Congratulations once again to Adamaxes for winning WCDC 10.12. As the Year of the Dragons approaches the beginning of its end and with the new expansion about to descend upon us, this week's competition will be Dragon themed!
Competition-Specific Restrictions:
You can make ANY card that interacts with dragons, However:
The interaction CANNOT be "if you are holding a dragon"
You are allowed to include up to (1) token. If you are doing so, make sure BOTH of them interact with dragons and stick with Rule 1.
Below is a list of all the deadlines for this contest:
Preview Phase (Nov. 12, 2019 [10:00 PM CST] - Nov. 13, 2019 [10:00 PM CST]) The Discussion Topic is made available, previewing this week's competition theme. Entry and Early Voting Phase (Nov. 13, 2019 [10:00 PM CST] - Nov. 17, 2019 [10:00 PM CST]) During this Phase, the Submission Topic will be unlocked. You may also, of course, feel free to give early up-votes to any submissions that you like! Voting Phase (Nov. 17, 2019 [10:00 PM CST] - Nov. 18, 2019 [10:00 PM CST]) During this Phase, the Submission Topic will be locked, so no more entries may be submitted. Instead, use this time to browse the submissions and up-vote your favorites! Final Phase (Nov. 18, 2019 [10:00 PM CST] - Nov. 19, 2019 [10:00 PM CST]) During this Phase, the Discussion Topic will also be locked, and a Finalists Thread will go up. Discussion will be allowed to continue in the Finalists Thread, and it will also include all the qualifying finalists and a poll to decide the winner of the competition!
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.
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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!
This is the first dragon theme I've gotten to be a part of, so I had to play up the Dany flavour. The card is currently likely on the weak side (I think - basically an 8/8 Voidcaller for dragons that tries to make sure it always has something to pop out), but I like the flavour - that said, I may end up changing it just due to how wordy it ended up being (and given that I've formatted based on existing cards, I honestly don't think I could cut it down).
Solid cards as always, from Wailor. Drakonid Cultmaster is a clever card, but from what we've seen so far, every minion that invokes in some way, has been generally very weak in stats. I'm not sure if this is Blizzard's design choice, but if so, you might need to tweak his stats a bit, but not his cost. Dragoncaller is a card that can just get printed, right now. It's that good. Simple, effective, completely in line with the new expansion. The only thing I find worrysome, kinda, is how it interacts with decks like Malygos Druid, where they have access to yet another strong tutor-card.
I love the idea of this card, but yes, wording is a bit tricky. It seems like it wants to do too much, while making very little impact on board when played. If this is the idea you're going for, I would suggest lowering her costs and stats. And if we're going completely into the spirit of the next expansion, change the class for this card: EVIL classes have Galakrond, so Priest will never have Alex.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Dad, husband, gamer, fueled by coffee.
Currently playing Dragon Galakrond Priest, Dragon Galakrond Warrior and Highlander Dragon Hunter.
My picks for this week's challenge, and might I say, what a fun one. I think everyone here is a big fan of Dragons, and to have such a wide parameter of creating cards, my brain went into overdrive.
Hench-clan Dragonslayer is potentially too expensive, but mind you that he could fit in any deck, since it's Neutral. It also doesn't specify if the Dragon that died has to be an enemy or not. All in all, unsure of the balance. Would love some feedback. (EDIT: Based on feedback from Mugen8)
Draconid Eggcellence will have a different name once I decide if I'll submit, but I think this card might be fun. Generally, Mage and Shaman hold the Transform-effects, but I'm curious to see what it would do in a class such as Priest. I like this card, but I could potentially be missing something someone can use to abuse this.
Duplication Potion is simple, but I love the randomly-generated vibe Shaman always has. Just that, simple. (EDIT: based on feedback from Mugen8, changed the card's name to better fit the flavour)
I think I might look for some better art and some better names once the actual submission will be done. Would love to hear your thoughts. Will comment on other cards for as long as I can.
Thanks for the feedback Novha. I was toying with it being a 5 mana 2/8 (akin to the new Malygos) that did away with the sweeper, so it's basically just a Voidcaller + spawns a Swamp Dragon Egg that somehow has to be killed. Alternatively, I might put it somewhere in the middle of the two ends and just have it give the Egg +1 attack as part of the battlecry.
As for your cards, my thoughts:
Dragonslayer is close to being well balanced, but I think with some classes getting more powerful early dragon drops in the next expac it'll too consistently be a 4 mana 4/6 taunt. My two thoughts would be to either make it a 3/6 or 4/5, or to perhaps reduce its cost by 1 for each dragon that died this game instead - if you curve out really well it should still be a 4/6 for 4, but sometimes it'll be a 4/6 for 5 which isn't awful (and in that case you could simply hold onto it for a higher tempo turn later, playing something else on turn 5).
I straight up love Draconid Eggcelence. The only caveat might be that having some minions that dodge it might make it too strong - imagine playing this while you have a 9+ mana dragon on the board; yours gets to stick around and your opponent has a bunch of eggs. For 4 mana and for a sweeper that has a transform effect attached, that might be too good. It's basically an issue of flavour vs balance, because flavour wise it's perfect as is. Also on the topic of balance though, 4 mana might be too cheap simply because your opponent can't easily clear space on their board (unlike Plague of Murlocs, where they almost always can either attack you with their board, or attack into your minions to clear space for better stuff). But that's all if it went to game - for weekly card design competition purposes though it's probably fine to leave as is, and I love the flavour.
Duplication Potion is almost the opposite issue - cool and balanced effect, but flavour wise every potion in Hearthstone has been a spell up until this point. I'd suggest either making it the same (ie. a spell that gives you a dragon whenever a dragon dies this turn), or make it something like a cauldron or lab/scientist. Draconid Researcher, perhaps?
Edit: if I had to recommend one to proceed with, I'd go with Eggcelence, and probably leave it unchanged unless you're 100% comfortable with any changes you'd make. For competition purposes it'd be a great submission!
And thank YOU for your feedback. I'll admit, Draconid Eggcellence is my favorite too, but I'm having the hardest time balancing it. In a way, I'm trying to create a card for next expansion, where we'll see a lot more dragons, meaning the effect might be balanced enough on both sides of the board. I just like the overall effect, curious what others think. I'll edit the other two cards to better reflect their flavour, and their power-level. Thank you for that.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Dad, husband, gamer, fueled by coffee.
Currently playing Dragon Galakrond Priest, Dragon Galakrond Warrior and Highlander Dragon Hunter.
Wailor: I like both cards! Well balanced. If I had to pick, I would go for Dragoncaller.
Mugen8: Card seems overly complicated. I would maybe skip it's battlecry altogether to make it more simpler. That way its still strong and unique to the game (but the it would feel more like an epic though). I like your idea anyway.
Nohva: I also feel very excited about the theme this week. Dragons are always welcomed :) And it fits the expansion perfectly. With regards to your cards, Hench-clan Dragonslayer seems very nice. I prefer it over the other two cards. Draconid Eggcellence has a nice theme behind it. I would maybe skip the destroy part and let the eggs stick on the board :) Dracauldron is also a good card, but somehow I don't see it survive on the board long enough for it's effect to trigger.
Plays decently well into Dragon design space, with cards like Deathwing, Crowd Roaster, Deathwing, Mad Aspect etc. Trading into enemy minions works as well. There's not many small Dragons in the vein of Faerie Dragon to help highroll and get the Quest done very early on, but if that proved to be problematic and too easy, the requirement could probably be upped to 4. Otherwise, a pretty control-oriented Dragon card, like most of Warrior's Dragon cards tend to be nowdays.
Does something like this counts or does it have to interact with Dragons in general, not just one type of Dragon?
I don't think it counts because it doesn't interact with dragons as a tribe, only Deathwing as a card. That said, while I think custom cards are a little relaxed with power levels (because they rarely get introduced into the game as-is), this card is one of the most overpowered I've seen in quite a while - because it shuffles itself into the deck too, it essentially allows a control deck to prevent fatigue damage and have a Deathwing to play every 2 turns as long as this deathrattle has gone off twice (it still works prior to that, only that it's actually susceptible to silence while Deathwing costs 8 or 10 - when he costs 7 or less, even that goes out the window as you can play this before killing it off with your own 6 (or less) mana Deathwing.
It's basically the Jade Idol problem, except instead of getting a growing minion every second turn, you're getting a board sweep on a 12/12, and it's not just restricted to druid.
Dragon Tamer is a cool card, with a nice effect. I think it's a bit on the too-strong side, because it'll give you massive tempo advantage when played on curve. I would tweak the cost and stats a bit, to be more aligned with cards like Emperor Thaurissan. Drakecologist is far too weak. Yes, you create a potential highroll in the form of Kalecgos, but you could also low-roll tremendously. For 7 mana, with vanilla stats of 3/5, it's too much of a risk. I can see how you matched the stats against a card like Dragonhatcher, but the big difference is that you can influence what he pulls by building your deck. Also, he was barely played outside Taunt Druid, and only because he was pulled by Master Oakheart. I would suggest something along the line of 4 mana, 3/3, "If you control a Dragon, add a random Dragon to your hand.", as most Dragons have strong Battlecry effects but weaker A/H-stats. Rebel Yell is probably the strongest card, and I'd go for that one if you submit.
First of all, very well-thought-out cards, with cool effects. However, Flame Sweep is very strong, if you met the condition. I just really want it to NOT be a Warrior card, as I can't stand the thought of Warrior having even more access to AoE than they do now... Draconic Portal is interesting, but I fear it's too weak right now. Many strong dragons are strong for their Battlecries, which you won't get when they're summoned. It looks like too big of an investment, and because of that, too much of a risk.
Very interesting card, cool effect. On curve, this will make any decent Control Dragon deck insanely powerful, so it might need to see a small bump in costs. Would be cool to build a deck with though. Nice job!
Essentially even more powerful than the original Warrior-quest, because after the quest is completed, it'll be hard for your opponent to ever gain control of the board again. Then again, Token decks will be a weakness for this Quest. Interesting, I wonder if you could just change it to "Play 6 Dragons", or whatever. Man, a real brain-breaker, this one.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Dad, husband, gamer, fueled by coffee.
Currently playing Dragon Galakrond Priest, Dragon Galakrond Warrior and Highlander Dragon Hunter.
This is the Discussion Topic. Upvotes here do not count!
The Submission Topic is here.
Competition Theme: This is Gonna Drag-on Forever
Congratulations once again to Adamaxes for winning WCDC 10.12. As the Year of the Dragons approaches the beginning of its end and with the new expansion about to descend upon us, this week's competition will be Dragon themed!
Competition-Specific Restrictions:
You can make ANY card that interacts with dragons, However:
Examples include: Dragonslayer, Dragon Speaker, Dragon Consort, and Dragonfire Potion
Competition Process
Below is a list of all the deadlines for this contest:
Preview Phase (Nov. 12, 2019 [10:00 PM CST] - Nov. 13, 2019 [10:00 PM CST])
The Discussion Topic is made available, previewing this week's competition theme.
Entry and Early Voting Phase (Nov. 13, 2019 [10:00 PM CST] - Nov. 17, 2019 [10:00 PM CST])
During this Phase, the Submission Topic will be unlocked. You may also, of course, feel free to give early up-votes to any submissions that you like!
Voting Phase (Nov. 17, 2019 [10:00 PM CST] - Nov. 18, 2019 [10:00 PM CST])
During this Phase, the Submission Topic will be locked, so no more entries may be submitted. Instead, use this time to browse the submissions and up-vote your favorites!
Final Phase (Nov. 18, 2019 [10:00 PM CST] - Nov. 19, 2019 [10:00 PM CST])
During this Phase, the Discussion Topic will also be locked, and a Finalists Thread will go up. Discussion will be allowed to continue in the Finalists Thread, and it will also include all the qualifying finalists and a poll to decide the winner of the competition!
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?
All of that said, please refrain from the following:
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!
This is what I have so far. Neither of them is very exciting, however.
First one allows to build a Dragon-Gallakrond deck (which makes a lot of sense), while the second is very useful for decks reliant on Maly or Alex.
"Where are my dragons?!"
Swamp Dragon Egg
This is the first dragon theme I've gotten to be a part of, so I had to play up the Dany flavour. The card is currently likely on the weak side (I think - basically an 8/8 Voidcaller for dragons that tries to make sure it always has something to pop out), but I like the flavour - that said, I may end up changing it just due to how wordy it ended up being (and given that I've formatted based on existing cards, I honestly don't think I could cut it down).
Solid cards as always, from Wailor. Drakonid Cultmaster is a clever card, but from what we've seen so far, every minion that invokes in some way, has been generally very weak in stats. I'm not sure if this is Blizzard's design choice, but if so, you might need to tweak his stats a bit, but not his cost. Dragoncaller is a card that can just get printed, right now. It's that good. Simple, effective, completely in line with the new expansion. The only thing I find worrysome, kinda, is how it interacts with decks like Malygos Druid, where they have access to yet another strong tutor-card.
I love the idea of this card, but yes, wording is a bit tricky. It seems like it wants to do too much, while making very little impact on board when played. If this is the idea you're going for, I would suggest lowering her costs and stats. And if we're going completely into the spirit of the next expansion, change the class for this card: EVIL classes have Galakrond, so Priest will never have Alex.
Dad, husband, gamer, fueled by coffee.
Currently playing Dragon Galakrond Priest, Dragon Galakrond Warrior and Highlander Dragon Hunter.
My picks for this week's challenge, and might I say, what a fun one. I think everyone here is a big fan of Dragons, and to have such a wide parameter of creating cards, my brain went into overdrive.
Hench-clan Dragonslayer is potentially too expensive, but mind you that he could fit in any deck, since it's Neutral. It also doesn't specify if the Dragon that died has to be an enemy or not. All in all, unsure of the balance. Would love some feedback. (EDIT: Based on feedback from Mugen8)
Draconid Eggcellence will have a different name once I decide if I'll submit, but I think this card might be fun. Generally, Mage and Shaman hold the Transform-effects, but I'm curious to see what it would do in a class such as Priest. I like this card, but I could potentially be missing something someone can use to abuse this.
Duplication Potion is simple, but I love the randomly-generated vibe Shaman always has. Just that, simple. (EDIT: based on feedback from Mugen8, changed the card's name to better fit the flavour)
I think I might look for some better art and some better names once the actual submission will be done. Would love to hear your thoughts. Will comment on other cards for as long as I can.
Dad, husband, gamer, fueled by coffee.
Currently playing Dragon Galakrond Priest, Dragon Galakrond Warrior and Highlander Dragon Hunter.
Interaction "...for each dragon in your hand" is ok?
Thanks for the feedback Novha. I was toying with it being a 5 mana 2/8 (akin to the new Malygos) that did away with the sweeper, so it's basically just a Voidcaller + spawns a Swamp Dragon Egg that somehow has to be killed. Alternatively, I might put it somewhere in the middle of the two ends and just have it give the Egg +1 attack as part of the battlecry.
As for your cards, my thoughts:
Dragonslayer is close to being well balanced, but I think with some classes getting more powerful early dragon drops in the next expac it'll too consistently be a 4 mana 4/6 taunt. My two thoughts would be to either make it a 3/6 or 4/5, or to perhaps reduce its cost by 1 for each dragon that died this game instead - if you curve out really well it should still be a 4/6 for 4, but sometimes it'll be a 4/6 for 5 which isn't awful (and in that case you could simply hold onto it for a higher tempo turn later, playing something else on turn 5).
I straight up love Draconid Eggcelence. The only caveat might be that having some minions that dodge it might make it too strong - imagine playing this while you have a 9+ mana dragon on the board; yours gets to stick around and your opponent has a bunch of eggs. For 4 mana and for a sweeper that has a transform effect attached, that might be too good. It's basically an issue of flavour vs balance, because flavour wise it's perfect as is. Also on the topic of balance though, 4 mana might be too cheap simply because your opponent can't easily clear space on their board (unlike Plague of Murlocs, where they almost always can either attack you with their board, or attack into your minions to clear space for better stuff). But that's all if it went to game - for weekly card design competition purposes though it's probably fine to leave as is, and I love the flavour.
Duplication Potion is almost the opposite issue - cool and balanced effect, but flavour wise every potion in Hearthstone has been a spell up until this point. I'd suggest either making it the same (ie. a spell that gives you a dragon whenever a dragon dies this turn), or make it something like a cauldron or lab/scientist. Draconid Researcher, perhaps?
Edit: if I had to recommend one to proceed with, I'd go with Eggcelence, and probably leave it unchanged unless you're 100% comfortable with any changes you'd make. For competition purposes it'd be a great submission!
And thank YOU for your feedback. I'll admit, Draconid Eggcellence is my favorite too, but I'm having the hardest time balancing it. In a way, I'm trying to create a card for next expansion, where we'll see a lot more dragons, meaning the effect might be balanced enough on both sides of the board. I just like the overall effect, curious what others think. I'll edit the other two cards to better reflect their flavour, and their power-level. Thank you for that.
Dad, husband, gamer, fueled by coffee.
Currently playing Dragon Galakrond Priest, Dragon Galakrond Warrior and Highlander Dragon Hunter.
Here are some of my ideas... let me know your thoughts!
Wailor: I like both cards! Well balanced. If I had to pick, I would go for Dragoncaller.
Mugen8: Card seems overly complicated. I would maybe skip it's battlecry altogether to make it more simpler. That way its still strong and unique to the game (but the it would feel more like an epic though). I like your idea anyway.
Nohva: I also feel very excited about the theme this week. Dragons are always welcomed :) And it fits the expansion perfectly. With regards to your cards, Hench-clan Dragonslayer seems very nice. I prefer it over the other two cards. Draconid Eggcellence has a nice theme behind it. I would maybe skip the destroy part and let the eggs stick on the board :) Dracauldron is also a good card, but somehow I don't see it survive on the board long enough for it's effect to trigger.
This is the first card that came to mind. Feedback would be helpful.
In Control Warrior We Trust.
useful to activate "If you hold a dragon" effects.
Edit: It should be Legendary but couldn't find the right layout :/
Plays decently well into Dragon design space, with cards like Deathwing, Crowd Roaster, Deathwing, Mad Aspect etc. Trading into enemy minions works as well. There's not many small Dragons in the vein of Faerie Dragon to help highroll and get the Quest done very early on, but if that proved to be problematic and too easy, the requirement could probably be upped to 4. Otherwise, a pretty control-oriented Dragon card, like most of Warrior's Dragon cards tend to be nowdays.
Does something like this counts or does it have to interact with Dragons in general, not just one type of Dragon? Otherwise I'd go with:
Bro, turn 10 you play Draconic Portal then next turn you just hero-power then end turn for Deathwing, Mad Aspect
I don't think it counts because it doesn't interact with dragons as a tribe, only Deathwing as a card. That said, while I think custom cards are a little relaxed with power levels (because they rarely get introduced into the game as-is), this card is one of the most overpowered I've seen in quite a while - because it shuffles itself into the deck too, it essentially allows a control deck to prevent fatigue damage and have a Deathwing to play every 2 turns as long as this deathrattle has gone off twice (it still works prior to that, only that it's actually susceptible to silence while Deathwing costs 8 or 10 - when he costs 7 or less, even that goes out the window as you can play this before killing it off with your own 6 (or less) mana Deathwing.
It's basically the Jade Idol problem, except instead of getting a growing minion every second turn, you're getting a board sweep on a 12/12, and it's not just restricted to druid.
Dragon Tamer is a cool card, with a nice effect. I think it's a bit on the too-strong side, because it'll give you massive tempo advantage when played on curve. I would tweak the cost and stats a bit, to be more aligned with cards like Emperor Thaurissan. Drakecologist is far too weak. Yes, you create a potential highroll in the form of Kalecgos, but you could also low-roll tremendously. For 7 mana, with vanilla stats of 3/5, it's too much of a risk. I can see how you matched the stats against a card like Dragonhatcher, but the big difference is that you can influence what he pulls by building your deck. Also, he was barely played outside Taunt Druid, and only because he was pulled by Master Oakheart. I would suggest something along the line of 4 mana, 3/3, "If you control a Dragon, add a random Dragon to your hand.", as most Dragons have strong Battlecry effects but weaker A/H-stats. Rebel Yell is probably the strongest card, and I'd go for that one if you submit.
An okay-card, not much to say. Can be very weak, can be pretty strong.
I really like this card, well done. I like the flavor, effect, everything. Not much else to say.
First of all, very well-thought-out cards, with cool effects. However, Flame Sweep is very strong, if you met the condition. I just really want it to NOT be a Warrior card, as I can't stand the thought of Warrior having even more access to AoE than they do now... Draconic Portal is interesting, but I fear it's too weak right now. Many strong dragons are strong for their Battlecries, which you won't get when they're summoned. It looks like too big of an investment, and because of that, too much of a risk.
Very interesting card, cool effect. On curve, this will make any decent Control Dragon deck insanely powerful, so it might need to see a small bump in costs. Would be cool to build a deck with though. Nice job!
Essentially even more powerful than the original Warrior-quest, because after the quest is completed, it'll be hard for your opponent to ever gain control of the board again. Then again, Token decks will be a weakness for this Quest. Interesting, I wonder if you could just change it to "Play 6 Dragons", or whatever. Man, a real brain-breaker, this one.
Dad, husband, gamer, fueled by coffee.
Currently playing Dragon Galakrond Priest, Dragon Galakrond Warrior and Highlander Dragon Hunter.
Miracle dragons anyone? Feedback on balance and flavor highly appreciated :)
Does it fit better in another class?