Hearthpwn

Hello everyone,

I'm part of the people who get very sad when a basic card is nerfed because basic cards are the spine of the class. They define a class' identity and its playstyle and guarantees that the class will always have a handful of solid cards to fall back on in case of unfavorable expansions, not to mention they're an entry point for new/F2P players. I don't like Blizzard's aggressive nerf policy towards the basic/classic set.

If it were up to me, I would change or even roll back most of the nerfs to basic cards. I would have changed Rockbiter Weapon to a 3/1 weapon, reduced Warsong Commander's threshold to 2 and made her effect an aura one rather than a "whenever" one (this would have made Frothing Berserker's shenanigans impossible), chosen the "Refresh 2 Mana Crystals" options for Innervate (come on, new players aren't retards, the explanation they gave is ludicrous especially given basic cards like Tracking or Charge, at best it could have been worded "Refill 2 of your Mana Crystals"), and left the Win Axe intact.

I know the rationale, the basic set shouldn't be too powerful otherwise there won't be enough change between each standard rotation, but as I said, this approach has big downsides. They shouldn't make the basic set so weak that it's only playable at rank 25. But what about basic cards that simply can't be balanced in a way they're neither auto-includes nor unplayable ? Well, in those cases I would argue that a basic card that is an auto-include is a lesser evil compared to a basic card that is unplayable. Ultimately, the responsibility is on Blizzard to make new interesting cards that are worth buying and playing over basic cards.

But enough ranting! I made this thread to present you with 9 new basic cards, 1 for each class, which I think are needed to reinforce class identity and class stability. I considered many aspects of each class characteristics, strengths, weakenesses, and general flavor, as well as each class' needs. I prioritized different aspects depending on the quality of the basic set of each class:

1. For classes with a bad or unadapted basic/classic set that makes them reliant on expansion cards to be playable (Paladin, Priest, Shaman, and now Warrior), I focused on the card's strength, so that the class is less reliant on expansions. It is commonly accepted that class cards can be absolutely stronger than neutral cards if they fit the class playstyle, and that basic class cards can be stronger than expansion class cards so some of those are intentionnally OP. Of course I run into the risk of making them auto-include but as I said it's a lesser evil, although I tried to manage the risk.
2. For classes with a decent but one-sided basic/classic set that only give the class only one archetype (Rogue, Hunter, Warlock to a lesser extent), I focused on effects that would increase diversity within the class by giving it a new potential playstyle.
3. For classes which already have a good and diverse basic/classic set (Mage, Druid, and Warrior before Win Axe nerf), I focused on giving the class even more internal diversity and some wacky effect without worrying too much about viability.

Note that most of these cards are bland from an artistic point of view because I focused on gameplay rather than "coolness". Since it's the basic set, being original is not always a good idea.

Without further ado, here are the cards!

DRUID

HUNTER

MAGE

PALADIN

PRIEST

ROGUE

SHAMAN

WARLOCK

WARRIOR

What do you think ?

Thanks for feedback! Here are a few of my reponses.

Quote from Toymachine >>

Mage one could be problematic in some OTK decks, even current Quest Mage... Would love it if there wasn't Apprentice for sure!

Quote from Toymachine>>

Priest one seems a bit too OP to me! Straight up better than Dragonfire Potion in all priests except Dragon, insane addition to current Priests and very design limiting for some future AoEs (make something worse no one will ever run it, dare to make something better and you broke the meta), and besides, Priest already has basic AoE card. Flamestrike as comparison cries in the corner, I'd either make it 4 dmg or cost 1 mana more, but wouldn't go for AoE as basic Priest card personally.

I'm not convinced that Shadow Crash would make any other AoE unplayable, rather they would be played alongside Shadow Crash because consistency is good. I'm persuaded that Priest needs a mid-costed board clear to be viable in the long term because its basic/classic set is too gimmicky which would force Blizzard to constantly release backbone cards for Priest to make it playable, at the expense of other, more innovative cards.

One thing I tried to improve but failed is the card's flavor. Priest AoEs generally don't rely on dealing damage but on each minion's characteristics (Shadow Word: Horror, Lightbomb, etc.). I tried different designs such as "Destroy all minions that cost 4 or less" but I didn't find any design that would be intuitive enough and neither OP or useless.

Quote from Toymachine>>

Warlock one might be too good for control warlocks? I mean 4 mana 12 hp is being used in Priests, and in CW this will easily heal for 12 as well or even more, while being 1 mana cheaper and more important for the class that takes it's own HP in favor of gaining a card (that further increases healing). Potentially too OP for slower Warlocks and again, it limits "design space" as they like to call it if it's a basic card - make better heal it will be straight up too good, make worse and no one will run it. So while not being OP for example at the very moment since slower Warlocks are bad, it has potential to be really OP and restricts cards for the future.

After some thought I think you're right on this one. Warlock would still need a survival tool in its basic set though but maybe healing is not the way to go. An effect like Mal'Ganis may be better, I'll think about it.

The ones I like are Priest, Rogue, and Warrior. Shaman is decent, if a little boring. I'm also not sure it's actually that good outside of decks with heavy Totem synergy. 

I'm not a fan of the other cards. The Druid one does not feel like a Basic card, or really like a Druid card. Nullifying fatigue is not part of Druid's identity. There are exactly two cards that do this. The fact that one of them exploded in popularity doesn't mean it's representative of Druid. Your card is also really bad. Jade Idol is used precisely because it gets better (not exponentially better, just arithmetically better, but that's being nitpicky). Nullifying fatigue is not a legitimate strategy. Otherwise Malorne would have seen use. No ones going to put infinite Bloodfen Raptors in a deck outside of Arena.

Herd isn't bad, but it just doesn't feel like a Basic card. 

Divine Protection feels derivative of other Paladin cards, and giving minions Taunt isn't a core Paladin ability. Does Paladin really need a card that basically just combines other buff cards into a better one? It's not strictly better than Blessing of Kings, but it's pretty close. 

Maybe I could see Resonance as a Basic card, but it doesn't feel like one. Mage doesn't have any Basic cards that let them duplicate their minions, and I don't think they should have one. That feels like a more advanced strategy. Not every deck would really want to spend 2 mana to get a copy of an existing minion. I feel like this needs to cost 2 or more because of combo potential, but that same combo potential makes it a poor choice for a Basic card. I mean, that's why they had to nerf Warsong Commander.

Healthstone seems to go against the identity of Warlock. It's a straight up good card for your hero. Warlock cards like this need to have a downside, like Sacrificial Pact. If it made you discard a card, I could see this, but otherwise, I don't think it's a good fit for the class. 

Quote from xX_Clerk_Xx >>

Please no more AOE for priest. That is the last thing they need.

Quote from vNihilism >>

Much respect for these examples. All seem perfect imo, but if you say Immunity might be better than mega healing for Warlock maybe an effect like Violet Illusionist would fit? (A 1/3 with the same effect?)

I couldn't agree more with the suggested changes to some of the poorly nerfed basic cards as well. I wish Blizzard would notice this and have a serious think about making some of these changes.