Weekly Card Design Competition #4.13 [FINAL POLL]
Poll: Vote for your favourite "Easy As AoE" cards here!
Ended Oct 12, 2016
Ended Oct 12, 2016
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This Week's Finalists
Competition-Specific Restrictions:
(We recognize that there are a few ways to effectively deal damage to or destroy a minion, like setting its Health to 1 or returning it to its owner's hand or shuffling it into a deck, but lets avoid those and focus specifically on actual damage and actual destruction.)
We have whittled down ~190 valid entries to just 21 of the community's favorites.
Check out all the finalists below and vote in our poll (vote for as many or as few as you like) to help decide the winner and be sure to check back after the poll finishes for the announcement of the winner and the start of a new theme!
NOTE: Cards with a black border have additional material, like explanations or unique tokens, located in a spoiler at the bottom of the finalist gallery. They are listed in order of position in the final poll.
by pui980178
by nobravery
Bane of Doom
by omgnametakenwtf
by CheeseEatingEtc.
by canonblackwell
by McF4rtson
by welcho99
by Sneaky_Raptor
by Zanywoop
C'Thun
by Sera31
Loot Hoarder
by messyCanadian
by Zence93
Shadowform
by yebaba
by Demonic_Tutor_Zardikar
Ship's Cannon
Southsea Deckhand
by GearOFF
by Rhadan
by green_magic
by Missing
by cluelesspug
by HarryBastage
by Mewdrops (Wild Card)
Dragonfly Swarm
You can find me here! Good luck everyone!
Note: There was some conversation in the discussion topic about how and whether cards that incited multiple attacks would be allowed to qualify. Because this was a mechanic that does not actually exist in the game, there was some question regarding the nature of simultaneity, especially considering Arcane Missiles, which we had used as an example. After discussion we decided that we would not be disqualifying those entries. It only just happened that none of them made it to the finals except for the one wild card. =P
Question: How do you determine the number of finalists ?
Custom cards :
CLASSES : Alchemist (CCC#5 | Phase V) | Chef (CCC#4)
EXPANSIONS : Year of the Scorpion (Year Comp)
Cards I like:
Archimonde (omgnametakenwtf) - Great flavor. Great card. Probably the best version of Archimonde I’ve seen on this site. It might be a little too powerful is the only criticism I might have for it. At 9 Cost, maybe that’s okay.
Killing Spree (CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkey) - This also has great flavor, and is an interesting idea for a card. This would work well as a Rogue AOE against aggro decks. The only problem is a little weak, since it will be worse than Powershot in most cases.
Inaccurate Archer (Welcho99) - This is a really interesting idea. It would be good against aggro, but really weak against Control. Might be a little too weak as a card because it is kinda bad against Control, and wouldn’t deal well with Taunt minions (unless you need to go around the Taunt).
Fissure (SneakyRaptor) - I like how this portrays the idea of a fissure opening up in the ground, swallowing all the minions in the middle of the board. I also like the idea of cards that depend on positioning (like the one I submitted this week). This one is kinda versatile, since you can clear a large board for cheap, or take out 1-2 big minions in a Control deck. Players would have to try to keep their weak minions in the middle of the board against shaman, which could be a challenge since things like the Paladin and Shaman hero powers summon on the edge of the board.
Cards I don’t like:
Time Bomb (pui980178) - I really dislike time-based effects. They aren’t fair to players with even a little lag, or people on phones. Plus, they can be exploited with long animations at the end of your turn that cut into your opponent’s time.
Curator, Despot of Menagerie (nobravery) - This card only works if you’re running Dragons, Mechs, and Pirates all in the same deck. Which makes no sense. How would you create a working deck like that? People have had trouble making working decks with one minion type, and Pirates definitely don’t work in Warlock. This card puts too much effort into trying to just be the opposite of The Curator and not enough into making it a playable card.
Dragonfly Swarm (MewDrops) - There was a big debate in the discussion thread about whether cards that cause minions to attack count as AOE for this week’s theme. I still contend that they do not.
Come Play Make the Keyword!!!
Check out my Worgen Class in the Class Competition
The only time we don't go with a multiple of 4 (again excluding Wild Cards) is when the 16th/20th/Whatever last entry is tied with others, in which case we'd put them all in the final.
You can find me here! Good luck everyone!
Come Play Make the Keyword!!!
Check out my Worgen Class in the Class Competition
Cards I like:
Archimonde - Such a fun card. Great flavor, great for renolock, and amazing with demon synergistic decks (Voidcaller OP). Easily my favorite card in this competition.
Harvest Life - Another card that helps control Warlock. Warlock needs heals desperately, and I think this card has great flavor with the theme of Warlock. Also I made it ;)
C'Thun's Pyromancer - Can you tell I love control Warlock? Great card. Maybe a little OP, actually, but it is dead in your hand until C'Thun reaches 10 attack.
Sunfire - Synergizes very well with spell power, which Druids already run plenty of. It's like a cheap mini-Swipe and druid needs more board clearing power.
Coldhearted Doomsayer - Really clever and flexible design, also a good neutral board clear. Can freeze your own minions to protect them, or can freeze an enemy minion to make it harder for them to kill the Coldhearted Doomsayer.
Cannon Volley - Call of the Pirates. Love the design. Might be a bit too situational though. You have to combo it and have a weapon equipped to get value from the Southsea Deckhand. With Preparation and a dagger equipped though, it's bonkers. This might even give birth to some OTKs. Prep - Cannon Volley - Cannon Volley - Summon 1 or 2 more cheap pirates. That's like 26 damage burst.
Cards I like the design of, but they are OP:
Renegade Cleaver - I love the idea of the card, but it's a 3 mana 4/7 taunt. That's INSANE. In warrior the "drawback" is practically a benefit with Acolyte of Pain, Battle Rage, Frothing Berserker, Grim Patron, etc. Sadly, all I can see is this being used in some sort of aggro warrior given its crazy stats.
Cull Stratholme - Holy OP, Batman. I play a lot of Wild, and the last thing we need is for Secret Paladins to have a 3 mana 1-sided Twisting Nether. I like the idea of an AOE spell that provides its own spell damage though. EDIT: Just saw that it deals damage to all minions. It should be in ALL caps lol. Okay, it seems a lot more balanced now. Divine shield synergy too.
Inaccurate Archer - I really love the idea of the card's design, but my problem lies in the wording. "Only damages minions next to whom he attacks". For the same rule that applies to The Boogeymonster, this means that if your opponent trades into him, he does not deal 4 damage to any enemy characters. He also cannot go face, and Hunters need to SMOrc.
Custom cards :
CLASSES : Alchemist (CCC#5 | Phase V) | Chef (CCC#4)
EXPANSIONS : Year of the Scorpion (Year Comp)
My thoughts on this week's finals:
Great Design: Time Bomb; Archimonde; Coldhearted Doomsayer
Good & Need to try: Killing Spree; Cull Stratholme; Cthuns Pyromancer; Renegade Cleaver; Stitches; Harvest Life
Fair but not in MY deck: Sunfire; Fissure; where there's a mill; Gloom!; Dragonfly Swarm
IMBA (as in shouldn't have been considered): Curator, Despot of Menagerie; Utmost Subtlety; Cannon Volley
Likely to fail in current mechanics: Inaccurate Archer; Void Eruption; Shadow Word: Anguish (massive fail vs overload); Healing Flame
Just saying :D
Sorry to everyone who got confused on Cull Stratholme. I should ask whether I can send an updated card (In that I'm just bolding one part?), but probably can't unfortunately.
I didn't make the final this time but there is always next time, right.
Just want to give my feedback on a few of my favourites and least favourites.
Top notch
Coldhearted Doomsayer - This idea is so clever, it destroys the additional Doomsayer Frost Nova combo.. It's actually the reverse. Great flavour and art.
Dragonfly Swarm - Wow! This has become a controversial entry. Honestly, I love how clever this is. There is a lot of setup involved in using this card. So much synergy and also anti-synergy.. Great design.
Cannon Volley - Anything with Ship's Cannon i love. This is no exception. I really want a viable pirate rouge, i think this would make it.
Poor House
Gloom - I get the idea but its just a really poor piss-take of DOOM!. Mill priest, really?
Where there's a mill... - A clever idea but the art is poor and AGAIN it's another control pally win condition card.. Mill pally? (I actually like to play mill decks, honest).
Time bomb - 10 seconds? Seriously? this could be abused massively... I don't like the idea of limiting thinking time. I play on my phone too, so this card would actually STOP me playing on my phone.
>>>Check out my Latest Card Design Competition Entry<<<
What the heck, there is NO entry from page 4 here, I had equal 2nd most votes on the page (only 2 behind first)
Wohooo, I made it! Thanks for everyone that like my card. Congrats to all of the finalist and good luck to us all.
Some of the card I like among the finalist: Killing Spree, Inaccurate Archer, Fissure. I also vote for other card as well but those three are my favourite among the other card.
I figured I'd take the time to review each card, because I for once have everything done that I needed to!
For reference, I'll be giving each card a score out of 5. A score of 0 means that I don't think a card like that should ever exist, and any other score is just a sliding scale of bad to good, which I'll do my best to explain in each review.
Time Bomb - 0/5 - I loathe time-based mechanics, and this is a particularly punishing implementation of them.
Curator, Despot of Menagerie - 1/5 - The condition on this card is so restrictive for sake of being a reference, but it doesn't feel fun it just feels clunky and poorly thought out. Could've been much more interesting if it had an effect based on Demon, Pirate or Mech, rather than all three.
Archimonde - 2/5 - Feels a bit bland? I don't know, from what I understand of WoW lore Archimonde is a pretty important character, and while the effect of the card is probably verging on OP territory, it doesn't feel interesting in the way that it probably should.
Killing Spree - 4/5 - A very interesting card, I like the potential it has to be a board clear with Spell Damage. Having said that, I feel like the theme of it is a bit off - I'd have preferred to see some dagger throwing shenanigans than pistols. Fairly balanced, I think.
Sunfire - 3/5 - A good card, certainly, but I can't help but feel I've seen the idea before a few too many times. I'd also have preferred less of a direct reference to Moonfire, personally, just because I'm not a huge fan of cards referring to other cards unless they have a cohesive design, which this doesn't share with Moonfire - it has more in common with Swipe, really.
Utmost Subtlety - 3/5 - A good design, and I think almost balanced (I'd probably have put it at 6 mana), but it falls short thematically. I'm not sure what being subtle has to do with dealing a bunch of damage, I'd have expected a thieving card with that name.
Inaccurate Archer - 4/5 - One of my favourite cards in this final, it unfortunately falls a bit short just because the wording isn't perfect, which causes a lot of issues with interactions - can it damage the enemy hero? What about when it is attacked, as opposed to attacking? An amazing idea nonetheless.
Fissure - 2/5 - Feels weak. A worse Deadly Shot when your opponent has 3 minions out, and can easily be played around by the opponent since as far as I can recall Shaman has no other position matters cards for them to worry about. I also don't really like tacking Overload onto something as an excuse to play it earlier when playing it earlier doesn't matter, as is the case with this card. You want to play it later when the opponent has a board.
Cull Stratholme - 1/5 - I guess it's a fairly balanced card, I just don't understand what Spell Damage synergy is doing in Paladin, really. Feels really thematically out of place. Is there a specific reason to do with Stratholme that I'm missing because I don't know much about WoW?
C'thuns Pyromancer - 0/5 - Ignoring minor text errors, this card is fairly well balanced. I just don't ever want to see any more C'Thun cards in the game - and I don't think we will, because of the Standard rotation. More of a personal gripe, so don't take the 0 as me hating the card's design, because I don't.
Where there's a mill... - 0/5 - Yeah, cards that just straight up call out being Mill cards are dumb, IMO. I feel like a lot of the nuance of a card should be recognising it's potential in whatever archetype, whereas this just screams Mill and would never be used in any other deck, mainly because it's way overcosted (compared to Poison Seeds). And it has to be, because of the Mill potential. Just an overall bad design, I think.
Renegade Cleaver - 3/5 - Cool idea, too OP. Not much more to say, it just needs less stats and it'd be a great card.
Void Eruption - 1/5 - Not a fan of Shadowform-based cards when Shadowform is so underrepresented as a mechanic. It'd be like having a card that, I don't know, specifically doesn't get transformed by Renounce Darkness as its effect (although that'd be worse, since at least Shadowform is evergreen). Ooh, better example - a card that had a specific effect when you were Lord Jaraxxus. The actual card itself is alright, probably balanced fairly enough.
GLOOM! - 0/5 - Another card with a forced reference that doesn't really make sense. Why does destroying all minions and having your opponent draw cards mean gloom? Also, randomly trying to make Mill work in a class that has no basis for it.
Cannon Volley - 4/5 - I'm interested. I really like the concept, but I think it's probably too powerful, just because Rogue has access to Swashburglar and can also obviously run their own Southsea Deckhands, which would mean this card could very quickly spiral out of control. Conceptually great, just maybe not perfectly balanced IMO.
Stitches - 2/5 - Abomination's big brother. Feels a bit bland for a legendary, especially since he can usually be taken out in one go by the time you reach his mana cost. Doesn't help that I've seen much more interesting designs for Stitches cards before, which are probably tipping my judgement.
Shadow Word: Anguish - 0/5 - Reprint Lightbomb, but make it just a little bit different. Or don't.
Healing Flame - 3/5 - Interesting idea, but I think it's too strong at too low a cost. You'll too often be able to kill off the opponent's minions but leave yours alive, which is too good for 2 mana. I'd say 3 mana would be much closer to being balanced.
Harvest Life - 5/5 - Referencing an older card done right. Comparable to Holy Nova for damage dealt, and concentrates the healing where a Warlock would want it instead of spreading it out like a Priest. And the Drain Life comparison is obvious, but still not too blatant.
Coldhearted Doomsayer - 4.5/5 - I so want to love this card. The effect is ingenious and really unique, and the utility of it is so interesting. I just wish the name was better, because it feels tacked on rather than a good reference like it should, and I can't really articulate why.
Dragonfly Swarm - 2/5 - I wasn't super big on the 'attack at random' cards counting this week, personally, so I'm not a super big fan of the design. The combos with Timber Wolf and Scavenging Hyena are obvious, which is cool I guess because those cards aren't used, but my biggest gripe is that the card doesn't feel like it fits well thematically. In the adventure it was a part of - am I remembering that right? - it made more sense because the other cards fit together with the theme, but as a standalone it doesn't really work.
Oh, and @Dracossack, we don't guarantee that every page will have a card get through. The first page also didn't have any cards get through - I know because I was most voted =P - and there may have been others. It's all about how you do relative to cards on your page.
You can find me here! Good luck everyone!