Here's my entry this week: Heroism, the Alliance equivalent of Bloodlust in WoW, famous for being a crucial, all-or-nothing group-wide spell. Similar to Bloodlust, this spell gives your minions a huge stat boost on your turn. Unlike Bloodlust, the stat boost is permanent, however, in return the spell has the drawback of discarding your entire hand (which is risky under any circumstance) as well as hefty Overload that'll make it tough for a follow-up play.
The concept of this card is pretty simple. We have Brave Hunter; Core Rager and Quick Shot. Blizzard seem to be pushing an 'Empty Hand' mechanic for Hunter.
Volley gives them a way to achieve this early without needing to run mindless aggro in which no card costs more than 3 mana.
It also allows for Hunter archetypes that draw cards to use this as a finisher. For example; Hunters that run Unleash the Hounds; Snake Trap and Cult Master can fill their hands and then play this; although it is worth noting without Emperor Thaurissan it's a 2-turn combo; or needs someone to trigger your Snake Trap. It could enable some kind of combo Hunter; where the aim is to get aggressive early, then refresh your hand and Volley.
Finally, it's a panic button a Hunter can press; a a large cost; for if they got swamped.
I put it at 4 mana because:
1: The effect is strong
2: The drawback is significant
BUT
3: It has potential to be better than it's cost. Consecration is 2 damage to all targets with no downside for 4 mana, so unless you are discarding 3 cards or more; it's a strictly worse Consecration. If you are discarding 4 cards it's a 4 mana Flamestrike that also hits face... but discards 4 cards.
Balance notes; Compare: Windfury Harpy. Power gain compared to Flesheating Ghoul with additional cost from the wielder. If no discard happened, say because no cards left in hand, Storm Elemental does not gain extra power.
Flavor text: Storm elemental grows in power from the chaos that rises whenever it unleashes its fury against the world.
I felt that hot-blooded trolls fit the Discard theme better than night elves, being impulsive and reckless and all that, AND they are underrepresented in HS, so in the name of cultural diversity I made this guy:
You kinda break even at two discards in both cases. It’s from 3 discards up when DotJ really shines, but you have to provide this kind of opportunity (keep in mind we are not talking about 3 cards in hand but either 3 minions or 3 spells in hand).
What Does This Do (and Why Would You Want It)? Basically, this negates the Battlecry of your Demons by summoning them instead of playing them. It trades card advantage for the better board presence that a Demon with a Battlecry can bring, but without the otherwise severe drawbacks. By choosing which card to discard, the drawback of discarding is far less painful, and in particular, you can strategically get rid of cards that you think you don't need depending on the situation (ie; like a late game Zombie Chow when your opponent is low on Health, or an early game Lord Jaraxxus against an aggro deck).
The dream of course is to use it with Fist of Jaraxxus, which naturally wants to be discarded.
Which Demons Are Affected (and How)? ANY Demon you play will consume the spell's single charge, but only the ones with Battlecry are truly 'affected' by it, since being summoned means their Battlecry doesn't trigger. For a clearer picture of how good (or not good) this is, here's a full list of such Demons and what the result would be if you played one of them after casting a Demonic Tactics:
Doomguard - You only discard 1 card (which isn't random) instead of 2. Dread Infernal - You get a 6/6 minion for 6 Mana and nothing takes 1 damage. Felguard - You don't lose a Mana Crystal. Flame Imp - Your hero doesn't take 3 damage. Lord Jaraxxus - You get a 3/15 minion for 9 Mana and nothing is replaced. Pit Lord - Your hero doesn't take 5 damage. Succubus - You're still discarding one card for it, but it's not random. Void Terror - You get a 3/3 minion for 3 Mana and nothing is destroyed.
How Would the Discard Interface Work? Tracking, only for your hand instead of your deck and "inverted" (you pick the card you want to discard, and keep the rest). Instead of 3 cards, there would be upwards of 10 cards maximum on the screen (2 rows of up to 5 each). The ordering of the cards in your hand doesn't change.
How Does This Work Technically? This would work just like Dragon Consort, in that you wouldn't have to play a Demon on the turn you played it, and the effect would continue on indefinitely until you do. The 'play-becomes-summon' part triggers instantly when a Demon is played, and should therefore take precedence before secrets like Mirror Entity, Repentance, and Snipe, meaning they won't trigger (like when you play a Kezan Mystic).
What Happens If You Play Multiple 'Demon Tactics' Back-to-Back? Although there is nothing to base it on, I see no reason why it would be complicated to resolve. It may simply be the case that the game could remember multiple charges for each Demonic Tactics that was cast, or that only one charge could be active at a time, meaning either you couldn't cast another until the first was used up, or that it would have no effect on any Demons beyond the first-next one you play, effectively wasting them (but still allowing you to discard cards each time you cast one, if for some reason it's a good idea to do so).
Anyway, here's my submission for this week. Wanted to stay away from Warlock for obvious reasons, but couldn't since I mained the class in WoW and can't believe that this creature is still missing in Hearthstone.
How about an Inspire Warlock archetype that plays out demons, buffs them up, disrupts your opponent and so on?
Lore:
In Warcraft Mages were highly intimidated by this creatures as they devoured magic. In WoW this concept has been translated to abilities such as Spell Lock and Devour Magic. I thought to mix the feeling of both: you "lock" your opponent from casting a spell by "devouring" it and feeding on it ("Vanilla Extract" design feeling obviously hasn't work off yet).
Balance Notes:
1. As an Inspire creature - whose effect can be re-used many times - it has to be mana costed with a Hero Power in mind. In case of Felhunter, you are paying 6 mana for a 4/4 that discards an Opponent's card. Sounds extremely strong, yes, but it's the strong cards that give birth to new archetypes, and I'd be curious to see Inspire Demon Warlock.
2. Discard occurs from the deck so that the card wouldn't be completely unfair. This way your opponent will still have options in hand to deal with it immediately (e.g. removal spells). Additionally, reducing active hand size is just too strong. And finally, since this card has no practical downside, discarding from deck at least thins out your opponents cards (similar to Mad Scientist), giving them a slightly higher chance at a better draw for the card that you just destroyed.
3. Fencing Coach interaction? Yes, it's a great combo to push out Felhunter as early as possible, but if you think about it - you develop a 2/3 on T3 followed by a 4/4 on T4. You're not gaining much board control in the process and creatures can be easily removed with 1 weapon, so it doesn't seem broken at all.
Here's my entry this week: Heroism, the Alliance equivalent of Bloodlust in WoW, famous for being a crucial, all-or-nothing group-wide spell. Similar to Bloodlust, this spell gives your minions a huge stat boost on your turn. Unlike Bloodlust, the stat boost is permanent, however, in return the spell has the drawback of discarding your entire hand (which is risky under any circumstance) as well as hefty Overload that'll make it tough for a follow-up play.
Q: What did Avril Lavigne say when her Asian masseuse refused to give sexual favors?
A: "So much for my happy ending."
Flavor Text: Fire EVERYTHING!
The concept of this card is pretty simple. We have Brave Hunter; Core Rager and Quick Shot. Blizzard seem to be pushing an 'Empty Hand' mechanic for Hunter.
Volley gives them a way to achieve this early without needing to run mindless aggro in which no card costs more than 3 mana.
It also allows for Hunter archetypes that draw cards to use this as a finisher. For example; Hunters that run Unleash the Hounds; Snake Trap and Cult Master can fill their hands and then play this; although it is worth noting without Emperor Thaurissan it's a 2-turn combo; or needs someone to trigger your Snake Trap. It could enable some kind of combo Hunter; where the aim is to get aggressive early, then refresh your hand and Volley.
Finally, it's a panic button a Hunter can press; a a large cost; for if they got swamped.
I put it at 4 mana because:
1: The effect is strong
2: The drawback is significant
BUT
3: It has potential to be better than it's cost. Consecration is 2 damage to all targets with no downside for 4 mana, so unless you are discarding 3 cards or more; it's a strictly worse Consecration. If you are discarding 4 cards it's a 4 mana Flamestrike that also hits face... but discards 4 cards.
Current Deck -http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/240420-army-paladin - Token Paladin
Balance notes; Compare: Windfury Harpy. Power gain compared to Flesheating Ghoul with additional cost from the wielder. If no discard happened, say because no cards left in hand, Storm Elemental does not gain extra power.
Flavor text: Storm elemental grows in power from the chaos that rises whenever it unleashes its fury against the world.
There is a lot of steak here...
Clarification: This is an ongoing effect when this minion is on the board.
This is the demon lord Sargeras!
When a minion gets discarded they are summoned, a spell is conjured. When a spell with a target is discarded a random enemy minion becomes the target.
The demons on the battlefield don't have to be friendly demons.
Suck My Lollipop!
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I'm the best worst player.
Note: Tenebris is Intentionally Neutral, it's not only warlock that has discard mechanics!
Summoning: We are Deception, We are the dark.
Attack: They don't know us. We don't know them.
Death: To the great abyss beyond.
Flavor Text: A worgen shenanigans? "No! Good boy."
Imgur: http://imgur.com/9FRGhiU
Summon: Killjoy!
Attack: Infiltrate!
I play Dota 2 and Hearthstone.
To draw or not to draw. That's the question.
Click here to see my Pet Treats in the Weekly Card Design Competition.
Notes/Clarifications:
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(Reminder: Deleting Submission Topic posts is against the rules.)
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It is all in good fun... Hopefully.
I felt that hot-blooded trolls fit the Discard theme better than night elves, being impulsive and reckless and all that, AND they are underrepresented in HS, so in the name of cultural diversity I made this guy:
You kinda break even at two discards in both cases. It’s from 3 discards up when DotJ really shines, but you have to provide this kind of opportunity (keep in mind we are not talking about 3 cards in hand but either 3 minions or 3 spells in hand).
EDIT: Re-uploaded the images.
Uncollectibles:
[F.A.Q.]:
What Does This Do (and Why Would You Want It)?
Basically, this negates the Battlecry of your Demons by summoning them instead of playing them. It trades card advantage for the better board presence that a Demon with a Battlecry can bring, but without the otherwise severe drawbacks. By choosing which card to discard, the drawback of discarding is far less painful, and in particular, you can strategically get rid of cards that you think you don't need depending on the situation (ie; like a late game Zombie Chow when your opponent is low on Health, or an early game Lord Jaraxxus against an aggro deck).
The dream of course is to use it with Fist of Jaraxxus, which naturally wants to be discarded.
Which Demons Are Affected (and How)?
ANY Demon you play will consume the spell's single charge, but only the ones with Battlecry are truly 'affected' by it, since being summoned means their Battlecry doesn't trigger. For a clearer picture of how good (or not good) this is, here's a full list of such Demons and what the result would be if you played one of them after casting a Demonic Tactics:
Doomguard - You only discard 1 card (which isn't random) instead of 2.
Dread Infernal - You get a 6/6 minion for 6 Mana and nothing takes 1 damage.
Felguard - You don't lose a Mana Crystal.
Flame Imp - Your hero doesn't take 3 damage.
Lord Jaraxxus - You get a 3/15 minion for 9 Mana and nothing is replaced.
Pit Lord - Your hero doesn't take 5 damage.
Succubus - You're still discarding one card for it, but it's not random.
Void Terror - You get a 3/3 minion for 3 Mana and nothing is destroyed.
How Would the Discard Interface Work?
Tracking, only for your hand instead of your deck and "inverted" (you pick the card you want to discard, and keep the rest). Instead of 3 cards, there would be upwards of 10 cards maximum on the screen (2 rows of up to 5 each). The ordering of the cards in your hand doesn't change.
How Does This Work Technically?
This would work just like Dragon Consort, in that you wouldn't have to play a Demon on the turn you played it, and the effect would continue on indefinitely until you do. The 'play-becomes-summon' part triggers instantly when a Demon is played, and should therefore take precedence before secrets like Mirror Entity, Repentance, and Snipe, meaning they won't trigger (like when you play a Kezan Mystic).
What Happens If You Play Multiple 'Demon Tactics' Back-to-Back?
Although there is nothing to base it on, I see no reason why it would be complicated to resolve. It may simply be the case that the game could remember multiple charges for each Demonic Tactics that was cast, or that only one charge could be active at a time, meaning either you couldn't cast another until the first was used up, or that it would have no effect on any Demons beyond the first-next one you play, effectively wasting them (but still allowing you to discard cards each time you cast one, if for some reason it's a good idea to do so).
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(Reminder: Deleting Submission Topic posts is against the rules.)
Man, it's impossible to get to the front page!
Anyway, here's my submission for this week. Wanted to stay away from Warlock for obvious reasons, but couldn't since I mained the class in WoW and can't believe that this creature is still missing in Hearthstone.
How about an Inspire Warlock archetype that plays out demons, buffs them up, disrupts your opponent and so on?
Lore:
In Warcraft Mages were highly intimidated by this creatures as they devoured magic. In WoW this concept has been translated to abilities such as Spell Lock and Devour Magic. I thought to mix the feeling of both: you "lock" your opponent from casting a spell by "devouring" it and feeding on it ("Vanilla Extract" design feeling obviously hasn't work off yet).
Balance Notes:
1. As an Inspire creature - whose effect can be re-used many times - it has to be mana costed with a Hero Power in mind. In case of Felhunter, you are paying 6 mana for a 4/4 that discards an Opponent's card. Sounds extremely strong, yes, but it's the strong cards that give birth to new archetypes, and I'd be curious to see Inspire Demon Warlock.
2. Discard occurs from the deck so that the card wouldn't be completely unfair. This way your opponent will still have options in hand to deal with it immediately (e.g. removal spells). Additionally, reducing active hand size is just too strong. And finally, since this card has no practical downside, discarding from deck at least thins out your opponents cards (similar to Mad Scientist), giving them a slightly higher chance at a better draw for the card that you just destroyed.
3. Fencing Coach interaction? Yes, it's a great combo to push out Felhunter as early as possible, but if you think about it - you develop a 2/3 on T3 followed by a 4/4 on T4. You're not gaining much board control in the process and creatures can be easily removed with 1 weapon, so it doesn't seem broken at all.
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