Hearthpwn

I compiled a list of the best Neutral card designs from each Hearthstone Expansion. And here is the criteria I based my choices on:

1. Creative. I chose cards that have interesting and unique effects.
2. Not Oppressive. Here I'm talking about the card itself; if the card is oppressive due to the existence of other cards, I will still consider it.
3. Didn't Necessarily See Play. Some of these cards were not strong or relative enough to see play in any meta
3. Great Meta. These cards would make a great Meta if they are the main or popular cards of any Meta. So they are fun to play with and against.
4. Subjective. After all, the personal preference element have to come into play. So maybe there are cards that some find great design, while I don't; and vice versa.

Let's get started:

Goblins vs Gnomes:

The Grand Tournament:

 Whispers of the Old Gods:

 Mean Streets of Gadgetzan:

 Journey to Un'Goro

 Knights of the Frozen Throne:

 Kobolds and Catacombs:

 The Witchwood:

 The Boomsday Project:

 Rastakhan's Rumble:

 Rise of Shadows:

 Saviors of Uldum:

 Descent of Dragons:

 Ashes of Outland:

 Scholomance Academy:

 The Darkmoon Faire:

 Forged in the Barrens:

 OVERALL TOP 5:

Let me know what you think. I will update this thread with new expansions or if someone changed my opinion about any of the cards. Also, if you'd like, make a similar list for your favorite class.

Battletag: TheM4Kh#1554

Region: NA

Trade only? : yes, you go first

I really like a lot of the ideas provided! I think next time I'm going to make a poll of some sort to determine the banned cards. I hope everyone forgive my shortcoming if these bans do not shake the meta for the tournament. But bare in mind that tournament metas are usually a little bit different. For example, the Skull ban is mainly targeted towards DH OTK, which is a very well performing deck in tournaments, whereas Paladin performs better in ladder than in tournaments. 

Overall, I hope that you guys give it a try. You never know how the tournament will go. And surely next time, it will be better!

Andrei2007 >>

I understand that my bans won't be super accurate. And I will always miss somethings. 

This is just the first iteration. I will surely learn more from it and it's gonna help if I'm going to organize it again. 

And for the prize, I'm just a gamer who would like to explore the game more. It's hard for me to provide a prize pool on my own. But, if I found more people interested and would like a prize pool, I might add an entry fee to collect the prize pool for high finishers. But I don't think it's going to happen.

I really appreciate your input. And I surely am going to take your ideas in future tournaments. But as for this one, I do not want to cause confusion by sudden changes.

So I thought about organizing a tournament where players bring Off-Meta decks. And I did it :D. 

The tournament is a Conquest Standard format. Bo3. With a ban. There are only 32 seats. 

The tournament has a deck building condition. No deck can include any of the following cards (Hence, Off-Meta):

- [Tickatus] ~ Warlock Legendary.

- [Conviction (Rank 1)] ~ Paladin Epic.

- [Secret Passage] ~ Rogue Epic.

- [Skull of Gul'dan] ~ Demon Hunter Rare.

- [Arbor Up] ~ Druid Rare.

- [Palm Reading] ~ Priest Rare.

- [Imprisoned Felmaw] ~ Hunter Common.

- [Incanter's Flow] ~ Mage Common.

- [Athletic Studies] ~ Warrior Common.

- [Venomous Scorpid] ~ Neutral Common.

The tournament is on Friday 28th of May 2021. Please join if you can/interested. 

Tournament link on Battlefy:  https://battlefy.com/them4kh/[forged-in-the-barrens]-off-meta-tournament-1/60ab8df6e984f71496909146/info

I wanted to suggest some adjustments that I think would be good for the game.

1. Remove Gentle Megasaur. The card offers un-interactive gameplay too often. I know that Poisonous, Divine Shield Murlocs build is not easy to pull. But let's not act like it's 10 times harder than other endgame builds. It's still very viable. So I don't think it's fair to not have a chance in the endgame regardless of what build you have just because another player have a wall of Poisonous Murlocs that your minions bump into and die. Understandably, If such a nerf takes place, early game Murlocs must receive some sort of buff. 

2. Move Cobalt Guardian to Tavern Tier 4. To keep the game fresh and the meta changing, when cards like Cobalt Guardian and Floating Watcher have a much higher play rate than their Tier alternatives, they should be moved to the next Tavern Tier to force players to explore other builds. So just like Floating Watcher, moving Cobalt Guardian to the higher Tier is a healthy move for the game.

3. Keep the number of playable Heroes at 24. Honestly, this is a personal preference more than anything. I like the idea that ALL Heroes would be offered at the start of the game. But for this to work, the power levels of these heroes must be way more balance that it is now so that each game results on a different combination of 8 Heroes, unlike what we see now where certain Heroes are almost always chosen.

4. Remove Ragnaros the Firelord and Patches the Pirate. Their Hero Powers are similar, doesn't offer a unique style of gameplay, and are much weaker than Nefarian. 

5. Change Sylvanas Windrunner to "Remove a friendly minion, give all minions in your hand +1/+1." This is just one way to change Sylvanas's Hero Power. The sure thing is it needs to change somehow to be more competitive. 

6. Change Millhouse Manastorm to "Minions cost 2 Gold. Refresh cost 2 Gold. Gain 2 Gold each turn." Again, this is just a suggestion to bring Millhouse Manastrom back into the game. However, it's important to note that he would start the game with no Gold. 

7. Change the Cost of the Recruitment Map to 2 instead of 3. To make it more viable and give Elise Starseeker an edge. 

I think they can make it multiples uses, but increase the Hero Power cost each time it's used. So something like 3,4,5,etc. 

Quote from Liam3Bucks >>

Quote from The_M4Khh >>

Quote from MrBurger >>

Stormwind guy is op. It's just much better than Millificient Manastorm. Also Voodoo Doctor might be stronger than it looks.

He is stronger than some. But he is still weaker than others. And Millificient Manastorm isn't really near the high end of the spectrum.

 

 Millificent Manastorm had to be nerfed when giving +1/+1 to just mechs. Stormwind is just too good. Regardless of how strong Millificent is now, certain heroes should not be strictly better than others. 

These minions could work, but I don't think they add many interesting interactions, similarly to Festeroot Hulk and The Boogeymonster. Berserker has some mene value with Unstable Ghoul, but that's about it. If cards like Bomb Wrangler and Frothing Berserker were also added, then I'd be more interested. 

 The power levels were very different when Manastorm got nerfed. In the current meta, he is mediocre at best. To be honest I did not consider Manastorm when I designed Stormwind Champion. But I think +1/+1 to all would carry you well to the mid-game. After that it will fall down considerably in the late-mid to end game. In other words, I think pre-nerfed Manastorm would be fair in the current Meta. 

Quote from MrBurger >>

Stormwind guy is op. It's just much better than Millificient Manastorm. Also Voodoo Doctor might be stronger than it looks.

He is stronger than some. But he is still weaker than others. And Millificient Manastorm isn't really near the high end of the spectrum.

Hero (Stormwind Champion):-

Minion * (Voodoo Doctor):- 

Minion ** (Shattered Sun Cleric):-

 Minion *** (Gurubashi Berserker):- 

 Minion **** (Frostwolf Warlord):-

Battletag: TheM4Kh#1554

Region: NA

Trade only: Yes, you go first.

DONE!

I think over the years Priest had so many Recruit and Resurrect mechanics along with help tools to perfect this deck archetype. I think so far this is the most perfected deck in Hearthstone, it's very hard for cards from new expansion to replace any of its existing cards. Eventually, other decks will reach that state, and then it will be the problem in Wild.

Overall, I don't think the problem with Big Priest is any card in particular (though Barnes was a bit OP I admit). But it's more like the problem comes from the nature of the Wild Format itself. Because there is a huge card pool, Priest happens to have so many good cards that work very well under that deck archetype.

Thoughts? 

• Conjurer's Calling from (3) to (4) Mana. This is a good nerf. It will hinder the deck a bit. But it is not going to kill it either.
• Luna's Pocket Galaxy from (5) back to (7) Mana. Horrible nerf! This is going to kill Reno Mage. Realistically, it will be a tier 3 deck. There is no way playing 7 Mana do nothing will hold in this meta or any other meta. It was clear (6) Mana was the sweet spot for it.
• Dr. Boom, Mad Genius from (7) to (9) Mana.  I don't like this nerf, though I admit it might do its job in lowering Control Warrior winrate. But still might not be enough. I would have preferred if they kept the cost and nerfed its Hero Powers and Omega Devastator.
• Extra Arms from (2) back to (3) Mana. This nerf wasn't needed in my opinion. And even if they need to do it. I would have preferred the first copy to be (3) Mana and More Arms! stays at (2) Mana.
• Barnes from (4) to (5) Mana. Hard to tell if this nerf will affect Big Priest that much. I still think the deck is very consistent and have so many tools that it will evade any harm from this nerf.

Here's a buff suggestion: When queue in with Warrior, your opponent is forced to concede. 

I think this is a good buff. It will definetly increase the win-rate of Warriors.

Quote from Mono2627 >>

Fuck Druid. I dislike all the sounds and animations, the general theme and all the gameplan it ever had. Also the choose one mechanic always was and always will be overpowered. 

 Hhhhhhhhh .. WOW ! I like it .. HATE WITH PASSION !!!