Blizzard developers are masters of balancing (most of the time). Any game they released offers a lot of different playstyles while still trying to maintain a healthy balance between classes/races/characters. Even in the early days with Lost Vikings we had 3 little vikings each suited for a very specific task and they could be combined to solve multiple different game situations. I believe this is the key to their success and especially in game development where content production gets more and more expensive each year - it's very important to re-use assets or game logic as much as possible while still trying to offer a wide variety of different playstyles. Which is not an easy task by the way.
Hearthstone is no different and even in playable characters we have 4 Horde (Rexxar, Valeera, Thrall, Garrosh) /4 Alliance (Anduin, Uther, Jaina, Malfurion) Characters and 1 Neutral one (Gul'dan).
Now have you ever felt like some cards in Hearthstone could need a buff or did you ever try to make a very specific "bad" card work? I was curious too and wanted to get behind why Blizzard created cards like Felguard, Kidnapper or Pit Lord in the first place and basically tried to put every single card in a very specific deck with the maximum synergy possible. I'm talking about the Classic and Standard set. So for anyone who is just starting out or doesn't have a huge collection of cards, the decks I will post the next days could help you out, well at least a bit. I'm almost through all classes but some of them are harder to pinpoint so please Amani War Bear with me :).
As one of the Hearthstone developers once stated, there are indeed a lot of cards that are actually quite strong if used with the right support. My theory is that there are actually only a few very bad cards (especially the ones that are in the standard collection like Magma Rager or War Golem) just because they are basically the first cards you will get in order to learn the game mechanics. But there are cards that are tailored to one specific deck like Felguard or Millhouse Manastorm and are considered as being bad because of a few reasons:
1) They only work in exactly one deck in a specific class with the right support cards/combo.
3) They are now even less effective obviously because of new and more powerful cards from the latest expansions.
Now my theory is that Blizzard initially created 2 different decks for each class. And with the addition of a few more deckslots (now 18 in total) we can exactly create the 2 newest decks for each class. (the decks they balance sets around)
Here is the first deck I believe they tested with before they released Hearthstone in 2014 for the Warlock class. It mostly revolves around Demon and Death-synergy. It's a typical aggro-style deck. Please note that this deck uses exactly 8 cards (from 14) of the Classic Cards: Blood Imp, Flame Imp, Power Overwhelming (now HoF), Demonfire, Void Terror, Doomguard, Pit Lord and Bane of Doom
Let's have a closer look at some cards, especially Neutrals:
Imp Master: Because of the huge stats when in play (basically a 2/5 in two bodies) and the synergy with Blood Imp you have an infinite imp generator early on. If we look at the card art/flavour we have a necromancer summoning imps so there's that too. Always make sure to play Blood Imp first, because end of turn effects trigger in the order the cards were played. So trade your 1/1 imp before ending the turn to let your Blood Imp buff the Imp Master. You can also buff your imps with Demonfire. This card was basically replaced by Imp Gang Boss in later expansions, it behaves similarly.
Cult Master: Our second "Master", the warlock on this card wears the T7 warlock set of World of Warcraft. She is a great follow up to Imp Master and synergies with all cards that sacrifice our own minions. Void Terror and Power Overwhelming specifically. No other class can benefit from Death events. Imp Master will die after 5 summons so you can utilize it's death event too.
Flesheating Ghoul: The same reason why we have Cult Master in our deck: Death event synergy, on both sides. Also its a ghoul, fits to warlock just great. With Void Terror causing up to 2 Death events on your turn, this can grow quite fast.
Pint-Sized Summoner: Play this and a free Flame Imp+ Voidwalker next turn (and remove a threat with a free Soulfire) or prepare the board for an upcoming 3-mana Pit Lord. This card initially read: The first minion you play each turn costs (2) less. [2 Mana, 2 Attack, 2 Health, Rare] so it was even more oppressive.
Pit Lord: Pit Lord works because of a few reasons and only because of them:
1) This deck has a lot of minions with soft-taunts that require immediate response.
2) Because of this, your opponent will focus on removing your minions instead of dealing damage to your Hero.
3) Meaning we can use our Health as another resource quite efficiently.
Doomguard: Sometimes it happens that we don't have cards in hand by turn 5, meaning we can play this without any downside. (sometimes even on turn 4 with Pint-Sized Summoner out).
Illidan Stormrage: If we look at the early days of Hearthstone this card read: Battlecry: Both players discard 3 cards and draw 3 cards. [7 mana, 7 attack, 7 health, Legendary]. Chances are we don't have cards in hand by turn 7 and I guess they wanted to have a card that messes with your opponent's hand to get rid of eventual board clears. But I believe they changed the effect because it was too inconsistant with other discard cards as follow ups. Now Illidan has more synergy with sacrificial effects and isn't as frustrating for your opponent as before.
Of course this deck struggles against any control decks, especially the ones with the latest cards. Still it's a very cheap and efficient deck at times so please let me know what you think in the comments :). Next up I will post the other deck featuring Felguard, Summoning Portal and Lord Jaraxxus. Have fun playing!
Hey fellow Warlock players,
Blizzard developers are masters of balancing (most of the time). Any game they released offers a lot of different playstyles while still trying to maintain a healthy balance between classes/races/characters. Even in the early days with Lost Vikings we had 3 little vikings each suited for a very specific task and they could be combined to solve multiple different game situations. I believe this is the key to their success and especially in game development where content production gets more and more expensive each year - it's very important to re-use assets or game logic as much as possible while still trying to offer a wide variety of different playstyles. Which is not an easy task by the way.
Hearthstone is no different and even in playable characters we have 4 Horde (Rexxar, Valeera, Thrall, Garrosh) /4 Alliance (Anduin, Uther, Jaina, Malfurion) Characters and 1 Neutral one (Gul'dan).
Now have you ever felt like some cards in Hearthstone could need a buff or did you ever try to make a very specific "bad" card work? I was curious too and wanted to get behind why Blizzard created cards like Felguard, Kidnapper or Pit Lord in the first place and basically tried to put every single card in a very specific deck with the maximum synergy possible. I'm talking about the Classic and Standard set. So for anyone who is just starting out or doesn't have a huge collection of cards, the decks I will post the next days could help you out, well at least a bit. I'm almost through all classes but some of them are harder to pinpoint so please Amani War Bear with me :).
As one of the Hearthstone developers once stated, there are indeed a lot of cards that are actually quite strong if used with the right support. My theory is that there are actually only a few very bad cards (especially the ones that are in the standard collection like Magma Rager or War Golem) just because they are basically the first cards you will get in order to learn the game mechanics. But there are cards that are tailored to one specific deck like Felguard or Millhouse Manastorm and are considered as being bad because of a few reasons:
1) They only work in exactly one deck in a specific class with the right support cards/combo.
2) They were overshadowed by a lot of overpowered 1 and 2-drops on release Blizzard nerfed later on (Abusive Sergeant, Knife Juggler, Leper Gnome, Novice Engineer)
3) They are now even less effective obviously because of new and more powerful cards from the latest expansions.
Now my theory is that Blizzard initially created 2 different decks for each class. And with the addition of a few more deckslots (now 18 in total) we can exactly create the 2 newest decks for each class. (the decks they balance sets around)
Here is the first deck I believe they tested with before they released Hearthstone in 2014 for the Warlock class. It mostly revolves around Demon and Death-synergy. It's a typical aggro-style deck. Please note that this deck uses exactly 8 cards (from 14) of the Classic Cards: Blood Imp, Flame Imp, Power Overwhelming (now HoF), Demonfire, Void Terror, Doomguard, Pit Lord and Bane of Doom
In the picture above you can see which cards you ideally want in which phase of the game.
Gameplan: Flood the board with huge statted minions like Flame Imp or Imp Master. Buff them with cards like Demonfire, Power Overwhelming and Void Terror while trading efficiently. Use the sacrifice effects to draw more cards with Cult Master or grow your Flesheating Ghouls. Generate more threats with Illidan Stormrage and finish off your opponent with Soulfire or Doomguard.
Let's have a closer look at some cards, especially Neutrals:
Imp Master: Because of the huge stats when in play (basically a 2/5 in two bodies) and the synergy with Blood Imp you have an infinite imp generator early on. If we look at the card art/flavour we have a necromancer summoning imps so there's that too. Always make sure to play Blood Imp first, because end of turn effects trigger in the order the cards were played. So trade your 1/1 imp before ending the turn to let your Blood Imp buff the Imp Master. You can also buff your imps with Demonfire. This card was basically replaced by Imp Gang Boss in later expansions, it behaves similarly.
Cult Master: Our second "Master", the warlock on this card wears the T7 warlock set of World of Warcraft. She is a great follow up to Imp Master and synergies with all cards that sacrifice our own minions. Void Terror and Power Overwhelming specifically. No other class can benefit from Death events. Imp Master will die after 5 summons so you can utilize it's death event too.
Flesheating Ghoul: The same reason why we have Cult Master in our deck: Death event synergy, on both sides. Also its a ghoul, fits to warlock just great. With Void Terror causing up to 2 Death events on your turn, this can grow quite fast.
Pint-Sized Summoner: Play this and a free Flame Imp+ Voidwalker next turn (and remove a threat with a free Soulfire) or prepare the board for an upcoming 3-mana Pit Lord. This card initially read: The first minion you play each turn costs (2) less. [2 Mana, 2 Attack, 2 Health, Rare] so it was even more oppressive.
Pit Lord: Pit Lord works because of a few reasons and only because of them:
1) This deck has a lot of minions with soft-taunts that require immediate response.
2) Because of this, your opponent will focus on removing your minions instead of dealing damage to your Hero.
3) Meaning we can use our Health as another resource quite efficiently.
Void Terror: This guy needs to be combo-ed with Power Overwhelming for its full effect.
Doomguard: Sometimes it happens that we don't have cards in hand by turn 5, meaning we can play this without any downside. (sometimes even on turn 4 with Pint-Sized Summoner out).
Illidan Stormrage: If we look at the early days of Hearthstone this card read: Battlecry: Both players discard 3 cards and draw 3 cards. [7 mana, 7 attack, 7 health, Legendary]. Chances are we don't have cards in hand by turn 7 and I guess they wanted to have a card that messes with your opponent's hand to get rid of eventual board clears. But I believe they changed the effect because it was too inconsistant with other discard cards as follow ups. Now Illidan has more synergy with sacrificial effects and isn't as frustrating for your opponent as before.
Here is a video showcasing the synergy it can have: https://youtu.be/qYS8uk7vw0A
Of course this deck struggles against any control decks, especially the ones with the latest cards. Still it's a very cheap and efficient deck at times so please let me know what you think in the comments :). Next up I will post the other deck featuring Felguard, Summoning Portal and Lord Jaraxxus. Have fun playing!
Pretty interesting to read. Thanks.