So, what have we got for today? I now realize I missed some neutral commons back then, I'm gonna review them with the rare and epics after the Paladin Cards.
But first, a small rant before I proceed onto the commons: I really think people here in Hearthpwn (and maybe even Blizz devs) could start working on Paladin early game again, and not just a random 1-drop every expansion. I mean, for such cards to impact Wild they have to be even more powerful than Minibot and Muster, in other words, broken as fuck, but it can't be that hard to release something interesting and still powerful enough to see play in Standard. Not like they care at all about Wild balance anyway; just like at N'Zoth and think how the Shredder + Belcher + N'Zoth package is gonna be in almost every single deck in the format from now on.
Alright, let's do it. This time around, the commons seem like the coolest one. I really like the simplicity in Bygone Knight and the way it fits in the kind of Aggro Pally Blizz wants to promote, it's definitely much more fitting than that 2/1 that gives Divine Shield (I forgot what it's called lol). Penance is also a really nice concept (and pretty tricky to balance), though I think it would fit better in Priest, flavorwise, but since they already have so much hard removal, it seems smarter to make it a Pally card. Bastion of Argus is alright, seems pretty strong. I'm not particularly interested in that one, I think Divine Shield is overused in custom cards.
Onto the rares: Unending Aegis is cool, I like promoting the use of buffs and turning your Hero Power into one. Ancient Guardian is alright, again, not very interesting; seems a bit understated for its cost and effect, and I'm not sure Paladin needs any more healing. Vindication is a nice weapon, though it seems slow even in Control decks.
Blessing of Khan'sac is the most interesting of the two epics; in its current state, Paladin is as much of a "weapon class" as Warrior, but I'm still a little concerned about the scenarios where this card is just unplayable. Maybe if it cost a bit more and drew a card, so you could just play with no weapon equipped. I don't really like Faceless Redemptor; it seems a bit boring, but I suppose the Divine Shield would be a pretty relevant reason to run it over Manipulator.
Eadric seems a bit weird, but I kinda like it. There are not that many playable 5-drops in Standard, and I think this could be one of the few.
Now, the neutrals: I love Felstalker and Suramar Wailer, those are the kind of niche commons I think the game needs more of (you see, sometimes I tend to disregard Arena balance completely lol). Pit Crusher is whatever, just a reprint; you can't even say it's strictly better than Pit Fighter, after all, Demon is the only tribe with negative synergy in Standard.
Infinite Oppressor is pretty decent; I'd like to see Dragon decks endure even after BRM rotates out, and this one could help with that. It encourages you to run more Dragons in your deck, which also seems like the way to go after the good non-Dragon synergy (the Blackwings) are gone. Unending Nath'rezim is really cool, I can imagine the shenanigans in Rogue. lol Highlord is also nice, though a bit bland.
That's it boys. As always, good job. Can't wait to see what you got for Priest.
Took some time to gather my thoughts on these : i may be a bit harsh on some of those, without fair criticism, one cannot improve.
Druid
Val'sharah trainee : Then Avenging Wrath would also be a rip off Mage gimmick. The point of Missiles is to proc Flamewaker, not just for early game removal. In addition, you cannot benefit from Spell Damage with this card. Druid loses Saplings as well, so less early removal. I do think, however, this could become a 2/1 or 1/2.
Imperious Warder : I don't think this should be for Priest, of all the other 8 classes you could have chosen from. Druid does not get overstatted minions. They play minions faster by losing hand advantage. It's really not the same. In addition, this 3/5 body promoted trading instead of going in ham. In addition, it highlights the shapeshifting nature of Druid in WoW lore as well, as you get a more interactive Hero Power.
Unending Alms : Should not read at the start of your next turn.
Barkskin Mauler : We realize this card is quite strong, Zany may look into it in the future.
Empowered Moonkin : Not a dangerous design at all. For one thing, you do not get any Spell Damage the turn you play it. Then, next turn, you get Spell Damage +1. Essentially, your opponent has two turns to get rid of it before you get any true value.
Hunter
Spellbound Arrow : Lock and Load is dead. [See the note I made on Magna's reply.]
Nighthaven huntress : I don't think the keyword is an issue, seeing as cards like Darkshire Librarian and Moat Lurker both has a Battlecry and Deathrattle, though I do indeed notice that the Battlecry and Deathrattle are different. I must also add that Xaril's main point is that he give Rogue spells, that is, combo starters. Hunter benefits from no such thing.
Highmountain Tracker : I am considering a 2/2 body. And having it random is the better choice compared to Discover, as Discover would be far too strong.
Kindred Spirits : I did say I was pushing for slower Hunter decks, which was the entire point of this card. I find it fairly in theme as well, as it supports beast synergy. Zany is a *very* long-time World of Warcraft player, and a bit of his knowledge has rubbed off on me and I extensively research almost every card I create. Kindred Spirits was meant to be "Exhilarate", an instant Hunter healing spell in WoW. As there was no art, I chose this name, based off of a WoWTCG card. I believe it fits in the class, just not with midrange/hybrid, which was the whole point. Your card, on the other hand, would see even less play than mine as most of Hunter's Beasts have low Health. In addition, I do not support slapping "Draw a card" onto a design and calling it a day. ex : 2 mana spell : Restore 3 Health to your hero and all friendly beasts. Draw a card.
Devilish Devilsaur : Would this be run over Stranglethorn? Stranglethorn guarantees 5 damage or a 2 for 1 trade. Dealing 4 damage to your opponent's face for 5 mana is pretty poor. In addition, this card does not guarantee a 2-for-1. If anything, I'd say this card is fairly weak.
Mage
Kobold Candlemaster : Flamewaker was balanced?
Dalaran Hunk : I agree that this card is quite strong, I will most likely reduce it's stats.
Quel'dorei Battlemage : I still don't entirely see why this is considered better than Arcane Giant. This card functions like Bolvar Fordragon, it must stay in your hand to have its cost reduced. So either you draw into it and work for the reduction, or mulligan into it, and have it sit in your hand for a bit. While maybe the Taunt does not completely fit in, but it differentiates it from being a smaller Giant.
Magna Aegwynn : High-cost Mage legendaries have never seen play except for Archmage. Magna was a bit of an experiment. In addition, I think you should read the opening post. "We should also note now this Expansion was built with the idea of appearing in standard 2017, utilizing some design space that we couldn't access due to BRM, TGT, and LoE." Therefore, Forgotten Torch is lost, the key card in aggro-freeze Mage.
Paladin
Penance : Except priest already has several hard removals and Entomb, while Paladin only has Equality-Consecration.
Bastion of Argus : I also find this card a bit weak. Not sure what Zany has in mind for this card, however.
Ancient Guardian : While Paladin has a lot of heals, I don't see why it fits Warlock. It also includes enemy minions, while warlock benefits from friendly minions dying.
Vindication : You've never seen a 0-mana Solemn Vigil played before? Lucky boi.
One of the better designed "Custom sets" I've seen.
However it lacks consistent theme, and it's rarity balance is poor. (Frostfire duality is a common?).
Druid Commons- Val'sharah trainee is a little good but something always is going to be above curve, i think the main problem with it is that i'll never choose the backend, Unending Alms is just a card I don't want to face against every druid I see in arena. Rare- These are good just Unending Alms should go here, while Bountiful Bloom should move to Epic. Epic- Empowered moonkin needs 2 more health, primal force should move down to common. Legendary- Broll should be 6 mana, why would you ever run him over Druid of the Claw or even Ironbark Protector at 7 mana?
Hunter Commons- About Battlecry+Deathrattle being a legendary thing I agree at the very least epic, I also would prefer if Nighthaven Huntress if it got On the Hunt as it's the same card with more synergy to hunters. Spellbound Arrow needs a weapon and so shouldn't be common. Rares- Bluntly any class without a healing spec isn't going to be given a heal and that's my opinion on kindred spirits, Devilish devilsaur is a worse version of Reckless Rocketeer which no one plays, untargetability is not worth one power on suicide minions and that's not counting it's a class card and not a basic card(many of which are intentionally undertuned so you can replace them.) Legendary- Continuing the theme of disappointing Legendaries..... He's only ever intended to do burst damage and requires either you to have board or your opponent to have board+another card and if you have board is a 7 mana savage roar. I'd say make the hounds 4/2s but that makes it immediately too good with unleash the hounds.
Mage Commons- Frostfire duality is a great example of a card in the wrong rarity no one wants this in arena but it's a great card for constructed, It's a clear epic contender, Also I'd prefer if it was 2 mana and drew a card so as not to -1 yourself. Stable Portal is just a good solid common. Fractal Gateway is....Ok I guess but i'd always want counterspell over it, maybe if the spell cost 3 less allowing the gateway to "Pay" for itself, also not common. Rares- All of these are good and spot on for rarity, though i will say for hunk i'd prefer if he was 6 mana without the condition as he'd be a lot less swingy then. Also dat name. Epics- Unending chill is strictly better than assassinate, but that's acceptable as intresting expansion cards should overtake the baseline of the classic set. Quel'dorei battle mage yeah has the problem of needing to be in hand. Legendary- I like this legendary, it's a version of arcane armor that i can actually play. Definitely should not be made a higher drop as her effect is spot on for it's mana spot.
Paladin Commons- I love the first two, simple but adding a lot to paladin good commons. Penance might need to go to 4 mana as that's about the going rate of "Premium" hard removal(With assassinate at 5 being the "Eh whatever" rate.), as for the effect in priest it fits both classes and Paladin needs it more. But bastion of argus is just not sure about it just feels off. Rares- Unending Aegis -> 3 mana. Vindication -> 5 mana. But that's development concerns the designs are strong. Epics- Faceless redemptor is cool but I don't know if i'm willing to pay +1 mana for divine shield on manipulator, Blessing of Khan'sac paladin just doesn't have enough weapons to support. Legendary- Besides the wonky mechanic(but it's a legendary), Paladins didn't get corrupted cards for a reason in WotoG. Paladins are the shiny golden boys.
A quick word on Frostfire Duality's common rarity: It was intended, since Mage has so many strong commons, adding weak commons will balance it out. Same thing for Fractal Gateway.
If Nighthaven Huntress were to spawn two On The Hunt, Malygos would have a field day. In any case, Elven Archers are more in theme with the card itself.
I'm not entirely too sure why needing a weapon causes a card to go into the Rare rarity. Many cards such as Bloodsail Raider, Buccaneer, Orgrimmar Aspirant are all common. And before you say that these cards can be played without a weapon, Deadly Poison is a basic card.
We have a theme... we're just keeping it a secret. The cards we're releasing thus far for all to see (the main set of this expansion) are mainly to keep the current meta going on, while very slowly introducing new cards that could help spawn new archetypes. The overall flavour is for all the bad guys to fight against the Legion. Essentially, bad vs. evil. We also have Hero Power swapping as a sub-theme.
As for Hakkar, I initially had him at 4/4 Charge, instead of 8/4. Maybe I will bring that concept back.
Blessing of "Consac" might/might not see play as Vindication could replace Solemn Vigil in control lists, giving the Blessing four targets.
Lastly, Zanywoop's favourite class in WoW is Paladin, so I'm not sure if he had a reason to add Paladin's first corrupted cards, unless it was only to maintain the overall flavour. Originally, we tried to use Lothraxion for the legendary, which would make much more sense, but there was no art.
A quick word on Frostfire Duality's common rarity: It was intended, since Mage has so many strong commons, adding weak commons will balance it out. Same thing for Fractal Gateway.
If Nighthaven Huntress were to spawn two On The Hunt, Malygos would have a field day. In any case, Elven Archers are more in theme with the card itself.
I'm not entirely too sure why needing a weapon causes a card to go into the Rare rarity. Many cards such as Bloodsail Raider, Buccaneer, Orgrimmar Aspirant are all common. And before you say that these cards can be played without a weapon, Deadly Poison is a basic card.
We have a theme... we're just keeping it a secret. The cards we're releasing thus far for all to see (the main set of this expansion) are mainly to keep the current meta going on, while very slowly introducing new cards that could help spawn new archetypes. The overall flavour is for all the bad guys to fight against the Legion. Essentially, bad vs. evil. We also have Hero Power swapping as a sub-theme.
As for Hakkar, I initially had him at 4/4 Charge, instead of 8/4. Maybe I will bring that concept back.
Blessing of "Consac" might/might not see play as Vindication could replace Solemn Vigil in control lists, giving the Blessing four targets.
Lastly, Zanywoop's favourite class in WoW is Paladin, so I'm not sure if he had a reason to add Paladin's first corrupted cards, unless it was only to maintain the overall flavour. Originally, we tried to use Lothraxion for the legendary, which would make much more sense, but there was no art.
There's a difference between wanting to not give them strong commons(fractal gateway is good for those, i just think it needs a little buf to go to "Playable in secret decks".), and giving them what is basically a purify.
Malygos shaman having a field day is kinda the point, it let's the card go in and enables more decks, also Thaurssisan will be gone so it will be a lot easier to play around Malygos hunter.(They can play maly + one unleash the hounds.) As it is the card has no synergy with hunter decks will just be a very strong Arena pick.
Needing a weapon causes the bump because all of those cards are playable without a weapon(Rogues always have a weapon from their hero power, so deadly poison is covered. Also basic being common is a weird hack, I mean it has flamestrike come on.), while this isn't a purify it is something that can easily end up dead.
Your theme is the big selling point of your set, put it front and center!
For Hakkar I honestly don't know how to make him work, but he is extremely specific. Probably 8/4 charge for 8 so he is a massive burst with savage roar attached rather than a card you use with unleash the hounds.
Thank you to everyone who has been commenting! A quick note - Just because I or McF4rtson post a class does not mean we made each and every card in that class. We also rebalanced the classes pretty heavily between each other. Almost every single card in here is a collaborative effort. Except Pit Crusher. That one we just had a good chuckle together and agreed to print it.
ASAPLor: We did not make the art, no. We got almost all our stuff from simple WoW ______ Art or WoW ______ TCG searches in google images.
Woomod: Thaurissan is gone... But more on that later. We do have a certain tool lined up, but suffice it to say we thought combo decks shouldn't completely phase out of the meta just yet.
On various card fronts...
On the Broll Bearmantle issue- Admittedly, you do need a lot beasts to die for him to gain value. I saw that as very possible scenario, what with Sabamasta' and enchanted Raven giving Beast druid some oomph.
As with Frostfire Duality, yeah it's slow, but at least I personally feel it's a string arena spell, and shouldn't be immediately written off. Also, Arcane Giant.
With the Highmountain Tracker, I'll concede it should probably be 2/2 as well. We may talk about changing it. It shouldn't have discover in my opinion, as I'm actually not a fan of just slapping discover into every concept. Random is good, in my opinion.
A comment on Demons- You'll be seeing a lot of those this expansion. For balancing reasons, we made some changes to some classic Warlock cards:
With the Faceless Redemptor I was trying to make a faceless Manipulator that encouraged a more control style- It gives the shield to it's target so you can still trade and not just pay five mana to keep a minion alive in a more tempo/control deck. No, I'm not sure it's great, but it's something I personally would like to tool around with.
Further more on duality: You cannot compare this to purify as mage cannot be compared to priest. In addition Duality can be played in freeze mage as a tech while purify needs an entire deck. I did this on purpose, to slightly weaken mages.
I also have no idea why maly shaman was brought up. (Was it a typo? For hunter?) In addition, Spellbound Arrow is actually for malyhunter. (Check the explanations) And I think I did say Nighthaven could be for Nzoth Hunter.
Priest Cards Common- Deacon is a good straightforward implementation of a classic priest effect so common is fine, raven relying on rares/epics sucks but shadowform being epic and not basic causes problems for anything built on it which it feels like you want to do, vampiric touch is good common removal even if it's constructed worthy it isn't capable of killing fatties. Rare- Undercity fanatic is definitely an interesting design I just don't like the anti-synergy with actual shadowform, Soulbound construct is a great and well designed rare, Apparitions could honestly be common. Epic- Boundless Light is the priest heal we've all wanted healing my board and my face pretty much to full, Holey donut is a better twisting nether 50/50 not to trigger death rattles and leave things on board but that's ok we want expansion cards to be a bit better than classic cards and warlock cards tend to be a bit worse to boot, of course leaving things on board is sometimes dangerous so it's not strictly better. Legendary- Can we just move resurrect to the classic set?
I'm gonna try to be a bit more concise this time around.
Don't think there is much to talk about the commons. Deacon is not a particularly interesting card, but it's a solid drop on-curve and has a pretty powerful effect; nor is Vampiric Touch, which is pretty boring, actually, but also the kind of solid card you need if you're trying to make a full custom expansion. It's a shame the stat distribution on Shadow Raven is so bad, 'cus I really like the concept behind it, but as it is I think there should be a way to play it on curve without benefitting from its effect (since it comes out even before Shadowform itself), nor it dying to a ping.
Undercity Fanatic is a cool concept; I've seen an almost identical card before, but it was a 1-drop, which is arguably better for this kind of effect (and also synergyzes better with Shadow Raven), but it's probably too powerful, after all, it guarantees you can remove almost all 2-drops your opponent plays. Soulbound Construct is the perfect embodiment of elegant simplicity, I simply love it. Shadowy Apparitions might be a bit slow to be really effective against more aggressive decks and is just a dead card on Control mirror.
And as always, the epics are the best ones. Boundless Light is quite cool and versatile; Holey Donut meddles with a potentially dangerous mechanic, but I like how the RNG doesn't really affect the outcome that heavily and, of course, the flavor is awesome. To top it, Calia is just a solid Legendary, albeit not a very interesting one.
I'm excited to see Rogue tomorrow, don't you guys dare let me down.
Alright, seems there's no way for me to send the direct link, so you should open this page, open the second category spoiler, ctrl + F "forsaken", click on it, then repeat with "priest" and you should be good to go. This is all because I'm assuming you don't speak russian, as neither do I. lol
How do you intend boundless light to work in game? Does it ping heals 1 per 1 like arcane missile? If so, it could be very awesome or OP in combi with cleric or champion. But i would love this spell. Since its only heal for friendly minions it can't be abused with soulpriest. Combos will with velen too.
-Soulbound constuct and Unending chill are both great concepts in my opinion.
-Penance seems kind of weak to me.
-Kobold Candlemaker seems a bit op.
-It would be nice to see a card that has synergy with Renounce Darkness (one of those "next hero power" cards or something?)
I think Kobold is not a little OP. It *is* OP. It's a Flamewaker replacement, and there really isn't much that can fill in the void of Flamewaker. (If you are not sure what I mean, see below reply.)
Zany and I may have forgotten about Renounce Darkness when making cards. Whoops.
How do you intend boundless light to work in game?
Yeah, I imagine it to be like Arcane Missiles. Rather, more like Avenging Wrath since the animation between hits is faster in Wrath. A side note, I think I might need to reword Boundless Light to heal only damaged targets, or it would be a bit too random. Lastly, and I need to stress this... This expansion would theoretically cause BRM, TGT, and LOE all to leave Standard. As such, there will not be any silly shenanigans with Holy Champion. (This disclaimer is on most of the class introductions and on the opening post.)
-Soulbound constuct and Unending chill are both great concepts in my opinion.
-Penance seems kind of weak to me.
-Kobold Candlemaker seems a bit op.
-It would be nice to see a card that has synergy with Renounce Darkness (one of those "next hero power" cards or something?)
I think Kobold is not a little OP. It *is* OP. It's a Flamewaker replacement, and there really isn't much that can fill in the void of Flamewaker. (If you are not sure what I mean, see below reply.)
Zany and I may have forgotten about Renounce Darkness when making cards. Whoops.
How do you intend boundless light to work in game?
Yeah, I imagine it to be like Arcane Missiles. Rather, more like Avenging Wrath since the animation between hits is faster in Wrath. A side note, I think I might need to reword Boundless Light to heal only damaged targets, or it would be a bit too random. Lastly, and I need to stress this... This expansion would theoretically cause BRM, TGT, and LOE all to leave Standard. As such, there will not be any silly shenanigans with Holy Champion. (This disclaimer is on most of the class introductions and on the opening post.)
Do we want to replace flamewaker though? (Though a far weaker version.) Also it also causes silly shenanigans with northshire cleric, since each point of healing would draw a card.
Zany's Paladin stuff is up!
So, what have we got for today? I now realize I missed some neutral commons back then, I'm gonna review them with the rare and epics after the Paladin Cards.
But first, a small rant before I proceed onto the commons: I really think people here in Hearthpwn (and maybe even Blizz devs) could start working on Paladin early game again, and not just a random 1-drop every expansion. I mean, for such cards to impact Wild they have to be even more powerful than Minibot and Muster, in other words, broken as fuck, but it can't be that hard to release something interesting and still powerful enough to see play in Standard. Not like they care at all about Wild balance anyway; just like at N'Zoth and think how the Shredder + Belcher + N'Zoth package is gonna be in almost every single deck in the format from now on.
Alright, let's do it. This time around, the commons seem like the coolest one. I really like the simplicity in Bygone Knight and the way it fits in the kind of Aggro Pally Blizz wants to promote, it's definitely much more fitting than that 2/1 that gives Divine Shield (I forgot what it's called lol). Penance is also a really nice concept (and pretty tricky to balance), though I think it would fit better in Priest, flavorwise, but since they already have so much hard removal, it seems smarter to make it a Pally card. Bastion of Argus is alright, seems pretty strong. I'm not particularly interested in that one, I think Divine Shield is overused in custom cards.
Onto the rares: Unending Aegis is cool, I like promoting the use of buffs and turning your Hero Power into one. Ancient Guardian is alright, again, not very interesting; seems a bit understated for its cost and effect, and I'm not sure Paladin needs any more healing. Vindication is a nice weapon, though it seems slow even in Control decks.
Blessing of Khan'sac is the most interesting of the two epics; in its current state, Paladin is as much of a "weapon class" as Warrior, but I'm still a little concerned about the scenarios where this card is just unplayable. Maybe if it cost a bit more and drew a card, so you could just play with no weapon equipped. I don't really like Faceless Redemptor; it seems a bit boring, but I suppose the Divine Shield would be a pretty relevant reason to run it over Manipulator.
Eadric seems a bit weird, but I kinda like it. There are not that many playable 5-drops in Standard, and I think this could be one of the few.
Now, the neutrals: I love Felstalker and Suramar Wailer, those are the kind of niche commons I think the game needs more of (you see, sometimes I tend to disregard Arena balance completely lol). Pit Crusher is whatever, just a reprint; you can't even say it's strictly better than Pit Fighter, after all, Demon is the only tribe with negative synergy in Standard.
Infinite Oppressor is pretty decent; I'd like to see Dragon decks endure even after BRM rotates out, and this one could help with that. It encourages you to run more Dragons in your deck, which also seems like the way to go after the good non-Dragon synergy (the Blackwings) are gone. Unending Nath'rezim is really cool, I can imagine the shenanigans in Rogue. lol Highlord is also nice, though a bit bland.
That's it boys. As always, good job. Can't wait to see what you got for Priest.
Hlmao
One of the better designed "Custom sets" I've seen.
However it lacks consistent theme, and it's rarity balance is poor. (Frostfire duality is a common?).
Druid
Commons- Val'sharah trainee is a little good but something always is going to be above curve, i think the main problem with it is that i'll never choose the backend, Unending Alms is just a card I don't want to face against every druid I see in arena.
Rare- These are good just Unending Alms should go here, while Bountiful Bloom should move to Epic.
Epic- Empowered moonkin needs 2 more health, primal force should move down to common.
Legendary- Broll should be 6 mana, why would you ever run him over Druid of the Claw or even Ironbark Protector at 7 mana?
Hunter
Commons- About Battlecry+Deathrattle being a legendary thing I agree at the very least epic, I also would prefer if Nighthaven Huntress if it got On the Hunt as it's the same card with more synergy to hunters. Spellbound Arrow needs a weapon and so shouldn't be common.
Rares- Bluntly any class without a healing spec isn't going to be given a heal and that's my opinion on kindred spirits, Devilish devilsaur is a worse version of Reckless Rocketeer which no one plays, untargetability is not worth one power on suicide minions and that's not counting it's a class card and not a basic card(many of which are intentionally undertuned so you can replace them.)
Legendary- Continuing the theme of disappointing Legendaries..... He's only ever intended to do burst damage and requires either you to have board or your opponent to have board+another card and if you have board is a 7 mana savage roar. I'd say make the hounds 4/2s but that makes it immediately too good with unleash the hounds.
Mage
Commons- Frostfire duality is a great example of a card in the wrong rarity no one wants this in arena but it's a great card for constructed, It's a clear epic contender, Also I'd prefer if it was 2 mana and drew a card so as not to -1 yourself. Stable Portal is just a good solid common. Fractal Gateway is....Ok I guess but i'd always want counterspell over it, maybe if the spell cost 3 less allowing the gateway to "Pay" for itself, also not common.
Rares- All of these are good and spot on for rarity, though i will say for hunk i'd prefer if he was 6 mana without the condition as he'd be a lot less swingy then. Also dat name.
Epics- Unending chill is strictly better than assassinate, but that's acceptable as intresting expansion cards should overtake the baseline of the classic set. Quel'dorei battle mage yeah has the problem of needing to be in hand.
Legendary- I like this legendary, it's a version of arcane armor that i can actually play. Definitely should not be made a higher drop as her effect is spot on for it's mana spot.
Paladin
Commons- I love the first two, simple but adding a lot to paladin good commons. Penance might need to go to 4 mana as that's about the going rate of "Premium" hard removal(With assassinate at 5 being the "Eh whatever" rate.), as for the effect in priest it fits both classes and Paladin needs it more. But bastion of argus is just not sure about it just feels off.
Rares- Unending Aegis -> 3 mana. Vindication -> 5 mana. But that's development concerns the designs are strong.
Epics- Faceless redemptor is cool but I don't know if i'm willing to pay +1 mana for divine shield on manipulator, Blessing of Khan'sac paladin just doesn't have enough weapons to support.
Legendary- Besides the wonky mechanic(but it's a legendary), Paladins didn't get corrupted cards for a reason in WotoG. Paladins are the shiny golden boys.
A quick word on Frostfire Duality's common rarity: It was intended, since Mage has so many strong commons, adding weak commons will balance it out. Same thing for Fractal Gateway.
If Nighthaven Huntress were to spawn two On The Hunt, Malygos would have a field day. In any case, Elven Archers are more in theme with the card itself.
I'm not entirely too sure why needing a weapon causes a card to go into the Rare rarity. Many cards such as Bloodsail Raider, Buccaneer, Orgrimmar Aspirant are all common. And before you say that these cards can be played without a weapon, Deadly Poison is a basic card.
We have a theme... we're just keeping it a secret. The cards we're releasing thus far for all to see (the main set of this expansion) are mainly to keep the current meta going on, while very slowly introducing new cards that could help spawn new archetypes. The overall flavour is for all the bad guys to fight against the Legion. Essentially, bad vs. evil. We also have Hero Power swapping as a sub-theme.
As for Hakkar, I initially had him at 4/4 Charge, instead of 8/4. Maybe I will bring that concept back.
Blessing of "Consac" might/might not see play as Vindication could replace Solemn Vigil in control lists, giving the Blessing four targets.
Lastly, Zanywoop's favourite class in WoW is Paladin, so I'm not sure if he had a reason to add Paladin's first corrupted cards, unless it was only to maintain the overall flavour. Originally, we tried to use Lothraxion for the legendary, which would make much more sense, but there was no art.
Needing a weapon causes the bump because all of those cards are playable without a weapon(Rogues always have a weapon from their hero power, so deadly poison is covered. Also basic being common is a weird hack, I mean it has flamestrike come on.), while this isn't a purify it is something that can easily end up dead.
Thank you to everyone who has been commenting! A quick note - Just because I or McF4rtson post a class does not mean we made each and every card in that class. We also rebalanced the classes pretty heavily between each other. Almost every single card in here is a collaborative effort. Except Pit Crusher. That one we just had a good chuckle together and agreed to print it.
ASAPLor: We did not make the art, no. We got almost all our stuff from simple WoW ______ Art or WoW ______ TCG searches in google images.
Woomod: Thaurissan is gone... But more on that later. We do have a certain tool lined up, but suffice it to say we thought combo decks shouldn't completely phase out of the meta just yet.
On various card fronts...
On the Broll Bearmantle issue- Admittedly, you do need a lot beasts to die for him to gain value. I saw that as very possible scenario, what with Sabamasta' and enchanted Raven giving Beast druid some oomph.
As with Frostfire Duality, yeah it's slow, but at least I personally feel it's a string arena spell, and shouldn't be immediately written off. Also, Arcane Giant.
With the Highmountain Tracker, I'll concede it should probably be 2/2 as well. We may talk about changing it. It shouldn't have discover in my opinion, as I'm actually not a fan of just slapping discover into every concept. Random is good, in my opinion.
A comment on Demons- You'll be seeing a lot of those this expansion. For balancing reasons, we made some changes to some classic Warlock cards:
With the Faceless Redemptor I was trying to make a faceless Manipulator that encouraged a more control style- It gives the shield to it's target so you can still trade and not just pay five mana to keep a minion alive in a more tempo/control deck. No, I'm not sure it's great, but it's something I personally would like to tool around with.
Further more on duality: You cannot compare this to purify as mage cannot be compared to priest. In addition Duality can be played in freeze mage as a tech while purify needs an entire deck. I did this on purpose, to slightly weaken mages.
I also have no idea why maly shaman was brought up. (Was it a typo? For hunter?) In addition, Spellbound Arrow is actually for malyhunter. (Check the explanations) And I think I did say Nighthaven could be for Nzoth Hunter.
*deep breath*
Priest is out.
Priest Cards
Common- Deacon is a good straightforward implementation of a classic priest effect so common is fine, raven relying on rares/epics sucks but shadowform being epic and not basic causes problems for anything built on it which it feels like you want to do, vampiric touch is good common removal even if it's constructed worthy it isn't capable of killing fatties.
Rare- Undercity fanatic is definitely an interesting design I just don't like the anti-synergy with actual shadowform, Soulbound construct is a great and well designed rare, Apparitions could honestly be common.
Epic- Boundless Light is the priest heal we've all wanted healing my board and my face pretty much to full, Holey donut is a better twisting nether 50/50 not to trigger death rattles and leave things on board but that's ok we want expansion cards to be a bit better than classic cards and warlock cards tend to be a bit worse to boot, of course leaving things on board is sometimes dangerous so it's not strictly better.
Legendary- Can we just move resurrect to the classic set?
I'm gonna try to be a bit more concise this time around.
Don't think there is much to talk about the commons. Deacon is not a particularly interesting card, but it's a solid drop on-curve and has a pretty powerful effect; nor is Vampiric Touch, which is pretty boring, actually, but also the kind of solid card you need if you're trying to make a full custom expansion. It's a shame the stat distribution on Shadow Raven is so bad, 'cus I really like the concept behind it, but as it is I think there should be a way to play it on curve without benefitting from its effect (since it comes out even before Shadowform itself), nor it dying to a ping.
Undercity Fanatic is a cool concept; I've seen an almost identical card before, but it was a 1-drop, which is arguably better for this kind of effect (and also synergyzes better with Shadow Raven), but it's probably too powerful, after all, it guarantees you can remove almost all 2-drops your opponent plays. Soulbound Construct is the perfect embodiment of elegant simplicity, I simply love it. Shadowy Apparitions might be a bit slow to be really effective against more aggressive decks and is just a dead card on Control mirror.
And as always, the epics are the best ones. Boundless Light is quite cool and versatile; Holey Donut meddles with a potentially dangerous mechanic, but I like how the RNG doesn't really affect the outcome that heavily and, of course, the flavor is awesome. To top it, Calia is just a solid Legendary, albeit not a very interesting one.
I'm excited to see Rogue tomorrow, don't you guys dare let me down.
As always, thanks for your comments. I can't seem to open your link (it comes out as a blank page), can you send it again?
-Soulbound constuct and Unending chill are both great concepts in my opinion.
-Penance seems kind of weak to me.
-Kobold Candlemaker seems a bit op.
-It would be nice to see a card that has synergy with Renounce Darkness (one of those "next hero power" cards or something?)
Really cool so far though I hope some of these make it into the game.
Alright, seems there's no way for me to send the direct link, so you should open this page, open the second category spoiler, ctrl + F "forsaken", click on it, then repeat with "priest" and you should be good to go. This is all because I'm assuming you don't speak russian, as neither do I. lol
How do you intend boundless light to work in game? Does it ping heals 1 per 1 like arcane missile? If so, it could be very awesome or OP in combi with cleric or champion. But i would love this spell. Since its only heal for friendly minions it can't be abused with soulpriest. Combos will with velen too.
Also it also causes silly shenanigans with northshire cleric, since each point of healing would draw a card.
The lightwarden is also a classic card.