Rogues are a leather-clad melee class capable of dealing large amounts of damage to their enemies with a flurry of very fast attacks. They are masters of stealth and assassination, passing by enemies unseen and striking from the shadows, then escaping from combat in the blink of an eye. (WoWHead) With an array of cunning tricks and debilitating attacks, the Rogue focuses on using a combination of attacks to whittle down their foes. In Hearthstone, the Combo mechanic underlies the class; as such Rogues tend to empty their hands and reload, enabling combos with 0 and 1-Cost cards. In addition, Rogues are known for their mastery of poisons and of Stealth, attacking and then retreating back into the darkness.
Rogues do it From Behind
50 cards, made in about a day, introducing two new mechanics and reinforcing existing synergies.
EDIT: Make that 75 76 cards made over the course of a couple of weeks.
I made this whole thing in about a day, with around 4 cards that came from previous ideas. I want to release all of these before any more Knights of the Frozen Throne cards are released so as to capitalize off the hype and maybe anticipate some card effects. Please take a look at each of them! There are 25 commons, 20 rares, 15 epics and 7 legendaries.
New Keyword: Stalk
Stalk minions still have to be ordered to attack, but can only attack the character they are stalking. Once the minion/character they are stalking is dead, they can attack other minions as normal. Stalk can't target Stealth minions unless a random Stalk target happens to be a Stealth minion. In this case, the Stealth minion being stalked can be damaged and will lose Stealth when it is attacked. Stalking minions ignore taunt in order to attack their targets.
New Mechanics:
Bristling Thorns
Bristling Thorn is a Rogue-exclusive spell that works like Jade Golems do. Cards that add Bristling Thorns to your hand will specify what the damage done by that iteration of Bristling Thorn will do. The counter for Bristling Thorn damage goes up whenever you cast a Bristling Thorn.
In game, Jungle Thornthrower would read "Battlecry: Add a Bristling Thornthat deals 1 damage to your hand. Combo: Add 2 instead." Bristling Thorn goes from 1 to 10 mana, just as Jade Golems do. The first iteration is a 1-Cost "Deal 1 damage" spell. The final possible iteration is a 10-Cost card that deals 30 damage. Think of Bristling Thorns as the logical extension of Razorpetal.
With those mechanics explained, onto the expansion.
Changelog:
August 21, 2017:
Added 1 legendary card.
Garona Halforcen
August 14, 2017:
Added 5 common cards, 5 rare cards, 5 epic cards, and 1 legendary.
Dual Wielder
Highwayblade
Poison Merchant
Organ Stealer
Deadened Spike
Alacrity
Cannon Barrage
Combat Roll
Lunging Assassin
Restless Blades
Relentless Strikes
Veiled Shadow Dagger
Dockside Knifepurse
Proud Frontstabber
Potent Poisons
Fenissa the Assassin
July 24, 2017:
Added 20 common cards, 15 rare cards, 10 epic cards, and 5 legendaries.
Card Explanations:
Dirty Trick: The minion counterpart to Preparation, with the same rarity and discount as Shadowstep.
Toxic Blade: Basically Deadly Poison with a conditional buff. If you're targeting a minion behind a Taunt, this is good. However, it removes flexibility in terms of killing other minions. The Stalk lasts until you kill the minion targeted or until your weapon breaks.
Parley: Supposed to be based off a WoW ability that stops anybody from attacking until damage is dealt... but that didn't really translate well. Instead it ends up being a 'Duel' between two minions. They can only attack each other until one of them is dead. After that point, the one that survives can target enemies as normal.
Jungle Thornthrower: Starts off the Bristling Thorn archetype. This card is a good way to ramp up your Bristling Thorn damage in the early game.
Strategic Cutthroat: Basically a soft Taunt. One extra stat point for what it does, as it has to survive having bodies thrown at it at least until turn 3. Not a great card unless you can buff it up with Cold Blood or somesuch.
Obsessive Assassin: A fine 2-drop that can pass for a 3-drop with its Combo. Not great when contesting multiple minions, but will likely be able to deal with the minion it's stalking in the early game.
Defias Outcast: The counterpart to Defias Ringleader. Instead of a 2/1, it summons a 1/1 Stealth. Provides more flexibility.
Exsanguinate: Essentially Eviscerate for Knights of the Frozen Throne. Doesn't have the same damage output as that card, but heals your hero for 3 to make up for it.
Vendetta: Similar to Parley, except that you're only Stalking on your side, not restricting your opponent's moves. The card draw makes up for the effect, which I'd say is worth 0 mana. Compare Moonfire and Shiv for mana justification.
Mind-Numbing Poison: A more situational and low-power Loatheb. Also a 0-mana effect, so card draw is added.
Handsome Rogue: Made this card a while back. He's attracting all the attention from anybody, and crowding out all the other people in the room. Useful utility for shielding important minions with a wall of 5 health. If the adjacent minions attack with him in play, they regain Stealth immediately. When he dies, adjacent minions lose Stealth. The intention is that this guy can't gain permanent Stealth either, making it counterable.
SI:7 Operative: Like SI:7 Agent, except with less permanent board presence and more restrictive damage. This is essentially a 3 mana deal 3 with the idea that it could be 'infinite' if you really commit your hand. You probably would play other cards over this though, because it only reacts to your opponent's board when you could be establishing your own.
Undercity Blademaster:Deadly Poison and Lifesteal on a good body. Rogue needed more weapon buffs on a more respectable curve.
Contagious Poison: Like I said, more weapon buffs. Akin to Envenom Weapon, except it's slightly better and slightly worse— it doesn't act as nigh-immediate removal, but it does provide +3 Attack. The deathrattle on your weapon means you have to trade smart to get Poisonous onto the right minion.
Scapegoat: I submitted this card and other like it for a card design competition a while ago. Useful for preventing your fragile Stealth minions from getting AoE'd! Fun and interactive...
Shadow Torrent:Water Elemental for Rogue with a more appropriate effect, as Rogue doesn't have heals and survivability like Mage.
Bramble Snapper: The limiting factor on Bristling Thorn as a mechanic in comparison to Jade Golem is that you have to pay the mana cost to play it, making less powerful, especially as you don't have a permanent body on the board along with it. This means that Bristling Thorn cards can be more frequent and be less of a stat reducer on other cards.
Dubious Apothecary: Fun and random. Respectable stats because Inspire on Rogue sucked in TGT (as you almost never HP'd every turn...)
Subtle Blade:Assassin's Blade that starts under it and ends up over it. Rogue weapons need high durability to justify weapon buffs!
Corrupted Elemental:Blood Knight and Flare with some Elemental flavour. Either a tech card against other Rogues or self-Stealth synergy. Combo makes this a bit more like Edwin VanCleef but still less powerful. I'd say it's average power level, and that it's a shame Conceal rotated out otherwise this would be almost always played with it on turn 7.
Card Explanations:
Surprise Attack: Useful for playing 1-drop Combo cards on turn 1. Otherwise it's just an ok "deal 2 damage" card with your face attached.
Run Through: The spell Rogue flavourfully needs (Biteweed)... The Lifesteal justifies it more. This could be a finisher in a Miracle Rogue deck.
Greenshade Stalker: Could be a 4/4, and that's good. The Deathrattle is actually a bit of a downside because it could land on the enemy hero, meaning that minion could only go face until it died, reducing its utility on the board.
SI:7 Bladesmith: Simple. I think the 3/1 is justified because you're dealing damage but taking face damage in the meantime. Potentially good anti-aggro, but also good with Blade Flurry which sucks currently— would end up being a 6-mana 1-off-Flamestrike.
Ya'Mon Ambusher: Similar effect to Obsessive Assassin, but 1-more attack and no need to activate a combo.
Worgen Backstabber:Backstab, Backstab, Backstab. This is a good deal for 3 mana. Even though it can be picked off for free, it can add up to 6 damage if it goes uncontested and enables you to activate Combo on your next turn.
Bristled Edge: Gotta get them Thorns. 1/4 weapon for 3 seems fair given that Poisoned Blade sucked.
Weapon Smuggler: Good synergy with SI:7 Bladesmith. Doesn't activate on your non-HP weapons, so it's balanced for 1 mana more than the body justifies.
Bootlegger:Archmage's Apprentice from Karazhan with more restrictions. But it's got a Pirate tag. Mid to late game Pirates! I want more. Helps to enable late-game combos, but they can be dead draws.
Distraction: Based on a WoW ability. Maybe the wording is ambiguous, but it's the 1/1 copies that have Taunt. The original Stealth minions still have Stealth after you play this. Only summons 3 minions maximum, but it's good if you have Stealth minions with triggered effects.
Ninja Stars:Blade Flurry version 2.0— Blizzard can't stop this train! This is a bad Arcane Explosion if it fails, but it can turn into a full board wipe if your opponent's board has a 1 health minion, a 2hp one, 3hp, 4hp, 5hp, 6hp, and 7hp minion. Good anti-aggro.
Premeditation:Gang Up in a way. It's like how Thistle Tea was the precursor to Mimic Pod, except the other way round with the more powerful version coming later (in a fanmade set...). Good for refilling your deck in a race to fatigue.
Coldlight Ninja: Funny story, I made this like 2 years ago. Turns out it has almost perfect synergy with Finja, the Flying Star. Imagine that!
Southsea Whittler:War Golem as a Pirate that throws sticks.
Killing Spree:Assassinate for 2 mana more... or a 4-mana double Assassinate with Preparation.
Card Explanations:
Shadow Focus:Preparation in the wording of Shadowstep and with Prep's discount and rarity. Also based on a WoW ability. Combo enabler like you've never seen. Imagine Preparation into Sprint into Shadow Focus...
Forbidden Thievery: I was sad that Rogue didn't get a 'Forbidden' card. So here it is. Max. 10 random cards shuffled into your deck—not put into your hand, that would be too OP/bad.
Master of Subtlety: Works well with all Stealth-related minions essentially. Once again, would be OP with Conceal. Also goes well with Lotus Assassin.
Setup: Fun card on a full board— which minion does your opponent have to play around? They'll never know.
Paid Mercenary: What?? a 4 mana 7/7?? Except it comes at the cost of 2 combo enablers, which I'd wager are worth about 3 mana together as they 1) enable combos, 2) set up plays, and 3) bait out secrets and help replay minions. The 0 mana Rogue cards are worth more than 0 mana when taken in a pair of 2.
Hit and Run: Mill Rogue! Mill Rogue! Mill Rogue! Coldlight Oracle, Shadowstep, Coldlight Oracle, Hit and Run, Shadow Focus, Preparation, Hit and Run ends up drawing you 4 cards and drawing your opponent 16 cards. If that doesn't bring back Mill Rogue, I don't know what will.
SI:7 Squad Leader: Created before Vilespine Slayer, but with the added bonus of gaining Stealth. Loses 1 stat point for the bonus... Maybe as a battlecry it's too much but only the weak care for such meagre details as that.
Subtle Executioner: This card vomits a bunch of keywords onto the page. Maexxna doesn't come out of this too well. This is basically guaranteed delayed direct removal— 2 mana more than Assassinate as it could go on to target more than one thing, but not too expensive because of the delay.
Play Fighting: Full board on your end but you can't come up with the damage to kill your opponent this turn? This tremendously unfun POS card I printed fixes that by making you spend 1 mana to let you do a 2 turn kill without that much effort. Unless your opponent has Taunt minions or Ice Block and Freeze cards. Should probably read "Can only be played at the start of your turn before doing anything else", but then it wouldn't really do anything.
Card Explanations:
Moroes, Undead: Used Master of Disguise on a minion, then it attacked and lost Stealth? No problem. Moroes resummons that minion and any other minions that had Stealth that turn, regardless if they lost it or not. This might too cancerous, though, as it's essentially a more OP Conceal. Remember, actual Moroes outside of the Karazhan adventure is dead and has died and been revived many times, hence the effect where he ends up killing and reviving himself at the end of your turn as well.
Gregory Charles: Ever wanted to do Tree of Life, but just leave yourself out of it? This is the card for you. Gregory Charles is a rogue trainer in the Undercity, along with Miles Dexter. The synergy between them is like that between Acidmaw and Dreadscale. Given that the effect is never an upside on this card, it's overstatted for its cost.
Vanessa VanCleef: Don't get me wrong, I love Burgle, but it was never enough. I want to steal all of my opponent's cards. Gimme gimme. Use this when you're low on cards but your opponent isn't to basically hobble them and give yourself a big advantage, even though you'll end up switching your hands back when she dies. Unless you played Brann Bronzebeard, or Spiritsinger Umbra, or have Baron Rivendare in play. In those cases, everything is totally fucked and your opponent will get super salty. In those cases however Vanessa becomes a delayed activation because she has to die before she can perma-swap your hand with your opponent.
Miles Dexter: This is why Gregory Charles exists. Almost unconditionally better than Dark Iron Skulker (1 mana more for +1 stat and +2 damage) this is unfortunately just a 10-mana Flamestrike + double Steady Shot when they're paired up. On its own, Dexter does work though.
Master Mathias Shaw: Basically save (or generate) The Coin and wait until turn 9 to play it and then this. Boom! Double the cards in your deck. Compare to Varian Wrynn but helps a lot more in Mill Rogue. Maybe OP, but you have to play 2 cards at 10 mana for this to work otherwise it's just a 10 mana 6/6 Stealth.
Garona Halforcen:
Champion of the Uncrowned! Chief Interpreter of the Shadow Council! Deck thief!
Garona as a Rogue legendary bears some similarity to Archbishop Benedictus, in that she shuffles a deck into your deck. But with this card, you're not taking what's left of your opponent's deck, you're taking a full deck with all it's synergies, and copying it from your opponent's collection. That's right, any one of their (potentially) 18 decks is a Discover option here. How are these choices presented to you? Using the 'Deck Recipe' satchels, with the name of the deck your opponent uses, the class it is for, and the card art for a card that the game has 'recognized' as being a core card in the deck.
It's up to Hearthstone to determine what a 'core card' of a deck is, which makes for the potential for it to be misleading by presenting a card that seems like it could be the core of the deck, but isn't. Not only that, but your opponent can counterplay this card by making 'dummy decks' full of subpar cards, labelling them with alluring names and throwing one good card in to fool the art, meanwhile filling it with Wisps and Snowflipper Penguins. Nonetheless, it's still a high-value card no matter what you get really, as you shuffle 30 cards into your deck, of varying quality.
Once you choose which deck to shuffle into your own, it shuffles 30 cards in (but you can't see what they are), opening the satchel as the animation. Having done that, you're left with a 4/7 body for 6 mana, which isn't too bad. Perhaps the stats could be paired down for the cost, or the cost increased, but all in all Archbishop Benedictus is a slow card, so this is perhaps a slightly less slow card.
Show me what you got, people. I want to hear what's wrong/right with these cards.
I want to start with my most glaring problem, and then look at the rest, as I had been admittedly skimming through the cards.
Did you factor in Auchenai Soulpriest when creating Gregory Charles, or her 2 mana friend, Embrace the Shadow? With either of those cards being possibilities through cards that give you cards, what prompted you to create an 6/8 mana insta-kill?
Just really wanted to ask about this when I realized the importance of the question. I'll be leaving comment with you later today about the rest of the set.
Yep. But those kind of combos will only happen very rarely, given the random nature of Rogue's card procurement. Not to mention that that would only really be likely in 1/9 (or less) matchups. I'd say there are some more insane OTK scenarios with Priest as well. If you had to restrict Hearthstone's design space by thinking "what insane combo is possible if an RNG effect produces THIS card?" it makes the game less fun and more vanilla. This is probably a harder to pull off version of any other "Exodia" combo, as those decks don't have too much RNG- they have all the cards in the first place. There's a reason there aren't any cards like Hallucination in this list, as it would reduce the randomness of Rogue and enable more dumb combos. The spell that shuffles cards from your opponent's class into your deck is basically the one exception to this, but all in all I think Rogue should be moving away from the Burgle mechanic anyway, as Priest had a better go of it right from launch. Instead, Stealth, Poison, Stalking and single target removal (and mayberry a bit of mill) should be a bigger mechanical focus.
Mind-Numbing Poison, Handsome Rogue, SI:7 Operative, and Coldlight Ninja are all really excellent cards. M-NP can be scary for a great many number of people. The Operative is a nice recycle style of minion, letting you continually pump out damage against minions, while keeping from developing a board, something I wish there was more of. Coldlight Ninja helps flesh out Murlocs more, pushing more trickery within Rogue, something I think most people can appreciate.
Handsome Rogue is EASILY my favorite card in this set. Mask important targets while forcing your opponent to maybe spend more mana during their turn than they're willing, not to mention we need more Rogue cards that feel like Bards. This is such a lovely card, because of the flavor. This is the kind of card you could throw into a theme deck that focuses on an Ocean's Eleven scheme of sorts. I could imagine Handsome Rogue being told "Your mission is to distract the patrons while we begin the hit on Gadgetzan" or something. Super cool.
Bootlegger would be cooler if it made the spell cost 1 more, because it fits with the idea of bootleg products being of lesser quality. Pushes a realism and flavor angle more within your set.
Shaw is easily my favorite Legendary. I like the idea of using Preparation and Gang Up with him. Just a really fun card.
There's definitely some interesting stuff here. Don't know that I'm on board with the stalk mechanic, seems slightly confusing to play with. I liked a few of the cards that didn't rely on new mechanics though. The handsome rogue was an interesting idea, a good looking fellow distracting so the others blend into the surroundings, could be a decent mechanic and great thematically.
There's definitely some interesting stuff here. Don't know that I'm on board with the stalk mechanic, seems slightly confusing to play with. I liked a few of the cards that didn't rely on new mechanics though. The handsome rogue was an interesting idea, a good looking fellow distracting so the others blend into the surroundings, could be a decent mechanic and great thematically.
Stalk was definitely something I came up with to bookend the expansion, but I think it's at least somewhat likely to be an effect Blizzard uses in the near or far future; Choose an enemy minion. This minion can only attack it. I do think cards like Handsome Rogue are very flavourful in this set, and I think it's closer to the kind of card Blizzard would print. I might make a separate thread, eventually, for cards 'Blizzard would print", throwing all the complicated and new ideas out the window, and just focusing on somewhat underpowered and simple cards, like Ticking Abomination!
i like the bristling thorn mechanic, i think it could definitely give a new archetype to rogues
It felt like Blizz was going that way with the Razorpetals, but they weren't strong enough to justify serious use outside weird decks and arena. Having a 1 mana deal 1 damage spell is pretty prohibitive, so ramping up the damage with the mana cost seems fair, especially when you have to spend mana to ramp up that damage.
On a side note, Vampiric Poison was released and uses the same art as Toxic Blade, with a similar but moreno underpowered version of Undercity Blademaster's effect. Who knew! This is why I had to get these cards out fast! Some of the effects might already be in the expansion...
Well, it turns out that has a very similar effect to ,
and that andfollow a similar archetype as . What does this mean? I guess it means I have awesome predictive powers and should be hired by Blizz. Except is really bad, so maybe I wouldn't want to be a Blizzard card designer.
Dual Wielder: A Rogue version of Mana Wyrm, Tunnel Trogg, Animated Berserker that gives you cheap weapon buffs and can persist for a while if you keep it behind higher threat minions.
Highwayblade: It's Blubber Baron but with Combo. Since Combo is less prevalent than Battlecry, it costs 1 less.
Organ Stealer: A simple healing alternative to Plague Scientist, sidestepping hard removal.
Deadened Spike: Another key part of the weapon rogue archetype I want to push with this expansion. On it's own this is a 2/2 that becomes a 1/2, that becomes a 1/1, that becomes a 0/1— it should technically have infinite uses if you buff it enough. A very powerful removal tool that actually enables Envenom Weapon.
Alacrity: A more sophisticated draw tool for rogue that can exist outside of mill and miracle, perhaps in a 'Big Rogue' deck where you can use this as a combo enabler as well as a draw machine.
Cannon Barrage: Another combo enabler similar to Explorer's Hat and Headcrack in terms of utility vs. mana cost and repeatability. This effectively acts as Fireblast (the Mage hero power), but taking up a card slot and enabling combos. This could be very powerful.
Combat Roll: I tried to find appropriate art of a Rogue from WoW actually rolling, but this is as close as I got. This is an alternative to Roll the Bones, but as it enables Combos when it draws them, and Combo cards are quite prevalent in Rogue, it costs 1 more. Useful alternative to Sprint in some decks.
Lunging Assassin: A tech card that has fair enough stats anyway, providing you with a more survivable Jungle Panther with a very swingy effect for just 1 more mana. You could rip away your opponent's Gorehowl or Shadowmourne with this.
Restless Blades: A big barrier for weapon Rogue is that they have only a few good weapons, and that the few good weapons they have are prohibitively expensive to put to good use. Assassin's Blade can deal a total of 12 damage at base, but for 5 mana it is sub-par removal without Envenom Weapon or Deadly Poison. This card is comparable to Forge of Souls on steroids; with Preparation this essentially gives 3-mana draw a weapon and all your weapons have 2 Thaurissan ticks on them. This is a borderline card, as you'd ideally only pick one up for your weapon rogue deck.
Relentless Strikes: A way to incorporate dormancy in the vein of Sherazin, Corpse Flower. Some clarification: The weapon you reequip will have full durability, but it will have all of the enchantments you added to it with weapon-affecting cards. That is, you can pop this on an Assassin's Blade with Deadly Poison; you break the weapon and wait until you have the right turn to play 4 cards, then having done that, you end up with a free 5/4 weapon (well 2 mana delayed cost but still pretty cheap). I think this is the direction Team Five is moving towards with Doomerang.
Veiled Shadow Dagger: Think Perdition's Blade but with more situational utility. No unconditional damage and the base stats of Wicked Knife. At first sight it might appear worse than Poisoned Blade but hang on. This is a weapon that you can apply buffs to, but also one for utility purposes. It is meant to promote a 'flit in and out' playstyle for your hero, providing the kind of pseudo-immune effect that Valeera the Hollow does, but on a controlled delay.
Dockside Knifepurse: This looks very similar to Phantom Freebooter, and it is. The catch is that it inherits Lifesteal from Leeching Poison, Poisonous from Envenom Weapon, and increased spell-cost from Mind-Numbing Poison. This increases its potential utility and separates the neutral from the class card version quite handily.
Proud Frontstabber: Makes use of my new Stalk mechanic, and does so in a very pseudo-taunt manner, even though Rogue isn't known for taunts. The name is a reference to the one and only The Mooch.
Potent Poisons: Steroids version of Forge of Souls for Rogue as drawing multiple cheap poisons in one turn could result in a fantastic OTK.
Fenissa the Assassin: The idea behind this card is similar to Sherazin, Corpse Flower, and Doppelgangster. The keyword "3-Card Combo" is essentially a logical extension of the activator for Sherazin's revive— you must play 3 cards before this one in order to get the benefit, rather than the normal Combo keyword that only requires you play one card. It's for this reason that it's hard to activate Fenissa, but it pays off because using Razorpetals and Skeletons you can get 15/15 worth of stealth stats for 10 mana, which is a pretty good bargain I'm sure you'll agree.
Thanks Soulbattle. Nice to get some feedback— I admit 'Stalk' isn't a very interesting mechanic, but I personally like it as a way to express Rogues as assassins. Am watchful of further stealth minions, but as it stands the cards here are kind of 'pick and choose' for implementing them, as there are cards with similar mechanics at most mana costs/most rarities.
NEW LEGENDARY!
Champion of the Uncrowned! Chief Interpreter of the Shadow Council! Deck thief!
Garona as a Rogue legendary bears some similarity to Archbishop Benedictus, in that she shuffles a deck into your deck. But with this card, you're not taking what's left of your opponent's deck, you're taking a full deck with all it's synergies, and copying it from your opponent's collection. That's right, any one of their (potentially) 18 decks is a Discover option here. How are these choices presented to you? Using the 'Deck Recipe' satchels, with the name of the deck your opponent uses, the class it is for, and the card art for a card that the game has 'recognized' as being a core card in the deck.
It's up to Hearthstone to determine what a 'core card' of a deck is, which makes for the potential for it to be misleading by presenting a card that seems like it could be the core of the deck, but isn't. Not only that, but your opponent can counterplay this card by making 'dummy decks' full of subpar cards, labelling them with alluring names and throwing one good card in to fool the art, meanwhile filling it with Wisps and Snowflipper Penguins. Nonetheless, it's still a high-value card no matter what you get really, as you shuffle 30 cards into your deck, of varying quality.
Once you choose which deck to shuffle into your own, it shuffles 30 cards in (but you can't see what they are), opening the satchel as the animation. Having done that, you're left with a 4/7 body for 6 mana, which isn't too bad. Perhaps the stats could be paired down for the cost, or the cost increased, but all in all Archbishop Benedictus is a slow card, so this is perhaps a slightly less slow card.
Rogues are a leather-clad melee class capable of dealing large amounts of damage to their enemies with a flurry of very fast attacks. They are masters of stealth and assassination, passing by enemies unseen and striking from the shadows, then escaping from combat in the blink of an eye. (WoWHead) With an array of cunning tricks and debilitating attacks, the Rogue focuses on using a combination of attacks to whittle down their foes. In Hearthstone, the Combo mechanic underlies the class; as such Rogues tend to empty their hands and reload, enabling combos with 0 and 1-Cost cards. In addition, Rogues are known for their mastery of poisons and of Stealth, attacking and then retreating back into the darkness.
Rogues do it From Behind
50 cards, made in about a day, introducing two new mechanics and reinforcing existing synergies.
EDIT: Make that
7576 cards made over the course of a couple of weeks.I made this whole thing in about a day, with around 4 cards that came from previous ideas. I want to release all of these before any more Knights of the Frozen Throne cards are released so as to capitalize off the hype and maybe anticipate some card effects. Please take a look at each of them! There are 25 commons, 20 rares, 15 epics and 7 legendaries.
New Keyword: Stalk
Stalk minions still have to be ordered to attack, but can only attack the character they are stalking. Once the minion/character they are stalking is dead, they can attack other minions as normal. Stalk can't target Stealth minions unless a random Stalk target happens to be a Stealth minion. In this case, the Stealth minion being stalked can be damaged and will lose Stealth when it is attacked. Stalking minions ignore taunt in order to attack their targets.
New Mechanics:
Bristling Thorns
Bristling Thorn is a Rogue-exclusive spell that works like Jade Golems do. Cards that add Bristling Thorns to your hand will specify what the damage done by that iteration of Bristling Thorn will do. The counter for Bristling Thorn damage goes up whenever you cast a Bristling Thorn.
In game, Jungle Thornthrower would read "Battlecry: Add a Bristling Thorn that deals 1 damage to your hand. Combo: Add 2 instead." Bristling Thorn goes from 1 to 10 mana, just as Jade Golems do. The first iteration is a 1-Cost "Deal 1 damage" spell. The final possible iteration is a 10-Cost card that deals 30 damage. Think of Bristling Thorns as the logical extension of Razorpetal.
With those mechanics explained, onto the expansion.
Changelog:
August 21, 2017:
August 14, 2017:
July 24, 2017:
Card Explanations:
Dirty Trick: The minion counterpart to Preparation, with the same rarity and discount as Shadowstep.
Toxic Blade: Basically Deadly Poison with a conditional buff. If you're targeting a minion behind a Taunt, this is good. However, it removes flexibility in terms of killing other minions. The Stalk lasts until you kill the minion targeted or until your weapon breaks.
Parley: Supposed to be based off a WoW ability that stops anybody from attacking until damage is dealt... but that didn't really translate well. Instead it ends up being a 'Duel' between two minions. They can only attack each other until one of them is dead. After that point, the one that survives can target enemies as normal.
Jungle Thornthrower: Starts off the Bristling Thorn archetype. This card is a good way to ramp up your Bristling Thorn damage in the early game.
Strategic Cutthroat: Basically a soft Taunt. One extra stat point for what it does, as it has to survive having bodies thrown at it at least until turn 3. Not a great card unless you can buff it up with Cold Blood or somesuch.
Obsessive Assassin: A fine 2-drop that can pass for a 3-drop with its Combo. Not great when contesting multiple minions, but will likely be able to deal with the minion it's stalking in the early game.
Defias Outcast: The counterpart to Defias Ringleader. Instead of a 2/1, it summons a 1/1 Stealth. Provides more flexibility.
Exsanguinate: Essentially Eviscerate for Knights of the Frozen Throne. Doesn't have the same damage output as that card, but heals your hero for 3 to make up for it.
Vendetta: Similar to Parley, except that you're only Stalking on your side, not restricting your opponent's moves. The card draw makes up for the effect, which I'd say is worth 0 mana. Compare Moonfire and Shiv for mana justification.
Mind-Numbing Poison: A more situational and low-power Loatheb. Also a 0-mana effect, so card draw is added.
Handsome Rogue: Made this card a while back. He's attracting all the attention from anybody, and crowding out all the other people in the room. Useful utility for shielding important minions with a wall of 5 health. If the adjacent minions attack with him in play, they regain Stealth immediately. When he dies, adjacent minions lose Stealth. The intention is that this guy can't gain permanent Stealth either, making it counterable.
SI:7 Operative: Like SI:7 Agent, except with less permanent board presence and more restrictive damage. This is essentially a 3 mana deal 3 with the idea that it could be 'infinite' if you really commit your hand. You probably would play other cards over this though, because it only reacts to your opponent's board when you could be establishing your own.
Undercity Blademaster: Deadly Poison and Lifesteal on a good body. Rogue needed more weapon buffs on a more respectable curve.
Contagious Poison: Like I said, more weapon buffs. Akin to Envenom Weapon, except it's slightly better and slightly worse— it doesn't act as nigh-immediate removal, but it does provide +3 Attack. The deathrattle on your weapon means you have to trade smart to get Poisonous onto the right minion.
Scapegoat: I submitted this card and other like it for a card design competition a while ago. Useful for preventing your fragile Stealth minions from getting AoE'd! Fun and interactive...
Shadow Torrent: Water Elemental for Rogue with a more appropriate effect, as Rogue doesn't have heals and survivability like Mage.
Bramble Snapper: The limiting factor on Bristling Thorn as a mechanic in comparison to Jade Golem is that you have to pay the mana cost to play it, making less powerful, especially as you don't have a permanent body on the board along with it. This means that Bristling Thorn cards can be more frequent and be less of a stat reducer on other cards.
Dubious Apothecary: Fun and random. Respectable stats because Inspire on Rogue sucked in TGT (as you almost never HP'd every turn...)
Subtle Blade: Assassin's Blade that starts under it and ends up over it. Rogue weapons need high durability to justify weapon buffs!
Corrupted Elemental: Blood Knight and Flare with some Elemental flavour. Either a tech card against other Rogues or self-Stealth synergy. Combo makes this a bit more like Edwin VanCleef but still less powerful. I'd say it's average power level, and that it's a shame Conceal rotated out otherwise this would be almost always played with it on turn 7.
Card Explanations:
Surprise Attack: Useful for playing 1-drop Combo cards on turn 1. Otherwise it's just an ok "deal 2 damage" card with your face attached.
Run Through: The spell Rogue flavourfully needs (Biteweed)... The Lifesteal justifies it more. This could be a finisher in a Miracle Rogue deck.
Greenshade Stalker: Could be a 4/4, and that's good. The Deathrattle is actually a bit of a downside because it could land on the enemy hero, meaning that minion could only go face until it died, reducing its utility on the board.
SI:7 Bladesmith: Simple. I think the 3/1 is justified because you're dealing damage but taking face damage in the meantime. Potentially good anti-aggro, but also good with Blade Flurry which sucks currently— would end up being a 6-mana 1-off-Flamestrike.
Ya'Mon Ambusher: Similar effect to Obsessive Assassin, but 1-more attack and no need to activate a combo.
Worgen Backstabber: Backstab, Backstab, Backstab. This is a good deal for 3 mana. Even though it can be picked off for free, it can add up to 6 damage if it goes uncontested and enables you to activate Combo on your next turn.
Bristled Edge: Gotta get them Thorns. 1/4 weapon for 3 seems fair given that Poisoned Blade sucked.
Weapon Smuggler: Good synergy with SI:7 Bladesmith. Doesn't activate on your non-HP weapons, so it's balanced for 1 mana more than the body justifies.
Bootlegger: Archmage's Apprentice from Karazhan with more restrictions. But it's got a Pirate tag. Mid to late game Pirates! I want more. Helps to enable late-game combos, but they can be dead draws.
Distraction: Based on a WoW ability. Maybe the wording is ambiguous, but it's the 1/1 copies that have Taunt. The original Stealth minions still have Stealth after you play this. Only summons 3 minions maximum, but it's good if you have Stealth minions with triggered effects.
Ninja Stars: Blade Flurry version 2.0— Blizzard can't stop this train! This is a bad Arcane Explosion if it fails, but it can turn into a full board wipe if your opponent's board has a 1 health minion, a 2hp one, 3hp, 4hp, 5hp, 6hp, and 7hp minion. Good anti-aggro.
Premeditation: Gang Up in a way. It's like how Thistle Tea was the precursor to Mimic Pod, except the other way round with the more powerful version coming later (in a fanmade set...). Good for refilling your deck in a race to fatigue.
Coldlight Ninja: Funny story, I made this like 2 years ago. Turns out it has almost perfect synergy with Finja, the Flying Star. Imagine that!
Southsea Whittler: War Golem as a Pirate that throws sticks.
Killing Spree: Assassinate for 2 mana more... or a 4-mana double Assassinate with Preparation.
Card Explanations:
Shadow Focus: Preparation in the wording of Shadowstep and with Prep's discount and rarity. Also based on a WoW ability. Combo enabler like you've never seen. Imagine Preparation into Sprint into Shadow Focus...
Forbidden Thievery: I was sad that Rogue didn't get a 'Forbidden' card. So here it is. Max. 10 random cards shuffled into your deck—not put into your hand, that would be too OP/bad.
Fate Sealed: Vilespine Slayer + this = goodbye Ragnaros the Firelord and Deathwing.
Master of Subtlety: Works well with all Stealth-related minions essentially. Once again, would be OP with Conceal. Also goes well with Lotus Assassin.
Setup: Fun card on a full board— which minion does your opponent have to play around? They'll never know.
Paid Mercenary: What?? a 4 mana 7/7?? Except it comes at the cost of 2 combo enablers, which I'd wager are worth about 3 mana together as they 1) enable combos, 2) set up plays, and 3) bait out secrets and help replay minions. The 0 mana Rogue cards are worth more than 0 mana when taken in a pair of 2.
Hit and Run: Mill Rogue! Mill Rogue! Mill Rogue! Coldlight Oracle, Shadowstep, Coldlight Oracle, Hit and Run, Shadow Focus, Preparation, Hit and Run ends up drawing you 4 cards and drawing your opponent 16 cards. If that doesn't bring back Mill Rogue, I don't know what will.
SI:7 Squad Leader: Created before Vilespine Slayer, but with the added bonus of gaining Stealth. Loses 1 stat point for the bonus... Maybe as a battlecry it's too much but only the weak care for such meagre details as that.
Subtle Executioner: This card vomits a bunch of keywords onto the page. Maexxna doesn't come out of this too well. This is basically guaranteed delayed direct removal— 2 mana more than Assassinate as it could go on to target more than one thing, but not too expensive because of the delay.
Play Fighting: Full board on your end but you can't come up with the damage to kill your opponent this turn? This tremendously unfun POS card I printed fixes that by making you spend 1 mana to let you do a 2 turn kill without that much effort. Unless your opponent has Taunt minions or Ice Block and Freeze cards. Should probably read "Can only be played at the start of your turn before doing anything else", but then it wouldn't really do anything.
Card Explanations:
Moroes, Undead: Used Master of Disguise on a minion, then it attacked and lost Stealth? No problem. Moroes resummons that minion and any other minions that had Stealth that turn, regardless if they lost it or not. This might too cancerous, though, as it's essentially a more OP Conceal. Remember, actual Moroes outside of the Karazhan adventure is dead and has died and been revived many times, hence the effect where he ends up killing and reviving himself at the end of your turn as well.
Gregory Charles: Ever wanted to do Tree of Life, but just leave yourself out of it? This is the card for you. Gregory Charles is a rogue trainer in the Undercity, along with Miles Dexter. The synergy between them is like that between Acidmaw and Dreadscale. Given that the effect is never an upside on this card, it's overstatted for its cost.
Vanessa VanCleef: Don't get me wrong, I love Burgle, but it was never enough. I want to steal all of my opponent's cards. Gimme gimme. Use this when you're low on cards but your opponent isn't to basically hobble them and give yourself a big advantage, even though you'll end up switching your hands back when she dies. Unless you played Brann Bronzebeard, or Spiritsinger Umbra, or have Baron Rivendare in play. In those cases, everything is totally fucked and your opponent will get super salty. In those cases however Vanessa becomes a delayed activation because she has to die before she can perma-swap your hand with your opponent.
Miles Dexter: This is why Gregory Charles exists. Almost unconditionally better than Dark Iron Skulker (1 mana more for +1 stat and +2 damage) this is unfortunately just a 10-mana Flamestrike + double Steady Shot when they're paired up. On its own, Dexter does work though.
Master Mathias Shaw: Basically save (or generate) The Coin and wait until turn 9 to play it and then this. Boom! Double the cards in your deck. Compare to Varian Wrynn but helps a lot more in Mill Rogue. Maybe OP, but you have to play 2 cards at 10 mana for this to work otherwise it's just a 10 mana 6/6 Stealth.
Garona Halforcen:
Champion of the Uncrowned! Chief Interpreter of the Shadow Council! Deck thief!
Garona as a Rogue legendary bears some similarity to Archbishop Benedictus, in that she shuffles a deck into your deck. But with this card, you're not taking what's left of your opponent's deck, you're taking a full deck with all it's synergies, and copying it from your opponent's collection. That's right, any one of their (potentially) 18 decks is a Discover option here. How are these choices presented to you? Using the 'Deck Recipe' satchels, with the name of the deck your opponent uses, the class it is for, and the card art for a card that the game has 'recognized' as being a core card in the deck.
It's up to Hearthstone to determine what a 'core card' of a deck is, which makes for the potential for it to be misleading by presenting a card that seems like it could be the core of the deck, but isn't. Not only that, but your opponent can counterplay this card by making 'dummy decks' full of subpar cards, labelling them with alluring names and throwing one good card in to fool the art, meanwhile filling it with Wisps and Snowflipper Penguins. Nonetheless, it's still a high-value card no matter what you get really, as you shuffle 30 cards into your deck, of varying quality.
Once you choose which deck to shuffle into your own, it shuffles 30 cards in (but you can't see what they are), opening the satchel as the animation. Having done that, you're left with a 4/7 body for 6 mana, which isn't too bad. Perhaps the stats could be paired down for the cost, or the cost increased, but all in all Archbishop Benedictus is a slow card, so this is perhaps a slightly less slow card.
Show me what you got, people. I want to hear what's wrong/right with these cards.
Leave me your thoughts and criticisms!
Thanks,
—Teknician
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Bump for comments!
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I want to start with my most glaring problem, and then look at the rest, as I had been admittedly skimming through the cards.
Did you factor in Auchenai Soulpriest when creating Gregory Charles, or her 2 mana friend, Embrace the Shadow? With either of those cards being possibilities through cards that give you cards, what prompted you to create an 6/8 mana insta-kill?
Just really wanted to ask about this when I realized the importance of the question. I'll be leaving comment with you later today about the rest of the set.
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Yep. But those kind of combos will only happen very rarely, given the random nature of Rogue's card procurement. Not to mention that that would only really be likely in 1/9 (or less) matchups. I'd say there are some more insane OTK scenarios with Priest as well. If you had to restrict Hearthstone's design space by thinking "what insane combo is possible if an RNG effect produces THIS card?" it makes the game less fun and more vanilla. This is probably a harder to pull off version of any other "Exodia" combo, as those decks don't have too much RNG- they have all the cards in the first place. There's a reason there aren't any cards like Hallucination in this list, as it would reduce the randomness of Rogue and enable more dumb combos. The spell that shuffles cards from your opponent's class into your deck is basically the one exception to this, but all in all I think Rogue should be moving away from the Burgle mechanic anyway, as Priest had a better go of it right from launch. Instead, Stealth, Poison, Stalking and single target removal (and mayberry a bit of mill) should be a bigger mechanical focus.
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Mind-Numbing Poison, Handsome Rogue, SI:7 Operative, and Coldlight Ninja are all really excellent cards. M-NP can be scary for a great many number of people. The Operative is a nice recycle style of minion, letting you continually pump out damage against minions, while keeping from developing a board, something I wish there was more of. Coldlight Ninja helps flesh out Murlocs more, pushing more trickery within Rogue, something I think most people can appreciate.
Handsome Rogue is EASILY my favorite card in this set. Mask important targets while forcing your opponent to maybe spend more mana during their turn than they're willing, not to mention we need more Rogue cards that feel like Bards. This is such a lovely card, because of the flavor. This is the kind of card you could throw into a theme deck that focuses on an Ocean's Eleven scheme of sorts. I could imagine Handsome Rogue being told "Your mission is to distract the patrons while we begin the hit on Gadgetzan" or something. Super cool.
Bootlegger would be cooler if it made the spell cost 1 more, because it fits with the idea of bootleg products being of lesser quality. Pushes a realism and flavor angle more within your set.
Shaw is easily my favorite Legendary. I like the idea of using Preparation and Gang Up with him. Just a really fun card.
Nice work.
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There's definitely some interesting stuff here. Don't know that I'm on board with the stalk mechanic, seems slightly confusing to play with. I liked a few of the cards that didn't rely on new mechanics though. The handsome rogue was an interesting idea, a good looking fellow distracting so the others blend into the surroundings, could be a decent mechanic and great thematically.
i like the bristling thorn mechanic, i think it could definitely give a new archetype to rogues
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Well, it turns out that has a very similar effect to ,
and that andfollow a similar archetype as . What does this mean? I guess it means I have awesome predictive powers and should be hired by Blizz. Except is really bad, so maybe I wouldn't want to be a Blizzard card designer.
This has been a poem in words and cards.
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New Cards:
August 14, 2017:
COMMONS
RARES
EPICS
LEGENDARY
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Explanations for these cards:
Dual Wielder: A Rogue version of Mana Wyrm, Tunnel Trogg, Animated Berserker that gives you cheap weapon buffs and can persist for a while if you keep it behind higher threat minions.
Highwayblade: It's Blubber Baron but with Combo. Since Combo is less prevalent than Battlecry, it costs 1 less.
Poison Merchant: Spells that affect your weapon are: Deadly Poison, Leeching Poison, Tinker's Sharpsword Oil, Blade Flurry, Envenom Weapon, Doomerang, and the new cards Toxic Blade, Mind-Numbing Poison, Contagious Poison, Restless Blades, and Relentless Strikes. A core card in the new weapon-buff Rogue archetype.
Organ Stealer: A simple healing alternative to Plague Scientist, sidestepping hard removal.
Deadened Spike: Another key part of the weapon rogue archetype I want to push with this expansion. On it's own this is a 2/2 that becomes a 1/2, that becomes a 1/1, that becomes a 0/1— it should technically have infinite uses if you buff it enough. A very powerful removal tool that actually enables Envenom Weapon.
Alacrity: A more sophisticated draw tool for rogue that can exist outside of mill and miracle, perhaps in a 'Big Rogue' deck where you can use this as a combo enabler as well as a draw machine.
Cannon Barrage: Another combo enabler similar to Explorer's Hat and Headcrack in terms of utility vs. mana cost and repeatability. This effectively acts as Fireblast (the Mage hero power), but taking up a card slot and enabling combos. This could be very powerful.
Combat Roll: I tried to find appropriate art of a Rogue from WoW actually rolling, but this is as close as I got. This is an alternative to Roll the Bones, but as it enables Combos when it draws them, and Combo cards are quite prevalent in Rogue, it costs 1 more. Useful alternative to Sprint in some decks.
Lunging Assassin: A tech card that has fair enough stats anyway, providing you with a more survivable Jungle Panther with a very swingy effect for just 1 more mana. You could rip away your opponent's Gorehowl or Shadowmourne with this.
Restless Blades: A big barrier for weapon Rogue is that they have only a few good weapons, and that the few good weapons they have are prohibitively expensive to put to good use. Assassin's Blade can deal a total of 12 damage at base, but for 5 mana it is sub-par removal without Envenom Weapon or Deadly Poison. This card is comparable to Forge of Souls on steroids; with Preparation this essentially gives 3-mana draw a weapon and all your weapons have 2 Thaurissan ticks on them. This is a borderline card, as you'd ideally only pick one up for your weapon rogue deck.
Relentless Strikes: A way to incorporate dormancy in the vein of Sherazin, Corpse Flower. Some clarification: The weapon you reequip will have full durability, but it will have all of the enchantments you added to it with weapon-affecting cards. That is, you can pop this on an Assassin's Blade with Deadly Poison; you break the weapon and wait until you have the right turn to play 4 cards, then having done that, you end up with a free 5/4 weapon (well 2 mana delayed cost but still pretty cheap). I think this is the direction Team Five is moving towards with Doomerang.
Veiled Shadow Dagger: Think Perdition's Blade but with more situational utility. No unconditional damage and the base stats of Wicked Knife. At first sight it might appear worse than Poisoned Blade but hang on. This is a weapon that you can apply buffs to, but also one for utility purposes. It is meant to promote a 'flit in and out' playstyle for your hero, providing the kind of pseudo-immune effect that Valeera the Hollow does, but on a controlled delay.
Dockside Knifepurse: This looks very similar to Phantom Freebooter, and it is. The catch is that it inherits Lifesteal from Leeching Poison, Poisonous from Envenom Weapon, and increased spell-cost from Mind-Numbing Poison. This increases its potential utility and separates the neutral from the class card version quite handily.
Proud Frontstabber: Makes use of my new Stalk mechanic, and does so in a very pseudo-taunt manner, even though Rogue isn't known for taunts. The name is a reference to the one and only The Mooch.
Potent Poisons: Steroids version of Forge of Souls for Rogue as drawing multiple cheap poisons in one turn could result in a fantastic OTK.
Fenissa the Assassin: The idea behind this card is similar to Sherazin, Corpse Flower, and Doppelgangster. The keyword "3-Card Combo" is essentially a logical extension of the activator for Sherazin's revive— you must play 3 cards before this one in order to get the benefit, rather than the normal Combo keyword that only requires you play one card. It's for this reason that it's hard to activate Fenissa, but it pays off because using Razorpetals and Skeletons you can get 15/15 worth of stealth stats for 10 mana, which is a pretty good bargain I'm sure you'll agree.
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I don't know how I missed this thread but I am glad you bumped it.
Like all your other threads these are really high quality realistic cards.
I personally aren't that much of a fan of Stalk, not really interesting enough to warrant a class keyword.
I love the creative Stealth Synergy, but you do have to watch as Stealth is inherently the least interactive mechanic in the game.
I will do a card by card review a bit later to the week if have the time.
Thanks Soulbattle. Nice to get some feedback— I admit 'Stalk' isn't a very interesting mechanic, but I personally like it as a way to express Rogues as assassins. Am watchful of further stealth minions, but as it stands the cards here are kind of 'pick and choose' for implementing them, as there are cards with similar mechanics at most mana costs/most rarities.
NEW LEGENDARY!
Champion of the Uncrowned! Chief Interpreter of the Shadow Council! Deck thief!
Garona as a Rogue legendary bears some similarity to Archbishop Benedictus, in that she shuffles a deck into your deck. But with this card, you're not taking what's left of your opponent's deck, you're taking a full deck with all it's synergies, and copying it from your opponent's collection. That's right, any one of their (potentially) 18 decks is a Discover option here. How are these choices presented to you? Using the 'Deck Recipe' satchels, with the name of the deck your opponent uses, the class it is for, and the card art for a card that the game has 'recognized' as being a core card in the deck.
It's up to Hearthstone to determine what a 'core card' of a deck is, which makes for the potential for it to be misleading by presenting a card that seems like it could be the core of the deck, but isn't. Not only that, but your opponent can counterplay this card by making 'dummy decks' full of subpar cards, labelling them with alluring names and throwing one good card in to fool the art, meanwhile filling it with Wisps and Snowflipper Penguins. Nonetheless, it's still a high-value card no matter what you get really, as you shuffle 30 cards into your deck, of varying quality.
Once you choose which deck to shuffle into your own, it shuffles 30 cards in (but you can't see what they are), opening the satchel as the animation. Having done that, you're left with a 4/7 body for 6 mana, which isn't too bad. Perhaps the stats could be paired down for the cost, or the cost increased, but all in all Archbishop Benedictus is a slow card, so this is perhaps a slightly less slow card.
What do you think? :)
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Any thoughts, anyone?
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Wow. you really put some work into it! Some cool ideas there, though for sure you'd have to work on balance as in some cards seem way too strong.