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Year of the Wisp - Wisps lead their victims a certain path only to get them lost. However the year of the Wisp won't lead their victims to certain uncertaintity. The wisps will open up a path that was never seen before.
Hall of Fame - I'll first present the yearly Hall of Fame rotation. The ones I will be tossing into the Hall of Fame will consist about Doomsayer , Leeroy Jenkins and Knife Juggler . Doomsayer has been chosen because it provides so much board control for so little. Leeroy and Juggler have been chosen because of the same reason: They really help aggro: Aggro isn't the most fun deck to play against. With my expansions I'm trying to go into a more controling game of hearthstone while I think Doomsayer provides too much control. Leeroy and Juggler really help aggro way too much.
With that out of the way, let's go to the expansions!
The year of the Wisp has the following 3 expansions :
- Age of Alchemy : An age of magic, potions and wickedness. You dare to experiment?
Age of Alchemy presents itself in an imaginary world, build by the alchemists themselves. This is their way to escape reality. There they won't have to worry about their daily lives. They can brew, create, philosophate all they want without getting hatred from blowing up their neighbours houses. There are different rules in this world or in other words, they bended it to their will.
This expansion features a new keyword called "Brew" and all classes gain a special legendary spell in the form of potions and elixers, created by the alchemists themselves! They are kinda crazy, as expected of the Alchemy Realm!
Brew :
Explanation : Cards with the keyword "brew" on it can brew with other cards, to create enormous crazy amalgams to enormous spells that can change the game. Brew to your hearts content, but all magic comes with it's price. Brewing does cost the same amount of mana crystals as if you placed it on the board since you are playing a card to another card. However it does not higher the price of the 2 cards in one. Spend your mana wisely and outsmart your opponent. Do you go fast or do you brew a bit longer? Your choice!
- The Deap Sea : Mysterious, Calm waters. *No further intell*
The Deap Sea is a mysterious part of a small ocean. When you sail over it. It just seems to be an ordinary part of the waters. Nothing out of the ordinary. There have been rumors of ships mysteriously sinking... but they are nothing more than that, rumors. Out of fear of this small waters. People, especially captains try to avoid it, just to be sure, but for what I know: Dead men, tell no tales.
As you may could have guessed this expansion is a creepy one. It explores what is in AND below the waters of the mysterious Deep Sea. This expansion features the keyword "Drown" and has fish, tons of fish, but not just fish!
Explanation : The keyword "Drown" means that a minion lives for 2 turns. It will die at the start of your or your opponents 3rd turn. It depends on who's played the "Drown" card. Visually you will see the card become watery, as if the card itself is actually drowning. Also a great indicator to when a minion dies. Also if a minion died before "Drown" kicks in and it has an addional effect on it as it drowns. Unless it's silenced, it will still count as "Drown".
The cards above don't really show what "Drown" can do. Only what you can possibly do with the effect when it is on something else. Think of having a big taunt for really cheap, but it has "Drown". It slows down your opponent immensily, but you do lose it shortly after. Or a minion with super high health and a good deathrattle with "Drown". Than it suddenly is a good effect and keep thinking like that! "Drown" is really interesting!
- The Thief's hangout : Thief's also need a place to stay! Rest in the Hangout!
The Thief's hangout is similar to the tavern, but instead of being mysterious. It's infamous. All thief's of Azeroth come together. They excel at tricking and stealing. Nothing goes them too far, but if you betray one of them, you betrayed them all! Bane your way through azeroths biggest criminals.
This expansion is all about having a joyfull time in the tavern with a bit of injustice added to it. There will also be a keyword, the 3rd one of the year to be precise. It's called Keen Eye. Thiefs often sit at the bar asking for intel on a certain someone. This is what Keen Eye is. Keen Eye shows you your opponents topdeck or x cards in his hand. Best thing is: Your opponent doesn't know it himself!
Explanation: just like explained above: Keen Eye, when played, shows you a random card in your opponents hand or deck. They become kinda invis for you to see. Think about the Echo cards (when played return to hand), but than just for you for a card or topdeck. You can play around certain cards and sometimes, you get no usefull intel at all. Keen Eye adds new strategie and hand management to Hearthstone.
All 3 of the themes are very mysterious, in their own way. Every new adventure is like a new wisp: You don't know where it leads and you don't know where it ends. Go outside, set foot and wander off with the wisps.
Hey, guys, it's time for my entrance. I'm going to represent you my own year. Maybe I'm to toxic, but that's gonna be...
(Thanks to guy named Wailor for this awesome Year Icon)
Let's start with some cards that were definetly to wild to be in Standard.
Hall Of Fame:
1. Mana Wyrm - This card is too strong as turn 1 drop. Stats are for Vanilla drop at this cost, and his effect can realy change game if your opponent has no immediate answer. With The Coin it's even stronger. Replacement==> Arcane Artificier : He costs 1-mana too. He has spell synergy too. He is good card too. And, what's most important: it's not op.
2. Divine Favor - I won't say that aggro is bad, but this makes aggro to much aggro. With this card it's not another clever way to win, but just dumb playing as much cards as you can. Replacement==> Unedintefied Maul : What can I say, it's good card. Can be very useful. Gives you some clear with weapon, and mostly good effect.
3. Doomguard - Example of the curse that limits design space, named Charge . Blizzard started to solving this problem by introducing Rush. But, with cards like this one, this problem never won't be realy solved. Replacement==> Defile : Strong board clear, but sometimes it's not easy to make good usage of it. Sometimes you must sacrifice more of your minions to continue this effect. But, as I said, it's strong board clear, and realy good card. Also you can learn math.
Rituals of Ihgaluk Crag:
Lore:
Ihgaluk Crag is home of Skumblade tribe, one of Saurok tribes. Who are Saurok? They are lizard people, created by Mogu. Well, most says that they were created by Mogu. But Skumblades knows that they aren't created by some weak creatures. They believe in Kros, the invisible devilsaur in the air. He give them his claws, his fangs, his bones. And they will show the real power of Kros, and no one will stop them! And what you choose? Believe or die?
Cards:
Prophet of Blood: This minion is example of Prophecy usage. It has strong effect, but your opponent will have a whole turn to decrease it by trading and playing less minions. This guy will be also annoying if you have no other minions, because your opponent won't even trade to many minions with it, because it would heal you with lifesteal.
The Quivering Knight : This minion let us know, that I won't be boring, adding only Saurok minions. Also, this one shows new archetype for Paladin: Tauntadin. In each of my Expansions, most classes will get new archetype.
Pirates vs Ninjas:
Lore:
It's full fan-made expansion. It has almost nothing to lore. For now I have only one lore legendary for this set, but I won't show it in this phase. I'm gonna create a bit of my own history to it. But it's also not for this phase. At this time all that I reveal, is that Ninjas and Pirates begin their war! Both are cool, but who would win? You have a choise again. Would you fight for sneaky Ninjas or for greedy Pirates?
Cards:
The Furious Sea : Example of brand new card types- Locations. Locations takes no space on the board, and have permament effect on the board. I'll made only one per class, but if you play second location in some case, it will replace previous. The Furious Sea In Murloc Shaman could be undestroyable Murloc generator. This shows the power of Locations.
Undead Ninja : This one is made to explain what are Ninjas about. Of course most, maybe even all, of them have stealth . For the second, cards that interact with Ninjas, mostly interacts with Ninjas in your deck, because they're hiding there, but are still ready for sudden attack.
Terrors from The Black Temple:
Lore:
The Black Temple lore is very large, so I must cut many things. It's citadel in Outland. It's residence of Illidan Stormrage. I kept it as the last expansion, because Illidan is so godlike and the best is always for end. Back to lore, Illidan get control of it with help of Vashj, Kael'thas and Akama. After some time Akama and Kael'thas betrayed Illidan, and the real events was going to happen. But, for now that's end because we want from Illidan and his forces (including Nagas, Demons, Fel Orcs, Undeads, terrifying Beasts and maaany other tribes) to live.
Cards:
Naga Slayer : Card which shows a Mana Shield mechanic. This one will be realy provided by it, because, with a bit (maybe even more) luck and enough mana, you're able to kill even four minions. That's reason why this mechanic can be interesting.
Tortmaz, the Crazed Turtle : In this expansion, you will see many terrifying monsters like that. Deathrattle and Poisonous aren't rare thing there too. And new archetype for Hunter! Yay! I'm still not sure that Tortmaz is balanced, because I must include many aspects of this card, and how good will be decks with this, I must include also my own cards. For now i leave it as it is.
What makes these expansions themed with Viper? 1. Lizards are reptiles like vipers. 2. Ninjas are sneaky like vipers. 3.Nagas have snake tails.
I hope you enjoyed this, if not you
must give me upvote anywaycan just hide this crap in spoilers. If yes give me upvote, so you'll see more of content.As a new year approaches, we take to the skies to explore new lands and scenarios. Join us in these three upcoming expansions as we travel the world, win big, and obtain more power than we could have ever hoped for. This is the Year of the Pegasus.
Expansion 1: Casino of Zuldazar
"Ah, the treasure, it's within our grasp. After months of trekking through dangerous jungles and treacherous mountains we have finally reached our destination: Zuldazar! The golden city! With this we're gonna be ric-- wait. Is that... a casino... in the city? ... Heh. We're gonna be rich!" - Reno Jackson
Join us in our first expansion of the Year of the Pegasus as you call, raise, and win big in the Casino of Zuldazar. In this expansion, experience the various activities found in this enchanting place, including roulettes, slots, and even other card games! In this expansion, there's a huge theme of random effects and abilities with huge payoffs, though don't let the thought of RNG scare you off, as if you are smart and come prepared with the correct tools, you can flip the RNG on it's head! The house doesn't always have to win. But of course, let's take a look at some of the "activities" you can partake in.
Wheel of Death - An extremely cheap hard removal spell that has the downside of being able to hit your own minions. Works extremely well after a huge Brawl or on a board state where only your opponent controls minions. (And those minions are relatively large) Extremely strong control card to clean up the big minions that cards like Warpath can't deal with. So get to spinning that wheel!
Poker Ace - A strong 2 drop creature with the potential to net you a coin if you win the high card battle in the "spell joust " (Previously seen on the card Raven Familiar ) I see this card having potential in a new archetype that rogues are gonna focus on this set that I'm calling "Big Miracle Rogue" using this card and minions like Razorpetal Lasher to obtain cheap spells so the deck can focus on running bigger spells. Naturally the rest of this expansion will help with this archetype as well.
Expansion 2: Tour de Azeroth
"The great race across the entirety of Azeroth begins... NOW!"
This year's second expansion features a grand competition with many explorers testing their proverbial metal, as their race against each other across the entirety of Azeroth to determine who is the fastest soul in the world. But of course, racing across such a great distance is no small feat, and shouldn't be done on foot. That's why here and now, we are allowing racers to use their trusty mounts in this contest ahead of us, as shown on this new keyword:
The Mount keyword allows summoned minions to combine forces with the mounts already on the board to become a singular fierce threat. Shown below is an application of just how Mount works:
Keep in mind that if a creature with mount loses any stats (like takes from damage) or any keywords(like a divine shield getting popped) than those changes will be reflected on the buff the mounted minion gets. But now that we're caught up to speed with how exactly Mount works, let's take a look at some of the mounts you can expect to see in the race to come.
Frostwolf Howler - A powerful mount card that can kill a small minion before being mounted by another minion and giving the new minion a buff as well as the Rush keyword, though it has the flexibility of just being used to give a future minion +3/+4 and Rush if you want to retain the health and not attack with it. Has potential in any sort of Rush Warrior or Midranged Warrior deck.
Holy Steed - A protective steed that has the potential to give up to two different minions Divine Shield (if it's own Divine Shield isn't popped before being mounted) A bit small and insignificant by itself, though it feels a lot more dangerous with it's ability to buff and protect future minions if not dealt with.
Expansion 3:
"You would challenge me in my own sanctum? Witness your folly!" - Lei Shen The Thunder King
The final expansion of this year is a test of strength, as we take on the Mogu'shan in a great trial to prove ourselves worthy to face the one and only Thunder King. Many will fall, but if you are one of the few who triumph, great power will awaits you. The Mogu'shan value strength extremely highly, and we have reflected upon this with our new keyword:
Prove to everybody through your dominance on the battlefield in order to get additional benefits. Here are a couple examples of these strength seeking Dominance cards.
Lei Shen, Thunder King - The Thunder King himself would definitely value strength, and with his high attack value, Dominance can be quite easy to obtain allowing him to throw lightning bolts at any who dare oppose you. A very strong minion for any sort of aggressive or midrange Shaman deck.
Quilen Iron Maw - Another card that values high attack, with a very strong Dominance trigger, though unlike the Thunder King the Dominance effect is a bit harder to obtain with the card's lower attack value. In the full set, Druid will have a Dominance theme, and will utilize their ramp and naturally large creatures to gain huge value from various cards in the set with the Dominance keyword.
Hall of Fame
In the Year of the Pegasus, three cards will rotate out to the Hall of Fame:
Preparation - Preparation is a problematic card that heavily limits design space for the various spells in the Rogue class, as more powerful high cost spells in Rogue simply cannot be created. With this card in the Hall of Fame, we can introduce a wide variety of interesting new spells and archetypes for Rogue.
Divine Favor - Divine Favor is an extremely strong card for Paladin that can draw up to eight to nine cards against certain matchups for many aggressive Paladin decks, completely negating aggro's card disadvantage problem in the late game. It is an extremely lopsided card that punishes players for playing control and thus is being moved into the Hall of Fame.
Leeroy Jenkins - A strong aggro finisher that can be used in any deck no matter the class. Leeroy Jenkins is a problematic card as it essentially gives all classes access to a game ending burn spell, an ability that should only be relegated to a specific handful of classes. (Like Mage) Thus it is being rotated into the Hall of Fame.
YEAR OF THE RAM
Why the year of the Ram ? Well, because it's a year chockfull of conflict! What kind of conflict, thought? Well, let's see.
The breaking of time has made everyone go wild! Alliances are made and broken, betrayals left and right, unlikely friends and expected foes! And all this at a blinding fast pace! It's a free-for-all; and you're in the middle of it!
This expansion's main theme is tribe wars ! What's a tribe, though? Well, a minion can assigned a tribe, often having interactions with it. Some of these would be Beasts, Dragons, Elementals, and such. And in this weird time strange alliances are forged, unlikely tribe combinations rise. Which is the main mechanic of this expansion! Imagine, if you will, decks consisting of Beasts and Murlocs! or Dragons and Mechs! or a deck with all known tribes! Possibilities are endless- well not really. So what's new?
How does Enlist work?
Simple, when you play a card with draft, or you draft a minion, this will pop up:
You just have to choose one of them and the Drafted minion is nor from that Tribe!
"What's that? Why no choosing Demons, Totems, Elementals or Dragons? Well for one, most of these will be summons, but do expect some new synergies with them. Secondly, most also have a very special kind of interaction with other minion of their tribe. So, I've stuck to the four OG neutral tribes."
Tide Revenant: Whenever a poor soul is at trouble in-sea, they call in a Tide Revenant to help. A versatile minion; not only an elemental, but with the chance of having both Taunt and Rush, it's a premier control card for Shaman!
Friendly Recruiter: He's the kinda guy who's just really nice. Whatever tribe he joins, he'll do it with a smile... and a friend! Having a minion that can draw a particular kind of minion is a great ally to have!
Whew, that tribe-brawiling sure is tiring! Why not take a visit to the (in)famous Scholomance? After all, learning is the best- Oh, you're dead. Wait, no. No, Undead. Nope, dead again. Don't worry though, there's plenty of necromantic magic and alchemy to bring you back again! And again. And again. Forever.
In WoW, the Scholomance is a vile academy for prospective necromancers of the Scourge. But now that the scourge is kinda gone, it now lies under the care of Principal Darkmaster Gandling. It features a huge array of Necromancers in training, one of which could be you! Yes, you! How's that sound? How would you like to take a tour round' the academy? There's much to see:
How does Sacrifice work?
Well, let's take for example Academy Steward : "A the start of your turn, Sacrifice a minion to draw an extra card". This means that,after your turn begins and you draw a card, this will pop up:
Like I mentioned before, Sacrifice allows you to destroy a minion for a more potent effect i f you wish . You may choose to or not to do it. If you do choose to Sacrifice a minion, however, once you've clicked on the option on the right you will then choose what minion to Sacrifice. It happens in a very similar manner to Wrath , when you choose a target to damage.
How does Blight work?
Let's take this Blighted minion, for example, who has been Blighted by another minion beforehand.
Now let's say we play a minion next to it, shall we?
Blighted! And not only that, but minions played next to any of these two will be Blighted, as well! Better remove them before it spreads further...
Do note, however, that only minions that are played will be Blighted, not summoned . For example, if a card is played on the left to a Blighted minion, it will be Blighted. However, the token it spawns from it's battlecry won't, as it is summoned , not played .
Academy Steward: A powerful drawing tool to have. For the price of just one friendly minion, even if it's the meekest, you'll draw an extra card at the start of your turn. Handy!
Skeletal Guard: Now he doesn't want anyone breaking into the Scholomance, no sir. Any minion played next to it, will gain Taunt and reinforce you defense! A great tool for warrior!
"WIZZ-CON IS HERE! What is Wizz-con, you ask? Why, it's the biggest sorcery convention in Azeroth, of course. No surprise you've never heard of it, though. After all, it is held once every thousand years in the beautiful city of Dalaran! Magic-enthusiast around the map gather here to showcase their abilities in one of the biggest magic showdown in the world! Not only that, but also the most powerful contenders are rewarded with an artefact of powers beyond comprehension! All kinds of magics are allowed, so warm up your wand and put on your oversized hat; Wizz-con awaits!"
That's right, WIZZ-CON! Even if you're taking a bit of a break from all the tribe wars and necromantic hijinks, the conflicts don't stop! Of course, the main theme of the expansion are spells and magic! All kinds of magic, you name it! Arcane, Wild, Void, Light, Bears, and more! So let's see what's in store, shall we?
Living Fireball: A minion that also works as a spell? This minion eats spell damage for breakfast, making him stronger with each point of Spell Damage you control.
Olaf Stoutstorm: A master of the elemental powers of Storm, he'll keep your Mana Crystals un-overloaded... as long as you have enough magic power in-deck!
Road to the Hall of Fame!
At the begining of every year, new cards are rotated into wild to allow for fresh new ideas that were previously limited by these. So, what are they?
Malygos : Though it's not much of a widespread card, it limits cool Spell Damage synergy, which is what I want to do with Wizz-con.
Cult Master : Very powerful in aggro, and, if it were to stay, even more powerful with the inclusion of Sacrifice and The Scholomance.
Mana Wyrm : One of the strongest early drops in the game. What mage would pick these over any other 1-drop? It also has way too powerful spell synergy for an early drop. Thus, Mana Wyrm has not been invited to Wizz-con this year. Nor the Year of the Ram.
Well, that's it... for now. Be sure to go around and check the other submissions, there's some real cool ones to see! So take a vote, and may the best move one!
The Year of the Owl
The year of the Owl goes for a more calm approach, where you'll find yourself making plans during the game, waiting for the perfect moment to drop your powerful plays, giving patience a powerful role if you wish to win. Shall you drop your cards in the wrong moment, you won't be able to get back into the game, so reading your opponent's moves and understanding the situation is going to be essential.
We will see the return of some known characters to give them opportunity to shine once more, specially to some characters who have important roles in Warcraft lore and don't get enough credit in-game.
First Expansion: Back at the Roots
This expansion will bring known heroes and picture them in a way they are known for what they did in the original Warcraft games, bringing the classic feeling that those titles bring to the fans of the series once they replay them. The drama, the betrayals, the deaths, they will all be seen in-game with the effect and the art of the cards.
New Keyword: Betrayal .
Betrayal cards work in a way that they will bring you advantages and disadvantages. These minions will be played at your opponent's side of the field, giving them, most of the time, a strong board control. This mechanic ads up a lot to the theme of the year, shall you give a powerful edge to your opponent in the wrong time, they might be able to take you down before you can catch up. However, they also have powerful effects, sometimes corrupting the enemy board, sometimes bringing you advantages, and sometimes both!
Example Cards
These are important examples to help understand how Betrayal works, those effects on the Battlecry will affect YOU, while the effects that come from the minion itself will affect the enemy board. For example, Dearlord 's demons would come in play at your side of the field, while Dearlord itself would be at your opponent's side of the field. Arthas, the Traitor would destroy two minions on the opponent side of the field, since the effect is based on the minion's position. The Knight , however, would come to your side of the field, since it doesn't have any link to the minion itself. The same would go for deathrattle or inspire effects, for example.
Second Expansion: The Hunt for Illidan
This brings the air from the beginning of The Frozen Throne expansion for W3, bringing all those Naga, night elves, the Undead, the thrill of the hunt for your objective. It will bring the idea to hunt for specific cards from your deck, and you'll need to build your deck in a way that you can take advantage of the cards from this set, while other cards will help you build your deck and assist you to take the most value of your powerful cards, like we had decks with lots of "Mini- C'Thun s".
New Tribe: Naga
With many new Naga minions, we will see a new tribe that represents these minions. Just like when Mech came up, we will have changes in our current cards, like Naga Sea Witch , which would get the Naga tribe added to it.
Example Cards
These show our new tribe, and also how the set will play out. Naga Knight won't be able to do much without a bunch of friendly Nagas, just like the murlocs. Tyrande, the Hunter will be a really strong card, if played at the right moment and your deck was made in a way that you'll be able to play a lot of spells, she can be a huge board clear.
Third Expansion: Mages of Azeroth
This expansion will bring the idea of spells having more effect than the minions themselves, making the spells take the spotlight, the minions will serve the spells and assist them in a way that they can be the most powerful as possible. While the minions fighting each other will be less of an event, there will be many colors and fireworks flying through the board! This might bring back some of the agression that the past expansions took away, but will still require you to plan your moves and wait for the best opportunities to strike your opponent.
New Keyword: Manaload
This keyword applies to minions that will do something while you throw your spells on the board. much like old cards like Archmage Antonidas , but can require you to play more than one spell in order to do something. Once the effect has been cast, the count will restart. In that way, some effects might be stronger and have higher requirements, while you'll also need to make sure that those minions stay alive.
Example Cards
You can now understand how this keyword can work in many different ways, the effects can help you control the board, be aggressive, defensive... And they will require good timing, Orc Mage can push for lethal if you play it with 4 spells, and it would have 7 attack for that turn, given that the countdown would reset after 2 spells. Pyromaniac goes for a more board-control effect, after you play 3 spells, the minion will deal 1 damage to the enemies, so you would be able to possibly use it with more board control spells in order to take down weak and strong enemies, maybe using strong removals against the strong enemies and letting him take care of the weak ones.
Hall of Fame Joiners
Eviscerate - This card has made possible for Rogues to go for aggressive plays and easily finishing their opponent using low cost spells like this one to deal huge amounts of damage. That made the game look unfair to the opponent of the opponent of the rogue, looking like the player had no effect on the outcome of the game.
Divine Favor - This card alone made it so that Paladins could play too aggressively with no downside, given that they would be able to cycle though their deck easier, something that should backfire actually helped them win most of the times. That made control decks suffer a lot, since they felt forced to play cards, going against the deck playstyle, otherwise, they would get punished.
Sorcerer's Apprentice - This card made possible for mages to play spells in an aggressive manner, besides making possible plays that would destroy their opponent in a single turn, making the match unfair and one-sided. Afraid to print cards that synergyze with "multiplication" effects, the card gave many limits to the design space, therefore, moving it out of standard will be the best for the future of the game.
In Rexxar we trust
Welcome to the...
"Why a Hydra?", you might ask. There's a pretty simple explanation for this: so far, there's sort of a cycle going on with the Standard Years: first, we get an aquatic animal, then a terrestrial and a flying one. First, there was the Kraken, then the Mammoth, and later, the Raven, so it is fitting that we restart the cycle with another sea monster, right? It's worth noting the choice of the Hydra will have no influence whatsoever on the expansions, much like it has been so far.
So, rotation is upon us once again; this time, all the cards that we got in the Year of the Mammoth are going to Wild (plus three Classic cards I'm going to discuss down the line), so it means no more Un'Goro, Frozen Throne or Kobolds & Katacombs. I'm sure we're all pretty sad to lose such fun cards like Voidlord and Hadronox, but fear not mates, 'cus we're starting the Year of the Hydra with a pretty fun, whacky expansion that's all about flavor and cool, new interactions: ladies and gentleman, it's Lights,
CancerCards, Action!The Mechannes Film Festival is being held at Ironforge for the first time ever! Envisioned by the filmmakers of Gnollywood as an opportunity to showcase the production of the nascent gnomish film industry, the event features all kinds of movies and is sure to keep everyone entertained for the entirety of its duration!
By the time the first expansion hits, the power level of decks is at its lowest, which means cards can be made less competitive and more fun and still see play, so we get to experiment with mechanics unlike anything you've seen before. Most of these will be one-of-a-kind and, maybe, who knows, they'll be further explored in the future. For that reason, there are no new keywords this time around. This is also gonna be the most light-hearted expansion in this Year, and with such a setting, expect lots of puns and references.
Abramm van Hellscream is a famous fictional figure in Azeroth. A Hunter whose name was inspired by the legendary family of Orcs, he made his first appearance on a novel by Brann Stoker (not to be confused with Brann Bronzebeard) as a sworn enemy of the Darkfallen, a group of vampiric, undead blood elves. Now he's getting his own feature film, filled to the brim with plotholes and cheap action sequences, just like it should be!
Flavor text: "Aren't the vampires he hunts the ones supposed to have Lifesteal? And how the heck is he supposed to turn into a Worgen at the end!? He's an Orc, duh. Geez, who writes these things?"
Mildly Annoyed Max is a long-running franchise set in an alternate Draenor, one which never came into contact with the Burning Legion. The Orcs in this world had their own Well of Eternity, which, upon being destroyed, sparked a war that sent society spiraling into chaos. In this dystopic future, gangs fight for control of the wastelands and the last reserves of Mana available.
Flavor text: "With or without him, most of the times, if you don't play on curve, you'll just lose anyway."
Following the whackiness of Lights, Cards, Action, we're going straight to Argus, sometime before the events of Legion, to join the fight against the Burning Legion! This will set the much more somber tone for the second expansion, War for the Light!
Many people have crafted expansions around the Burning Legion before, so this time we're gonna set them aside and focus on the Naaru and their cosmic Army of the Light! Be prepared to fight alongside not only Draenei, but also Mech anical constructs and interdimensional travelers! This is the closest it can get to sci-fi while keeping it lore-friendly.
This set introduces the new keyword Relay , which works exactly like Explosive Runes. It's actually a pretty simple effect to understand, and by making it into a keyword, we can explore new interactions with it and improve the overall complexity of the cards, while still keeping them relatively simple and straightforward. This is what I'm aiming for with the two new keywords of the Year of the Raven. More on the second one later.
Arcane Channeler is more of a card for Wild Freeze Mage, where it has potentially devastating synergy with cards like Dragon's Fury, but in Standard, it's pretty tame.
Flavor text: "Ever wanted to rain Meteors at your opponent's face? Now you can."
Alleria Windrunner is a well-known character in the Warcraft lore. After she and her lover Turalyon disappeared in Outland, they joined the Army of the Light and battled for centuries in the Twisting Nether, where time passes way slower than in our reality. Somewhere in this timespan, she became able to tap into the power of the Void, and learned to harness it for noble purposes. Her effect is reminiscent of the Anduin DK's Hero Power, Voidform.
This is to show there will be a dark side to things that is not necessarily related to the Burning Legion.
Flavor text: "After all this time, she's still forever sworn to the Alliance, and now her sister is the Warchief of the Horde. Oh boy, their family reunions must be hella fun."
Last, but not least, we have Azeroth History 101 ! This expansion continues on the trend of experimenting with unorthodox mechanics which started with Lights, Cards, Action, but takes it a step further in power level. It's also gonna feature lots of combo -oriented cards and disruption to compensate for that.
"Brann Bronzebeard has just moved in to the capital of the Alliance and is working as a professor in the Stormwind University! His first lecture ever is gonna be about the early history of Azeroth: everything that happened before the Great Sundering, up to the time the Pantheon stumbled upon the world, then dominated by the Old Gods and their Black Empire. Join him as we go back in time and learn the forgotten truth about the past!"
With such a long timespan to work with, you can expect to see lots of different flavors: younger versions of beloved characters in the WoW lore, trolls - the race which dominated the world long before the human kingdoms were even a thing - as well as titan-forged, night elves, pandaren and many others.
Now let's get to the new keyword, Foresee ! It turns out that, much like we can look back at the past, some of the people then, those gifted with the Sight, are able to see us in turn, right here, right now. As was Relay, this is also a pretty simple effect, kinda like Hearthstone's own version of MtG's Scry, tweaked to fit the way the game works.
Marsh Seer works kinda like a reverse Far Sight. The change of Cost IS PERMANENT. This is a preview of the much more extreme disruptive effects we're gonna have in this expansion, whose lack of has led to so many nerfs in the past, as there's no effective way to counter combo decks in the game.
Flavor text: "She sees better with her eyes closed, apparently."
Tyr, the bravest of the titanic watchers, was a key piece in the game that led to the creation of the Dragon Aspects.
Flavor text: "After the proto-dragon Galakrond ate his hand, he replaced it with a silver prosthetic. But he already had silver skin, so I guess nothing changed after all."
And to wrap it all up, the
HALL OF FAME
EDIT: So, instead of rotating cards that I deemed to be too strong (like Mana Wyrm and Divine Favor) and always find a place in a dumb deck every other meta, I decided to revert changes to cards that once enabled cool combos and were nerfed into oblivion by Blizzard. Starting with:
WARSONG COMMANDER (replaced by Fierce Monkey)
Patron lives on (in Wild)!!
I have expressed my concerns about rotating Basic cards before, but seeing as we're allowed to replace them, I thought I'd use this opportunity to kill two birds with a single stone: not only will this bring back one of the most iconic and skill intensive decks this game has ever seen, but it will also make the Warrior Basic set, by far the worst one, a little bit better, thus rendering the new/F2P player experience a little bit better.
You might think this goes against the design philosophy of Blizzard and limits design space, but with the ever-increasing card pool in Wild, I really don't think Patron would become such a dominant deck as it was before, nor would other synergies with Warsong that might pop down the line.
MINDGAMES (replaced by Shadow Visions)
The Priest Classic set is bad. Like, really bad.
People usually point out how every year, Blizzard has to print a new big board clear for Priest to be even playable. With that in mind, I could have made Dragonfire Potion evergreen, but God did I not want to do that. Dragonfire Potion and Lightbomb are just so absurdly strong, I just hate playing against those cards. I'd rather have new, different board clears get printed for the class every once in a while (which, mind you, actually happens to every other class as well) than having to face the same bullshit forever.
That is why I'm replacing Mindgames, a horrible, unplayable card that clogs the Classic set, with one of my personal favorite cards in the game: Shadow Visions. This design is just so good and versatile, and it can even serve the same purpose as an actual board clear by allowing you to copy the ones in your deck. Also, combo . :P
BLADE FLURRY (replaced by Dark Iron Skulker)
Without the burst potential of Flurry, I don't think Oil Rogue can ever come back, unfortunately.
Kingsbane Rogue, on the other hand, seems to be one of the most popular decks in Wild and can benefit a lot from a low-cost board clear. This way, it can play the control game much more reliably and actually (maybe) have a winrate of more than 50%.
As to the replacement: Dark Iron Skulker never really saw much play and I don't expect it to, which I think is fine since the power level of the Rogue Classic set is somewhat high already, when compared to other classes. It's also not on the same mana slot, but is that really a problem? I mean, you can't play Flurry by itself without setup anyway.
Hello everyone! My name is Vision136, I'm new to the design side of the site, and I'd like to introduce you to...
The Year of The Golem!
(Thanks to NiRaSt for the year logo, very much appreciated!)
In the Year of the Golem, there are 3 expansions to be on the lookout for, but first, at the start of every year, there's a rotation of cards to the Hall of Fame, and based on my plans for the year, these are the 3 that are being rotated out:
#1 Gadgetzan Auctioneer : This guy has been a part of almost every single meta for as long as I can remember, and it’s time for him to move on, especially since I’m planning on bringing back Spare Parts, and his power could really be abused.
#2 Leeroy Jenkins : Oh boy, it’s been a long time coming for this guy. He’s got the biggest design limiting keyword in the game, and the way he’s played isn’t even the way he’s meant to be played, because people use him as a finisher, virtually eliminating the downside attached to him. With Leeroy in the HoF, I can create some more powerful attack buff cards, without fear of them being abused with Leeroy… until people start using Reckless Rocketeer.
#3 Mind Control Tech : This card has found it’s way back to meta time and time again, and it’s soul crushing every time it’s played for 1 of 2 players, and that’s not the kind of feeling that you want in Hearthstone, it’s just not fun. Moving this to the HoF will result in some more creative 3 drops being played, and increase the fun rate for everyone.
Now that we have that out of the way, let's move on to my first expansion...
Junkheap Jungle
Welcome to J unkheap Jungle , a place that has become severely cluttered over the past few years due to an influx of garbage and spare parts dumped there from nearby gnomish settlements. Of course, the wildlife in the jungle aren’t used to this and have had to learn how to dig for Spare Parts. That's right, Spare Parts are making a comeback in a couple different ways.
Rummaging Tiger is a midrange/late game element for parts druid, an archetype that I might plan on exploring, or even just midrange druid, because spare parts are great. It can even be used in wild for some sort of miracle/deathrattle druid including Gadgetzan Auctioneer (a card which is being moved to the HoF).
Kelsey Steelspark is going to be a great finisher/board clear for Parts mage, with an ok body and a great effect, she can end up being very similar to C'Thun , without all the crappy minions in the deck.
Now, here's my second expansion, the very spooky...
Mechs of the Maize
Now after journeying through that junkheap, we’re going to take a little detour through some nearby farmlands, and there’s something real weird going on. There’s an overabundance of mechs and similar types of creations, and the farmers that live there are astoundingly creepy, but so what? There’s not anything wrong with that(at least I hope there isn’t). What I do know is that the mechs and similar constructs have a new keyword for us, and that keyword is Reap. Reap means that whenever a minion with Reap attacks and kills another minion, something interesting occurs.
Nightlock Farmer is going to be a staple in tempo rogue, with a big early game body to make sure you have board presence early, without becoming oppressive. It showcases how Reap can be an upside or a downside.
Angry Scarecrow will be the main early game threat for aggressive mech decks, being one of the first cards to bring back mech synergy since LoE. With it’s potential 4 attack, it can take on some of the largest 3 drops, and even some 4 drops.
Whew! After that frightening experience, it’s time to move on to my third and final expansion...
In the Eye of the Observer
This expansion focuses on what comes from the Twisting Nether, or more specifically, the observers. Observers are creatures with plenty of eyes and tentacles to spare, and they’ve started to invade the material plane. In order to escape from these observers, some very powerful mages have banded together and created Unseen . Unseen is a keyword that prevents minions of a certain tribe from attacking or targeting the minion with Unseen .
Xhu’daggab the Freed is one of the first observers to come through into the material plane, and boy is it strong. Being unable to be targeted by Dragons, Elementals, and Murlocs, he can certainly throw down in Wild for sure, with the potential to be strong in standard as well. His Battlecry also makes for a great comeback mechanism, destroying an aggressive opponents board and maintaining a huge board presence by himself.
Custom Tailor Cloak is a perfect representation for Unseen , giving paladins and their light-fused minions the ability to protect themselves from the observers or whatever else they need protection from.
That’s it for the Year of the Golem ! Thank you for reading through this if you made it this far, thanks to anyone who helped be by giving me feedback, and I hope you enjoy my ideas. Good luck to everyone, and I will hopefully see you in the next round!
The Year of the Mech
Welcome to the Year of the Mech. This sets gains its name from the first two sets, which both try to revisit some of the flavor themes last seen in Goblins vs Gnomes, and bring back the Mech tribe that has received an awfully low amount of support after GvG rotated out.
Set 1: Westfall Redemption
In the region of Westfall, law and order have collapsed. In the already chaotic region, a valuable material used for mechs discovered underground adds more complexity to the situation. Gangs fight each other and themselves for that material, opportunistic engineers offer their services for anyone willing to pay enough, or construct their own mechanical armies to take it all for themselves, all while Stormwind struggles with bringing the region back under control.
Westfall Redemption portrays, among other themes, the more volatile goblin side of engineering. Goblin engineers, ready to work for whoever pays the most or for no one else but themselves try to make do with what they have in the chaotic situation, Assembling impressive mechs out of nothing. Assemble is the keyword for the set. When you play a card that Assembles , you get to choose one of three mechs to summon . There's a total of four different mechs, but you will only have three to choose from each time you Assemble
You can see each Mech created by Assemble in the following Spoiler (Credits to ThePixelDash from the r/customhearthstone discord for allowing me to use Hard Puncher for this)
Example Cards:
Desperate Engineer uses Assemble to create small mech tokens that help it stay alive, even if you have no other mechs for it to destroy for survival.
Illegal Improvements is a prime example of volatile and explosive goblin engineering. Use it for a bit of burst and to make a mech that will be dangerous to leave on the board, but also potentially bad for your opponent to remove, or trade up with a mech and either get some face damage or remove another minion, if you're lucky.
Set 2: The Battle for Gnomeregan
From one field of battle to another, this time we join Gelbin Mekkatorque on his fight to take back Gnomeregan. Once the great capitol of the gnomish race, it fell when Sicco Thermaplugg deceived Gelbin to detonate a radiation bomb in the city against troggs, claiming that the gnomish citizens would be safe. The bomb only angered and mutated the attacking trogg force, and backfired on the gnomes, killing many of them and forcing the rest of them to flee. Now, the city is inhabited by leper gnomes, irradiated troggs, and the self-proclaimed 'King of Gnomeregan', Sicco Thermaplugg, driven mad by the radiation.
Here, we continue to explore mechs, but in different ways than what we did with chaotic goblins in the first set. This set also contains a new keyword, Irradiated . Irradiated minions spread their sickness to others, making any minions damaged by them also become irradiated. They however are doomed to die a quick death, taking 2 damage each time they attack.
Being damaged by Irradiated minions includes damage from other sources than attacking, so if you were to Irradiate something like Baron Geddon , it would be quite strong at spreading it to everything else.
Example cards:
High Inventor Mekkatorque is potentially a huge amount of value for some mech decks, filling your board with different mechs. The amount of mechs summoned is naturally limited by board size, and first summons copies of any mechs in hand, and then from your deck, starting with any at the top of your deck.
Sicco, King of Gnomeregan can really cause quite a chain of explosions with his first effect, while his second effect makes those explosions almost certain to happen sooner than later.
Set 3: Dalaran High
For the final set of the year, we leave the Mech theme mostly behind and venture from Gnomeregan to another grand city, this one much more lively. In the great city of mages, Dalaran High is accepting new students! Prided not only for its high quality education on magic, technology and various other subjects, but also for it's top-tier sports team, the Dalaran Gryphons. So take out your books and your writing instruments, and make sure to not miss your lectures.
Dalaran High has a new keyword, and a new mechanic seen in a cycle of 9 books, one for each class. The Study (X): mechanic gives you a reward if the last card you played was X, and the card could have been played on a turn before the current one. X could be many things, like card type (Minion, Spell, Weapon), specific cost, tribe or even some more specific requirements. Each class gets a Book card, which is a spell that becomes stronger as you play certain things during the game.
Example cards:
Field Study is a simple Study card for hunter. Being able to tutor a beast can come in handy, for example if you're playing a deck that runs mostly high cost beasts, you could play this in the late game after playing one of them to guarantee drawing another one. The part of the keyword in brackets not being bolded is intended, as with longer Study requirements, sometimes half of a card's text could end up being bolded, making it look very bad.
Book on Magical History is the mage card of the cycle of Book cards. As with all other Book cards, the text first states what the card does, and then in brackets and italics, the thing you need to do this game to empower it. The number on the card increases whenever you play a card that improves it, so there's no need to track how many of those card you have played so far. This one could be used in some deck that happens to run many different cost spells as a decent amount of damage later in the game, or one could build a deck around getting the most out of it and using it as very powerful burst.
Hall of Fame
Mana Wyrm : Mana Wyrm is an extremely powerful 1-drop, and can snowball out of control very easily. Because Mage is likely going to get a spell synergy theme in Dalaran High, this could get even more insane there, so it is being rotated out. As a replacement, Arcane Artificer is rotated into the Classic set so that Mage still has a cheap spell synergy card there, but not one that is good on its own and snowballs out of control easily.
Cold Blood : Cold Blood is both a very strong tool for aggressive decks and a cheap piece for combos. Rogue has a very strong Basic and Classic set that could do with removing one of their powerful cards. Gang Up is moved to Standard to replace it, as it is a much less powerful card that can be key to some really interesting decks. For example, it could be used in some combo with High Tinker Mekkatorque in a Mech Rogue.
Cabal Shadow Priest ; This might seem like an odd choice, as this has hardly been a problematic card at any point. That is true, and the main reason for this rotation is really the card brought to Classic to replace it, Lightbomb . With this rotation, Priest will finally have a good board clear in Classic, which means that they won't be so reliant on expansions now, and that Blizzard won't need to print more and more board clears to help the class. Cabal Shadow Priest was chosen as the card to go because like Lightbomb , it is a tool for control decks. Having so many good cards for Control Priest in Classic could make the archetype far too good, and removing one might bring it to balance.
And that is all. I hope you enjoyed reading it.
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Card Design ChampionEDIT: Added spoilers for readability.
EDIT2: Swapped expansion #1 and #2, changed set compositions (less structures for #2), corrected "gargantuan".
YEAR OF THE SCORPION
Custom cards :
CLASSES : Alchemist (CCC#5 | Phase V) | Chef (CCC#4)
EXPANSIONS : Year of the Scorpion (Year Comp)
Welcome to...
Year Of The Orc
Hundred years ago, somewhere in the dark Universe there was a land called Draenor. Hundreds of Orcs lived there, forming small, and then bigger clans. Clans were meeting each other one time a year, during their sacred fest, Kosh'harg. During one of this fests began a story which lasts until today. Story of the mighty Horde...
Rise of the Horde
In this world there was someone another. Someone mysterious. Draenei. They were trading resources with orcs, but they weren't friends (or enemies) Ner'zhul, supported by Gul'Dan called every single clan to fight together and destroy their "deadly enemy". They didn't know that Kil'Jaeden deceived them, offering unlimited power. Gul'Dan realised it too late, when he was left with nothing...
When the war began, orcs were only winning. One day, elements stopped listening to Shamans. They needed another help, and they got it. They got Warlocks, but not only them. Also creatures five times bigger then orcs joined their army. Look how strong are they!
These green creatures were unstoppable. Oh, wait. My memory is not that good as when i was young. Yes, green. They drank blood of a demon, awakening unstoppable rage inside them. They destroyed everything belonging to draenei on their path. So fast. Let's take a look, why
Now you see why did they won so fast. They could Cleave and also damage adjacent minions. But Cleave was only for mighty ones. Others were just drunk
Yes, they looked like this one. Even worse. (i can't show 7th card, so i only put image, which is going to be on a card, called Drunk Orc)
After draenei were defeated, rage was still inside orcs. They started to attack each other.
Now look at this new archetype of minions. If your enemy controls an orc, they do something special. Isn't it simple? And what's that Curse? Well, there wasn't enough food for all orcs on Draenor, because the planet was dying. During the war, crops didn't grow because noone could take care of them. Orcs were dying too. So this Curse destroys minions at the end of your next turn. Not at the start, it wouldn't be as powerful
Orcs had to run away from Draenor. But someone who drank the blood was going to free them from it's power, and rebuild the mighty Horde. And his son was going to nearly destroy it. Once again.
Rises and Falls of Hellscreams
The Portal was opened on both sides. A wave of Orcs flooded Azeroth. They had their new home. But they found other, strange creatures here. They were smaller than orcs, thinner and white. Orcs began to fight with them. Every single person could become their prey, but even thousand humans killed couldn't stop their bloodlust. Look, how strong was it
After Stormwind fell down, humans started fighting brutally and stronger. They finally defeated Orcs and put them into special camps. Orgrimm Doomhammer Sacrified his life to free Orcs from these camps, like Grommash did to free Orcs from Mannoroth's blood. That's what Heroes can do to make your minions stronger
After the Cataclysm began, Thrall had to save Azeroth, becoming new Aspect of Earth (together with other Shamans. He couldn't lead the Horde so he had to choose a new leader. Choice wasn't simple, but he finally chose Garrosh Hellscream. It probably wasn't the best choice possible...
Lost Secrets of Dalaran
If Horde wasn't enough, next problem appeared soon. The Plague. Kel'Thuzad needed one of Medivh's tomes to summon his overlord, Archimonde. Defense of Dalaran fell down fast and Archimonde destroyed the city after he was summoned. Small pieces of mighty towers and arcane tomes got spread to nearby places.
After a few years an expedition found a cave. They got very deep into it and they found light. They came closer, curious what might it be. And they saw exactly 45 bright runes, 5 of each from 9 light colours. There were Runes of Fire, Ice, Arcanity, Forest, Wild, Blood and probably everything possible. What were this Runes? Probably pieces of Dalaran towers and fragments of knowledge from books stored in this city. How did they get there? I don't know. But i can tell you how can they get into your deck, and how do they work.
Many minions can feel their Magic Power or even control it, basing on their own power. For example, Khadgar can control it, and Blue Wyrm only feels it
Hall of Fame
1. Divine Favor
Aggro deck shouldn't have big card draw. Divine Favor gives you opportunity to empty your hand very fast with no punish and it punishes your opponent for drawing cards (what control decks need).
Replacement: Level Up - another great aggro card, but not OP, lets you build decks based on Silver Hand RecruitsEdit: Level Up! doesn't have the same rarity, so the replacement is Muster for Battle (for the same reason as Level Up! )
2. Pyroblast
When you have 10 or less hp when you play against mage, you can't think about building board, setting up lethal or anything, because you know that it's a chance that your enemy has this card. Finishing off a player, who has 1/3 HP with just one card isn't fair. Mage has enough burst even without this spell in Standard.
Replacement: Meteor - another big burst card, but can't go face. This is the main reason, but it also has everything, what players need in their decks when they start playing (i think that most of players buy Classic packs at the beginning of their 'Hearthstone adventure') - removes any minion they want and punishes other unexperienced players for bad board-setup
3. Illidan Stormrage
Yes, exactly. The nerf/rework will be reverted and he will discard and then draw 3 cards for both players. Reason: This card is just too bad, and it's unplayable in every single metagame you can imagine. Reverting the nerf/rework allows players to experiment with it, building some new serious, strong decks, for example Quest Warlock.
Replacement: Sir Finley Mrrgglton - Some decks have Hero Power, which you really don't want (Pirate Warrior, all slower Shaman decks). You can put him everywhere, providing early board advantage and a chance to discover a really good Hero Power for your deck, or even to fill 1-mana slot in decks, where your class's Hero Power isn't necessary
Edit: Muster for Battle is a replacement for Divine Favor now, so everything is correct
Thanks for feedback in Discussion Topic, and everyone who helped me to balance cards and make this content interesting and easy to read - special thanks to CheeseEtc
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Card Design ChampionYEAR OF THE FOX
Set 1: Shattrath, City of Secrets
At first glance, Shattrath appears a perfect city, united in its fight against the Void. But beneath that façade lies a bitter rivalry. The city’s two factions, the devout Aldor and the mystic Scryers, are at war for control. Behind the scenes, allegiants plot, spy, and maneuver against the opposing faction in a perpetual fight for advantage. In Shattrath, secrets are dearer than gold, information a deadly weapon. And while the city schemes against itself, a darker foe lays its own plans…
Battle in Shattrath may be a bit different than you’re used to. Maneuvers are political more often than tactical, and the fog of war is replaced by a tangled web of intrigue. If you’re to enter the city, you need to be familiar with its ways:
- New keyword Plan . It provides the means to, well, plan out future turns. In the game’s UI, Plan will look just like a mulligan, with the leftmost cards being closer to the top of your deck.
Expertly edited visual example:
This is what Plan 4 would look like. Arcanologist is marked to be removed from the deck. Water Elemental is the top card of the deck.
- Secrets. The set will include many cards that interact with Secrets and new Secrets for the 4 classes that have them.
- Information. This expansion will feature cards that give information on and manipulate the hand and deck.
Set 2: Discoveries at Dalaran
Not all knowledge is against others, though. In Dalaran, Azeroth’s capital of learning and research, the brightest minds from every land gather to make the next great breakthrough. Any and every field- magic, alchemy, ice cream, you name it- is represented, and weird and wonderful experiments are carried out daily. The Light alone knows what kinds of wonders you'll see in the Violet Citadel's halls, and as the old saying goes, there's only one way to find out...
Dalaran sees no lack of wonderous discoveries and strange creations, but such things don’t come about overnight. They’re the culmination of countless iterations and improvements, with previous experiments informing current ones. Come in, and see just what these researchers are up to:
- New keyword Iterate . When an Iterating effect activates, it’ll trigger the effect listed on the card. Then, it will trigger every other Iterating effect you’ve played earlier that game. To chronicle your discoveries, either player can hover your hero to see a list of your Iterate effects. The results get pretty wild, but then, so do experiments.
Explanatory example:
You play a minion with ‘Iterating Battlecry : draw a card.’ You draw a card. Next turn, you play Archmage Modera: you summon a 3/3 Elemental, then draw a card. Then you play a second minion with ‘Iterating Battlecry : draw a card' : you draw a card, then summon a 3/3 Elemental, then draw a card.
- Build-around cards. The set will have numerous funky Timmy cards for players to experiment with.
Set 3: Azeroth's Last Stand
That’s enough of that; now it’s time for some real action. Let me tell you of Azeroth’s Third War, when all the world itself was under threat. Faced with an undead Scourge and the endless Burning Legion, Azeroth’s greatest heroes gathered in defense of their world, and the battle that ensued was as epic as you’d think. Armies enjoined, great foes felled, heroes made and lost: the story of this great war is rife with such tales, and you’d be sorry to miss the telling…
Numerous events make up the story of the Third War, various different legends that together form one great tale. Each event, in turn, is made up of the stories of those who fought in them, each attacking the others for control of the battlefield. Listen to the tales, and you’ll see how each of these stories unfolds:
- Legendary “event” spells. Each class will receive a powerful Legendary spell commemorating an event of the Third War. But as all victories have a cost, these spells will have significant drawbacks that must be built around to use the card fully.
- On-attack triggers. Wars are generally about attacking, so this set will feature minions that care about attacking or being attacked.
- Tactical positioning. In honor of the strategy of war, position-based cards will have a greater presence in this set than others.
Hall of Fame Inductees
Cold Blood || Divine Favor || Nozdormu
Cold Blood - Power Overwhelming was rotated for its excessive burst potential, and Cold Blood has the same issue. Giving it the boot will open up considerable design space, alleviating fears of OTK or making aggressive Rogue decks too strong.
Divine Favor - This has long been one of Hearthstone's most hated cards, and with good reason. It essentially negates aggro's biggest weakness, running out of steam, making the archetype too strong against the control decks that it should be weak to.
Nozdormu - Though not exactly problematic for the meta, this Dragon Aspect has numerous problems with its design. It discourages strategizing, often leads to frustrating misplays, and can only really be used to cheat your opponent out of his/her turn. Such a card isn't something that we need to deal with.
Edit: Fixed example image and typo
Greetings and welcome to the:
Why turtle? Well because turtles appear as calm animals with time to enjoy every moment, and that is what we should all do in the game we all probably love and hate.
First Expansion:
Speaking of enjoyment allow me to introduce you the first expansion of the Year of the Turtle – The Brewfest Festival (TBF). This festival is part of WoW for quite some time and the time has come to bring it to Hearthstone alongside a new mechanic ...
Reinforce:
Reinforce is the new keyword that will be introduced. It will not be limited to this expansion.
Stout Drinker - A simple minion to introduce you to the mechanic. He could grow into quite fierce protector because of many cheap spells Paladin has acces to.
Brews for everyone:
Calming Brew introduces a new card spell type for this expansion only - Brews . They are similar to Kazakus Potions, but all of them can only target a single minion.
Calming Brew is a great example of this, the Sleep effect is already in game as the summon sickness (or something like that) in this case it works quite as a Freeze effect, but it is called sleep to keep the flavour of the card.
More:
Every class will get their own Brew .
Three main characters of this event will make an apperance.
Few cards, that will explore the possibilities of Sleep .
Quite some Reinforce card as well as new ways to trigger it.
Second Expansion:
During the Brewfest festival you learn about Titanic keepers - ancient creatures tasked with protecting Azeroth. At the festival you meet Krom Stoutarm - an Ironforge historician - who is writting a book about them. You two decide to leave on a journey to meet with the keepers themselves, their vast armies of Titan-forged , to hear their tales and uncover the power of their Artifacts .
New tribe - Titan-forged:
Titan-forged are creatures that bolsters your army or themselves, when you summon another Titan-forged. That will be reflected upon a lot of their cards. Due to the limit of showing 6 cards none of them is shown - they will be revealed later, if we'll make it that far.
Titanic Keepers:
Turns out that Azeroth has exactly 9 Keepers, just as many as the number of classes in Hearthstone. What will that mean - every class will get one. Each Keeper brings unique and new way to deckbuilding and ingame strategies.
Odyn, Prime Designate is a new warrior legendary, capable of turning the tides of battle with his army of Valarjar. Incredibly strong minion as long as your opponent has more minions than you. Also there is a certain card in the set, that will work perfectly with Odyn.
New card type - Artifacts:
Artifacts are new card type introduced in WoA, they provide unique effects, that you will have to try to use to your advantage. Most of them have passive ongoing effect. But beware as every piece of power comes for a price. ARTIFACT CARDS DO REPLACE YOUR HERO POWER. That brings us once again to the deckbuilding mastery.
The Silver Hand - Or the Hand of Tyr is a new Paladin Artifact. It offers a new unique removal for more control-oriented decks. The effect affects both you and your opponent. The card will have timer on it like Dragon Soul . It will count you and your opponent together so you might want to include a lot of cards like Drywhisker Jailor , or Fire Fly to block your opponent and not get blocked yourself.
More:
Every class will get their own Artifact.
Every class will get their own Titan Keeper as well.
Plenty of Titan-forged will be added to the game, as well as some minions from previous expansions, will get the tribe added.
Two Titan Forges might make an appearance.
Third Expansion:
AtR is a catastrophe-like scenario in which the Halls of Origination was launched and destroyed almost all life on Azeroth, with your Hero and a few others being out of reach. You assign yourself to the duty to use the Forge of Will and repopulate Azeroth. You might try to remember your past friends but no one’s memory is that great. And for this we have a new Keyword:
Remember your past:
As an example I am showing you a Goldshire Footman, ehm Soldier sounds better. You do remember this guy. He was from Stormwind army and was probably wearing a cool guard helmet. You can say what his stats and mana cost were, but you cannot remeber his effect. Was it Stealth ? Whenever you cast a spell gain +1 Attack? Or perhaps Taunt ? No, certainly not Taunt … But as a maker and creator it is for you to decide…
Goldshire Soldier is a simple card to just explain the mechanic. The keyword itself will have much more to offer.
Infinite Dragonflight:
There are some creatures that prefer the new world and will do their best to sabotage all your actions. This is very guldanic behavior…….
Infinite Vanquisher will undo whatever action your opponent did last. As an example your opponent has wiped your board with Brawl and ends turn. Vanquisher will undo it so basicaly your opponent had done nothing and kept Brawl in his hand. But if he played Brawl and then decided to Hero Power Vanquisher will just neglect the Hero Power as this was his last action.
More
New Remember mechanic will be introduced on minions as well as other card types.
A few ways to slightly manipulate the time.
A remake of some of our former friends.
Maybe a small board manipulation options.
Hall of Fame
Northshire Cleric - Priest in my opinion should not have such a strong 1-drop in its basic set not to mention that those extreme draws it can offer can be tiring. Rotating it might allow to experiment with other 1-drops like Lightwarden
Doomsayer - A staple in most control decks, it is time to rotate him and allow other removal to be played or created.
Mana Wyrm - Very popular candidate for rotation for obvious reasons. Extremly strong 1-drop that limits mage design space in cheap spells.
Closing
Thank you very much for reading all of this. I am glad that I managed to put in all together in time. It turned out I was far busier than I expected. I would also like to apologize for not answering feedback in the discussion topic, or providing feedback myself - time crisis again.
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Adventurer ExtraordinaireWell, just afer the Year of the Turtle above, we have...
THE YEAR OF THE TORTOISE
The Year of the Tortoise has come to the Tavern! And with it, three expansions (loosely) related to this ancient reptile.
Something unsual is happening in the skies: Azeroth, Draenor and many other planets are forming a perfect line. This strange phenomenon has made several constellations take a physicall form, and they are ready to join the battle!
But that's not all! At the very same time, the few Eredar that did not succumb to the mischeavous forces of Sargeras, now known as Draenei, are escaping Argus to find a new home. Will they succeed?
If not positioned correctly, constellations are just stars. So, in this expansion, positioning will be really important. Both adjacent minions and opposing ones will be important, so be careful! Of course, not all minions will feature this kind of effects, but it will be more prevalent than in other expansions.
Ursa Major 's effect might seem detrimental, but remember that a character with Taunt cannot hide behind other Taunts. It can affect the enemy hero, so, if the face goes Taunt , me still go face.
Draenei Wanderer can be valuable to exploit other positioning effects.
What does this expansion have to do with tortoises, you ask? Well, ancient cosmologies used to believe that the Earth was resting over an infinite pile of turtles. So, expect a Tortoise with a planet in her back to be in this expansion.
There's an old Tauren saying: "Only by looking at the infinite calm of the Great Sea you can know who you really are". It's not as calm as they say, however!
Countless dangers lie in the bottom of this huge mass of salty water: enormous beasts whose weird aspect is only matched by their ferocity, sunken temples with ancient curses waiting to be awaken, fearsome nagas plotting to get their revenge and, well... there are murlocs too.
And remeber: the deeper they are, the harder they bite...
This expansion features the keyword Dive . When you Dive , your hero will be covered in bubbles until the start of your next turn. By itself, this does nothing, but you can use it to activate certain effects.
Each class will approach this mechanic from a different way. Paladin, for instance, will trigger its effects whenever you Dive , while Warrior will only check if you are diving once per turn. Some of the classes will not even have this keyword at all!
Power of the Tides is a pretty simple Dive activator. Not all of them will be like that, however. Some will be much weaker in terms of other effects, but will allow you to activate Dive many times.
Hammerhead Bloodseeker is kind of a Vilespine Slayer for Warriors that can even repeat its effect over time, although being harder to activate. The "damaged" requirement is actually more of a benefit, however, as it allows you to target your victim more easily.
Tortoises live under water. Pretty easy this time around. Also, Dragon Turtles will appear this expansion!
The astronomers of Azeroth discovered something terrible: a great Fel Meteor was leading directly towards their world. The Horde and the Alliance stoped their fights, and the best socerers of both factions worked together in order to stop the catastrophe. All their work was sterile, as the deadly comet finally fell over the planet.
Its impact was so great that it broke the space-time continuum and generated multiple timelines. In some of them, all life in Azeroth was forever extinguished. In others, the few survivors were devoured by the countless hordes of Felhounds that emerged of the meteor. In a bunch of timelines, however, some heroes met their Fate and assured that Azeroth had a Future .
This expansion features two keyword that are closely related: Fate and Future . It works similar to Quests: when a minion mets the requirement indicated by their Fate , they transform into the minion described by their Future .
This keyword can also be applied to Hero cards. What's more, each class legendary will be a Fate Hero this time around, which will represent the future incarnation of each basic hero in this post-apocalyptic scenario. For instance, Jaina becomes a cyborg (the return of Mech Mage!), Anduin becomes the king that unites all Azeroth against evil, etc. However, I could not showcase any of them, as tokens are not allowed and I would need to post the Hero Power.
In terms of class identity, each class will receive a sub-theme (for instance, Priest will focus around healing), which will be supported by Fate and non- Fate cards.
Swordman Apprentice gets +2 attack and an extra attack if it manages to kill something. Thematically, he's a timid apprentice who then becomes a ruthless warrior.
Stray Sheep is great support to Heal Priest, both as consumer (to activate Fate ) and producer (once it's transformed). Flavor-wise, he's the typicall preacher who says that he used to be a selfish siner until he listened to the call of God (or the Holy Light, in this case).
Tortoises live a lot of years, and this expansion focuses around Future. As usual, there will be a tortoise minion, in this case it will be a baby that becomes old by activating Fate effects.
Sorcerer's Apprentice gets replaced by Snowchugger
This little gnome is a great obstacle when it comes to designing Mage spells. For instance, it doesn't allow something like a Mage Echo spell. Also, it can create Exodia combos too easily in combination with Archmage Antonidas , which are not interactive. For this reason, we decided to move it to the Hall of Fame.
It will be replaced by Snowchugger , which is also a common 2-cost Mage minion that we feel is pretty balanced. It will also help to the return of Mech Mage, which will need a lot of support to be viable, as this the expansions of this year will be of reduced size.
Preparation gets replaced by Lotus Assassin
Miracle Rogue has been around from the beginning of Hearthstone, due to the fact that it has a lot of core cards in the Classic and Basic set, such as Backstab , Gadgetzan Auctioneer , Eviscerate or Edwin VanCleef . Preparation is another card on this list that is especially problematic, because it gives a lot of fuel to the miracle turn, as it does not only draw a card if paired with Gadgetzan Auctioneer , but also nets you a maximum of 3 mana, which is nuts even by Druid standard.
This card will be replaced by Lotus Assassin . While this card differs a lot in terms of card type and mana cost, it helps establish Stealth as a core theme for rogue, which hasn't a lot of support currently.
Innervate gets replaced by Living Roots and reverts its nerf
Can you see something in common with all the cycled cards? Yes! Mana cheating!
Innervate has been a problematic card since the begining of Hearthstone, and one of the major reasons that Druid didn't get good high-cost cards. For this reason, when Ultimate Infestation was released, Innervate got nerfed to half its effect and became The Coin . We want to restore this card to its former glory, but without causing trouble. Thus, we've decided to move it to the Hall of Fame mataining its previous effect.
It will get replaced by Living Roots , another cheap common spell which focuses on flexiblity as one of the core aspects of the Druid class.
Well, this is it. Good luck, everyone!
The Year of the Peacock is themed around winning with style. The three expansions will push deck builders in many new directions and should promote great deck diversity at the tavern's game tables.
The first expansion of the Year of the Peacock is set in the shattered remains of the world of Draenor, now known as Outland. Outland is homeworld of the Orcs, Arakkoa, the Netherwing Dragonflight, and many wild beasts, some of whom have become corrupted by the astral winds of the Twisting Nether. Additionally the Mech tribe will be making a bit of a comeback in this expansion. Finally, ruling over the wastelands are three legendary Avian Gods, Rukhmar, Anzu, and Sethe.
The new Keyword for Outland is Scavenge . Scavenge effects trigger on in-play minions and weapons whenever a(nother) minion dies. It's effectively the Flesheating Ghoul effect ( Flesheating Ghoul will be updated with this Keyword). Why make it into a new Keyword you ask? Well. Doing so allows the printing of synergy cards like the Hunk O' Junk below.
Hunk O' Junk
Allows other cards with Scavenge to get lots of value when it dies. Scrap metal Yo!
Rattlehammer
The minions keep croaking and it keeps rattlin' along. Warning! Beware of goop!
Clarification: if it has only 1 durability but it's attack kills a minion it will not be destroyed.
The Year of the Peacock's central expansion dips into the lore surrounding the barbaric tribes of Centaurs that abound in Kalimdor, as well as powerful Angelic, Demonic, and Godlike beings of the Warcraft universe. This set will feature powerful, deck-defining legendaries like Pavo , the muse of the Year and a champion of the new Tribe: Celestial.
Patience is the new Keyword for Centaurs and Celestials. Patience effects trigger at the end of the turn if a character could have attacked but didn't. Minions with summoning sickness and minions that are Frozen do not trigger Patience effects.
Magram Moongazer
Kind of like a hidden Choose One . Rush ing into combat will prevent it from gaining the +1/+1 but it may be necessary or desirable to Rush in many situations. Virtue or Clippety Clop? Such decisions, much wow.
Pavo
A great combo enabler in spell heavy decks but he comes at a high price. Will your Patience be worth the wait? Oh by Yogg Saron he's preening again! That bird is impossible to take ANYWHERE !
The final expansion of the Year of the Peacock is Tavern Tails. An expansion that dives full into tavern life and features many bards, businessfolk, and beastfolk of Warcraft. But it's not all fun and games. The mighty Skalds have arrived at the tavern beating their war drums. Songs will be sung, tales told of both victory and woe, and when all the cards are laid on the table we'll see who impressed the crowd.
Tavern Tails comes with two new Keywords, Supply and Panache .
Supply: Cards with Supply use unspent (full) mana crystals at the end of your turn to do something. Supply cards do not compete with each other, if you have more than one Supply card in play at the end of a turn they will draw on the same pool of unspent mana.
Panache: Various cards will allow Panache effects to be triggered by certain things (examples: casting a spell on a friendly minion, killing a minion with a spell, playing a minion with Battlecry : etc).
Trebuchet
Only triggers it's Supply effect if you end a turn with 2 or more unused mana crystals. It triggers it's effect once for each 2 unspent mana crystals. For example if you play Trebuchet and nothing else on turn 9, leaving 3 unspent mana crystals the Supply effect will trigger and do 1 damage to all enemies. If you play nothing the next turn leaving 10 unspent mana - Supply will trigger 5 times doing 1 damage to all enemies 5 separate times (kinda like Defile ).
Some assembly required. Not to worry we've printed a manual in Klingon, Dothraki, AND Quenya!
Tailson Songweaver
A Start of Game effect that allows all cards you play with Panache to gain those effects whenever you kill a minion with a spell. He also has his own Panache effect, granting your spells Lifesteal this turn. To be clear: you must have Tailson Songweaver in play (and not Silenced) and also kill a minion with a spell, then, for the rest of that turn, your spells have Lifesteal . (I had to work really hard to fit this card's text into 4 lines. Ideally it would say " Start of Game: Panache triggers when...")
Insert obligatory furry joke here...
Conclusion (and Hall of Fame)
There you have it. My expansion ideas, some Keywords, and example cards for the Year of the Peacock. Ideally throughout the Phases of this Project I could create a strong Class identity in each expansion whether it be through the use of a keyword or tribe or other mechanic. I'd like one of the expansions to have new Quests and another one to have new Hero cards but those create Tokens so obviously I can't showcase them now.
And lastly
Inner Fire
Oh, you managed to stick ONE big minion one the board after I relentlessly removed every other one in a flurry of sweat and desperation.
Oh, you have THE CARD.
Guess I lose.
Such fun.
Much interact.
HALL OF FAMED
Savage Roar
We here at the YoP (Year of the Peacock) Balance Team really like that Token Drood and Taunt Drood and EZ BIG EZ DROOD EZ are all things. We honestly wish there was MOAR DROOD!
However...
There's this card that can end a game - just as it was starting to get interesting.
And if we here at YoP love ONE thing it is
interesting.
HALL OF FAMED
Gadgetzan Auctioneer
We wanna print cool low cost spells. Maybe even cool low cost spells for Rogue.
And we're sick of all the crybabies on Reddit.
Fine.
HALL OF FAMED
~ Thanks for reading and good luck everyone.
Check out my Mech Undatakah Pally deck: http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/1261460-undatakah-mech-pally
The Year of the Hydra
Welcome to the Year of the Hydra! A wonderful year to celebrate the terrifying monstrosities that love to devour anything and everything. Aren't they just adorable? Here we'll explore new species spotted in Dustwallow Marsh, then we'll research ancient magic long since forgotten, and we'll top it all off with a relaxing, and totally pirate-free, vacation at the island resort know as Sandy Retreat.
Dustwallow Bestiary
New and strange creatures have been discovered in the marshlands of Dustwallow. A team of explorers has been dispatched to the area to document and record these new beasts. This expansion is all about beasts. From frogs to dinosaurs, you'll discover loads of new beasts, even in classes that don't typically have beasts.
A new Keywords has also been added called Delay. Delay will postpone effects for a set amount of turns. A Delay of 1 will trigger at the start of your next turn, while a Delay of 2 will trigger at the start of your turn after that. The Marshlands make it difficult to move around, causing a lot of slow down. These new beasts are especially affected, as they have not yet adapted to their new environment.
The Secrets of the Athenaeum
Inside the great library of the Scarlet Crusade, secret , ancient magic is being researched in order to defeat the undead scourge. You will discover this ancient magic sealed inside old and forgotten tomes. Every class will have their own spell tome that can be used to discover more powerful cards. Of course, their activities haven't gone unnoticed. The undead scourge has planned an assault in order to desecrate these ancient tomes before they can be used against them. A lot of these undead cards will revolve around having a small hand size, sacrificing knowledge in the pursuit of power.
Summer on Sandy Beach
Come one, come all to the new hot beach resort. That small dreary island that used to be nothing more than a stopping off point has now been renovated into a lovely tropical resort. Come to visit the only hotel in all of Azeroth that was built on the water. Enjoy your stay at the wonderful Sandy Retreat. Disclaimer: We are not responsible for any pirate attacks on your way to Sandy Beach.
A new keyword has been added called Tide. Many cards have their effects dependant on the tide level. Your tide level is independent of your opponent's tide level. However, there may be ways to raise or lower your opponent's tide as well.
Hall of Fame
I haven't been paying too much to the Hearthstone Meta, so I have no idea what cards are problematic for the game. But I have been able to find three cards that seem a little too powerful for the classic set.
Cold Blood - This one is pretty simple. For 1 mana you can deal 4 damage to your opponent, all you need is a charge minion. Combine this with Eviscerate and you have a lot of burst damage from hand. The Combo condition is never really hard to pull off since the card only costs 1 mana.
Divine Favor - A card that punishes decks for conserving resources. Its a staple for any aggressive deck to restock on resources to continue pushing for the win. I'm not a fan of cards that punish slower decks unless it can only fit in a slow deck itself. Aggressive decks already have an advantage in tempo and now it allows it to compensate for when it runs out of resources.
Upgrade! - This choice when made based on cards I will release in the future sets. I don't want too many weapon buff cards to cause the resurgence of the Pirate Warrior meta. I want the Warrior class to have some high-attack, low-durability weapons and Upgrade! presents a problem of allowing these high attack weapons to stick around longer.
Made in Cooperation with @Cogito_Ergo_Sum and @Otovent.
Year of the Chimera
Everyone is at war. The Eastern Kingdoms, Kalimdor, Northend and even Pandaria! Why? Why not! We don't have anyone else to fight really.
The expansion features a new keyword and a new type of cards. Stitched cards! For those that do not know what this is, then it is basically a card that is available to two classes. A lot like the gang cards from MsoG, but they will be more prominent here!
Basically, when you play your first War/Peace card, you get to choose one of them. That choice is from here locked for the rest of the game, and all your War/Peace choices will always only use that choice.
Everything was fine on Azeroth. Ahune the Frostlord was chilling in the hail, and Neptulon the Tidehunter was cooling in the rain. But everything changed when the fire Elementals attacked! They didn't want none of those weird weather types, with weak arguments such as "It's literally killing us" and "We're already at the borderline of extinction after the many times' adventures murdered us". Truly pathetic.
The expansion includes two new Weather Keywords. Weathers are basically "aura effects" that lasts for a number of turns that is described on the cards that summon the weathers. At the end of each players turn, this counter goes down by 1 and does its special effects. Those include:
Rain works as a Board preserving effect, that will likely see play in faster decks than Hail, as it enforces Board control, instead of destroying it.
Hail works as a control effect, that diminishes board control, at the cost of a bit of Health, and some trouble keeping board control yourself.
The Fire Elementals want none of those tho, so they remove the Weather and gains a bonus when they do. It functions both as tech cards against weather decks, but also as a quick strong effect for Weather decks.
From the creators of movies such as "They came from beyond the moon" and "Six-Gun Killer", comes a Hearthstone expansion unlike any other. The studio, that originally came from Overwatch invites YOU! to come to see everything behind the scenes.
We'll bring it to life with a brand new keyword, that will be featured in a most legendary of manners.
Script is the new one type of keyword . You get a sequence of effects, where they trigger at the start of your turn, one after one. Those effects are super powerful but slow as hell.
Another prominent feature for the expansion is hand positioning cards. Some cards will care about being left-most in your hand (Basically your oldest cards), and Right-Most in hand (Which is basically your latest drawn cards).
Hall of Fame!
Divine Favor -> Ivory Knight .
Divine Favor is in general a dangerous card, because of how strong it is in a cheap costed decks. Getting a card advance from doing nothing, but playing as much stuff as possible seems unfun in general. It also limits how many good early game tools Paladin can have, as they become increasingly more powerful with this. Ivory Knight is the replacement, to further bolster Healadin. It's in general a fair powerleveled card, that helps you in a lot of different ways, without feeling unfair.
Frothing Berserker -> Val'kyr Soulclaimer .
I know what you're thinking. Why take away one of the best cards for Warrior in the evergreen set, when it is already lacking. The problem with Frothing, however, is that it's at such a high power level for a 3 drop, that unless you have the proper removal or board presence, it can go out and kill you all on its own. Furthermore, it makes newer 3-drops for Warrior less interesting, as they're almost always worse than Frothing, so why take it? Val'kyr is taken instead, to keep some of the enrage flavors in Warrior. And keep a 3-drop in the evergreen set, although it might not be as strong.
Leeroy Jenkins -> The Curator
Leeroy has traditionally been a problem card. It gives burst to classes, that are not really supposed to have burst, and makes the decks that have, even more potent. It means that a lot of decks will be decided by whether you draw your Leeroy or not, which is less than stellar. The Curator, however, is a way to keep the Beast/Murloc/Dragon synergies in the evergreen set, alongside giving a deckbuilding card, that rarely feels unfair. Making for more balanced games in general.
And at last a Q/A!
Question: How does Sharpshooter interact with Explosive Trap and Snipe ?
Answer: The card is no longer considered to be in your hand when it is active as a Secret , so both have no benefit from the card.
Question: Does the Weather effect cancel any that were before them? Like if I play a Rain card while it's Hailing?
Answer: No it doesn't. Both can be up at the same time, although I hardly recommend putting both in your deck. As in real life, it can both Hail and Rain at the same time. Warcraft is no different.
Question: Are you insane?
Answer: I'm not sure you want an answer to that question.
Thanks for reading through this all!
Also a big thanks to everyone who reviewed our stuff so far, and especially Vilegloom for your awesome designs for the competition and for your invaluable feedback.
I want a new title, but Flux won't let me have one,
Expansion 1
The Forbidding Sea has long been a mystery to the denizens of the Eastern Kingdoms, with very few daring enough to enter its treacherous waters. The League of Explorers has no such qualms, however, and has sent Sir Finley Mrrgglton out to conquer the waves on his very own ship, the Murky Celeste. Such a capable explorer should have no problem exploring this sea and learning its secrets.
The new keyword, Ambush , allows minions the chance to switch up their style if they are played the turn they enter a player's hand. After all, you can't waste the element of surprise! Cephalopirate knows this well, coming in limbs flailing if you activate the Ambush, or protecting his position otherwise.
An expedition would be pretty pointless if you didn't Explore , of course! When you play Murloc Pathfinder , you'll see the top two cards of your deck - with the top card being on the left - in a menu similar to the Discover interface. Once you're done looking and planning ahead, any Murlocs you saw will be drawn, following the light of her lantern.
Expansion 2
Not willing to let Finley have all the fun, Reno Jackson has gone tomb raiding on some of the earlier islands in the Forbidding Sea. Unfortunately he doesn't seem to be able to leave any treasure where it belongs, and he's awakened a whole new minion type! They seem pretty angry...
The Undead are pretty nasty beings, and Reno has given them a whole bunch of power by stealing that treasure. If an Undead dies, it releases this power, allowing players to harness it to empower spells and abilities. Relentless Spirit is one such spell, which gains an AoE effect should an Undead have died that turn.
But how will you ensure there's an Undead available to be killed for the greater good? Why, call upon the Revenants of course! When a Revenant minion dies, its corpse reanimates at the end of the turn, becoming an Undead for you to control. It loses any abilities it had when it was alive, but that's a small price to pay for a second chance at life.
(Note: A fair few existing minions will be affected by the power Reno unleashed, becoming Undead themselves. A full list will be provided in Phase III)
Expansion 3
Not to be outdone by his fellow league members, Brann Bronzebeard headed off to the nearby Hinterlands, where the Wildhammer clan has been making a fuss about some unusual happenings. No secret can hide for long under this dwarf's scrutiny, however dangerous it may be!
The Wildhammer clan is well-versed in the art of warfare, and knows some fantastic group strategies. When a minion is Flanked on either side by a minion, it gains a strong bonus ability that can really turn the tide of battle. Formation Flyer is one such minion, able to attack minions and take no damage itself if it has allies backing it up!
The Wildhammer clan has also been branching out its stables, from their traditional Gryphons to Horses to more... unusual creatures, like the Swollen Skitterbrood . This hulking arachnid can be played as a minion on its own, or it can be played as a Mount , giving its card text and stats to another minion.
(Goddammit Blizzard you couldn't just wait one more day to reveal Magnetic?)
Hall of Fame
Force of Nature : In the wake of the Molten Giant nerf reversion and movement to Wild, I think there are a couple more candidates for this. As such, Force of Nature will be moved to will and changed so that the summoned Treants have Rush. I think this is a solid middleground between the powerful combo from before and the incredibly weak card it is now.
Blade Flurry : In a similar vein, Blade Flurry will be reduced to 2 mana, although it will remain only damage to minions. This will allow Rogue to diversify its AoE and weapon buff options without having to consider their interaction with this card in Standard.
Divine Favor : A problem card in Paladin for a while now, it's finally time for this Aggro-enabler to be retired. This should allow Paladin to have low-cost minions without worrying about them simply being used as an overpowered swarm tactic.
You can find me here! Good luck everyone!
Welcome, ladies and glentleorcs, to the
Hall of fame:
Sorcerer's Apprentice . I don't think i have to tell you what this card did in quest Mage. It's quite restrictive when it comes to card design, especially if you want t make cheap spells for mage.
Devine Favour . Auto-include in any aggro deck. While not always a good card, it's sill really strong an I feel it deserves to go into the Hall Of Fame.
Auchenai Soulpriest . Interesting inclusion, I know. The problem with this card is that you can't have cards that have a high board heal or a high heal card that can also target enemies simply because it can immediately turn into an AoE or large damage effect.
First expansion, THE SCOURGE OF IRON
In this expansion, all 9 classes will be split in 3 factions that will last until the end of the Year of the Frostwolf, as follows:
Iron horde: Warrior, Warlock, Rogue
Scourge: Mage, Shaman, Hunter
Cenarion Circle: Priest, Paladin, Druid
Each faction will receive a number of tri-class cards, including one general each (Grommash is the genral for the Iron Horde, for example). Cards will be part of a certain faction, indicated on the cards by bolded inclined text. Cards within the came faction share their keyword among themselves.
For example, if Grommash Ironbound is on the board, all Iron Horde minions become untargetable by Spells or Hero Power. All minions that are part of the Cenarion Circle that you play while Keeper of the Enclave is present on the board will have it's battlecry . When you cast Frost Touch, every minion on the board that is part of the Scourge will also cast the spell.
When the expansion launches, the player will receive a random general, as well as a random legendary minion from that general's faction.
Lore:
Because of the tinkering of a certain gnome that shall not be named *cough Toki cough*, The Iron Horde comes to Azeroth just when the Scourge decides to separate itself from the Burning Legion. Seeing that a war between those two could tear Azeroth apart, The Cenarion Circle decides to intervene, leading to a 3-way skirmish between them.
Second expansion, CLEANSING THE CURSE OF FLESH
Mechs. Lots and lots of Mechs, as well as remaking old cards in a mechanized form (kinda like the corrupted minions from WotOD). Also a new keyword that activates if the Mech is part of a group of other Mechs, and deactivates when that group is broken up.
Lore:
Gearmaster Mechazod has finally found a way to reverse the Curse of Flesh, and is now spreading it across the world. There's no point running: there's nowhere to run.
Third Expansion, THE SEVEN SEAS OF AZEROTH
New card type, the Vessel, as well as a new keyword to go with it, in this pirate themed expansion. Here's how the Vessel works:
Here's how a vessel would look like on the board:
Each class will receive a legendary Vessel in the form of a pirate ship, and the player will get a random one for free when the expansion launches.
Lore:
Yar har, fiddle de dee
Being a pirate is alright to be
Do what you want 'cause a pirate is free
You are a pirate!
Hello, and welcome to
The Year of the Salamander
The salamander is an amphibious beast of the forest, known in olden days for appearing from fires, as they would live in rotting wood, from which they would escape when used as firewood. This year touches on all that, the fire, the water, the hearth, the woods, as we journey to the different places and events Azeroth has to offer us!
Moving to the Hall of Fame:
Questing Adventurer Gadgetzan Auctioneer Divine Favor
Although I actually think Gadgetzan Auctioneer could create unique decks for other classes, I plan on adding a lot of coins and that sort, which makes this card a large design constraint. The same goes for Questing Adventurer. Divine Favor is a huge source of card draw that holds back a lot of Paladin's potential because of how easy it allows them to 'reload'
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The Firelord's Call
THE FIRST EXPANSION
To start of the year, Ragnaros once again returns, scouring Black Rock mountain, since the original adventure left us with only so much, and there is much more to Hearthstone now! Featuring all new sorts of Elemental support, as well as full-on and focussed Dragon synergy, the likes of which have never been so prevalent since their introduction. With the power of the dragonflights and perhaps some of Nefarion's chromatic experimentation, the expansion features all new mechanics, like syngery based on class-specific cards.
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Summer in Booty Bay
The Second Expansion
Every summer, Azeroth observes the Midsummer Fire Festival, with great bonfires, torch tossing, and plenty of fun summer activities, to end it all with a fireworks display most prominently on Booty Bay. And where else better to enjoy the summer weather? This expansion features two new keywords: Resurgent and Bounty !
With so much by the water, a whole lot floats around, sinks down and bounces about. Resurgent cards have gotten a bit too waterlogged, they need to be played twice to stick on the board. This can be a good thing though, as it can let you pay some mana upfront and get the card cheaper later, or if it has a battlecry , you can activate that battlecry twice, maybe with different targets in mind the second time around. And of course, Booty Bay is notorious for its Bounties . During the Fire Festival, there there are so many treasures to be found. Some cards will allow you to uncover these goods if you can put the pieces together — simply play two cards that Cost the same in a row, and you'll unlock these Bounties ! It can be chained further too, any other cards of the same Cost counts as well, as long as it's one after the other. The two keywords happen to work particularly well together, indeed!
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Tales from the Wildhammers
The Third Expansion
Finally, we return to the calm of the woods. Here are the quaint Wildhammer Clan, the stormy dwarves who live for the highlands and the open air. Sit by their hearth, as they tell you of the legends and folklore of heroic battles years ago. Perhaps you yourself may be a bit inspired too. With this expansion, you can modify your Hero Power to give it additional effects. Alone they may not do much, but as you build up your tale, you can be a mighty powerful hero who can change the tide of battle with your unique ability. But the highlands are vast, filled with adventurers, and your party will need to slow down at parts. Take the time to Rest , a new keyword that will end your turn when you play it, so like your hero power, your timing and order is critical.
Any minions you control who could have attacked will instead Rest as well, by going dormant for one turn. This is the same state seen from other cards, and while it is strong, you must forego attacking, and you won't be able to interact with your dormant minions since your turn will end. With the struggle of factions from Alterac Valley to the Arathi Basin, your plan of attack must be strategized to gain the edge of battle.
And that concludes my year! I hope you enjoy.
Courage, Honor, Strength, Wisdom, Royalty. These are the kind of things you might attach to the mighty king of the jungle. One of the things I appreciate most about Hearthstone is how many cards are incredibly flavorful and how even a simple Silverback Patriarch can tell a story, that is my goal with the year. That is my goal, to attach my expansions to the figurehead of my year and tell a story throughout. We will visit the Barren Wildlands, Siege Stormwind, and Journey through the mists of Pandaria.
But First! What are we rotating?
1. Divine Favor: Paladins have had a long history of being able to rush minions out onto the board only for this card to keep them up in pace and card advantage. It's too strong of a draw tool in the current state of the game where it's easy to use. I think this is the number one card that needs to be removed from the game in the current state, as much as I do enjoy playing my weenie decks. It's just too good for aggro.
2. Doomsayer: I love this card, but I think having it around will hurt design space in the long run for standard. Doomsayer has had a long history of usage in a variety of control and combo decks. Often used powerfully in a combo or to stall your opponent's early game, it's a card that has a pretty varied but oppressive at times history for Hearthstone. I think it's past due for this card to receive the treatment to go to wild.
3. Gadgetzan Auctioneer: Miracle Rogue has been one of the longest standing decks in the entirety of Hearthstone, and while it has changed throughout the years, it still exists in some form even to this day. I do not want to change Auctioneer but I think this has been a long-time coming for this guy to visit the wild.
And now, onto the expansions.
First Expansion, The Barren Wildlands: The Barrens is a tough place to live. It's a place where everything and everyone wants to kill you. If the tough savanna conditions don't get to you, surely the numerous wild creatures and inhabitants will. It has everything from centaur, quillboar, wild elementals, beasts, pirates, to even the horde and Alliance skirmishing all inhabiting the same space in these massive swaths of land. You'll certainly need every bit of your resolve to survive out there.
Disarm Trap: Pesky secrets got you down? Well fear no more, because do I have the deal, ahem, card for you! A valuable, but niche rogue tool.
Echeyakee: Where would the year of the lion be without the reclusive white lion of the Savanna. Although be prepared, he comes with a few friends! Ideally built for mid-range hunter decks or a fringe control deck.
Second Expansion, Siege of Stormwind: Time to head on out to war! What if there was an expansion where the modern version of Stormwind, the capital of the Alliance, is sacked by the Horde. Gnomish Airplanes battling Goblin Bombers. Tauren charging through the gates as Night Elf rangers defend from afar. Etc, etc. The set will focus on the battle of the two nations and provide a variety of cards relating to this theme of honorable and dishonorable warfare. It also introduces a new keyword, Duelist. Only one enemy minion may attack a minion with Duelist per turn.
Duelist: What better way to add dimensions to hearthstone than through an honorable duel. It's a rather unique keyword that can provide for some interesting card ideals.
Plagued Gargoyle: From the skies comes true horror! This slow killer isn't afraid to take it's time with its prey. A slower control card for rogue.
Gnomish Gunner: This pesky little gnome swoops in on the battle-field doing a fly-by on the board before settling in the skies above. A strong neutral AOE card, plus it's a gnome! Who doesn't love gnomes. Ignores Taunt is pretty unique and won't be on too many cards.
Third Expansion, Veiled Mists of Pandaria : For our third and final expansion we travel the ancient lands of Pandaria. There are plenty of mysteries to uncover, adventures to be had, and lessons to be taught. . After both factions have been at war, it's time for them to learn about the balance of the world they are in. One of the more unique mechanics is of the classes learning from one-another, and as a result there may be a few cards with keywords they otherwise don't have access to.
Zandalari Bishop: Ey, Mon! You be needin healin' or you need ta shut up. just think this is a real well rounded card that fits priest. Has the option of heal synergy or silence synergy allowing it a wide use in a variety of decks
Lorewalker Cho, Enlightened : Cho has seen the error of his ways allowing both you and your opponents access to the spells you play. This is a pretty strong neutral minion. Could make for some enjoyable times.
In Conlusion: I'm here to give you a different kind of experience from most, I hope. I don't have any cards shown but one idea I do have is cards that tell the story of a say an orc grunt in the Barrens becoming a commander in the Siege of Stormwind or other ideals. I also wanted to give a big thanks to Vilegloom for the icon and to everyone in the discussion thread who helped me out on this.