This week is a much different format from the norm... so pay attention! I've hijacked the next two comments in this thread, to spread things out a little better and have included links just below if you'd like to quick-jump to each section.
Thanks for all of the comments and support towards the competition! Hopefully, our brand new Fan Mods (Asylum_Rhapsody & DialM4Murloc) can take some of these on board as we progress to restart the competition and make it even more enjoyable, fair and interesting each and every week!
Lastly, keep those eyes peeled to the Fan Forums - something really exciting is in the works. :D
Upon conclusion of this week's contest, I'll be stepping down as Fan Creations Moderator and hence my Weekly Design Competition duties too - I dedicated an unexpected amount of my time into the contests and it's been a struggle to keep up with the booming popularity of them which regularly sees over 300 entries - in comparison, the early stages of the contest saw a mere 160 entries! I solely took it upon myself to upload every card to Imgur, organise the polls / threads etc. (although I've had some help since - thanks Sahgos, Lord_HS and ShadowsOfSense!) and it's quite a bit too much 'manpower' than necessary.
Hopefully we'll be back with another 'Season' of the contest soon, but expect a change of format if we do.
This week, there will be a community poll which you can cast your vote on your favourite winner of the past twenty weeks (which I've dubbed as Season One!). I'll also be dishing out some 'awards' daily, towards my personal favourite community-created cards and to great / helpful members of the contest who made it what it is today!
So, no theme or submissions this week, but I hope to see some great discussion as usual on:
- Who you'd pick as your Season One Champion! - Your favourite Themes / Cards we've had this Season! - Your thoughts on the competition as a whole / how to improve it in future! *
Ideally we'd have a super-duper page of all entries that are randomised etc. but it's currently impossible to implement such a system, so any suggestions should be made based on what resources the Forums currently offer!
A final thanks to all who have entered into the competition - it's been great fun seeing those submissions and I'll certainly be seeing many more of you around in the Fan Creations Forums. ;)
Last Week's Competition
rdeegan was our esteemed champion of last week's 'Help or Hinder' contest with their nifty Shaman Spell Totemic Focus (Just think of the Totemic Might plays!). Chromie by nobravery and Enslave Demon by Hassashu trailled just behind with both tying for the runner-up spot. Good job!
Congratulations to you all, the finalists, and a big thank you to those that took part in the contest.
The results are in and our Weekly Poll for our Season Winner spat out three joint winners! Crazy stuff! Congratulations are in order to Muatt88 with Quest Giver, Pegussu with Prince Malchezaar and hirashin with Ner'zhul - each grabbed the top places with 9.7% of the votes a piece, way ahead of the rest of the competition!
Season One Winners
Notes: - Cards with a Black Border have some extra art / tokens associated with it - check below in the Spoiler Tags for these! - The keyword, Fatality, (Week 18), means: "Whenever this minion kills another minion."
For the first in my 'Season Awards', I present to you... the Fiery War Axe Award!
The Fiery War Axe award celebrates consistency and commitment (from the very beginning) - users that have made it to a plethora of finals week in, week out, but not quite been able to find that winning formula! (Hopefully this award makes up for it! :P)
There are dozens and dozens of regulars that have been in multiple finals that'd deserve the award...
...Ephie, esbee, Triskadekaphilia, Varolie, Aspard, Ethylbenzene, Elwiz, iSinti, MoarDTB, KAKYBAC, G4merguy09, DKPaladinMDL, Metzelmax, literleck, EAMAAN, Ser_Wa, Telefonkabel, DoctorWhoop, brobroadway, ElwynnForest, BOOSHACK360, DialM4Murloc... (to name but a few that spring to mind!)
...but I've reduced it to just three contenders, who between them have had over 20 of their submissions enter the finals! I've supplied a few of their finalists cards below!
A) Nakazawa
B) Cyg2112
C) Lord_HS
Winner: Cyg2112!
Ysera Award Winner: Raid Bosses (Week #13)
The second Season award is the Ysera Award.
The Ysera Award goes to my favourite Theme of the contest - one that allowed the best of both worlds - a solid concept with just the right amount of restrictions / rules that still allowed the creative juices of users to flow!
1) Mirrored Spells (Week #9) Users were tasked in making a spell which had to affect both heroes equally, in the same vain as Equality or Ancestor's Call etc.
2) Raid Bosses (Week #13) Users were tasked at designing a Legendary Minion that had to be a Raid Boss from WoW - a very unique theme with lots of research required and thought into each submission!
3) Femme Fatale (Week #19) Users were tasked at creating a Female Minion with a newly created keyword: Fatality, which means "Whenever this minion kills another minion, do something." A very unique contest oozing with great entries and pushing this made-up Keyword to its limits!
Winner: Raid Bosses - Week #13!
Grim Patron Award Winner: Triskadekiphilia
The third award of the week is the Grim Patron Award!
The Grim Patron award turns it's attention to the ever present users in the Discussion Threads, and their valuable contributions and feedback towards others' cards and ideas. It too is for those that report ineligible entries / stray comments to keep the Submission Thread clean and tidy for all!
Contenders: A) Triskadekaphilia If you've entered into the contest at any point, chances are Trisk as picked apart your card, and looked at the balance and design of it... usually in monstrous detail! Dozens of cards have benefited from such wise wisdom from the competition's outset thanks to Trisk's tireless reviews - a worthy contender indeed for the award!
B) Aslyum_Rhapsody A late-comer into the competition, Asylum constantly delivers some insightful reviews of the finalists each and every week. Asylum too offers advice and always in various debates to help those with keen ideas in the Discussion Thread. And what's not to love about their concepts with the stand-in Pikachu art? :P
C) ShadowsOfSense A day wouldn't go past in some contests without a report from Shadows about an ineligible entry into the contest, that I'd have likely otherwise missed. A very helpful community member, that has allowed me to inform users of some dodgy entries and keep the contest running smoothly - what's more, Shadows has since been awarded for their efforts and is Hearthpwn's newest Fan Creations Moderator!
The Wisp Award - the most explanatory award of the week, it's time for a little bit of fun and celebrate those users that opted to try and make the pesky little 0-Mana Wisp into something much more interesting and playable! Without further ado...
Contenders: 1) Wispmaster by Hywisp Even their username has a Wisp it in - it'd be rude not to include Hywisp's Wispmaster! Crazy synergy with Dark Wispers here, watch out!
2) Storm Of Wisps by AntonydusWurm AntonydusWurm went full Wisp for the BIG Spells contest which tasked users to create a whopping 10-Mana Spell - it doesn't get more extravagant than destroying everything and replacing that deck of yours with a makeshift Wisp-filled one!
3) Detonate by Shanksyo An incredibly creative card by Shanksyo is our third contender - Detonate brings Wisps into the limelight to help Druids arsenal of Spells!
Winner: Detonate by Shanksyo
Chillwind Yeti Award Winner: Zen Guard by KAKYBAC
Sometimes shoving lots of text on a card makes a card look overly complicated and / or unappealing to use. Simple cards were often overlooked in the contest (which was disappointing at times) but is the crux of this Chillwind Yeti award - to be selected for the award, cards had to have 3 words or fewer in the card text... there weren't many!
Contenders: 1) Zen Guard by KAKYBAC In Week Four, KAKYBAC created this nifty Priest 1-Drop which turns the Enrage mechanic on it's head by making it a downside. Fits Priest perfectly and gives the much-loved Zombie Chow a run for his money!
2) Titansteel Destroyer by VikingEagle Weapons had little love during the contest but all the way back in Week Three, we had a whole contest dedicated to them! VikingEagle came up with Titansteel Destroyer, a very simple Warrior Weapon with no text whatsoever in the same vein as Fiery War Axe and Arcanite Reaper!
3) Sha'tar Upholder by G4merGuy09 Just two Keywords appear on Shat'ar Upholder, but with 0 Attack, this teeny Paladin Minion by G4merGuy09 requires a little help to be really effective - it'd be awesome to build a deck around this minion!
Winner: Zen Guard by KAKYBAC
Blizzard Award Winner: Dreadmaul Ogre Mage by ThePokeMann
The Blizzard Award is the final award this week!
The Blizzard Award looks at some of my favourite entries of the competition that I think Blizzard should incorporate into Hearthstone as in my opinion, these contenders are perfectly suited for the game in terms of balance and design! Roughly, there have been ~4000 entries into the contest since its offset so it's very likely I missed some good'uns! Oddly, I arrived at 3 contenders being all 3-Mana Minions and hey, I'm a sucker for simplicity - which cards were your favourite from the contest?
1) Dreadmaul Ogre Mage by ThePokeMann Week Sixteen was "Cards with Drawbacks" week - entries into the competition had to have strong stats for its Cost but have a downside attached to compensate. Dreadmaul Ogre Mage fits the bill perfectly - a strong 3-Drop that could backfire against a Spell-Heavy opponent.
2) Standard Bearer by Varolie This creation by Varolie all the way back in Week One of the contest is a very unique concept - behold the Standard Bearer. When he dies, a Silver Hand Recruit can be gifted a Golden Standard and step up to the plate and become another Standard Bearer! Very thematic indeed, and a worthy contender for the award!
3) Witchwing Harpy by Emmangt It's another 3-Mana Minion! In our Sound of Silence contest, users were tasked with creating a minion that incorporatedSilence into the card text. Emmangt, hoped to make a whole new archetype come to life with Witchwing Harpy - a card which awarded your minions with bonus stats for being silenced! Wailing Soul, new meta?
Oh no, does this mean that the competition is on haiatus for the time being!? =(
My first competition was week 10, so I've not been here the whole way, but this competition is a lot of fun, I look forward to it every week, and you're super awesome for having run it! =)
My favorite winner is The Red Bearon, but I think my favorite week theme that I participated in was week 17. I think the combination of multiple sognificant restrictions led to a lot of creativity, and I'd like to see narrower themes like that in the future because I think when things get too broad like for last week folks don't think they have to think as hard about how to truly stand out creatively.
Sad to hear there won't be an immediate season 2. =/ The contests were mighty fun so far.
To reduce workload BIG TIME, you could just ignore submissions that don't obey the rules and just not include them when it comes to the finals. E.g. If to the finals would advance two winners on page 3 and the first place doesn't obey the rules, then the 2nd and 3rd place would advance instead. This way it should be manageable and the biggest workload should only be on Thursdays.
As a personal preference, I'd like any day better than Thursday night for the contest to start. Sunday would make the most sense. This way you have strong participation early on Sunday evenings from the US and on Monday from the EU. You have the whole week to submit cards and a strong finalists voting participation on Saturday and Sunday.
Came here to late, participating since week 13, though at week 3 I had already heard of the competition (but I had trouble registering due to internet problem - until one of my friends registered an account for me at week 13).
I have to say that even though I dislike some themes like Silence and Fatality, this competition is of great fun. I do wish that Season 2 would come up soon. I've seen many fascinating works and ideas through out the competition which helped me in creating new cards, and I believe we'll have more brilliant works in Season 2.
As for suggestions on Season 2, probably we could only upload the finalists to the album, which would reduce burden of moderators. It seems that this competition is now the biggest international Hearthstone design competition all over the world, and I believe there will be more and more entries week after week. Uploading all of them seems impossible, and what we should keep is mainly the finalists' work.
Last of all, this competition gave me a chance to communicate with people from all regions and all countries, which I've never done before. It's quite interesting, though I still have trouble reading and writing in English. Thanks for everyone. Hope we'll have an even greater Season 2.
Could some of us users start our own unofficial competitions? After seeing the power of teamwork between me and Mcf4rtson making the Hearthstone Mod, I think if enough of us worked together then we could make it bearable.
I've enjoyed these competitions, although I've had some dissatisfactions that got pretty annoying after week 5 or so, which is why I stopped entering so often. But I think they could be fixed with a new format, like you suggested.
Thx for all your hard work Berserker, hopefully someone else will step into your shoes soon, so we can continue to enjoy ourself with competitive creation :)
I was rly excited that i might get that Winaxe reward, after i saw my nick there, only to find out that i wont :D but well, my reward was participation in something great and im greatful for it :)
It's a tough one to decide. If I could, I would vote for 3, but alas I can't, so Prince Malchezaar takes it for me too. Although I really like the idea of the Red Bearon, I think it'd be quite boring in the game itself.
And yes, thanks for all the work Berserkmidget! Even though i've had my salty complaints, we're all grateful for the timewaster we get out of this!
I have been participating since Week 3 and I can say that this competition offered me a new meaning for my Hearthstone life. The submission and discussion threads were constantly open on my browser and I was reloading the pages every now and then to check for new submissions and new comments. I didn't do that much of discussion but I was watching it all the time. I'm trying to make my own card game and this competition seriously got me into the balance stuff.
I'll do a quick review of the winners and I'll be very strict:
Ner'zhul: Interesting card, possibly a little weak and the word 'totems' should be with capital T.
Bribery: Great flavor but probably unplayable.
Jar of Souls: Great control card, alternative to Mortal Coil for pinging, but I can't vote for a weapon for a non-weapon class.
Town Guard: The wording should be 'battlefield' instead of 'board'.
Emerald Dream: Possibly my favorite art and effect, I would vote for it if Choose One was in bold.
Rebirth: Broken
Smoke Bomb: Clever, but too weak in my opinion.
Crazier Alchemist: I think this was the first time we saw this effect for all minions, and we have been seeing it many times since then. I would vote for it but I think it's a bit more powerful than I'm comfortable with.
Grounding Totem: I think it should say: 'Enemy spells have Overload: (3)'. The word 'Give' refers to a Battlecry.
Graveyard Call: Very common effect, also the flavor is totally off.
The Red Bearon: Unrealistic.
C'thun: I can't find something wrong with this, probably one of the most successful creations.
Kalecgos: Too weak.
Prince Malchezaar: One of my favorite submissions, possibly something I could never think of. Well done.
Zorchal the Shadowseer: Unrealistic and unfun.
Obsidian Destroyer: Broken.
Cheap Deal: I would vote for it, but the wording is wrong. It should read 'give your opponent 2 Coins' (King Mukla).
Ancient of Harmony: If more Ancients would get released, I think they would follow the pattern of 7 mana 5/5 Choose One.
Quest Giver: Except from OP, the wording is also a bit off.
Siren of Naaru: Doesn't have that much of an impact, also the word 'Hero' should have a lowercase 'h'.
Totemic Focus: Another perfect submission, so that makes them three for me.
I hope you understand that when I said 'strict' I meant it :P When you have to choose among the best of the best, every little detail counts and it means a lot for me that a submission is made carefully, following Blizzard's wording, with a strong connection between art, name and effect. All these together with balance, playability, inventiveness and realism form the perfect card for me.
So my vote is wavering between C'thun, Prince Malchezaar and Totemic Focus.
My favorite theme was the first one I participated in, that's Weapons of week 3. Since then, weapons have been pushed aside and deserve more weeks dedicated to them.
Regarding the voting system, I will quote my comment from week 18:
Efficiency is a big deal, and the current system surely has much of it. It may be unfair for 1-2 entries each time but, statistically, it provides generally fair results (based on people's votes) and the majority of the finalists deserved it. It's not an official election here or something, it's a FUN forum poll which awards you a fancy avatar, that's all.
Take Asylum's entry (page 6) as an example. There are finalists from page 4 with 17 votes (2 less than Asylum's). You could say that since Page 6 is later, Asylum should be a finalist as he had more votes. But then you realize that the two pages had only 2 hours difference between them. So, the argument that Page 4 had more time to get voted is weak. To go even further, Page 6 could actually have more chances to get viewed, as it stayed last for more time than Page 4 did. And people mostly pay attention to the first and whichever happens to be the last page. If we had a way to find how many views each page has, we'd have a another strong factor to fairly determine the finalists.
In simple words, because a page is submitted later than a previous one, doesn't mean that it gets less chances to be viewed, but we could also argue for the opposite, that it gets more! People vote strangely, and we cannot calculate human behavior with accuracy and fairness every single time.
So we want a mega-page. This can't be done with Hearthpwn's tools, but that's exactly what the whole upvoting thing aims to do for 6 whole days. That is, to find the best entrants and bring them together to a single page of 30 finalists. Then we can easily find the best of the best, by a simple winner-takes-it-all method. The finalists aren't the winners, they're just a "miniature" of the whole competition. Let's not make a fuss for 1 or 2 entries being treated unfairly. Most of the time, the winner will be an obvious finalist anyway.
Not much more to add. I don't know if there are any more forum tools we can exploit, but it would be healthier for the competition if the votes where hidden, or if there was a way for the mods to see how many views each page has. A site like Imgur would allow us to see how many views each submission has and base the weighted points it accumulates on that. I'm not saying to immigrate from here to Imgur, it would be just a wonderful facility to implement something like this in Hearthpwn.
Ooh, very interested in seeing your Ysera award. I know my favourite was Week Sixteen, as I loved seeing the different drawbacks people were able to come up with.
Thank you so much for the Fiery War Axe Award, and an even bigger thank you for modding this awesome weekly event, Berserk! I hope we see this contest reincarnated in some way in the near future :)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Building Quirky Decks Every Week, Loving Life at Rank 15!
I only found this contest 4 weeks ago, so these finalists are new to me. For my vote, I will be judging them as if these cards were all to be included as a mini expansion. I will lean heavily on balance and proper design, because to me there is zero point to creating a card that is so underpowered it wouldn't see any constructed play, or one that would break the game in a bad way. As an analogy, I would much rather see Naxxramas expansions than BRM expansions. Naxx gave us a plethora of strong cards and a few extremely strong ones that really had an impact on the game, whereas BRM gave a handful of good cards and a bunch of stinkers.
NerZhul: Too weak. a 6 mana 5/5 should have an incredible effect. This one is barely noticeable.
Bribery: Breaks the game in a bad way. Preventing your opponent's draws is a big no-no. Extremely anti-fun and game deciding.
Jar of Souls: Very underpowered. Costs 3 more than Light's Justice which means that even at full value you are spending 3 mana to draw 3 of your opponent's minions, but you have to kill the minion for the draw. Any minion worth drawing is going to be tough to kill with this, and card draw is the least of your issues in Warlock anyways.
Town Guard: Too weak. Comparison's to Cogmaster fall short when you realize that you must summon a 2 mana 1/1 on turn 2 to achieve value, whereas Mech Mage can drop a Mechwarper or Snowchugger to continue the snowball. Aggro Paladin can't afford that tempo loss and midrange/control Paladin is better off with Zombie Chow.
Emerald Dream: Only relevant in Fatigue Druid, and I can't really comment on the viability of that.
Rebirth: So unrealistic that there's no point on speculating.
Smoke Bomb: Too weak. Only works for 1 turn to bypass the taunt, and doesn't even apply to buffs from Sunfury Protector or Defender of Argus
Crazier Alchemist: Seems fine based on the 5/5 stats. There could be a niche for this effect in Priest perhaps.
Grounding Totem: Functions as a 0/4 Loatheb that can't help you swing the board. Another win-more Shaman card that doesn't help their weaknesses.
Graveyard Call: Pathetically underpowered. 4 mana to do basically nothing. There's a reason why Recomboulator comes with a 3/2 body, because they effect has very little value on its own.
The Red Bearon: Breaks the game in one of the worst ways possible. Already wrote thoughts on this:
The Red Bearon seems cool but it is insanely OP and breaks so many rules of HS. 1 mana 1/3 isn't OP on its own, but the game to game consistency that it provides is unprecedented. Curving out is one of the most powerful things you can do in HS, which is why having 2-4 1 drops are so crucial for aggro and tempo decks. Now Hunter decks will ALWAYS curve out every single game which opens up so much room in deckbuilding. Those other 1 drops can be eliminated from deckbuilding, allowing you to fill out other mana slots for a higher percentage curve. Hunters would also never have to worry about topdecking a weak 1 drop later in the game which would increase their resistance to stabilization.
Nothing like that should ever exist.
C'Thun: Seems very nice. It can support or become your win condition with the proper build, and has enough stats to survive on the field. Excellent card.
Kalcegos: Way underpowered. Think Malygos or Ysera that automatically gets silenced right when it enters play.
Prince Malchezaar: Tries to compete with Harrison Jones but loses badly. Most weapons you eat are 1 durability, so a X/1 minion is definitely worse than deck cycle. The summoned minion also gets immediately killed by Death's Bite, which is one of the main reasons to run Harrison anyways.
Zorchal the Shadowseer: Impractical effect on a mediocre body.
Obsidian Destroyer: Too strong. Could have a playable role even if it didn't become silenced for free. With that it swings too hard and punishes a fundamental aspect of the game.
Cheap Deal: Excellent flavor and worthwhile trade off. Great design.
Ancient of Harmony: Extremely underpowered. Why would you play a 5 mana BGH target and forfeit your next 3 draws? Game-losingly awful.
Quest giver: Too funky and abusable. Gives you 2 Wisps for the cost of 1 or fills out your curve which limits card draw variance and strongly benefits the aggressor.
Siren of Naaru: Too weak. More or less a meaningless effect with a difficult condition attached. Would see zero play. The whole Fatality concept was just a really bad idea.
I only found this contest 4 weeks ago, so these finalists are new to me. For my vote, I will be judging them as if these cards were all to be included as a mini expansion. I will lean heavily on balance and proper design, because to me there is zero point to creating a card that is so underpowered it wouldn't see any constructed play, or one that would break the game in a bad way. As an analogy, I would much rather see Naxxramas expansions than BRM expansions. Naxx gave us a plethora of strong cards and a few extremely strong ones that really had an impact on the game, whereas BRM gave a handful of good cards and a bunch of stinkers.
NerZhul: Too weak. a 6 mana 5/5 should have an incredible effect. This one is barely noticeable.
Bribery: Breaks the game in a bad way. Preventing your opponent's draws is a big no-no. Extremely anti-fun and game deciding.
Jar of Souls: Very underpowered. Costs 3 more than Light's Justice which means that even at full value you are spending 3 mana to draw 3 of your opponent's minions, but you have to kill the minion for the draw. Any minion worth drawing is going to be tough to kill with this, and card draw is the least of your issues in Warlock anyways.
Town Guard: Too weak. Comparison's to Cogmaster fall short when you realize that you must summon a 2 mana 1/1 on turn 2 to achieve value, whereas Mech Mage can drop a Mechwarper or Snowchugger to continue the snowball. Aggro Paladin can't afford that tempo loss and midrange/control Paladin is better off with Zombie Chow.
Emerald Dream: Only relevant in Fatigue Druid, and I can't really comment on the viability of that.
Rebirth: So unrealistic that there's no point on speculating.
Smoke Bomb: Too weak. Only works for 1 turn to bypass the taunt, and doesn't even apply to buffs from Sunfury Protector or Defender of Argus
Crazier Alchemist: Seems fine based on the 5/5 stats. There could be a niche for this effect in Priest perhaps.
Grounding Totem: Functions as a 0/4 Loatheb that can't help you swing the board. Another win-more Shaman card that doesn't help their weaknesses.
Graveyard Call: Pathetically underpowered. 4 mana to do basically nothing. There's a reason why Recomboulator comes with a 3/2 body, because they effect has very little value on its own.
The Red Bearon: Breaks the game in one of the worst ways possible. Already wrote thoughts on this:
The Red Bearon seems cool but it is insanely OP and breaks so many rules of HS. 1 mana 1/3 isn't OP on its own, but the game to game consistency that it provides is unprecedented. Curving out is one of the most powerful things you can do in HS, which is why having 2-4 1 drops are so crucial for aggro and tempo decks. Now Hunter decks will ALWAYS curve out every single game which opens up so much room in deckbuilding. Those other 1 drops can be eliminated from deckbuilding, allowing you to fill out other mana slots for a higher percentage curve. Hunters would also never have to worry about topdecking a weak 1 drop later in the game which would increase their resistance to stabilization.
Nothing like that should ever exist.
C'Thun: Seems very nice. It can support or become your win condition with the proper build, and has enough stats to survive on the field. Excellent card.
Kalcegos: Way underpowered. Think Malygos or Ysera that automatically gets silenced right when it enters play.
Prince Malchezaar: Tries to compete with Harrison Jones but loses badly. Most weapons you eat are 1 durability, so a X/1 minion is definitely worse than deck cycle. The summoned minion also gets immediately killed by Death's Bite, which is one of the main reasons to run Harrison anyways.
Zorchal the Shadowseer: Impractical effect on a mediocre body.
Obsidian Destroyer: Too strong. Could have a playable role even if it didn't become silenced for free. With that it swings too hard and punishes a fundamental aspect of the game.
Cheap Deal: Excellent flavor and worthwhile trade off. Great design.
Ancient of Harmony: Extremely underpowered. Why would you play a 5 mana BGH target and forfeit your next 3 draws? Game-losingly awful.
Quest giver: Too funky and abusable. Gives you 2 Wisps for the cost of 1 or fills out your curve which limits card draw variance and strongly benefits the aggressor.
Siren of Naaru: Too weak. More or less a meaningless effect with a difficult condition attached. Would see zero play. The whole Fatality concept was just a really bad idea.
Wisp are not always useless you know, lol I feel like Ancient of Harmony can be played around in a more aggressive Mill-Deck, or one that stock card and combo like Van-cliff and Adventurer while having another BGH target so the actual summon isn't targeted.
I'm probably going to vote for Red Bearon and Ancient of Harmony myself.
Week Twenty: Season One Finale!
This Week's Competition - Overview
This week is a much different format from the norm... so pay attention!
I've hijacked the next two comments in this thread, to spread things out a little better and have included links just below if you'd like to quick-jump to each section.
- #1: A Word From BerserkMidget08 / Last Week's Contest
(A discussion of the contest and an overview of the latest one)
- #2: Season One Finale - Season Champion!
(An ongoing community poll to determine a champion of the past twenty weeks of competition)
- #3: Season One Finale - Season Awards
(Some awards to my personal favourite cards / contributions and users)
A word from BerserkMidget08 (Update)
Thanks for all of the comments and support towards the competition! Hopefully, our brand new Fan Mods (Asylum_Rhapsody & DialM4Murloc) can take some of these on board as we progress to restart the competition and make it even more enjoyable, fair and interesting each and every week!
Lastly, keep those eyes peeled to the Fan Forums - something really exciting is in the works. :D
Upon conclusion of this week's contest, I'll be stepping down as Fan Creations Moderator and hence my Weekly Design Competition duties too - I dedicated an unexpected amount of my time into the contests and it's been a struggle to keep up with the booming popularity of them which regularly sees over 300 entries - in comparison, the early stages of the contest saw a mere 160 entries! I solely took it upon myself to upload every card to Imgur, organise the polls / threads etc. (although I've had some help since - thanks Sahgos, Lord_HS and ShadowsOfSense!) and it's quite a bit too much 'manpower' than necessary.
Hopefully we'll be back with another 'Season' of the contest soon, but expect a change of format if we do.
This week, there will be a community poll which you can cast your vote on your favourite winner of the past twenty weeks (which I've dubbed as Season One!). I'll also be dishing out some 'awards' daily, towards my personal favourite community-created cards and to great / helpful members of the contest who made it what it is today!
So, no theme or submissions this week, but I hope to see some great discussion as usual on:
- Who you'd pick as your Season One Champion!
- Your favourite Themes / Cards we've had this Season!
- Your thoughts on the competition as a whole / how to improve it in future! *
Ideally we'd have a super-duper page of all entries that are randomised etc. but it's currently impossible to implement such a system, so any suggestions should be made based on what resources the Forums currently offer!
A final thanks to all who have entered into the competition - it's been great fun seeing those submissions and I'll certainly be seeing many more of you around in the Fan Creations Forums. ;)
Last Week's Competition
rdeegan was our esteemed champion of last week's 'Help or Hinder' contest with their nifty Shaman Spell Totemic Focus (Just think of the Totemic Might plays!). Chromie by nobravery and Enslave Demon by Hassashu trailled just behind with both tying for the runner-up spot. Good job!
Congratulations to you all, the finalists, and a big thank you to those that took part in the contest.
Last Week's Competition Links: Thread / Finalists Spreadsheet
by nobravery
by rdeegan
by Hassashu
Season One Finale - Season Champion!
Final Results
The results are in and our Weekly Poll for our Season Winner spat out three joint winners! Crazy stuff! Congratulations are in order to Muatt88 with Quest Giver, Pegussu with Prince Malchezaar and hirashin with Ner'zhul - each grabbed the top places with 9.7% of the votes a piece, way ahead of the rest of the competition!
Notes:
- Cards with a Black Border have some extra art / tokens associated with it - check below in the Spoiler Tags for these!
- The keyword, Fatality, (Week 18), means: "Whenever this minion kills another minion."
Week One
Hero Power Interactions
Ner'zhul
by hirashin
Week Two
0 Mana Spells
Bribery
by TheSNGuy
Week Three
Weapons
Jar Of Souls
by thepoxbox
Week Four
1 Mana Class Minions
Town Guard
by SeraphicFire
Week Five
'Big' Spells
Emerald Dream
by Cataplasma777
&
Rebirth
by Tomtris
Week Six
It's A Secret!
Smoke Bomb
by H2050
Week Seven
'Double Trouble'
Crazier Alchemist
by Shanksyo
Week Eight
3 Mana 'Tech'
Grounding Totem
by Mosrhun
Week Nine
'Mirrored' Spells
Graveyard Call
by Shnayzr
Week Ten
1-3 Mana Class Legend.
The Red Bearon
by BerryInvasion
Week Eleven
'Deck' / 'Hand' Interactions
C'thun
by ACShlater
Week Twelve
Big Dragons
Kalecgos
by KaoticKreature
Week Thirteen
Raid Bosses
Prince Malchezaar
by Pegussu
Week Fourteen
Ogre, Smash!
Zorchal the Shadowseer
by Emmangt
Week Fifteen
The Sound Of Silence
Obsidian Destroyer
by rekt2
Week Sixteen
Cards With Drawbacks
Cheap Deal
by Zeppo122
&
Ancient Of Harmony
by Vonrith
Week Seventeen
New Cards, Old Faces
Quest Giver
by Muatt88
Week Eighteen
Femme Fatale
Siren Of Naaru
by YahOkay
Week Nineteen
Help or Hinder?
Totemic Focus
by rdeegan
C'Thun - 'Call Of C'Thun'
Season One Finale - Awards
Fiery War Axe Award
Winner: Cyg2112
For the first in my 'Season Awards', I present to you... the Fiery War Axe Award!
The Fiery War Axe award celebrates consistency and commitment (from the very beginning) - users that have made it to a plethora of finals week in, week out, but not quite been able to find that winning formula! (Hopefully this award makes up for it! :P)
There are dozens and dozens of regulars that have been in multiple finals that'd deserve the award...
...Ephie, esbee, Triskadekaphilia, Varolie, Aspard, Ethylbenzene, Elwiz, iSinti, MoarDTB, KAKYBAC, G4merguy09, DKPaladinMDL, Metzelmax, literleck, EAMAAN, Ser_Wa, Telefonkabel, DoctorWhoop, brobroadway, ElwynnForest, BOOSHACK360, DialM4Murloc... (to name but a few that spring to mind!)
...but I've reduced it to just three contenders, who between them have had over 20 of their submissions enter the finals! I've supplied a few of their finalists cards below!
A) Nakazawa
B) Cyg2112
C) Lord_HS
Winner:
Cyg2112!
Ysera Award
Winner: Raid Bosses (Week #13)
The second Season award is the Ysera Award.
The Ysera Award goes to my favourite Theme of the contest - one that allowed the best of both worlds - a solid concept with just the right amount of restrictions / rules that still allowed the creative juices of users to flow!
1) Mirrored Spells (Week #9)
Users were tasked in making a spell which had to affect both heroes equally, in the same vain as Equality or Ancestor's Call etc.
2) Raid Bosses (Week #13)
Users were tasked at designing a Legendary Minion that had to be a Raid Boss from WoW - a very unique theme with lots of research required and thought into each submission!
3) Femme Fatale (Week #19)
Users were tasked at creating a Female Minion with a newly created keyword: Fatality, which means "Whenever this minion kills another minion, do something." A very unique contest oozing with great entries and pushing this made-up Keyword to its limits!
Winner:
Raid Bosses - Week #13!
Grim Patron Award
Winner: Triskadekiphilia
The third award of the week is the Grim Patron Award!
The Grim Patron award turns it's attention to the ever present users in the Discussion Threads, and their valuable contributions and feedback towards others' cards and ideas. It too is for those that report ineligible entries / stray comments to keep the Submission Thread clean and tidy for all!
Contenders:
A) Triskadekaphilia
If you've entered into the contest at any point, chances are Trisk as picked apart your card, and looked at the balance and design of it... usually in monstrous detail! Dozens of cards have benefited from such wise wisdom from the competition's outset thanks to Trisk's tireless reviews - a worthy contender indeed for the award!
B) Aslyum_Rhapsody
A late-comer into the competition, Asylum constantly delivers some insightful reviews of the finalists each and every week. Asylum too offers advice and always in various debates to help those with keen ideas in the Discussion Thread. And what's not to love about their concepts with the stand-in Pikachu art? :P
C) ShadowsOfSense
A day wouldn't go past in some contests without a report from Shadows about an ineligible entry into the contest, that I'd have likely otherwise missed. A very helpful community member, that has allowed me to inform users of some dodgy entries and keep the contest running smoothly - what's more, Shadows has since been awarded for their efforts and is Hearthpwn's newest Fan Creations Moderator!
Notable mentions: DialM4Murloc, rdeegan, Hassashu, Kossetsu.
Winner:
Triskadekaphilia
Wisp Award
Winner - Detonate by Shanksyo
The fourth award is the Wisp Award!
The Wisp Award - the most explanatory award of the week, it's time for a little bit of fun and celebrate those users that opted to try and make the pesky little 0-Mana Wisp into something much more interesting and playable! Without further ado...
Contenders:
1) Wispmaster by Hywisp
Even their username has a Wisp it in - it'd be rude not to include Hywisp's Wispmaster! Crazy synergy with Dark Wispers here, watch out!
2) Storm Of Wisps by AntonydusWurm
AntonydusWurm went full Wisp for the BIG Spells contest which tasked users to create a whopping 10-Mana Spell - it doesn't get more extravagant than destroying everything and replacing that deck of yours with a makeshift Wisp-filled one!
3) Detonate by Shanksyo
An incredibly creative card by Shanksyo is our third contender - Detonate brings Wisps into the limelight to help Druids arsenal of Spells!
Winner:
Detonate by Shanksyo
Chillwind Yeti Award
Winner: Zen Guard by KAKYBAC
Sometimes shoving lots of text on a card makes a card look overly complicated and / or unappealing to use. Simple cards were often overlooked in the contest (which was disappointing at times) but is the crux of this Chillwind Yeti award - to be selected for the award, cards had to have 3 words or fewer in the card text... there weren't many!
Contenders:
1) Zen Guard by KAKYBAC
In Week Four, KAKYBAC created this nifty Priest 1-Drop which turns the Enrage mechanic on it's head by making it a downside. Fits Priest perfectly and gives the much-loved Zombie Chow a run for his money!
2) Titansteel Destroyer by VikingEagle
Weapons had little love during the contest but all the way back in Week Three, we had a whole contest dedicated to them! VikingEagle came up with Titansteel Destroyer, a very simple Warrior Weapon with no text whatsoever in the same vein as Fiery War Axe and Arcanite Reaper!
3) Sha'tar Upholder by G4merGuy09
Just two Keywords appear on Shat'ar Upholder, but with 0 Attack, this teeny Paladin Minion by G4merGuy09 requires a little help to be really effective - it'd be awesome to build a deck around this minion!
Winner:
Zen Guard by KAKYBAC
Blizzard Award
Winner: Dreadmaul Ogre Mage by ThePokeMann
The Blizzard Award is the final award this week!
The Blizzard Award looks at some of my favourite entries of the competition that I think Blizzard should incorporate into Hearthstone as in my opinion, these contenders are perfectly suited for the game in terms of balance and design! Roughly, there have been ~4000 entries into the contest since its offset so it's very likely I missed some good'uns! Oddly, I arrived at 3 contenders being all 3-Mana Minions and hey, I'm a sucker for simplicity - which cards were your favourite from the contest?
1) Dreadmaul Ogre Mage by ThePokeMann
Week Sixteen was "Cards with Drawbacks" week - entries into the competition had to have strong stats for its Cost but have a downside attached to compensate. Dreadmaul Ogre Mage fits the bill perfectly - a strong 3-Drop that could backfire against a Spell-Heavy opponent.
2) Standard Bearer by Varolie
This creation by Varolie all the way back in Week One of the contest is a very unique concept - behold the Standard Bearer. When he dies, a Silver Hand Recruit can be gifted a Golden Standard and step up to the plate and become another Standard Bearer! Very thematic indeed, and a worthy contender for the award!
3) Witchwing Harpy by Emmangt
It's another 3-Mana Minion! In our Sound of Silence contest, users were tasked with creating a minion that incorporatedSilence into the card text. Emmangt, hoped to make a whole new archetype come to life with Witchwing Harpy - a card which awarded your minions with bonus stats for being silenced! Wailing Soul, new meta?
Winner:
Dreadmaul Ogre Mage by ThePokeMann
Oh no, does this mean that the competition is on haiatus for the time being!? =(
My first competition was week 10, so I've not been here the whole way, but this competition is a lot of fun, I look forward to it every week, and you're super awesome for having run it! =)
My favorite winner is The Red Bearon, but I think my favorite week theme that I participated in was week 17. I think the combination of multiple sognificant restrictions led to a lot of creativity, and I'd like to see narrower themes like that in the future because I think when things get too broad like for last week folks don't think they have to think as hard about how to truly stand out creatively.
Same here; big fan of what you did friend :)
Hopefully, the challenge will be born again.
"My life... for Aiùr."
Sad to hear there won't be an immediate season 2. =/ The contests were mighty fun so far.
To reduce workload BIG TIME, you could just ignore submissions that don't obey the rules and just not include them when it comes to the finals. E.g. If to the finals would advance two winners on page 3 and the first place doesn't obey the rules, then the 2nd and 3rd place would advance instead. This way it should be manageable and the biggest workload should only be on Thursdays.
As a personal preference, I'd like any day better than Thursday night for the contest to start. Sunday would make the most sense. This way you have strong participation early on Sunday evenings from the US and on Monday from the EU. You have the whole week to submit cards and a strong finalists voting participation on Saturday and Sunday.
Came here to late, participating since week 13, though at week 3 I had already heard of the competition (but I had trouble registering due to internet problem - until one of my friends registered an account for me at week 13).
I have to say that even though I dislike some themes like Silence and Fatality, this competition is of great fun. I do wish that Season 2 would come up soon. I've seen many fascinating works and ideas through out the competition which helped me in creating new cards, and I believe we'll have more brilliant works in Season 2.
As for suggestions on Season 2, probably we could only upload the finalists to the album, which would reduce burden of moderators. It seems that this competition is now the biggest international Hearthstone design competition all over the world, and I believe there will be more and more entries week after week. Uploading all of them seems impossible, and what we should keep is mainly the finalists' work.
Last of all, this competition gave me a chance to communicate with people from all regions and all countries, which I've never done before. It's quite interesting, though I still have trouble reading and writing in English. Thanks for everyone. Hope we'll have an even greater Season 2.
THERE IS NO GAME.
Could some of us users start our own unofficial competitions? After seeing the power of teamwork between me and Mcf4rtson making the Hearthstone Mod, I think if enough of us worked together then we could make it bearable.
I've enjoyed these competitions, although I've had some dissatisfactions that got pretty annoying after week 5 or so, which is why I stopped entering so often. But I think they could be fixed with a new format, like you suggested.
Personally, I'd prefer more of a county fair type format than the majority rule of the last season.
Put together a panel of 3 or 5 judges and hand out a few ribbons.
I'd love to see cards that are OP get a penalty instead of a bonus.
Galavant Animation
I'm not sure why you're uploading ALL of the submissions; the top 2-3 submissions on each page would be more than enough.
Wait, they do that? Wtf, why? Just the finalists would be enough.
edit:
I think I also like hidden votes for the finals. :)
Thx for all your hard work Berserker, hopefully someone else will step into your shoes soon, so we can continue to enjoy ourself with competitive creation :)
I was rly excited that i might get that Winaxe reward, after i saw my nick there, only to find out that i wont :D but well, my reward was participation in something great and im greatful for it :)
- Click Here To Join Us On Discord! -
It's a tough one to decide. If I could, I would vote for 3, but alas I can't, so Prince Malchezaar takes it for me too. Although I really like the idea of the Red Bearon, I think it'd be quite boring in the game itself.
And yes, thanks for all the work Berserkmidget! Even though i've had my salty complaints, we're all grateful for the timewaster we get out of this!
I voted for Bribery--not quite sure why it appeals to me the most, but it does.
I have been participating since Week 3 and I can say that this competition offered me a new meaning for my Hearthstone life. The submission and discussion threads were constantly open on my browser and I was reloading the pages every now and then to check for new submissions and new comments. I didn't do that much of discussion but I was watching it all the time. I'm trying to make my own card game and this competition seriously got me into the balance stuff.
I'll do a quick review of the winners and I'll be very strict:
I hope you understand that when I said 'strict' I meant it :P When you have to choose among the best of the best, every little detail counts and it means a lot for me that a submission is made carefully, following Blizzard's wording, with a strong connection between art, name and effect. All these together with balance, playability, inventiveness and realism form the perfect card for me.
So my vote is wavering between C'thun, Prince Malchezaar and Totemic Focus.
My favorite theme was the first one I participated in, that's Weapons of week 3. Since then, weapons have been pushed aside and deserve more weeks dedicated to them.
Regarding the voting system, I will quote my comment from week 18:
Not much more to add. I don't know if there are any more forum tools we can exploit, but it would be healthier for the competition if the votes where hidden, or if there was a way for the mods to see how many views each page has. A site like Imgur would allow us to see how many views each submission has and base the weighted points it accumulates on that. I'm not saying to immigrate from here to Imgur, it would be just a wonderful facility to implement something like this in Hearthpwn.
My custom classes : /// / My Card Factory!
It's definitely Ner'zhul or Emerald Dream for me. C'thin seems interestin and balanced, but I can'tell see him in the game.
Look at this... or else: http://www.hearthpwn.com/forums/hearthstone-general/fan-creations/43518-coilfang-reservoir-a-hearthstone-adventure
Ooh, very interested in seeing your Ysera award. I know my favourite was Week Sixteen, as I loved seeing the different drawbacks people were able to come up with.
You can find me here! Good luck everyone!
Thank you so much for the Fiery War Axe Award, and an even bigger thank you for modding this awesome weekly event, Berserk! I hope we see this contest reincarnated in some way in the near future :)
Building Quirky Decks Every Week, Loving Life at Rank 15!
I only found this contest 4 weeks ago, so these finalists are new to me. For my vote, I will be judging them as if these cards were all to be included as a mini expansion. I will lean heavily on balance and proper design, because to me there is zero point to creating a card that is so underpowered it wouldn't see any constructed play, or one that would break the game in a bad way. As an analogy, I would much rather see Naxxramas expansions than BRM expansions. Naxx gave us a plethora of strong cards and a few extremely strong ones that really had an impact on the game, whereas BRM gave a handful of good cards and a bunch of stinkers.
NerZhul: Too weak. a 6 mana 5/5 should have an incredible effect. This one is barely noticeable.
Bribery: Breaks the game in a bad way. Preventing your opponent's draws is a big no-no. Extremely anti-fun and game deciding.
Jar of Souls: Very underpowered. Costs 3 more than Light's Justice which means that even at full value you are spending 3 mana to draw 3 of your opponent's minions, but you have to kill the minion for the draw. Any minion worth drawing is going to be tough to kill with this, and card draw is the least of your issues in Warlock anyways.
Town Guard: Too weak. Comparison's to Cogmaster fall short when you realize that you must summon a 2 mana 1/1 on turn 2 to achieve value, whereas Mech Mage can drop a Mechwarper or Snowchugger to continue the snowball. Aggro Paladin can't afford that tempo loss and midrange/control Paladin is better off with Zombie Chow.
Emerald Dream: Only relevant in Fatigue Druid, and I can't really comment on the viability of that.
Rebirth: So unrealistic that there's no point on speculating.
Smoke Bomb: Too weak. Only works for 1 turn to bypass the taunt, and doesn't even apply to buffs from Sunfury Protector or Defender of Argus
Crazier Alchemist: Seems fine based on the 5/5 stats. There could be a niche for this effect in Priest perhaps.
Grounding Totem: Functions as a 0/4 Loatheb that can't help you swing the board. Another win-more Shaman card that doesn't help their weaknesses.
Graveyard Call: Pathetically underpowered. 4 mana to do basically nothing. There's a reason why Recomboulator comes with a 3/2 body, because they effect has very little value on its own.
The Red Bearon: Breaks the game in one of the worst ways possible. Already wrote thoughts on this:
C'Thun: Seems very nice. It can support or become your win condition with the proper build, and has enough stats to survive on the field. Excellent card.
Kalcegos: Way underpowered. Think Malygos or Ysera that automatically gets silenced right when it enters play.
Prince Malchezaar: Tries to compete with Harrison Jones but loses badly. Most weapons you eat are 1 durability, so a X/1 minion is definitely worse than deck cycle. The summoned minion also gets immediately killed by Death's Bite, which is one of the main reasons to run Harrison anyways.
Zorchal the Shadowseer: Impractical effect on a mediocre body.
Obsidian Destroyer: Too strong. Could have a playable role even if it didn't become silenced for free. With that it swings too hard and punishes a fundamental aspect of the game.
Cheap Deal: Excellent flavor and worthwhile trade off. Great design.
Ancient of Harmony: Extremely underpowered. Why would you play a 5 mana BGH target and forfeit your next 3 draws? Game-losingly awful.
Quest giver: Too funky and abusable. Gives you 2 Wisps for the cost of 1 or fills out your curve which limits card draw variance and strongly benefits the aggressor.
Siren of Naaru: Too weak. More or less a meaningless effect with a difficult condition attached. Would see zero play. The whole Fatality concept was just a really bad idea.
Totemic Focus: Too weak. Needs Totemic Might to becomes Shaman's Prep+Sprint, except Preparation is infinitely more flexible and versatile than Totemic Might. Without any buff it is a 4 mana Arcane Intellect.
Wisp are not always useless you know, lol I feel like Ancient of Harmony can be played around in a more aggressive Mill-Deck, or one that stock card and combo like Van-cliff and Adventurer while having another BGH target so the actual summon isn't targeted.
I'm probably going to vote for Red Bearon and Ancient of Harmony myself.