Hearthpwn

"Mannoroth works best from the behind the scenes. Just ask Gul'Dan."

Last one for HearthPwn!

HearthPwn Card Design: Endgame!
*cue Avenger music*

But...but....my daily routine! Noes!

"Also known as the Queen of Thorns."

The buffs Blizzard are providing have nothing to do with this subject. The buffs aren't aimed at fixing problematic cards, they're aimed at pushing underused cards to the front so they'll see more play.

When a specific card is problematic, it is FAR easier and less dangerous to nerf that one card. If you start buffing other cards instead trying to fix the problem, you get the following issues:

First off, which cards do you buff? Let's say Omega Devastator is problematic (ok it is :P) but Blizzard doesn't want to nerf it but buff something else instead. What the hell do you buff instead? E.M.P. Operative? That's still an extremely specific tech card and affects ALL mechs, not just Omega Devastator. What else do you buff? A lot of cards don't have specific counters.

Secondly, buffing a card has far wider reaching effects than just nerfing the problematic card itself. The card that gets buffed could very well become problematic itself. Or push a deck/meta out of existence that didn't have any issues. Say that you wanted to buff against Skull of the Man'ari so you buff all the weapon removal cards. Suddenly everyone and their Mr. Bigglesworth are playing weapon removal. Warrior, Paladin and Rogue are all heavily impacted by such a change. And why? To balance against a Warlock weapon. Isn't it far better to just nerf Skull of the Man'ari?

Nerfs are the way to go when a specific card gets too powerful. The nerf can target that card and that card only. Now I'll grant you that Blizzard has a tendency to use a sledge hammer rather than a scalpel to nerf some of their cards but nerfing is still the way to go.

Buffing cards should be reserved for improving cards that no-one is playing for the simple reason that they either outright suck, are rarely seeing play due to being mostly a niche card or because they have no place/viability in any deck. And so far the buffs Blizzard has provided seem to follow that quite well. I doubt a 5 mana Luna's Pocket Galaxy is suddenly going to destroy the meta, but players will be motivated to try and put it in a deck.

Hopefully Blizzard will recieve a lot of positive feedback from the buffs and will consider doing more buffing of weak/underused cards in the future.

My first idea:

Thoughts?

Think this is going to be pretty good with Summoning Portal as well.

This compensates for the GoT ending pretty well!

Quote from YourPrivateNightmare >>

Quote from Thezzy >>

That Drogon understood the complexities of Dany and the Iron Throne without having seen any of it felt a bit of a stretch but OK, Dragons are intelligent and magical so sure.

But how did Grey Worm not just instantly execute Jon on the spot? Like he would care about the Northern response. I was sure Jon would instantly be dead, as he is far too honorable to try and get away or something like that.

My own version:

I did image the entire thing to end differently due to vast conflicting differences between Jon and Dany and Jon being too honorable (just like Ned) to kill her for the sake of everyone else. I also would have preferred Rhaegal to have died in the Battle of King's Landing to give a Dany a more acceptable reason for snapping and giving some more realistic credit to the scorpions.

I imagined that between Jon and Dany the conversation would lead to Jon outright stating he cannot follow a queen that would burn cities to the ground that had already surrendered and were full of innocent people (and then Jon would be far more emotional and fuming about it). Dany would in turn consider him a traitor for it and try and have him executed in the Great Hall (to also ensure he can never take the throne from her as Aegon). Naturally Dany would use Drogon for this, but this time, Drogon (knowing Jon and seeing Dany act strangely) would hesitate, causing Dany to maddingly scream to burn Jon. The Northern forces present would try to intervene but are held back by Unsullied and Dothraki. Drogon now sees the madness in Dany's eyes and outright refuses to burn Jon, sending Dany over the edge that her own dragon won't listen to her.

Ordering Grey Worm to do it instead, Drogon then gets in between (as Jon is also a Targaryen) to defend him. Dany, lost in madness, orders Grey Worm to kill Jon anyway, causing Drogon to knock him away and the Unsullied to raise theirs spears against him. Drogon then looks at Dany, tearfully wondering if she would truly let them harm him. With Jon still in danger, Drogon lets Jon mount him and tries to slowly move away, causing Dany to get up and scream to the Unsullied to kill Jon, making them attack. Drogon angrily attacks back and burn some of them. Seeing how far her mother is now gone, Drogon whimperingly but with fury locks faces with Dany before melting the Iron Throne with his fire and moving off. Jon sees the Northern forces from Drogon's back and orders them to retreat and leave the city. With Drogon now effectively on Jon's side, the Unsullied and Dothraki can't prevent them from doing so.

Jon, having had more than enough of fighting and bloodshed, falls back to far outside of King's Landing with the Northern forces and Drogon, hoping that without Drogon and only half of the Unsullied and Dothraki (due to the Battle of Winterfell) that Dany can't make good on her vision of ruling the world. Jon orders the Northern forces to make camp some distance away from King's Landing and together with Drogon mourns the loss of the Dany they knew and loved.

Dany, fuming at the thought that her own dragon switches sides (to Jon of all people) only worsens her condition and sees them all as traitors. Grey Worm (still alive as Drogon only knocked him away) comes up with a plan to attack the Northern camp under cover of night, sneaking into the camp and bringing her Jon's head. The few remaining Dothraki would wait outside the camp and ensure no one escapes. Even though Jon now has Drogon and the Northern forces are still formidable, both Grey Worm and Dany are clearly lost to rage and Dany agrees to the plan.

During the following night, the Unsulled begin to sneak into the camp, killing anyone who may give them away. Grey Worm finds the main tent that is Jon's but finds it empty. Jon was unable to sleep with everything that had happened and is wondering outside the camp with his thoughts. Hearing some noises, he begins to return to the camp and is quickly spotted by the Unsullied. Before he can alert his men, Grey Worm throws his spear at him, which Jon can't completely dodge and is hit in the shoulder. Suddenly Drogon roars loudly, having been nearby covered by the darkness. His roar wakes up all the Northen men and a big melee ensures. Drogon defends Jon from any Unsullied as Davos and some Northern men reach Jon and tend to him as they see the Dothraki joining in with the Unsullied.

With Unsullied/Dothraki and Northerners mixed together in a big melee, Drogon can only effectively defend Jon as breathing fire would burn down the Northern troops as well. Jon sees this and has Davos order the Northern men to try and come together and form something of a battle line to give Drogon patches of Unsullied/Dothraki to target. This works only partially due to the chaos of combat but eventually Drogon is able to pick off enough Unsullied/Dothraki to force a stalemate as both sides begin to form battle lines.

With the Unsullied having failed to kill them all in their sleep, Jon (injured but alive) struggles to get near the front and orders Grey Worm to stand down, noting that Drogon will burn him and all of the Unsullied and Dothraki if he doesn't and that there has been far too much bloodshed already. Jon tries to appeal to Grey Worm that Dany has gone mad and that it should end here. Grey Worm, still competely loyal to Dany and tired of Jon's words and attempts at what he sees as weakness, throws another spear at Jon in defiance, but only hits another Northerner. Before Jon can even say anything, the enraged Northeners attack the Unsullied and Drogon burns the Unsullied/Dothraki rear with his fire.

By early dawn, Jon with the remaining Northenerns and Drogon stand victorious but again at a massive loss of life. Jon is still being tended too, looking completely (heart)broken having seen so much unneeded slaughter at the hands of his former love. With Dany now only having a token force to defend herself with and no dragon, Davos urges Jon to finish it for the sake of everyone. Jon clearly still struggles with the thought but realizes there is no other way and has his remaining forces and Drogon march back towards King's Landing.

Once there the remaining Unsullied still loyally attempt to defend their queen but are swiftly defeated. To Jon's surprise, what few Dothraki still remain are nowhere to be seen. As Jon and his forces move towards the Great Hall, Dany's screams and ravings slowly become louder and Jon's remaining composure begins to fall apart. Finding Dany sitting next to the smoldered mess that was once the Iron Throne and Drogon arriving through the massive gap in the Great Hall, Jon tells her tearfully that it's over. Dany, shaking and with madness and tiredness clearly in her eyes loudly raves to Jon at first but then aims her fury at Drogon. Screaming that he betrayed her and that it's all his fault and even throwing some rocks at him, Drogon can only whimper at his mother's painful and crazed behavior.

As Jon nears, one hand on Longclaw, Dany screams at him to do it, to murder his own queen in front her only remaining child (Drogon). Crying, Jon instead just hugs her, knowing full well that Dany is no longer any threat just by herself without no forces to command. As Dany raves and cries he orders Davos to put her in chains and lock her away, falling to the floor in despair with Drogon nearing in shared grief.

Jon then gathers with the remaining leaders and noblemen and discuss the future as a temporary new council. While many want Dany's head, Jon strongly denies this, once again stating that there has been enough killing and that Dany is no longer any threat and will remain in captivity under heavy guard for all time. The council then turns to who should now be king. Jon immediately states he never wanted the throne, even noting that there isn't even an Iron Throne to begin with. The council quickly notes however that many saw Jon trying to stop the carnage in King's Landing, is popular with both his men and the people and that many of the people believe that he is the one who stopped Dany by taking Drogon away from her. The people want him and Davos reminds him that if he wants to ensure peace and stop any further bloodshed, taking the throne is the best way to do it. Knowing Davos is right, Jon reluctantly accepts and is crowned King of the Seven Kingsdoms, ending hostilities and bringing peace to the realm.

 Okay, that went on a bit longer than expected. Oh well.

 no you misunderstand

Drogon flew up there, saw Dany with a knife sticking out of her chest, then spots the chair made of swords and puts two and two together :^)

Yeah I saw that a lot as well. Pretty funny.
Oh well, they can always make a new throne.
Here's my suggestion:

Quote from Thezzy >>

Would this count? Do you have to use a specific/special background for the card?

There is stitched card option on hearthcards for that...

My entries (my cards from the 3 expansions in a chronological order):

As it stands above, the cards highlight different thematics or/and keywords from Teknician's Year of the Gryphon.

Gadgetzan Holiday - In Teknician's expansion Rogue is marked as the coin class, so I decided to give it some support (and I also enhanced miracle rogue in wild cuz' of the rotation of Gadgetzan Auctioneer ). Since we are professional assassins, people want to hire us for our services and for every target we kill we get rewarded. And if you remember MSoG, we know that the biggest and most wanted criminals live in that city.


Flavour text - Normally people here would pay you with Counterfeit Coins, but seeing how cold-bloodedly you stab others with that dagger, they decided to treat you like a VIP.

G'Huun's Devotee

- This is how G'Huun looks like in the Blood of the Zandalari expansion. I wanted to make a card, that depicts Ritualists sacrificing their own life, in order to summon an ancient monstrosity. If you wonder how people will get two Devotees on the board - well, there are cards like Faceless Manipulator or others like Serrated Tooth , Rocket Boots , Houndmaster Shaw that allow minions with sacrifice to trigger their effects immediately.

Flavour text -  Damn, I forgot how the ritual chant goes. Uhm... ARISE, MEGA ULTRA WORM.

Well-Fed Orc - I wanted to make a flavourful minion around the "If you spent all your Mana last turn" effect and something with positioning conditions. I purposely gave it weak stats, because I feared its power in Even decks. Don't forget that the word "enemies" includes heroes as well, so this could be either used to deal 4 damage to 1 or 2 minions (taunts) or to injure the opponent 's face ( Nightblade ). Due to this flexibility I had to make it fairer (+ we all know how easily even decks use all of their mana in one turn due to their 1-cost hero powers).

Flavour text - Trust me, you don't want to stay near him when he eats. His burp is worse than his bite.

[edit] Big thanks to Wailor and to Thezzy for giving me their feedback on my cards.