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  • maxlot's avatar

    1

    May 27, 2019
    maxlot posted a message on TRIALS AND ERRORS (Class Creation Competition #5) - GRAND FINALE POLL

    Hoping on Archaeologist to win also, it's the most elegantly designed one in my eyes. The keyword's simple, has a wide range of applications and allows for passive weapons to be a lot more possible and the themes work well and are well grounded. The Lost Ark is still a dumb card though, and I feel you should probably have included the Quel'Delar token for Nightblade Traveler.

    I like Enchanter a lot also but I think it gets massively held back by Phase, which is a keyword that I don't think works out in practise very well. I like everything else, the class themes are concrete and distinct, even if I'm concerned with how functionally the class would work out in play.

    For lich, I think it's been executed mostly quite well but it doesn't feel like it stands out enough to really interest me. A class built around ice and death without much more to mechanically distinguish it just makes me feel like I'm looking at something I've already seen hundreds of times, and I dislike the hero power and a lot of the overly long cards such as the death knight.

    Quite happy with the finalists this time around overall, even if I wanted Alchemist to get through Archaeologist has always been my favourite. Good luck to all.

    Posted in: Fan Creations
  • maxlot's avatar

    13

    Feb 1, 2019
    maxlot posted a message on TRIALS AND ERRORS (Class Creation Competition #5) - Phase II [Submission Topic]

    THE RINGMASTER

    Being a Ringmaster means being responsible for the wellbeing of your performers, animals and the circus itself, but they all come second to entertaining your audience and putting on a show. The Ringmaster is a class that has a lot of small themes that you, as the player can choose between to focus your deck on. They've got tokens, card draw, healing, buffs and many other themes to be explored in basic, through classic and then through later expansions. The biggest focus, in the end, tends to come down to individuality and deckbuilding. Any spell could be your archetype and you have to figure out how to use it in a way that wows the world.

    Keyword

    Circuses typically have a Signature act, the one that they're first to slap on posters, the one saved up until the finale of the show, the performance perfected to bring in the money. Not all do, of course, and some utilise theirs more than others, but which Signature you have and which cards you include to combine with it often plays a major role in individualising the deck. Expect this to be elaborated on in Classic, or look at my Phase 1 post below.

    Example Cards

    • Initial Act ~ A small, simple and potent token generation card and hand filler. It's simply two uses of your hero power really, but it can play a major role in multiple archetypes. It's generally good enough to be included in a lot of early game decks, a lot of Ringleaders token synergies come from "Whenever/After you play a minion" triggers, and it's good for getting yourself a large board after a short while collecting. Every audience could do with a warm up act to get them ready for a larger performance down the line. [Art by Cathleen McAllister]
    • Raw Talent ~ A similarly small buff with a lot of potential. Similar to cards like Blessing of Might and Divine Strength , this card always has the potential to be used for an extra 2 damage while providing some actual sturdiness to the minion unlike Might. Those in the circus can be quite well toned you know, many performers are unexpectedly athletic. Don't underestimate them. [Art by Will Harris]
    • Star Performance ~ Another buff, yet it's also attached to a heal. This is a solid card for midrangey archetypes, represents Ringleaders buff and heal themes and has a lot of potential Signature synergies. Cards that are targeted and have an extra effect work quite interestingly when they're made to target more cards, as seen in phase 1. For the most part though, it should provide decent healing while also allowing you to take a minion off the board or apply pressure. It's rarely useless. [Art by Anzka Nguyen]
    • Fantastical Play ~ Simple draw, but to be seen later, draw can be utilised in more ways than just drawing cards. As the standard card advantage card for Ringmasters basic, it'll show up frequently. Keep cards like it in mind should we get to classic though. [Art by Trent Kaniuga]
    • Captivate ~ Likely to have costed 6-7 back in the day, this is the hardest of Ringmaster hard removal... Which they have little of. However, of course, this can be a terrifying card, utilising the benefit of Mind Control at a reduced cost... Though that attack reduction can mean a whole lot. [Art by Gabriel Rubio]

    Remaining Cards

    • Assistant Tumbler ~ Ringmasters only basic minion, she's got a performers statline with the added bonus of restoring a decent chunk of health to your hero. Most of Ringmasters healing heals the hero, and that's where the main synergies lie. Even if you're compassionate about those working under you, your job is to keep the show running and audience happy first and foremost. [Art by Red Pencil Art]
    • Stage Fright ~ Everyone gets scared from time to time. Ringmasters have some solid spot removal, though a lot of it's soft, and Stage Fright 's definitely one of them. Expect to see synergies with 1 Attack minions in future, but just use it to cycle cards while keeping enemies off your back for now. [Art by Glenn Melenhorst]
    • Prestidigitation ~ A simple magic trick, for circuses do often have magicians in their tents. The scorpion it summons may not be real, but it'll definitely feel real to the people it's attacking. This is one of Ringmasters only sources of burn, should you wish to use it that way, and it's got good value for the cost. [Art by Titania Kirgetova]
    • Blazing Display ~ It's very impressive, the audience loves this one. It's one of Ringmasters main sources of true AoE. They don't struggle with AoE quite like a druid does, but a lot of their AoE comes in the form of conal effects like Powershot and Explosive Shot . For dealing with a whole board full of minions, this is your best bet, and it's rather efficient. [Art by Mushk Rizvi]
    • Jaunty Tune ~ Calls a group of cats over to you, captivated by your performance. Cats are quite affectionate creatures and you shouldn't expect your opponents to be able to get a hit in on you during the performance. It's a solid token summoning spell that can be used offensively or defensively, and though it lacks the on play synergies Initial Act has, it's still definitely just as useful with buffs. [Art by Titania Kirgetova]


      Tokens:

    Captivated Cats art is by Crazy JN, can't find the artist behind Thrilling Image.

    Previous Phase

    Here's the first phase submission. Feel free to get a better idea on the class and Signature here.

    Posted in: Fan Creations
  • maxlot's avatar

    21

    Jan 17, 2019
    maxlot posted a message on TRIALS AND ERRORS (Class Creation Competition #5) - Phase I [Submission Topic]

    The Ringleader


    The Ringleader is a light, fun-loving class that does its best to put on a show for its audience. The class has a lot of strong synergies, buffs, heals, tokens and a focus on miracle play.

    Signature is the Ringleader's keyword, and a big part of what makes the Ringleader the Ringleader. Many circuses are famous for their own different acts, one specific act among the entire show that they slap on posters and imprint into the memories of everyone watching. Signature symbolises that. When you begin building a Ringleader deck, everything's as normal, the deckbuilding is just the same as any other. But when you include a Signature card into it, a slot appears at the top, filled with a pair of bananas to keep the seat warm. From there, you can drag any spell in your collection into it.

    -->

    These spells appear at the top of the decklist no matter what, in golden text and still taking up the slots in your deck. For a Ringleader, these spells are their, well, Signature , the one they're best known for and the one that puts them apart from the rest. Most Ringleader decks aren't defined fully by their themes, but more specifically by the one specific Signature that ties it all together. Enough talk on thematics though, what does a Signature really mean for a deck? Many Ringleader cards add copies of your Signature to your hand or your deck, and some modify the way it works. Many times, this just means it'll have an extra effect added on top of the spell, both spectacles triggering at the same time, but some change the way the Signature is targeted, repeating every effect on the card onto every new minion it affects.

    But then, what of the subtle, overly cautious rogue, or the stoic, overly annoying priest, neither whom pay the same love towards their granduer as the greatest of Ringleaders, who happen upon Signature cards through their burglery and mind-reading? Well, much alike the Worthless Imp s from Sense Demons or the Shadow of Nothing from Mindgames , the Bananas from before will act as the default option. Should they be the type to rely on stealing a lot, they should end up finding a Signature generation card eventually. And by that point they should have built up quite the impressive Banana indeed. And besides, most Signature cards will do something by themselves regardless.

    Card Showcase

    Star Performance ~ A cheap, targeted, multi-purpose buff and heal card from the basic set. While not the most exciting card on its own in the game, a Ringleader knows that the signature act of their show is their most trained, not their most extravagent. Healing your hero and buffing friendly minions is a big part of Ringleader; be sure to consider basic cards like these when looking through Signature cards.

    Circus Supplier ~ A handy little chap that's sure to be of use in any circus - he just radiates enthusiasm. He's a nice and simple way of getting yourself more copies of your Signature across the course of the game. I had two Star Performance s in my deck, but with two of these, I may as well have four. That's a lot of attack boosting and healing, however we're not really doing anything too fancy with it yet. And hey, if another class gets one of these guys, what they get will be amusingly appropriate.

    Firedancer ~ Before, we were just setting up, but suddenly, those Star Performances might be looking a little scary to your opponent now. If the Ringleader can establish a small board, an extra 9 damage is gonna be coming right for the opponents face, maybe more. The Firedancer is an exaggerative man, putting on quite an impressive performance, and positively heating up the audience for what's to come next... But wait, those Star Performances also heal, right?

    (Pay no heed to the old Ringleader border! The work of trickery, surely!)

    Three times the targets, three times the spells. Three buffs, three individual heals that bring you an extra 9 Health. This goes for any targeted card that does more than one thing, though effects that say "Your next Signature " only pertain to one of those casts, of course. While any Ringleader can run any spell, the ones they're using as their Signature will surely feel different from the rest.

    Dining Dash ~ Ringleaders also have access to aura spells or turn spells, whatever you want to call them. Think of Lock and Load or perhaps Stampede . These spells work the same way, and of course reward the Ringleader for doing a LOT of things in a single turn. Such as, for example, healing your hero a lot of times in one turn. Hmmmm... I wonder how they could do that? Miracle players need look no further than Ringleader for their source of massive, one turn insanity.

    Finale Architect ~ This lady is the one who likes to plan out the final acts of the shows she works on. Works great with aura/turn spells and spells that don't require targets, though the ones that do will just target randomly should their original target die before they cast. Sometimes, things don't go according to plan, and that's just fine. Be sure to write out a little risk assessment form before using her, because she certainly won't be doing that. All she cares about is making sure your next turn is one that leaves an impression, which it certainly will.

    Expect a lot more signature generation, healing, buffs, wacky insanity and potential for explosive plays in the future of Ringleader, for these five don't even scratch the surface of its potential.

    Art Sources:

    Regina ~ Fajareka Setiawan
    Announce ~ Maren Marmulla
    Performer ~ Jingsketch
    Chain Dance ~ Anastasia Bulgakova
    Star Performance & Finale Architect ~ Anzka Nguyen (Seriously check her stuff out she's great)
    Circus Supplier ~ ALRadeck
    Firedancer ~ Cesar Rosolino
    Dining Dash ~ Dmitry Bolotov

    Posted in: Fan Creations
  • maxlot's avatar

    2

    Jan 15, 2019
    maxlot posted a message on TRIALS AND ERRORS (Class Creation Competition #5) - Phase I [Discussion Topic]

    Ay, gonna compete in this, just finished getting stuff ready. Not got too much longer for feedback, but I'm lazy and left this late. I'll be sure to get to any classes posted here after mine, I want to get back into the swing of things reviewing classes and all that. Enough talk though for now, might as well just put the cards forward.


                                                                        Fajareka Setiawan

    Regina, the Ringleader

                       

    Signature Explanation:

    Right, this keyword is another shot at a concept I've been coming back to continuously while making custom Hearthstone cards, spell manipulation. A signature spell is a trick that you, as the center of your circus tent, are most known for. Or at least, what that circus is most known for. When you start building a Ringleader deck and include a card with the word Signature on it, a slot appears at the top of the decklist, which starts off being populated by a banana, which is essentially the default option for a signature spell, alike Sense Demons' Worthless Imps or Mindgames' Shadow of Nothing. Should you obtain a Signature card but aren't using a deck that has a Signature, like many thieving priests and rogues, a banana shall be your Signature. The text is golden and slightly larger to make it distinguishable from normal cards in your collection. From there, you can simply drag any Ringleader spell you include in your deck into that slot to replace it, as seen below.

    But this prompts the question of what a Signature card actually does. Well, I'll show a couple of the cards and explain.

    As it's your signature technique, you'll be able to acquire more copies of it     over the course of the game, and change the way it works. Every good Ringleader can walk up on stage and perform any of these tricks, but not every ringmaster can perform that specific trick in the way you can. As a Ringleader, I could be running a deck built around the basic spell Star Performance.

    During deckbuilding, I know that I could potentially have quite a lot of star performances triggering this game, and can then build the whole deck around that. I could use token generation to keep the board full and then use a conal Star Performance as a finisher, I could use large quantities of it in general as burst, I could pack healing synergies to be seen later to take great use of the triple Star cone. After all...

    Three times the targets doesn't just mean tripling the amount of minions affecting, it's giving you triple the spells. Ideally, if I handle Signature correctly it should allow for exceptional diversity between archetypes, allowing for more deckbuilding choices than usual. But I'd like some feedback on the concept     of Signature as a whole, as thoughts on how to best implement it. Balancing out the levels of Signature generation might be hard, for starters. But for now, that's the keyword concept.

    Themes and Basic/Classic List:

    Below are a brief look on each of Ringleaders gimmicks and the first proper draft of its basic and classic cards, likely to be significantly updated as the class is better explored.

    Themes:
    Healing
    Tokens
    Buffs
    Cones
    Draw
    1 Attack
    Spells, Aura Spells and Spell Manipulation

    Basic:

    Ringleaders have a lot of flexibility, but some of their weaknesses include burn spells and wide AoE. They have lots of cones, hitting three minions at a time, but hitting 5 requires cards like Blazing Display or a dedicated Chain Dance or to be seen Meteor Spin deck with a Firedancer, with a cone-cone, which hits 5 minions. They also suffer from potentially being great at a lot of things, but are mostly just decent at the things that's not the signature card of their deck.

    Classic:

    Ringleader likes spells, but like them in a different way than perhaps a mage or a priest. They have their own aura spells, which last the turn you cast them like an aura attached to your hero. They're quite alike Lock and Load as well as Stampede. They also have cards like Bungling Busker, a cute but sad little chap who's trying his best but isn't playing that lute quite perfectly. Consider sticking him into a Blazing Display or Stage Fright Ringleader, or maybe a Ringleader that's going all in on utilising Brutal Tango with something like Meteor Spin. Showstopper Leon's a fan favourite at the circus, and can present the threat of being a slighty smaller King Krush that may just come back at the finale of the show... Albiet a tad different looking.

    Tokens:

    Every circus needs an illusion trick or two.

    Showcase Thoughts:

    Right now, for the showcase, I'm thinking the way to go's gonna be:
    Dining Dash
    Firedancer
    Star Performance
    Talent Seeker
    And Finale Architect, who's a spell manipulation epic like Bungling Busker, but from the Boomsday Project or Goblins vs Gnomes, I'll decide on that fully later.

    She represents Ringleader miracle plays through massive turns with a whole lot of spells going off at once. In general, in the showcase, I want to show off Aura spells, a potential card to be used as a signature as well as a strong Signature synergy card like Firedancer, Signature generation like Talent Seeker which also represents token synergies, and something rather wacky to finish it all off. Talent Seeker could end up being replaced for the showcase with Costume Draft or Show Planning, and I'd like some thoughts on which is best here.

    I'd like to give a quick thank you to Nikko, for allowing me to use the border I made way more easily than it would be otherwise, and just being a fantastic developer in general. All feedback for the class is appreciated, and now that I exist again I'll be sure to try and provide some off my own. Also if there are any formatting errors with this post, I'll get to it eventually don't worry. From what I've seen of what other people have been making so far, I'm pretty excited for this years entries. Post ended up becoming longer than it probably should have been for the discussion topic so I'm just gonna cut myself short here, toodloo for now.

    Posted in: Fan Creations
  • maxlot's avatar

    6

    Jul 12, 2018
    maxlot posted a message on TIMESTREAM TRACKING (Year Creation Competition #1) - Phase II [Discussion Topic]

    Gonna do a brief look at all the guys who passed and give my opinions. Can't be bothered to talk about Hall of Fame choices unless they're relevant to any of the cards.

     

    Doctor Whoops' Year of the Frog

    Right off the bat, the sets are quite diverse and well presented. The Infiltrate keyword is nice, I imagine there's quite a lot of potential design space for it and it only makes sense. Feed is already easy to imagine in-game because it's already in the game and Surface Hunter is a fine card to show off. Those two keywords are fine, but you've walked into an issue Tek found himself in while working on Treasures, which was why the inclusion of the Sandy Shores card was made. Essentially, if the Guest cards included in your deck actually count against card count without any chance of actually being drawn, then what you effectively have is a deck that has less cards in it. The vast majority of decks in the game would take a 28 card, 26 card, 24 card etc deck over a 30 card one if that was freely available. It's just more consistent, and there's absolutely no reason not to do it. This would lead to players using Guests purely as cards to lower deck sizes rather than making actual Guest decks.

    The Guest keyword is very interesting thematically and I like the flavor of the Stormwind City set the most, so I'd like to see it still, I just think it should be reworked maybe in a similar way to Treasures. Of course, there's also the chance that I've misinterpreted the keyword and missed something like an idiot, so I'm sorry if that's the case. Overall I can definitely see why this was the most highly voted set, but I think Guest is a genuinely big issue.

    Linkblade91's Year of the Kodo

    The flavor for the first set is fantastic, I'm quite fond of the Burdens. They're a way of introducing massive changes to a deck that remain simple. I do feel like The Vigilant Crusader could be made more simple with just one keyword, the textbox is getting a little packed there, but with how much that would impact you don't need to worry too much. The cards showcased for the War of Sea and Sky could have been better. Though I like the idea of the expansion, I'm indifferent with Terror Drake, kinda unsure how it has Stealth thematically, but I dislike the Naga Siren. What you've said about the Naga is that they provide benefit to the 'Biggest' Naga in terms of Attack, Health or Cost, so a card with "The Naga with the highest X has..." should be a common occurrence. Despite that, the first Naga you show is a 5/5 that does that with Taunt which is Epic. That sounds more like a Common and it doesn't really show what the potential of the Naga's tribal shenanigans could be. It doesn't feel too different from a 5 mana 5/5 Taunt, and feels so boring and bad considering giving minions taunt isn't really valued very highly. Metal and Mayhem seems nice, the flavor's good. Encore is a great keyword, I like it a lot. Power Up is a little more meh, kinda odd to revisit spare parts in general. The cards you showcased are good for them, with Spirit Bouncer showing off some fantastic possible synergy with Encore effects off the bat by allowing its effect to be used by a much bigger minion, and Treant Harvester being flavorful and useful.

    Overall, all three sets are very good but I'd really like to see the potential of the Naga tribe and the Challenge keyword.

    KingKuba's Year of the Lion

    I felt quite happy looking through all of this. I'm not generally going to talk about the people behind the cards that much in these reviews but you seem like the kind of person who's quite new to making custom cards but has some really good ideas. What I mean by that is that you've got some really fantastic concepts here among some simple mistakes and I'm excited to see this set potentially flourishing. Obviously the place to start with is Storage, which I think is a potential UI nightmare and unsure on how good it is CURRENTLY, but it has some serious potential. I think you should go over a brief summary of how you use Storage cards during deckbuilding and through that find a way to include as many copies of Storage cards as you want so I can run a warehouse deck (that's only 30% a joke) and I'd love this keyword and the set. I love the flavor behind all the sets by the way, just wanted to go over Storage first. Then I'm going to go onto the third expansion for a reason that'll be obvious soon after. I like the flavor of this set the most, it's quite light and jovial. Rent could have a lot of potential as a keyword, especially if you throw some Rent (1 turn) cards in there, which could be quite interesting for designs. I dislike Buyout however, it doesn't feel like it has too much of a purpose. Making a way of keeping your Rent minions feels uninteresting more than anything else as well as quite parasitic. I think just having the Rent cards is preferable. Right, set 2 is the one I have the most problems with by far. The faction mechanic just isn't interesting, it's just a tribe that locks you out of playing certain cards. The two cards you've showcased aren't doing it any favors either. Garona Halforcen is a legendary class tech card, which you really want to avoid. The general issue with that is that legendary cards, especially class cards, are cards that you put into your deck to promote an archetype in an interesting or powerful way. Tech cards are cards you use to counter OTHER archetypes. It's straight up just an overpowered assassinate with a body in most cases and that's not the reason why I dislike it. She doesn't do anything to help your Horde deck, she just might do something against Alliance minions with Deathrattles. That's probably not many cards. Othmar Garithos is far and beyond the most overpowered card in the game. He's an autoinclude in every paladin deck due to the way purely positive Start of Game cards work. When you don't actually have to draw the card nor use the card, it just provides a benefit to your deck unconditionally at the start of the game, the card shouldn't be printed. You don't even have to account for the technical risk of drawing this minion which is understatted in comparison to almost all the other broken start of game cards that people have made, it's an Alliance minion, it just draws itself at no cost when the game begins, as well as whatever other Alliance card you put in there is. I'd suggest a complete rework of the second expansion but if you don't want to do that at least just fix those two cards up. Sorry the review got negative towards the end, it's just that your first and third sets are on completely different levels to your second. I genuinely meant what I said about the year having some serious potential and I look forward to seeing what you make.

    Tomerick88's Year of the Butterfly

    I'm going to be blunt...

     

    That is not an interesting keyword. It's not flexible, it's not got any potential design space, more than anything it's just a boring and bad version of taunt. I do not like the pet keyword, not at all. Keywords can mean so many potential different things depending on the cards they're on, and how singular this keyword is is mundane. Hemet's Petting Zoo itself could be interesting with good flavor but I'm not feeling it so far. Going into the second expansion, Fate's fine, there's some design space for it and it fits the expansion, though I'm starting to think you've rushed through all this a bit. The presentation for your cards isn't great and the actual cards are similar. Veteran Tracker is missing capitalization and is literally just using the Tracking art. Tactical Retreat is a great card that utilizes your rotation of Divine Favor well. The terrain cards aren't very aesthetically pleasing, I once again think you could have spent more time and precision with this. Regardless I do feel that the terrain should last for a set amount of turns and shouldn't be countered by enemies playing terrains. Having it last infinitely is insane value that forces people into playing terrains, and playing a really expensive terrain that goes away immediately isn't fun.

    CheeseETC's Year of the Scorpion

    First set is good. The factions are alright and I don't really have a lot to say about it other than I'm fond. Could open up a lot of interesting new decks. I'm not fond of the second set at all. Dividing things into a bunch of guys who generate resource and then a bunch of things that need resource is parasitic and hard to manage before you even account for the fact that the things that take your resource take up board slots. It's hard to manage in a simple manner, simple being one of Hearthstone's core themes, and it feels more like a nostalgia trip than a fun or functional expansion. Don't want to include more than 4 buildings in my deck because I don't want to ever collect dead buildings in my hand but then I want to have enough resource to play them otherwise they're just dead anyway so better distribute a bunch of resource gatherer's into my deck. Draw dependency is rampant here. In comparison I really like recipes. They're flavorful and quite similar to buildings in that they're permanent benefits except way more interesting and better because they don't take a parasitic new resource to exist, you just need to fulfill certain conditions to repeat effects. I certainly wouldn't include both buildings and recipes into the year, in my eyes one's just better than the other. I will say though, the way you've formatted the recipe card is stylish and cool but I think you might have to change it unless you don't want to write much on the cards. Small Drink is the epitome of a common of the effect with literally three words and then a basic condition, yet it ended up with 4 lines. How are you going to make Epic recipes?

    Shatterstar1998 and Demonxz95's Year of the Dragon

    Year of the Dragon sounds generic but whatever. Nightmare on the Nether is cool, though you could go over what makes the actual expansion itself interesting a little more, because I didn't really see anything about the expansion itself in the cards. I just got the context of the area and how it has a bunch of tribal minions. Legacy could be cool but King Arthur feels like a really bad way of showing it off. If I play three cards in a turn I get to change the Health of all minions to 1! Oh wait they've already all got 1 Health because I played the card. I'll wait till next turn and THEN use his effect. Alright, there, my opponent's played some new minions, now I can use his Legacy. Oh actually I think I'll just trade him in, that seems more efficient because I don't want to set my minions Health to 1. Why does Legacy feel so much like a redundant extra on the Legacy showcase card? Prince Charming well... I don't like him. How is he a start of game support card and how was he supposed to show off how each class is getting a start of game card? Wouldn't showing off a start of game card be more helpful for that? Why do I care about drawing my start of game cards, that's not what's interesting about those cards, the interesting part already happened. At the start of the game. Because it's a start of game card. Sure it thins my deck and I can play it to get like a 9 mana 7/8 body but that's hardly that supportive. Prince Charming just feels like a Curator card you made because you've got some new keywords. It's not got nearly as much connection between the themes as The Curator nor its Witchwood counterpart. It's boring. Caverns of Time seems alright, I like Future Strike, it's a very nice card. Temporary dormant cards are something I've seen a lot, in fact my favorite version of them I've seen was from DKPaladinMDL's Caverns of Time expansion that he finished some time ago. I feel like the showcase card you chose for it wasn't that interesting. In general I kinda wish there was more you were showing in your year, I've not been able to criticize a lot because I've not got a good grip on the expansions. Nether on the Nightmare will be dark and have demons and dragons and stuff as well as an effect that exists already. Once upon a Time will have legacy but you haven't provided a good example of a legacy card and start of game cards for every class but you haven't shown a start of game card. Caverns of Time has future stuff that could be quite cool, I'm fond of that, as well as collectible temporary permanents which are nice. I don't know, I just think your presentation was lacking with ideas that have already been explored a lot.

    ThisOtherGuyTox, Cogito and Otovent's Year of the Chimera

    Stitched cards could be cool, the one presented is simple and gives a good idea of what to expect, and I think I remember Tox talking about the choose one at the start of the game thing some time before and I've quite liked it as an idea. Border Patrol is also a nice simple idea for showing off how things are. Can't really see any faults so far, things look good. Weathers seem fine. I'd like to see cards that benefit off of weathers but it's understandable not to considering you only had two cards to show which did well to establish the flavor. Because I don't want to get through 2 sets without at least suggesting something I want to put in a personal request for you guys to include my favorite pokemon ludicolo in there somewhere, maybe something like this.

    You don't have to call him Ludicolo or anything just please man I love ludicolo so much you'd be doing a great service for my family. Script is flavorful and quite nice, it's reminiscent of the new card type thing introduced to Magic recentlyish. I love the flavor of the set as a whole and I'm sorry that the new expansion kinda takes away some of the uniqueness of the set. In general this set seems the most refined so far... Suspiciously so. Gosh dang the mods and their ability to prepare three sets with unique flavor and keywords in a space longer than two weeks we need a revolution around here or something. For real though, looking forward to seeing the third set the most so if you go out before then I'll be angry. Good luck.

    WaterwaIker's Year of the holy shit I'm only 8 submissions through this is taking so long I'm gonna end it all also why is your name spelled with a capital i rather than an l what Hydra

    Starting off, Lights, Cards, Action! is gonna be a set I greatly look forward to. Great humor, very light, all good with me. Van Hellscream is a really nice card with a cool effect, though he honestly feels absurdly strong. He's got a really well statted 5 mana body for 6 that replaces your hero power with one that's worth about 2 mana, which is nuts. That said it obviously carries the downside of not working with Deathstalker Rexxar which you'd probably want to play in a more control focused Hunter so I imagine it's fine but it's certainly stronger than most hero power upgrade cards. I don't like Mildly Annoyed Max, punishing your opponent for not playing on curve isn't that fun for them, and if they do play on curve this is just a 5 mana 5/3 which isn't very fun for you. In general it kinda just doesn't feel like a fun card. Alleria Windrunner is fun but honestly I don't think trample is a good idea. Hearthstone's been existing for a while under the idea that trample isn't a thing so as you might expect stuff like Arcane Channeler suddenly being added can cause problems. What kind of problems? Problems of Meteoric proportions is what. For the next expansion, Marsh Seer is massively unfun as it can ruin so many decks. Oh, it appears I've discovered my opponents C'Thun/N'Zoth/Bloodreaver Gul'Dan/Emeriss/Alexstraza/BigGamechangingMinion/Yogg'Saron. Guess they lose. Also go to my Year of the Lion and/or Year of the Frog reviews for my stance on Tyr. I would include this in every deck because it's free consistency. I don't need to actually draw the card or use it, nor do I have to gimp my deck, yet I get benefits.

    Dropdead's Year of the Manticore

    Transforming effects already fulfill the purpose of Banish elegantly, include more transform cards rather than adding in a new yet redundant keyword. It might fit in the game better if Hearthstone had an actual graveyard and not a pool of cards being tracked for Big Priests sake, but as of right now it's just taking an effect that shows up in every card game with a graveyard and putting it into a game without one. If you're in Shadowform is a terrible idea that gets passed around a lot, can't wait to get this card in a pack when I don't actually own that epic card from the classic set. Oh well I guess I could still use it as a 6 mana deal 5 spell, fantastic. For 6 mana couldn't it just banish the minion regardless of anything else? Priest already got Entomb why is this a card? Your location card is okay. I think you should have done a better job showing off themes of the expansions because some of the cards just feel irrelevant to showing the actual expansion off. Yeah Hogger's Faithful is a pretty cool card but what does it tell me about the expansion?

    Phoenixfeather's Year of the Phoenix

    First expansion seems alright. Soulcast is nice, Elusive is Elusive. Rise from the Grave is a cool card that does well to show off the expansion. Apatheia's one of the least interesting ways of adding neutral decks theoretically possible. The thing is, I like the idea of neutral decks, but I think a game like Shadowverse is a game that could show you a good way of going about implementing neutral synergy. Rewarding you for having disproportionate amounts of neutral cards over only running them. Running decks without spells, only minions, with no class identity, very few interesting gimmicks and such is just uninteresting. What makes the matches involving this lady more uninteresting than most? Well let me briefly say why I like Elusive. It does well in countering an enemy who relies on spells to counter minions by making it harder to deal with your elusive minions, yet it doesn't make half their deck pointless because I still have the rest of my deck to go through and it's not like they're ALL going to be Elusive so they can just use their spells on those ones! Oh wait, my entire deck IS Elusive, guess my opponents hand is just filled with dead cards now. Boy, this game of minions slapping into eachother and nothing else sure is interesting. At least AoE's still exist. Second expansion is a lot better, love Solais, it's a great weapon with good flavor. Deus Ex Machina is also good flavor and a cool card. I don't know how much I like the return of Inspire but I don't hate it. Burn is a keyword that belongs in a class and not an expansion. Removing the top one or two cards of your deck is widely irrelevant outside of decks that go to fatigue because they're exceptionally slow, are running Aluneth or rely on specific cards like C'Thun and sometimes they're on the bottom and have to dig deep. The rare cases in which removing the top card of your deck is used as a downside do so in a way where it's escalated to the point where your deck might be shredded in seconds like with Fel Reaver. Being able to include a few cards that have above average power level in exchange for burn just means I'm running cards which are too good at no extra cost.

    Vilegloom's Year of the Ram

    I've been really indecisive of your stuff. I don't know what it is about it. Regardless I don't trust myself to force a review on this because I don't have an opinion of it really. I'm not trying to wuss out I swear, it's just that my input would be redundant. Take that all as you like.

    ShadowsOfSense's Year of the Serpent

    I don't like Ambush. I remember Phoenix explored it's potential some time before with Impulse and cards which manipulate how you draw it that makes it more skilled but even then it's still the "Did you topdeck this" keyword. It's good flavor and I'm happy about its use with Cephalopirate due to it not being objectively better, but I don't really like it. Explore is a nice keyword, one thing I think a lot of people make mistakes with while making Hearthstone cards is creating cards that give information for the sake of information, yet this uses it practically. Well, at least in the case of Murloc Pathfinder. If all the Explore cards will be like that, I'm very happy with it. If you make cards which just Explore and nothing else, I'll be sad. That's just not very Hearthstone. One thing of note, with both Ambush and Explore existing, deck manipulation better exist, it just makes them both so much better. Revenant is a keyword that feels nice due to how Undead synergy works, I like it. Mount is nice but obviously unfortunately timed due to Magnetic. Flanked is nice also, no real criticisms.

    Teknician's Year of the Gryphon

    Treasure's are looking nice and appropriately scary and the Plunderer is a good example of a Treasure fetcher, so I'm happy with how it's developed thus far. This might just be me but Sandy Shore looks a little too realistic, I think a wide shot of a beach would be better. Overall, good first set. Unsure about the second set, Sacrifice is an alright keyword, Plague is quite questionable. Not in the "This is probably bad" sense but the "I have literally no idea how to evaluate this" sense. I will say though that the Blood Beetle's Sacrifice option feels surprisingly low impact, considering you lose both an attack and the minion. I've gone over Red Mana briefly with you already I believe, waiting to see how you handle it, I think you can make it work well.

    Mrobjectionman's Year of the Pegasus

    I'm a strong believer that Hearthstone's RNG isn't as bad a problem as many like to say and that it's actually quite beneficial for the game, but having it as a core theme for an expansion doesn't seem like a great idea. GvG had that as a core theme and people hated it, so I'm unsure if people will like that. Good flavor though. Good flavor for the next set also, this version of Mount is pretty good, it's like reverse Magnetic. I don't like Dominance, seems very win more. Generally the person with the biggest minion is the one winning, so to me it kinda reads like "If you're winning, has an extra effect.", which means the cards don't benefit you while losing and benefits you while winning, which polarizes the game rather than having it be a back and forth.

    Aaro54's Year of the Mech

    You know my opinion on your shit man go ask me things in the Discord or something

    Soulbattle's Year of the Cat

    Hethiss is nice, does well to show off multiple potential themes of the expansion with both poisonous and death, and I like Invoke despite not really feeling like a keyword, though I can't really explain why. I like the idea of the Grimoire of Eternity and I'm willing to see how the mage spell tribe thing works out, though I think you've not exactly got the casual and goofy vibe down in the submission. I feel like Brutallus probably isn't that hard to build a deck around and stomps aggro into the ground, though that's obviously a card that'd need playtesting. Blazing Infernal doesn't really feel like a "Positioning matters" card all that much honestly, I feel like a card that requires a lot of pre-planning would be best to show it off. This is more of a "Place between two minions and attack" card that you want to play minions around.

    Wailor's Year of the Tortoise

    Draenei Wanderer feels like it could do something relevant to the swap beyond just swapping, like the actual swap being a necessity that functions as a bonus. Like Curious Glimmeroot giving information or something similar. I think a card which has the pure function of swapping feels too non-Hearthstoney, too niche, yet as a secondary effect it could fulfill its intended purpose elegantly while being more interesting. I think Dive has a similar issue, Hearthstone doesn't tend to have many effects that do nothing by themselves. If Dive actually did something minor for your hero and then synergies existed on top of that, I'd like the mechanic more. Fate and Future seems fine, but giving a minion Charge allows it to attack on its first turn, it doesn't allow a minion that already attacked to attack again. Everything seems pretty well connected in this year though.

    NOVEX0R's Year of the Scarab

    Not too fond of Ancient, it feels like it could be done more elegantly. Tracking digits in the cards text usually isn't how things in Hearthstone work. Also I'm not sure if I like that this encourages a less than active form of play. Active playing should be encouraged even in control decks in my opinion and Hearthstone typically favors it also in comparison to most card games. Tomb Relic is a boring card in standard and absolutely game breaking in wild. Shadowboxer exists ya know. Hearthstone effects tend to do something by themselves so I'm not really fond of the nightmare/dream mechanic, I think it could be better if the Dream or Nightmare states did something regardless of the synergy cards. Stolen Plans is insanely overpowered and would be included in 100% of rogue decks because there's no reason not to. As soon as you draw it you immediately cast it and draw another card. If it didn't reveal the opponents hand it'd still be included 100% of rogue decks, it's just a way of making your deck one which only effectively contains 28 cards, which is more consistent than a 30 card one.

    Electronite's Year of the Serpent

    Hibernate is a keyword that comes up a lot, but I strongly believe that it's a bad one. Hearthstone is a very active game and making cards that encourage you to not attack are only a few steps away from cards that encourage you to not attack. Attacking is already a very big part of the decision making in the game, one of the most important elements. Making cards that make you not want to do that isn't something I like. Royal Archivist is a nice card, I like it. Knowledge Corrupt could probably do with a better name but in general the second set seems way healthier than the first. Dreamwalker's not that interesting to play nor does it do much special, yet it still feels odd to have the word Immune on a common neutral card.

    LarryMoments' Year of the Wendigo

    Getting a new keyword and then making two new cards with the keyword to show off an expansion feels like a way better idea when the new keyword was already a mechanic in the game, I mean the flavor's nice but I hope to see some more themes than just minions killing minions. Possession is flavorful enough and the flavor of the set as a whole is quite good, but it's really a pretty small effect and I'm not really sure what to expect out of the expansion because of it. It's not a particularly debilitating effect but I think it works perfectly with other effects as more of a marker than anything, a chance for some richly flavored cards to flourish like perhaps a minion that moves into a minion, possessing it, and comes out when the minion dies. Silver Mirror is also quite good. Lots of flavor potential in that set, I must say. You're not gonna showcase murlocs for your murloc focused expansion? Odd, and the cards you've shown haven't given me much of a view on what the expansion is all about, if I'm being honest. They're good cards however.

    TheProjenitor's Year of the Fox

    I like Plan, it's a common concept that's been executed well here. I'm glad you've given such a clear example of what the expansion's all about. A simple common plan card and a card that has a trade off involving the information your opponent obtains, it works nicely. Seems promising. There seems to be a broken imgur link on the next set, don't know if that's just me. Regardless, I don't like the way you've set up the keyword. Iterating Battlecry just feels too wordy. I think if you were to put (Iterate) or (Iterates) in brackets after the battlecry, kind of like Fatespinner, it might look neater. Regardless, every card with Iterate is kind of like a more restrained Shudderwock, which means it's probably really hard to manage the power level. Even a weak common Iterating battlecry minion that does 1 damage will also summon a 3/3 golem, draw a card, maybe kill a couple of minions and burn the board in a firestorm or something similar, and it escalates with every card printed. Rebuilding Dalaran is really interesting yet Enter the Legion is really uninteresting. Obviously your legendary spells are going to be very bottom-up from a design standpoint but I definitely think a stronger focus on how interesting Enter the Legion is mechanically would be good. Destroying mana crystals at later turns just isn't much of a downside so it kinda feels like summoning a bunch of guys with an overload.

    I was a little exhausted near the end because it's gotten late, so I apologize if I've said much that's nonsensical or too crude, I'm not quite myself just yet. Regardless, I hope the competitors in question at least read it, I've spent a lot of time on it even if a lot is just gibberish, and if any of your works were to improve due to all this effort it'd all have been worth. A lot of promising entries this comp, many with small mistakes made here and there (that might have came from having to make a three-set concept in the space of two weeks) and I'm hoping to see some great stuff by the end. Including Ludicolo, mostly that. Tox, this is a genuine threat, I will send over 7 spammy messages to you via Discord and Hearthpwn that'll contain some kind of puzzle that'll insinuate you smell bad when you eventually solve it unless you throw Ludicolo in as a minion in Set Fire to the rain. It doesn't have to be a Legendary, though he deserves to be one, not even an Epic, and he doesn't have to be called Ludicolo but... Just please you have to do it I need it.

    Posted in: Fan Creations
  • maxlot's avatar

    1

    Jul 12, 2018
    maxlot posted a message on TIMESTREAM TRACKING (Year Creation Competition #1) - Phase II [Discussion Topic]
    Quote from Tomerick88>>
    Quote from maxlot>>

    Gonna do a brief look at all the guys who passed and give my opinions. Can't be bothered to talk about Hall of Fame choices unless they're relevant to any of the cards.

    DISCLAIMER: I am in such intense fear of accidentally refreshing the page that I've decided to post this and edit it to completion. The rest will be done in some amount of time.

    Doctor Whoops' Year of the Frog

    Right off the bat, the sets are quite diverse and well presented. The Infiltrate keyword is nice, I imagine there's quite a lot of potential design space for it and it only makes sense. Feed is already easy to imagine in-game because it's already in the game and Surface Hunter is a fine card to show off. Those two keywords are fine, but you've walked into an issue Tek found himself in while working on Treasures, which was why the inclusion of the Sandy Shores card was made. Essentially, if the Guest cards included in your deck actually count against card count without any chance of actually being drawn, then what you effectively have is a deck that has less cards in it. The vast majority of decks in the game would take a 28 card, 26 card, 24 card etc deck over a 30 card one if that was freely available. It's just more consistent, and there's absolutely no reason not to do it. This would lead to players using Guests purely as cards to lower deck sizes rather than making actual Guest decks.

    The Guest keyword is very interesting thematically and I like the flavor of the Stormwind City set the most, so I'd like to see it still, I just think it should be reworked maybe in a similar way to Treasures. Of course, there's also the chance that I've misinterpreted the keyword and missed something like an idiot, so I'm sorry if that's the case. Overall I can definitely see why this was the most highly voted set, but I think Guest is a genuinely big issue.

    Linkblade91's Year of the Kodo

    The flavor for the first set is fantastic, I'm quite fond of the Burdens. They're a way of introducing massive changes to a deck that remain simple. I do feel like The Vigilant Crusader could be made more simple with just one keyword, the textbox is getting a little packed there, but with how much that would impact you don't need to worry too much. The cards showcased for the War of Sea and Sky could have been better. Though I like the idea of the expansion, I'm indifferent with Terror Drake, kinda unsure how it has Stealth thematically, but I dislike the Naga Siren. What you've said about the Naga is that they provide benefit to the 'Biggest' Naga in terms of Attack, Health or Cost, so a card with "The Naga with the highest X has..." should be a common occurrence. Despite that, the first Naga you show is a 5/5 that does that with Taunt which is Epic. That sounds more like a Common and it doesn't really show what the potential of the Naga's tribal shenanigans could be. It doesn't feel too different from a 5 mana 5/5 Taunt, and feels so boring and bad considering giving minions taunt isn't really valued very highly. Metal and Mayhem seems nice, the flavor's good. Encore is a great keyword, I like it a lot. Power Up is a little more meh, kinda odd to revisit spare parts in general. The cards you showcased are good for them, with Spirit Bouncer showing off some fantastic possible synergy with Encore effects off the bat by allowing its effect to be used by a much bigger minion, and Treant Harvester being flavorful and useful.

    Overall, all three sets are very good but I'd really like to see the potential of the Naga tribe and the Challenge keyword.

    KingKuba's Year of the Lion

    I felt quite happy looking through all of this. I'm not generally going to talk about the people behind the cards that much in these reviews but you seem like the kind of person who's quite new to making custom cards but has some really good ideas. What I mean by that is that you've got some really fantastic concepts here among some simple mistakes and I'm excited to see this set potentially flourishing. Obviously the place to start with is Storage, which I think is a potential UI nightmare and unsure on how good it is CURRENTLY, but it has some serious potential. I think you should go over a brief summary of how you use Storage cards during deckbuilding and through that find a way to include as many copies of Storage cards as you want so I can run a warehouse deck (that's only 30% a joke) and I'd love this keyword and the set. I love the flavor behind all the sets by the way, just wanted to go over Storage first. Then I'm going to go onto the third expansion for a reason that'll be obvious soon after. I like the flavor of this set the most, it's quite light and jovial. Rent could have a lot of potential as a keyword, especially if you throw some Rent (1 turn) cards in there, which could be quite interesting for designs. I dislike Buyout however, it doesn't feel like it has too much of a purpose. Making a way of keeping your Rent minions feels uninteresting more than anything else as well as quite parasitic. I think just having the Rent cards is preferable. Right, set 2 is the one I have the most problems with by far. The faction mechanic just isn't interesting, it's just a tribe that locks you out of playing certain cards. The two cards you've showcased aren't doing it any favors either. Garona Halforcen is a legendary class tech card, which you really want to avoid. The general issue with that is that legendary cards, especially class cards, are cards that you put into your deck to promote an archetype in an interesting or powerful way. Tech cards are cards you use to counter OTHER archetypes. It's straight up just an overpowered assassinate with a body in most cases and that's not the reason why I dislike it. She doesn't do anything to help your Horde deck, she just might do something against Alliance minions with Deathrattles. That's probably not many cards. Othmar Garithos is far and beyond the most overpowered card in the game. He's an autoinclude in every paladin deck due to the way purely positive Start of Game cards work. When you don't actually have to draw the card nor use the card, it just provides a benefit to your deck unconditionally at the start of the game, the card shouldn't be printed. You don't even have to account for the technical risk of drawing this minion which is understatted in comparison to almost all the other broken start of game cards that people have made, it's an Alliance minion, it just draws itself at no cost when the game begins, as well as whatever other Alliance card you put in there is. I'd suggest a complete rework of the second expansion but if you don't want to do that at least just fix those two cards up. Sorry the review got negative towards the end, it's just that your first and third sets are on completely different levels to your second. I genuinely meant what I said about the year having some serious potential and I look forward to seeing what you make.

    Tomerick88's Year of the Butterfly

    I'm going to be blunt...

    That is not an interesting keyword. It's not flexible, it's not got any potential design space, more than anything it's just a boring and bad version of taunt. I do not like the pet keyword, not at all. Keywords can mean so many potential different things depending on the cards they're on, and how singular this keyword is is mundane. Hemet's Petting Zoo itself could be interesting with good flavor but I'm not feeling it so far. Going into the second expansion, Fate's fine, there's some design space for it and it fits the expansion, though I'm starting to think you've rushed through all this a bit. The presentation for your cards isn't great and the actual cards are similar. Veteran Tracker is missing capitalization and is literally just using the Tracking art. Tactical Retreat is a great card that utilizes your rotation of Divine Favor well. The terrain cards aren't very aesthetically pleasing, I once again think you could have spent more time and precision with this. Regardless I do feel that the terrain should last for a set amount of turns and shouldn't be countered by enemies playing terrains. Having it last infinitely is insane value that forces people into playing terrains, and playing a really expensive terrain that goes away immediately isn't fun.

    CheeseETC's Year of the Scorpion

    First set is good. The factions are alright and I don't really have a lot to say about it other than I'm fond. Could open up a lot of interesting new decks. I'm not fond of the second set at all. Dividing things into a bunch of guys who generate resource and then a bunch of things that need resource is parasitic and hard to manage before you even account for the fact that the things that take your resource take up board slots. It's hard to manage in a simple manner, simple being one of Hearthstone's core themes, and it feels more like a nostalgia trip than a fun or functional expansion. Don't want to include more than 4 buildings in my deck because I don't want to ever collect dead buildings in my hand but then I want to have enough resource to play them otherwise they're just dead anyway so better distribute a bunch of resource gatherer's into my deck. Draw dependency is rampant here. In comparison I really like recipes. They're flavorful and quite similar to buildings in that they're permanent benefits except way more interesting and better because they don't take a parasitic new resource to exist, you just need to fulfill certain conditions to repeat effects. I certainly wouldn't include both buildings and recipes into the year, in my eyes one's just better than the other. I will say though, the way you've formatted the recipe card is stylish and cool but I think you might have to change it unless you don't want to write much on the cards. Small Drink is the epitome of a common of the effect with literally three words and then a basic condition, yet it ended up with 4 lines. How are you going to make Epic recipes?

    Shatterstar1998 and Demonxz95's Year of the Dragon

    Year of the Dragon sounds generic but whatever. Nightmare on the Nether is cool, though you could go over what makes the actual expansion itself interesting a little more, because I didn't really see anything about the expansion itself in the cards. I just got the context of the area and how it has a bunch of tribal minions. Legacy could be cool but King Arthur feels like a really bad way of showing it off. If I play three cards in a turn I get to change the Health of all minions to 1! Oh wait they've already all got 1 Health because I played the card. I'll wait till next turn and THEN use his effect. Alright, there, my opponent's played some new minions, now I can use his Legacy. Oh actually I think I'll just trade him in, that seems more efficient because I don't want to set my minions Health to 1. Why does Legacy feel so much like a redundant extra on the Legacy showcase card? Prince Charming well... I don't like him. How is he a start of game support card and how was he supposed to show off how each class is getting a start of game card? Wouldn't showing off a start of game card be more helpful for that? Why do I care about drawing my start of game cards, that's not what's interesting about those cards, the interesting part already happened. At the start of the game. Because it's a start of game card. Sure it thins my deck and I can play it to get like a 9 mana 7/8 body but that's hardly that supportive. Prince Charming just feels like a Curator card you made because you've got some new keywords. It's not got nearly as much connection between the themes as The Curator nor its Witchwood counterpart. It's boring. Caverns of Time seems alright, I like Future Strike, it's a very nice card. Temporary dormant cards are something I've seen a lot, in fact my favorite version of them I've seen was from DKPaladinMDL's Caverns of Time expansion that he finished some time ago. I feel like the showcase card you chose for it wasn't that interesting. In general I kinda wish there was more you were showing in your year, I've not been able to criticize a lot because I've not got a good grip on the expansions. Nether on the Nightmare will be dark and have demons and dragons and stuff as well as an effect that exists already. Once upon a Time will have legacy but you haven't provided a good example of a legacy card and start of game cards for every class but you haven't shown a start of game card. Caverns of Time has future stuff that could be quite cool, I'm fond of that, as well as collectible temporary permanents which are nice. I don't know, I just think your presentation was lacking with ideas that have already been explored a lot.

    ThisOtherGuyTox, Cogito and Otovent's Year of the Chimera

    Stitched cards could be cool, the one presented is simple and gives a good idea of what to expect, and I think I remember Tox talking about the choose one at the start of the game thing some time before and I've quite liked it as an idea. Border Patrol is also a nice simple idea for showing off how things are. Can't really see any faults so far, things look good. Weathers seem fine. I'd like to see cards that benefit off of weathers but it's understandable not to considering you only had two cards to show which did well to establish the flavor. Because I don't want to get through 2 sets without at least suggesting something I want to put in a personal request for you guys to include my favorite pokemon ludicolo in there somewhere, maybe something like this.

    You don't have to call him Ludicolo or anything just please man I love ludicolo so much you'd be doing a great service for my family. Script is flavorful and quite nice, it's reminiscent of the new card type thing introduced to Magic recentlyish. I love the flavor of the set as a whole and I'm sorry that the new expansion kinda takes away some of the uniqueness of the set. In general this set seems the most refined so far... Suspiciously so. Gosh dang the mods and their ability to prepare three sets with unique flavor and keywords in a space longer than two weeks we need a revolution around here or something. For real though, looking forward to seeing the third set the most so if you go out before then I'll be angry. Good luck.

    WaterwaIker's Year of the holy shit I'm only 8 submissions through this is taking so long I'm gonna end it all also why is your name spelled with a capital i rather than an l what Hydra

    Starting off, Lights, Cards, Action! is gonna be a set I greatly look forward to. Great humor, very light, all good with me. Van Hellscream is a really nice card with a cool effect, though he honestly feels absurdly strong. He's got a really well statted 5 mana body for 6 that replaces your hero power with one that's worth about 2 mana, which is nuts. That said it obviously carries the downside of not working with Deathstalker Rexxar which you'd probably want to play in a more control focused Hunter so I imagine it's fine but it's certainly stronger than most hero power upgrade cards. I don't like Mildly Annoyed Max, punishing your opponent for not playing on curve isn't that fun for them, and if they do play on curve this is just a 5 mana 5/3 which isn't very fun for you. In general it kinda just doesn't feel like a fun card. Alleria Windrunner is fun but honestly I don't think trample is a good idea. Hearthstone's been existing for a while under the idea that trample isn't a thing so as you might expect stuff like Arcane Channeler suddenly being added can cause problems. What kind of problems? Problems of Meteoric proportions is what. For the next expansion, Marsh Seer is massively unfun as it can ruin so many decks. Oh, it appears I've discovered my opponents C'Thun/N'Zoth/Bloodreaver Gul'Dan/Emeriss/Alexstraza/BigGamechangingMinion/Yogg'Saron. Guess they lose. Also go to my Year of the Lion and/or Year of the Frog reviews for my stance on Tyr. I would include this in every deck because it's free consistency. I don't need to actually draw the card or use it, nor do I have to gimp my deck, yet I get benefits.

    Dropdead's Year of the Manticore

    Transforming effects already fulfill the purpose of Banish elegantly, include more transform cards rather than adding in a new yet redundant keyword. It might fit in the game better if Hearthstone had an actual graveyard and not a pool of cards being tracked for Big Priests sake, but as of right now it's just taking an effect that shows up in every card game with a graveyard and putting it into a game without one. If you're in Shadowform is a terrible idea that gets passed around a lot, can't wait to get this card in a pack when I don't actually own that epic card from the classic set. Oh well I guess I could still use it as a 6 mana deal 5 spell, fantastic. For 6 mana couldn't it just banish the minion regardless of anything else? Priest already got Entomb why is this a card? Your location card is okay. I think you should have done a better job showing off themes of the expansions because some of the cards just feel irrelevant to showing the actual expansion off. Yeah Hogger's Faithful is a pretty cool card but what does it tell me about the expansion?

    Phoenixfeather's Year of the Phoenix

    First expansion seems alright. Soulcast is nice, Elusive is Elusive. Rise from the Grave is a cool card that does well to show off the expansion. Apatheia's one of the least interesting ways of adding neutral decks theoretically possible. The thing is, I like the idea of neutral decks, but I think a game like Shadowverse is a game that could show you a good way of going about implementing neutral synergy. Rewarding you for having disproportionate amounts of neutral cards over only running them. Running decks without spells, only minions, with no class identity, very few interesting gimmicks and such is just uninteresting. What makes the matches involving this lady more uninteresting than most? Well let me briefly say why I like Elusive. It does well in countering an enemy who relies on spells to counter minions by making it harder to deal with your elusive minions, yet it doesn't make half their deck pointless because I still have the rest of my deck to go through and it's not like they're ALL going to be Elusive so they can just use their spells on those ones! Oh wait, my entire deck IS Elusive, guess my opponents hand is just filled with dead cards now. Boy, this game of minions slapping into eachother and nothing else sure is interesting. At least AoE's still exist. Second expansion is a lot better, love Solais, it's a great weapon with good flavor. Deus Ex Machina is also good flavor and a cool card. I don't know how much I like the return of Inspire but I don't hate it. Burn is a keyword that belongs in a class and not an expansion. Removing the top one or two cards of your deck is widely irrelevant outside of decks that go to fatigue because they're exceptionally slow, are running Aluneth or rely on specific cards like C'Thun and sometimes they're on the bottom and have to dig deep. The rare cases in which removing the top card of your deck is used as a downside do so in a way where it's escalated to the point where your deck might be shredded in seconds like with Fel Reaver. Being able to include a few cards that have above average power level in exchange for burn just means I'm running cards which are too good at no extra cost.

    Vilegloom's Year of the Ram

    I've been really indecisive of your stuff. I don't know what it is about it. Regardless I don't trust myself to force a review on this because I don't have an opinion of it really. I'm not trying to wuss out I swear, it's just that my input would be redundant. Take that all as you like.

    ShadowsOfSense's Year of the Serpent

    I don't like Ambush. I remember Phoenix explored it's potential some time before with Impulse and cards which manipulate how you draw it that makes it more skilled but even then it's still the "Did you topdeck this" keyword. It's good flavor and I'm happy about its use with Cephalopirate due to it not being objectively better, but I don't really like it. Explore is a nice keyword, one thing I think a lot of people make mistakes with while making Hearthstone cards is creating cards that give information for the sake of information, yet this uses it practically. Well, at least in the case of Murloc Pathfinder. If all the Explore cards will be like that, I'm very happy with it. If you make cards which just Explore and nothing else, I'll be sad. That's just not very Hearthstone. One thing of note, with both Ambush and Explore existing, deck manipulation better exist, it just makes them both so much better. Revenant is a keyword that feels nice due to how Undead synergy works, I like it. Mount is nice but obviously unfortunately timed due to Magnetic. Flanked is nice also, no real criticisms.

    Teknician's Year of the

    Mrobjectionman's Year of the 

    Aaro54's Year of the Mech

    You know my opinion on your shit man go ask me things in the Discord or something

    Soulbattle's Year of the 

    Wailor's Year of the

    NOVEX0R's Year of the

    Electronite's Year of the

    LarryMoments' Year of the 

    TheProjenitor's Year of the 

     Regarding Pet:  You could easily say the same about Jaraxxus and Hero cards.  I would very much prefer the Pets to be their own card type like hero has but I'm not a photo shop master.  As I've said in the last discussion (I understand you probably didn't see that)  My intention with the Pets is to explore what can be done with the Bolf Mechanic.  Hopefully the two I showed did that.  A Bolf effect with a divine shield is quite interesting imo as is the possibility of reviving the Bolf effect with Alar.  They're more like charms that pop up on the board to block damage as opposed to Bolf that was supposed to have survivability.   It isn't intended to carry that expansion it's just going to be one card for each hero.

    Good spot with the tracking art I do this all on my phone including playig hearthstone so I haven't really made out the art.  Ofcourse that can be changed.  No idea how I missed the capitalisation too.  Hopefully you can appreciate that doing this on my phone adds a layer of difficulty to my design even the typing.

    I will think on what you've said about Terrain because it was something I was starting to realise when I was toying with the possibility of legendary terrain cards.  It won't be fun to see them cancelled out.  I really wanted to capture the idea of a battle for control of the terrain so I would like some interactivity for the opponent.  I will have a good think on this.

    Overall you are right I did do my designs quite quickly but this is a hobby not a job.  I am a man with a job and other commitments please forgive me for not having gone all out in the first phase.  I just thought I'd use it as a concept submission before getting carried away over something people didn't enjoy which unfortunately I have done before.

    Now I see that so many people saw potential in my ideas I am committed to putting out a quality expansion for phase 2.

    I'm quite confused now. I definitely agree that the cards you've shown are more interesting than Bolf, but I'm not sure what you mean when you say they would ideally have their own card type nor how you could say the same for Hero cards. I didn't see the previous discussions, I apologize as I won't have much context on them. I'll try and be more present in the discussions from here on out I just wanted to avoid the first phase ones.

    Don't worry, I can appreciate the mistakes and that you've got work to do. We all make mistakes, pretty sure I've made more neutral weapons accidentally than class ones. It's just when compared to a lot of the other posts that went through yours seemed a lot more rough, and if you invest more time to make sure everything's nice and shiny next time I'll have no issues.

    Posted in: Fan Creations
  • maxlot's avatar

    9

    Mar 31, 2018
    maxlot posted a message on [Class Competition Finalist] The Summoner

    Introduction

    The Summoner's core focus is relatively simple. She likes to summon minions. She likes to summon the smallest minions available, and the biggest. She likes to crush with a few towering goliaths or huge armies. Her goal is simply to summon, and everything else stems from it. As a Summoner, she doesn't evoke any fireballs or heal herself or allies or give anyone buffs, she summons something to do all that for her. She's flexible in her summoning, able to use the creatures for these effects without keeping them stable within the world, immediately dispelling them afterwards, allowing you to save mana. She can also use her spells to empower the next minion she summons, but not one currently on the board.

    Oh, and she's also evil. Not Gul'dan kinda evil, supervillain from a black and white 80's tv show kinda evil. Her hobbies include monologuing, using scare tactics, practising her evil laugh and summoning terrifying monsters. She doesn't kick small animals though, she finds them too cute. She won't admit that of course, but there's that. Finally, she's still an intelligent caster, so she spends a lot of time studying and note-taking, which in hearthstone terms means copying cards.


    Invoke is the keyword of the Summoner. It represents her summoning expertise; she can summon creatures with potent effects, that annihilate the board or specific minions, but stop concentrating on it straight after, saving her mana but losing the minion.
     

     

    Villainy 101: Summoner's Guide

    Chapter 1: The Basics

    As a Summoner, you must not underestimate the basics! You may look to the later sets and see all your fancy legendary monsters and insane epics, but without a decent basic set, you'll be stunted heavily! A class with no basic set is not a class at all, as a class cannot properly set its identity in place without fundamentals. Get studying, initiate...

    Some Examples

    The Full List

    Below are your fundamental fundamentals, the cards you get right from the get-go.

    And below here are the cards you unlock as you better your skills.

    > > >

    >

    Chapter 2: Classic Summoning

    You've made it to the second chapter? Well, that's a good sign, most novice summoners die off straight after teaching their wolf summons to consume the weak. In the classic set, you'll have access to cool new stuff, such as Invoke cards and Secrets, whichmeans you'll be improving in both the aspects of flexible summoning and not dying. Prepare for some  more complexcards this time, which will help define your individuality as a summoner a mongst the other classes.

    Some Examples

    The Full List

    Chapter 3: The Old Gods

    Welcome to Chapter 3! The Old Gods are some truly terrifying beings, but with the help of this guide, you might just gain their power and complete alliance... Except Yogg-Saron, he's fairly volatile. The Old Gods are complete buildaround legendaries, which means plenty of exciting new deck possibilities are presented for you. Think wisely about how you handle them.

    Some Examples

     

    The Full List

    Chapter 4: Karazhan

    You've made it an unexpected distance, all the way to Karazhan. This is notably less intense than what you've just been through, and this place shall introduce three whole new archetypes for you to go down. Well, you could have run them before, but you get the point. This is a turning point for summoner individuality, and I hope you come out of it better knowing yourself.

    The Cards

     

    Chapter 5: Gadgetzan Mayhem

    I'm impressed, not many make it this far through the book. Welcome to Gadgetzan, and welcome to the Kabal. Here you'll find a number of caster freaks who use their hands to shoot fire and stuff (A complete waste of spellcasting potential) as well as some helpful fellows who'll show you the ropes on making potions. It's not hard when you get used to it, I promise. This chaotic place is perfect for a villain such as yourself, but you'll have to stay safe as there're some people who've also caught wind of how objectively fantastic summoning is.

    Some Examples

     

    The Full List

    Chapter 6: The Beasts of Un'Goro

    You wanna hear a little secret? Well you can't, you'll need to earn it. Welcome to the birthplace of quests, yours of which is to summon a beast that I'm sure you've heard of, who'll tell you something I'm sure you HADN'T heard before. You'll just need to search for him beforehand. It's not just him though, there're also elementals and dinosaurs and all sorts of interesting goodies about. You'll just need to find them. Good luck on your Journey.

    Your Quest

     

    The Full List

    Chapter 7: The Frozen Throne

    Waiting for you around these parts, the Lich King himself sits. Be proud to be worthy of that, reader. His powers are truly rewarding, giving you access to your first class cards which heal, with their powerful lifesteal effects. Unfortunately, this isn't always incredibly reliable. If you do face off against him yourself, be afraid of his curse. With less board slots, good luck defeating him with anything but the biggest of minions.

    Some Examples

      

    Fall before my army! Watch as your friends and loved ones die under my servants! Hahahahahaha!

    The Full List

    Chapter 8: Monster-Ridden Catacombs

     This is the final chapter of the book. You are indeed an excellent summoner to have made it this far, but don't think your journey is over after this point. The Witchwood is just around the corner... For now, have some fun with support for all your favourite decks, and a number of scary beasties. Have fun adventuring down there, and good luck to you in your future adventures!

    The Spellstone

     

    From the ground the rocks, citrine birthed. Its catastrophic strength returns foes to the earth.

    The Full List

     

    Posted in: Fan Creations
  • maxlot's avatar

    1

    Apr 3, 2018
    maxlot posted a message on [Class Competition Finalist] The Summoner

    I definitely enjoyed reading, and I'm surprised that you managed to come up with really good flavour text for all the cards. That's some dedication. I will say I'm offended you called Baby Gryphon ugly however. I'm not really sure what to say to properly thank you here, nothing I say will be able to compare to what you've actually done, so I feel rather spoiled right now.

    Thank you, this was really nice of you.

    Posted in: Fan Creations
  • maxlot's avatar

    2

    Mar 31, 2018
    maxlot posted a message on DEATHWING NEEDS A FRIENDWING (Class Creation Competition #4) - GRAND FINALE POLL
    Quote from Viridian >>

    I am torn.

     Hello Torn, I'm Dad.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Sorry, trying to de-stress.
    Posted in: Fan Creations
  • maxlot's avatar

    9

    Mar 11, 2018
    maxlot posted a message on DEATHWING NEEDS A FRIENDWING (Class Creation Competition #4) - Phase V [Submission Topic]

    The Summoner

    The Summoner's core focus is relatively simple. She likes to summon minions. She likes to summon the smallest minions available, and the biggest. She likes to crush with a few towering goliaths or huge armies. Her goal is simply to summon , and everything else stems from it. As a Summoner, she doesn't evoke any fireballs or heal herself or allies or give anyone buffs, she summons something to do all that for her. She's flexible in her summoning, able to use the creatures for these effects without keeping them stable within the world, immediately dispelling them afterwards, allowing you to save mana. She can also use her spells to empower the next minion she summons, but not one currently on the board.

    Oh, and she's also evil. Not Gul'dan kinda evil, supervillain from a black and white 80's tv show kinda evil. Her hobbies include monologuing, using scare tactics, practising her evil laugh and summoning terrifying monsters. She doesn't kick small animals though, she finds them too cute. She won't admit that of course, but there's that. Finally, she's still an intelligent caster, so she spends a lot of time studying and note-taking, which in hearthstone terms means copying cards.

    Class Stuff

    What makes the Summoner a Summoner?

    Good Stuff

    • Board Clears that come in the form of plentiful single target removal and board clears;
    • Flexible Huge cards that have multiple costs, can be cheated out, lots of taunts;
    • High Combo Potential and Value through card copying and overstatted buffs;
    • Secrets that will help keep you alive, usually by summoning defensive minions.

    Bad Stuff

    • Lack of Healing as there's simply nothing going for reliable healing... You'll need your taunts and secrets to stay alive;
    • Lack of Reliable Card Draw as the main card draw options for the class are conditional;
    • Can't buff Minions already on the board as the only buffs available only apply during a minions summoning.

    Villainy 101: Summoner's Guide

    MEAN STREETS OF GADGETZAN

    The Mean Streets of Gadgetzan are full of crime, violence and mayhem; perfect for a villainous summoner such as yourself! As a summoner, you may think you want to join the Jade Lotus, but remember; you are a caster, not a ninja who worships green rocks. In the Kabal and Gadgetzan in general, you'll have access to plentiful mooks and lackies to help fetch your potions, which will grant you access to more ways of affecting the board than you'll have access to with your summons alone.

    • Mutant Merchant - What a shock, the summoner uses her potions to experiment with her minions. This freak will sell you anything, from a Murloc Tinyfin to Deathwing himself; it just has to be a menagerie minion. Fortunately, the summoner is quite fond of those.
    • Potion of Creation - A very simple example of a small card that you can use as a huge one at a cost. Also very potent in Big Spell Summoner, an archetype that got major support in Whispers of the Old Gods.
    • Glibbi - Value galore. As a summoner, you'll have a significant amount of cards that can copy other cards at your disposal, which means cards like Kazakus and Elise the Trailblazer become significantly more potent. Have fun getting extremely high value as you duplicate every single one of the cards in your hand.

    JOURNEY TO UN'GORO

    Un'Goro, land of the dinosaurs and elementals. As a summoner, you like both of these things... Though you won't be looking around at too many dinosaurs today, as you'll be focused on a much more terrifying beast; Ozumat, the Kraken. The secrets you'll learn will shock you. Keep yourself alive with sturdy elementals, and you'll crush your enemies with Ozumat's Nightmare.

    • Monologist - This girl loves monologuing so much, she got a PHD in it. She's a little rambly, so you won't know quite what you'll get out of it, but it will support your quest, whatever it is. Simple support card.
    • Brittle Bodyguard - An incredibly sticky wall of taunts that will take a little while to get through. Can be cheated out with Panicked Summoning in classic, and it's a big minion which makes it ideal for resummoning.
    • Forgotten Knowledge - Look at these fools, with their quests to find dead dinosaurs and to open portals filled with tiny imps. All this time, Ozumat has been hiding out, with secrets forgotten to the rest of the world. Find him and he'll unleash his nightmare on your opponent, punishing your opponent for fighting back with swarms of tentacles.

    Tokens

    Other cards

    MEAN STREETS OF GADGETZAN

    • Careless Messenger - A subtheme of the MSoG set for Summoner is the press and information. This girl will use your own secrets as a trade to gain new information, and she's a really solid minion for a Secret deck.
    • Reactive Potion - Every experienced chemist will know to keep one very vital potion on them at all times in the case of an attack; Pocket Potion! Toss it to the floor and immediately kill everything nearby. A solid boardclear and secret .
    • Slippery Mook - This wimpy looking guy doesn't look too promising, but if you've spent lots of mana and just give him a chance, he might just prove you wrong. A card which could be used to make an Invoke Summoner deck, and a potentially really big minion, something that is beloved to summoners.
    • Femme Fatale - You can't have a villain on the streets with an information subtheme... Without a Femme Fatale. Send her out and take your opponents information, giving you cards in the process. A nice value card.
    • Echoing Potion - "Echoing Potion" is simply what you put on the label. Really this is pretty much an ooze in a bottle that takes the form of the first thing it sees. Really potent card for combos and can provide solid value with deathrattle and end of turn cards.
    • Bluegill Witch - Most people would say that enlisting a murloc as a chemist is "Stupid" and "Insane", but a true Kabal devotee knows how to harness the hidden genius that lies within them. A very potent card that can act as either a kind of Hex when used alongside something small or a Dinosize of sorts when used with something big. Use alongside old gods and The Ancient One for maximum results.

    JOURNEY TO UN'GORO

    • Mimicking Hornnose - Chameleons can change their appearance to be much harder to detect and this one can go far further. Really solid when you have some big ol minions, such as giants.
    • Great Escape - Stealing things is important to villains, and escaping is proven to be good for the health of both you and your minions. Get em outta there before the guards ravage them. Nice card for cards you want to put back in your deck.
    • Primordial Pebble - Tiny minions are also beloved by Mephilia. Look at this adorable little guy! You can either kick him out there to get mauled by Deathwing or you can spend 3 and potentially get a couple of scary 3/2s with Taunt , or 0/5s with Taunt , or 0/2s with Taunt ... And poisonous.
    • Purrfect Tracker - The second of the cat squad, Purrfect Tracker follows Magicat to help provide 0-Cost minion synergy. After buffing up all your 0-Cost minions, add them to your hand and throw them at your opponent.
    • Rebirth - It's like summoning minions but... Different. This is some incredible new techology. Use this to resummon big minions such as Brittle Bodyguard.
    • Elaborate Scheme - Ahah! A dastardly plot indeed! Your opponent will see you play a secret and they'll get super worried, thinking "Oh no, what's she planning? I was previously really confident about my game plan but she just played that plan right there and now I'm really put off!" and then they'll try and figure out what it is. Then, at the start of your turn, this comes out and they're back to square one on figuring out which secret it is and they'll be real spooked. Exceptional value but a little bit slow.
    • Thrakdos the Hollow - Thrakdos doesn't look all that impressive, does he? He was, once. Now, he's a shell of his former self... He's gone hollow. That does mean he acts as a perfect vessel for another elemental to release out of however, as he preserves the elementals that you play until he hits the board and crumbles, letting it free.

    Previous cards

    BASIC

    TOKENS

    CLASSIC

    TOKENS

    WHISPERS OF THE OLD GODS

    TOKEN

    ONE NIGHT IN KARAZHAN

    TOKEN

    By the way, if everything is loading real slowly for you, you can see all my cards here in my Imgur album

    Posted in: Fan Creations
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