Hearthpwn

This is the Discussion Topic. The Submission Topic is here.

Competition Theme: Stack the Deck

This week's theme comes from biggerbossman, whose Romeo and Juliet pair was the winner of our Counterfeit Cards competition!

Competition-Specific Restrictions:

• You must design a card that is reliant on deck composition to function. Recruit does not count.
  
• How exactly the deck must be composed is up to you. No duplicates, 15 Dragons, all class cards; etc., etc.
• Existing examples include: Reno Jackson, Kazakus, Corpsetaker, Prince Keleseth, Prince Taldaram, Prince Valanar, Rhok'delar, To My Side!, Genn Greymane, Murkspark Eel, Baku the Mooneater, Black Cat, and Blastmaster Boom.

 Competition Process

Discussion Topic Rules

To make sure that everything runs smoothly, we need to reserve the Submission Topic for submissions only. Everything else goes here. What is everything else, you might ask?

• Rules or Process. Do you have a question about the competition's process? Do you need clarification about one of the entry requirements? Are you not sure whether your entry adhered to the rules? Ask here!
• Feedback or Ideas. Do you have some ideas you'd like to run by others before settling on one? Do you need help balancing or wording your entry? Do you need help finding art that will fit your card? Or do you just want feedback from the community on your entry? You're in the right place! Remember, although you are allowed to make minor tweaks to your entry after you've submitted it, you're only allowed one submission per week, so make sure that you've settled on your card for sure beforehand.
• Discussion! Do you have thoughts on other people's entries? Are there directions you don't like that you're seeing too many people take? Or directions you'd like to see more people take? Would you like to help others and contribute to a greater community understanding of Hearthstone card design and balance? This is where you want to be!

All of that said, please refrain from the following:

• Posting TONS of Ideas. Discussion topics become an absolute mess if everybody is posting a dozen different ideas. Please post not more than 3 distinct ideas at a time. Any more than that and we'll have to delete your post.
• Advertising Your Entry. Please don't pop in here just to advertise your entry only to never be heard from again. This includes only asking short, generic, or insincere questions like "Thoughts?" or "Do you think this is interesting?". Yes, getting feedback on your entry is one of the purposes of this topic, but we're not just here for other people to help you. We're here for you all to help each other. 12 hours after this competition begins, there should be plenty of other posts here for you to give specific feedback or for you to comment on a trend. If you post your entry for feedback after this time and do not also offer some form of substantial commentary, critique, or praise of others' work, you may find your post deleted.
• Plagiarism. Many people post their ideas here before finalizing them in the submission topic. Directly plagiarizing those ideas to post in the submission topic yourself is absolutely not acceptable.

Looking for more information about the WCDC or Fan Creations in general? Why not check out this FAQ to see if your question is answered there? You can also PM one of us Fan Creation Mods!

I have two ideas, one recycled and one new:

Spider Ambush!

biggerbossman noted "6 copies of Ambush!" as a possibility in his proposal, so I tried to fulfill that idea. Elise is the Rogue's version of Dragoncaller Alanna, using Fal'dorei Strider to fill the deck before you flood the board with spiders.

Does this count? I mean you should seriously consider what cards you want in your deck before putting this.

"Everyone in the guild was relieved that feeding Leeroy chicken would make him stay in the back.."

Not sure if the concept is easy to understand, but basically you start only with the first card you draw at the start of your turn.

Quote from Kovachut >>

Quote from linkblade91 >>

 

 

Elise is way overcosted and clumsy. You have to shuffle spiders into your deck and then you have to play her, but if the previous condition isn't met, then she is useless. I would have prefered a card, that drew spells instead of very specific tokens. Inb4 I know who Elise is (LoL), but if you want to improve her design, then create a more attractive and easy to pull battlecry effect.

 Yeah...making a card specifically about the Ambushes in your deck is tricky, considering the token spells have a very specific functionality. I could make her double-down and shuffle in even more Ambushes, but that's still kind of clunky.

Quote from whatTheHeck >>

Does this count? I mean you should seriously consider what cards you want in your deck before putting this.

"Everyone in the guild was relieved that feeding Leeroy chicken would make him stay in the back.."

Not sure if the concept is easy to understand, but basically you start only with the first card you draw at the start of your turn.

 We're technically looking for cards whose Battlecries/Deathrattles/etc. can only function if your deck (or your opponent's deck) has a specific setup. Baku the Mooneater literally does nothing if your deck is not Odd-only. Your card, conversely, will always function; it's just a question of the outcome.

To side-step the question for a moment, whether or not it counts toward the theme, I just don't think it's a good card :/

@whatTheHeck

Well, it's completely busted tbh. Destroying spells can be used as advantage, to lower amount of cards in your deck, so you draw important ones earlier (Shudderwock). Also, ability to rearange your deck entirely is extremely strong. Also, i'm not sure if I correctly understand what "Reshuffle your hand" means, but that looks kinda out of place.

Quote from Thezzy >>

My first idea:



Without Battlecries, your tempo/interactivity is a bit more limited, but you gain double Deathrattle effects in return.
Would appreciate any feedback. :)

 Absolutely insane. It's a much lighter constraint than Baku/Genn, with a stronger effect and a better body. Honestly, the effect is so strong, it could be a 10-mana 1/1 and it would still be overpowered.

Quote from Thezzy >>

Quote from KingSevault >>

Quote from Thezzy >>

 

 Hmmm good point, what about "Your Deathrattle minions cost (1) less" instead of double trigger? I think that's a fairer balance?

 That would definitely be less oppressive, yeah. I think part of the problem is that No-Battlecries isn't much of a requirement for a Deathrattle/Quest Priest: you lose out on Voodoo Doll, but otherwise your deck will be devoid of Battlecry minions already.

Quote from Thezzy >>

Quote from KingSevault >>

Quote from Thezzy >>

My first idea:



Without Battlecries, your tempo/interactivity is a bit more limited, but you gain double Deathrattle effects in return.
Would appreciate any feedback. :)

 Absolutely insane. It's a much lighter constraint than Baku/Genn, with a stronger effect and a better body. Honestly, the effect is so strong, it could be a 10-mana 1/1 and it would still be overpowered.

 Hmmm good point, what about "Your Deathrattle minions cost (1) less" instead of double trigger? I think that's a fairer balance?

 I'm trying to think of how broken that could be. Turn 1 Mad Scientist in wild, 0 mana Saronite Taskmaster, it might enable some nasty combos. It's basically like drawing and casting a free Wild Growth at the start of the game. It's a lot closer, but honestly, Start of Game effects are really powerful in general. Maybe switching it to a battlecry or a passive effect would be better. 

Quote from DestroyerR >>

Would they count?

 Yeah, your cards should qualify.

Quote from Lathy >>

Trying to go for the flavor, not sure if they're useable at all. Might be too busted? Heck, what do I know.

 If I had to choose, I would prefer Mara: Von Snob encourages an expensive "look at me and all of my Legendaries" deck and that really turns me off.

Quote from Wailor >>

I'm not sure if Tortollan Warplan would count, although it's my preferred card.

Lady Vashj is a backup plan if you run out of cards (which is common in Murloc decks)

I'll provide feedback tomorrow.

 It's not what we're looking for, no. You don't have to put in any deck-building effort to achieve the condition; all archetypes could theoretically pull it off, given enough time in-game.

i'm going to reuse an entry cause i like it and it works with this week.