Loving the expansion so far, I've got to say. Lot of really nice cards, but I've got one major issue, and that's warlock.
You seem to be attributing way too much of a downside to burn, at least in the cases of Infernal Engine and, to a lesser extent, felbot. Like, let's take fel reaver for example: A card that can easily mill large tracts of your deck, but for an 8/8 of stats. People ran that card in mech decks, and that was before they had a quest for it. Now compare that to your Infernal Engine: 0/7 of stats for 4 mana. Now let's, as a thought, say that it only goes off once: You've just summoned a 6/6 for 4 mana, and two cards off the top, which is already crazy good value, since your hand is untouched. Even more than that, it can do it again, and your board, as it stands, needs a solid 13 damage to clear. So if they only have, say, 7, they can leave a 6/6 on board, or let you replace the 6/6.
That's crazy value, probably to game-breaking extremes. And our downside for this is milling 2 cards per turn until they destroy your engine.
So, back to fel-reaver: This is an extra 2/2 of stats (Let's say 5 mana for a 6/6 accounts for any effects you'd normally have), at the downside that any enemy with cheap cards can easily destroy, let's say 9 cards from your deck. 2/2 of stats, for milling 9 cards. People ran that card.
This card, gives us, let's say, +1/+1 of stats, at the barest minimum, for 2 cards (Still pretty good). And then, if you're lucky enough for your engine to survive, you get +7/+7 of stats (Delayed, admittedly), for 4 cards. And those cards are still quest progress. I'm not 100% sure how to solve this issue, but I guarantee you there is an issue here.
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Having written all that, Felbot seems pretty normal, if I'm honest, but I'd still suggest making it burn at the end of every turn, granted that it's about +1 of health. (Unless that's actually a buff? Darn Warlocks making weaknesses into strengths, so confusing)
I'd like to reiterate that most of these cards are excellent. Jesting imp is great, and I've been wanting the 'opposite minions' effect in the game, and you've brought that back in a great way. High tide feels like it has really nice flavor, and battle chaos is a perfect meme card, almost on the level of noggenfogger, especially considering that it basically gives all of your minions windfury for minions only. Honestly, it could be a lot of fun if it was all minions, although it's definitely great as it is.
The above is a pretty long explanation of my thoughts on infernal engine, but long story short: A lot of great cards, which are well-balanced, barring one or two (Literally one or two) ones that I find to be kind of broken.
I think you have a point about Infernal Engine, I'll reduce its health by 4, meaning that in the most cases it'll just summon a single Infernal and die, which basically puts it on the same level as fel reaver (6/6 and a 0/3 with pseudo-taunt for 4 mana with 2 cards burnt).
Loving the expansion so far, I've got to say. Lot of really nice cards, but I've got one major issue, and that's warlock.
You seem to be attributing way too much of a downside to burn, at least in the cases of Infernal Engine and, to a lesser extent, felbot. Like, let's take fel reaver for example: A card that can easily mill large tracts of your deck, but for an 8/8 of stats. People ran that card in mech decks, and that was before they had a quest for it. Now compare that to your Infernal Engine: 0/7 of stats for 4 mana. Now let's, as a thought, say that it only goes off once: You've just summoned a 6/6 for 4 mana, and two cards off the top, which is already crazy good value, since your hand is untouched. Even more than that, it can do it again, and your board, as it stands, needs a solid 13 damage to clear. So if they only have, say, 7, they can leave a 6/6 on board, or let you replace the 6/6.
That's crazy value, probably to game-breaking extremes. And our downside for this is milling 2 cards per turn until they destroy your engine.
So, back to fel-reaver: This is an extra 2/2 of stats (Let's say 5 mana for a 6/6 accounts for any effects you'd normally have), at the downside that any enemy with cheap cards can easily destroy, let's say 9 cards from your deck. 2/2 of stats, for milling 9 cards. People ran that card.
This card, gives us, let's say, +1/+1 of stats, at the barest minimum, for 2 cards (Still pretty good). And then, if you're lucky enough for your engine to survive, you get +7/+7 of stats (Delayed, admittedly), for 4 cards. And those cards are still quest progress. I'm not 100% sure how to solve this issue, but I guarantee you there is an issue here.
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Having written all that, Felbot seems pretty normal, if I'm honest, but I'd still suggest making it burn at the end of every turn, granted that it's about +1 of health. (Unless that's actually a buff? Darn Warlocks making weaknesses into strengths, so confusing)
I'd like to reiterate that most of these cards are excellent. Jesting imp is great, and I've been wanting the 'opposite minions' effect in the game, and you've brought that back in a great way. High tide feels like it has really nice flavor, and battle chaos is a perfect meme card, almost on the level of noggenfogger, especially considering that it basically gives all of your minions windfury for minions only. Honestly, it could be a lot of fun if it was all minions, although it's definitely great as it is.
The above is a pretty long explanation of my thoughts on infernal engine, but long story short: A lot of great cards, which are well-balanced, barring one or two (Literally one or two) ones that I find to be kind of broken.
I think you have a point about Infernal Engine, I'll reduce its health by 4, meaning that in the most cases it'll just summon a single Infernal and die, which basically puts it on the same level as fel reaver (6/6 and a 0/3 with pseudo-taunt for 4 mana with 2 cards burnt).
Nice. That seems like a still strong card, maybe even a little OP but hey, every archetype should have an OP card or two, that's just part for the requisites for a deck, and this would make some pretty reliable support. It's a bit like Anyfin Can Happen was for Murlocs in paladin, great value, but not game breaking.
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So, when a warrior uses Dead Man's Hand, what does that actually mean in terms of flavor? Is he the dead man? Does he cut off his own hand? Is that why he has Tentacles for Arms? Does he think that tentacles are actually as good as arms?
These reasons and more are why I think warriors are more mysterious than people give them credit for.
The Kraken is a token from the secret, not a separate minion, this is why there's no rarity. Also, you're right that I have different thing in mind for Hunter, I'll try to do something different than midrange or aggro for hunter with my expansion.
Regarding Shaman of the Abyss: totally forgot about totem golem, you're right, it should be basic.
In some sense the temptress will be a legendary, as I doubt any decks will run more than 1. However, I've got something more interesting in mind for the priest legendary, so the temptress will remain a rare.
I am sorry, I didn't quite catch what you said about cornered sentry. I can't see any of the cards I released so far synergising with it, unless you mean shifting the positions of your opponents' minions with the raprors so your opposite minions effects land on more valuable minions? I'm confused, could you please explain?
Yeah, that's what I mean by making Cornered Sentry a good card. You either shift the position of the minions for more value target or you increase the minion your opponent control. I think that this is the kind of expansion where the effect should be included in your set.
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Click here to visit my Timestream Tracking Finalist Year of the Dragon in collaboration with Demonxz95
Sorry guys, now this is really the last batch of cards before I go afk for a few days. I'm adding the rest of the Hunter cards, beside the Maiden of the Wild you saw a while ago and the more recent secret Treacherous Depths. As I've hinted in a reply to Shatterstar1998, this time I'm not improving on face or midrange archetypes. Oh no, I'm lloking for a deck more elusive even than the fabled Unicorn Priest. I'm talking about Control Hunter.
Why couldn't Control Hunter ever take off? Well, the answer is pretty simple: Hunter as a class doesn't cover any of the requirements for a control deck. No healing, no hard removal, no board clears, nothing. Most importantly, not even card draw. Besides, even Hunter's hero power is ill-suited for control games, since it doesn't affect the board state, your health total or draw any cards whatsoever. It just deals damage to the enemy face, which any control deck with half-decent life gain scoffs at.
Building Control Hunter from scratch certainly wouldn't be easy, but I hope the cards I add now help.
Scythebeak- a much needed source of healing, should Hunter ever play control. However, bear in mind that if this card is played on turn 1, most of the time the heal would be wasted, meaning this isn't really a 1 drop, except versus aggro where you would play it for the body. However, in all other matchups this card is best played later, as it is one of two precious health sources for hunter.
Law of the Jungle- I know the flavour of the card is closer to Un'goro than draenor, but I just couldn't resist not using such an awesome art. Simple hard removal to deal with big minions. However, it's terribly overcosted, meaning you'd have to keep a board presence of beats for the card to be useful. You'll notice the same trend in some of the next cards- they are near useless without beasts on board, making maintaining board presence an inherent trait of Control Hunter.
Sin'dorei Pack Leader- finally, a card draw for Hunters of all archetypes (except face, too slow for that). If the minion is only adjacent to a single Beast, it's basically the same as Gnomish Inventor, e.g. not good. However, if you happen to maintain your board of Beasts, you will be rewarded with an incredible value gain.
Midnight Hunt- Midnight...? Hmmm...and the card costs 12? Coincidence? Jokes aside, this is simply hunters' Twisting Nether. However, it might be better if you played a lot of beasts, or a lot worse, even literally unplayable, if you only played a few. Just like Nether, it's an emergency button to push when your enemy gets way ahead of you. The main difference is that if you summoned like 10 Beasts or something the card gets basically free, enabling big swings. Hmm, perhaps I should change the effect to played Beasts only. What do you think?
And now, I present to you the fuel for all those beast board presence effects, along with the second hunter epic, the backbone of this deck that will push it into viability.
Outstanding Groomer- getting two tabbycats at the end of each turn sure comes in handy when you want to get the most out of Law of the Jungle and Sin'dorei Pack Leader, or the new epic. The effect by itself is worthless when not combined with those cards, but together they do pack a punch.
Immovable Hermit- before someone gets confused, this card is a new type of token, the same as Sherazin, Corpse Flower's seed form and the dark portal from Lakkari Sacrifice. I've already made some similar cards in this expansion, Like Illidan himself and an Abyssal, but this is the first one that isn't meant to be revived.
To clarify- tokens like Sherazin's seed are indestructible (not even Brawl kills them, believe me, I tried), but can't attack or do anything. This card is different. It can't transform into a normal minion like Sherazin. Instead, its purpose is to sit on your board and constantly heal you, the main source of healing for Control Hunter.
Not so endless really though. Even though the crab itself is indestructible, adjacent Beasts aren't. Your opponent can easily destroy them and the fountain of health will dry up. Nonetheless, I'm still not sure I balanced it correctly, so if you believe the cost needs to be higher or the heal-less, you're welcome to mention it in the comments.
Finally, the Hunter Legendary takes care of the class' most jarring problem- its hero power- and turns it into an ability any control deck would be proud of.
Borf is an original character of mine, so before I proceed with the discussion of the card itself, I'll quickly invent some lore for him. If you're not into lore, skip the italized part.
Lore: Between the times when the pirates swarmed Gadgetzan and the rise of the Core of Crystals, there was an age undreamed of. And unto this, Rexxar, destined to wear the scruffy hat of a hunter upon a troubled brow, had become the laughing stock of all the other classes. Desperate to reclaim his glory, he sought the aid of Borf, Ironforge's famed sharpshooter. Under his guidance Rexxar learned to not hit face and abandoned the way of the bow in favor of the firearm. It was then that Illidan's call for aid reached him. The hunter returned, destined to defend his homeland from the Legion, and his teacher accompanied him. It is I, his chronicler, who alone can tell thee of his saga. Let me tell you of the days of high adventure! (a cookie for whoever catches the reference first)
And now about the card's effect. Mana cost and stats are mostly irrelevant here, as the effect triggers at the start of the game, meaning I mostly had to focus on the new hero power being similar in power level to the basic ones. I think it is; you essentially trade your ability to finish your opponent off with your hero power for a weapon, with which you can control the board,but which is bad at hitting face (what a paradox for Rexxar). The added 1 health heal on breaking the weapon is mostly irrelevant and just there to give the deck another tiny boost.
That will be all until Tuesday, perhaps even Wednesday.
EDIT: I have returned! Tonight I will add some draenei cards, along with the supreme commander of the Legion- KIl'Jaeden himself!
EDIT 2: Rebalanced Borf's new hero power to be more similar in power to Druid's basic hero power.
OK guys, I won't tease you any longer. Here's the commander of the Legion, KIl'Jaeden himself!
Designing a card for the chief evil-doer of Warcraft is no easy feat; it has to be properly powerful, but not OP. Many people believe demons or dark sorcery to be this guy's theme, but I went for deception. It's not a coincidence Kil'Jaeden's title is the Deceiver; he achieved the corruption of the orcs, thus the devastation of Draenor and the First War, with nothing but mind games, exploiting the orcs' natural lust for power and war.
The card's effect may seem too strong at first glance, but an incredibly strong, instant effect is a prerequisite for 10-mana cards to see play, just look at all the Old Gods. Besides, in essence all three Dark Wills are balanced:
1. Felstorm- getting Flamestrike+ a 7/8 body for just 10 mana seems like a very good deal. Value-wise, it is, but in an actual game- not really. Ask yourself the following question: is a board full of 4 health minions something that typically occurs on turn 10? No, that usually happens around turn 6/ turn 7, which is why Flamestrike is that good; 3 turns earlier, it actually matters. Whereas on turn 10 the biggest threats your opponent controls usually have more health, meaning this card will only eliminate some mid-sized minions; therefore making it balanced.
2. Subjugation- in a vacuum the most powerful of the three options, getting a Mind Control + a body is outrageous. However, this effect is controlled by your opponent, meaning that unless you catch your opponent off-guard when he only has a single, powerful minion on board, most of the times he'll give you trash. If KIl'Jaeden were to see play, most control decks, against whom the power of this Dark Will shines, would never leave a single strong minion on the board. They'd play around this card by also summoning weaker minions to accompany the big threats, and it would be those small minions you get.
3. Supremacy- again looks powerful, but just that. This Dark Will almost guarantees that Kil'Jaeden survives your enemy's turn. However, even with Immune Kil'Jaeden is still weak to Brawl, Devolve or Twisting Nether. Nevertheless, your opponent might not even bother with these and ignore your immune minion. That's because you just spent 10 mana on a 7/8 immune minion, which is not that far off from a 12/12 minion with can't be targeted (Tyrantus says hi). Guess what? That card sees no play, as a 10-mana card has to impact the board state in some way and a 12/12 untargetable minion or a 7/8 immune minion doesn't achieve that. Therefore, this is probably the worse of the 3 options, a flashy rookie trap like Prince Malchezaar.
Overall, Kil'Jaeden's greatest strength probably lies in its similarity to Curse of Rafaam, forcing your opponent to spend mana unless they want to allow Kil'Jaeden's effect to last another turn, which would have devastating consequences (especially Felstorm). However, seeing as none of the effects lack a counter or are ubiquitous (all suit different board states), I believe the card to be balanced on the whole.
BTW I was planning to submit the card for the last Weekly Card Design competition, but didn't make it in time and the thread was already closed :(
Three factions of Draenei will be opposing the Burning Legion: the Broken, determined to take revenge for their malformation brought about by the rule of Magtheridon and the opression of the Horde before that, both orchestrated by Kil'Jaeden; the Sha'tar, inhabitants of the ruined city of Shatt'rath, determined to drive the Legion from Outland forever; finally, the Azeroth fraction, heeding Illidan's call because of a vision of Prophet Velen, according to which their involvement might finally end theinvasions in both Draenor and Azeroth.
I'll start with the regular Draenei. Most of their effects are related to buffs and the Holy Light, therefore most are paladin cards.
With this expansion I decided to add quests for the classes, whose Un'Goro quests I felt were underwhelming, and Legendary minions for the classes with good quests. While Paladin has arguably the weakest quest, only rivaled by Warlock, it isn't inherently weak like Lakkari Sacrifice. Therefore I decided not to make a new quest for Paladin, but instead support the buff archetype The Last Kaleidosaur enforces., since IMO it has potential.
Aldor Recruit- a good opener for Quest Paladin, essentially a Fire Fly that trades the Flame Elemental for a Banana. The spell is cheap and useful, although with less impact in the mid- through lategame.
Sha'tar Guardian- is this good enough to see play over Stonehill Defender, even if it in most cases progresses your quest by 1/3d? Maybe, but only in quest decks. Even then probably better as a one of, as the spells are useless later on, making this a Silverback Patriarch.
Aldor Librarian- unlike most of the draenei, this card probably won't see that much play in Pladin. I think it'll find its home into Rogue decks, as after a single coin it becomes a better Kobold Geomancer. Still not sure the possibility of more spell damage is worth losing the cycle from Bloodmage Thalnos, seeing as the librarian will 100% be removed next turn.
Some more cards for paladin:
Blessing of the Naaru- may seem straight up better than Seal of Champions, but doesn't have that much of an offensive utility. More similar to Spikeridged Steed in the sense that you play to protect the minion, not to make better trades.
Draenei Sage- yes, a neutral card, but also as much a paladin card as Djinni of Zephyrs was. Maybe Priest can use it too, but not to the same success. Anyways, the card is balanced around Djinni, though arguably weaker, since getting a copy of the spell is most of the time better than discovering a new one, but has better long-term value if Djinni is removed.
Speaking of Priest, here comes this set's class legendary, along with another rare for the class!
Zaan, Voice of Light
Quick lore: Zaan is Velen's only daughter. Taught since young age to cherish the Light and worship its embodiment, the Naaru, by her father, Zaan went on to become a Priestess and has since occupied the highest possible rank: High Communicator, the only being beside the Prophet himself allowed to directly converse with the mysterious and benevolent Naaru. It is on their request that she comes to Outland, to spread the Light in this forsaken world and restore its former glory.
Card effect: Yet another possible use for the new type of minion introduced with Un'Goro and Sherazin, the indestructible token. Zaan enters play as a 2/1, but because she spawns a Naaru on each side, she ends the turn as a 2/5. Even when she's removed, the Naaru remain on the battlefield as a useful tool for the priest, constantly buffing their minions health and making them harder to remove with soft removal. The card shines especially versus Aggro, as Zaan comes early enough to be relevant and every next turn every taunt the priest summons between the two naaru will get +4health harder to deal with, presenting a serious obstacle for most aggro decks. However, against control decks with sufficient hard removal the naaru have less of an impact. The card may result in a Control Priest resurgence, but is bad in Silence Priest.
Shattrath Priestess- a good tool to make Silence Priest more consistent, increasing the likelihood of drawing a card to do the Divine Spirit- Inner Fire combo with. However, it's trickier to fit this into your turn, as 5-drop may leave you with insufficient mana to buff the minion's health enough.
Back to Paladin for an epic and this set's Legendary!
Blinding Luster- 'Can't be targeted by spells or Hero Powers' is hardly an expensive ability, judging by Faerie Dragon or Tyrantus, so why is this spell priced at 2 mana? Isn't that too much? Well, spell immunity might not have an impact on some minions, but in other cases it's pretty amazing for you and annoying for your opponent. Take Soggoth the Slitherer for example. Big taunts are usally removed with hard removal spells, however Soggoth can't and must be removed by trading. Thus, hard to remove. Now imagine the same ability on Tirion Fordring or Ragnaros, Lightlord. Getting the ability to choose which minion is immune to spells is a great advantage and should come at an adequate cost. 1 is OP, 3 is probably unplayable and 2 hits the perfect middle.
Vindicator Maraad- no matter how much support you add for Quest Paladin, Galvadon will never be its win condition, it's more of a solid mid-game threat. This one, however, can be the deck's win condition. Some decks just can't deal with a good taunt wall.
With two Blessing of Kings played earlier in the game this is a vanilla card. Throw in a Hand of Protection and this becomes playable. Add a Blinding Luster and this monstrosity becomes a nightmare to deal with. An Adaptation might result in poisonous or windfury, making this card also good offensively. Finally, Silvermoon Portal may trigger some Dr. Boom PTSD. Of course, it would be a very rare occasion when the game will last long enough for you to cast all of these, but in most cases you should get a relatively good body, hopefully with spell immunity. The card also introduces an interesting dilemma into Quest Paladin: seeing as Blinding Luster is a dead topdeck and most decks would only run a single copy, should the player use it early on to later buff Maraad or should they save it for happy Rag or Tirion?
That's all for now, will be adding two more neutral Draenei legendaries very soon!
Neeri the Trickster- the game needs more cards like Loatheb, cards that allow you to mess with your opponent's next turn, to counter his plays in advance. Loatheb was good at this, but also terribly unbalanced; getting such a powerful battlecry for a single stat point is ridiculous. Neeri, on the other side, serves a similar role, but her power level is way more acceptable. While Loatheb messed with every spell without exception, Neeri only affects damaging spells- essentially just burn, soft removal and AoE. The difference between her and Loatheb is slim, but noticeable. With Neeri's effect active the opponent can still play secrets, buff spells and card draw spells without being affected by her battlecry. The card would also have to be played more strategically than Loatheb. She would have to be saved for an impending board clear to preserve your board or played before freeze mage's burn turn, buying you time to flip the game.
Akama, Unbroken- Lotus Assassin is an amazing card in the wrong class. It's an inherently midrange card and rogue hasn't ever played that archetype. With the help of this broken draenei, however, all decks would be free to use that effect. Akama is a perfect way to protect valuable minions from being removed. However, coming on turn 5 means that Dragonfire Potion and Flamestrike are just around the corner, meaning the reign of Akama may soon come to an end. Additionally, just like Kel'Thuzad, he is a win-more card and only has a good impact on a relatively big board. Just like Kel'Thuzad, on an empty one he's totally useless, as a 4/4 on its own just isn't good enough on turn 5 or later in the game.
As an addition, here are another 2 cards, one of them probably a mandatory inclusion in a set so full of demons as "Return to Outland".
Dire Wolf Omega- funnily enough, even though he's way lower down the pack hierarchy than Dire Wolf Alpha, this guy would probably see way more play. It just seems such a good turn 2 play for a control deck; 1 attack minions become useless and 2 attack minions- harmless, and most of 1 drops have 1 or 2 attack. Even a Flame Imp becomes less of a threat though. This wolf is just perfect for early game favourable trades and throwing a wrench into aggro's gameplan.
Avid Demon Hunter- if the neutral Demons I included in this expansion make their way in too many midrange decks besides devoted Demon decks, this card should make sure the balance is restored. A Big Game Hunter without the attack restriction should discourage most decks from including demons in their lists. However, even in non-demon control matchups the card could shine, if control decks begin including Kil'Jaeden.
Really like the new cards, especially Neeri because it has such an unique effect, it would be a great card to see in game i feel.
The set is looking very good at the moment and you know where you want to go with your classes which is a good thing, i really liked Vindicator Maraad as well the only problem with it is that a 9 mana 1/1 even with battlecry is probally not gonna come in the game because of summon and pull effects though the idea is great, also, (you might've already seen this) it got a 4.0 on hearthcards which is an incredible rating, congrats!
I'm curious where the set is gonna go next!
(and don't go overboard on the tech cards, you've seem to have already made quitte a few with a resonable amount of cards to go)
Thank you! You're right, I already saw Maraad's rating, as I followed your advice and made a hearthcards account. I must admit though I don't get what you mean by summon and pull effects. Perhaps Dirty Rat? I'm not worried about that card, it counters many others, but against Paladin it can backfire spectacularily by pulling a happy Rag or Tirion.
If you are curious about what's next you can always take a sneak peek on Hearthcards (user Wiener_Schnitzel), although not all cards I make there will be a part of this set. To give you a hint though, I will next be exploring some unused design space ever since Blade Flurry was nerfed.
Yes, you're right, the set has no need for more tech. I was just worried Krax wouldn't be good enough vs demon decks, which is why I added the demon hunter.
Time for a new batch! This time I'm adding some interesting neutrals, including the set's penultimate neutral legendary, as well as another paladin card.
Sha'tar Healer- better than Cult Apothecary, but still not the perfect neutral healing Antique Healbot was. However, seeing as Blizzard thinks neutral healing is bad, I decided to stick to their design philosophy. The card can both whiff (drawing a 1 mana card), help you out, but not too much (5 or 6 cost) or outright save you and win you the game vs aggro (the giants say hello). However, it suffers from the same issue as Holy Wrath, namely terrible inconsistency.
Horde Bannerman- can help control warrior/ paladin with the board control, but its restriction makes it useless for aggro and burst decks, just as intended.
Peacekeeper- an interesting toy for weapons classes and warlock, may end up saving you a lot of face damage. Can also be used to protect from burst damage, as it eats up 5 which may be the difference between victory and defeat. However, your opponent is also free to reap all these benefits, which means you'll have to thread around carefully if your opponent plays warlock/ a weapon class, as he might just benefit from the card more than you do.
Mace of Wrath- Hammer of Wrath done right. It isn't technically powercreep, as this can't target face, but it surely is a lot better in any other scenarios. Being able to determine the cost of the discovered cards is also a precious advantage.
And finally, the legendary:
All control/combo/midrange decks know the feeling when you keep drawing useless stuff in aggro matchups, like your win conditions vs control, card draw, etc., when what you really need is removal and life gain. Here's where Mephistroph comes in. For 4 mana you get a solid body, get rid of all those useless cards and draw a LOT of new ones, meaning you're almost guaranteed to get something useful. However, the card punishes lack of deck knowledge, as in case the matchup turns out to be midrange, discarding all that value may come back to bite you in the posterior. Also, it hardly deserves mention that playing this card would be disastrous vs control.
It's useful in the opposite case as well: when you are facing a control deck and you keep getting your AoE and heals, when what you really need is value cards.
Shaman cards inbound! With this update I'll be adding the rest of Thrall/Morgl's cards from "Return to Outland". With Shaman, instead of creating whole new archetypes, I decided I could instead support two existing ones that aren't that represented currently- Murloc Shaman and Control Shaman. However, seeing as Murloc Shaman got a lot of support in Un'Goro, most of the cards will be pushing the control archetype.
Marsh Magician- when Unite the Murlocs isn't completed yet and you need to recharge this lil' mage will help you out. Balanced around Lyra the Sunshard and designed to do basically the same- generate a LOT of resources before it's removed next turn. However, seeing as getting random Murlocs is WAAY better than random Priest spells, the mana/stats ratio had to be skewed a bit, making this very fragile. Handle with care!
Acolyte of Thunder- Control Shaman is a surprisingly well-equipped deck. It has superb hard removal (Hex), amazing AoE (Lightning Storm, Volcano), reliable healing (Jinyu Waterspeaker, Hallazeal the Ascended) and good value plays (Earth Elemental + Ancestral Spirit). Its card draw, however, is a bit on the iffy side, as Mana Tide Totem will rarely survive your enemy's turn. This card alleviates that drawback and makes overloading not that bad after all. Its limitation aims to restrict its usage in let's say Midjade Shaman and make sure it mostly sees play in devoted control decks.
Time for the epics:
Terokkar Guardian- somewhatlike a Tar Creeper, but not quite. Sure, it has the same defensive capability as it on the turn after being played and slightly better offensive the turn after, at the price of 1 overload. However, should it survive things can get quite interesting... you are free to turn this into an impenetrable wall, but at the price of locking yourself out of most of your mana next turn (and the risk of it getting removed anyway).
Corundum Crusher- the ultimate board control tool in some cases, a useless rock in another. On an empty board it's a pretty weak play, when you have an Earth Elemental it's a whole different story... nevertheless, it's good even at 4 attack and considering all of shaman's healing, a good way to keep up with your opponent's mid-game minions.
It's time for this expansion's second broken Draenei! Nobundo has returned to his homeland and with the power of the elements (and the power of ROCK) to aid and guide him he will purge Draenor from the Legion!
Nobundo has long since mastered the art of turning disadvantages into advantages. Abandoned by the Light, he instead heeded the call of the elements and introduced the draenei to shamanism. His Hearthstone equivalent is also very good at getting use out of drawbacks. When your opponent thinks he's got you cornered, seeing you overloaded a LOT of crystals, and starts flooding, thinking he's got lethal next turn, Nobundo can turn around the entire game in one swoop. However, the card's effect is conditional and without overload Nobundo is just an understatted minion, meaning you'll have to embrace overload synnergy in your deck and brace for those times when you're too overloaded and Nobundo is nowhere in sight.
Thunderstruck- who knew draenei shamans were secretly AC/DC fans? I guess it kind of makes sence, rock being one of the elements and all xD. This hard rock card is the spiritual successor of Elemental Destruction- an incredibly OP for its cost card with a terrible amount of overload attached to compensate. The card can also be compared to Meteor (without adjacent minions bonus though) or Execute (15 damage to a minion essentially makes it hard removal). The effectiveness (and awesomeness!!) of the card is offset by the fact it terribly messes up your next turn, unless you combo it with Farseer Nobundo (dream combo) or that 2 mana 3/2 unlocking overloaded crystals guy from Old Gods. However, those are still just 3 out of 30 cards to remove its drawback, meaning most of the times you'll have to deal with it another way. Even rock has its cost!
Next time- more neutrals and (finally) some Mage cards!
EDIT: Balanced Marsh Magician (cost raised by 1) and Nobundo (5/5 body--> 2/4 body).
Okay, but the real play with kil'jaeden is to get some mind-vision madness going, and then steal back the immunity. Massive plays, right there.
Meanwhile, Peacekeeper would make an appearance in a meme-priest deck where they buff it to unimaginable sizes and then force the opponent to sit through eternity with them, as neither can kill the other. I like this idea, though. Mephistroth, meanwhile, is just what I wanted from Explore Un'Goro, and it makes sense.
Now, the one that concerns me slightly is Borf. Borf is a fun idea, and I like that you're trying to do something fun with control hunter, but granted that having Borf makes your hero-power 90% better than the druid's hero power, you might have overdone it a bit. My point here is that with this power, you have 2 damage on minions, and 1 health from each attack, which is better than the Druid with his +1 health, and only 1 damage, except in niche cases where you're at full health and hitting face, or if hitting a minion exactly kills you and armor before saves you but health after kills you. This means that in nearly all cases, Hunter has eclipsed the Druid hero power just by running this legendary. I'd say that if you want to do this, either add some minor downside (E.G. the 2 hp lost with Warlock), or remove the health gain.
Alternatively, maybe make him change the hero-power on draw, which slightly restricts the power of it. Added bonus: you can make the healing contingent on killing a minion, so you have the flavor that you are 'eating' the minion, and also pushing the board-control a bit further.
Back on the theoretical hype-train, though, that quest-paladin support is sick. Like, seriously, vindicator Maraad is crazy with blinding luster and spikeridged steeds. Call me biased because I like that deck, but I'd be hype if that card got revealed, along with the guy who lets you discover spells as you cast them. Aldor recruit would be seriously welcome in-game too, since it solves the 'needs both spells and minions' issue that I find when I try to go questing.
Shattrath priest, I'm honestly surprised isn't in the game already. It's exactly the kind of thing you'd expect to have in priest.
The following is another exceptionally long explanation of why I take issue with the present design of Zaan, voice of light. I do love the concept, and on my side of the board, it's right up my alley, but I get the definite impression that it's a bit crazy.
Balance issue with Zaan. Granted that she's a 4 mana 2/5, (Which is about 1 over-costed), you'd expect about 1 mana-worth of effect from her. What you get is a potential 8 HP per turn split up to 4 ways, which is kind of crazy. Like, a 1 cost spell (like blessing of might, or divine strength, over in paladin), gives you 3 stats, 3 Attack or 1 Attack and 2 Health, and they're, while not that good, still semi-playable. This minion can, every turn, give you +4 health to your board using only 1 minion, which is worth more than 1 mana in 1 turn, and it just keeps giving.
To rectify that, I'd suggest making them a 0/3 1-mana minion, with the effect 'Adjacent minions have +2 Health.' and possibly making the stats lower on Zaan, with the payoff being Taunt, which feels like the main application of these spirits anyway.
So, in this theoretical case, the card would be
Zaan, voice of light (4 mana) 2/1 'Battlecry: summon two 0/3 Naaru Taunt'
Naaru (2 mana) 0/3 'Adjacent minions have +2 health'
In the vein of flametongue totem. This card would make for a much weaker presence, since the buffs don't stick, and neither do the Naaru, but granted that they immediately become 0/5s once Zaan dies, you've actually got 8 extra health of minion to deal with there (5 from one, and then 3 when the other loses its buff), which is still pretty sticky. I would hate to play against this card, for the same reason I dislike playing against flametongue totem, but I think it's much saner this way. Alternatively, you could make it so that they were still non-minion creatures, in keeping with their spiritual nature, but they would be a deal weaker.
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So, when a warrior uses Dead Man's Hand, what does that actually mean in terms of flavor? Is he the dead man? Does he cut off his own hand? Is that why he has Tentacles for Arms? Does he think that tentacles are actually as good as arms?
These reasons and more are why I think warriors are more mysterious than people give them credit for.
These are outstanding. Great art, well thought out new mechanics, and some cards that will breath life into older decks as well (Paladin quest might actually be viable with your new cards!). Well done.
I really like the new cards, already saw Corundum Crusher pop up in the gallery earlier however the card has a really nice idea. Marsh magican might be really OP however since you just play that and keep playing cheap murlocs and create a full board out of 2 cards. I also like Farseer Nobundo's idea but again not sure about balance since imagine you play Thunderstruck and the turn after Nobundo, there was litteraly no downside becasause you just flamestriked his board and now have board advantage, and with Shamans not having any real hard removal this could be very dangerous but it might just be me. Very nice cards though and keep it up.
Okay, but the real play with kil'jaeden is to get some mind-vision madness going, and then steal back the immunity. Massive plays, right there.
Meanwhile, Peacekeeper would make an appearance in a meme-priest deck where they buff it to unimaginable sizes and then force the opponent to sit through eternity with them, as neither can kill the other. I like this idea, though. Mephistroth, meanwhile, is just what I wanted from Explore Un'Goro, and it makes sense.
Now, the one that concerns me slightly is Borf. Borf is a fun idea, and I like that you're trying to do something fun with control hunter, but granted that having Borf makes your hero-power 90% better than the druid's hero power, you might have overdone it a bit. My point here is that with this power, you have 2 damage on minions, and 1 health from each attack, which is better than the Druid with his +1 health, and only 1 damage, except in niche cases where you're at full health and hitting face, or if hitting a minion exactly kills you and armor before saves you but health after kills you. This means that in nearly all cases, Hunter has eclipsed the Druid hero power just by running this legendary. I'd say that if you want to do this, either add some minor downside (E.G. the 2 hp lost with Warlock), or remove the health gain.
Alternatively, maybe make him change the hero-power on draw, which slightly restricts the power of it. Added bonus: you can make the healing contingent on killing a minion, so you have the flavor that you are 'eating' the minion, and also pushing the board-control a bit further.
Back on the theoretical hype-train, though, that quest-paladin support is sick. Like, seriously, vindicator Maraad is crazy with blinding luster and spikeridged steeds. Call me biased because I like that deck, but I'd be hype if that card got revealed, along with the guy who lets you discover spells as you cast them. Aldor recruit would be seriously welcome in-game too, since it solves the 'needs both spells and minions' issue that I find when I try to go questing.
Shattrath priest, I'm honestly surprised isn't in the game already. It's exactly the kind of thing you'd expect to have in priest.
The following is another exceptionally long explanation of why I take issue with the present design of Zaan, voice of light. I do love the concept, and on my side of the board, it's right up my alley, but I get the definite impression that it's a bit crazy.
Balance issue with Zaan. Granted that she's a 4 mana 2/5, (Which is about 1 over-costed), you'd expect about 1 mana-worth of effect from her. What you get is a potential 8 HP per turn split up to 4 ways, which is kind of crazy. Like, a 1 cost spell (like blessing of might, or divine strength, over in paladin), gives you 3 stats, 3 Attack or 1 Attack and 2 Health, and they're, while not that good, still semi-playable. This minion can, every turn, give you +4 health to your board using only 1 minion, which is worth more than 1 mana in 1 turn, and it just keeps giving.
To rectify that, I'd suggest making them a 0/3 1-mana minion, with the effect 'Adjacent minions have +2 Health.' and possibly making the stats lower on Zaan, with the payoff being Taunt, which feels like the main application of these spirits anyway.
So, in this theoretical case, the card would be
Zaan, voice of light (4 mana) 2/1 'Battlecry: summon two 0/3 Naaru Taunt'
Naaru (2 mana) 0/3 'Adjacent minions have +2 health'
In the vein of flametongue totem. This card would make for a much weaker presence, since the buffs don't stick, and neither do the Naaru, but granted that they immediately become 0/5s once Zaan dies, you've actually got 8 extra health of minion to deal with there (5 from one, and then 3 when the other loses its buff), which is still pretty sticky. I would hate to play against this card, for the same reason I dislike playing against flametongue totem, but I think it's much saner this way. Alternatively, you could make it so that they were still non-minion creatures, in keeping with their spiritual nature, but they would be a deal weaker.
Feedback appreciated! You have a point about Borf and I'll change him like you suggested- to only heal upon killing a minion, it makes much sence flavour-wise!
Regarding KIl'Jaeden, I'm unsure if you meant that Mind Vision play as something negative or as something cool to do. If the former, then it's still an 11 mana combo that requires a Radiant Elemental and good luck, as unless your opponent's got an empty hand you could get any other card in his hand. Besides, a 10 mana immune 7/8 still isn't that impactful, as your opponent can just ignore it. If, however, you only meant to say it was fun to do and not a problem, I wholeheartedly agree!
Yes, Peacekeeper certainly enables such a meme deck, but seeing as it can get hard removed, and if it doesn't, the game results in a draw and no player gains or loses any stars (not sure about that, I've only had a draw in Tavern Brawl so far), I doubt Meme Priest would be a problem for the game.
Now that you mention it Maraad might be a tiny bit too strong with Spikeridged Steed, but seeing as Quest Paladin is so bad right now it could use some late game bomb besides tirion. Besides, you have to work hard to buff Maraad to a godlike card, as few spells just don't cut it. BTW I'm also hyped for future Quest pala support, since I have most epics necessary for the deck, but lack essential cards for the current pala archetypes.
I'll also apply the Zaan changes you suggested, I guess I just got carried away with the new token type minion.
I really like the new cards, already saw Corundum Crusher pop up in the gallery earlier however the card has a really nice idea. Marsh magican might be really OP however since you just play that and keep playing cheap murlocs and create a full board out of 2 cards. I also like Farseer Nobundo's idea but again not sure about balance since imagine you play Thunderstruck and the turn after Nobundo, there was litteraly no downside becasause you just flamestriked his board and now have board advantage, and with Shamans not having any real hard removal this could be very dangerous but it might just be me. Very nice cards though and keep it up.
Yes, I see, the magician might be abit too good. With some luck and another murloc it can single handedly complete Unite the Murlocs and I don't want that. I think I'll raise its cost by 1 and keep it at current stats.
I really like nobundo's effect as it currently is, so I'll try to rebalance him by giving him worse stats. As always, thanks for the feedback!
It's been a long time since I last added new cards, sorry for the delay! Today you'll be getting all the Mage cards that are left, including the legendary, and a bunch of neutrals.
With this expansion I'll try to push Tempo Mage, a deck I find very fun and enjoyable to play and that is currently absent from Standard. However, seeing as Tempo Mage was too powerful in the past owing to incredibly swingy cards like Mad Scientist and Flamewaker, I've lowered its power level on most cards compared to the pre-rotation era.
Dalaran Emissary- Flamewaker was Tempo's best chance against aggro, but it was also a bit too good in other matchups. This card is its spiritual successor, but purposefully inferior. For a start, its effect can only be triggerered once per turn (barring any Auctionmaster Beardo shenanigans), meaning you can't just chain cheap spells and destroy your opponent's board. However, the core concept remains the same as with Flamewaker, fending off aggro.
Azshara's Blessing- another possible use for the opposite minion mechanic. This is to Spellbender what Mana Bind is to Counterspell: a card that unlike the classic secrets doesn;t protect your minions, but nets you value. Azshara's Blessing is versatile, as it can result in both your enemy's minions getting destroyed when they use removal on yours or them buffing your minions (mostly for paladin)
Now some rares:
In order to bring back Tempo Mage, I'll be using the core of an already existing deck: Secret Mage, which is why some of the cards will have synergy with secrets. This also enables them to be run in controllish-combo decks like freeze/burn mage as well, since those run secrets as well.
Sear- Flamecannon reborn, except its worse when you don't have a secret and better if you do. The card is amazing when the condition is met, but as many Secret Mage players (including me) can confirm, unless your secret is Ice Block it's usually triggered during your enemy's turn, meaning you have to play a secret in the same turn as Sear in order for it to be effective.
Sin'dorei Archmage- a bit of a tempo loss when it enters the battlefield, but a huge gain when it leaves. Of course, you have to draw your secrets first, this is no Mad Scientist or Mysterious Challenger. And, of course, it's horrible when you haven't drawn them.
The epics:
Pyroburst- it's Shadow Bolt with the added bonus you can split the damage and target face and the drawback that it uses your Hero Power. Additionally, the card can be used as a worse Moonfire if you're desperate. I guess it could also work out in burn mage as a part of your burn, but I still don't think it's better than Frostbolt at this job.
Mistress of Frost- now this is a pure control card. I designed it to combo with Frost Nova [/card] for a 9 mana full board clear, a more reliable, yet more expensive, alternative of the Doomsayer combo. The card can also be comboed with [card]Freezing Potion as a pseudo-Vilespine Slayer, but that combo is worse than the rogue card, meaning it would mostly be used with Frost Nova.
And finally, this set's Mage legendary, along with the last rare:
Reckless Spellcaster- allows Tempo Mage to dominate the board this turn... and their opponent as well during theirs. This card turns each of your spells into a Meteor, but the enemy also benefits from this, meaning you can say good-bye to your minions which will get removed with 1 or 2 soft removals. A very sharp double-edged sword.
Enchanter Lyessa- ever since Classic, mages never get good legendaries. Some are awful (Flame Leviathan, Anomalus), some are OK, but not good enough to see regular play (Rhonin, Inkmaster Solia), but not one is as good as Archmage Antonidas. With Return to Outland I hope to rectify that by including one of the Sin'dorei's best mages, Enchanter Lyessa.
This card can single-handedly disrupt your enemy's next turn... or it can get traded into (or hit by a weapon) and do nothing, as no secret protects it from that, meaning you have to be careful when you play Lyessa. When, however, she can't be destroyed by trading, the fun begins. Your opponent will have to either play a minion or a spell and your secrets will trigger of that. In most cases, your enemy knows they're safe when they played a small minion into your Mirror Entity or a Coin into your Counterspell, but with Lyessa their turn becomes a nightmare, as the random secret can be anything. Should they play according to Mirror Entity? Spellbender? Ice Barrier? This is where the card shines, making your enemy unsure and forcing suboptimal plays on their side.
Last but not least, 2 neutrals:
Sin'dorei Spy- a very situational card. In most cases it's useless, as most secrets have to be triggered by your opponent. It synergises with exactly 3 secrets- Redemption, Ice Block and Treacherous Depths (a Hunter secret I added a while ago). The combo with the paladin secret can be used for tempo plays, with the hunter one- to control the board and with Ice Block you can evade fatigue damage and win the control matchup, although you'd have to have played it the previous turn.
Fel Rager- I know it's the ragers gimmick to be unplayable, but I decided to design the exclusion that confirms the rule. Still, it isn't that great. It's meant to be used as a delayed removal, flipping the card's stats on the next turn and using the new aggressive distribution to trade into a high health minion. Of course, your opponent can counter this strategy by damaging the rager to a 2/3 (3/2 when flipped) and making it useless.
Another possible use is to make temporary buffs (like the attack from Abusive Sergeant) permanent. Who knows, a rager might some day be the pinnacle of a competetive deck. What a day it would be!
EDIT: Buffed the emissary and Lyessa per suggestion from KillTheCow.
Dalaran Emissary: Interesting card, though i'd probally not see much play because it's way to slow, unlike with Flamewaker where you can cast multiple spells in a turn which tempo mage did a lot, here you can only do it once per turn and you don't have any attack on it. It doesn't really give you tempo at all i feel you mabey even lose tempo. And if in tempo it wouldn't see play it wouldn't anywhere i feel. Though again i like the card and the idea is great i just don't think it would be a viable choice for constructed.
Also a small thing: Inspire is TGT exlusive but it doesn't really matter.
Azshara's Blessing: Another very cool idea for a card, though however it kind of is a worse Mana Bind in a way since with Mana Bind you could have the spell and target whatever you want unless your opponent plays AOE or card draw in which case it might still be better to get that. I think Counterspell will still overshadow it unfortunatly though it's a really cool idea.
Sear; This is a really cool card since as with Flamecannon it is still a really good card to play on curve since 3 damage should be enough but sometimes you need that 1 extra damage and this gives you that, really like the concept of the card and well balanced.
Sin'Dorei Archmage: Again a really cool idea and could be really good but it doesn't really help you gain tempo, still a potential amazing card but only if you're in the right situation, again great idea and well balanced.
Pyroburst: cool concept but a downside that Shadow Bolt doesn't have is that you already used up your Hero power to play it, i feel like Frostbolt is better in every way.
Mistress of Frost: Cool idea and well balanced, though i don't feel like an archetype like that would work atm and Freeze Mage might not run it because it's too expensive and you would need to have [cardFrost Nova[/card] for it to work if not it's useless in that deck.
Reckless Spellcaster: A difficult card to evaluate but the idea is alright and Tempo Mage might need a few good cards to see a return so i like this one.
Enchanter Lyessa: I'm sorry to tell you but i doubt the viability of this card. Since as you said, whenever you play a Secret it will most of the time be triggered immediatly unless it's Ice Block which wouldn't be triggered so that's already useless. So basicly you pay 8 mana to play Enchanter Lyessa and a Secret, probally Hero power and end your turn or if you went second and are lucky enough coin into another which is unlikely. Then your opponent kills Enchanter Lyessa most likely with minions which would make the card not have done anything, if he doesn't have any or can't kill it with minions and you're secret is either Counterspell or Spellbender which is then likely if you have one so you're opponent will play around it most likely. So then you get another random secret and then the chances of which you get another one of those 2 is very low. At best you get a Mana Bind then. Of course the dream senario is that it then stays alive and you play more Secrets but it's unlikely. I understand that you can put secrets into the battlefield with some cards but your opponent is probally gonna kill those as well.
You might want to reduce the mana cost by 1 so you can play 2 Secrets along with her if you wish to do so, you would still spend your entire turn on doing so though which then it would probally still be worse than Lyra the Sunshard. I really like the card though.
Sin'dorei Spy: Interesting concept and well balanced i feel but might fit more into Mage and not neutral since with Hunter you will mostly have downsides and there are only 3 classes with Secrets though there are only a few classes with weapons either.
Fel Rager: I like the concept and it's wel balanced but ragers ALWAYS have a 5/1 statline or something similar and are ALWAYS 3 mana. So it's not really a rager but still a cool card regardless.
Dalaran Emissary: Interesting card, though i'd probally not see much play because it's way to slow, unlike with Flamewaker where you can cast multiple spells in a turn which tempo mage did a lot, here you can only do it once per turn and you don't have any attack on it. It doesn't really give you tempo at all i feel you mabey even lose tempo. And if in tempo it wouldn't see play it wouldn't anywhere i feel. Though again i like the card and the idea is great i just don't think it would be a viable choice for constructed.
Also a small thing: Inspire is TGT exlusive but it doesn't really matter.
Azshara's Blessing: Another very cool idea for a card, though however it kind of is a worse Mana Bind in a way since with Mana Bind you could have the spell and target whatever you want unless your opponent plays AOE or card draw in which case it might still be better to get that. I think Counterspell will still overshadow it unfortunatly though it's a really cool idea.
Sear; This is a really cool card since as with Flamecannon it is still a really good card to play on curve since 3 damage should be enough but sometimes you need that 1 extra damage and this gives you that, really like the concept of the card and well balanced.
Sin'Dorei Archmage: Again a really cool idea and could be really good but it doesn't really help you gain tempo, still a potential amazing card but only if you're in the right situation, again great idea and well balanced.
Pyroburst: cool concept but a downside that Shadow Bolt doesn't have is that you already used up your Hero power to play it, i feel like Frostbolt is better in every way.
Mistress of Frost: Cool idea and well balanced, though i don't feel like an archetype like that would work atm and Freeze Mage might not run it because it's too expensive and you would need to have [cardFrost Nova[/card] for it to work if not it's useless in that deck.
Reckless Spellcaster: A difficult card to evaluate but the idea is alright and Tempo Mage might need a few good cards to see a return so i like this one.
Enchanter Lyessa: I'm sorry to tell you but i doubt the viability of this card. Since as you said, whenever you play a Secret it will most of the time be triggered immediatly unless it's Ice Block which wouldn't be triggered so that's already useless. So basicly you pay 8 mana to play Enchanter Lyessa and a Secret, probally Hero power and end your turn or if you went second and are lucky enough coin into another which is unlikely. Then your opponent kills Enchanter Lyessa most likely with minions which would make the card not have done anything, if he doesn't have any or can't kill it with minions and you're secret is either Counterspell or Spellbender which is then likely if you have one so you're opponent will play around it most likely. So then you get another random secret and then the chances of which you get another one of those 2 is very low. At best you get a Mana Bind then. Of course the dream senario is that it then stays alive and you play more Secrets but it's unlikely. I understand that you can put secrets into the battlefield with some cards but your opponent is probally gonna kill those as well.
You might want to reduce the mana cost by 1 so you can play 2 Secrets along with her if you wish to do so, you would still spend your entire turn on doing so though which then it would probally still be worse than Lyra the Sunshard. I really like the card though.
Sin'dorei Spy: Interesting concept and well balanced i feel but might fit more into Mage and not neutral since with Hunter you will mostly have downsides and there are only 3 classes with Secrets though there are only a few classes with weapons either.
Fel Rager: I like the concept and it's wel balanced but ragers ALWAYS have a 5/1 statline or something similar and are ALWAYS 3 mana. So it's not really a rager but still a cool card regardless.
Overall i really like these new cards, good work!
You might be right about the Emissary, I think I'll give it +1 attack to boost it a bit. Also, I know Inspire as a mechanic is TGT-themed, but I think that if good cards with it can be designed it can also carry on to other expansions, like discover did.
There's an added bonus for using Azshara's blessing over Mana Bind, and that is the opposite minion mechanic, meaning if the minion targeted is between 2 minions, the secret will trigger on both, as with all opposite effects. You are right the effect is a bit underwhelming if it only hits a single minion, which means that like with all naga cards you'd have to position your minions very carefully!
About Lyessa- you're right again, I must admit I was too afraid she would end up too OP so I ended up making her too underpowered. I'll change her to a 3 mana 1/4, that way she would be harder to trade into when played on-curve and more easily comboed (let's say on T4 with Kabal Lackey)
My bad on not delivering a proper rager! Will make sure to correct my mistake with the next update!
You're right, Azshara's Blessing could be used over Mana Bind and thinking back it might be better, not sure if better than Counterspell but that's a really good card, i still really like the effect and i would like it to actually be in the game itself since it's such a cool design. I also really like the positioning aspect.
And you'll better make a proper rager next time otherwise i'm unsubscribing to this thread!
just kidding this thread is great :)
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My (custom) expansion:
Return to Outland (Black temple + Burning Legion cards)- Complete
So, when a warrior uses Dead Man's Hand, what does that actually mean in terms of flavor? Is he the dead man? Does he cut off his own hand? Is that why he has Tentacles for Arms? Does he think that tentacles are actually as good as arms?
These reasons and more are why I think warriors are more mysterious than people give them credit for.
Click here to visit my Timestream Tracking Finalist Year of the Dragon in collaboration with Demonxz95
Class Creation Finalist: The Astromancer
Best cards vote by community:
Sorry guys, now this is really the last batch of cards before I go afk for a few days. I'm adding the rest of the Hunter cards, beside the Maiden of the Wild you saw a while ago and the more recent secret Treacherous Depths. As I've hinted in a reply to Shatterstar1998, this time I'm not improving on face or midrange archetypes. Oh no, I'm lloking for a deck more elusive even than the fabled Unicorn Priest. I'm talking about Control Hunter.
Why couldn't Control Hunter ever take off? Well, the answer is pretty simple: Hunter as a class doesn't cover any of the requirements for a control deck. No healing, no hard removal, no board clears, nothing. Most importantly, not even card draw. Besides, even Hunter's hero power is ill-suited for control games, since it doesn't affect the board state, your health total or draw any cards whatsoever. It just deals damage to the enemy face, which any control deck with half-decent life gain scoffs at.
Building Control Hunter from scratch certainly wouldn't be easy, but I hope the cards I add now help.
Scythebeak- a much needed source of healing, should Hunter ever play control. However, bear in mind that if this card is played on turn 1, most of the time the heal would be wasted, meaning this isn't really a 1 drop, except versus aggro where you would play it for the body. However, in all other matchups this card is best played later, as it is one of two precious health sources for hunter.
Law of the Jungle- I know the flavour of the card is closer to Un'goro than draenor, but I just couldn't resist not using such an awesome art. Simple hard removal to deal with big minions. However, it's terribly overcosted, meaning you'd have to keep a board presence of beats for the card to be useful. You'll notice the same trend in some of the next cards- they are near useless without beasts on board, making maintaining board presence an inherent trait of Control Hunter.
Sin'dorei Pack Leader- finally, a card draw for Hunters of all archetypes (except face, too slow for that). If the minion is only adjacent to a single Beast, it's basically the same as Gnomish Inventor, e.g. not good. However, if you happen to maintain your board of Beasts, you will be rewarded with an incredible value gain.
Midnight Hunt- Midnight...? Hmmm...and the card costs 12? Coincidence? Jokes aside, this is simply hunters' Twisting Nether. However, it might be better if you played a lot of beasts, or a lot worse, even literally unplayable, if you only played a few. Just like Nether, it's an emergency button to push when your enemy gets way ahead of you. The main difference is that if you summoned like 10 Beasts or something the card gets basically free, enabling big swings. Hmm, perhaps I should change the effect to played Beasts only. What do you think?
And now, I present to you the fuel for all those beast board presence effects, along with the second hunter epic, the backbone of this deck that will push it into viability.
Outstanding Groomer- getting two tabbycats at the end of each turn sure comes in handy when you want to get the most out of Law of the Jungle and Sin'dorei Pack Leader, or the new epic. The effect by itself is worthless when not combined with those cards, but together they do pack a punch.
Immovable Hermit- before someone gets confused, this card is a new type of token, the same as Sherazin, Corpse Flower's seed form and the dark portal from Lakkari Sacrifice. I've already made some similar cards in this expansion, Like Illidan himself and an Abyssal, but this is the first one that isn't meant to be revived.
To clarify- tokens like Sherazin's seed are indestructible (not even Brawl kills them, believe me, I tried), but can't attack or do anything. This card is different. It can't transform into a normal minion like Sherazin. Instead, its purpose is to sit on your board and constantly heal you, the main source of healing for Control Hunter.
Not so endless really though. Even though the crab itself is indestructible, adjacent Beasts aren't. Your opponent can easily destroy them and the fountain of health will dry up. Nonetheless, I'm still not sure I balanced it correctly, so if you believe the cost needs to be higher or the heal-less, you're welcome to mention it in the comments.
Finally, the Hunter Legendary takes care of the class' most jarring problem- its hero power- and turns it into an ability any control deck would be proud of.
Borf is an original character of mine, so before I proceed with the discussion of the card itself, I'll quickly invent some lore for him. If you're not into lore, skip the italized part.
Lore: Between the times when the pirates swarmed Gadgetzan and the rise of the Core of Crystals, there was an age undreamed of. And unto this, Rexxar, destined to wear the scruffy hat of a hunter upon a troubled brow, had become the laughing stock of all the other classes. Desperate to reclaim his glory, he sought the aid of Borf, Ironforge's famed sharpshooter. Under his guidance Rexxar learned to not hit face and abandoned the way of the bow in favor of the firearm. It was then that Illidan's call for aid reached him. The hunter returned, destined to defend his homeland from the Legion, and his teacher accompanied him. It is I, his chronicler, who alone can tell thee of his saga. Let me tell you of the days of high adventure! (a cookie for whoever catches the reference first)
And now about the card's effect. Mana cost and stats are mostly irrelevant here, as the effect triggers at the start of the game, meaning I mostly had to focus on the new hero power being similar in power level to the basic ones. I think it is; you essentially trade your ability to finish your opponent off with your hero power for a weapon, with which you can control the board,but which is bad at hitting face (what a paradox for Rexxar). The added 1 health heal on breaking the weapon is mostly irrelevant and just there to give the deck another tiny boost.
That will be all until Tuesday, perhaps even Wednesday.
EDIT: I have returned! Tonight I will add some draenei cards, along with the supreme commander of the Legion- KIl'Jaeden himself!
EDIT 2: Rebalanced Borf's new hero power to be more similar in power to Druid's basic hero power.
My (custom) expansion:
Return to Outland (Black temple + Burning Legion cards)- Complete
OK guys, I won't tease you any longer. Here's the commander of the Legion, KIl'Jaeden himself!
Designing a card for the chief evil-doer of Warcraft is no easy feat; it has to be properly powerful, but not OP. Many people believe demons or dark sorcery to be this guy's theme, but I went for deception. It's not a coincidence Kil'Jaeden's title is the Deceiver; he achieved the corruption of the orcs, thus the devastation of Draenor and the First War, with nothing but mind games, exploiting the orcs' natural lust for power and war.
The card's effect may seem too strong at first glance, but an incredibly strong, instant effect is a prerequisite for 10-mana cards to see play, just look at all the Old Gods. Besides, in essence all three Dark Wills are balanced:
1. Felstorm- getting Flamestrike+ a 7/8 body for just 10 mana seems like a very good deal. Value-wise, it is, but in an actual game- not really. Ask yourself the following question: is a board full of 4 health minions something that typically occurs on turn 10? No, that usually happens around turn 6/ turn 7, which is why Flamestrike is that good; 3 turns earlier, it actually matters. Whereas on turn 10 the biggest threats your opponent controls usually have more health, meaning this card will only eliminate some mid-sized minions; therefore making it balanced.
2. Subjugation- in a vacuum the most powerful of the three options, getting a Mind Control + a body is outrageous. However, this effect is controlled by your opponent, meaning that unless you catch your opponent off-guard when he only has a single, powerful minion on board, most of the times he'll give you trash. If KIl'Jaeden were to see play, most control decks, against whom the power of this Dark Will shines, would never leave a single strong minion on the board. They'd play around this card by also summoning weaker minions to accompany the big threats, and it would be those small minions you get.
3. Supremacy- again looks powerful, but just that. This Dark Will almost guarantees that Kil'Jaeden survives your enemy's turn. However, even with Immune Kil'Jaeden is still weak to Brawl, Devolve or Twisting Nether. Nevertheless, your opponent might not even bother with these and ignore your immune minion. That's because you just spent 10 mana on a 7/8 immune minion, which is not that far off from a 12/12 minion with can't be targeted (Tyrantus says hi). Guess what? That card sees no play, as a 10-mana card has to impact the board state in some way and a 12/12 untargetable minion or a 7/8 immune minion doesn't achieve that. Therefore, this is probably the worse of the 3 options, a flashy rookie trap like Prince Malchezaar.
Overall, Kil'Jaeden's greatest strength probably lies in its similarity to Curse of Rafaam, forcing your opponent to spend mana unless they want to allow Kil'Jaeden's effect to last another turn, which would have devastating consequences (especially Felstorm). However, seeing as none of the effects lack a counter or are ubiquitous (all suit different board states), I believe the card to be balanced on the whole.
BTW I was planning to submit the card for the last Weekly Card Design competition, but didn't make it in time and the thread was already closed :(
My (custom) expansion:
Return to Outland (Black temple + Burning Legion cards)- Complete
Three factions of Draenei will be opposing the Burning Legion: the Broken, determined to take revenge for their malformation brought about by the rule of Magtheridon and the opression of the Horde before that, both orchestrated by Kil'Jaeden; the Sha'tar, inhabitants of the ruined city of Shatt'rath, determined to drive the Legion from Outland forever; finally, the Azeroth fraction, heeding Illidan's call because of a vision of Prophet Velen, according to which their involvement might finally end theinvasions in both Draenor and Azeroth.
I'll start with the regular Draenei. Most of their effects are related to buffs and the Holy Light, therefore most are paladin cards.
With this expansion I decided to add quests for the classes, whose Un'Goro quests I felt were underwhelming, and Legendary minions for the classes with good quests. While Paladin has arguably the weakest quest, only rivaled by Warlock, it isn't inherently weak like Lakkari Sacrifice. Therefore I decided not to make a new quest for Paladin, but instead support the buff archetype The Last Kaleidosaur enforces., since IMO it has potential.
Aldor Recruit- a good opener for Quest Paladin, essentially a Fire Fly that trades the Flame Elemental for a Banana. The spell is cheap and useful, although with less impact in the mid- through lategame.
Sha'tar Guardian- is this good enough to see play over Stonehill Defender, even if it in most cases progresses your quest by 1/3d? Maybe, but only in quest decks. Even then probably better as a one of, as the spells are useless later on, making this a Silverback Patriarch.
Aldor Librarian- unlike most of the draenei, this card probably won't see that much play in Pladin. I think it'll find its home into Rogue decks, as after a single coin it becomes a better Kobold Geomancer. Still not sure the possibility of more spell damage is worth losing the cycle from Bloodmage Thalnos, seeing as the librarian will 100% be removed next turn.
Some more cards for paladin:
Blessing of the Naaru- may seem straight up better than Seal of Champions, but doesn't have that much of an offensive utility. More similar to Spikeridged Steed in the sense that you play to protect the minion, not to make better trades.
Draenei Sage- yes, a neutral card, but also as much a paladin card as Djinni of Zephyrs was. Maybe Priest can use it too, but not to the same success. Anyways, the card is balanced around Djinni, though arguably weaker, since getting a copy of the spell is most of the time better than discovering a new one, but has better long-term value if Djinni is removed.
Speaking of Priest, here comes this set's class legendary, along with another rare for the class!
Zaan, Voice of Light
Quick lore: Zaan is Velen's only daughter. Taught since young age to cherish the Light and worship its embodiment, the Naaru, by her father, Zaan went on to become a Priestess and has since occupied the highest possible rank: High Communicator, the only being beside the Prophet himself allowed to directly converse with the mysterious and benevolent Naaru. It is on their request that she comes to Outland, to spread the Light in this forsaken world and restore its former glory.
Card effect: Yet another possible use for the new type of minion introduced with Un'Goro and Sherazin, the indestructible token. Zaan enters play as a 2/1, but because she spawns a Naaru on each side, she ends the turn as a 2/5. Even when she's removed, the Naaru remain on the battlefield as a useful tool for the priest, constantly buffing their minions health and making them harder to remove with soft removal. The card shines especially versus Aggro, as Zaan comes early enough to be relevant and every next turn every taunt the priest summons between the two naaru will get +4health harder to deal with, presenting a serious obstacle for most aggro decks. However, against control decks with sufficient hard removal the naaru have less of an impact. The card may result in a Control Priest resurgence, but is bad in Silence Priest.
Shattrath Priestess- a good tool to make Silence Priest more consistent, increasing the likelihood of drawing a card to do the Divine Spirit- Inner Fire combo with. However, it's trickier to fit this into your turn, as 5-drop may leave you with insufficient mana to buff the minion's health enough.
Back to Paladin for an epic and this set's Legendary!
Blinding Luster- 'Can't be targeted by spells or Hero Powers' is hardly an expensive ability, judging by Faerie Dragon or Tyrantus, so why is this spell priced at 2 mana? Isn't that too much? Well, spell immunity might not have an impact on some minions, but in other cases it's pretty amazing for you and annoying for your opponent. Take Soggoth the Slitherer for example. Big taunts are usally removed with hard removal spells, however Soggoth can't and must be removed by trading. Thus, hard to remove. Now imagine the same ability on Tirion Fordring or Ragnaros, Lightlord. Getting the ability to choose which minion is immune to spells is a great advantage and should come at an adequate cost. 1 is OP, 3 is probably unplayable and 2 hits the perfect middle.
Vindicator Maraad- no matter how much support you add for Quest Paladin, Galvadon will never be its win condition, it's more of a solid mid-game threat. This one, however, can be the deck's win condition. Some decks just can't deal with a good taunt wall.
With two Blessing of Kings played earlier in the game this is a vanilla card. Throw in a Hand of Protection and this becomes playable. Add a Blinding Luster and this monstrosity becomes a nightmare to deal with. An Adaptation might result in poisonous or windfury, making this card also good offensively. Finally, Silvermoon Portal may trigger some Dr. Boom PTSD. Of course, it would be a very rare occasion when the game will last long enough for you to cast all of these, but in most cases you should get a relatively good body, hopefully with spell immunity. The card also introduces an interesting dilemma into Quest Paladin: seeing as Blinding Luster is a dead topdeck and most decks would only run a single copy, should the player use it early on to later buff Maraad or should they save it for happy Rag or Tirion?
That's all for now, will be adding two more neutral Draenei legendaries very soon!
EDIT: Rebalanced Zaan.
My (custom) expansion:
Return to Outland (Black temple + Burning Legion cards)- Complete
Neeri the Trickster- the game needs more cards like Loatheb, cards that allow you to mess with your opponent's next turn, to counter his plays in advance. Loatheb was good at this, but also terribly unbalanced; getting such a powerful battlecry for a single stat point is ridiculous. Neeri, on the other side, serves a similar role, but her power level is way more acceptable. While Loatheb messed with every spell without exception, Neeri only affects damaging spells- essentially just burn, soft removal and AoE. The difference between her and Loatheb is slim, but noticeable. With Neeri's effect active the opponent can still play secrets, buff spells and card draw spells without being affected by her battlecry. The card would also have to be played more strategically than Loatheb. She would have to be saved for an impending board clear to preserve your board or played before freeze mage's burn turn, buying you time to flip the game.
Akama, Unbroken- Lotus Assassin is an amazing card in the wrong class. It's an inherently midrange card and rogue hasn't ever played that archetype. With the help of this broken draenei, however, all decks would be free to use that effect. Akama is a perfect way to protect valuable minions from being removed. However, coming on turn 5 means that Dragonfire Potion and Flamestrike are just around the corner, meaning the reign of Akama may soon come to an end. Additionally, just like Kel'Thuzad, he is a win-more card and only has a good impact on a relatively big board. Just like Kel'Thuzad, on an empty one he's totally useless, as a 4/4 on its own just isn't good enough on turn 5 or later in the game.
As an addition, here are another 2 cards, one of them probably a mandatory inclusion in a set so full of demons as "Return to Outland".
Dire Wolf Omega- funnily enough, even though he's way lower down the pack hierarchy than Dire Wolf Alpha, this guy would probably see way more play. It just seems such a good turn 2 play for a control deck; 1 attack minions become useless and 2 attack minions- harmless, and most of 1 drops have 1 or 2 attack. Even a Flame Imp becomes less of a threat though. This wolf is just perfect for early game favourable trades and throwing a wrench into aggro's gameplan.
Avid Demon Hunter- if the neutral Demons I included in this expansion make their way in too many midrange decks besides devoted Demon decks, this card should make sure the balance is restored. A Big Game Hunter without the attack restriction should discourage most decks from including demons in their lists. However, even in non-demon control matchups the card could shine, if control decks begin including Kil'Jaeden.
EDIT: Balanced Akama and the wolf.
My (custom) expansion:
Return to Outland (Black temple + Burning Legion cards)- Complete
Really like the new cards, especially Neeri because it has such an unique effect, it would be a great card to see in game i feel.
The set is looking very good at the moment and you know where you want to go with your classes which is a good thing, i really liked Vindicator Maraad as well the only problem with it is that a 9 mana 1/1 even with battlecry is probally not gonna come in the game because of summon and pull effects though the idea is great, also, (you might've already seen this) it got a 4.0 on hearthcards which is an incredible rating, congrats!
I'm curious where the set is gonna go next!
(and don't go overboard on the tech cards, you've seem to have already made quitte a few with a resonable amount of cards to go)
Thank you! You're right, I already saw Maraad's rating, as I followed your advice and made a hearthcards account. I must admit though I don't get what you mean by summon and pull effects. Perhaps Dirty Rat? I'm not worried about that card, it counters many others, but against Paladin it can backfire spectacularily by pulling a happy Rag or Tirion.
If you are curious about what's next you can always take a sneak peek on Hearthcards (user Wiener_Schnitzel), although not all cards I make there will be a part of this set. To give you a hint though, I will next be exploring some unused design space ever since Blade Flurry was nerfed.
Yes, you're right, the set has no need for more tech. I was just worried Krax wouldn't be good enough vs demon decks, which is why I added the demon hunter.
My (custom) expansion:
Return to Outland (Black temple + Burning Legion cards)- Complete
Time for a new batch! This time I'm adding some interesting neutrals, including the set's penultimate neutral legendary, as well as another paladin card.
Sha'tar Healer- better than Cult Apothecary, but still not the perfect neutral healing Antique Healbot was. However, seeing as Blizzard thinks neutral healing is bad, I decided to stick to their design philosophy. The card can both whiff (drawing a 1 mana card), help you out, but not too much (5 or 6 cost) or outright save you and win you the game vs aggro (the giants say hello). However, it suffers from the same issue as Holy Wrath, namely terrible inconsistency.
Horde Bannerman- can help control warrior/ paladin with the board control, but its restriction makes it useless for aggro and burst decks, just as intended.
Peacekeeper- an interesting toy for weapons classes and warlock, may end up saving you a lot of face damage. Can also be used to protect from burst damage, as it eats up 5 which may be the difference between victory and defeat. However, your opponent is also free to reap all these benefits, which means you'll have to thread around carefully if your opponent plays warlock/ a weapon class, as he might just benefit from the card more than you do.
Mace of Wrath- Hammer of Wrath done right. It isn't technically powercreep, as this can't target face, but it surely is a lot better in any other scenarios. Being able to determine the cost of the discovered cards is also a precious advantage.
And finally, the legendary:
All control/combo/midrange decks know the feeling when you keep drawing useless stuff in aggro matchups, like your win conditions vs control, card draw, etc., when what you really need is removal and life gain. Here's where Mephistroph comes in. For 4 mana you get a solid body, get rid of all those useless cards and draw a LOT of new ones, meaning you're almost guaranteed to get something useful. However, the card punishes lack of deck knowledge, as in case the matchup turns out to be midrange, discarding all that value may come back to bite you in the posterior. Also, it hardly deserves mention that playing this card would be disastrous vs control.
It's useful in the opposite case as well: when you are facing a control deck and you keep getting your AoE and heals, when what you really need is value cards.
My (custom) expansion:
Return to Outland (Black temple + Burning Legion cards)- Complete
Shaman cards inbound! With this update I'll be adding the rest of Thrall/Morgl's cards from "Return to Outland". With Shaman, instead of creating whole new archetypes, I decided I could instead support two existing ones that aren't that represented currently- Murloc Shaman and Control Shaman. However, seeing as Murloc Shaman got a lot of support in Un'Goro, most of the cards will be pushing the control archetype.
Marsh Magician- when Unite the Murlocs isn't completed yet and you need to recharge this lil' mage will help you out. Balanced around Lyra the Sunshard and designed to do basically the same- generate a LOT of resources before it's removed next turn. However, seeing as getting random Murlocs is WAAY better than random Priest spells, the mana/stats ratio had to be skewed a bit, making this very fragile. Handle with care!
Acolyte of Thunder- Control Shaman is a surprisingly well-equipped deck. It has superb hard removal (Hex), amazing AoE (Lightning Storm, Volcano), reliable healing (Jinyu Waterspeaker, Hallazeal the Ascended) and good value plays (Earth Elemental + Ancestral Spirit). Its card draw, however, is a bit on the iffy side, as Mana Tide Totem will rarely survive your enemy's turn. This card alleviates that drawback and makes overloading not that bad after all. Its limitation aims to restrict its usage in let's say Midjade Shaman and make sure it mostly sees play in devoted control decks.
Time for the epics:
Terokkar Guardian- somewhatlike a Tar Creeper, but not quite. Sure, it has the same defensive capability as it on the turn after being played and slightly better offensive the turn after, at the price of 1 overload. However, should it survive things can get quite interesting... you are free to turn this into an impenetrable wall, but at the price of locking yourself out of most of your mana next turn (and the risk of it getting removed anyway).
Corundum Crusher- the ultimate board control tool in some cases, a useless rock in another. On an empty board it's a pretty weak play, when you have an Earth Elemental it's a whole different story... nevertheless, it's good even at 4 attack and considering all of shaman's healing, a good way to keep up with your opponent's mid-game minions.
It's time for this expansion's second broken Draenei! Nobundo has returned to his homeland and with the power of the elements (and the power of ROCK) to aid and guide him he will purge Draenor from the Legion!
Nobundo has long since mastered the art of turning disadvantages into advantages. Abandoned by the Light, he instead heeded the call of the elements and introduced the draenei to shamanism. His Hearthstone equivalent is also very good at getting use out of drawbacks. When your opponent thinks he's got you cornered, seeing you overloaded a LOT of crystals, and starts flooding, thinking he's got lethal next turn, Nobundo can turn around the entire game in one swoop. However, the card's effect is conditional and without overload Nobundo is just an understatted minion, meaning you'll have to embrace overload synnergy in your deck and brace for those times when you're too overloaded and Nobundo is nowhere in sight.
Thunderstruck- who knew draenei shamans were secretly AC/DC fans? I guess it kind of makes sence, rock being one of the elements and all xD. This hard rock card is the spiritual successor of Elemental Destruction- an incredibly OP for its cost card with a terrible amount of overload attached to compensate. The card can also be compared to Meteor (without adjacent minions bonus though) or Execute (15 damage to a minion essentially makes it hard removal). The effectiveness (and awesomeness!!) of the card is offset by the fact it terribly messes up your next turn, unless you combo it with Farseer Nobundo (dream combo) or that 2 mana 3/2 unlocking overloaded crystals guy from Old Gods. However, those are still just 3 out of 30 cards to remove its drawback, meaning most of the times you'll have to deal with it another way. Even rock has its cost!
Next time- more neutrals and (finally) some Mage cards!
EDIT: Balanced Marsh Magician (cost raised by 1) and Nobundo (5/5 body--> 2/4 body).
My (custom) expansion:
Return to Outland (Black temple + Burning Legion cards)- Complete
Okay, but the real play with kil'jaeden is to get some mind-vision madness going, and then steal back the immunity. Massive plays, right there.
Meanwhile, Peacekeeper would make an appearance in a meme-priest deck where they buff it to unimaginable sizes and then force the opponent to sit through eternity with them, as neither can kill the other. I like this idea, though. Mephistroth, meanwhile, is just what I wanted from Explore Un'Goro, and it makes sense.
Now, the one that concerns me slightly is Borf. Borf is a fun idea, and I like that you're trying to do something fun with control hunter, but granted that having Borf makes your hero-power 90% better than the druid's hero power, you might have overdone it a bit. My point here is that with this power, you have 2 damage on minions, and 1 health from each attack, which is better than the Druid with his +1 health, and only 1 damage, except in niche cases where you're at full health and hitting face, or if hitting a minion exactly kills you and armor before saves you but health after kills you. This means that in nearly all cases, Hunter has eclipsed the Druid hero power just by running this legendary. I'd say that if you want to do this, either add some minor downside (E.G. the 2 hp lost with Warlock), or remove the health gain.
Alternatively, maybe make him change the hero-power on draw, which slightly restricts the power of it. Added bonus: you can make the healing contingent on killing a minion, so you have the flavor that you are 'eating' the minion, and also pushing the board-control a bit further.
Back on the theoretical hype-train, though, that quest-paladin support is sick. Like, seriously, vindicator Maraad is crazy with blinding luster and spikeridged steeds. Call me biased because I like that deck, but I'd be hype if that card got revealed, along with the guy who lets you discover spells as you cast them. Aldor recruit would be seriously welcome in-game too, since it solves the 'needs both spells and minions' issue that I find when I try to go questing.
Shattrath priest, I'm honestly surprised isn't in the game already. It's exactly the kind of thing you'd expect to have in priest.
The following is another exceptionally long explanation of why I take issue with the present design of Zaan, voice of light. I do love the concept, and on my side of the board, it's right up my alley, but I get the definite impression that it's a bit crazy.
Balance issue with Zaan. Granted that she's a 4 mana 2/5, (Which is about 1 over-costed), you'd expect about 1 mana-worth of effect from her. What you get is a potential 8 HP per turn split up to 4 ways, which is kind of crazy. Like, a 1 cost spell (like blessing of might, or divine strength, over in paladin), gives you 3 stats, 3 Attack or 1 Attack and 2 Health, and they're, while not that good, still semi-playable. This minion can, every turn, give you +4 health to your board using only 1 minion, which is worth more than 1 mana in 1 turn, and it just keeps giving.
To rectify that, I'd suggest making them a 0/3 1-mana minion, with the effect 'Adjacent minions have +2 Health.' and possibly making the stats lower on Zaan, with the payoff being Taunt, which feels like the main application of these spirits anyway.
So, in this theoretical case, the card would be
Zaan, voice of light (4 mana)
2/1
'Battlecry: summon two 0/3 Naaru
Taunt'
Naaru (2 mana)
0/3
'Adjacent minions have +2 health'
In the vein of flametongue totem. This card would make for a much weaker presence, since the buffs don't stick, and neither do the Naaru, but granted that they immediately become 0/5s once Zaan dies, you've actually got 8 extra health of minion to deal with there (5 from one, and then 3 when the other loses its buff), which is still pretty sticky. I would hate to play against this card, for the same reason I dislike playing against flametongue totem, but I think it's much saner this way. Alternatively, you could make it so that they were still non-minion creatures, in keeping with their spiritual nature, but they would be a deal weaker.
So, when a warrior uses Dead Man's Hand, what does that actually mean in terms of flavor? Is he the dead man? Does he cut off his own hand? Is that why he has Tentacles for Arms? Does he think that tentacles are actually as good as arms?
These reasons and more are why I think warriors are more mysterious than people give them credit for.
These are outstanding. Great art, well thought out new mechanics, and some cards that will breath life into older decks as well (Paladin quest might actually be viable with your new cards!). Well done.
I really like the new cards, already saw Corundum Crusher pop up in the gallery earlier however the card has a really nice idea. Marsh magican might be really OP however since you just play that and keep playing cheap murlocs and create a full board out of 2 cards. I also like Farseer Nobundo's idea but again not sure about balance since imagine you play Thunderstruck and the turn after Nobundo, there was litteraly no downside becasause you just flamestriked his board and now have board advantage, and with Shamans not having any real hard removal this could be very dangerous but it might just be me. Very nice cards though and keep it up.
My (custom) expansion:
Return to Outland (Black temple + Burning Legion cards)- Complete
My (custom) expansion:
Return to Outland (Black temple + Burning Legion cards)- Complete
It's been a long time since I last added new cards, sorry for the delay! Today you'll be getting all the Mage cards that are left, including the legendary, and a bunch of neutrals.
With this expansion I'll try to push Tempo Mage, a deck I find very fun and enjoyable to play and that is currently absent from Standard. However, seeing as Tempo Mage was too powerful in the past owing to incredibly swingy cards like Mad Scientist and Flamewaker, I've lowered its power level on most cards compared to the pre-rotation era.
Dalaran Emissary- Flamewaker was Tempo's best chance against aggro, but it was also a bit too good in other matchups. This card is its spiritual successor, but purposefully inferior. For a start, its effect can only be triggerered once per turn (barring any Auctionmaster Beardo shenanigans), meaning you can't just chain cheap spells and destroy your opponent's board. However, the core concept remains the same as with Flamewaker, fending off aggro.
Azshara's Blessing- another possible use for the opposite minion mechanic. This is to Spellbender what Mana Bind is to Counterspell: a card that unlike the classic secrets doesn;t protect your minions, but nets you value. Azshara's Blessing is versatile, as it can result in both your enemy's minions getting destroyed when they use removal on yours or them buffing your minions (mostly for paladin)
Now some rares:
In order to bring back Tempo Mage, I'll be using the core of an already existing deck: Secret Mage, which is why some of the cards will have synergy with secrets. This also enables them to be run in controllish-combo decks like freeze/burn mage as well, since those run secrets as well.
Sear- Flamecannon reborn, except its worse when you don't have a secret and better if you do. The card is amazing when the condition is met, but as many Secret Mage players (including me) can confirm, unless your secret is Ice Block it's usually triggered during your enemy's turn, meaning you have to play a secret in the same turn as Sear in order for it to be effective.
Sin'dorei Archmage- a bit of a tempo loss when it enters the battlefield, but a huge gain when it leaves. Of course, you have to draw your secrets first, this is no Mad Scientist or Mysterious Challenger. And, of course, it's horrible when you haven't drawn them.
The epics:
Pyroburst- it's Shadow Bolt with the added bonus you can split the damage and target face and the drawback that it uses your Hero Power. Additionally, the card can be used as a worse Moonfire if you're desperate. I guess it could also work out in burn mage as a part of your burn, but I still don't think it's better than Frostbolt at this job.
Mistress of Frost- now this is a pure control card. I designed it to combo with Frost Nova [/card] for a 9 mana full board clear, a more reliable, yet more expensive, alternative of the Doomsayer combo. The card can also be comboed with [card]Freezing Potion as a pseudo-Vilespine Slayer, but that combo is worse than the rogue card, meaning it would mostly be used with Frost Nova.
And finally, this set's Mage legendary, along with the last rare:
Reckless Spellcaster- allows Tempo Mage to dominate the board this turn... and their opponent as well during theirs. This card turns each of your spells into a Meteor, but the enemy also benefits from this, meaning you can say good-bye to your minions which will get removed with 1 or 2 soft removals. A very sharp double-edged sword.
Enchanter Lyessa- ever since Classic, mages never get good legendaries. Some are awful (Flame Leviathan, Anomalus), some are OK, but not good enough to see regular play (Rhonin, Inkmaster Solia), but not one is as good as Archmage Antonidas. With Return to Outland I hope to rectify that by including one of the Sin'dorei's best mages, Enchanter Lyessa.
This card can single-handedly disrupt your enemy's next turn... or it can get traded into (or hit by a weapon) and do nothing, as no secret protects it from that, meaning you have to be careful when you play Lyessa. When, however, she can't be destroyed by trading, the fun begins. Your opponent will have to either play a minion or a spell and your secrets will trigger of that. In most cases, your enemy knows they're safe when they played a small minion into your Mirror Entity or a Coin into your Counterspell, but with Lyessa their turn becomes a nightmare, as the random secret can be anything. Should they play according to Mirror Entity? Spellbender? Ice Barrier? This is where the card shines, making your enemy unsure and forcing suboptimal plays on their side.
Last but not least, 2 neutrals:
Sin'dorei Spy- a very situational card. In most cases it's useless, as most secrets have to be triggered by your opponent. It synergises with exactly 3 secrets- Redemption, Ice Block and Treacherous Depths (a Hunter secret I added a while ago). The combo with the paladin secret can be used for tempo plays, with the hunter one- to control the board and with Ice Block you can evade fatigue damage and win the control matchup, although you'd have to have played it the previous turn.
Fel Rager- I know it's the ragers gimmick to be unplayable, but I decided to design the exclusion that confirms the rule. Still, it isn't that great. It's meant to be used as a delayed removal, flipping the card's stats on the next turn and using the new aggressive distribution to trade into a high health minion. Of course, your opponent can counter this strategy by damaging the rager to a 2/3 (3/2 when flipped) and making it useless.
Another possible use is to make temporary buffs (like the attack from Abusive Sergeant) permanent. Who knows, a rager might some day be the pinnacle of a competetive deck. What a day it would be!
EDIT: Buffed the emissary and Lyessa per suggestion from KillTheCow.
My (custom) expansion:
Return to Outland (Black temple + Burning Legion cards)- Complete
My thoughts on some cards:
Dalaran Emissary: Interesting card, though i'd probally not see much play because it's way to slow, unlike with Flamewaker where you can cast multiple spells in a turn which tempo mage did a lot, here you can only do it once per turn and you don't have any attack on it. It doesn't really give you tempo at all i feel you mabey even lose tempo. And if in tempo it wouldn't see play it wouldn't anywhere i feel. Though again i like the card and the idea is great i just don't think it would be a viable choice for constructed.
Also a small thing: Inspire is TGT exlusive but it doesn't really matter.
Azshara's Blessing: Another very cool idea for a card, though however it kind of is a worse Mana Bind in a way since with Mana Bind you could have the spell and target whatever you want unless your opponent plays AOE or card draw in which case it might still be better to get that. I think Counterspell will still overshadow it unfortunatly though it's a really cool idea.
Sear; This is a really cool card since as with Flamecannon it is still a really good card to play on curve since 3 damage should be enough but sometimes you need that 1 extra damage and this gives you that, really like the concept of the card and well balanced.
Sin'Dorei Archmage: Again a really cool idea and could be really good but it doesn't really help you gain tempo, still a potential amazing card but only if you're in the right situation, again great idea and well balanced.
Pyroburst: cool concept but a downside that Shadow Bolt doesn't have is that you already used up your Hero power to play it, i feel like Frostbolt is better in every way.
Mistress of Frost: Cool idea and well balanced, though i don't feel like an archetype like that would work atm and Freeze Mage might not run it because it's too expensive and you would need to have [cardFrost Nova[/card] for it to work if not it's useless in that deck.
Reckless Spellcaster: A difficult card to evaluate but the idea is alright and Tempo Mage might need a few good cards to see a return so i like this one.
Enchanter Lyessa: I'm sorry to tell you but i doubt the viability of this card. Since as you said, whenever you play a Secret it will most of the time be triggered immediatly unless it's Ice Block which wouldn't be triggered so that's already useless. So basicly you pay 8 mana to play Enchanter Lyessa and a Secret, probally Hero power and end your turn or if you went second and are lucky enough coin into another which is unlikely. Then your opponent kills Enchanter Lyessa most likely with minions which would make the card not have done anything, if he doesn't have any or can't kill it with minions and you're secret is either Counterspell or Spellbender which is then likely if you have one so you're opponent will play around it most likely. So then you get another random secret and then the chances of which you get another one of those 2 is very low. At best you get a Mana Bind then. Of course the dream senario is that it then stays alive and you play more Secrets but it's unlikely. I understand that you can put secrets into the battlefield with some cards but your opponent is probally gonna kill those as well.
You might want to reduce the mana cost by 1 so you can play 2 Secrets along with her if you wish to do so, you would still spend your entire turn on doing so though which then it would probally still be worse than Lyra the Sunshard. I really like the card though.
Sin'dorei Spy: Interesting concept and well balanced i feel but might fit more into Mage and not neutral since with Hunter you will mostly have downsides and there are only 3 classes with Secrets though there are only a few classes with weapons either.
Fel Rager: I like the concept and it's wel balanced but ragers ALWAYS have a 5/1 statline or something similar and are ALWAYS 3 mana. So it's not really a rager but still a cool card regardless.
Overall i really like these new cards, good work!
My (custom) expansion:
Return to Outland (Black temple + Burning Legion cards)- Complete
You're right, Azshara's Blessing could be used over Mana Bind and thinking back it might be better, not sure if better than Counterspell but that's a really good card, i still really like the effect and i would like it to actually be in the game itself since it's such a cool design. I also really like the positioning aspect.
And you'll better make a proper rager next time otherwise i'm unsubscribing to this thread!
just kidding this thread is great :)