Hearthpwn

 

It is probably worth mentioning that the origin of this class comes from a top-down design. Originally, the class was supposed to revolve around a League of Legends character, no less, but I was mildly aware of having to scrap that for the actual competition. It changes nothing about the class's identity as a fast and reckless class.

What helps sell that is the Hero Power. It has gone through many iterations over those three years, only arriving at its current form now, partially thanks to Demon Hunter introducing a 1-Cost Hero Power. At first, the Hero Power interacted with a keyword I'd refer to as Reload, which effectively just refreshed the Hero Power, which dealt damage. From this stemmed the idea of having a Hero Power that would deal considerable damage but only every other cast, or a Hero Power that would store 2-damage charges, and could be charged by itself or via certain class cards. This idea generally came to a halt when it came to considering under what circumstances Hero Powers refresh themselves, though. An alternative path for this Hero Power began with "Deal 1 damage to a target and both heroes", so effectively Mage's Hero Power with extra burn. This is the one that eventually led to Bombs Away! as it is today.

Originally, there was a keyword in development, called Fuse (X). A card's Fuse would count down every turn, and if it reaches zero, the card explodes in your hand and, in its most basic form, you draw a new one. The biggest trouble with this keyword was that there was a very narrow space between numbers low enough that players would only run those cards and hold onto them for the free cycle, and numbers too high to evoke the sense of urgency that the Bomber exudes with its burn through deck and hero Health. Spare a moment of Silence for the two cards in the original Initiate/Boot Camp set which featured this keyword spelled out. Thus, the class itself features no keywords, but it sports a pair of mechanics (well, one is only a token) mostly unique to itself, as far as Core sets are concerned.

Rockets

Rockets are the very simple token that Bombers utilize throughout combat. Weak on their own, they mostly work add extra damage to other, bigger sources. They can also be combined with Spell Damage to provide strong bursts of damage to whittle down your opponent. Originally, the Initiate/Boot Camp set featured various ways to power up Rockets beyond that, but I believe that with the necessity to keep the Core set rather simple, empowering Rockets should be the job of various expansions.

The wording of cards that generate Rockets has been changed. So far, it was the norm for them to spell out that Rockets deal 1 damage. With Core, however, the text changes to parentheses for Core cards: (that deal 1 damage), meaning that expansion cards can do away without this explanation.

Temporary Armor

Easily the biggest head-tilter from the whole class. Gameplay-wise, of course, the numbers are bloated, but Armor in Bomber serves double duty as a defense against your opponent's damage, but your own, too -- and if you choose to break your own Armor with self-damage effects, at least you know it's not going to waste! Of course, the real issue that may come to mind is floatiness and interaction with regular Armor. It's a valid question, but often I feel like people approach it with the worst possible execution in mind.

For starters, every instance of Temporary Armor says "for 1 turn". This wording is deliberate not because the number can be treated as a tweakable variable, but instead to mimic the wording of Rastakhan Rumble's Spirit minions' "Stealth for 1 turn". With this precedent, this Armor then breaks at the start of your turn. Then, due to the lack of regular Armor in Bomber, in 99 % of cases, if enemy Bomber has Armor up, it'll go away at the start of their next turn.

In the odd case of a stack of regular and temporary Armor, temporary Armor would break first before the regular one, similarly to how regular Armor covers Health. It's up to debate whether these niche cases would require visual indication. Something as minor as recoloring the digits of the indicator would probably do the job.

Enough of that. Time to get back to the Core set.

New Cards

These are the three brand new cards introduced into the Core set. Fully Loaded is a general purpose card meant to support various Bomber decks by providing extra cards from relevant categories or doubling as a Rocket generator. Foundry Giant is an Armor-related Epic mech that replaces Gigantabot, which required too much Armor gain cards to function. Its synergy wasn't very welcome in a Core set. Similarly, Shanna Sparkfizz replaces Siegecrafter Blackfuse, whose presence warranted too much of a Rocket generation. Somewhat fitting for his assistant to replace him (actual boss encounter nonwithstanding), and she instead provides a real handful of Rockets on demand, instead of relying on several cards over the course of the game.

Redone Card

Reload is the one card undergoing a major change, similar to Hunter's Tracking. The incentive behind this change is to put the spell down to 1 Mana as oppoosed to the original price tag of (2). However, to theoretically maintain the amount of Mana saved by fulfilling the condition, the reduction has moved onto the drawn spell. This spell is included to fuel general spell and Fire spell decks. In the Bomber class, Fire synergy is boosted by the Rocket tokens.

Touched-up Cards

Powder Monkey now follows other (1) 3/1 minions in the game with its +1 Attack buff, adding some damage to aggressive decks that wish to utilize Rockets as a source of face damage. Handheld Zapper's Armor gain has been bumped up from 3 to 5 to better reflect the game's new power levels and find its place in weapon decks as more than just a weapon to trigger synergies. It goes similarly for Hand Cannon, but its +1 Attack buff also increases the class's mid- to late-game threat, packing a higher potential damage output than a Doomhammer.

Both Iron Star and Special Delivery have had their Costs cut down by (1) to ensure they can come out earlier in more aggressive metas, following the buffs done to cards such as Flamestirke and Assassinate.

Unchanged Cards

To support Bomber's fast-paced gameplay, Burning Up is printed, virtually without a downside if you're willing to take that damage, or block it with your Armor. Speaking of which, Evasive Maneuvers fulfills a similar niche if you find yourself in a pinch for Armor. Finally, Zapcrafter is brought back. Originally, this minion was considered for a small buff, perhaps an extra point of Spell Damage. However, she is kept as she was to support the countless Rockets and other damaging spells.

As an all-around card, Goblin Shredder comes in to support Mechs, self-damage and aggresive archetypes at once. Control decks get, in turn, Landmine, unchanged, now comparing a little closer to Assassinate, but still cheaper at dealing with a majority of targets.

Finally, a pair of cards to help out weapon-centric decks, both hailing from The Boomsday Poject set. Recuperator fulfills a role similar to Reload! pictured above, offering cycling useful for such decks. Then, Ion Ray, a solid midrange weapon with effectively Armor on demand.

Fire spells

The Ranked spell for Bomber is Firecraft (Rank 1), a cheap Fire spell that may or may not have powerful applications come turn 10. Unfortunately, while I've managed to scrounge up three somewhat related pictures, I could not make it about the Mercenary (shown below). Still works, though.

Two more useful Fire spells in Bomber's roster: Collateral Damage to keep aggressive boards at bay, and Suppressive Fire as a catch-up tool in case there's a board to deal with but you're willing to soak some extra damage. Then, one of the two cards synergizing with Fire spells, Bacon Burner, best served with rations of Fire spells for a particularly crispy damage output.

While Gavis Turboflame, Bomber's Mercenary, may not bring about the same long-term spell school investment payoff as Stormwind's Jace Darkweaver, a good application can generate quite some value for you -- after all, aren't so many Fire spells simple area of effect cards? And if you're feeling extra creative, there may be a Rocket combo hiding at the tail end of a Gavis coupled with Spell Damage.

Mechs

Two Common Mechs make up for the base of a Mech Bomber: Ratchet Sentry, doubling as a control play similar to an Annoy-O-Tron, helping the hero pull through any aggression following the protection in the form of Taunt getitng destroyed. Then, there is the Coal Roller, Bomber's only Frenzy card, taking that one extra Rocket you're holding onto and turning it into a random nuke into your opponent's lines. Or you could always Hero Power. Your call. There's an extra use to Barrens Bombardier, which generates said Fire spells while still being a solid Mech to put down.

Helping out a Mech deck, there is Scrap Heap. Originally, it was supposed to summon the Mech with an imposed Attack reduction, but the design ended up being scary in any implementation. Good finds include the aforementioned Barrens Bombardier. And, finally, any cheap Taunt and Rush Mech is worth bringing back with the one and only Founder Gazlowe (not a Mech, notably, just like his GvG counterpart), who's ready to defend his Ratchet colony with a veritable army of Mechs.