Hearthpwn

It may be better than Gang Up in most cases, but remember that it can be cast on enemy minions, whereas the new card cannot. Therefore it's not exactly power creep.

I've always really loved the Brann + Shadowcaster + Shadowcaster combo. It's not easy to pull off, but when you do, dang is it a fun time. Here's a vid of Dane playing it, but it's a little outdated. Make changes as you will.

Dane's Machine Shadowcaster Rogue

You're up against pirate warrior with your new Reno priest deck. Turn after turn, you're smacked in the face by buccaneers, deckhands, and berserkers. You manage to just stay alive until turn 5 by utilizing your healing options. Next turn you can Reno, but you have to survive this next turn. As you end your turn, and your opponent draws his next card, you hear the warrior mutter "Heh, Greetings," and he empties his hand for exact lethal, thus shattering your dreams of finally reaching rank 15.

How could this have happened? You had plenty of healing. You had plenty of draw. You had plenty of board clears. You had plenty of threats, but you just didn't ever have the chance of playing any of them. So, what was the problem? Was it how you played? Did you just get unlucky? Did your opponent happen to have the dream hand? Maybe, but what doesn't change any of this is the fact that your health pool reached 0 the turn of, if not perhaps the turn before, you were about to gain back control of the game.

Would it make a difference, then, if instead of each player starting with 30 health, it would be better to start at 35 health, or even 40 health? Such permanent changes could have lasting impacts on how aggressive decks succeed in the meta, but this could also have negative effects for the game as a whole. If the health pool is raised too high, then control decks will rule the meta, and surely enough, there would be some form of "cancer" control deck that at least half of all hearthstone players would complain about. If the health pool is lowered too low, then aggro decks (or aggressive midrange decks *cough* midrange shaman *cough*), as we have seen time and time again, would rule the meta. Therefore, Blizzard needs to find a proper balance in the health pool in order to allow ALL deck archetypes to succeed. Because we currently lie on the lower end of this spectrum, I propose that Blizzard attempt to raise the health pool and see how the game fares out. If control decks begin to absolutely dominate, then lower it. If aggro decks begin to dominate again, raise it up a little bit. Doing this over the course of several months to a year can allow Blizzard to find the perfect balance.

There are, of course, some counterarguments to this proposition. Some might say that Hearthstone has had 30 health for so long, that it would be weird to old players and "confusing" to new players. Fair enough. To make up for this Blizzard could make a PTR for Hearthstone that would allow the public to test potential changes for the game. Overwatch already has a PTR with TONS of people playing it, so why not Hearthstone? With enough people playing on the PTR, enough data could be collected to determine how specific alterations would affect the real game. And you may also want to consider that additional health wouldn't HAVE to be in the main game mode. There could be more game modes that would allow more control-oriented players to try out playing a hero with 35 or 40 health rather than the measly 30.

Another counterargument could be that the health pool has nothing to do with how good aggro or control decks are, and that their quality depends on the quality of cards available to them. This is true, to an extent. It is true that the strengths of certain decks and certain classes CAN be determined by the strength of their new class cards and synergistic neutral cards released from the most recent expansions. However, please also consider that the majority of decks out there have a basis in the classic set, from which cards will never leave. In fact, of the cards in the most popular pirate warrior deck I found on the front page at the time of making this thread, the classic set took 20 of the 30 total cards. Of the cards in the most popular control warrior deck I found on the front page at the time of making this thread, the classic set took 19 of the 30 total cards. This is no small deal. These cards aren't ever going away. Whether you're playing an aggro deck, a midrange deck, or a control deck, you will, almost 100% of the time, be playing with more than a few of the cards from the classic set. These decks derive their power from the classic set, and it would be unfair to continue nerfing classic cards that people won't stop complaining about just because of the state of the game at the time of their complaints. So regardless of what expansion cards are currently in the meta, that doesn't change the fact that pirate warrior can still smack your face down to 0 with the same 20 cards that it will always have.

Please, discuss your thoughts in the comments below. No hate, just debate. If you think I'm wrong, let me know why. If you think I'm right, let me know why. If you think I'm half right and half wrong, let me know why. This isn't an easy topic to debate because there are so many intermingling factors, but if you have any ideas to add to the conversation, those would be greatly appreciated too. Thanks for reading.

Quote from Mewdrops >>

Quote from Repeaterblox >>

This guys submission on page 9 is great but no love. am I missing something? seems pretty balanced and creates an interesting dilemma for your opponent.

Quote from Xiaxiangde >>

 

 For one, it should be 'if your opponent is not', not 'your opponent are not', and 'put three coins into your hand', not 'put three coins to your hand'. Unless the card itself is really good design wise (this card isn't 'really good'), any card with grammatical errors isn't going to get much votes.

A minion with infinite value like Dreadsteed, though you'll have to use it a lot to get actual value out of it. To clarify, its stats will continuously increase, so it does not get stuck as a 2/2 minion every time it dies. The only thing I wish I could change is making the text a lot shorter...

On HearthArena, Nefarian beats Feugen by 5 points. It really depends on your deck, but because it's your first pick, just go by the tier list and try to choose cards that could potentially synergize with other cards in your deck. This means that picking Blackwing Corruptor or Twilight Guardian could be good from now on. Good luck on your run.

Quote from yebaba >>

My first Idea: I feel this fits well into druid thematically, but I'm wondering if it's interesting enough.

I believe that The Curator is good for the same reason the OLD Ancient of Lore WAS good.

First of all, they both cost 7 mana. Then, they both draw you cards. Although the curator cannot draw you spells or some specific cards you might need, you can always put in certain cards so that you know what you will be drawing. Additionally, hunters are not the best at drawing cards, so drawing three cards from one card is a pretty big deal. Second of all, the curator has taunt, which is a pseudo-heal to your own face against aggro decks. Because it has six health, its kind of like healing yourself for 6 (admittedly, it certainly isn't the same in many situations). Finally, the stats. Arguably, a 4/6 minion is more valuable than a 5/5 minion because it is better at trading. So, in comparison with the OLD ancient of lore, the curator can pseudo-heal for six, trade very well against small and some midrange minions, and draw you three cards of your choice (depending on how you build the deck), whereas the old ancient of lore can heal for 5 OR draw you two cards as well as trading (not as well) against small and midrange minions.

Now, admittedly, the old ancient of lore was also good in druid because it acted as a body for Savage Roar, and it helped draw the cards for FoN + SR faster. But this is irrelevant because drawing three cards from a 4/6 body with taunt is extremely valuable in and of itself.

"But", I hear you saying, "The deck doesn't even have a murloc for the curator to draw you three cards! Plus, even if it did have a murloc, it wont even always draw you three cards because you might have drawn your beasts and dragons already." Fair point. You can always exchange some cards for Sir Finley Mrrgglton or Coldlight Oracle if you think they could be useful. There are about 8 beasts and 2 dragons in the deck. It is unlikely that you will draw all of them by the time you get the curator, and even if you draw both of the dragons, even drawing ONE card can be very useful, although it wont get its full value out of 7 mana.

There you have it. If you really consider it, The Curator has the potential to be a very good card in this deck. But, who knows, I could be wrong. The deck needs to be tested to truly gauge how good the card is in this deck.

Quote from Sylicas >>

It's not just about upvotes across the whole board, but it's the upvotes that your entry gets versus the entries on your own page.

It's stated clearly in the Competition Process that's at the front of every submission page which y'all should be reading if you are entering the competition, and I quote -

The bottom line is that, although entries on the earlier pages of the Submission Topic are much more visible and thus receive many more up-votes than entries on later pages, you don't actually have to rush to get your entry in as soon as possible because the up-votes end up being weighted by what page your entry ends up on in order to determine its final score.

Please read the rules and processes next time lol. xD

This is my first time entering the card design competition, even though I have been following it for quite a long time. I have to say, the entries this time are really interesting all-around.

But, I have a question regarding how finalists are chosen, which really confused me. My entry received about 30 upvotes on the submission topic thread. Additionally, I noticed some other really cool entries that also received between 20 and 40 upvotes. However, these entries and mine didn't make it into the finals despite them having more upvotes than, say, Sha of Change (which is a really cool idea btw). I was pretty sure that my entry was viable because it was dependent on the last card played in the game. (Mimic: 0 mana rogue spell: This card is always a copy of the last card played this game. It costs (1) more) I was really excited to see how much the community seemed to like my idea with all of the upvotes it received. I was really proud of it, but I got really confused when it didn't make it onto the final poll.

I'm not angry, I'm just confused as to how the finalists are actually chosen if they aren't dependent on upvotes in the submission topic. Anyway, my vote goes to Mass Resurrection. Make priest great again, and congratulations to all the finalists!

The thing with Jesus Arena is that if you get crucified in a game after three days you come back with greater powers.

Easter of Secrets can be powerful though.

Heard Priest is getting some sweet new cards... Maybe it's not Dr. Boom, but at least you don't have to silence your own minion.

Quote from arius111 >>

And just as a side note from the last blizzard post in comparison to this one:

 

Quote from August Dean Ayala

• Undertaker Hunter at one point was around 25% of the meta.

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Quote from Dean Ayala & Mike Donais

Shaman

• Mike believes the meta is in a good spot ...
• Shamans are currently around 20% of the ladder.

 

This card is essentially 2 different things:

1. It's a tech card against Taunt minions. Since the enemy hero is Immune, you can't use this card for aggro purposes. It's meant to be used when you need to kill this one minion that's hiding being a Taunt, or if you have minions on the board, you can use it to get better trades.

2. It's potentially a healing spell for Rogue. If you cast this spell and attack a minion with 8 Attack, you basically just restored 8 Health to your hero for 1 mana. Rogues often have a problem with taking too much damage from attacking other minions. This card allows Rogue to attack any non-taunt minion one time without taking any damage. 

Hello!

Long time lurker, I had an idea for this contest and decided I would submit it for once!  Wish me luck!

Mage version of Unleash the Hounds and Protect the King!. Also has Murloc synergy, because why not?