Alright. After this not working the first time and me losing all the stuff I typed out, I'm going to try to keep this short.
Since around this time last year, I've been working on two huge projects that never meant to be. Since I've been getting closer and closer to finishing both, but have been stalling for a while getting none of it done, I've decided to begin releasing both projects (starting more with one than the other) slowly over the course of a one-card-every-day schedule. It'll take a while, but I thought that would enable some fun to it.
I'm hoping that this can be both an interactive discussion on card design and meta building, as well as a fun game in trying to determine what the projects are. It's really not that hard, I assure you, but I will absolutely be starting with the hardest and vaguest cards first. Also, the most simple. Many of these won't have much to do with the projects' theme(s), but I hope it'll be a nice transition over time as it becomes more apparent. As a final disclaimer, I should mention that a considerable part of this spans and expands the entirety of Hearthstone's history, meaning there will be cards posted from various expansions that were/are designed to have fit in those respective metas, as best as I could fit them. But we won't get to the majority of those cards for quite some time. So, without a further adieu, here's one of the first super vague cards:
Though I felt like Loatheb wasn't very strong in most Rogue decks, I do believe that a card like this could potentially be viable in a number of Rogue decks. While a (5)-cost minion can be clunky for a Rogue if it's not generating cards or doing something like healing or taunting, I believe a bodyless version can do quite well, as a (1)-cost variant of that can help deny your opponent means to react as well as set up and run through various combos. For instance, if you make a very successful Gadgetzan play in a Miracle or Malygos Rogue deck, but you're just so close from getting your combo and you're low on good card draw, this card could allow you to potentially deny enemy removal. Anyway, there's a lot I could say on this card, but I'll let you take it for what it is. It was such a simple concept from WoW that I'm surprised it hasn't made its way into Hearthstone in some way yet.
Oh, and I forgot to mention, I'll be updating the OP after about a week of cards. The second post is specifically for one of the projects, when I get to releasing the entirety of it, and the third is for cards I designed that simply wont make it in either project, or, more likely than not, were not designed to be. Enjoy the cards!
This section is intended for cards I've designed that could, would, or should not fit in either project for whatever reason. However, I felt they were interesting or cool enough to share, so here they are.
This card is my reaction to the lack of strong Old Gods related cards for Shaman in Whispers of the Old Gods. I felt like the themes of Shamans were huge in Mount Hyjal in Cataclysm with the Twilight Hammer, and I was sad to see Blizzard didn't think so too. This card was difficult to find balance for, but after some persistence from a friend, it resulted in the form it is now. However, this card is designed to make any Old Gods Shaman deck better, specifically, C'Thun and N'Zoth. Obviously, this would buff C'Thun, making him better for C'Thun Shaman, but this card being a Deathrattle card enables for some pretty big N'Zoth's--both in the body and the battlecry. I personally think that the art and the theme perfectly fits effect.
P.S. The art was so perfect for this card that I painstakingly photoshopped it until it fit the card. Additionally, just before posting this I had to shop out a huge watermark that I somehow had managed to miss. Fun facts!
This one is my reaction to the lack of strong board clears and minions in Priest's class arsenal going into the Whispers of the Old Gods collection. The only reason I didn't make this a WOG card, unlike Twilight Ascendant (FLAMEWREATHED IS BROKEN), was that I believe Herald Volazj will one day potentially work, and I'll give Blizzard the benefit of the doubt that he'll one day be in some way viable. Hopefully we're not missing any insane combo with Volazj and BrM cards... anyway, here's the card.
For clarification, if the enemy has 3 minions, this battlecry will deal 3 damage to all enemy characters. If the enemy has 7 minions, this battlecry will deal 7 damage to all enemy characters. I feel like it's a good way to punish zoo and aggro decks in a way Lightbomb only could. But, uh, hopefully this comes close to that.
I almost designed this as a neutral card in order to keep handlock/renolock more than a dying dream, but making it a class card, in my mind, enables it to be a bit stronger than most legendaries--stat value for stat value. The interesting thing about this card is that, like Sunfury Protector and Defender of Argus, it relies on you already having at least one other minion on the board, and at least two that you would want to taunt up to get maximum value. This card also combos with Bolster. Just saying.
Yeah. Three taunts that value 6+/10+ for 6 mana is pretty nuts. But it's situational! Making two Argent Squires into Psych-o-Trons would rarely ever work out!
This card is the result of the lack of Warrior Pirates in TGT, for which I believe the original Blizzard design was intended for (Warrior), which I believe resulted in the two Pirates for Warrior in WOG. I believe this card adds just enough to a midrange/control Warrior without being too powerful. In fact, there's a decent chance this card can just give you garbage, so it might honestly deserve a buff, but that's to be determined. Anyway, here it is.
The original card, a 7-mana 4/6 apparently (oddly the same stats as Skycap'n Kragg, who was from the same expansion, so perhaps they combined the two), was deemed too powerful or too weak for the game, and was pulled from the expansion for balancing issues before release. This version is likely not what Blizzard had in mind, but I believe it now more than ever, with WOG, playable without being overpowered. WOG Pirates that cost (3) or less actually nerf this card, and a potential buff to its stats is probably necessary. After all, if we've learned anything from Kodo Rider, this card might as well be 7-mana and read "Battlecry: Summon a random Pirate that costs (3) or less." and I doubt that would be super worth it.
Pretty nice card. A bit niche, but could work in Rogue simply because it's a cheap spell and a combo activator. Also hate it when Hearthpwn messes up and everything I've typed goes to waste. ^^
Lady Vashj is a card that I really like and wish was in the game, but I think it should only affect minions to prevent complete brokenness. I mean, the fact that it could hit face and do serious burst was one of the main reasons why blade flurry was nerfed.
Edit: Also, I main reincarnate shaman, so twilight ascendant is like my favorite thing ever
The fact that Lady Vashj also hits the enemy hero was actually an intended feature. It's meant to punish zoo and aggro, not just clear a board of it. Blade Flurry was nerfed because of the insane damage that could occur in combos, and it was used specifically to double damage with weapon buffs in a single turn.
And thank you on Twilight! Of all the cards I made, that's one that I really, really wish was just in the game right now.
Woah. Karazhan looks cool. I was skeptical before the announcement that a party theme would be kind of stupid, but after watching the trailer, I'm kind of into it. The adventure itself doesn't seem like a party all the way through, and that I'm happy about, because it would definitely get silly after a while. I don't want to see every adventure like this one, but I'm glad they're thinking outside of the box for at least a couple of them.
Anyway, here's the next card. Vague as always, but this one is quite powerful.
I'm inclined to call this broken due to its comparison with corrupted healbot- a card which doesn't let you choose what to heal and is deathrattle, all while being only a 6/6. However, corrupted healbot doesn't see play and this is a class card, and priest is in a bad shape atm, so I guess this checks out. I do think it would be better if it added health like with dark cultist and power word shield, just so that it wouldn't under-heal and doesn't combo with embrace the shadow and auchenai. 5 mana 7/7s should have real downsides. hint hint.
My thoughts on lady cash: I don't think the answer to a weak class is buffing it insanely. (Look what happened to shaman). I think this would kind of be doing this, so I think this effect would be more balanced doing damage to factor minions, but not both in the same card. Maybe one of them could be a spell for a different class or something?
It's actually intended to be really strong with Embrace and Auchenai. Weak classes get crazy cards all the time, like a 4-mana 7/7 with no real downside, so a 5-mana 7/7 for a class that's doing extremely poorly isn't at all overpowered when the effect can generally help your opponent, at least for a little bit. It is a potential trouble card for sure, though, and I'm gauging changes on it specifically to make other cards in its project not OP/UP, so we'll see. Keep in mind, there's no way to test these cards (unless cockatrice works again, but I spent hours trying to get it to work with no avail), so there's no saying exactly how powerful any card would be in the actual game, we just have to make presumptions.
But speaking of crazy cards, I've got a pretty nuts one coming up tomorrow, and I'm hoping it gears its class away from its current variants. There's some potential issues in it, though, but I'll be mentioning them tomorrow as well. It is one of the newest cards in the project, so I haven't finely tuned it as much as some of the other cards, but it's definitely unique.
Edit: I should mention that I designed this card to specifically buff Priest as a whole, because it's been so weak for so long now, as well as buff the specific Embrace the Shadow mechanic, because it's something considered mostly unplayable for so long outside of just combo decks (which are bad), and I definitely agree to a super strong card being added to steer from both of these problems.
Given how slow these reveals would end up being if I continued to release a single card each day, I'm going to make some exceptions, like today. In addition to the card I mentioned yesterday, I've got an additional card to show, one that I just recently made a significant change to.
The first one, as mentioned, is something to hopefully help steer its class away from certain archetypes into certain others. That class being Warlock. This card is designed as some late game heal and potential removal for decks like Hand and Renolock, and after many tweaks and changes, I think I'm happy with the overall result. There are potentially more slight tweaks to come, but it's a card I've been pretty excited about, so I couldn't wait to reveal it.
And additionally, a card that hopes to help an archetype I really love for a class I really love.
That's all for now. ~2 more coming tomorrow. I'll be releasing a couple clumps of cards now and again to help quicken the pace so I can start revealing the other big project.
I like the idea of Kick, but i absolutely and utterly despise the execution ... u rly want to give rogue 1 mana cycle (Auctioneer) card, that makes it even harder for the opponent to be able to deal with what is thrown at him or do something? blah! give it to some other class :P
Well, it's a Rogue spell in WoW, and it's basically pulled directly out of that. I do not think Rogue is OP right now, because it's not being played over a lot of the other decks right now, and it's generally got a higher skill cap. So adding a card that makes the class/playstyle easier and more accessible isn't necessarily a bad thing in my opinion.
Alright, it's the next day, and I don't want to post more than I have to. Here's the two cards for today. So first up is a card that in theory allows for some pretty interesting impacts and results. Firstly, it's a full board clear for Druid, which is actually something to note--all their board clears are pretty limited without spell damage and additional trading/damage to clear things off. However, I doubt it will see play in many Druid decks. However, it will definitely see play in mill druid, a deck and archetype I think needs a lot more love, because it's a very, very interesting deck. In addition, it has a very interesting effect when triggered by Yogg-Saron: a DOOM! for your opponent. While Yogg doesn't necessarily need any nerfing, I do feel like Yogg has desensitized the majority of players, and they no longer see it as "well... this could go badly for me," because it generally has some sort of control of results. You'll get secrets, you'll get card draw, you'll get board clears, you'll get random heals. But giving your opponent tons of cards? That's something that doesn't happen yet, and I don't see why it shouldn't. Fear the reaper.
Here's one of the few cards I've made from these projects that I already revealed elsewhere, but that was before I planned on using it. While the Kindly Grandmother sort of replaces this card, I still felt it was worth sharing, at least to act as a proof of concept for where the card was originally intended to go before I potentially change it. It's definitely a unique effect in my opinion, as the deathrattle can potentially limit plays--your opponent may force you into a situation where you can't kill it off and thus your next beast doesn't get the buff. However, I doubt anyone would think the card is weak for that, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Touché, Blizzard, you got me with Archaedas, and now this, but I'll get you yet. I'm coming for you, Brode! Uh, anyway, yeah, so here's the card.
That's it for today. Since it'll be exceptionally long until the next few, I think I'll release something special then.
You know what? With every day I get more excited to release some stuff that I'll just never get around to releasing at this rate. So, to speed things up, two more. And with synergies!
First one went through some pretty ridiculous variations, but I think I'm relatively happy with its final result. I think of all cards, this one does its own talking, so I'll let it do just that.
Preeetty cool. And to help with that exact type of deck, whichever archetypes, here's another Warrior card. This card is a bit interesting in my opinion because instead of drawing a card, it draws a minion, which implies that if you have only dragons in your deck, you will always get the +2/+2 buff for it. This can help in late game when you're fishing for good cards to play, or in the earlier/mid game when you're trying to collect your resources and prepare to lay down a beating.
The two synergize quite well; obviously they work well together, but the buffs can be applied on the same minion, meaning you can get a 6-mana 8/8 Chillmaw. OP opie? Well, maybe. Keep in mind that this card is specifically designed to be released post BrM cycle, so all the dragon synergy cards from BrM would not be in Standard at the same time as this card. But it does mean dragon warrior could forever be strong in Wild. Maybe, just maybe. After all, this is a 2-mana spell that draws one card, but I think the buff might just be worth it. You can compare it to A Light in the Darkness, which came out after I made this card (I swear!), only with this card you have potentially entire control of what you're drawing. Theoretically, with the two cards combined, you can fish for a minion late game with Tame the Beast, and end up playing a 10/10 Onyxia or a 6/14 Ysera on the same turn. Is it OP? Maybe, but probably not enough to change metas, it's just something to help a cool tribe work out in control decks.
Alright, so the next few cards will probably be interesting too, but I think this gives me a day or two to look over the clump of cards I intended to release tomorrow just one last time. It's definitely something that could change a lot about the Hearthstone meta, and the whole point of this is to put together a set of cards that would actually work in the game, so I'd like to be as certain as I can be on them first. Anyway, until then, I hope you enjoy.
Hope that last post wasn't too long, sheesh, didn't realize I wrote so much. Anyway, wow, some really interesting cards for Karazhan have been coming out. Prince Malchezaar seemed like a troll at first because of how good it was and how it was actually a real control card. Isn't that the card being released to everyone for free? Sheesh! Very exciting stuff.
Alright, for today, there's nothing too special, just two cards pulled out of the hat folder. They're both pretty powerful, though, so here we go.
First up is another Rogue card, I swear there's cards for every class. It's pretty self explanatory, but the existence of another--yet more specific--Violet Teacher for Rogue potentially enables some new things, and I think that's great. It has synergy with Xaril, Poisoned Mind as well, which is always cool in my opinion, since that card needs some attention (because I crafted it babyrage). Anyway, here it is.
Given GvG is rotated out, it doesn't have the advantage of spare parts, so it's fairly limited in that regard, and for that reason I think it's pretty balanced. Kick synergy! For the next one, I saw Emperor Thaurissan rolling out and thought "damn, this could mean the end for a lot of combo decks." For a decent time now, combo has just had more success against aggro decks than control decks have, so this led me to think, "how can control get a slight buff while paying homage to such an iconic card?" I hope this fills that spot, without being too strong or weak.
This combos with Brann Bronzebeard, however, I think that's far more balanced than letting this increase the costs once every turn, similar to Thaurissan's effect. Whatever the case, let me know what you guys think, and I'll get a special mechanic out for tomorrow.
Thanks a lot! But the pride of my work has yet to come, which is why I'm revealing as quickly as I can without just dumping the entire thing at once like LoE. I'd prefer not to reveal too much yet until the theme of these cards is more apparent, though. The other project (the one I'm happiest about) was really ambitious and it started this whole second project that you're seeing stuff from right now, and it's a take on something done many times before but never quite how I envisioned it. We're getting closer to it, day by day!
Phew. Today's the day. I was more certain about this before I saw the auto-attack minions in Karazhan, and now I'm anxious to know if Karazhan will release anything similar to this, and if I'll have to replace these. While I can't take responsibility for this mechanic, as it's something straight from Magic the Gathering, it is my take on how it would work in Hearthstone, a pretty significantly different card game.
So how this mechanic, First Strike, works is pretty simple. When this minion attacks (or is attacked, for whatever reason), it will not die if it's attack is enough to kill the enemy minion. If a First Strike minion has 2-Attack, it will only die to a minion with 3-Attack or more. It's otherwise free to mow down any minions smaller than it. Additionally, if this minion was to attack a minion with Divine Shield with less attack than these minions have health (Argent Squire, sometimes Argent Horserider), the bubble will be popped and the First Strike minion will not take damage. This allows First Strike minions to be used in order to counter very aggressive decks, though they pose little threat against bigger minions. If two First Strike minions attack each other, the rules do not apply. Anyway, gloves off, here they are.
First up is a direct reference to the White Knight from Magic the Gathering, and the first card I made with the mechanic (surprisingly it went through a couple changes!).
Next is a far weaker one, though maybe it'll inspire people to use Patient Assassin. Eh, probably not, but here it is.
Here's an amalgamation of two mechanics yet to be used in Hearthstone. Yuck yuck yuck. This guy might receive a slight buff in the near future, but until I decide that, here he is.
And lastly, the Zombie Chow of this project. It's designed to help classes like Priest stick around in the early game, but the cost of keeping early board control is paid with giving the enemy a free minion. However, Priest's have a card that gets rid of any 1-cost minion for just one additional mana, so that shouldn't be much of an issue for them if they get a pretty good minion from it--like the same one. With Zombie Chow cycled out, there's been a huge influx of decks that just destroy in the early game, and while Chow didn't deal with everything there is now, and this wouldn't either, I would hope to see a card like this to help with the issues presented after the cycle. And here it is.
That's all for now, let me know what you guys think. I wanted to get this mechanic out as soon as possible in order to get it out of the way.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Alright. After this not working the first time and me losing all the stuff I typed out, I'm going to try to keep this short.
Since around this time last year, I've been working on two huge projects that never meant to be. Since I've been getting closer and closer to finishing both, but have been stalling for a while getting none of it done, I've decided to begin releasing both projects (starting more with one than the other) slowly over the course of a one-card-every-day schedule. It'll take a while, but I thought that would enable some fun to it.
I'm hoping that this can be both an interactive discussion on card design and meta building, as well as a fun game in trying to determine what the projects are. It's really not that hard, I assure you, but I will absolutely be starting with the hardest and vaguest cards first. Also, the most simple. Many of these won't have much to do with the projects' theme(s), but I hope it'll be a nice transition over time as it becomes more apparent. As a final disclaimer, I should mention that a considerable part of this spans and expands the entirety of Hearthstone's history, meaning there will be cards posted from various expansions that were/are designed to have fit in those respective metas, as best as I could fit them. But we won't get to the majority of those cards for quite some time. So, without a further adieu, here's one of the first super vague cards:
Though I felt like Loatheb wasn't very strong in most Rogue decks, I do believe that a card like this could potentially be viable in a number of Rogue decks. While a (5)-cost minion can be clunky for a Rogue if it's not generating cards or doing something like healing or taunting, I believe a bodyless version can do quite well, as a (1)-cost variant of that can help deny your opponent means to react as well as set up and run through various combos. For instance, if you make a very successful Gadgetzan play in a Miracle or Malygos Rogue deck, but you're just so close from getting your combo and you're low on good card draw, this card could allow you to potentially deny enemy removal. Anyway, there's a lot I could say on this card, but I'll let you take it for what it is. It was such a simple concept from WoW that I'm surprised it hasn't made its way into Hearthstone in some way yet.
Oh, and I forgot to mention, I'll be updating the OP after about a week of cards. The second post is specifically for one of the projects, when I get to releasing the entirety of it, and the third is for cards I designed that simply wont make it in either project, or, more likely than not, were not designed to be. Enjoy the cards!
Reserved
This section is intended for cards I've designed that could, would, or should not fit in either project for whatever reason. However, I felt they were interesting or cool enough to share, so here they are.
This card is my reaction to the lack of strong Old Gods related cards for Shaman in Whispers of the Old Gods. I felt like the themes of Shamans were huge in Mount Hyjal in Cataclysm with the Twilight Hammer, and I was sad to see Blizzard didn't think so too. This card was difficult to find balance for, but after some persistence from a friend, it resulted in the form it is now. However, this card is designed to make any Old Gods Shaman deck better, specifically, C'Thun and N'Zoth. Obviously, this would buff C'Thun, making him better for C'Thun Shaman, but this card being a Deathrattle card enables for some pretty big N'Zoth's--both in the body and the battlecry. I personally think that the art and the theme perfectly fits effect.
P.S. The art was so perfect for this card that I painstakingly photoshopped it until it fit the card. Additionally, just before posting this I had to shop out a huge watermark that I somehow had managed to miss. Fun facts!
This one is my reaction to the lack of strong board clears and minions in Priest's class arsenal going into the Whispers of the Old Gods collection. The only reason I didn't make this a WOG card, unlike Twilight Ascendant (FLAMEWREATHED IS BROKEN), was that I believe Herald Volazj will one day potentially work, and I'll give Blizzard the benefit of the doubt that he'll one day be in some way viable. Hopefully we're not missing any insane combo with Volazj and BrM cards... anyway, here's the card.
For clarification, if the enemy has 3 minions, this battlecry will deal 3 damage to all enemy characters. If the enemy has 7 minions, this battlecry will deal 7 damage to all enemy characters. I feel like it's a good way to punish zoo and aggro decks in a way Lightbomb only could. But, uh, hopefully this comes close to that.
I almost designed this as a neutral card in order to keep handlock/renolock more than a dying dream, but making it a class card, in my mind, enables it to be a bit stronger than most legendaries--stat value for stat value. The interesting thing about this card is that, like Sunfury Protector and Defender of Argus, it relies on you already having at least one other minion on the board, and at least two that you would want to taunt up to get maximum value. This card also combos with Bolster. Just saying.
Yeah. Three taunts that value 6+/10+ for 6 mana is pretty nuts. But it's situational! Making two Argent Squires into Psych-o-Trons would rarely ever work out!
This card is the result of the lack of Warrior Pirates in TGT, for which I believe the original Blizzard design was intended for (Warrior), which I believe resulted in the two Pirates for Warrior in WOG. I believe this card adds just enough to a midrange/control Warrior without being too powerful. In fact, there's a decent chance this card can just give you garbage, so it might honestly deserve a buff, but that's to be determined. Anyway, here it is.
The original card, a 7-mana 4/6 apparently (oddly the same stats as Skycap'n Kragg, who was from the same expansion, so perhaps they combined the two), was deemed too powerful or too weak for the game, and was pulled from the expansion for balancing issues before release. This version is likely not what Blizzard had in mind, but I believe it now more than ever, with WOG, playable without being overpowered. WOG Pirates that cost (3) or less actually nerf this card, and a potential buff to its stats is probably necessary. After all, if we've learned anything from Kodo Rider, this card might as well be 7-mana and read "Battlecry: Summon a random Pirate that costs (3) or less." and I doubt that would be super worth it.
Pretty nice card. A bit niche, but could work in Rogue simply because it's a cheap spell and a combo activator. Also hate it when Hearthpwn messes up and everything I've typed goes to waste. ^^
Great card. Wish it was real.
Thanks guys! Third post updated with three cards, more to come.
Lady Vashj is a card that I really like and wish was in the game, but I think it should only affect minions to prevent complete brokenness. I mean, the fact that it could hit face and do serious burst was one of the main reasons why blade flurry was nerfed.
Edit: Also, I main reincarnate shaman, so twilight ascendant is like my favorite thing ever
The fact that Lady Vashj also hits the enemy hero was actually an intended feature. It's meant to punish zoo and aggro, not just clear a board of it. Blade Flurry was nerfed because of the insane damage that could occur in combos, and it was used specifically to double damage with weapon buffs in a single turn.
And thank you on Twilight! Of all the cards I made, that's one that I really, really wish was just in the game right now.
Woah. Karazhan looks cool. I was skeptical before the announcement that a party theme would be kind of stupid, but after watching the trailer, I'm kind of into it. The adventure itself doesn't seem like a party all the way through, and that I'm happy about, because it would definitely get silly after a while. I don't want to see every adventure like this one, but I'm glad they're thinking outside of the box for at least a couple of them.
Anyway, here's the next card. Vague as always, but this one is quite powerful.
I'm inclined to call this broken due to its comparison with corrupted healbot- a card which doesn't let you choose what to heal and is deathrattle, all while being only a 6/6. However, corrupted healbot doesn't see play and this is a class card, and priest is in a bad shape atm, so I guess this checks out. I do think it would be better if it added health like with dark cultist and power word shield, just so that it wouldn't under-heal and doesn't combo with embrace the shadow and auchenai. 5 mana 7/7s should have real downsides. hint hint.
Looks like some pretty cool cards.
My thoughts on lady cash: I don't think the answer to a weak class is buffing it insanely. (Look what happened to shaman). I think this would kind of be doing this, so I think this effect would be more balanced doing damage to factor minions, but not both in the same card. Maybe one of them could be a spell for a different class or something?
It's actually intended to be really strong with Embrace and Auchenai. Weak classes get crazy cards all the time, like a 4-mana 7/7 with no real downside, so a 5-mana 7/7 for a class that's doing extremely poorly isn't at all overpowered when the effect can generally help your opponent, at least for a little bit. It is a potential trouble card for sure, though, and I'm gauging changes on it specifically to make other cards in its project not OP/UP, so we'll see. Keep in mind, there's no way to test these cards (unless cockatrice works again, but I spent hours trying to get it to work with no avail), so there's no saying exactly how powerful any card would be in the actual game, we just have to make presumptions.
But speaking of crazy cards, I've got a pretty nuts one coming up tomorrow, and I'm hoping it gears its class away from its current variants. There's some potential issues in it, though, but I'll be mentioning them tomorrow as well. It is one of the newest cards in the project, so I haven't finely tuned it as much as some of the other cards, but it's definitely unique.
Edit: I should mention that I designed this card to specifically buff Priest as a whole, because it's been so weak for so long now, as well as buff the specific Embrace the Shadow mechanic, because it's something considered mostly unplayable for so long outside of just combo decks (which are bad), and I definitely agree to a super strong card being added to steer from both of these problems.
Given how slow these reveals would end up being if I continued to release a single card each day, I'm going to make some exceptions, like today. In addition to the card I mentioned yesterday, I've got an additional card to show, one that I just recently made a significant change to.
The first one, as mentioned, is something to hopefully help steer its class away from certain archetypes into certain others. That class being Warlock. This card is designed as some late game heal and potential removal for decks like Hand and Renolock, and after many tweaks and changes, I think I'm happy with the overall result. There are potentially more slight tweaks to come, but it's a card I've been pretty excited about, so I couldn't wait to reveal it.
And additionally, a card that hopes to help an archetype I really love for a class I really love.
That's all for now. ~2 more coming tomorrow. I'll be releasing a couple clumps of cards now and again to help quicken the pace so I can start revealing the other big project.
I like the idea of Kick, but i absolutely and utterly despise the execution ... u rly want to give rogue 1 mana cycle (Auctioneer) card, that makes it even harder for the opponent to be able to deal with what is thrown at him or do something? blah! give it to some other class :P
- Click Here To Join Us On Discord! -
Well, it's a Rogue spell in WoW, and it's basically pulled directly out of that. I do not think Rogue is OP right now, because it's not being played over a lot of the other decks right now, and it's generally got a higher skill cap. So adding a card that makes the class/playstyle easier and more accessible isn't necessarily a bad thing in my opinion.
Alright, it's the next day, and I don't want to post more than I have to. Here's the two cards for today. So first up is a card that in theory allows for some pretty interesting impacts and results. Firstly, it's a full board clear for Druid, which is actually something to note--all their board clears are pretty limited without spell damage and additional trading/damage to clear things off. However, I doubt it will see play in many Druid decks. However, it will definitely see play in mill druid, a deck and archetype I think needs a lot more love, because it's a very, very interesting deck. In addition, it has a very interesting effect when triggered by Yogg-Saron: a DOOM! for your opponent. While Yogg doesn't necessarily need any nerfing, I do feel like Yogg has desensitized the majority of players, and they no longer see it as "well... this could go badly for me," because it generally has some sort of control of results. You'll get secrets, you'll get card draw, you'll get board clears, you'll get random heals. But giving your opponent tons of cards? That's something that doesn't happen yet, and I don't see why it shouldn't. Fear the reaper.
Here's one of the few cards I've made from these projects that I already revealed elsewhere, but that was before I planned on using it. While the Kindly Grandmother sort of replaces this card, I still felt it was worth sharing, at least to act as a proof of concept for where the card was originally intended to go before I potentially change it. It's definitely a unique effect in my opinion, as the deathrattle can potentially limit plays--your opponent may force you into a situation where you can't kill it off and thus your next beast doesn't get the buff. However, I doubt anyone would think the card is weak for that, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Touché, Blizzard, you got me with Archaedas, and now this, but I'll get you yet. I'm coming for you, Brode! Uh, anyway, yeah, so here's the card.
That's it for today.
Since it'll be exceptionally long until the next few,I think I'll release something special then.You know what? With every day I get more excited to release some stuff that I'll just never get around to releasing at this rate. So, to speed things up, two more. And with synergies!
First one went through some pretty ridiculous variations, but I think I'm relatively happy with its final result. I think of all cards, this one does its own talking, so I'll let it do just that.
Preeetty cool. And to help with that exact type of deck, whichever archetypes, here's another Warrior card. This card is a bit interesting in my opinion because instead of drawing a card, it draws a minion, which implies that if you have only dragons in your deck, you will always get the +2/+2 buff for it. This can help in late game when you're fishing for good cards to play, or in the earlier/mid game when you're trying to collect your resources and prepare to lay down a beating.
The two synergize quite well; obviously they work well together, but the buffs can be applied on the same minion, meaning you can get a 6-mana 8/8 Chillmaw. OP opie? Well, maybe. Keep in mind that this card is specifically designed to be released post BrM cycle, so all the dragon synergy cards from BrM would not be in Standard at the same time as this card. But it does mean dragon warrior could forever be strong in Wild. Maybe, just maybe. After all, this is a 2-mana spell that draws one card, but I think the buff might just be worth it. You can compare it to A Light in the Darkness, which came out after I made this card (I swear!), only with this card you have potentially entire control of what you're drawing. Theoretically, with the two cards combined, you can fish for a minion late game with Tame the Beast, and end up playing a 10/10 Onyxia or a 6/14 Ysera on the same turn. Is it OP? Maybe, but probably not enough to change metas, it's just something to help a cool tribe work out in control decks.
Alright, so the next few cards will probably be interesting too, but I think this gives me a day or two to look over the clump of cards I intended to release tomorrow just one last time. It's definitely something that could change a lot about the Hearthstone meta, and the whole point of this is to put together a set of cards that would actually work in the game, so I'd like to be as certain as I can be on them first. Anyway, until then, I hope you enjoy.
Hope that last post wasn't too long, sheesh, didn't realize I wrote so much. Anyway, wow, some really interesting cards for Karazhan have been coming out. Prince Malchezaar seemed like a troll at first because of how good it was and how it was actually a real control card. Isn't that the card being released to everyone for free? Sheesh! Very exciting stuff.
Alright, for today, there's nothing too special, just two cards pulled out of the
hatfolder. They're both pretty powerful, though, so here we go.First up is another Rogue card, I swear there's cards for every class. It's pretty self explanatory, but the existence of another--yet more specific--Violet Teacher for Rogue potentially enables some new things, and I think that's great. It has synergy with Xaril, Poisoned Mind as well, which is always cool in my opinion, since that card needs some attention (because I crafted it babyrage). Anyway, here it is.
Given GvG is rotated out, it doesn't have the advantage of spare parts, so it's fairly limited in that regard, and for that reason I think it's pretty balanced. Kick synergy! For the next one, I saw Emperor Thaurissan rolling out and thought "damn, this could mean the end for a lot of combo decks." For a decent time now, combo has just had more success against aggro decks than control decks have, so this led me to think, "how can control get a slight buff while paying homage to such an iconic card?" I hope this fills that spot, without being too strong or weak.
This combos with Brann Bronzebeard, however, I think that's far more balanced than letting this increase the costs once every turn, similar to Thaurissan's effect. Whatever the case, let me know what you guys think, and I'll get a special mechanic out for tomorrow.
The overall quality on these fan creations is fantastic! Keep up the good work!
Thanks a lot! But the pride of my work has yet to come, which is why I'm revealing as quickly as I can without just dumping the entire thing at once like LoE. I'd prefer not to reveal too much yet until the theme of these cards is more apparent, though. The other project (the one I'm happiest about) was really ambitious and it started this whole second project that you're seeing stuff from right now, and it's a take on something done many times before but never quite how I envisioned it. We're getting closer to it, day by day!
Really cool cards ! I love cards that follow WoW lore and Kick does it really well.
Tome of the Battlelock might be interesting too, I would play it on my warlock for sure.
Thank you!
Phew. Today's the day. I was more certain about this before I saw the auto-attack minions in Karazhan, and now I'm anxious to know if Karazhan will release anything similar to this, and if I'll have to replace these. While I can't take responsibility for this mechanic, as it's something straight from Magic the Gathering, it is my take on how it would work in Hearthstone, a pretty significantly different card game.
So how this mechanic, First Strike, works is pretty simple. When this minion attacks (or is attacked, for whatever reason), it will not die if it's attack is enough to kill the enemy minion. If a First Strike minion has 2-Attack, it will only die to a minion with 3-Attack or more. It's otherwise free to mow down any minions smaller than it. Additionally, if this minion was to attack a minion with Divine Shield with less attack than these minions have health (Argent Squire, sometimes Argent Horserider), the bubble will be popped and the First Strike minion will not take damage. This allows First Strike minions to be used in order to counter very aggressive decks, though they pose little threat against bigger minions. If two First Strike minions attack each other, the rules do not apply. Anyway, gloves off, here they are.
First up is a direct reference to the White Knight from Magic the Gathering, and the first card I made with the mechanic (surprisingly it went through a couple changes!).
Next is a far weaker one, though maybe it'll inspire people to use Patient Assassin. Eh, probably not, but here it is.
Here's an amalgamation of two mechanics yet to be used in Hearthstone. Yuck yuck yuck. This guy might receive a slight buff in the near future, but until I decide that, here he is.
And lastly, the Zombie Chow of this project. It's designed to help classes like Priest stick around in the early game, but the cost of keeping early board control is paid with giving the enemy a free minion. However, Priest's have a card that gets rid of any 1-cost minion for just one additional mana, so that shouldn't be much of an issue for them if they get a pretty good minion from it--like the same one. With Zombie Chow cycled out, there's been a huge influx of decks that just destroy in the early game, and while Chow didn't deal with everything there is now, and this wouldn't either, I would hope to see a card like this to help with the issues presented after the cycle. And here it is.
That's all for now, let me know what you guys think. I wanted to get this mechanic out as soon as possible in order to get it out of the way.