Weekly Card Design Competition #36 - Finalist Poll
Poll: Competition #36 - Neutral Spells
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Competition #36 - Neutral Spells - Multiple Choice
- "Level Up!" by ManWithTheHex 33.2% of Users - 153 votes
- "Do It Yourself" by frandaesquina 23.4% of Users - 108 votes
- "Paper Airplane" by BOOSHACK360 21.9% of Users - 101 votes
- "In search of adventure" by Carbo 15.4% of Users - 71 votes
- "Disenchant" by Hojobert 9.8% of Users - 45 votes
- "Rumsey Rum" by crownie88 3.5% of Users - 16 votes
- "Go Fishing" by Xylign 7.2% of Users - 33 votes
- "Scroll of Town Portal" by craftics 3.3% of Users - 15 votes
- "RwlRwlRwlRwl" by Ser_Wa 9.5% of Users - 44 votes
- "Gunship Battle!" by Darthscion 6.3% of Users - 29 votes
- "Healing Potion" by GatekeeperHS 9.5% of Users - 44 votes
- "Brewed Beer" by Foreign359 7.2% of Users - 33 votes
- "Survey" by lalaiosmoiko 6.3% of Users - 29 votes
- "The Frozen Throne" by Frostoise 5.9% of Users - 27 votes
- "Move!" by waTdamaTTer 8% of Users - 37 votes
- "Borrowed Magic" by ultimatesjk 7.8% of Users - 36 votes
- "Mercenary Camp" by nurgling13 9.1% of Users - 42 votes
- "Weave Time" by thebangzats 10% of Users - 46 votes
- "Curse of Flesh" by Dirtyshadow 7.2% of Users - 33 votes
- "Gnomish Gravity Well" by Zaphod_Beeblebrox_IV 6.5% of Users - 30 votes
- "High Tide" by cheesytwiglets 7.6% of Users - 35 votes
- "A New Approach" by ShadowsOfSense 7.4% of Users - 34 votes
- "Reinforcements" by superoutman 8.9% of Users - 41 votes
- "Drunken Fist Style" by DelireMan7 5.6% of Users - 26 votes
- "Hallow Gift" by Squiddylicious 8.9% of Users - 41 votes
- "A Quest!" by LovsBatl 9.1% of Users - 42 votes
Ended Oct 15, 2015
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This Week's Finalists
Entry Restrictions:
Your card must be a Neutral Spell. That is, a spell that is not a class card. There are only a few existing neutral spells (The Coin, Spare Parts , Power Chords), but your spell will be different because it will be collectible, an independent card that you can actually put in your deck.
In addition to the above restriction, there were a few non-restriction considerations that we wanted competitors to think about for this week's theme. Open up the Spoiler block if you'd like to know more:
Theme: "What would a neutral spell even be?" is frequently asked question when discussing the possibility of neutral spells. The underlying assumption behind the question, though, is a conceptualization of "spells" as magical incantations, like Fireball, Mind Control, or Hex. But that's not all that spells are in Hearthstone. Spells in Hearthstone have a much broader definition that includes Items (Explosive Trap, Bouncing Blade, Deadly Poison), Attacks (Snipe, Slam, Bash), Tactics (Gang Up, Feign Death), Events (Brawl, Solemn Vigil), Concepts (Equality, Humility), and More (Lock and Load, Eye for an Eye, Beneath the Grounds). Consider that racial abilities, profession abilities, and even locations can make for thematically appropriate neutral spells.
Balance: It's well known that class minions are generally allowed to be a little more powerful than neutral minions in order to help differentiate the classes. Consider how this would apply to spells as well.
Design: At the same time, know why Neutral Spells don't already exist. As stated in interviews, the devs currently want to use spells as a way to differentiate classes. So, when you're designing your spell, consider whether it steps on the toes of or takes away any of the uniqueness of the options available to existing classes.
Context: Unlike last week during our Not-So-Secret challenge where we wanted you to assume you were creating a unique card of your type, this week we want you to assume the opposite, that we're adding a ton of neutral spells to the game at once. In other words, your spell does not have to carry the thematic burden of being representative as THE Neutral Spell.
We have whittled down ~288 valid entries to just 26 of the community's favorites.
Check out all the finalists below and vote in our poll (vote for as many or as few as you like) to help decide the winner and be sure to check back after the poll finishes for the announcement of the winner and the start of a new theme!
NOTE: Cards with a black border have additional material, like explanations or unique tokens,
located in a spoiler at the bottom of the finalist gallery.
by ManWithTheHex
by frandaesquina
by BOOSHACK360
by Carbo
by Hojobert
by crownie88
by Xylign
by craftics
by Ser_Wa
by Darthscion
by GatekeeperHS
by Foreign359
by lalaiosmoiko
by Frostoise
by waTdamaTTer
by ultimatesjk
by nurgling13
by thebangzats
by Dirtyshadow
by Zaphod_Beeblebrox_IV
by cheesytwiglets
by ShadowsOfSense
by superoutman
by DelireMan7
by Squiddylicious
by LovsBatl (Wild Card)
Level Up!
Do It Yourself
In search of adventure
Quest: This is the way how to complete the quest, since u complete it the card is surround by a yellow border like the combo card.
Reward: The effect of the card after the quest is done.
Rumsey Rum
(This represents an enchantment, not an actual card.)
RwlRwlRwlRwl
Gunship Battle!
Survey
The Frozen Throne
Mercenary Camp
This gives you cards based on the current game board. For each board, you draw from minions who match its theme. The cards you can get are:
Like I already said when the contest started, I see Level Up winning. It's simple, neat and fits the neutral theme incredibly well.
I like the idea of Survey, but the extra cards are sloppy in design.
Go Fishing has a nice idea behind it, but ultimately the card is utterly pointless for most classes apart from Rogue.
Borrowed Magic and Drunken Fist style are ludicrous OP.
Healing Potion, Move!, Brewed Beer are just pointless. The last might fight into some Inspire Decks, but even that would be a 3 card, 4+ mana combo, which ultimately doesn't do much. Not that there is anything wrong with it, tho. Still much better than most other cards.
Do it yourself is urgh... every hero has like a trillion effects and is worded badly / has multiple errors. Seriously?
Is it me or the first card to be displayed always win ?
Maybe randomizing the order of display would level the playing field.
Custom cards :
CLASSES : Alchemist (CCC#5 | Phase V) | Chef (CCC#4)
EXPANSIONS : Year of the Scorpion (Year Comp)
We have to put them in some sort of order, so we put them in order of what scored highest on the finalist qualification formula detailed in the submission topic. So being further towards the beginning in the finalist poll topics probably does correlate to likelihood of winning, but it's correlation and not causation, the actual factor causing both being how much the card stands out in terms of quality among all of its competitors.
Just making it clear and to avoid ambiguity. Some explanation for the mechanics would be a good additional comment that helps understanding it.
(Clarified)
Level Up: What happens if 10-cost minions or those giant minions get leveled up? Would a Deathwing just go ahead and turn into a 12-cost 8/8 giant, or it remains at level 10? I can't think of any existing similar mechanics in HS so an explanation would be perfect.(Clarified)
Gnomish Gravity Well: What about having two gravity well at the same time? I guess the latest one gets effective but it's not so clear.Gunship Battle: Nothing serious. Just need a little clarification of which ship gets summoned first, since it would affect whose bomb throws first, and there's a chance of one ship destroying another, preventing it from its shot. I assume that the player that played the card summons its ship first.
I have no personal preferences for any of these cards since I also participated (for the first time).
From my understanding, a Neutral Spell card should be considerably less powerful than average (if you look at the collection, the average is sometimes overestimated since most of the cards you are thinking of all day are the ones in existing builds), while it either fits in one or more certain mechanics at the same time emphasizing and related to a specific concept, or has enough flexibility and can sometimes provide surprise. Additional cards should be put pretty cautiously since there aren't many existing additional cards (Spare parts, Dream cards, Power chords) for a reason that probably is increasing difficulty to be memorized.
As always, a card should be simple and understandable in games like HS to be friendly to new players.
P.S.
It's getting interesting if you compare the current trend of votes and the comments.
Previlage leads to insolence.
Whoops! You are correct, and I meant to add in the creator's clarification for Level Up! I have updated the thread. The creator of Gnomish Gravity Well did not provide any such clarification, though.
Good question! I'd say that if multiple wells were active simultaneously, then an effect would still be randomized, but only between those affected by the wells. (For example, if two wells were on minions A and B, and a Mad Bomber was played, the bombs could only target A and B).
Anyway, I'm excited! This is my first time being a finalist, and there are some very interesting ideas here!
It is still strange that the first one always scores the highest during the qualification phase even after having weighted the votes. Part of the explanation could be that the best ideas are picked up first and the following contestants have less choice. But the themes are generally large enough not to limit other contestants, so there is something else and I am not sure this "something else" is always overall card quality. Rather, the first ones to be displayed are more familiar to the voters and therefore are prefered.
Custom cards :
CLASSES : Alchemist (CCC#5 | Phase V) | Chef (CCC#4)
EXPANSIONS : Year of the Scorpion (Year Comp)
Doesn't bother me that I didn't have time to submit a card this week, wouldn't have won against this great lot anyway D:
Click here to see my Pet Treats in the Weekly Card Design Competition.
If by 'first card' you mean card on the first page of the submissions, that is not at all true. Not even close to being true. I've gone through 30 weeks of submission to see if your page or position within your page has an effect on winning the overall competition, and there is no effect. The winner is equally likely to have been from any submissions page and any position on the page. Asylum_rhapsody was referring to the order of the Finalists page. That is not ordered the same as the submissions pages, but rather based on the number of votes.
Come Play Make the Keyword!!!
Check out my Worgen Class in the Class Competition
Going by current HS mechanics, I think the first one in would always be the active one. In MtG when I played, which is a while back, the opposite was true (last on first) , I think?
Some nice cards this week and I'm voting for number, I think Weave Time is the most interesting :) Grats all!!
Love the massive feeling of Gunship Battle. But wish the creator had taken it further than 3 damage.. I picture an epic gunship battle within Hearthstone borders to be like 6-8 damage randomly split. And maybe make it "At the end of your turn, " so you get the first strike, the caster invested the card and mana into it, but then you lose the realistic "feel" of ships firing at the same time when they pass each other though
Hearthpwn Community's Balancing of Cards.
My bad then,
Custom cards :
CLASSES : Alchemist (CCC#5 | Phase V) | Chef (CCC#4)
EXPANSIONS : Year of the Scorpion (Year Comp)
[img]http://www.hearthcards.net/cards/d69fd74d.png[/img]
A little late but a cool idea none the less
No worries. It was not what I expected to find when I compiled the data, either.
Come Play Make the Keyword!!!
Check out my Worgen Class in the Class Competition
Level Up! is a very nice idea that fits the theme perfectly... but that's all. Only the name is done right. The rest is full of flaws that contradicts the fantasy and the lore of the card.
Let's imagine you are a Warrior. When you level up in WoW, you stay as a Warrior! You do not magically turn into a Mage or a Priest or even Deathwing! You become more powerful, yeah, but you do not turn into another being. That is what this card does. It clashes thematically with its own name. If it was called Upgrade, Morph or something else it would be ok, but claiming this is a level up is outrageous.
A correct Level Up! could have been:
That would have been perfect as it captures the fantasy of the level up mechanic in WoW and fits the theme perfectly. But of course it is not as flashy and cool as transforming Dr. Boom into Ragnaros the Firelord for a 15 damage turn... For reference here is the list of the possible minions you can get if you use this thing on Dr. Boom after attacking of course: 8 mana minion cards.
Another flaw: There is a chance that you can actually "delevel" your creatures while you use it.
For example, you use this on a Knife Juggler and you get a Coldlight Oracle, Fencing Coach or Gnomish Experimenter. Your minion is extrictly worse than before. It didn't level up at all! It lost levels indeed!
But whatever. Being correct in the theme and fantasy is irrelevant. You just need to do flashy stuff or card that creates a zillion more cards to get the votes of the masses.
agree totally with what you've said, very epic card :D Upping the value of the first volley to maybe? Hmm ''deal damage equal to its Health randomly split'' ? gives the sense of taking damage!
Not that I don't see where you're coming from, but I think you sort of have to look at this stuff in the context of Hearthstone itself. Hearthstone does tons of stuff like this that doesn't quite jive 100% with the associated thematic elements in Warcraft, and it often comes across like an interesting mechanic that somebody then tried to look for a good lore element to attach it to, without looking the other way around to see if that lore element really had that mechanic as its best fit.
Again, totally get where yo're coming from and it's perfectly valid too, I'm just explaining why it's still popular, because it still fits well enough within the context of how Hearthstone does things. In my opinion at least, it certainly fits better than a lot of the entries we get every week with a ton of unique token cards, especially the ones that are class-specific, but part of that is also me being bitter because I have to work all those into the finalist topic by hand which takes forever. ;_;
Voted for the Fishing Spell, the Murloc Hero spell and the final quest spell.
1 and 3 because they nicely transfer what the actual feeling of that from MMO to CCG, and the Murloc one because it turns you into a Murloc.
I'd vote for it twice if it set the background music to "I am Murloc!", so there's a missed opportunity right there.
Make the Card: The biggest thread on the site!
My mandibles which are capable of pressing down and tearing, my talons which are known to intercept and hold.
Sorry for the rant-ish post but I really hope "Do it yourself" doesn't win, it embodies everything I hate about certain submissions. It's a cool idea but executed horrendously. Not only is it a typical "Make lots of tokens to artificially make my submission more interesting" there's clearly no concept of balance in the tokens at all, the wording on the cards is disgusting (even something simple like Enrage: Windfury" is written wrong) and there's way too much complexity which isn't in the spell's text itself.
Now In Search of Adventure, there's a well executed card with multiple tokens. Balance might be a bit off but there was clearly thought put into it and it'd be hard to figure out the correct balance for the card without actually testing it.
A Quest! is a really cool idea but unfortunately the execution is absurdly overpowered. I couldn't vote for something that imbalanced, it's essentially a 2 mana draw 2 for every class which directly power creeps a class spell (Arcane Intellect). Of all the things to power creep, card draw is the absolute last thing I'd accept since it's so universal, and definitely not a neutral spell power creeping a class spell.
Curse of Flesh is a funny spell but why the heck does it cost 6?? What benefit is there to you which justifies spending 6 mana on it?
I voted for A New Approach even though it's almost certainly staple 2-of in every single deck, only because it's the same kind of idea I went for this week; a very straightforward deck thinner, since that's the most universal ("neutral") mechanic.