with the help of Linkblade91, Cogito_Ergo_Sum, ThisOtherGuyTox, ShadowsOfSense, Otovent, and the rest of the FC squad
In the game of Hearthstone, there’s a strange way to how grammar works, that obviously differs from your average everyday American English. I’ve noticed many card designers, and often in the WCDCs, making common mistakes that could have easily been avoided (and it bothers my OCD). The following is just to help those starting out in order to note the most common mistakes that people make during card creation.
A Quick Note: Hearthstone itself has changed it's own grammar rules to compensate for complex ideas in the short span of text each card allows. Just be careful. It's always good to compare your created card to an existing card.
Keywords: These are bolded words (REMEMBER TO BOLD THEM) that are printed onto cards that specify a unique meaning. You can hover over a card to learn more about these. They can be negated using the Keyword Silence.
Minion Types/ Races: There are a number of different races that appear on cards. Many people often use the wrong race.
Hero Cards and Hero Powers:Heros are the characters that you play as. They can be replaced through various effects.
Capitalization Rules:Certain words in Hearthstone are capitalized while others are not.
Quiz: Think you're a genius at card creation grammar? Well, take this quiz to find out!
Most Common Mistakes:
These are the most basic of the basic that actually a lot of people (Including me) mess up on.
A card can never have more than four lines of text. This isn't an "official" rule, but just don't do it.
Remember to spell all your words correctly.
Use correct word choice. (ex. "This whole turn" vs "this turn")
Don't make everything an Epic/Legendary card
Don't forget to specify when an effect occurs. (ex. Battlecry)
Specify the order that effects take place. (ex. "Deal 1 damage and Silence" vs "Silence and Deal 1 damage to"
NEVER HAVE INTERACTIONS DURING YOUR OPPONENT'S TURN (or at the end of your turn). During these times, you can't make new decisions, Discover cards, play cards, attack, or really anything except emote or click concede.
You can always compare your card to an existing card to check for a specific thing on grammar/wording.
If you EVER have questions or even remotely unsure, feel free to PM me or one of your other neighborhood friendly mods (Or all of). We'd be happy to help. (No seriously, Flux made a bot that stole our jobs and we need something to do.)
These are bolded words (REMEMBER TO BOLD THEM) that are printed onto cards that specify a unique meaning. You can hover over a card to learn more about these. They can be negated using the Keyword Silence.
Keyword Abilities (Static)
These are keywords that stay on a card. They may disappear due to scenarios or Silence effects. A few examples are Charge, Divine Shield, Frozen, Immune, Spell Damage, Stealth, Taunt, Windfury, and Lifesteal.
If they keywords are standing alone, and not part of a larger action, these are usually on a separate line above all the other text. They are worded alone as "Keyword". Depending on the scenario, the punctuation rules are different. Do not add any extra punctuation after or around these keywords.
If there is no text other than the static keywords abilities, look at the number of keywords on the card. If there are two are less, place them on separate lines without any punctuation. If there are three or more keywords, place them consecutively and separate them with commas. The ordering to these are somewhat strange, and I haven't found a pattern to them yet. It seems that when using commas, divine shield comes before taunt, but otherwise (If using separate lines or periods), it doesn't. Bliz, y u so inconsistent?
According to ShadowsOfSense (My boss), he says that the if there are exactly two keywords, the longer one is on the bottom. Then we saw Gnomeregan Infantry.
Annoy-o-Tron is a minion with two or less keywords. Therefore, the keywords are on different lines.
Wickerflame Burnbristle has three or more keywords. Therefore, the keywords are separated using commas.
If there is more text placed after these keywords, they are SOMETIMES placed on a separate line. (This really depends on the amount of space available; See Deathlord verses Sludge Belcher) There is no punctuation if there is only one keyword. If there are more than one, they are separated using periods after all the keywords. Strange right?
C'Thun's Chosen, having only one keyword, has its keyword placed on a line above the rest of its text.
Tirion Fordring, having two keywords, periods are placed after both keywords. Notice that the card does not contain the word "and".
If the keyword is placed within a sentence and part of a larger piece of text, follow those rules.
In Druid of the Saber, the words Charge and Stealth are part of the Choose One effect. So, they won't have any special punctuation rules.
In the card Corpsetaker, The keywords are part of the Battlecry. When used in succession, they are separated using commas. A funny thing wist this card is that Hearthstone didn't use the word "and".
Keyword Abilities (Triggered)
These are keywords that trigger due to a certain event. A few examples are Battlecry, Combo, Deathrattle, Enrage, Quest, and Secret.
Battlecry, Enrage, and Deathrattle will never appear on spells, unless the spell is describing a type of minion with that ability. ex. Play Dead or Feign Death.
These are generally pretty simple, and I don't see too many mistakes for them. Triggered Keyword Abilities are are an effect that triggers based on the occurrence of a certain event. They are usually worded as "Keyword: Effect" or "Cause: Effect". They are followed by a colon.
Like with static keywords, these can be used in a sentence (and do not include the colon)
In Awaken the Makers, the keyword Deathrattle is used to describe a type of minion.
Keyword Actions
These are phrases that imply a certain action that is taken. A few examples are Adapt, Counter, Discover, Freeze, and Silence.
Usually, these are used within a sentence and are quite simple to use. They are worded as "Keyword a something". The following are just a few basic examples of how to use them.
While using Hearthcards, you'll notice that it's difficult to not bold the word Silence (Because you want to reference the card Silence, not the action Silence.) A good loophole is the replace the "l" in silence (The third letter) to a capital "i". It's almost impossible to see the difference.
Silence SiIence (The third letter in the second word is slightly shorter)
Hybrid Keyword
Hybrid Keywords are combinations of different keyword types .They are usually a fusion of Keyword Ability (Triggered) and Keyword Action because they both imply a condition ("When this is played") and an action. Current examples include Overload: (X) and Choose One, with the former being followed by a colon and the latter being followed by a hyphen.
In Choose One effects, the keyword is followed by a hyphen rather than a colon, like most other keywords of this type. The two effects different effects that the player can choose from are separated using semicolons. Also, Choose One effects happen as they are played.
Generally, the two parts can be assumed as separate sentences, but if the effects are very similar, the semicolon may just be separating two clauses. (See Nourish and Wrath)
This works like "Battlecry: Do one of two things"
Notice the semicolon separating the two choices.
The keyword Overload reduces the number of mana crystals available to the player next turn. It always appears on the last line of a card and follows the following format: Overload: (x). Overload is a strange keyword. It works almost like "Battlecry: You lose X mana crystals next turn".
These are words that MAY appear (Most don't have any "race") at the bottom of a minion (NO SPELLS OR WEAPONS OR WHATEVER NONSENSE), and consist of a single word, with it's first letter capitalized. Generally, they have a specific synergy with one another (ex Dragon's "If you're holding a Dragon" or Elemental's "If you played an elemental last turn").
The races are Beast, Demon, Dragon, Elemental, Mech, Murloc, Orc, Pirate, and Totem. A minion cannot be more than one race. Generally, you don't want to create new races unless you're creating a new class or expansion.
Below is an example of each race (Except Orc, which I will explain later)
Special Rules
Totems are indigenous to the Shaman class. Every collectable nonbasic Totem, except Totem Golem, has 0 attack and 3 health. Every basic totem has a stat total of 2.
There is only one (uncollectable) Orc in the game.
"Nadia (the Orc) wasn't a part of any Tavern Brawl iirc, she was an April Fools gag" - ShadowsOfSense
Heroes are the characters that players play as, and starts each game with 30 Health. Your hero can change due to the effects of a card, or playing a Hero Card. Changing Heroes in any way will cause your hero power to change; although you can change your hero power without changing your hero. Ex. Shadowform.
Playable Hero Cards are also known as Death Knight, or DK cards, as they are the "evil" versions of each hero. They are all part of the Frozen Throne set. DK Cards all have a Battlecry, and always grant your hero 5 Armor. Generally, mistakes are rarely made when creating this card.
The following is an example of one of these Death Knight cards.
You have no idea how many people mess up with hero powers. Below is a list of the common mistakes.
YOU HAVE TO ADD THE WORD "HERO POWER" ABOVE YOUR HERO POWER!!!!!!!! No, please, check to make sure you've done this. EVERYONE forgets this step. EVERYONE. So PLEASE FIX YOUR HERO POWERS. (And in the case of Passive Hero Powers, specify that it's passive.)
The color of the hero power depends on whether it's yours or your opponents, NOT THE CLASS OF THE HERO POWER. For some reason, Hearthpwn has different colors for each class. But nobody cares really, so do whatever you want.
Hero Powers have a maximum of four lines of text, just like with regular cards. All the normal rules apply.
The word Hero Power is always the first line of text (so you usually only have three small lines to work with).
Trust me, everyone will make mistakes on Grammar for this game. The following is a quiz to see how good you are at card creation grammar. THERE IS ONLY ONE CORRECT SOLUTION TO EACH QUESTION!!! I lied. HS is so weird that multiple phrasings may all be correct.
Make a 4-cost 4/4 common core set warrior minion that's a beast called Question 1 that has lifesteal, taunt, and draws a card when it dies.
Make a 3-cost 3/3 common core set warrior minion called Question 2 that has lifesteal and taunt.
Make a 2-cost 2/2 common core set warrior minion called Question 3 that has taunt and summons a minion from your deck with divine shield, taunt, lifesteal, and stealth when it dies.
Make a 1-cost common core set druid spell called Question 4 that gives you two choices when played. They are to deal 1 damage or to take an extra turn after this one.
Make a frozen throne 0-cost warlock playable hero called Question 5a that gains a total of 7 armor when played. It also switches your (friendly) hero power to a passive hero power called Question 5b that summons a 1/1 murloc whenever you draw a card. (Don't worry about making the murloc)
Feel free to post your answer below, and you can check the answer key down below. Be honest about your own scoring... The prize is self satisfaction
Side Note: There is more than one correct solution than listed below.
The words lifesteal and taunt have periods behind them because there is following text and enough space. See Obsidian Statue.
Since this minion has only two keywords, they would be placed on separate lines and have no commas separating them. See Chillblade Champion. The order may matter, but there hasn't been conclusive evidence, as only a very small number of cards have only two keywords.
If the word taunt was added above the text in a similar way most cards are, there would be a fifth line of text, or the size of the text would decrease dramatically. So, the word taunt is in front of the deathrattle. See Deathlord. Also, there is no "and" between lifesteal and stealth. I'm not sure why, but Blizzard says so. See Corpsetaker and Al'Akir the Windlord. And I don't believe the order matters.
Also, ThisOtherGuyTox insists the second is correct. Whatever, just say I lied about the "only one answer part"
Soulbattle makes a pretty argument about the order of the keywords, but once again, hearthstone is so inconsistent, we don't even know whether an order to this even exists. Plus, no minion has Lifesteal, Taunt, Divine Shield AND Taunt.
With the release of this most recent expansion, all shots are off. The above is the new correct answer! (Probably)
Just a classic choose one effect. The only tricky thing is to capitalize "Take", as choose one effects are seperate sentences, but not capitalize "Extra turn". See Time Warp and Jade Idol
The first part was really just seeing whether or not you could do basic mathematics. The second is making sure that one could figure out that the cause is posted before the effect. See Mana Wyrm for an example.
Can you add in the minion type section that the correct term for them is probably "minion type" not "tribe" or "race"? You should say that no card currently refers to this, but the developers have called it "minion type" on several occasions:
Remember that this an open forum, so suggestions for changes to the article is welcomed.
This will be the first in a collection of resources used for card designing! Be on the lookout for more! :)
It's also worth mentioning that wording for Hearthstone is quite inconsistent (see "If you have a Beast" (Druid of the Fang) and "If you control a Beast" (Fossilized Devilsaur)), so feel free to take this with a grain of salt.
Whoops. Forgot to call it "Question 5a)" and "Question 5b)". Also gaining 7 armor for 0 mana is arguably unbalanced in the answer key, but I suppose the hero power is supposed to be bad. We don't know if any future Hero cards would have 5 armor exactly, so it's irrelevant and overcomplicated to ask you to put 5 in the text and 3 in the battlecry.
EDIT: Now looking at the answer key, I disagree with the answers for Question 3.
Al'Akir the Windlord is a classic set legendary that has a lot of keywords but not too much complexity. He also doesn't do anything deck or hand related so he can't be used as an example. Neither can Corpsetaker for that matter, because it gains those keywords if you have minions with those keywords in your deck. Despite the '4 lines of text' rule, there isn't any way around it with the effect you want. Leaving out the 'and' is too ambiguous. Blizzard doesn't like ambiguity, more than they like consistency, but text length comes into it. This is whyY'Shaarj, Rage UnboundandFinja the Flying Starhave different wording for a very similar effect. The card should read: "Taunt. Deathrattle: Summon a Divine Shield, Taunt, Lifesteal, and Stealth minion from your deck." But also I think it's not great to be teaching people card grammar with poorly balanced cards. I'd make it a 4m 2/2 that simply read: "Deathrattle: Summon a Taunt, Lifesteal, and Enrage minion from your deck." Because after all we should be going for good class identity rather than making everything a warrior card.
Looking at the answer key after, you forgot the KOFT watermark on 5a
Question 3 is weird but technically mine is more consistent with Blizzard. Neither of yours fit the two styles Blizzard has. It would either be "Deathrattle: Summon a minion from your deck with Stealth, Divine Shield, Taunt, Lifesteal" (See Meat Wagon)or my version (see Desert Camel).
Don't mean to be mean but if this is going to be a main resource it needs to be consistent with the rules Blizzard has set.
Question 3 is weird but technically mine is more consistent with Blizzard. Neither of yours fit the two styles Blizzard has. It would either be "Deathrattle: Summon a minion from your deck with Stealth, Divine Shield, Taunt, Lifesteal" (See Meat Wagon)or my version (see Desert Camel).
Don't mean to be mean but if this is going to be a main resource it needs to be consistent with the rules Blizzard has set.
I disagree. Both your examples include no Keyword, whereas question 3 specifies a minion with Keywords.
Currently all cards that refer to minions with specific keywords has the keyword BEFORE "minion".
Also (with the exception of Meat Wagon) no card with summoning from your deck, actually has "summon" in it. But rather "put".
According to this, the correct wording would be "Deathrattle: Put a Stealth, Divine Shield, Taunt Lifesteal minion from your deck onto the battelfield".
Question 3 is weird but technically mine is more consistent with Blizzard. Neither of yours fit the two styles Blizzard has. It would either be "Deathrattle: Summon a minion from your deck with Stealth, Divine Shield, Taunt, Lifesteal" (See Meat Wagon)or my version (see Desert Camel).
Don't mean to be mean but if this is going to be a main resource it needs to be consistent with the rules Blizzard has set.
I disagree. Both your examples include no Keyword, whereas question 3 specifies a minion with Keywords.
Currently all cards that refer to minions with specific keywords has the keyword BEFORE "minion".
Also (with the exception of Meat Wagon) no card with summoning from your deck, actually has "summon" in it. But rather "put".
According to this, the correct wording would be "Deathrattle: Put a Stealth, Divine Shield, Taunt Lifesteal minion from your deck onto the battelfield".
Thanks for the correction. I forgot that Keywords are used like adjectives in Hearthstone.
Regarding put vs summon, as of late, Blizzard seems to be moving away from Put from everything apart from secrets (Professor Putricide, Glacial Mysteries).
Question 3 is weird but technically mine is more consistent with Blizzard. Neither of yours fit the two styles Blizzard has. It would either be "Deathrattle: Summon a minion from your deck with Stealth, Divine Shield, Taunt, Lifesteal" (See Meat Wagon)or my version (see Desert Camel).
Don't mean to be mean but if this is going to be a main resource it needs to be consistent with the rules Blizzard has set.
I disagree. Both your examples include no Keyword, whereas question 3 specifies a minion with Keywords.
Currently all cards that refer to minions with specific keywords has the keyword BEFORE "minion".
Also (with the exception of Meat Wagon) no card with summoning from your deck, actually has "summon" in it. But rather "put".
According to this, the correct wording would be "Deathrattle: Put a Stealth, Divine Shield, Taunt Lifesteal minion from your deck onto the battelfield".
Grammar Nazis Unite thread with actual constructive suggestions. Love it! Take my upvote! ^^
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Experienced Deckbuilder, Legend Player, Wild Expert, TCG Veteran and Contributing Author toWildHS & Vicious Syndicate. Any and all support is greatly appreciated as it helps me make further quality content. 🐺 ➣Twitter ➣Decks ➣Patreon
Question 3 is weird but technically mine is more consistent with Blizzard. Neither of yours fit the two styles Blizzard has. It would either be "Deathrattle: Summon a minion from your deck with Stealth, Divine Shield, Taunt, Lifesteal" (See Meat Wagon)or my version (see Desert Camel).
Don't mean to be mean but if this is going to be a main resource it needs to be consistent with the rules Blizzard has set.
I disagree. Both your examples include no Keyword, whereas question 3 specifies a minion with Keywords.
Currently all cards that refer to minions with specific keywords has the keyword BEFORE "minion".
Also (with the exception of Meat Wagon) no card with summoning from your deck, actually has "summon" in it. But rather "put".
According to this, the correct wording would be "Deathrattle: Put a Stealth, Divine Shield, Taunt Lifesteal minion from your deck onto the battelfield".
Awesome guide! A few related notes that might be useful in this guide.
Only Legendary minions should have proper names (eg. Ragnaros, Tirion) as that is part of what makes them so special. Too many people put proper names on non-legendary minions when they shouldn't. Names for non-legendary minions usually consist of "adjective/place + species/profession". The only exception I know of is with the summoned minions from Animal Companion and this rule doesn't really apply for weapons since Gorehowl and Doomhammer exist at the epic rarity.
On Hearthcards, you can 'unbold' a keyword by sticking [/b] in the middle of the word. A useful trick to know especially with the recruit mechanic coming out that overlaps with silver hand recruits.
And one big common spelling mistake that really gets to me is how often people use "Spell Power" rather than "Spell Damage". For this keyword, there is also a space after Damage but none between the plus sign and the number.
Anyways, great guide again. Initial impressions of a card is important and nothing sours that faster than poor spelling and grammar for me, especially having seen so many cards over the years as head mod of /r/CustomHearthstone. Just a quick question though. Would you mind if I add this to the Custom Hearthstone Wiki over on Reddit? It'll simply be a page with a link redirecting users here as well as credits to you for making the guide (Lemme know your Reddit username if you prefer I credit that). I think this is something super useful for card designers of all skill levels.
Great great guide, there's only one thing I see that may be wrong. You said that Cost is inconsistently capitalised but it's actually consistent. If Cost is a noun it is capital, but if used as a verb (costs) it is lowercase unless at the start of a sentence.
Question 3 is weird but technically mine is more consistent with Blizzard. Neither of yours fit the two styles Blizzard has. It would either be "Deathrattle: Summon a minion from your deck with Stealth, Divine Shield, Taunt, Lifesteal" (See Meat Wagon)or my version (see Desert Camel).
Don't mean to be mean but if this is going to be a main resource it needs to be consistent with the rules Blizzard has set.
I disagree. Both your examples include no Keyword, whereas question 3 specifies a minion with Keywords.
Currently all cards that refer to minions with specific keywords has the keyword BEFORE "minion".
Also (with the exception of Meat Wagon) no card with summoning from your deck, actually has "summon" in it. But rather "put".
According to this, the correct wording would be "Deathrattle: Put a Stealth, Divine Shield, Taunt Lifesteal minion from your deck onto the battelfield".
Thanks for the correction. I forgot that Keywords are used like adjectives in Hearthstone.
Regarding put vs summon, as of late, Blizzard seems to be moving away from Put from everything apart from secrets (Professor Putricide, Glacial Mysteries).
by Phoenixfeather
with the help of Linkblade91, Cogito_Ergo_Sum, ThisOtherGuyTox, ShadowsOfSense, Otovent, and the rest of the FC squad
In the game of Hearthstone, there’s a strange way to how grammar works, that obviously differs from your average everyday American English. I’ve noticed many card designers, and often in the WCDCs, making common mistakes that could have easily been avoided (and it bothers my OCD). The following is just to help those starting out in order to note the most common mistakes that people make during card creation.
A Quick Note: Hearthstone itself has changed it's own grammar rules to compensate for complex ideas in the short span of text each card allows. Just be careful. It's always good to compare your created card to an existing card.
Keywords: These are bolded words (REMEMBER TO BOLD THEM) that are printed onto cards that specify a unique meaning. You can hover over a card to learn more about these. They can be negated using the Keyword Silence.
Minion Types/ Races: There are a number of different races that appear on cards. Many people often use the wrong race.
Hero Cards and Hero Powers: Heros are the characters that you play as. They can be replaced through various effects.
Capitalization Rules: Certain words in Hearthstone are capitalized while others are not.
Quiz: Think you're a genius at card creation grammar? Well, take this quiz to find out!
Most Common Mistakes:
These are the most basic of the basic that actually a lot of people (Including me) mess up on.
If you EVER have questions or even remotely unsure, feel free to PM me or one of your other neighborhood friendly mods (Or all of). We'd be happy to help. (No seriously, Flux made a bot that stole our jobs and we need something to do.)
Wished to be pink.
Then did.
Then fired myself.
Then did again.
These are bolded words (REMEMBER TO BOLD THEM) that are printed onto cards that specify a unique meaning. You can hover over a card to learn more about these. They can be negated using the Keyword Silence.
Keyword Abilities (Static)
These are keywords that stay on a card. They may disappear due to scenarios or Silence effects. A few examples are Charge, Divine Shield, Frozen, Immune, Spell Damage, Stealth, Taunt, Windfury, and Lifesteal.
If they keywords are standing alone, and not part of a larger action, these are usually on a separate line above all the other text. They are worded alone as "Keyword". Depending on the scenario, the punctuation rules are different. Do not add any extra punctuation after or around these keywords.
Annoy-o-Tron is a minion with two or less keywords. Therefore, the keywords are on different lines.
Wickerflame Burnbristle has three or more keywords. Therefore, the keywords are separated using commas.
C'Thun's Chosen, having only one keyword, has its keyword placed on a line above the rest of its text.
Tirion Fordring, having two keywords, periods are placed after both keywords. Notice that the card does not contain the word "and".
In Druid of the Saber, the words Charge and Stealth are part of the Choose One effect. So, they won't have any special punctuation rules.
In the card Corpsetaker, The keywords are part of the Battlecry. When used in succession, they are separated using commas. A funny thing wist this card is that Hearthstone didn't use the word "and".
Keyword Abilities (Triggered)
These are keywords that trigger due to a certain event. A few examples are Battlecry, Combo, Deathrattle, Enrage, Quest, and Secret.
Battlecry, Enrage, and Deathrattle will never appear on spells, unless the spell is describing a type of minion with that ability. ex. Play Dead or Feign Death.
These are generally pretty simple, and I don't see too many mistakes for them. Triggered Keyword Abilities are are an effect that triggers based on the occurrence of a certain event. They are usually worded as "Keyword: Effect" or "Cause: Effect". They are followed by a colon.
In Awaken the Makers, the keyword Deathrattle is used to describe a type of minion.
Keyword Actions
These are phrases that imply a certain action that is taken. A few examples are Adapt, Counter, Discover, Freeze, and Silence.
Usually, these are used within a sentence and are quite simple to use. They are worded as "Keyword a something". The following are just a few basic examples of how to use them.
While using Hearthcards, you'll notice that it's difficult to not bold the word Silence (Because you want to reference the card Silence, not the action Silence.) A good loophole is the replace the "l" in silence (The third letter) to a capital "i". It's almost impossible to see the difference.
Silence SiIence (The third letter in the second word is slightly shorter)
Hybrid Keyword
Hybrid Keywords are combinations of different keyword types .They are usually a fusion of Keyword Ability (Triggered) and Keyword Action because they both imply a condition ("When this is played") and an action. Current examples include Overload: (X) and Choose One, with the former being followed by a colon and the latter being followed by a hyphen.
Notice the semicolon separating the two choices.
Wished to be pink.
Then did.
Then fired myself.
Then did again.
*Note that the official term is "Minion Type"
These are words that MAY appear (Most don't have any "race") at the bottom of a minion (NO SPELLS OR WEAPONS OR WHATEVER NONSENSE), and consist of a single word, with it's first letter capitalized. Generally, they have a specific synergy with one another (ex Dragon's "If you're holding a Dragon" or Elemental's "If you played an elemental last turn").
Special Rules
Wished to be pink.
Then did.
Then fired myself.
Then did again.
Heroes are the characters that players play as, and starts each game with 30 Health. Your hero can change due to the effects of a card, or playing a Hero Card. Changing Heroes in any way will cause your hero power to change; although you can change your hero power without changing your hero. Ex. Shadowform.
Playable Hero Cards are also known as Death Knight, or DK cards, as they are the "evil" versions of each hero. They are all part of the Frozen Throne set. DK Cards all have a Battlecry, and always grant your hero 5 Armor. Generally, mistakes are rarely made when creating this card.
The following is an example of one of these Death Knight cards.
You have no idea how many people mess up with hero powers. Below is a list of the common mistakes.
Wished to be pink.
Then did.
Then fired myself.
Then did again.
Certain words in Hearthstone are capitalized while others are not. The following are a list of words that has their first letter capitalized
Notable words that are NOT CAPITALIZED (Unless it follows one of the above rules)
Wished to be pink.
Then did.
Then fired myself.
Then did again.
Trust me, everyone will make mistakes on Grammar for this game. The following is a quiz to see how good you are at card creation grammar.
THERE IS ONLY ONE CORRECT SOLUTION TO EACH QUESTION!!!I lied. HS is so weird that multiple phrasings may all be correct.Feel free to post your answer below, and you can check the answer key down below. Be honest about your own scoring... The prize is self satisfaction
Wished to be pink.
Then did.
Then fired myself.
Then did again.
Don't Look!
Side Note: There is more than one correct solution than listed below.
The words lifesteal and taunt have periods behind them because there is following text and enough space. See Obsidian Statue.
Since this minion has only two keywords, they would be placed on separate lines and have no commas separating them. See Chillblade Champion. The order may matter, but there hasn't been conclusive evidence, as only a very small number of cards have only two keywords.
If the word taunt was added above the text in a similar way most cards are, there would be a fifth line of text, or the size of the text would decrease dramatically. So, the word taunt is in front of the deathrattle. See Deathlord. Also, there is no "and" between lifesteal and stealth. I'm not sure why, but Blizzard says so. See Corpsetaker and Al'Akir the Windlord. And I don't believe the order matters.Also, ThisOtherGuyTox insists the second is correct. Whatever, just say I lied about the "only one answer part"Soulbattle makes a pretty argument about the order of the keywords, but once again, hearthstone is so inconsistent, we don't even know whether an order to this even exists. Plus, no minion has Lifesteal, Taunt, Divine Shield AND Taunt.With the release of this most recent expansion, all shots are off. The above is the new correct answer! (Probably)
Just a classic choose one effect. The only tricky thing is to capitalize "Take", as choose one effects are seperate sentences, but not capitalize "Extra turn". See Time Warp and Jade Idol
The first part was really just seeing whether or not you could do basic mathematics. The second is making sure that one could figure out that the cause is posted before the effect. See Mana Wyrm for an example.
Last chance to turn back!
Wished to be pink.
Then did.
Then fired myself.
Then did again.
Can you add in the minion type section that the correct term for them is probably "minion type" not "tribe" or "race"? You should say that no card currently refers to this, but the developers have called it "minion type" on several occasions:
https://twitter.com/ywoo_dev/status/629490938302169088
https://venturebeat.com/2017/07/19/hearthstone-knights-of-the-frozen-throne-creating-death-knights-and-ungoros-legacy/
https://playhearthstone.com/en-us/blog/17076855
Come Play Make the Keyword!!!
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Remember that this an open forum, so suggestions for changes to the article is welcomed.
This will be the first in a collection of resources used for card designing! Be on the lookout for more! :)
It's also worth mentioning that wording for Hearthstone is quite inconsistent (see "If you have a Beast" (Druid of the Fang) and "If you control a Beast" (Fossilized Devilsaur)), so feel free to take this with a grain of salt.
Here's Question 1:
The key card to look at here is Obsidian Statue.
And my attempt at Question 5a):
Whoops. Forgot to call it "Question 5a)" and "Question 5b)". Also gaining 7 armor for 0 mana is arguably unbalanced in the answer key, but I suppose the hero power is supposed to be bad. We don't know if any future Hero cards would have 5 armor exactly, so it's irrelevant and overcomplicated to ask you to put 5 in the text and 3 in the battlecry.
EDIT: Now looking at the answer key, I disagree with the answers for Question 3.
Al'Akir the Windlord is a classic set legendary that has a lot of keywords but not too much complexity. He also doesn't do anything deck or hand related so he can't be used as an example. Neither can Corpsetaker for that matter, because it gains those keywords if you have minions with those keywords in your deck. Despite the '4 lines of text' rule, there isn't any way around it with the effect you want. Leaving out the 'and' is too ambiguous. Blizzard doesn't like ambiguity, more than they like consistency, but text length comes into it. This is why Y'Shaarj, Rage Unbound and Finja the Flying Star have different wording for a very similar effect. The card should read: "Taunt. Deathrattle: Summon a Divine Shield, Taunt, Lifesteal, and Stealth minion from your deck." But also I think it's not great to be teaching people card grammar with poorly balanced cards. I'd make it a 4m 2/2 that simply read: "Deathrattle: Summon a Taunt, Lifesteal, and Enrage minion from your deck." Because after all we should be going for good class identity rather than making everything a warrior card.
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• TRIALS IN AUCHINDOUN - A Custom Hearthstone Adventure (4th Wing!) • New and Interesting Hearthstone Mechanics (by me!) •
Why not
The order of Question three is a mess since Blizzard has very bad rules when it comes to order of Divine Shield and Taunt. The rule seems if that Taunt and Divine Shield are the only keywords, the order is Taunt->Divine Shield (Sunwalker, Annoy-o-Tron and Tol'vir Stoneshaper) but if you add a third or fourth keyword the order swaps (Al'Akir the Windlord, Tirion Fordring and Wickerflame Burnbristle). It seems Stealth is always first to everything but Charge (Silent Knight, Patient Assassin, Sabertooth Tiger and Shellshifter). Also the whole summon from your deck this is weird but it seems to fit the rules set by Desert Camel, Y'Shaarj, Rage Unbound and Deathlord the text it really long.
Looking at the answer key after, you forgot the KOFT watermark on 5a
Question 3 is weird but technically mine is more consistent with Blizzard. Neither of yours fit the two styles Blizzard has. It would either be "Deathrattle: Summon a minion from your deck with Stealth, Divine Shield, Taunt, Lifesteal" (See Meat Wagon)or my version (see Desert Camel).
Don't mean to be mean but if this is going to be a main resource it needs to be consistent with the rules Blizzard has set.
I want a new title, but Flux won't let me have one,
please consider voting for my custom class in the fan creations competition :]
• TRIALS IN AUCHINDOUN - A Custom Hearthstone Adventure (4th Wing!) • New and Interesting Hearthstone Mechanics (by me!) •
Grammar Nazis Unite thread with actual constructive suggestions. Love it! Take my upvote! ^^
I want a new title, but Flux won't let me have one,
Awesome guide! A few related notes that might be useful in this guide.
Only Legendary minions should have proper names (eg. Ragnaros, Tirion) as that is part of what makes them so special. Too many people put proper names on non-legendary minions when they shouldn't. Names for non-legendary minions usually consist of "adjective/place + species/profession". The only exception I know of is with the summoned minions from Animal Companion and this rule doesn't really apply for weapons since Gorehowl and Doomhammer exist at the epic rarity.
On Hearthcards, you can 'unbold' a keyword by sticking [/b] in the middle of the word. A useful trick to know especially with the recruit mechanic coming out that overlaps with silver hand recruits.
And one big common spelling mistake that really gets to me is how often people use "Spell Power" rather than "Spell Damage". For this keyword, there is also a space after Damage but none between the plus sign and the number.
Anyways, great guide again. Initial impressions of a card is important and nothing sours that faster than poor spelling and grammar for me, especially having seen so many cards over the years as head mod of /r/CustomHearthstone. Just a quick question though. Would you mind if I add this to the Custom Hearthstone Wiki over on Reddit? It'll simply be a page with a link redirecting users here as well as credits to you for making the guide (Lemme know your Reddit username if you prefer I credit that). I think this is something super useful for card designers of all skill levels.
AKA Coolboypai, the head moderator of r/CustomHearthstone
Come check us, and our Discord server, out! :D
You forgot to put that legendary cards should have an own name (Lord Jaraxxus, Reno Jackson) or at least have "the" in front of their names (The Lich King, The Black Knight)
Seriously, this week's competition had a lot of legends with names that seemed common/rare/epic.
Edit: just realized the guy above me said something similar.
Great great guide, there's only one thing I see that may be wrong. You said that Cost is inconsistently capitalised but it's actually consistent. If Cost is a noun it is capital, but if used as a verb (costs) it is lowercase unless at the start of a sentence.