Ok, so at the middle of the design space of Hearthstone is the basic concept of tempo.
Tempo can best be defined for our purposes here as "what percentage of the total mana available to you gets used to generate threats or remove opponent's threats". If I don't have a turn one play, that's a tempo loss. If I play a 1/3 which manages to trade into an opponent's 2/1, that's a HUGE and sometimes game defining gain in tempo.
Now, the majority of the design space is taken up by tempo interactions. The types of interactions are diverse and varied, but when you get down to the numbers, most of these things are easily quantifiable. For example, the reborn mechanic and Houndmaster's battle cry are superficially unrelated, but they are EASILY comparable in terms of this semi-arbitrary trait of tempo.
A much smaller area of design revolves around the area of "value", but different professionals and game designers have varying definitions of the term. More on value in a minute.
The trouble is, it is incredibly difficult to keep the game particularly interesting without breaking out of this space. It is incredibly dangerous to try to seriously depart from the tempo framework, but Hearthstone MUST consider new and interesting options in design.
So far, there are three major areas where Blizzard has explored departing from the gospel of tempo.
1. Combos
Combo interactions are not definitionally divorced from the tempo framework, but some of the more popular combos throughout the years do not really fit into the basic models we take for granted in the game. Shudderwock was a recent example where the (sort of) OTK mechanic required a setup with very specific, non tempo-effecting interactions. In other words, this building of the battlecry list to include Saronites, Lifedrinkers, and bounce effects represented a whole new mechanic and did not easily fall into the rubrics of tempo or value. A quick look at Uther of the Ebon Blade shows another unique mechanic which cannot be understood in terms of 2/2 creature value in the least.
Other OTK combo decks such as the old Grim Patron charge interactions were not well understood in the tempo paradigm because there was no "playing the board" going on. Patron in particular was a simple mathematical exercise in generating a life total's worth of damage through particular card interactions.
Note that these decks have been some of the most controversial in the history of the game; lending credence to the notion that whenever we depart from the expected tempo building gameplay, there are those who immediately claim some sort of imbalance is at play. This is simply not de facto true; there is nothing inherently wrong with expanding design space.
2. Infinite Value generation
I'm a big fan of the streamer Zalae, particularly when he interacts with chat on the subject of "value". He has a very simple; very consistent message on the subject: Hearthstone is a tempo game, not a value game.
In terms of a one-sentence summary, this is absolutely correct. If you want to go deeper into it, a more fleshed out way of saying this is that you MUST survive the tempo contest before value will ever become relevant to the game. Take current day Control Warrior. Dr. Boom is a very slow but steady value generator via its "discover a mech" hero power, but that only becomes relevant towards the end of the game after you have spent a lot of time removing opponent's threats and generally shutting down his/her tempo play. Otherwise, you simply don't survive long enough for value generation to become relevant.
So, we come to the realm of infinite value generation. Honestly, 2017 and 2018 were the years in which this issue was in the spotlight. Jade Druid is an arguable inclusion because the ability to generate monstrously large creatures for 1 mana has severe tempo ramifications as well, but this deck was the introduction to the concept of unending value. Shortly thereafter, we got Frost Lich Jaina and Deathstalker Rexxar.
Because Jaina requires manipulating minion health to exactly one, sometimes at a deliberate tempo loss, it is difficult to claim that Jaina is consistently winning the tempo game. Rexxar, on the other hand, is DEFINITIVELY losing tempo because all his zom-beasts are full cost plus the HP activation. Nevertheless, these cards saw play in decks which could win the tempo game in other ways.
In the run up to the 2019 rotation, there was a hellacious amount of criticism towards these two DKs and the concept of infinite value, but what I find amusing about this is that both of those DKs were completely nonexistent in the meta for quite a while after their release. It took a massive nerf to Anduin Priest, a rotation which hurt Cube Lock, and several other meta changes before anyone touched Rexxar, and Big Spell Mage was a niche tournament option until the Witchwood rotation.
It turns out that infinite value is only an issue in a meta where we see quite a bit of control vs control matchups. When two decks are choosing to take the tempo game slow, the one which can run the other out of threats will generally win. That's why Warrior decks were basically nonexistent after the release of KnC; they had no value option that could compete with mage.
It is certainly true that infinite value generation can be an issue, but the remedy for this sort of thing has historically been a healthy meta with aggressive and combo-based options which render the value game moot.
3. Mana "Cheating"
First of all, the use of the term "cheating" is poisoning the well, and I'm not going to continue that practice. I prefer something a little more accurate and descriptive . . . let's call it Abrupt Tempo Acceleration Events (ATAEs). That sounds about right to me.
The issue with comparing ATAEs to infinite value or combo mechanics is that ATAEs are very much relevant to the traditional tempo structure of the game. Traditional understanding says you can't have a creature that costs six UNTIL TURN SIX. Except if you have a coin . . . or an innervate . . . or ramped as a druid . . . or any number of other things. So right off the bat, we can't avoid the conclusion that this is nothing new, and we are only considering a question of degree.
There is no question that hitting a turn 3 Mountain Giant with a Conjurer's Calling is ever so slightly more abrupt than casting Wild Growth and getting your 4-cost minion on turn 3. But Blizzard agreed and nerfed CC as a result, and it is worth noting that Conjurer's Calling has become amazingly rare on the ladder despite its explosive potential. Meanwhile, you see other similar effects which no one seems to want to complain about. Certainly Oasis Surger after completing the Druid quest constitutes some form of ATAE, as does Starfall. But we aren't seeing anywhere near the outcry. Is it because it's simply a lesser degree of the same phenomenon, or do people just like to bitch about the flavor of the month decks?
I can't write with as much familiarity about ATAEs because the issue is ongoing and not as fleshed out as the other two categories presented here. But regardless, I want to reiterate an important point. Be VERY careful when you find yourself advocating for Blizzard to restrict its own creativity. Constructed formats are dull as hell if they are restricted to traditional tempo battles.
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