Hearthpwn

This seems nutty. Especially for a rare. Cool.

Platebreaker makes pretty much any minion a win condition. No need for Scaled Nightmare.

Also, Kelthuzud/Public defender exploit still works in 2020 in case anyone is wondering.

Hard to pass up free packs but so far this adventure has been boring enough that I'm tempted not to finish it.

Bet you're really regretting that HS in your username now

Just wanted to thank the Contest mods. You dedication is marvelous.  Great work you do for the community here.

Thanks

Quote from RandomScribbles >>

All credit for mine should go to thepowrofcheese.  I got beaten to the exact same idea in the discussion forum but posted it in the submission before checking.  If the card wins, I shouldn't be declared winner, thepowrofcheese should.  

Noble Sacrifice but with a Water Elemental. My god I would hate playing against this card.

I always thought Bolf Ramshield's ability was generic enough for the main set and should be more prevalent. I think a card like this would be a compromise between generic healing and and Antique Healbot in every deck that wants healing. Also It might signal to new players losing to direct damage to include it. Statline might be a tad strong for basic but I couldnt bring myself to keep it 5/4 (pretty sure it'd never see play right). 4/5 or 3/6 might be suitable but felt like to much of an identity change. At 5/5 you get a bruiser but if you dont have board control is little more then a 5 point heal. That might be enough to save your midrange deck against a face deck tho. 

I cut Reno from my (now) Raza-Priest. To many high value 6-mana cards and healing usually inst a problem. Have no regrets.

To respond to some of the comments made on my submission Stormwind Phalanx,

• Asylum_Rhapsody, good catch on the linguistics. your wording is better. Hearthstone's best feature is simplicity. 
• nurgling13, buff/heal is the trade off for not attacking. to "heal 2" your losing out on 5 damage. I think this area is exactly where the Meditate keyword becomes interesting. Also consider, the card would have to be in play for 3 turns before this would be relevant. Thats a long time for a minion and 2 heal seems negligible compared to what some other minions offer if un-checked. 
• ShadowsOfSense, Im glad someone raised this because the statline was what I struggled with the most. My reasoning went along the lines, we have 5/4s for 4 that are better and for the most part are not too popular. 9 stats for 4 mana seems to be the new norm. Sen'jin Shieldmasta and Evil Heckler contradict each other in taunt/stat mana evaluations. However neither see much play so I feel there is some room there. A 3/6 taunt for 4 is is what I was left with and I wondered if it were too powerful. A Twilight Guardian for example has a serious condition. But I told myself this isnt a 3/6 for 4 mana its a 3/6 "cannot attack". To evaluate a generic 4 mana "cannot attack" taunt I think we can consider 3/7 or 3/8. Eerie Statue might suggest even higher. Thats where I justified it being ok at 3/6 (it can attack conditionally). Tho in some ways you could view this as a 5/6 taunt for 4 tho and thats clearly OP, but would anyone play it at 5 mana probably not. Overall, its the tricky part of evaluating Meditate minions. I raised this last week when it won. What is losing X damage worth? In some ways I think its higher then our first thoughts. 
• Broeck1, I think technically it would gain +2/-2 at the start of your turn so yeah awkward interaction with aldor. I dont even want to think about what happens if you throw a Crazed Alchemist in the mix. Tho there are some unintended consequences I dont think any of them are too bad. Tricky part of the mechanics in the game. I still have to pause and think for a second every time two Sylvanas hit the board.

Thanks for the comments. I must admit I was somewhat surprised with the positive response I got to the card this week. I didnt think it was exciting enough to garnish much attention. I just wanted to explore what Mediate did and could do. I think I learned alot this week.

I also wanted to add that I'll try to work on how I share my critique. I think I can come off rather harshly sometimes but that is not my intention. I think being critical is hallmark to good game design. But there is tact to be used when sharing critique and I need to work on that.  Especially when having fun and exploring creativity should be the goals of the contests. 

Tough competition this week. I think Cowardly Mercenary is my favorite but many caught my eye.

Edit: @Rhadan, yes this has happen to me before and I spoke to one of the mods and they said its just a visual glitch and doesnt influence the results. 

Quote from AhhFreshMeat >>

im really glad i pulled 2x golden Sword of the Fallen and held onto them

 I disenchanted golden Jandice Barov a few weeks before the expansion came out... ehh....

weak nerfs

Let's raise our Voices and don't let them get away with this backdoor scam, everyone who crafted Kargal is left empty handed with an unplayable Watchposts Package and less Dust in the account. The game isn't cheap as it is, we can't afford to waste Dust on unplayable Legendarys. Kargal Battlescar was very playable until the Nerfs, and nobody wanted him to get nerfed, but that's what they just did.

Upvote this Post and let's spread the message to Blizzard Forum, so prompt action shall be enforced - https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/hearthstone

I'm at 0-0 in a Duels run. I can't change the deck and I can't even retire. Blizz better fix this soon.

Disappointing for a chain lightning spell, it should hit at least three targets.

ima need Trump or someone to explain this in a video, too much to understand in one take

I shed a tear for my favorite class getting screwed again.

Hysteria was SO needed.  Tiller was a trash card.

Why, blizzz why???

The Bard

You cannot find an innkeeper anywhere on Azeroth that hasn't heard tale of Silas Mellowsong, or that wouldn't pay a small fortune to have him perform in their tavern for even one night. His songs are known to lift the spirit, and move even the most calloused of souls to tears. But life on the road is not all fun and games. While he detests violence, if forced to fight Silas' performing gift can be used to strike fear and demoralise, with enemies been driven to the edge of insanity with the utterance of but a few verses.

Borrowing from classic themes of the Bard in a variety of fantasy mediums, the class has no direct damage spells or weapons, but rather excels in building a resilient board presence and efficiently manipulating the stats of minions on the board throughout the game.

The most basic tool in the Bard's arsenal is the Hero Power, giving a minion +2 Health for 2 mana. This allows the Bard to establish a more resilient early board presence than other classes, and synergises with many of the Bard's spells that benefit, or otherwise interact with, the highest Health minion on the board.

The importance of minion Health in the Bard's game plan is further bolstered by the class-specific keyword: Forte.

An artist as talented as Silas travels only with the best, and the best shine under the spotlight. Any minion with the Forte keyword has Taunt when its health is the highest on the board. This makes for an extremely dynamic board: Trading into a minion with Forte active will more than likely cause it to lose Taunt, but it may very well cause another Forte minion to gain it.

Example Cards

As the above cards make clear, the Bard is geared towards board control and midrange strategies. While all out aggression is possible, capitalising on early board superiority to beat the enemy into submission quickly, the class in at its best when it is ahead on board, and has a variety of tools allowing it to do just that.

Cutting Words is a Basic card, allowing the Bard to set up beneficial trades for a price that cannot be beat.

Young Troubadour is the perfect target for a turn-2 hero power, more than likely transforming it into a 2/3 with Taunt.

Technicolor Dreamcoat exemplifies the Bard's ability to capitalise on being ahead on board. Quite inefficient as a +2/+2 buff, it becomes exceptional if it also gives the target Taunt.

Persuasive Argument is another example of tools available to the Bard: Secrets. Costed at 2 mana, Bard Secrets act similarly to the rest of the class' arsenal, redirecting or stopping attacks and manipulating stats on board, rather than dealing direct damage.

Scorpio the Inimitable, on the other hand, (the Bard's Classic legendary) is one of the few Bard cards that deals direct damage, converting board presence into a finishing blow.

I hope you enjoyed this preliminary look at the Bard, and I hope I'll get a chance to showcase more of it in the future. As a final note, I'm not very happy with the class art assets borrowed from HearthCards.net (the pink might be a bit too bright for my taste), and should my submission pass to the next phase I'll more than likely create custom ones from scratch.

The Bug

Let me introduce you to The Bug class. The Bug is... well, a bug. But do not underestimate it ! It is able to trade some small minions with Hero Power, defend with various taunt minions and easily swarm the board. Oh, and don’t forget about weapons, the easiest activators for…

The Bug introduces a new keyword called Fury, which activates whenever your hero kills a minion (I told you weapons are useful) . This effect can trigger multiple times, thus giving your hero attack is something common for The Bug.

EXAMPLE CARDS

EXPLANATION

Armored Baldur – This minion represents one of the core mechanics of The Bug – exchanging Armor for other benefits. This is one of the main archetypes for this class. In this example, if you have 5 Armor (which is important – otherwise card will not work) you can play this and exchange your 5 Armor points for a 5/5 minion. You should be careful when you play cards with this mechanic, because sometimes that Armor could be more beneficial than a 5/5 minion.

Ice Crawler – The Bug uses Taunt minions to protect itself from taking more damage after using hero power or attacking with weapons multiple times. This minion has better stats than a normal 4-drop, but the drawback is having your hero Frozen for a turn. It may not look like something painful, but remember, that The Bug bases on attacking with your hero, so this drawback can turn out to be more impactful than you may think.

Protective Weevil – Because The Bug has a lot of Armor synergy, there have to be some cards that generate Armor. This minion is small, but every turn it stays alive it gives you 2 Armor points. Protective Weevil can be used both in the Armor-oriented deck (more control) and in the aggressive or midrange deck. One of the most reliable 2-drops for The Bug, because it fits in to the various decks.

Dream Nail - One of the archetypes avaible fot The Bug is an aggro deck. This weapon suits there well, because you can resummon up to 4 minions that died this game - this means you have some control of what are you summoning. Dream Nail features Fury keyword, so you kill an enemy minion and get one of yours back. Despite having low attack, it can be buffed with various weapon buffs, you can also use your hero power to boost your attack for a turn. Therefore activating Fury should not be something difficult.

Hive Knight Tiso – As I said, The Bug has ability to quickly summon many minions. This is one of the very few cards that have AoE effect, because this class is not good at clearing the board with 1 – 2 cards. This example benefits from having larger board, as Hive Knight Tiso can deal up to 7 damage to all enemy minions. Remember: Hive Knight Tiso does not count for its effect, so if you have no minions on the board, Tiso will deal only 1 damage.

Additional Information: