Hello, and welcome to Phase IV of our second ever Class Creation Competition! This competition's theme is "World Beyond Warcraft", and submitted classes must represent things outside of Warcraft-specific lore. Last week, for Phase III, our 30 remaining competitors were invited to submit their classes' Classic Sets for review. 11 classes have advanced to Phase IV, where these classes' Curse of Naxxramas, Goblins vs Gnomes, and Blackrock Mountain Sets will be presented.
The 11 users listed in this Spoiler have advanced to Phase IV:
If you have not advanced to Phase IV, then you may not post in the Submission Topic.
Competition Overview
Phase IV Submission (Starts Now! Ends 21:00 UTC Tuesday 9/Feb/2016.) It is during this time that you may submit entries to this Submission Topic. Note that Up-Votes are entirely irrelevant to this Phase of this competition, as well as all future phases. In other words, there is no reason to rush to submit. Take your time and refine your entry.
Phase IV Poll (Starts 21:00 UTC Tuesday 9/Feb/2016 Ends 21:00 UTC Wednesday 10/Feb/2016.) All valid submissions will be included in the Phase IV Poll Topics. They will be represented by your Hero Portrait, Hero Power, and up to 4 example cards, explained below. Due to limited space, no token cards will be included, but the Poll Topic galleries will also clearly link each Hero to your Phase IV Submission posts, so voters can always find out more there, if what was presented piques their interest. The top 4 entries will move on to Phase V, the Final Phase. There will be no Wild Cards.
See below for a general overview of the future competition Phases:
Phase V: TGT/LoE - You will conclude with the 12 cards that make up your class's TGT and LoE sets, as well as your Hero Power's Justicar Trueheart upgrade. Discover is restricted to LoE. Finale Topics Wednesday 10/Feb/2016 - Monday 22/Feb/2016. Poll Monday 22/Feb/2016 - Friday 26/Feb/2016. The Finalists who make it to this phase will be allowed to create their own individual Finale Topics. The winner will be determined by performance in a separate Poll Topic that includes all eligible Phase V entries.
General Competition Rules
These are general competition rules that apply to all Phases of this competition and that many of you will already be familiar with if you've competed in our Weekly Card Design Competitions. Even if you're a veteran of our competitions, though, I recommend that you review the rules thoroughly just to be sure:
First, these are the rules about Posting:
You are allowed to submit only one entry.
You are allowed to post in this Submission Topic only once, only to submit your one entry.
You may not delete ANY posts you make in this Submission Topic, not even accidental ones you may make over your one allowed, such as by double-posting or by accidentally posting something here that you meant for the Discussion Topic. If you do accidentally post more than once, inform any of the Fan Creation Forum moderators via PM, and we will handle it.
Speaking of the Discussion Topic, that is where any discussion of this competition should go. This thread is for submissions only. If you want to discuss your card or ask questions about the competition rules or process, you can find a link to the Discussion Topic at the top of this thread. Plenty of folks there will be happy to help you out.
Once you have submitted your one entry, you are allowed to make only minor changes to it. Minor changes are things like correcting typos or making balance changes that do not alter the spirit of your entry as determined by we the moderators. If you want to make any changes and have any doubts as to their legality, ask us first.
You may not create any topics on our forum for any competition entry. All competition material and discussion is restricted to the designated competition topics. This is to prevent the board from being flooded with competition topics. Nobody wants that.
These are the rules about your Entry:
We encourage you to create your entry material using Hearthcards.net, but please remember that, although HearthCards is awesome, you MUST host your card somewhere other than Hearthcards. Save it and upload it toImgur, Photobucket, or some other similar site. HearthCards has a limited server space and will purge cards after a few days, and nobody wants your cards disappearing part-way through the finals. We understand that there are some HearthCards memberships that will allow you to save your card there for longer (and you should totally get one of those just for general fan creation purposes, by the way), but we don't know who has those memberships and we can't tell from the URLs.
You may not submit any Gold cards. (It's just a cheap attention grab tactic that makes it unnecessarily difficult to determine what class your card is for.)
Your entry must be a card of your own creation. We've been doing this for a while, so if you blatantly rip off somebody else's idea, we will know.
Fun and even humorous entries are perfectly allowed, but "troll" entries will be disqualified. If you're worried that your card may be misinterpreted as a troll card, contact a moderator before you submit.
TIP: Though not a rule exactly, we highly recommend that you insert your images using this icon on the bar above the post text editor: . Just click that button and put in the URL of your image. Cards that are uploaded and attached to your post are not disallowed, but in our experience they will not do nearly as well, so this is for your own benefit more than anything.
Finally, know that manipulating votes in any way is strictly forbidden. Any violators will receive an official warning, and will be banned from this and all future HearthPwn Card Design Competitions.
Phase IV: EXPANSIONS
By having your class's Classic Set approved of, you've shown that you can make a completely functional class. But functional isn't good enough. Your class must also have room to grow beyond that. For this phase, you'll be proving that it can by giving your class Curse of Naxxramas, Goblins vs Gnomes, and Blackrock Mountain cards.
Here are the requirements for your Class Creation Competition Phase IV Entry:
CLASS, HERO, AND HERO POWER There are just a few elements of your class that you will repeat from your earlier phase entries, and this should take up as little space as possible. After beginning with your Class's name, please try to include the images for your Hero Portrait and Hero Power side-by side so they don't take up too much vertical space. If you'd like to repeat anything from your class's introductory explanation, including its flavor or whatever you believe makes it interesting or unique mechanically, that's fine, but try to keep it brief.
If your Hero Power produces any additional materials or requires any additional explanation beyond its basic image, please relegate these to a Spoiler block (Inserting a Spoiler can be done by clicking the ! symbol on the top bar of the text editor.).
Note that you may still not include the Justicar version of your Hero Power during this Phase.
EXAMPLE NAXX / GVG/ BRM CARDS We do not want to see your Class's entire Naxx / GvG / BRM Sets out in the open.
You are allowed up to four (4) example cards out in the open. Again, so as not to take up too much vertical space, please present at least some of these these side-by-side. You may, below these cards, give brief explanations of them, why you decided to showcase them, how they exemplify what makes your class unique, and so on.
For this phase, you should have 1 Common card with the Curse of Naxxramas watermark.
You should also have 2 Common cards, 3 Rare cards, 2 Epic cards, and 1 Legendary minions with the Goblins vs Gnomes watermark.
Finally, you should have 1 Common card and 1 Rare card with the Blackrock Mountain watermark.
If your example cards produce any unique token cards, those must be put behind a spoiler (Inserting a Spoiler can be done by clicking the ! symbol on the top bar of the text editor.).
There are a few keywords and mechanics that did not exist yet for certain sets. No cards during this phase should include Inspire, Discover, or Joust mechanics. Your Curse of Naxxramas and Gobins vs Gnomes cards should not include Dragon synergy, and your Curse of Naxxramas card should include neither Mech synergy nor Spare parts. (Not that we may be willing to make a few exceptions here if, for example, your class is particularly Mech- or Dragon-centered.)
REMAINING NAXX / GVG/ BRM CARDS The remaining seven (7) cards of your class's Naxx / GvG / BRM Sets must be presented behind a Spoiler Block (Inserting a Spoiler can be done by clicking the ! symbol on the top bar of the text editor.). These cards must obey the same rules are your examples cards with regards to expansion watermarks, rarity gems, and what keywords you may not use.
BASIC AND CLASSIC SETS You should include your completed Basic and Classic Sets from Phases II and III behind a Spoiler (Inserting a Spoiler can be done by clicking the ! symbol on the top bar of the text editor.) either before or after your Phase IV material. It is fine if these cards have undergone some minor modification, but they must still adhere to all of their original Phase requirements.
The first time that we ran a Class Creation Competition here, Phase IV was actually the last phase of the competition, and the submissions for that were very different, so I don't have any examples to show you this time. But you all know what you're doing if you've made it this far. ^_~
Q&A
Q: My submission didn't move on. Am I not allowed to participate any more for the rest of the competition? A: Of course you are! This many cards is going to be difficult to manage, so the contestants that move on will need all of the help and input they can get to get their Class just right. If you get knocked out of the competition, head over to the Discussion topic and support your favorite competitor that moved on!
If anybody has any other question, please feel free to ask us over in the Discussion topic. Otherwise, get those creative juices flowing, and I'll look forward to your submissions.
A major take-away from the classic set is the common Mega-Stone spell, which simply costs 4 mana and Mega-Evolves a minion.
The theme of the class revolves around each of your minions containing it's own personality and way of doing things, as well as Evolution. That's the keyword of the class: If a minion is able to evolve, it does so in the hand once your hero power, Evolution, is used. When considering balance, consider the fact that power creeps up the evolutionary line since evolution requires mana investment from your hero power. You'll see what I mean with the minions I'm about to present if you're unfamiliar (the spoilers below contain the evolutions which are the core of each card).
Houndour line:
The Houndour line is based off of a hellhound, and those doggies are pretty fierce if you ask me. These guys Charge into your opponent and Mega Houndoom has some extra bite against those Taunt minions. Psh, they think they're soooo tough.
For those unfamiliar, the 4-mana Mega-Stone spell from my classic set would be cast onto a friendly Houndoom in play to transform it into Mega Houndoom.
DarkVoid: Here comes the Dark-type Pokemon Darkrai with his signature move to temporarily nullify your enemies.
Porygon line:
The Porygon line is based off of a glitch! (Back away, Missingno) Here they come to hack your game, those tricksters. Porygon downloads your opponents unused mana from last turn and uses them as Attack! Porygon2 is well known for being a ridiculous tank in competitive pokemon, and that defense is due to it's unevolved status. Lastly, Porygon-Z really messed up. He hacked your game and it's as if your game resets 6 turns! What a goof.
Arceus: The God of pokemon descends from his throne and enlightens your pokemon with his presence. Minions that can Mega-Evolve no longer require a Mega-Stone spell, and your minions may even evolve in the heat of battle!
Here are the rest of the cards:
Scyther line: Scyther, the little bug type, seizes his opportunity against a flustered opponent by attacking twice! His evolution Scizor gains the steel-typing and goes for the quick damage with it's signature Bullet Punch move. Better yet, Mega Scizor becomes an unstoppable minion-finisher.
Magnemite line: One of the quintessential steel-types, the Magnemite line klinks and klanks its way into the battlefield with Spare Parts flying all over the place.
Ditto: This cute prankster likes to transform into your opponent's minions! As soon as your opponent plays one, Ditto unleashes his devious prank! ACTUALLY BRO ITS JUST A SOCIAL EXPERIMENT
Autotomize: This move increases the speed of steel-types in pokemon. Since the class is heavily minion-based, your spells are likely to consist of Spare Parts (if you aren't careful, maybe a Mega Stone). So throw out all that junk and jack up the speed!
Beldum line: The Steel/Psychic line of Metagross reflects it's supercomputer intelligence. The line gives you a very underrated concept in Hearthstone; information.
Deino line: I love me some dragon synergy, and what better pokemon to use than MY FAVORITE, HYDREIGON! Oh man, I just think he's so cool. Dude, he's a Dark/Dragon type holy crap. Anyways, some much-needed dragon synergy from my favorite pokemon here.
Bagon line: This line utilizes Spell Damage, as this line's Dragon/Flying typing takes your spells to the skies! Salamence can power up all of your other minions (including itself), and upon Mega-Evolution it charges at your opponent with all that damage!
Hope you guys liked that, I had a lot of fun making it! Gotta catch em all!
Unleash devastation and vengeance upon your foes, enforcing justice and ensuring the loyalty of your subjects throughout the land. Call upon your allies to defend your hero and utilize an army of Dragons, mercenaries, and loyalists to force your opponents into submission, leaving a trail of fire and blood behind as a warning to all who would oppose your rightful rule.
The hero is none other than Daenerys Targaryen, the last surviving member of the Targaryen Noble House. She has overcome several trials including exile and has earned the respect and loyalty of many, including her Dragons.
Her Hero Power is quite versatile, allowing you to buff your Dragons or summon a Dragon, providing both board control and longevity to your minions depending on your situation. The best part about Call Dragon is that it adapts to your situation, providing you with the best methods of overcoming your current situation, whether it's staying ahead of your opponent, or recovering from an AoE spell.
Example Naxxramas/Goblins vs Gnomes/Blackrock Mountain Cards:
Dragon Tamer: Think of Ancestor's Call but with Dragon Synergy. It allows you to get your powerful Dragons out just a few turns earlier, and can provide you with a great threatening board presence. The downside is that you need to be holding a Dragon to get the most out of the card, and you have to plan how you'll play it since you'll more than likely have more than one Dragon in your hand.
Goblin Dragonrider: A simple Mounted Raptor style minion. It's actually more like a Harvest Golem with Dragon synergy. Good for having a sticky early-game minion since this class lacks sticky minions.
Judgment Fire: Almost like a collectible version of Living Bomb. Great AoE damage for a class that lacked direct damage AoE's and late game spells. Can be countered by your opponent so it's not too overpowered.
Skeletal Wyrm: For a class so dedicated to minions and board control, you should rarely run into a situation where you don't have any other minions. But it happens, sometimes you have a bad draw, or your opponent just unleashed an AoE and wiped your full board...Playing this will allow you to start trading and building board presence again since it stays alive untl you summon another minion.
Trapper's Net: Good soft-removal for large enemy threats. Provides you with some time to provide a better, long-term answer to their minion. Can be played around by your opponent by Silence effects, but still works great against most big threats without stripping them of their unique effects. Flavor Text: "Any man can kill a Dragon...it takes dedication and courage to capture one and tame it."
Scale Blessing: A decent 2 mana spell that allows you to keep your minions alive longer to provide more board control and trading opportunities. Works great for keeping larger minions alive in the late game. Comparable to Ancestral Healing. Flavor Text: "A Dragon's respect is not easily won. If my Dragons did not respect you, we would not be having this conversation."
Second Sons Mercenary: A low-stat 2 mana minion designed to provide early game trading opportunities and more pressure for you to put on your opponent. It grows in attack as you acquire more minions on your side of the battlefield but is easily removed by early game removal spells to prevent it from being overpowered. Flavor Text: "These mercenaries follow the Khaleesi for more than just glory and coin. She has earned their loyalty, and their respect, something hard to find in a sellsword."
Dragonstone Monument: Think of an Ancient Watcher/Shieldbearer combined with a Timber Wolf for Dragons and this is what you get. Serves as a good, short delay/distraction for your opponent while allowing you more time to trade and put pressure on the opponent. It does not benefit from the buff itself, but can benefit from other buffs to allow it to attack. Flavor Text: "Some say that the spirits of Dragons live in these statues...it is unclear where this legend started but many believe it to be the imagination of the Mad King."
Venomous Coat: The classic Poison effect found on Emperor Cobra, Maexxna, and Patient Assassin. This spell allows you to choose a minion to benefit from this effect and gives you an opportunity to destroy larger threats to rebuild board control and deal with threats quicker. Flavor Text: "The venom of the Sand Drakes of Essos is not commonly used due to the risk of being eaten alive by a Dragon while harvesting it. Many people prefer nightshade for obvious reasons."
Call to Battle: A simple card-draw and buff spell. Give you the opportunity to keep minions alive longer or put them out of range of AoE spells such as Lightning Storm, Flamestrike, and Swipe. Also provides some needed card draw for the class. Flavor Text:"An order from the Khaleesi is not to be questioned. Pick up your arms and defend your Queen!"
Dragon Sight: The last card in the basic set, Dragon Sight gives the class some more much needed card draw to prevent fatigue. By slightly reducing the cost, it gives you more opportunity to play cards on the same turn you might not otherwise get to play together in the late-game. Comparable to Sprint. Flavor Text: "I am the fire in the darkness...I am the dragon on the wall... - The Night's Watch Vows for Dragons. Not an official quote of the Night's Watch."
*Will Update Later w/ Comments and Explanations for Classic, Naxx, BRM, and GvG Sets*
I'm running out of clever introductions, but I'm sure you're glad I'll stop making bad puns... PSYCH! As always, the class focuses on board control, sturdy minions and several Armor interactions. Midrange / combo oriented. The class keyword is Aftershock: the Aftershock effect triggers when you play a card AFTER the card with Aftershock (something like a reverse Combo). The Aftershock itself triggers only once (unless you feel like a special snowflake and play Youthful Brewmaster).
Gravedigger: what classifies as an Armor card, you may wonder. Any card that has written "Armor" somewhere in their text? No. In this case, the cards considered are those that, somehow, give you Armor. And yes, it includes cards from the other classes. Here, let me save you the trouble of googling (hearthpwning?) them: Claw, Bite, Bash, Shield Block, Armorsmith, Shieldmaiden, Ice Barrier. The class cards included are: Stone Pup, Tremor, Diamond Fist, Adamant Resolve, Dust to Dust. Damn, I thought I made more. Anyway, moving on.
Scrapbot: mandatory early Mech for the class. Interacts like Landslide Avatar (whenever you lose Armor, deal 1 damage to a random enemy), but instead of doing damage, it adds a Spare Part to your hand. Little guy is all about recycling. Remember, taking face damage IS considered losing Armor, not only when you use the class cards that say so.
The Lone Wanderer: BEFORE Y'ALL START SCREAMIN' "OP" LEMME TELL YA SOMETHIN': Immune minions CAN'T be Taunted. Yep, that's right, just like when you give a Stealth minion Taunt, it doesn't work. A 5/5 for 7 is preeeeeetty bad, but as long as you have Armor, he becomes the ultimate removal tool. And remember, unlike Warrior, the Geomancer can't stack a duckload of Armor, and if they do, it's a combo play using Earthen Favor (double your Armor gain this turn), plus the class revolves around LOSING Armor to do stuff.
Ironhide Worm: OK stats for the mana Cost, but the real charm comes from its effect. If you Darkbomb this guy, it will take 2 damage from it, making him a badass motherducker. On the other hand, it CAN be pinged, the damage can't be reduce to 0. I know, that would make Secret Pallys assume a fetal position and cry in a corner, but that's not the idea.
Rest of the GVG and BRM set (because there's only one Naxx card, duh)
Armorer Enthusiast: the not-mandatory-but-still-funny Ogre card of the set. It has the Zombie Chow treatment: strong stats with a downside effect. Simple effect, if you gain Armor with this guy in play, there's a 50% chance you won't gain it, but your opponent will, so be careful!
Rocket Hammer: the weapon of the set, it comes with Mech synergy. It seems weak, but in a Mech deck it becomes somewhat of a free ping, better yet if you trigger the Aftershock. Keep it away from fire though, it may combust and explode.
Obsidian Spikes: the one and only, the magnificent... direct damage of the class! Yes, it's the only direct damage the class has so far. On its own, it's an overcosted Holy Smite, but trigger the Aftershock and it becomes the redheaded stepchild of Swipe. It felt necessary to add at the very least 1 direct damage spell for the class... Warriors have Mortal Strike and Bash after all.
Quicksand: reverse Savage Roar incoming. Meant to give you some breathing room if you're facing a board swarmed with enemy minions. Bear in mind, it doesn't affect your opponent's weapon, as well as minions newly played (for example, a minion with Charge won't be affected, because it was played AFTER). Because huck funters.
Blunt Force Drill: what the flying duck is this card? Yeah, I know, the text is weird at first sight, but it's really intuitive actually. It's meant to work as Trample of MTG: after the minion dealt damage (to a minion, really, because if you do excess damage to your opponent you won anyway), the "overkill" damage will go to a random enemy. For example: your Stormwind Champion attacks (and kills) a Sen'jin Shieldmasta, 6 Attack - 5 Health = 1 excess damage goes to a random enemy (face or minion). If that damage WAS overkill as well, it won't trigger again, just the first attack. See? It definitely didn't need a paragraph worth of explanations.
Quicksilver Anomaly: meant to work wonders in a Mech deck, it's a cheaper (but conditional) Faceless Manipulator. It works just the same, only you can target Mechs (yours and your opponent's). Anything to do with the guy from Terminator 2 is pure coincidence.
Molten Offering: the second card of BRM, it interacts with dead minions just like several cards from BRM (likes to listen to My Chemical Romance too!). Of course, you would need to play this AFTER trading, and includes your opponent's minions.
The Classic set:
The Basic set:
Holy shit that was a lot of images to be added.
Thanks for reading, and if you liked the class, don't forget to vote for it when the polls comes up!
EDIT: modified a few names and arts to better fit the class' theme.
The Commissar class focuses on intense fights for board control through extensive mana-efficient removal and resource multipliers. Grind your opponent out via attrition or take the fight directly to their face through creative usage of buffs, tokens, and bursts. You'll find that no matchup involving the Commissar ever plays out the same way, and depending on your draws and board states, you'll be faced with the option to either utilize cheap effects to stall enemy tempo, or invest in risky alternatives that will help you survive the hyper late game.
With the Basic and Classic sets, we've already seen such tools that promote minion buffs, incredibly efficient draw engines, and potentially game-swinging AoE.
With the GvG, BRM, and Naxx sets, the Commissar will gain newer tools to fill a much more active role, as opposed to the very reactive nature of the previous sets. This will allow the Commissar to fulfill more deck archetypes, as well as bolster its existing card synergies.
KEYWORD: STRATEGEM
Strategem is a Commissar-specific keyword that makes up the core of this versatile class. If a card has Strategem (X), you have the option of playing it for X extra mana for an additional effect.
Basic Set Recap:
Classic Set Recap:
Phase IV Showcase:
Witch Hunter (BRM): The Witch Hunter provides late game removal. Since the Commissar does not have that many tools when it comes to unconditional direct damage, the Witch Hunter provides much needed utility. Balance-wise, you can play it normally as a slightly scaled-up Ironbreak Owl, or activate its Strategem as a fancier Bomb Lobber.
Dune Crawler (GvG): The core midrange Mech minion of the expansion. One of the few, if not the only, sticky minions in the Commissar's arsenal. For 1 extra mana, you get 1 Attack higher than a Shredder, but you get more bodies from its Deathrattle.
Magos Dominus (GvG): This card was initially designed to allow a Control Mech archetype, something we haven't really seen in Hearthstone yet. Its versatile effect can be used either to add more utility to your useless early game minions or tokens, or remove a big threat that other Mech decks may have not typically have the answers to deal with.
Ciaphas Cain (GvG): The class Legendary for this expansion. As you can see, while the Classic Set's Legendary promoted more Strategem based play, Ciaphas Cain is just a solid standalone card that can be played on curve to disrupt your opponent's turn. The existence of this card should also force other classes to think more about the state of the board as the game approaches its later turns. Hopefully this way, cards that do not have ludicrous Battlecry or Deathrattle effects (I'm looking at you, BGH and Reno) might finally have a chance to hit the spotlight.
Remaining Phase IV Cards:
Krieg Commissar (Naxx): The soldiers of Krieg are totally unafraid of death. In fact, death provides more impetus towards their objective. As such, officers within the Death Korps find that they constantly need to refill their ranks with fresh recruits. This card is just another tool during the earlier game (or late game, whichever is called for) for the Commissar to start recycling his resources. Pretty expensive for just a 3/2 body, but you can pull off some pretty cheap plays with this guy. If your opponent is edgy, he could maybe dilute your deck with some worthless tokens before killing the dude off. Just another back-and-forth scenario that many of the Commissar cards make possible.
War Council (BRM): As more soldiers die, as the situation gets desperate, as generals get bored, the Imperial Guard becomes more willing to deploy its more valuable assets, perhaps overeagerly. This card is obviously meant to combo with the other cards in your hand. This allows some of the perhaps "over-costed" cards from the Classic set to be more playable. Although the effect can be incredibly powerful, and perhaps a bit too powerful under the perfect conditions, there is still set up required, and the wording on the card text is such that Strategem cards will never go under 0 mana – you still have to pay for the actual Strategem effect, even if the card itself costs 0 mana.
Skitarii (GvG): A simple early game Mech that, if left unchecked, can give you a few additional cheap tools to affect the state of the board. Stealth parts, Freeze parts, and even the mundane Spare parts could potentially save any board state from becoming un-winnable.
To the Last Man: This is an incredibly situational card. Despite that the overall theme of these expansions is to be more active, I designed a card here that can either be used as a catch-up mechanic or perhaps introduce a new combo-based deck archetype as more burst-damage Strategem effects are released in later expansions. Overall, even though this can be combo'ed with Ursarkar Creed (Classic Set Legendary) and War Council for some sexual turns, it does require set-up, and as soon as another minion is summoned, the effect pauses.
Ministorum Priest: Capable of inspiring a troop on the verge of cowardly madness to brazen courage, the Ministorum Priest provides another way to buff minions. A very efficient Battlecry and Strategem. Theoretically, if you have one minion on board, play To the Last Man, and then buff a minion with Ministorum Priest, the Battlecry should trigger before the Ministorum Priest summons, and thus give the minion +6 Attack and Divine Shield. I think.
Plasma Pistol: Another way that the Commissar deals with threats or maintains board control is through raw weapon damage. Most of the weapons in the Commissar's arsenal don't give any silly effects like Windfury or Whirlwinds, but rather hard, sustained damage. As you can see, the Plasma Pistol is such a weapon, although your Hero must pay for its extra damage by taking damage of his own. This represents the Plasma Pistol "overheating."
For the Emperor!: This card is insane. At first glance, it might just seem like a wonky effect for 5 mana, but it fits perfectly with the Commissar class. Grind your opponent out through attrition. Sacrifice more bodies to fuel the war machine. Transform your worthless peons into devoted servants of the God-Emperor. This card synergizes well with Knife Juggler, Summary Execution, First Rank Fire!, War Council, Sea Giant. However, it MUST be combo'ed with another card, otherwise you've literally just summoned a bunch of worthless tokens that can just either die to your opponent's minions or cheap AoE effects.
And that's all for my Phase IV entry! Thank you all for supporting my class thus far in the competition, and especially to the Mods who chose my class as a Wild Card entry, for whatever silly reason.
New Keywords in Class: Brand: It means that you can change a minion's type into Orc. (eg. Murloc--->Orc, Pirate--->Orc, Demon---->Orc).
Phase IV: This class is gonna get a little more crazy.
Watcher in the Water: We don't see too many enrage minions right now in Hearthstone so I though this was a cool idea. The only way to kill it is to kill it in one hit because it will heal when it gets damaged. You obviously silence it but it's still a big threat to aggro.
Night Ranger: Good board clear against aggressive decks, also works well with your stealth based abilities. The Ranger also has stealth even if his stats aren't that great.
Rings of Power: A really powerful card and can become a new deck archetype for The Hobbit. They are basically really strong weapons.
Here are the Rings of Power:
Ring of Fire: Good for trading because it becomes infinite. To counter, your opponent needs to flood the board, play taunt, or destroy weapon.
Ring of Adamant: Good for sustaining in a game. To counter, your opponent needs deal more damage than you can armor up or destroy weapon.
Ring of Air: Semi-Board clear. To counter, your opponent needs to flood the board, play big enough minions to survive the aoe effect, or destroy weapon.
Dark Lord Sauron: The big bad of LOTR, You get one of the rings listed above and you become immune while you have the ring equipped. You basically get a high attack minion with a really good weapon for 9 mana. Sauron has low health though and your hero power can't always stealth him for 100%.
Remaining Phase IV Cards:
Death Wraith: Good early and late game card and also good combo with your stealth hero power since you don't have to hero power every turn, you can just save your 0-cost hero power for the right time.
Morian Dwarf: A solid 1 drop which gives some defense against aggressive decks.
Reforge: Kinda expensive for just 2 durability points but mixed with the weapons this class has (including rings), it's pretty crazy.
Orcish Blood: Good for an all out orc deck. You can trade an orc minion then fully heal it for free.
Stone Giant: A bigger and scarier Demolisher. It can't attack but the effect is too good that your opponent has to deal with it (especially not with silence).
Staff of Power: Another branding tool. Which if you forgot, can change a minion's type into Orc. Weak damage but you don't use this weapon for the damage, you use it for branding your opponents minions.
Balrog: A solid body with a weapon! It's like a Fire Elemental but costs 1 more because you get a 3 attack weapon which can attack twice.
Agents are mysterious figures. Some say they represent a secret government organization whose task it is to keep the public in the dark about the paranormal and especially extraterrestrial realities around us. Others say these men in black are themselves supernatural entities, whether time-travelers or alien-human hybrids meant to manipulate. Only one thing is certain; when unexplained phenomena are afoot, the agents are sure not to be far behind.
HERO POWER
The Agent's Hero Power is Clearance, which adds a copy of the File token to their hand. This Hero Power is most comparable to the Warlock power. It sacrifices the immediate and inexpensive nature of Life Tap in order to avoid damage and potentially play around with Spell synergy.
EXAMPLE EXPANSION CARDS
Cover Up Removes something from the game, until a specific action occurs.
Most of this is rather intuitive, but it pays to be thorough when defining an all new game mechanic.
A Covered Up game element is removed from the game. Thus, it does not count against any game limits and cannot be affected as though it were in play. A Covered Up minion that was removed from the battlefield does not count against your number of minions, and it would not be damaged by something like Flamestrike. A Covered Up card that was removed from your hand does not count against your hand size limit, and it could not be discarded by something like Doomguard. A Covered Up card that was removed from your deck would not be counted by something like Reno Jackson. You get the picture.
Covered Up game elements are visible to players in a new, separate UI area that I will later design visually. Covered Up elements appear to each player just as they did before they were removed from the game. That is to say, for example, that a Covered Up card from your opponent's hand would be visible face-up to them but only visible face-down to you. Hovering over a Covered Up element will also show the effect that Covered it Up, so you can always check how to recover a Covered Up element.
A Covered Up game elements returns in the same state as when it left. For example, a card in hand whose Cost was reduced by Emperor Thaurissan returns with its Cost still reduced, and a minion that had been given Taunt by Sunfury Protector will retain Taunt upon its return. Covered Up game elements return as though they were newly added to the game. That is to say, returned minions from the battlefield appear to the right (and cannot attack immediately unless they have Charge), returned cards from your are added to the right, and returned cards from your deck are shuffled in. If a returning game element would exceed some game limit, like your limit of minions on the battlefield or your hand size limit, it is instead destroyed. The exceptions to this will be Hero Powers and equipped weapons, as newly gaining one of those normally destroys and replaces an existing one.
The purpose of the Cover Up keyword is to allow temporary and conditional removal of game elements. Most uniquely, it allows for "hand attacks" and "deck attack" (game effects that "discard" cards from your hand and/or deck) that actually allow for recovery and counter-play. For now, only minions, cards in hand, cards in deck, and (with GvG) Secrets can be Covered Up, but future expansion cards may also Cover Up Hero Powers or equipped Weapons.
Explanations / Clarifications:
Nessie: Though a slow play, Nessie's low-cost big body is ideal for dealing with mid-game threats. Of course, after she's revealed, she doesn't stick around to be seen for long. After the resolution of whatever caused her to lose Stealth (such as after she attacks), she returns to lurking just out of sight beneath the murky surface. Alternatively, though it requires quite a bit of set-up, a combo can be set up with Nessie as the target of "Manifest" (Basic Set) and/or "Sirian Missionary" (Classic Set), both of which can grant Spell Damage to this large, elusive minion.
Neuralyzer: A Cover Up effect intended to stall your opponent's minions. Note that, once a third minion is played, it is Covered Up by the effect, but then the Durability drops to 0 and it is immediately returned (along with the two previous minions). This is useful in stalling Charge minions, but the aggro decks that tend to run those usually have more lower-cost minions t wear down the durability fast. Tempo decks may have more trouble with it, but they can also use it to their advantage, intentionally Covering Up minion like Violet Teacher or Gadgetzan Auctioneer with high-value effects, so they're out of reach until the opponent is ready to use them. Such nuance and strategy!
Temporal Stasis: This is one of the Agent's unique 4-mana half-Secrets. The Agent's Secret spells are unique because they all have "Deal 2 damage" as an immediate, non-Secret function. This means that, unlike other classes' Secrets, the Agent's don't necessarily lose you tempo when played. It is worth mentioning that, when put into the battlefield by Mad Scientist, the "Deal 2 damage" portion of these Secrets will simply not occur. Temporal Stasis specifically is one of the few defensively-oriented Agent class cards. While it might appear to compare favorably to Ice Block or Ice Barrier, because Temporal Stasis occurs after the damage that triggers it, does not prevent the damage, and provides Health restoration rather than Armor, it's much more time-sensitive to play correctly.
Piloted U.F.O.: A simple minion that follows the GvG theme of piloted Mechs. "Aliens? What are Aliens?" you may be wondering. Why, Aliens are a minion type just like Beast or Pirate. Aliens are exclusive to Agents in much the same way that Totems are exclusive to Shamans or Demons are pretty much exclusive to Warlocks. Want to see some Aliens? Well gosh, I guess you'll just have to check out the rest of the Agent's cards to find out. The truth is out there.
REMAINING EXPANSION CARDS
Explanations / Clarifications:
Intrepid Journalist: The File token produced is the same as though from the Clearance Hero Power (see above).
Illuminati Reptilian: Note that this is until you control no Secrets, not just until you control none of the Secrets that you controlled when this was played. In other words, if the enemy's Secrets are Covered Up by this and you play new Secrets, the new Secrets must also all be revealed before the enemy's Secrets return. Nothing stops them from playing new Secrets, though, and they can even play second copies of Secrets of theirs that are currently Covered Up.
Alpha Draconian: Unlike all current "If you're holding a Dragon..." effects, this one is a continuous aura rather than an instantaneous Battlecry or Deathrattle. As long as you're holding a Dragon it applies. That even means your opponent can tell if you just drew a Dragon if the effect wasn't active but becomes active after you draw a card.
CLASSIC SET
Explanations / Clarifications:
Confidential: This is the most basic Cover Up effect. It can be used as a pseudo-Sap to temporarily but cheaply remove a troublesome enemy minion, or it can be used as a pseudo-Conceal to protect a friendly minion from your opponent.
Investigation: The File tokens produced are the same as though from the Clearance Hero Power (see above).
Indrid Cold: The purpose of the class legendary is to alter draw potential. Used on your own deck early in the game, it prevents you from drawing into your big cards too early and ending up with dead cards in your hand. Used on your opponent's deck late in the game, it can prevent them from drawing into their big plays.
Quarantine: "Leaving the battlefield" is a catch-all and can include dying, being return to a hand, or being Covered Up. Silencing or Transforming the chosen minion will not cause the Covered Up minions to be lost, as the Cover Up effect is a continuing spell effect rather than an enchantment added to the chosen minion.
Elusive Species: Unlike most other Classic Secrets, this one uses "After" rather than "When" in order to avoid the Bigfoot being affected by an AoE spell that triggers it.
Grey Liaison: A rather self-explanatory "hand attack" using the Cover Up mechanic. Its purpose is to potentially delaying your opponent's most optimal plays by forcing them to use their Hero Power first. Think of it as a pseudo-Loatheb.
Shapeshifter: The card text will be applied to the Reptilian as an enchantment, so it will not be retained if, say, it is returned to your hand.
Grey Researcher: To be clear, yes, it can steal an enemy minion.
BASIC SET
Explanations / Clarifications:
Manifestation: To be clear, yes, the Spell Damage bonus is granted before the damage is done, so provided that you have no other sources of Spell Damage bonuses, it will deal 1 damage to all other minions.
Conspiracy Theorist: The File tokens produced are the same as though from the Clearance Hero Power (see above).
Men in Black: The minions are vanilla, but they do have the Alien tag.
Crash Debris: I can't remake it right now, but this should just be named "Crash". "Crash Debris" is a GvG card, as you can see above.
Abduction: To be clear, yes, it can steal an enemy minion.
COMPLETE COLLECTION, by Cost
COMPLETE COLLECTION, by Function
Board Presence
Buffs
Card Draw
Defense
Removal
Single Target
Area of Effect
Now, move right along and just forget you saw any of this... After you vote for me, I mean. ^_~
Again, I'd like to give thanks to everyone who has helped me so much in the making of this class. It has been a lot of work, but my design skills have grown significantly from the experience. Also, a huge thank you to everyone who has supported Bard thus far and brought me to this stage.
Welcome to the New Age
In the Basic and Classic set, we've seen Bards as players of flutes, violins, and guitars committed to promoting peace. The GvG set brings sweeping changes to this existing order, and with new technology comes new ideals.
The GvG set is focused on flushing out Bard's themes beyond just control. We'll see the addition of deck types like Zoo Bard and Mech Bard, which play at least somewhat more aggressively than Bard previously did. This does not mean that the theme of peace is gone, it just means that it is not being emphasized quite as much in previous sets. After all, a class that only did one thing would be pretty boring.
Flavor wise, the classic set focused on classical music, and with the GvG set, the focus shifts to modern music. Rock, Dubstep, and all that good stuff.
Our returning Hero is virtuoso Lindsey Starling, with her Hero Power, Acoustics:
Lindsey Starling & Acoustics Explained
"A picture is worth a thousand words, but a song is worth a million." -Lindsey Starling
A legendary Musician who is said to have defeated a dragon with nothing but a violin, Lindsey preaches peace and unity to the world through music. No matter where we come from, we still feel the same joy and the same sadness. No matter how different we think we are, a song can show us that our emotions are the same. She travels the world as a wandering hero, teaching all she meets of her philosophy. Already, hundreds of other bards from every corner of the globe have joined her cause, thus forming the Starling Orchestra. They have taken up her goal of a world where people put their differences aside and live in harmony, a goal that they believe can be achieved through music.
Her Hero Power, Acoustics, gives her a minor board control tool while also allowing her to recover in the later game. Many classes with Hero Powers that give them 1 Attack suffer from the fact that they end up taking far too much damage from each attack. Druid has some mitigation of this, but Rogue has none. By using the Melody mechanic, this hero power allows you to choose between a weaker version of Rogue's hero power for damage or a weaker version of Warrior's hero power for recovery each time you use it, once again showing how the Melody mechanic lets you make interesting choices.
Melody Mechanic Explained
While they do fight valiantly for what they believe is right, bards are generally more peaceful people who would rather play an enticing melody than engage in direct combat. As such, the Bard class's unique keyword is Melody, which gives a character an ability that they can use instead of attacking.
Melody effects are activated by pressing the melody button that appears when attacking with a minion. Playing a melody has all the same conditions as attacking, and should be thought of as "a different way to attack."
A minion can't use its melody if it already attacked that turn, and can't attack if it already used its melody that turn
Minions cannot play their melodies on the turn they are played
Minions CAN play their melodies on the turn they are played if they have charge
Minions cannot play their melodies if they are Frozen or have "Can't Attack"
Minions can play their melodies TWICE in a turn if they have windfury (or attack twice, or use 1 melody and 1 attack in any combination)
Weapons can have melody effects, which cost 1 durability to use
While the conditions for using a Melody are the same attacking, the actual effect is closer to a battlecry or spell.
Melodies can be targeted regardless of Taunt
Not all melodies need to be targeted
You cannot play a melody if there is no valid target for it (the button won't appear)
Melodies are unaffected by "50% chance to attack the wrong enemy"
These 4 cards gives you a taste of Bard's Naxx, GvG, and BRM sets.
Red Dragon:
Explanations:
Cellobot
They gave a jukebox arms and legs, and this was the result.
This is the card that will turn Mech Bard into a formidable force. The Mech tribe is based on flooding the board, meaning that Songs, which synergize with a full board, are especially effective in combination. Cellobot allows Mech Bard access to songs without having to waste valuable deck slots on them.
Dirgesinger
No, he does not play Death Metal.
Once again, we have a card that helps bard in a bunch of ways.
Firstly, it opens up a deathrattle/zoo deck type, since this card works extremely well with cards like Nerubian Egg and Haunted Creeper.
Secondly, it synergizes with the general Bard theme of flooding the board and having tokens.
Thirdly, it works well with Melody minions in a way similar to Debut, allowing their melodies to be used only at the cost of 1 damage.
Halfling Bard
When he says he can turn into a dragon, DO NOT ask him to prove it.
In case the art looks familiar, it is the art from War Drum in the classic set. This card's art pretty much has to be this picture, so War Drum's has been changed accordingly (see the "all cards" section later).
Bard is not exactly the type of class that would have Dragon synergy, so I won't try to shove it in. Instead, it will get its dose of dragons through a generic big body.
Anyway, this card is the final piece of the puzzle for Melody/Debut bard to become a thing. This minion is a 7/7 on turn 4 with Debut, which sounds strong, but I think is just within the bounds of acceptability. It's a very simple yet effective card, and that's why it earns its spot in the example cards.
Otto Tune
"Every sound is a song waiting to happen. Every person is a musician waiting to be born." -Otto Tune
Lore: Otto Tune
Otto Tune is a self-aware robot who serves as DJ for the Starling Orchestra. His unison of man and machine, the new and the old, has earned him legendary status among the orchestra. However, his origins weren't nearly as glorious.
C6 was one of the first of the first SEM, a humanoid robot aptly named "Self-aware Emotion Machine". Humans did not meet such a technological breakthrough with enthusiasm. Instead, they were terrified of these new machines, filled with images of an AI takeover and an end to humanity.
But the Sem, especially C6, wanted no such thing. They simply wanted to live the lives that they had been given, to be seen just as alive as anything else. The more the Von tried to enter society, the more they were kept out of it, to the point that gangs would roam the streets to dismantle them.
What was once a peaceful intention began to escalate into a violent conflict. Sem began to strike back at their attackers, which only brought on larger gangs. It was a no-win scenario: each action taken by one side would only bring a larger one from the other. C6 saw this, and realized that harmony would never be achieved unless he intervened. But the humans would not listen to him, and the Sem only thought of him as a traitor.
With civilization hanging in the balance, the Sem and the humans met army-to-army for a final confrontation. It was clear that the humans wouldn't stop until every last Sem was destroyed, and that the Sem wouldn't give up until they had firmly established themselves in the world. As the hordes of fighters rushed towards each other, and C6 looked for something, anything, that would save his city. He dove through his memory banks: mountains of data, thousands of calculations, but it was all worthless. Neither friend nor foe trusted him. What could he say that would change their minds?
Nothing.
And with that, he found is answer. He had seen the phrase before: "Words were futile." He queried his database: "Starling Orchestra." Speakers set to the maximum, he leaped between the two sides and unleashed the power of music.
Somehow, it worked. If a Von could appreciate music, surely, it must be more than a death machine. The Von saw that C6 was willing to risk his life to help them - maybe he wasn't a traitor.
As the Orchestra's music usually does, his performance helped to smooth out the conflict. There was no permanent solution, but he had forever changed the relationship between man and machine. However, he wasn't done changing the world. If just a recording could save thousands of lives, than surely a live performance would save millions. He knew down to his core what he had to do - seek out the Starling Orchestra.
Otto Tune is a minion with the single most powerful Melody effect, and he is the embodiment of Bard's unique mechanic.
There is really not much to say about this card: It's simple and effective. Debut has obvious synergy here, and this would likely serve as the big threat in Debut decks.
Mechanics-wise, it is important to note that if a minion's mana cost would exceed 10 through the transformation, it transforms into a 10-cost minion. This is to avoid ambiguities with 11 mana, 13 mana, etc minions that don't exist.
Remaining Cards
This spoiler contains the remaining 7 cards across the 3 sets in this phase.
GVG
Explanations:
Magic Mic
Magic or not, the crowd goes wild whenever someone sings into it.
As I said during Phase III, Debut is an extremely interesting card, but probably won't be good enough to occupy a deck slot. Magic Mic solves that problem, introducing Bard's third Melody weapon as a way for Debut to see play.
Most of the time, you'll probably want to use both attacks to get Debut spells, but it can also serve has removal for a scary Knife Juggler in a desperate situation.
Electric Guitarist
He knows how to play in two different ways: Loud, and Louder.
As people should know if they've read about how Melody works, it has a very interesting interaction with Windfury, allowing for four different combinations of using an attack and playing a melody each turn. As such, it made sense for there to be a minion that had windfury for itself to show that interaction without requiring a combo from Double Time. Designed based on Questing Adventurer, this card can become quite crazy if it is left alive unchecked, but is relatively easy to remove if it isn't capitalized on immediately.
Rockstar
Her performances are incredible. After all, she learned from the best.
It's nice to sometimes have class cards that take a break from the crazy combo-heavy jam-packed with synergy minions. This card is a simple yet interesting turn 3 + 4 play that ties well into this set's modern musical themes.
Explanations:
White Noise
The sounds you hear the most are the ones you notice least.
For a class based on summoning tokens, Bard has had some pretty inefficient summoners up to this point. White noise is admittedly quite strong, but this is intentional. If tokens are going to have a chance of being successful, there needs to be at least one super-solid card that helps them out, and this fits the bill. Plus, nerfs can always be done if it gets out of hand.
Drop the Bass
Sometimes, what sounds like music to one is just noise to everyone else.
Like most other classes, Bard has more than one AoE card. While reverberate is better for aggressive or midrange decks trying to win tempo back, this one fits better in control decks wishing to clear the board but keep their powerful minions untouched.
Song of Imagination
The biggest mistake you can make is to confine yourself to reality.
No, Songs do not stop with the classic set, more will keep coming. As of right now, Bard will have 8 songs total, which means 3 more that you have yet to see.
GvG is where we were introduced to the idea of referencing and transforming minions based on their cost, and this card is the AoE counterpart to Otto Tune. This card serves as a higher-cost but higher-power alternative to Song of Fortitude, and should create some crazy games with Cellobot.
BRM
Explanations:
Chant
No matter how true your message is, it won't be heard if you're the only one saying it.
Remember how these 3 sets are a break from Bard's themes of "no damage allowed"? Well, here's another example. Aside from Choir, Bard has absolutely no removal, so if it wants any chance of doing well in a real game, it will need a least a little. The fact that it can recycle itself given you have a full board allows Bard to get decent removal even though has so few spells that can do so.
In case you're concerned about this being an "infinite value" card, and see it as OP compared to headcrack, let me justify it. Firstly, this card is always bad value, since it's a 3 mana darkbomb. More importantly, your condition for recycling it actually has counterplay, since your opponent can clear your board to prevent you from getting it back. If this card was unstoppable, then it would be broken, but it has counterplay, so it should be fine.
Previous Cards
If you want more context to evaluate the Bard class and see explanations for past cards, here are my Phase 1-3 submissions:
Here I'll put every single Bard card from the Basic and Classic sets. There will be no explanations and tokens will be pushed to the bottom to avoid clutter.
Basic Set
Classic Set
Tokens (in order of appearance)
Whew! You've reached the end of this post. I hope you've had as much fun reading as I've had designing. If you enjoyed, please leave a vote, and with any luck we can bring this symphony to its finale.
Irritator - Naxx - The Irritator was meant to fit with the theme of Deathrattle that came with Naxxramas. Throughout the game Transistor, when you kill a Process you must kill the cell that spawns from it to make sure it dies, or else it respawns. Instead of doing this on every Process, it felt better to make it a Naxxramas exclusive.
DJ Station - GvG - It wouldn't be GvG without at least one mech! I already have the Process tag on most of the minions, so this one is distinctly different by not being an actual creature. It is best compared to Ironbeak Owl, but what it sacrifices in immediate impact, it makes up with in higher health to perhaps get multiple uses from the card.
We All Become - GvG - This is another song card, a spell meant to disrupt the enemy with a rather odd effect. It's not direct removal, but can make clearing a board easier, especially if you use a card like Help( ). It combos great with Whisp. :D
Luna - GvG - This is a card that is slightly better than Wolf Rider, with the added benefit of being a Process. It's helped (or hindered), by it's limitations when attacking. Without another minion on the field, it must trade, which may not always be beneficial with cards like Shielded Minibot
Splash( ) - GvG - Another weapon buff card! I couldn't make a set without one of these, and this one is particularly interesting due to it's interaction with the other weapon buffs. It will apply the on damage effects to the other minions, so Hero Power + Splash( ) + Void( ) means three dead minions. This is balanced out however by the enemy being able to play around such combos with taunts and smaller minions, or even cards such as Harrison or Ooze if you try to prepare the combo ahead of time.
Recursion( ) - GvG - This card is made for a similar reason as cards like Ancestors Call and Astral Communion -- it may not fit a certain deck type, but it's sure as hell cool. It only returns three cards, so if you went first, you get the full hand, but if you went second you get a random three (and the coin is omitted). It is a powerful effect, so setting it at 5 mana made sense, on par with Nourish, however you get copies instead of drawing directly from the deck.
Enforcer - BRM - This card was made to give the Singer an edge in minion combat. It lacks a lot of direct hard removal, so this is meant to help with bigger cards like Ragnaros or Boom, provided it doesn't get sniped first.
Theme Explanation
So at this point, I know not everyone has played the game Transistor, I figured it would be helpful to explain why some of the cards are as they are.
Firstly, know that I will do my best to avoid spoilers to the actual game, but will not be able to avoid everything and there will be some spoilers. I highly recommend going and playing it for yourself. Seriously, it is a work of art by Supergiant, and is well worth the $15 or so.
So, when you first start out the game, your playing as the protagonist Red, who has received the sword known as the Transistor after a failed assassination attempt by a group known as the Camerata. The sword itself absorbs peoples 'Trace' into it's data, and uses that to create functions, or it's abilities. Hence why all her spells have ( ) at the end, they are functions of data similar to what programmers use.
Red, who was a popular singer in the city of Cloudbank, lost her voice during the attack, due to to the Transistor taking part of her Trace. This is why, despite being named Singer, the class itself has very little to do with music. The closest I have done is naming abilities off of the songs, such as Paper Boats, We all Become, and Signals.
The enemies you fight throughout the game are known as the Process. They come in many different forms and types, and you play as Red to defeat them. I used these as her minions, as they provided enough variance to be able to make many different kinds while also keeping a unique theme.
Mechanically the game is an isometric action game, where you run around with a set of 4 abilities,combining them to defeat your enemies. The 4 abilities are entirely customizable, and abilities you haven't used can augment the abilities you did use. This is meant to be shown with the weapon augment spells like Void( ) and Splash( )
As you fight however, you can pause the game and enter a Turn( ) state. This allows you to plan out the next few moves, and then they'll play out in real time. This is where the inspiration for the Turn and Cache mechanics came from, namely in affecting the order of the players turn.
Anyways, I hope this provided some insight as to why the class is as it is, and I hope you enjoy the cards themselves :D
Thank you everyone for reading. I honestly did not expect to make it this far in the competition, but doing so has meant a lot. This goes to everyone who has helped me in the discussion threads, and all the friends who have had to listen to me ramble about this for weeks on end, and deal with me spouting out ideas and writing them down on the spot, only to say they're terrible a few minutes later. So once again, thank you! :D
Class Recap: Hailing from the IOS series Infinity Blade, the Deathless are a caste of lords with the ability to transfer their consciousness to a new body every time they die, effectively making them immortal, and allowing them to grow stronger as they accumulate more and more experiences. The Deathless class represents this by making emphasizing value in repetition. Using a plethora of tools, it has never been simpler to make sure that your prize cards will always return. The best reason to return cards, however, is because of the class specific keyword,
Deathless: When this minion is played, do (X), times the number of times you have played this card previously. This means that the first time you play a Deathless card, nothing will happen, but the third time you play it, the effect will happen twice. Note : For simplicity's sake, we'll say that it triggers right after a Battlecry.
Basics & Classic Set:
Basics
Classics
The Examples
Brood of Ba'el: A different way of saying "If you're holding a Dragon...", as I found it was just simpler to have it be a target ability. After all, of course it gets no bonus if there is no Dragon in your hand, as there is nothing to target. Fairly vanilla stats, since this really doesn't give much of an advantage, especially compared to Paladins (5) mana equivalent. Playing Ysera on turn 7 is still better than the potential double Ysera.
Gem Forge: Something people realized pretty quick with GvG is that Spare Parts are really easy to get. People then proceeded to realize that Spare Parts are really not that useful. Gem Forge allows you to actually use those Spare Parts Effectively. Balance wise, it has a fair number of disadvantages for quite a strong effect. First, getting a spare part is easy, but getting more than 2 generally doesn't happen. Not only do you need to stockpile these spare parts, but you do actually lose the potential to help your minions, as Attack Gems only are castable on weapons.
Knight of Galath: Every phase I've done has had a knight, and I don't plan on stopping now. Since this is a combo card, the (5) mana cost prevents the effect from being too abusable (Sylvanas shenanigans, anyone?), and also allows for it to actually get a decent body.
Isa: The legendary for GvG, Isa represents the very essence of the class independently. Gains bonuses from being played over and over, and can supply you with the copies easily. However, it of course only take one Silence/Polymorph/Hex to lock out Isa for good. Not only that, but getting that first shuffle will be hard, especially since no attack buffing cards exist in the Deathless class.
The Rest of the Cards:
Some Quick Notes: Transgolem is a souped up Faceless Manipulator, in that it counts as playing the card (Yay Deathless!). Because Blizz does not have official wording for this stuff, and sometimes interactions aren't fully explained in the card, I'm going to say Battlecry does not trigger. Monstrous Assualt is an attempt to diversify the class, which currently leans quite heavily towards control. Balanced against Charge. For 3 mana you get guarenteed charge and 2 attack, or you can have +3/+1 and charge, but only if you have fulfilled the requirement.
Note About Deathless Balancing: Generally, I balanced Deathless cards to have even worth once they were played the second time. For example, Horned Stalker could just be a 3/2 that deals a damage. For a class card, that's fine. The potential for even more damage is balanced out by a slow start, which is why I use that balancing system.
This is the Submission Topic. The Discussion Topic is here.
Hello, and welcome to Phase IV of our second ever Class Creation Competition! This competition's theme is "World Beyond Warcraft", and submitted classes must represent things outside of Warcraft-specific lore. Last week, for Phase III, our 30 remaining competitors were invited to submit their classes' Classic Sets for review. 11 classes have advanced to Phase IV, where these classes' Curse of Naxxramas, Goblins vs Gnomes, and Blackrock Mountain Sets will be presented.
The 11 users listed in this Spoiler have advanced to Phase IV:
"Pokemon Trainer" - sashashepto
"Bard" - DKPaladinMDL
"Agent" - Asylum_Rhapsody
"Geomancer" - Gomelus
"Sith Lord" - kasper376
"Nightmare" - SgtFailure
"Mother of Dragons" - Vultrae
"Singer" - Allusivetable
"Deathless" - PupleMD
"Chef" - McF4rtson
"Hobbit" - SpiderAsa
Wildcard: "Commissar" - ercjlee101
If you have not advanced to Phase IV, then you may not post in the Submission Topic.
Competition Overview
It is during this time that you may submit entries to this Submission Topic. Note that Up-Votes are entirely irrelevant to this Phase of this competition, as well as all future phases. In other words, there is no reason to rush to submit. Take your time and refine your entry.
All valid submissions will be included in the Phase IV Poll Topics. They will be represented by your Hero Portrait, Hero Power, and up to 4 example cards, explained below. Due to limited space, no token cards will be included, but the Poll Topic galleries will also clearly link each Hero to your Phase IV Submission posts, so voters can always find out more there, if what was presented piques their interest. The top 4 entries will move on to Phase V, the Final Phase. There will be no Wild Cards.
See below for a general overview of the future competition Phases:
Phase V: TGT/LoE - You will conclude with the 12 cards that make up your class's TGT and LoE sets, as well as your Hero Power's Justicar Trueheart upgrade. Discover is restricted to LoE.
Finale Topics Wednesday 10/Feb/2016 - Monday 22/Feb/2016.
Poll Monday 22/Feb/2016 - Friday 26/Feb/2016.
The Finalists who make it to this phase will be allowed to create their own individual Finale Topics. The winner will be determined by performance in a separate Poll Topic that includes all eligible Phase V entries.
General Competition Rules
These are general competition rules that apply to all Phases of this competition and that many of you will already be familiar with if you've competed in our Weekly Card Design Competitions. Even if you're a veteran of our competitions, though, I recommend that you review the rules thoroughly just to be sure:
First, these are the rules about Posting:
These are the rules about your Entry:
TIP: Though not a rule exactly, we highly recommend that you insert your images using this icon on the bar above the post text editor: . Just click that button and put in the URL of your image. Cards that are uploaded and attached to your post are not disallowed, but in our experience they will not do nearly as well, so this is for your own benefit more than anything.
Finally, know that manipulating votes in any way is strictly forbidden. Any violators will receive an official warning, and will be banned from this and all future HearthPwn Card Design Competitions.
Phase IV: EXPANSIONS
By having your class's Classic Set approved of, you've shown that you can make a completely functional class. But functional isn't good enough. Your class must also have room to grow beyond that. For this phase, you'll be proving that it can by giving your class Curse of Naxxramas, Goblins vs Gnomes, and Blackrock Mountain cards.
Here are the requirements for your Class Creation Competition Phase IV Entry:
There are just a few elements of your class that you will repeat from your earlier phase entries, and this should take up as little space as possible. After beginning with your Class's name, please try to include the images for your Hero Portrait and Hero Power side-by side so they don't take up too much vertical space. If you'd like to repeat anything from your class's introductory explanation, including its flavor or whatever you believe makes it interesting or unique mechanically, that's fine, but try to keep it brief.
We do not want to see your Class's entire Naxx / GvG / BRM Sets out in the open.
The remaining seven (7) cards of your class's Naxx / GvG / BRM Sets must be presented behind a Spoiler Block (Inserting a Spoiler can be done by clicking the ! symbol on the top bar of the text editor.). These cards must obey the same rules are your examples cards with regards to expansion watermarks, rarity gems, and what keywords you may not use.
You should include your completed Basic and Classic Sets from Phases II and III behind a Spoiler (Inserting a Spoiler can be done by clicking the ! symbol on the top bar of the text editor.) either before or after your Phase IV material. It is fine if these cards have undergone some minor modification, but they must still adhere to all of their original Phase requirements.
The first time that we ran a Class Creation Competition here, Phase IV was actually the last phase of the competition, and the submissions for that were very different, so I don't have any examples to show you this time. But you all know what you're doing if you've made it this far. ^_~
Q&A
Q: My submission didn't move on. Am I not allowed to participate any more for the rest of the competition?
A: Of course you are! This many cards is going to be difficult to manage, so the contestants that move on will need all of the help and input they can get to get their Class just right. If you get knocked out of the competition, head over to the Discussion topic and support your favorite competitor that moved on!
Q: I didn't participate in the first Class Creation Competition. Where can I find out more about them?
A: Good question! Here are links to all of the competition topics from our first Class Creation Competition:
Phase I Submission, Phase I Discussion
Phase II Submission, Phase II Discussion, Phase II Poll
Phase III Submission, Phase III Discussion, Phase III Poll
Phase IV Discussion, Phase IV Poll
If anybody has any other question, please feel free to ask us over in the Discussion topic. Otherwise, get those creative juices flowing, and I'll look forward to your submissions.
Oh, and again:
Have fun! ^_^
Thanks for the continued support everyone, here are the Naxx/GvG/BRM sets for the Pokémon Trainer class!
If you'd like a quick preview of the previous phases first, here they are with links to each one at the end:
Phase 1 (Atop Sky Pillar tokens are at the end in a spoiler):
Atop Sky Pillar:
View the original submission here!
Phase 2 (Professor Oak's Gift and Horde of Unown tokens are at the end in a spoiler):
Professor Oak's Gift:
Horde of Unown:
View the original submission here!
A major take-away from the classic set is the common Mega-Stone spell, which simply costs 4 mana and Mega-Evolves a minion.
The theme of the class revolves around each of your minions containing it's own personality and way of doing things, as well as Evolution. That's the keyword of the class: If a minion is able to evolve, it does so in the hand once your hero power, Evolution, is used. When considering balance, consider the fact that power creeps up the evolutionary line since evolution requires mana investment from your hero power. You'll see what I mean with the minions I'm about to present if you're unfamiliar (the spoilers below contain the evolutions which are the core of each card).
Houndour line:
The Houndour line is based off of a hellhound, and those doggies are pretty fierce if you ask me. These guys Charge into your opponent and Mega Houndoom has some extra bite against those Taunt minions. Psh, they think they're soooo tough.
For those unfamiliar, the 4-mana Mega-Stone spell from my classic set would be cast onto a friendly Houndoom in play to transform it into Mega Houndoom.
Dark Void: Here comes the Dark-type Pokemon Darkrai with his signature move to temporarily nullify your enemies.
Porygon line:
The Porygon line is based off of a glitch! (Back away, Missingno) Here they come to hack your game, those tricksters. Porygon downloads your opponents unused mana from last turn and uses them as Attack! Porygon2 is well known for being a ridiculous tank in competitive pokemon, and that defense is due to it's unevolved status. Lastly, Porygon-Z really messed up. He hacked your game and it's as if your game resets 6 turns! What a goof.
Arceus: The God of pokemon descends from his throne and enlightens your pokemon with his presence. Minions that can Mega-Evolve no longer require a Mega-Stone spell, and your minions may even evolve in the heat of battle!
Here are the rest of the cards:
Scyther line: Scyther, the little bug type, seizes his opportunity against a flustered opponent by attacking twice! His evolution Scizor gains the steel-typing and goes for the quick damage with it's signature Bullet Punch move. Better yet, Mega Scizor becomes an unstoppable minion-finisher.
Magnemite line: One of the quintessential steel-types, the Magnemite line klinks and klanks its way into the battlefield with Spare Parts flying all over the place.
Ditto: This cute prankster likes to transform into your opponent's minions! As soon as your opponent plays one, Ditto unleashes his devious prank! ACTUALLY BRO ITS JUST A SOCIAL EXPERIMENT
Autotomize: This move increases the speed of steel-types in pokemon. Since the class is heavily minion-based, your spells are likely to consist of Spare Parts (if you aren't careful, maybe a Mega Stone). So throw out all that junk and jack up the speed!
Beldum line: The Steel/Psychic line of Metagross reflects it's supercomputer intelligence. The line gives you a very underrated concept in Hearthstone; information.
Deino line: I love me some dragon synergy, and what better pokemon to use than MY FAVORITE, HYDREIGON! Oh man, I just think he's so cool. Dude, he's a Dark/Dragon type holy crap. Anyways, some much-needed dragon synergy from my favorite pokemon here.
Bagon line: This line utilizes Spell Damage, as this line's Dragon/Flying typing takes your spells to the skies! Salamence can power up all of your other minions (including itself), and upon Mega-Evolution it charges at your opponent with all that damage!
Hope you guys liked that, I had a lot of fun making it! Gotta catch em all!
Check here for my new cards!Pokemon HS class!All the Pokemon as HS cards!
Mother of Dragons Class
Unleash devastation and vengeance upon your foes, enforcing justice and ensuring the loyalty of your subjects throughout the land. Call upon your allies to defend your hero and utilize an army of Dragons, mercenaries, and loyalists to force your opponents into submission, leaving a trail of fire and blood behind as a warning to all who would oppose your rightful rule.
The hero is none other than Daenerys Targaryen, the last surviving member of the Targaryen Noble House. She has overcome several trials including exile and has earned the respect and loyalty of many, including her Dragons.
Her Hero Power is quite versatile, allowing you to buff your Dragons or summon a Dragon, providing both board control and longevity to your minions depending on your situation. The best part about Call Dragon is that it adapts to your situation, providing you with the best methods of overcoming your current situation, whether it's staying ahead of your opponent, or recovering from an AoE spell.
Example Naxxramas/Goblins vs Gnomes/Blackrock Mountain Cards:
Dragon Tamer: Think of Ancestor's Call but with Dragon Synergy. It allows you to get your powerful Dragons out just a few turns earlier, and can provide you with a great threatening board presence. The downside is that you need to be holding a Dragon to get the most out of the card, and you have to plan how you'll play it since you'll more than likely have more than one Dragon in your hand.
Goblin Dragonrider: A simple Mounted Raptor style minion. It's actually more like a Harvest Golem with Dragon synergy. Good for having a sticky early-game minion since this class lacks sticky minions.
Judgment Fire: Almost like a collectible version of Living Bomb. Great AoE damage for a class that lacked direct damage AoE's and late game spells. Can be countered by your opponent so it's not too overpowered.
Skeletal Wyrm: For a class so dedicated to minions and board control, you should rarely run into a situation where you don't have any other minions. But it happens, sometimes you have a bad draw, or your opponent just unleashed an AoE and wiped your full board...Playing this will allow you to start trading and building board presence again since it stays alive untl you summon another minion.
Goblin Dragonrider Token
Remaining Blackrock Mountain Cards:
Remaining Goblins vs Gnomes Cards:
Classic Card Set:
*The Fire Spells that can be added to your hand are: Pyroblast, Flamestrike, Dragon's Breath, Flame Lance, Fireball,Hellfire, Forgotten Torch, Lava Burst, Flamecannon, Lava Shock, and Soulfire.
Basic Card Set:
Trapper's Net: Good soft-removal for large enemy threats. Provides you with some time to provide a better, long-term answer to their minion. Can be played around by your opponent by Silence effects, but still works great against most big threats without stripping them of their unique effects. Flavor Text: "Any man can kill a Dragon...it takes dedication and courage to capture one and tame it."
Scale Blessing: A decent 2 mana spell that allows you to keep your minions alive longer to provide more board control and trading opportunities. Works great for keeping larger minions alive in the late game. Comparable to Ancestral Healing. Flavor Text: "A Dragon's respect is not easily won. If my Dragons did not respect you, we would not be having this conversation."
Second Sons Mercenary: A low-stat 2 mana minion designed to provide early game trading opportunities and more pressure for you to put on your opponent. It grows in attack as you acquire more minions on your side of the battlefield but is easily removed by early game removal spells to prevent it from being overpowered. Flavor Text: "These mercenaries follow the Khaleesi for more than just glory and coin. She has earned their loyalty, and their respect, something hard to find in a sellsword."
Dragonstone Monument: Think of an Ancient Watcher/Shieldbearer combined with a Timber Wolf for Dragons and this is what you get. Serves as a good, short delay/distraction for your opponent while allowing you more time to trade and put pressure on the opponent. It does not benefit from the buff itself, but can benefit from other buffs to allow it to attack. Flavor Text: "Some say that the spirits of Dragons live in these statues...it is unclear where this legend started but many believe it to be the imagination of the Mad King."
Venomous Coat: The classic Poison effect found on Emperor Cobra, Maexxna, and Patient Assassin. This spell allows you to choose a minion to benefit from this effect and gives you an opportunity to destroy larger threats to rebuild board control and deal with threats quicker. Flavor Text: "The venom of the Sand Drakes of Essos is not commonly used due to the risk of being eaten alive by a Dragon while harvesting it. Many people prefer nightshade for obvious reasons."
Call to Battle: A simple card-draw and buff spell. Give you the opportunity to keep minions alive longer or put them out of range of AoE spells such as Lightning Storm, Flamestrike, and Swipe. Also provides some needed card draw for the class. Flavor Text: "An order from the Khaleesi is not to be questioned. Pick up your arms and defend your Queen!"
Dragon Sight: The last card in the basic set, Dragon Sight gives the class some more much needed card draw to prevent fatigue. By slightly reducing the cost, it gives you more opportunity to play cards on the same turn you might not otherwise get to play together in the late-game. Comparable to Sprint. Flavor Text: "I am the fire in the darkness...I am the dragon on the wall... - The Night's Watch Vows for Dragons. Not an official quote of the Night's Watch."
*Will Update Later w/ Comments and Explanations for Classic, Naxx, BRM, and GvG Sets*
Hero: Siras Terra
Class: Geomancer
Link to Phase I entry
Link to Phase II entry
Link to Phase III entry
I'm running out of clever introductions, but I'm sure you're glad I'll stop making bad puns... PSYCH!
As always, the class focuses on board control, sturdy minions and several Armor interactions. Midrange / combo oriented. The class keyword is Aftershock: the Aftershock effect triggers when you play a card AFTER the card with Aftershock (something like a reverse Combo). The Aftershock itself triggers only once (unless you feel like a special snowflake and play Youthful Brewmaster).
Gravedigger: what classifies as an Armor card, you may wonder. Any card that has written "Armor" somewhere in their text? No. In this case, the cards considered are those that, somehow, give you Armor. And yes, it includes cards from the other classes. Here, let me save you the trouble of googling (hearthpwning?) them: Claw, Bite, Bash, Shield Block, Armorsmith, Shieldmaiden, Ice Barrier. The class cards included are: Stone Pup, Tremor, Diamond Fist, Adamant Resolve, Dust to Dust. Damn, I thought I made more. Anyway, moving on.
Scrapbot: mandatory early Mech for the class. Interacts like Landslide Avatar (whenever you lose Armor, deal 1 damage to a random enemy), but instead of doing damage, it adds a Spare Part to your hand. Little guy is all about recycling. Remember, taking face damage IS considered losing Armor, not only when you use the class cards that say so.
The Lone Wanderer: BEFORE Y'ALL START SCREAMIN' "OP" LEMME TELL YA SOMETHIN': Immune minions CAN'T be Taunted. Yep, that's right, just like when you give a Stealth minion Taunt, it doesn't work. A 5/5 for 7 is preeeeeetty bad, but as long as you have Armor, he becomes the ultimate removal tool. And remember, unlike Warrior, the Geomancer can't stack a duckload of Armor, and if they do, it's a combo play using Earthen Favor (double your Armor gain this turn), plus the class revolves around LOSING Armor to do stuff.
Ironhide Worm: OK stats for the mana Cost, but the real charm comes from its effect. If you Darkbomb this guy, it will take 2 damage from it, making him a badass motherducker. On the other hand, it CAN be pinged, the damage can't be reduce to 0. I know, that would make Secret Pallys assume a fetal position and cry in a corner, but that's not the idea.
Rest of the GVG and BRM set (because there's only one Naxx card, duh)
Armorer Enthusiast: the not-mandatory-but-still-funny Ogre card of the set. It has the Zombie Chow treatment: strong stats with a downside effect. Simple effect, if you gain Armor with this guy in play, there's a 50% chance you won't gain it, but your opponent will, so be careful!
Rocket Hammer: the weapon of the set, it comes with Mech synergy. It seems weak, but in a Mech deck it becomes somewhat of a free ping, better yet if you trigger the Aftershock. Keep it away from fire though, it may combust and explode.
Obsidian Spikes: the one and only, the magnificent... direct damage of the class! Yes, it's the only direct damage the class has so far. On its own, it's an overcosted Holy Smite, but trigger the Aftershock and it becomes the redheaded stepchild of Swipe. It felt necessary to add at the very least 1 direct damage spell for the class... Warriors have Mortal Strike and Bash after all.
Quicksand: reverse Savage Roar incoming. Meant to give you some breathing room if you're facing a board swarmed with enemy minions. Bear in mind, it doesn't affect your opponent's weapon, as well as minions newly played (for example, a minion with Charge won't be affected, because it was played AFTER). Because huck funters.
Blunt Force Drill: what the flying duck is this card? Yeah, I know, the text is weird at first sight, but it's really intuitive actually. It's meant to work as Trample of MTG: after the minion dealt damage (to a minion, really, because if you do excess damage to your opponent you won anyway), the "overkill" damage will go to a random enemy. For example: your Stormwind Champion attacks (and kills) a Sen'jin Shieldmasta, 6 Attack - 5 Health = 1 excess damage goes to a random enemy (face or minion). If that damage WAS overkill as well, it won't trigger again, just the first attack. See? It definitely didn't need a paragraph worth of explanations.
Quicksilver Anomaly: meant to work wonders in a Mech deck, it's a cheaper (but conditional) Faceless Manipulator. It works just the same, only you can target Mechs (yours and your opponent's). Anything to do with the guy from Terminator 2 is pure coincidence.
Molten Offering: the second card of BRM, it interacts with dead minions just like several cards from BRM (likes to listen to My Chemical Romance too!). Of course, you would need to play this AFTER trading, and includes your opponent's minions.
The Classic set:
The Basic set:
Holy shit that was a lot of images to be added.
Thanks for reading, and if you liked the class, don't forget to vote for it when the polls comes up!
EDIT: modified a few names and arts to better fit the class' theme.
Siras Terra, the Geomancer
THE COMMISSAR
HERO: YARRICK
The Commissar class focuses on intense fights for board control through extensive mana-efficient removal and resource multipliers. Grind your opponent out via attrition or take the fight directly to their face through creative usage of buffs, tokens, and bursts. You'll find that no matchup involving the Commissar ever plays out the same way, and depending on your draws and board states, you'll be faced with the option to either utilize cheap effects to stall enemy tempo, or invest in risky alternatives that will help you survive the hyper late game.
With the Basic and Classic sets, we've already seen such tools that promote minion buffs, incredibly efficient draw engines, and potentially game-swinging AoE.
With the GvG, BRM, and Naxx sets, the Commissar will gain newer tools to fill a much more active role, as opposed to the very reactive nature of the previous sets. This will allow the Commissar to fulfill more deck archetypes, as well as bolster its existing card synergies.
KEYWORD: STRATEGEM
Strategem is a Commissar-specific keyword that makes up the core of this versatile class. If a card has Strategem (X), you have the option of playing it for X extra mana for an additional effect.
Basic Set Recap:
Classic Set Recap:
Phase IV Showcase:
Witch Hunter (BRM): The Witch Hunter provides late game removal. Since the Commissar does not have that many tools when it comes to unconditional direct damage, the Witch Hunter provides much needed utility. Balance-wise, you can play it normally as a slightly scaled-up Ironbreak Owl, or activate its Strategem as a fancier Bomb Lobber.
Dune Crawler (GvG): The core midrange Mech minion of the expansion. One of the few, if not the only, sticky minions in the Commissar's arsenal. For 1 extra mana, you get 1 Attack higher than a Shredder, but you get more bodies from its Deathrattle.
Magos Dominus (GvG): This card was initially designed to allow a Control Mech archetype, something we haven't really seen in Hearthstone yet. Its versatile effect can be used either to add more utility to your useless early game minions or tokens, or remove a big threat that other Mech decks may have not typically have the answers to deal with.
Ciaphas Cain (GvG): The class Legendary for this expansion. As you can see, while the Classic Set's Legendary promoted more Strategem based play, Ciaphas Cain is just a solid standalone card that can be played on curve to disrupt your opponent's turn. The existence of this card should also force other classes to think more about the state of the board as the game approaches its later turns. Hopefully this way, cards that do not have ludicrous Battlecry or Deathrattle effects (I'm looking at you, BGH and Reno) might finally have a chance to hit the spotlight.
Remaining Phase IV Cards:
Krieg Commissar (Naxx): The soldiers of Krieg are totally unafraid of death. In fact, death provides more impetus towards their objective. As such, officers within the Death Korps find that they constantly need to refill their ranks with fresh recruits. This card is just another tool during the earlier game (or late game, whichever is called for) for the Commissar to start recycling his resources. Pretty expensive for just a 3/2 body, but you can pull off some pretty cheap plays with this guy. If your opponent is edgy, he could maybe dilute your deck with some worthless tokens before killing the dude off. Just another back-and-forth scenario that many of the Commissar cards make possible.
War Council (BRM): As more soldiers die, as the situation gets desperate, as generals get bored, the Imperial Guard becomes more willing to deploy its more valuable assets, perhaps overeagerly. This card is obviously meant to combo with the other cards in your hand. This allows some of the perhaps "over-costed" cards from the Classic set to be more playable. Although the effect can be incredibly powerful, and perhaps a bit too powerful under the perfect conditions, there is still set up required, and the wording on the card text is such that Strategem cards will never go under 0 mana – you still have to pay for the actual Strategem effect, even if the card itself costs 0 mana.
Skitarii (GvG): A simple early game Mech that, if left unchecked, can give you a few additional cheap tools to affect the state of the board. Stealth parts, Freeze parts, and even the mundane Spare parts could potentially save any board state from becoming un-winnable.
To the Last Man: This is an incredibly situational card. Despite that the overall theme of these expansions is to be more active, I designed a card here that can either be used as a catch-up mechanic or perhaps introduce a new combo-based deck archetype as more burst-damage Strategem effects are released in later expansions. Overall, even though this can be combo'ed with Ursarkar Creed (Classic Set Legendary) and War Council for some sexual turns, it does require set-up, and as soon as another minion is summoned, the effect pauses.
Ministorum Priest: Capable of inspiring a troop on the verge of cowardly madness to brazen courage, the Ministorum Priest provides another way to buff minions. A very efficient Battlecry and Strategem. Theoretically, if you have one minion on board, play To the Last Man, and then buff a minion with Ministorum Priest, the Battlecry should trigger before the Ministorum Priest summons, and thus give the minion +6 Attack and Divine Shield. I think.
Plasma Pistol: Another way that the Commissar deals with threats or maintains board control is through raw weapon damage. Most of the weapons in the Commissar's arsenal don't give any silly effects like Windfury or Whirlwinds, but rather hard, sustained damage. As you can see, the Plasma Pistol is such a weapon, although your Hero must pay for its extra damage by taking damage of his own. This represents the Plasma Pistol "overheating."
For the Emperor!: This card is insane. At first glance, it might just seem like a wonky effect for 5 mana, but it fits perfectly with the Commissar class. Grind your opponent out through attrition. Sacrifice more bodies to fuel the war machine. Transform your worthless peons into devoted servants of the God-Emperor. This card synergizes well with Knife Juggler, Summary Execution, First Rank Fire!, War Council, Sea Giant. However, it MUST be combo'ed with another card, otherwise you've literally just summoned a bunch of worthless tokens that can just either die to your opponent's minions or cheap AoE effects.
And that's all for my Phase IV entry! Thank you all for supporting my class thus far in the competition, and especially to the Mods who chose my class as a Wild Card entry, for whatever silly reason.
New Keywords in Class: Brand: It means that you can change a minion's type into Orc. (eg. Murloc--->Orc, Pirate--->Orc, Demon---->Orc).
Phase IV: This class is gonna get a little more crazy.
Watcher in the Water: We don't see too many enrage minions right now in Hearthstone so I though this was a cool idea. The only way to kill it is to kill it in one hit because it will heal when it gets damaged. You obviously silence it but it's still a big threat to aggro.
Night Ranger: Good board clear against aggressive decks, also works well with your stealth based abilities. The Ranger also has stealth even if his stats aren't that great.
Rings of Power: A really powerful card and can become a new deck archetype for The Hobbit. They are basically really strong weapons.
Here are the Rings of Power:
Ring of Fire: Good for trading because it becomes infinite. To counter, your opponent needs to flood the board, play taunt, or destroy weapon.
Ring of Adamant: Good for sustaining in a game. To counter, your opponent needs deal more damage than you can armor up or destroy weapon.
Ring of Air: Semi-Board clear. To counter, your opponent needs to flood the board, play big enough minions to survive the aoe effect, or destroy weapon.
Dark Lord Sauron: The big bad of LOTR, You get one of the rings listed above and you become immune while you have the ring equipped. You basically get a high attack minion with a really good weapon for 9 mana. Sauron has low health though and your hero power can't always stealth him for 100%.
Remaining Phase IV Cards:
Death Wraith: Good early and late game card and also good combo with your stealth hero power since you don't have to hero power every turn, you can just save your 0-cost hero power for the right time.
Morian Dwarf: A solid 1 drop which gives some defense against aggressive decks.
Reforge: Kinda expensive for just 2 durability points but mixed with the weapons this class has (including rings), it's pretty crazy.
Orcish Blood: Good for an all out orc deck. You can trade an orc minion then fully heal it for free.
Stone Giant: A bigger and scarier Demolisher. It can't attack but the effect is too good that your opponent has to deal with it (especially not with silence).
Staff of Power: Another branding tool. Which if you forgot, can change a minion's type into Orc. Weak damage but you don't use this weapon for the damage, you use it for branding your opponents minions.
Balrog: A solid body with a weapon! It's like a Fire Elemental but costs 1 more because you get a 3 attack weapon which can attack twice.
Basic Cards
TOKEN ----->
Classic Cards
THE AGENT
Agents are mysterious figures. Some say they represent a secret government organization whose task it is to keep the public in the dark about the paranormal and especially extraterrestrial realities around us. Others say these men in black are themselves supernatural entities, whether time-travelers or alien-human hybrids meant to manipulate. Only one thing is certain; when unexplained phenomena are afoot, the agents are sure not to be far behind.
EXAMPLE EXPANSION CARDS
Explanations / Clarifications:
REMAINING EXPANSION CARDS
Explanations / Clarifications:
CLASSIC SET
Explanations / Clarifications:
BASIC SET
Explanations / Clarifications:
COMPLETE COLLECTION, by Cost
COMPLETE COLLECTION, by Function
Single Target
Welcome to the New Age
In the Basic and Classic set, we've seen Bards as players of flutes, violins, and guitars committed to promoting peace. The GvG set brings sweeping changes to this existing order, and with new technology comes new ideals.
The GvG set is focused on flushing out Bard's themes beyond just control. We'll see the addition of deck types like Zoo Bard and Mech Bard, which play at least somewhat more aggressively than Bard previously did. This does not mean that the theme of peace is gone, it just means that it is not being emphasized quite as much in previous sets. After all, a class that only did one thing would be pretty boring.
Flavor wise, the classic set focused on classical music, and with the GvG set, the focus shifts to modern music. Rock, Dubstep, and all that good stuff.
Our returning Hero is virtuoso Lindsey Starling, with her Hero Power, Acoustics:
Lindsey Starling & Acoustics Explained
"A picture is worth a thousand words, but a song is worth a million."
-Lindsey Starling
A legendary Musician who is said to have defeated a dragon with nothing but a violin, Lindsey preaches peace and unity to the world through music. No matter where we come from, we still feel the same joy and the same sadness. No matter how different we think we are, a song can show us that our emotions are the same. She travels the world as a wandering hero, teaching all she meets of her philosophy. Already, hundreds of other bards from every corner of the globe have joined her cause, thus forming the Starling Orchestra. They have taken up her goal of a world where people put their differences aside and live in harmony, a goal that they believe can be achieved through music.
Her Hero Power, Acoustics, gives her a minor board control tool while also allowing her to recover in the later game. Many classes with Hero Powers that give them 1 Attack suffer from the fact that they end up taking far too much damage from each attack. Druid has some mitigation of this, but Rogue has none. By using the Melody mechanic, this hero power allows you to choose between a weaker version of Rogue's hero power for damage or a weaker version of Warrior's hero power for recovery each time you use it, once again showing how the Melody mechanic lets you make interesting choices.
Melody Mechanic Explained
While they do fight valiantly for what they believe is right, bards are generally more peaceful people who would rather play an enticing melody than engage in direct combat. As such, the Bard class's unique keyword is Melody, which gives a character an ability that they can use instead of attacking.
Melody effects are activated by pressing the melody button that appears when attacking with a minion. Playing a melody has all the same conditions as attacking, and should be thought of as "a different way to attack."
While the conditions for using a Melody are the same attacking, the actual effect is closer to a battlecry or spell.
The technicalities may sound intimidating, but the Melody mechanic is actually very simple. Here it is, put concisely:
In this spoiler is an infographic that shows how Melody works:
Card used:
Example Cards
These 4 cards gives you a taste of Bard's Naxx, GvG, and BRM sets.
Red Dragon:
Explanations:
Cellobot
They gave a jukebox arms and legs, and this was the result.
This is the card that will turn Mech Bard into a formidable force. The Mech tribe is based on flooding the board, meaning that Songs, which synergize with a full board, are especially effective in combination. Cellobot allows Mech Bard access to songs without having to waste valuable deck slots on them.Dirgesinger
No, he does not play Death Metal.
Once again, we have a card that helps bard in a bunch of ways.
Firstly, it opens up a deathrattle/zoo deck type, since this card works extremely well with cards like Nerubian Egg and Haunted Creeper.
Secondly, it synergizes with the general Bard theme of flooding the board and having tokens.
Thirdly, it works well with Melody minions in a way similar to Debut, allowing their melodies to be used only at the cost of 1 damage.
Halfling Bard
When he says he can turn into a dragon, DO NOT ask him to prove it.
In case the art looks familiar, it is the art from War Drum in the classic set. This card's art pretty much has to be this picture, so War Drum's has been changed accordingly (see the "all cards" section later).
Bard is not exactly the type of class that would have Dragon synergy, so I won't try to shove it in. Instead, it will get its dose of dragons through a generic big body.
Anyway, this card is the final piece of the puzzle for Melody/Debut bard to become a thing. This minion is a 7/7 on turn 4 with Debut, which sounds strong, but I think is just within the bounds of acceptability. It's a very simple yet effective card, and that's why it earns its spot in the example cards.
Otto Tune
"Every sound is a song waiting to happen. Every person is a musician waiting to be born." -Otto Tune
Lore: Otto Tune
Otto Tune is a self-aware robot who serves as DJ for the Starling Orchestra. His unison of man and machine, the new and the old, has earned him legendary status among the orchestra. However, his origins weren't nearly as glorious.
C6 was one of the first of the first SEM, a humanoid robot aptly named "Self-aware Emotion Machine". Humans did not meet such a technological breakthrough with enthusiasm. Instead, they were terrified of these new machines, filled with images of an AI takeover and an end to humanity.
But the Sem, especially C6, wanted no such thing. They simply wanted to live the lives that they had been given, to be seen just as alive as anything else. The more the Von tried to enter society, the more they were kept out of it, to the point that gangs would roam the streets to dismantle them.
What was once a peaceful intention began to escalate into a violent conflict. Sem began to strike back at their attackers, which only brought on larger gangs. It was a no-win scenario: each action taken by one side would only bring a larger one from the other. C6 saw this, and realized that harmony would never be achieved unless he intervened. But the humans would not listen to him, and the Sem only thought of him as a traitor.
With civilization hanging in the balance, the Sem and the humans met army-to-army for a final confrontation. It was clear that the humans wouldn't stop until every last Sem was destroyed, and that the Sem wouldn't give up until they had firmly established themselves in the world. As the hordes of fighters rushed towards each other, and C6 looked for something, anything, that would save his city. He dove through his memory banks: mountains of data, thousands of calculations, but it was all worthless. Neither friend nor foe trusted him. What could he say that would change their minds?
Nothing.
And with that, he found is answer. He had seen the phrase before: "Words were futile." He queried his database: "Starling Orchestra." Speakers set to the maximum, he leaped between the two sides and unleashed the power of music.
Somehow, it worked. If a Von could appreciate music, surely, it must be more than a death machine. The Von saw that C6 was willing to risk his life to help them - maybe he wasn't a traitor.
As the Orchestra's music usually does, his performance helped to smooth out the conflict. There was no permanent solution, but he had forever changed the relationship between man and machine. However, he wasn't done changing the world. If just a recording could save thousands of lives, than surely a live performance would save millions. He knew down to his core what he had to do - seek out the Starling Orchestra.
Otto Tune is a minion with the single most powerful Melody effect, and he is the embodiment of Bard's unique mechanic.
There is really not much to say about this card: It's simple and effective. Debut has obvious synergy here, and this would likely serve as the big threat in Debut decks.
Mechanics-wise, it is important to note that if a minion's mana cost would exceed 10 through the transformation, it transforms into a 10-cost minion. This is to avoid ambiguities with 11 mana, 13 mana, etc minions that don't exist.
Remaining Cards
This spoiler contains the remaining 7 cards across the 3 sets in this phase.
GVG
Explanations:
Magic Mic
Magic or not, the crowd goes wild whenever someone sings into it.
As I said during Phase III, Debut is an extremely interesting card, but probably won't be good enough to occupy a deck slot. Magic Mic solves that problem, introducing Bard's third Melody weapon as a way for Debut to see play.
Most of the time, you'll probably want to use both attacks to get Debut spells, but it can also serve has removal for a scary Knife Juggler in a desperate situation.
Electric Guitarist
He knows how to play in two different ways: Loud, and Louder.
Rockstar
Her performances are incredible. After all, she learned from the best.
Explanations:
White Noise
The sounds you hear the most are the ones you notice least.
For a class based on summoning tokens, Bard has had some pretty inefficient summoners up to this point. White noise is admittedly quite strong, but this is intentional. If tokens are going to have a chance of being successful, there needs to be at least one super-solid card that helps them out, and this fits the bill. Plus, nerfs can always be done if it gets out of hand.
Drop the Bass
Sometimes, what sounds like music to one is just noise to everyone else.
Like most other classes, Bard has more than one AoE card. While reverberate is better for aggressive or midrange decks trying to win tempo back, this one fits better in control decks wishing to clear the board but keep their powerful minions untouched.
Song of Imagination
The biggest mistake you can make is to confine yourself to reality.
GvG is where we were introduced to the idea of referencing and transforming minions based on their cost, and this card is the AoE counterpart to Otto Tune. This card serves as a higher-cost but higher-power alternative to Song of Fortitude, and should create some crazy games with Cellobot.
BRM
Explanations:
Chant
No matter how true your message is, it won't be heard if you're the only one saying it.
Remember how these 3 sets are a break from Bard's themes of "no damage allowed"? Well, here's another example. Aside from Choir, Bard has absolutely no removal, so if it wants any chance of doing well in a real game, it will need a least a little. The fact that it can recycle itself given you have a full board allows Bard to get decent removal even though has so few spells that can do so.
In case you're concerned about this being an "infinite value" card, and see it as OP compared to headcrack, let me justify it. Firstly, this card is always bad value, since it's a 3 mana darkbomb. More importantly, your condition for recycling it actually has counterplay, since your opponent can clear your board to prevent you from getting it back. If this card was unstoppable, then it would be broken, but it has counterplay, so it should be fine.
Previous Cards
If you want more context to evaluate the Bard class and see explanations for past cards, here are my Phase 1-3 submissions:
Phase I | Phase II | Phase III
Here I'll put every single Bard card from the Basic and Classic sets. There will be no explanations and tokens will be pushed to the bottom to avoid clutter.
Basic Set
Classic Set
Tokens (in order of appearance)
Whew! You've reached the end of this post. I hope you've had as much fun reading as I've had designing. If you enjoyed, please leave a vote, and with any luck we can bring this symphony to its finale.
Naxxramas Card
Goblins vs Gnomes Cards
Blackrock Mountain Cards
Tokens
Card Explanations
Irritator - Naxx - The Irritator was meant to fit with the theme of Deathrattle that came with Naxxramas. Throughout the game Transistor, when you kill a Process you must kill the cell that spawns from it to make sure it dies, or else it respawns. Instead of doing this on every Process, it felt better to make it a Naxxramas exclusive.
DJ Station - GvG - It wouldn't be GvG without at least one mech! I already have the Process tag on most of the minions, so this one is distinctly different by not being an actual creature. It is best compared to Ironbeak Owl, but what it sacrifices in immediate impact, it makes up with in higher health to perhaps get multiple uses from the card.
We All Become - GvG - This is another song card, a spell meant to disrupt the enemy with a rather odd effect. It's not direct removal, but can make clearing a board easier, especially if you use a card like Help( ). It combos great with Whisp. :D
Luna - GvG - This is a card that is slightly better than Wolf Rider, with the added benefit of being a Process. It's helped (or hindered), by it's limitations when attacking. Without another minion on the field, it must trade, which may not always be beneficial with cards like Shielded Minibot
Splash( ) - GvG - Another weapon buff card! I couldn't make a set without one of these, and this one is particularly interesting due to it's interaction with the other weapon buffs. It will apply the on damage effects to the other minions, so Hero Power + Splash( ) + Void( ) means three dead minions. This is balanced out however by the enemy being able to play around such combos with taunts and smaller minions, or even cards such as Harrison or Ooze if you try to prepare the combo ahead of time.
Recursion( ) - GvG - This card is made for a similar reason as cards like Ancestors Call and Astral Communion -- it may not fit a certain deck type, but it's sure as hell cool. It only returns three cards, so if you went first, you get the full hand, but if you went second you get a random three (and the coin is omitted). It is a powerful effect, so setting it at 5 mana made sense, on par with Nourish, however you get copies instead of drawing directly from the deck.
Enforcer - BRM - This card was made to give the Singer an edge in minion combat. It lacks a lot of direct hard removal, so this is meant to help with bigger cards like Ragnaros or Boom, provided it doesn't get sniped first.
Theme Explanation
So at this point, I know not everyone has played the game Transistor, I figured it would be helpful to explain why some of the cards are as they are.
Firstly, know that I will do my best to avoid spoilers to the actual game, but will not be able to avoid everything and there will be some spoilers. I highly recommend going and playing it for yourself. Seriously, it is a work of art by Supergiant, and is well worth the $15 or so.
So, when you first start out the game, your playing as the protagonist Red, who has received the sword known as the Transistor after a failed assassination attempt by a group known as the Camerata. The sword itself absorbs peoples 'Trace' into it's data, and uses that to create functions, or it's abilities. Hence why all her spells have ( ) at the end, they are functions of data similar to what programmers use.
Red, who was a popular singer in the city of Cloudbank, lost her voice during the attack, due to to the Transistor taking part of her Trace. This is why, despite being named Singer, the class itself has very little to do with music. The closest I have done is naming abilities off of the songs, such as Paper Boats, We all Become, and Signals.
The enemies you fight throughout the game are known as the Process. They come in many different forms and types, and you play as Red to defeat them. I used these as her minions, as they provided enough variance to be able to make many different kinds while also keeping a unique theme.
Mechanically the game is an isometric action game, where you run around with a set of 4 abilities,combining them to defeat your enemies. The 4 abilities are entirely customizable, and abilities you haven't used can augment the abilities you did use. This is meant to be shown with the weapon augment spells like Void( ) and Splash( )
As you fight however, you can pause the game and enter a Turn( ) state. This allows you to plan out the next few moves, and then they'll play out in real time. This is where the inspiration for the Turn and Cache mechanics came from, namely in affecting the order of the players turn.
Anyways, I hope this provided some insight as to why the class is as it is, and I hope you enjoy the cards themselves :D
Classic Set
Classic Set Link: http://www.hearthpwn.com/forums/hearthstone-general/fan-creations/99840-class-creation-competition-worlds-beyond-warcraft?comment=25
Basic Set
Basic Set Link: http://www.hearthpwn.com/forums/hearthstone-general/fan-creations/98082-class-creation-competition-worlds-beyond-warcraft?page=3
Tokens
Thank you everyone for reading. I honestly did not expect to make it this far in the competition, but doing so has meant a lot. This goes to everyone who has helped me in the discussion threads, and all the friends who have had to listen to me ramble about this for weeks on end, and deal with me spouting out ideas and writing them down on the spot, only to say they're terrible a few minutes later. So once again, thank you! :D
The Deathless Class
Class Recap: Hailing from the IOS series Infinity Blade, the Deathless are a caste of lords with the ability to transfer their consciousness to a new body every time they die, effectively making them immortal, and allowing them to grow stronger as they accumulate more and more experiences. The Deathless class represents this by making emphasizing value in repetition. Using a plethora of tools, it has never been simpler to make sure that your prize cards will always return. The best reason to return cards, however, is because of the class specific keyword,
Deathless: When this minion is played, do (X), times the number of times you have played this card previously. This means that the first time you play a Deathless card, nothing will happen, but the third time you play it, the effect will happen twice. Note : For simplicity's sake, we'll say that it triggers right after a Battlecry.
Basics & Classic Set:
Basics
Classics
The Examples
Brood of Ba'el: A different way of saying "If you're holding a Dragon...", as I found it was just simpler to have it be a target ability. After all, of course it gets no bonus if there is no Dragon in your hand, as there is nothing to target. Fairly vanilla stats, since this really doesn't give much of an advantage, especially compared to Paladins (5) mana equivalent. Playing Ysera on turn 7 is still better than the potential double Ysera.
Gem Forge: Something people realized pretty quick with GvG is that Spare Parts are really easy to get. People then proceeded to realize that Spare Parts are really not that useful. Gem Forge allows you to actually use those Spare Parts Effectively. Balance wise, it has a fair number of disadvantages for quite a strong effect. First, getting a spare part is easy, but getting more than 2 generally doesn't happen. Not only do you need to stockpile these spare parts, but you do actually lose the potential to help your minions, as Attack Gems only are castable on weapons.
Knight of Galath: Every phase I've done has had a knight, and I don't plan on stopping now. Since this is a combo card, the (5) mana cost prevents the effect from being too abusable (Sylvanas shenanigans, anyone?), and also allows for it to actually get a decent body.
Isa: The legendary for GvG, Isa represents the very essence of the class independently. Gains bonuses from being played over and over, and can supply you with the copies easily. However, it of course only take one Silence/Polymorph/Hex to lock out Isa for good. Not only that, but getting that first shuffle will be hard, especially since no attack buffing cards exist in the Deathless class.
The Rest of the Cards:
Some Quick Notes: Transgolem is a souped up Faceless Manipulator, in that it counts as playing the card (Yay Deathless!). Because Blizz does not have official wording for this stuff, and sometimes interactions aren't fully explained in the card, I'm going to say Battlecry does not trigger. Monstrous Assualt is an attempt to diversify the class, which currently leans quite heavily towards control. Balanced against Charge. For 3 mana you get guarenteed charge and 2 attack, or you can have +3/+1 and charge, but only if you have fulfilled the requirement.
Note About Deathless Balancing: Generally, I balanced Deathless cards to have even worth once they were played the second time. For example, Horned Stalker could just be a 3/2 that deals a damage. For a class card, that's fine. The potential for even more damage is balanced out by a slow start, which is why I use that balancing system.