I don't get what you see in Ramming Speed. the only way someone would ever play it over Supercollider is in a meta where there are so many big doubles that Collider is either not enough or has you take too much damage.
I'd like to nominate [Hearthstone Card (Toxic Reenforcements) Not Found] That thing can absolutely rush down decks if you get enough pressure early...and if you want to get funky you can run Necromechanic for that sick 12-damage burst.
Cool card for a Deathrattle Rogue deck. Waxadread, Mechanical Welp, Anubisath Warbringer ... Lots of great deathtrattles available that can make this archetype really good.
Great card. It's a 4/4 minion with assassinate that removes all copies of the minion you destroy. And you can Shadow step it and do the same again to another minion! Excellent if you play against infinite decks like Druids with Elise or Mill Rogue in Wild.
Not that bad, I'd say. 3 mana 3/1 that summons two 2/1 really isn't as horrible as everyone says. Not great, but it's the minion threat that counts, you obviously wouldn't count on actually attacking with Dragonblight Cultist.
This Galakrond will allow some crazy combos in Standard and Wild. You may even play it in a Spectral Cutlass Deck with academic espionage and draw cards.
Yeah, I agree completely. People always consider relations between games as stealing their playerbase. I can understand that concern when it is based upon time/money as a spending source but situation here a little bit more complex than that.
It is like openning a gym in a city which doesn't have any and this gym has serving and promising more services than the gym in nearest city. It will at least gain an amount of customers from its city and if it will be more succesful than its competitor, it may gather more customers from neighbour city too.
The best example of this is my homeland. Hearthstone is popular ok but so much people (It is millions of people) doesn't play Hearthstone just because They don't know english very well and those people are playing games actively and wanted to play Hearthstone once but couldn't afford it just because they don't know a language. So Hearthstone isn't a real competitor in this country, especially on younger people. I will leave here a comment of mine why this is like that;
I honestly hope LoR is successful just because it will force Blizzard to put more effort into some of the major issues with HS. They have improved greatly in 2019, but there is still plenty of issues that still need addressing. Competition is good, but I'm not going to keep my hopes up, because we've been down this road before.
This. Many card games can easylie coexist, so I hope LoR will be a great game with solid fan base. I also want try how LoR so for now it's ok, but easthetic still bother me so far (also I never played LoL). What I can is for sure it's a game that is not boring to watch, and it's also important for it's potencially success.
You're right that many games can easily coexist, and that it's silly to proclaim every new digital CCG "the Hearthstone killer," but I think you may be a bit too rosy in your outlook on coexistence today. The facts remain that Hearthstone is the 500lb gorilla in the room when it comes to marketshare:
The same SuperData report that this comes from says that the overall audience size for digital CCGs is leveling out, and that a large majority of players want access on their smartphones. HS's biggest competition - MTGA - will probably never make it to mobile because the game is too complex and the board size has no limits to make rendering straight-forward. Other games like Gwent are getting into mobile, but they're just not popular enough to make a dent.
These factors, combined with the inertia of players' sunk cost in Hearthstone, makes it a juggernaut, and for someone to get into the digital CCG space, they need to take shots at Hearthstone's marketshare. That would be great, and that's why people are looking for the "Hearthstone killer." If Blizzard takes a big hit in their profits, perhaps they'll make a serious investment in Hearthstone improvements. How long have they talked about tournament modes? How long have people been calling for rotating standard sets or greater investment into the Wild format to make old cards less worthless?
Runeterra may not be a "Hearthstone killer," but from my first impressions, I think it's well-poised to deal the major hit to Hearthstone that Blizzard needs if they're ever gong to take major steps to improve the game. In particular:
Runeterra offers a "safe" F2P switch. Between the sunk cost into Hearthstone and the knowledge that switching to something like MTGA will also require massive time/monetary investment to be competitively viable, most players would prefer not to switch. Runeterra gate-limits buying cards, offers focused ways to get cards from specific regions, and only uses wildcards so that people can more easily get exactly what they want, so the risk of grinding for what you want is lower. (I believe this is a big part of why most other CCGs have failed to gain traction - they use the same basic monetizing model as Hearthstone/MTG/etc., and no one wants to sink that much money/time in twice).
Runeterra is mobile-first. This is going to make it a lot easier for casual players to pick up and try on the go, where a game like MTGA or Artifact was always going to require players to set aside time to game at home.
Runeterra will probably appeal to the Hearthstone players who want a more complex strategy game as their main CCG, but don't want to play a game like MTGA that's saddled with poor mechanics that stem from age/being a non-native to digital spaces (e.g. having to draw land cards is painful after you've played Hearthstone, and mana screw is super tilting)
Riot Games has said they'll be willing to make balance patches as frequently as once a month if needed, whereas Blizzard has been extremely slow to do any balance fixes.
Nothing is going to kill Hearthstone (which is a good thing), but it doesn't have enough real competition, and Runeterra looks poised to be a major competitor in this space.
There are another reasons why Runeterra might probably succeed more than other dccg's. It is language support.
For example, Here in Turkey, Some people don't know English. Especially younger people who studies in colleges. They want to play Hearthstone for example but most of them don't decide to play because of the language part. They don't know English so they can't play it effectively.
Riot brought League of Legends in Turkish to Turkey, They opened Turkish Server. With Legends of Runeterra's reveal, They announced that LoR will also be playable in Turkish, They posted a video about voiceovers with anouncement. That excited people, especially the people who couldn't play Hearthstone or other card games because of language skills.
There is not a little gaming community here. If you go check out, There is always a Turkish streamer in LoL channel at top 5. There is a potential and Riot saw that.
There was even a petition about translating Hearthstone to Turkish here. Blizzard refused it.
%70 of our people are young and at best, %90 of them are playing computer games and I know that Riot is doing same thing for another countries which can't get language support for best games around.
For being another example how a gaming company should act, When Witcher 3 published, There was no Turkish translation and They had no Turkish translator in their team. After the launch, some people here voluntarily translated the game and contacted with CD Projekt Red. Cd Projekt Red agreed the translation and added it to original copy. Now, one of the most loved game is Witcher 3 and company is CD Projekt Red here. And for being answer, Most of people here bought original copy of Witcher 3 even it is a single game. (people here rarely buy original games, especially single games, They started to buy tho.) Now, some people don't even like sci-fi games, They all are waiting for Cyberpunk because they are expecting same support.
Like the example here, The people who rarely buy games can spend their money to cosmetics in LoL and they are really spending much. not even for themselves, They are also gifting each other so much. That seems so weird at first look, but if you go deeper you can understand that. They feel important when a company listens them and give support to them.
Playing a game in your main language might be normal for French, German, English, Russian , Chinese or Japanese people but not for people here and I believe there are other nations like us. They become excited when they hear about a game is publishing in Turkish. I remember how all people here loved Crysis for being fully Turkish. Even people here loved Age of Empires II because of there are some Turkish words although they are not even close to Turkish. They were just words which an unnative person's wrong pronounciation of Turkish words. They are still meme here tho. :D (Well, it is not valid for me and people like me because I had an uncle who is an English teacher and I grown up with his computer and games. Even the games are in my main language, I always prefer English because I've been used to it like that and I can't really understand some gaming terms when they translated to my main language.)
So, Runeterra will probably succeed. Not just because of being a good game but because of this kind of policy and support. Well, I've tried it and game also seems great.
Language support shouldn't be underestimated. Some people around world (especially in my country) asks for it before they asks the game's system requirements when they hear a new game release . So much games have been successful here just because of the language support even they didn''t succeed worldwide.
Also like you said, Riot's f2p approach is real. I have said this in a different thread/article here; Riot tries to keep their customers happy because there is a fact in trade; If you make your customers happy, they feel more comfortable to buy and buy more. They are trying to keep us happy with f2p friendly content and hoping that we will buy cosmetics to support them. It is how League of Legends have been succeeded in years and ofc other political/worldwide policies of them. People here (especially younger ones again) buying League of Legends cosmetics and gifting each other even with their phone credits because they are happy to play the game in their main language and they can reach game's content fully without paying anything. It was the first game that you can see in mainstream media and it was supported/advertised very well by Riot. It was also first server that a game company opens here.
So I also think that It won't kill Hearthstone but will stay strong, at least stronger than any other card game except Magic The Gathering. That game has their own fan-base and it is not just a fan-base, it is like a cult mostly. Hearthstone either didn't steal from MTG's fanbase. It just bring other players to the Gamemarket as i said in my above posts.
So In years, There will be 3 main cardgames in the market. HS, MTG and LoR. This is what it seems like because of the valid reasons on society.
Seems really strong in Dragonlock, but that doesn't say anything really. Might see play in Handlock with a couple extra dragons along with Twilight Drake.
It's like Cloud Prince but instead of playing a secret you have to overload. It's a minion with fine stats and a good battle cry. It can fit in a variety of decks .
Better than it looks. Depending on the Legendary a 5/5 it's pretty good. The only problem is having to wait til it transforms in a Legendary that you like.
[DoD] ResidentSleeper Awards
I don't get what you see in Ramming Speed. the only way someone would ever play it over Supercollider is in a meta where there are so many big doubles that Collider is either not enough or has you take too much damage.
I'd like to nominate [Hearthstone Card (Toxic Reenforcements) Not Found] That thing can absolutely rush down decks if you get enough pressure early...and if you want to get funky you can run Necromechanic for that sick 12-damage burst.
New Warlock Hero - Galakrond, the Wretched
The Battlecry is too unreliable, but there's something about that Hero Power that might just make it not horrible.
We'll find out soon.
New Warlock Minion - Valdris Felgorge
I seriously doubt people will use this just to get a 12-card limit, but the draw is really nice and helpful to Handlock.
There is also the 'Badluck Albatros' and you can trigger necrium apothecary with it.
New Warlock Minion - Veiled Worshipper
Great card!
Except it's in Warlock, who not only has the worst Galakrond, but also has the least problems with card draw.
Actually good point, thank you. I just just made up this list for myself, didn't expect anyone to take a look.
New Warlock Spell - Dark Skies
That's just bad. There will be times when you play it on curve for a sweet clear, but there's waaay too many variables for this to work.
New Rogue Minion - Necrium Apothecary
Cool card for a Deathrattle Rogue deck. Waxadread, Mechanical Welp, Anubisath Warbringer ... Lots of great deathtrattles available that can make this archetype really good.
New Rogue Minion - Umbral Skulker
Very tempo oriented card. It's useful even if you've played Galakrond. Great card! I see combos in the making ...
New Rogue Minion - Waxadred
A perfect legendary for a Galakrond deck. Combined with Shadow of Death, Togwaggle's Scheme and Necrium Vial you can do some pretty cool things.
New Rogue Minion - Flik Skyshiv
Great card. It's a 4/4 minion with assassinate that removes all copies of the minion you destroy. And you can Shadow step it and do the same again to another minion! Excellent if you play against infinite decks like Druids with Elise or Mill Rogue in Wild.
New Warlock Minion - Crazed Netherwing
Dragonlock's Duskbreaker, obviously. Seems legit, Dragonlock will at least be a cool meme to see.
New Warlock Minion - Dragonblight Cultist
Not that bad, I'd say. 3 mana 3/1 that summons two 2/1 really isn't as horrible as everyone says. Not great, but it's the minion threat that counts, you obviously wouldn't count on actually attacking with Dragonblight Cultist.
New Rogue Hero - Galakrond, the Nightmare
This Galakrond will allow some crazy combos in Standard and Wild. You may even play it in a Spectral Cutlass Deck with academic espionage and draw cards.
Bethesda Pulls the Plug on Elder Scrolls: Legends - No Longer in Active Development
Yeah, I agree completely. People always consider relations between games as stealing their playerbase. I can understand that concern when it is based upon time/money as a spending source but situation here a little bit more complex than that.
It is like openning a gym in a city which doesn't have any and this gym has serving and promising more services than the gym in nearest city. It will at least gain an amount of customers from its city and if it will be more succesful than its competitor, it may gather more customers from neighbour city too.
The best example of this is my homeland. Hearthstone is popular ok but so much people (It is millions of people) doesn't play Hearthstone just because They don't know english very well and those people are playing games actively and wanted to play Hearthstone once but couldn't afford it just because they don't know a language. So Hearthstone isn't a real competitor in this country, especially on younger people. I will leave here a comment of mine why this is like that;
Language support shouldn't be underestimated. Some people around world (especially in my country) asks for it before they asks the game's system requirements when they hear a new game release . So much games have been successful here just because of the language support even they didn''t succeed worldwide.
Also like you said, Riot's f2p approach is real. I have said this in a different thread/article here; Riot tries to keep their customers happy because there is a fact in trade; If you make your customers happy, they feel more comfortable to buy and buy more. They are trying to keep us happy with f2p friendly content and hoping that we will buy cosmetics to support them. It is how League of Legends have been succeeded in years and ofc other political/worldwide policies of them. People here (especially younger ones again) buying League of Legends cosmetics and gifting each other even with their phone credits because they are happy to play the game in their main language and they can reach game's content fully without paying anything. It was the first game that you can see in mainstream media and it was supported/advertised very well by Riot. It was also first server that a game company opens here.
So I also think that It won't kill Hearthstone but will stay strong, at least stronger than any other card game except Magic The Gathering. That game has their own fan-base and it is not just a fan-base, it is like a cult mostly. Hearthstone either didn't steal from MTG's fanbase. It just bring other players to the Gamemarket as i said in my above posts.
So In years, There will be 3 main cardgames in the market. HS, MTG and LoR. This is what it seems like because of the valid reasons on society.
New Warlock Spell - Nether Breath
Seems really strong in Dragonlock, but that doesn't say anything really.
Might see play in Handlock with a couple extra dragons along with Twilight Drake.
New Shaman Spell - Invocation of Frost
Good cheap card for invoking Galakrond and stalling a big minion.
New Shaman Minion - Squallhunter
+2 spell damage! Amazing for wild and standard.
New Shaman Spell - Storm's Wrath
Awesome card. You can play it in all Shaman decks. I'll play it in my murloc deck.
New Shaman Spell - Lightning Breath
Bonkers spell for Dragon Shaman decks. 3 mana it's super cheap for clearing the board.
New Shaman Minion - Corrupt Elementalist
This card makes the Galakrond Shaman Deck pretty good.
New Shaman Spell - Dragon's Pack
It's like Feral Spiritbut without the overload. Awesome value. The Galakrond Shaman deck is looking pretty fun to play
New Shaman Minion - Cumulo-Maximus
It's like Cloud Prince but instead of playing a secret you have to overload. It's a minion with fine stats and a good battle cry. It can fit in a variety of decks .
New Warlock Minion - Abyssal Summoner
Not very good in Standard, at least until more support for Handlock comes, but this is pretty cool in Wild.
For a common card, not bad.
New Shaman Minion - Bandersmosh
Better than it looks. Depending on the Legendary a 5/5 it's pretty good. The only problem is having to wait til it transforms in a Legendary that you like.