees her needing to be able to report her findings after interrogating a target.
Traveling Artisan being able to Discover a card that restores health includes both minions and spells.
Hozen Hound does not keep any buffs/effects applied when returned to the hand.
Trusty Javelin is a card meant to be paired with Heroic Strike. It's a finishing move, as you can ignore Taunt minions when attacking with the Javelin. All Durability is consumed because this is a throwing weapon, meaning you lose the weapon regardless of its total durability.
Black Empire Warship gives Pirates based on your opponent's total mana left from their last turn because it's a vessel for plunder and other such things. The ship was possessed and has since become sentient.
Ra-Den's fist will always have 1 Durability specifically because I want it easy enough to remove with cards that do damage to a weapon's durability. Attacking a minion with this weapon whenever you can will never exhaust the weapon's durability, as you're getting Durability from starting an attack.
Alchemical Tampering can stack. A second cast of the spell increases the spell damage by 1 and changes the Adapt effect to act like Volcanosaur, where a second adapt takes place after the first.
Sister of Restraint's effect is not until the end of the turn, but until the first cast of (for example) Lightning Storm. SoR only removes the Overload for a card that specifically reads that it deals damage to minions. Cards like Lava Burst are not covered by SoR.
Earthen Warden can summon Basic Totems that are already in play.
Velen, Mindless Hermit displays a colorless secret whenever you play a card, and display that colorless secret in the history bar for your opponent, so they can't look there to see what's going on. Animations will still play like normal for spells, but playing a minion with Stealth, Battlecry and/or Combo sees no activation of the Stealth, Battlecry and Combo effects of those minions, as a Faceless Target will instead summon. Aura effects like Dire Wolf Alpha are also ignored, as the minion you're summoning has its own effect. Whenever an enemy damages or attacks a Faceless Target, the FT will transform into the minion played to summon that target. Works best with Deathrattle, Poisonous, and minions that require taking damage to do anything. The FT's effect activates once an action taken against the target is made. For instance, a FT that's masking a Poisonous minion will become the Poisonous minion once a minion is used to attack the FT, making the target a Poisonous one, killing the minion that was used to attack the FT. Super weak to Silence and cards like Deathwing that read "Destroy". Also, if a FT is issuing an attack against a minion with at least 1 attack, the FT does not transform, and dies as a 1/1. Lastly, returning FTs to the hand erases minion data that would usually summon the minion played to spawn the FT, so Vanish versus a full board of FT sees those FT as 0 mana 1/1 Wisps, basically.
General Shaohao does not refund mana when he returns a minion to your opponent's hand.
Attacking with Shado-Pan Fang will activate cards like Eviscerate, so you're not having to play anything before Eviscerate for the bonus damage.
Anara, of the Faceless, even when she's not alive any longer, your Faceless Target minions will always have Taunt, so that the FT aren't completely ignored anymore.
Illusion of Fortune was hard to balance and write in general. The most recent version of IoF would give two coins to your opponent. Versions I had in mind that felt questionable saw an increase in the number of mana crystals destroyed, a decrease to one coin, and even a 3 mana version. As of writing this, I recently settled on the version we have now, 4 mana, destroy a mana crystal, give a coin, and the draw from the combo.
Fog of War was written the way it is to help with the Rogue quest "Defias Scheme".
Promise of Death's setting a Hero's health to 0 can't be interrupted or prevented by anything, as PoD isn't dealing damage to a character.
Frontline Kodo doesn't return minions to a player's hand if FK did enough damage to the minion to destroy it.
Stalker Armor destroys Secrets before they can activate when attacking. This means Ice Block won't activate unless the destroyed Secret was not a currently active Ice Block.
Elven Outpost triggers when an enemy attack is issued, and doesn't cost Durability or activate if you have no Elves in play.
Scouting Operation gives your opponent a Choose One spell that lets them summon Scout's Friend, or restore health. The restore health part of the card is your opponent eating the bird, or giving one of their minions a meal.
Small Campfire doesn't restore Health until the end of your turn, and your Hero will still receive Stealth at the end of the turn, regardless of if you attacked with a weapon that turn or not.
Moonwell helps both players. If Moonwell is destroyed before your turn begins again, you do not get to use the unused mana from your previous turn.
Starcrossed Sorrow, as explained previously, will discard cards from both player's hand. If both players are holding a Reno Jackson and a Sylvanas Windrunner, both players discard those cards, only because those cards share a name with cards in each player's hand. Both players will discard the same number of cards every time, and only discarding duplicates of cards if both players have duplicates of those same cards.
Failed Terraforming costs 4 mana, only because playing one makes the first card played during your opponent's turn cost 4 more. So playing two in the same turn costs 8 mana, and forces your opponent to pay 8 mana extra for the first card they play during their turn.
Cenarius' Observance, Corrupted Construct and Miracle Find are all part of a recycling archetype. Of all the classes, Druid should be capable of sustaining throughout the match best, as Druid is representative of nature. Jade Idol is also part of this recycling idea, as you can continually push out resources and generate continual pressure while playing this set of cards.
Tundra Wolf dies if it takes more damage than it has health when it attacks and kills a minion. It's written this way to avoid the card being over the top.
Fel-Fist can stack attack that it gets from its Inspire effect.
Jaina, Scourge Archmage only applies the negative Spell Damage while it's alive.
Anduin, the Mad Prince lets both players (not just one) make use of his effect. Take care when using him with Deathwing. He might destroy every minion on the board when he dies, but he also discards the hand of whoever owns him at the time.
Azeroth, Slaver can be pulled from the deck by Deathlord, immediately ending her life drain passive. Look to getting the Nightmare card "Visions of the End" against an opponent with Azeroth in their deck, as VotE will replace your deck with Azeroth, triggering her effect once for each copy of the card you have in your deck. The match lasts maybe two or three more turns after playing VotE against Azeroth. Also, Azeroth doesn't damage a player unless they're undamaged at the time. AS only reduces the maximum, meaning if you're at 27 health, and your current maximum is above 27, AS only just lowers the ceiling, so you won't take damage unless you're at full health. Considering this isn't actual damage, AS takes from your health total, bypassing armor.
Fel Field forces minions to attack in a random order (in two different instances, you could have the same minions, and the attack order would be different each time), taking turns (side A/B attacks first, then the other side is issued attack orders), with the caster's minions attacking them before their opponent. Fel Field can't be played if the caster attacked with any of their minions already, and the caster's minions can't be used to attack enemy characters (that turn only, of course). The first player to hit 0 life loses in the event of a draw.
Corrupted Knowledge can have its discard effect covered by Protective Greed.
Protective Greed and cards with Intercept were all written the way they were so that you're spending a card at a time, and the way it's written also keeps from Deathwing having most of its discard effect ignored. Protective Greed only covers Fel Daredevil if FD only discards 1 card.
Antonidas, Blind Pyro can kill himself with his own effect.
Presence of Al-Akir removes the cast spells from your hand when they are selected for casting. If one of Yogg's Hair Potions cast Presence of Al-Akir, PoA will cast spells from your hand for you.
Greater Ice Block freezes heroes as well as minions. Render Vulnerable is one of the only cards currently that can unfreeze heroes.
Wise Wielder also gains the negative Spell Damage from Jaina, Scourge Archmage.
Power Shot's damage changes based on the total damage of the previous turn.
Infiltration's increasing a card's cost can carry over if a card wasn't played after the Inspire effect. It's meant to simulate mental strain. (This is text relating to the original version. This text is being kept here in case the original is valued over the revision.)
Shadowsight Warden implements a board wide Silence effect that views cards as text-less (cards like Edwin VanCleef keep their stats, but only if the stats aren't dependent upon something else, for instance Lightspawn would have 0 attack, but Galvadon would retain stats, as Galvadon's statline isn't dependent upon its health total to stay relevant), but only during the turn of the player currently in control of a SW. This could be written to ignore Secrets, but that's likely a bit too strong, not to mention it wouldn't make sense, as Secrets are played during one turn, while SW affects turns outside of the initial casting of said Secret(s). I write that SW affects cards, not just minions, because of the Intercept mechanic I created with this set.
Lich Queen Sylvanas was written so it doesn't get out of control with N'Zoth and any copy effects, as the effect is extremely powerful. Because she summons at the start of your next turn, you're unable to attack with her until after she's been on the board for a full turn. Also, while LQS is dead, before she summons to the board again, if another is played, the LQS that's currently deceased will not summon. LQS can't trigger Mirror Entity, as only one can be in play at a time.
Shadowsight Acolyte affects your Shadow Word cards, meaning Shadow Word: Horror can be used to clear boards of low health minions. This was originally a tool for single target SW cards. I changed it to include SW:H, as creating a card that only works with two cards and not three feels too restrictive.
Grasp of Madness can be used to give Doomsayer to your opponent.
Best Kept Secret will instantly cast cards that have Auto-Cast, with targets being chosen randomly.
Algalon's Observance will do the same thing as Best Kept Secret if the cards gained have Auto-Cast. Any other cards in this set that add cards to your hand follow this same rule.
Clever Stowaway does not swap hands infinitely. If a player picks CS when their opponent has one in hand, a swap will occur only once, as the CS that was Discovered has already swapped hands once.
Nikolas Mage can only give Classic, Nightmare and Wondrous Portals, but can be activated by any spell with the word "Portal" in its name.
Gul'Dan, Hozen General's effect that makes Hozen minions Demons only affects the board. The effect would be a bit too strong if it included Hozen minions in the hand and deck.
Kibler Elf summons two unique tokens that are not copies of any of the KE that are summoned as a result of playing KE from hand.
Maiev, Animal Tamer's effect does not replace the effect of the copied minion, and does not count as giving a minion card text.
Prince Menethil's Hero Damage ability affects both players, not just one.
Chen, Hozen Pride deals 0 damage when attacking minions, and takes no damage when attacking. His damage is instead replaced with a return function, rather than damage.
Aya, Hozen Empress can Discover herself, but Aya will instead be added to your hand, rather than summoned to the board.
Dog Groomer Yogg can spawn a 2 mana Hair Potion that gives 10 mana crystals for the turn you cast it. Because there are four Hair Potion, the 2 mana potion has a fixed 1% chance of being added to your hand. DGY used to refresh your Hero Power with her Inspire effect. As previously mentioned, one of the potions gives two random Portal spells to your hand. The Portals available through this spell are Classic, Nightmare and Wondrous Portals. Another of DGY's potions cast the spells your opponent played last turn. If both players are playing this potion back and forth somehow, this can stack effects from each potion cast since the first/start of the chain.
Orphanage in the Hills would have "Affected only by damage" but that would make it impossible to give it Taunt.
Y'Shaarj, Heart Surgeon will function the same as Yogg-Saron and cease activating effects when something happens to him. If multiple friendly YHS have been summoned, playing YHS will cast all of the effects that the previous YHS cast this game. For example, if I played N'Zoth and Yogg-Saron this game, YSH will cast their effects. Then, if I play another, YHS will cast N'Zoth and Yogg's effect again, and then cast the effects cast by the previous YHS. This can stack as many times as the game can handle. Implementing limits could be good, but so far, this is the current power level. If a friendly C'Thun was summoned this game, YHS will deal his current attack, which defaults at 4.
Battleground Blitzer only gains Charge after destroying a Battleground minion. Otherwise it's a 3 mana 2/4.
War Giant was made a 5 mana card to stabilize the RNG that comes with spawning a random 5 cost card, as Bomb Squad feels out of place with Sylvanas out of Standard.
Unstable Ice Pillar can kill friendly minions.
Southsea Fencer can ignore individual Arcane Missiles, individual C'Thun and Flamewaker damage points, Misdirection targeting, any damage that comes to SF can be ignored. The exception to this is cards like Earth Shock, where Silence comes before the damage.
Disposable Rogue can shuffle a copy of itself once into each deck, or twice for a player. This is being noted here, as the wording appears confusing to some.
Kragg's Raider and cards like it that can occupy a deck more than twice when building a deck are meant to serve as vehicles for Alchemical Tampering and cards like it, as many have been curious about cards synergizing with cards that have no text. The purpose of putting up to X copies of cards like KR into a deck is solely up to the player.
Contract Scammer's Deathrattle can be stolen by ownership effects (Mind Control, Sylvanas, etc) hence why he has a tendency to scam people who pay for his time and effort.
Kirin Tor Refugee refers to the previous rule about a fixed pool of Portals that she can add to the hands of players.
Nameless Horseman is drawn in place of your normal draw when you reach your seventh turn. This is being noted here, as some may find this confusing.
Hozen Field Archer can be used to remove a minion's Stealth, as characters lose Stealth when they deal damage. Because minions deal damage to each other when they attack one another, HFA serves this purpose well.
Battleground Mystic's effect of drawing a Discovered minion can't be prevented by shuffle effects.
Bluegill Brute requires three instances of damage to kill it. The "Affected only by damage" effect prevents buffs, healing, and otherwise from keeping him around longer.
Vicious Prowler requires being alive to make use of its effect. If it does not have at least 1 health after attacking a minion, it dies. I would make its health 3 or 4, but the health gain from its effect would likely put it over the top. Having it somewhat easy to kill (even at turn 3/4) is important, as it could eventually stick around for longer than it probably should.
The Great Writers in the Sky can only be spawned by a few cards that exist in the pool of cards you have access to through the Portal spells made for this set. The Great Writers are 3 in total, and are not minions. They take up 1 of 7 spots on the board. This is relevant, as Great and Rude Argument spawn a Great Writer on one of the two sides of the board. Fire at the Office is the only card that removes them from play. The Great Writers are tasked with filling decks, hands, and the board with tons of action. The three individual Greats are celebrations of Writers, Editors, and Artists, and can't be harmed by minions or (most of the) spells.
Black Empire Peddler lets a player Discover a weapon from a pool of six total weapons. Each weapon costs 2 mana, with weapons ranging from the wand to the bow. The weapons were carefully picked and designed based on what each class in WoW can actually use, so there's something for everyone.
Marketplace will always include Marketplace among the options, regardless of how many cards have been Discovered that game, as no one should have to leave the Marketplace just because they can't find it or see it while they're there.
Wondrous Delirium adds two total copies of the card you Discovered to your hand, and one copy total to your opponent's hand.
Quickening stops working when a deck is out of cards, as there is no deck left to draw a second card from. Hero Powers are not returned when Quickening ends.
Spirit Companion strips your minions of Taunt when they are summoned. You can still summon Taunt minions. They just won't have Taunt anymore. Because you can't be targeted while SC is in play, your Hero can't be healed or damaged by anything that requires targeting to play. Affected only by damage can be ignored by Shadowsight Warden and cards that specifically state that card text is ignored.
Raiding Party adds copies of cards in your hand to your hand and reduces the cost of the copies by 1. If a player has 6 or more cards in their hand when they cast this spell, cards are copied from left to right.
Encounter in the Woods replaces currently equipped weapons.
Adventurer's Sword has more attack than the Adventurer's Axe because the sword requires minions to be injured to upgrade the weapon through the weapon's effect.
Adventurer's Hammer only prevents damage taken when attacking a friendly minion with the hammer.
Adventurer's Wand can simulate a tennis match when both players have the Wand equipped.
Companionship adds 1 of 12 Stray Animals to your hand. The SAs cost 3 mana each.
Windstorm can target the same minion three times.
Erratic Adoption adds the Stray Animals to your hand before the Lord of Beasts is added. The three Lord of Beasts are Dog Trainer Daval, Dog Groomer Yogg, and Maiev, Animal Tamer.
Unmarked Dungeon summons a Dragon. The Dragon has "Affected only by damage" included in its card text, but not on UD because the Dragon is supposed to be like an encounter in a dungeon. You don't know what to expect. Flavor aside, I wanted to make sure the reward for killing the Dragon was guaranteed and not Silenced away by your opponent, as the Deathrattle can be quite powerful.
Nightmare Portal reads that cards without the Nightmare tag see a cost reduction. This is directly referring to cards you can Discover from the Nightmare Portal, not cards in a player's hand, deck, or on the battlefield.
Champion of the Sha is the only minion that has Auto-Cast. I'm writing here about CotS having this ability because I want to make it clear that it's considered a summon and not an actual cast, meaning Secrets like Snipe are ignored when CotS is summoned to the board.
Harrowing Sight works the same as cards like Molten Blade. The longer you're holding the card, the more change you'll see, pending of course on what is in your opponent's hand.
PANIC! puts as many Secrets into play, up to 7. If a player has Secrets in play already, PANIC! only just adds to the sum, and doesn't replace what's currently in play.
Visions of the End, as stated before, can end the game within 2-3 turns if Azeroth, Slaver (Warlock Legendary) is the bottom card of your opponent's deck, as a deck full of AS will deal an immense amount of damage, randomly split between each player.
Innocent Hunger states that it takes health from a random enemy. Taking health from a target is not considered damage when a minion is selected by the card. If the spell chooses your opponent, it can trigger Ice Block. Lastly, IH raises your maximum health (on top of restoring health at the same time), and is not influenced by cards like Prophet Velen, as the card is not considered a damage or healing spell.
Twist the Mind replaces card text with "Discover a Nightmare" (this affects both players) and reverts all cards in each player's hand back to their original state when your next turn begins. Spells will read "Discover a Nightmare" and minions will read "Battlecry: Discover a Nightmare". Minions that don't have text will also receive "Battlecry: Discover a Nightmare". Minions that have "Affected only by damage" will ignore Twist the Mind and summon without "Battlecry: Discover a Nightmare".
Hydra isn't that scary. Deal 4 damage to it twice and it dies. Just wanted to make a note of that here in case the card is seen as imbalanced.
Winds of Change summons the copy first, then activates any summon effects (Battlecry, Combo, etc). This is to avoid Deathwing destroying everything and then supplying the player with 24 damage.
Summoned Warden's "Affected only by damage" doesn't affect the stat improvement, or SW's Taunt. As previously mentioned, A.o.b.d. doesn't disable what's written on the card already by default, or A.o.b.d. would make a card "unaffected by" its own "unaffected by" effect. Cards with A.o.b.d. aren't affected by Handbuff cards, but they are affected by their own card's text. The difference is one was written to have effects when played, while the other (handbuff) is adding to something that actively negates exterior meddling. Also, while SW can choose a minion type (kind of), the card is improved by having more enemies of that type in play. If a Hero has transformed to Ragnaros, Discovering Elementals takes Rag into account. Same deal with Jaraxxus, as Jaraxxus is a Demon.
Painful Passion instantly gives lethal against a player with Spirit Companion in play. If you're fast enough to attack Spirit Companion enough times to kill your opponent, then sure, you have lethal. --------------------- Arena Blacklist - A list of cards that are unavailable in Arena:
(*Probably best to keep from putting in a format like the Arena draft, as some of these cards could be unnecessary in that format and not work as well, and/or were specifically designed for Constructed play.)
============= =Class Cards= ============= Ranger Corps *Readied Ra-Den's Fist Empowered Spirit Alchemical Tampering Sister of Restraint Power of Limitation Lotus in Bloom *Rooted Corruption Defias Scheme Velen, Mindless Hermit General Shaohao Anara, of the Faceless *Loose Grip Vol'jin, Legion Spy Legion Captain Tirion Blinding Light *Silver Hand Saber *Battleground Purifier Morale Boost Promise of Death Arrow Storm Brothers in the Wild *Stalker Armor Elven Outpost *Elven Captain *Ranger's Stash Elven Sharpshooter *Art of War Fearsome Presence Moonwell *Starcrossed Sorrow Failed Terraforming Offering of Wonder Cenarius' Observance *Corrupted Construct *Miracle Find Peace with Nature Anduin, the Mad Prince *Jaina, Scourge Archmage Azeroth, Slaver Corrupted Knowledge Agent of Corruption *Protective Greed Tyrande, of Good Fortune Presence of Al-Akir Greater Ice Block Gathered Power Battleground Warlock Auto-Fire Kirin Tor Historian Infiltration Shadowsight Warden Lich Queen Sylvanas Doomsayer's Bet *Pawns Aplenty *Power Word: Sustain *Algalon's Observance =============== =Neutral Cards= =============== *Clever Stowaway Nikolas Mage Kibler Elf Medivh, Spectral Guardian Maiev, Animal Tamer *Chen, Hozen Pride Dog Trainer Daval Orphanage in the Hills N'Zoth, Black Empress C'Thun, Queen of Uldum *Y'Shaarj, Heart Surgeon Ancient Observer Keeper of Fear Keeper of Old Pumpkin Pack Cat Kragg's Raider Kirin Tor Refugee Nameless Remnant Pumpkin Pack Runt Mage Hunter ============= =Token Cards= ============= Classic, Nightmare, and Wondrous Portals, as well as the tokens made for the Portals.
An eternal spotlight for my eternal gratitude. Thanks again, user canadasphere for being the first to help me in this effort.
This a stupendous amount of work! Very impressive! Still looking over them all but you should be commended for the sheer effort involved in pulling this together!
Thank you for the comments, Aelfscyne. I've nearly sacrificed my mental health working on this set. It's been intense, and I hope you enjoy the sights provided. I only want to do good by the game, the people and the community. I would've written flavor text and summon/attack/death sounds, but if I were to see employment with Blizzard, I would leave it up to them how things would work with those writings.
If you don't get hired..... or at least congratulated by them for your work.
Best one is Alex, The Red Dog. :)
I wish hearthpwn would add a simulator (like card pack opening and the build a beast) where you can play hearthstone but with custom made cards. Someone should make this please I want to play all these cards.
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G=Good B=Bad Do you see the pattern? Every second expansion is always trash.
This is amazing. It would be awesome if some of these things got put into the game.
Appreciate the kind words. I'm just hoping the set picks up more attention over at Reddit. Glad to see people stopping in, it means a lot to me. I wish I were able to brings images over there, but I'm new to Reddit and don't know how best to post, so I left them an imgur link to my albums and a link to this thread as well, where the cards are being held and displayed in a much more uniform manner.
If you don't get hired..... or at least congratulated by them for your work.
Best one is Alex, The Red Dog. :)
I wish hearthpwn would add a simulator (like card pack opening and the build a beast) where you can play hearthstone but with custom made cards. Someone should make this please I want to play all these cards.
When running with the theme of corruption, I figured the best way to corrupt the Dragonflight and many of the others would be to turn important characters within a tribe into a much weaker form of themselves, something that could run parallel with the spirit of each changed character, Dragons to Dogs, Demons to Cats, and Titans to Murlocs. I thought it suitable for the Demons to be Cats, of all things.
Sorry, I was a bit busy. I've only had time for the card design competition (as you can see by my avatar's golden border, I've won one!). I'm also participating in the expansion competition (as you can see in my signature). That and real life exists. So that stinks.
With that out of the day, HOLY BATSWAT BATMAN YOU HAVE DONE A LOT OF WORK! The idea of your set looks fantastic!
If need me to review a certain set of cards, just point me.
Dude, this is insane. I'm really impressed, if Blizzard doesn't hire you they'd be crazy. Still reading through the rest of cards but the ones I've seen are great.
I appreciate your kind words, thank you. (Wanted to wait to say anything because I want to address several comments at a time.) If you have any favorites, feel free to tell me all about it. Love hearing the thoughts of others, always.
Sorry, I was a bit busy. I've only had time for the card design competition (as you can see by my avatar's golden border, I've won one!). I'm also participating in the expansion competition (as you can see in my signature). That and real life exists. So that stinks.
With that out of the day, HOLY BATSWAT BATMAN YOU HAVE DONE A LOT OF WORK! The idea of your set looks fantastic!
If need me to review a certain set of cards, just point me.
I didn't want to bomb your inbox again with any friendly reminders. It would feel like I'm prodding you when I didn't want to make anyone feel annoyed, which is why I had taken to editing the post containing the cards instead of continually posting new cards. I saw you had won a card competition. Very happy for you! I'd love to hear any and all of your thoughts. Too much has happened since we last spoke, so I don't remember where we left off. Love to hear your thoughts on the Portal cards, the Story, Wondrous, and Nightmare. I wanted to make those special. I remember you weren't sure what to think of them at the time because nothing was made for the portals, but now there's something to look at, so feel free to hit me up sometime about them. Kudos again on winning in a card competition.
Good job, and damn you put work into this - I think you have a lot of good thoughts etc.
However! Blizzard wants to keep their cards simple with not too much text - I think you're cards are somewhat too complicated, and you should perhaps try to simplify
I appreciate your kind words, thank you. Yeah, while the cards are all pretty much ready to go, you have a point about simplicity. It's part of the reason I'm hoping to work with Blizzard so they can study the cards better to flesh out different mechanics and cards we haven't seen yet. More than anything, I'm interested in helping progress the growth of the cards so the game gets fresher and fresher with every release.
but i have to say that i saw some really OP and stupid things and some cool things as well. Druid quest was cool... hunter arrows for 9 and the kodo that lets a card return as well. The one card that destroys the secret when you attack needs stealth in my eyes..
But lets talk about OP stuff...
the two nutral 10 mana minions with charge are just stupid,... we have stuff that can drop that early AND lategame they are better than a piroblast 10 mana spell from a mage... and you can have 2 of those in you deck??? Yes, the hunter charge 8/8 doesnt see play.. same goes for call of the wild since the 9 mana change... but think about a "big druid" that would drop this on turn 6 or sooner (the snake that spawns "a 5 attack or higher" from a turn 1 ramped barnes. Yes, that can happen with a deathwing as well... but charge makes it even worse. There are so many reasons why charge is known to be a bad keyword...
the paladin epic that puts down random secrets is broken...
The hunter beast that gets +2/1 for any beast that did die this game would spawn a 20-10 or bigger minion in average for a hunter that does play some DR minions that summon beasts. Add a unlesh the hounds and you got yourself a onedrop kill. What do you do if the charge kodo would stay up one turn?
last thing would be the 10 mana pala 10/10. That card is somehow cool, but it also would be a reason for people to never set a palas HP to a special level... that alone is a very big impact for the game. It would suck to not set up for a win, because you think that you would die after that, because he spawns a 10/10 that kills you if you attack the pala. Even worse... he has the "dubble a minions attack" on hand and even if you're winning the game by far... he just gets this, buffs him... dubbles the attack and deals like 28 damage out of nothig, because you did deal one damage to much and spawned this guy so set up your own lethal.
the two nutral 10 mana minions with charge are just stupid,... we have stuff that can drop that early AND lategame they are better than a piroblast 10 mana spell from a mage... and you can have 2 of those in you deck??? Yes, the hunter charge 8/8 doesnt see play.. same goes for call of the wild since the 9 mana change... but think about a "big druid" that would drop this on turn 6 or sooner (the snake that spawns "a 5 attack or higher" from a turn 1 ramped barnes. Yes, that can happen with a deathwing as well... but charge makes it even worse. There are so many reasons why charge is known to be a bad keyword...
the paladin epic that puts down random secrets is broken...
The hunter beast that gets +2/1 for any beast that did die this game would spawn a 20-10 or bigger minion in average for a hunter that does play some DR minions that summon beasts. Add a unlesh the hounds and you got yourself a onedrop kill. What do you do if the charge kodo would stay up one turn?
last thing would be the 10 mana pala 10/10. That card is somehow cool, but it also would be a reason for people to never set a palas HP to a special level... that alone is a very big impact for the game. It would suck to not set up for a win, because you think that you would die after that, because he spawns a 10/10 that kills you if you attack the pala. Even worse... he has the "dubble a minions attack" on hand and even if you're winning the game by far... he just gets this, buffs him... dubbles the attack and deals like 28 damage out of nothig, because you did deal one damage to much and spawned this guy so set up your own lethal.
The only 10 mana minions with Charge that I can think of come from a card you have to get from a portal, and the two minions in question are split evenly between both players. You can't put them in your deck. They're also only affected by damage, so they can't be healed, silenced, buffed, they can only be damaged. Nothing else affects them.
I'm not sure what Paladin Epic you're talking about.
Most people know to kill Kodo before doing anything else. You also can't play it until you feel comfortable spending 10 mana on something that can get removed by most people fairly easy, not to mention silencing it drops it to a 0/0, so that's something else.
The 10 mana Paladin card can't be buffed. It's only affected by damage, so it can only take 10 damage at most, then it dies. Just like with my correction regarding the 10 mana Charge cards, you can only damage them. No buffs, healing, anything.
it is impressive that you have created this many cards, but some of them seem so ill-conceived that they make me angry
As the set's theme is corruption, what you're telling me is good news. It's supposed to make everyone and everything crazy, or it's slacking! Anything you'd like to expand on specifically though? I love talking to people about cards, so it could be fun to hear from you on more of this. No pressure though.
I should probably get some sleep soon. I've been feeling so invigorated by all the warmth I've been getting from this post and the Reddit post, keeping an eye open, in case someone were to stop in, which is a nice change from feeling racked with anxiety over making these posts yesterday.
You guys have made me feel better. Thanks for that.
On a personal note, I dislike how formal you seem in your replies here.
On a none-personal note, the cards here are SO amazing, I'd love hearthstone 300% more if they were added, your work is amazing and I really hope that Blizzard offer you a spot in their team! :)
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"As housecarl I am sworn to your service. I will protect you and all you own, with my life." - Lydia of Whiterun
Before leaving this thread alone for until I wake up again, I wanted to present 10 of my favorite cards from the set. I'm doing this now for a few reasons, the first reason being that I'd like to shed a little information on how some of these cards came to be, and because it'd be at/near the top of the second page, so it doesn't go unnoticed, as there's a good bit of information here concerning cards and how some of them could function in a real game. These are in no particular order, just to make that clear.
Alchemical Tampering opens up the floodgates for a new style of play to see light. This card can give minions that aren't included in Constructed/Ranked play a purpose. I've seen many people state that cards without text are almost entirely ignored, and I wanted to make something special for those with an eye for experimentation. This card also gave me the idea to create cards that can exceed the 2 card limit that the game currently has in place when building a deck, making it so your opponent won't know what to expect and how much of something to expect.
Unstable Ice Pillar is a card I created with Arena in mind. The card is only affected by damage, which makes it impossible to heal, buff, silence, transform, etc. With this card posing a significant threat to your opponent's plans, you can keep your opponent at bay, but only a slight, as this card can also attack friendly summoned minions, which makes for a Russian Roulette style of play. The idea of an immense ice pillar crushing you to death because your footsteps are too heavy? Sign me up!
Azeroth, Slaver. This is one of the very first cards I felt established me as a diabolic creator. Bedrock was something I felt a specific fondness for, as it's something I haven't seen in any other game yet. Coupling Bedrock with something that passively kills both players is by far one of the most destructive combinations I could have created, and I hope you'll thank me later for the free time I've given you all on this improvised rack mechanic.
Samuro, Lone Wanderer is a card I made that helps the player cut down on the number of weapons they might put in their deck. I originally had this card at 7 mana, but realized it's a bit much, even though you're getting a lot of value from just starting the match with Samuro slotted in. Super handy, super flexible. Just the kind of card I can dig.
Shado-Pan Fang. Ever wanted to play that double Eviscerate but don't have a card that enables the bonus? Look no further than S-PF. With this weapon coming in at 3 mana, you can efficiently play that double Eviscerate on your opponent's face. No need to thank me, ma'am, your Combo is safe with me!
Southsea Fencer. This card can be really helpful with a health buff or two. By itself, it can ignore damage, even when trading, and can even save your life in the case of a high damage C'Thun play. A real Tavern Hero.
Ranger's Stash. Originally created with Elven Outpost in mind, this card can bring your weapon back to life with a restock of ammunition. With Elven Outpost having 5 Durability, and being a quite important weapon with the Elf archetype I push partially with this set, Ranger's Stash is the second most important card in a deck that looks to maintain a weapon's Durability.
Clever Stowaway, one of my personal favorites, if not my favorite card in the set, Clever Stowaway acts as a Lorewalker Cho counterpart for some decks, a midgame BM for a number, and a clever strategy for everyone else. As it is a Pirate, and because the set includes cards that let you Discover or add Pirates to your hand, this card will come up from time to time in your games, and can disrupt some of the most powerful Discover effects in the game. With many wishing there was less RNG in the game, now, this card allows you to counteract some of that ridiculous "Single Player Mage" gamestate nonsense that a lot of people would just prefer to do without.
Nightmare Portals. It might seem strange that I'm including one of my tokens as part of this small list, however, the reason I like this card so much is quite simple. The Nightmare Portals not only produce strong cards, but cost the caster 3 health instead of 3 mana. The reason I like this so much should come as no surprise. This card, while it brings RNG to the set, also takes a toll on the user. Trading health for power is not a new concept whatsoever, and the chaos that comes with this card will gradually overtake a player's ability to cast more of this card.
Hozen Field Archer. While it might be strange that I'm closing this list out with a 1 mana 1/1 common card, the reason is quite an understandable one. One of the toughest situations to have to deal with is a Stealth minion that means you great harm. If you don't have AoE, a board wide silence, or anything like that, one of few ways that a minion can be cleared of Stealth is to get that minion to damage a target somehow. With a card like Hozen Field Archer, at a mere 40 dust, you can clear up Stealth when it's giving you trouble. I wanted to include strong cards at each rarity, making cards that are impactful available at every level of affordability.
And that's my list. There are many great cards I could talk about in a list like this, however, I wanted to make a list of this size, because everyone loves a good 10, no innuendo intended.
Time to come clean. I've been working on a custom set of cards, along with a story that's meant to explain why the characters in this set are corrupted. It all began in May of this year. I had heard that Blizzard had job openings and became curious. There was a job posted, one in the design department for Hearthstone. I had been developing cards for various custom card competitions, originally dabbling in creating really bad custom League of Legends custom cards. I knew I had been wanting to get a job working on video games, but didn't really have the resources or money to start on my own project, so I figured I'd attempt creating something rich, diverse, something interesting. What began as a simple desire to get a job doing something fun became something much larger, something much more important to me.
May 6th, 2017, I erected a thread, one that would host my set and showcase updates. While the set was slowly developing, I would host discussion on many of the cards and make appropriate edits. With many revisions and posts, I worked tirelessly on the set. Originally, I had intended on creating a 200 card set. When I had "completed" that first bulk amount, I realized I was still hungry to do more, and so, the expansion was increased by another 60 cards, along with a great many number of token cards. The logic was that I could create more for Aggro, including finally creating Murlocs for the set, something that had to be done if the set was going to feel inclusive to most every field of play. The benefit to creating more was that I would have 2 full expansions worth of cards.
One day, lightning would strike my project. It was July 1st, and I had wanted to check the Careers page to see what the application would look like if I were about to submit something. To my horror, the job posted for card design with Hearthstone had been taken down. I had been working for 2 months on a project that I couldn't send to them. Then, the new expansion theme was leaked before Blizzard made an announcement, an expansion that had me slightly in pieces, as I had created a Lich Queen Sylvanas for the set. It would be not long after that Spirit Lash (a new Priest spell) would be revealed, one that had closely identified in function with a Priest spell I created, prompting a revision to the card text.
Finally, on July 17th, I had finished the set, wrote 28 paragraphs of story, created an Arena blacklist for some cards that shouldn't appear in an Arena draft, explanations for each function that might appear confusing, and so much more. Since the announcement of the next time we'd see more from the set from Blizzard, I decided I would attempt making contact with Mike Donais, Ben Brode, and Blizzard's Career page at Twitter. I have tried to get in contact with someone, and was going to refrain from making a public post if I were able to email someone. Unfortunately, I have no way to email anyone, and none of my tweets have seen a response. I have since decided to make an immense Reddit post concerning my set and my goals with the set. I was told that the Devs keep something of a close eye on the Reddit Subforum for Hearthstone custom cards, and I wanted to make an official post before anything more was shown to us, as I need to keep from having any of my designs looking like copies of what exists in their new set.
I have worked very hard to produce one of the most diverse, lore-intensive sets around, one that looks to bring new, fresh ideas, including new mechanics (of course). My goals are many in number with this set:
1. I've kept all of the images I used to create the set, in case Blizzard wanted to offer employment of some sort to those whose art has been featured in the set. Each individual card partially serves as a Business Card for the artists that have helped make each individual card as attractive a piece I could make.
2. I have many friends, and many of them have children. I'm not fond of hoarding wealth, so when I have the opportunity, I intend on starting a number of College funds. I love my friends, and I want the best for them.
3. I want to help manage Hearthstone's community as best I can. Considering this is a set that was created by someone within the community, and because a number of you within the community had some good advice to give me on some of the balance changes needing made, I want to help keep the fire alive and talk directly with much of the community about important things that could prove useful in the honing of this amazing game.
Enough talk! It is time I released the set, officially. Behold, Azeroth Untold!
Story
Azeroth Untold - Prologue
The place was Azeroth, and the time was that of its Ordering. The planet was seeing drastic change, as a host of beings known as the Old Gods were wreaking havoc across the plane. Where there was darkness, suddenly there was light, as Aman'Thul, one of the mightiest of Titans, reached down from the sky, ripping Y'Shaarj from the planet's surface. Aman'Thul, realizing what had been wrought upon Azeroth, worked with his titanic brethren, seeking to imprison the remaining Old Gods below the surface, while working above the surface to terraform the land as they see fit. What they had not accounted for however was the initial contact with Y'Shaarj by Aman'Thul.
When Aman'Thul had made contact with the Old God all those years ago, a residual amount of the Old God had latched itself to Aman'Thul's skin, bringing part of the Old God back with him when he left Azeroth's atmosphere. Since that time, the remnants of the Old God festered within Aman'Thul, studying ancient knowledge as time flowed. The remnants of Y'Shaarj, in this time, found a way to survey and keep watch on the plane below, with Y'Shaarj learning all he could while occupying Aman'Thul. While the remnants of Y'Shaarj festered, a secret floated its way into Y'Shaarj's knowledge, that the Titans were holding communion with mortals outside of this reality. This communion was the source of all direction that Azeroth's history would take. These mortals would be referred to as The Great Writers in the Sky, for they were the source of all creation that has ever taken place in the whole of Azeroth. These Great Writers were currently charged with writing the next few hundred years of Azeroth's history. Y'Shaarj knew that if he were to have any hope of coming back to Azeroth in one form or another, he would need to bide his time and use knowledge of the Great Writer's plans to better coordinate his next move.
When Aman'Thul was slain, the height of Y'Shaarj's presence within Aman'Thul was at its highest, with Aman'Thul and Y'Shaarj's power joining as one, as Aman'Thul was no longer a vessel, but a fragment of something that once was, as was Y'Shaarj's presence at the time. While Y'Shaarj became stronger, Aman'Thul became more subservient towards Y'Shaarj's goals, willing absolute and total corruption of the stories to come for many a lifetime. After Aman'Thul's destruction, the Titan's soul was about lost, until a close friend to the Titan created a spell, one that would save Aman'Thul and Y'Shaarj in their time of need. After some time, the two souls found their way to Azeroth, entering the body of one of Aman'Thul's servants, Highkeeper Ra. Unaware of the Old God's tampering, Highkeeper Ra was honored to have Aman'Thul's presence.
After hardly a moment with Aman'Thul's presence, however, the Old God started seeping into Ra's mind, taking notes and leaving imprints, rendering corruption of Ra's mind ensured. Because the Old God had knowledge of Lei Shen's sudden appearance in the coming years, Ra would wait and surrender some of Aman'Thul's power to Lei Shen, as a total corruption of the mighty warrior would ensure a near total administering of a corrupted storyline. Upon Lei Shen making his arrival, Ra did as was instructed of him, helping Lei Shen ascend to power. Lei Shen did not understand, but understood that he was meant to have this power, as it was written that Lei Shen become leader to a great civilization, even being shown his own defeat. And so, Ra found a seat among Lei Shen's most trusted, serving as Advisor.
As Y'Shaarj was coming closer to having complete and total control over Lei Shen, plotting to convert the Mogu Empire into the Black Empire, Aman'Thul attempted to resonate within the two great beings. His tortured soul began to crackle, attempting to speak to Lei Shen and Ra. "You mustn't continue... things are not as they seem..." The Titan's words fell on deaf ears with Ra, while Lei Shen began to have doubts, becoming conflicted. The empire that Lei Shen had established had started to feel less like his own as he pondered. While Lei Shen contemplated on all that had happened since meeting Ra, how strange it was that everything was just handed to him, Ra was beginning preparation of the Mogu Empire. As though Lei Shen could taste the air of his city, he realised that he must correct his relationship with Ra the only way possible. With Aman'Thul's power at his disposal, he began gathering energy, enough to hopefully open a portal, one that would take him to a time before absorbing Aman'Thul's power.
While Ra was making preparations that would help convert an entire empire, Y'Shaarj made communication with Ra, warning him of Lei Shen's plans. As this was dire enough of a problem, Ra abandoned everything and made his way to Lei Shen to stop him. As Ra found his way to Lei Shen, Ra's presence was felt, with both taking to a defensive stance. They both stood in silence, as they knew only one of them was leaving that field alive. As weapons left their resting place, with both Lei Shen and Ra ready to kill one another, the struggle of two became the struggle of four, as Aman'Thul and Y'Shaarj became fully realized forces. It wasn't long before the four began their clash. Chaotic energies leapt from Ra and Lei Shen as they fought, with the planet shaking violently. The struggle became so immense, the world's surface began to crack. And with a single swing from both mighty combatants, they had slewn one another, causing a devastating shockwave of energy to spread Y'Shaarj's dark magic over the whole of the planet, influencing a corrupted version of Azeroth's history to become a reality. With this mighty destruction of Ra and Lei Shen, the planet became cracked, with an immense force beginning to rise. Its presence was that of pure darkness. Azeroth, they called her, as she is the first and only child of the planet of Azeroth. With her sudden emergence from the planet being a rude and angry one, she fled the planet, becoming the new Watcher of the planet.
During this new age of rule under Azeroth, the Titan began to curse the planet. The universe, as a result of Azeroth's will, began to "shift" its contents, wiping out the memory of many people on the planet. Magical energies began changing as well, shifting, swapping existence with non-existence at a random rate. Whole races of people and creatures were either changed or entirely forgotten. The darkness of Azeroth would soon lift, but what would come of it would be dramatic, drastic in change. Because Azeroth knew only slumber, pain, and darkness, the will of Y'Shaarj's vision had influenced her mind to do exactly what was instructed of the story. With a freshly altered planet, Y'Shaarj's will of the world would come about, as characters that existed once before hadn't become notable or important yet. Y'Shaarj, however, did not factor Aman'Thul's true power as a guiding light. Because of this, the world known as Azeroth would have some hope, as Aman'Thul had dispersed power as best he could in the same way Y'Shaarj had, hoping to hold the darkness back and attempt balancing the world's karmic energies.
And with this, a new Azeroth was founded. This is the untold story of Azeroth. Be careful, dear onlooker, as nothing is what it seems. Tread cautiously...
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-Chapter 1: Aftermath of Lei Shen and Ra's conflict-
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It all began, with the corruption of Azeroth. Many allegiances fell to pieces, with the world over bearing witness to drastic change. As a result of the changes to the world, new relationships forged, old ones being broken, and a war breaking out, between newcomers to Azeroth and many of the already existing inhabitants. Referred to by a number of people as barbaric, these newcomers would see the world shaken up as a result of their sudden appearance. Planted by the Great Writers in the Sky, in an attempt to push a new set of conflicts, the Men and Women of Clan Battleground would have their way, even if they had to kill innocent people. Created by Y'Shaarj's spirit, powered by the motives of the Great Writers, they would become quite powerful in a short amount of time, but will they overcome Azeroth's army of defenders, the Hozen?
As with every new force of invaders, Clan Battleground was not ready for, nor expecting the alliance forged by many of Azeroth's strongest. Led by Chen Stormstout, Gul'dan, and Aya Blackpaw, the resistance led by these three would have their army fed to them by many talented warriors within the Hozen. The Hozen, being many in number and quite talented in the martial arts, would band together, in hopes they could push back against the invasion of Clan Battleground. Acting with the power that is Aman'Thul, the Hozen would stand firm, as this was their newest and most arduous of challenges. With Azeroth being as large and challenged at the time, the Hozen would engage in a war with Clan Battleground that would last for a time.
With the land being almost wholly consumed by violence, many an armorsmith would emerge to sell their work. As this was their way of making proper use of an industry involved almost primarily in the war effort, both the price and quality of armor would increase. Many of these armors saw enchantments of all sorts, to help entice the correct buyer. Weapons, however, were plentiful, and production of a good weapon was a scarce idea, as there were many weapons being re-used, with a whopping 95% of weapons being pulled off of battlefields littered with the dead. With this sharing of weapons came many markets. Markets were notorious for hiring mercenaries of all sorts, as there were taverns not far from any one of these markets. With the near absence of magic creatures, rumors were circulating at an almost whisper's intensity of the existence of a truly black market, a black market that can be found when entering one of the many portals that have been opening unexpectedly around Azeroth. These portals began appearing around the plane sometime after Lei Shen attempted opening a portal shortly before the Great Corruption had taken hold, and while the influence these portals have had on the land feels only slight, taking a closer look at the situation helps tell a different story...
While many of these portals have been explored, few people have returned. Those that have returned either find themselves blessed with great power and knowledge, or bring grave news of the future, shortly followed by being cursed with madness as punishment by the planet's Watcher for bringing news of the end. Because the portals have a tendency to close violently, given their unstable nature, many have lost their lives, while many creatures have crept out. It is believed that the many unrecognizable creatures that enter Azeroth from the portals are a direct result of people going in and never coming out, that those lost to the portal are reborn and emerge as something different. What is certain is the nature of those having returned unrecognizable. They are called the Nameless. As the Faceless are rumored to have been almost entirely altered, possibly lost to the corruption, or wiped from the memory of Azeroth, the Nameless emerge from these unstable portals, with their true calling being the field of battle, as there have been countless reports of unknown entities making their way to encampments, demanding a place among the camp's ranks.
Some of these portals, however, are being used by a group known as the Black Empire. With the area still rife with corruption, N'Zoth, who is now a human, plays Empress to the Black Empire. Considering Y'Shaarj's impact on the new Azeroth, N'Zoth's become quite powerful, as she held daily communion with Demons while still quite young. She commands an immense fleet of pirates, varied in caliber and ferocity, all ready and waiting to help kill the competition. As the ships used by the Black Empire are sentient demonic beings, she commands the mightiest of Naval forces, securing the seas, allowing her empire to sail on with little to no issue. In this time, she has solidified many a trade route agreement, supplied both sides of the war effort, and helped orchestrate a ritual that's meant to help bring Edwin VanCleef from the dead to assist her. It is not known whether or not her attempts to bring Edwin back were successful, however. Through the power of harnessed "Portalmancing", she is able to bring items of dread through what has been referred to as the "Nightmare Portals", even using this power to get her ships through one door and out another. The Nightmare Portals themselves are unstable doorways of dark power that, when entered, bring about all manner of darkness to the visitor. As these openings can be used to visit the Black Empire, they are almost entirely made of Fel energies. These same Portals are a notorious danger, and not meant to be walked through. This, however, doesn't deter many, as rumors of power have been circulated enough through the land, warnings of peril have almost entirely been ignored in pursuit of endless power.
Of the few who were instrumental in helping N'Zoth become Empress, it was C'Thun who helped establish the Empress' place within the Empire. The spiteful and calculating heir to Uldum had made contact with the Empress some time before lending aid to those attempting to bring Edwin back from the dead. At the time, N'Zoth needed desperately to get through a blockade, a blockade owned by the Ramkahen. It was a potential trade route that had meant a lot to the Black Empire. It was because of this exchange that C'Thun realized her destiny, for she would find Uldum's salvation in this relationship, striking a deal with the Empress and her company. The current state of Uldum was that of mass oppression. The Ramkahen had promised the city of Uldum safety from destructive forces, so long as they're installed as the new leaders of Uldum. The paralyzing hold the Ramkahen had was that of a Titan's grip. As Uldum's current leadership were incapable pushovers, having become a city nearly enslaved by outside entities, C'Thun took to demanding the current leadership establish the trade route and remove the Ramkahen with the help of the Empress. When denied, C'Thun merely took up a blade, angrily driving it through all that stood in her way of the throne, stabbing, slicing, eviscerating ever so passionately, rightfully taking the throne for herself. She wanted her home back, angrily shouting "THIS LAND WILL SEE THE RAMKAHEN AS ENDANGERED. BY THE BLACK EMPIRE, I COMMAND A WAVE OF DEATH UPON THE RAMKAHEN. NOW IS THE TIME!" With C'Thun at Uldum's helm and assistance promised by the Empress, she would deliver the lands back to the people. With this began a small war, one that would not last long, as the Empress' vast numbers eventually overtook the Ramkahen. After the dust had settled, Uldum and the Black Empire would become allied, as much of the Black Empire would now call Uldum home.
As the need for mortals fighting their own fights is instrumental to the plot set in motion, a new concept was presented to Azeroth. "If the state of our world is a direct result of magical energies at work, would having Elemental beings alive be a good idea?" Soon thereafter, fear of the unknown set in, as cultists, participants of rituals and ceremonies, and the Elemental lords themselves were all placed on watchlists, with many of these groups being hunted to feed the hunger of those who believe magic to be the root of the problem. A direct result of this witch hunt had Al-Akir attacked by several thousand, pushing his existence to mere memory and secret worship, while Ragnaros had seen an assault from a sizeable force as well, resulting in an eternal dousing of his mighty flames, a magical seal being placed, and shackling of the Elemental Lord, leaving him as a display for all to see in the Swamp of Sorrows. After the assault on Ragnaros, Therazane had been communicating with the planet as the second of her brethren came under attack, taking on a human form until the time was right. Since then, no one has seen Neptulon. With his whereabout being currently unknown, no one knows for sure if he even exists anymore.
In this dark period of Azeroth's current reality, many mage cities had come under attack. Fueled by fear, as the Scourge look on in amazement and excitement, many mortals that had seen magic as the source of the problem had started becoming anxious, looking to hire many more Mage Hunters. As a result, the Scourge offered humanity a champion of their own, a Mage Killer named Jaina. She's one of the most grim and methodical of Mage Killers, as she had been taken from her family at a young age, having her trained and infused with Fel energies in the Twisting Nether, learning for many years the art of Mana Drain, an art that had become Forbidden before the Great Corruption. To the delight of many, she was brought to Azeroth, caught up in a tip that an important circle of Mages were gathering in Dalaran. This gathering included Antonidas, Tyrande and Velen, among others. Their meeting was of the utmost importance, as it had concerned not only the decaying state of the land, but also of the Kirin Tor's relocation to Dalaran, as the fear mongering tactics of mages being the source of all that had gone wrong with Azeroth were getting a lot of innocent people killed. Considering how it was expected of Dalaran to have visitors clamoring to get in, the Hozen were called upon to aid the city. Of the Hozen that came to Dalaran's aid, it was Gul'dan, a General to the Hozen, alongside Kargath, someone who had helped establish the Hozen as a fighting force, with Gul'dan being brought to task specifically due to his understanding of Demons.
While forces gathered outside the city's walls, Gul'dan began communication with one of Jaina's Lieutenants, who had informed Jaina of a way to get inside the city. In an attempt to draw out the city's inhabitants, Jaina would command a total destruction of both Crystalsong Forest and the area around Dalaran, enacting an arcane hex that would take terraforming to an unspeakable level. The decaying state of the land after Jaina's tampering would erode the city after a period of time, forcing Dalaran to investigate. Unfortunately for Jaina, the Elves that guarded the forest were many in number, the same forest that had been marked for destruction. Lead and stationed by Vereesa Menethil, the Elves would stand guard against the likes of many a roaming Murloc and the occasional Battleground force. Fortunately, however, there existed the field report that detailed the defeat and imprisonment of the Lich Queen, Sylvanas. The report detailed the location of the Lich Queen, reading "As Sylvanas' forces dwindled, so they were pushed back by the might of Azeroth, forcing the Lich Queen to the mountains, where it was decided that she would forever remain imprisoned." With this, Jaina would leave a small group behind to keep watch. While Jaina traveled, word had been sent by Dalaran to many of the surrounding areas that led up to the Lich Queen's resting place. Of the many to receive a note, it was Garrosh who had been the first to act. As Garrosh had been an outsider to many groups, the many Nameless that were leaving from Portals had gathered among his presence, asking for great leadership they could fight behind. As Garrosh had been a fairly nameless individual, he felt great honor and pride from this, and gave support to Clan Battleground whenever a struggle was to be had. With his sizeable force, he had started his own tribe, one that would not take on a name of any sort, interestingly enough. Garrosh's pride, however, would not last long, for when he attempted intercepting Jaina and her group, the Nameless left Garrosh's service immediately, as they had sensed greater promise in her than they had in a nobody like Garrosh. To Jaina's surprise, she had doubled her own force, and made a fool of Garrosh simultaneously. "You simple worm. Heel!" With those words, Garrosh would be turned to dust, with Jaina trapping his soul in a longsword, for later use. As Jaina marched, the land became fearful, as her army numbered close to a thousand. All that stood in the way either perished or burned.
The last of Jaina's traveling challenges came in the form of the Defias Brotherhood. As the forest was of great interest to Vanessa VanCleef, the Brotherhood and the Black Empire, a swelling of numbers showed up to play. Jaina would smirk at this, and merely unleash on the opposition present. With Jaina's numbers being larger, and the failure to account for a force the size of Jaina's, the Defias would fall, but not so easily, as both sides would lose approximately 600 each. With none left standing in her path, she would make her way to the resting place of the Lich Queen. As Jaina's talent is draining magic, she would apply this anti-magic to the area, to discern the location in the mountainside and identify any magic that may have been installed to keep people away. After enough time, the Lich Queen would be located. Considering the time spent with the area, Jaina's abilities would have put defenders under at least a lesser slumber. Upon reaching the tomb, the many magical seals placed to keep the Lich Queen imprisoned would be removed. And with this, Sylvanas would appear before her adoring crowd of murderers. With the promise of Prince Menethil's location and the slaughter of Vereesa Menethil, considering the Menethil's were responsible for leading the fight against Sylvanas, Sylvanas would help overtake the forest, bringing almost certain death to the Elves with her. Armed with the blade that held Garrosh's soul, Sylvanas became a much deadlier force. And so, they left, barreling down the hill after the Elven encampment. As this force was returning to the forest, many who stood in their path were met with a swift end. What was not accounted for was Sylvanas wielding this new weapon, which had been claiming many a life, turning any who stood in their way into raised nightmares of flesh, all vying for the same end result.
As the smell of death became denser, Anduin of the Dalaran Priest Initiative would round up a sizeable group of Paladins, attempting to bolster the numbers of the Elves below. Vereesa, feeling the end coming sooner than anticipated, would agree to Anduin's force entering the forest, attempting to bolster the numbers below. With Jaina's force numbering three to Vereesa's one, the Elves would begin firing upon Jaina's approach. They would hold for a time, but would be pushed further back by the swelling smelling of rotting flesh. Unable to hold a viable defense against both the physical force and the wretched stench, the Elves found themselves falling to the ground, producing vomit and bile while their bodies seized. Witnessing this most ghastly of sights, Anduin, who was still only just in training, remained stiffened by horror, unable to conjure the proper spell to keep himself sane. With his mind having snapped, Anduin would flee the city, both unnoticed and screaming. With the haze of death still thick in the air, Vereesa would be unable to maintain her post, and attempted gathering as many of her people as possible to flee the besieged area. With news of having lost Vereesa to the wild, Sylvanas would turn on Jaina. Jaina would plead with the Lich Queen, but words would be powerless against Sylvanas, for Sylvanas had felt deceived. Sylvanas would hear none of it, and strike at Jaina. Infuriated, Sylvanas would leave Jaina lying in a pool of blood. The wind held Vereesa's scent still, something Sylvanas would pursue until the day one of the two would perish. With that, the Lich Queen would set off on her course of fate, leaving the forest behind.
With the state of the forest below being so chaotic, Antonidas and Velen would both imbue the land with much of their power, freezing the forest below in an immense ice block, one that would preserve the nature of the area below until more could be done. With this one selfless act, Antonidas and Velen would both suffer permanent damage to their bodies and minds, with Antonidas going blind, while Velen became mindless, resulting in an attack on the inhabitants of Dalaran. While the air still contained much of Y'Shaarj's corruption, when at his weakest, Velen would deal with Y'Shaarj seeping into his mind, blaming the approach of Jaina's forces on the people of Dalaran and the Kirin Tor. During this conflict between Velen and the city, Velen would fall, but would not die, as he would be exiled to an area that housed the shackled Ragnaros'. It was at this time that enough had happened to the land that Y'Shaarj would return in human form. As he had been an entity that preyed on the weakness of people, Azeroth, the planet's Watcher, would grant him a human form, as it was written by the Great Writers. However, because of Aman'Thul's influence on the land, he would serve as a doctor to those in dire need of help. Like a flash of lightning, Y'Shaarj was born again, a complete adult, planted not far from Dalaran. Because it was Y'Shaarj's essence on the wind that fed Azeroth the energy needed to have the Old God reimagined, he would maintain much of his old self, but have no prior knowledge of his involvement before the Great Corruption, nor would he be as powerful as before. With Anduin racing through the forest, scrambling to get away from the sights he bore witness to, the Doctor would take him in, having heard Anduin's screaming from nearly a mile away. With his housing of Anduin, the Doctor wondered if there were wounded characters of interest still among the horrid site. The Doctor found not only a forest encased in ice, but a pale individual, Jaina, who was just barely keeping herself alive. The Doctor would take Jaina in as well, as all those who were with her were no longer at her side. After some time with the Doctor, Jaina and Anduin would be unleashed to the world again, but as darker beings, going wherever they felt satisfied their mortal pleasures best.
In an ironic case, 12 great beings (Alexstrasza, Malygos, Nozdormu, Ysera, Archimonde, Kil'jaeden, Mannoroth, Sargeras, Freya, Mimiron, Thorim and Tyr) have been subject to individual Polymorph. As the Great Writers had wanted for Azeroth itself to struggle mostly on its own, it was willed that the powerful are kept out of the frame for the most part, and to have the land struggle with itself based primarily around the many great conflicts that mortals could engage without the help or presence of greater beings. The Dragons, Demons and Titanic Watchers/Keepers have all since become stray creatures. Fortunately, they're no longer wandering creatures in the wild, as these creatures have since been captured and/or housed. Collectors with a very particular eye have since taken to the creatures naturally. Some ended up owner to cats that were once Demons, some ended up with Dogs who were once known as Dragons, and the rest, being Murlocs, who were once mighty titanic beings, were either made to help the Hozen in the war effort, made to fight alongside Clan Battleground, or escaped to where they felt they were meant to be, in the wild, among other untamed species. Of these Murlocs was Tyre, once known as Tyr. Tyre would come to serve under Katrana Prestor, the new Queen of Azeroth. Prestor, who was once a Dragon herself, had been situated in quite the seat of power, as much of her notable life before the corruption involved tampering with the higher authority of the land. As is the theme, the corruption of the land plopped her at the highest seat of power, with Varian Wrynn being tossed into the wild, making good friends with the Horde, eventually becoming a Captain.
With Varian Wrynn having become one of the Horde's Captains, he has quite the storied past. From working alongside some of the Hozen's finest, including Kargath and Chen, to discovering many unusual Battleground constructs, referred to by some as forges. Before becoming a Captain, however, he worked closely with Thrall, the Horde's Captain at that time. Thrall was nothing but loyal to the Horde, always keeping the Horde's interests at heart first. With the introduction of a human, Thrall felt incapable of trusting the human, not to mention the acceptance of a human among the Horde's ranks felt taboo, as the relationship with the Trolls couldn't be compromised. While Y'Shaarj's essence still lingered on the air from the Great Corruption, a whisper crept into Thrall's ear, chilling him. He began questioning his place among the Horde. Feeling threatened from Varian's rise through the Horde's rank, Thrall ventured out in search of something that could make things right. With Vol'jin feeling curious, a detachment of scouts were sent, keeping on Thrall's trail. It was at this time that Thrall found himself approaching blackened sails. Thrall had done it. He had found himself in the midst of the Black Empire. It is here where Thrall would be welcomed into the company of the Black Empire, with Vol'jin's scouts quickly heading back to camp, as Vol'jin himself was serving the Legion as a spy. From Vol'jin's post, the news would travel to Tirion Fordring, a Captain with the Alliance that also happens to work with the Legion, a secret kept between few. With spies everywhere, it wasn't long before the Horde had gotten word back about Thrall's activities. With this sweeping wind of news having overtaken those who've been listening, Varian Wrynn would serve as the new Captain to the Horde, as Thrall's betrayal had him barred from ever coming back to the Horde. Thrall's barring from the Horde was deliberate, however, as Thrall knew exactly what would come of working with the Black Empire.
It was at this time that the land was razed by war. Thrall knew that acquiring a massive amount of power at the cost of his own person would give him the strength he needed to help end the war, as he had felt for the longest time that the Horde wasn't doing enough. The Horde had been a part of war for since the Horde's founding. He wanted the land to calm and for the sun to shine uninterrupted. With his aiding of one of the most prominent sides in the war, he could help push the land in a number of directions, helping Azeroth finally make up its mind in a world where only one side can win. With this, Thrall would make his way through a Nightmare Portal, where he would be imbued with much of the chaotic energies of the Black Empire. Before being sent back to Azeroth to begin work with the Black Empire, he would be tested in combat. Upon leaving the Nightmare Portal, he would be made to kill Varian Wrynn. If Thrall were to become one with anger, he would have to show he had no qualms with taking an innocent life. The result of that fight has yet to be given, as both are quite talented warriors, and we have yet to see such a battle between these two.
To maintain pace of this unusual nature that has beset the land, concerning the many Dragons that used to exist, Daval Prestor, also known before the corruption as Deathwing, sits without Dragon powers or a Dragon form. Daval's life was altered by the Great Writers in the Sky, having been brought into the world like every other mortal, in place of the original events that took place as a result of his involvement. At this time, he is feeling quite settled, working currently with dogs, among other creatures. The Great Writers had seen much pain and manipulation in his previous life as a feared dragon. Because of this, the Great Writers saw to it that he would eventually find himself aiding the war effort instead of being a great destructive force that could inspire war all on his own.
Yogg-Saron was seen by many as being one of the most powerful beings in Azerothian history, and the Writers didn't like how one of the final threats of mankind was practically established. This was seen as un-interactive with their plans, and so, the Great Writers sought to stay true to their plot, "nerfing" Yogg to something unrecognizable, which felt like the best approach that could be taken. To be turned into a young woman who, instead of working to corrupt poor Daval in the original story, will now be forced to work with him, as a dog groomer. This doesn't mean she only works with dogs, as many of Yogg's customers had more than dogs to toss her way. After some time however, Daval and Yogg would both work closely with Maiev, someone who was well versed with taming animals. With beasts of war being in demand, Daval, Maiev and Yogg would work together, outfitting many a force. Maiev, a Warden to many dark creatures in the original story, who was seen as something of an avenue left unexplored, had a new story written for her as well by the Great Writers. They took it upon themselves to dwell on thoughts of Maiev being someone experienced with wild animals, one who could take on a gentler life for once, taming and training animals for those with the coin to spend. With many understanding the cost of war, Daval, Yogg, and Maiev would begin working together, having cornered the industry, becoming quite wealthy as a result. With this, they have since become known as the Lord of Beasts.
With many at war, and with the many stories dying to be told, the fates of all those graced by the corruption in this alternate Azeroth will be determined in due time. From here, it is up to the reader to write the next chapter, for in this story, the destiny of many lies in the balance, and it's up to you to decide how the story plays out.
Cards
Tri-Class Cards (12/12)
Warrior Cards (16/16)
Shaman Cards (16/16)
Rogue Cards (16/16)
Paladin Cards (16/16)
Hunter Cards (16/16)
"Hunting License" options
Druid Cards (16/16)
Warlock Cards (16/16)
Mage Cards (16/16)
Priest Cards (16/16)
Neutral Cards (104/104)
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Legendary (23/23)
Epic (21/21)
Rare (29/29)
Common (30/30)
Hozen Spells (6/6)
Portal Spells (3/3)
The Great Writers in the Sky (3/3)
Story Cards (30/30)
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-Erratic Adoption's Stray Animal tokens-
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The Demon Cats
The Dragon Dogs
The Titan (Watchers) Murlocs
Wondrous Cards (45/45)
Nightmare Cards (60/60)
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New mechanics
Auto-Cast: Cards with Auto-Cast are immediately cast when they're drawn or added to the hand. This does not cost mana, and ignores Battlecry and Combo effects.
Duality: Both players are affected by cards with Duality. Starcrossed Sorrow makes use of this by having both players discard the same number of cards from their hand. If both players were holding Ragnaros and N'Zoth, both players would discard those cards from their hand.
Might: The maximum attack of a minion. If a minion with Might 3 were to be targeted by Blessing of Kings, the attack of that minion would stop at 3 and wouldn't ever go beyond this number.
Intercept: Cards with Intercept are discarded when a condition is met, activating the card. I wanted to make it clear that you can't play it from hand for an effect, as the wording on the card isn't detailed to keep players from getting an effect for more than the first instance.
Bedrock: Cards with Bedrock will always remain at the bottom of the deck. Cards that get Bedrock from another source, when they are in the deck, if a player put a card with Bedrock in their deck before entering that match, their card will always have priority over cards getting Bedrock, as it was the original bottom card in the deck.
Edge: I wanted to make weapons that could be crazy, but not at the expense of needing a fix to the stats or cost of that card. With Trusty Javelin, I wanted to give Warrior a new finisher that could guarantee damage regardless of taunt, so I put a limit on the card's maximum damage. I needed to make more cards for aggro, as I had made a lot of control and midrange cards.
"Affected only by damage" is something else I decided I'd involve in this set. Cards with A.o.b.d. can't receive healing, can't receive attack or health buffs, can't be silenced, the only thing that affects these cards is damage. For example, Earth Shock would deliver 1 damage, but the silence would be ignored. I made this effect scarce, but plentiful at the same time, as enough of this set has this effect tacked on. Handbuffs are also instantly scrubbed from a minion when summoned to the board, and won't count towards a minions stats when cards like Snipe activate. Ranger Corps produces a total of 5 minions when you play it. They have this effect. Some players will want to play Devolve against Ranger Corps, but it won't work. The only thing that trumps this effect are effects that specifically state that a card's text is ignored. For example, Trap Hole is a secret that ignores card text and shuffles the summoned minion back into the owner's deck. A.o.b.d. does not ignore its own card effect, however. Some minions that have this effect also have Taunt, for example. The remains with the card, as it's part of the card's design.
"Deals its damage before X/Y/Z": Some minions deal their damage before attackers, some minions deal their damage first when attacking, and some just always deal their damage first. Minions that "ALWAYS" deal their damage first:
1. When attacking minions that deal their damage first to attackers, the defending minion deals their damage first if the defending minion has more attack.
2. When defending against attacking minions that deal their damage first, the attacker deals their damage first if they have more attack.
The above two function rules should serve as reference for conflict between minions that deal their damage first based on attacking and defending. Short version: bigger number always win.
Cards that "add a random Portal spell" to a person's hand or deck concern only Classic, Nightmare, and Wondrous Portals. This is to generate use of the portals and tokens made for the set, and also to keep from having the pool of different portals being too large.
Cards that are "considered text-less" have that effect for when you play Alchemical Tampering. Alchemical Tampering affects cards that have no card text, so cards that are considered text-less are affected as well.
Clarifications on Card Functionality, the Arena Blacklist and Miscellaneous Details
Tri-Class cards.
I wanted to make Tri-Class cards for this set, due in part to the story's theme being infection/corruption. This set is corrupting everything, including other Hearthstone sets. I wanted to implement a sort of cross contamination, so one of each class from the Kabal, Grimy Goons, and Jade Lotus, are each cleverly mixed in with each other.
Band of Adventurers (Mage, Warrior, and Shaman)
The Warring Keepers (Warlock, Paladin, and Druid)
The Drifting Shade (Rogue, Priest, and Hunter)
The Band of Adventurers are your traditional meta group of adventurers that travel together. The Mage, with potent spells, the Warrior, with sword and shield at the ready, and the Shaman, herbalism, magic, and healing, all rarin' to go, this is the sort of group you see running through dark dungeons, forests, all hoping to cash in on some rare loot after a tough kill.
The Warring Keepers are those responsible for holding good and evil in check, as well as preserving the land wherever necessary. With the Warlock's dark and deadly magic, the Paladin's dedication to holding evil at bay, and Druid's adverse nature concerning corruption, the Warring Keepers are all things concerning both the high and low end of balance throughout the land.
The Drifting Shade are the finest killers, tricksters, bards, gamblers and thieves across the land. This nightmare composition features deathly Rogues, demented Priests, and ruthless Hunters. Sure, they might be capable of healin' ya, but at what cost are you willing to pay for it?
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-Card Clarifications-
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Each Ranger Corps minion has to die for the summon effect to stop triggering. These minions do not benefit from Crystal Core, can't be returned to the hand, silenced, transformed, buffed, healed, or destroyed with destroy effects. Only damage affects the Ranger Corps.
Dalaran Traitor can die to his own effect. This doesn't negate the summon that occurs last.
Tavern Cheat's Combo draws a card after your hand is replaced.
Silver Hand Interrogator does not Discover a Secret if she dies to damage from attacking a minion, as the theme sees her needing to be able to report her findings after interrogating a target.
Traveling Artisan being able to Discover a card that restores health includes both minions and spells.
Hozen Hound does not keep any buffs/effects applied when returned to the hand.
Trusty Javelin is a card meant to be paired with Heroic Strike. It's a finishing move, as you can ignore Taunt minions when attacking with the Javelin. All Durability is consumed because this is a throwing weapon, meaning you lose the weapon regardless of its total durability.
Black Empire Warship gives Pirates based on your opponent's total mana left from their last turn because it's a vessel for plunder and other such things. The ship was possessed and has since become sentient.
Ra-Den's fist will always have 1 Durability specifically because I want it easy enough to remove with cards that do damage to a weapon's durability. Attacking a minion with this weapon whenever you can will never exhaust the weapon's durability, as you're getting Durability from starting an attack.
Alchemical Tampering can stack. A second cast of the spell increases the spell damage by 1 and changes the Adapt effect to act like Volcanosaur, where a second adapt takes place after the first.
Sister of Restraint's effect is not until the end of the turn, but until the first cast of (for example) Lightning Storm. SoR only removes the Overload for a card that specifically reads that it deals damage to minions. Cards like Lava Burst are not covered by SoR.
Earthen Warden can summon Basic Totems that are already in play.
Velen, Mindless Hermit displays a colorless secret whenever you play a card, and display that colorless secret in the history bar for your opponent, so they can't look there to see what's going on. Animations will still play like normal for spells, but playing a minion with Stealth, Battlecry and/or Combo sees no activation of the Stealth, Battlecry and Combo effects of those minions, as a Faceless Target will instead summon. Aura effects like Dire Wolf Alpha are also ignored, as the minion you're summoning has its own effect. Whenever an enemy damages or attacks a Faceless Target, the FT will transform into the minion played to summon that target. Works best with Deathrattle, Poisonous, and minions that require taking damage to do anything. The FT's effect activates once an action taken against the target is made. For instance, a FT that's masking a Poisonous minion will become the Poisonous minion once a minion is used to attack the FT, making the target a Poisonous one, killing the minion that was used to attack the FT. Super weak to Silence and cards like Deathwing that read "Destroy". Also, if a FT is issuing an attack against a minion with at least 1 attack, the FT does not transform, and dies as a 1/1. Lastly, returning FTs to the hand erases minion data that would usually summon the minion played to spawn the FT, so Vanish versus a full board of FT sees those FT as 0 mana 1/1 Wisps, basically.
General Shaohao does not refund mana when he returns a minion to your opponent's hand.
Attacking with Shado-Pan Fang will activate cards like Eviscerate, so you're not having to play anything before Eviscerate for the bonus damage.
Anara, of the Faceless, even when she's not alive any longer, your Faceless Target minions will always have Taunt, so that the FT aren't completely ignored anymore.
Illusion of Fortune was hard to balance and write in general. The most recent version of IoF would give two coins to your opponent. Versions I had in mind that felt questionable saw an increase in the number of mana crystals destroyed, a decrease to one coin, and even a 3 mana version. As of writing this, I recently settled on the version we have now, 4 mana, destroy a mana crystal, give a coin, and the draw from the combo.
Fog of War was written the way it is to help with the Rogue quest "Defias Scheme".
Promise of Death's setting a Hero's health to 0 can't be interrupted or prevented by anything, as PoD isn't dealing damage to a character.
Frontline Kodo doesn't return minions to a player's hand if FK did enough damage to the minion to destroy it.
Stalker Armor destroys Secrets before they can activate when attacking. This means Ice Block won't activate unless the destroyed Secret was not a currently active Ice Block.
Elven Outpost triggers when an enemy attack is issued, and doesn't cost Durability or activate if you have no Elves in play.
Scouting Operation gives your opponent a Choose One spell that lets them summon Scout's Friend, or restore health. The restore health part of the card is your opponent eating the bird, or giving one of their minions a meal.
Small Campfire doesn't restore Health until the end of your turn, and your Hero will still receive Stealth at the end of the turn, regardless of if you attacked with a weapon that turn or not.
Moonwell helps both players. If Moonwell is destroyed before your turn begins again, you do not get to use the unused mana from your previous turn.
Starcrossed Sorrow, as explained previously, will discard cards from both player's hand. If both players are holding a Reno Jackson and a Sylvanas Windrunner, both players discard those cards, only because those cards share a name with cards in each player's hand. Both players will discard the same number of cards every time, and only discarding duplicates of cards if both players have duplicates of those same cards.
Failed Terraforming costs 4 mana, only because playing one makes the first card played during your opponent's turn cost 4 more. So playing two in the same turn costs 8 mana, and forces your opponent to pay 8 mana extra for the first card they play during their turn.
Cenarius' Observance, Corrupted Construct and Miracle Find are all part of a recycling archetype. Of all the classes, Druid should be capable of sustaining throughout the match best, as Druid is representative of nature. Jade Idol is also part of this recycling idea, as you can continually push out resources and generate continual pressure while playing this set of cards.
Tundra Wolf dies if it takes more damage than it has health when it attacks and kills a minion. It's written this way to avoid the card being over the top.
Fel-Fist can stack attack that it gets from its Inspire effect.
Jaina, Scourge Archmage only applies the negative Spell Damage while it's alive.
Anduin, the Mad Prince lets both players (not just one) make use of his effect. Take care when using him with Deathwing. He might destroy every minion on the board when he dies, but he also discards the hand of whoever owns him at the time.
Azeroth, Slaver can be pulled from the deck by Deathlord, immediately ending her life drain passive. Look to getting the Nightmare card "Visions of the End" against an opponent with Azeroth in their deck, as VotE will replace your deck with Azeroth, triggering her effect once for each copy of the card you have in your deck. The match lasts maybe two or three more turns after playing VotE against Azeroth. Also, Azeroth doesn't damage a player unless they're undamaged at the time. AS only reduces the maximum, meaning if you're at 27 health, and your current maximum is above 27, AS only just lowers the ceiling, so you won't take damage unless you're at full health. Considering this isn't actual damage, AS takes from your health total, bypassing armor.
Fel Field forces minions to attack in a random order (in two different instances, you could have the same minions, and the attack order would be different each time), taking turns (side A/B attacks first, then the other side is issued attack orders), with the caster's minions attacking them before their opponent. Fel Field can't be played if the caster attacked with any of their minions already, and the caster's minions can't be used to attack enemy characters (that turn only, of course). The first player to hit 0 life loses in the event of a draw.
Corrupted Knowledge can have its discard effect covered by Protective Greed.
Protective Greed and cards with Intercept were all written the way they were so that you're spending a card at a time, and the way it's written also keeps from Deathwing having most of its discard effect ignored. Protective Greed only covers Fel Daredevil if FD only discards 1 card.
Antonidas, Blind Pyro can kill himself with his own effect.
Presence of Al-Akir removes the cast spells from your hand when they are selected for casting. If one of Yogg's Hair Potions cast Presence of Al-Akir, PoA will cast spells from your hand for you.
Greater Ice Block freezes heroes as well as minions. Render Vulnerable is one of the only cards currently that can unfreeze heroes.
Wise Wielder also gains the negative Spell Damage from Jaina, Scourge Archmage.
Power Shot's damage changes based on the total damage of the previous turn.
Infiltration's increasing a card's cost can carry over if a card wasn't played after the Inspire effect. It's meant to simulate mental strain. (This is text relating to the original version. This text is being kept here in case the original is valued over the revision.)
Shadowsight Warden implements a board wide Silence effect that views cards as text-less (cards like Edwin VanCleef keep their stats, but only if the stats aren't dependent upon something else, for instance Lightspawn would have 0 attack, but Galvadon would retain stats, as Galvadon's statline isn't dependent upon its health total to stay relevant), but only during the turn of the player currently in control of a SW. This could be written to ignore Secrets, but that's likely a bit too strong, not to mention it wouldn't make sense, as Secrets are played during one turn, while SW affects turns outside of the initial casting of said Secret(s). I write that SW affects cards, not just minions, because of the Intercept mechanic I created with this set.
Lich Queen Sylvanas was written so it doesn't get out of control with N'Zoth and any copy effects, as the effect is extremely powerful. Because she summons at the start of your next turn, you're unable to attack with her until after she's been on the board for a full turn. Also, while LQS is dead, before she summons to the board again, if another is played, the LQS that's currently deceased will not summon. LQS can't trigger Mirror Entity, as only one can be in play at a time.
Shadowsight Acolyte affects your Shadow Word cards, meaning Shadow Word: Horror can be used to clear boards of low health minions. This was originally a tool for single target SW cards. I changed it to include SW:H, as creating a card that only works with two cards and not three feels too restrictive.
Grasp of Madness can be used to give Doomsayer to your opponent.
Best Kept Secret will instantly cast cards that have Auto-Cast, with targets being chosen randomly.
Algalon's Observance will do the same thing as Best Kept Secret if the cards gained have Auto-Cast. Any other cards in this set that add cards to your hand follow this same rule.
Clever Stowaway does not swap hands infinitely. If a player picks CS when their opponent has one in hand, a swap will occur only once, as the CS that was Discovered has already swapped hands once.
Nikolas Mage can only give Classic, Nightmare and Wondrous Portals, but can be activated by any spell with the word "Portal" in its name.
Gul'Dan, Hozen General's effect that makes Hozen minions Demons only affects the board. The effect would be a bit too strong if it included Hozen minions in the hand and deck.
Kibler Elf summons two unique tokens that are not copies of any of the KE that are summoned as a result of playing KE from hand.
Maiev, Animal Tamer's effect does not replace the effect of the copied minion, and does not count as giving a minion card text.
Prince Menethil's Hero Damage ability affects both players, not just one.
Chen, Hozen Pride deals 0 damage when attacking minions, and takes no damage when attacking. His damage is instead replaced with a return function, rather than damage.
Aya, Hozen Empress can Discover herself, but Aya will instead be added to your hand, rather than summoned to the board.
Dog Groomer Yogg can spawn a 2 mana Hair Potion that gives 10 mana crystals for the turn you cast it. Because there are four Hair Potion, the 2 mana potion has a fixed 1% chance of being added to your hand. DGY used to refresh your Hero Power with her Inspire effect. As previously mentioned, one of the potions gives two random Portal spells to your hand. The Portals available through this spell are Classic, Nightmare and Wondrous Portals. Another of DGY's potions cast the spells your opponent played last turn. If both players are playing this potion back and forth somehow, this can stack effects from each potion cast since the first/start of the chain.
Orphanage in the Hills would have "Affected only by damage" but that would make it impossible to give it Taunt.
Y'Shaarj, Heart Surgeon will function the same as Yogg-Saron and cease activating effects when something happens to him. If multiple friendly YHS have been summoned, playing YHS will cast all of the effects that the previous YHS cast this game. For example, if I played N'Zoth and Yogg-Saron this game, YSH will cast their effects. Then, if I play another, YHS will cast N'Zoth and Yogg's effect again, and then cast the effects cast by the previous YHS. This can stack as many times as the game can handle. Implementing limits could be good, but so far, this is the current power level. If a friendly C'Thun was summoned this game, YHS will deal his current attack, which defaults at 4.
Battleground Blitzer only gains Charge after destroying a Battleground minion. Otherwise it's a 3 mana 2/4.
War Giant was made a 5 mana card to stabilize the RNG that comes with spawning a random 5 cost card, as Bomb Squad feels out of place with Sylvanas out of Standard.
Unstable Ice Pillar can kill friendly minions.
Southsea Fencer can ignore individual Arcane Missiles, individual C'Thun and Flamewaker damage points, Misdirection targeting, any damage that comes to SF can be ignored. The exception to this is cards like Earth Shock, where Silence comes before the damage.
Disposable Rogue can shuffle a copy of itself once into each deck, or twice for a player. This is being noted here, as the wording appears confusing to some.
Kragg's Raider and cards like it that can occupy a deck more than twice when building a deck are meant to serve as vehicles for Alchemical Tampering and cards like it, as many have been curious about cards synergizing with cards that have no text. The purpose of putting up to X copies of cards like KR into a deck is solely up to the player.
Contract Scammer's Deathrattle can be stolen by ownership effects (Mind Control, Sylvanas, etc) hence why he has a tendency to scam people who pay for his time and effort.
Kirin Tor Refugee refers to the previous rule about a fixed pool of Portals that she can add to the hands of players.
Nameless Horseman is drawn in place of your normal draw when you reach your seventh turn. This is being noted here, as some may find this confusing.
Hozen Field Archer can be used to remove a minion's Stealth, as characters lose Stealth when they deal damage. Because minions deal damage to each other when they attack one another, HFA serves this purpose well.
Battleground Mystic's effect of drawing a Discovered minion can't be prevented by shuffle effects.
Bluegill Brute requires three instances of damage to kill it. The "Affected only by damage" effect prevents buffs, healing, and otherwise from keeping him around longer.
Vicious Prowler requires being alive to make use of its effect. If it does not have at least 1 health after attacking a minion, it dies. I would make its health 3 or 4, but the health gain from its effect would likely put it over the top. Having it somewhat easy to kill (even at turn 3/4) is important, as it could eventually stick around for longer than it probably should.
The Great Writers in the Sky can only be spawned by a few cards that exist in the pool of cards you have access to through the Portal spells made for this set. The Great Writers are 3 in total, and are not minions. They take up 1 of 7 spots on the board. This is relevant, as Great and Rude Argument spawn a Great Writer on one of the two sides of the board. Fire at the Office is the only card that removes them from play. The Great Writers are tasked with filling decks, hands, and the board with tons of action. The three individual Greats are celebrations of Writers, Editors, and Artists, and can't be harmed by minions or (most of the) spells.
Black Empire Peddler lets a player Discover a weapon from a pool of six total weapons. Each weapon costs 2 mana, with weapons ranging from the wand to the bow. The weapons were carefully picked and designed based on what each class in WoW can actually use, so there's something for everyone.
Marketplace will always include Marketplace among the options, regardless of how many cards have been Discovered that game, as no one should have to leave the Marketplace just because they can't find it or see it while they're there.
Wondrous Delirium adds two total copies of the card you Discovered to your hand, and one copy total to your opponent's hand.
Quickening stops working when a deck is out of cards, as there is no deck left to draw a second card from. Hero Powers are not returned when Quickening ends.
Spirit Companion strips your minions of Taunt when they are summoned. You can still summon Taunt minions. They just won't have Taunt anymore. Because you can't be targeted while SC is in play, your Hero can't be healed or damaged by anything that requires targeting to play. Affected only by damage can be ignored by Shadowsight Warden and cards that specifically state that card text is ignored.
Raiding Party adds copies of cards in your hand to your hand and reduces the cost of the copies by 1. If a player has 6 or more cards in their hand when they cast this spell, cards are copied from left to right.
Encounter in the Woods replaces currently equipped weapons.
Adventurer's Sword has more attack than the Adventurer's Axe because the sword requires minions to be injured to upgrade the weapon through the weapon's effect.
Adventurer's Hammer only prevents damage taken when attacking a friendly minion with the hammer.
Adventurer's Wand can simulate a tennis match when both players have the Wand equipped.
Companionship adds 1 of 12 Stray Animals to your hand. The SAs cost 3 mana each.
Windstorm can target the same minion three times.
Erratic Adoption adds the Stray Animals to your hand before the Lord of Beasts is added. The three Lord of Beasts are Dog Trainer Daval, Dog Groomer Yogg, and Maiev, Animal Tamer.
Unmarked Dungeon summons a Dragon. The Dragon has "Affected only by damage" included in its card text, but not on UD because the Dragon is supposed to be like an encounter in a dungeon. You don't know what to expect. Flavor aside, I wanted to make sure the reward for killing the Dragon was guaranteed and not Silenced away by your opponent, as the Deathrattle can be quite powerful.
Nightmare Portal reads that cards without the Nightmare tag see a cost reduction. This is directly referring to cards you can Discover from the Nightmare Portal, not cards in a player's hand, deck, or on the battlefield.
Champion of the Sha is the only minion that has Auto-Cast. I'm writing here about CotS having this ability because I want to make it clear that it's considered a summon and not an actual cast, meaning Secrets like Snipe are ignored when CotS is summoned to the board.
Harrowing Sight works the same as cards like Molten Blade. The longer you're holding the card, the more change you'll see, pending of course on what is in your opponent's hand.
PANIC! puts as many Secrets into play, up to 7. If a player has Secrets in play already, PANIC! only just adds to the sum, and doesn't replace what's currently in play.
Visions of the End, as stated before, can end the game within 2-3 turns if Azeroth, Slaver (Warlock Legendary) is the bottom card of your opponent's deck, as a deck full of AS will deal an immense amount of damage, randomly split between each player.
Innocent Hunger states that it takes health from a random enemy. Taking health from a target is not considered damage when a minion is selected by the card. If the spell chooses your opponent, it can trigger Ice Block. Lastly, IH raises your maximum health (on top of restoring health at the same time), and is not influenced by cards like Prophet Velen, as the card is not considered a damage or healing spell.
Twist the Mind replaces card text with "Discover a Nightmare" (this affects both players) and reverts all cards in each player's hand back to their original state when your next turn begins. Spells will read "Discover a Nightmare" and minions will read "Battlecry: Discover a Nightmare". Minions that don't have text will also receive "Battlecry: Discover a Nightmare". Minions that have "Affected only by damage" will ignore Twist the Mind and summon without "Battlecry: Discover a Nightmare".
Hydra isn't that scary. Deal 4 damage to it twice and it dies. Just wanted to make a note of that here in case the card is seen as imbalanced.
Winds of Change summons the copy first, then activates any summon effects (Battlecry, Combo, etc). This is to avoid Deathwing destroying everything and then supplying the player with 24 damage.
Summoned Warden's "Affected only by damage" doesn't affect the stat improvement, or SW's Taunt. As previously mentioned, A.o.b.d. doesn't disable what's written on the card already by default, or A.o.b.d. would make a card "unaffected by" its own "unaffected by" effect. Cards with A.o.b.d. aren't affected by Handbuff cards, but they are affected by their own card's text. The difference is one was written to have effects when played, while the other (handbuff) is adding to something that actively negates exterior meddling. Also, while SW can choose a minion type (kind of), the card is improved by having more enemies of that type in play. If a Hero has transformed to Ragnaros, Discovering Elementals takes Rag into account. Same deal with Jaraxxus, as Jaraxxus is a Demon.
Painful Passion instantly gives lethal against a player with Spirit Companion in play. If you're fast enough to attack Spirit Companion enough times to kill your opponent, then sure, you have lethal.
---------------------
Arena Blacklist - A list of cards that are unavailable in Arena:
(*Probably best to keep from putting in a format like the Arena draft, as some of these cards could be unnecessary in that format and not work as well, and/or were specifically designed for Constructed play.)
=============
=Class Cards=
=============
Ranger Corps
*Readied
Ra-Den's Fist
Empowered Spirit
Alchemical Tampering
Sister of Restraint
Power of Limitation
Lotus in Bloom
*Rooted Corruption
Defias Scheme
Velen, Mindless Hermit
General Shaohao
Anara, of the Faceless
*Loose Grip
Vol'jin, Legion Spy
Legion Captain Tirion
Blinding Light
*Silver Hand Saber
*Battleground Purifier
Morale Boost
Promise of Death
Arrow Storm
Brothers in the Wild
*Stalker Armor
Elven Outpost
*Elven Captain
*Ranger's Stash
Elven Sharpshooter
*Art of War
Fearsome Presence
Moonwell
*Starcrossed Sorrow
Failed Terraforming
Offering of Wonder
Cenarius' Observance
*Corrupted Construct
*Miracle Find
Peace with Nature
Anduin, the Mad Prince
*Jaina, Scourge Archmage
Azeroth, Slaver
Corrupted Knowledge
Agent of Corruption
*Protective Greed
Tyrande, of Good Fortune
Presence of Al-Akir
Greater Ice Block
Gathered Power
Battleground Warlock
Auto-Fire
Kirin Tor Historian
Infiltration
Shadowsight Warden
Lich Queen Sylvanas
Doomsayer's Bet
*Pawns Aplenty
*Power Word: Sustain
*Algalon's Observance
===============
=Neutral Cards=
===============
*Clever Stowaway
Nikolas Mage
Kibler Elf
Medivh, Spectral Guardian
Maiev, Animal Tamer
*Chen, Hozen Pride
Dog Trainer Daval
Orphanage in the Hills
N'Zoth, Black Empress
C'Thun, Queen of Uldum
*Y'Shaarj, Heart Surgeon
Ancient Observer
Keeper of Fear
Keeper of Old
Pumpkin Pack Cat
Kragg's Raider
Kirin Tor Refugee
Nameless Remnant
Pumpkin Pack Runt
Mage Hunter
=============
=Token Cards=
=============
Classic, Nightmare, and Wondrous Portals, as well as the tokens made for the Portals.
An eternal spotlight for my eternal gratitude. Thanks again, user canadasphere for being the first to help me in this effort.
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i swear everytime i check on fanmade cards, the shaman cards are absolutely abysmal jeez.
Are we looking at the same set of cards, Sniex? I feel awfully good about them. Sorry you feel that way!
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This a stupendous amount of work! Very impressive! Still looking over them all but you should be commended for the sheer effort involved in pulling this together!
Thank you for the comments, Aelfscyne. I've nearly sacrificed my mental health working on this set. It's been intense, and I hope you enjoy the sights provided. I only want to do good by the game, the people and the community. I would've written flavor text and summon/attack/death sounds, but if I were to see employment with Blizzard, I would leave it up to them how things would work with those writings.
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This is amazing. It would be awesome if some of these things got put into the game.
If you don't get hired..... or at least congratulated by them for your work.
Best one is Alex, The Red Dog. :)
I wish hearthpwn would add a simulator (like card pack opening and the build a beast) where you can play hearthstone but with custom made cards. Someone should make this please I want to play all these cards.
G=Good B=Bad Do you see the pattern? Every second expansion is always trash.
G: Goblins V Gnomes , Old Gods, unguro
B: TGT, gadgetzan, Knights (Unreleased so MAYBE)
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How the heck did I forget you?!
Sorry, I was a bit busy. I've only had time for the card design competition (as you can see by my avatar's golden border, I've won one!). I'm also participating in the expansion competition (as you can see in my signature). That and real life exists. So that stinks.
With that out of the day, HOLY BATSWAT BATMAN YOU HAVE DONE A LOT OF WORK! The idea of your set looks fantastic!
If need me to review a certain set of cards, just point me.
I apologize
.Dot
I enjoy.
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I watched some of it.. but then got bored.
but i have to say that i saw some really OP and stupid things and some cool things as well. Druid quest was cool... hunter arrows for 9 and the kodo that lets a card return as well. The one card that destroys the secret when you attack needs stealth in my eyes..
But lets talk about OP stuff...
the two nutral 10 mana minions with charge are just stupid,... we have stuff that can drop that early AND lategame they are better than a piroblast 10 mana spell from a mage... and you can have 2 of those in you deck??? Yes, the hunter charge 8/8 doesnt see play.. same goes for call of the wild since the 9 mana change... but think about a "big druid" that would drop this on turn 6 or sooner (the snake that spawns "a 5 attack or higher" from a turn 1 ramped barnes. Yes, that can happen with a deathwing as well... but charge makes it even worse. There are so many reasons why charge is known to be a bad keyword...
the paladin epic that puts down random secrets is broken...
The hunter beast that gets +2/1 for any beast that did die this game would spawn a 20-10 or bigger minion in average for a hunter that does play some DR minions that summon beasts. Add a unlesh the hounds and you got yourself a onedrop kill. What do you do if the charge kodo would stay up one turn?
last thing would be the 10 mana pala 10/10. That card is somehow cool, but it also would be a reason for people to never set a palas HP to a special level... that alone is a very big impact for the game. It would suck to not set up for a win, because you think that you would die after that, because he spawns a 10/10 that kills you if you attack the pala. Even worse... he has the "dubble a minions attack" on hand and even if you're winning the game by far... he just gets this, buffs him... dubbles the attack and deals like 28 damage out of nothig, because you did deal one damage to much and spawned this guy so set up your own lethal.
All I can say: this is Real Hardwork!
Death to all who oppose the Horde!
it is impressive that you have created this many cards, but some of them seem so ill-conceived that they make me angry
Vvreeeew.
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absolutely insane amount of work. i really hope that blizzard hires you and you get where you gotta be in life :0
I should probably get some sleep soon. I've been feeling so invigorated by all the warmth I've been getting from this post and the Reddit post, keeping an eye open, in case someone were to stop in, which is a nice change from feeling racked with anxiety over making these posts yesterday.
You guys have made me feel better. Thanks for that.
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On a personal note, I dislike how formal you seem in your replies here.
On a none-personal note, the cards here are SO amazing, I'd love hearthstone 300% more if they were added, your work is amazing and I really hope that Blizzard offer you a spot in their team! :)
"As housecarl I am sworn to your service. I will protect you and all you own, with my life." - Lydia of Whiterun
Before leaving this thread alone for until I wake up again, I wanted to present 10 of my favorite cards from the set. I'm doing this now for a few reasons, the first reason being that I'd like to shed a little information on how some of these cards came to be, and because it'd be at/near the top of the second page, so it doesn't go unnoticed, as there's a good bit of information here concerning cards and how some of them could function in a real game. These are in no particular order, just to make that clear.
Alchemical Tampering opens up the floodgates for a new style of play to see light. This card can give minions that aren't included in Constructed/Ranked play a purpose. I've seen many people state that cards without text are almost entirely ignored, and I wanted to make something special for those with an eye for experimentation. This card also gave me the idea to create cards that can exceed the 2 card limit that the game currently has in place when building a deck, making it so your opponent won't know what to expect and how much of something to expect.
Unstable Ice Pillar is a card I created with Arena in mind. The card is only affected by damage, which makes it impossible to heal, buff, silence, transform, etc. With this card posing a significant threat to your opponent's plans, you can keep your opponent at bay, but only a slight, as this card can also attack friendly summoned minions, which makes for a Russian Roulette style of play. The idea of an immense ice pillar crushing you to death because your footsteps are too heavy? Sign me up!
Azeroth, Slaver. This is one of the very first cards I felt established me as a diabolic creator. Bedrock was something I felt a specific fondness for, as it's something I haven't seen in any other game yet. Coupling Bedrock with something that passively kills both players is by far one of the most destructive combinations I could have created, and I hope you'll thank me later for the free time I've given you all on this improvised rack mechanic.
Samuro, Lone Wanderer is a card I made that helps the player cut down on the number of weapons they might put in their deck. I originally had this card at 7 mana, but realized it's a bit much, even though you're getting a lot of value from just starting the match with Samuro slotted in. Super handy, super flexible. Just the kind of card I can dig.
Shado-Pan Fang. Ever wanted to play that double Eviscerate but don't have a card that enables the bonus? Look no further than S-PF. With this weapon coming in at 3 mana, you can efficiently play that double Eviscerate on your opponent's face. No need to thank me, ma'am, your Combo is safe with me!
Southsea Fencer. This card can be really helpful with a health buff or two. By itself, it can ignore damage, even when trading, and can even save your life in the case of a high damage C'Thun play. A real Tavern Hero.
Ranger's Stash. Originally created with Elven Outpost in mind, this card can bring your weapon back to life with a restock of ammunition. With Elven Outpost having 5 Durability, and being a quite important weapon with the Elf archetype I push partially with this set, Ranger's Stash is the second most important card in a deck that looks to maintain a weapon's Durability.
Clever Stowaway, one of my personal favorites, if not my favorite card in the set, Clever Stowaway acts as a Lorewalker Cho counterpart for some decks, a midgame BM for a number, and a clever strategy for everyone else. As it is a Pirate, and because the set includes cards that let you Discover or add Pirates to your hand, this card will come up from time to time in your games, and can disrupt some of the most powerful Discover effects in the game. With many wishing there was less RNG in the game, now, this card allows you to counteract some of that ridiculous "Single Player Mage" gamestate nonsense that a lot of people would just prefer to do without.
Nightmare Portals. It might seem strange that I'm including one of my tokens as part of this small list, however, the reason I like this card so much is quite simple. The Nightmare Portals not only produce strong cards, but cost the caster 3 health instead of 3 mana. The reason I like this so much should come as no surprise. This card, while it brings RNG to the set, also takes a toll on the user. Trading health for power is not a new concept whatsoever, and the chaos that comes with this card will gradually overtake a player's ability to cast more of this card.
Hozen Field Archer. While it might be strange that I'm closing this list out with a 1 mana 1/1 common card, the reason is quite an understandable one. One of the toughest situations to have to deal with is a Stealth minion that means you great harm. If you don't have AoE, a board wide silence, or anything like that, one of few ways that a minion can be cleared of Stealth is to get that minion to damage a target somehow. With a card like Hozen Field Archer, at a mere 40 dust, you can clear up Stealth when it's giving you trouble. I wanted to include strong cards at each rarity, making cards that are impactful available at every level of affordability.
And that's my list. There are many great cards I could talk about in a list like this, however, I wanted to make a list of this size, because everyone loves a good 10, no innuendo intended.
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