Season One Finale - Awards
Fiery War Axe Award
Winner: Cyg2112
For the first in my 'Season Awards', I present to you... the Fiery War Axe Award!
The Fiery War Axe award celebrates consistency and commitment (from the very beginning) - users that have made it to a plethora of finals week in, week out, but not quite been able to find that winning formula! (Hopefully this award makes up for it! :P)
There are dozens and dozens of regulars that have been in multiple finals that'd deserve the award...
...Ephie, esbee, Triskadekaphilia, Varolie, Aspard, Ethylbenzene, Elwiz, iSinti, MoarDTB, KAKYBAC, G4merguy09, DKPaladinMDL, Metzelmax, literleck, EAMAAN, Ser_Wa, Telefonkabel, DoctorWhoop, brobroadway, ElwynnForest, BOOSHACK360, DialM4Murloc... (to name but a few that spring to mind!)
...but I've reduced it to just three contenders, who between them have had over 20 of their submissions enter the finals! I've supplied a few of their finalists cards below!
A) Nakazawa
B) Cyg2112
C) Lord_HS
Winner:
Cyg2112!
Ysera Award
Winner: Raid Bosses (Week #13)
The second Season award is the Ysera Award.
The Ysera Award goes to my favourite Theme of the contest - one that allowed the best of both worlds - a solid concept with just the right amount of restrictions / rules that still allowed the creative juices of users to flow!
1) Mirrored Spells (Week #9)
Users were tasked in making a spell which had to affect both heroes equally, in the same vain as Equality or Ancestor's Call etc.
2) Raid Bosses (Week #13)
Users were tasked at designing a Legendary Minion that had to be a Raid Boss from WoW - a very unique theme with lots of research required and thought into each submission!
3) Femme Fatale (Week #19)
Users were tasked at creating a Female Minion with a newly created keyword: Fatality, which means "Whenever this minion kills another minion, do something." A very unique contest oozing with great entries and pushing this made-up Keyword to its limits!
Winner:
Raid Bosses - Week #13!
Grim Patron Award
Winner: Triskadekiphilia
The third award of the week is the Grim Patron Award!
The Grim Patron award turns it's attention to the ever present users in the Discussion Threads, and their valuable contributions and feedback towards others' cards and ideas. It too is for those that report ineligible entries / stray comments to keep the Submission Thread clean and tidy for all!
Contenders:
A) Triskadekaphilia
If you've entered into the contest at any point, chances are Trisk as picked apart your card, and looked at the balance and design of it... usually in monstrous detail! Dozens of cards have benefited from such wise wisdom from the competition's outset thanks to Trisk's tireless reviews - a worthy contender indeed for the award!
B) Aslyum_Rhapsody
A late-comer into the competition, Asylum constantly delivers some insightful reviews of the finalists each and every week. Asylum too offers advice and always in various debates to help those with keen ideas in the Discussion Thread. And what's not to love about their concepts with the stand-in Pikachu art? :P
C) ShadowsOfSense
A day wouldn't go past in some contests without a report from Shadows about an ineligible entry into the contest, that I'd have likely otherwise missed. A very helpful community member, that has allowed me to inform users of some dodgy entries and keep the contest running smoothly - what's more, Shadows has since been awarded for their efforts and is Hearthpwn's newest Fan Creations Moderator!
Notable mentions: DialM4Murloc, rdeegan, Hassashu, Kossetsu.
Winner:
Triskadekaphilia
Wisp Award
Winner - Detonate by Shanksyo
The fourth award is the Wisp Award!
The Wisp Award - the most explanatory award of the week, it's time for a little bit of fun and celebrate those users that opted to try and make the pesky little 0-Mana Wisp into something much more interesting and playable! Without further ado...
Contenders:
1) Wispmaster by Hywisp
Even their username has a Wisp it in - it'd be rude not to include Hywisp's Wispmaster! Crazy synergy with Dark Wispers here, watch out!
2) Storm Of Wisps by AntonydusWurm
AntonydusWurm went full Wisp for the BIG Spells contest which tasked users to create a whopping 10-Mana Spell - it doesn't get more extravagant than destroying everything and replacing that deck of yours with a makeshift Wisp-filled one!
3) Detonate by Shanksyo
An incredibly creative card by Shanksyo is our third contender - Detonate brings Wisps into the limelight to help Druids arsenal of Spells!
Winner:
Detonate by Shanksyo
Chillwind Yeti Award
Winner: Zen Guard by KAKYBAC
Sometimes shoving lots of text on a card makes a card look overly complicated and / or unappealing to use. Simple cards were often overlooked in the contest (which was disappointing at times) but is the crux of this Chillwind Yeti award - to be selected for the award, cards had to have 3 words or fewer in the card text... there weren't many!
Contenders:
1) Zen Guard by KAKYBAC
In Week Four, KAKYBAC created this nifty Priest 1-Drop which turns the Enrage mechanic on it's head by making it a downside. Fits Priest perfectly and gives the much-loved Zombie Chow a run for his money!
2) Titansteel Destroyer by VikingEagle
Weapons had little love during the contest but all the way back in Week Three, we had a whole contest dedicated to them! VikingEagle came up with Titansteel Destroyer, a very simple Warrior Weapon with no text whatsoever in the same vein as Fiery War Axe and Arcanite Reaper!
3) Sha'tar Upholder by G4merGuy09
Just two Keywords appear on Shat'ar Upholder, but with 0 Attack, this teeny Paladin Minion by G4merGuy09 requires a little help to be really effective - it'd be awesome to build a deck around this minion!
Winner:
Zen Guard by KAKYBAC
Blizzard Award
Winner: Dreadmaul Ogre Mage by ThePokeMann
The Blizzard Award is the final award this week!
The Blizzard Award looks at some of my favourite entries of the competition that I think Blizzard should incorporate into Hearthstone as in my opinion, these contenders are perfectly suited for the game in terms of balance and design! Roughly, there have been ~4000 entries into the contest since its offset so it's very likely I missed some good'uns! Oddly, I arrived at 3 contenders being all 3-Mana Minions and hey, I'm a sucker for simplicity - which cards were your favourite from the contest?
1) Dreadmaul Ogre Mage by ThePokeMann
Week Sixteen was "Cards with Drawbacks" week - entries into the competition had to have strong stats for its Cost but have a downside attached to compensate. Dreadmaul Ogre Mage fits the bill perfectly - a strong 3-Drop that could backfire against a Spell-Heavy opponent.
2) Standard Bearer by Varolie
This creation by Varolie all the way back in Week One of the contest is a very unique concept - behold the Standard Bearer. When he dies, a Silver Hand Recruit can be gifted a Golden Standard and step up to the plate and become another Standard Bearer! Very thematic indeed, and a worthy contender for the award! 
3) Witchwing Harpy by Emmangt
It's another 3-Mana Minion! In our Sound of Silence contest, users were tasked with creating a minion that incorporatedSilence into the card text. Emmangt, hoped to make a whole new archetype come to life with Witchwing Harpy - a card which awarded your minions with bonus stats for being silenced! Wailing Soul, new meta?
6
1. For some reason devs love to introduce cards that are meant to be the single core of a deck. This kills deck diversity and makes each exp. become stale within weeks of being released.
2. 3 expansions per year (or however it is now) is way too slow and only helps to make point 1 more noticeable. I'm not saying they should release 6 exp. per year but maybe try and make exp. smaller so we can see more flavorful cards and more frequent card dumps. They could also try and restrict cards on a weekly or monthly basis so people have to adapt their decks. Or they could, from time to time, introduce batches of 1-3 cards every month or so.
3. They let oppressive decks and cards fester way too long in the meta game. It's always amazed me how long it takes for devs to act upon cards or decks that clearly pose a problem, defeating one of the main benefits of having a digital card game which is being able to make changes easily and frequently.
4. The stupid amount of grind it would take for me to get back on track. My last exp. was Witchwood. I chose to stop playing because points 1-3. If I ever wanted to come back it would take me a lot of time and/or money to try and get some of the essential cards for the exps. I missed. I'm not saying give me free stuff but make it easier for new or returning players to get on the level of current players. They could increase rewards or have a bigger list of daily quests.
1
A golden Deathstalker Rexxar. What's better than a bunch of mutants? A bunch of shiny golden mutants!
6
They are probably still testing if Shudderwock needs other kind of fix (nerf or other kind of change) other than animation time alone, so that one will take some more time.
5
1
How is it that every single cubefuck curves well or always tops a card they can use to fuck me up? It doesn't matter if you are shit at this game or you haven't played cubelock ever. The deck lets you put cero thought on any play you make because every single thing you might do will ass pull you to victory. Fuck this deck.
1
If you face more cubes than pallies, tech for cubes and the other way around. If you tech hard against an archetype you face a lot, you will beat it consistently but you can't beat every single deck you play against.
5
I play causal because I want to try stupid and experimental decks without compromising my rank. And, to be honest, those are the sort of decks you expect to find there. When I need to complete a quest I just make a meta deck and go to constructed. Playing jade druid, cubelock, big priest or any cancer variant of paladin is easy enough to be able to crank up the gold there.
It really ruins it for me to be trying to have fun with meme combos and not even getting to pull them off because a cubelock has filled the board by turn 5 and there's nothing I can do. If you wanna play a heavily refined deck made for easy wins, go play constructed. And, unlike casual, ladder will gradually hone your skills and make you a better player.
8
Why did I pre-order...
5
Someone here wants to take Millhouse Manastorm's place
2
What's with that art? It's really inconsistent with HS's art direction and It has nothing to do with what the card does when played. Otherwise, a pretty meh spell.