Hearthpwn

Interview with our Class Competition Winner - McF4rtson & the Sea Witch Class

Back at the start of the 7th season of our Weekly Design Competition, we ran over at the Fan Creations Forum, we ran our annual Class Creations Competition, asking our competitors to make fitting designs for all the sets in the standard rotation, for a fictional class. We saw some amazing submissions over the course, but the one that turned out on top was our final winner - McF4rtson with their Sea Witch Class!

Congratulations again to McF4rtson again for winning the Class Creations competition! You can check out their entire Class here, and you can find the remainder of the finalists in our Finale Poll Topic. Thanks again to everyone who voted, to the participants, and to everyone who participated in the discussions - we couldn't possibly do it without you! And now, on to the questions.

One of the strongest points according to the Discussion thread was your consistency and the general theme of your class. What was your thought behind going for the Sea Witch?

The thing about these kinds of competitions is that we are aware of future expansions as we are developing them (For example, I developed my Un'Goro quest way back in Phase One and prepared my cards around it since), future cards and their power levels, as well as the future meta. While I tried not to allow this to influence me too much, I undoubtedly used this fact as a bit of a crutch to gauge my cards, which, I guess, might explain why my cards were in-line with existing Hearthstone cards.

The general theme is a bit of a freebie since I chose an existing Warcraft character and an existing Warcraft "class", even if it isn't playable and information about the Naga is a bit limited. However, past the Basic and Classic sets, which I used to build up the foundations of the class, each set contained cards that supported a gimmick, a pushed playstyle, something that can be seen with many of the sets after the Classic sets in Hearthstone. I did realize that my class might fall into the trap of being overly synergistic or too favored to play as a slow class, something I wanted to avoid, so I made sure to spread out the playstyles as well. One expansion might introduce a fast set of cards, another might include slower tools.

Another strong point to many was your keyword. How did you come up with it? Was it made specifically for this class, or was the class made specifically for this keyword?

This keyword was made for this class. I went through all my previous class concepts and noticed that I did not do anything that centered around the deck. As for the keyword's mechanic itself, I designed it around what other card games I played did *not* have.

Yugioh has rampant tutoring (searching), so I'd rather not have that. Hearthstone has very little of that, mostly just Recruiting and the recent Witchwood Piper and tutoring from a 30-card deck seems to be a bit too consistent. Shadowverse has this class that revolves around your deck being an even number, something I found to be a bit too much of a micromanagement. Keeping your deck within a certain range seemed more manageable and much less like an ebb and flow in your deck's power.

Your class was not in the top during the first few rounds but came out as the clear favorite during the last half of the phases. How confident were you that you would make it to the top, or among the top?

Not confident at all, not in the slightest. I had taken a long break from card designing, and Zanywoop, a friend of mine who also enjoys creating cards, suddenly told me about this contest a day or two before the Phase One deadline. It was a bit rushed and I was expecting to not make it past Phase Two.

What got you into designing Hearthstone cards in the first place?

My first card was created for a WCDC. I think I just happened to cross by it and thought that this artwork (from an old card game) would fit perfectly with the contest at the time. I got into making classes after seeing someone, I forgot who, make a pretty well-thought-out Monk class.

What was your favorite part about designing the Sea Witch?

When you get that idea, that spark of inspiration for a perfect card. Feels great when you know you had a good idea, and you know you made a good card around that idea.

What was the hardest part?

Coming up with those aforementioned ideas. Art was very difficult as well since I was deadset on making my entire class canon compliant. And trying to make "filler" or off-theme cards for each expansion. I found making generic cards extremely challenging. Not every card of the set can be based on a single design standpoint, each set needs to be diverse and cater to at least some existing deck archetypes.

If we were to do another class competition in the future, would you participate? Is there anything you feel could be changed, to make the competition a better experience?

Most likely. The only thing I would change would be the challenges; remove them outright. I feel like very few challenges were well-based around card design. Several were just to see who could make the best use of google images, for example, and that feels more like an obstacle rather than a challenge.

Besides your own, what was your favorite of the other classes, and why?

That's very hard to pick. I have to give props to Broeck's Illusionist, Zanywoop's Berserker, Cheese's Chef, and Mewdrops' Harbinger.

I also had my eye on the Jester (I loved several of the card names), and the Summoner (very believable class). The Scribbler gets my meme award, and I was pleasantly surprised by the Necromancer's quality and design choices. Was nearly the dark horse of this competition.

You are quite the artist, and your name is on several of the custom classes on Hearthcards. Do you think this is an integral part of your card designing? Did you feel more confident in your class, because you designed its borders yourself?

I'm anything but artistic, at least for Hearthstone card borders. Just ask dnikko. In a way, sort of. While I do release my card borders to the public, secretly, I feel as though my take on the Sea Witch class, or the Bard class (another one of my borders), is the "official" version. Of course, that's nonsense, but it does somewhat make me feel like I have complete creative reign over my class.

You have been a member of the card creation community for quite a while, and you have consistently been doing pretty amazing, both in the WCDC and in the larger competitions. What would be your advice for someone who wants to get into card creation? What do you think is the most important part of creating a completely new class?

I wouldn't say I had a very good run with the WCDC's, but for me, the most important thing about card designing is actually the mental aspect of it all.

Firstly, designing cards for the WCDC and for bigger competitions could not be any more different. In general, I've noticed that a card that's "smart" and flashy garners more attraction in the weekly contests. For big competitions, you have to be in it for the long haul. Your cards need to be believable, and you need both quantity and quality. Just like in Hearthstone, cards can be interesting, but balance is so, so, important, and all your cards need to serve *some* purpose

Secondly, your cards need to be intuitive. A player should have absolutely no questions when they look at your card. For Blizzard, they have leeway on this since they have numerous ways of reaching and clarifiying. We small potatoes don't have that luxury, so that first impression is important. I did not follow this in the final phase showcase and showed off my Death Knight which stated that it would add a card that destroyed the enemy hero to your hand. As no tokens were allowed in the submission, this cost me many votes.

Thirdly, art. Art will go a long, long way.

Fourthly, lore. You don't have to play World of Warcraft, but since Hearthstone is loosely based on that universe, you should at least familiarize yourself with who is who, who is fighting who, who lives where, who is good, who is bad, who is utterly insane, etc. Going this extra mile will pay off.

Learn more about Sea Witches on Wowpedia!

Fifth...ly? Know your audience. This sort of ties in with point one, but just in general, being able to make an educated guess about what can give you votes helps. If you see, for example, people complaining in the discussion threads that the contest has nothing to do with Warcraft, then perhaps try leaning your class back towards canon compliancy.

As for making classes, I could go on and on... I think the two more important things are hero power and balance. Balance is something you get used to knowing by heart over time. The Hero Power, though, makes or breaks the hero. Put careful consideration into it. There are several guidelines to making Hero Powers, but here are the ones I tend to follow:
- No keywords.
- The Hero Power should be balanced around a 0-mana spell
- Decide very early on whether you want your class to revolve around your hero power (Paladin, Hunter, Priest, and Shaman to some extent), or for it to complement your class (Druid, Mage). This will help unify your cards and sets.

Anything else you would like to share with the Community?

Not much, just a round of thanks for those who helped me design my cards, gave feedback, and to those who enjoyed my class. Cheers.