The best answer for this is support on the site staff's part. Echo was the only person on the team who was really well-versed in Magic enough to be able to write good articles about it, and she recently left our team to focus on her personal life. And when you have no one on the team who focuses on a specific game, then you can't really cover it very well. I'm not even sure how much she'd played Arena recently (the internal systems of the game in general are not known to be especially great).
All things considered, our team on Out of Cards is quite small. We all pretty much play Hearthstone so that's easy to cover, but not everyone on it plays Legends of Runeterra for example, which is one reason why LoR articles in general are not as numerous as Hearthstone ones. When you don't have anyone on the team that can really support the game on the site, then it becomes impossible to cover and that's basically what happened with MTG Arena.
After a long time, I came back to MTG Arena (again) and even though I couldn't had time to write and staying around in the site because of my irl stuff, I was following here everyday for news and such.
Yesterday, I downloaded MTG:Arena again and wanted to check Outofcards' MTG:Arena Side and i was surprised when i saw the last thread which is 1 month's ago and comments surprised me more because the nearest is almost 2 years old and it is new expansion time for the game.
So I wondered it is about the site's support or the game itself. Is it the game that has the rough times or did just outofcards stop supporting it ?
Normal Mercenaries bounty reward: Haha, no coins of the legendary for you!
Trying to farm a specific bounty for the epic and/or rare coins associated: There you go, three times the legendary coins for the merc you've long maxed out.
My first impression after a decent bunch of games is that this expansion is pushing LoR further into highroll grounds. Jax decks seems consistent but Ornn/Trundle Timeline and any portal deck are highroll af. Especially the later. Sometimes it's T7 and your Norra is 2/6 and sometimes you got a full board with Sneezy Biggledust! by T4 and your opponent insta give up. Back to Trundle, the set definitely gave a huge second breath to the deck. Improvise allies are a god send since they keep the weapon while transforming, resulting in some absurbly stated followers.
Yi seems a bit less represented, I don't meet him often, but I'm not surprised with such a board dominion based set where having a 6/5 overhelm on T4 is the new standard.
Balance considerations aside, I really love to play with Norra. Sure it's RNG, it won't please everyone, but it's acceptably deterministic due to the fact it's on your 4 first cards and that her pack isn't that strong (Portalpalooza is a good example, it's both a key card and a rather sluggish one). Haven't found the sweet duo yet (Nami is meh due to meta being heavy with challenger keyword, same with Zoe). Rn I'm trying with Evelynn. The board can be a bit tricky to manage but the fact portals goes in hand if board full make it combo decently with Husks. Another perk is that Evelynn smoothen your mid game, which seems like the weak point of a Norra deck (your early game is played, you haven't summoned much portals and opponent start to do powerplays). And well Husks help shitton in Norra evolve with minimal PP invested.
I check the site regular to look for news about hs en mercs, new topics to read or replies ;) Also checking to see if there's a new "word search", i love that stuff.
Honestly, this card should simply not exist in it's current unhealthy form in the game. You are obligated to run this card in competitive XL decks and even regular sized decks often also run it because it's simply too good. I think a considerable amount of players (myself included) feel either relieved or bad after playing Theotar, the Mad Duke. There is just no real sense of accomplishment or enjoyment to be gained with this minion.
Actually, I believe the general trend in Hearthstone is quite similar. In this (recurring) rock-paper-scissors meta, you either high or low roll into a favorable or non favorable deck/archetype. The outcome of the matchup was already pretty much decided in most cases. The skill level usually only matters when encountering a mirror match.
That's definitely the first time I hear of such a strange interaction, although the explanations above make some sense (in the weird "Hearthstone coding" sort of way). Still, could be worth checking with devs whether it's actually intended. Unless one of them has already covered this scenario back when these cards were being released, and I missed it.
Yes, if you want maximum combo disruption, use both and double them. But this thread is about whether Theotar is a healthy card for the game. I think he is too powerful at stopping big plays, and it feelsSObadman to lose to this.
With the added restriction, I really like Izzy. I couldn't tell straight away if she let's you put the spell into your deck or only casts it, but either way I think it's a great design. I do suspect if it was ever released someone would find a way to break it :)
Thanks :) Only she casts the spell: you cannot add it to your deck to play the spell by itself. I mean, it technically is included in your deck while building, but it's only there to function with Izzy. I can see where that could be some confusion: hopefully that doesn't color too many peoples' perceptions the wrong way, but I'm imagining otherwise.
Updated version of Bazaar Plunderer, thanks linkblade91. I did play with the idea of it having 4 Attack but still felt too high.
Feedback:
Wailor - submitted
I like your card, simple and effective and it can be played without Beasts on the board which gives it a nice flexibility.
linkblade91 - submitted
With the added restriction, I really like Izzy. I couldn't tell straight away if she let's you put the spell into your deck or only casts it, but either way I think it's a great design. I do suspect if it was ever released someone would find a way to break it :)
BloodMefist
I prefer Putress out of the 2 choices. I wonder, would it be too strong at 4 mana, since it is effectively vanilla on the turn it's played and maybe loses 1 Attack to compensate? I'd also change the text to 'cast it' instead of 'play it'.
Moondreamer - submitted
What a fantastic card, the flavour is brilliant and it'd work really well in a Beast Druid deck. Only change I'd make is rewording the condition slightly to 'At the end of your turn, if you've spent all your Mana' but that's neither here nor there.
adamsleungcn
I'd pick Relic Chest out of these options — both versions of Dawngrasp don't feel powerful or unique enough to me to be Legendaries and other people have mentioned the issues with Blade Flurry.
I'd definitely change it to incorporate linkblade91's (Infuse text) and Moondreamer's (mana cost + name change) feedback, so it could be a 5 mana Broker's Chest: Cast a random Relic. Infuse (3): Cast another.
R
Unfortunately the card is not found now, I'll give feedback if it gets resubmitted.
AeroJulwin - submitted
I understand Yogg needs to be a 10 mana 7/5 but I don't think this effect should cost that much. If it wasn't already submitted I'd have suggested to give it to a different character so that you could bring the mana cost down a bit. The effect itself is great.
Demonxz95 - submitted
I think this is my favourite card of this competition at the moment. The flavour of going from a student to a master and how the art matches up just works so well. Hopefully the opponent won't kill off the student before you can get good value out of it!
i dont need a writeup of their quarterly earnings (which were 280 million net income and 1.64 billion in revenue just in the second quarter of 2022 BTW) to see that cosmetics are making money. you see them all the time while playing the game, blizzard is constantly releasing more of them and they're not cheap. obviously they wouldnt be making more of them if they werent making money.
with all of that being said, there are plenty of AAA games that bring in millions of dollars annually that charge exclusively for cosmetic items and allow players to earn anything that would give them a major advantage in the game. its literally been the standard free to play model for online games as a whole for years, and consumers get (rightfully) upset when companies try to kneecap that model in order to push players to spend money on the game (e.g. diablo immortal).
even with all of this being said, my baseline argument is still that this company makes an impossible to comprehend amount of money and there is no universe where a company that wealthy NEEDS to lock non-cosmetics behind a paywall in their free-to-play game. they're not struggling, they just want more and we dont have to give it to them.
From personal experience the top dogs from the previous meta ( Miss Fortune/TF, Viego/Evelynn, Darkness and mono Kai'sa) still feel better than anything that came out of this expansion.
Maybe it's just because the deck list are not refined yet?
Yeah if hourglass is 3 now rez should be 4. Pretty hard to argue, with the latter being straight up better.
Like it basically took them the entire life cycle of world waker to properly balance that set, and I wont be surprised if there's some super broken stuff here too.
I also like Bazaar Plunderer the most of the three, but two things: "Cost" should be capitalized (you did it on the Totem :P), and I think it needs to lose some stats. Right now it's vanilla with Tradeable and a very potent Battlecry; that's too much.
Goblin Dealer was a first idea, to support self damage Warlock, while also helping cheat out a high cost spell. After checking, Warlock didn't really have access to any high cost spells during United in Stormwind (I've placed it in the mini-set) so I'm not sold on it being a good card.
Stormlash Totem is a simple card that can be slotted into any Shaman deck. It rewards setting up your deck in such a way that your minions line up with specific spells you want to cheat out.
Bazaar Plunderer (probably my favourite of these) keeps track of the highest cost spell that's been played and will recast it. It also rewards knowing the deck your opponent is playing, e.g. against Spooky Mage you can trade it away until you've seen a Rune of the Archmage and then get a big pay off.
I'll add some feedback later tonight, although I think a lot of these have already been submitted :D
You're right about Ultron not being a good card for this location. However, it got me thinking and I do kinda wonder if he could work in a Patriot deck - at least as long as PP is featured.
Yes that combination I thought about, but I believe you put all your eggs in one basket and as your opponent would only need to be ahead on two locations I don't see this as a great combo (also didn't see it anywhere being played)
You're right about Ultron not being a good card for this location. However, it got me thinking and I do kinda wonder if he could work in a Patriot deck - at least as long as PP is featured.
What happened to MTG:Arena and its support on the site ?
The best answer for this is support on the site staff's part. Echo was the only person on the team who was really well-versed in Magic enough to be able to write good articles about it, and she recently left our team to focus on her personal life. And when you have no one on the team who focuses on a specific game, then you can't really cover it very well. I'm not even sure how much she'd played Arena recently (the internal systems of the game in general are not known to be especially great).
All things considered, our team on Out of Cards is quite small. We all pretty much play Hearthstone so that's easy to cover, but not everyone on it plays Legends of Runeterra for example, which is one reason why LoR articles in general are not as numerous as Hearthstone ones. When you don't have anyone on the team that can really support the game on the site, then it becomes impossible to cover and that's basically what happened with MTG Arena.
What happened to MTG:Arena and its support on the site ?
Hello guys !
After a long time, I came back to MTG Arena (again) and even though I couldn't had time to write and staying around in the site because of my irl stuff, I was following here everyday for news and such.
Yesterday, I downloaded MTG:Arena again and wanted to check Outofcards' MTG:Arena Side and i was surprised when i saw the last thread which is 1 month's ago and comments surprised me more because the nearest is almost 2 years old and it is new expansion time for the game.
So I wondered it is about the site's support or the game itself. Is it the game that has the rough times or did just outofcards stop supporting it ?
Can someone light a candle for me ? :)
Control Warlock Steals Mage's Hero Card And Shatters Its Dreams! Castle Nathria | Hearthstone
Awesome!
A Mysterious Recipe!
Managed to have some fun, stole Warlock Rafaam and location using Priest legendary.
Ik brawls you dont make deck are usually just RNG, but i find better this way, you wont end facing only broken stuff (FTK druid, Pogo only deck)
Group Therapy! Need to blow off some steam? Mega salty? Here's the place!
Normal Mercenaries bounty reward: Haha, no coins of the legendary for you!
Trying to farm a specific bounty for the epic and/or rare coins associated: There you go, three times the legendary coins for the merc you've long maxed out.
Early Expansion Impressions
My first impression after a decent bunch of games is that this expansion is pushing LoR further into highroll grounds. Jax decks seems consistent but Ornn/Trundle Timeline and any portal deck are highroll af. Especially the later. Sometimes it's T7 and your Norra is 2/6 and sometimes you got a full board with Sneezy Biggledust! by T4 and your opponent insta give up. Back to Trundle, the set definitely gave a huge second breath to the deck. Improvise allies are a god send since they keep the weapon while transforming, resulting in some absurbly stated followers.
Yi seems a bit less represented, I don't meet him often, but I'm not surprised with such a board dominion based set where having a 6/5 overhelm on T4 is the new standard.
Balance considerations aside, I really love to play with Norra. Sure it's RNG, it won't please everyone, but it's acceptably deterministic due to the fact it's on your 4 first cards and that her pack isn't that strong (Portalpalooza is a good example, it's both a key card and a rather sluggish one). Haven't found the sweet duo yet (Nami is meh due to meta being heavy with challenger keyword, same with Zoe). Rn I'm trying with Evelynn. The board can be a bit tricky to manage but the fact portals goes in hand if board full make it combo decently with Husks. Another perk is that Evelynn smoothen your mid game, which seems like the weak point of a Norra deck (your early game is played, you haven't summoned much portals and opponent start to do powerplays). And well Husks help shitton in Norra evolve with minimal PP invested.
Cast On, Cast Off - Card Design Competition Discussion Thread
Hello, I'm back. Here's my idea for this prompt
I wanted to make a worgen that switches from light to dark but I couldn't quite fit in all the words. Hope it's OK like this.
Mutanus vs Theotar: opinion on combo disruption
lol, that indeed is the only positive thing about having him in golden ^_^ enjoy the big arcane dust refund!
Mutanus vs Theotar: opinion on combo disruption
The only good thing I have to say about the guy is that I have a golden copy of him :)
What do you do on Out of Cards?
I check the site regular to look for news about hs en mercs, new topics to read or replies ;)
Also checking to see if there's a new "word search", i love that stuff.
Early Expansion Impressions
Well yeah, if you're a net decker you shouldn't net deck till the decks are netted.
The reality is a lot of the new decks are so strong they require hard counters.
Things like quietus shadow (kill equipment or Zoe or like a heimer on curve) or silence and surpress demacia(deals with fated followers and equipment)
Here's a list of the best new decks so far:
1. Jax forge - just midrange good stuff, slam jam and blam should easily win you the game
2. Lee Sin Ip Master - cataclysm, rally rally rally, counter, burst protect your Champs are leveled. Strongest combo deck, besides Kaisa.
3. Portals - hasn't been properly built yet so yes this one is "bad" right now but it's only inches away.
4. Sythe Grapple - saying that akshan decks are good is a pretty big understatement largely better then the old akshan spellshield decks.
So thats 3 great decks, and 1 "Fun" deck pretty normal for a new expansion. If you want lists I can share either mine or popular streamers.
Shadow isles
Why all the feels bad to play aggainst cards are from this region?
Mutanus vs Theotar: opinion on combo disruption
Honestly, this card should simply not exist in it's current unhealthy form in the game. You are obligated to run this card in competitive XL decks and even regular sized decks often also run it because it's simply too good. I think a considerable amount of players (myself included) feel either relieved or bad after playing Theotar, the Mad Duke. There is just no real sense of accomplishment or enjoyment to be gained with this minion.
Actually, I believe the general trend in Hearthstone is quite similar. In this (recurring) rock-paper-scissors meta, you either high or low roll into a favorable or non favorable deck/archetype. The outcome of the matchup was already pretty much decided in most cases. The skill level usually only matters when encountering a mirror match.
Sorry, I digressed a bit at the end.
Suspicious Interaction
That's definitely the first time I hear of such a strange interaction, although the explanations above make some sense (in the weird "Hearthstone coding" sort of way). Still, could be worth checking with devs whether it's actually intended. Unless one of them has already covered this scenario back when these cards were being released, and I missed it.
Mutanus vs Theotar: opinion on combo disruption
Yes, if you want maximum combo disruption, use both and double them. But this thread is about whether Theotar is a healthy card for the game. I think he is too powerful at stopping big plays, and it feelsSObadman to lose to this.
Cast On, Cast Off - Card Design Competition Discussion Thread
Thanks :) Only she casts the spell: you cannot add it to your deck to play the spell by itself. I mean, it technically is included in your deck while building, but it's only there to function with Izzy. I can see where that could be some confusion: hopefully that doesn't color too many peoples' perceptions the wrong way, but I'm imagining otherwise.
With your card, I think you're good to go!
Cast On, Cast Off - Card Design Competition Discussion Thread
Updated version of Bazaar Plunderer, thanks linkblade91. I did play with the idea of it having 4 Attack but still felt too high.
Feedback:
I'd definitely change it to incorporate linkblade91's (Infuse text) and Moondreamer's (mana cost + name change) feedback, so it could be a 5 mana Broker's Chest: Cast a random Relic. Infuse (3): Cast another.
All Hearthstone Battlegrounds Changes and Updates for the Upcoming Patch 24.2 - Minions, Heroes, Systems, Monetization
i dont need a writeup of their quarterly earnings (which were 280 million net income and 1.64 billion in revenue just in the second quarter of 2022 BTW) to see that cosmetics are making money. you see them all the time while playing the game, blizzard is constantly releasing more of them and they're not cheap. obviously they wouldnt be making more of them if they werent making money.
with all of that being said, there are plenty of AAA games that bring in millions of dollars annually that charge exclusively for cosmetic items and allow players to earn anything that would give them a major advantage in the game. its literally been the standard free to play model for online games as a whole for years, and consumers get (rightfully) upset when companies try to kneecap that model in order to push players to spend money on the game (e.g. diablo immortal).
even with all of this being said, my baseline argument is still that this company makes an impossible to comprehend amount of money and there is no universe where a company that wealthy NEEDS to lock non-cosmetics behind a paywall in their free-to-play game. they're not struggling, they just want more and we dont have to give it to them.
Early Expansion Impressions
From personal experience the top dogs from the previous meta ( Miss Fortune/TF, Viego/Evelynn, Darkness and mono Kai'sa) still feel better than anything that came out of this expansion.
Maybe it's just because the deck list are not refined yet?
Mutanus vs Theotar: opinion on combo disruption
You can call me mad but ...... why not both? (+Brann and/or Zola)
Early Expansion Impressions
Yeah if hourglass is 3 now rez should be 4. Pretty hard to argue, with the latter being straight up better.
Like it basically took them the entire life cycle of world waker to properly balance that set, and I wont be surprised if there's some super broken stuff here too.
Cast On, Cast Off - Card Design Competition Discussion Thread
I also like Bazaar Plunderer the most of the three, but two things: "Cost" should be capitalized (you did it on the Totem :P), and I think it needs to lose some stats. Right now it's vanilla with Tradeable and a very potent Battlecry; that's too much.
Cast On, Cast Off - Card Design Competition Discussion Thread
Been busy but here's a few ideas:
Goblin Dealer was a first idea, to support self damage Warlock, while also helping cheat out a high cost spell. After checking, Warlock didn't really have access to any high cost spells during United in Stormwind (I've placed it in the mini-set) so I'm not sold on it being a good card.
Stormlash Totem is a simple card that can be slotted into any Shaman deck. It rewards setting up your deck in such a way that your minions line up with specific spells you want to cheat out.
Bazaar Plunderer (probably my favourite of these) keeps track of the highest cost spell that's been played and will recast it. It also rewards knowing the deck your opponent is playing, e.g. against Spooky Mage you can trade it away until you've seen a Rune of the Archmage and then get a big pay off.
I'll add some feedback later tonight, although I think a lot of these have already been submitted :D
Marvel Snap's Featured Location This Week is Project Pegasus - Use It or Lose It!
Yes that combination I thought about, but I believe you put all your eggs in one basket and as your opponent would only need to be ahead on two locations I don't see this as a great combo (also didn't see it anywhere being played)
Marvel Snap's Featured Location This Week is Project Pegasus - Use It or Lose It!
You're right about Ultron not being a good card for this location. However, it got me thinking and I do kinda wonder if he could work in a Patriot deck - at least as long as PP is featured.