Hello everybody and welcome to the first Fan Community Spotlight of 2022. I thought 2021 was quite an epic year for the FC community, and here's to 2022 being an even better year. To kick off the new year, we've got Mr.Stupid to talk about the Artificer class. The class is still in early development with only a few sets being finished, but it looks to be making some promising developments. The class also has ties to VexMagic's Illusionist class which I showed on the series back in November of 2021 with both classes pairing together for Scholomance and both creators giving input on each other's classes during development.

The Artificer

As an Artificer, your base hero is Gelbin Mekkatorque, one of the most iconic gnome characters in the franchise. You may have forgotten that he has his own card in the game already, but his card isn't very good and his inventions are AWFUL. We can certainly do the character some more justice here.

Your base Hero Power as an Artificer is Minor Production, which adds a 2/2 Prototron to your hand. Prototrons by themselves are just 2/2 Mechs with no abilities, but just like Silver Hand Recruits in Paladin, Prototrons have a heavy synergistic component for the class.

When upgraded, it becomes Major Production, adding another 2/2 Prototron to your hand.

As an Artificer, you spend a lot of your time tinkering with what you make, thinking of new ways to improve it. Upgrade is the keyworded mechanic specific to Artificer, which lets you drag the Upgrade card to your hero (utilizing some of that Tradeable tech) to pay X given on the card and improve the card.

Now that we know some of the basics of the class, it's time that we get right into how everything plays out. Here's Mr.Stupid in the spotlight to talk about the class.

Give us an overview of the class. What does it do good at? Where does it falter? Which cards give us the best first view of the class?

Mr.Stupid: "Artficer is at its best when it has control over the board and it’s own hand. It’s very good at using spells to slow down its opponent’s minions and using any unspent mana to boost some cards in its hand. While it may lack in any direct face damage or drawing cards, it has other ways of generating cards to make sure it stays on top."

What initially gave you the idea to make an Artificer class, as well as the specific new mechanics that are at play here?

Mr.Stupid: "It was inspired by the DnD class of the same name. I loved playing it and thought it would be cool to bring something similar to Hearthstone. The focas on upgrading and buffing the cards in hand was meant to show tinkering and improvements."

Were these mechanics designed first and the rest of the class around that, or were they made to go with what was already built?

Mr.Stupid: "The theme came first and the mechanics second. I actually had to do a few tries before I got Upgrade right both mechanically and just grammatically."

Are there any other cards you wish to point out for any reason?

Mr.Stupid: "I really like Careless Constructer as it fits the class very well thematically. You just built this giant mech….and then it throws itself at the enemies face. It’s a great example of the moronically genius way this class acts."

Do you have anything behind the scenes you want to share with us, or perhaps a sneak peak of what's next to come?

Mr.Stupid: "Next major set for Artficer will be Scholomance. Me and my buddy Vex Magic are working together and plan on having a dual class set involving both of our custom classes. She brings the action while I have the lights and props to make a pretty cool school theater themed set."

Note: Encore is the mechanic of VexMagic's Illusionist class. It provides a bonus effect if you've played a card with the same Cost as itself this game.

Do you have anything else you wish to share?

Mr.Stupid: "Lastly I would like to share the fact that I didn’t do this alone. I had help from my friends like Vex and even Demon. While I did the heavy lifting, they were always there to give me ideas and balance changes. Thanks guys."

And we've made it to the end of our tour. This concludes first installment of 2022, but there will be much, MUCH more to come. If you're interested in checking out the entire class so far, click the banner below to be taken to the class's Imgur album.