Hearthpwn

Quote from Loknax >>

Getting Keening Banshee through Oaken Summons before drawing Mecha'thun might be a bit risky, otherwise I like the deck.

 Oaken Summons cannot possibly pull Keening Banshee.

Quote from ShadowsOfSense >>

Quote from Ryan_Sechrets >>

Quote from Lightspoon >>

Actually I think that Discover is the only one that have been used after LoE itself (when it was introduced), other than the keywords of the Classic Set.

 "Joust" has been used after TGT, Raven Familiar, but for some strange reason, they have refused to call it a keyword mechanic, despite it making obvious sense to do so. Compare: "Battlecry: Reveal a spell in each deck. If yours costs more, draw it" with "Joust: Draw the spell".

The Skeleton Knight. Additionally, your example doesn't stipulate that the card being revealed from each deck is a spell, which is important. It is in every way better for 'Joust' not to be keyworded.

Other, better examples of mechanics being continued beyond the expansion they were introduced in are Poisonous and Lifesteal. Even if you argue that Poisonous doesn't count since it has technically existed since the Classic set, Lifesteal was at the very earliest introduced in GvG - although it now works slightly differently.

For general mechanics, the other tribal synergies - 'Holding a Dragon' and 'Played an Elemental last turn' - have both been continued since their initial inclusion. Magnetic is a fine keyword as is, and gives Mechs as a tribe some more uniqueness than they currently have.

 Yes, I agree that poisonous and lifesteal are helpful keywords; it was surprising it took so long (and surprising that enrage got bounced). I disagree that Joust is not "in every way better" not being a key word. Aside: were all jousts only minion-based from TGT, and Raven Familiar the first spell one? Why not "Joust (Spell)" and "Joust (Minion)"?  That still reduces the word count by two thirds and is a pretty basic mechanic for CCGs. I guess I just wish they'd do more with existing mechanics, and streamline existing mechanics, rather than more one-and-done ad hoc stuff.

Quote from Lyra_Silvertongue >>

So instead of a mech specific keyword you want fusion summons in HS, or a weaker neutral build-a-beast?

I personally don't care about more keywords, even if some are specific. We have combo keywords that are restricted just to rogue and the game didn't fall apart when metas came that left rogue out of favor. Why would this be any different?

I agree. I'd rather see more keywords, and more consistency. Combo is just another conditional battlecry: if you played a card this turn, then x. Choose One and Overload are basically the only distinctive class-specific keywords in Hearthstone. Once again, we're back to what counts as a "new"/"flavorful" mechanic. 

Quote from CVision1 >>

Magnetic makes sense for Mechs. Cause, well..mechs.. It makes no sense to be able to ''fuse'' dragons and beasts..we already have buffs for those tribes. This is perfectly fine..imho.

 Well, magnetic makes sense for mechs made of magnetized metals. God forbid aluminum mechs! ;)

Quote from ColinthePyro >>

Adapt is pretty much only for beasts though, right? Now, "adapt" never became an archetype or something, more just a solid keyword for some good cards. Magnetic will probably be the same.

 Not quite. Adapt is basically a specific battlecry, but also spells, e.g. the Palladin Adaptation and the Druid adapt card was overcosted, but neither ever really saw play. But note that dragon and elemental synergies are also specific battlecries: If x minion condition is met, then y. Magnetic spells are not possible [a card can't be both a minion and a spell], so magnetic is, in some ways, just a more limited adapt. 

I guess this is partly a philosophical debate. It seems like lots of people think that adding a condensed minion-battlecry-keyword-that-isn't-a-tribe to many sets gives it a flavor. Cool. I don't agree with that, but at least I get where people are coming from. In retrospect, and agreeing with many of you, more elegant keywords would be Dragon (Battlecry: if you hold a dragon, x), Elemental (Battlecry: If you played an elemental last turn, x), Mech (Battlecry: if you control a mech, x), and Murloc (Battlecry: if mrrgl, mrrrrrgl). OK, that last one was a joke.

Quote from Lightspoon >>

Actually I think that Discover is the only one that have been used after LoE itself (when it was introduced), other than the keywords of the Classic Set.

 "Joust" has been used after TGT, Raven Familiar, but for some strange reason, they have refused to call it a keyword mechanic, despite it making obvious sense to do so. Compare: "Battlecry: Reveal a spell in each deck. If yours costs more, draw it" with "Joust: Draw the spell".

Quote from IambicAvenger >>

Quote from Ryan_Sechrets >>

The idea of a card that is either a minion or a minion enchantment is a great one! It offers flexibility like Discover, prevents dead cards in your hand, and generally encourages more in-game decision-making. Therefore, the idea of the Magnetic keyword has a lot going for it!

The problem is that Magnetic is limited to the mech tribe, arbitrarily restricting the design space for use of this keyword mechanic in future expansions. We saw this problem before, after GvG, the mech tribe received little support. If that happens again, this would be Blizzard introducing a new keyword with limited use, and Blizzard has said that they want to limit the number of keyword mechanics to keep the game accessible (I'm looking at you, Enrage).

Here is a simple proposal to improve the mechanic: Call it "Fuse" and have it always specify a tribe (or tribes). For example, this is how the card text of the new card, Spider Bomb would read: 

Fuse: Mech

Deathrattle: Destroy a random enemy minion.

This would allow for many more interesting card interactions. Sure, some could be problematic. Don't print them!

What are your thoughts on Magnetic? Do you have a better idea to improve it?

To sum up your argument (keep me honest, please), you believe the "magnetic" mechanic is a good mechanic, but that it should be open to all tribes in Hearthstone so it can stay relevant even if Mechs fall out of favor.

From a design philosophy standpoint, I completely disagree. Giving mechs a unique game mechanic is exactly what Blizzard should be doing to make tribal synergies more interesting. Today, most tribal synergies exist in the form of conditional battlecries - yes the conditions are different ("hold a dragon" vs. "played an elemental last turn," etc.), but in principle there's nothing fundamentally different about those tribes. Maybe they should add unique mechanics for other tribes to better differentiate tribes, but making this mechanic generic to support all tribes ruins the "specialness" of it.

Regarding whether or not the broad support of mechs over the last few expansions highlights a problem, I think the opposite is true. It's great to see that mechs will get a lot of support now, and that at some point that support will rotate out of standard to make room for some other tribe and/or mechanic to be front and center. It's okay for the support of certain aspects of the game to ebb and flow to keep things fresh.

I agree with a lot of what you say.  I especially agree with the idea that there should be an ebb and flow over expansions with regards to tribal synergy. I would contend, however, that the way to do this isn't by restricting keywords to a tribe, but by printing some tribal cards rather than others. Just because you expand possibilities does not mean that all possibilities need to be realized every expansion.

The pool of keyword mechanics in Hearthstone is pretty small by design. To call elemental and dragon synergies "conditional battlecries" collapses the significance of elemental: "played last turn" and dragon: "in hand" . The magnetic keyword is pretty close to "Battlecry: If you control a mech, give it x" [if not, play a worse version, which is exactly what you do if you don't meet the conditional battlecries for elementals and mechs]. Board presence is actually what the mech synergy has always been since GvG, so in that sense, Magnetic is nothing new.

I think the idea of an orc rider on a dragon whelp is hilarious and consistent with the levity of Hearthstone! :)

I also like the idea of keeping to a theme of the expansion, Skyi and BrokenCycle. I just don't see that tying a keyword to an expansion is the way to do that (think of how many keywords there would be if every expansion had a new keyword, and recall that calls for more discover cards are basically universal. The fact that the keyword was introduced with LoE should not prevent this. Only releasing Mechs with "Combine" this expansion would do just that, but allow them to return to elementals, dragons, etc. 

You are quibbling with the Keyword name, not the concept. We already have Zombeasts, which are essentially all that Magnetic is: fusing two minions together. How about Stitch or Combine? Of course, the minions could be tribe-appropriate, e.g. a minion called "Dragon Rider" that could be played stand-alone or you could mount it to a dragon through Fuse/Combine.

The idea of a card that is either a minion or a minion enchantment is a great one! It offers flexibility like Discover, prevents dead cards in your hand, and generally encourages more in-game decision-making. Therefore, the idea of the Magnetic keyword has a lot going for it!

The problem is that Magnetic is limited to the mech tribe, arbitrarily restricting the design space for use of this keyword mechanic in future expansions. We saw this problem before, after GvG, the mech tribe received little support. If that happens again, this would be Blizzard introducing a new keyword with limited use, and Blizzard has said that they want to limit the number of keyword mechanics to keep the game accessible (I'm looking at you, Enrage).

Here is a simple proposal to improve the mechanic: Call it "Fuse" and have it always specify a tribe (or tribes). For example, this is how the card text of the new card, Spider Bomb would read: 

Fuse: Mech

Deathrattle: Destroy a random enemy minion.

This would allow for many more interesting card interactions. Sure, some could be problematic. Don't print them!

What are your thoughts on Magnetic? Do you have a better idea to improve it?

Quote from Jinglyjoe >>

If the deathrattle buff hits Dopplegangster do you get 3 weapons back?

 

You mean, with no minion in your hand, not on the board.

The combo will still work, but will occur at the end of your turn. Right?

Fun idea, but I've yet to even live to turn 10 through 5 games in casual. Definitely drop Elise, but not for N'Zoth; rather some more health game or early control.