When a First Strike minion attacks or is attacked it deals its damage to the opposing minion or hero first and the implications of that damage are resolved before any damage to the First Strike minion is determined. For example, if a First Strike minion with Attack 4 and Health 5 attacks an opposing minion with Attack 6 and Health 4 then the First Strike minion's 4 damage is applied first and the opposing minion dies without having done any damage to the First Strike minion.
First Strike could be viewed as a semi-immunity ability. If the First Strike minion can kill its opponent then it takes no damage. The First Strike ability would also lead to First Strike minions only being attacked by minions that can survive the First Strike minion's damage. Seems like it could offer some new card design choices and deck construction possibilities. The keyword seems naturally aligned with the Rogue class but could also be widely available to other classes or neutral minions.
First Strike need not be limited to minions either. Certain weapons could be given First Strike ability. Consider a Rogue weapon with First Strike ability which could allow a Rogue to tactically take out certain minions without suffering hero damage.
i really don't want it in hearthstone. and in effect we have a variant on this in divine shield.
Yeah, isn't Divine Shield kind of the same thing? I think it makes it easier for it to just say the first time a minion takes damage it's ignored. I think having it just happen once is fair and balanced, rather than having a permanent effect like the one the original poster proposed.
There must be some sort of copyright-infringement implementing "First strike", as Wizards of the Coast did it with MTG like 20 years ago. A "proposed NEW keyword" is somewhat degrading to the MTG community who switched to Hearthstone or played both. Lets at least try to keep Hearth a game of its own.
First Strike wouldn't be the same thing as Divine Shield. Divine Shield only lasts for one attack and under no circumstance can a Divine Shield minion die from opposing minion damage because the Divine Shield absorbs it all whereas First Strike absorbs no damage but rather just applies First Strike minion damage first.
The only way I can see this maybe working in HS would be to have First Strike only operate when defending. But you'd have to be super careful about which classes got minions with it, since taunt + buff would make a minion like that very powerful.
This is actually why in Magic you can only attack players, not creatures, as otherwise the player with the biggest one would be dominating the board. By avoiding that you can take some hits to face while building up a board.
There must be some sort of copyright-infringement implementing "First strike", as Wizards of the Coast did it with MTG like 20 years ago. A "proposed NEW keyword" is somewhat degrading to the MTG community who switched to Hearthstone or played both. Lets at least try to keep Hearth a game of its own.
I suspect that the person posting on the Hearthstone forum wrote "new keyword" as a shorthand for " a keyword which is new to Hearthstone", because some people manage to play MtG without being arrogant pricks about it.
I, for one, think that this mechanic would work nicely in HS, and no, divine shield isn't the same at all.
It could be implemented, but there would have to be pretty severe restrictions on minion's stats (to not become op/broken) and that alone might make the end minion not as desirable and as such the mechanic would be a waste, pretty much like joust :)
In MTG the DEFENDER decides how minion trade. In Heartstone the attacker decides who dies. So if firststrike was in HS it's a free minion kill every turn.
Feel like shielded minibot is already annoying to deal with? How about a 2/2 first strike in paladin?
Or taunt: How about a 5/2 taunt with first strike that trades with your entire board and you can just sit there and hope to draw removal?
It's daft to make the claim that such a power would be "overpowered" until you understand how it would be valued in card budgeting and how it would be implemented.
You know, I am intrigued by this totally original, originally named, keyword that reflects the simplicity of Hearthstone.(cough cough, SARCASM)
Seriously though, your points about its "possible applications" are totally redundant, because it is being used in other games, so we can see the possible applications of the effect without you "speculating" about how it might work.
Also, as others have mentioned before me, this is extremely similar to Divine Shield, apart from the fact that it is a permanent effect. There really isn't any need to introduce a keyword so similar to a pre-existing one.
Either way, ignoring my previous points, there really isn't a need for an effect like this one in Hearthsone and it would have very little impact. If it were to introduced, it would likely be written out full on a select few cards rather than be given a keyword.
It's not really all that similar to Divine Shield. It doesn't apply at all to destruction (which is a pretty major factor for Divine Shield) and allows Assassin-like minions to continually take out minions with low amounts of health, rewarding board control on the user's side. Could also be only attacking or defending.
Loads of card games or equivalents have had similar keywords (including Ranged in the WoWTCG, which didn't have the "kill" requirement) and I don't think the fact such a simple idea was in Magic suddenly means Hearthstone can't do it. It's only problematic if you do what Hex did and just copy every single keyword from Magic.
That said I'm not sure it's terribly exciting either, especially since Blizzard's been pretty cautious with keywords. It doesn't really feel like it could be an entire archetype either that would fit in Hearthstone (maybe control hunter?).
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
The First Strike keyword would work as follows:
When a First Strike minion attacks or is attacked it deals its damage to the opposing minion or hero first and the implications of that damage are resolved before any damage to the First Strike minion is determined. For example, if a First Strike minion with Attack 4 and Health 5 attacks an opposing minion with Attack 6 and Health 4 then the First Strike minion's 4 damage is applied first and the opposing minion dies without having done any damage to the First Strike minion.
First Strike could be viewed as a semi-immunity ability. If the First Strike minion can kill its opponent then it takes no damage. The First Strike ability would also lead to First Strike minions only being attacked by minions that can survive the First Strike minion's damage. Seems like it could offer some new card design choices and deck construction possibilities. The keyword seems naturally aligned with the Rogue class but could also be widely available to other classes or neutral minions.
First Strike need not be limited to minions either. Certain weapons could be given First Strike ability. Consider a Rogue weapon with First Strike ability which could allow a Rogue to tactically take out certain minions without suffering hero damage.
There must be some sort of copyright-infringement implementing "First strike", as Wizards of the Coast did it with MTG like 20 years ago. A "proposed NEW keyword" is somewhat degrading to the MTG community who switched to Hearthstone or played both. Lets at least try to keep Hearth a game of its own.
First Strike wouldn't be the same thing as Divine Shield. Divine Shield only lasts for one attack and under no circumstance can a Divine Shield minion die from opposing minion damage because the Divine Shield absorbs it all whereas First Strike absorbs no damage but rather just applies First Strike minion damage first.
Back OT first strike wouldn't work. As others have said the way combat works in HS would make that effect too strong.
The only way I can see this maybe working in HS would be to have First Strike only operate when defending. But you'd have to be super careful about which classes got minions with it, since taunt + buff would make a minion like that very powerful.
This is actually why in Magic you can only attack players, not creatures, as otherwise the player with the biggest one would be dominating the board. By avoiding that you can take some hits to face while building up a board.
professional pilferers prefer proper preparation
Bad idea, dude.
It could be implemented, but there would have to be pretty severe restrictions on minion's stats (to not become op/broken) and that alone might make the end minion not as desirable and as such the mechanic would be a waste, pretty much like joust :)
- Click Here To Join Us On Discord! -
This is how Explosive Trap works.
It's not really all that similar to Divine Shield. It doesn't apply at all to destruction (which is a pretty major factor for Divine Shield) and allows Assassin-like minions to continually take out minions with low amounts of health, rewarding board control on the user's side. Could also be only attacking or defending.
Loads of card games or equivalents have had similar keywords (including Ranged in the WoWTCG, which didn't have the "kill" requirement) and I don't think the fact such a simple idea was in Magic suddenly means Hearthstone can't do it. It's only problematic if you do what Hex did and just copy every single keyword from Magic.
That said I'm not sure it's terribly exciting either, especially since Blizzard's been pretty cautious with keywords. It doesn't really feel like it could be an entire archetype either that would fit in Hearthstone (maybe control hunter?).