Hearthpwn

Yay me!

Quote from Paly_Noob >>

Quote from Gomelus >>

Yay me!

 I voted for yours. I thought the movie was shite, but <3 your card.

Why Magician’s Parrot does NOT fit the theme

One of the restrictions this week was that you had to make a Mage card. That doesn’t just mean selecting the mage icon on Hearthcards.net. You also have to fit the theme of the class. There are many ways you can fail to do this. For example, say you made a Hunter Weapon, and you depicted this weapon as a sword and shield. Most people would go “WTF? That’s not a Hunter weapon”.

As such, when created a Mage Beast, you can’t leave people scratching their heads as to how this card relates to Mage. Magician’s Parrot is a prime example of this. The trope of a parrot sitting on one’s shoulder repeating what you say is well-known, yet overwhelmingly associated with pirates, especially in the fantasy genre. This is reinforced by the fact that the art for Magician’s Parrot clearly depicts a parrot sitting on the shoulder of a pirate. Any art you would find of a parrot on one’s shoulder is going to be of a pirate. So, how can one then justify this being a Mage card? Mages or wizards have no association with parrots, and the pirate theme associated with neutral and Rogue cards in this game clearly demonstrates to which class this card should belong.

One could argue that simply putting “Magician’s” in front of the name is enough of an association. But this is a very weak argument. Would you seriously consider Misha as an entry if it was renamed “Magician’s Bear”? Or, for a different competition, if someone made a “Druid’s Felguard”? Or a “Paladin’s Frost Trap”? Please don’t say yes...

It is important when creating cards to get the theme right. The theme this week required a Mage card, and Magician’s Parrot is not a mage card. Please do not make a non-Mage card a winner in a contest for Mage cards.

Quote from nurgling13 >>

Why Magician’s Parrot does NOT fit the theme

One of the restrictions this week was that you had to make a Mage card. That doesn’t just mean selecting the mage icon on Hearthcards.net. You also have to fit the theme of the class. There are many ways you can fail to do this. For example, say you made a Hunter Weapon, and you depicted this weapon as a sword and shield. Most people would go “WTF? That’s not a Hunter weapon”.

As such, when created a Mage Beast, you can’t leave people scratching their heads as to how this card relates to Mage. Magician’s Parrot is a prime example of this. The trope of a parrot sitting on one’s shoulder repeating what you say is well-known, yet overwhelmingly associated with pirates, especially in the fantasy genre. This is reinforced by the fact that the art for Magician’s Parrot clearly depicts a parrot sitting on the shoulder of a pirate. Any art you would find of a parrot on one’s shoulder is going to be of a pirate. So, how can one then justify this being a Mage card? Mages or wizards have no association with parrots, and the pirate theme associated with neutral and Rogue cards in this game clearly demonstrates to which class this card should belong.

One could argue that simply putting “Magician’s” in front of the name is enough of an association. But this is a very weak argument. Would you seriously consider Misha as an entry if it was renamed “Magician’s Bear”? Or, for a different competition, if someone made a “Druid’s Felguard”? Or a “Paladin’s Frost Trap”? Please don’t say yes...

It is important when creating cards to get the theme right. The theme this week required a Mage card, and Magician’s Parrot is not a mage card. Please do not make a non-Mage card a winner in a contest for Mage cards.

Quote from nobravery >>

 I don't wanna get into a brawl with you, but Magician's Parrot is the only card in the list that interests me. Yes it may not fit the theme of mage, but this card is just too lovely not to vote for. Sometimes the restrictions are just too narrow. It's worth a little compromise.

Quote from nurgling13 >>

Quote from nobravery >>

 I don't wanna get into a brawl with you, but Magician's Parrot is the only card in the list that interests me. Yes it may not fit the theme of mage, but this card is just too lovely not to vote for. Sometimes the restrictions are just too narrow. It's worth a little compromise.

That's not what compromise is. This isn't a Mage card. What is the point of having restrictions if a card that doesn't fit them wins? This contest's theme is based around Mage familiars, not pirates' pets. 

Quote from nobravery >>

Quote from nurgling13 >>

Quote from nobravery >>

 I don't wanna get into a brawl with you, but Magician's Parrot is the only card in the list that interests me. Yes it may not fit the theme of mage, but this card is just too lovely not to vote for. Sometimes the restrictions are just too narrow. It's worth a little compromise.

That's not what compromise is. This isn't a Mage card. What is the point of having restrictions if a card that doesn't fit them wins? This contest's theme is based around Mage familiars, not pirates' pets. 

 So that is a way to express 'Alright, the conclusion we draw from this competition is that beast cards and beast synergies don't fit mage theme'. Anyway this is just a competition for fun. Being interesting is most important.

Quote from nurgling13 >>

Did you read what I wrote? This isn't about beasts or their synergies with Mage. What this final poll shows is that beasts can fit the Mage theme very well, as almost all of the cards here really do seem like Mage cards. I mean, it isn't very hard to fit the Mage theme. And yet you chose to vote for the card here that least looks like a Mage card. It doesn't fit the theme at all. That is insulting to everyone else who actually tried to fit the theme and make a good card. You are rewarding the person who said "Okay, I don't really want to make a Mage card. I'm going to make a Pirate card and stick Magician's on the front of the name and call it a day" This is the kind of lack of effort and disregard to design principles that should not be rewarded.

Quote from nobravery >>

Quote from nurgling13 >>

Did you read what I wrote? This isn't about beasts or their synergies with Mage. What this final poll shows is that beasts can fit the Mage theme very well, as almost all of the cards here really do seem like Mage cards. I mean, it isn't very hard to fit the Mage theme. And yet you chose to vote for the card here that least looks like a Mage card. It doesn't fit the theme at all. That is insulting to everyone else who actually tried to fit the theme and make a good card. You are rewarding the person who said "Okay, I don't really want to make a Mage card. I'm going to make a Pirate card and stick Magician's on the front of the name and call it a day" This is the kind of lack of effort and disregard to design principles that should not be rewarded.

 In fact, if Magician's Parrot doesn't appear in the list, I would vote for none of the cards.

I do agree that the rest of the cards fit the mage theme well and could even probably be seen in game one day, but I don't find them interesting. The aim of this competition is not to make balanced cards only. We've made hundreds of balanced cards that fit the theme through out the whole competition, but they just lack some kind of enlightening feel. For example, Fierce Monkey is a beast card that fits warrior theme well, but I don't think it will ever enter the finalist poll if we had a competition requiring us to make a warrior beast card.

I know some people may say that this finalist poll is not as 'dull' as Fierce Monkey, but I have a different expectation on Blizzard's designs and designs in this competition. I expect to see fantastic cards here - something like Aluna (Week #26) and Nerub'ar Enforcer (Week #37), some idea that I've never seen anywhere in any sites before. This final poll is just to ordinary, comparing to what we had last week in the valentine's day competition. That's my point.

Quote from nobravery >>

Quote from nurgling13 >>

Did you read what I wrote? This isn't about beasts or their synergies with Mage. What this final poll shows is that beasts can fit the Mage theme very well, as almost all of the cards here really do seem like Mage cards. I mean, it isn't very hard to fit the Mage theme. And yet you chose to vote for the card here that least looks like a Mage card. It doesn't fit the theme at all. That is insulting to everyone else who actually tried to fit the theme and make a good card. You are rewarding the person who said "Okay, I don't really want to make a Mage card. I'm going to make a Pirate card and stick Magician's on the front of the name and call it a day" This is the kind of lack of effort and disregard to design principles that should not be rewarded.

 In fact, if Magician's Parrot doesn't appear in the list, I would vote for none of the cards.

I do agree that the rest of the cards fit the mage theme well and could even probably be seen in game one day, but I don't find them interesting. The aim of this competition is not to make balanced cards only. We've made hundreds of balanced cards that fit the theme through out the whole competition, but they just lack some kind of enlightening feel. For example, Fierce Monkey is a beast card that fits warrior theme well, but I don't think it will ever enter the finalist poll if we had a competition requiring us to make a warrior beast card.

I know some people may say that this finalist poll is not as 'dull' as Fierce Monkey, but I have a different expectation on Blizzard's designs and designs in this competition. I expect to see fantastic cards here - something like Aluna (Week #26) and Nerub'ar Enforcer (Week #37), some idea that I've never seen anywhere in any sites before. This final poll is just to ordinary, comparing to what we had last week in the valentine's day competition. That's my point.

I'm no stranger to controversial cards but Magician's Parrot disregards the contest parameters in my opinion, but I understand from the above points why they were hesitant to DQ it. It's not even properly worded with "Imitate your hero's emotes." which triggers my OCD. So, I will not be voting for it.