Yesterday was the first day of the Fractured in Alterac Valley Mini-Set's reveal season, which showcased a total of 7 of the 35 new cards that are going to be playable starting from February 15th, together with Patch 22.4.
Although day 2 is about to begin, we have some interesting design insights to share with you. Hearthstone Game Designer Cora "Songbird" Georgiou created a Twitter thread full of behind-the-scenes tidbits: in fact, it appears that she was one of the devs in charge of the very first designs of this mini-set - now we know who to blame in case something goes wrong!
Long story short, here's a summary explaining what got revealed yesterday and what we're about to see in the upcoming days.
- Spawn of Deathwing is the first go a 4-card cycle.
- Deep Breath is one of Onyxia's iconic abilities during her WoW raid.
- If cast by other spells like Rune of the Archmage, the damage will still be influenced by the number of spells in your hand (source).
- Lightmaw Netherdrake originally had the effect of Spirit Guide, which was then brought to the main expansion and Final Design came up with a brand new Holy/Shadow card for the mini-set.
- With Onyxian Warder, Cora wanted to bring back Onyxia's Whelps, and hopes that giving them Rush will make them see play in 2022.
- Whelp Bonker's Frenzy and Honorable Kill make sense together, and Neutral card draw is a good option.
- Cora also confirms the fact that bringing back old mechanics from the same Year in the final set is somewhat of a stable rule in the design team.
- It was supposed to be called "Whelp Smasher".
- Don't Stand in the Fire! was originally going to be called "The Floor is Lava", but there's already a Duels treasure with that name so they had to change it.
Quote From Cora The first reveals for 22.4 are live! Here are some things you might like to know about these cards.
Spawn of Deathwing: This is the first card of a 4 card cycle! You'll see the other 3 later, but maybe you can guess the theme…
Deep Breath: one of Onyxia's iconic abilities during the raid. I wanted it to reflect the ability by doing something cool to minions in center of the board a la Enter the Coliseum, but it was a bit too niche of a design.
Lightmaw Netherdrake: so this is a Holy and Shadow split Dragon because it was originally the design that ended up on Spirit Guide! We liked it so much that we pulled it up to main set, and Final Design made this new card.
Onyxian Drake: Control Dragon Warrior rules!!!!
Onyxian Warder: I had to bring back the typical Dragon condition, and I really wanted to bring back Onyxia's Whelps. Giving them Rush will hopefully mean they're playable in 2022 land. You'll be seeing more of them. :)
Whelp Bonker: In the final mini set of the year, we like to use keywords and mechanics from previous sets. Frenzy and Honorable Kill made sense together, and Neutral card draw is a good option. He was also supposed to be called Whelp Smasher. Idk who changed the name. Wasn't me.
Don't Stand in the Fire!: This was called "The Floor is Lava" for months and months, but there's already a Duels treasure with that name so we had to change it. Boo.
Also, this is only 7 of 35 cards in the set. We're not going to show off all of the best cards first ;)
Comments
I don't think renewing whelps to 2/1s with Rush is the proper way to reacquaint players with a classic token😒
Don't Stand in the Fire! is a way better name, anyway. I'm glad they had to change it. It fits much better with the whole Onyxia raid theme.
mini ysera, maly, and alex? but this leaves out onyxia?
not sure 4 dragons make a set.
"A cycle is a collection of cards that have one or more relationships with one another or share a common theme..." So not the entire set.
Based on her Spawn of Deathwing comment I guess we can expect 3 more mini dragons. The real question is which ones, and what effect?
My guess: at first I was thinking mini Aspects. But I’m leaning mire towards mini versions of black dragons. So maybe the other three are Spawns of Nefarion, Onyxia, and Sinestra.
Nefarion: Rogue card, generates a spell from either your opponent’s class or just another class.
Onyxia: maybe Neutral, summon two 2/1 whelps with rush.
Sinestra: Not sure as we don’t have an actual Sinestra minion. Maybe we’ll see one this set and then the Spawn will just have a lesser version of her effect.
I was actually thinking they meant it's a cycle of the same card. So we get the whelp now, spiky-haired teen-wing next, big daddy-wing after that, then remorseful, gentle grandpa-wing at the last.
Maybe, but as HuntardHuntard linked in another comment, a cycle of cards just means cards sharing a relationship or theme, so very likely they could have 3 more Spawn dragons or could be Deathwing's spawn growing up to get revenge for his dad's death in a second Cataclysm (second set next year).
However, seeing as Onyxia is "The Broodmother" it seems likely that the cycle is just 4 "Spawn of" dragons in this mini set. It could still be similar to what I had above, but maybe the forth is Spawn of Kazakusan now that we've seen that card. Neutral Dragon, Battlecry: Add a random Treasure to your hand. It's random instead of Discover for the Spawn because unlikely daddy Kazakusan, his spawn hasn't mastered use of his powers yet. So you just get whatever the dragonling is able to conjure! They could also have unique treasures for the Spawn as well if they go this route, so they are less powerful than the actual treasures.
might also be baby Kazacashan or whatever right?
Yes, but I hadn't seen that reveal when I wrote my predictions.