Background: Not a lot of thought went into it initially, but it was enough to make me want to bring the idea into card form. For a disclaimer, this card DOESN'T combo off of Loatheb, though that was my initial idea. In turn, I thought of how this card could see play if it didn't combo off Loatheb. This is where I started thinking more in-depth with the card.
I'm no good at seeing how immediately OP this card would be, rather I was only focused on looking at it's potential. So I'd love any amount of criticism to balance this out. The only balancing I feel I've done was making it Legendary, though at some point I wanted to make it an epic to hold two, but felt that might be stretching it.
The Card: Toraan is a 5/5/5 drop just like Loatheb, but unlike him, he keeps the mana cost of all cards in each players hand permanent as they are. Toraan in my eyes is good in the hands of people who are able to guess their players next move as they would a Loatheb. In a scenario for Toraan, imagine you're playing against a Hand-Lock and feel he's coming around to summoning some Mountain/Molten Giants. If you can draw Toraan soon enough to keep the mana cost of the giants at a relatively high mana cost you can potentially avoid the giants from being played at all or at the least at a very high cost (a reason I didn't make him epic).
Too OP Debate: I immediately aimed to Rogue when I thought of how OP this card might be, being that she has preparation. Allowing all of her spells to be 0 - 3 mana permanently is a little scary, though I feel this is why he's at a relatively high cost. Pushing it to 6 mana could combat this.
Ideas/Plays/Potential:
Mage - I saw much potential being that Mech-Mages are still a thing. Her being able to solidify the mana cost of her already low cost mechs without the need of Mechwarper (assuming it's still alive to proc off Toraan). She can also combo of Sorcerer's Apprentice. Would be insane if you pulled him out of an Unstable Portal
Paladin - Could potentially see more use of the Dragon Deck, if you're able to pull of a nice Dragon Consort w/ Toraan while having stacked a few dragons in your hand. Though the play is a bit slow...
Warlock - As mentioned above you can counter many warlocks by locking Giant's mana costs to unplayable amounts or a fairly high cost, but then against it's a guessing game because you have to know if it's in their hand or not
Mana Wraith - Pulling off the two could have you potentially increase the cost of all your enemies minions by one, though you will suffer an increase of your own. But if you're running a rush deck maybe the bump in cost may not be as hindering as it would be to your opponent.
Venture Co. Mecenary - The card doesn't see much constructed play, but in Arena Toraan could be the perfect counter to a big minion such as Venture locking the mana costs of all the minions in your opponent's hand by three more. Heck, if you wanna do a massive combo, summon your own Venture if the enemy were to play a Sylvanas, and if the she so happens to steal your Venture you can play Toraan next turn and harm your opponent greatly!
Summoning Portal - Doesn't see much play in constructed but with a combo with Toraan, you could see some pretty aggressive plays
"BUT WE ALREADY HAVE EMPEROR THAURISSAN !" - This came into my mind as well and though you can combo Toraan WITH Thaurissan, you can definitely counter Thaurissan to some extent if you can't kill him immediately.
Many more uses of this card I can't currently think of but I'm sure they're out there.
Final Comment: I don't think Toraan is over the top, because not too many mana increase/decrease cards are played. Every once in a while you're caught in a scenario where you have no choice but to deal with these cards that are being played at low costs. There are little ways to counter most moments so Toraan could be a great addition
Background: Not a lot of thought went into it initially, but it was enough to make me want to bring the idea into card form. For a disclaimer, this card DOESN'T combo off of Loatheb, though that was my initial idea. In turn, I thought of how this card could see play if it didn't combo off Loatheb. This is where I started thinking more in-depth with the card.
I'm no good at seeing how immediately OP this card would be, rather I was only focused on looking at it's potential. So I'd love any amount of criticism to balance this out. The only balancing I feel I've done was making it Legendary, though at some point I wanted to make it an epic to hold two, but felt that might be stretching it.
The Card: Toraan is a 5/5/5 drop just like Loatheb, but unlike him, he keeps the mana cost of all cards in each players hand permanent as they are. Toraan in my eyes is good in the hands of people who are able to guess their players next move as they would a Loatheb. In a scenario for Toraan, imagine you're playing against a Hand-Lock and feel he's coming around to summoning some Mountain/Molten Giants. If you can draw Toraan soon enough to keep the mana cost of the giants at a relatively high mana cost you can potentially avoid the giants from being played at all or at the least at a very high cost (a reason I didn't make him epic).
Too OP Debate: I immediately aimed to Rogue when I thought of how OP this card might be, being that she has preparation. Allowing all of her spells to be 0 - 3 mana permanently is a little scary, though I feel this is why he's at a relatively high cost. Pushing it to 6 mana could combat this.
Ideas/Plays/Potential:
Mage - I saw much potential being that Mech-Mages are still a thing. Her being able to solidify the mana cost of her already low cost mechs without the need of Mechwarper (assuming it's still alive to proc off Toraan). She can also combo of Sorcerer's Apprentice. Would be insane if you pulled him out of an Unstable Portal
Paladin - Could potentially see more use of the Dragon Deck, if you're able to pull of a nice Dragon Consort w/ Toraan while having stacked a few dragons in your hand. Though the play is a bit slow...
Warlock - As mentioned above you can counter many warlocks by locking Giant's mana costs to unplayable amounts or a fairly high cost, but then against it's a guessing game because you have to know if it's in their hand or not
Mana Wraith - Pulling off the two could have you potentially increase the cost of all your enemies minions by one, though you will suffer an increase of your own. But if you're running a rush deck maybe the bump in cost may not be as hindering as it would be to your opponent.
Venture Co. Mecenary - The card doesn't see much constructed play, but in Arena Toraan could be the perfect counter to a big minion such as Venture locking the mana costs of all the minions in your opponent's hand by three more. Heck, if you wanna do a massive combo, summon your own Venture if the enemy were to play a Sylvanas, and if the she so happens to steal your Venture you can play Toraan next turn and harm your opponent greatly!
Summoning Portal - Doesn't see much play in constructed but with a combo with Toraan, you could see some pretty aggressive plays
"BUT WE ALREADY HAVE EMPEROR THAURISSAN !" - This came into my mind as well and though you can combo Toraan WITH Thaurissan, you can definitely counter Thaurissan to some extent if you can't kill him immediately.
Many more uses of this card I can't currently think of but I'm sure they're out there.
Final Comment: I don't think Toraan is over the top, because not too many mana increase/decrease cards are played. Every once in a while you're caught in a scenario where you have no choice but to deal with these cards that are being played at low costs. There are little ways to counter most moments so Toraan could be a great addition
It would be better if the effect only applied while Toraan was in play. Allowing him to turn giants into dead cards permanently is a terrible idea.
Definetly it is. So, OP! :P
And 10 mana combo with Loatheb, also. Ruins spells into oblivion.
Check out my Fan Creation's thread here: new Necromancy cards
It doesn't combo with Loatheb. Loatheb doesn't increase the cost of your opponent's spells until after your turn has ended.
Yeah, my bad, you're right)
Check out my Fan Creation's thread here: new Necromancy cards
I think I would prefer a Loatheb like effect like "Card mana reduction will not apply next turn"...
My mother was a Murlock, so what ?