My issue with any of these strong cards is the high roll potential of most of them. Call to Arms can get 2 Knife Jugglers and get the Divine Shield Taunt as well and unless you have direct removal, your minions will get dinged and removed easily with a bunch of minions coming into play.
Spiteful Summoner is another problematic card like Barnes. Getting free or discounted minions needs to be balanced properly. I actually like the idea of 'destroying' the spell you reveal. Why? Because it's thematic. He is a spiteful summoner, meaning he is going to do something bad in order to give you something in return. Destroying the spell works for me. It means you no longer have the 10 mana spell later in the game. Risk vs Reward.
Possessed Lackey is another issue because getting a 9 drop on turn 6 or 5 (with the coin) is not fair as no other class can pull this off and it also limits future Demon designs because of it. If they ever wanted to print a fun or strong 10 cost demon, now they can't or should be wary to do so.
It's why Corridor Creeper had to be nerfed because an unconditional 0 cost 5/5 is way too strong. Trading minions and destroying them is all the natural part of the game. That's the unconditional part as it requires no 'extra' effort. Other free or discounted minions usually require some sort of prerequisite.
I have actually designed cards for fun before and many of the design themes I have had, gives you powerful effects, but also 'destroys' the card in the process, so that infinite combos are less likely.
Example: Mage Secret, Cost 3 mana - Whenever your opponent plays any card, Discover a Secret in your deck. Put a copy of that Secret into the Battlefield and in your hand. Destroy the discovered secret afterwards in your deck.
What the above Secret does is gives you a copy in your hand. This has synergy with Quest mage and the 4 drop elemental. I think if Spiteful Summoner destroyed the spell, that would be at least balanced.
Right now, getting a 10 drop AND having access to the spell later is not a fair card.
Now the other issue I have is that not all classes have 8, 9 or 10 cost spells so this 'neutral' minion is not usable or very powerful in other classes. That makes the card feel like it was designed for Priest, Mage and Druid specifically. I think that if other classes had similar access to a 8, 9 or 10 cost minion, it would be fair as everyone would have the choice to run it.
Lastly, the Witching Hour - Hadronox Druid deck is fair even though for 3 mana you get a 9 drop. Guess what, its not unconditional, its not easy to do and takes a lot of setup to pull off. You also CANNOT build your deck with any other beasts otherwise you risk not getting Hadronox. That's a well designed card as it takes effort.
Spiteful and Possessed are not at all fair and require no setup or effort to pull off.
Free cards are an issue for almost any card game, Hearthstone, MTG or others. Depending on how the 'free' condition is triggered, it can be very problematic.
Corridor Creeper happens naturally simply by playing the game and doing what you are supposed to do. Get board control and trade minions. A card that can go into both aggro AND control decks feels unbalanced. If a control deck can board clear and then play a free 5/5, that seems pretty unfair. The opposite is true too. You finally clear the board of an aggro deck and they refill the board with a free 5/5 and other minions.
The easy balance is to make it friendly minions only instead. That means it's still powerful in aggro, but not in control decks too.
Patches is also a problem because the Pirate package is both good for aggro AND control. It's a free 1/1 with charge that helps control the board. Control decks are now using the Pirate package to fight against aggro and it removes a card from their deck, making their draws slightly more consistent.
Vilespine Slayer is fine. It's a 2 card requirement AND a terrible top deck. Rogues should be good at single minion removal.
Barnes is actually a problem as well. It's a high roll card that wins games on the spot. You hard mulligan for Barnes on turn 4 and you simply win for Big Priest. It's unfun to play against because you CAN'T kill their minions now. Barnes has other issues as well as the card pool expands, but will only be an issue in Wild later on. Not all classes or decks can play transform effects. And even if they do, decks tend to only have 2 to 4 at most.
The cards I have a problem with the most and that I think that are issues for the future of Hearthstone are the 'free' cards and the high roll cards. Some of the other high roll cards are (most of the random card generators) Babbling Book and Swashburgler. They are impossible to play around and some games you get some ridiculous card out of a 1 drop. And feels terrible when you get a completely useless card too.
I am ok with cards like Discover because it requires knowledge of the cards, game state and some skill is required if the cards are all good.
I am also ok with random effects if they come from your opponents hand or deck, like Crystalline Oracle. Knowing what's in your opponents deck is good, but your opponent CAN play around it, as they know whats in their deck. There is a skill factor for both players.
And Evolve is such a high roll card now that I hate playing with and against it. Oh look, I got a 7 drop, but its a 1/1. Evolve is a decently designed card in theory. It requires a board state AND another card (Evolve). Top decking the card is often terrible too. But because there are so many badly stated cards on most of the mana curve, you end up with a card that feels like an auto win or auto loss card.
I wish Hearthstone moved away from all the random effects and free cards.
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My issue with any of these strong cards is the high roll potential of most of them. Call to Arms can get 2 Knife Jugglers and get the Divine Shield Taunt as well and unless you have direct removal, your minions will get dinged and removed easily with a bunch of minions coming into play.
Spiteful Summoner is another problematic card like Barnes. Getting free or discounted minions needs to be balanced properly. I actually like the idea of 'destroying' the spell you reveal. Why? Because it's thematic. He is a spiteful summoner, meaning he is going to do something bad in order to give you something in return. Destroying the spell works for me. It means you no longer have the 10 mana spell later in the game. Risk vs Reward.
Possessed Lackey is another issue because getting a 9 drop on turn 6 or 5 (with the coin) is not fair as no other class can pull this off and it also limits future Demon designs because of it. If they ever wanted to print a fun or strong 10 cost demon, now they can't or should be wary to do so.
It's why Corridor Creeper had to be nerfed because an unconditional 0 cost 5/5 is way too strong. Trading minions and destroying them is all the natural part of the game. That's the unconditional part as it requires no 'extra' effort. Other free or discounted minions usually require some sort of prerequisite.
I have actually designed cards for fun before and many of the design themes I have had, gives you powerful effects, but also 'destroys' the card in the process, so that infinite combos are less likely.
Example: Mage Secret, Cost 3 mana - Whenever your opponent plays any card, Discover a Secret in your deck. Put a copy of that Secret into the Battlefield and in your hand. Destroy the discovered secret afterwards in your deck.
What the above Secret does is gives you a copy in your hand. This has synergy with Quest mage and the 4 drop elemental. I think if Spiteful Summoner destroyed the spell, that would be at least balanced.
Right now, getting a 10 drop AND having access to the spell later is not a fair card.
Now the other issue I have is that not all classes have 8, 9 or 10 cost spells so this 'neutral' minion is not usable or very powerful in other classes. That makes the card feel like it was designed for Priest, Mage and Druid specifically. I think that if other classes had similar access to a 8, 9 or 10 cost minion, it would be fair as everyone would have the choice to run it.
Lastly, the Witching Hour - Hadronox Druid deck is fair even though for 3 mana you get a 9 drop. Guess what, its not unconditional, its not easy to do and takes a lot of setup to pull off. You also CANNOT build your deck with any other beasts otherwise you risk not getting Hadronox. That's a well designed card as it takes effort.
Spiteful and Possessed are not at all fair and require no setup or effort to pull off.
Free cards are an issue for almost any card game, Hearthstone, MTG or others. Depending on how the 'free' condition is triggered, it can be very problematic.
Corridor Creeper happens naturally simply by playing the game and doing what you are supposed to do. Get board control and trade minions. A card that can go into both aggro AND control decks feels unbalanced. If a control deck can board clear and then play a free 5/5, that seems pretty unfair. The opposite is true too. You finally clear the board of an aggro deck and they refill the board with a free 5/5 and other minions.
The easy balance is to make it friendly minions only instead. That means it's still powerful in aggro, but not in control decks too.
Patches is also a problem because the Pirate package is both good for aggro AND control. It's a free 1/1 with charge that helps control the board. Control decks are now using the Pirate package to fight against aggro and it removes a card from their deck, making their draws slightly more consistent.
Vilespine Slayer is fine. It's a 2 card requirement AND a terrible top deck. Rogues should be good at single minion removal.
Barnes is actually a problem as well. It's a high roll card that wins games on the spot. You hard mulligan for Barnes on turn 4 and you simply win for Big Priest. It's unfun to play against because you CAN'T kill their minions now. Barnes has other issues as well as the card pool expands, but will only be an issue in Wild later on. Not all classes or decks can play transform effects. And even if they do, decks tend to only have 2 to 4 at most.
The cards I have a problem with the most and that I think that are issues for the future of Hearthstone are the 'free' cards and the high roll cards. Some of the other high roll cards are (most of the random card generators) Babbling Book and Swashburgler. They are impossible to play around and some games you get some ridiculous card out of a 1 drop. And feels terrible when you get a completely useless card too.
I am ok with cards like Discover because it requires knowledge of the cards, game state and some skill is required if the cards are all good.
I am also ok with random effects if they come from your opponents hand or deck, like Crystalline Oracle. Knowing what's in your opponents deck is good, but your opponent CAN play around it, as they know whats in their deck. There is a skill factor for both players.
And Evolve is such a high roll card now that I hate playing with and against it. Oh look, I got a 7 drop, but its a 1/1. Evolve is a decently designed card in theory. It requires a board state AND another card (Evolve). Top decking the card is often terrible too. But because there are so many badly stated cards on most of the mana curve, you end up with a card that feels like an auto win or auto loss card.
I wish Hearthstone moved away from all the random effects and free cards.