Hearthpwn

First time posting, but I've been making a good handful of custom cards in my free time, so I figured this would be fun. My entry is:

The Enchanter

STORY

Thaumaturge Vashreen is an esteemed purveyor of weapons, armor, and relics of all kinds, as many more studied Ethereals tend to be. He has taken a step beyond what many of his kind traditionally follow on, however, and set up shop in Stormwind City, aiding those with enough coin in reforging or shifting the aspects of their equipment. Longing for a real test of his knowledge and abilities, he seeks to claim more than simple coin, using his extensive knowledge of the arcane and bending the reality of weapons to truly become a master of his craft, despite already being one of the more well-known of his skills.

CLASS DESIGN

The Enchanter is targeted at a playstyle that leads to flexible decision-making, namely through the manner in which it takes a hold of the board. While its spells can offer bolstering to minions or weapons, it primarily functions through establishing board control, either by doing so with minions buffed into becoming a sticky presence, or by molding them into powerful removal tools. Naturally, Ethereals are masters of trading, and that concept is (ironically) retained here, but its flexibility is what gives it strength. By bolstering both its minions and its weapons, the Enchanter has many choices in how it goes about gaining and holding a lead.

KEYWORD: ENCHANT

Enchant is, on the surface level, a simple effect: Buff a minion's Attack or Health, or your weapon's Attack or Durability (All at +1, from the Hero Power). While weak on its own, however, many cards the Enchanter receives will either recast Enchants, copy effects, or specifically grant large benefits to minions and weapons affected by Enchants. Think of it as "targeted" buffs, rewarding the player for holding enchanted presences on the board, and allowing them to get tempo presence through clever use of Enchanting powerful minions or holding onto strong weapons for a lasting effect. The weakness of Enchant, on its own, is the strict nature of it - Enchant cards are mostly restricted to the class, and as such, other classes will receive less value from them when receiving them through their own sources.

EXAMPLE CARDS

Synchronous Shifter is an example of a basic, yet potentially powerful tool in the early game, due to its flexibility. Do you drop it as a 2 cost 1/1 and get two copying 1/1's on turn 2, or hold it for further benefits to build a stronger wall up?

Continuum Blade stands as a model for the flexibility presented in weapons. Adding an additional point of Attack to your weapon on turn 3 is a powerful choice for removal, but alternatively, you could build into a sturdy source of removal instead. In either case, however, you also have your options in-hand to consider.

The Sin'dorei Disciple is a better tool for its potential minion presence, in that it can be built into a very strong token to face for your opponent quickly. The options available here are a bit more extensive - you could simply get a 3/3 going, for a faster removal, or build into a healthy minion that can snowball into becoming a monster for the move towards late-game.

Weapon Transmutation is an example of what an expansion card would look more like. A powerful tool when used correctly, this can establish a lengthy presence of a powerful weapon through the game. The Enchanter has quite a variety of tools in his arsenal, and adaptation through continuation is a terrifying thing to be up against when such cards come into play with Enchants already active on them, something that would rarely be possible otherwise.

Finally, Diviner Ji'thraas is a sturdy presence on his own, but his effect is far and away the takeaway from playing him - dropping him on 8 mana allows you to bolster your entire board up, and with a full package, +7 additional damage to toss out can easily be the difference between lethal and allowing your opponent an additional turn. Alternatively, however, you could opt to rely on minions with powerful effects and to up their health, continuing to rely on the threat they pose to achieve wins through controlled means.

Had a lot of fun with this, and I hope you liked the concept of the Enchanter class! Ideally, I would've liked to have used the Weaver custom class option from Hearthcards.net, but unfortunately, it wasn't applying correctly on the portrait, so I figured I'd keep the theme consistent here. I'll probably do more on the Enchanter in the future for entertainment purposes, as well. Would be great to get an opportunity to showcase some of the more rewarding card ideas down the line, rather than the core of its flexible and adaptive core.

(Footnote Edit: Past few were due to images failing to load because they were Hearthcards direct links, this one's just to make the green softer on the eyes, and to make the epic text more purple.)