Hello, and welcome to Phase III of our second ever Class Creation Competition! This competition's theme is "World Beyond Warcraft", and submitted classes must represent things outside of Warcraft-specific lore. Last week, for Phase II, our 77 remaining competitors were invited to submit their classes' Basic Sets for review. 29 classes have advanced to Phase III, where these classes' Classic Sets will be presented.
The 29 users listed in this Spoiler have advanced to Phase III:
Wild Card(s): Gomelus
If you have not advanced to Phase III, then you may not post in the Submission Topic.
Competition Overview
Phase III Submission (Starts Now! Ends 21:00 UTC Monday 1/February/2016.) It is during this time that you may submit entries to this Submission Topic. Note that Up-Votes are entirely irrelevant to this Phase of this competition, as well as all future phases. In other words, there is no reason to rush to submit. Take your time and refine your entry.
Phase III Poll #1 (Starts 21:00 UTC Monday 1/February/2016 Ends 21:00 UTC Tuesday 2/February/2016.) Phase III Poll #2 (Starts 21:00 UTC Tuesday 2/February/2016. Ends 21:00 UTC Wednesday 3/February/2016.) All valid submissions will be included in the Phase III Poll Topics. They will be represented by your Hero Portrait, Hero Power, and up to 5 example Classic Cards, explained below. Due to limited space, no token cards will be included, but the Poll Topic galleries will also clearly link each Hero to your Phase III Submission posts, so voters can always find out more there, if what was presented piques their interest. You might be wondering why there are two polls. Frankly, there are too many of you at this stage to reasonably expects voters to be able to get through so much in one sitting. Therefore, half of you will be presented in in the first poll and the other half in the second. The split will be based on your placement in Phase II, with odd-numbered placements being polled first and the even-numbered placements being polled second. Once both polls are completed, entries will be ranked by their vote percentages (as opposed to direct vote numbers, to account for a possible varying number of total voters), and the top 11 entries (plus 0-3 Wild Cards) will move on to Phase IV.
See below for a general overview of the future competition Phases:
Phase IV: Naxx/GvG/BRM - You will add the 13 cards that make up your class's Naxx, GvG, and BRM sets. These cards may not use the Discover, Inspire, or Joust mechanics. Spare Parts are restricted to GvG. Submissions Wednesday 3/Feb/2016 - Tuesday 9/Feb/2016. Poll Tuesday 9/Feb/2016 - Wednesday 10/Feb/2016. Up-Votes will be irrelevant to advancement from Phase IV to Phase V. Instead, advancement will be determined by performance in a single separate Poll Topic that includes all eligible Phase IV entries.
Phase V: TGT/LoE - You will conclude with the 12 cards that make up your class's TGT and LoE sets, as well as your Hero Power's Justicar Trueheart upgrade. These cards may not use the Spare Parts mechanics. Inspire and Joust are restricted to TGT, and Discover is restricted to LoE. Finale Topics Wednesday 10/Feb/2016 - Monday 22/Feb/2016. Poll Monday 22/Feb/2016 - Friday 26/Feb/2016. The Finalists who make it to this phase will be allowed to create their own individual Finale Topics. The winner will be determined by performance in a separate Poll Topic that includes all eligible Phase V entries.
General Competition Rules
These are general competition rules that apply to all Phases of this competition and that many of you will already be familiar with if you've competed in our Weekly Card Design Competitions. Even if you're a veteran of our competitions, though, I recommend that you review the rules thoroughly just to be sure:
First, these are the rules about Posting:
You are allowed to submit only one entry.
You are allowed to post in this Submission Topic only once, only to submit your one entry.
You may not delete ANY posts you make in this Submission Topic, not even accidental ones you may make over your one allowed, such as by double-posting or by accidentally posting something here that you meant for the Discussion Topic. If you do accidentally post more than once, inform any of the Fan Creation Forum moderators via PM, and we will handle it.
Speaking of the Discussion Topic, that is where any discussion of this competition should go. This thread is for submissions only. If you want to discuss your card or ask questions about the competition rules or process, you can find a link to the Discussion Topic at the top of this thread. Plenty of folks there will be happy to help you out.
Once you have submitted your one entry, you are allowed to make only minor changes to it. Minor changes are things like correcting typos or making balance changes that do not alter the spirit of your entry as determined by we the moderators. If you want to make any changes and have any doubts as to their legality, ask us first.
You may not create any topics on our forum for any competition entry. All competition material and discussion is restricted to the designated competition topics. This is to prevent the board from being flooded with competition topics. Nobody wants that.
These are the rules about your Entry:
We encourage you to create your entry material using Hearthcards.net, but please remember that, although HearthCards is awesome, you MUST host your card somewhere other than Hearthcards. Save it and upload it toImgur, Photobucket, or some other similar site. HearthCards has a limited server space and will purge cards after a few days, and nobody wants your cards disappearing part-way through the finals. We understand that there are some HearthCards memberships that will allow you to save your card there for longer (and you should totally get one of those just for general fan creation purposes, by the way), but we don't know who has those memberships and we can't tell from the URLs.
You may not submit any Gold cards. (It's just a cheap attention grab tactic that makes it unnecessarily difficult to determine what class your card is for.)
Your entry must be a card of your own creation. We've been doing this for a while, so if you blatantly rip off somebody else's idea, we will know.
Fun and even humorous entries are perfectly allowed, but "troll" entries will be disqualified. If you're worried that your card may be misinterpreted as a troll card, contact a moderator before you submit.
TIP: Though not a rule exactly, we highly recommend that you insert your images using this icon on the bar above the post text editor: . Just click that button and put in the URL of your image. Cards that are uploaded and attached to your post are not disallowed, but in our experience they will not do nearly as well, so this is for your own benefit more than anything.
Finally, know that manipulating votes in any way is strictly forbidden. Any violators will receive an official warning, and will be banned from this and all future HearthPwn Card Design Competitions.
Phase III: THE CLASSICS
In this Phase, you will each construct your class's Classic Set.
Here are the requirements for your Class Creation Competition Phase III Entry:
CLASS, HERO, AND HERO POWER There are just a few elements of your class that you will repeat from your Phase I entry, and this should take up as little space as possible. After beginning with your Class's name, please try to include the images for your Hero Portrait and Hero Power side-by side so they don't take up too much vertical space. If you'd like to repeat anything from your class's introductory explanation, including its flavor or whatever you believe makes it interesting or unique mechanically, that's fine, but try to keep it brief.
If your Hero Power produces any additional materials or requires any additional explanation beyond its basic image, please relegate these to a Spoiler block (Inserting a Spoiler can be done by clicking the ! symbol on the top bar of the text editor.).
Note that you may still not include the Justicar version of your Hero Power during this Phase.
EXAMPLE CLASSIC CARDS We do not want to see your Class's entire Classic Set out in the open.
You are allowed up to five (5) example Classic cards out in the open. Again, so as not to take up too much vertical space, please present at least some of these these side-by-side. You may, below these cards, give brief explanations of them, why you decided to showcase them, how they exemplify what makes your class unique, and so on.
As these are Classic cards, they should have the Classic watermark, and you should include 6 Common cards, 5 Rare cards, 3 Epic cards, and 1 Legendary minion.
If your example cards produce any unique token cards, those must be put behind a spoiler (Inserting a Spoiler can be done by clicking the ! symbol on the top bar of the text editor.).
There are a few keywords and mechanics that do not appear on any existing Classic Cards, and they may not appear on any of your Basic Cards either: Discover, Inspire, Joust, and Spare Parts.
In addition, there are a few non-keyword mechanics that are staples of future adventures and expansions. While these are not disallowed per se, try not to include them without good reason. For example, Mech and Dragon synergy shouldn't be used unless your class is specifically themed around Mechs or dragons.
REMAINING CLASSIC SET The remaining ten (10) cards of your class's Basic Set must be presented behind a Spoiler Block (Inserting a Spoiler can be done by clicking the ! symbol on the top bar of the text editor.). These cards must obey the same rules are your examples cards with regards to expansion watermarks, rarity gems, and what keywords you may not use.
BASIC SET You should include your completed Basic Set from Phase II behind a Spoiler (Inserting a Spoiler can be done by clicking the ! symbol on the top bar of the text editor.) either before or after your Classic Set material. It is fine if these cards have undergone some minor modification since the end of Phase II, but thy must still adhere to all of Phase II's requirements.
The first time that we ran a Class Creation Competition here, we had a tie for the winner. I now present to you the Phase III submission posts of both of those classes, to serve as examples:
5 sample cards explanation:
This is the very first of our secrets. It's not wise to tell our opponents about everything we are going to do. It's not wise to tell them "Oh, hey, I bough some old treasure map, gonna send some stupid orc to find it, pay him a Coin or two, and hide the rest of the treasure in my safe!" We do not tell that. And because of that we may be able to play some valuable cards earlier than our opponent might expect!
An exact example of that stupid bounty hunter orc from I Found It! . We play that card the very firth turn and we pay him the next turn, as he probably will be kind enough to kill some Leper Gnomes or Haunted Creeper. He may be gutless, but he loves gold nearly as much as we do. Therefore, by planing some wise finishing moves he's gonna earn it himself and we won't have to say our Mana goodbye!
A legendary. A low-cost one. Unusual, huh? But fit's our class great. As a greedy goblin, he wants our gold as well, but as a greedy Goblin King, he wants more than usual creature may want. In return, he promised to mess with our opponent's plans, by sending them Tribute reminder. This Tribute has to be paid at the beginning of his turn, and by doing that, our opponent makes our Goblin King stronger. The longer the Tribute is paid, the stronger Thy Goblin King becomes. It will ensure that our opponent will have to make some stupid trades to kill that minion early on, before it bulks up, and in the same time, it won't allow to cast to much spells on him.
Snaky, beaky little goblin... We got city guards watching us, so we can't just fit our fists into our opponents' faces. There is a more sophisticated way of killing them. This card is our idea of AoE - we play it when our opponent has got a full board, we try to make some trades so Dr. Boom Health will lower to 3 or 4 and then we wait. Our opponent may even be kind enough to do the trades themselves...
Oh, look! It's Gunther! Our favorite boar! This guys are our personal watch. By paying them a lot of money, we can stay sure that no one will ever hurt us. So long, Face Hunter...
10 remaining Classic Cards:
10 remaining cards explanation:
Buff and debuff in one card. Tired of your weak minion? Or maybe you don't want your enemy to have that much Mana?
You can't find gold on a tree. Someone's gotta earn it... and it won't be you. Great for compensating early damage taken.
This is the place when our goblin makes his legal money and because they are legal it's way easier to double this profit - a spare card may be even better than a Coin.
I promise, this shoes are made especially for Ogres. Next please! Indirect damage and a card draw? Oh yes, I'll take that.
Some pesky minion on the board and all your boys are looking for some treasures? How about buying your personal Judge?
It's not like everyone in this town hates us... Duh, we helped some people in their time of need... And now, they have to help us...
Second AoE. Something like mass corruption. It will probably ensure that our opponent will loose all his 8+ mana minions, but he will have one turn to clear our board as well...
This guy was a serious killer when it comes to pit fighting. Now he is a serious killer when it comes to Market fighting. His battlecry represents his experience in fights. Sometimes you will find a DaVinci of pit fighting, sometimes it's just gonna be an art student.
-Oh no! Mike it's her! -Stay calm, David, we don't want to upset her. This brave girl will help us when our Salary reaches unreasonable level. Well, she will help us just one time, she may be scary, but goblins without their gold are much worse.
Black Market is a place hard to find, but if you know where to seek... You may find some valuable stuff. However, you don't know what trades will have this time...
Q: My submission didn't move on. Am I not allowed to participate any more for the rest of the competition? A: Of course you are! This many cards is going to be difficult to manage, so the contestants that move on will need all of the help and input they can get to get their Class just right. If you get knocked out of the competition, head over to the Discussion topic and support your favorite competitor that moved on!
If anybody has any other question, please feel free to ask us over in the Discussion topic. Otherwise, get those creative juices flowing, and I'll look forward to your submissions.
Alright guys, this is the Pokemon Trainer class Classic Set! Here's the basic set from phase 2:
I think the theme of the class has stabilized to this idea: you aren't the one fighting, your pokemon are. And since it's the legendary trainer Red, it just so happens that you've caught them all! Red's got a lot of pokemon at his disposal, so many tokens are generated since the focus is on minion battling minions with tools generated by the minions themselves. That said, every class needs some spell handicaps and crutches.
Evolve is a the new keyword I'm introducing after this basic set and is the entire theme of the class. Once you play your hero power, Evolution, any minions in your hand that are able to evolve simply change into the specified card.
TrickRoom:
This spell requires some setup and strategy, as it makes larger-costed minions more powerful on the battlefield.
Girafarig:
This minion is something that can relatively safely be played on curve, but can provide additional value with a bit of setup in the late-game.
Elemental aspects (Atop Sky Pillar):
Analysis:
Oh boy, here it comes.
Every basic set could use something completely insane. I think excitement is important; fun is the final goal. But let's talk balance here:
Consider Atop Sky Pillar: If the game drags on long enough, you can actually play the card and rid it from being completely unplayable in your hand. If you have 3 cards left in your deck, it's 5 mana. If you have 6 cards, it's 8 mana. Think about how many cards you actually have at the end of your games, and this seems like a plausible last resort (a bit like the Golden Monkey). Also the Naga Sea Witch synergy Kappa Keepo
Consider Kyogre: The main advantage is that you can finish off your opponent. The Fireball hero power is proactive in terms of damage.
Consider Groudon: The main advantage is that you can control the board. How many cards do you have that can finish off your opponent though? TheAssassinate hero power is better than Kyogre's in terms of value (it can even target friendly minions), but board control isn't exactly what you're usually looking for at that stage in the game.
Consider Rayquaza: The main advantage is that you can use the rest of your mana crystals (instead of hero-powering), you can split your damage into two attacks, and you're protected from passive fatigue. The weapon is subject to taunts, and while it can attack minions it simply may not be a good idea because you've only got 12 Health. The idea is that the option exists. Keep in mind that mill deck will still work on you, the only draw that is prevented is at the start of your turn. Your opponent can still draw you cards and you can still draw yourself cards. But do you really want to? Up to you to decide.
Other cards:
The theme of the class is centered all around your minions. You're not the one fighting, your pokemon are. This leads to them containing effects and tokens of their own since each one has it's own personality, and most of which Evolve. This is the new keyword I'm introducing:
Cards that are able to Evolve do so in the hand when they are affected by my hero power, Evolution.
Onto the set (Any tokens, which include evolutions, are listed in spoilers below):
Mega Stone: This is the spell that triggers Mega-Evolution on the battlefield. Keep in mind that it's 4 mana.
Riolu:
A basic introduction to Evolution. You cast your hero power with Riolu in hand, and the card becomes Lucario. If you cast the Mega Stone on a Lucario in play, he transforms into Mega Lucario.
Ralts:
Take a look at that Kirlia card there. This is branched Evolution, and introduces conditional transformations that alter the card style.
Professor Oak's Gift:
Whoosh. Ok, lot of tokens. I mean, I need a minion for each class (including my own), so here they are. When you consider balance on these minions, also consider that fact that you can only obtain a class' minion if you play against it and cast the 1 mana for the original Professor Oak's Gift, and also that evolving minions takes mana investment (hero power) so power creeps up the evolutionary line.
Horde of Unown:
Ok, that's the last of the token-crazy cards. Whoosh. I think it's fun to generate cards like these since you never know what tools you'll be given to work with in a game. Every game is dynamic and different!
Now, here is the rest of the basic set of cards (only the cards with a rarity are collectible):
Some notes on the cards:
Bubble Beam: This card is a spell damage synergy card. Useless without it, incredible value with it.
Nincada line: Situational early game Wisp, however the evolved form could provide some good value as soon as you have a chance to hero power.
Honedge line: It's a weapon line! Now, you can have a weapon in each stage of the game.
Onix line: Who said pre-evolutions are small? Top decking can be a bit of a weakness for the class, since pre-evos are usually small. But here comes Onix!
Zorua line: I think deception is cool. With this card, it may sometimes be advantageous to not attack twice with windfury, in case you want don't want to give the illusion away. You can see that Zorua has 2 health, but perhaps the opponent sees it as a Spider Tank with 4?
Weedle line: Early game minion that can establish your board. It may seem that Beedrill's battlecry is crazy, but keep in mind that you've had to hero power twice with the card in hand. Not exactly a good early game play. Also, Kakuna is meant to be the weak non-combat type because, I mean, he's a cocoon.
Spiritomb: I like this effect, it's as if you're corrupting the enemy player. And hey, a Zoroark target perhaps?
Shuppet line: Shuppet has -2/-2, and Attack swapped. Picture this: your opponent has an Azure Drake. Your shuppet is a 4/3 (from the drake), and the drake is a 1/4. With Banette, the Banette would be a 4/3 and the drake would be a 0/4. Keep in mind that this effect can happen to your own minions as well (except with Mega Banette). Also, keep in mind that the stat reduction makes the minion difficult to silence, since that will simply revert their stats back to normal.
Everstone: Situational work-around card.
Mewtwo: If Mewtwo Mega-Evolves, the deathrattle does not trigger. Mega Mewtwo X makes your cards cost 5 less! but each time you play a card, they cost 4 less, 3 less, 2 less, 1 less... This resets each turn. Mega Mewtwo Y has some crazy spell synergy going on, the plays you can make with this!
Strategem (X): When you play a card with Strategem, the card may gain an additional or alternate effect for X additional mana.
THE CARDS
Cadian Shock Troop: Your common 1-drop. Not really that strong, honestly. But every set's got mediocre cards, and this isn't all that bad for early game board control.
The Emperor's Chosen: A combination between a banana and divine shield.
First Rank, Fire!: Your main cheap removal spell, as long as you have board control (this class heavily emphasizes board presence). For double the cost, you get an incredibly powerful Spell added to your hand (see in Spoiler below).
Orbital Bombardment: A slightly less utility consecrate, or a Hellfire on crack. It's up to the player to choose when and/or how to use this in-game.
Heroic Intervention: A late-game force multiplier card. A relatively weak board AoE but you also put down a pretty solid minion in the process, which buffs your other minions. Space marine is shown in the Spoiler below.
Common Cards
Preferred Enemy: Pretty much your cheap, kind-of unconditional hard removal. It's not really a removal since you need to follow the card up with another minion or damage spell, but a powerful effect nonetheless. You can also use it on your own minion, it that ever comes into play.
Heavy Bolter Volley: Cheap early game unconditional removal. A soft board clear, but it is random. It's not going to be that reliable if you need to remove a specific minion on the board, but will be good against early game, weak aggro or tempo minions.
Manticore Missile: A Ragnaros shot. Kind of a mix between Deadly Shot and Flame Lance, except it might go face when you don't want it to. But it might also hit a 1/1 token when you want it to hit face. This card is cheap for its damage, but requires careful planning and a back-up plan in case it fails.
Light of the Emperor: It's not that crazy of a Heal for its cost, but this will probably be your main insurance policy in case you fall too low in Health. Is it better than Antique Healbot? Well, depends on the situation (especially when your opponent's Deathlord summons your Healbot).
Rare Cards
Sanctioned Psyker: Extremely weak body for its cost, but that's due to its incredible combo potential with many of your spells.
Reserve Reinforcements: A value resource card in the late game. Potentially draws you (effectively) 6 2/1 bodies that you can toss out in case you start running low on resources. What's more, if you can spare the extra mana, it gives you even more additional resources to last the late, late game.
Bolter: A solid all-around weapon. You're pretty much paying for just pure, sustained damage. No silly additional effects like Heals or Whirlwinds.
Epic Cards
Inquisitor: Extremely high utility minion. Situational in every respect. The card draw effect will be tricky to play at the right time, I imagine. The body isn't that strong, so for 7 Mana you'd better be prepared for an impactful following turn.
Power Fist: This is obviously a late-game control piece. The effect is random, so you should always manipulate your odds the best you can via board minions.
Legendary Minion
The combo potential here is obviously massive. At 3 mana + 2/4 body with a potentially insane effect, it's akin to Brann Bronzebeard. Note that you still get to choose to use your Strategem options, in case the bonus effect is unnecessary or would be detrimental.
Basic Set Recap:
And that's my Classic/ Expert Set! Please upvote if you like the card ideas!
Ankylosaurus: Has huge control-potential. I guess it would like to have Taunt..
Ceratosaurus: When entering the battlefield, he charges and enemy minion. In good cases he will kill it and survive. Its a control card, too. It would be bad if he charges a Pit Snake.
Meteorite Impact: It is heavy control card. Best to use when you dont have minions on your side of the battlefield. Less good against zerg but strong against ramp-decks. Of course it has a risk because of the randomness. Well, the history of earth told us, that some dinos survived :)
Martial Arts Disciple - It's a class-specific (a.k.a. stronger version of) Lance Carrier, in that the effect is much stronger for only a 1 Health decrease on the body. Strong tempo minion in the early game.
Tank-Top Black Hole - Incredibly high stats, but comes with a drawback battlecry. If your opponent has 2 minions on the board when you play this card, the stats are more or less "evened out."
Overcharge - Obviously designed for combo play with your spells. The obvious synergies lie with your AoE Spells, or King's Infinite Combo!
No Air Conditioning - Massive board wipe. Potentially dangerous as 7 damage to your face is nothing to scoff at. However at the right time, this card is obviously devastating to your opponent as well.
King - (SPOILER ALERT) The card text basically represents King's unimaginable bad luck. Whenever a big monster is around (e.g., an enemy Legendary minion), King's usually at the scene as well. This creates a dynamic between the two players that is thematically consistent - big bad monsters are scared to come out in fear of encountering King, so players may think twice about playing Dr. Boom on turn 7.
The REST of the collection:
Spring Mustache is just a good midrange value minion. The unconditional battlecry is incredibly powerful, although it sacrifices some body as payback. Probably a good card in most control or midrange decks. Compared to Goblin Blastmage, I think this card sacrifices enough for the powerful battlecry.
Saitama's Training routine (Part I) - What you see is what you get. Nothing too complicated here. The most powerful card here is probably 100 Push Ups, as it is 1 less mana than Savage Roar but still gains your minions a permanent 2 Attack. The big difference, however, is that the HERO class doesn't have spells like Force of Nature, or other incredibly fast charge minions to abuse this Spell. It also doesn't give your Hero attack, which is actually quite important.
Saitama's Training (cont'd) + other things - Bananas have incredible synergy with Gazlowe, a pretty underutilized legendary. Perhaps this card can change that? Who knows. Association Meeting is just a card draw you can play if your opponent is getting a little ahead of himself. Punish him for overextending and playing too fast. 100 Sit Ups is obviously a control/ fatigue card. The reason why it's only 5 mana is because although its effect can be incredibly valuable in the late, late game, it has no immediate effect, and it costs a whopping 5 mana.
More value oriented cards. Not much to say here, other than insane combo potential and synergy with the rest of the cards in your deck. Consecutive Side-Hops requires some set-up, as buffs and debuffs and damage are also copied from the random minion.
Thanks to whomever was silly enough to vote for my post in the past 2 submissions! It's been a blast designing these cards!
*Brand= The new keyword of this class, it changes a minion's type to Orc. (example: Murloc--->Orc, Pirate---->Orc, No type--->Orc)
Pawn of Sauron: A core card since it brands an enemy minion into an Orc. Solid stats and it's also an Orc type.
Sting: Just like in the books and movies, sting does double damage against Orc type minions. Instead of 2 damage it does 4 to Orcs. Good in controlling the board.
Phial of Galadriel: Amazing card draw if you know when to use it. It also works on enemy stealth minions. The downside is that stealth is gone.
Nazgul: Similar to Leeroy but a little bit weaker. If you wanna burst and go face, this is the card for you. Your opponent may never remove it if he is never lucky.
Gollum: You saw it right, permastealth means that even if Gollum attacks, he will still be in stealth. Any classes nightmare if they can't remove him. AOE, Flamewaker, Knife Juggler, Mass Dispel, Flare, or taunt are some ways to deal with Gollum. Works great with Lance Carrier
There are TWO ways to play this class which is why I will divide my post into TWO parts.
THE ORC ARMY WAY
This playstyle of Frodo is more for control-type players. You basically want to build an Orc army using the new keyword "Brand". When you brand a minion, that minion's type turns into Orc (example Murloc --> Orc). Here are the cards that synergize with this playstyle:
Orc Raider: Simply, build your board of orcs then drop this guy for extra damage.
Rohirim Rider: Can go face or trade. If you branded an enemy minion, the 2 damage deals double instead (so 4 instead).
Battleraged Orc: Taunt and enraged minion. Good against aggro and still good if silenced.
Cave-Troll: Packs a punch for 4 mana but has low health. If killed by an enemy minion, that minion will know be branded as an orc.
Rohan Commander: Similar to Animated Armor, enemies that are branded as Orc can only deal 1 damage as long as Rohan Commander is on the board.
Elven Ring Seeker: Mini Mind Control but with a 4/4 minion. You want to brand Sylvanas then play Elven Ring Seeker next turn for the steal.
Pawn of Sauron: Explained already, see top.
Sting: Explained already, see top.
THE STEALTH WAY
This playstyle relies more on your hero power than the Orc Army playstyle. The goal is to build your board and keep em buffed with stealth to go for an OTK win. Weak against board clear. Here are the cards that synergize with this playstyle:
Shadow of Mordor: Similar toConcealbut instead the whole board is affected by stealth. Could be use to get past taunt minions too. Combos great with Phial of Galadriel.
Battle Harden: A powerful buff spell. Can also be used as removal since it deals 2 damage and it can also work withBig Game Hunter.
Elven Assassin: Similar toFrostwolf Warlordbut since your minions are in stealth, you can get a really big Elven Assassin.
Lonely Mountain Ballad: A simple song that strengthens your teams bond. It can counter some hard AOE's likeHolly Nova or Flamestrike.
I want to keep Bowser as simple as the other classes. Just like the basic cards, his classic cards are mostly self explanatory. I also wanted to make a control type of class with emphasis on board control.
Example of the classic set:
Koopa Troopa - Green Shell is a spell from Bowsers basic set. Koopas often leave usable shells behind after they die. Also Koopa Troopa is not a beast because he is sentient and bipedal. A card probably most similar to Loot Hoarder but you don't draw from your deck, instead you get a fixed card.
Tripple Red Shells - They have 3 durability because you can shoot 3 times. They deal 3 damage just like the Green Shell. They produce Armor like all Shell Cards will. It is a distance weapon so Bowser is somewhat shielded when attacking. Also, unlike the Green Shell it does not bypass Taunt because Red Shells always have to hit the racer one place in front of you. Also I like to imagine a golden animation with spinning shells. Great multi turn enabler for all the Armor interaction. First Mario Kart card, the rest of which will mostly be in the GvG set.
Super Star - Super Stars make characters invulnerable (thus immune), faster (thus windfury) and stronger (thus +3 attack) but the effect is only temporally (thus only this turn) Probably mostly similar to Bestial Wrath.
Lakitu - Sub-vanilla stats for it's cost but could get huge value if combined with Armor gaining cards and left unanswered. Bowsers hero power does not trigger his effect because it says whenever YOU gain Armor, but if you steal druids or warriors hero power this could effectively double as an inspire effect. Spiny token is in the spoiler at the bottom of this post.
Magikoopa Kamek - Most of the time Bowsers 2nd in command. He uses his magic dust to affect the environment to help Bowser (thus spell damage) and to make a minion grow to gigantic proportions (thus his battlecry). Yes, I thought about the giant + Brann Bronzebeard + Kamek OTK combo, but my conclusion is that it is hard to pull off and still inferior to the druid combo because legendaries are one of each in a deck and you can't do it on an empty board (the druid combo grows with number of minions). So I don't think this would work for the same reason Divine Spirit + Divine Spirit + Inner Fire does not work on lader. Also this would require more cycle spells of which Bowser has only one so far.
Rest of classic set:
Mushroom - A simple buff best used for trading minions because if your opponent pings it down, your minion gets back to normal size. Also note that this spell only gives Attack to non-damaged minions.
Fire Flower - I always thought how Flamecannon and Dragon's Breath have a similar animation to Fire Flowers in the Super Smash series so this had to do 4 damage as well.
Piranha Plant - They wait until you come close, then they show up. A simple Stealth minion between Jungle Panther and Stranglethorn Tiger but without a beast tag. Also for Stealth, attack is probably more important that Health so I don't see this as too powerful.
1-Up Mushroom - Yes, the same as Ancestral Spirit (not the first time 2 classes have the same spell). Gives a minion "one extra life". I just could not resist the flavor. Also it fits Bowsers tactics perfectly.
Buzzy Beetle - Can't be damaged by Mario's fire balls so hero powers and spells have no effect on him. Also you gain some Armor when he dies.
Cheep Charge - Flying Fish! The name of this card is a reference to Cheep Charger, a vehicle in Mario Card Wii. Simple card between Bluegill Warrior and Force of Nature. Tokens are in the spoiler below.
Spiky Hammer - Foe Reaper 4000 type of effect inside a weapon, if you have Armor. The effect occurs if you have Armor before Attacking! Bowser likes Hammers, not much else to say. Also similar to Powershot (if the effect triggers).
Boo - I consider this type of re-stealthing dangerous and annoying (just like Boo) so I gave low health to a costly minion. Boo hides himself if opponents look at him and that usually makes him immune to Mario's attacks so thus the effect.
Inspirational Leader - A King has to inspire his troops with his presence. Probably most similar to Everyfin is Awesome.
Tokens:
Spiny - created by Lakitu.
Cheep Cheep - created by Cheep Charge.
Next up: In phase 4 Naxx, Gvg and Brm will introduce Dry Bones, Bullet Bills, Airships, Bob-ombs, the fauna of Bowsers lava pits and many more...
edit: Forgot the bold "Hero Power" on my Hero Power. Again.
-I get knocked down, but I get up again, you never gonna keep me down-
Still going steady in Phase III, I'll say it's an honor to be on the top 29 (because top 30 is too mainstream). The mechanic of the class is Aftershock: it triggers when you play a card after the Aftershock effect (like a reverse Combo). The aim of the class is to amass Armor, develop a strong board and wipe the floor with SMOrcs. Midrange / combo oriented.
Sandstorm: prime example of the Aftershock mechanic. The card on its own is an overcosted Consecration (without the face damage!). But if you trigger the Aftershock, your hero becomes untargetable until your next turn. You can even roleplay it and dress like The Rock in The Scorpion King (added flavor for the Illidan look-alike).
Skittish Scorpion: ah... this guy. THIS guy. Seriously, this guy. Weaker stats than Dire Wolf Alpha, but on the other hand, the effect is arguably stronger than Lassie there. If you trigger the Aftershock, it gets Stealthed for a turn, for added skittish-ness.
Mole Claws: HYAAA! I mean... yeah, this is what the Geomancer is all about: controling the board. On its own, it's a really bad weapon (ME NO SMORC?) but if you trigger the Aftershock, you can kill that Emperor Thaurissan hiding behind the Annoy-o-Tron. Goldshire Footman indirect nerf.
Gaius the Earthshaper: paging Dr. 10, please Dr. 10 report to the rekt ward ASAP. I tried to make the body and the arms linked somehow (because FLAVOR), but it ended up being either OP or UP, so I settled for this version. Strong body on it's own (if it's somehow summoned), plus the arms play as the Sword and Board of Gaius. Both Hands are easy to remove (for a 10 drop) and the body isn't threatening for such a big drop (see Kel'Thuzad).
The rest of the Classic set:
Adamant Resolve: massive Armor gain for the mana cost, but you lose ALL of it in your next turn. Even the one you gain outside this card. Combo piece for a few of the other spells.
Telluric Currents: here's where the temporary Armor comes into play. Strong AoE buff, the Aftershock helps you trade really good against your opponent.
Animate Stone: works like Feral Spirit, it gets you 2 glorified Shieldbearer. If you trigger the Aftershock, they get the Elusive effect like Faerie Dragon.
Seismic Sense: balanced around Arcane Intellect. On its own, it's a terrible card draw, if you happen to trigger the Aftershock, you get it again like Headcrack. You still need to pay 3 mana again for the draw. I'm giving the class weak card draw on purpose, because of the combo potential it has.
Living Armor: I know, it looks like a piece of crap. Why would you want to lose all your Armor just to heal for the same? it's pretty much a waste... unless you played Adamant Resolve earlier. Strict combo-oriented card.
Shockwave: gives your hero the "Cleave" effect like Foe Reaper 4000 until the end of your turn. Nothing to explain here. Helps a lot for board control.
Landslide Avatar: this guy went through a few changes, but everyone ended up OP, so I had to change the effect. The original was a dynamic effect like Lightspawn, but with Health and your Armor instead. It proved to be broken, along with several mods I tried as well. But I believe the new effect, captures the essence of the class pretty well: fuck bitches, get money... Errr, lose Armor, do something. Yeah, I totally meant to say that. Losing Armor includes taking face damage, so careful when going SMOrc with this guy on the board.
Sand Dweller: simple 2 drop with a simple Aftershock. Played alone, it's an average 2 drop, when played with the mechanic, well... that's another story.
Clay Golem: IT'S NOT Grim Patron! This guy, instead of summoning another one, it makes an exact copy. This mean that if you deal 1 damage to it, it will summon a 4/2. Works really good with Health buffs (which the class has a lot).
Earthen Adept: simple effect, your weapon remains active during your opponent's turn, meaning that any minion or herothat goes face WILL get damaged by it (it doesn't lose Durability, just like a friendly minion hitting you with Misdirection).
The Basic set:
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to vote for it when the polls go up if you liked what you saw!
Higher Mana Cost than normally to work with Transform ability.
Basic Set
Spell Retriever: Bolt is a 1-Mana 1 damage spell. See below to see token. Elemental Protector: Considering the Hero Power has Elemental Tribe, it's a very powerful turn 1 drop while it can be weak if you start 2nd. Flamespike: Nothing much to say about this one, low mana for low minion clearing board. Can be good with Spell Damage.
Mastery: Fire: Simple 2 damage spell that also summons the Hero Power token. Mastery: Ice: Giving any minion the ability to Freeze, good against weapon class. Tidal Wave: Main board clear spell of the class, low damage and only hits enemy minions but can always come back in your hand if you meet the requirement.
Owl of Knowledge: Main card draw mechanic and the class has many Elemental minion. Mighty Mutation: Card with many flexibility, used on regular minion or Hero Power token. Can also be used on a big minion as a Silence + BGH combo. However can backfire if you Transform an enemy minion you can't kill. Blazing Wolf: A different approach of Transform, Hailstone Wolf also Transform back into Blazing Wolf which makes it interesting since the card restore Health in a way, making it a sort of sticky minion. Also has Dual Tribe, I love having multiple option and this is one of them. See token below to see Hailstone Wolf.
Corrupted Treant: Summons a 0/4 that deals 1 damage to all non-Elemental minions at the end of your turn. See below for the token.
Basic Card Tokens
TOKENS
Hailstone Wolf: I decided to make this card a token since the card itself wouldn't be great enough played first as opposed to Blazing Wolf which has Charge.
Expert Cards
Ancient Guardian: Great 2 drop that works really well with the Transform ability. Spell Manipulator: Perfect follow-up to Ancient Guardian, Transforming a spell for this class into a more powerful one. See below for token. Sandrock Caster: Spell damage minion that gives the spell "Give a minion Can't attack hero." See below for token. Fiery Rush: Delayed damage that could be really strong in a rush deck. Atome Modifier: Strong ability to obtain better Transformed minion.
Commons
Golem Destroyer: Ability to kill all the friendly Golem minion, as it is right now only my Hero Power Token (Fire Golem) and gain their Deathrattle. Combo with Fire Armor to gain 2 Deathrattle. I already have different Golem made and will showcase on next Phase if I make it. Fire Armor: Sticky +1 Attack that remains on board until the opponent fully kills all enemy minions or silence it. Nymph Mutation: The reason it gives a 2/2 minion is because once killed it gives my minions +1 Attack. See below for token. Chaos Destroyer: Basically a reverse effect of Flamewaker but only activates from opponent spells. Calm Sea: Powerful 1-Mana spell, however since it's Health instead of damage, it cannot benefit from Spell Damage. Rising Lava: Weaker than Muster for Battle but allows for a full mana turn to build around it.
Rare
Typhoon: Decent damage that works well with Spell Damage. Force Transfer: Very strong secret but can also only kill a low minion and not buff a minion (if you don't have any on board).
Epic
Adapting Firestone: Works like Cogmaster and act as a self-healing if not killed. Also combo with Crazed Alchemist.
Legendary
Hell King: Ordinary ability that works perfectly for Transform (5 mana token) or buffing/Defender of Argus. See below for token.
Expert Card Tokens
Betraying Nymph: Token your opponent gets from Nymph Mutation. Quicksand: Good tool to prevent a big minion from attacking your hero. Cerberus: Perfect to transform, combo with Atome Modifier for a chance at the strong 6 mana minion (Sylvanas Windrunner, Emperor Thaurissan).
Greater Spell Tokens
This card even transforms the spells received from minion but only from his own class, Elementalist.
Note: Some gain bigger stat buff, bigger damage or mana cost reduction.
Mason Bishop: turn 10 combo that can deal up to 9 AoE damage just with your Peasants + a 4/5 body. Or you can use this Spell Power with other spells and save a Ritual until you have no Peasants for maximum value.
Class Recap: The Deathless class is all about playing the same cards over and over, so that you never have to have just one Dr. Boom.
New Keyword: Deathless. When this card is played, do (X), times the number of instances this card has been played previously. So the first time you play a card with Deathless, no effect will happen, as the number of instances you've played it previously is zero. However, once you start getting multiple copies of a card, the Deathless effect will also ramp up.
Sample Cards:
Lesson Learned: Set to be a staple in a deck, this card initially offers no advantage, as the first time you play it causes nothing but to shuffle it back into your deck. However, the second time, it becomes a decent cycle. The third time you play it, you're getting insane value at 2 cards for 1 mana.
The Infinity Blade: I couldn't make this class in good conscience without including the sword for which the entire series is named. The Infinity Blade grants you the power to cut through any nonsense that enemy might have played, be it deathrattles or divine shields.
Radriar, The God King: Warning, combos ahead. He's 8 mana for a very good reason, and that's because if you play another Deathless card like Horned Stalker, you are dealing a minimum of 5 damage with the Battlecry. Of course, he's only good with other cards of the set, which is why the ability is so strong and he avoids that undesirable 7 attack.
Horned Stalker: Another class staple. Originally played as a 3/2, playing it again makes it a far superior Flame Juggler. Playing him a 3rd time, or in concert with Radriar, and the body is more of a bonus.
Rebirth Chamber: Start recycling those cards! A number of the cards that made duplicates are already in the basic set, but this adds some variability to your gameplay.
Rest of the Set:
Commons:
Rares:
Notes:
Quantum Disruption: Yes, I know, this technically a deck attack. Normally, I'm the first to condemn these kinds of cards, but this is different. First, the only reason deck/hand attack isn't a thing is due to combo decks potentially getting completely screwed over. Well, this requires at least one of the minions to have already been played, so the battlecry isn't affected, and if the minion is a legendary, this has no effect. This way, no over all gameplan is destroyed that would have been likely otherwise.
Endless Conflict: "Most Powerful" in the battle against Mechazod was the minion with the highest combination of attack and health. Blizz did it, so I can do it too =P
Epics:
Notes:
Journey's End: Just a deck compressor, means that you're more likely to get the cards you want, and to get repitions of the cards you have played.
Basics:
Note about Deathless: I balanced it so that the second time you play a deathless card, it's either average or slightly above average, so that you're rewarded for repetition beyond what is supplied by a normal deck.
The ROBOT class is build around the theme of automatons, robots, mechs and other artificial creations. It will feature several synergies with Mech minions and Spare Parts (but it won't play a central role, just a bonus) and some new cards that benefit from the unique interaction with the hero power. Of course it will also feature non-mech minions. Augment will increase the Attack of any character by 1 and can be stacked several times if the character doesn't attack. That means instead of "pinging the hero for 1" on an empty field, you can give your hero 1 Attack and the next round another Attack for a total of 2. Out of balance reasons, your hero has no attack value during your opponents turn - just like weapons function.
Basic set
To evaluate the entire class you can find the the entire Basic set from Phase I below.
Expert set
The expert set gives you you access to pretty solid cards and allows you to create every kind of deck, from aggressive to heavy control.
5 card Preview
Supercharge: A very unique weapon that basically makes "going face" for your opponent a tactical choice, since his minion will receive damage. Also directly benefits from your hero power. Still, making use of its passive effect means you can't attack or you will lose your bonus attack, making it a rather passive card, but if it's properly incorporated into your deck, it's a strong control asset.
Quickkill 42b: A very solid 2-drop that directly interacts with your hero power, which allows you to trade up effectively. On the downside isn't much of a threat during your opponents turn, so he wants to get rid of it quickly before you can make use of it too often and rank up damage. Also a decent combo-finisher, if you can make it stick during the late game.
Armor Plating: Armor Plating can prevent lethal and makes attacking with your weapon and/or hero power less punishing.
Virus: A non-targetable hard removal that is somewhat situational since it can also hit your side of the board. However, due to your hero power and/or other buff spells and minions, you can affect the board into your favor. If you are able to make two minions have the same highest attack, it will destroy both of them, or make that only your opponent's Dr. Boom will get destroyed instead of yours.
The Terminator: The ultimate machine. Inspired by Terminator's 2 Minigun scene he will shoot at the entire enemy force without taking a life, so he spares the enemy hero. A very strong board impacting card that directly benefits from all kind of attack buffs. However due to the low attack it's not a threat to lethal on its own and can be traded without real damage. Still, it allows you to get your board back or keep it easier if you already have it. Combined with the hero power it's a 3 damage AoE on turn 10. Temporary buffs like Abusive Sergeant will end before the effect triggers.
You can find the rest of the set in the spoiler below.
Minions
Striker: While it may seem very strong on the first look (and it IS a pretty solid card), it pays for its effect by having low stats. Effectively you only get value out of the effect when you can attack twice into a minion, otherwise a divine shield would be better, since your opponent can trade with him safely on his turn right away and you payed for the effect in stats in vain.
Laser Turret: It shoots at everything that is summoned on your opponent's side of the field, including minions from spells or deathrattle minions. However it doesn't trade at all and is entirely passive, meaning it dies quickly if you don't protect it.
Combat Engineer: Overall it's just very solid minion, offering you a decent body and a decent effect that is stronger the fuller the board is with best case scenario of a full board, which should rarely happen at that point of the game tho.
Spells
Acquire Target: It acts as some sort of minion removal similar to Hunter's Mark and Power Overwhelming, but has ad- and disadvantages in different situations.
Reboot: The card will basically remove any extra effect of ALL minions on the battlefield and returns them to the state that is printed on the card. That means any buffs or debuffs are removed, including silence, freeze or stat gains like Twilight Drake. It's situational, but still a very handy and cheap card that proofs to be useful in all kinds of situations.
Cooldown: A VERY versatile card allowing you to either Freeze an enemy minion, snipe a minion that is behind a taunt by giving it taunt as well, or give a minion of yours taunt to protect your life or another valuable minion. Lastly it also provides a cycle. You have to target a minion to be able to play it tho, so in dire situations you have to freeze your own minion.
Scrap Junk: Primarily intended to be a combo piece, which allows for lethal combos (either as some sort of charge or Windfury depending how it is used), but can be used to get more out of a damaged minion as sort of weapon removal, if the situation calls for.
Rocket Punch: When I said the expert set offers "solid" cards, this is one of the prime examples. It's simple and straight-forward, but valuable in many situations. The class won't have many other direct damage spells, so it will be almost all alone.
Power Surge: A very bipolar card that is very good when you can make use of the rest of your mana and close the round with it, but rather bad in top deck mode as it shuts down your turn without being able to make use of the cards you draw. It's a very strategic card that can be really powerful or really weak, depending how you play around it, but it's intended that way.
Core Upgrade: Not much to say about. It makes a big minion even bigger, but comes at a high cost. Not every card has to be constructed worthy. ;) Can be pretty good in arena tho.
The class is inspired by the classic board and card games. Grandmaster is the title of the best Chess players and the class has a lot of Chess references, expecially in the basic set. Now in the Classic Set and in future sets a greater variety of games will apear.
Hero Power Clarifications
The hero Power is not a choice. If you already have the Dice in play the Hero Power will automatically buff him. The Hero Power will only buff a Dice that is created by it. If you copy the Dice with Faceless Manipulator, if you steal a Dice created by your oponent Hero Power or if you return it to hand and play it again it wont be buffed.
THE BASIC SET
THE CLASSIC SET
Castle of Cards: If you touch the Castle of Cards it will fall onto you. Knife Juggler cunter :p
Go to Jail and Critical Failure: Two of the class secrets.
Agains All Odds: It will take skill to minimize the randomness and get the best results of this spell. Usually better used when there are only enemy minions on the board, but if you are feeling lucky you can use it on your own minion and cross your fingers.
The Queen: Promote is not a new Keyword. Like “Dream Card” on Ysera its just a way to make the card text a little more simple. When a Pawn hit the enemy Hero he will be transformed at random into one of the three Chess pieces from the basic set: Ebony Knight, White Bishop or Fortified Rook.
In Chess when a pawn hit the end of the other side of the board he is promoted and can become any other piece, thats the effect I tried to replicate with the legendary.
The Queen is na OK minion if you dont have board control, but if you have it and also have Pawns ready to attack it can offer a great value.
The Pawn Token
The cards the Pawn can be promoted to with The Queen:
REST OF THE CLASSIC SET
Battleship Shooting: Inspired by the Battleship game where you fire at random trying to hit the enemy boats. Very similar to Powershot.
Castling: Castling is a move in chess when you move the King in the direction of the Rook and switch place with it, kind like if he were hiding in his castle. So this is the idea behind this secret, your Hero hides behind a minion that´s in your hand. This secret can work very well with minions with deathrattle.
Agents are mysterious figures. Some say they represent a secret government organization whose task it is to keep the public in the dark about the paranormal and especially extraterrestrial realities around us. Others say these men in black are themselves supernatural entities, whether time-travelers or alien-human hybrids meant to manipulate. Only one thing is certain; when unexplained phenomena are afoot, the agents are sure not to be far behind.
HERO POWER
The Agent's Hero Power is Clearance, which adds a copy of the File token to their hand. This Hero Power is most comparable to the Warlock power. It sacrifices the immediate and inexpensive nature of Life Tap in order to avoid damage and potentially play around with Spell synergy.
EXAMPLE CLASSIC CARDS
Cover Up Removes something from the game, until a specific action occurs.
Most of this is rather intuitive, but it pays to be thorough when defining an all new game mechanic.
A Covered Up game element is removed from the game. Thus, it does not count against any game limits and cannot be affected as though it were in play. A Covered Up minion that was removed from the battlefield does not count against your number of minions, and it would not be damaged by something like Flamestrike. A Covered Up card that was removed from your hand does not count against your hand size limit, and it could not be discarded by something like Doomguard. A Covered Up card that was removed from your deck would not be counted by something like Reno Jackson. You get the picture.
Covered Up game elements are visible to players in a new, separate UI area that I will later design visually. Covered Up elements appear to each player just as they did before they were removed from the game. That is to say, for example, that a Covered Up card from your opponent's hand would be visible face-up to them but only visible face-down to you. Hovering over a Covered Up element will also show the effect that Covered it Up, so you can always check how to recover a Covered Up element.
A Covered Up game elements returns in the same state as when it left. For example, a card in hand whose Cost was reduced by Emperor Thaurissan returns with its Cost still reduced, and a minion that had been given Taunt by Sunfury Protector will retain Taunt upon its return. Covered Up game elements return as though they were newly added to the game. That is to say, returned minions from the battlefield appear to the right (and cannot attack immediately unless they have Charge), returned cards from your are added to the right, and returned cards from your deck are shuffled in. If a returning game element would exceed some game limit, like your limit of minions on the battlefield or your hand size limit, it is instead destroyed. The exceptions to this will be Hero Powers and equipped weapons, as newly gaining one of those normally destroys and replaces an existing one.
The purpose of the Cover Up keyword is to allow temporary and conditional removal of game elements. Most uniquely, it allows for "hand attacks" and "deck attack" (game effects that "discard" cards from your hand and/or deck) that actually allow for recovery and counter-play. For now, only minions, cards in hand, and cards in deck can be Covered Up, but future expansion cards may also Cover Up Hero Powers, Secrets, or equipped Weapons.
Explanations / Clarifications:
Confidential: This is the most basic Cover Up effect. It can be used as a pseudo-Sap to temporarily but cheaply remove a troublesome enemy minion, or it can be used as a pseudo-Conceal to protect a friendly minion from your opponent.
Grey Liaison: This is a rather self-explanatory "hand attack" using the Cover Up mechanic. Its purpose is to potentially delaying your opponent's most optimal plays by forcing them to use their Hero Power first. Think of it as a pseudo-Loatheb.
Seize Evidence: This is one of the Agent's unique 4-mana half-Secrets. The Agent's Secret spells are unique because they all have "Deal 2 damage" as an immediate, non-Secret function. This means that, unlike other classes' Secrets, the Agent's don't necessarily lose you tempo when played. It is worth mentioning that, when put into the battlefield by Mad Scientist, the "Deal 2 damage" portion of these Secrets will simply not occur.
"Weather Balloon": This is one of the Agent's few defensive options. I wanted to include a second Secret in the example cards, and this one was my favorite thematically. Additionally, for better or for worse, it highlights the challenge of creating the Agent's half-Secrets. Because they must all devote card text space to "Deal 2 damage", it's difficult to make their Secret options as complex as other existing Secret classes can get away with.
Grey Researcher: A wanted to include a second Alien, and I thought this pseudo-Cabal Shadow Priest would be the most interesting, though it does overlap a bit in function with Seize Evidence. To be clear, yes, it can steal an enemy minion.
REMAINING CLASSIC SET
Explanations / Clarifications:
Investigation: The File tokens produces are the same as though from the Clearance Hero Power (see above).
Indrid Cold: The purpose of the class legendary is to alter draw potential. Used on your own deck early in the game, it prevents you from drawing into your big cards too early and ending up with dead cards in your hand. Used on your opponent's deck late in the game, it can prevent them from drawing into their big plays.
Quarantine: "Leaving the battlefield" is a catch-all and can include dying, being return to a hand, or being Covered Up. Silencing or Transforming the chosen minion will not cause the Covered Up minions to be lost, as the Cover Up effect is a continuing spell effect rather than an enchantment added to the chosen minion.
Elusive Species: Unlike most other Classic Secrets, this one uses "After" rather than "When" in order to avoid the Bigfoot being affected by an AoE spell that triggers it.
Shapeshifter: The card text will be applied to the Reptilian as an enchantment, so it will not be retained if, say, it is returned to your hand.
BASIC SET
Explanations / Clarifications:
Manifestation: To be clear, yes, the Spell Damage bonus is granted before the damage is done, so provided that you have no other sources of Spell Damage bonuses, it will deal 1 damage to all other minions.
Conspiracy Theorist: The File tokens produces are the same as though from the Clearance Hero Power (see above).
Men in Black: The minions are vanilla, but they do have the Alien tag.
Abduction: To be clear, yes, it can steal an enemy minion.
COMPLETE COLLECTION, by Cost
COMPLETE COLLECTION, by Function
Board Presence
Buffs
Card Draw
Defense
Removal
Single Target
Area of Effect
Now, move right along and just forget you saw any of this... After you vote for me, I mean. ^_~
Doctor Zoom is a time-traveling alien who hails from the planet of Gally III, in a galaxy both a long time ago and far away from Azeroth. He travels the space-time continuum in his sort of trusty time machine, T.A.R.D.Y. It can take him anywhere and anytime he wants to go, although he always seems to end up getting there a little late for some reason. Hearthstone came out two years ago, but he has just now arrived on the scene!
Time Lord is about setting up combos and control. His Hero Power let's you know what card you will draw next, which gives strategic value, and also lowers its cost to make big plays later. His control cards are not just about getting kills, but also focus on returning minions to the hand or deck. To benefit from bouncing his own minions, he's got lots of Battlecries. Here are the most iconic cards from expert:
Featured Cards:
Rewind: This is my example of a control card, and it exemplifies the Time Lord theme of bouncing minions. In addition, these cards can be used to both control enemy minions, as well as return your cards to your hand/deck (works best with all those Battlecry minions Time Lord has). This is also one of the cards that helps you set up combos by setting the top card of your deck. Odd Pyschic, and others, play off of these effects.
Aural Lockpick: Just as the Sonic Screwdriver lets the doctor through any barrier, the Aural Lockpick lets you past any irksome Taunt minion! Never let those Sludge Belchers bother you again! This is an example Time Lord weapon, which are all part of his Chrono Tools! These weapons will never have high attack, and give benefits through their effects, instead.
Emo Statue: Don't blink! The Emo Statue cannot move or be hurt when another minion is looking at it (i.e. is directly across the board). I wanted to transcribe some iconic Doctor Who minions into the class, with quirky effects. I prefer making innovative effects rather than new keywords, and this exemplifies that in the Expert set best. The epitome of a fun card!
Odd Psychic: What I wanted to show here is how this minion's effect synergizes with the hero power. With Odd Psychic, you have to pick your target before you know whether it will heal or hurt the target. That's big RNG, unless you already know the top card of your deck! Your hero power lets you do this, as well as a number of other Time Lord cards, such as the class legendary. Time Lord will have a ~4 cards like this. We have Temporal Vortex in basic and several more to come.
Ditty "Spoilers" Lake: Doctor Zoom's time traveling girlfriend. They always seem to meet up out of order, so she can give him hints on what's coming up next! You have to show the class legendary, and she also demonstrates the Time Lord theme of setting up combos through knowing what card(s) you'll draw next. In her case, you can play that card immediately!
The rest of the cards are in the spoiler right here. For a more in depth description of all the Time Lord themes and synergies, check out the bottom spoiler. I've also broken down the entire collection so far into categories for easier reading.
All Expert cards:
Card Explanations:
Wrinkle in Time: This is a cheap removal spell with a downside, since your opponent gets a card. There are several other cards that let you set it up by either putting a specific card on your opponent’s deck or revealing their top card(s). I worded it this way specifically so that it wouldn’t trigger draw effects.
Psychic Paper: Somewhat similar to Flare, except you are stealing a Secret. So it’s also like Kezan Mystic, except that the card goes into your hand so you still have to pay for it. If you aren’t playing a Secret class, then it cycles itself for two mana, which seems like an okay deal to me.
Plan Ahead:: This is the epitome of a Time Lord card. You get to draw a card, and you also get knowledge about your next two card. You don’t know which of the two you will draw first, but once you find out, you know exactly what the next card is. Combos well with cards like Temporal Vortex and Odd Psychic. It’s basically a better Tracking.
Rewind: This is another versatile bouncing card. I made it more limiting because the original version was too powerful. It lets you set up for cards that depend on the top card of the deck for either side.
Time Loop: If you cast this on a minion, it makes it better at clearing the board, but makes it essentially useless for attacking the enemy hero. Like it says, at the end of every turn, any minion or hero it damaged that turn is healed back up by the same amount, and any damage it took that turn is healed back. Basically any attack it takes is undone, as well as any attack on it. Unless it killed the other minion. In that case, the other minion stays dead, but the Time Loop minion heals the damage it took back. So, it’s good for keeping board control, if you keep killing its targets, but not any good at going face, and your opponent can’t kill it without dealing all of its damage in one turn.
Aural Lockpick: Just like how the Sonic Screwdriver lets the Doctor get through any barrier, the Aural Lockpick allows you to neutralize any Taunt minion! Note the Silence happens as the attack begins, like Truesilver Champion. Good against Sludge Belcher and Tirion Fordring.
Emo Statue: Like the Weeping Angels, it can't move and is invulnerable while someone is looking at it. What it means by there being a minion across the board is that, if you draw a line straight up from the center of the card, it will intersect another card.
Time Cop: This is like Frothing Berserker or Holy Champion, in that it gains help based on the class theme. Here, it is bouncing cards. It is harder to bounce cards that to damage minions or heal, so it has better stats than its counterparts.
Alter Timeline: This would probably be a good control card. You don’t choose the damage target, but how much damage is done is based on a chosen friendly minion. To do a good amount of damage, you need to have a card with a decent mana cost. So if you have one high-cost minion, this is a slightly random, high damage spell. With the downside that you return a card to hand.
Cyborg Man: If you can keep killing minions and surviving, you can get a whole lot of these guys out. To balance the powerful effect, it has weak stats. Would be good against aggro, or if you can keep getting finishing blows.
Warp Chronometer: This card is similar to Commanding Shout, on a weapon, in that you can trade in to minions without really losing your own minions. Note that the bounce happens after any Deathrattles trigger. It’s best when you have good battlecries or deathrattles, because you will get them again.
Digital Watch Dog: This card gives you both strategic value in knowing what’s on the bottom of your deck as well as a card draw. The card you don't choose is put back on the bottom of your deck.
Odd Psychic: With this card, you have to choose the target first. If you don’t know what your top card is, it is then RNG whether you will heal or damage it. Fortunately, Time Lord has a number of ways to reveal or set the top card (including the Hero Power), which makes this card more reliable.
Ditty “Spoilers” Lake: When this card is out, the top card of your deck is always visible, but only to you! Also, you can play that card as if it were in your hand. Just drag it out from over your deck like you would with one in your hand. Ditty’s effect is ongoing, so after you draw, play, discard, or otherwise change the top card of your deck, you can still see and play the new top card. This combos really well with other Time Lord cards that interact with your top card.
Total Recall: People have been proposing this kind of effect since Alpha (mostly as a new effect for Nozdormu). So, I had to make a card like this. The would work as a good AOE board clear, if used correctly. It would change everything on the board to how it was at the beginning of last turn (not this turn). It would also change the heroes’ health to how it was, but it wouldn’t change mana crystals, hands, or decks. This means that any minions that were played since the beginning of your last turn would be effectively destroyed, without triggering death effects. It would be hard to use, but potentially very powerful, so I made it expensive.
Basic Set:
Themes and Synergies:
The main Time Lord themes are control and setting up combos. These are embodied in several themes in the card effects, including returning cards to player’s hands and decks, knowledge of the top card of your deck and/or setting that card, and cost reduction. I tried to design cards that work off of these themes and/or combine them in interesting ways. For example, there are going to be more cards like Temporal Vortex, whose effect depends on the top card of your deck. In any other class, this would be pure RNG, but it synergizes with Time Lord themes to set up combos. Two minor design themes are the Time Lord’s use of Mechs, and his weapons, the Chrono Tools. All weapons will have an effect that does something beyond damaging minions, since they are based off the ever-useful Sonic Screwdriver.
Control:
Time Lord is a weapon class, but none of their weapons have high attacks. Therefore, I intend to create damage spells to complement them, although not too many, because Time Lord also has alternative types of control. Time Lord has 3 single target damage spells so far. Time Core Blast is the Darkbomb-type spell. Wrinkle in Time and Alter Timeline have high variance in their damage, and also have significant downsides. Freeze Time offers direct removal, although with several limitations over a card like Assassinate. Run! and Rewind bounce single targets, and I expect to create more ways to do this in future expansions. There are three AOE spells. Temporal Vortex is AOE damage, while Restart and Total Recall are AOE removal. Finally, Aural Lockpick is designed to help neutralize Taunt minions. The Chrono Tools all do different things, but some of them will be designed for targeted control Tech like this.
Setting Up Combos:
Time Lord's Hero Power is strong at setting up plays for later turns. There will be several cards that reduce costs, as well. In the Basic set you have Run!, which is good for setting up combos with Battlecry or Charge minions, and Secrets of the Time Lords. Auto-Chronicler is an example of a card that can set the top card of your deck. This will be important, as cards like Temporal Vortex and Odd Psychic will have effects that depend on what that card is. Setting or knowing it will be an important part of Time Lord Combos. And this is apparent in the expert set, as I have added three new cards that let you do this: Plan Ahead, Rewind, and Ditty Lake. Here are the cards that benefit from knowing your top card:
Bouncing Cards:
Returning card to the deck or hand is an important Time Lord theme. There will be a number of options for returning both friendly and enemy minions. In addition, Time Lord has cards that synergize with bouncing. Chronobot and Time Cop have effects that directly benefit, and Time Lord also has a number of Battlecryminions (see the list of these below).
Chrono Tools:
The Chrono Tools will be the Time Lord weapons, which are parodies of the Sonic Screwdriver. Like the Sonic, they will all have great utility, and are not meant for blunt force. For other classes, the weapons usually focus on just dealing damage to enemies. I purposefully will not make that only do this, and none of them will have high attack (none have more than 2 attack now, and I think that's a good limit). The Chrono Wrench is the simplest and most blunt of these instruments. The expert weapons have more complicated effects. Aural Lockpick is control tech, while Warp Chronometer helps build card advantage by bouncing your minions back to your hand after they die. I plan to add 1-2 more weapons in the expansions. I think having a number of weapons will be okay, because you will include each one in your deck for its effect, not for its attack. They shouldn't get in each other's way so much as with the other classes.
Battlecry Minions:
With the number of cards that can return friendly minions to your hand, Time Lord synergizes strongly with Battlecry minions. As such, they have a number of class minions with Battlecry to benefit from the synergy. There are four so far in the Classic set, and I will add probably 2-4 more with the expansions.
New Mechanic: RollOver X is the new Mechanic I'll be introducing for my class. How it works is that the X will have some value between 1 and 19 and a random number between 1 and 20 is created via 'die roll'. IF the die roll is higher than the X value then whatever condition that follows takes place. Basically, it gives you a random chance for an event to occur in 5% increments. Why not just say, '35% chance to avoid damage' instead of RollOver 13? Because Dungeon Master's Hero Power synergizes with RollOver X. If your Hero Power is charged when a RollOver X check is made you roll a 20. Unlike other uses of the Hero Power this can even take place on your opponent's turn.
Proactive Tech: A theme for the Dungeon Master class will be what I call Proactive Tech. These are tech cards that you put into play before the situation that they are teching against is on the board, making your opponent have awkward plays on his turn. Most tech in the game is reactive, for instance, all the anti-Weapon tech is reactive, you have to wait until the weapon you want to destroy is in play before you use the tech card. A good example of a Proactive Tech card currently in the game is Counterspell.
Dungeon Footpad: This card showcases both of the themes of this phase. RollOver and Proactive Tech. This little Thief is adept and finding and removing traps (Secrets). In a match-up vs. a Hero with no Secrets he still functions as a Jungle Panther minus the Beast tag. But, he really shines when facing a Secret deck. Note: The Secret would be destroyed before activating.
Rust Monster: The Rust Monster is the bane of Fighters in D&D. Remember that magic Sword? That shiny suit of magic armor? Not anymore. This little fella is a Proactive Tech version of Acidic Swamp Ooze. Due to the fact that death is the last thing the game checks for, nothing less than a 4 attack weapon is strong enough to kill the Rust Monster. He hungers for your Fiery War Axe. You coin this out on turn 1 and an opposing weapon class has some very awkward plays to make.
Wish: I'm just bringing the fun with this spell. You might be invincible, you might get cursed, you might join the ranks of the undead, you might even wish for more wishes. This card is designed for folks who are more concerned about the experience of the game than winning consistently. Sometimes you play a game to have fun. Well, maybe not you, but some freaks out there.
Djinni of the Lamp: The Djinni also makes use of the Wish spells, this time shuffling them into a deck. The idea is that you get an over-statted Minion with a drawback. If this survives until your turn, you can possibly cause it to shuffle a Wish into your deck as well. I would guess Ancient Shade is the closest comp.
Ivan the Abjurer: Another card that fills the double roll of showcasing RollOver and Proactive Tech. Ivan the Abjurer is very difficult for your opponent to kill with spells. It will often take a sacrificial spell to take off the hero power protection followed with the 'real' damage spell. Best comp is probably Troggzor the Earthinator which tries to fill a role of anti-spell tech but fails.
The Rest of the Cards:
Commons:
Magic Missile: Magic Missile is a staple spell for every D&D Mage. It damages everything reliably and scales quite well for a 1st level spell. You can also use it to either attack multiple weak targets or one single large target. It's a very versatile spell. And I've tried to capture that here. If you pay 2 mana this gives you an average of 3 damage, the same as Darkbomb. The random nature of the damage makes it a bit worse though. If you use your Hero Power you can get a guaranteed 5 damage for 4 mana. Making comparable, if inferior, to Fireball. If you cast this when you have 6 mana you get an average of 6 damage for 6 mana. If you cast this at 8 mana you get a guaranteed 5 plus an average 3, so 8 damage for 8. If you have 10 mana you can get 3 missiles off for an average of 9 damage making it an inferior Pyroblast. If you get more than 1 missile each one is cast separately, so you get to choose a new target each time and trigger any effects as a result of casting a spell each time. It's never as efficient as it's Mage counterparts, but I believe the versatility makes up for it.
Command: Command was always my favorite Priest spell when playing D&D; it was just amazingly useful, if not terribly powerful, in so many situations. It was like having Jedi Mind Control as long as you could condense your will into a single word. This card gives you a single use of your opponent's hero power and draws you a card. I feel like the power is right in line with Power Word: Shield. Power Word: Shield gives you a card and a zero mana effect, just like this. Both cards are conditional, with PWS needing a body on board and with Command giving you a random power.
Troll: They are big, green, and very hard to kill. Check, check, and check. It's Dreadsteed's supersize sibling. Easier to deal with than Dreadsteed though because even a Rusty Horn will Silence this guy. Utilizes the RollOver mechanic. Could use your hero power to guarantee regeneration, but, might not be worth the cost with a standard 75% rate as it is. Piloted Sky Golem is a decent comp.
Cat's Grace: It's your basic minion buff. Showcases the ability of the RollOver mechanic to be used on Spells. Good synergy with the hero power. Compares quite closely with Seal of Champions.
Sleep: I tried to model this card as closely as possible on the Sleep spell in D&D. That spell can only affect up to 4HD monsters and waking them up takes an action. So, with this spell I replaced HD with Mana Cost and tried to simulate the sleeping and subsequent waking of minions with the return to hand and cheap casting. This spell reminds me a bit of Shadow Word: Pain. It gives you an advantage over the smaller minions in the game. If you opponent has more than 2 minions this effects you even get a Tempo gain to go with the hopeful initiative you received to begin with.
Rares:
Dispacer Beast: Displacer Beast is just a cool D&D monster that I wanted to include. It has the same 30% chance to avoid damage as in D&D. It's a feline with six legs and tentacles that appears 5 feet from its real position, what's not to like? Makes use of the RollOver mechanic. Not sure the best comp, Silvermoon Guardian perhaps?
Prayer: Hearthstone could use global enchantments, but, until that time this mechanic will suffice. Compares with The Mistcaller.
Prismatic Spray: Gygaxian Horde finally gets a mass removal. But, a wonky one. Each enemy minon gets hit with a spell effect. It could be very strong like Starfire, possibly removing the minion and drawing you a card, or it could be very bad like using Gang Up on a Healing Totem.
Moonfire Naturalize Starfire Mulch Recycle Arcane Shot Cobra Shot Kill Command Quick Shot Fireball Polymorph Dragon's Breath Flame Lance Ice Lance Polymorph Boar Arcane Blast Pyroblast Hammer of Wrath Humility Holy Smite Entomb Inner Fire Silence Convert Holy Fire Assassinate Sap Betrayal Eviscerate Shiv Gang Up Frost Shock Hex Crackle Earth Shock Lightning Bolt Lava Burst Drain Life Shadow Bolt Corruption Darkbomb Mortal Coil Soulfire Fist of Jaraxxus Imp-losion Siphon Soul DemonHeart Bash Inner Rage Slam Mortal Strike
Epics:
Lich: One of the Wishes turns you into a Lich. This is that Lich. If you get turned into a Lich you have 15 Health, a 2/8 weapon, and Wild Magic for a hero power. This card is pretty fun on its own though, giving you a mini-Ysera that you can run 2 copies.
Gate: In D&D you open up a gate for minons to come to your aid, but, you don't really know what will step though that gate. Just like this spell. I think Dungeon Master has a lot of minions that will work well with Gate, not many crucial Battlecry minions to lower the value. Compares with Varian Wrynn
Wish List:
The Lich:
If you manage to get the Wish for Immortality spell from either the Wish spell or the Djinni of the Lamp, your hero is replaced with a Lich. You have 15 life, the Wild Magic Hero Power, and equip the Immortui Baculus.
Hero Power:
The Dungeon Master is the guy behind the scenes. He rolls the dice. And if he wants it to roll a 20, it rolls a 20. He's got that kind of power.
But, what you really want to know about is the Hero Power. I'll discuss it in some length here. But, essentially, when you pay for the Hero Power it Charges up. It then waits for the next random effect to happen on your turn. That means specifically, A card has a range of numbers, or uses the word 'Random'. Those are the two triggers that will activate the hero power. If it's a range of numbers you get to pick the number. If it says 'random' you simply change 'random' to 'chosen' and go from there.
So, some examples.
You cast a spell that says, "Restore 2-9 Health". If your Hero power is charged when you cast the spell you get a little slider that pops up giving you a chance to choose 9 (or any other number between 2 and 8).
You cast a minion with the text, "Battlecry: Deal 1 damage to 3 random targets." It now reads, "Battlecry: Deal 1 damage to 3 chosen targets." So, you'll get to pick those targets as you would if it wasn't a random effect.
You cast a minion with the text, "Battlecry Deal 1-3 damage to 3 random targets." Now you get to choose the range of damage, but, you don't get to choose the targets. On a card like this that has more than 1 valid trigger for your ability, only the first one gets changed by your ability.
Lets say you kill a Piloted Shredder on your turn with your hero power charged. Do you then get to choose the minion that drops out? No. It is too unweildy for the game if you start choosing targets from a list of all possible cards, so it's simply limited. The Hero Power is limited to choosing cards that were in either of the player's decks to start the game. This means that you could choose a random card from a deck, hand, the battlefield, or 'graveyard', but, you can't choose a random card from the ether.
RollOver X is an exception to the rule than your hero power only works on your turn. If a RollOver X ability, on one of your cards, triggers while your hero power is charged it will cause a 20 to be rolled no matter which player is active.
It's also worth noting the effects that take place, 'At the end of your turn.' fall outside the range of the ability, as they are no longer during your turn.
Shameless Plug: Some of things to come should I make the next Phase -- A Red Dragon that drops a treasure. Mind Flayers stealing minions. A trip back to town to see the bartender, constable, blacksmith, and merchant. A Mimic sighting. A healthy dose of Drow Elves. Even a Joust card that doesn't suck!
Hey guys! Plumber Class and Luigi have returned! Mamma Mia what a week it has been. Wait till you see what we got for you today! The class is:
Plumber
and the hero is the one and only; LUIGI!
Hero and Hero Power:
The token card created by the hero power:
Summary of the class:
Plumber is an enchanter class focusing on creating several smaller minions on the board and avoiding to take direct damage itself. The class introduces a new keyword Boost that is triggered when targeted by a Power-Up tribe spell, creating a significant impact on the board.
The basic set from Phase II:
Basic Cards
The token created by Mystery Box if you have no Power-Up spells left in your deck to draw:
Mystery Box functions as Sense Demons but provides you Power-Up cards instead. This is a keycard to the class that relies heavily on having buff cards ready to use.
Lakitu is a Basic Set minion that provides both players a Power-Up card. The Power-Up card will be more valuable to you though because it will be used to trigger the Boost effect your future minions will have. Therefore Lakitu gives both players equally something but you are more equal than the opponent!
Baby Yoshi is the cute little fella who shows the way Power-Up cards aid your class without even having to cast them. Just wait till you see what a grown up Yoshi will do!
Super Star: The mighty Power-Up which can be cast even to the hero. Works similar to Bestial Wrath except it is not limited to a specific minion type. Very devastation when used on some stronger Boost minion such as Magikoopa or Kamek.
Goomba: The basic Boost minion that can fast swarm the board if left alive. Imagine the scenario where you play the Goomba on turn 2 and turn 3 you hero power and cast the 1-Up Mushroom to Goomba. Result is a 3/3 and a 2/2 for 5 mana! Unlike most 2-drops, this minions works even in the late game if your hand is full of Power-Up cards!
Piranha Plant: This is a big Boost minion that unleashes the full use of a Boost effect. When a Power-Up is cast on this minion, it transforms into a monstrous version that is angry, deadly, savage and full of power. Also the transform effect resets the health and any spells or battlecries cast on this minion. (Yes, even the boost spell)
Yoshi: The iconic dinosaur from the Mario world shows the other way to use the Power-Up cards besides the Boost effect. Yoshi can become devastating if the opponent has no way to deal small amount of damage and get you to discard your Power-Up cards. On the other hand Arcane Missiles kind spells will destroy Yoshi, cause you to discard your hand and then make Yoshi vulnerable against nearby anything! Big risk, big reward minion! :)
Kamek: The big Magikoopa boss is the class legendary of the Plumber class. Where a normal Magikoopa (see below in the remaining cards of the classic set) casts the copy of the effect only on a single minion, Kamek buffs your entire board with the effect. Imagine giving a +1/+1 buff to a single minion for 1 mana. Fair deal. But then imagine giving the +1/+1 buff to every friendly minion for 1 mana? Now that's the game! Kamek is slower than any other Classic legendary, but the idea is similar to Archmage Antonidas that when used on turn 8-10 and combined with a bunch of spells, he will be the game finisher. (Do note that the copy of a spell does NOT trigger any Boost effects, because the effect requires that spell itself, not the copy, is cast on the minion. Therefore Kamek will not create an endless loop of Boost effects if on the board with another Kamek. That would be too crazy! :D)
Remaining Classic Set:
Explanation for the rest of the Classic set:
Nabbit: The Plumber Class version of Mana Wyrm rewards you for keeping a spell card in your opening hand.
LifeMushroom: The card works just the way Life Mushroom works in the Mario games. It heals you and gives you a short time time buff. The Health buff for the rest of the turn basically allows you to take 3 more damage that turn for free on the minion. You have seen how a temporary health increase effect works for example when used with a card like Stormwind Champion.
Monty Mole: Funny little mole that secures its way on the battlefield. The main issue of Plumber class is that the minions are slightly underpowered the turn they are played in. Monty Mole is one of the minions that avoids the issue and secures you the way to get a minion on the board for the beginning of your turn.
Firebug: A mini version of Grim Patron. Plumber class will not have a permanent way to Stealth a minion so therefore Firebug is super vulnerable on the first turn. On the other hand if managed to kept alive, it starts to spread exponentally and can possess a threat. Especially when one of the Firebugs is buffed with Power-Ups to keep itself alive longer.
Magikoopa: One of the key minions of the class. Magikoopa's Boost effect is like reserved Djinni of Zephyrs. It gives your Power-Up cards way bigger impact than they would have on their own. Magikoopa is practically like Azure Drake for Rogue and Mage. A must have minion.
Toad: Useful minion to have both a body on the battlefield and later a power-up card to buff a minion. 2 at once!
Shy Guy: This is most likely the cutest thing I've ever created. Shy Guy is too shy and cannot fight on the board alone. If there is nobody with him, he hides in the shadows until someone comes to assist him! Poor fella :(
Thwomp:Pit Lord of Plumber class. A big 4 mana drop that works the best when played on an empty board. Otherwise there is a chance some Shy Guys or Toads might get crushed! Oh my!
Mega Mole: Big brother of Monty Mole. Bigger, badder and very dangerous since it will secure its way on the board and cannot be killed by anyone else except Ragnaros the Firelord before your turn starts.
Power Horn: The biggest removal plumber class is going to have. If opponent has 1 minion, it is simply deal 1 damage to 1 minion. If 2, deal 2 damage to 2 and so on. On average opponent needs to have at least 4 minions to make it useful. And 4 minions on board is technically what Blizzard considers as overboarding so therefor this spell punishes recklessness like that! :)
Also here is the link to the complete album on Imgur:
Hope you enjoyed our show today! What next? What could Plumber possibly face in the undead necropolis? Anyone remember Luigi's Mansion? I believe the gang of Boos and the terrifying Dry Bones are waiting just around the corner! What? You wanna have a taste of the incoming GvG? Oh boy, if you thought Boost-Ups could only buff your minions, here's a twist; they can buff enemy minions with Boost as well. We haven't seen any Bob-omps in action yet have we? I believe an explosion surprise will be waiting for you! And about the Blackrock Mountain... I believe it's finally time to meet the mighty king koopa that puts any dragon beneath his shadow. He has been waiting for this whoooooole time. And he does not like waiting... You know who am I talking about, don't you? ;)
Special Thanks to JamieFTW1505, Layrit, Asylum_Rhapsody, nurgling13, Knetog, and the many, many more who helped me in endless reviews for Bard. I am always so dependent on feedback and constructive criticism, and it makes me so happy to be in a community that is willing to help me with that.
Welcome back to...
What Makes a Bard?
The purpose of Bard's classic set is to define its most basic playstyle and show what sets it off from other classes. This boils down to three main points:
LOTS of Melody effects with different synergies, to give any Bard decktype at least one melody effect to experiment with.
Cards that really push Bard being a peaceful class, with healing your your opponent and incentives not to go face.
Less of a focus on token summoning effects, and more of an emphasis on the things that buff them, introducing 3 new Songs.
Our returning Hero is virtuoso Lindsey Starling, with her Hero Power, Acoustics:
Lindsey Starling & Acoustics Explained
"A picture is worth a thousand words, but a song is worth a million." -Lindsey Starling
A legendary Musician who is said to have defeated a dragon with nothing but a violin, Lindsey preaches peace and unity to the world through music. No matter where we come from, we still feel the same joy and the same sadness. No matter how different we think we are, a song can show us that our emotions are the same. She travels the world as a wandering hero, teaching all she meets of her philosophy. Already, hundreds of other bards from every corner of the globe have joined her cause, thus forming the Starling Orchestra. They have taken up her goal of a world where people put their differences aside and live in harmony, a goal that they believe can be achieved through music.
Her Hero Power, Acoustics, gives her a minor board control tool while also allowing her to recover in the later game. Many classes with Hero Powers that give them 1 Attack suffer from the fact that they end up taking far too much damage from each attack. Druid has some mitigation of this, but Rogue has none. By using the Melody mechanic, this hero power allows you to choose between a weaker version of Rogue's hero power for damage or a weaker version of Warrior's hero power for recovery each time you use it, once again showing how the Melody mechanic lets you make interesting choices.
Melody Mechanic Explained
While they do fight valiantly for what they believe is right, bards are generally more peaceful people who would rather play an enticing melody than engage in direct combat. As such, the Bard class's unique keyword is Melody, which gives a character an ability that they can use instead of attacking.
Melody effects are activated by pressing the melody button that appears when attacking with a minion. Playing a melody has all the same conditions as attacking, and should be thought of as "a different way to attack."
A minion can't use its melody if it already attacked that turn, and can't attack if it already used its melody that turn
Minions cannot play their melodies on the turn they are played
Minions CAN play their melodies on the turn they are played if they have charge
Minions cannot play their melodies if they are Frozen or have "Can't Attack"
Minions can play their melodies TWICE in a turn if they have windfury (or attack twice, or use 1 melody and 1 attack in any combination)
Weapons can have melody effects, which cost 1 durability to use
While the conditions for using a Melody are the same attacking, the actual effect is closer to a battlecry or spell.
Melodies can be targeted regardless of Taunt
Not all melodies need to be targeted
You cannot play a melody if there is no valid target for it (the button won't appear)
Melodies are unaffected by "50% chance to attack the wrong enemy"
As to the debate over legendary spell tokens... Based on the "Lore", these two songs are on par with the WoW concept of Legendary. They are The Conductor's absolute strongest abilities and can/should only be used in the most difficult of battles.
It is true that all spell tokens have no rarity. However, all weapon tokens except for Ashbringer have no rarity, but Ashbringer became an exception because it is such a legendary weapon in WoW lore. It makes logical sense that these spells would be given the same kind of exception, since they are such legendary songs.
Explanations:
Debut
Every drawing starts with a point, every musician starts with a debut.
The Melody mechanic suffers from the fact that it is always slow, since minions can't play their melodies on the turn that they are played and few if any melody minions will have Charge. This card offers a solution to that issue, and opens up the Melody bard decktype into something viable. This card on its own may be hard to justify a deck slot for, but potent melody effects and some more support in GvG should allow debut to see a lot of play.
It's also worth noticing that this card can also function as a 1-turn humility to kill an enemy minion, or something to turn a friendly minion into a 1-damage charge. This reflects how Bards are extremely versatile.
Tavern Minstrel
Anyone can be a singer once they've had enough to drink.
This card showcases two things: A token-summoning card as well as a nuanced melody. This card is pretty weak on its own, but may become the staple of a combo debut/limelight/melody deck, since having two is exponentially better than having one.
Note that this minion is supposed to be a murloc, but we can't make murlocs due to competition rules. Murloc Bard will be a thing, someday, I promise.
Song of Passion
A force as strong as Passion cannot be directed. It guides itself.
In the previous set, we saw the card Song of Fortitude. In case it wasn't obvious, there are many cards in Bard named by "Song of..." which are all effects that scale with the number of minions you control. They are collectively referenced as "Songs" and have various cards that synergize with them.
Song of Passion serves as Bard's burst damage with a full board. Comparing it to Bloodlust:
Cons: It doesn't always go face. :( Pros: It doesn't always go face! :D
Bard is a control class, so it's fitting that their finisher also serves as a way to clear the board.
Angelcaller
The heavens themselves are at her beck and call.
The perfect example of what a melody effect should look like. Part of the time, being able to trade with a 5/7 minion is an absolute necessity. However, if you've cleared your opponent's board, as a Bard player you would rather draw two cards than just attack face. This is exactly how a melody effects should work, where there is always some sort of choice to make on whether to attack or use the melody, rather than one option or the other always being superior.
The Conductor
"A performance can only last for so long... but its echoes will continue into eternity." - The Conductor
Lore: The Conductor
This mysterious child, known only as The Conductor, grew up in an unfortunate town ravaged by warfare. Their small village had become the battleground of two massive nations. Day after day, armies clashed in their streets and spilled blood on their soil for a war that had long since lost its meaning. They could not speak out against it, for they had no voice, nor could they run from it, for they had nowhere to go.
But the child had a voice. He would not take sadness for granted. He wanted to rise up, to lead his village, to bring a peaceful end to the empty conflict. He urged for confrontation, spoke to rally support - but his cries fell on deaf ears. What did a child know? Words were futile.
One day, two legions, larger than any precedent, came rolling over the hilltops. Soldiers flooded the streets. The fighting quickly spilled into homes and stores. Any respect that the warriors had for the civilians or their town, was completely gone. The child was shouting - at the soldiers, at the townspeople, at the world. But his pleas were drowned out by screams. A gallop rounded the corner and came charging down the ally he was hiding in. He knew at once that the rider would make no effort to avoid him. The end had come.
Suddenly, a force unlike any other split the sky. Reality itself seemed to hold its breath - everything stopped. A pulsating force shook the child, from his body to his soul.
Words cannot describe the music that poured into the air. Joy, sadness, passion, all flowed and intermixed. The devastation of the citizens, the emptiness of the soldiers, the music showed them to all.
There was no need to negotiate a treaty, the Starling Orchestra simply ended the war. Soldiers returned to their cities and protested the military. Efforts were made to assist the towns that had been torn apart by the violence. The Orchestra members would be immortalized as heroes of the village, and the townspeople thanked them endlessly. But the child had more to give than thanks - he would give them his life.
For he had found a force that was stronger than words. Even in his youth, he could be a leader, and make his voice heard. With Music, he could change the world.
The Conductor is a natural born leader who travels the world with the Starling Orchestra as one of the highest ranked members, serving as, of course, the orchestra's conductor.
In case it wasn't clear from the card, the buffs from Divine Symphony and Heavenly Harmony are PERMANENT. It's like you have a stormwind champion on your board that doesn't stop until you go face, since the effect applies to both current and future minions that are played.
This card answers the earlier question of "What does it mean to be a Bard?" With this card, you pay for a very significant advantage in trades, but as a result you can't attack your opponent's face. This complements Bard's playstyle of taking control of the board until your opponent is out of steam, then either letting them concede or finishing them with cards that scale with the number of minions you control.
This also has an interesting interaction when played on turn 1, since you can choose which Masterpiece to play on turn 2, turning it into either a 2/2 or a 1/3 based on how you want to trade.
Remaining Cards
This spoiler contains the remaining 10 cards in Bard's classic set.
Explanations:
Kindlewood Violinist
Her talent is undeniable, but her methods are questionable...
Kindlewood Violinist is officially the only melody effect that deals damage. It's an extremely powerful two-drop, which functions as a shielded mini-bot against 2-health or lower minions, or a regular bloodfen raptor against any others. The choice you make in using this melody is "Do I need to trade into something with 3+ health, or can I kill a weak minion?"
This card has often been called out for its balance. Admittedly, it is strong, but your opponent has to knowingly play into it for it to really harm you. It gets removed by any standard 2 mana removal, and is also just a regular 2 mana 3/2 versus anything with more than 2 Health.
Limelight
"When the time comes, you will know. Seize the Limelight, and change the world." -Lindsey Starling
Seeing as how Battlecry and Deathrattle both have a double-trigger legendary, it would be fitting to give Bard a double melody trigger effect. But it would be boring to just slap it onto another legendary, so instead it appears in this feign-death-esque card. In case the wording is unclear, it gives you a one-turn only double trigger for your melodies when they get activated (closer to brann and rivendare than feign death).
This card does have some crazy combo potentials, but due to the nature of Melody effects being positive for you rather than harmful to your enemy, they usually have a way to deal with it. Even the craziest of Melody effects aren't game-breaking with this, so it could see play in Debut/Melody bard as a balanced yet powerful combo card.
Composer
All it takes to change the world is a little bit of inspiration.
Composer is the card that single-handedly streamlines songs from being clunky and a loss of tempo into a cornerstone of Bard. This minion, in combination with the more potent songs like Song of Fortitude and Song of Passion is an extremely devastating combo that truly defines how Bard decks play as opposed to other midrange or token decks. Because of Composer, songs fit well into many Bard decks.
This description has made it sound OP, and I can't deny that it is fairly strong. It does give huge amounts of value, but this is simply one of those Bard cards that is strong so that it can define the class. From playtesting experience, the board impact is strong, but not so strong that it's impossible for my opponent to come back.
Explanations:
Song of Loyalty
Compassion creates Loyalty. Cruelty only creates servitude.
Bard has many minions that are powerful if they can stay alive for more than one turn and snowball, as a result of the Melody mechanic. Song of loyalty allows you to protect a powerful minion if you have board dominance, but still allows for counterplay since the minion you buff is more vulnerable to BGH and is a better justification for silence.
War Drum
The drumbeat is like a heartbeat - it keeps us alive.
The first of Bard's Melody weapons! Note that most if not all of Bard's weapons will have Melody effects. This is because Melodies have interesting interactions with weapons (they cost 1 durability but can be used immediately) and make thematic sense from the viewpoint of equipping instruments and playing them.
This drum showcases a more aggressive theme in Bard. While Bard is mainly a control class, it would be narrow-minded to not give it any way to play aggro. This card is a rare sight in that it gives a strictly damage-based buff. The choice you make in using the melody is "Do I need to hit something for 3 damage, or do I have enough minions so that the melody is more valuable than 3 damage?"
High Note
The shriek of this flute is the last thing they'll hear.
In case the card text did not make it obvious, the minion is silenced while it is in your opponent's hand. This means that it is now just a vanilla minion, it won't activate its battlecry on being played and it will remain silenced when it re-enters the field. If your opponent then returned it to their hand normally, it would be un-silenced, though. The card would look like this in their hand:
High Note is Bard's second and likely last hard removal spell in combination with Low Note. Notice that neither of these spells actually kill the minion itself - Low note gets rid of a minion's stats, and High Note gets rid of its effects. This one is very powerful, and replaying the silenced minion is almost always a bad play and probably wouldn't roll around until the topdecking phase, so most of the time this works like a slightly weaker Hex.
Explanations:
Song of Protection
Every life is worth saving.
This card can both be used as a mechanism to trade without hurting your own minions or preserving your board into the next turn. Since Bard should usually have a board that they can benefit with divine shield, and Bard has a lot of spells that synergize with controlling many minions, both of these effects should see usage.
In case the text is ambiguous, this card gives all friendly minions divine shield that they then lose next turn.
Heavy Metal
A performance isn't good until a guitar gets smashed.
Another Melody weapon for Bard, but this one behaves differently from War Drum. The drum is a more typical melody weapon, where you choose between an attack and a buff. This weapon serves as a two-in-one value card that gives you versatility in removal. You have three choices: 4 mana, draw 2 cards if you're in a tight spot, attacking for 4 once and then drawing a card, or a 4 mana 4/2 weapon. Each effect is slightly weaker than it would be alone, but that's the price of versatility. This has been one of my favorite cards in playtesting, and I can assure you that all 3 options are very useful.
Elderwood Bard
Legend tells of a wandering, horn-playing spirit that preserved peace in the world. After joining the Starling Orchestra, this lutist took up both its name and its cause.
A super potent healing card that demolishes aggro and provides the healing that control/debut Bard needs to be a viable deck. Showcases exactly how Bard should play, where you receive a stronger heal by also healing the enemy hero.
Explanations:
Star of the Show
He has the looks, she has the talent.
Star of the Show serves as Bard's big, expensive Melody minion for maximum value with Debut. Whereas most Melody cards involve a choice based on the situation, this one is more of a cycle: If it has 4 attack, play the melody to become an 8/8. If it has 8 attack, then attack and trade with your backup singers. Then, repeat.
Basic Set
This spoiler contains the 10 Cards in Bard's basic set, to give you more context for the classic set.
Explanations:
Spirit Dancer
Her alluring dance gathers the spirits.
While designing Bard, there was a card in the basic set that happened to synergize really well with Wisp. So well, to the point where I really wanted Wisp in Bard to be viable. Unfortunately, wisp just doesn't do enough to warrant a card slot. So, a card that generates wisps would both fit into Bard's 1 mana minion slot and allow wisp to see play! When this design came around, it was impossible to refuse.
You might not want to immediately play the wisps you get from this card. Bard has a lot of cards that synergize with how many minions you currently have on the field, and since wisp costs 0 mana, you can drop them all right before you play those cards to significantly increase their output.
Since Wisp is technically a common card and not basic, here is a basic version of it generated uniquely by this card (Nerubians do the same thing by the way, in nerubian egg vs beneath the grounds):
Instrumentalist
He wanders from town to town, collecting instruments wherever he goes.
Has been nerfed from +1/+1 to +1 Attack.
At first glance this card may be confusing, especially since Bard doesn't have any basic weapons. But remember, your hero power generates a 1-durability weapon. To activate this card's effect, you could use your hero power on turn 2 but not use your weapon, and then play this for a really solid turn 3, kind of like a mini-handlock play.
This card functions as an all around sturdy 3-drop, both with or without its effect.
Reverberate
A sonic blast so powerful that even its echoes can pack a wallop.
The main thing that Bard was lacking before this card was designed was the fact that once you lost tempo or board control, there was no way to get it back. This card fixes just that, allowing you to thin your opponent's board while starting to rebuild your own.
Echoes are simply 1/1s:
Explanations:
Double Time
Twice as much speed means twice as many options.
This card is an example of Bard cards that produce insane versatility through very simple effects. Its efficient mana cost allows to to be used to trade more effectively. It also is a card that could give Bard its finisher, possibly in combination with Leeroy Jenkins. When minions start getting Melody in the classic set, this card allows you to use a Melody twice in a turn, or use any combination of 1 Attack and 1 Melody.
This is also the type of card that can be very worrying in terms of overly large OTK combos with large chargeminions or attack buffs. However, since I've already been staying away from Attack buffs just because it goes against Bard flavor in general, I won't have to go out of the way to keep this card in check.
Low Note
The sound from this giant's horn will stop anything in its tracks.
This card functions as Bard's "Hard" removal. It allows you to use your tokens to take down larger minions without killing those tokens in the process. It also allows you to simply ignore a minion for a turn and just use your minions' melody effects, rather than forcing your minions to remove a threat immediately and thus taking away their opportunity to use their melodies.
Song of Fortitude
Only music can give what words cannot.
The first of the Bard's "Songs". Songs are cards in bard, identified with a card name in the format of "Song of...". All of them have some sort of synergy with controlling many minions. This one being the most central and the most simple, it belongs in the basic set.
This card is a simple reflection of how Bards tend to buff their minions in defensive ways rather than being aSavage Roar / Bloodlust clone.
Explanations:
Choir
Both in music and in battle, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Choir is actually an exception for Bard in that it is a direct damage spell. All classes need some sort of generic removal, and so this is how Bard will have it, only potent if you have a good board. While this card can function as some serious burn in an aggressive token deck, it's not too hard for any Bard deck to get at least 1 or 2 minions, so this card should be a core card in any deck.
Peace and Harmony
Rule number one of Lindsey's Bards: "Every action I take is to promote peace and harmony."
A good midgame multi-card draw for Bard that fits better in control decks, but can be used pretty much anywhere. It's simple and gets the job done, just like a basic card should.
Soothing Lyrist
In a world of violence and destruction, music is our only respite.
What sets Bard apart from the token-style gameplays of Druid or Shaman is that it uses minions for control rather than outright aggro. This card is what links flooding the board with defensive gameplay, and allows you to both heal your hero and develop your board in the same turn.
Explanation:
Orchestra
The Starling Orchestra contains talent from every corner of the globe.
Orchestra is a one-of-everything token generator. It summons these exact four minions every time, so you always know what you're getting:
Serves as a big late-game minion for Bard, split into several smaller ones to synergize with its spells. It may seem super slow, but thanks to the fact that one of them has Charge it can actually be surprisingly helpful in some
This concludes Bard's classic set. If you enjoyed these cards, or you are excited for Bard's future, please leave a vote!
As we move from the expert set to GvG, we leave behind classical music and enter the age of modern music and dubstep!
Creeper - A simple one drop similar to Mana wyrm or Tunnel Trogg, it felt like the perfect combination with the Cache mechanic. It is very intuitive to others who have used cards like Mana Wyrm as to how it works, and can also make for early game choices when you have two of these on the field.
Memory( ) - This card is a bit different in terms of the Turn mechanic. It allows for a discounted Arcane Intellect, but requires the player to have attacked with a minion, otherwise it is a worse Shiv. I think it shows how Turn isn't strictly beneficial to the player, and won't always be easy to make happen.
Mother - We have seen a lot of 4 mana 3/5's and thus it felt good to do another one with a simple effect. It felt good for a common, and while not strong like say Piloted Shredder, can go toe to toe with it, and provides an equally good alternative effect.
Claw - This card I find most akin to Savage Combatant. It is one of the few Process minions with a higher attack than health, and has the potential for a ton of damage output. Of course, that damage may not be worth it compared to some of the other Cache effects.
Mute( ) - This was originally a basic card, until I remembered Silence was not allowed to be used. Therefor, it got moved to this set, where it acts like Shiv except with silence. Compared to owl, it is the difference between an 2/1 or drawing a card.
Crash( ) - This card is a good simple Turn card. It is the 1 mana deal 2 damage spell that most classes have, with an upside if you have yet to attack with a minion. A minor thing, as more often than not it will be 3 damage, but there are times like when dealing with cards like Dr. Boom, you want to see where the random effects land before casting spells.
Ping( ) - The Singer doesn't have a wide amount of AoE, especially not early in the game. This was made to help with that problem, but not solve it. The class should have weaknesses, and this is one of them. Similar to mage, they should thrive off of having board control, and using powerful single target spells to achieve that goal.
In Circles - This card is the second 'Song' card for the singer. It too provides a more weird and unique effect, as every other ability is more meant for dealing damage or controlling the board. Plus it is a really good song... like go look it up and listen.
Jerk - This card shows the duality Turn can bring, either making an Infernal type effect, or a Fire Elemental effect. A 5/6 is nothing to sneeze at either, this card is meant to be competitive with Loatheb, providing two potentially useful effects for the same cost as him.
Mask( ) - Another utility card. I love this one honestly because it works so well with Turn. If no minions have attacked, let one through taunt, otherwise run through yourself. It requires opponents to deal with your big minions, or can allow the hero a way to bypass taunts to use one of their weapon enhancing effects on a creature.
*Note: Too busy to make any sort of fancy banner... :P
The Chef
The Four Foodstuffs
Overview
Here's a quick refresher to the Chef class, in case you are new. The Chef is a combo-based class and has both the potential of playing as a tempo, fast class, or a midrange deck. At the core of the Chef are the Foodstuffs, four tokens produced by your Hero Power and by many other cards, leading to board-based gameplay, a bit of RNG, and careful planning. Despite the RNG, there are ways to circumvent the inherent randomness of this class, leading to masterful recipes and scrumptious victories.
The Keyword
The Classic Set
These cards were chosen since the are the quirkiest of the quirky, the punniest of the pun-y! They fully embody Chef's most basic playstyle and can be used in any Chef deck.
Thermodynamic Spoon's tokens
The cards explained:
Blueberry: A combo enabler. At the cost of some card advantage, you can gain a huge, huge tempo swing. In addition, as it acts as ANY Foodstuff, if a minion has multiple Recipe requirements, it will activate all of them! Save this card when you need it most to get perhaps multiple Recipe effects off of it. The key with this card is to weigh the benefits. Is it worth slapping down this valuable card, then play multiple cards?
Jalapeno Business: This card looks silly, true enough. And it's meant to be! It's also one heck of a pun. However, this is a great tempo card, similar to Sap. You completely disable an enemy minion for a turn, hopefully buying you enough time to set up a game-changing combo. Whereas Sap completely removes a minion and forces your opponent to play it again, Jalapeno Business does not give your opponent the luxury of the minion back, but does leave a body on the field for your opponent to trade with. This card is excellent for large threats and can act as a simple silence in a pinch.
Cooking Matron: A very obvious reference to Cooking Mama. I've done my absolute best. "Mama will fix it!" If you anger Mama, she'll turn things around by drawing a ton. But why the situational draw? Why not just play Acolyte of Pain? Well. That's mainly because you can hit this with Emergency Rations (see the basic set), or buff this with Pumpkin Pie (see basic set). You can guess the rest. It can both be a slow and a fast card, but to bring out her full value, it is best to wait and get a chance to draw something like six cards.
One Punch Butcher: A reference to One Punch Man. Every class has a strong 6-drop ('hem, except Rogue), and here's Chef's. It's simple, straightforward, and no-nonsense. Despite this, it hinges on a Recipe and introduces a new way Recipe can be used. That is, with (Any). I based this off of Fire Elemental.
Thermodynamic Spoon: My favourite card! Using this weapon, however, comes with great power. And responsibility. Yadda yadda. Anyways. Though you get a huge amount of value with this weapon, there are a few weaknesses, some obvious, some very subtle. One, you must attack minions. That should be obvious enough, you are forced to (usually) take damage to summon a Porridge, which, by the way, is a Goldilocks reference. The other less obvious weakness is that it is 2-mana. If you open up with this card, you are faced with a dilemma. Do you develop Foodstuffs, or do you want a weapon out? The choice is yours!
Remaining Cards
Commons
Rares
Epics
The Legendary
The Basic Set
*Supernatural Spinach's token:
*Another note: I rushed through the posting of the cards after the five example cards. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, I will not be able to post explanations for those cards in time, but I hope that does not deter you from enjoying this class.
This is the Submission Topic. The Discussion Topic is here.
Hello, and welcome to Phase III of our second ever Class Creation Competition! This competition's theme is "World Beyond Warcraft", and submitted classes must represent things outside of Warcraft-specific lore. Last week, for Phase II, our 77 remaining competitors were invited to submit their classes' Basic Sets for review. 29 classes have advanced to Phase III, where these classes' Classic Sets will be presented.
The 29 users listed in this Spoiler have advanced to Phase III:
Wild Card(s): Gomelus
If you have not advanced to Phase III, then you may not post in the Submission Topic.
Competition Overview
It is during this time that you may submit entries to this Submission Topic. Note that Up-Votes are entirely irrelevant to this Phase of this competition, as well as all future phases. In other words, there is no reason to rush to submit. Take your time and refine your entry.
Phase III Poll #2 (Starts 21:00 UTC Tuesday 2/February/2016. Ends 21:00 UTC Wednesday 3/February/2016.)
All valid submissions will be included in the Phase III Poll Topics. They will be represented by your Hero Portrait, Hero Power, and up to 5 example Classic Cards, explained below. Due to limited space, no token cards will be included, but the Poll Topic galleries will also clearly link each Hero to your Phase III Submission posts, so voters can always find out more there, if what was presented piques their interest.
You might be wondering why there are two polls. Frankly, there are too many of you at this stage to reasonably expects voters to be able to get through so much in one sitting. Therefore, half of you will be presented in in the first poll and the other half in the second. The split will be based on your placement in Phase II, with odd-numbered placements being polled first and the even-numbered placements being polled second.
Once both polls are completed, entries will be ranked by their vote percentages (as opposed to direct vote numbers, to account for a possible varying number of total voters), and the top 11 entries (plus 0-3 Wild Cards) will move on to Phase IV.
See below for a general overview of the future competition Phases:
Phase IV: Naxx/GvG/BRM - You will add the 13 cards that make up your class's Naxx, GvG, and BRM sets. These cards may not use the Discover, Inspire, or Joust mechanics. Spare Parts are restricted to GvG.
Submissions Wednesday 3/Feb/2016 - Tuesday 9/Feb/2016.
Poll Tuesday 9/Feb/2016 - Wednesday 10/Feb/2016.
Up-Votes will be irrelevant to advancement from Phase IV to Phase V. Instead, advancement will be determined by performance in a single separate Poll Topic that includes all eligible Phase IV entries.
Phase V: TGT/LoE - You will conclude with the 12 cards that make up your class's TGT and LoE sets, as well as your Hero Power's Justicar Trueheart upgrade. These cards may not use the Spare Parts mechanics. Inspire and Joust are restricted to TGT, and Discover is restricted to LoE.
Finale Topics Wednesday 10/Feb/2016 - Monday 22/Feb/2016.
Poll Monday 22/Feb/2016 - Friday 26/Feb/2016.
The Finalists who make it to this phase will be allowed to create their own individual Finale Topics. The winner will be determined by performance in a separate Poll Topic that includes all eligible Phase V entries.
General Competition Rules
These are general competition rules that apply to all Phases of this competition and that many of you will already be familiar with if you've competed in our Weekly Card Design Competitions. Even if you're a veteran of our competitions, though, I recommend that you review the rules thoroughly just to be sure:
First, these are the rules about Posting:
These are the rules about your Entry:
TIP: Though not a rule exactly, we highly recommend that you insert your images using this icon on the bar above the post text editor: . Just click that button and put in the URL of your image. Cards that are uploaded and attached to your post are not disallowed, but in our experience they will not do nearly as well, so this is for your own benefit more than anything.
Finally, know that manipulating votes in any way is strictly forbidden. Any violators will receive an official warning, and will be banned from this and all future HearthPwn Card Design Competitions.
Phase III: THE CLASSICS
In this Phase, you will each construct your class's Classic Set.
Here are the requirements for your Class Creation Competition Phase III Entry:
There are just a few elements of your class that you will repeat from your Phase I entry, and this should take up as little space as possible. After beginning with your Class's name, please try to include the images for your Hero Portrait and Hero Power side-by side so they don't take up too much vertical space. If you'd like to repeat anything from your class's introductory explanation, including its flavor or whatever you believe makes it interesting or unique mechanically, that's fine, but try to keep it brief.
We do not want to see your Class's entire Classic Set out in the open.
The remaining ten (10) cards of your class's Basic Set must be presented behind a Spoiler Block (Inserting a Spoiler can be done by clicking the ! symbol on the top bar of the text editor.). These cards must obey the same rules are your examples cards with regards to expansion watermarks, rarity gems, and what keywords you may not use.
You should include your completed Basic Set from Phase II behind a Spoiler (Inserting a Spoiler can be done by clicking the ! symbol on the top bar of the text editor.) either before or after your Classic Set material. It is fine if these cards have undergone some minor modification since the end of Phase II, but thy must still adhere to all of Phase II's requirements.
The first time that we ran a Class Creation Competition here, we had a tie for the winner. I now present to you the Phase III submission posts of both of those classes, to serve as examples:
5 sample cards explanation:
This is the very first of our secrets. It's not wise to tell our opponents about everything we are going to do. It's not wise to tell them "Oh, hey, I bough some old treasure map, gonna send some stupid orc to find it, pay him a Coin or two, and hide the rest of the treasure in my safe!" We do not tell that. And because of that we may be able to play some valuable cards earlier than our opponent might expect!
An exact example of that stupid bounty hunter orc from I Found It! . We play that card the very firth turn and we pay him the next turn, as he probably will be kind enough to kill some Leper Gnomes or Haunted Creeper. He may be gutless, but he loves gold nearly as much as we do. Therefore, by planing some wise finishing moves he's gonna earn it himself and we won't have to say our Mana goodbye!
A legendary. A low-cost one. Unusual, huh? But fit's our class great. As a greedy goblin, he wants our gold as well, but as a greedy Goblin King, he wants more than usual creature may want. In return, he promised to mess with our opponent's plans, by sending them Tribute reminder. This Tribute has to be paid at the beginning of his turn, and by doing that, our opponent makes our Goblin King stronger. The longer the Tribute is paid, the stronger Thy Goblin King becomes. It will ensure that our opponent will have to make some stupid trades to kill that minion early on, before it bulks up, and in the same time, it won't allow to cast to much spells on him.
Snaky, beaky little goblin... We got city guards watching us, so we can't just fit our fists into our opponents' faces. There is a more sophisticated way of killing them. This card is our idea of AoE - we play it when our opponent has got a full board, we try to make some trades so Dr. Boom Health will lower to 3 or 4 and then we wait. Our opponent may even be kind enough to do the trades themselves...
Oh, look! It's Gunther! Our favorite boar! This guys are our personal watch. By paying them a lot of money, we can stay sure that no one will ever hurt us. So long, Face Hunter...
10 remaining Classic Cards:
10 remaining cards explanation:
Buff and debuff in one card. Tired of your weak minion? Or maybe you don't want your enemy to have that much Mana?
You can't find gold on a tree. Someone's gotta earn it... and it won't be you. Great for compensating early damage taken.
This is the place when our goblin makes his legal money and because they are legal it's way easier to double this profit - a spare card may be even better than a Coin.
I promise, this shoes are made especially for Ogres. Next please! Indirect damage and a card draw? Oh yes, I'll take that.
Some pesky minion on the board and all your boys are looking for some treasures? How about buying your personal Judge?
It's not like everyone in this town hates us... Duh, we helped some people in their time of need... And now, they have to help us...
Second AoE. Something like mass corruption. It will probably ensure that our opponent will loose all his 8+ mana minions, but he will have one turn to clear our board as well...
This guy was a serious killer when it comes to pit fighting. Now he is a serious killer when it comes to Market fighting. His battlecry represents his experience in fights. Sometimes you will find a DaVinci of pit fighting, sometimes it's just gonna be an art student.
-Oh no! Mike it's her! -Stay calm, David, we don't want to upset her. This brave girl will help us when our Salary reaches unreasonable level. Well, she will help us just one time, she may be scary, but goblins without their gold are much worse.
Black Market is a place hard to find, but if you know where to seek... You may find some valuable stuff. However, you don't know what trades will have this time...
Elite Weapons tokens:
Tokens:
Basic Set form Phase II:
Imgur album containing whole Classic Set:
http://imgur.com/a/9C7JV
Twilights Hammer
Expert Set:
Rest of the Set:
Firesworn Ascendant:
Twilight Ascendants
Basic Set:
Trogg Token:
Q&A
Q: My submission didn't move on. Am I not allowed to participate any more for the rest of the competition?
A: Of course you are! This many cards is going to be difficult to manage, so the contestants that move on will need all of the help and input they can get to get their Class just right. If you get knocked out of the competition, head over to the Discussion topic and support your favorite competitor that moved on!
Q: I didn't participate in the first Class Creation Competition. Where can I find out more about them?
A: Good question! Here are links to all of the competition topics from our first Class Creation Competition:
Phase I Submission, Phase I Discussion
Phase II Submission, Phase II Discussion, Phase II Poll
Phase III Submission, Phase III Discussion, Phase III Poll
Phase IV Discussion, Phase IV Poll
If anybody has any other question, please feel free to ask us over in the Discussion topic. Otherwise, get those creative juices flowing, and I'll look forward to your submissions.
Oh, and again:
Have fun! ^_^
You can find me here! Good luck everyone!
Alright guys, this is the Pokemon Trainer class Classic Set! Here's the basic set from phase 2:
I think the theme of the class has stabilized to this idea: you aren't the one fighting, your pokemon are. And since it's the legendary trainer Red, it just so happens that you've caught them all! Red's got a lot of pokemon at his disposal, so many tokens are generated since the focus is on minion battling minions with tools generated by the minions themselves. That said, every class needs some spell handicaps and crutches.
Evolve is a the new keyword I'm introducing after this basic set and is the entire theme of the class. Once you play your hero power, Evolution, any minions in your hand that are able to evolve simply change into the specified card.
Trick Room:
This spell requires some setup and strategy, as it makes larger-costed minions more powerful on the battlefield.
Girafarig:
This minion is something that can relatively safely be played on curve, but can provide additional value with a bit of setup in the late-game.
Elemental aspects (Atop Sky Pillar):
Analysis:
Oh boy, here it comes.
Every basic set could use something completely insane. I think excitement is important; fun is the final goal. But let's talk balance here:
Consider Atop Sky Pillar: If the game drags on long enough, you can actually play the card and rid it from being completely unplayable in your hand. If you have 3 cards left in your deck, it's 5 mana. If you have 6 cards, it's 8 mana. Think about how many cards you actually have at the end of your games, and this seems like a plausible last resort (a bit like the Golden Monkey). Also the Naga Sea Witch synergy Kappa Keepo
Consider Kyogre: The main advantage is that you can finish off your opponent. The Fireball hero power is proactive in terms of damage.
Consider Groudon: The main advantage is that you can control the board. How many cards do you have that can finish off your opponent though? TheAssassinate hero power is better than Kyogre's in terms of value (it can even target friendly minions), but board control isn't exactly what you're usually looking for at that stage in the game.
Consider Rayquaza: The main advantage is that you can use the rest of your mana crystals (instead of hero-powering), you can split your damage into two attacks, and you're protected from passive fatigue. The weapon is subject to taunts, and while it can attack minions it simply may not be a good idea because you've only got 12 Health. The idea is that the option exists. Keep in mind that mill deck will still work on you, the only draw that is prevented is at the start of your turn. Your opponent can still draw you cards and you can still draw yourself cards. But do you really want to? Up to you to decide.
Other cards:
The theme of the class is centered all around your minions. You're not the one fighting, your pokemon are. This leads to them containing effects and tokens of their own since each one has it's own personality, and most of which Evolve. This is the new keyword I'm introducing:
Cards that are able to Evolve do so in the hand when they are affected by my hero power, Evolution.
Onto the set (Any tokens, which include evolutions, are listed in spoilers below):
Mega Stone: This is the spell that triggers Mega-Evolution on the battlefield. Keep in mind that it's 4 mana.
Riolu:
A basic introduction to Evolution. You cast your hero power with Riolu in hand, and the card becomes Lucario. If you cast the Mega Stone on a Lucario in play, he transforms into Mega Lucario.
Ralts:
Take a look at that Kirlia card there. This is branched Evolution, and introduces conditional transformations that alter the card style.
Professor Oak's Gift:
Whoosh. Ok, lot of tokens. I mean, I need a minion for each class (including my own), so here they are. When you consider balance on these minions, also consider that fact that you can only obtain a class' minion if you play against it and cast the 1 mana for the original Professor Oak's Gift, and also that evolving minions takes mana investment (hero power) so power creeps up the evolutionary line.
Horde of Unown:
Ok, that's the last of the token-crazy cards. Whoosh. I think it's fun to generate cards like these since you never know what tools you'll be given to work with in a game. Every game is dynamic and different!
Now, here is the rest of the basic set of cards (only the cards with a rarity are collectible):
Some notes on the cards:
Bubble Beam: This card is a spell damage synergy card. Useless without it, incredible value with it.
Nincada line: Situational early game Wisp, however the evolved form could provide some good value as soon as you have a chance to hero power.
Honedge line: It's a weapon line! Now, you can have a weapon in each stage of the game.
Onix line: Who said pre-evolutions are small? Top decking can be a bit of a weakness for the class, since pre-evos are usually small. But here comes Onix!
Zorua line: I think deception is cool. With this card, it may sometimes be advantageous to not attack twice with windfury, in case you want don't want to give the illusion away. You can see that Zorua has 2 health, but perhaps the opponent sees it as a Spider Tank with 4?
Weedle line: Early game minion that can establish your board. It may seem that Beedrill's battlecry is crazy, but keep in mind that you've had to hero power twice with the card in hand. Not exactly a good early game play. Also, Kakuna is meant to be the weak non-combat type because, I mean, he's a cocoon.
Spiritomb: I like this effect, it's as if you're corrupting the enemy player. And hey, a Zoroark target perhaps?
Shuppet line: Shuppet has -2/-2, and Attack swapped. Picture this: your opponent has an Azure Drake. Your shuppet is a 4/3 (from the drake), and the drake is a 1/4. With Banette, the Banette would be a 4/3 and the drake would be a 0/4. Keep in mind that this effect can happen to your own minions as well (except with Mega Banette). Also, keep in mind that the stat reduction makes the minion difficult to silence, since that will simply revert their stats back to normal.
Everstone: Situational work-around card.
Mewtwo: If Mewtwo Mega-Evolves, the deathrattle does not trigger. Mega Mewtwo X makes your cards cost 5 less! but each time you play a card, they cost 4 less, 3 less, 2 less, 1 less... This resets each turn. Mega Mewtwo Y has some crazy spell synergy going on, the plays you can make with this!
Hope you guys liked that!
Check here for my new cards!Pokemon HS class!All the Pokemon as HS cards!
CLASS: COMMISSAR
HERO: YARRICK
Token:
The Keyword:
Strategem (X): When you play a card with Strategem, the card may gain an additional or alternate effect for X additional mana.
THE CARDS
Cadian Shock Troop: Your common 1-drop. Not really that strong, honestly. But every set's got mediocre cards, and this isn't all that bad for early game board control.
The Emperor's Chosen: A combination between a banana and divine shield.
First Rank, Fire!: Your main cheap removal spell, as long as you have board control (this class heavily emphasizes board presence). For double the cost, you get an incredibly powerful Spell added to your hand (see in Spoiler below).
Orbital Bombardment: A slightly less utility consecrate, or a Hellfire on crack. It's up to the player to choose when and/or how to use this in-game.
Heroic Intervention: A late-game force multiplier card. A relatively weak board AoE but you also put down a pretty solid minion in the process, which buffs your other minions. Space marine is shown in the Spoiler below.
Common Cards
Preferred Enemy: Pretty much your cheap, kind-of unconditional hard removal. It's not really a removal since you need to follow the card up with another minion or damage spell, but a powerful effect nonetheless. You can also use it on your own minion, it that ever comes into play.
Heavy Bolter Volley: Cheap early game unconditional removal. A soft board clear, but it is random. It's not going to be that reliable if you need to remove a specific minion on the board, but will be good against early game, weak aggro or tempo minions.
Manticore Missile: A Ragnaros shot. Kind of a mix between Deadly Shot and Flame Lance, except it might go face when you don't want it to. But it might also hit a 1/1 token when you want it to hit face. This card is cheap for its damage, but requires careful planning and a back-up plan in case it fails.
Light of the Emperor: It's not that crazy of a Heal for its cost, but this will probably be your main insurance policy in case you fall too low in Health. Is it better than Antique Healbot? Well, depends on the situation (especially when your opponent's Deathlord summons your Healbot).
Rare Cards
Sanctioned Psyker: Extremely weak body for its cost, but that's due to its incredible combo potential with many of your spells.
Reserve Reinforcements: A value resource card in the late game. Potentially draws you (effectively) 6 2/1 bodies that you can toss out in case you start running low on resources. What's more, if you can spare the extra mana, it gives you even more additional resources to last the late, late game.
Bolter: A solid all-around weapon. You're pretty much paying for just pure, sustained damage. No silly additional effects like Heals or Whirlwinds.
Epic Cards
Inquisitor: Extremely high utility minion. Situational in every respect. The card draw effect will be tricky to play at the right time, I imagine. The body isn't that strong, so for 7 Mana you'd better be prepared for an impactful following turn.
Power Fist: This is obviously a late-game control piece. The effect is random, so you should always manipulate your odds the best you can via board minions.
Legendary Minion
The combo potential here is obviously massive. At 3 mana + 2/4 body with a potentially insane effect, it's akin to Brann Bronzebeard. Note that you still get to choose to use your Strategem options, in case the bonus effect is unnecessary or would be detrimental.
Basic Set Recap:
And that's my Classic/ Expert Set! Please upvote if you like the card ideas!
T-Rex, the most feared dinosaur!
I introduce my new ability called Carnivore. It means "When this kills an enemy minion, trigger the effect". Carnivore is latin and means meat-eater.
Here are my 5 favorite cards of the Classic Set
Raptor Hatchling: A strong 1-drop. Is getting stronger by eating (killing) an enemy minion.
Dilophosaurus: A minion for control and anti-zerg. For example it blocks Unleash the Hounds and Muster for Battle.
Ankylosaurus: Has huge control-potential. I guess it would like to have Taunt..
Ceratosaurus: When entering the battlefield, he charges and enemy minion. In good cases he will kill it and survive. Its a control card, too. It would be bad if he charges a Pit Snake.
Meteorite Impact: It is heavy control card. Best to use when you dont have minions on your side of the battlefield. Less good against zerg but strong against ramp-decks. Of course it has a risk because of the randomness. Well, the history of earth told us, that some dinos survived :)
If hope you enjoy my cards.
My common Classic Cards:
Rare Classic Cards
Epic Classic Cards
Legendary Classic Card
Basic Cards
THE HERO!
SHICCHI
Helpless School Child:
Basic Set (From last Phase)
Expert Set
Showcase
Infinite Combo!
Martial Arts Disciple - It's a class-specific (a.k.a. stronger version of) Lance Carrier, in that the effect is much stronger for only a 1 Health decrease on the body. Strong tempo minion in the early game.
Tank-Top Black Hole - Incredibly high stats, but comes with a drawback battlecry. If your opponent has 2 minions on the board when you play this card, the stats are more or less "evened out."
Overcharge - Obviously designed for combo play with your spells. The obvious synergies lie with your AoE Spells, or King's Infinite Combo!
No Air Conditioning - Massive board wipe. Potentially dangerous as 7 damage to your face is nothing to scoff at. However at the right time, this card is obviously devastating to your opponent as well.
King - (SPOILER ALERT) The card text basically represents King's unimaginable bad luck. Whenever a big monster is around (e.g., an enemy Legendary minion), King's usually at the scene as well. This creates a dynamic between the two players that is thematically consistent - big bad monsters are scared to come out in fear of encountering King, so players may think twice about playing Dr. Boom on turn 7.
The REST of the collection:
Spring Mustache is just a good midrange value minion. The unconditional battlecry is incredibly powerful, although it sacrifices some body as payback. Probably a good card in most control or midrange decks. Compared to Goblin Blastmage, I think this card sacrifices enough for the powerful battlecry.
Saitama's Training routine (Part I) - What you see is what you get. Nothing too complicated here. The most powerful card here is probably 100 Push Ups, as it is 1 less mana than Savage Roar but still gains your minions a permanent 2 Attack. The big difference, however, is that the HERO class doesn't have spells like Force of Nature, or other incredibly fast charge minions to abuse this Spell. It also doesn't give your Hero attack, which is actually quite important.
Saitama's Training (cont'd) + other things - Bananas have incredible synergy with Gazlowe, a pretty underutilized legendary. Perhaps this card can change that? Who knows. Association Meeting is just a card draw you can play if your opponent is getting a little ahead of himself. Punish him for overextending and playing too fast. 100 Sit Ups is obviously a control/ fatigue card. The reason why it's only 5 mana is because although its effect can be incredibly valuable in the late, late game, it has no immediate effect, and it costs a whopping 5 mana.
More value oriented cards. Not much to say here, other than insane combo potential and synergy with the rest of the cards in your deck. Consecutive Side-Hops requires some set-up, as buffs and debuffs and damage are also copied from the random minion.
Thanks to whomever was silly enough to vote for my post in the past 2 submissions! It's been a blast designing these cards!
Frodo Baggins, The Hobbit Class
Here are my favorite cards for this class:
*Brand= The new keyword of this class, it changes a minion's type to Orc. (example: Murloc--->Orc, Pirate---->Orc, No type--->Orc)
Pawn of Sauron: A core card since it brands an enemy minion into an Orc. Solid stats and it's also an Orc type.
Sting: Just like in the books and movies, sting does double damage against Orc type minions. Instead of 2 damage it does 4 to Orcs. Good in controlling the board.
Phial of Galadriel: Amazing card draw if you know when to use it. It also works on enemy stealth minions. The downside is that stealth is gone.
Nazgul: Similar to Leeroy but a little bit weaker. If you wanna burst and go face, this is the card for you. Your opponent may never remove it if he is never lucky.
Gollum: You saw it right, permastealth means that even if Gollum attacks, he will still be in stealth. Any classes nightmare if they can't remove him. AOE, Flamewaker, Knife Juggler, Mass Dispel, Flare, or taunt are some ways to deal with Gollum. Works great with Lance Carrier
There are TWO ways to play this class which is why I will divide my post into TWO parts.
THE ORC ARMY WAY
This playstyle of Frodo is more for control-type players. You basically want to build an Orc army using the new keyword "Brand". When you brand a minion, that minion's type turns into Orc (example Murloc --> Orc). Here are the cards that synergize with this playstyle:
Orc Raider: Simply, build your board of orcs then drop this guy for extra damage.
Rohirim Rider: Can go face or trade. If you branded an enemy minion, the 2 damage deals double instead (so 4 instead).
Battleraged Orc: Taunt and enraged minion. Good against aggro and still good if silenced.
Cave-Troll: Packs a punch for 4 mana but has low health. If killed by an enemy minion, that minion will know be branded as an orc.
Rohan Commander: Similar to Animated Armor, enemies that are branded as Orc can only deal 1 damage as long as Rohan Commander is on the board.
Elven Ring Seeker: Mini Mind Control but with a 4/4 minion. You want to brand Sylvanas then play Elven Ring Seeker next turn for the steal.
Pawn of Sauron: Explained already, see top.
Sting: Explained already, see top.
THE STEALTH WAY
This playstyle relies more on your hero power than the Orc Army playstyle. The goal is to build your board and keep em buffed with stealth to go for an OTK win. Weak against board clear. Here are the cards that synergize with this playstyle:
Shadow of Mordor: Similar to Conceal but instead the whole board is affected by stealth. Could be use to get past taunt minions too. Combos great with Phial of Galadriel.
Battle Harden: A powerful buff spell. Can also be used as removal since it deals 2 damage and it can also work with Big Game Hunter.
Elven Assassin: Similar to Frostwolf Warlord but since your minions are in stealth, you can get a really big Elven Assassin.
Lonely Mountain Ballad: A simple song that strengthens your teams bond. It can counter some hard AOE's like Holly Nova or Flamestrike.
Phial of Galadriel: Explained already, see top.
Nazgul: Explained already, see top.
Gollum: Explained already, see top.
Basic Cards
TOKEN FROM DEAD MEN OF DUNHARROW
Bowser the Koopa King
Basic set:
I want to keep Bowser as simple as the other classes. Just like the basic cards, his classic cards are mostly self explanatory. I also wanted to make a control type of class with emphasis on board control.
Example of the classic set:
Rest of classic set:
Tokens:
Next up: In phase 4 Naxx, Gvg and Brm will introduce Dry Bones, Bullet Bills, Airships, Bob-ombs, the fauna of Bowsers lava pits and many more...
edit: Forgot the bold "Hero Power" on my Hero Power. Again.
Hero: Siras Terra
Class: Geomancer
Link to Phase I entry
Link to Phase II entry
-I get knocked down, but I get up again, you never gonna keep me down-
Still going steady in Phase III, I'll say it's an honor to be on the top 29 (because top 30 is too mainstream). The mechanic of the class is Aftershock: it triggers when you play a card after the Aftershock effect (like a reverse Combo). The aim of the class is to amass Armor, develop a strong board and wipe the floor with SMOrcs. Midrange / combo oriented.
Dust to Dust: why on Earth would you want to kill your own minions? The same reason you Shield Slam or Shadow Word: Death your own Sylvanas Windrunner. Plus 6 Armor! VALUE.
Sandstorm: prime example of the Aftershock mechanic. The card on its own is an overcosted Consecration (without the face damage!). But if you trigger the Aftershock, your hero becomes untargetable until your next turn. You can even roleplay it and dress like The Rock in The Scorpion King (added flavor for the Illidan look-alike).
Skittish Scorpion: ah... this guy. THIS guy. Seriously, this guy. Weaker stats than Dire Wolf Alpha, but on the other hand, the effect is arguably stronger than Lassie there. If you trigger the Aftershock, it gets Stealthed for a turn, for added skittish-ness.
Mole Claws: HYAAA! I mean... yeah, this is what the Geomancer is all about: controling the board. On its own, it's a really bad weapon (ME NO SMORC?) but if you trigger the Aftershock, you can kill that Emperor Thaurissan hiding behind the Annoy-o-Tron. Goldshire Footman indirect nerf.
Gaius the Earthshaper: paging Dr. 10, please Dr. 10 report to the rekt ward ASAP. I tried to make the body and the arms linked somehow (because FLAVOR), but it ended up being either OP or UP, so I settled for this version. Strong body on it's own (if it's somehow summoned), plus the arms play as the Sword and Board of Gaius. Both Hands are easy to remove (for a 10 drop) and the body isn't threatening for such a big drop (see Kel'Thuzad).
The rest of the Classic set:
Adamant Resolve: massive Armor gain for the mana cost, but you lose ALL of it in your next turn. Even the one you gain outside this card. Combo piece for a few of the other spells.
Telluric Currents: here's where the temporary Armor comes into play. Strong AoE buff, the Aftershock helps you trade really good against your opponent.
Animate Stone: works like Feral Spirit, it gets you 2 glorified Shieldbearer. If you trigger the Aftershock, they get the Elusive effect like Faerie Dragon.
Seismic Sense: balanced around Arcane Intellect. On its own, it's a terrible card draw, if you happen to trigger the Aftershock, you get it again like Headcrack. You still need to pay 3 mana again for the draw. I'm giving the class weak card draw on purpose, because of the combo potential it has.
Living Armor: I know, it looks like a piece of crap. Why would you want to lose all your Armor just to heal for the same? it's pretty much a waste... unless you played Adamant Resolve earlier. Strict combo-oriented card.
Shockwave: gives your hero the "Cleave" effect like Foe Reaper 4000 until the end of your turn. Nothing to explain here. Helps a lot for board control.
Landslide Avatar: this guy went through a few changes, but everyone ended up OP, so I had to change the effect. The original was a dynamic effect like Lightspawn, but with Health and your Armor instead. It proved to be broken, along with several mods I tried as well. But I believe the new effect, captures the essence of the class pretty well: fuck bitches, get money... Errr, lose Armor, do something. Yeah, I totally meant to say that. Losing Armor includes taking face damage, so careful when going SMOrc with this guy on the board.
Sand Dweller: simple 2 drop with a simple Aftershock. Played alone, it's an average 2 drop, when played with the mechanic, well... that's another story.
Clay Golem: IT'S NOT Grim Patron! This guy, instead of summoning another one, it makes an exact copy. This mean that if you deal 1 damage to it, it will summon a 4/2. Works really good with Health buffs (which the class has a lot).
Earthen Adept: simple effect, your weapon remains active during your opponent's turn, meaning that any minion or herothat goes face WILL get damaged by it (it doesn't lose Durability, just like a friendly minion hitting you with Misdirection).
The Basic set:
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to vote for it when the polls go up if you liked what you saw!
Siras Terra, the Geomancer
Elementalist
Hero Attributes
- Transform ability
- Elemental Tribe
- Secrets
- Spells
Hero Power Token
Higher Mana Cost than normally to work with Transform ability.
Basic Set
Spell Retriever: Bolt is a 1-Mana 1 damage spell. See below to see token.
Elemental Protector: Considering the Hero Power has Elemental Tribe, it's a very powerful turn 1 drop while it can be weak if you start 2nd.
Flamespike: Nothing much to say about this one, low mana for low minion clearing board. Can be good with Spell Damage.
Mastery: Fire: Simple 2 damage spell that also summons the Hero Power token.
Mastery: Ice: Giving any minion the ability to Freeze, good against weapon class.
Tidal Wave: Main board clear spell of the class, low damage and only hits enemy minions but can always come back in your hand if you meet the requirement.
Owl of Knowledge: Main card draw mechanic and the class has many Elemental minion.
Mighty Mutation: Card with many flexibility, used on regular minion or Hero Power token. Can also be used on a big minion as a Silence + BGH combo. However can backfire if you Transform an enemy minion you can't kill.
Blazing Wolf: A different approach of Transform, Hailstone Wolf also Transform back into Blazing Wolf which makes it interesting since the card restore Health in a way, making it a sort of sticky minion. Also has Dual Tribe, I love having multiple option and this is one of them. See token below to see Hailstone Wolf.
Corrupted Treant: Summons a 0/4 that deals 1 damage to all non-Elemental minions at the end of your turn. See below for the token.
Basic Card Tokens
TOKENS
Hailstone Wolf: I decided to make this card a token since the card itself wouldn't be great enough played first as opposed to Blazing Wolf which has Charge.
Expert Cards
Ancient Guardian: Great 2 drop that works really well with the Transform ability.
Spell Manipulator: Perfect follow-up to Ancient Guardian, Transforming a spell for this class into a more powerful one. See below for token.
Sandrock Caster: Spell damage minion that gives the spell "Give a minion Can't attack hero." See below for token.
Fiery Rush: Delayed damage that could be really strong in a rush deck.
Atome Modifier: Strong ability to obtain better Transformed minion.
Commons
Golem Destroyer: Ability to kill all the friendly Golem minion, as it is right now only my Hero Power Token (Fire Golem) and gain their Deathrattle. Combo with Fire Armor to gain 2 Deathrattle. I already have different Golem made and will showcase on next Phase if I make it.
Fire Armor: Sticky +1 Attack that remains on board until the opponent fully kills all enemy minions or silence it.
Nymph Mutation: The reason it gives a 2/2 minion is because once killed it gives my minions +1 Attack. See below for token.
Chaos Destroyer: Basically a reverse effect of Flamewaker but only activates from opponent spells.
Calm Sea: Powerful 1-Mana spell, however since it's Health instead of damage, it cannot benefit from Spell Damage.
Rising Lava: Weaker than Muster for Battle but allows for a full mana turn to build around it.
Rare
Typhoon: Decent damage that works well with Spell Damage.
Force Transfer: Very strong secret but can also only kill a low minion and not buff a minion (if you don't have any on board).
Epic
Adapting Firestone: Works like Cogmaster and act as a self-healing if not killed. Also combo with Crazed Alchemist.
Legendary
Hell King: Ordinary ability that works perfectly for Transform (5 mana token) or buffing/Defender of Argus. See below for token.
Expert Card Tokens
Betraying Nymph: Token your opponent gets from Nymph Mutation.
Quicksand: Good tool to prevent a big minion from attacking your hero.
Cerberus: Perfect to transform, combo with Atome Modifier for a chance at the strong 6 mana minion (Sylvanas Windrunner, Emperor Thaurissan).
Greater Spell Tokens
This card even transforms the spells received from minion but only from his own class, Elementalist.
Note: Some gain bigger stat buff, bigger damage or mana cost reduction.
Original Spell Greater Version
Lord (Based on Chivalry: Medieval Warfare)
Rest of it:
Throwing Knives: Powershot with alternative distribution of damage.
Long Spear: defend yourself against enemy minions on your opponent's turn, trade your face costly!
Mason Archer: require a big taunt and no AoE for your opponent to be effective.
Buyout: some draw and nice combo with other Peasant-related cards.
Severe Trainig: nice unsilenceable buff, but sadly can be applied only on buffed ones.
Catapult: moar Peasant use.
Capture: Capture + Buyout + trade with peasant = Mind Control. Opie Opie
Deadly Swing: Now Betrayal placement is important!
Onslaught: adequate alternative for Dark Bargain.
Mason Bishop: turn 10 combo that can deal up to 9 AoE damage just with your Peasants + a 4/5 body. Or you can use this Spell Power with other spells and save a Ritual until you have no Peasants for maximum value.
Tokens:
Basic set:
(http://www.hearthpwn.com/forums/hearthstone-general/fan-creations/98082-class-creation-competition-worlds-beyond-warcraft?comment=8)
The Deathless Class
Class Recap: The Deathless class is all about playing the same cards over and over, so that you never have to have just one Dr. Boom.
New Keyword: Deathless. When this card is played, do (X), times the number of instances this card has been played previously. So the first time you play a card with Deathless, no effect will happen, as the number of instances you've played it previously is zero. However, once you start getting multiple copies of a card, the Deathless effect will also ramp up.
Sample Cards:
Lesson Learned: Set to be a staple in a deck, this card initially offers no advantage, as the first time you play it causes nothing but to shuffle it back into your deck. However, the second time, it becomes a decent cycle. The third time you play it, you're getting insane value at 2 cards for 1 mana.
The Infinity Blade: I couldn't make this class in good conscience without including the sword for which the entire series is named. The Infinity Blade grants you the power to cut through any nonsense that enemy might have played, be it deathrattles or divine shields.
Radriar, The God King: Warning, combos ahead. He's 8 mana for a very good reason, and that's because if you play another Deathless card like Horned Stalker, you are dealing a minimum of 5 damage with the Battlecry. Of course, he's only good with other cards of the set, which is why the ability is so strong and he avoids that undesirable 7 attack.
Horned Stalker: Another class staple. Originally played as a 3/2, playing it again makes it a far superior Flame Juggler. Playing him a 3rd time, or in concert with Radriar, and the body is more of a bonus.
Rebirth Chamber: Start recycling those cards! A number of the cards that made duplicates are already in the basic set, but this adds some variability to your gameplay.
Rest of the Set:
Commons:
Rares:
Notes:
Quantum Disruption: Yes, I know, this technically a deck attack. Normally, I'm the first to condemn these kinds of cards, but this is different. First, the only reason deck/hand attack isn't a thing is due to combo decks potentially getting completely screwed over. Well, this requires at least one of the minions to have already been played, so the battlecry isn't affected, and if the minion is a legendary, this has no effect. This way, no over all gameplan is destroyed that would have been likely otherwise.
Endless Conflict: "Most Powerful" in the battle against Mechazod was the minion with the highest combination of attack and health. Blizz did it, so I can do it too =P
Epics:
Notes:
Journey's End: Just a deck compressor, means that you're more likely to get the cards you want, and to get repitions of the cards you have played.
Basics:
Note about Deathless: I balanced it so that the second time you play a deathless card, it's either average or slightly above average, so that you're rewarded for repetition beyond what is supplied by a normal deck.
The ROBOT class
The ROBOT class is build around the theme of automatons, robots, mechs and other artificial creations. It will feature several synergies with Mech minions and Spare Parts (but it won't play a central role, just a bonus) and some new cards that benefit from the unique interaction with the hero power. Of course it will also feature non-mech minions. Augment will increase the Attack of any character by 1 and can be stacked several times if the character doesn't attack. That means instead of "pinging the hero for 1" on an empty field, you can give your hero 1 Attack and the next round another Attack for a total of 2. Out of balance reasons, your hero has no attack value during your opponents turn - just like weapons function.
Basic set
To evaluate the entire class you can find the the entire Basic set from Phase I below.
Expert set
The expert set gives you you access to pretty solid cards and allows you to create every kind of deck, from aggressive to heavy control.
5 card Preview
You can find the rest of the set in the spoiler below.
Minions
Spells
Class: Grandmaster
The class is inspired by the classic board and card games. Grandmaster is the title of the best Chess players and the class has a lot of Chess references, expecially in the basic set. Now in the Classic Set and in future sets a greater variety of games will apear.
Hero Power Clarifications
The hero Power is not a choice. If you already have the Dice in play the Hero Power will automatically buff him. The Hero Power will only buff a Dice that is created by it. If you copy the Dice with Faceless Manipulator, if you steal a Dice created by your oponent Hero Power or if you return it to hand and play it again it wont be buffed.
THE BASIC SET
THE CLASSIC SET
Castle of Cards: If you touch the Castle of Cards it will fall onto you. Knife Juggler cunter :p
Go to Jail and Critical Failure: Two of the class secrets.
Agains All Odds: It will take skill to minimize the randomness and get the best results of this spell. Usually better used when there are only enemy minions on the board, but if you are feeling lucky you can use it on your own minion and cross your fingers.
The Queen: Promote is not a new Keyword. Like “Dream Card” on Ysera its just a way to make the card text a little more simple. When a Pawn hit the enemy Hero he will be transformed at random into one of the three Chess pieces from the basic set: Ebony Knight, White Bishop or Fortified Rook.
In Chess when a pawn hit the end of the other side of the board he is promoted and can become any other piece, thats the effect I tried to replicate with the legendary.
The Queen is na OK minion if you dont have board control, but if you have it and also have Pawns ready to attack it can offer a great value.
The Pawn Token
The cards the Pawn can be promoted to with The Queen:
REST OF THE CLASSIC SET
Battleship Shooting: Inspired by the Battleship game where you fire at random trying to hit the enemy boats. Very similar to Powershot.
Castling: Castling is a move in chess when you move the King in the direction of the Rook and switch place with it, kind like if he were hiding in his castle. So this is the idea behind this secret, your Hero hides behind a minion that´s in your hand. This secret can work very well with minions with deathrattle.
THE AGENT
Agents are mysterious figures. Some say they represent a secret government organization whose task it is to keep the public in the dark about the paranormal and especially extraterrestrial realities around us. Others say these men in black are themselves supernatural entities, whether time-travelers or alien-human hybrids meant to manipulate. Only one thing is certain; when unexplained phenomena are afoot, the agents are sure not to be far behind.
EXAMPLE CLASSIC CARDS
Explanations / Clarifications:
REMAINING CLASSIC SET
Explanations / Clarifications:
BASIC SET
Explanations / Clarifications:
COMPLETE COLLECTION, by Cost
COMPLETE COLLECTION, by Function
Single Target
Doctor Zoom, The Time Lord
Doctor Zoom is a time-traveling alien who hails from the planet of Gally III, in a galaxy both a long time ago and far away from Azeroth. He travels the space-time continuum in his sort of trusty time machine, T.A.R.D.Y. It can take him anywhere and anytime he wants to go, although he always seems to end up getting there a little late for some reason. Hearthstone came out two years ago, but he has just now arrived on the scene!
Time Lord is about setting up combos and control. His Hero Power let's you know what card you will draw next, which gives strategic value, and also lowers its cost to make big plays later. His control cards are not just about getting kills, but also focus on returning minions to the hand or deck. To benefit from bouncing his own minions, he's got lots of Battlecries. Here are the most iconic cards from expert:
Featured Cards:
Rewind: This is my example of a control card, and it exemplifies the Time Lord theme of bouncing minions. In addition, these cards can be used to both control enemy minions, as well as return your cards to your hand/deck (works best with all those Battlecry minions Time Lord has). This is also one of the cards that helps you set up combos by setting the top card of your deck. Odd Pyschic, and others, play off of these effects.
Aural Lockpick: Just as the Sonic Screwdriver lets the doctor through any barrier, the Aural Lockpick lets you past any irksome Taunt minion! Never let those Sludge Belchers bother you again! This is an example Time Lord weapon, which are all part of his Chrono Tools! These weapons will never have high attack, and give benefits through their effects, instead.
Emo Statue: Don't blink! The Emo Statue cannot move or be hurt when another minion is looking at it (i.e. is directly across the board). I wanted to transcribe some iconic Doctor Who minions into the class, with quirky effects. I prefer making innovative effects rather than new keywords, and this exemplifies that in the Expert set best. The epitome of a fun card!
Odd Psychic: What I wanted to show here is how this minion's effect synergizes with the hero power. With Odd Psychic, you have to pick your target before you know whether it will heal or hurt the target. That's big RNG, unless you already know the top card of your deck! Your hero power lets you do this, as well as a number of other Time Lord cards, such as the class legendary. Time Lord will have a ~4 cards like this. We have Temporal Vortex in basic and several more to come.
Ditty "Spoilers" Lake: Doctor Zoom's time traveling girlfriend. They always seem to meet up out of order, so she can give him hints on what's coming up next! You have to show the class legendary, and she also demonstrates the Time Lord theme of setting up combos through knowing what card(s) you'll draw next. In her case, you can play that card immediately!
The rest of the cards are in the spoiler right here. For a more in depth description of all the Time Lord themes and synergies, check out the bottom spoiler. I've also broken down the entire collection so far into categories for easier reading.
All Expert cards:
Card Explanations:
Wrinkle in Time: This is a cheap removal spell with a downside, since your opponent gets a card. There are several other cards that let you set it up by either putting a specific card on your opponent’s deck or revealing their top card(s). I worded it this way specifically so that it wouldn’t trigger draw effects.
Psychic Paper: Somewhat similar to Flare, except you are stealing a Secret. So it’s also like Kezan Mystic, except that the card goes into your hand so you still have to pay for it. If you aren’t playing a Secret class, then it cycles itself for two mana, which seems like an okay deal to me.
Plan Ahead:: This is the epitome of a Time Lord card. You get to draw a card, and you also get knowledge about your next two card. You don’t know which of the two you will draw first, but once you find out, you know exactly what the next card is. Combos well with cards like Temporal Vortex and Odd Psychic. It’s basically a better Tracking.
Rewind: This is another versatile bouncing card. I made it more limiting because the original version was too powerful. It lets you set up for cards that depend on the top card of the deck for either side.
Time Loop: If you cast this on a minion, it makes it better at clearing the board, but makes it essentially useless for attacking the enemy hero. Like it says, at the end of every turn, any minion or hero it damaged that turn is healed back up by the same amount, and any damage it took that turn is healed back. Basically any attack it takes is undone, as well as any attack on it. Unless it killed the other minion. In that case, the other minion stays dead, but the Time Loop minion heals the damage it took back. So, it’s good for keeping board control, if you keep killing its targets, but not any good at going face, and your opponent can’t kill it without dealing all of its damage in one turn.
Aural Lockpick: Just like how the Sonic Screwdriver lets the Doctor get through any barrier, the Aural Lockpick allows you to neutralize any Taunt minion! Note the Silence happens as the attack begins, like Truesilver Champion. Good against Sludge Belcher and Tirion Fordring.
Emo Statue: Like the Weeping Angels, it can't move and is invulnerable while someone is looking at it. What it means by there being a minion across the board is that, if you draw a line straight up from the center of the card, it will intersect another card.
Time Cop: This is like Frothing Berserker or Holy Champion, in that it gains help based on the class theme. Here, it is bouncing cards. It is harder to bounce cards that to damage minions or heal, so it has better stats than its counterparts.
Alter Timeline: This would probably be a good control card. You don’t choose the damage target, but how much damage is done is based on a chosen friendly minion. To do a good amount of damage, you need to have a card with a decent mana cost. So if you have one high-cost minion, this is a slightly random, high damage spell. With the downside that you return a card to hand.
Cyborg Man: If you can keep killing minions and surviving, you can get a whole lot of these guys out. To balance the powerful effect, it has weak stats. Would be good against aggro, or if you can keep getting finishing blows.
Warp Chronometer: This card is similar to Commanding Shout, on a weapon, in that you can trade in to minions without really losing your own minions. Note that the bounce happens after any Deathrattles trigger. It’s best when you have good battlecries or deathrattles, because you will get them again.
Digital Watch Dog: This card gives you both strategic value in knowing what’s on the bottom of your deck as well as a card draw. The card you don't choose is put back on the bottom of your deck.
Odd Psychic: With this card, you have to choose the target first. If you don’t know what your top card is, it is then RNG whether you will heal or damage it. Fortunately, Time Lord has a number of ways to reveal or set the top card (including the Hero Power), which makes this card more reliable.
Ditty “Spoilers” Lake: When this card is out, the top card of your deck is always visible, but only to you! Also, you can play that card as if it were in your hand. Just drag it out from over your deck like you would with one in your hand. Ditty’s effect is ongoing, so after you draw, play, discard, or otherwise change the top card of your deck, you can still see and play the new top card. This combos really well with other Time Lord cards that interact with your top card.
Total Recall: People have been proposing this kind of effect since Alpha (mostly as a new effect for Nozdormu). So, I had to make a card like this. The would work as a good AOE board clear, if used correctly. It would change everything on the board to how it was at the beginning of last turn (not this turn). It would also change the heroes’ health to how it was, but it wouldn’t change mana crystals, hands, or decks. This means that any minions that were played since the beginning of your last turn would be effectively destroyed, without triggering death effects. It would be hard to use, but potentially very powerful, so I made it expensive.
Themes and Synergies:
The main Time Lord themes are control and setting up combos. These are embodied in several themes in the card effects, including returning cards to player’s hands and decks, knowledge of the top card of your deck and/or setting that card, and cost reduction. I tried to design cards that work off of these themes and/or combine them in interesting ways. For example, there are going to be more cards like Temporal Vortex, whose effect depends on the top card of your deck. In any other class, this would be pure RNG, but it synergizes with Time Lord themes to set up combos. Two minor design themes are the Time Lord’s use of Mechs, and his weapons, the Chrono Tools. All weapons will have an effect that does something beyond damaging minions, since they are based off the ever-useful Sonic Screwdriver.
Control:
Time Lord is a weapon class, but none of their weapons have high attacks. Therefore, I intend to create damage spells to complement them, although not too many, because Time Lord also has alternative types of control. Time Lord has 3 single target damage spells so far. Time Core Blast is the Darkbomb-type spell. Wrinkle in Time and Alter Timeline have high variance in their damage, and also have significant downsides. Freeze Time offers direct removal, although with several limitations over a card like Assassinate. Run! and Rewind bounce single targets, and I expect to create more ways to do this in future expansions. There are three AOE spells. Temporal Vortex is AOE damage, while Restart and Total Recall are AOE removal. Finally, Aural Lockpick is designed to help neutralize Taunt minions. The Chrono Tools all do different things, but some of them will be designed for targeted control Tech like this.
Setting Up Combos:
Time Lord's Hero Power is strong at setting up plays for later turns. There will be several cards that reduce costs, as well. In the Basic set you have Run!, which is good for setting up combos with Battlecry or Charge minions, and Secrets of the Time Lords. Auto-Chronicler is an example of a card that can set the top card of your deck. This will be important, as cards like Temporal Vortex and Odd Psychic will have effects that depend on what that card is. Setting or knowing it will be an important part of Time Lord Combos. And this is apparent in the expert set, as I have added three new cards that let you do this: Plan Ahead, Rewind, and Ditty Lake. Here are the cards that benefit from knowing your top card:
Bouncing Cards:
Returning card to the deck or hand is an important Time Lord theme. There will be a number of options for returning both friendly and enemy minions. In addition, Time Lord has cards that synergize with bouncing. Chronobot and Time Cop have effects that directly benefit, and Time Lord also has a number of Battlecryminions (see the list of these below).
Chrono Tools:
The Chrono Tools will be the Time Lord weapons, which are parodies of the Sonic Screwdriver. Like the Sonic, they will all have great utility, and are not meant for blunt force. For other classes, the weapons usually focus on just dealing damage to enemies. I purposefully will not make that only do this, and none of them will have high attack (none have more than 2 attack now, and I think that's a good limit). The Chrono Wrench is the simplest and most blunt of these instruments. The expert weapons have more complicated effects. Aural Lockpick is control tech, while Warp Chronometer helps build card advantage by bouncing your minions back to your hand after they die. I plan to add 1-2 more weapons in the expansions. I think having a number of weapons will be okay, because you will include each one in your deck for its effect, not for its attack. They shouldn't get in each other's way so much as with the other classes.
Battlecry Minions:
With the number of cards that can return friendly minions to your hand, Time Lord synergizes strongly with Battlecry minions. As such, they have a number of class minions with Battlecry to benefit from the synergy. There are four so far in the Classic set, and I will add probably 2-4 more with the expansions.
Come Play Make the Keyword!!!
Check out my Worgen Class in the Class Competition
Class: Gygaxian Horde -- Hero: Dungeon Master -- Mileau: Dungeons and Dragons
New Mechanic: RollOver X is the new Mechanic I'll be introducing for my class. How it works is that the X will have some value between 1 and 19 and a random number between 1 and 20 is created via 'die roll'. IF the die roll is higher than the X value then whatever condition that follows takes place. Basically, it gives you a random chance for an event to occur in 5% increments. Why not just say, '35% chance to avoid damage' instead of RollOver 13? Because Dungeon Master's Hero Power synergizes with RollOver X. If your Hero Power is charged when a RollOver X check is made you roll a 20. Unlike other uses of the Hero Power this can even take place on your opponent's turn.
Proactive Tech: A theme for the Dungeon Master class will be what I call Proactive Tech. These are tech cards that you put into play before the situation that they are teching against is on the board, making your opponent have awkward plays on his turn. Most tech in the game is reactive, for instance, all the anti-Weapon tech is reactive, you have to wait until the weapon you want to destroy is in play before you use the tech card. A good example of a Proactive Tech card currently in the game is Counterspell.
Dungeon Footpad: This card showcases both of the themes of this phase. RollOver and Proactive Tech. This little Thief is adept and finding and removing traps (Secrets). In a match-up vs. a Hero with no Secrets he still functions as a Jungle Panther minus the Beast tag. But, he really shines when facing a Secret deck. Note: The Secret would be destroyed before activating.
Rust Monster: The Rust Monster is the bane of Fighters in D&D. Remember that magic Sword? That shiny suit of magic armor? Not anymore. This little fella is a Proactive Tech version of Acidic Swamp Ooze. Due to the fact that death is the last thing the game checks for, nothing less than a 4 attack weapon is strong enough to kill the Rust Monster. He hungers for your Fiery War Axe. You coin this out on turn 1 and an opposing weapon class has some very awkward plays to make.
Wish: I'm just bringing the fun with this spell. You might be invincible, you might get cursed, you might join the ranks of the undead, you might even wish for more wishes. This card is designed for folks who are more concerned about the experience of the game than winning consistently. Sometimes you play a game to have fun. Well, maybe not you, but some freaks out there.
Djinni of the Lamp: The Djinni also makes use of the Wish spells, this time shuffling them into a deck. The idea is that you get an over-statted Minion with a drawback. If this survives until your turn, you can possibly cause it to shuffle a Wish into your deck as well. I would guess Ancient Shade is the closest comp.
Ivan the Abjurer: Another card that fills the double roll of showcasing RollOver and Proactive Tech. Ivan the Abjurer is very difficult for your opponent to kill with spells. It will often take a sacrificial spell to take off the hero power protection followed with the 'real' damage spell. Best comp is probably Troggzor the Earthinator which tries to fill a role of anti-spell tech but fails.
The Rest of the Cards:
Commons:
Magic Missile: Magic Missile is a staple spell for every D&D Mage. It damages everything reliably and scales quite well for a 1st level spell. You can also use it to either attack multiple weak targets or one single large target. It's a very versatile spell. And I've tried to capture that here. If you pay 2 mana this gives you an average of 3 damage, the same as Darkbomb. The random nature of the damage makes it a bit worse though. If you use your Hero Power you can get a guaranteed 5 damage for 4 mana. Making comparable, if inferior, to Fireball. If you cast this when you have 6 mana you get an average of 6 damage for 6 mana. If you cast this at 8 mana you get a guaranteed 5 plus an average 3, so 8 damage for 8. If you have 10 mana you can get 3 missiles off for an average of 9 damage making it an inferior Pyroblast. If you get more than 1 missile each one is cast separately, so you get to choose a new target each time and trigger any effects as a result of casting a spell each time. It's never as efficient as it's Mage counterparts, but I believe the versatility makes up for it.
Command: Command was always my favorite Priest spell when playing D&D; it was just amazingly useful, if not terribly powerful, in so many situations. It was like having Jedi Mind Control as long as you could condense your will into a single word. This card gives you a single use of your opponent's hero power and draws you a card. I feel like the power is right in line with Power Word: Shield. Power Word: Shield gives you a card and a zero mana effect, just like this. Both cards are conditional, with PWS needing a body on board and with Command giving you a random power.
Troll: They are big, green, and very hard to kill. Check, check, and check. It's Dreadsteed's supersize sibling. Easier to deal with than Dreadsteed though because even a Rusty Horn will Silence this guy. Utilizes the RollOver mechanic. Could use your hero power to guarantee regeneration, but, might not be worth the cost with a standard 75% rate as it is. Piloted Sky Golem is a decent comp.
Cat's Grace: It's your basic minion buff. Showcases the ability of the RollOver mechanic to be used on Spells. Good synergy with the hero power. Compares quite closely with Seal of Champions.
Sleep: I tried to model this card as closely as possible on the Sleep spell in D&D. That spell can only affect up to 4HD monsters and waking them up takes an action. So, with this spell I replaced HD with Mana Cost and tried to simulate the sleeping and subsequent waking of minions with the return to hand and cheap casting. This spell reminds me a bit of Shadow Word: Pain. It gives you an advantage over the smaller minions in the game. If you opponent has more than 2 minions this effects you even get a Tempo gain to go with the hopeful initiative you received to begin with.
Rares:
Dispacer Beast: Displacer Beast is just a cool D&D monster that I wanted to include. It has the same 30% chance to avoid damage as in D&D. It's a feline with six legs and tentacles that appears 5 feet from its real position, what's not to like? Makes use of the RollOver mechanic. Not sure the best comp, Silvermoon Guardian perhaps?
Prayer: Hearthstone could use global enchantments, but, until that time this mechanic will suffice. Compares with The Mistcaller.
Prismatic Spray: Gygaxian Horde finally gets a mass removal. But, a wonky one. Each enemy minon gets hit with a spell effect. It could be very strong like Starfire, possibly removing the minion and drawing you a card, or it could be very bad like using Gang Up on a Healing Totem.
Moonfire
Naturalize
Starfire
Mulch
Recycle
Arcane Shot
Cobra Shot
Kill Command
Quick Shot
Fireball
Polymorph
Dragon's Breath
Flame Lance
Ice Lance
Polymorph Boar
Arcane Blast
Pyroblast
Hammer of Wrath
Humility
Holy Smite
Entomb
Inner Fire
Silence
Convert
Holy Fire
Assassinate
Sap
Betrayal
Eviscerate
Shiv
Gang Up
Frost Shock
Hex
Crackle
Earth Shock
Lightning Bolt
Lava Burst
Drain Life
Shadow Bolt
Corruption
Darkbomb
Mortal Coil
Soulfire
Fist of Jaraxxus
Imp-losion
Siphon Soul
DemonHeart
Bash
Inner Rage
Slam
Mortal Strike
Epics:
Lich: One of the Wishes turns you into a Lich. This is that Lich. If you get turned into a Lich you have 15 Health, a 2/8 weapon, and Wild Magic for a hero power. This card is pretty fun on its own though, giving you a mini-Ysera that you can run 2 copies.
Gate: In D&D you open up a gate for minons to come to your aid, but, you don't really know what will step though that gate. Just like this spell. I think Dungeon Master has a lot of minions that will work well with Gate, not many crucial Battlecry minions to lower the value. Compares with Varian Wrynn
Wish List:
The Lich:
If you manage to get the Wish for Immortality spell from either the Wish spell or the Djinni of the Lamp, your hero is replaced with a Lich. You have 15 life, the Wild Magic Hero Power, and equip the Immortui Baculus.
Hero Power:
The Dungeon Master is the guy behind the scenes. He rolls the dice. And if he wants it to roll a 20, it rolls a 20. He's got that kind of power.
But, what you really want to know about is the Hero Power. I'll discuss it in some length here. But, essentially, when you pay for the Hero Power it Charges up. It then waits for the next random effect to happen on your turn. That means specifically, A card has a range of numbers, or uses the word 'Random'. Those are the two triggers that will activate the hero power. If it's a range of numbers you get to pick the number. If it says 'random' you simply change 'random' to 'chosen' and go from there.
So, some examples.
You cast a spell that says, "Restore 2-9 Health". If your Hero power is charged when you cast the spell you get a little slider that pops up giving you a chance to choose 9 (or any other number between 2 and 8).
You cast a minion with the text, "Battlecry: Deal 1 damage to 3 random targets." It now reads, "Battlecry: Deal 1 damage to 3 chosen targets." So, you'll get to pick those targets as you would if it wasn't a random effect.
You cast a minion with the text, "Battlecry Deal 1-3 damage to 3 random targets." Now you get to choose the range of damage, but, you don't get to choose the targets. On a card like this that has more than 1 valid trigger for your ability, only the first one gets changed by your ability.
Lets say you kill a Piloted Shredder on your turn with your hero power charged. Do you then get to choose the minion that drops out? No. It is too unweildy for the game if you start choosing targets from a list of all possible cards, so it's simply limited. The Hero Power is limited to choosing cards that were in either of the player's decks to start the game. This means that you could choose a random card from a deck, hand, the battlefield, or 'graveyard', but, you can't choose a random card from the ether.
RollOver X is an exception to the rule than your hero power only works on your turn. If a RollOver X ability, on one of your cards, triggers while your hero power is charged it will cause a 20 to be rolled no matter which player is active.
It's also worth noting the effects that take place, 'At the end of your turn.' fall outside the range of the ability, as they are no longer during your turn.
Click HERE to See the Basic Cards.
Shameless Plug: Some of things to come should I make the next Phase -- A Red Dragon that drops a treasure. Mind Flayers stealing minions. A trip back to town to see the bartender, constable, blacksmith, and merchant. A Mimic sighting. A healthy dose of Drow Elves. Even a Joust card that doesn't suck!
Galavant Animation
Hey guys! Plumber Class and Luigi have returned! Mamma Mia what a week it has been. Wait till you see what we got for you today! The class is:
Plumber
and the hero is the one and only; LUIGI!
Hero and Hero Power:
The token card created by the hero power:
Summary of the class:
Plumber is an enchanter class focusing on creating several smaller minions on the board and avoiding to take direct damage itself. The class introduces a new keyword Boost that is triggered when targeted by a Power-Up tribe spell, creating a significant impact on the board.
The basic set from Phase II:
Basic Cards
The token created by Mystery Box if you have no Power-Up spells left in your deck to draw:
Mystery Box functions as Sense Demons but provides you Power-Up cards instead. This is a keycard to the class that relies heavily on having buff cards ready to use.
Lakitu is a Basic Set minion that provides both players a Power-Up card. The Power-Up card will be more valuable to you though because it will be used to trigger the Boost effect your future minions will have. Therefore Lakitu gives both players equally something but you are more equal than the opponent!
Baby Yoshi is the cute little fella who shows the way Power-Up cards aid your class without even having to cast them. Just wait till you see what a grown up Yoshi will do!
Remaining Basic set:
The Tokens created by Goomba Squad and Royal Goomba:
Example Cards for Classic set:
The token created by Goomba:
Monstrous Piranha Plant:
Explanation for Example Cards:
Super Star: The mighty Power-Up which can be cast even to the hero. Works similar to Bestial Wrath except it is not limited to a specific minion type. Very devastation when used on some stronger Boost minion such as Magikoopa or Kamek.
Goomba: The basic Boost minion that can fast swarm the board if left alive. Imagine the scenario where you play the Goomba on turn 2 and turn 3 you hero power and cast the 1-Up Mushroom to Goomba. Result is a 3/3 and a 2/2 for 5 mana! Unlike most 2-drops, this minions works even in the late game if your hand is full of Power-Up cards!
Piranha Plant: This is a big Boost minion that unleashes the full use of a Boost effect. When a Power-Up is cast on this minion, it transforms into a monstrous version that is angry, deadly, savage and full of power. Also the transform effect resets the health and any spells or battlecries cast on this minion. (Yes, even the boost spell)
Yoshi: The iconic dinosaur from the Mario world shows the other way to use the Power-Up cards besides the Boost effect. Yoshi can become devastating if the opponent has no way to deal small amount of damage and get you to discard your Power-Up cards. On the other hand Arcane Missiles kind spells will destroy Yoshi, cause you to discard your hand and then make Yoshi vulnerable against nearby anything! Big risk, big reward minion! :)
Kamek: The big Magikoopa boss is the class legendary of the Plumber class. Where a normal Magikoopa (see below in the remaining cards of the classic set) casts the copy of the effect only on a single minion, Kamek buffs your entire board with the effect. Imagine giving a +1/+1 buff to a single minion for 1 mana. Fair deal. But then imagine giving the +1/+1 buff to every friendly minion for 1 mana? Now that's the game! Kamek is slower than any other Classic legendary, but the idea is similar to Archmage Antonidas that when used on turn 8-10 and combined with a bunch of spells, he will be the game finisher. (Do note that the copy of a spell does NOT trigger any Boost effects, because the effect requires that spell itself, not the copy, is cast on the minion. Therefore Kamek will not create an endless loop of Boost effects if on the board with another Kamek. That would be too crazy! :D)
Remaining Classic Set:
Explanation for the rest of the Classic set:
Nabbit: The Plumber Class version of Mana Wyrm rewards you for keeping a spell card in your opening hand.
Life Mushroom: The card works just the way Life Mushroom works in the Mario games. It heals you and gives you a short time time buff. The Health buff for the rest of the turn basically allows you to take 3 more damage that turn for free on the minion. You have seen how a temporary health increase effect works for example when used with a card like Stormwind Champion.
Monty Mole: Funny little mole that secures its way on the battlefield. The main issue of Plumber class is that the minions are slightly underpowered the turn they are played in. Monty Mole is one of the minions that avoids the issue and secures you the way to get a minion on the board for the beginning of your turn.
Firebug: A mini version of Grim Patron. Plumber class will not have a permanent way to Stealth a minion so therefore Firebug is super vulnerable on the first turn. On the other hand if managed to kept alive, it starts to spread exponentally and can possess a threat. Especially when one of the Firebugs is buffed with Power-Ups to keep itself alive longer.
Magikoopa: One of the key minions of the class. Magikoopa's Boost effect is like reserved Djinni of Zephyrs. It gives your Power-Up cards way bigger impact than they would have on their own. Magikoopa is practically like Azure Drake for Rogue and Mage. A must have minion.
Toad: Useful minion to have both a body on the battlefield and later a power-up card to buff a minion. 2 at once!
Shy Guy: This is most likely the cutest thing I've ever created. Shy Guy is too shy and cannot fight on the board alone. If there is nobody with him, he hides in the shadows until someone comes to assist him! Poor fella :(
Thwomp: Pit Lord of Plumber class. A big 4 mana drop that works the best when played on an empty board. Otherwise there is a chance some Shy Guys or Toads might get crushed! Oh my!
Mega Mole: Big brother of Monty Mole. Bigger, badder and very dangerous since it will secure its way on the board and cannot be killed by anyone else except Ragnaros the Firelord before your turn starts.
Power Horn: The biggest removal plumber class is going to have. If opponent has 1 minion, it is simply deal 1 damage to 1 minion. If 2, deal 2 damage to 2 and so on. On average opponent needs to have at least 4 minions to make it useful. And 4 minions on board is technically what Blizzard considers as overboarding so therefor this spell punishes recklessness like that! :)
Also here is the link to the complete album on Imgur:
http://imgur.com/a/yf5sT
Hope you enjoyed our show today! What next? What could Plumber possibly face in the undead necropolis? Anyone remember Luigi's Mansion? I believe the gang of Boos and the terrifying Dry Bones are waiting just around the corner! What? You wanna have a taste of the incoming GvG? Oh boy, if you thought Boost-Ups could only buff your minions, here's a twist; they can buff enemy minions with Boost as well. We haven't seen any Bob-omps in action yet have we? I believe an explosion surprise will be waiting for you! And about the Blackrock Mountain... I believe it's finally time to meet the mighty king koopa that puts any dragon beneath his shadow. He has been waiting for this whoooooole time. And he does not like waiting... You know who am I talking about, don't you? ;)
Until the next time! Mamma Mia!
May your nets always be full! 🎣
Welcome back to...
What Makes a Bard?
The purpose of Bard's classic set is to define its most basic playstyle and show what sets it off from other classes. This boils down to three main points:
To read more about Bard themes, check out my Phase 2 Submission.
Our returning Hero is virtuoso Lindsey Starling, with her Hero Power, Acoustics:
Lindsey Starling & Acoustics Explained
"A picture is worth a thousand words, but a song is worth a million."
-Lindsey Starling
A legendary Musician who is said to have defeated a dragon with nothing but a violin, Lindsey preaches peace and unity to the world through music. No matter where we come from, we still feel the same joy and the same sadness. No matter how different we think we are, a song can show us that our emotions are the same. She travels the world as a wandering hero, teaching all she meets of her philosophy. Already, hundreds of other bards from every corner of the globe have joined her cause, thus forming the Starling Orchestra. They have taken up her goal of a world where people put their differences aside and live in harmony, a goal that they believe can be achieved through music.
Her Hero Power, Acoustics, gives her a minor board control tool while also allowing her to recover in the later game. Many classes with Hero Powers that give them 1 Attack suffer from the fact that they end up taking far too much damage from each attack. Druid has some mitigation of this, but Rogue has none. By using the Melody mechanic, this hero power allows you to choose between a weaker version of Rogue's hero power for damage or a weaker version of Warrior's hero power for recovery each time you use it, once again showing how the Melody mechanic lets you make interesting choices.
Melody Mechanic Explained
While they do fight valiantly for what they believe is right, bards are generally more peaceful people who would rather play an enticing melody than engage in direct combat. As such, the Bard class's unique keyword is Melody, which gives a character an ability that they can use instead of attacking.
Melody effects are activated by pressing the melody button that appears when attacking with a minion. Playing a melody has all the same conditions as attacking, and should be thought of as "a different way to attack."
While the conditions for using a Melody are the same attacking, the actual effect is closer to a battlecry or spell.
The technicalities may sound intimidating, but the Melody mechanic is actually very simple. Here it is, put concisely:
In this infographic is a spoiler that shows how Melody works:
Card used:
Example Cards
These 5 cards showcase the major themes of Bard.
Masterpieces:
As to the debate over legendary spell tokens... Based on the "Lore", these two songs are on par with the WoW concept of Legendary. They are The Conductor's absolute strongest abilities and can/should only be used in the most difficult of battles.
It is true that all spell tokens have no rarity. However, all weapon tokens except for Ashbringer have no rarity, but Ashbringer became an exception because it is such a legendary weapon in WoW lore. It makes logical sense that these spells would be given the same kind of exception, since they are such legendary songs.
Explanations:
Debut
Every drawing starts with a point, every musician starts with a debut.
The Melody mechanic suffers from the fact that it is always slow, since minions can't play their melodies on the turn that they are played and few if any melody minions will have Charge. This card offers a solution to that issue, and opens up the Melody bard decktype into something viable. This card on its own may be hard to justify a deck slot for, but potent melody effects and some more support in GvG should allow debut to see a lot of play.
It's also worth noticing that this card can also function as a 1-turn humility to kill an enemy minion, or something to turn a friendly minion into a 1-damage charge. This reflects how Bards are extremely versatile.
Tavern Minstrel
Anyone can be a singer once they've had enough to drink.
This card showcases two things: A token-summoning card as well as a nuanced melody. This card is pretty weak on its own, but may become the staple of a combo debut/limelight/melody deck, since having two is exponentially better than having one.
Note that this minion is supposed to be a murloc, but we can't make murlocs due to competition rules. Murloc Bard will be a thing, someday, I promise.
Song of Passion
A force as strong as Passion cannot be directed. It guides itself.
In the previous set, we saw the card Song of Fortitude. In case it wasn't obvious, there are many cards in Bard named by "Song of..." which are all effects that scale with the number of minions you control. They are collectively referenced as "Songs" and have various cards that synergize with them.
Song of Passion serves as Bard's burst damage with a full board. Comparing it to Bloodlust:
Cons: It doesn't always go face. :(
Pros: It doesn't always go face! :D
Bard is a control class, so it's fitting that their finisher also serves as a way to clear the board.
Angelcaller
The heavens themselves are at her beck and call.
The perfect example of what a melody effect should look like. Part of the time, being able to trade with a 5/7 minion is an absolute necessity. However, if you've cleared your opponent's board, as a Bard player you would rather draw two cards than just attack face. This is exactly how a melody effects should work, where there is always some sort of choice to make on whether to attack or use the melody, rather than one option or the other always being superior.
The Conductor
"A performance can only last for so long... but its echoes will continue into eternity." - The Conductor
Lore: The Conductor
This mysterious child, known only as The Conductor, grew up in an unfortunate town ravaged by warfare. Their small village had become the battleground of two massive nations. Day after day, armies clashed in their streets and spilled blood on their soil for a war that had long since lost its meaning. They could not speak out against it, for they had no voice, nor could they run from it, for they had nowhere to go.
But the child had a voice. He would not take sadness for granted. He wanted to rise up, to lead his village, to bring a peaceful end to the empty conflict. He urged for confrontation, spoke to rally support - but his cries fell on deaf ears. What did a child know? Words were futile.
One day, two legions, larger than any precedent, came rolling over the hilltops. Soldiers flooded the streets. The fighting quickly spilled into homes and stores. Any respect that the warriors had for the civilians or their town, was completely gone. The child was shouting - at the soldiers, at the townspeople, at the world. But his pleas were drowned out by screams. A gallop rounded the corner and came charging down the ally he was hiding in. He knew at once that the rider would make no effort to avoid him. The end had come.
Suddenly, a force unlike any other split the sky. Reality itself seemed to hold its breath - everything stopped. A pulsating force shook the child, from his body to his soul.
Words cannot describe the music that poured into the air. Joy, sadness, passion, all flowed and intermixed. The devastation of the citizens, the emptiness of the soldiers, the music showed them to all.
There was no need to negotiate a treaty, the Starling Orchestra simply ended the war. Soldiers returned to their cities and protested the military. Efforts were made to assist the towns that had been torn apart by the violence. The Orchestra members would be immortalized as heroes of the village, and the townspeople thanked them endlessly. But the child had more to give than thanks - he would give them his life.
For he had found a force that was stronger than words. Even in his youth, he could be a leader, and make his voice heard. With Music, he could change the world.
The Conductor is a natural born leader who travels the world with the Starling Orchestra as one of the highest ranked members, serving as, of course, the orchestra's conductor.
In case it wasn't clear from the card, the buffs from Divine Symphony and Heavenly Harmony are PERMANENT. It's like you have a stormwind champion on your board that doesn't stop until you go face, since the effect applies to both current and future minions that are played.
This card answers the earlier question of "What does it mean to be a Bard?" With this card, you pay for a very significant advantage in trades, but as a result you can't attack your opponent's face. This complements Bard's playstyle of taking control of the board until your opponent is out of steam, then either letting them concede or finishing them with cards that scale with the number of minions you control.
This also has an interesting interaction when played on turn 1, since you can choose which Masterpiece to play on turn 2, turning it into either a 2/2 or a 1/3 based on how you want to trade.
Remaining Cards
This spoiler contains the remaining 10 cards in Bard's classic set.
Explanations:
Kindlewood Violinist
Her talent is undeniable, but her methods are questionable...
Kindlewood Violinist is officially the only melody effect that deals damage. It's an extremely powerful two-drop, which functions as a shielded mini-bot against 2-health or lower minions, or a regular bloodfen raptor against any others. The choice you make in using this melody is "Do I need to trade into something with 3+ health, or can I kill a weak minion?"
This card has often been called out for its balance. Admittedly, it is strong, but your opponent has to knowingly play into it for it to really harm you. It gets removed by any standard 2 mana removal, and is also just a regular 2 mana 3/2 versus anything with more than 2 Health.
Limelight
"When the time comes, you will know. Seize the Limelight, and change the world." -Lindsey Starling
Seeing as how Battlecry and Deathrattle both have a double-trigger legendary, it would be fitting to give Bard a double melody trigger effect. But it would be boring to just slap it onto another legendary, so instead it appears in this feign-death-esque card. In case the wording is unclear, it gives you a one-turn only double trigger for your melodies when they get activated (closer to brann and rivendare than feign death).
This card does have some crazy combo potentials, but due to the nature of Melody effects being positive for you rather than harmful to your enemy, they usually have a way to deal with it. Even the craziest of Melody effects aren't game-breaking with this, so it could see play in Debut/Melody bard as a balanced yet powerful combo card.
Composer
All it takes to change the world is a little bit of inspiration.
Composer is the card that single-handedly streamlines songs from being clunky and a loss of tempo into a cornerstone of Bard. This minion, in combination with the more potent songs like Song of Fortitude and Song of Passion is an extremely devastating combo that truly defines how Bard decks play as opposed to other midrange or token decks. Because of Composer, songs fit well into many Bard decks.
This description has made it sound OP, and I can't deny that it is fairly strong. It does give huge amounts of value, but this is simply one of those Bard cards that is strong so that it can define the class. From playtesting experience, the board impact is strong, but not so strong that it's impossible for my opponent to come back.
Explanations:
Song of Loyalty
Compassion creates Loyalty. Cruelty only creates servitude.
Bard has many minions that are powerful if they can stay alive for more than one turn and snowball, as a result of the Melody mechanic. Song of loyalty allows you to protect a powerful minion if you have board dominance, but still allows for counterplay since the minion you buff is more vulnerable to BGH and is a better justification for silence.
War Drum
The drumbeat is like a heartbeat - it keeps us alive.
The first of Bard's Melody weapons! Note that most if not all of Bard's weapons will have Melody effects. This is because Melodies have interesting interactions with weapons (they cost 1 durability but can be used immediately) and make thematic sense from the viewpoint of equipping instruments and playing them.
This drum showcases a more aggressive theme in Bard. While Bard is mainly a control class, it would be narrow-minded to not give it any way to play aggro. This card is a rare sight in that it gives a strictly damage-based buff. The choice you make in using the melody is "Do I need to hit something for 3 damage, or do I have enough minions so that the melody is more valuable than 3 damage?"
High Note
The shriek of this flute is the last thing they'll hear.
In case the card text did not make it obvious, the minion is silenced while it is in your opponent's hand. This means that it is now just a vanilla minion, it won't activate its battlecry on being played and it will remain silenced when it re-enters the field. If your opponent then returned it to their hand normally, it would be un-silenced, though. The card would look like this in their hand:
High Note is Bard's second and likely last hard removal spell in combination with Low Note. Notice that neither of these spells actually kill the minion itself - Low note gets rid of a minion's stats, and High Note gets rid of its effects. This one is very powerful, and replaying the silenced minion is almost always a bad play and probably wouldn't roll around until the topdecking phase, so most of the time this works like a slightly weaker Hex.
Explanations:
Song of Protection
Every life is worth saving.
This card can both be used as a mechanism to trade without hurting your own minions or preserving your board into the next turn. Since Bard should usually have a board that they can benefit with divine shield, and Bard has a lot of spells that synergize with controlling many minions, both of these effects should see usage.
In case the text is ambiguous, this card gives all friendly minions divine shield that they then lose next turn.
Heavy Metal
A performance isn't good until a guitar gets smashed.
Another Melody weapon for Bard, but this one behaves differently from War Drum. The drum is a more typical melody weapon, where you choose between an attack and a buff. This weapon serves as a two-in-one value card that gives you versatility in removal. You have three choices: 4 mana, draw 2 cards if you're in a tight spot, attacking for 4 once and then drawing a card, or a 4 mana 4/2 weapon. Each effect is slightly weaker than it would be alone, but that's the price of versatility. This has been one of my favorite cards in playtesting, and I can assure you that all 3 options are very useful.
Elderwood Bard
Legend tells of a wandering, horn-playing spirit that preserved peace in the world. After joining the Starling Orchestra, this lutist took up both its name and its cause.
A super potent healing card that demolishes aggro and provides the healing that control/debut Bard needs to be a viable deck. Showcases exactly how Bard should play, where you receive a stronger heal by also healing the enemy hero.
Explanations:
Star of the Show
He has the looks, she has the talent.
Star of the Show serves as Bard's big, expensive Melody minion for maximum value with Debut. Whereas most Melody cards involve a choice based on the situation, this one is more of a cycle: If it has 4 attack, play the melody to become an 8/8. If it has 8 attack, then attack and trade with your backup singers. Then, repeat.
Basic Set
This spoiler contains the 10 Cards in Bard's basic set, to give you more context for the classic set.
Explanations:
Spirit Dancer
Her alluring dance gathers the spirits.
While designing Bard, there was a card in the basic set that happened to synergize really well with Wisp. So well, to the point where I really wanted Wisp in Bard to be viable. Unfortunately, wisp just doesn't do enough to warrant a card slot. So, a card that generates wisps would both fit into Bard's 1 mana minion slot and allow wisp to see play! When this design came around, it was impossible to refuse.
You might not want to immediately play the wisps you get from this card. Bard has a lot of cards that synergize with how many minions you currently have on the field, and since wisp costs 0 mana, you can drop them all right before you play those cards to significantly increase their output.
Since Wisp is technically a common card and not basic, here is a basic version of it generated uniquely by this card (Nerubians do the same thing by the way, in nerubian egg vs beneath the grounds):
Instrumentalist
He wanders from town to town, collecting instruments wherever he goes.
Has been nerfed from +1/+1 to +1 Attack.
At first glance this card may be confusing, especially since Bard doesn't have any basic weapons. But remember, your hero power generates a 1-durability weapon. To activate this card's effect, you could use your hero power on turn 2 but not use your weapon, and then play this for a really solid turn 3, kind of like a mini-handlock play.
This card functions as an all around sturdy 3-drop, both with or without its effect.
Reverberate
A sonic blast so powerful that even its echoes can pack a wallop.
The main thing that Bard was lacking before this card was designed was the fact that once you lost tempo or board control, there was no way to get it back. This card fixes just that, allowing you to thin your opponent's board while starting to rebuild your own.
Echoes are simply 1/1s:
Explanations:
Double Time
Twice as much speed means twice as many options.
This card is an example of Bard cards that produce insane versatility through very simple effects. Its efficient mana cost allows to to be used to trade more effectively. It also is a card that could give Bard its finisher, possibly in combination with Leeroy Jenkins. When minions start getting Melody in the classic set, this card allows you to use a Melody twice in a turn, or use any combination of 1 Attack and 1 Melody.
This is also the type of card that can be very worrying in terms of overly large OTK combos with large chargeminions or attack buffs. However, since I've already been staying away from Attack buffs just because it goes against Bard flavor in general, I won't have to go out of the way to keep this card in check.
Low Note
The sound from this giant's horn will stop anything in its tracks.
This card functions as Bard's "Hard" removal. It allows you to use your tokens to take down larger minions without killing those tokens in the process. It also allows you to simply ignore a minion for a turn and just use your minions' melody effects, rather than forcing your minions to remove a threat immediately and thus taking away their opportunity to use their melodies.
Song of Fortitude
Only music can give what words cannot.
The first of the Bard's "Songs". Songs are cards in bard, identified with a card name in the format of "Song of...". All of them have some sort of synergy with controlling many minions. This one being the most central and the most simple, it belongs in the basic set.
This card is a simple reflection of how Bards tend to buff their minions in defensive ways rather than being aSavage Roar / Bloodlust clone.
Explanations:
Choir
Both in music and in battle, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Choir is actually an exception for Bard in that it is a direct damage spell. All classes need some sort of generic removal, and so this is how Bard will have it, only potent if you have a good board. While this card can function as some serious burn in an aggressive token deck, it's not too hard for any Bard deck to get at least 1 or 2 minions, so this card should be a core card in any deck.
Peace and Harmony
Rule number one of Lindsey's Bards: "Every action I take is to promote peace and harmony."
A good midgame multi-card draw for Bard that fits better in control decks, but can be used pretty much anywhere. It's simple and gets the job done, just like a basic card should.
Soothing Lyrist
In a world of violence and destruction, music is our only respite.
What sets Bard apart from the token-style gameplays of Druid or Shaman is that it uses minions for control rather than outright aggro. This card is what links flooding the board with defensive gameplay, and allows you to both heal your hero and develop your board in the same turn.
Explanation:
Orchestra
The Starling Orchestra contains talent from every corner of the globe.
Orchestra is a one-of-everything token generator. It summons these exact four minions every time, so you always know what you're getting:
Serves as a big late-game minion for Bard, split into several smaller ones to synergize with its spells. It may seem super slow, but thanks to the fact that one of them has Charge it can actually be surprisingly helpful in some
This concludes Bard's classic set. If you enjoyed these cards, or you are excited for Bard's future, please leave a vote!
As we move from the expert set to GvG, we leave behind classical music and enter the age of modern music and dubstep!
Cards( )
Explanation( )
Creeper - A simple one drop similar to Mana wyrm or Tunnel Trogg, it felt like the perfect combination with the Cache mechanic. It is very intuitive to others who have used cards like Mana Wyrm as to how it works, and can also make for early game choices when you have two of these on the field.
Memory( ) - This card is a bit different in terms of the Turn mechanic. It allows for a discounted Arcane Intellect, but requires the player to have attacked with a minion, otherwise it is a worse Shiv. I think it shows how Turn isn't strictly beneficial to the player, and won't always be easy to make happen.
Mother - We have seen a lot of 4 mana 3/5's and thus it felt good to do another one with a simple effect. It felt good for a common, and while not strong like say Piloted Shredder, can go toe to toe with it, and provides an equally good alternative effect.
Claw - This card I find most akin to Savage Combatant. It is one of the few Process minions with a higher attack than health, and has the potential for a ton of damage output. Of course, that damage may not be worth it compared to some of the other Cache effects.
Mute( ) - This was originally a basic card, until I remembered Silence was not allowed to be used. Therefor, it got moved to this set, where it acts like Shiv except with silence. Compared to owl, it is the difference between an 2/1 or drawing a card.
Crash( ) - This card is a good simple Turn card. It is the 1 mana deal 2 damage spell that most classes have, with an upside if you have yet to attack with a minion. A minor thing, as more often than not it will be 3 damage, but there are times like when dealing with cards like Dr. Boom, you want to see where the random effects land before casting spells.
Ping( ) - The Singer doesn't have a wide amount of AoE, especially not early in the game. This was made to help with that problem, but not solve it. The class should have weaknesses, and this is one of them. Similar to mage, they should thrive off of having board control, and using powerful single target spells to achieve that goal.
In Circles - This card is the second 'Song' card for the singer. It too provides a more weird and unique effect, as every other ability is more meant for dealing damage or controlling the board. Plus it is a really good song... like go look it up and listen.
Jerk - This card shows the duality Turn can bring, either making an Infernal type effect, or a Fire Elemental effect. A 5/6 is nothing to sneeze at either, this card is meant to be competitive with Loatheb, providing two potentially useful effects for the same cost as him.
Mask( ) - Another utility card. I love this one honestly because it works so well with Turn. If no minions have attacked, let one through taunt, otherwise run through yourself. It requires opponents to deal with your big minions, or can allow the hero a way to bypass taunts to use one of their weapon enhancing effects on a creature.
Basic_Set( )
Thank you everyone for reading!
*Note: Too busy to make any sort of fancy banner... :P
The Chef
The Four Foodstuffs
Overview
Here's a quick refresher to the Chef class, in case you are new. The Chef is a combo-based class and has both the potential of playing as a tempo, fast class, or a midrange deck. At the core of the Chef are the Foodstuffs, four tokens produced by your Hero Power and by many other cards, leading to board-based gameplay, a bit of RNG, and careful planning. Despite the RNG, there are ways to circumvent the inherent randomness of this class, leading to masterful recipes and scrumptious victories.
The Keyword
The Classic Set
These cards were chosen since the are the quirkiest of the quirky, the punniest of the pun-y! They fully embody Chef's most basic playstyle and can be used in any Chef deck.
Thermodynamic Spoon's tokens
The cards explained:
Blueberry: A combo enabler. At the cost of some card advantage, you can gain a huge, huge tempo swing. In addition, as it acts as ANY Foodstuff, if a minion has multiple Recipe requirements, it will activate all of them! Save this card when you need it most to get perhaps multiple Recipe effects off of it. The key with this card is to weigh the benefits. Is it worth slapping down this valuable card, then play multiple cards?
Jalapeno Business: This card looks silly, true enough. And it's meant to be! It's also one heck of a pun. However, this is a great tempo card, similar to Sap. You completely disable an enemy minion for a turn, hopefully buying you enough time to set up a game-changing combo. Whereas Sap completely removes a minion and forces your opponent to play it again, Jalapeno Business does not give your opponent the luxury of the minion back, but does leave a body on the field for your opponent to trade with. This card is excellent for large threats and can act as a simple silence in a pinch.
Cooking Matron: A very obvious reference to Cooking Mama. I've done my absolute best. "Mama will fix it!" If you anger Mama, she'll turn things around by drawing a ton. But why the situational draw? Why not just play Acolyte of Pain? Well. That's mainly because you can hit this with Emergency Rations (see the basic set), or buff this with Pumpkin Pie (see basic set). You can guess the rest. It can both be a slow and a fast card, but to bring out her full value, it is best to wait and get a chance to draw something like six cards.
One Punch Butcher: A reference to One Punch Man. Every class has a strong 6-drop ('hem, except Rogue), and here's Chef's. It's simple, straightforward, and no-nonsense. Despite this, it hinges on a Recipe and introduces a new way Recipe can be used. That is, with (Any). I based this off of Fire Elemental.
Thermodynamic Spoon: My favourite card! Using this weapon, however, comes with great power. And responsibility. Yadda yadda. Anyways. Though you get a huge amount of value with this weapon, there are a few weaknesses, some obvious, some very subtle. One, you must attack minions. That should be obvious enough, you are forced to (usually) take damage to summon a Porridge, which, by the way, is a Goldilocks reference. The other less obvious weakness is that it is 2-mana. If you open up with this card, you are faced with a dilemma. Do you develop Foodstuffs, or do you want a weapon out? The choice is yours!
Remaining Cards
Commons
Rares
Epics
The Legendary
The Basic Set
*Supernatural Spinach's token:
*Another note: I rushed through the posting of the cards after the five example cards. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, I will not be able to post explanations for those cards in time, but I hope that does not deter you from enjoying this class.