We are entering the age of infinite and incredibly streamlined combos, I feel as though many cards have been left in the dust and haven't received a second thought since their release or most recent nerf. My goal here is to introduce a whole slew of minor to moderate changes to existing Standard cards in the game of Hearthstone in hopes that, if any of these changes did become implemented into the actual game, more deck types would see play more often. From now until I retire from the game, this will be a community fed post where I will take care to consider everyone's opinion and either provide my response or put them into effect.
That doesn't mean I'm trying to make every card super good. However, I would like to see (some) cards being played that literally no one uses. Right now I understand why no one users them, so these changes (should they ever be used by Blizzard) are purposed to make the crappy cards 'okay' and the nerfed cards decent again. (but not OP). Some cards (especially in the Basic and Classic sets) are meant to allow Beginners time to get used to the mechanics of the game, so I'll leave most of them alone, but I have made several suggestions in them for my first two sets.
If you provide no explanation as to why you raise an opinion, I will either ask you to provide one via quoting you in a separate comment or simply ignore you.
This is a work in progress and I imagine it always will be as new expansions come out and other members discover the thread. (All actual expansions have been completed to my liking with the current amount of outside help)
Comment if you want, and follow the format I use (also in a spoiler at the bottom) if you're submitting a card modification please.
Special thanks to iandakar for commenting on literally everything but Un'Goro! (unfinished at the time). His comment is linked in multiple places throughout the card descriptions.
Basic Set (open to suggestions) In-depth comment here.
Druid
Healing Touch: 3 mana "Restore 10 Health." There has to be some sort of incentive to use this card over Feral Rage. Simple as that.
Hunter
Arcane Shot: 1 mana "Deal 2 damage, if you have a Beast, deal 3 instead." This spell just isn't used, this way Kill Command isn't the only reliable way to ignore Taunt. I realize this gives Hunter more face damage/ Burn spells when they really don't need it, but 1 mana for plain 2 damage is just. . . basic. Holy Smite has also been added/updated to match a version on the linked thread above.
Timber Wolf: 1 mana 1/2 "your other Beasts have +1 attack." I see this as a really badly needed change with the addition of Fire Fly in the Un'Goro expansion. Especially to have another synergizing card that helps with the lack-luster quest: The Marsh Queen I'm being really stubborn with this one because I want it so bad. At least 2 users hate this idea (as seen in the comments) and I can kinda see why, but in the given situations, +1 Health doesn't make it any worse.
Tracking: 1 mana "Look at the top three cards in your deck. Draw one and place the others on the bottom of your deck." This is essentially the same thing, but in longer games you don't lose to just fatigue, also, if you use Tracking and see Savannah Highmane, Savannah Highmane, Call of the Wild, you don't lose two of three excellent value cards because you needed one right now. I believe it's comparable to Shadow Visions perfectly since 1. you don't get a copy, 2. you could throw away a couple decent cards still (in a less harsh way) and 3. Hunters have no spell cost reduction. This change only affects long games that cause you to draw your entire deck and Hunter is unfavored in long games anyways.
Starving Buzzard: 4 mana 2/3 (same effects) The higher health makes it harder to trade with, and the cost reduction makes it less of a dead card since it can be used in combination with Alleycat to be comparable to Nourish from the Druid class.
OR
Starving Buzzard: 5 mana 3/3 "Whenever you play a Beast while this is in your hand, Gain +1/+1." With my changes to Tracking, the card draw would be a little less necessary, and Hunters would have something other than Savannah Highmane to watch out for in the mid-late game. it's balanced by the fact that you could draw it on turn 3 and have nothing to play and by turn 5 its only a 2/2 at best. I know it kind copies Knight of the Wild in a way, but it's quite different when you think of it. even if it starts in you hand and you play a Beast every turn, it's still only going to be on-curve or less until you run out of other cards around turn 6-7.
Mage
Polymorph: 6 mana (same effects) With the addition of Primordial Glyph, this card is extremely powerful. Now if it is discovered, it costs the 4 mana that was originally considered balanced. Additionally, Mages have spell cost reduction to go along with the tempo play.
Paladin
Hand of Protection: 1 mana "Give a friendly character Immune until the end of the turn." Basically a better version of Divine Shield than can target your hero if you need to save face during a swing with a weapon. and the minion can still be destroyed by 'Destroy' affects like Shadow Word: Death if it's an actual threat, but otherwise, it's an excellent tempo card for early/mid-game. There was some controversy on whether or not the target minion could be reliably destroyed by your opponent the following turn, so I made the adjustments shown in bold. (was: "Give a friendly minion Immune until the start of your next turn.")
Light's Justice: 1 mana 1/3 "after you attack each turn, your Hero Power costs (1)." Definitely needed a buff, but with an ability like this, I had to remove a durability.
Holy Light: 2 mana "Restore 7 Health" -Because one HP matters.
Guardian of Kings: 7 mana 6/6 (same effects). The extra attack is totally necessary by turn 6-7.
OR
Guardian of Kings: 7 mana 5/6 "Taunt. Battlecry: Restore 6 Health to your hero." Thanks to: iandakar for the Idea
Priest
Holy Smite: 1 mana "Deal 2 damage. Deals double damage to minions with 'Deathrattle'." Stolen from the linked thread above.
Mind Vision: 2 mana "Gain a copy of a random card from your opponent's hand, it costs (1) less." This may be over the top, but I think paying one more mana now for a reduction later is nice depending on what you get. 1 mana "Reveal the current cards in your opponent's hand until they are played, lasts until the end of the game." Again, Thanks to: iandakar for helping with the idea.
Holy Nova: 5 mana "Deal 2 damage to all enemies and restore that much to all friendly characters." (healing scales with Spell Damage now too) "Lifesteal. Deal 2 damage to all enemies"
Totemic Might: 2 mana "Give your Totems +1/+2." Totems usually have pretty basic abilities and stats, so this will help the three 0/2's attack, and help the other totems you may summon in general and hopefully introduce Totem Shaman into the meta. (probs not)
Frost Shock: 1 mana "Deal 2 damage to a minion and Freeze it." literally, what is the point of one damage unless it's Mortal Coil?, and now it's just a mini Frostbolt for minions. thanks to: iandakar for reminding me that this card would be stupid if it could go face and add Burn damage to Shaman.
Sacrificial Pact: 0 mana "Destroy a Demon, restore 7 Health to your Hero." 5 Health isn't enough to destroy a minion that'a almost always your own.
Drain Life: 3 mana "Deal 3 damage and restore that damage to your Hero." More value, healing gets buffed by Spell Damage as well. "Lifesteal. Deal 3 damage."
Warrior
Charge: 0 mana (same effects) now you can cast it on minions you play on-curve.
Neutral
Raid Leader: 3 mana 3/2 (same effects) I feel like he needs to be a little harder to trade with in the early game since he's a pretty influential minion. Spells still do the same to him though. Also with the attack buff, he feels more like a raid leader that a raid spectator.
Silverback Patriarch: 3 mana 2/4 (same effects) it's now not under-statted and might see some play in a Beast deck or two.
Gurubashi Berserker: 4 mana 2/6 "When this minion takes damage, gain +2 attack." a general tempo change for the card, it might see more play this way.
Classic Set (Open to suggestions) In-depth comment here.
Druid
Savagery: 0 mana (same effects) Druid literally never focuses on gaining attack, so this will make it a little better without completely changing the card into something else.
Mark of Nature: 2 mana (same effects) 3 mana is a bit steep. only until you play Fandral Staghelm does this card become useful for 3 mana, now it has a similar power curve to the rest of the 'Choose One' cards.
Force of Nature: 4 mana (same effects) Druid already has Enchanted Raven, paying 5 mana for 3 mana worth of cards is stupid, but 3 mana in a one card package is also stupid, so, 4 mana.
Starfall: 5 mana "Choose One - Deal 7 damage to a minion: or 2 damage to all enemy minions." The main damage just had to be buffed. I mean, a FREAKING STAR is falling ON YOUR HEAD I'm sorry, you're taking more than a measly 5 damage for it. Now there's more of an incentive to put this in a deck for control instead of Swipe.
Hunter
Misdirection: 2 mana "Secret: When an enemy minion attacks your Hero, it instead loses its current and next attack." (basically what Freezing Trap was in the Beta)
Snipe: 2 mana "Secret: When your opponent plays a minion, deal 5 damage to it." you don't get to choose what minion you hit, so it should be worth playing around more often now, and more rewarding when it hits a bigger minion.
Explosive Shot: 5 mana "Deal 5 (down from 6) damage to a minion and 2 to the ones next to it. Minions hit lose 'Taunt'." I feel an explosion should break 'armor' like explosions in real life, also now Taunt Warrior won't be so incredibly strong against the smaller minions Hunters tend to play for at least one turn.
Gladiator's Longbow: 7 mana 5/3 (same effects) Having an additional attack with a weapon like this can turn the tides a little more, and that's exactly what I want when I pay 7 mana for a weapon. (see page two for comments on this weapon.)
King Krush: 9 mana 4/12 "Charge. Windfury." T-Rex's usually don't just attack once, and are hard to take down. This way, buffing him can really be something to watch out for, he can still deal 4+ damage past a relatively small Taunt minion and still costs 9. (8 is too cheap for use of Steady Shot and other reasons)
Mage
Vaporize: 3 mana "Secret: if an enemy minion would deal damage equal to or more than 10% (down from 20%) of your life total, Destroy it." Now it won't be able to be played around so often with a little charge minion or whatever. You'll consistently hit a relatively big threat for every activation.
Paladin
Sword of Justice: 2 mana 1/4 (same effects) Stolen from the thread linked above.
Avenging Wrath: 6 mana "Deal 10 damage randomly among all enemies. Not affected by Spell Power." The 2 extra damage can save your life if the first 8 goes mostly to your opponent's face. But it can't be increased by Bloodmage Thalnos or other common Spell enhancing cards.
Priest
Lightwell: 2 mana 0/5 "At the start of your turn, give another (can't buff itself now) random friendly minion +1 (down from 2) Health and restore it to full Health." Again, stolen from the linked forum above, with my input as a modification from +3 Health. Thanks to: iandakar for having a proper reaction to the previous version "At the start of your turn, give a random friendly minion +2 health then restore it to full health." LOL
Shadowform: 3 mana "(same effects) The first time you cast this, it costs (1)." For easier tempo plays to fit the theoretical archetype of shadow priest.
OR
Shadowform: 3 mana "(Same effects) You can play this on turn one." This way, unless you want to play it as your first card (and have it in your hand) it always costs the original 3 mana. Opinions?
Shadow Madness: 3 mana (same effects) Not a trash card this way.
Holy Fire: 5 mana (same effects) Priest has no Ramping abilities like Druid, so paying 6 mana for a mediocre spell is a little harder for Priest.
Rogue
Shadowstep: 0 mana "Return a friendly minion to your hand, it costs (2) less but not less than (1)." Same deal with Summoning Portal free 2 cost minions are OP, no matter the deck.
Patient Assassin: 2 mana 1/2 (same effects) now the 1 damage board clears don't ruin him and make him less than the Epic he is.
Perdition's Blade: 2 mana 2/2 (same effects) Rogue needs a staple weapon other than the Wicked Knife you get form the Hero Power.
Blade Flurry: 3 (up from 2) mana (same effects) like the old version, but it still doesn't hit the enemy Hero. at best, you get an attack with your Wicked Knife and destroy the rest of it to get an Arcane Explosion. that is, until control Rogue comes out and plays a better weapon or Deadly Poison.
Master of Disguise: 4 mana 4/5 (same effects) These stats make it more playable in my opinion.
Kidnapper: 4 mana 3/2 (same effects) He is now a Sap and a 2 mana 3/2 Combo minion in one. more for a lighter deck style that all Rogues tend to play. 5 mana 5/3 "Choose a minion, when Kidnapper dies, that minion also dies." Rogue's don't need 4 Saps" -iandakar
Shaman
Dust Devil: 1 mana 2/2 (same effects). the 1 health is way to weak even going first turn one, but a 3/2 Windfury would be OP. Mage, Rogue and Druid (all popular classes) can instantly deal with it and not have to use a card while taking minimal damage. (Fireblast, Dagger Mastery, Shapeshift)
Forked Lightning: 1 Mana "Deal 2 damage to a random enemy minion, then deal 2 damage to a random enemy minion. Overload (2)." Basically the same, but no longer requires more than 1 minion, and it can double up to deal 4 damage.
Stormforged Axe: 3 mana 4/2 "Overload - (2)" (up from Overload - (1)) It's a Silenced Truesilver Champion one turn earlier for moderate Overload. it truly is broken for only Overload - (1). Thanks again to iandakar.
Far Sight: 3 mana "Draw a card, it costs (2)." (up from (1)) This would make it worth the epic rarity price tag it has. Still OP depending on what you draw, but it's less severe than only costing 1.
Unbound Elemental: 3 mana 3/4 (same effects) Generally a better card with the +1 attack, I hope this becomes an actual thing now that Elementals have their own class/tribe.
Al'Akir the Windlord: 8 mana 4/5 (down from 6) (same effects) 8 damage for 8 mana is fair on my watch. Better Taunt stats too. I also think he can compare to Tirion Fordring now ,and while Al'Akir the Windlord still won't be such a staple in literally every deck, he won't be such a mediocre legendary anymore. Was too strong with 6 health. credit: iandakar
Warlock
Felguard: 3 mana 4/5 (same effects) he needs a little more attack to be worth destroying a mana crystal, especially early on.
Pit Lord: 4 mana 6/6 (up from 5/6) "Battlecry: Deal 4 damage to you Hero." Not quite as punishing in the class based around trading life for value anymore.
Warrior
Frothing Berserker: 3 mana 2/4 "Whenever a friendly minion takes damage, gain +1 Attack."
OR
Frothing Berserker: 3 mana 3/4 "Battlecry: At the end of the turn: gain +1 Attack for each time a minion takes damage this turn." An effect like Echoing Ooze that allows it to still grow as fast as before, but it can't keep growing in following turns.
Arathi Weaponsmith: 4 mana 3/4 (same effects) It's a class card, so similar argument to Keeper of the Grove. I didn't want to make it another 4/3 for the Warrior class so Priest can still interact with some of Warrior's minions.
Neutral
Mana Wraith: 2 mana 3/2 (same effects) you punish yourself while playing this minion, I at least want normal stats.
Arcane Golem: 3 mana 5/5 (same effects) Giving your opponent a mana crystal is huge, you should be rewarded for doing so.
Ironbeak Owl: 3 mana 2/2 (same effects) Gets sniped too often as well.
King Mukla: 3 mana 5/6 (same effects) this way he can get at least one attack in before you lose too much tempo from giving your opponent cards
Priestess of Elune: 6 mana 5/4 "Battlecry: Restore 6 Health to your Hero." 2 mana for 6 Health is average, 4 Health is useless.
Whispers of the Old Gods (Open to suggestions) In-depth comment here
Druid
Addled Grizzly: 3 mana 3/2 (same effects) I feel as though you would use this card as a pseudo- mass-buff when playing several other smaller minions. giving it +1 attack makes it seem like it also got the buff.
Hunter
Infest: 2 mana (same effects) 3 mana for these Deathrattles is a bit expensive most of the time, and don't tell me playing this turn 2 is OP or whatever. There are worse things.
Infested Wolf: 4 mana 3/4 (same effects) he was meant to be 'sticky', let him be worth it.
Mage
Anomalus: 8 mana 6/6 "Deathrattle: Deal 6 (down from 7) damage to all enemy minions." Less stats, slightly weaker board-wipe, but now it only hits enemies.
Paladin
Everything is as balanced as I would want it to be.
Thistle Tea: 5 mana (same effects) 6 mana has always felt too much for this card, even with Preparation any deck that ran this has a pretty dull turn once or twice, and that alone can cost the game.
Spreading Madness: 4 (Up from original 3) mana "Deal 9 damage randomly split among ALL minions." As a Warlock, you can't sacrifice your life for EVERY card you play, and you have better cards for hitting the Opponent's face. again, thanks again to iandakar for the input.
Warrior
N'Zoth's First Mate: 1 mana 1/1 "Battlecry: Equip a 1/2 Rusty Hook." With Pirate Warrior seeing SUCH success, A minor tempo change is needed. With all of the ways Warrior has to (Literally) Upgrade! weapons, making them require one of those cards before attacking again (for one damage) is a minor tempo change worth noting that doesn't destroy the deck.
Tentacles for Arms: 4 mana 2/2 (same effects) the cost reduction still probably won't make this see play, but an infinite weapon is still neat
Neutral
Zealous Initiate: 1 mana 2/1 (same effects) it's an okay card if its ability hits a minion, trash if it doesn't. With an attack buff, it can contend with Abusive Sergeant in faster decks.
The Boogeymonster: 8 mana 6/9 (same effects) It needs some extra health to survive killing any minions with considerable power.
One Night in Karazhan (Open to suggestions) In-depth comment here.
Druid
All good here.
Hunter
And here...
Mage
And here....
Paladin
Silvermoon Portal: 4 mana "Give a minion +2/+2. Summon a random 3-cost minion." Assuming you pay 1 mana to give +2/+2, 3 mana for a random minion is fair considering the best you can get stat-wise is King Mukla and there are a lot of Battlecries that will go un-triggered.
Priest
I originally had Onyx Bishop as a 4/4, but I realized it was just a little to OP sometimes.
Rogue
All good here too.
Shaman
Wicked Witchdoctor: 4 mana 3/5 (same effects) This way you can get 1-2 more totems out of her before she insta-dies from being such a big target. (doesn't need to change)
Warlock
Nothing to see here (>_>) (<_<) (>_>)
Warrior
I think these cards are fine.
Neutral
Arcanosmith: 4 mana 3/3 (same effects) Make the minion worth hiding behind the Taunt.
Moat Lurker: 5 mana 3/3 (same effects) It's far out-classed by Vilespine Slayer and since it's not a permanent effect (usually), Big Game Hunter and his poor stats is even better without having to buy an adventure.
Mean Streets of Gadgetzan (Open to suggestions) In-depth comment here.
Druid
Jade Idol: 2 mana "Choose One - Summon a Jade Golem; or Shuffle 2 copies of this card into your deck." Jade Druids can be completely careless when accounting for how many Jade Idols they have in their decks (deck-trackers only help) and can poop out a board in a matter of seconds with Gadgetzan Auctioneer. This way, they STILL can't die to fatigue damage but they also have to dedicate more of their (seemingly) infinite mana to putting more copies in their deck. (changed mana cost to 3 to avoid mega combos with Auctioneer/Infestation, Druid has enough mana ramp anyways)
Hunter
Hidden Cache: 2 mana "Secret: After your opponent plays a minion, give a random minion in your hand +3/+3."
Mage
Skip to Priest.
Paladin
Go to Priest I said....
Priest
Potion of Madness: 2 mana (same effects) This doesn't change a whole lot other than interactions with Radiant Elemental from Un'Goro and just being able to play fewer cards in a turn.
Kabal Talonpriest: 3 mana 3/4 "Battlecry: Give a friendly minion +2 Health." It's a ridiculous power curve, needs to be toned down a bit.
Raza the Chained: 5 mana 5/5 "Battlecry: If your deck contains no duplicates, your Hero Power costs (1) this game." This in combination with Anduin is a bit ridiculous, this way there is still a reduction that pays off, but it isn't so swingy in terms of power after playing the deathknight.
Rogue
Nothing here :)
Shaman
Devolve: 2 mana (Same effects, Overload: (2)) Extremely powerful for only 2 mana whenever.
Lotus Illusionist: 4 mana 3/5 "Battlecry: Transform each Jade Golem you control into another minion with the same cost."
Warlock
Unlicensed Apothecary: 3 mana 5/6 "Whenever you summon a minion, deal 4 damage to your hero." now it's worth the epic price tag. (second rendition) (previously 3 mana 6/5 (original effects))
Warrior
I personally think all of these cards are great in the right situations.
Neutral
Patches the Pirate: 1 mana 1/1 "Charge." I'm Joking, but i kinda wish he didn't exsist since he's sped up the meta so much.
Grimestreet Informant: 4 mana 4/2 (up from 3/2) (same effects) I hardly EVER see this minion played, and it's because the discover cards usually aren't worth discovering so early, and the classes that can use him need to play their better early minions to keep the pressure on. Making him a 4-drop should increase how often he's seen on the ladder.
Bomb Squad: 5 mana 2/2 "Battlecry: Deal 5 damage to an enemy minion. Deathrattle: Deal 2 damage to adjacent minions and your hero." Less punishing to your life total, and Positioning would become mega important while it's on the board. The Deathrattle seems more like an uncontrolled explosion to me now as well. I thought about this and realized that this Deathrattle defeats the purpose in tempo/board control you initially get from playing the minion in the first place.
Wind-up Burglebot: 6 mana 4/6 (same effects) It now has a higher chance to survive attacking other minions it would be faced with around turn 6.
Journey to Un'Goro (Open to suggestions)
Druid
Evolving Spores: 3 mana (same effect) it's kinda random, better a tempo card on turn 5-6 after a little minion now.
Hunter
The Marsh Queen: 1 mana (of course) "Quest: Play six 1-Cost minions. Reward:Queen Carnassa." As we have seen, even with such a decent reward, having such a 'thin' deck of one-drops, even in a class that has several good one cost minions of its own, the card draw for Hunters is simply not good enough to make the whole deal work fast enough to wait for a Battlecry that MIGHT give you a broken Carnassa's Brood or two your next turn. If she REPLACED your deck with like, 18 raptors or so, at least that portion of the quest mechanic would be consistent enough to be a tier 3 deck at best. With the requirement dropping to 6 minions, drawing Fire Fly will no longer be a literal requirement to complete the quest on time to do something. On average, a quest deck runs 12-14 one-drops, that's up to 7 duplicate weak cards, now you should be fine running 11-12 which leaves room for a couple other decent cards.
Dinomancy: I would apply either one of the same two effects to this card as I would Shadowform in Priest's Classic set above.
Mage
Primordial Glyph: 2 mana "Discover a spell. Reduce its cost by (1)." A 2 mana reduction from a 2 mana card is just way to versatile.
Mana Bind: no longer triggers before Flare. Just a small annoyance that doesn't follow card text.
Paladin
The Last Kaleidosaur: 1 mana (Obviously) "Quest: Cast 6 spells on your minions, Reward:Crystal Essence." This would be a 4 mana spell that says "Discover 2 Adaptations, for the rest of the game, your minions have those Adaptations." Putting all of your Quest reward into one big thing is really risky especially when your opponent has all the time to prepare for it. Casting 6 spells on only your minions is somewhat difficult and I think the reward is fitting.
Fire Plume Harbinger: 2 mana 1/2 (same effects) It's not such a great effect that it doesn't deserve to even have vanilla 1-cost stats.
Primalfin Totem: 2 mana 0/2 (same effects) 3 health on something that annoying so early in the game is bad enough when there's already Flametounge Totem.
Warlock
Lakkari Sacrifice: I don't know if this should be entirely reworked or left alone, but I'm going to put it on here until I find a decent suggestion or am convinced it's fine.
Ultimate Infestation: 10 mana "Deal 4 damage. Draw 4 cards. Gain 5 Armor. Summon a 4/5 Ghoul." Wow this card is OP, i like the idea of doing a bunch of crap but dang!
Hunter
Toxic Arrow: 2 mana "Deal 1 damage to a minion, if it survives, give it -1/-1." Still basically deals 2 damage to bigger things, but also can lower attack if needed
Blood-Queen Lana'thel: 5 mana 3/5 "Taunt, Lifesteal, Has +1 Attack for each card you've discarded this game." Warlock really needs to be able to make use of the lifesteal outside of a disco deck.
Warrior
Rotface: 8 mana 4/7 (same effects) He needs just a tiny bit more life to be as good as he should.
Feel free to post any suggestions for card I haven't done or cards I have done that you have a differing opinion on. I would appreciate it if you suggest cards like in the spoiler below, but it doesn't matter as long as I can understand what you meant.
card: X mana x/x "the card will say this stuff." my reasoning is: blah blah blah (the 'x/x' is to be the stats for the card if it is a minion/weapon)
Your idea on mind control is shit. The card would be even more broken in arena due to large amounts of vanilla minions, and itd still not see any play in standard because of the poorly statted minions with OP effects.
Immune minions can't be destroyed. Hand of Protection would be OP.
Hammer of Wrath is worth 3,5 mana so it'd be as strong as it's currently weak. Considering you'd be giving removal to a class that's missing it I'm against this.
Humility would be OP and give removal to a class whose weakness is bad removal. Would have to be 4 mana.
Ancestral Healing: too wordy, too strong, gives card draw to a class that probably shouldn't have more of it. The secondary effect you added is stronger than the original main effect and it's the third effect on a single, 1-mana basic card.
Starfire: same as Paladin's removal.
Starving Buzzard: would have agreed before Hunter got Fiery Bat, Macaw and Alley Cat. Now it would have too much synergy for this buff. Maybe 4 mana 2/2. Maybe.
Immune minions can't be destroyed. Hand of Protection would be OP. Vaporize beats Bestial Wrath all day man
Hammer of Wrath is worth 3,5 mana so it'd be as strong as it's currently weak. Considering you'd be giving removal to a class that's missing it I'm against this. and you wonder why no one uses it? these are changes to a LOT of cards, the game is completely changing in order to have more of a hard time deciding between cards, now would you run a 3 mana Hammer of Wrath or not? it gets to the point where some cards are pointless to play for the amount they set you back in terms of tempo. now it's a Shadow Bolt that trades damage for card draw.
Humility would be OP and give removal to a class whose weakness is bad removal. Would have to be 4 mana. I changed it to 2/2 now.
Ancestral Healing: too wordy, too strong, gives card draw to a class that probably shouldn't have more of it. The secondary effect you added is stronger than the original main effect and it's the third effect on a single, 1-mana basic card. what card draw are you speaking of? the usually ONE card you get from the Mana Tide Totem at the end of your turn isn't great, and no one uses Far Sight
Starfire: same as Paladin's removal.Starfire is now directly comparable to Fireball in that you pay one more mana for one less damage and card draw.
Starving Buzzard: would have agreed before Hunter got Fiery Bat, Macaw and Alley Cat. Now it would have too much synergy for this buff. Maybe 4 mana 2/2. Maybe. are you really going to hold those good one-drops for turn 5 or later? You gotta remember, Hunter's have S*** card draw except for Flare.
1. Buff cards that already see good amounts of play
2. Make basic cards more complicated. Part of the reason basic cards exist is to teach new players, mind control being a horrid example of this.
could you provide me with some example of what you disagree on? my goal is to give all the cards a competitive spot to fill rather than just having 3-4 cards each class ALWAYS plays because there are no replacements.
Your idea on mind control is shit. The card would be even more broken in arena due to large amounts of vanilla minions, and itd still not see any play in standard because of the poorly statted minions with OP effects. I'm still trying to think of a better version of Mind Control, maybe 10 mana "Choose a minion, it attacks your selected target." that would seem to fit the card title more anyways.
Arcane Shot: 1 mana "Deal 2 damage, if you have a Beast, deal 3 instead." This spell just isn't used, this way Kill Command isn't the only reliable way to ignore Taunt.
Agree
Timber Wolf: 1 mana 1/2 "your other Beasts have +1 attack." I see this as a really badly needed change with the addition of Fire Fly in the Un'Goro expansion. Especially to have another synergizing card that helps with the lack-luster quest: The Marsh Queen
Disagree
The effect is very good in early game, if you have 2 copies in your starting hand with coin, you get a 4/4 in turn 1. Absolutely insane.
Tracking: 1 mana "Look at the top three cards in your deck. Draw one and place the others on the bottom of your deck." This is essentially the same thing, but in longer games you don;t lose to just fatigue, also, if you use Tracking and see Savannah Highmane, Savannah Highmane, Call of the Wild, you don't lose two of three excellent value cards because you needed one right now. I believe it's comparable to Shadow Visions perfectly since 1. you don't get a copy, 2. you could throw away a couple decent cards still (in a less harsh way) and 3. Hunters have no spell cost reduction.
Disagree
As far I know you cannot put cards in a specific position in your deck. A variation would be shuffle the other 2 cards, but then this card would be broken.
Starving Buzzard: 4 mana 2/3 (same effects) The higher health makes it harder to trade with, and the cost reduction makes it less of a dead card since it can be used in combination with Alleycat to be comparable to Nourish from the Druid class.
Disagree
Hunter has already many 1-mana beasts and beasts that summon beasts with their deathrattle. This card would be OP.
Tundra Rhino: 5 mana 4/6 "Your other Beasts have Charge." Often times I play this card to give something else Charge, I hardly ever use the 2 attack on the current version except as a saving grace if I have a crap hand while playing Quest Hunter. and for such a good ability, I couldn't give it the game breaking stats of Drakonid Operative
Disagree
Maybe a 3/5. But a 5-mana 4/6 with such effect is way too OP.
Immune minions can't be destroyed. Hand of Protection would be OP. Vaporize beats Bestial Wrath all day man
Ok, so there are like six cards (Vaporize, Deadly Shot, Deathwing, Brawl, Twisting Nether and DOOM!) that'd be capable of killing a minion with Hand of Protection, of which two are played.
Hammer of Wrath is worth 3,5 mana so it'd be as strong as it's currently weak. Considering you'd be giving removal to a class that's missing it I'm against this. and you wonder why no one uses it? these are changes to a LOT of cards, the game is completely changing in order to have more of a hard time deciding between cards, now would you run a 3 mana Hammer of Wrath or not? it gets to the point where some cards are pointless to play for the amount they set you back in terms of tempo. now it's a Shadow Bolt that trades damage for card draw.
Of course I'd play 3 mana Hammer of Wrath and I'm saying that's an issue. You have to look at the bigger picture, sure the card is bad but it makes the class healthier.
Ancestral Healing: too wordy, too strong, gives card draw to a class that probably shouldn't have more of it. The secondary effect you added is stronger than the original main effect and it's the third effect on a single, 1-mana basic card. what card draw are you speaking of? the usually ONE card you get from the Mana Tide Totem at the end of your turn isn't great, and no one uses Far Sight
Exactly. Paladin is a healing class with lots of heals, and that's why I completely agree with buffing Holy Light. Card draw is Shaman's weak point and it relies on neutral options.
Starfire: same as Paladin's removal.Starfire is now directly comparable to Fireball in that you pay one more mana for one less damage and card draw.
This would make Starfire a balanced Mage card but it's a Druid card. Druids have ramping, better late game minions and token synergies, Mages have efficient removal. There are players who desperately need mechanics that aren't their deck's class's strengths, and suboptimal class cards and neutral cards exist for this purpose. When you're building a Druid or Paladin deck and want efficient removal, you either switch to Mage or play Starfire and accept that in exchange for having Innervate your removal sucks.
It seems perfectly acceptable for the Basic set to have plenty of simple, underpowered cards. It's the set for beginners, and as their collection grows, they'll collect more powerful, more complicated cards, and they'll learn how to use them. It doesn't seem at all acceptable to insist that every card in the game ought to be designed for Spike, or that the Basic set en masse ought to be perfectly competitive with all the cards which are introduced to the game with the launch of each new expansion. The Basic set provides building blocks for new players - some cards are intended to be 'traps' while others are intended for use by Johnny and Timmy. It's difficult to assess your effort, as you've not explained the purpose behind your attempt at 'balance' - it seems to be 'make everything Spikey' or something similar, which doesn't seem like a particularly appealing idea. However, it isn't causing any harm - if you enjoy the exercise, GLHF.
1. Buff cards that already see good amounts of play
2. Make basic cards more complicated. Part of the reason basic cards exist is to teach new players, mind control being a horrid example of this.
could you provide me with some example of what you disagree on? my goal is to give all the cards a competitive spot to fill rather than just having 3-4 cards each class ALWAYS plays because there are no replacements.
You want to buff
Timber Wolf
Tracking
Tundra Rhino
Humility
Holy Nova
Mind Control
Shiv
Those cards have all seen competitive play. So buffing them is a very bad idea. I could get into specifics but I don't think I need to. If a card is good enough to see play leave it alone, and leave more creative ideas to new cards.
You also want to make basic cards more complicated. I don't think I need to provide examples since these are your cards, and it's obvious. I already made my point about this.
Honestly, I couldn't care less what your goal is. I am giving you my opinion on why those 2 things I mentioned shouldn't be done. I have no problem with your changes that don't fall into those 2 categories.
However, if you do want to meet your goal you should at least look into the history of the game and see whether these cards are used. Tundra rhino was one of the biggest examples of a card that shouldn't be touched because it sees constant play in hunter.
Lovely and simple feedback, but could you explain why you disagree with some of my ideas? I am trying to be balanced, so if you can convince me I should leave a card alone or something, I will.
Arcane Shot: 1 mana "Deal 2 damage, if you have a Beast, deal 3 instead." This spell just isn't used, this way Kill Command isn't the only reliable way to ignore Taunt.
Agree
Timber Wolf: 1 mana 1/2 "your other Beasts have +1 attack." I see this as a really badly needed change with the addition of Fire Fly in the Un'Goro expansion. Especially to have another synergizing card that helps with the lack-luster quest: The Marsh Queen
Disagree
The effect is very good in early game, if you have 2 copies in your starting hand with coin, you get a 4/4 in turn 1. Absolutely insane. (the double 1/2 Timber Wolf is the same as a double Enchanted Raven)
Tracking: 1 mana "Look at the top three cards in your deck. Draw one and place the others on the bottom of your deck." This is essentially the same thing, but in longer games you don;t lose to just fatigue, also, if you use Tracking and see Savannah Highmane, Savannah Highmane, Call of the Wild, you don't lose two of three excellent value cards because you needed one right now. I believe it's comparable to Shadow Visions perfectly since 1. you don't get a copy, 2. you could throw away a couple decent cards still (in a less harsh way) and 3. Hunters have no spell cost reduction.
Disagree
As far I know you cannot put cards in a specific position in your deck. A variation would be shuffle the other 2 cards, but then this card would be broken. That's why I say out them on the bottom, so if you need the card, it's not easily accessible, but it's also not gone for the rest of the match.
Starving Buzzard: 4 mana 2/3 (same effects) The higher health makes it harder to trade with, and the cost reduction makes it less of a dead card since it can be used in combination with Alleycat to be comparable to Nourish from the Druid class.
Disagree
Hunter has already many 1-mana beasts and beasts that summon beasts with their deathrattle. This card would be OP. It takes more set-up than you realize though, I tried to abuse that very mechanic in a very specific deck, and that's when I came up with these changes.
Tundra Rhino: 5 mana 4/6 "Your other Beasts have Charge." Often times I play this card to give something else Charge, I hardly ever use the 2 attack on the current version except as a saving grace if I have a crap hand while playing Quest Hunter. and for such a good ability, I couldn't give it the game breaking stats of Drakonid Operative
Disagree
Maybe a 3/5. But a 5-mana 4/6 with such effect is way too OP. I can see that. Change made.
Immune minions can't be destroyed. Hand of Protection would be OP. Vaporize beats Bestial Wrath all day man
Ok, so there are like six cards (Vaporize, Deadly Shot, Deathwing, Brawl, Twisting Nether and DOOM!) that'd be capable of killing a minion with Hand of Protection, of which two are played. Immune affects don't make you un-targetable, and there's plenty of destroy target cards. I'll list a few: Naturalize, Shatter, Shadow Word: Death (and Pain), Assassinate, Vilespine Slayer, Siphon Soul, Execute (If it's been previously damaged), Hungry Crab, Golakka Crawler and more.
Hammer of Wrath is worth 3,5 mana so it'd be as strong as it's currently weak. Considering you'd be giving removal to a class that's missing it I'm against this. and you wonder why no one uses it? these are changes to a LOT of cards, the game is completely changing in order to have more of a hard time deciding between cards, now would you run a 3 mana Hammer of Wrath or not? it gets to the point where some cards are pointless to play for the amount they set you back in terms of tempo. now it's a Shadow Bolt that trades damage for card draw.
Of course I'd play 3 mana Hammer of Wrath and I'm saying that's an issue. You have to look at the bigger picture, sure the card is bad but it makes the class healthier. True, the card has now been removed from the list.
Ancestral Healing: too wordy, too strong, gives card draw to a class that probably shouldn't have more of it. The secondary effect you added is stronger than the original main effect and it's the third effect on a single, 1-mana basic card. what card draw are you speaking of? the usually ONE card you get from the Mana Tide Totem at the end of your turn isn't great, and no one uses Far Sight
Exactly. Paladin is a healing class with lots of heals, and that's why I completely agree with buffing Holy Light. Card draw is Shaman's weak point and it relies on neutral options. I disagree with Paladin being a Healing class first of all, it's a Hybrid at best. and Shaman deserves a card like this, maybe the taunt portion can go since it's useless to heal a minion for protection then put it on the front-lines (theoretically) but paying 2 mana to draw a card and have some other tempo affect isn't going to overhaul a class alone. Look at Flare.
Starfire: same as Paladin's removal.Starfire is now directly comparable to Fireball in that you pay one more mana for one less damage and card draw.
This would make Starfire a balanced Mage card but it's a Druid card. Druids have ramping, better late game minions and token synergies, Mages have efficient removal. There are players who desperately need mechanics that aren't their deck's class's strengths, and suboptimal class cards and neutral cards exist for this purpose. When you're building a Druid or Paladin deck and want efficient removal, you either switch to Mage or play Starfire and accept that in exchange for having Innervate your removal sucks. Great point, this card has now been removed from the list.
Lovely and simple feedback, but could you explain why you disagree with some of my ideas? I am trying to be balanced, so if you can convince me I should leave a card alone or something, I will.
I think you should leave all cards alone that are already decent because when you buff decent cards they tend to become too strong.
I also hate your comparison.
2 timber wolves is not the same as enchanted raven. Druid's don't have unleash the hounds. Timber wolf isn't an effect that buffs one card. You also can't make straight comparisons to other classes. Some classes have straight up better versions of other cards, and that's fine. Warlocks have Dark Bomb, Mages have Frostbolt, and there is nothing wrong with that.
Lovely and simple feedback, but could you explain why you disagree with some of my ideas? I am trying to be balanced, so if you can convince me I should leave a card alone or something, I will.
Lovely and simple feedback, but could you explain why you disagree with some of my ideas? I am trying to be balanced, so if you can convince me I should leave a card alone or something, I will.
I like hunter, so I only focused in those cards. I will see the entire list and share some ideas.
And about Timber Wolf, it shouldn't have the same stats as a vanilla minion.
You're talking about a very specific case dude. Bladed Cultist is arguably more powerful since it's in Rogue who now has access to two Counterfeit Coins. You have higher chance to go first and get two 2/3's as Rogue than you do to go second and get 2 2/2's with Hunter. not unbalanced at all. also, to which vanilla minion are you referring?
It seems perfectly acceptable for the Basic set to have plenty of simple, underpowered cards. It's the set for beginners, and as their collection grows, they'll collect more powerful, more complicated cards, and they'll learn how to use them. It doesn't seem at all acceptable to insist that every card in the game ought to be designed for Spike, or that the Basic set en masse ought to be perfectly competitive with all the cards which are introduced to the game with the launch of each new expansion. The Basic set provides building blocks for new players - some cards are intended to be 'traps' while others are intended for use by Johnny and Timmy. It's difficult to assess your effort, as you've not explained the purpose behind your attempt at 'balance' - it seems to be 'make everything Spikey' or something similar, which doesn't seem like a particularly appealing idea. However, it isn't causing any harm - if you enjoy the exercise, GLHF.
I added a more formal introduction to the thread, and I'm also not changing all of the cards. In addition, the other sets I have yet to touch should put the updated versions of the Basic and Classic cards I've posted in their respectful power levels as seen/felt in the current Hearthstone game. I might have another section of cards that will focus on making more deck archetypes like shadow Priest and enrage Warrior more fun and practical to play, but I imagine that would come after completing my card adjustments to the current sets.
I hope you'll check back periodically to see how it's coming!
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We are entering the age of infinite and incredibly streamlined combos, I feel as though many cards have been left in the dust and haven't received a second thought since their release or most recent nerf. My goal here is to introduce a whole slew of minor to moderate changes to existing Standard cards in the game of Hearthstone in hopes that, if any of these changes did become implemented into the actual game, more deck types would see play more often. From now until I retire from the game, this will be a community fed post where I will take care to consider everyone's opinion and either provide my response or put them into effect.
That doesn't mean I'm trying to make every card super good. However, I would like to see (some) cards being played that literally no one uses. Right now I understand why no one users them, so these changes (should they ever be used by Blizzard) are purposed to make the crappy cards 'okay' and the nerfed cards decent again. (but not OP). Some cards (especially in the Basic and Classic sets) are meant to allow Beginners time to get used to the mechanics of the game, so I'll leave most of them alone, but I have made several suggestions in them for my first two sets.
If you provide no explanation as to why you raise an opinion, I will either ask you to provide one via quoting you in a separate comment or simply ignore you.
This is a work in progress and I imagine it always will be as new expansions come out and other members discover the thread. (All actual expansions have been completed to my liking with the current amount of outside help)
Comment if you want, and follow the format I use (also in a spoiler at the bottom) if you're submitting a card modification please.
The thread that Inspired me and where I get several Ideas: http://www.hearthpwn.com/forums/hearthstone-general/fan-creations/195192-an-attempt-to-balance-all-cards-in-hearthstone (Thread by: The_GoldenElf)
Special thanks to iandakar for commenting on literally everything but Un'Goro! (unfinished at the time). His comment is linked in multiple places throughout the card descriptions.
Basic Set (open to suggestions) In-depth comment here.
Druid
Healing Touch: 3 mana "Restore 10 Health." There has to be some sort of incentive to use this card over Feral Rage. Simple as that.
Hunter
Arcane Shot: 1 mana "Deal 2 damage, if you have a Beast, deal 3 instead." This spell just isn't used, this way Kill Command isn't the only reliable way to ignore Taunt. I realize this gives Hunter more face damage/ Burn spells when they really don't need it, but 1 mana for plain 2 damage is just. . . basic. Holy Smite has also been added/updated to match a version on the linked thread above.
Timber Wolf: 1 mana 1/2 "your other Beasts have +1 attack." I see this as a really badly needed change with the addition of Fire Fly in the Un'Goro expansion. Especially to have another synergizing card that helps with the lack-luster quest: The Marsh Queen I'm being really stubborn with this one because I want it so bad. At least 2 users hate this idea (as seen in the comments) and I can kinda see why, but in the given situations, +1 Health doesn't make it any worse.
Tracking: 1 mana "Look at the top three cards in your deck. Draw one and place the others on the bottom of your deck." This is essentially the same thing, but in longer games you don't lose to just fatigue, also, if you use Tracking and see Savannah Highmane, Savannah Highmane, Call of the Wild, you don't lose two of three excellent value cards because you needed one right now. I believe it's comparable to Shadow Visions perfectly since 1. you don't get a copy, 2. you could throw away a couple decent cards still (in a less harsh way) and 3. Hunters have no spell cost reduction. This change only affects long games that cause you to draw your entire deck and Hunter is unfavored in long games anyways.
Starving Buzzard: 4 mana 2/3 (same effects) The higher health makes it harder to trade with, and the cost reduction makes it less of a dead card since it can be used in combination with Alleycat to be comparable to Nourish from the Druid class.
OR
Starving Buzzard: 5 mana 3/3 "Whenever you play a Beast while this is in your hand, Gain +1/+1." With my changes to Tracking, the card draw would be a little less necessary, and Hunters would have something other than Savannah Highmane to watch out for in the mid-late game. it's balanced by the fact that you could draw it on turn 3 and have nothing to play and by turn 5 its only a 2/2 at best. I know it kind copies Knight of the Wild in a way, but it's quite different when you think of it. even if it starts in you hand and you play a Beast every turn, it's still only going to be on-curve or less until you run out of other cards around turn 6-7.
Mage
Polymorph: 6 mana (same effects) With the addition of Primordial Glyph, this card is extremely powerful. Now if it is discovered, it costs the 4 mana that was originally considered balanced. Additionally, Mages have spell cost reduction to go along with the tempo play.
Paladin
Hand of Protection: 1 mana "Give a friendly character Immune until the end of the turn." Basically a better version of Divine Shield than can target your hero if you need to save face during a swing with a weapon.
and the minion can still be destroyed by 'Destroy' affects like Shadow Word: Death if it's an actual threat, but otherwise, it's an excellent tempo card for early/mid-game.There was some controversy on whether or not the target minion could be reliably destroyed by your opponent the following turn, so I made the adjustments shown in bold. (was: "Give a friendly minion Immune until the start of your next turn.")Light's Justice: 1 mana 1/3 "after you attack each turn, your Hero Power costs (1)." Definitely needed a buff, but with an ability like this, I had to remove a durability.
Holy Light: 2 mana "Restore 7 Health" -Because one HP matters.
Guardian of Kings: 7 mana 6/6 (same effects). The extra attack is totally necessary by turn 6-7.
OR
Guardian of Kings: 7 mana 5/6 "Taunt. Battlecry: Restore 6 Health to your hero." Thanks to: iandakar for the Idea
Priest
Holy Smite: 1 mana "Deal 2 damage. Deals double damage to minions with 'Deathrattle'." Stolen from the linked thread above.
Mind Vision:
2 mana "Gain a copy of a random card from your opponent's hand, it costs (1) less." This may be over the top, but I think paying one more mana now for a reduction later is nice depending on what you get.1 mana "Reveal the current cards in your opponent's hand until they are played, lasts until the end of the game." Again, Thanks to: iandakar for helping with the idea.Holy Nova: 5 mana
"Deal 2 damage to all enemies and restore that much to all friendly characters." (healing scales with Spell Damage now too)"Lifesteal. Deal 2 damage to all enemies"Rogue
Assassinate: 6 mana "Silence a minion, then deal 7 damage to it." A damage-based removal card that can hit though Divine Shield on cards like Tirion Fordring, Psych-o-Tron, Al'Akir the Windlord and Force-Tank MAX. The Silence effect reminds me of a stealthy assassination too.
Shaman
Totemic Might: 2 mana "Give your Totems +1/+2." Totems usually have pretty basic abilities and stats, so this will help the three 0/2's attack, and help the other totems you may summon in general and hopefully introduce Totem Shaman into the meta. (probs not)
Frost Shock: 1 mana "Deal 2 damage to a minion and Freeze it." literally, what is the point of one damage unless it's Mortal Coil?, and now it's just a mini Frostbolt for minions. thanks to: iandakar for reminding me that this card would be stupid if it could go face and add Burn damage to Shaman.
Hex: 6 mana (same effects)
Windspeaker: 4 mana 3/4 (same effects). It's got to compete with Houndmaster somehow.
Warlock
Sacrificial Pact: 0 mana "Destroy a Demon, restore 7 Health to your Hero." 5 Health isn't enough to destroy a minion that'a almost always your own.
Drain Life: 3 mana
"Deal 3 damage and restore that damage to your Hero."More value, healing gets buffed by Spell Damage as well. "Lifesteal. Deal 3 damage."Warrior
Charge: 0 mana (same effects) now you can cast it on minions you play on-curve.
Neutral
Raid Leader: 3 mana 3/2 (same effects) I feel like he needs to be a little harder to trade with in the early game since he's a pretty influential minion. Spells still do the same to him though. Also with the attack buff, he feels more like a raid leader that a raid spectator.
Silverback Patriarch: 3 mana 2/4 (same effects) it's now not under-statted and might see some play in a Beast deck or two.
Gurubashi Berserker: 4 mana 2/6 "When this minion takes damage, gain +2 attack." a general tempo change for the card, it might see more play this way.
Classic Set (Open to suggestions) In-depth comment here.
Druid
Savagery: 0 mana (same effects) Druid literally never focuses on gaining attack, so this will make it a little better without completely changing the card into something else.
Mark of Nature: 2 mana (same effects) 3 mana is a bit steep. only until you play Fandral Staghelm does this card become useful for 3 mana, now it has a similar power curve to the rest of the 'Choose One' cards.
Keeper of the Grove: 4 mana 2/3 (same effects) it's now a class version of Fire Plume Phoenix and the rarity is on point.
Force of Nature: 4 mana (same effects) Druid already has Enchanted Raven, paying 5 mana for 3 mana worth of cards is stupid, but 3 mana in a one card package is also stupid, so, 4 mana.
Starfall: 5 mana "Choose One - Deal 7 damage to a minion: or 2 damage to all enemy minions." The main damage just had to be buffed. I mean, a FREAKING STAR is falling ON YOUR HEAD I'm sorry, you're taking more than a measly 5 damage for it. Now there's more of an incentive to put this in a deck for control instead of Swipe.
Hunter
Misdirection: 2 mana "Secret: When an enemy minion attacks your Hero, it instead loses its current and next attack." (basically what Freezing Trap was in the Beta)
Snipe: 2 mana "Secret: When your opponent plays a minion, deal 5 damage to it." you don't get to choose what minion you hit, so it should be worth playing around more often now, and more rewarding when it hits a bigger minion.
Explosive Shot: 5 mana "Deal 5 (down from 6) damage to a minion and 2 to the ones next to it. Minions hit lose 'Taunt'." I feel an explosion should break 'armor' like explosions in real life, also now Taunt Warrior won't be so incredibly strong against the smaller minions Hunters tend to play for at least one turn.
Gladiator's Longbow: 7 mana 5/3 (same effects) Having an additional attack with a weapon like this can turn the tides a little more, and that's exactly what I want when I pay 7 mana for a weapon. (see page two for comments on this weapon.)
King Krush: 9 mana 4/12 "Charge. Windfury." T-Rex's usually don't just attack once, and are hard to take down. This way, buffing him can really be something to watch out for, he can still deal 4+ damage past a relatively small Taunt minion and still costs 9. (8 is too cheap for use of Steady Shot and other reasons)
Mage
Vaporize: 3 mana "Secret: if an enemy minion would deal damage equal to or more than 10% (down from 20%) of your life total, Destroy it." Now it won't be able to be played around so often with a little charge minion or whatever. You'll consistently hit a relatively big threat for every activation.
Paladin
Sword of Justice: 2 mana 1/4 (same effects) Stolen from the thread linked above.
Avenging Wrath: 6 mana "Deal 10 damage randomly among all enemies. Not affected by Spell Power." The 2 extra damage can save your life if the first 8 goes mostly to your opponent's face. But it can't be increased by Bloodmage Thalnos or other common Spell enhancing cards.
Priest
Lightwell: 2 mana 0/5 "At the start of your turn, give another (can't buff itself now) random friendly minion +1 (down from 2) Health and restore it to full Health." Again, stolen from the linked forum above, with my input as a modification from +3 Health. Thanks to: iandakar for having a proper reaction to the previous version "At the start of your turn, give a random friendly minion +2 health then restore it to full health." LOL
Shadowform: 3 mana "(same effects) The first time you cast this, it costs (1)." For easier tempo plays to fit the theoretical archetype of shadow priest.
OR
Shadowform: 3 mana "(Same effects) You can play this on turn one." This way, unless you want to play it as your first card (and have it in your hand) it always costs the original 3 mana. Opinions?
Shadow Madness: 3 mana (same effects) Not a trash card this way.
Holy Fire: 5 mana (same effects) Priest has no Ramping abilities like Druid, so paying 6 mana for a mediocre spell is a little harder for Priest.
Rogue
Shadowstep: 0 mana "Return a friendly minion to your hand, it costs (2) less but not less than (1)." Same deal with Summoning Portal free 2 cost minions are OP, no matter the deck.
Patient Assassin: 2 mana 1/2 (same effects) now the 1 damage board clears don't ruin him and make him less than the Epic he is.
Perdition's Blade: 2 mana 2/2 (same effects) Rogue needs a staple weapon other than the Wicked Knife you get form the Hero Power.
Blade Flurry: 3 (up from 2) mana (same effects) like the old version, but it still doesn't hit the enemy Hero. at best, you get an attack with your Wicked Knife and destroy the rest of it to get an Arcane Explosion. that is, until control Rogue comes out and plays a better weapon or Deadly Poison.
Master of Disguise: 4 mana 4/5 (same effects) These stats make it more playable in my opinion.
Kidnapper:
4 mana 3/2 (same effects) He is now a Sap and a 2 mana 3/2 Combo minion in one. more for a lighter deck style that all Rogues tend to play. 5 mana 5/3 "Choose a minion, when Kidnapper dies, that minion also dies." Rogue's don't need 4 Saps" -iandakarShaman
Dust Devil: 1 mana 2/2 (same effects). the 1 health is way to weak even going first turn one, but a 3/2 Windfury would be OP. Mage, Rogue and Druid (all popular classes) can instantly deal with it and not have to use a card while taking minimal damage. (Fireblast, Dagger Mastery, Shapeshift)
Forked Lightning: 1 Mana "Deal 2 damage to a random enemy minion, then deal 2 damage to a random enemy minion. Overload (2)." Basically the same, but no longer requires more than 1 minion, and it can double up to deal 4 damage.
Stormforged Axe: 3 mana 4/2 "Overload - (2)" (up from Overload - (1)) It's a Silenced Truesilver Champion one turn earlier for moderate Overload. it truly is broken for only Overload - (1). Thanks again to iandakar.
Far Sight: 3 mana "Draw a card, it costs (2)." (up from (1)) This would make it worth the epic rarity price tag it has. Still OP depending on what you draw, but it's less severe than only costing 1.
Unbound Elemental: 3 mana 3/4 (same effects) Generally a better card with the +1 attack, I hope this becomes an actual thing now that Elementals have their own class/tribe.
Al'Akir the Windlord: 8 mana 4/5 (down from 6) (same effects) 8 damage for 8 mana is fair on my watch. Better Taunt stats too. I also think he can compare to Tirion Fordring now ,and while Al'Akir the Windlord still won't be such a staple in literally every deck, he won't be such a mediocre legendary anymore. Was too strong with 6 health. credit: iandakar
Warlock
Felguard: 3 mana 4/5 (same effects) he needs a little more attack to be worth destroying a mana crystal, especially early on.
Pit Lord: 4 mana 6/6 (up from 5/6) "Battlecry: Deal 4 damage to you Hero." Not quite as punishing in the class based around trading life for value anymore.
Warrior
Frothing Berserker: 3 mana 2/4 "Whenever a friendly minion takes damage, gain +1 Attack."
OR
Frothing Berserker: 3 mana 3/4 "Battlecry: At the end of the turn: gain +1 Attack for each time a minion takes damage this turn." An effect like Echoing Ooze that allows it to still grow as fast as before, but it can't keep growing in following turns.
Arathi Weaponsmith: 4 mana 3/4 (same effects) It's a class card, so similar argument to Keeper of the Grove. I didn't want to make it another 4/3 for the Warrior class so Priest can still interact with some of Warrior's minions.
Neutral
Mana Wraith: 2 mana 3/2 (same effects) you punish yourself while playing this minion, I at least want normal stats.
Arcane Golem: 3 mana 5/5 (same effects) Giving your opponent a mana crystal is huge, you should be rewarded for doing so.
Ironbeak Owl: 3 mana 2/2 (same effects) Gets sniped too often as well.
King Mukla: 3 mana 5/6 (same effects) this way he can get at least one attack in before you lose too much tempo from giving your opponent cards
Priestess of Elune: 6 mana 5/4 "Battlecry: Restore 6 Health to your Hero." 2 mana for 6 Health is average, 4 Health is useless.
Whispers of the Old Gods (Open to suggestions) In-depth comment here
Druid
Addled Grizzly: 3 mana 3/2 (same effects) I feel as though you would use this card as a pseudo- mass-buff when playing several other smaller minions. giving it +1 attack makes it seem like it also got the buff.
Hunter
Infest: 2 mana (same effects) 3 mana for these Deathrattles is a bit expensive most of the time, and don't tell me playing this turn 2 is OP or whatever. There are worse things.
Infested Wolf: 4 mana 3/4 (same effects) he was meant to be 'sticky', let him be worth it.
Mage
Anomalus: 8 mana 6/6 "Deathrattle: Deal 6 (down from 7) damage to all enemy minions." Less stats, slightly weaker board-wipe, but now it only hits enemies.
Paladin
Everything is as balanced as I would want it to be.
Priest
All good here after removing Shadow Word: Horror. see > iandakar
Rogue
Thistle Tea: 5 mana (same effects) 6 mana has always felt too much for this card, even with Preparation any deck that ran this has a pretty dull turn once or twice, and that alone can cost the game.
Shaman
Had Flamewreathed Faceless as a 6/7 but iandakar helped me realized it didn't make enough of a difference.
Warlock
Spreading Madness: 4 (Up from original 3) mana "Deal 9 damage randomly split among ALL minions." As a Warlock, you can't sacrifice your life for EVERY card you play, and you have better cards for hitting the Opponent's face. again, thanks again to iandakar for the input.
Warrior
N'Zoth's First Mate: 1 mana 1/1 "Battlecry: Equip a 1/2 Rusty Hook." With Pirate Warrior seeing SUCH success, A minor tempo change is needed. With all of the ways Warrior has to (Literally) Upgrade! weapons, making them require one of those cards before attacking again (for one damage) is a minor tempo change worth noting that doesn't destroy the deck.
Tentacles for Arms: 4 mana 2/2 (same effects) the cost reduction still probably won't make this see play, but an infinite weapon is still neat
Neutral
Zealous Initiate: 1 mana 2/1 (same effects) it's an okay card if its ability hits a minion, trash if it doesn't. With an attack buff, it can contend with Abusive Sergeant in faster decks.
The Boogeymonster: 8 mana 6/9 (same effects) It needs some extra health to survive killing any minions with considerable power.
One Night in Karazhan (Open to suggestions) In-depth comment here.
Druid
All good here.
Hunter
And here...
Mage
And here....
Paladin
Silvermoon Portal: 4 mana "Give a minion +2/+2. Summon a random 3-cost minion." Assuming you pay 1 mana to give +2/+2, 3 mana for a random minion is fair considering the best you can get stat-wise is King Mukla and there are a lot of Battlecries that will go un-triggered.
Priest
I originally had Onyx Bishop as a 4/4, but I realized it was just a little to OP sometimes.
Rogue
All good here too.
Shaman
Wicked Witchdoctor: 4 mana 3/5 (same effects) This way you can get 1-2 more totems out of her before she insta-dies from being such a big target.(doesn't need to change)Warlock
Nothing to see here (>_>) (<_<) (>_>)
Warrior
I think these cards are fine.
Neutral
Arcanosmith: 4 mana 3/3 (same effects) Make the minion worth hiding behind the Taunt.
Moat Lurker: 5 mana 3/3 (same effects) It's far out-classed by Vilespine Slayer and since it's not a permanent effect (usually), Big Game Hunter and his poor stats is even better without having to buy an adventure.
Mean Streets of Gadgetzan (Open to suggestions) In-depth comment here.
Druid
Jade Idol: 2 mana "Choose One - Summon a Jade Golem; or Shuffle 2 copies of this card into your deck." Jade Druids can be completely careless when accounting for how many Jade Idols they have in their decks (deck-trackers only help) and can poop out a board in a matter of seconds with Gadgetzan Auctioneer. This way, they STILL can't die to fatigue damage but they also have to dedicate more of their (seemingly) infinite mana to putting more copies in their deck. (changed mana cost to 3 to avoid mega combos with Auctioneer/Infestation, Druid has enough mana ramp anyways)
Hunter
Hidden Cache: 2 mana "Secret: After your opponent plays a minion, give a random minion in your hand +3/+3."
Mage
Skip to Priest.
Paladin
Go to Priest I said....
Priest
Potion of Madness: 2 mana (same effects) This doesn't change a whole lot other than interactions with Radiant Elemental from Un'Goro and just being able to play fewer cards in a turn.
Kabal Talonpriest: 3 mana 3/4 "Battlecry: Give a friendly minion +2 Health." It's a ridiculous power curve, needs to be toned down a bit.
Raza the Chained: 5 mana 5/5 "Battlecry: If your deck contains no duplicates, your Hero Power costs (1) this game." This in combination with Anduin is a bit ridiculous, this way there is still a reduction that pays off, but it isn't so swingy in terms of power after playing the deathknight.
Rogue
Nothing here :)
Shaman
Devolve: 2 mana (Same effects, Overload: (2)) Extremely powerful for only 2 mana whenever.
Lotus Illusionist: 4 mana 3/5 "Battlecry: Transform each Jade Golem you control into another minion with the same cost."
Warlock
Unlicensed Apothecary: 3 mana 5/6 "Whenever you summon a minion, deal 4 damage to your hero." now it's worth the epic price tag. (second rendition) (previously 3 mana 6/5 (original effects))
Warrior
I personally think all of these cards are great in the right situations.
Neutral
Patches the Pirate: 1 mana 1/1 "Charge." I'm Joking, but i kinda wish he didn't exsist since he's sped up the meta so much.
Gadgetzan Socialite: 2 mana 2/2 "Battlecry: Restore 3 Health." A cheaper, weaker version of the beloved Earthen Ring Farseer.
Grimestreet Informant: 4 mana 4/2 (up from 3/2) (same effects) I hardly EVER see this minion played, and it's because the discover cards usually aren't worth discovering so early, and the classes that can use him need to play their better early minions to keep the pressure on. Making him a 4-drop should increase how often he's seen on the ladder.
Bomb Squad: 5 mana 2/2 "Battlecry: Deal 5 damage to an enemy minion. Deathrattle: Deal 2 damage to adjacent minions and your hero." Less punishing to your life total, and Positioning would become mega important while it's on the board. The Deathrattle seems more like an uncontrolled explosion to me now as well.I thought about this and realized that this Deathrattle defeats the purpose in tempo/board control you initially get from playing the minion in the first place.Wind-up Burglebot: 6 mana 4/6 (same effects) It now has a higher chance to survive attacking other minions it would be faced with around turn 6.
Journey to Un'Goro (Open to suggestions)
Druid
Evolving Spores: 3 mana (same effect) it's kinda random, better a tempo card on turn 5-6 after a little minion now.
Hunter
The Marsh Queen: 1 mana (of course) "Quest: Play six 1-Cost minions. Reward: Queen Carnassa." As we have seen, even with such a decent reward, having such a 'thin' deck of one-drops, even in a class that has several good one cost minions of its own, the card draw for Hunters is simply not good enough to make the whole deal work fast enough to wait for a Battlecry that MIGHT give you a broken Carnassa's Brood or two your next turn. If she REPLACED your deck with like, 18 raptors or so, at least that portion of the quest mechanic would be consistent enough to be a tier 3 deck at best. With the requirement dropping to 6 minions, drawing Fire Fly will no longer be a literal requirement to complete the quest on time to do something. On average, a quest deck runs 12-14 one-drops, that's up to 7 duplicate weak cards, now you should be fine running 11-12 which leaves room for a couple other decent cards.
Dinomancy: I would apply either one of the same two effects to this card as I would Shadowform in Priest's Classic set above.
Mage
Primordial Glyph: 2 mana "Discover a spell. Reduce its cost by (1)." A 2 mana reduction from a 2 mana card is just way to versatile.
Mana Bind: no longer triggers before Flare. Just a small annoyance that doesn't follow card text.
Paladin
The Last Kaleidosaur: 1 mana (Obviously) "Quest: Cast 6 spells on your minions, Reward: Crystal Essence." This would be a 4 mana spell that says "Discover 2 Adaptations, for the rest of the game, your minions have those Adaptations." Putting all of your Quest reward into one big thing is really risky especially when your opponent has all the time to prepare for it. Casting 6 spells on only your minions is somewhat difficult and I think the reward is fitting.
Priest
I like all of the Priest cards.
Rogue
Biteweed: 2 mana 2/2 (same effects) It can't grow near as fast as Edwin VanCleef, and it can't keep growing like Questing Adventurer or Red Mana Wyrm, so for the Epic price tag, I think it deserves the +1/+1 stats.
Shaman
Fire Plume Harbinger: 2 mana 1/2 (same effects) It's not such a great effect that it doesn't deserve to even have vanilla 1-cost stats.
Primalfin Totem: 2 mana 0/2 (same effects) 3 health on something that annoying so early in the game is bad enough when there's already Flametounge Totem.
Warlock
Lakkari Sacrifice: I don't know if this should be entirely reworked or left alone, but I'm going to put it on here until I find a decent suggestion or am convinced it's fine.
Feeding Time: 4 mana, (same effects) Now it at least averages Imp Imp-losion
Warrior
Fire Plume's Heart: not so much the quest as Sulfuras needs to only deal 7 damage.
Neutral
I like all of the neutral cards from Un'Goro, so no changes here either.
Knights of the Frozen Throne (NEW!)
Druid
Hadronox: 9 mana 4/7 (same effects)
Ultimate Infestation: 10 mana "Deal 4 damage. Draw 4 cards. Gain 5 Armor. Summon a 4/5 Ghoul." Wow this card is OP, i like the idea of doing a bunch of crap but dang!
Hunter
Toxic Arrow: 2 mana "Deal 1 damage to a minion, if it survives, give it -1/-1." Still basically deals 2 damage to bigger things, but also can lower attack if needed
Mage
Paladin
Light's Sorrow: 4 mana 2/4 (same effects)
Priest
I'd suggest a change to Archbishop Benedictus, but I don't even know where to start
Rogue
Leeching Poison: 2 mana "Give your weapon Lifesteal and +1 Attack."
Valeera the Hollow: 8 mana (same effects)
Shaman
Warlock
Warrior
Rotface: 8 mana 4/7 (same effects) He needs just a tiny bit more life to be as good as he should.
Neutral
Ticking Abomination: Now only deals its damage to adjacent minions
Wicked Skeleton: 4 mana 2/3 (same effects)
Feel free to post any suggestions for card I haven't done or cards I have done that you have a differing opinion on. I would appreciate it if you suggest cards like in the spoiler below, but it doesn't matter as long as I can understand what you meant.
card: X mana x/x "the card will say this stuff." my reasoning is: blah blah blah (the 'x/x' is to be the stats for the card if it is a minion/weapon)
EDITS:
Removed:
--> Mind Control, Shiv, Starfire, Hammer of Wrath, Tundra Rhino, Demolisher, Claw, Humility, Ancestral Healing, Windfury, Succubus, Ironforge Rifleman, Magma Rager, Bite, Ancient of Lore, Spellbender,
--> Holy Wrath, Argent Protector, Defias Ringleader, Earth Shock, Lava Burst, Mana Tide Totem, Summoning Portal, Bane of Doom, Rampage, Young Dragonhawk, Young Priestess,
--> Nat Pagle, Cult Master, Argent Commander, Frost Elemental, Shadow Word: Horror, Flamewreathed Faceless, Cho'gall, Wicked Witchdoctor.
Altered:
--> Humility
(makes the minion 2/2 not 1/1),Ironforge Rifleman (3 mana now, accidentally had him cost 2 mana), (Keeper of the Grove is now a 2/3 (from 3/3)), Hand of Protection (now only gives immunity until the end of the turn, can now target Heros),Humility(cost increased from 2 to 3),Ancestral Healing (it's a Shaman's Power Word: Shield now),Bomb Squad: explanation for removal. Mind Vision (shows opponents current cards), Frost Shock (only damages minions now), Windspeaker (changed stats from 4/3 to 3/4), Gurubashi Berserker (-1 Health), Explosive Shot (main damage reverted to 5), Vaporize (percent changed to 10%),--> Lightwell (now has a weaker buff that only hits other minions), Blade Flurry (cost increased from 2 to 3), Kidnapper (reworked entirely), Far Sight (cost of drawn increased to (2)), Al'Akir the Windlord (Health reduced), Pit Lord (attack increased). Spreading Madness (cost increased to 4), Unlicensed Apothecary (see text), Grimestreet Informant (4 mana 4/2, up from 3/2), Mage and Neutral Theory cards changed,
--> Jade Idol (now 2 mana, shuffle 2),
Added:
--> Starving Buzzard (alternate), Old Gods set, Gadgetzan set and Un'Goro set alterations, Theory Cards section, Guardian of Kings (alternate), Frothing Berserker (alternate),
--> Potion of Madness, Primordial Glyph, Mana Bind, Fire Plume Harbinger, Primalfin Totem, Kabal Talonpriest, Warrior Quest Reward.
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I think it's a really bad idea to:
1. Buff cards that already see good amounts of play
2. Make basic cards more complicated. Part of the reason basic cards exist is to teach new players, mind control being a horrid example of this.
Your idea on mind control is shit. The card would be even more broken in arena due to large amounts of vanilla minions, and itd still not see any play in standard because of the poorly statted minions with OP effects.
That's Incredible!
Immune minions can't be destroyed. Hand of Protection would be OP.
Hammer of Wrath is worth 3,5 mana so it'd be as strong as it's currently weak. Considering you'd be giving removal to a class that's missing it I'm against this.
Humility would be OP and give removal to a class whose weakness is bad removal. Would have to be 4 mana.
Ancestral Healing: too wordy, too strong, gives card draw to a class that probably shouldn't have more of it. The secondary effect you added is stronger than the original main effect and it's the third effect on a single, 1-mana basic card.
Starfire: same as Paladin's removal.
Starving Buzzard: would have agreed before Hunter got Fiery Bat, Macaw and Alley Cat. Now it would have too much synergy for this buff. Maybe 4 mana 2/2. Maybe.
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Good idea, but I disagree with some hunter cards
Greetings, traveler.
Let's make Hunter great.
It seems perfectly acceptable for the Basic set to have plenty of simple, underpowered cards. It's the set for beginners, and as their collection grows, they'll collect more powerful, more complicated cards, and they'll learn how to use them. It doesn't seem at all acceptable to insist that every card in the game ought to be designed for Spike, or that the Basic set en masse ought to be perfectly competitive with all the cards which are introduced to the game with the launch of each new expansion. The Basic set provides building blocks for new players - some cards are intended to be 'traps' while others are intended for use by Johnny and Timmy. It's difficult to assess your effort, as you've not explained the purpose behind your attempt at 'balance' - it seems to be 'make everything Spikey' or something similar, which doesn't seem like a particularly appealing idea. However, it isn't causing any harm - if you enjoy the exercise, GLHF.
Lovely and simple feedback, but could you explain why you disagree with some of my ideas? I am trying to be balanced, so if you can convince me I should leave a card alone or something, I will.
the double 1/2 Timber Wolf is the same as a double Enchanted Raven
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Mind control has been adjusted.
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Greetings, traveler.
Let's make Hunter great.
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The quote-ception in this thread is real.
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I added a more formal introduction to the thread, and I'm also not changing all of the cards. In addition, the other sets I have yet to touch should put the updated versions of the Basic and Classic cards I've posted in their respectful power levels as seen/felt in the current Hearthstone game. I might have another section of cards that will focus on making more deck archetypes like shadow Priest and enrage Warrior more fun and practical to play, but I imagine that would come after completing my card adjustments to the current sets.
I hope you'll check back periodically to see how it's coming!
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