So how do we feel about the new expansion so far? The theme was of course as expected, but the mechanics they've shown off so far look pretty interesting. Tradeable especially seems like a fun mechanic to design around, though perhaps one you'd need to be careful with. I can't imagine it'd be too fun to marry powerful cards with added consistency too often.

Conversation this week features a detour to another game. Onwards!

Winning Blow

Congratulations to the winner of the latest WCDC, sinti and their Knockout!

We'll have to wait and see what they come up with for next week's theme.

Live With Honour

The Fan Community Spotlight takes a different direction this week, focusing on a custom Runeterra set! Funnily enough, "Honor in Vainglory" was actually done by a recent Weekly Card Design Competition winner, FenrirWulf.

Some of you may have recognised that title and realised that this is an even bigger departure than it first appears - in addition to being a custom Runeterra set, it's also based on characters from a completely different MOBA, Vainglory. I was already out of my depth just heading to Runeterra, but I've never even seen Vainglory gameplay before!

That's part of what makes custom card creation so fun sometimes, though. As exciting as it can be to try and create expansions that perfectly capture some famous moment or characters from the appropriate canon, it can be just as compelling to try and imagine how you would adapt your favourite IP into the systems of another game that you love. I myself have done this before, creating Binding of Isaac and Awesomenauts styled classes and individual Pokemon cards for Hearthstone. They are... not great, so I'll spare you looking at them.

The best part of doing something like this to me is that it lets you introduce something you love to a new audience. While I'm personally not a huge fan of official crossovers, fan-created ones have that down-to-earth, authentic feel to them that I can't help but enjoy; there's no profit motive, no marketing incentive, it's just someone sharing something they're passionate about to a new audience in the hopes that somebody else will like it.

It's also why I don't mind pointing you to these Runeterra FCS whenever we do them, even though ostensibly this is a Hearthstone-based series. I think it'd be awesome if seeing a custom set, any custom set, got someone interested in a game enough to try it out. 

Click the link above for the full article to hear more about the thoughts that went into this project, as well as a link to the full set of cards.

Sharpening Kit

It's time to improve yourself in this week's competition. Click the banner to find out what professions await!