Hearthpwn

"Your minions deal double damage."  as legendary is too boring, isn't it?

Quote from Zukuu jump

"Your minions deal double damage."  as legendary is too boring, isn't it?

I see people use that sort of wording every once in a while in the Weekly Design Competitions, and I'm honestly never quite sure what it means. Like, the implication seems to be that it's when they attack, but it could also mean for Battlecries like Elven Archer or Flame Imp, Deathrattles like Leper Gnome or Unstable Ghoul, or even other card text like from Knife Juggler or Flame Leviathan. It's the ambiguity of the intent that makes me unsure.

@DKPaladinMDL

 I really like the overall feel of your class when it comes to theme, names and artwork. Definitely. I can feel my bones quiver in my body, exactly what you'd expect of a Lich. Here are a very thoughts for you:

@Scheme: I love this mechanic, I really do. I am however missing the feeling of absolute necissity. As it stands, it's nice and handy, but if you can pick cards I'd like to see them working together for things Hearthstone doesn't generally allow: sick combo's like Mimiron's Head or help make cards like Far Sight better. Perhaps you could point out some more combo's that I'm missing?

Also, you're right that your keyword should be featured on at least 50% of your cards, I guess. A lot

@Secret: I dropped out Secret of my design process for the very same reason you should: too few. They have no use being secretive if there is but one of two combinations possible. And most of the time it will be the real obvious one since your trigger conditions vary a lot.

@Lich: He's back! Oh yeah!

@Dominate Mind: I hope this is friendly minion only? With the amount of Freeze in your deck this would be a tad strong I think.

@Permafrost: This is a really cool card. You can see how it works very well in the overall deck and really benefits from your Scheme mechanic.

@Fissure: Pyroblast isn't much fun and even though this is the fun version of that card, I can't see this being cast on a minion. The chances of your opponent killing that minion into one of yours is too big for a 8 mana spell to work. If you compare it to Corruption it's a very, very weak card. So, it will be most of the time a Face Bolt like Pyroblast.

@DonnieMcKarlo

I love how you designed a lot of cards from their Warcraft 3 counterpart to Hearthstone concepts. Really cool. I must say that I feel that your basic card set was more solid though and while you have some interesting cards, like Murloc said, it is missing a wow-factor. Here are some of my thoughts:

@Warning: I feel like this could read: "If a minion died this turn, return an enemy minion to your opponent's hand". It's not a whole lot different than Sap other than that you can't remove Taunts with it. Which makes it a very weak version compared to it. If you can first sacrifice one of your own minions into that Taunt, well, then you could still remove it. Same goes when your opponent only has one minion on the board, it would make it useless and when you're up against Ragnaros the Firelord and Sylvanas Windrunner, almost impossible to use.

@Surprise Attack: Hearthstone really isn't a game in which players decide not to attack, unless you have a big Taunt on the board and even then ... Hoarding up minions in my case always results up in me losing them to AoE. I even trade smaller minions into bigger ones (as long as I'm not playing against a Priest) just to make sure they served a purpose instead of them possibly being blasted by AoE the next turn. I feel like the game is too fast and since you can always attack face without suffering any drama (no interception like M:TG) this card isn't very good. Unless you add Secrets that makes you not want to attack Face like Hunter has.

@Personal Treatment: I really like this card, since it's a cool combo to first destroy your weapon, then play another one and then hit face or a big minion with a buffed Throwing Star. It's cool, clever, well thought out and really fits the Warden.

@Ancient of Wonders: Nice find. Love the WC3 reference lol, same goes for Kelen's Dagger of Escape. Such a good ol' faithful friend. I must say, I do dislike the art quite a lot though. Doesn't seem to fith the rest of your cards.

@Aftermath: Feels a bit underpowered. At full 7 mana, it only draws you 2 cards and leaves you with 2 mana. A Sprint is 7 mana for 4 cards. So it's half a Sprint for 7 and an Innervate of some sort, because it leaves you with 2 mana. I find the math hard on this one, 'cause at 10 unspent mana it is probably a bit too good with 5 draws and 5 mana to use them on? Difficult card my friend.

 

I've already created all the cards for this Phase of the competition and am quite satisfied with most of them, but there are still two of them which I am unsure about - mostly cost-wise.

Crude Cloning might be OP at 3 mana, maybe raise it's cost to 4?

Plague of Frogs maybe overpriced? 4 Mana instead as well? 

Since the class already has 4 Mana secrets, I don't want to put too many spells into the 4 Mana slot. Or do you think the cards should be redone in some way?

 

Thanks for the feedback in advance! :-)

 

Hey everyone. Here is my first batch. There are more cards than there are allowed currently and I'm not to sure about some. I'm just throwing them out there now, you can read some of my thoughts on them at the bottom of this topic.

@Commons: I don't really like the art and flavor of the Sellswords, the Vortex Djin and Demand Supplied.

@Sellswords: is an important and interesting combination with Fresh Reserves (Reshulffe all minions and draw an equal amount of minions) which also works well with Mercenary Army. This 3 card combo gives minions on the board a guaranteed +3/+3 for 10 Mana.
@Refreshment: This works well with a lot of the "When you draw this" effects , and with a lot of the influx effects on minions.
@Djinn: Will you play it when you get it? Getting it at the right moment can be really, really useful.

@Rares

@Emir: I hope the wording is clear, it is meant to mean that Battlecry effects like Big Game Hunter can be played on any minion. Or even Hungry Crab. Or Hemet Nesingwary. Too strong? Let me know. If you have an alternative how to make tech minions more useful through a card, I'd love to know.

@Mercenary Army: See the spoiler for all the minions it can give you. They are overpowered for their mana cost. I like the flavor of it. Y'know, since war is bad for trading, Trade Princes don't usually keep an army themselves that can go to war, so they need to hire one.

 @Epics: Some people tend to go overboard with Epics, as being the best cards the class has to over. I can definitely relate to that, but I feel like Epics should fill niches in the first place. Epics allow certain playstyles, and are awesome at it, but feel a bit flat or broken without the context of a deck.

@Highwayman: I hope the wording is clear. I could use some advice. Obviously a combo with Conspiracy (Destroy all minions with a mana cost of 5 or higher), Vainglorious and my Legendary (When you draw this, destroy the highest cost minion)

@Monopoly: I'm really interested about what you guys think about this card and how I should balance it. It also works well with Deckhand. Please notice that Influx cards only trigger when you DRAW them.

@Legendary: Too underwhelming? Perhaps a bit, I'm afraid. But I think it will be a lot of fun to play with.

 

 

 

 

 

 

@Crude Cloning: I feel it is a tad strong, since you can pick enemy minions as well. But 5 mana would make it worse than Echo of Medivh. I guess it's either alright when you change minion to 'friendly minion' or as a 'enemy minion'. Friendly minion obviously allows you to combo it a lot better; enemy minion allows more mana efficient plays, but is riskier in what you might eventually get.

@Plague of Frogs: I love the art and feel, but I'm afraid I don't like the effects at all. Imagine that I have no minions. So I get a board full of 0/1 Frogs. Now I can't play any minions, until I remove them myself. You could say that you have to remove them in order to get to me, but there are other ways to get at me: spells and milling. Perhaps I need to see the rest of your cards to be a better judge though.

Quote from Vonrith jump

@Crude Cloning: I feel it is a tad strong, since you can pick enemy minions as well. But 5 mana would make it worse than Echo of Medivh. I guess it's either alright when you change minion to 'friendly minion' or as a 'enemy minion'. Friendly minion obviously allows you to combo it a lot better; enemy minion allows more mana efficient plays, but is riskier in what you might eventually get.

@Plague of Frogs: I love the art and feel, but I'm afraid I don't like the effects at all. Imagine that I have no minions. So I get a board full of 0/1 Frogs. Now I can't play any minions, until I remove them myself. You could say that you have to remove them in order to get to me, but there are other ways to get at me: spells and milling. Perhaps I need to see the rest of your cards to be a better judge though.

Thanks for the feedback, really appreciate it! :-)

I like keeping Crude Cloning at 3 Mana, therefore only targeting one side of the battlefield is a really nice idea! I guess I'll give that a try! =D "Lorewise" I think it would better fit to the class to only target minions... Hmmm...

And a good objection concerning Pleague of Frogs, I think I haven't put enough thought into it. Swarming the enemie's board with "dead" minions would be definitely a 'no fun' effect. Could a simple change to 1/1 Frogs with Taunt do the deal? I guess I'll sleep another night over it... :D

 

Thanks for your comments and insights. It has definitely made me reconsider a couple of things. Let me get this clear though: you'd suggest I'd remove all my spells based on Mana Cost? I got your critique that it's a new mechanism, but I actually like it's a new mechanism. It's balanced the same way as most of the Priest removal cards, but is in that sense still unique. I do however understand that Highwayman's function only works in the context of my deck and even worse, only with other cards. It needs to change.

Also, the Emir was a stupid idea. I made a class specifically to cycle tech cards and now I made a minion that allows you to play tech cards so you don't need to cycle them. D'oh.

I remade Monopoly. I still really like this idea of 'shares names'. I want people to cycle through their deck in order to get two cards that share a name and then cash big on them. I feel with the wording as it is now, it is OK. This allows a player to play the first one for free, but not the second one, as it doesn't share names with a card in their hands anymore when the first got played. Here, check it out:

Your ranking system is genious and for that reason I will return the favor:

T1: Quick Reflexes, Watcher Weaponmaster, Personal Treatment
T2: Warning, Resupply, AftermathT3: Surprise Attack, Felwood Smithy

The thing abuot Felwood Smithy is, I feel like it's too wordy and I don't like the overall feel and style. The mechanic is an interesting one though and you should definitely consider doing something like this. In all honesty, I wouldn't destroy my own weapon in order to deal 2 or 3 or maybe 4 at max damage to a RANDOM enemy minion. I'd just hit in the face and keep the weapon to fight another day ;).

 

 

 

I actually like Throwing Star and Coup de Grace and your Legendary as well. Throwing Star is basic, but solid. Also, I get the vibe of it being ranged, so rendering you immunity. The latter could use some rework though.

Also, why not go for Armor instead of Health? It fits Maiev so much, I mean, she's a walking tank really. You could also let armor and durability intertwine a lot, boosting eachother's effects. It would the theme of 'durability': can take a pounching, can last with a weapon.

Your Legendary is a bit wordy and slow. Would a Kel'Thuzad effect make him too strong? "At the end of your turn, summon 1/1 Spirit of Vengeances for every friendly minion that died this turn."?

Quote from Vonrith jump

@DKPaladinMDL

 I really like the overall feel of your class when it comes to theme, names and artwork. Definitely. I can feel my bones quiver in my body, exactly what you'd expect of a Lich. Here are a very thoughts for you:

@Scheme: I love this mechanic, I really do. I am however missing the feeling of absolute necissity. As it stands, it's nice and handy, but if you can pick cards I'd like to see them working together for things Hearthstone doesn't generally allow: sick combo's like Mimiron's Head or help make cards like Far Sight better. Perhaps you could point out some more combo's that I'm missing?

Also, you're right that your keyword should be featured on at least 50% of your cards, I guess. A lot

@Secret: I dropped out Secret of my design process for the very same reason you should: too few. They have no use being secretive if there is but one of two combinations possible. And most of the time it will be the real obvious one since your trigger conditions vary a lot.

@Lich: He's back! Oh yeah!

@Dominate Mind: I hope this is friendly minion only? With the amount of Freeze in your deck this would be a tad strong I think.

@Permafrost: This is a really cool card. You can see how it works very well in the overall deck and really benefits from your Scheme mechanic.

@Fissure: Pyroblast isn't much fun and even though this is the fun version of that card, I can't see this being cast on a minion. The chances of your opponent killing that minion into one of yours is too big for a 8 mana spell to work. If you compare it to Corruption it's a very, very weak card. So, it will be most of the time a Face Bolt like Pyroblast.

@Secrets: Well, I was going to make it so that the last 3 cards of the set that I hadn't done yet would all be secrets. However, this would have prevented me from making a lot of cool shadow and scheme cards, so I think I will indeed remove it. I'm pretty happy about that, although sad to lose Ice Wall and Unlife (which was going to be the naxx secret).

@Scheme: Ok, I was originally thinking of a few cool combos with scheme. First of all, there's still End of Hope (6 mana: 4/7, if this is sent to the bottom of your deck with scheme, it gains +7/+4), but that's not super exciting. Then the original version of demise was (5 mana: Deal 2-3 damage to all enemy minions. If the top card of your deck is also demise, discard it and repeat the effect). But it was waay too specific and only worked in the one scenario where you run two demises in your deck. 

Another idea I had (that came to me in a dream, wtf subconscious) was for a legendary win condition, kind of like how you were talking about mimiron's head. It sounded really cool, until I got out of bed. Placeholder names and stats, of course.

I'll try to go with some kind of "Top card of your deck" interaction, though. Maybe a card like:

Since I've always wanted there to be a way to get multiple copies of those ice combo cards. Or:

For the shadow decks, who will probably have more Scheme. +3 is just temporary, to emphasize the fact that it's A LOT. Problem is, it seems too good with Demise and only mediocre for the other shadow spells that exist (so far).

@Dominate Mind: I guess I can remove this card. It was intended to go to all targets, but I agree that with the amount of freeze it would be pretty strong.

@Fissure: It's not really supposed to reliably target a minion, just like you wouldn't target a minion with Pyroblast unless you were desperate. It's supposed to go face as a strong finisher, but you could also make it a little more reliable against minions using a Freeze effect.

 

Surge Power is way too strong, in particular combined with Scheme.

Occult keeper's effect is confusing, since it's a permanent effect. I dunno if you would want to draw the same card over and over again. I think it would work way better as battlecry or the other way around. Scheme (3) then draw a card or something.

Spooky Ritual man is weird foremost. Depends on his mana cost I guess, but there could be instances where you get a 12 / 12 onto the field way too fast.

I believe with Occult Keeper you get a copy and can then decide if you want to draw that card again next turn or not, since it says 'then Scheme'. It's a fun card, I don't know if it's balanced. It could definitely be a win more card. If you can just constantly freeze your enemy minions because of this card, it'd be a bit too powerful, but I like the idea.

I love the concept of Spooky Ritual Man, but I don't see how you can draw part X or part Y right after each other, it'd require a lot of scheming for sure. Why not make it "When you draw Y and if X is already drawn, then summon G". A 12/12 Charge is always a bad idea though, I think.

Quote from Vonrith jump

I believe with Occult Keeper you get a copy and can then decide if you want to draw that card again next turn or not, since it says 'then Scheme'. It's a fun card, I don't know if it's balanced. It could definitely be a win more card. If you can just constantly freeze your enemy minions because of this card, it'd be a bit too powerful, but I like the idea.

I love the concept of Spooky Ritual Man, but I don't see how you can draw part X or part Y right after each other, it'd require a lot of scheming for sure. Why not make it "When you draw Y and if X is already drawn, then summon G". A 12/12 Charge is always a bad idea though, I think.

Yeah, valid point about occult keeper.

With SRM, if you send part X to the bottom and if you send part Y to the bottom without any cards in between, they're guaranteed to be next to each other, then you just need to either continuously scheme cards to the bottom to push them to the top or just wait until you draw out the rest of your deck.

Do you think surge of power would be balanced if it was Spell Damage +2?