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There Can Be Only One - Card Design Competition Discussion Thread

Competition Theme: There Can Be Only One

This is a solo adventure - I don't want to see any doubling up!

  • You must create a Highlander card for a class which does not already have one
    • A Highlander card is one which has an effect when there are no duplicates in your deck, like Reno Jackson
    • The classes which don't already have an effect like this are Demon Hunter, Rogue, Shaman and Warrior

This time, anchorm4n wants to make sure every class has the chance to go duplicate free - without relying on Zephrys and Reno, that is!

As always, I can be reached through Discord or here on the site via PM if you have any issues to report.

Competition Phases

Here are the phases of this card design competition

  • Submission Phase: Starts on Mon, May 10 17:00 EDT (GMT -0400). Runs until Sat, May 15 17:00 EDT (GMT -0400)
  • Voting Phase: Starts on Sat, May 15 17:00 EDT (GMT -0400). Runs until Sun, May 16 16:00 EDT (GMT -0400)
  • Finalist Phase: Starts on Sun, May 16 17:00 EDT (GMT -0400). Runs until Mon, May 17 17:00 EDT (GMT -0400)
  • Winner Selected: After finalist voting concludes and we validate votes.

Discussion Thread Rules

No thread rules were added to this season. Please populate and manually edit this thread with them.

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  • Competition Theme: There Can Be Only One

    This is a solo adventure - I don't want to see any doubling up!

    • You must create a Highlander card for a class which does not already have one
      • A Highlander card is one which has an effect when there are no duplicates in your deck, like Reno Jackson
      • The classes which don't already have an effect like this are Demon Hunter, Rogue, Shaman and Warrior

    This time, anchorm4n wants to make sure every class has the chance to go duplicate free - without relying on Zephrys and Reno, that is!

    As always, I can be reached through Discord or here on the site via PM if you have any issues to report.

    Competition Phases

    Here are the phases of this card design competition

    • Submission Phase: Starts on Mon, May 10 17:00 EDT (GMT -0400). Runs until Sat, May 15 17:00 EDT (GMT -0400)
    • Voting Phase: Starts on Sat, May 15 17:00 EDT (GMT -0400). Runs until Sun, May 16 16:00 EDT (GMT -0400)
    • Finalist Phase: Starts on Sun, May 16 17:00 EDT (GMT -0400). Runs until Mon, May 17 17:00 EDT (GMT -0400)
    • Winner Selected: After finalist voting concludes and we validate votes.

    Discussion Thread Rules

    No thread rules were added to this season. Please populate and manually edit this thread with them.

  • She always has an ace under her sleeve... Or the whole deck sometimes.

    Not sure if this has synergies that make it broken.

    • Quote From Wailor

      Not sure if this has synergies that make it broken.

      Seems pretty neat, although it potentially does a lot more than Elise the Enlightened does for 1 less mana. Conversely, your deck would now have duplicates, disabling other Highlander cards like Zephrys the Great and kind of undermining the deck's "flavor".

      Ultimately not sure how to grade it. Love the art and the name, though.

      Friendly
      • Quote From linkblade91
        Quote From Wailor

        Not sure if this has synergies that make it broken.

        Seems pretty neat, although it potentially does a lot more than Elise the Enlightened does for 1 less mana. Conversely, your deck would now have duplicates, disabling other Highlander cards like Zephrys the Great and kind of undermining the deck's "flavor".

        Ultimately not sure how to grade it. Love the art and the name, though.

        The main disadvantage I see over Elise the Enlightened is that Elise is pseudo-draw, giving you a card advantage of 5-4 if you use her properly. Meanwhile, Kon'na "doesn't do anything" right away.

        Maybe I overvalued card advantage, which might not be all that relevant in this case.

  • This is my first idea. I was directly inspired by @Nirast's usage of Thunderfury in our mod Discord channel, so if they disapprove of the similarity I will back down.

    It originally Invoked Galakrond, the Tempest but I removed it to save on words (and make the weapon more universal). I did however keep the watermark as Galakrond's Awakening; we'll pretend The Fist of Ra-den isn't there too lol.

    Gameplay-wise, this works very well with the aforementioned Galakrond and his enablers. You can also combine Thunderfury with Speaker Gidra, Walking Fountain, Runic Carvings, and the dreaded Crabrider. Any Rush minions will do, but these are probably the best targets.

    Friendly

  • Ok, first ideas.

    Caria Felsoul was given the Aldrachi Warblades by Kil'jaeden in lore, so why not have her teach your hero its ability? In a highlander deck, there isn't enough consistency to be very aggressive or to use combos, so the focus is on survivability to help outvalue the opponent. 

    Anduin Lothar can help warrior close out a game and find tools that they need to compsensate for the lack of card consistency.

    Feedback:

    Wailor
    That seems like a cool idea, getting around the weakness of a highlander deck by turning it into a non-highlander deck. I do the appreciate the idea of supporting rogue decks that aren't aggro or combo, though I can't think of a good home to put it into right now. The anti-synergy with other highlander cards is something to consider, as many highlander decks do run multiple "no-duplicates" cards. Also, I wonder if it could be worded as "duplicate your deck", like how Elise the Enlightened "duplicates your hand".

    linkblade91
    This seems really overcosted as a highlander card. A 6 mana 3/3 weapon is quite bad, and it requires both highlander and running enough rush minions in a shaman deck to capitilize on the effect. My gut says 4 mana is where I would think about building around it.

  • First idea, I hope it's not too close to grumpymonk's.

    This is meant to support the Big Demon Hunter archetype that never really took off. Alandien is one of the three Demon Hunter teachers in charge of training new adepts in WoW. She was the first known female Demon Hunter in-game. [I had initially used Kor'vas Bloodthorn for this card, but Blizzard has made her a real card in the meantime.]

  • Looks like a slow start into the week... I'm sorry if I suggested a difficult theme again. I thought designing OP cards would be fun :(

    Feedback:

    grumpymonk
    Again, I hope you don't mind my own Demon Hunter card. Please tell me if you'd feel better if I went with something else. That said, what makes both our cards dangerous is the combo potential with Il'gynoth. While mine is somewhat limited because the cost of the Demons would still have to be paid, your card allows preparation via Weapons and is way cheaper. I do have to conceed that your card has much better flavor thanks to your great choice of its character. If we're lucky, Il'gynoth will get nerfed this week. Anduin is a nice and flavorful card as well. I do think it might end up too slow, though. Would it be possible to give him Taunt?

    linkblade
    Ooof, this is super hard to evaluate. The idea is certainly very strong, but I can understand grumymonk's reasoning that the card is too expensive. It reminds me of Luna's Pocket Galaxy that needed several attempts to find the right cost. I would advocate for making it cost 5.

    Wailor
    Very creative approach, super flavorful! I do like grumymonk's suggestion for the card text. Regarding the strength of the card, I'd compare it to Archbishop Benedictus. You're pretty much immune against fatigue which makes for great Control decks. I'd see this in Mill or Deathrattle builds, maybe Shuffle Rogue could also abuse it. Cool idea!

    • Quote From anchorm4n

      Looks like a slow start into the week... I'm sorry if I suggested a difficult theme again. I thought designing OP cards would be fun :(

      Feedback:

      grumpymonk
      Again, I hope you don't mind my own Demon Hunter card. Please tell me if you'd feel better if I went with something else. That said, what makes both our cards dangerous is the combo potential with Il'gynoth. While mine is somewhat limited because the cost of the Demons would still have to be paid, your card allows preparation via Weapons and is way cheaper. I do have to conceed that your card has much better flavor thanks to your great choice of its character. If we're lucky, Il'gynoth will get nerfed this week. Anduin is a nice and flavorful card as well. I do think it might end up too slow, though. Would it be possible to give him Taunt?

      linkblade
      Ooof, this is super hard to evaluate. The idea is certainly very strong, but I can understand grumymonk's reasoning that the card is too expensive. It reminds me of Luna's Pocket Galaxy that needed several attempts to find the right cost. I would advocate for making it cost 5.

      Wailor
      Very creative approach, super flavorful! I do like grumymonk's suggestion for the card text. Regarding the strength of the card, I'd compare it to Archbishop Benedictus. You're pretty much immune against fatigue which makes for great Control decks. I'd see this in Mill or Deathrattle builds, maybe Shuffle Rogue could also abuse it. Cool idea!

      Nah, not your fault. The comps this season have consistently been getting a lower and lower turnout than the comps from the first two seasons. I'm not exactly sure why though

      Friendly Staff

  • Very much a flavor-focused card, but you get to ROCK ON!!!!!!

    Reminder of what the Power Chords are:

    Friendly Staff

  • Feeback

    linkblade91

    Show Spoiler
    Regarding balance, I think I agree with grumpymonk, but that's not hard to fix. My main issue with the card is that it isn't particularly interesting effect or flavor-wise, beyond its slight connection with Galakrond, the Tempest. Not a bad card, but it doesn't stand out, at least for me.

    grumpymonk

    Show Spoiler
    Both cards are very cool, but I think I prefer Caria Felsoul. Anduin Lothar's slight connection with Varian Wrynn is cool, though (not sure if it was intended)

    anchorm4n

    Show Spoiler
    I don't think its similarity with grumpymonk is too bad, so go ahead IMO.

    That said, the card right now is a bit weak, I believe. I'd either give her an aura effect (likeFrost Lich Jaina's) or give her vanilla stats.

    Demonxz95

    Show Spoiler
    I like when cards use forgotten and/or goofy mechanics, so I think it's quite cool. I was a bit worried about his power level, seems balanced compared to Elise the Enlightened.

  • What if I go a completely different direction with Thunderfury?

    Now it's a Barrens card, and ties directly into what Bru'kan wants to do: reap enemies with blasts of lightning! Intended to be paired with cards like Chain Lightning (Rank 1), Tidal Surge, and Stormstrike; also has synergy with Evolve and its ilk in Wild, which are all Nature spells for whatever reason. There are a lot of Shaman Nature spells, to be honest.

    Also gained significantly more flavor, for two reasons: the obvious one (a weapon called "Thunderfury" boosts your lightning spells), and the less obvious one (it's a callback to Barrens chat in WoW, where people spammed stuff like "Did someone say Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker?" to be annoying).

    Edit: I also have a third iteration, which is more of an "APM OTK" card. Potentially better than Doomhammer, but you have to chain Nature spells to really have a go at it. Thunderfury -> Stormstrike -> Lightning Bolt -> Lightning Bloom -> Serpentshrine Portal = 33 damage, if my math is right. Sounds decent enough, but you must be Highlander so it balances out I think.

    Friendly

  • Show Spoiler

    Demonxz95 - As I noted in Discord, not a fan of the name "Riffy". I am however a fan of reusing Power Chords, and can only hope that such an expansion would introduce new ones as well (because the existing ones…well…they kind of suck lol).

    anchorm4n - I like her: goes well with Big Demons, obviously, and synergizes indirectly with the DH's major ability to accumulate cards in-hand. Felosophy and Netherwalker, for example, would naturally find a home in such a deck.

    grumpymonk - Caria is scary, given how readily the DH can acquire Hero attack power. And she's so cheap, meaning you can get started really early. Would be more difficult in a Highlander deck, though, so maybe it's okay? I think I like Anduin Lothar more.

    Friendly

  • Brand new idea. Lots of people seem to be trying Legendary weapons, so I figured I would try. Only problem is that balancing it is not the easiest thing in the world. Two separate versions.

    The version that is stronger is paradoxically easier to balance due to the fact that it's effectively a 0-mana weapon when played with the ability, so the stats can be low without making the card extremely weak to play in mana value. The version that draws is obviously not as strong on base value, but it also has a harder sweet spot to find.

    Friendly Staff

  • Got a few ideas, but I like this one the best. Not 100% on the flavou, and might make the Overload cost 3. Also, a rare sight for my cards: a custom watermark :P

    Feedback:

    Wailor
    Interesting idea, but it kinda shuts down the rest of the highlander archetype. I guess you could make a deck where you draw all your cards, then use this and Academic Espionage as a finisher, but at that point just use double Augmented Elekk.

    linkblade91
    Rush version: Pretty cool card, and a great upgrade for Galakrond and the Sparks decks.

    Twice version: Not as overpowered as one might think, since making a Highlander Combo deck is easier said than done. Though I wouldn't make it a Battlecry, but a passive effect.

    Attack version: My least favorite, personally.

    grumpymonk
    Caria: Seems a little too strong. Maybe you could make it a passive effect?

    Anduin: Kinda boring, though I wouldn't say it's overpowered.

    anchorm4n
    Cool effect, and there's a few demons that could really benefit from this effect. I like it!

    Demonxz95
    I prefer the weapon, mainly the one that only draws (lest we forget Patches, the Pirate). I think a 1/2 statline is good enough.

    Staff

  • “He never uses the same trick twice… but sometimes he will, just to keep you on your toes.”



    Thoughts? 

  • @DestroyerR Neat idea, but what about if you draw a card during your opponent's turn? You're not allowed to make decisions while it is not your turn.

    Friendly

  • linkblade
    I like the 4 Mana version quite a lot. The 5 Mana Weapon is too complicated with the two restrictions and requires too much setup to be really worth it. The only issue I can see coming up is that Barrens has no other highlander card. But for me, that's only 4 instead of 5 stars and with a average of 4 you'll be fine :)

    Demon
    The Warrior card is super flavorful and I would probably rate it 4 stars if you made it a 6/6/6 (like in the song of Iron Maiden). What keeps me from giving it a top rating is what linkblade said: the tokens are too weak. Oh and I agree that "Riffy" is too much. That said, I do also like The Kingslayers quite a lot. The first one might be a bit too much, but if you decide to go with it, I suggest considering to cut the "from your deck". Or is this meant to be the card's weakness? What happens when it starts in hand? Really cool idea anyways!

    Nirast
    Nice idea, especially how you worked around the major catch of making a highlander spell (it becomes a dead card if you end up with duplicates in your deck). The power level is a bit hard to evaluate, but I'd probably cut the Overload. It makes the card more complicated than it needs to be. If you think it's too strong at 5, you can just raise the cost.

    DestroyerR
    Very creative idea, I like it! Maybe you can sneak a "on your turn" in the fourth line to prevent the issue linkblade has pointed out.

  • linkblade91

    Show Spoiler
    I like the "may attack again" version, but potentially being able to attack 8 times seems like too much. The "your spells cast twice version" is also nice, but not so original given that Electra Stormsurge exists.

    Demonxz95

    Show Spoiler
    I prefer Stringslayer Riffy, but The Kingslayers are also cool.

    The thing I enjoy the most about them is that, yes, they allow you to run a dreaded 29-card deck, but since you have to go Highlander, you don't get the efficiency this kinds of decks usually allow you.

    Between both versions, I'd say the one that costs 1 mana is the most balanced. If you go with that version, I think either 1/2 or 1/3 would be ideal.

    Nirast

    Show Spoiler
    I wouldn't say your card needs more Overload. If anything, it doesn't seem so much better than Gather Your Party, considering you need a Highlander deck to run it.

    DestroyerR

    Show Spoiler
    I see it as a potential winner. I don't think the opponent's turn thingy that link and anchor pointed out is too big of a deal, since already Discover can trigger during your opponent's turn (and it just picks a random card)

  • A little quick note because 50% of the entries so far use the Classic watermark, and that percentage was even bigger a few days ago.

    Don't use it. Highlander deckbuilding is not a Classic mechanic. It did not exist until League of Explorers, so cards for this prompt should realistically not exist any earlier than that.

    Friendly Staff

  • This card is still a work in progress - feedback is appreciated! This is inspired by Wrathspike Brute.

    Edit - will probably change the card text to say "after", instead of whenever.

  • Feedback:

    Show Spoiler
    Wailor

    Show Spoiler
    CQK — -1 star for balance (too easily broken with Legendaries IMO), -1 star for idea (I mean… a Highlander card that cancels the Highlander part of the deck? That’s just… idk, unfitting), so 3/5

    linkblade91

    Show Spoiler
    Thunderfury — -1(?) star for idea (Rush Shaman? Sure, I suppose it works… the effect is just not very interesting to me for some reason), so 4-5/5

    Thunderfury II — -1 star for balance (as you said, there’s a LOT of Nature spells in Shaman. A Battlecry that lets you cast all of them twice permanently… that’s bound to be broken), so 4/5

    Thunderfury III - 5/5, easily best iteration. Also gives this an actual purpose as a weapon rather than just being a minion like all other Highlanders

    grumpymonk

    Show Spoiler
    CF — -1 star for aesthetics (the majority of cards referencing your hero have it as “hero”, not “Hero” like this one), -1 star for idea (not very creative if I’m being honest. Just giving your hero a permanent keyword… meh), so 3/5

    AL — 5/5. Neat! Love the idea behind this one, like a general calling his armies. Almost like a better Varian, but different enough to not be a simple powercreep

    anchorm4n

    Show Spoiler
    Alandien — -1 star for idea (as said with grumpymonk’s card, the idea is… meh. It’s admittedly a little more elaborate, but still pretty tame imo), so 4/5


    Demonxz95

    Show Spoiler
    SR — 5/5, awesome flavor, aesthetics and balanced! (Probably, idk)

    Kingslayers — I like the first version best. As you said, easier to balance, and the idea is already interesting and unique enough. 5/5

    P.S. imagine using non-custom watermark LUL

    Nirast

    Show Spoiler
    HoT — -1 star for aesthetics (“from your deck” is no longer used), -1 star for idea (Overload part is pretty redundant after the massive downside of being Highlander, and makes the effect needlessly more complicated), so 3/5

    Ilphelkiir

    Show Spoiler
    ZtV — -2 stars for balance (it just obliterates every token deck on turn 5… VERY volatile matchups), so 3/5



    In response to feedback on Bataak: As Wailor said, Discover is already established to pick a random option on your opponent’s turn, so there’s no real problem here and you just end up drawing a random card as normal. Also, forgot to mention: if you no longer have a certain type of card in your deck, that option will disappear (so if you have no minions, the “minion!” option will no longer appear)

  • How do you actualy trigger discover on opponent's turn? Imo casting a random spell on opponent's turn doesn''t count, because these always have random targets, and I always interpreted discover as targeting in that case, and I do not think there's a card in game which say that you actualy discover, or do any other targeted effect, with possibility of triggering on opponent's turn.

    Not trying to disregard any idea, but I think that's already 3rd custom card I saw which would allow to make choices on enemy turn, and people always say that it's ok, targets would be random, while there is no effect in game on which would this be biased as far as I know, but maybe I don't remember some interactions.

    Also, sorry for inactivity, I am, like, in a very busy and stressful situation right now, so I'm just too tired to think about custom stuff, and that also kinda takes away motivation to provide feedback to others.

    • Quote From ChickyChick

      How do you actualy trigger discover on opponent's turn? Imo casting a random spell on opponent's turn doesn''t count, because these always have random targets, and I always interpreted discover as targeting in that case, and I do not think there's a card in game which say that you actualy discover, or do any other targeted effect, with possibility of triggering on opponent's turn.

      Not trying to disregard any idea, but I think that's already 3rd custom card I saw which would allow to make choices on enemy turn, and people always say that it's ok, targets would be random, while there is no effect in game on which would this be biased as far as I know, but maybe I don't remember some interactions.

      Also, sorry for inactivity, I am, like, in a very busy and stressful situation right now, so I'm just too tired to think about custom stuff, and that also kinda takes away motivation to provide feedback to others.

      The base for this mechanic is, as you said, the Discover spells cast on your opponent’s turn. I don’t see why that wouldn’t be a proof of mechanics: Discovering isn’t targeting, and there are plenty of cards that don’t cast randomly (Lynessa Sunsorrow for instance) and Discover effects are still resolved randomly

  • @DestroyerR In fairness, you can test this out by playing Unseen Saboteur against someone with a Discover-spell in their hand. I assume it will work the way you want it to, but I guess my ultimate point is that you shouldn't have to assume what the card does in that situation. Unseen Saboteur specifies that randomness will come into play, and yours does not.

    Friendly
    • Quote From linkblade91

      @DestroyerR In fairness, you can test this out by playing Unseen Saboteur against someone with a Discover-spell in their hand. I assume it will work the way you want it to, but I guess my ultimate point is that you shouldn't have to assume what the card does in that situation. Unseen Saboteur specifies that randomness will come into play, and yours does not.

      My point is that A) Discovering isn’t targeting, so the “targets are random” part isn’t relevant, B) even on cards that don’t specify randomness, like Lynessa, Discover effects also behave this way. At this point it’s a pretty well-known interaction 

  • Yeah, and I would be pretty sure your card would work as intended, but none of those cards imply in their text they would allow to choose options, it's intuitional that they choose randomly, and it's just kinda strange and less intuitional when text in card straight implies that such thing could be possible. Of course it's still better than having more than 4 lines in text, I am probably more angry about other card I saw in which this would be easily solved.

  • You all forget about Oh My Yogg! which made discovering randomly a totally common thing. That may happen on your turn, but it happens randomly nevertheless without an explicit explanation on Oh My Yogg!. 

  • Good luck to all finalists! Only 7 this time - were there really that few entries this week not to allow an eighth?

     

    • Quote From grumpymonk

      Good luck to all finalists! Only 7 this time - were there really that few entries this week not to allow an eighth?

       

      It's an interesting challenge, but all but four of the classes were removed from the competition, leaving those who aren't experienced with those classes in the dust.

    • Quote From grumpymonk

      Good luck to all finalists! Only 7 this time - were there really that few entries this week not to allow an eighth?

       

      According to Shadows, there was roughly a six-way tie for eighth place, hence the decision to only have 7 finalists.

      Friendly Staff

  • Congratulations to JFK!

    Friendly

  • Yay!

  • Congrats to JFK!

    Oof, I got quite a beating in the finals with no less than eleven 1-star votes. But at least the participation in the finalist voting saw a solid rise of 50%. Let's hope it stays that way.