Hearthpwn

Greetings, Hearthpwn!

Hello again! As I stated in the first poll, we're almost half-way though our third Class Creation Competition, and it's time for you to help us determine who will advance to the next phase by voting for your favorite fan-created classes! Three phases in, competitors have completed their classes' Basic and Classic sets. Check out out their new classes below, represented by their hero, hero power, and four example cards from their Classic Set.

If what you see here piques your interest, click on any class's name to be directed to their post in the Phase III Submission Topic, where you can see their full Classic and Basic sets, as well as deeper explanations of their classes. Also, remember to check out the spoilers below each entry to check out their example cards' flavor text and any relevant tokens.

Because we have so many competitors still remaining, this phase's poll was split in two. The first poll began yesterday, ran for 24 hours, and has now concluded, so now it's time for the second poll for the second half of the competition entries. Check 'em out!

THE DRYAD by Broeck1 (post #27)

THE FLAME WIELDER by SanderNightsite (post #2)

THE ALCHEMIST by Turkeybag (post #8)

THE SWARMLORD by Zanywoop (post #20)

THE STARCALLER by Hurien (post #24)

THE DRAGON KNIGHT by FunPolice749 (post #21)

THE CULT LEADER by OBoily (post #22)

THE STORYTELLER by aaro54 (post #23)

THE BLOOD MAGE by ZardozSpeaks (post #26)

THE WORGEN by nurgling13 (post #14)

THE STARGAZER by freddoccino (post #19)

THE DANCER by Giz4Gamer (post #6)

Same as yesterday, all competitors please let me know ASAP if there's something I screwed up here that needs fixing. =)
Otherwise, best of luck!

Group 2 comes in and now things are a bit more interesting. Nothing against this group, but at lot more of these folks submitted near the last day, while for some it was because they took a long time balancing, for others it was just because they had to slap their sets together to get anything out. I think that has left this group a bit more diverse and probably a touch weaker on flavor and style.

Broeck1's Dryad was 2nd place after last round, and I think continues the strong performance. SanderNightsite has been his usual mod self. Slamming out his content in a crisp clean fashion. He was the first person submitted by a long shot. Turkeybag comes in as our 3rd Alchemist, and they all have different flavors and directions. His is probably my personal favorite. Zanywoop comes in with the ugliest card back, but his seasoned card creation champion personality still led to a nice cohesive identity. Hurien was indeed in a hurry to get in before the deadline, and I hate to say it but I think a few cards actually suffered for it. OBoily's Cult Leader might be my favorite class this set. I think his keyword is very cool, and one of the things I like about it is how you can use it very very sparingly but because each card effectively has it twice. I do think it suffers in terms of arena though. ZardoSpeaks' Bloodmage I know was tuning down to the last minute and I think it worked out in his favor. His set has some of the most dynamic and thought provoking cards to me. Nurgling's Worgen really shows off his precision as a creator. He's using his extensive knowledge and design skills to really bring a "race" alive as a class. Giz4Gamer's Dancer waltz in off the Wildcard to try out something new. He struggled with flavor early but pulled out some great changes to really bring things together.

I know my view of things isn't the only one. I know I value flavor first, and I nitpick about balance. I still think that almost everyone did a great job and its going to be a tough competition.

Quote from Broeck1 >>

@the_odinsin. So, I am the creator of Druid now? Alrightyyy, first thing I am going to do at work tomorrow is drink some coffee with the Brode. Second, I'll nerf Jade Idol!

Quote from Zanywoop >>

Worgen: I like Worgen. I don't think it's completely balanced and it fails the reverse Finley test (It doesn't function that well without it's Hero Power) but it does function. I like where the class is going frankly. I dunno. I like it.

 

Quote from nurgling13 >>

Quote from Zanywoop >>

Worgen: I like Worgen. I don't think it's completely balanced and it fails the reverse Finley test (It doesn't function that well without it's Hero Power) but it does function. I like where the class is going frankly. I dunno. I like it.

You bring up an interesting point about my class. You might think that it would be bad if you changed hero powers, but it actually enables a unique strategy, because it locks you into either Human or Worgen form if you switch hero powers. Then, you will always be able to trigger cards with that keyword for the rest of the game. So, while switching hero powers would hurt the average Worgen deck, it actually enables a different Worgen archetype.

Quote from Asylum_Rhapsody >>

Quote from nurgling13 >>

Quote from Zanywoop >>

Worgen: I like Worgen. I don't think it's completely balanced and it fails the reverse Finley test (It doesn't function that well without it's Hero Power) but it does function. I like where the class is going frankly. I dunno. I like it.

You bring up an interesting point about my class. You might think that it would be bad if you changed hero powers, but it actually enables a unique strategy, because it locks you into either Human or Worgen form if you switch hero powers. Then, you will always be able to trigger cards with that keyword for the rest of the game. So, while switching hero powers would hurt the average Worgen deck, it actually enables a different Worgen archetype.

Is that how it would work? I sort of assumed that, since you not longer have Human Form or Worgen Form as hero powers, neither Human nor Worgen effects would ever trigger. I thought Human effects triggered while you have the Human Form power and Worgen effects triggered while you have the Worgen Form power. I was probably thinking about it too literally, though. What you said does make sense thematically and wouldn't be un-intuitive.

Quote from Asylum_Rhapsody >>

Quote from nurgling13 >>

Quote from Zanywoop >>

Worgen: I like Worgen. I don't think it's completely balanced and it fails the reverse Finley test (It doesn't function that well without it's Hero Power) but it does function. I like where the class is going frankly. I dunno. I like it.

You bring up an interesting point about my class. You might think that it would be bad if you changed hero powers, but it actually enables a unique strategy, because it locks you into either Human or Worgen form if you switch hero powers. Then, you will always be able to trigger cards with that keyword for the rest of the game. So, while switching hero powers would hurt the average Worgen deck, it actually enables a different Worgen archetype.

Is that how it would work? I sort of assumed that, since you not longer have Human Form or Worgen Form as hero powers, neither Human nor Worgen effects would ever trigger. I thought Human effects triggered while you have the Human Form power and Worgen effects triggered while you have the Worgen Form power. I was probably thinking about it too literally, though. What you said does make sense thematically and wouldn't be un-intuitive.

Omg, I totally remembering now you saying that early on. I'm not sure how I forgot that, sorry. XP

Quote from nurgling13 >

No, all heroes are considered to be in Human form until they use the Worgen form Hero Power. And then you don't become Human again until you use the Human Form hero power. This also means Worgen cards aren't entirely useless to other classes. Cards with Worgen are worse, but cards with Human are better for other classes. As a side note, I also was thinking being in Worgen form would be indicated by like a red aura around your Hero Portait, so it's easy to tell, even if you switch hero powers.

Quote from Mewdrops >>

Quote from nurgling13 >

No, all heroes are considered to be in Human form until they use the Worgen form Hero Power. And then you don't become Human again until you use the Human Form hero power. This also means Worgen cards aren't entirely useless to other classes. Cards with Worgen are worse, but cards with Human are better for other classes. As a side note, I also was thinking being in Worgen form would be indicated by like a red aura around your Hero Portait, so it's easy to tell, even if you switch hero powers.

 Just a thought, but what if your keyword was simply 'Worgen', since all other heroes are humans (and elves, and orcs, and murlocs, and...)? That'd make it more obvious how it works with other classes. Cards with 'Human' can simply be replaced by 'Battlecry', with 'Worgen' being 'do this instead'. On spells, you can just have the human text. For cards with human only, you can add 'Worgen: Do nothing'.

I'm not sure how much that'll screw up your wording, but I think it might help when it comes to figuring out how stuff works.

Quote from nurgling13 >>

That would screw up my wording. It takes more space to write out the "Worgen: Do nothing." On Rally, for example, I couldn't fit the effect in four lines if I did what you suggested. Plus, other classes getting a hold of your cards is a fringe case. 99% of the time, it's the Worgen class using Worgen spells, so it should be based around that interaction.

Your change would also change how Lord Darius Crowley works. Most people may not realize that Lord Darius Crowley doesn't just make your Worgen keywords trigger twice. It makes them trigger once (0 plus 1) while you're in Human form. If I made your change, Lord Darius would also affect cards that now have the Human keyword, because I would have to put Worgen on them to reword them in your way. And the cards that have both Worgen and Human right now would only trigger the Worgen keyword, rather than triggering both while in Human form, which they normally do. Plus, I specifically worded my cards so that the Worgen keyword never says "Instead, do this" because that couldn't trigger twice with Lord Darius.

Oh, that's right, I saw the question about the Hero Power with Discover but never got to answering it, my bad. Yeah, that was allowed. Although we've been pretty strict about what goes on cards themselves so that people aren't using keywords unrealistically before sets they would belong in, we've never restricted Hero Powers that same way just because Hero Powers are such a narrow design space already. I was going to limit them this competition, but then I decided not to because we had a challenge narrowing the Hero Power design space even further. This may change for the future, but it was allowed this time, and that wasn't the only entry that did it.