Hearthpwn

Maw of the Damned is deisgned to give Warlock decks a different build condition than demons. I justified giving Warlock an actual attacking weapon since unlike Priest and Mage they can access another "weapon"; Blood Fury .

Dr. Morrigan Synergy! Also works with Soul Infusion and Void Analyst , two cards that didn't really seem to have too much direct support (Why wasn't Omega Agent a demon...?)

Plus, I kinda loved inequalities back in calculus. The idea here is that in Hearthstone Health is that the health is equal but the attack is the variable. I didn't do attack because... I mean... Doomguard ...

The Voidcaster

The Voidcaster is the last line of defense against the void... in their own mind at least. Taking in the powers that they seek to fight, the Voidcasters manipulate singularities and remove enemies from the board with disturbing efficiency. With powerful singular use secrets, spell targeting manipulation and tradeoff with enemy's armor, the Voidcaster dances in and out of rifts on the battlefield, shunting enemies into rifts and overall... looking purple doing it. Oh, and Locus-walker ? The Ethereal behind the whole movement? He'll reveal his secrets... in due time... (C'mon Blizzard, don't keep him an enigma forever).

It's all kicking off guys! SO excited to be working on some of the meat of the Voidcaster, and so hyped for all of us still repping our classes. This one's gonna be good guys!

Singularity

Singularity is the Overload style tradeoff keyword of this class. All Singularity cards feature strong effects, stats or costs, if not all three, balanced on the fact that you can only have one in play at a  time, and as a consequence, you need to restrict yourself from over corwding your deck with them. They can be cheated out ovr the top of each other, such as with the infamous Mad Scientist .

Strengths

• Strong Single Target Removal: Single target removal so good you can hit multiple targets with it! VC excels at spreading it's varied removal options, some hard, some soft and some which deny resummoning combos.
• Good Draw: While the draw isn't always consistent, it's across the board strong once it gets off.
• Hand Dancing: VC can throw out a strong minion, get off an attack with it, then return it to your hand until the start of your next turn. It can do this with both yours and your opponent's minions, allowing you to cheat out Singularities over the top of each other.
• Strong single turn survival: VC has several options for preventing it's death for just one turn longer. None as fire and foget as Ice Block , but more numerous and a bit more skill intensive
• 0-mana secrets: As all VC secrets are balanced on the Singularity Keyword, they are all balanced at 0-mana and thus can be played without skewing your curve.
• They can void any bad contracts you're stuck in.

Weaknesses

• Inefficient AoE: If there's anything that really gets to VC, it's the AoE issue. ALL AoEs are either high costed (And in much later sets) or require multiple cards to use. More often than not, they will have to save their single target removal spells to be spread around using Void Might or Gravity Well, or burn an excess of cards inefficiently to proc Twisted Heartbeat.
• Singularity deckbuilding: There isn't really a logistical way to build a 30 singularity deck; Depending the speed you go at, you could brick your hand with around nine. You have to make sure each of your Singularities can be used or at least is worth the draw. Also worth noting that if you're locked into a secret and your opponent neve manages to trigger it, a lot of your other secrets are also bricking something major. Most have pretty open-ended conditions though
• Weak Defenses: Other than some Taunt abilities, VC is severely lacking in armor gain and desperately out of Healing. Health is a resource you won't be getting back much.
• Tradeoffs: A lot of your cards with strong effects that have no Singularity cost will often give your opponent armor. You get irrefutably good tempo through your Hero Power as well, but you'll need a strong board presence to eventually get back through most of that armor.
• They expired all your coupons.

Example Cards

Here's a look at some of what classic set has to offer! You've seen various classic cards in the first preview post, so those will be in the remaining cards section.

• Indemnification: The Voidcaster is a class with strong secrets, and I think Indemnification demonstrates this well. Most secret effects have an easy trigger but a strong lategame effect, to contrast how non-existent their mana cost is. Sure, you could play it turn 1, but it's extremely unhelpful. All the secrets have this sort of trade-off. Indemnification exemplifies the strong single-turn survivability of VC as well, putting into sharp relief how to slow down aggro.
• Rift Dance: Rift Dance is the VC's take on Shadowstep ; Rather than reducing cost, it instead provides a bonus over time. You can smack an opponent with a strong Singularity minion, Rift Dance it, throw in a secret, and then even if the secret's up next turn your minion will come in with it. Now, the metaphysical rammifications of having multiple singularity level black holes is ignored in that, but you get the general idea. Big minions, delayed 'healing' and stacking of Singularities.
• Grip of the Void: Hard, soft, semi... VC's got all forms of removal. Grip of the Void ranges from an early game soft removal, to a lategame smaller minion hard removal (If you play it from your hand it WON'T resummon) to a quick taunt removal for a lethal push. Combined with Void Might , you can possibly destroy the entire opponent's board, if your hand's full enough.
• Breath of Dimnesius: Now, VC doesn't have much in the way of strong defenses, but it has a bit of delayed defense. Redirect nine points of damage onto this stealth elemental (Once it becomes a tribe, that is). Utilizing Rift Dance you can also reset it's health pool as well. Of course, it only slows damage; King Krush is still doing 7 to your face.
• Summoning Blast: When it comes to spreading spell effects, VC is aiming to have no peers (Not hard when Zentimo introduced the concept, but hey). Summoning Blast is the void version of Hammer of Wrath , trading the roughly 1 mana effect of drawing a card to instead pop out a 1-cost minion. This is also one of the better non-removal choices for your Gravity Wells and Void Mights , though whether you value taunts or removal more is questionable.

Remaining Cards

Here's round one's submission... Voidcaster Entry one

And here's the classic set

Alright, that does it for classic! I'm having a blast designing all these card and I'm hyped on my Un'goro and KoFT sets (For the record, I ditched the Start of the Game Hero card, the balance wasn't worth it.) and I'm hyped to be working even further out. Shoutout to all my boys who help me balance these cards, McF4rtson, CheeseETC, Mewdrops and Broeck1 (As long as we're on at the same timezone)

EVERYONE! GET IN HERE!

EVEReVERYOeVEReVERYONeVERYONE GET IgET IN HERE!

The Voidcaster

The Voidcaster is the last line of defense against the void... in their own mind at least. Taking in the powers that they seek to fight, the Voidcasters manipulate singularities and remove enemies from the board with disturbing efficiency. With powerful singular use secrets, spell targeting manipulation and tradeoff with enemy's armor, the Voidcaster dances in and out of rifts on the battlefield, shunting enemies into rifts and overall... looking purple doing it. Oh, and Locus-walker ? The Ethereal behind the whole movement? He'll reveal his secrets... in due time... (C'mon Blizzard, don't keep him an enigma forever)

Singularity

While we won't see this in basic set, it's worth seeing the change to Singularity. Now, you can still no longer play any other Singularities, but you can cheat them out now. We talked about it deep in building the class (Me and McF4rtson that is) and we decided this erases a lot of complex problems we were having.

Example Cards

The Voidcaster is primarily a spellcaster style class. It summons big minions and it has access to a few weapons, but in it's essence it's mostly here to spread effects directly through it's own spells. Thus, these are some of the spells that represent the strengths of the class.

• Gravity Well: This is one of the more important concepts of the Voidcaster ; Spreading single target spells. All spellcasters have there own way to leave a mark and stand out, and bar Zentimo , I thought this concept was under-explored. With Gravity Well , you can spread a single target destruction, a damage spell and  perhaps a card draw or two.
• Mindbender: Why use the void if you won't use all the Old Gods tricks? Mindbender is the cheap cycle effect of Voidcaster , and like all 1-mana draws, it has the possibility to draw more than one, though only through spell-spreading effects.
• Dissipation: Look, I love 4d Chess style cards; The cards wherein you and your opponent have to think ahead of each other to make best use of it's effects. Dissipation damage tics occur on both players turn, whenever any card is played, until the minion died. So now your opponent has to decide how to proceed, if they can play spells, so on and so forth. Or... you blow an excess of cards on killing a minion before their turn.
• Twisted Heartbeat: More Old God trickery. The Twisted Heartbeat is one of the few AoE's for the class, but it follows the trend they all will. It requires multiple cards to truly work, but once it does it spreads damage wide. Unlike Defile , Twisted Heartbeat is not an instant boardwipe. Rather, you're going to have to work to get it firing off, and likely not all decks will sustain it.
• Warp Allegiance: Your will is not your own... In hearthstone, Priest is the class most associated with domination, but that's tied to their shadow forms... the forms that use the void's might. Warp Allegiance is the strongest removal the Voidcaster tangls with, completing controlling an enemy minion. It's priced midway between Entomb and Mind Control , and is an effect we probably won't revisit too often. Noone likes having all their stuff stolen.

Remaining Cards

So there you have it; Voidcaster Basic. I'm excited to be working through this contest and I'm so hyped to see what everyone else has to offer this time around! Thanks for taking a look at my crazy class, and I hope we all have a great run of it!

Here's round one's submission... Voidcaster Entry one

Voidcaster

~~ To fight the void, you must embace the void ~~

Once again it's CCC season, and this year I'm bringing the Voidcaster. The voidcaster is a class with heavy control and aggro elements, based around strong removal pieces, decent draw and massive effects courtesy of the classes' signature keyword, Singularity. But first, say hello to Locus-Walker, the first real user of the void's might against the void itself. Not much is truly known about him, and rest assured... he likes it that way.

This class summons powerful Singularity minions, plays intense 0-mana Singularity secrets and even has limited access to weapons with Singularity. This is a keyword balanced around locking you into one playstyle for awhile, and somewhat limiting your deckbuilding. You can't play a new Singularity until your previous Singularities have cleared, allowing them to be balanced heavily in your favor.

This class also has strong ties to giving your opponent armor; you're liable to give your opponent a substantial armor gain as you are to use it as a resource. The void's grip extends to all as well, and taking over enemy minions is not out of your purview, though the voidcaster goes about it by instead adding the opponent's minion straight to their hand. Your minions also dance in and out of your hand, through effects that return them to your hand for a single turn. But that's enough Overview, I know what you're here for.

• Minimization: I always figured if anyone ever wanted to do another secret class, the secret cost couldn't be 1, 2 or 3. I played around with 4 mana secrets before, but I'd never attempted to balance a 0-mana secret before. Minimization is the first of several dramtic effects that takes your entire singularity count on the battlefield. Is the effect strong? Certainly. Can it lock out your hand? Also certainly. Minimization works partially as a damage mitigator and a removal tool. It triggers on any attack, so it disrupts trades and protects your life total, seeing as this class has limited access to armor or healing.
• Void Might: The void demonstrates it's strength in flashy plays. This class doesn't have much access to AoE, so this spell extends your control tools into massive board explosions and mass curse spreading. Of course, because of how dangerous this effect is, the class really can't afford to control boards much harder.
• Utter Consumption: 5-mana is the cut-off for when removal becomes hard, and Utter Consumption doesn't dissapoint. 10 damage is more or less comparable to a destroy effect, and past their life total you start setting yourself up for a board-kill on your opponent. Part of this classes' theme for Witchwood is the use Explosive Runes Excess damage effects which were criminally underused, and this is a good introduction to the sort of damage you can deal with them.

• Density Master: Now simply because Voidcaster is fighting the void doesn't mean they don't take their spawn into their fold. Density Master is part of the Voidcaster trifecta of races: Demons ( Voidwalker s), Elementals ( Meteor s and Crystal giant s) and Dragons ( Nightmare and Twilight Dragon s). Density Master also ties into two more things VC defines itself on, being equal oppurtunity effects that trigger on both players turns and the constant swapping of minions on the board through swapping abilities. Of course, it also represents the control aspects, turning all your tokens into tiny walls up until the voidwalker itself becomes your last played minion.
• Alleria the Voidshot: Locus-walker is not the most famous user of the Void. That would be his student, Alleria Windrunner. Yes, the hunter hero. But here, she shows off the massive potential of Singularity minions. Alleria herself is merely a slow King Krush, massive and unstoppable (Unless you have the Twisting Nether , because that's hilariously thematic), but more important is her effect. She completely removes your hero from the board for a single turn. She's the last of the cycle of Voidcaster card that dance friendly and enemy minion alike in and out of your portals into your hand. Alleria the Voidshot is the ultimate survivalist, and is adept at causing your opponent suffering. Plus, like all classic legendaries, she drastically changes the boardstate. But, she cannot interact with any of your other Singularity minions or Secrets, so be careful what your board looks like when you need to call on her aid. (Also if your hand is full, she'll destroy your hero, so just be careful with Shudderwock . Otherwise you're fine). You keep all damage you had currently and you can't replay your hero.

If you guys want some more facts about Singularity, what I can tell you is no effect can cause two Singularities to be on your side of the board at once. Evolve cannot create two at once, Mad Scientist can't add an extra secret from your deck and if Scroll of Wonder already gave you Singularity secret, it cannot give you another. It's not even that affects get countered, they completely ignore th possibility to create another Singularity card. There would essentially be a switch that prevents any extras coming in, and that's read before the effect goes forward.

I hope Voidcaster interests y'all, and I'm hyped to see where this contest goes from here!

Here's the full first post....

I want to ask about y'all's opinions on Singularity as both a keyword and a balancing factor. I did a whole bunch of niche facts about how Singularity would work, for all you mechanics junkies...

 Long story short; You can only have 1 Singularity card on the battlefield and you may only play one Singularity card per turn.

With that, here's the current Singularity cards I'm interested in getting opinions on 

I wanted to do some 0-mana secret concepts, balanced around having only one on the board at the time (And it takes up your entire Singularity spot, so no Warplord+Secret combos.) Also, Alleria is basically just a slow Krush with a turn of immunity. I've got another whole section about nuances surrounding her effect.

(No Sorceror King Hero background, I'm sad). I do need to ask... Is there any way I can get away with a Start of The Game hero? I.e, you equip him around when Genn or Baku would trigger, and since it shares a cost spot with Baku, baku's effect wouldn't matter. I've been toying with start of the game heroes for months now but this is the first time I'm showing one of them off and asking for opinions.

Anyway, have a great day, and I wish I could contribute more, but y'all know what universities like.

Alright buckaroos, here's the basic set and a few others for my entry. With any luck I can get some more reviews up soon, though university is kicking into gear.

Basic Set:

 Classic Set:

 Hero:

I'll post the classics explanations and showcases soon, but this is what I have time to post.

Also: How the hell would I word this...? 

@Larrymoments God I really gotta start doublechecking myself... No sorry, I cross-conflated your concept with another one. My bad bro.

@LarryMoments I'm going to have to warn you right away; There's a two cards that always makes these concepts risky. Emperor Thaurissan and Malygos. It's the same reason they can't make druid cards that generate more than the two Moonfires you can put in your deck. If you had access to, say, a 3 mana 2/2 minion that gave you a Moonfire, suddenly you can deal 24 damage for only 9 mana. Now, many people would correctly say that's really slow, which is the big problem here... Since your hero power generates 1 mana deal 2's, if you trigger it three turns before turn 6, throw down a Thaurissan, you can immediately deal 21 damage on turn 8 with a Malygos. The big issue is this is not a five turn combo, but that it's a two-card combo. It's really easy to trigger, to the point that Malygos and Thaurissan would be in every single deck of your class when Thaur was in standard. This is exacerbated by the fact that your class encourages you to keep the Elemental Orbs in your hand to trigger forecasts. My best reccomendation is to change the effect of the Orb or make it directly remove HP? (Idk, that seems too complicated as well...)

Edit: You could keep a similar Keyword and instead have the card do Curse Of Rafaam style damage from your opponents had and all the Thaurissan problems go away. It should only do 1 damage per turn or 2 damage to the owner when played. That'd also just generally be pretty neat.

@PhoenixFeather Jokes on you, my face is the worst. I looked over your concept and whiel I like the Hero Power, like a lot, I think your legendary is too... Undestructive for a classic legendary. I covered it in my post but all Class legendaries are some kind of crazy endgame leg and this falls flat in my opinion. Also, Timekeeper honestly feels too complicatd for basic.

@Freddocino 7 more minions makes all Resummon Legendaries unbalanced (N'Zoth, the Corruptor is the neutral that comes to mind), as neat as the concept is. The other parts of this class are cool, but you 100% cannot put Evasion on your hero. It would be too gamebreaking.

@Thepowrofcheese Not a bad set so far, but be mindful of putting too many Scrapbot interact cards in your class. No one enjoys Mind Visioning a Leeching Poison or Level Up!.

That’s actually something that hadn’t crossed my mind; It wasn’t stated in the actual hero power so when I doublechecked the hero powers it didn’t cross my mind. I will admit though I’m advising people against keywords I did like the Freeze hero power (Hence why Bub threatened me), I’m more worried about, for example, an Overload hero power. 

Wooooooo! We're back at it boys! Some general suggestions from the many times we've been through this.

- Start with a simple concept: Crazy ideas aren't bad, but root them in something accesible. Work with 0-1 keywords, do something new with it, and you can't really go wrong

- Keep the Hero Power hyper-simple: All the basic HPs are essentially 0-cost spells; Fireblast corresponds to Moonfire, for example. Not all have a direct correspondent, but they fit that power level. Also... any card draw hero power must give your class a severe downside. This isn't exactly Yu-Gi-Oh, card draw isn't the most broken effect in the game, but there's a reason there's no non-conditional 1-cost draw. Also, avoid keywords; They didn't appear in HS hero powers until Bloodreaver Gul'dan.

- Build in the context of when the cards came out: I.E. do some research of what keywords, effects and statlines were common at the time. Most of what we'll build is probably standard, but the basic set is the basic set. If you need a good example, compare Silverback Patriarch to Stonehill Defender (Though for the record Silverback was ALWAYS a weak card).

- The classic Legendary should probably be the game-clincher: King Krush, Archmage Antonidas, Prophet Velen, Grommash Hellscream, Edwin VanCleef, Lord Jaraxxus, Tirion Fordring, Cenarius and Al'Akir the Windlord. All of these have some sort of instant effect that is designed to close out a game. This doesn't mean you need an instant damage legendary; Jaraxxus for example was designed to cancel out the card draw and self damage HP in the lategame. However, I do see a lot of people have a fairly synergistic but not highly impactful legendary; These first round legendaries were overtuned, and when they were thrown down the boardstate should swing in your favour.

- Your class NEEDS a weakness: Hunter has terrible draw. Druid has never had good single target or even AoE removal. Warlock never used to be able to heal. Whatever your class does, it can do well, but be highly aware of what it can't do. If it does everything, it's overpowered and people will probably see that.

- Have fun! One of the big parts of this challenge that people love is the flavour of it all, having your effects parallel the characters lore. So have fun with your designs! Put some love into matching art with effects.

And just generally, have a good time! I know in my corner of the internet it's a time for old friends to grudgingly say cards made more sense in our day and bombard each other with horribly unbalanced concepts and fifty-bajillion tokens. However you do this comp, do it to have a good time.

Essentially I wanted an early game taunt that rewards you for having a smaller board. It's hard to remove for opponents with large minions and punishing to aggro decks... But you can't summon a bunch of them, or even have multiple taunts up without it becoming essentially a 4 mana 3/2 taunt. Also, the effect applies to both sides of the board; Therefore, if you're facing an opponent with two 2/2 minions, and they trade them in... You summon one extra Cursed Berserker and then the second time it dies it doesn't proc, because there have been 4 deaths so far. It's good against spell removal and Zilliax too.

It turned out the prize was the friends he made along the way...

Two very opposite ends of the spectrum that could *technically* be run in the same deck, but... why would you? Bolvar is meant to bolster decks that rely on early game spells and massive minions; Not unlike the Big Priest archetype, with the added clause that you can't run both him and Barnes . Ner'zhul, alternatively, is essentially an Aggro legendary, and while I originally considered a different bar for cost, I decided that if it was at (4-5) that paladin would still have access to Call to Arms ... That seemed janky.