Cheese's Custom Core set revamp
Instead of doing 1 thread per class, I've decided to do a single master thread for my whole shit.
Some changes happened for the classes I already posted before according to the feedback I've received. There are also some revamped cards that I shamelessly ripped off from other people's reworks (credit is given when it happens) because the main goal of this revamp is not to be creative.
Directions
Blizzard's official post on class identity is weird. It mixes class mechanics with strengths and weaknesses so most of the stuff doesn't make sense. The way I proceeded is completely different. I started by listing what should be the primary and secondary mechanics of the class, the strengths and weaknesses of the class as well as the archetypes available to it should follow from this list.
I say "core sets" a lot, but the Basic and Classic set are NOT interchangeable in their functions.
- The Basic set is the spine of the class. It ensures the class' viability and establishes its primary mechanics.
- Must be simple. Most cards must have 2 lines of text or less. Only simple keywords.
- Versatile to support multiple playstyles
- Minimal kit of everything a class needs to be viable (card draw; removal; direct damage; good standalone minions;...) even if not part of identity
- Fine if slightly more OP than what you would expect from expansions
- The Classic set is the limbs of the class. It ensures the class' internal diversity and estables its secondary mechanics.
- Presents the more "complex" mechanics of the game (Deathrattle, etc...)
- Because Classic packs are bought, there should be a sense of progression
- Unlike the Basic set, Classic cards should be slightly below average to let room for expansions
- Beasts
- All size of minions
- Good standalone value
- Buff each other a lot
- Each type of Beast has its subtheme (Bears=Taunt; Boars=Rush; Cats=Stealth; Wolves=buff other beasts; etc...)
- Most common type of minions, as such their identity is less precise
- Demons (Warlock & DH)
- All size of minions
- Powerful but with a drawback (taking damage; discard; ...)
- Dragons
- Medium to big minions
- "If you're holding a Dragon"
- Hand synergy
- Lots of legendaries
- 4/12 statline as a signature
- Elementals
- All size of minions
- "If you played an Elemental last turn"
- Value generation
- Battlecries
- Mechs
- Mechs were the focus of only 2 expansions (GvG and Boomsday) but they're otherwise a rare tribe and have no central identity!
- Murlocs
- Small minions
- Board-wide buffs for other Murlocs
- Relies on early-game snowballing. If allowed to stay on the board, they become nearly unstoppable
- Pirates
- Small to medium minions
- Weapon synergy
- Lots of direct damage
- Totems (Shaman)
- Small minions
- 0 attack with some exceptions
- Powerful ongoing effects (aura/end of turn/whenever)
Tribal synergies are part of a class primary identity in only 3 cases
- Beasts for Hunter
- Totems for Shaman
- Demons for Warlocks and DHs
All other class-tribe associations are mostly a matter of coincidence as these tribes happen to fit in the class identity (eg pirates for Warrior/Rogue)
- Charge vs Rush - As you know, Charge is a dangerous keyword. This is why Rush was introduced...however there are a few cards that were meant to be finishers that wouldn't make sense without Rush. I will replace Charge with Rush on all core cards with Charge (and tweak stats accordingly) EXCEPT when Charge is on a legendary minion. There are 4 legendary minions with Charge in the classic set and they will keep Charge
- Discover - Disover offers a choice between cards that are in standard. Due to how easy Discover can become skewed when the right cards are printed, there will be no Discover cards in my core sets. I changed my mind. My core sets have discover cards. See below.
- Poisonous - There were originally no Poisonous cards in the Basic set before the introduction of [Hearthstone Card (Master Poisoner) Not Found]. I will therefore also have poisonous cards in my basic set
- Lifesteal - There are currently no Lifesteal cards in the core sets. However the keyword is simple and I will therefore introduce some.
NEUTRALS
- The function of neutral core sets isn't the same as class sets. Neutral cards exist to support multiclass strategies and needs. The power level of neutral cards is lower than class cards'. However, classes can use them to compensate for their weaknesses (eg. Taunt, healing, etc).
- The Basic neutral set :
- Has 50 cards
- Must remain extremely simple. No more than 3 lines of text, but most cards should have 2.
- Should feature all essential mechanics of the game.
- Contains Vanilla and French vanilla (=only keywords) minions with pertinent statlines for their tribes and keywords.
- Contains simple implementations of multiclass mechanics (eg. healing, summon, multiclass tribes like murlocs, etc)
- Should be weaker than neutral sets from Classic or from expansions (unlike Basic class sets).
- The Classic neutral set :
- Has 75 cards (32 commons, 15 rares, 15 epics, 13 legendaries)
- Is more complex and advanced than the basic set, and introduces "advanced" mechanics and keywords, but remains highly versatile.
- Allows for more complex gameplans.
- Contains tech cards against specific mechanics not normally counterable (eg. secrets, spells, battlecries, specific tribes, etc).
- Has buildaround cards for multiclass archetypes (eg. Malygos).
- Both neutral sets contain less cards than the actual neutral sets. This is because neutral cards, being usable by all classes, have a greater chance to "eat" expansion cards if they're too powerful. I kept the neutral-cards-to-class-cards ratio of 1/3 that is typical of expansions (before DH).
- Nevertheless, I strongly oppose Blizzard's philosophy of making evergreen sets intentionnaly weak to leave room for expansions. This is the easy way out. I want to make sets that are interesting without wrapping the entire game around them.
- I didn't make the effort to change the watermarks for the cards I just rotated without changing them. However, for the Basic cards I modified or created, I added the Basic set icon as a watermark to them. It is weird that the existing Basic Set doesn't have one.
- Some of those cards were put there just for meme value. Memes matter.
NOTE: If you're an Arena player, you will probably look at this set in horror since it contains a lot of cards that are or were notoriously very good or even outright cancer in this mode. There's really no way around it. The Basic set is supposed to be generalistic and versatile, this intrinsically makes it broken in Arena. If it were real, this Basic set would NEVER be part of any Arena rotation.
(as you can tell, I hate Freeze Mage)
Card changes
- Deathwing : Art changed.
- Nozdormu : Effect changed completely. (Previous effect was too cancer)
- Alexstrasza : Effect is now healing and only affects your hero. (Previous effect was too cancer). Art changed.
- Vulpera Scoundrel : Attack reduced to 1. (Would have been too good for Classic otherwise)
- Violet Teacher : Art changed. Effect is now "after" rather than "whenever".
- Thorium Blacksmith : Name changed. (Formerly Dark Iron Dwarf, that's like naming a card "human"!)
- Reckless Rocketeer : Charge replaced by Rush. Attack increased to 9 (to compensate).
- Frost Elemental : Attack and Health increased to 6.
- Core Hound : Attack and Cost decreased by 1. Its stats are now vanilla.
- Wolfrider : Charge replaced by Rush.
- Sha'tar Cleric : Name changed (formerly Shattered Sun Cleric, artwork was Lady Liadrin!). Art changed accordingly.
- Raid Leader : Stats changed from 2/2 to 1/3. (This is a minion you want to keep alive). Art changed.
- Novice Engineer : Art changed.
- Kobold Geomancer : Art changed.
- Orgrimmar Grunt : Health increased to 3. Name changed (formerly Frostwolf Grunt). Art changed accordingly. I know I could consider this a completely different card altogether but I didn't want to.
- Bluegill Warrior : Charge replaced by Rush. Health increased to 2.
- Bloodfen Raptor : Art changed
- Stonetusk Boar : Charge replaced by Rush.
- Shieldbearer : Art changed.
Cards moved from Classic to Basic
- Frost Elemental
- Silver Hand Knight
- Scarlet Crusader
- Emperor Cobra
- Earthen Ring Farseer
- Shieldbearer
- Argent Squire
- Wisp
Listed below are cards I considered adding to the core sets but didn't, either because they have a flaw that make them unfit for core sets, or because there was no room for them anymore.
9+ mana
- Big Bad Archmage
- Deathwing, Dragonlord
- Living Monument
- Burly Shovelfist
- Onyxia
- Sathrovarr
- Sleepy Dragon
- A vanilla 10 mana 12/12 to teach new players how the curve works.
7-8 mana
5 mana
- Abomination
- Antique Healbot
- Big Game Hunter
- Blackwing Corruptor
- Bloodworm
- Boompistol Bully
- Cobalt Spellkin
- Cult Apothecary
- Dalaran Crusader
- Darkscale Healer
- Djinni of Zephyrs
- Nesting Roc
- Rotten Applebaum
- Seaforium Bomber
- Silver Hand Knight
- Sludge Belcher
- Spectral Knight
- Summoning Stone
- Sunborne Val'kyr
- Trogg Gloomeater
- A 5mana 2/2 minion with mega-windfury
4 mana
3 mana
- Argent Horserider
- Blackwing Technician
- Blood Knight
- Dragonslayer
- Flesheating Ghoul
- Flying Machine
- Hench-Clan Sneak
- Imp Master
- Living Dragonbreath
- Microtech Controller
- Pantry Spider
- Questing Adventurer
- Spider Tank
- Ravencaller
- Razorfen Hunter
- Shallow Gravedigger
- Silent Knight
- Spawn of N'Zoth
- Spider Tank
- Squirming Tentacle
- Untamed Beastmaster
- Zola the Gorgon
2 mana
- Acidic Swamp Ooze
- Arcane Servant
- Blowgill Sniper
- Dire Wolf Alpha
- Dirty Rat
- Duskboar
- Echoing Ooze
- Fishflinger
- Gilblin Stalker
- Knife Juggler
- Nerub'ar Weblord
- Pompous Thespian
- Puddlestomper
- Quicksand Elemental
- Serpent Egg
- Shieldbreaker
- Spellbook Binder
- Spellzerker
- Stubborn Gastropod
- Sunreaver Spy
- Tainted Zealot
- Transmogrifier
- Volatile Elemental
- Youthful Brewmaster
- A 1/1 minion that deals 3 damage to a beast.
0-1 mana
- Deadscale Knight
- Goldshire Footman
- Grimscale Oracle
- Hot Air Balloon
- Mecharoo
- [Hearthstone Card (Sir Finley Mrrglton) Not Found]
- Southsea Deckhand
- Toxfin
- Voodoo Doctor
- Young Dragonhawk
- Zealous Initiate
- Target Dummy
CLASS CARDS
DRUID
- PRIMARY MECHANICS
- RAMP - Druid have cards to gain mana crystals quicker than opponents, and play high-cost cards earlier than you would expect them, at the cost of tempo.
- VERSATILITY - The Choose One keyword gives the Druid class a flexibility that other classes don't have. It can adapt its game plan depending on circumstances.
- TOKENS/TREANTS - Druid can make a swarm of small minions bigger and bigger through board-wide buff spells, to take advantageous trades and keep control of the board.
- SECONDARY MECHANICS
- HERO ATTACK - Weapons are for losers. Druids jump into the fray with cards that directly give your hero attack for a turn.
- ARMOR - Not as much as Warrior, but it is present.
- HEALING - Not as much as Priest, but it is present.
- BIG SPELLS - Not as much as... ok you get it. Jack of all trades, master of none.
- KEYWORD AFFINITIES - Choose One; Taunt; "mana"
- TRIBAL AFFINITIES - "Treants"; Beasts
TOKENS
COMMONS
RARES
EPICS
LEGENDARY
TOKENS
Card changes
- Starfire : Cost and damage dealt reduced by 1.
- Wild Growth : Nerf reversed.
- Savage Roar : Nerfed to 4 mana.
- Nourish : Nerf reversed; rarity changed to epic.
- Ancient of Lore : Nerf reversed; healing increased to 8.
- Ancient of War : Has Rush for the 10/5 option. Art changed.
- Cenarius : Statline changed from 5/8 to 7/7
Cards moved from Classic to Basic
The following cards almost made it into my core sets, but didn't because there were no room left for them.
HUNTER
In terms of core set quality, Hunter is above average, although its sets aren't as good as Mage's or Rogue's. The main issue with Hunter's current set is its one-dimensionality. Up to 2017, Hunter was a one-dimensional class with an extremely linear gameplay. It had only one viable archetype (at best), oscillating between face and midrange.
After 2017, internal diversity increased: Egg, Cube, No-minion, Big, etc... Deathstalker Rexxar enabled late-game-oriented Hunter archetypes. Big Beast synergies enabled non-linear playstyles. One major constraint, as Blizz themselves noticed, is Hunter's lack of card draw. Lack of card draw intrinsically limits a class' design space. However Blizz developed workarounds such as card generation (Rhok'delar)or costly but powerful tutoring (Scavenger's Ingenuity, Ursatron) as opposed to general card draw, or "Recruit" mechanics.
- PRIMARY MECHANICS
- BEASTS (big and small) - All classes have tribal synergies, but only in Hunter is this particular tribal synergy so central.
- SMORC - Face is the place.
- SECONDARY MECHANICS
- SECRETS - Hunter is a class with Secrets. Unlike Mage secrets (which are defensive) and Paladin secrets (which are situational), Hunter secrets are tempo-focused in nature, and helps you keep the lead on the boa
- SUMMONING SPELLS - Hunter has a lot of them. This is what allows the class to have minionless archetypes.
- TUTORING - Hunter has few "undiscriminated" card draw but has a lot of cards to tutor exactly the cards they need.
- HANDBUFF - Alongside other "Grimy Goon" classes, Hunter has lots of handbuff. Hunter's handbuff tends to be focused on big single-target buffs
- PARTIAL REMOVALS - Hunter AOE removals tend to be very partial and position-hased. See Powershot.
- KEYWORD AFFINITIES - Rush; "enemy hero"
- TRIBAL AFFINITIES - Beasts (duh); Mechs.
![(4) Multishot[3]](https://i.imgur.com/ys6Lyr8.png)
TOKENS
COMMONS
RARES
![(7) Bursting Shot[6]](https://hearthcards.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/60/ee/c3/6a/60eec36a.png)
EPICS
LEGENDARY
TOKENS
Card changes
- (S)Kill Command : Art changed. Old one was ugly AF.
- Animal Companion : Art changed.
- Arcane Shot : Art changed. I like changing art.
- Cobra Shot : Cost decreased to 4.
- Scavenging Hyena : Nerfed. Only gains +1/+1. (would imply a change in HSBG too)
- Call of the Wild : Nerfed to 9 mana (again).
The following cards almost made it into my core sets, but didn't because there were no room left for them.
MAGE
Mage is a mostly well-defined class. Blizzard's description of Mage's class identity is mostly accurate. The changes to my set are mostly polishing. Oh and also about nuking every combo piece of the fucking abomination that is Freeze/Exodia mage.
- PRIMARY MECHANICS
- SPELLS, SPELLS, AND SPELLS - Big ones, small ones. Mage is the most spell-centric class in the game. Minions are only there to boost them.
- FREEZE - Mage can freeze enemies to stall the game and execute its game plan in peace. Fun and interactive!
- CASINO - Mage has a lot of cards with random effects. In particular, cards that summon random minions of a given Cost.
- CARD CONJURING - A lot of mage spells are about drawing or generating other cards.
- SECONDARY MECHANICS
- SECRETS - Mage has more affinity with its secrets than the other secret classes.
- DRAW + HAND SYNERGIES - Not as much as Warlock, but a subtheme nonetheless.
- COST REDUCTION - Mage has a lot of cards to reduce the Cost of other cards. That mechanic doesn't appear much in the core sets though as it is dangerous.
- KEYWORD AFFINITIES - Freeze; Spell Damage; Secret; "cast"
- TRIBAL AFFINITIES - Elementals; Dragons.
COMMONS
RARES
EPICS
LEGENDARY
Card changes
- Jaina Proudmoore : un-nerfed.
- Archmage Antonidas : Now generates random spells instead of just Fireballs, à la Lyra. Fuck Freeze mage and Exodia mage. Seriously.
- Unexpected Results : Cost raised to 4. (OG cost)
- [Hearthstone Card (Sorcerer's Apprentice.) Not Found] : Rarity bumped to rare. Stats nerfed to 2/2. Now only discounts the first spell of your turn. It's a [Hearthstone Card (Pint-size Summonner) Not Found] for spells. As I said, fuck Freeze/Exodia mage.
- Shatter : Cost decreased to 1.
- Flamestrike : Art changed. Old one was ugly, unnerfed Jaina is beautiful.
- Cabalist's Tome : Cost decreased to 4. Rarity decreased to common.
- Did I already mention how cancerous Freeze/Exodia mage is? I can't say it enough.
The following cards almost made it into my core sets, but didn't because there were no room left for them.
PALADIN
Paladin has some well-defined themes (i.e. buffs), but there are too few of them. Paladin has historically always been a swing class, meaning its power level from expansion to expansion varies greatly due to both its extremely shitty core sets, which means its class identity has always been all over the place.
For example, Silver Hand Recruit synergy is a theme that has been mostly underexploited except during the Odd Paladin era. It's strange that board-wide buffs is considered a Druid theme but not a Paladin one. It would fit better here.
Large heals, even though it's been a Paladin theme, have been weak and don't feel different enough from Priest ones.
I've tried to gather everything I coul that make Paladin class identity, however it's clear Paladin needs something more.
Finally, I've gotten rid of secrets in Paladin's core sets. Devs said in the past that they gave Paladin secrets because they wanted to give them to Rogue originally, but Rogue already had the Combo keyword and they thought Paladin was the next best thing. But Paladin's secrets have always felt out of place within the class and they were almost never viable (except for Avenge and during the TGT era with Mysterious Challenger). This doesn't prevent Paladin secrets to be re-introduced during rotations as it is the case for Rogue secrets right now.
- PRIMARY MECHANICS
- MINION BUFFS - Paladin is the king of buffs and has lots of spells to make even the smallest of minions threatening.
- ...AND MINION DEBUFFS - Paladin prefers to weaken enemy minions rather than eliminating them directly.
- MINION RESILIENCE - Thanks to Divine Shields and buffs, Paladin minions also stick on the board.
- SILVER HAND RECRUITS - Reporting for duty! Paladin has a special relations to his recruits and have several synergies with them.
- SECONDARY MECHANICS
- HANDBUFFS - Buffs also include handbuffs. Paladins have access to the most cost-effective handbuffs.
- HEALING - Not as prominent as in Priest but important nonetheless. Paladin focuses on big single-target heals rather than
- SET - Rather than removing minions, paladin weakens them.
- KEYWORD AFFINITIES - Divine Shield; Lifesteal; "Silver Hand Recruit"; "set X to Y".
- TRIBAL AFFINITIES - Murlocs; Dragons.
TOKENS
Card changes
- Light's Justice : replaced by Overdue Justice because the art is better. LJ's artwork was clearly not meant to be a weapon artwork.
- Subdue : Cost raised to 3.
- Drakonid Enforcer : made into a Paladin card.
- Consecration : Art changed. The original art looks like it comes from MTG!
The following cards almost made it into my core sets, but didn't because there were no room left for them.
PRIEST
- PRIMARY MECHANICS
- Healing - Priest should be the best class at healing. It should have the most powerful and cost-effective healing cards, both single-target and multi-target. It should have healing synergy.
- High-health minions - Going hand-in-hand with that, Priest should also have access to a lot of minions with high-health for their cost, as well as several ways of buffing a minion's health.
- Copying your stuff - Priest has a lot of cards to copy his own or his opponent's stuff, either through summon or card generation. This also implies that Priest is good at greed and value.
- SECONDARY MECHANICS
- Hard removals - Priest has a lot of hard removals, that is removal that says "destroy" on the card rather than removal throught direct damage or other ways. Think of the Shadow Words.
- Cost-effective but situational small spells - This is a theme that was explored during the Year of the Mammoth (2017) and culminated in Razakus Priest, which was the best deck in the game before its nerf.
- Resurrect - I know this is a...controversial aspect of Priest, but gameplay-wise it is ok as long as it doesn't allow minion cheating.
- Silence - Priest has a near-exclusive access to silencing effects.
- KEYWORD AFFINITIES - Lifesteal; Deathrattle; "copy"; "destroy"; "created by".
- TRIBAL AFFINITIES - Dragons.
COMMONS
RARES
EPICS
LEGENDARY
Card changes
- Northshire Cleric : Cost and Health increased by 1.
- Inner Fire : Cost increased to 2. Rarity changed to Epic.
The following cards almost made it into my core sets, but didn't because there were no room left for them.
- Vampiric Touch (1 mana spell "Give a minion Lifesteal")
- Psychic Conjurer
- Purify
- Priest of the Feast
- Acolyte of Agony
- Psionic Probe
- Devour Mind
- Extra Arms
- Plague of Death
- Sethekk Veilweaver
- Natalie Seline
ROGUE
Rogue is a mostly well-defined class with identifiable strengths and weaknesses, as well as a lot of different themes.
- PRIMARY MECHANICS
- COMBOS - Rogue keeps tempo by comboing several low-cost cards in a turn. Rogue doesn't have many high-cost cards.
- STEALIN' YO STUFF 2 ELECTRIC BOOGALOO - Rogues have plenty of cards to add cards from other classes to their hand and the synergies that go with it.
- WEAPONS & WEAPON BUFFS - Rogue are weapon specialists. Unlike Warrior, Rogue weapons are smaller but they have plenty of ways to make them bigger.
- SECONDARY MECHANICS
- BOUNCE - Rogue has plenty of ways to bounce its cards back into its hand to replay their effects again.
- SHUFFLE - Rogue has a lot of cards to shuffle stuff into their deck... or the opponent's!
- COINS - Rogue can generate coins.
- 1/1 COPIES - That theme isn't in my core sets though. It's too dangerous.
- KEYWORD AFFINITIES - Combo; "weapon"; "shuffle"; "Coin"
- TRIBAL AFFINITIES - Pirate.
TOKENS
COMMONS
Fun fact: Adrenaline Rush existed in HS alpha but it costed 1 back then and was probably considered too OP.
RARES
EPICS
LEGENDARY
TOKENS
Card changes
- Shadowstep : Moved to classic. Discount removed (too dangerous).
- Burgle : Now add 3 cards to hand. Now "from another class". Rarity changed to common.
- Lotus Assassin : Rarity changed to rare.
- Patient Assassin : Rarity changed to rare. Cost decreased to 1.
The following cards almost made it into my core sets, but didn't because there were no room left for them.
SHAMAN
Shaman is a swing class. It has a lot of well-defined but underexploited themes, while its core sets are too meme-y. Even though Shaman has potential, the class is hard to balance. One can clearly see that Blizz doesn't really know what to do with it. Also, no, card generation is not a Shaman weakness.
Shamans wins by keeping board control. The longer it keeps the board, the more powerful it becomes. Shaman is also the best at burst damage. On the flip side they struggle to recover a lost board.
- PRIMARY MECHANICS
- TOTEMS - Totems are (generally) 0-attack minions with a powerful ongoing effect. Shaman is rewarded by keeping its Totems alive and snowball into victory.
- OVERLOAD - AKA "anti-ramp". Shaman can play cards that are OP for their costs. As per the official post, "they are able to overload their Mana Crystals with lightning, allowing them to ramp up for a burst of power faster than other classes. Shamans are thus rewarded for planning a few turns ahead by tuning their mana curve."
- SNOWBALLING - A generalization of the above theme. Shaman wins by keeping board control. The longer it has board control, the more likely it is to win.
- BURST DAMAGE - Due in part to Overload & Windfury, Shaman is king to dish out high amount of damage in one turn - either from spells, weapons, or from minions - provided your opponent didn't disrupt your game plan! This one is tricky though. Putting too much burst damage in the class will not only make the class uninteractive, but will also restruct future design space because burst damage is additive. I hope I balanced this right by giving Shaman just the right amount of burst damage in its Classic set to define the class and not break the game.
- SECONDARY MECHANICS
- EVOLVING - AKA the "transform minion into one that costs more" mechanic. This mechanic was introduced in WOTOG and has since received continuous support, with most expanions having at least 1 evolving card. This fits very well into Shaman's theme of leveraging board control.
- BATTLECRIES - Shaman has a lot of good battlecries and battlecry synergy. This theme is mostly represented by Elementals which also give Shaman some value generation. Also fits well with Evolving since Battlecry minions are generally weak for their cost.
- VERSATILITY - Although Shaman has an identity, it is also more versatile compared to other classes. Aggro, Midrange, Control, Combo, Shaman has the tools to do it all. A trait it shares with Druid.
- KEYWORD AFFINITIES - Overload; Windfury; "transform".
- TRIBAL AFFINITIES - Totems; Murlocs; Elementals.
TOKENS
Note: I strongly hesitated to change Shaman's basic totems but decided against it out of caution & conservatism.
COMMONS
RARES
EPICS
LEGENDARY
TOKENS
Card changes
- Earth Elemental : Attack increased by 1. Rarity changed to common.
- Flametongue Totem : Unnerfed.
- Feral Spirit : Art changed.
- Lightning Bolt : Art changed.
The following cards almost made it into my core sets, but didn't because there were no room left for them.
- Vitality Totem
- Lava Shock
- Witch's Apprentice
- Stone Sentinel
- Crackling Doom
- A 1-mana 2/3 Taunt Overload(1)
WARLOCK
Warlock is weird because it's mostly defined by its HP. It's not that Life Tap is intrinsically better than other HPs, it's just that it's deck-defining. Life Tap alone guarantees that Warlock will always have two archetypes at its disponsal : "vomit your hand and reload" and "play Twilight Drake/Mountain Giant on turn 4", independently of any class cards. If class cards didn't exist, Warlock would be the only class that still feels unique because of its HP (MAYBE Hunter would also feel unique because of SMOrc).
Fortunately Warlock has a few other themes than defines it... but those themes are largely under-exploited.
- PRIMARY MECHANICS
- SACRIFICES... - Warlocks will not hesitate to make sacrifices in order to play powerful cards on curve. Whether it's cards in hand, or minions on board. The Demon tribe exemplifies this aspect of the class.
- ...AND SELF-HARM - Warlocks love BDSM. They will also sacrifice their own mana crystals, or even their own health, to play powerful cards on curve.
- DRAW & HAND SYNERGY - Due to Life Tap, Warlock will never lack card draw. In addition, it has (well, should have) a lot of draw synergy and hand size synergy.
- DEMONS - Demons are Warlock's main tribe. Most Demons have high-stats but a negative effect.
- SECONDARY MECHANICS
- APOCALYPTIC BOARD CLEARS : - Warlock is THE board clear class. Even more so than mage.
- HAND & DECK DISRUPTION - Warlock is one of the only class allowed to screw with the opponent's ressources (cards, mana, etc...)
- KEYWORD AFFINITIES - Lifestal; "draw"; "discard"
- TRIBAL AFFINITIES - Demons
TOKENS
COMMONS
RARES
EPICS
LEGENDARY
TOKENS
Card changes
- Felhunter/Succubus : Stats swapped. Art & name un-nerfed.
- Shadow Bolt : Damaged increased by 1.
- Malchezaar's Imp : Cost increased to 2.
- Doomguard : Charge nerfed to Rush. Attack increased to 7.
- Drain Life : Damage increased by 1. Keyworded to Lifesteal.
- Lord Jaraxxus : Made into a hero card.
The following cards almost made it into my core sets, but didn't because there were no room left for them.
WARRIOR
Warrior is probably the best designed class in the game. No overhaud needed here, just some edge polishing.
- PRIMARY MECHANICS
- ARMOR - If left unchecked, Warrior is capable of gaining a shitton of armor.
- POWERFUL WEAPONS - Unlike Rogues and their puny daggers, Warriors use big ass axes to smash the face, or anything in the way.
- ENRAGE - Warriors are sadists. They love to inflict suffering on their own minions for personal gain. They can take advantage of damaged minions in a variety of ways.
- SECONDARY MECHANICS
- RUSH - ye
- TAUNT - Warrior has access to powerful Taunt minions to protect its face.
- REMOVALS - Warrior has plenty of removals at its disposal, either as spells, rush minions, or weapons. This way, Warrior can sometimes run the opponent out of ressources.
- KEYWORD AFFINITIES - Rush; Taunt; "Armor"; "damaged".
- TRIBAL AFFINITIES - Pirates; Mechs; Dragons.
I strongly hesitated to un-nerf win axe or to change its stats, but I couldn't find anything good. RIP FWA. F.
COMMONS
RARES
EPICS
LEGENDARY
TOKENS
Card changes
- Frothing Berserker : Cost increased to 4.
- Kor'kron Elite : Health increased by 1. Charge replaced by Rush.
- Grommash Hellscream : Art changed. Old one was too close.
The following cards almost made it into my core sets, but didn't because there were no room left for them.
- A 2-mana 3/2 rush minion
- A playable version of Warsong Commander
- Sword and Board
- Alley Armorsmith
- Bloodhoof Brave
- Obsidian Destroyer
- Magnataur Alpha
- Slam
Comments
Cheese's Custom Core set revamp
Instead of doing 1 thread per class, I've decided to do a single master thread for my whole shit.
Some changes happened for the classes I already posted before according to the feedback I've received. There are also some revamped cards that I shamelessly ripped off from other people's reworks (credit is given when it happens) because the main goal of this revamp is not to be creative.
Directions
Blizzard's official post on class identity is weird. It mixes class mechanics with strengths and weaknesses so most of the stuff doesn't make sense. The way I proceeded is completely different. I started by listing what should be the primary and secondary mechanics of the class, the strengths and weaknesses of the class as well as the archetypes available to it should follow from this list.
I say "core sets" a lot, but the Basic and Classic set are NOT interchangeable in their functions.
Tribal synergies are part of a class primary identity in only 3 cases
All other class-tribe associations are mostly a matter of coincidence as these tribes happen to fit in the class identity (eg pirates for Warrior/Rogue)
NEUTRALS
NOTE: If you're an Arena player, you will probably look at this set in horror since it contains a lot of cards that are or were notoriously very good or even outright cancer in this mode. There's really no way around it. The Basic set is supposed to be generalistic and versatile, this intrinsically makes it broken in Arena. If it were real, this Basic set would NEVER be part of any Arena rotation.
(as you can tell, I hate Freeze Mage)
Card changes
Cards moved from Classic to Basic
Listed below are cards I considered adding to the core sets but didn't, either because they have a flaw that make them unfit for core sets, or because there was no room for them anymore.
9+ mana
7-8 mana
6 mana
5 mana
4 mana
3 mana
2 mana
0-1 mana
CLASS CARDS
DRUID
TOKENS
COMMONS
RARES
EPICS
LEGENDARY
TOKENS
Card changes
Cards moved from Classic to Basic
The following cards almost made it into my core sets, but didn't because there were no room left for them.
HUNTER
In terms of core set quality, Hunter is above average, although its sets aren't as good as Mage's or Rogue's. The main issue with Hunter's current set is its one-dimensionality. Up to 2017, Hunter was a one-dimensional class with an extremely linear gameplay. It had only one viable archetype (at best), oscillating between face and midrange.
After 2017, internal diversity increased: Egg, Cube, No-minion, Big, etc... Deathstalker Rexxar enabled late-game-oriented Hunter archetypes. Big Beast synergies enabled non-linear playstyles. One major constraint, as Blizz themselves noticed, is Hunter's lack of card draw. Lack of card draw intrinsically limits a class' design space. However Blizz developed workarounds such as card generation (Rhok'delar)or costly but powerful tutoring (Scavenger's Ingenuity, Ursatron) as opposed to general card draw, or "Recruit" mechanics.
TOKENS
COMMONS
RARES
EPICS
LEGENDARY
TOKENS
Card changes
The following cards almost made it into my core sets, but didn't because there were no room left for them.
MAGE
Mage is a mostly well-defined class. Blizzard's description of Mage's class identity is mostly accurate. The changes to my set are mostly polishing. Oh and also about nuking every combo piece of the fucking abomination that is Freeze/Exodia mage.
COMMONS
RARES
EPICS
LEGENDARY
Card changes
The following cards almost made it into my core sets, but didn't because there were no room left for them.
PALADIN
Paladin has some well-defined themes (i.e. buffs), but there are too few of them. Paladin has historically always been a swing class, meaning its power level from expansion to expansion varies greatly due to both its extremely shitty core sets, which means its class identity has always been all over the place.
For example, Silver Hand Recruit synergy is a theme that has been mostly underexploited except during the Odd Paladin era. It's strange that board-wide buffs is considered a Druid theme but not a Paladin one. It would fit better here.
Large heals, even though it's been a Paladin theme, have been weak and don't feel different enough from Priest ones.
I've tried to gather everything I coul that make Paladin class identity, however it's clear Paladin needs something more.
Finally, I've gotten rid of secrets in Paladin's core sets. Devs said in the past that they gave Paladin secrets because they wanted to give them to Rogue originally, but Rogue already had the Combo keyword and they thought Paladin was the next best thing. But Paladin's secrets have always felt out of place within the class and they were almost never viable (except for Avenge and during the TGT era with Mysterious Challenger). This doesn't prevent Paladin secrets to be re-introduced during rotations as it is the case for Rogue secrets right now.
TOKENS
COMMONS
Yes, Drakonid Enforcer is from battlegrounds.
RARES
EPICS
LEGENDARY
TOKENS
Card changes
The following cards almost made it into my core sets, but didn't because there were no room left for them.
PRIEST
COMMONS
RARES
EPICS
LEGENDARY
Card changes
The following cards almost made it into my core sets, but didn't because there were no room left for them.
ROGUE
Rogue is a mostly well-defined class with identifiable strengths and weaknesses, as well as a lot of different themes.
TOKENS
COMMONS
Fun fact: Adrenaline Rush existed in HS alpha but it costed 1 back then and was probably considered too OP.
RARES
EPICS
LEGENDARY
TOKENS
Card changes
The following cards almost made it into my core sets, but didn't because there were no room left for them.
SHAMAN
Shaman is a swing class. It has a lot of well-defined but underexploited themes, while its core sets are too meme-y. Even though Shaman has potential, the class is hard to balance. One can clearly see that Blizz doesn't really know what to do with it. Also, no, card generation is not a Shaman weakness.
Shamans wins by keeping board control. The longer it keeps the board, the more powerful it becomes. Shaman is also the best at burst damage. On the flip side they struggle to recover a lost board.
TOKENS
Note: I strongly hesitated to change Shaman's basic totems but decided against it out of caution & conservatism.
COMMONS
RARES
EPICS
LEGENDARY
TOKENS
Card changes
The following cards almost made it into my core sets, but didn't because there were no room left for them.
WARLOCK
Warlock is weird because it's mostly defined by its HP. It's not that Life Tap is intrinsically better than other HPs, it's just that it's deck-defining. Life Tap alone guarantees that Warlock will always have two archetypes at its disponsal : "vomit your hand and reload" and "play Twilight Drake/Mountain Giant on turn 4", independently of any class cards. If class cards didn't exist, Warlock would be the only class that still feels unique because of its HP (MAYBE Hunter would also feel unique because of SMOrc).
Fortunately Warlock has a few other themes than defines it... but those themes are largely under-exploited.
TOKENS
COMMONS
RARES
EPICS
LEGENDARY
TOKENS
Card changes
The following cards almost made it into my core sets, but didn't because there were no room left for them.
WARRIOR
Warrior is probably the best designed class in the game. No overhaud needed here, just some edge polishing.
I strongly hesitated to un-nerf win axe or to change its stats, but I couldn't find anything good. RIP FWA. F.
COMMONS
RARES
EPICS
LEGENDARY
TOKENS
Card changes
The following cards almost made it into my core sets, but didn't because there were no room left for them.
It seems that the spam filter erroneously marked this as spam.
But I took care of it.
There are a few cards that I feel could use some light touch ups that didn't like Arcane Devourer for an example which I feel could cost 1 less or start with slightly better stats, that said not all card are meant to be viable but that is a card that may as well not exist.
Thank you Demon. It was probably due to the terrible formatting of my post.
Subject 9, Scrapyard Colossus, Fungalmancer, and Lazy Peon all could be very restricting in an evergreen set. Besides that, the total removal of charge is a bad idea. It's a core keyword and I believe it should exist in some shape or form. The basic set is also supposed to have a few bad cards to teach players the strengths and weaknesses a card could have. Silverback is supposed to be compared to Grizzly to teach that Health isn't the only important stat in a Taunt minion, Magma Rager is supposed to demonstrate the importance of balanced stats on an aggressive minion.
Seems like the direction for classic + basic is now pure tempo or nothing. Just about every face damaging card has been nerfed to oblivion, and every combo card from classic I can think of is now gone or nerfed (even that Injured Blademaster + Circle of Healing combo, which honestly without cleric is entirely moot). A little surprised you've left Malygos untouched, but there's a good chance its because you already planned to get rid of Moonfire. Perhaps all this is a little too drastic for my taste. We're basically letting the expansions take care of adding combo and face cards. Not really a good option in my opinion.
Justicar's inclusion is likely the most controversial. Given how fair most of these cards are, this is perhaps the most powerful card currently in your version of evergreen. Looks like control warrior will take over once again, unless you've specifically designed warrior's cards to contain no control cards.
No ooze, no harrison. But in comes corrosive sludge. Way too expensive for any consideration. There is a good reason why ooze remains in play today, and that's because its an efficient weapon removal option. To be the same most weapons have to cost more that the sludge does, and that's admitably a very small number of weapons. To put a simple example; why would anyone tech to remove the opponent's Eaglehorn Bow, or Stormhammer if the opponent have already taken 2-3 shots at minimum before you have a chance to remove it.
Not a fan at all of you removing charge from all non legednaries outside boar and the non boar ones arent an issue and boar is on purpose kept as it is as it helps them find out probllems if boar is played seriosuly then is prolyl somethign wrong with/inside the meta(their words not mine).
And Wolfrider and bluegill where never any issue at all and instea dof them gabrage maga rager tier you could HOF instead of making worthless.
And NO ART HAS TO BE CHANGED AT ALL. The art is iconic has no reason to be replaced at all. and if want new art give OPTIONS you know cardskins so people can use art they prefer.
And alexstraza effect DOES NOT A CHANGE if want her out of classic, HOF STUFF ISNTEAD OF DESTROYING. WIid is a mode aswell you know, for payign with their odl decks/cards which chanegs liek aleex(where its nto at all issue in wild at all go against that like your alexstraza you removed evry sue of her basicly she is now garbage not worth a legendary adn nto worht 9mana 8/8 at all. HoF is way better then makign clasis/basic worhtless garbage tier cards.
and vulpera scoundrel woulnt be to good at all for classic with currnet stats its not even that good of card in egenral for constructed.
Raidleader is still pure garbage thats serves 0 use at all for anyone.
Magma rager doenst need to be changed
The 5/5 sludge ahs no reaosn to excist in classic ooze is 100times betetr and its nto issue .
Ultrasaul serves 0purpose in classic so does
Stormwatcher is terriblle give it rush ontop and it actully has use atleats sometimes.
And arcane devourer could at the VERY LEAST be 7mana or bit higher stats so its maybe any use ever at all for anyone
Amalgam shouldnt be a classic card at all.
Hemet is still gabage and is nto a usable tech at all increase his stats or reduce and he'd still be weak just not worthless(liek yoru new alexstraza)
And nozdormu can be 8mana and he'd still be incredbly weak and really not worth being a legendary at all.
Sorry but i dotn think you did good job at all
Yeah classic/basic shouldnt be the best overlal but still should have goo stuff that atleats serves a purpose ever at all not pure gabage packfiller tier certainly not more and espcially not among legendaries, they dont have to be the best just not uselss.
Wow, nice job with the formatting in a limited-tool environment :) Might steal some of that :D
Yes, Arena player in me screams in horror looking at some of these, but I get your reasoning.
One thing I must say tho, you say that "memes matter" and then you go and basically destroy the OG Meme-Rager itself, which would in turn invalidate all the Ragers in future sets. I think this is a mistake on your part.
Looking forward to more :)
To give some answers
A new version of my neutral set is under way.
onyl problem charge in absic/classic is the boar and devs intoanly keep ti as its never issue on tis own(worse elve archer) they use for ,if gets sued is prolyl soemthign wrong.
Alex and nozdormy just wrong just make new version then DONT DELETE CARDS and theyre anon fucking issue in wild.
Ooze yeah was a msitake to replace it and DONT NERF IT ,its not an issue at all and n never has been,never will its a good TECH CARD if doesnt need netfs.
Arcane devourer is a increbdly stupid reason to not buff and FOR MAN CHEAT YoU GOT WAY BETETR OPTIONS.
Sorry but i think youre just terrible at it.
Wanan try building actual decks on this site with your Core Set Chnages in mind? I think this will give you important insight on whether you succeeded or not. I've done that to my own set and took some notes that can tell me if changes need to be made.
Magma Rager and Silverback Patriarch should never, ever change. They're too iconic. I also strongly dislike changing card art and names for the same reason.
I think that the 9 Mana dragons could honestly all just become 8 Mana (with some changes obviously). To compensate for the buff I think Malygos could go down to Spell Damage +4 and some of Ysera’s dream cards might have to be nerfed.
Alright Blizzconline is very soon so I need to finish this before they reveal the actual official core set rework.
Here are the changes I made to my Classic set:
@Zyella I may be more receptive to your comments if they were written less agressively and with better spelling
EDIT: Also new revision of the priest set added
Druid and Paladin out. Have to finish this quick.
Considering the scope of this project, you did a pretty good job. I do have a few issues with the set though. Subject 9 only affects 4 out of 10 classes in the game. Unless the developers provide secrets for all classes, then 6 classes are down 1 useful legendary. I'm also not a fan of giving classes the ability to go infinite in the classic set and especially in the basic set as you did for druid. I understand that the core set will probably rotate each year, but how often will they want to change basic cards? I think that mechanic should be reserved for expansions.
I’m out of my depth when it comes to balance, so I’ll just guess you did well lol
but as for the other aspects, I think the cards could use a little polishing (not first priority per se, but something to keep in mind): the flavor of some of these cards doesn’t make sense when taken outside the context of their expansion (e.g. Safeguard, Scrapyard Colossus, Servant of Kalimos etc.), and while I’m definitely not opposed to changing some of these cards’ arts I think some choices here are really weird (Orgrimmar Brute’s art makes less sense now because of the portal background, and Overdue Justice doesn’t really make sense outside of Scholomance’s theme).
Also, I think this new core set isn’t a chance to get rid of Paladin’s connection with Murlocs (in what world does that even make sense?)
To give some answers:
Hunter, Warlock, Warrior, are here. I wished I had time to polish but I'm trying to get them all out before tomorrow. Mage and Shaman are ready, only the formatting is left. Rogue is still under way.
EDIT: Mage & Rogue out! Only Shaman left!
Aaand it's finished! Just in time!
Just a heads up, Volcanic Infernal will kill itself with its Battlecry, effectively registering it as a 10 mana "deal 6 damage to all minions" card.
Thanks for the heads up