Congratulations to all of the winners, and thank you to OoC for the giveaway, the virtual snowballs, and providing a place for this wonderful community to gather!
So just played 2 games of marvel snap because I was stuck on a train.
1. Deck number 1 patriot mystique
2 deck number 2 cerebro
Effectively they are the same deck, they both provide aura buffs for units, or are "tribal" decks without any inherent synergies or intrigue beyond buff math because math wins
Even worse this is an evolution of the pool 1 Swarm decks that used blue marvel and Tarzan. But instead of having your big auras cost 5 and 6 they cost 3.
3 is better then 5.
Marvel snap is such an complicated and interesting game!
Yeah, Patriot and Cerebro are pretty much the same deck. The only difference is on the deckbuilding portion of it but playing against them are pretty much almos the same.
I don't take too much offense on it though, every card game has a strategy that is similar to one another.
And also to be fair to Patriot and Cerebro decks you should expect different things from them. When playing against a Patriot deck you should expect an Ultron coming at the final turn. You don't need to expect that in a cerebro deck because they can't run them unless some twisted maniac came up with Cerebro 8.
Does someone have any idea what the Get Off MySnowbank! hidden achievement is about and whether it is even possible still to complete after all these many years? 🏂
Glad to hear! With the ultimate end times nowadays, that seems to work pretty much how I mention in the intro: over the course of the past year it's all somehow become closer to 15 days of dust refunds rather than the regular 14. And so it might wrap up around 19:00 CET, but on Tuesday rather than Monday (which should allow even more people to catch the reminder in time). I know I'll definitely take any extra hours they are willing to give us. ;)
The version of Astalor, the Flamebringer above is not correct. The manathirst ability actually says "Deal 16 instead." So I think the manathirst ability of Astalor, the Flamebringer changes the battlecry from "Deal 8 damage..." to "Deal 16 damage..." and that modified battlecry is doubled by Brann Bronzebeard to 32 total damage.
"Deal 8 more" is what it originally said on the card - Blizzard updated the wording to reflect the reality of what was happening, because technically Brann should not be doubling the additional damage. He was, though, and they chose not to fix the gameplay interaction. You are right in-that that's presumably how it functions with the new wording, but ultimately it is a bug Blizzard chose to paper over with a change in the text.
Strik's effect allows you to stop spending Corpses when you want to, but I might end up removing this aspect just for consistency with other Death Knight cards.
One important change we have for this season are the fact that your card descriptions now appear in the finalist voting. We've ran too many seasons without any changes to the system, and this should have some sort of effect. It may not be to everyone's cup of tea, but we're open to experimenting to see what works and what doesn't.
And also, we've taken the liberty of reducing the number of finalists from 8 to 6, which came about because of the number of entrants we received were dwindling, and 8 finalist often meant that about half of all the entries ended up appearing on the finals, and this also meant that poorly designed cards were more likely to make it to that stage. Reducing the number of finalists in correspondence to the lower number of entries should accommodate for this. In reality, this shouldn't make it that much harder to reach the finals. If we see an upsurge in entrants, then we will change this back.
Shadows has unfortunately been (mostly) unavailable for a while with his new job taking up a lot of time, so it will fall on Demon and I to keep things running. There might be some hiccups as we get acclimated to doing more of the heavy lifting, so keep that in mind D:
I'm sorry we kind of left everyone in the dark for so long; a four-month hiatus was not planned at all.
We're back! :D We'll get in contact with Moondreamer and R about starting their winner-themes properly later, but for now enjoy this special Death Knight comp!
Here's my idea: a 3-Frost 3/3/3 that spends 3 Corpses to gain Spell Damage +3 haha
Regarding our hiatus: Shadows has unfortunately been (mostly) unavailable for a while with his new job taking up a lot of time, so it will fall on Demon and I to keep things running. There might be some hiccups as we get acclimated to doing more of the heavy lifting, so keep that in mind D:
I'm sorry we kind of left everyone in the dark for so long.
The Death Knights have arisen, and now we serve them... in our job to make them new cards. Your card must be a Death Knight card, but you've got up to three different routes to go for a valid entry!
Rotten to the Corpse
Design a card with Corpse synergy.
The most straightforward way to do is to just make a card that spends Corpses, but there are a number of other ways you can go about this.
Triple Threat
Create a triple-Rune card.
Hint: Look at the existing triple-Rune cards that Death Knight has to get a better understand of what constitutes as a triple-Rune card.
House of the (Un)Dead
Design a card with Undead synergy/interaction.
Your card (if it's a minion) doesn't need to be an Undead, but merely just being an Undead will not count. Otherwise, you're free to go whatever route you want as long as it uses direct interaction with Undeads.
While you're more than welcome to try to make a card that fulfills all 3 prompts, this is fully optional and will likely prove to be a challenge.
We're kicking off Season 6 with a fun competition all about Death Knights. There's no prize for winning this one, but it'll be a sign of things to come.
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, Jan 2 17:00 EST (GMT -0500). Runs until Sat, Jan 7 17:00 EST (GMT -0500)
Voting Phase: Starts on Sat, Jan 7 17:00 EST (GMT -0500). Runs until Sun, Jan 8 16:00 EST (GMT -0500)
Finalist Phase: Starts on Sun, Jan 8 17:00 EST (GMT -0500). Runs until Mon, Jan 9 17:00 EST (GMT -0500)
Winner Selected: After finalist voting concludes and we validate votes.
Discussion Thread Rules
Please note: This is a special competition and not in a normal season.
I was actually asking about text. I understood that premium users could change the size and color. Some of the text in my last post should be blue and some of that smaller.
The version of Astalor, the Flamebringer above is not correct. The manathirst ability actually says "Deal 16 instead." So I think the manathirst ability of Astalor, the Flamebringer changes the battlecry from "Deal 8 damage..." to "Deal 16 damage..." and that modified battlecry is doubled by Brann Bronzebeard to 32 total damage.
When I experimented with Sea Giant I mostly found it to be a "win more" card. I have a similar feeling about Rotgill now too.
Burn decks and combo decks don't put many mininos on the board so I would struggle to get it down for less than 6 mana and a 6-mana 8/8 isn't very good. Attritrion decks - such as blood death knight or pure control paladin - have plenty of board clears so I would prefer more ways of putting multiple bodies on the board. Sea Giant was best against imp warlock which was already a strong match-up for me.
I have found Queen Azshara to be okay. It has some flexibility. The colossus is more minions on the board. An extra Bloodlust can seal a game too. Even the weapon gives a bit of reach.
For a second I want to imagine that you're a card game designer, creating a design document that outlines the creation of a game.
You start by listing out all of the different factors that might decide winning a match or losing, and then creating logical and relavent design decisions as a direct result.
Scenario A: the person with the biggest number on one side wins.
1. Will there be spells that can influence the math represented by a creatures attack - no?
2. All spells effects will be integrated into creature text
3. Cards get played at the same time
4. There will be 3 locations which will provide a small degree of variance and decision making where none would exist otherwise
So what this effectively means is that the decks that present the strongest one sided board states invariably win...period
Scenario B: The person who goes from 20 to 0 life loses
1. Well you can cast spells to decrease life, so you need healing and counter spells to compensate
2. You have creatures, but you also must be able to block attacks so you don't die
3. You have buffs that are temporary that can only be played at the moment of combat interaction, but also permanent buffs for tribal decks
4. You can cast spells to kill units one at a time or all at once.
5. You have special wincons that don't involve life manipulation
You see the addition of a life total in a card game creates opportunities for spiraling design opportunities.
Games that don't have life Totals are simple a matter of bigger number wins, and without the means of direct interaction there is never a reason to play a deck that presents lower numbers then bigger ones unless you're just locking the opponent down so they can't play.
What you end up with is a dumb game by design, and it shouldn't be a surprise it was in the design document all along.
New Card - Shanna the She-Devil
A new card, Shanna the She-Devil, has been revealed for Marvel Snap!
Discuss this card below or head on over to the card page!
Out of Cards Holiday Giveaway Winners Announcement + Reminders
Congratulations to all of the winners, and thank you to OoC for the giveaway, the virtual snowballs, and providing a place for this wonderful community to gather!
Snowpocalypse 3
I wish I could help, as I apparently completed it, in January 2021, but the message under still says "This is a hidden achievement" ..
Monday Meta Report - Jan 2
This is a weekly article that puts up the current winrates and playrates of the top decks in LoR.
Feel free to argue with the commentary if you like, but the winrates and playrates are not open to debate.
End-of-year Best Decks
I assume you are commenting on his comments, because the data is not open to argument.
Numbers are numbers, whether you like them or not.
How important is Kotori Lightblade in Pure Paladin? (Standard)
https://hearthstone.fandom.com/wiki/Kotori_Lightblade
Yeah, or at least that's what I heard. Because her physical appearance doesn't really show it :P
Is Marvel Snap Kind Of A Bad Game?
Yeah, Patriot and Cerebro are pretty much the same deck. The only difference is on the deckbuilding portion of it but playing against them are pretty much almos the same.
I don't take too much offense on it though, every card game has a strategy that is similar to one another.
And also to be fair to Patriot and Cerebro decks you should expect different things from them. When playing against a Patriot deck you should expect an Ultron coming at the final turn. You don't need to expect that in a cerebro deck because they can't run them unless some twisted maniac came up with Cerebro 8.
Snowpocalypse 3
Does someone have any idea what the Get Off MySnowbank! hidden achievement is about and whether it is even possible still to complete after all these many years? 🏂
Full Dust Refunds End Soon for 10 Hearthstone Cards From the Huge Lich King Balance Patch - Bonus Tips on What to Keep and What to Disenchant
Glad to hear! With the ultimate end times nowadays, that seems to work pretty much how I mention in the intro: over the course of the past year it's all somehow become closer to 15 days of dust refunds rather than the regular 14. And so it might wrap up around 19:00 CET, but on Tuesday rather than Monday (which should allow even more people to catch the reminder in time). I know I'll definitely take any extra hours they are willing to give us. ;)
New Neutral Minion - Astalor Bloodsworn
"Deal 8 more" is what it originally said on the card - Blizzard updated the wording to reflect the reality of what was happening, because technically Brann should not be doubling the additional damage. He was, though, and they chose not to fix the gameplay interaction. You are right in-that that's presumably how it functions with the new wording, but ultimately it is a bug Blizzard chose to paper over with a change in the text.
The Dead of Knight - Card Design Competition Discussion Thread
And also, here are some cards.
Strik's powers are as follows:
Strik's effect allows you to stop spending Corpses when you want to, but I might end up removing this aspect just for consistency with other Death Knight cards.
The Dead of Knight - Card Design Competition Discussion Thread
One important change we have for this season are the fact that your card descriptions now appear in the finalist voting. We've ran too many seasons without any changes to the system, and this should have some sort of effect. It may not be to everyone's cup of tea, but we're open to experimenting to see what works and what doesn't.
And also, we've taken the liberty of reducing the number of finalists from 8 to 6, which came about because of the number of entrants we received were dwindling, and 8 finalist often meant that about half of all the entries ended up appearing on the finals, and this also meant that poorly designed cards were more likely to make it to that stage. Reducing the number of finalists in correspondence to the lower number of entries should accommodate for this. In reality, this shouldn't make it that much harder to reach the finals. If we see an upsurge in entrants, then we will change this back.
Custom Card Competitions?
"We're back online!" - Imprisoned Scrap Imp, presumably.
Shadows has unfortunately been (mostly) unavailable for a while with his new job taking up a lot of time, so it will fall on Demon and I to keep things running. There might be some hiccups as we get acclimated to doing more of the heavy lifting, so keep that in mind D:
I'm sorry we kind of left everyone in the dark for so long; a four-month hiatus was not planned at all.
The Dead of Knight - Card Design Competition Discussion Thread
We're back! :D We'll get in contact with Moondreamer and R about starting their winner-themes properly later, but for now enjoy this special Death Knight comp!
Here's my idea: a 3-Frost 3/3/3 that spends 3 Corpses to gain Spell Damage +3 haha
Regarding our hiatus: Shadows has unfortunately been (mostly) unavailable for a while with his new job taking up a lot of time, so it will fall on Demon and I to keep things running. There might be some hiccups as we get acclimated to doing more of the heavy lifting, so keep that in mind D:
I'm sorry we kind of left everyone in the dark for so long.
Custom Card Competitions?
Here we go!
The Dead of Knight - Card Design Competition Discussion Thread
Ladies and gentleman, welcome to our season 6 prologue competition.
The Dead of Knight - Card Design Competition Discussion Thread
Competition Theme: The Dead of Knight
The Death Knights have arisen, and now we serve them... in our job to make them new cards. Your card must be a Death Knight card, but you've got up to three different routes to go for a valid entry!
While you're more than welcome to try to make a card that fulfills all 3 prompts, this is fully optional and will likely prove to be a challenge.
We're kicking off Season 6 with a fun competition all about Death Knights. There's no prize for winning this one, but it'll be a sign of things to come.
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
Discussion Thread Rules
Please note: This is a special competition and not in a normal season.
Full Dust Refunds End Soon for 10 Hearthstone Cards From the Huge Lich King Balance Patch - Bonus Tips on What to Keep and What to Disenchant
Thanks. This post gave me +5800 Dust, because I totally forgot to dust cards earlier...
Also, it was after 20:45 CEST or so... I thought it ended at 19:00 CEST (as it usually does I think), but not this time? Sometimes lucky I guess :)
Out of Cards Holiday Giveaway Winners Announcement + Reminders
I was actually asking about text. I understood that premium users could change the size and color. Some of the text in my last post should be blue and some of that smaller.
Out of Cards Holiday Giveaway Winners Announcement + Reminders
OoC pages are loading supercalifragilisticexpialidociously fast now without those ads. So this is how the premium life feels, lol 😋
I will enjoy this feeling to its fullest and as long as it lasts!
New Neutral Minion - Astalor Bloodsworn
The version of Astalor, the Flamebringer above is not correct. The manathirst ability actually says "Deal 16 instead." So I think the manathirst ability of Astalor, the Flamebringer changes the battlecry from "Deal 8 damage..." to "Deal 16 damage..." and that modified battlecry is doubled by Brann Bronzebeard to 32 total damage.
Evolve Shaman
When I experimented with Sea Giant I mostly found it to be a "win more" card. I have a similar feeling about Rotgill now too.
Burn decks and combo decks don't put many mininos on the board so I would struggle to get it down for less than 6 mana and a 6-mana 8/8 isn't very good. Attritrion decks - such as blood death knight or pure control paladin - have plenty of board clears so I would prefer more ways of putting multiple bodies on the board. Sea Giant was best against imp warlock which was already a strong match-up for me.
I have found Queen Azshara to be okay. It has some flexibility. The colossus is more minions on the board. An extra Bloodlust can seal a game too. Even the weapon gives a bit of reach.
I have seen Shadow Hunter Vol'jin used to cheat out the bigger minions, with Neptulon the Tidehunter as a big threat.
Out of Cards Holiday Giveaway Winners Announcement + Reminders
Issue should be resolved.
Borders do disappear after premium expires =)
Snowpocalypse 3
Wow, I can still feel the burning heat at the back of my neck after that sudden avalanche of snowballs thrown by you, Caro!
Apparently you had quite some catching up to do, lol 😜
Why Life Totals Matter!
For a second I want to imagine that you're a card game designer, creating a design document that outlines the creation of a game.
You start by listing out all of the different factors that might decide winning a match or losing, and then creating logical and relavent design decisions as a direct result.
Scenario A: the person with the biggest number on one side wins.
1. Will there be spells that can influence the math represented by a creatures attack - no?
2. All spells effects will be integrated into creature text
3. Cards get played at the same time
4. There will be 3 locations which will provide a small degree of variance and decision making where none would exist otherwise
So what this effectively means is that the decks that present the strongest one sided board states invariably win...period
Scenario B: The person who goes from 20 to 0 life loses
1. Well you can cast spells to decrease life, so you need healing and counter spells to compensate
2. You have creatures, but you also must be able to block attacks so you don't die
3. You have buffs that are temporary that can only be played at the moment of combat interaction, but also permanent buffs for tribal decks
4. You can cast spells to kill units one at a time or all at once.
5. You have special wincons that don't involve life manipulation
You see the addition of a life total in a card game creates opportunities for spiraling design opportunities.
Games that don't have life Totals are simple a matter of bigger number wins, and without the means of direct interaction there is never a reason to play a deck that presents lower numbers then bigger ones unless you're just locking the opponent down so they can't play.
What you end up with is a dumb game by design, and it shouldn't be a surprise it was in the design document all along.