I know that the rogue class has seen a lot of attention from fan card creators, including Noxious and theChiv who devoted an entire episode of Mekkatorque's workshop to rogue healing. It is a class I really like so I thought I would offer my card designs for you all. Feel free to criticise and comment on them. I tried to keep the cards well balanced but some of them are maybe a bit on the powerful side. You can find all of the cards on this imgur album
Leeching Poison: This idea was covered in Mekkatorque's workshop but I wanted to add it to round out the set too. The mechanics might be a bit different to Nox and theChiv's version but I can't remember. It buffs a weapon so that the damage you deal with it is restored to your hero. When I made the card I was planning on making it a tool to make face trading with your weapon a bit more manageable but I have just realised the card text may need to be adjusted to stop you from buffing up your Assassin's Blade with Deadly poison and oil and smacking your opponent in the face and creating a huge health gap - deal 5+ damage and restore 5+ damage for 4 turns seems a bit OP. Maybe it should only work if you attack a minion.
Kezan Tinker: This is definitely one which might be a bit overpowered. It is a 4 mana 4/3 which isn't great but its cost is reduced if you have a mech and you can combo it to give a friendly mech stealth. This means you can play a Mechwarper and this on turn 4 and stealth the mechwarper. Maybe the card should read "stealth for this turn only" so it acts more like conceal. I can envisage this card being used in a tempo heavy rogue mech deck to guarantee at least 2 buffs from the Iron Sensei or to prepare for a big mechwarper turn.
Expeditious Sword: This is a 1 mana weapon with one charge. It is sort of like Lightning Bolt for Shaman, a 1 mana deal 3 damage spell with a drawback. The drawback in this case is that you take 1 extra damage for using it. It's another tool for dealing with undertakers and other stuff without you having to wait until turn 3 to dagger up and deadly poison. Backstab is good for dealing with that sort of thing too but often the undertaker is out of range so this card just gives you that extra bit of early reach.
Necrotic Poison: This is a silence + assassinate that forces you to take face damage and break your weapon. The weapon durability thing is not much of a drawback unless you just equipped an Assassin's Blade. On second thoughts, the silence effect should be removed or the mana cost increased by 1. Rogues already have tons of single target removal. Not sure how good this card really is.
Bloodsail Commodore: I needed to add a pirate to this set! It is like a Frostwolf warlord except it only works with pirates and only gains attack. However, it is 1 mana cheaper.
Defias Engineer: This card is like Ironforge Rifleman but if you combo it you get a 1 damage aoe. It also has better stats than the stormpike commando but it is still only a 3/3 for 4. It is basically a 3/3 for 3 but for one extra mana you get 1 extra ping damage on battlecry and the ability to combo out an aoe. Maybe this is a bit too powerful for the mana cost. If the minion were a 3/2 do you think that would make it better?
SI:7 Sharpshooter: This is a 5 mana yeti but it provides a 2 mana discount to all cards that have a combo effect. Going back to Kezan Tinker which I mentioned earlier, if you played this with a mech then Kezan Tinker would be free! Maybe that's too powerful as well but I can't decide. One of the things I wanted to do with this set was to make the combo effect more relevant so that is why I made this card. It can provide some huge tempo swings for rogue if you have the right cards in hand and can assist in making more efficient use out of Edwin Van Cleef.
Distract: This is a 4 mana spell that functions similarly to Gadgetzan Auctioneer in that it allows you to cycle your cards. If you play it a bunch of cards and then you cast this spell you draw 1 card for every other card you cast during that turn. It is a combo card so you can maybe use it at the end of an SI:7 Sharshooter turn to generate tons of value. I can see this being able to draw on average 3 cards, although maybe the cost should be brought in line with Nourish.
Finally, the legendary of this set. Garona Halforcen. She is a 2 mana 3/2 which is not very impressive for a legendary minion. However her effect can provide a lot of utility for the rest of the game even after she is dead. I designed 5 cards which make up "Garona's Battlegear" and when you play Garona, 4 random cards out of the Battlegear get shuffled into your deck. So if you can play her on turn 2 as just a normal 3/2 minion thats great, and periodically you will draw a battlegear card and get some benefit.
These battlegear cards cost 0 mana and are generally worse than spare parts (at least in my opinion), except for 1 thing. They draw a card when played. This is because they make your deck bigger and they stop you from drawing your actual cards so I think it is fair to make them replace themselves when used. The effects are marginal and include
Ambush: Summon a 1/1
Blind: Lower a minion's attack by 1 this turn
Feint: Restore 2 health to your hero
Kidney shot: Deal (1) damage to a minion
Tricks of the Trade: Refill 1 empty mana crystal
They are good combo starters and also synergise nicely with with cards often seen in Rogue decks like Violet Teachers, Edwin Van Cleef, Gadgetzan auctioneer etc.
Because the effect is dispersed throughout your deck I don't think Garona makes such a huge impact that she needs to cost more than 2 mana or have lower stats. My lore knowledge isn't very good but I like orcs and Garona is an orc rogue so I thought it would be most fun to make her the face of this card even if it doesn't necessarily fit her story perfectly.
None of the artwork in the cards is my own. I got it from warcraft wikis and google. I hope you like these cards.
My biggest issue is that the Battlegear being free AND drawing you a card makes them overpowered. Card Draw is an effect that tends to make cards cost more. Let's look at Flare for instance. It recently got changed. Originally it was a 1 mana cost, draw a card, remove stealth. remove secrets. that in itself was all fine and dandy, but why did it get changed to a 2 cost? because the draw a card had no drawback. it meant hunters got a free card AND got to do other things. Now let's look at all of your Battlegear. Zero cost draw a card. do something. On top of that they're Spells. Meaning the rogue could save all 4 til he had Auctioneer out. Play auctioneer, draw 8 cards for 6 mana and do other things. that is broken. let's look at card draw in general: Cheap cards that let you draw based on class: Druid Wrath costs: 2 Deal 1 damage, draw a card
Paladin Blessing of Wisdom Costs: 1 when target creature attacks draw a card
Divine Favor Costs: 3 draw until you have as many as your opponent in hand
Priest Power Word: Shield Costs: 1 Give a minion +2 health, Draw a card
Northshire Cleric Costs: 1 Whenever a minion is healed draw a card
Rogue Shiv Cost: 2 Deal 1 damage, draw a card
Fan of Knives Costs 3 Deal 1 damage to all enemy minions, draw a card
Shaman Mana Tide Totem Costs: 3 At end of turn draw a card
Far Sight Costs: 3 Draw a card, that card costs 3 less
Warlock Mortal Coil Costs: 1 Deal one damage to a minion, if that kills it draw a card
Warrior Battle Rage Costs: 2 Draw a card for each damaged friendly character
Commanding shout Costs: 2 Your minions can't be reduced below 1 this turn, draw a card
Slam Costs: 2 Deal 2 damage to a minion, if it survives draw a card.
Of all of those the cheapest is: Priest's Power word: Shield and Warlock's Mortal Coil.
Now back to your battlegear:
Ambush Summon a 1/1, draw a card should cost: 1 As it's a class card which should generally be better than their neutral counterpart in this case: Novice Engineer. (costs 2, draw a card, summon a 1/1)
Blind: Lower a minion's attack by 1 this turn only, draw a card. Should Cost: 1 As it's only comparable to shrinkmeister, and has a lot less synergy in rogue than it does in Priest.
Feint: Restore 2 health to your hero, draw a card Should cost: 1 as it is the equivalent of a priest using hero power on a minion with Northshire out. (which actually costs 3 counting the 1 mana to play northshire) However, Hero Health means a lot less than minion health. As the only health point that matters is the last one.
Kidney Shot: Deal 1 damage to a minion, draw a card Should cost: 2 as this card already exists it's called shiv. Counter-Argument: It could also be argued that it should cost 1 as Mortal Coil does the same thing, but requires a kill.
Tricks of the Trade: refill 1 empty mana crystal, draw a card Should cost: 1 as this card is literally just combo fuel. It's effect makes it free to play (costs 1, refills that one) by making it cost 1. Counter-Argument: It shouldn't exist, it is literally pay nothing do whatever combo card you have in hand, draw a card.
I would argue that you should remove Tricks of the Trade, and make them all cost 1 to play. As you stated they don't do much. However, with the right board they can make you go from 5 cards in hand to 8.
Another argument i would make would be to make them free, but remove the draw. Them adding extra cards to your deck is their penalty to make them balanced. assuming you went second, played her on turn 1 with coin. your deck would go from having 25 cards left to having 30 cards left. that also means: you went from a 2/25 (8%) chance of drawing that epic or lower rarity card you want to a 2/30(6.5%) chance to draw it. That's both a benefit and a hindrance. It means that on a crucial turn you may draw the card needed to regain tempo, or the card that does little to nothing.
In reality card draw is valued roughly at 2 mana crystals + a negative effect. All cards that draw something either cost 2 or more OR have a condition required to perform.
Seriously though, they should cost at least 1. Not to mention having them cost 1 mana opens up more synergy options, Now they can trigger Van Cleef, Gadgetzan Auctioneer, Violet Teacher, Gazlowe,
I would also argue that they should be stronger effects and cost 2 mana, since you could add them to your deck and NEVER see them. but for the love of god, Rogues do not need a means to play Gadgetzan Auctioneer, followed by 4 free spells, and 4 1 mana cost spells. Imagine playing against miracle rogue and he drops Auctioneer turn 8, followed by: Ambush > Tricks of the trade > Blind > Feint > Shadowstep > Shadowstep > Backstab > Backstab > Van Cleef. for a turn 8 that gave him:
a 4/4 (auctioneer)
A weakened minion that he killed without losing anything (Blind + a minion on board swinging)
2 Health back
1 extra mana crystal this turn
4 damage to two undamaged minions
a 18/18 Van Cleef
OH and that rogue drew a grand total of: 12 cards, 4 of which he played that turn. (both shadowsteps and Backstabs)
Now you have to kill him this turn or he is going to do his big combo cause guess what, that wasn't his Win Condition, that was just him drawing into his combo.
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Doctor Who? Dr. Boom. Timelord and Friend of All Daleks(Boom Bot).
Thank you for your comments DariRa. I understand that card draw is generally valued at 1.5 to 2 mana and I definitely know that it is a powerful effect. But these Battlegear tricks are only card draw in the sense that the Burrowing Mine is card draw. Drawing into one of these at the start of your turn basically means that you didn't draw a card that turn (if spare parts are worth around half a card, then these tricks are barely worth that). So the player has the option of cycling it right away if they can, using the effect to trigger a combo which is the primary intent, or saving it for some big combo at the cost of not drawing a card for that turn (which is not great for a combo deck).
They give you the potential to draw 4 more cards off of Gadgetzan which I don't see as a particularly big deal. Your deck became larger so drawing into your win condition ultimately takes the same length of time (I think, maybe I am missing something). Furthermore, the fact that they draw a card means that you may end up overdrawing if you go too crazy with Gadgetzan. Your nightmare combo that you described in your post may happen a bit too easily which could be a problem. I guess that's what people meant when they said that Gadgetzan limits design space. I still think the Gadgetzan interaction is balanced (just) because it made your deck bigger with cards that don't do much, if anything, to serve your win condition.
I'm not too keen on some of your balancing suggestions for Garona because I think if these spells cost 1 or more mana then Garona penalises you on later turns by preventing a real draw or charging you for it. All for a bunch of pretty bad effects and a vanilla 3/2 minion. If the value of the cards was increased (to be a bit more like Dream cards but maybe not that good), then I don't think Garona could cost 2 mana without being overpowered and I think that is the best place in the curve to put a minion like this. But maybe that would be another interesting alternative take on this theme. Having a 4-ish mana minion with a similar effect whose battlegear cards cost around 2 mana and had better effects could be good. If the battlegear cards were kept the same but didn't draw a card then I think that would make Garona a terrible card except perhaps in a niche fatigue deck. I designed this card to make SI:7 Agent a bit better/more practical, and to give Kidnapper and other combo cards greater value as it is easier to combo them without making inefficient use of a backstab or sinister strike etc. Conversely, I didn't design Garona just to make Gadgetzan better and I certainly wouldn't want it to be usable only with Gadgetzan. Maybe it would be better if only 3 Battlegear tricks were shuffled into your deck.
Finally, about some of the Battlegear cards themselves. I see your point about Shiv and Kidney Shot. The card draw in Shiv is definitely where most of the value comes in (the 1 damage is basically free). The draw a card for free on Kidney shot is justified by increasing your deck size yada yada, and it is also slightly worse than Shiv because you can only target minions. I tried to make sure that none of the battlegear cards were better than existing cards, although I guess it is almost strictly better than mortal coil. The only advantage mortal coil has is that it is more reliable as you can design your deck to include it whereas the Battlegear cards you get from Garona are random.
The synergy for Blind is so that the rogue takes less retaliatory damage when attacking a minion. I thought that would be helpful. Ambush should perhaps not be a spell and just be a 1/1 minion that you play directly. Tricks of the trade is a bad coin and maybe doesn't fit the theme of combo starters too well. Except for things like turn 4 hero power + SI:7 agent that I always find myself wanting to do. Not something you could rely on for sure, but like all of the tricks it may provide some marginal value at some point in the game, notwithstanding Gadgetzan shenanigans.
Uurgh, why did I write so much. Sorry for the wall of text.
Blade flurry doesn't silence anything and is an aoe. Necrotic poison is single target removal and requires you to hit the targeted minion with your weapon. It doesn't just destroy your weapon and then kill something.
Don't apologize for the wall of text. I presented you with one prior. a couple of issues i have. They give you potentional to draw 4 off of gadgetzan + their initial draw that each provides. so 8 draws for 6 mana. compared to sprint: 4 draws for 7
You also mention burrowing mine. Which draws you a card yes. However, it doesn't provide you ANY benefit for drawing it. a Deck with burrowing mine placed in it is not benefiting any from that card. The reason it draws you a card is because your opponent put it in your deck. If it was just "when you draw this you take 10 damage" then whoever has the card in placed in their deck has a 1/X chance of going a turn without drawing. Where X = number of cards in deck. That is not a good comparison.
Having the cards as free really is what makes them broken. You get 4 spell effects that will activate your combos, deal an effect, and draw you additional cards. That is broken. IF you're just wanting combo fuel, there's another method.
Have Garona be:
Garona 2 cost 3/2 "Battlecry: Add 3 'Tricks of the Trade' cards to your hand"
Tricks of the Trade 1 Cost Spell "Your next spell played this turn has 'Return this card to your hand at end of turn'"
If you did it this way, You get 3 spells added to hand that activate your combos for 1 mana, AND gives you the "headcrack effect" but allows you to chose which spell you use it on.
All in all. You might not see the effects of your Battlegears as valuable, but that is because you're arguing that adding more cards to a deck is equal to drawing a card. there is only one card in the game that adds more cards to your own deck, and that's not iron juggernaut. It's Malorne. Iron Juggernaut places a card into your opponent's deck. Which in turn is bad for them. Its a you take 10 damage draw a card. Malorne however, does add a card to your deck. if your opponent doesn't have silence or a means to frog/sheep it. You now have a card that when it dies will go back into your deck. adding +1 cards to your deck after each death.
I don't honestly see having more cards added to your deck as a bad thing. Especially if your deck is designed to use said cards. I believe your battlegear needs to not be free. Because in reality your just looking for a way to make SI:7 into a 3 mana cost stormpike commando. Or that they need to lose the draw effect. By making them have draw effects on them they are not worth less than a card. in fact they become worth more than a card, because you get a do X effect, draw a card for free.
Another argument could be made that they just shouldn't be listed as "Spells", rather they are abilities. Which would mean they still trigger combos, still function like spells, but do not activate cards that say "whenever you play a spell" (Gadgetzan, Violet Teacher...etc) and they don't benefit from Spell Damage +
in truth i like the cards you suggested i just feel the battlegear would get abuse.
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Doctor Who? Dr. Boom. Timelord and Friend of All Daleks(Boom Bot).
I'm still not completely convinced that the abuse with Gadgetzan would be too bad, but I take your points. I have only been playing hearthstone for a couple of months now and I have only met 1 miracle rogue on ladder and that was just before the Gadgetzan nerf with Malygos. I don't have any personal experience of when Miracle was truly a force to be reckoned with. Even though Garona as I imagined is a card draw neutral card, even with Gadgetzan, I guess that every time you play a spell with Gadgetzan after having played Garona you are more likely to draw a spell that you can use to continue your miracle turn. I think we have battled out on the theory enough now though, its a shame there are no effective ways to playtest a card like this that I can think of without making a full blown simulation. Maybe Blizzard will make a similar card one day, I sure hope so :)
Thank you for your comments anyway, I do like some of the alternative balance suggestions you made. Your version of tricks of the trade is especially interesting.
I know that the rogue class has seen a lot of attention from fan card creators, including Noxious and theChiv who devoted an entire episode of Mekkatorque's workshop to rogue healing. It is a class I really like so I thought I would offer my card designs for you all. Feel free to criticise and comment on them. I tried to keep the cards well balanced but some of them are maybe a bit on the powerful side. You can find all of the cards on this imgur album
http://imgur.com/a/vbamP#0
Commons
Leeching Poison: This idea was covered in Mekkatorque's workshop but I wanted to add it to round out the set too. The mechanics might be a bit different to Nox and theChiv's version but I can't remember. It buffs a weapon so that the damage you deal with it is restored to your hero. When I made the card I was planning on making it a tool to make face trading with your weapon a bit more manageable but I have just realised the card text may need to be adjusted to stop you from buffing up your Assassin's Blade with Deadly poison and oil and smacking your opponent in the face and creating a huge health gap - deal 5+ damage and restore 5+ damage for 4 turns seems a bit OP. Maybe it should only work if you attack a minion.
Kezan Tinker: This is definitely one which might be a bit overpowered. It is a 4 mana 4/3 which isn't great but its cost is reduced if you have a mech and you can combo it to give a friendly mech stealth. This means you can play a Mechwarper and this on turn 4 and stealth the mechwarper. Maybe the card should read "stealth for this turn only" so it acts more like conceal. I can envisage this card being used in a tempo heavy rogue mech deck to guarantee at least 2 buffs from the Iron Sensei or to prepare for a big mechwarper turn.
Kezan Tinkerer - http://www.hearthpwn.com/forums/hearthstone-general/fan-creations/45270-weekly-design-competition-19-submission-thread?comment=333
Rares
Expeditious Sword: This is a 1 mana weapon with one charge. It is sort of like Lightning Bolt for Shaman, a 1 mana deal 3 damage spell with a drawback. The drawback in this case is that you take 1 extra damage for using it. It's another tool for dealing with undertakers and other stuff without you having to wait until turn 3 to dagger up and deadly poison. Backstab is good for dealing with that sort of thing too but often the undertaker is out of range so this card just gives you that extra bit of early reach.
Necrotic Poison: This is a silence + assassinate that forces you to take face damage and break your weapon. The weapon durability thing is not much of a drawback unless you just equipped an Assassin's Blade. On second thoughts, the silence effect should be removed or the mana cost increased by 1. Rogues already have tons of single target removal. Not sure how good this card really is.
Bloodsail Commodore: I needed to add a pirate to this set! It is like a Frostwolf warlord except it only works with pirates and only gains attack. However, it is 1 mana cheaper.
Defias Engineer: This card is like Ironforge Rifleman but if you combo it you get a 1 damage aoe. It also has better stats than the stormpike commando but it is still only a 3/3 for 4. It is basically a 3/3 for 3 but for one extra mana you get 1 extra ping damage on battlecry and the ability to combo out an aoe. Maybe this is a bit too powerful for the mana cost. If the minion were a 3/2 do you think that would make it better?
Kezan Tinkerer - http://www.hearthpwn.com/forums/hearthstone-general/fan-creations/45270-weekly-design-competition-19-submission-thread?comment=333
Epics
SI:7 Sharpshooter: This is a 5 mana yeti but it provides a 2 mana discount to all cards that have a combo effect. Going back to Kezan Tinker which I mentioned earlier, if you played this with a mech then Kezan Tinker would be free! Maybe that's too powerful as well but I can't decide. One of the things I wanted to do with this set was to make the combo effect more relevant so that is why I made this card. It can provide some huge tempo swings for rogue if you have the right cards in hand and can assist in making more efficient use out of Edwin Van Cleef.
Distract: This is a 4 mana spell that functions similarly to Gadgetzan Auctioneer in that it allows you to cycle your cards. If you play it a bunch of cards and then you cast this spell you draw 1 card for every other card you cast during that turn. It is a combo card so you can maybe use it at the end of an SI:7 Sharshooter turn to generate tons of value. I can see this being able to draw on average 3 cards, although maybe the cost should be brought in line with Nourish.
Kezan Tinkerer - http://www.hearthpwn.com/forums/hearthstone-general/fan-creations/45270-weekly-design-competition-19-submission-thread?comment=333
Finally, the legendary of this set. Garona Halforcen. She is a 2 mana 3/2 which is not very impressive for a legendary minion. However her effect can provide a lot of utility for the rest of the game even after she is dead. I designed 5 cards which make up "Garona's Battlegear" and when you play Garona, 4 random cards out of the Battlegear get shuffled into your deck. So if you can play her on turn 2 as just a normal 3/2 minion thats great, and periodically you will draw a battlegear card and get some benefit.
These battlegear cards cost 0 mana and are generally worse than spare parts (at least in my opinion), except for 1 thing. They draw a card when played. This is because they make your deck bigger and they stop you from drawing your actual cards so I think it is fair to make them replace themselves when used. The effects are marginal and include
They are good combo starters and also synergise nicely with with cards often seen in Rogue decks like Violet Teachers, Edwin Van Cleef, Gadgetzan auctioneer etc.
Because the effect is dispersed throughout your deck I don't think Garona makes such a huge impact that she needs to cost more than 2 mana or have lower stats. My lore knowledge isn't very good but I like orcs and Garona is an orc rogue so I thought it would be most fun to make her the face of this card even if it doesn't necessarily fit her story perfectly.
None of the artwork in the cards is my own. I got it from warcraft wikis and google. I hope you like these cards.
Kezan Tinkerer - http://www.hearthpwn.com/forums/hearthstone-general/fan-creations/45270-weekly-design-competition-19-submission-thread?comment=333
My biggest issue is that the Battlegear being free AND drawing you a card makes them overpowered.
Card Draw is an effect that tends to make cards cost more. Let's look at Flare for instance. It recently got changed. Originally it was a 1 mana cost, draw a card, remove stealth. remove secrets. that in itself was all fine and dandy, but why did it get changed to a 2 cost? because the draw a card had no drawback. it meant hunters got a free card AND got to do other things. Now let's look at all of your Battlegear. Zero cost draw a card. do something. On top of that they're Spells. Meaning the rogue could save all 4 til he had Auctioneer out. Play auctioneer, draw 8 cards for 6 mana and do other things. that is broken.
let's look at card draw in general:
Cheap cards that let you draw based on class:
Druid
Wrath costs: 2
Deal 1 damage, draw a card
Hunter:
Flare costs: 2
Remove stealth, Destroy enemy secrets, draw a card
Call Pet costs: 2
Draw a card, if its a beast it costs 4 less
Tracking costs: 1
draw 3 cards, keep 1 discard other 2
Mage
Arcane Intellect Costs: 3
Draw two cards
Paladin
Blessing of Wisdom Costs: 1
when target creature attacks draw a card
Divine Favor Costs: 3
draw until you have as many as your opponent in hand
Priest
Power Word: Shield Costs: 1
Give a minion +2 health, Draw a card
Northshire Cleric Costs: 1
Whenever a minion is healed draw a card
Rogue
Shiv Cost: 2
Deal 1 damage, draw a card
Fan of Knives Costs 3
Deal 1 damage to all enemy minions, draw a card
Shaman
Mana Tide Totem Costs: 3
At end of turn draw a card
Far Sight Costs: 3
Draw a card, that card costs 3 less
Warlock
Mortal Coil Costs: 1
Deal one damage to a minion, if that kills it draw a card
Warrior
Battle Rage Costs: 2
Draw a card for each damaged friendly character
Commanding shout Costs: 2
Your minions can't be reduced below 1 this turn, draw a card
Slam Costs: 2
Deal 2 damage to a minion, if it survives draw a card.
Of all of those the cheapest is: Priest's Power word: Shield and Warlock's Mortal Coil.
Now back to your battlegear:
Ambush Summon a 1/1, draw a card
should cost: 1
As it's a class card which should generally be better than their neutral counterpart in this case: Novice Engineer. (costs 2, draw a card, summon a 1/1)
Blind: Lower a minion's attack by 1 this turn only, draw a card.
Should Cost: 1
As it's only comparable to shrinkmeister, and has a lot less synergy in rogue than it does in Priest.
Feint: Restore 2 health to your hero, draw a card
Should cost: 1
as it is the equivalent of a priest using hero power on a minion with Northshire out. (which actually costs 3 counting the 1 mana to play northshire) However, Hero Health means a lot less than minion health. As the only health point that matters is the last one.
Kidney Shot: Deal 1 damage to a minion, draw a card
Should cost: 2
as this card already exists it's called shiv.
Counter-Argument: It could also be argued that it should cost 1 as Mortal Coil does the same thing, but requires a kill.
Tricks of the Trade: refill 1 empty mana crystal, draw a card
Should cost: 1
as this card is literally just combo fuel. It's effect makes it free to play (costs 1, refills that one) by making it cost 1.
Counter-Argument: It shouldn't exist, it is literally pay nothing do whatever combo card you have in hand, draw a card.
I would argue that you should remove Tricks of the Trade, and make them all cost 1 to play. As you stated they don't do much. However, with the right board they can make you go from 5 cards in hand to 8.
Another argument i would make would be to make them free, but remove the draw. Them adding extra cards to your deck is their penalty to make them balanced. assuming you went second, played her on turn 1 with coin. your deck would go from having 25 cards left to having 30 cards left. that also means: you went from a 2/25 (8%) chance of drawing that epic or lower rarity card you want to a 2/30(6.5%) chance to draw it. That's both a benefit and a hindrance. It means that on a crucial turn you may draw the card needed to regain tempo, or the card that does little to nothing.
In reality card draw is valued roughly at 2 mana crystals + a negative effect. All cards that draw something either cost 2 or more OR have a condition required to perform.
Seriously though, they should cost at least 1. Not to mention having them cost 1 mana opens up more synergy options, Now they can trigger Van Cleef, Gadgetzan Auctioneer, Violet Teacher, Gazlowe,
I would also argue that they should be stronger effects and cost 2 mana, since you could add them to your deck and NEVER see them. but for the love of god, Rogues do not need a means to play Gadgetzan Auctioneer, followed by 4 free spells, and 4 1 mana cost spells. Imagine playing against miracle rogue and he drops Auctioneer turn 8, followed by: Ambush > Tricks of the trade > Blind > Feint > Shadowstep > Shadowstep > Backstab > Backstab > Van Cleef. for a turn 8 that gave him:
Now you have to kill him this turn or he is going to do his big combo cause guess what, that wasn't his Win Condition, that was just him drawing into his combo.
Doctor Who? Dr. Boom. Timelord and Friend of All Daleks(Boom Bot).
Thank you for your comments DariRa. I understand that card draw is generally valued at 1.5 to 2 mana and I definitely know that it is a powerful effect. But these Battlegear tricks are only card draw in the sense that the Burrowing Mine is card draw. Drawing into one of these at the start of your turn basically means that you didn't draw a card that turn (if spare parts are worth around half a card, then these tricks are barely worth that). So the player has the option of cycling it right away if they can, using the effect to trigger a combo which is the primary intent, or saving it for some big combo at the cost of not drawing a card for that turn (which is not great for a combo deck).
They give you the potential to draw 4 more cards off of Gadgetzan which I don't see as a particularly big deal. Your deck became larger so drawing into your win condition ultimately takes the same length of time (I think, maybe I am missing something). Furthermore, the fact that they draw a card means that you may end up overdrawing if you go too crazy with Gadgetzan. Your nightmare combo that you described in your post may happen a bit too easily which could be a problem. I guess that's what people meant when they said that Gadgetzan limits design space. I still think the Gadgetzan interaction is balanced (just) because it made your deck bigger with cards that don't do much, if anything, to serve your win condition.
I'm not too keen on some of your balancing suggestions for Garona because I think if these spells cost 1 or more mana then Garona penalises you on later turns by preventing a real draw or charging you for it. All for a bunch of pretty bad effects and a vanilla 3/2 minion. If the value of the cards was increased (to be a bit more like Dream cards but maybe not that good), then I don't think Garona could cost 2 mana without being overpowered and I think that is the best place in the curve to put a minion like this. But maybe that would be another interesting alternative take on this theme. Having a 4-ish mana minion with a similar effect whose battlegear cards cost around 2 mana and had better effects could be good. If the battlegear cards were kept the same but didn't draw a card then I think that would make Garona a terrible card except perhaps in a niche fatigue deck. I designed this card to make SI:7 Agent a bit better/more practical, and to give Kidnapper and other combo cards greater value as it is easier to combo them without making inefficient use of a backstab or sinister strike etc. Conversely, I didn't design Garona just to make Gadgetzan better and I certainly wouldn't want it to be usable only with Gadgetzan. Maybe it would be better if only 3 Battlegear tricks were shuffled into your deck.
Finally, about some of the Battlegear cards themselves. I see your point about Shiv and Kidney Shot. The card draw in Shiv is definitely where most of the value comes in (the 1 damage is basically free). The draw a card for free on Kidney shot is justified by increasing your deck size yada yada, and it is also slightly worse than Shiv because you can only target minions. I tried to make sure that none of the battlegear cards were better than existing cards, although I guess it is almost strictly better than mortal coil. The only advantage mortal coil has is that it is more reliable as you can design your deck to include it whereas the Battlegear cards you get from Garona are random.
The synergy for Blind is so that the rogue takes less retaliatory damage when attacking a minion. I thought that would be helpful. Ambush should perhaps not be a spell and just be a 1/1 minion that you play directly. Tricks of the trade is a bad coin and maybe doesn't fit the theme of combo starters too well. Except for things like turn 4 hero power + SI:7 agent that I always find myself wanting to do. Not something you could rely on for sure, but like all of the tricks it may provide some marginal value at some point in the game, notwithstanding Gadgetzan shenanigans.
Uurgh, why did I write so much. Sorry for the wall of text.
Kezan Tinkerer - http://www.hearthpwn.com/forums/hearthstone-general/fan-creations/45270-weekly-design-competition-19-submission-thread?comment=333
Blade flurry doesn't silence anything and is an aoe. Necrotic poison is single target removal and requires you to hit the targeted minion with your weapon. It doesn't just destroy your weapon and then kill something.
Kezan Tinkerer - http://www.hearthpwn.com/forums/hearthstone-general/fan-creations/45270-weekly-design-competition-19-submission-thread?comment=333
Don't apologize for the wall of text. I presented you with one prior.
a couple of issues i have. They give you potentional to draw 4 off of gadgetzan + their initial draw that each provides. so 8 draws for 6 mana. compared to sprint: 4 draws for 7
You also mention burrowing mine. Which draws you a card yes. However, it doesn't provide you ANY benefit for drawing it. a Deck with burrowing mine placed in it is not benefiting any from that card. The reason it draws you a card is because your opponent put it in your deck. If it was just "when you draw this you take 10 damage" then whoever has the card in placed in their deck has a 1/X chance of going a turn without drawing. Where X = number of cards in deck. That is not a good comparison.
Having the cards as free really is what makes them broken. You get 4 spell effects that will activate your combos, deal an effect, and draw you additional cards. That is broken. IF you're just wanting combo fuel, there's another method.
Have Garona be:
Garona
2 cost
3/2
"Battlecry: Add 3 'Tricks of the Trade' cards to your hand"
Tricks of the Trade
1 Cost
Spell
"Your next spell played this turn has 'Return this card to your hand at end of turn'"
If you did it this way, You get 3 spells added to hand that activate your combos for 1 mana, AND gives you the "headcrack effect" but allows you to chose which spell you use it on.
All in all. You might not see the effects of your Battlegears as valuable, but that is because you're arguing that adding more cards to a deck is equal to drawing a card.
there is only one card in the game that adds more cards to your own deck, and that's not iron juggernaut. It's Malorne. Iron Juggernaut places a card into your opponent's deck. Which in turn is bad for them. Its a you take 10 damage draw a card. Malorne however, does add a card to your deck. if your opponent doesn't have silence or a means to frog/sheep it. You now have a card that when it dies will go back into your deck. adding +1 cards to your deck after each death.
I don't honestly see having more cards added to your deck as a bad thing. Especially if your deck is designed to use said cards. I believe your battlegear needs to not be free. Because in reality your just looking for a way to make SI:7 into a 3 mana cost stormpike commando. Or that they need to lose the draw effect. By making them have draw effects on them they are not worth less than a card. in fact they become worth more than a card, because you get a do X effect, draw a card for free.
Another argument could be made that they just shouldn't be listed as "Spells", rather they are abilities. Which would mean they still trigger combos, still function like spells, but do not activate cards that say "whenever you play a spell" (Gadgetzan, Violet Teacher...etc) and they don't benefit from Spell Damage +
in truth i like the cards you suggested i just feel the battlegear would get abuse.
Doctor Who? Dr. Boom. Timelord and Friend of All Daleks(Boom Bot).
I'm still not completely convinced that the abuse with Gadgetzan would be too bad, but I take your points. I have only been playing hearthstone for a couple of months now and I have only met 1 miracle rogue on ladder and that was just before the Gadgetzan nerf with Malygos. I don't have any personal experience of when Miracle was truly a force to be reckoned with. Even though Garona as I imagined is a card draw neutral card, even with Gadgetzan, I guess that every time you play a spell with Gadgetzan after having played Garona you are more likely to draw a spell that you can use to continue your miracle turn. I think we have battled out on the theory enough now though, its a shame there are no effective ways to playtest a card like this that I can think of without making a full blown simulation. Maybe Blizzard will make a similar card one day, I sure hope so :)
Thank you for your comments anyway, I do like some of the alternative balance suggestions you made. Your version of tricks of the trade is especially interesting.
Kezan Tinkerer - http://www.hearthpwn.com/forums/hearthstone-general/fan-creations/45270-weekly-design-competition-19-submission-thread?comment=333