We gathered together and thought of a way to make some cool alternative winconditions for every class. We tried to fit some nishe slots and explore new mechanich as much as we could. Check'em out!
Druid: We thought it's a missed opportunity to emphesize how cool restoration druids are, so here you go! A spell that does not force you to roar on some logs!
Priest: Priest is widely considered "That damn thing, which steals all my cards only to kill me with them", so we went from that point, and...
Goes pretty well with our friend, Auchenai Soulpriest, doesn't it? Rogue: Those sneaky assassins recently got more ways to buff up their killing devices, so we thought "Why not go with poisoning theme"? Kripparian recently was able to build a board, pretty much achieveing this state, so it's really not that impossible to do, while being interactive enough for anyone to react properly.
Shaman: Blizzard seemes to be pushing totemic synergy further with Old Gods expansion, so we did not argue with them and just created another totem synergy card. It's even protected from hard removal until you want it revealed, and then it will protect you!
Warrior: How many times have you looked at Control Warrior just furiously stacking his armor and thought "Oh man, I'm never getting through all of that"? Well, now you don't even have to concede, warrior will do everything for you!
Warlock: We've heard countless times that discarding is a cool mechanic and it needs to be further expanded with First of Jaraxxus-like cards, rewarding you in some way for essentially losing a card. So here we go, a card Reynad would probably discard with first minion he plays in a deck with this card in it!
Paladin: Let's be honest here. Paladins don't need an alternative wincondition, they are already pretty broken. But what's more epic than smacking your opponent with a 30/1 weapon anyways? Probably nothing. Except for a 40/1 weapon instead.
Mage: To be honest, this is not our card. But this is what inspired us to create others. I couldn't find an autor of this one, but if he reads this: You're an awesome and creative man.
Well done, almost all of these cards rly are broken but fun. The only card i didn't get is a rogue's one. Seems to be the weakest one. The damage required could be decreased to, let's say, 10 or 12.
That's the basic idea! Make something silly and hard to achieve, but cool and diverse, try to make the game feel fresh in an alternative way. Glad someone had an appreciation for it!
I'm not a fan of alternate win conditions whereby the opponent cannot do anything to prevent the win from happening such as the Druid's alternate win condition (restoring 20 health is easily achievable and the opponent can only Zerg you down before that).
The Warrior one is something in the right direction of what it should be like. Your opponent can prevent you from achieving this win condition - so it's fine. Having said that though, if the warrior had 75 Armour or more, you probably lost anyway.
Well, if you're serious about these cards, then we need to get a generalized rule in here. I thought the point of these cards was to provide alternate win conditions, but some of these cards will not provide an instant win. I'm talking about Priest's Mind Dominance, Shaman's Call of the Elements, and Paladin's Val'anyr. Just because Paladins are already broken doesn't mean we should exclude them from the cycle. Same with Hunters, who we just blatantly slap in the face.
If we want to make alternate win cons for these strong classes, then we need to make it super difficult to pull off. Here's a rough estimate on what I'd see for each of the ignored class's win cons...
First off, Priest have Thoughtsteal, Mind Vision, Convert, Shifting Shade, and Entomb which all place opponent's cards into our deck or hand, available for us to cast later in the game. Also Excavated Evil allows us to recycle a card INTO the opponents deck, that lets them recycle the card BACK which is a very slow pseudo infinite number of extra cards able to be played from the opponent's deck. Since it relies on the opponent, I'll exclude it, as a 3 damage AOE probably won't be played that often from the opponent, especially if he catches on. So other than ExEvil, we're able to have 12 cards from the opponent's deck, so why doesn't the Priest Spell read something like this:
6 Mana Mind Dominance If you've played 10 or more cards from your opponent's deck this game, you win the game.
This follows the same goal as the original spell, while it also forces the above 5 cards, allowing a teeny-tiny bit of breathing room by going for 10 instead of 12. And it's also playable with ExEvil, as I mentioned above.
Now on to Paladins. What does Paladin do alot to win lately? Why are they so broken? Because they have good shit of everything. So I want this win con to focus on something Paladin's don't use every single day, forcing them to run foolish cards or make bad plays just to win.
6 Mana <Paladin Win Card> If your deck consists of no class cards and you have had 35 minions dies this game, then you win the game.
No class cards and 35 minions must die. First of all, this means that, if the opponent wants to guarantee this spell's playability, then sure drop out all class cards and run a neutral deck. Making 35 of the Paladin's minions die means to run a shit ton of taunt and Deathrattle, plus that helps protect the paladin itself against aggressive decks. But what taunts and D/Rs should they run? Piloted Shredder and Haunted Creeper for sure, but in standard? Infested Tauren, I guess? There you go, now Paladins are playing bad decks just to "win" the game.
*Disclaimer: Yes it is possible to run a chunk of class cards and hold onto this card until it glows orange, but then the Paladin will think, "Why the fuck do I try" and just play N'Zoth Control so yea.
Next up is Shaman's Call and this one tells the Shaman to sacrifice a board of 5 totems to summon an 8/8 with keywords. Honestly, I'd have just made it, "If you have 7 Totems in play, you win the game" That requires you to KEEP using your HP, and it requires you to KEEP trying to protect the 0/2s and 1/1s until you have board control, but you'll then have to sacrifice away your 3/2s or 6/5s just to play Mana Tide Totems or Totem Golems. The ONE thing I'd do with this spell is make it 9 mana, so no one shaman can Hero Power -> Win. No, they have to Hero Power, hold their ground with 7 totems, and THEN win the next turn. But making it 9 mana DOES allow for Emperor Thaurissan plays, which I don't particularly have an issue with.
Last but not least, Hunter's win con. Like seriously, Hunter's win con is actually easy to make, idk why we're so stuckup with giving them a "You Win" card. So Hunter DESTROYS by being fast, right? Let's make the win con slow.
10 Mana Unbeatable Strats If this is your 30th turn and you have not changed your hero power this game, you win the game.
How difficult is that? 30th Turn means the Hunter is taking 4 or 5 fatigue damage on that turn's draw, unless the Hunter's deck was increased in size (via Ex-Evil) or decreased in size (via simple draw cards from Hunter). What this does is forces the hunter to control the board 100% for the entire game and protect himself, without using Sir Finley Mrrgglton. This forces Hunters to change their playstyles from an aggro / fast midrange to a super slow control build that can't change their hero power.
I'd also change up some of the other spells, like: Rogue should be 6 or 7 mana and it should require a buff of 13 on the weapon instead of 15. Warriors should only need to go to 50 Armor, as 75 is too difficult even against a control deck. Mage card should read, "If you've casted 40 or more spells this game, you win." (with Cabalist's Tome, this might not be too difficult) Druid card is OK, because I don't really feel the whole "restore" win con being good for druid, but since it's not a common druid play, forcing a different playstyle, I like it. But I think it should read 30 restored instead of 20, as Druids can run Reno Jackson and Tree of Life in Wild. *Also make sure it specifies the druid's health itself, because a Tree of Life can heal the opponent for 10 and heal you for 24 and tada! 34 health restored this game. Warlock Card is good, perfectly playable, difficult to achieve, and forces an unplayed archetype. MAYBE up to 11 discarded cards.
That's all of the cards. That's how I'd feel a balance would be to alternate win conditions.
Thank you for such a long answer. I'm really happy to see someone as inspired as we were. I'm gonna take all your notes into account and we'll produce another, more playable list in some time. We really should've gone off with playstyles that differ a lot from what you often see on ladder, and not just supplemental cards like Rogue or Priest ones.
We gathered together and thought of a way to make some cool alternative winconditions for every class. We tried to fit some nishe slots and explore new mechanich as much as we could.
Check'em out!
Druid:
We thought it's a missed opportunity to emphesize how cool restoration druids are, so here you go! A spell that does not force you to roar on some logs!
Priest:
Priest is widely considered "That damn thing, which steals all my cards only to kill me with them", so we went from that point, and...
Goes pretty well with our friend, Auchenai Soulpriest, doesn't it?
Rogue:
Those sneaky assassins recently got more ways to buff up their killing devices, so we thought "Why not go with poisoning theme"? Kripparian recently was able to build a board, pretty much achieveing this state, so it's really not that impossible to do, while being interactive enough for anyone to react properly.
Shaman:
Blizzard seemes to be pushing totemic synergy further with Old Gods expansion, so we did not argue with them and just created another totem synergy card.
It's even protected from hard removal until you want it revealed, and then it will protect you!
Warrior:
How many times have you looked at Control Warrior just furiously stacking his armor and thought "Oh man, I'm never getting through all of that"? Well, now you don't even have to concede, warrior will do everything for you!
Warlock:
We've heard countless times that discarding is a cool mechanic and it needs to be further expanded with First of Jaraxxus-like cards, rewarding you in some way for essentially losing a card. So here we go, a card Reynad would probably discard with first minion he plays in a deck with this card in it!
Paladin:
Let's be honest here. Paladins don't need an alternative wincondition, they are already pretty broken. But what's more epic than smacking your opponent with a 30/1 weapon anyways?
Probably nothing. Except for a 40/1 weapon instead.
Mage:
To be honest, this is not our card. But this is what inspired us to create others. I couldn't find an autor of this one, but if he reads this: You're an awesome and creative man.
For those like me without an imagination:
Sorcerer's Apprentice+Faceless Manipulator or/and Echo of Medivh
Oh, and don't worry, we've got the best saved up for Hunters.
All of those are probably terribly balanced in standard and bat shit insane in wild. Maybe you can help us balance them properly?
Well done, almost all of these cards rly are broken but fun. The only card i didn't get is a rogue's one. Seems to be the weakest one. The damage required could be decreased to, let's say, 10 or 12.
That's the basic idea! Make something silly and hard to achieve, but cool and diverse, try to make the game feel fresh in an alternative way. Glad someone had an appreciation for it!
Images aren't loading. Best way to avoid this is to find another image host (imgur.com) and upload there.
The Roshambo to Hearthstone. Please be nice. Don't insult or be mad at someone for throwing Rock.
I'm not a fan of alternate win conditions whereby the opponent cannot do anything to prevent the win from happening such as the Druid's alternate win condition (restoring 20 health is easily achievable and the opponent can only Zerg you down before that).
The Warrior one is something in the right direction of what it should be like. Your opponent can prevent you from achieving this win condition - so it's fine. Having said that though, if the warrior had 75 Armour or more, you probably lost anyway.
Ahaha, OK Mage card! Lol. Players gonna Yogg Saron into a straight up WIN card.
I really enjoy Lethal Dose (Rogue) because it makes Poisoned Blade playable. :D
The Roshambo to Hearthstone. Please be nice. Don't insult or be mad at someone for throwing Rock.
Yogg Saron's synergy can be nerfed by the modified effect "Choose a player. This player wins the game".
Also now the card is broken because of Naga Sea Witch but it can be fixed by changing its effect to "Your creatures cost 5 mana".
The Roshambo to Hearthstone. Please be nice. Don't insult or be mad at someone for throwing Rock.
Well, if you're serious about these cards, then we need to get a generalized rule in here. I thought the point of these cards was to provide alternate win conditions, but some of these cards will not provide an instant win. I'm talking about Priest's Mind Dominance, Shaman's Call of the Elements, and Paladin's Val'anyr. Just because Paladins are already broken doesn't mean we should exclude them from the cycle. Same with Hunters, who we just blatantly slap in the face.
If we want to make alternate win cons for these strong classes, then we need to make it super difficult to pull off. Here's a rough estimate on what I'd see for each of the ignored class's win cons...
First off, Priest have Thoughtsteal, Mind Vision, Convert, Shifting Shade, and Entomb which all place opponent's cards into our deck or hand, available for us to cast later in the game. Also Excavated Evil allows us to recycle a card INTO the opponents deck, that lets them recycle the card BACK which is a very slow pseudo infinite number of extra cards able to be played from the opponent's deck. Since it relies on the opponent, I'll exclude it, as a 3 damage AOE probably won't be played that often from the opponent, especially if he catches on. So other than ExEvil, we're able to have 12 cards from the opponent's deck, so why doesn't the Priest Spell read something like this:
6 Mana
Mind Dominance
If you've played 10 or more cards from your opponent's deck this game, you win the game.
This follows the same goal as the original spell, while it also forces the above 5 cards, allowing a teeny-tiny bit of breathing room by going for 10 instead of 12. And it's also playable with ExEvil, as I mentioned above.
Now on to Paladins. What does Paladin do alot to win lately? Why are they so broken? Because they have good shit of everything. So I want this win con to focus on something Paladin's don't use every single day, forcing them to run foolish cards or make bad plays just to win.
6 Mana
<Paladin Win Card>
If your deck consists of no class cards and you have had 35 minions dies this game, then you win the game.
No class cards and 35 minions must die. First of all, this means that, if the opponent wants to guarantee this spell's playability, then sure drop out all class cards and run a neutral deck. Making 35 of the Paladin's minions die means to run a shit ton of taunt and Deathrattle, plus that helps protect the paladin itself against aggressive decks. But what taunts and D/Rs should they run? Piloted Shredder and Haunted Creeper for sure, but in standard? Infested Tauren, I guess? There you go, now Paladins are playing bad decks just to "win" the game.
*Disclaimer: Yes it is possible to run a chunk of class cards and hold onto this card until it glows orange, but then the Paladin will think, "Why the fuck do I try" and just play N'Zoth Control so yea.
Next up is Shaman's Call and this one tells the Shaman to sacrifice a board of 5 totems to summon an 8/8 with keywords. Honestly, I'd have just made it, "If you have 7 Totems in play, you win the game" That requires you to KEEP using your HP, and it requires you to KEEP trying to protect the 0/2s and 1/1s until you have board control, but you'll then have to sacrifice away your 3/2s or 6/5s just to play Mana Tide Totems or Totem Golems. The ONE thing I'd do with this spell is make it 9 mana, so no one shaman can Hero Power -> Win. No, they have to Hero Power, hold their ground with 7 totems, and THEN win the next turn. But making it 9 mana DOES allow for Emperor Thaurissan plays, which I don't particularly have an issue with.
Last but not least, Hunter's win con. Like seriously, Hunter's win con is actually easy to make, idk why we're so stuckup with giving them a "You Win" card. So Hunter DESTROYS by being fast, right? Let's make the win con slow.
10 Mana
Unbeatable Strats
If this is your 30th turn and you have not changed your hero power this game, you win the game.
How difficult is that? 30th Turn means the Hunter is taking 4 or 5 fatigue damage on that turn's draw, unless the Hunter's deck was increased in size (via Ex-Evil) or decreased in size (via simple draw cards from Hunter). What this does is forces the hunter to control the board 100% for the entire game and protect himself, without using Sir Finley Mrrgglton. This forces Hunters to change their playstyles from an aggro / fast midrange to a super slow control build that can't change their hero power.
I'd also change up some of the other spells, like:
Rogue should be 6 or 7 mana and it should require a buff of 13 on the weapon instead of 15.
Warriors should only need to go to 50 Armor, as 75 is too difficult even against a control deck.
Mage card should read, "If you've casted 40 or more spells this game, you win." (with Cabalist's Tome, this might not be too difficult)
Druid card is OK, because I don't really feel the whole "restore" win con being good for druid, but since it's not a common druid play, forcing a different playstyle, I like it. But I think it should read 30 restored instead of 20, as Druids can run Reno Jackson and Tree of Life in Wild. *Also make sure it specifies the druid's health itself, because a Tree of Life can heal the opponent for 10 and heal you for 24 and tada! 34 health restored this game.
Warlock Card is good, perfectly playable, difficult to achieve, and forces an unplayed archetype. MAYBE up to 11 discarded cards.
That's all of the cards. That's how I'd feel a balance would be to alternate win conditions.
The Roshambo to Hearthstone. Please be nice. Don't insult or be mad at someone for throwing Rock.
Thank you for such a long answer. I'm really happy to see someone as inspired as we were. I'm gonna take all your notes into account and we'll produce another, more playable list in some time. We really should've gone off with playstyles that differ a lot from what you often see on ladder, and not just supplemental cards like Rogue or Priest ones.
Glad I could help. Can't wait to see the new renditions.
The Roshambo to Hearthstone. Please be nice. Don't insult or be mad at someone for throwing Rock.