Hearthpwn

"Oh, yes, I have many, many stories to tell..." - Chen Stormstout

The Monk Class - 

It was long ago that the pandaren were subjugated by the mogu. Forced to use only their hands, the monks learned the ways of the fist, and drawing upon their inner strength, their Chi. These masters became the new hope for the pandaren, and were known as the monks. After mastering their crafts, the time finally struck for them to revolt, and the masters were ready to break free. 

The monks arrive to Hearthstone wielding their fists as a weapon, as well as their Chi, their inner strength to power themselves up when they gather enough energy. They are just in time, as the Old Gods are descending upon the world to twist it in their corrupted vision. The less fortunate are swayed by their gaze, though the strong will continue to fight on and take a fist to even the gods themselves. Will you join the fight against C'Thun... or will you ally alongside him and his twisted minions...

Strengths and Weaknesses
"It is important to master the brew and not let it master you." - Chen Stormstout

Strengths: Healing, Board Clear, Card Combinations, Card Draw, Dragons

Weaknesses: Card Generation, Minion Buffs, Minion Swarms

Limitations: High Attack Weapons

 

Hero Power and Keyword

Serenity is your basic hero power as the Monk. It allows you to restore 1 Health to anything, while also granting +1 Attack for your hero. You can use it to top off minions in the early game while taking some trades yourself, or for keeping your hero sustained while dealing a bit of damage back to your opponent. Eminence is the upgraded version. 
This hero power encourages a more sustained style of play, edging on maintaining a few larger minions on the board while taking out small threats yourself. The class itself focuses a bit on control, so that they can make it to later turn in order to trigger their class Keyword: Chi.

Chi is an effect that appears on both minions and spells. It enhances the card when played for bonus mana, effectively increasing the card's cost to make it stronger or add on a different effect. Sometimes, Chi will alter the effects of a card to change it's targeting or effect, or it can simply provide bonuses to the card's power. Cards with more then 1 Chi effect on them will trigger effects in order from top to bottom, so any cheaper Chi effects will also be included in the most expensive version. 
Using Chi cards, Monks are able to remain flexible, dropping cards early if needed, or saving them for their more powerful versions later. 

Deck Tech
"Home brew is the best brew, because you can drink it right away!" - Chen Stormstout

With the Whispers of the Old Gods expansion alongside the Disciple and Basic sets, there are several deck archetypes that are possible with the Monk. Here are a few of them:

C'Thun's Might - Emerging alongside C'Thun and his army, fuel the Old God and release his power on your enemies. 

Use early C'Thun buff cards to power the old god up as quick as possible before fishing it from your deck to wipe out your enemy. With some finesse, you can even bounce the god back to unleash his wrath again and again. This is a faster take on C'Thun decks from Whispers of the Old Gods. 

Combo Bounce - Powerful battlecries, copying minions, and sending them in and out of hand to repeat their effects again and again. 

Using a number of bounce tools, Monks can set up some powerful minions to play over and over again, while either gathering attack power on their hero, or building an army of minions with powerful effects to repeatedly use, though it falls victim to heavy tempo loss over time. Plays like Battlecry Rogue or other similar archetypes. 

Chi Control -  Sustain yourself until the late game when your Chi effects can swing the match.

With heavy healing, board clears and defensive minions, this strategy involves staying alive until you have enough mana to drop heavy Chi effects, making every card in your hand a potential powerhouse. This deck also runs a lot of dragons, who synergize quite well with one another. Similar to control style decks like Priest or Warrior. 

"And now... it's time for Pandemonium!" 

Showcase Cards

Final Sets

Basic Set - 10 Cards

 

Disciple Set - 20 Cards

 Whispers of the Old Gods Set - 15 Cards

 Final Thoughts

First and foremost, thanks to everyone still reading for reading this far! I'm happy that I was able to keep your attention this long. Second, this was quite the project to work on, and I couldn't be happier with the end result. It's always a blast to try and envision what a new kind of class could bring to the table in terms of card design and exploring mechanics that aren't touched upon as much as they could be. Thanks to everyone who participated and gave amazing feedback, and thanks to everyone who voted for me, hopefully this final set can win you over yet again!

Special shout out to Artimex723 who was my partner for the final challenge and the creator of the Scheming Darkfin! The card fit so perfectly with what I had planned it was incredible! 

Hopefully I got some gears turning, and presented an interesting and fairly balanced set of cards. It's always fun to dream the what ifs! As Chen would say, "For some, the journey is the destination."

Thanks again for reading and checking out this project! 

Bonus (Flavor Text)