Hearthpwn

This Week's Finalists

Competition-Specific Restrictions:

• The top 3 finalists in our Keyword Kerfuffle competition were Meditate, Defend, and Echo. Your card this week must use one of those keywords. The card may have the keyword itself, like how Harvest Golem has Deathrattle, or it may interact with it, whether positively or negatively, like Undertaker or Lil' Exorcist. (You may use more than one of the keywords if you really feel you're up to the challenge)
• The keyword definitions are as follows - check out the finalist poll above for more info:
  ......

We have whittled down ~110 valid entries to just 12 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 Ligiertheexalted
by Crucinel
by nurgling13
by Repeaterblox
by Mewdrops
by Zanywoop
by Vonrith
by Sneaky_Raptor
by Fortify
by Hojobert
by kasa1234567
by Broeck1

---

Monk Novice

Hmm, I think I'll give some thoughts on the cards this time, there's only 12 so it's a bit easier =P

Ragnaros, Rage of Sargeras - I don't like it. It seems inherently stronger than Ragnaros and is just a clone of him, anyway. Not a particularly intriguing idea.

Monk Novice - Seems overly complicated and unnecessarily annoying for a new player to understand what will happen when they play it.

Antiquing - I think that it's too powerful at 0 mana, but I really like the idea behind it. A good use of the keyword thematically as a set-up and then execution of a plan.

Stormwind Phalanx - I don't like that it's a better Sen'jin Shieldmasta on the first turn, and then if it survives it has 5 Attack and can trade. Just overall seems a bit too powerful compared to existing cards in my ideas. The idea is excellent though.

Cowardly Mercenary - A cool concept in theory, even if the actual mechanics of it might be a bit weird.

Anubisath Crusher - A very well-executed concept for how Defend could be used in an interesting way. I think that two cards is a little bit too swingy though, I'd have preferred just one.

Time-Lord Melchaurr - I might be biased, but this is the exact sort of idea that I think would be implemented if Echo was made a mechanic. It improves Echo cards without being broken in any way.

Oozify - A neat little callback, although I can't help but feel that maybe it's a little weak with cards like Faceless Manipulator running around.

Watch Tower - Defend seems superfluous on this card. What would removing the Defend keyword actually change about the functionality of it, because I can't think of anything?

Boomer XP-500 - This is a cool design, I like the Meditate cards that forced decisions between attacking that turn or receiving their effect by using Charge. Not a huge fan of the art though.

Echo from the Past - A cool idea, and it provides neat synergies with other cards that Shaman has like Resurrect. I think its probably balanced, too, so great job!

Grimestreet Brawler - This is... a weird one. The 5/5 Taunt is very well-done for pushing Taunt Warrior, I like it, but the additional effect seems tacked on and not particularly flavourful. It also doesn't really make sense thematically why only the second one would reset it.

Quote from nurgling13 >>

 

Watchtower - Defend is completely superfluous on this card. If you removed "Defend" from the card text, it would have no effect. Enemies can only attack on your opponent's turn in the first place. A card that doesn't actually use the keyword shouldn't have made it to the finals.

Quote from ShadowsOfSense >>

 

Watch Tower - Defend seems superfluous on this card. What would removing the Defend keyword actually change about the functionality of it, because I can't think of anything?

 

Quote from SWGolgoth >>

On the opposite corner of the ring, I really have issues with Watch Tower, because Defend is redundant - as enemies can only attack during the enemy turn. You could remove the keyword and it'd be functionally the same. Is it valid to have a submission where the keyword does nothing?

(Still, 5 cards I love vs. 1 I hate... that's a positive outcome, no? :p)

To respond to some of the comments made on my submission Stormwind Phalanx,

• Asylum_Rhapsody, good catch on the linguistics. your wording is better. Hearthstone's best feature is simplicity. 
• nurgling13, buff/heal is the trade off for not attacking. to "heal 2" your losing out on 5 damage. I think this area is exactly where the Meditate keyword becomes interesting. Also consider, the card would have to be in play for 3 turns before this would be relevant. Thats a long time for a minion and 2 heal seems negligible compared to what some other minions offer if un-checked. 
• ShadowsOfSense, Im glad someone raised this because the statline was what I struggled with the most. My reasoning went along the lines, we have 5/4s for 4 that are better and for the most part are not too popular. 9 stats for 4 mana seems to be the new norm. Sen'jin Shieldmasta and Evil Heckler contradict each other in taunt/stat mana evaluations. However neither see much play so I feel there is some room there. A 3/6 taunt for 4 is is what I was left with and I wondered if it were too powerful. A Twilight Guardian for example has a serious condition. But I told myself this isnt a 3/6 for 4 mana its a 3/6 "cannot attack". To evaluate a generic 4 mana "cannot attack" taunt I think we can consider 3/7 or 3/8. Eerie Statue might suggest even higher. Thats where I justified it being ok at 3/6 (it can attack conditionally). Tho in some ways you could view this as a 5/6 taunt for 4 tho and thats clearly OP, but would anyone play it at 5 mana probably not. Overall, its the tricky part of evaluating Meditate minions. I raised this last week when it won. What is losing X damage worth? In some ways I think its higher then our first thoughts. 
• Broeck1, I think technically it would gain +2/-2 at the start of your turn so yeah awkward interaction with aldor. I dont even want to think about what happens if you throw a Crazed Alchemist in the mix. Tho there are some unintended consequences I dont think any of them are too bad. Tricky part of the mechanics in the game. I still have to pause and think for a second every time two Sylvanas hit the board.

Thanks for the comments. I must admit I was somewhat surprised with the positive response I got to the card this week. I didnt think it was exciting enough to garnish much attention. I just wanted to explore what Mediate did and could do. I think I learned alot this week.

I also wanted to add that I'll try to work on how I share my critique. I think I can come off rather harshly sometimes but that is not my intention. I think being critical is hallmark to good game design. But there is tact to be used when sharing critique and I need to work on that.  Especially when having fun and exploring creativity should be the goals of the contests. 

Tough competition this week. I think Cowardly Mercenary is my favorite but many caught my eye.

Edit: @Rhadan, yes this has happen to me before and I spoke to one of the mods and they said its just a visual glitch and doesnt influence the results. 

Watch Tower is my favorite

Quote from SWGolgoth >>

 

It's just that it is making an incorrect use of the keyword - which in my eyes invalidates it for this one competition in particular, nearly to the point of warranting a disqualification. But that doesn't make it a bad card, under other circumstances, it'd probably get my vote.