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[b]Trap Tester[/b]: KNC had a few kobold cards that replicated Hero Powers, and this is my take on that. Encourages either returning it to hand to repeat the battlecry over and over, or shuffling more copies of it into your deck.
[b]Pressure Plate[/b]: Entomb on a Secret, ala Vaporize being Assassinate on a Secret.
[b]Mushroom Visions[/b]: (Hunter card where you can discover a copy of a minion in your deck) except without a body, but you get three more copies to draw. Serves as a quest booster from the previous expansion, plus allows you to have essentially up to four extra copies of a minion.
[b]Tunnel Sweeper[/b]: I originally had a “Unidentified Automaton” slotted in here where it would be four different versions of a Mech, but it proved too clunky for my liking. This is essentially a semi-random Sap with a body.
[b]Prismatic Potion[/b]: The Sapper Recruit card. This might be costed too low, but if (6) is the baseline for “Recruit anything” I think it’s ok. There’s a potential for snowball (especially if you’ve managed to shuffle a buncha extra copies of something into your deck) but that requires a lot of other cards and opportunity to support. At vanilla, it maybe draws the other copy in your deck, so no Legendary shenanigans.
[b]Rigged Loot Split[/b]: This introduces the ‘Straight Sapper’ subtheme of this set, or cards that care about a straight sequence of numbers (like a straight in poker). At vanilla this gives your opponent a dead card in hand, which only Rogue can dispose of with ease. If you manage to play the straight you get a nifty (hopefully) weapon to use. Originally the ‘straight’ extra was shuffling more Cursed Blades into your opponent’s deck, but that was too wordy to fit and felt overly punishing.
[b]Cinnabar Spellstone[/b]s: The Sapper Spellstone series. This builds on the “any previously played Secret” theme of the Sapper class. I made it specifically non-Sapper Secrets because otherwise you’d get at least 8-Cost worth of Secrets for the Lesser, with 16-Cost if you got to Greater. Now you at most get a mix of Mage Secrets, with more likely getting some Paladin and Hunter/Rogue. I fiddled some with the upgrade trigger (Mechs played? Battlecries?, etc) but adding cards to add felt right, akin to the Lesser Jasper Spellstone upgrade requirement. You can either use just the Hero Power, or tune your deck towards other Scourge heavy components.
[b]Guild Guide[/b]: The Epic “straight” spell for the set. I made a draft card as a Neutral that turned all of your minions into 5/5s but it didn’t feel Sapper-y enough to me. Upgrading your Hero Power to a Sap on demand felt much more right.
[b]Omega Class Delver[/b]: The Legendary “straight” spell, and a definite card screaming build around me. I loved using Wish during Dungeon Crawls for how much of a swing it could cause, and I think this is enough of a gauntlet to overcome to make it reasonable to use in an actual game.
[b]Kobold King’s Crown[/b]: Like the Dark Knight, this went through a lot of revisions and iterations, although not as many. I toyed (very) briefly with making it an attacking weapon, but a passive effect felt more right. While there were some defensive or similar effects, ultimately I went with something that would help with the ‘straight’ Sapper subtheme, but also something that on its own would provide constant tempo for any other decks. Originally this was more Mech focused (at first only triggering if you played a Mech, then only adding a random Mech that cost (1) more) but ultimately I settled on a more general Discover so as not to bottleneck possible designs.
[b]Snow Time[/b]: What better time than the Frozen Throne to beef up the Sapper Freeze deck? This used to be a Classic card but I couldn’t bring myself to consider it something that needed to persist. Cost wise, I took the baseline as Cone of Cold but shaved off two mana for the lack of damage and added the enemy hero freezing.
[b]Frost Breaker[/b]: In addition to Freeze, this is the Secret Sapper set. This is a simple Secrets matter card, giving a beefier body with a downside. Was originally a 10/10 for (6), but then remembered that you could still give it taunt even in a Secret-less deck.
[b]Dragonblight Scraper[/b]: Another Secrets matter/Secret assist card. Mage has their “The next Secret costs (0)” cards, the Sapper can reduce the cost by less but for all in your hand.
[b]Runic Barrier[/b]: As might be obvious, I’ve included a bunch of (10) cost spells, mostly because I think it’s interesting to consider what the highest end effects should be. The Sapper has a theme of being able to steal other Secrets, whether through taking control of them or just getting them as options once they’ve been revealed. Another big reason is that if you reliably got five (4) cost Sapper secrets for only (10) that would be obviously broken; This way you may end up with five Paladin Secrets, or more likely a Christmas tree of assorted classes.
[b]Recycle Mana[/b]: A way to add a third and fourth copy of a Secret to your deck, or to grab a Secret previously revealed by your opponent.
[b]Borean Boggart[/b]: This is inspired by one of my petty annoyances, Southsea Deckhand. Specifically, every time you equip a new weapon it gets the green Charge glow, even if its already attacked that turn, and every time I think that means it can attack once more. This is my attempt at creating a card that actually does that. Again, Sapper Secrets are expensive so the deck has to be built around making the most out of this, but it can quickly become a big beater if not dealt with.
The Robot Guardians:
[b]Northrend Agent[/b]: This would probably be one of the biggest groaner Epics you could get in a pack, but the design of it tickles me a lot.
[b]Rift Eradicator[/b]: This is another design I just really liked. Getting 24-27 mana worth of minions in a single turn is a huge swing, but the precondition is having 20 mana worth of Secrets on the battlefield at the start of your turn (which means none of them can be triggered by your opponent after you set it up). I don’t think it would happen a lot, but could be a fun build around in Casual.
[b]Mogul Razdunk[/b]: This is me playing around with how to bend “Can’t Attack.” Here the enemy minions just have their Attack reduced to 0 or as close as you can to defang them.
[b]Death Knight Hero: Professor Blam, PhD.[/b]: This and the upcoming legendary weapon have probably gone through the most revisions and iterations, and have even swapped text between themselves a few times. Originally the battlecry was making all the opponent’s cards cost (10) the next turn or other variations of hand locking, but that didn’t feel impactful enough compared to the other DKs. I stole the Boom Bot board fill from the Dungeon Run treasure, but it felt both under and overwhelming. I added Lifesteal as a toss off when I realized none of the other cards in this expansion had it, and it just clicked, but then I felt the need to reduce it to just 5 Boom Bots. The cost of the Battlecry keeps swinging in my head. I costed it to be around Uther level, since you are looking at a 5 Armor + 10-25 Lifesteal Health swing, compared to his less random 5 Armor + 15 Lifesteal swing.
The alternate Hero Power also went through a lot of revisions. Originally I really wanted something that was passive (like Armor gain at end of turn based on cards in your opponent’s hand, Secrets that replaced themselves, dealing 1-4 damage to any enemy minion played) but they were all either too wordy or just not grabbing even me. Then I put “Each player draws 2 cards” into the draft folder and it just felt right.
Thanks for the feedback!
On Red Queen Race that might be unclear wording on my part. Intention is that it would work as follows: It’s on the battlefield and the opponent’s minion Adapts and gets a choice of say Taunt, Divine Shield, and Windfury. They pick Divine Shield. The Secret triggers, and now your minions get the unselected options, so they all have Taunt and Windfury now. You don’t get to choose what happens during your turn.
Boom Fever is probably on the weak side (although I might need to clear that one up as well, at minimum it will do 1-4 damage) as it would mainly help to clog up/up the numbers of cards in the opponent’s hand, which other Sapper cards key off of, although that doesn’t have a big immediate impact. I think if it was real it’d probably lead to some grumbling, but I think it’s not so worthless that it doesn’t deserve inclusion. Good point about the body though, would letting it be a (7) 7/7 be too much?
For the quest, I’ve seeded that as a subtheme through the class, although I confess I haven’t playtedted any of this so I might be woefully overercounting the support.
[b]Jungle Geographer[/b]: This is a common quest booster, but also in the vein of earlier cards allowing for a bigger body with a drawback. In this case, you need a minion on the board you’re willing to shuffle, and in return you get an extra mana worth of stats.
[b]Red Queen Race[/b]: A Secret take on Evolving Spores, giving your minions two Adapt bonuses for the same Cost at the drawback of not being able to control when it goes off.
[b]Tribal Scout[/b]: What Gadgetzan Ferryman should have been, don’t @ me. Original design was more focused on returning this to your hand through different triggers (getting injured, enemy spelled played, etc.) but it was too wordy and fiddly.
[b]Escape the Stampede[/b]: Quest booster and AoE. Ideal if you’re playing with an empty board, but if not you have to be willing to give up your presence while merely delaying your opponent’s.
[b]Exotic Tinkering[/b]: A Boom Bots matter card. Fingers crossed for Poisonous!
[b]Jungle Colossus[/b]: The Sapper entry into “if you played an Elemental last turn” along with this set’s advanced Scourge. My attempt to twist the “while in hand effect,” this encourages your opponent to hold on to it for longer (which means effects that key off cards in hand are more powerful) or bite the Boom Bot and take the full amount of repetitions.
[b]Crater Goblin[/b]: This is another card that plays off the fact that your opponent is more likely to have non-helpful Scourge spells while you have beneficial spells only. Even if you get unlucky and your opponent plays only their spells you still keep their hand size from going down.
[b]Lakkari Serenader[/b]: More enchanted minion hate. Note that Adapt-ed minions are enchanted, so this set will probably allow this to have a higher hit rate than normal.
[b]Spraggle Frock[b]: Actually based on a Tavern Brawl idea, this is probably my most esoteric/weird legendary. Essentially, while this is on the board you make a metagame of minion play order and mana costs. The Sapper deck will be filled to take advantage of repeatable Battlecries and cheap minions, while the opponent would need to get rid of this before they could actually use their high cost minions, lest it get bounced right after they play. As a note, if you play Spraggle alone/first she’ll be bounced back on the same turn!
[b]The Lost Explorer[/b] and [b]Dr. Boom, I Presume[/b]: The Sapper quest. Shuffling things into the deck is about on par with playing the same minion over and over ala the Rogue quest, but since you’re usually shuffling multiples I upped the number. Flavor-wise, the shuffled cards are the rescue expedition to find Dr. Boom, who I guess got lost in Un’Goro and discovered a cache of Boom Bots he can share. Note that if you manage to replay him multiple times the effects will stack, so if you manage to return and play him three times all minions will have “Battlecry: Fill the board with 1/1 Boom Bots.”
[b]Aractraz Portal[/b]: Earlier drafts of the class were more focused on gumming up the opponent’s deck with cards that would disrupt their draws, like shuffling Coins or deleterious cards. Further refinement led me to believe that that would be less fun to play against, so the focus was shifted to stuffing the opponent’s hand and Scourges. However, I still became attached to some of that deck stuffing, like this portal with the Scourge-esque Millhouse. Also functions as Kabal disruptor once Gadgetzan gets released.
[b]Karazhan Cooler[/b]: Not too much to say. A lot of the “can’t attack” cards are on spells, this seemed like a simple effect to put on a minion.
[b]Bounce[/b]: The anti-enchantment theme of Sappers begins to rouse itself. While weak against Zoo decks who just flood the board, this would be a hefty deterrent against token/buffing decks. You can also enchant enemies and then play this, which works in a pinch if you’re willing to spend a few more cards.
[b]Shake Down[/b]: Rather than come up with a fourth gang, I decided to put the Sapper into the Grimy Goons. The class has a bunch of shuffle into deck effects so the Kabal was right out. I tooled around with some Jade cards, but a lot of it felt like riffs on Jade Idol. Grimy Goons was easier to think up ideas for, plus they have more goblins in their art. Shake Down is the Scourge take on hand buffing, putting the choice in your opponent’s hand but also gumming up their other costs. Was originally “Can’t draw cards while this is in your hand” but that seemed so onerous that there effectively was no choice of whether to cast it.
[b] RP-LI-K-T0R[/b]: Like Hunter specialized in buffing Beasts, and Warrior buffed Taunts/weapons, the Sapper specializes in buffing Mech. This is part of a cycle of “buffed Mechs matter” cards. Hopefully it comes across clear enough; Intention is that if you hand-buffed this to a 6/6 (or whatever) the copy shuffled in would also be a 6/6 instead of a vanilla copy. This way it could continue to grow throughout the game.
[b]Grimestreet Hustler[/b]: The Sapper version of a vanilla buffing card.
[b]Reroute Riot[/b]: A one-sided board return intended to prevent or alleviate a rush. This would probably require a lot of skill, or luck, to use; If you time it right you can return the entire board full of 10/10+ Jades, but if your opponent is cautious or just had nothing to play you’d only nab maybe one minion.
[b]Iterative Smuggling[/b]: The Mech focused hand buff. I wanted it to be returnable, to match the name, but since the Mech has to have been summoned before you cast the spell it requires some work to get.
[b]Chop Shopper[/b]: Another in the “buffed Mechs matter” cycle. Inspired by [b]Rat Pack[/b], beefing up to Boom Bots based on needing a Mech already in play and losing it to shuffling.
[b]Back Alley Vendor[/b]: I liked the Boom Bot Re-Up card for the way it helps to give some (unreliable) board presence. Not sure if this would become an instant target since the threat is so delayed.
[b]Crowd Control Unit[/b]: Inspiration for this came from the Pokemon Hero entry into the Class Creation Competition a few iterations ago. That class had a spell that shuffled all enemy minions with less than 2 Attack into the opponent’s deck. This is my Mech twist on that. If you manage to hand buff it enough you can do a board shuffle.
[b]Crowd Pummeler Mk XI[/b]: The end of the “buffed Mechs matter” cycle. Since this is an aura effect the opponent can still neutralize it with spells, or even bigger minions they have.
Not at all, this is the kid of stuff I love to get! Let me go through and see if I have a valid rationale for some of your critiques, or whether I have to take it back to the drawing board.
For the cards where I copied a previously existing card name or messed up the formatting, that's just a Doh on my part. Will correct soon.
Lock Down: Heh, for such a simple effect this is definitely the one card that no one (even me) can settle on appropriate Cost. The Sapper Draft 0.01 version of this was costed (4). The earliest feedback I got was that that was way too high because when you're facing a board of aura effects and such stopping them from attacking is worthless. Since then I've steadily talked myself into lowering it down to (2). That's the level of conditional removal (Execute, Shadow Word: Pain) and a boatload of direct damage. For some decks without a way to grant taunt or sacrifice their own minions (whether intentionally or as part of all minion board wipes) it does cause a spot to be lost, but I don't think the effect itself should be overcosted based on its most powerful use.
Snare Mana: Mostly agree. I costed this when Loatheb was the primary reference point. I'm comfortable leaving it where it is, while I think Basic cards should generally be able to be used in every deck I also think there's bound to be some less than ideal cards in the works.
Overclock Gambit: Original intention was that it would trigger whenever your opponent had 6 cards in hand, including when they drew their 6th card or if they started their turn with 6. Does seem unclear, and might be too intentionally mill-y. I'm batting around "When your opponent draws two or more cards in a turn, both draw 3/4" so they actually have to trigger it.
Grizzled Grenadier: Aww, that's already someone else's favorite card. If it's set to (10) your opponent can still play it (even if its suboptimal at that point).
Decoy Gambit: Good point about the Passive Hero Power thing, I wanted it there to indicate that the Sapper (and their near death life total) will return, but couldn't think of another way to frame it. I don't want to take it out of the Classic set because I think the Sapper deserves to have a lifesaver secret that doesn't rotate (although RIP to Ice Block so maybe it's just an inherently hard effect to keep in).
Rixmix: The guaranteed one card mill is intentional. Do you consider the effect OP on its own, or in combination with his vanilla stats. Knocking those down is on my to do list, probably to a 4/4 or maybe 3/3.
L1 Observer: Sapper doesn't swarm Mechs (since they're all 6-10 Cost) but there were plenty of Mechs just in GvG. I figure this would usually be gotten out for (4) so it'd be on par, anything beyond that would be gravy.
Degenerate Demolitionist: No, you pretty much got it. Are you saying the stat increase for the downside isn't good enough? Unlike something like Hoarding Dragon you can get to decide if your opponent has any Scourges in their hand before you play to minimize or even eliminate the downside.
Even the Odds: Agreed, some of these were first drafts or off the cuff. Will probably be tinkering with them for awhile.
Tomb Raiding Party: I agree with your assessment, but I see it as a feature of the card and not a bug; They're edge cases that I liked enough to include somewhere, but definitely not enough to justify an actual card (at least without some big revamping). I do think the vast majority of time you'll end up picking (whatever I rename) Finders Keepers just because it's omni-applicable, but LoE and later sets will develop a sub-theme of Sapper Secret situations that are basically "A trap you knowingly walk into is still a trap."
Goblin Cultist: True. I think Sapper's would benefit a little bit more because Scourges are also considered spells, but the history of that effect isn't sterling. One that I kept putting back on, and then taking off, was a (1) 0/2 "Whenever your opponent draws a card get +1/+1" since by the next turn it would be an effective 1/3. Not sure if that would snowball too quickly though.
Apocalypse Engineer: Wow, I hadn't done the maths for the C'Thun effects I guess. Would a steeper Cost reduction be warranted then?
Glimpse of Yogg-Saron: That's another one I see as a feature, not a bug. Although I guess a big part of that might be how we feel the true cost of a "Can't Attack" effect should be?
She Who Saw: Heh, that's from the Kill la Kill anime. The main character's living armor goes berserk and turns her into a monster. I thought it looked both goblin-y and Old Gods corrupted-y enough.
Thanks again, this really helped.
[b]Goblin Archaeologist[/b]: It used to be more prevalent (and will come back a little later) but the Sapper’s focus on Secrets was a lot about getting to re-use Secrets that had already been revealed/triggered. Since it took extra set up to work (i.e. a Secret being both played and revealed) and your opponent had seen it before (i.e. lessened surprise) you get a Cost reduction. In the case of this card, you might also snare another class’s revealed Secret even if you haven’t played any of your own.
[b]Ancient Automaton[/b]: Another one of my personal favorite quirky cards are the 0-Attack with a twist minions. This essentially allows you to cast Sap on a few enemies while it sucks up 8 attack of damage, although your opponent can still play around the deathrattle or just destroy it with spells.
[b]Tomb Raiding Party[/b]: This is, realistically, a card that wouldn’t have been a class card, or at least not one during LoE itself. Using a newly introduced mechanic and then making it work in a different way would be too confusing. However, this is my set so Imma do what I want, at least for this instance. These three Secrets are ones I had been kicking around to be actual cards, but they all felt pretty niche and tech so I figured they’d make more sense as a bundle. I went back and forth on whether you’d get copies of all three of your opponent’s Discover options or just the ones they didn’t pick, but decided to treat it as a (4) cost draw 3 with the benefit of knowing what your opponent saw, if not necessarily what they chose.
[b]Goblin Cultist[/b]: A version of this used to be in the Basic or Classic set, sort of the Sapper version of the (1) 1/3 with a class twist. I kept edging it out, but I think it works great as the C’Thun buffer of the class.
[b]Ancient Invocations[/b]: Had a version of this closer to KnC (as deliberate anti-Spiteful Summoner tech) but I think it fits better in WotOG with all its big Cost-adjacent Cards. Played early this also has a side benefit of sticking your opponent with two extra cards they won’t be able to actually use for a while.
[b]Netherstorm Intimidator[/b]: Undirected Cost attack, but only for a turn. Useful if you think your opponent has pulled their Old God and you need to buy some time at the end game.
[b]Piloted Infection[/b]: One of the few flavor-based/top-down cards I’ve made. I just liked the idea of Mechs being ‘corrupted’ and tying that back into the Piloted Shredder class of cards.
[b]Apocalypse Engineer[/b]: The “If your C’Thun has 10 or more Attack” card for the class. The C’Thun benefit is a discount to your cards and not an increase on your opponent’s because this is the ‘corrupted’ set (and because I couldn’t make the opponent version fit on 4 lines).
[b]Glimpse at Yogg-Saron/Glance at Yogg-Saron[/b]: I had an idea for a card that essentially wouldn’t leave your hand, so I worked from there to find an effect that wouldn’t be too OP to always have. Luckily damage isn’t a part of the toolset, and I think this combo is fair. You’d essentially have to pay (4) to completely Lock Down an enemy. And of course, this would be a prime Yogg spell count booster.
[b]Corrupted Shredder[/b]: The corrupted and buffed up version of the “Whenever this damages a hero” effect. I gave it charge because I wanted to make sure it had a greater chance of impact.
[b]Outland Scrapper[/b]: My Sapper take on Spellsinger. Note that this encourages some careful timing on the Sapper’s part, because you can make sure that you play it after your opponent plays a Scourge, rather than one of their own spells.
[b]She Who Saw[/b]: My take on the corrupted version of Rixmix, upgrading the Scourges your opponent already has. I tried to balance the Whispers so that they can’t easily be sidestepped.
Thanks! Yeah, I'm not completely satisfied with all the Banes. I kept being torn between balancing against the Robot Guardian swing and the actual in-hand effect. It's on my list of things to review.
[b]Anvilrage Bruiser[/b]: The Sapper take on the ‘whenever damaged’ theme of Blackrock.
[b]Rally for Numbers[/b]: I really liked using Kel’Thuzad even if he was a giant target. The opponent can still play around this, leaving a straggler alive to finish off next turn for example, but it’s still an AOE-deterrent.
[b]Merchandise Spotlight[/b]: Moving forward Boom Bots will help to fill out a potential Sapper Zoo deck. They give a board presence and the potential for actually dealing damage, but undirected since it’s still a Sapper weak point.
[b]Ticket Scaler[/b]: The only direct “Hero Power” matters card for the set, this allows the Sapper to draw but also increases the opponent’s hand by 2. I made it low cost so it could be put on the board early and force the opponent to weigh whether the chance for them to draw cards is worth letting it stick around.
[b]Scouter Droid[/b]: This used to be a Classic card, but I didn’t think it merited never rotating out. I’ve always liked the design of Lightspawn and this is the Sapper take on that.
[b]Ordnance Hawker[/b]: The (3) Cost “Summon two 1/1 if [x]” cards seem to be a sub-sub-staple. Boom Bots are a bit more substantial than 1/1 Bats or Whelps, so I beefed up the trigger requirement.
[b]Fizzle Vial[/b]: Counters are hard in a game without ‘instants’ but I still think they should be more spread out than just Counterspell. I got the inspiration for this from a competitor in the last Class Creation competition, and then saw another separate custom class, both of which independently cost it at (2).
[b]Eject[/b]: Sapper AOE with a drawback. This is useful if you’re replacing a bunch of big beefy guys or a wall of Taunts, but if it’s a bunch of 1/1 weenie tokens you’ve given your opponent an upgrade.
Even the Odds Uncollectibles:
Banes:
Robot Guardians:
[b]Take a Dive[/b]: Anti-jousting tech card. It would probably be mean to label Millhouse Manastorm as a Scourge, but if the shoe fits….
[b]Even the Odds[/b]: This might be a just for me series of Scourges, but I liked having at least one set that was specifically tailored to the opponent class. I tried to make them all roughly equal and something the opponent could still play around.
[b]Dixink, Party Crasher[/b]: This is more of a fun legendary, although it also functions like a shuffle version of Brawl.
Mind Control Gas: Turn any minion into Sylvanas! The class isn’t super big on Deathrattles, but I like that this functions as a Secret version of one.
[b]Blastshadow Spy[/b]: I’ve got a personal delight in “whenever this deals damage, do that many things” type effects. This is an early minion who will probably get picked off fast but can still gunk up the opponent’s hand, and if it manages to survive or get buffed it can really cause some frustration.
[b]L1 Observer[/b]: As the set that plays up Mechs of course I had to step up the Mech love for the class. This, as you might tell from the MtG art, is inspired by Affinity for Artifacts. I don’t think it’s as broken as it would be in that game, but this should still come out as at least a (4) Mountain Yeti, with some quicker plays if you get a lucky draw of Mechwarper copies.
[b]Ace Saboteur[/b]: This might be more of a neutral effect, but it’s something I wish had been printed in the actual set. I assume there would have been at least one Twitch stream where a minion kept ‘missing’ a Taunt and hitting face until the game was won.
[b]Boom Boom Add On[/b]: Spoiler alert, but this class will be giving a lot of love to Boom Bot in upcoming sets. This is a slight toe dip, as well as another Sapper-roundabout way of providing some AOE. Original version gave Mechs a deathrattle where they were shuffled back into the deck, but that was too wordy. Changed to just give them extra explosions.
[b]Degenerate Demolitionist[/b]: An extra point of Attack with a drawback.
[b]Rageforged[/b]: I told you I liked this kind of effect. This functions like a reverse trample, and gives some undirected damage to minions which the Sapper has in short supply.
[b]Kitbash Explosives[/b]: The AOE card for the set. Note that there are no class cards to generate Spare Parts so this card requires a bit of work. Intention with [b]Netherbomb[/b] is that the number is based directly on how many Spare Parts were discarded, it doesn’t upgrade or become a different card.
[b]Shredder Carrier X[/b]: I heard you like Mechs so I put some Mechs on your Mech. Geosculpter Yip inspired. Note that, based on my skim of the list, there are Cost (0)-(9) Mechs but this would be the first/only (10) Cost, so if your opponent has a full hand you get two!
Thanks! The more I mull it over the more I agree about Rixmix. His body was in place from an earlier design where he shuffled cards into the opponent’s deck, so I figured a vanilla body was ok for a delayed effect. When I switched it to hand stuffing I kept forgetting the body. Is 5/5 still too beefy? Steamweedle I’m more comfortable with, it doesn’t have an immediate effect on its own and depends a lot on your hand composition for its power.
Thanks for the feedback, and the Grizzled Grenadier love. As to the milling, I confess that I’m a bigger fan of it than the median player, so that bias is going to justifiably turn some off. Is there a specific combo or set of cards you flagged? I’m not great at seeing those sort of interlocking timebombs just from looking at (or even creating) individual cards.
Yep! It's meant to be similar to how Arcane Shot and Holy Smite are class copies of the same effect.
Based on the earlier notes I'm updating two cards:
Naxx and GvG should be up later tonight or early tomorrow.
Thanks for the feedback.
Definitely agree on Reroute Gambit. My original trigger was “When an enemy minion is enchanted...” to cover buff spells, Battlecries, auras et al. But then I scared myself off that wording because I wasn’t sure how it would interact if the enemy had an ongoing buff, like Stormwind Champion, on the board at the start of their turn. Then I tried “When an enemy minion is targeted by a spell or Battlecry...” but it pushed it to five lines. I think I might just make it “when enchanted” and assume that the theoretical code would delineate and trigger only on a new enchantment.
Yes, intent of Commit the Unthinkable is that they start taking Fatigue damage even with a full deck, with the escalation that Fatigue naturally entails. I’ll be honest, I thought the Fatigue damage were their own cards, but looking over the wiki it appears that it’s just a way to show the damage.
More coming soon as I lock down art and names. Thanks again!
The Sapper
Hello everyone, and thanks in advance for taking a look at my custom class! This class was inspired by my early days of playing Priest and loving the way the class’s primary removal wasn’t damage based. When I saw the Merchant class (one of the finalists of the first class design competition) and how it created a class without any damage I decided I wanted to take a stab at it. The Sapper is my attempt, and along with those two initial sources it includes my personal obsession with non-discard based ways of messing with your opponent’s hand, non-destroy based removal, and various other things. I hope you like it. Without further ado, onto to the cards!
First, if you saw the hero power and wondered what a ‘Basic Scourge’ is, let’s take a look at what the Hero Power creates:
As the tooltip implies, Scourges are sort of the anti-Spare Parts and represent uncollectable spells that hinder the caster or benefit the caster’s opponent. From a power perspective these Basic Scourges have an increased effect compared to a normal hero power (for instance, gaining 3 Armor compared to the Warrior HP) but are balanced by the fact that they are both randomly generated and at the discretion of your opponent. While it would be nice to have a quick and easy (2) Cost card draw, sometimes your opponent will be willing to live with a slightly higher mana cost if it means they can deny you.
BASIC SET
Outland Scout: The Sapper class doesn’t have reliable removal tools so I wanted to make sure they had a few core minions to help maintain board presence. The drawback is steep in most classes, and may even be detrimental in the early game, but Sapper’s want their opponent to have big hands. Initially I thought about making the drawback “Battlecry: Your opponent draws a card” but I think this current version entices your opponent to let it live longer.
Feint: A reprint, but also one of the main forms of ‘removal’ available to the class. My only regret is that Sap already claimed the name.
Lock Down: Another vital ‘removal’ tool. I keep going back and forth on this cost, but I think it makes the most sense here as the (2) Cost spell that takes care of a threat.
Reconnaissance: Sapper card draw is almost exclusively mutual, both because they want there opponent to have a lot of cards in hand but also because it allows them to draw more for less. The second part introduces how much the Sapper likes copies and shuffling, and helps to pad out a deck against a self-mill.
Cease Hostilities: The Sapper version of an AoE. Originally had this costing more and giving “Can’t Attack” but I reworked it to the current version. This won’t protect your minions but can give your hero some extra breathing room.
Divert: More removal, or maybe just delayal. This is the Sapper version of the (4) cost silence and put away spell ala Polymorph, although this version is more about putting off headaches until you can deal with them later.
Snare Mana: For when you want to make it as hard as possible for a problem to appear so you don’t have to actually solve it. Balanced around Loatheb, although now Rebuke has me questioning whether lowering it is possible (but not questioning it enough to actually change).
Cobalt Guardian: Our first Mech (as a note, Cost 1-5 minions will usually be goblins or otherwise humanoid level, while 6-10 will be Mechs), just a nice big basic body. Intended to get across that Mechs are there to help finish out the game as the big finishers.
Call in the Mechalvary: Meched up Animal Companion. H3-LM and LR-G3 are essentially (9) cost or beefed up (8) cost minions to serve as defense or a big target, while FR-3Z is more quirky and introduces the tertiary Freeze element of the class.
Brain Strain: I think every class should have a (10) Cost iconic spell, and this is my version for the Sapper. This would usually work out less than a card draw tool and more as a final milling attack. I keep switching between setting it at 6 or 7 cards, but ultimately settled on 7 as it’s a flashy jump over the current max of 5 cards.
Boombasket Recruit: Another cheap body with a drawback to help get a board set up. I could be talked into making this a Battlecry, but I like that as is it encourages ways to work around the Deathrattle.
See Ya!: I started off putting this at (1) but then worked out the Cost for this from both ends. Sap is worth two, but make it random and you get a (2) Cost reduction (although in this case the cost is actually needing a minion on the board you can return). On the other side, returning a friendly minion to your hand costs less than (0), so the random enemy return is a freebie.
Overclock Gambit: Out first (4) Cost Secret. Initially had this at both drawing 3 cards for the longest time, but I think 4 feels more correct, both for the cost and as a milling attack.
Reserves Gambit: The Sapper version of Duplicate, except you don’t get the extra copies until you draw them.
Chill Out: I believe I stole this from a Death Knight custom class (or maybe I stole it from every Death Knight class). Helpful for giving more breathing room, although more temporary.
Dread-Not: A take on Guardian of Kings and another reminder that Sappers like their opponents to have full hands. Armor gain isn’t a huge part of the Sapper identity, with the Basic Scourge being the main way, but it’s sprinkled throughout.
War Drums: The Sapper version of a board clear. Originally started off just as a single minion buff (with Immune and +1 Attack per card, but could still attack heroes) but changed to affect the whole board. Can’t attack heroes was added to emphasize what its intended for and to stop it from being too lolbroken.
Reroute Gambit: Sappers have an undercurrent of enchanted creature hate that will bloom more fully later, but the seeds are here. One sided Vanish with setup and a catch required.
Grizzled Grenadier: I firmly believe that forcing discards of things already in hand isn’t fun, but messing with Costs is. This maybe just forces them to wait a few more turns for their big Legendary, but could screw up a combo or leave them with a dead (10) cost early drop they didn’t play in time.
Arcanobot: Solid defense with a way to cheat it out a little early. 6/10 Taunt seems to be worth around (8), so if you have a Secret you get it for a little cheaper, and any more on the board allows for a real treat.
Juice Up: Sapper version of Blessing of Kings.
Decoy Gambit: My take on preventing imminent death ala Ice Block. I always got kind of annoyed that Ice Block essentially ended the turn, and I think this version gives some more opponent interaction.
Steamweedle Specialist: I’ve always liked giving minions in your hand Battlecries and Deathrattles, and this helps stuff your opponent with chaff they need to deal with. Note that the intention is that if you play this multiple times the effect on the other minions would stack.
Disrupt Logistics: Our introduction to Advanced Scourges. My initial drafts of the class had some very limited hard removal (mostly centered on enchanted minion hate) but didn’t feel right. Making it a Scourge allows it to be a little more powerful, but at your opponent’s discretion. You could also use this if your opponent has nothing on the board as a mill attack.
Rixmix Boomwizzle: I wanted the Classic Legendary to be something that, while maybe not a game-ender on its own, would find a welcome spot in most decks. This allows your effects that key off the opponent’s hand to have maximum punch and will mill one card on its own. Body should maybe be a 5/5?
Mind Control Gas: Turn any minion into Sylvanas! The class isn’t super big on Deathrattles, but I like that this functions as a Secret version of one.
[b]Blastshadow Spy[/b]: I’ve got a personal delight in “whenever this deals damage, do that many things” type effects. This is an early minion who will probably get picked off fast but can still gunk up the opponent’s hand, and if it manages to survive or get buffed it can really cause some frustration.
[b]L1 Observer[/b]: As the set that plays up Mechs of course I had to step up the Mech love for the class. This, as you might tell from the MtG art, is inspired by Affinity for Artifacts. I don’t think it’s as broken as it would be in that game, but this should still come out as at least a (4) Mountain Yeti, with some quicker plays if you get a lucky draw of Mechwarper copies.
[b]Ace Saboteur[/b]: This might be more of a neutral effect, but it’s something I wish had been printed in the actual set. I assume there would have been at least one Twitch stream where a minion kept ‘missing’ a Taunt and hitting face until the game was won.
[b]Boom Boom Add On[/b]: Spoiler alert, but this class will be giving a lot of love to Boom Bot in upcoming sets. This is a slight toe dip, as well as another Sapper-roundabout way of providing some AOE. Original version gave Mechs a deathrattle where they were shuffled back into the deck, but that was too wordy. Changed to just give them extra explosions.
[b]Degenerate Demolitionist[/b]: An extra point of Attack with a drawback.
[b]Rageforged[/b]: I told you I liked this kind of effect. This functions like a reverse trample, and gives some undirected damage to minions which the Sapper has in short supply.
[b]Kitbash Explosives[/b]: The AOE card for the set. Note that there are no class cards to generate Spare Parts so this card requires a bit of work. Intention with [b]Netherbomb[/b] is that the number is based directly on how many Spare Parts were discarded, it doesn’t upgrade or become a different card.
[b]Shredder Carrier X[/b]: I heard you like Mechs so I put some Mechs on your Mech. Geosculpter Yip inspired. Note that, based on my skim of the list, there are Cost (0)-(9) Mechs but this would be the first/only (10) Cost, so if your opponent has a full hand you get two!