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Bluetracker

Tracks Blizzard employees across various accounts.

A Thread: Happy 9th Birthday to Hearthstone! To celebrate, let's talk about 9 cards that are special to me. This list is all over the place. Milestones for the game. Milestones for me personally. This list will be totally different next year. (Plus, it will have 10 cards.)

A Thread: Happy 9th Birthday to Hearthstone! To celebrate, let's talk about 9 cards that are special to me. This list is all over the place. Milestones for the game. Milestones for me personally. This list will be totally different next year. (Plus, it will have 10 cards.)

  • Matt London
    Posted 2 years, 9 months ago (Source)
    A Thread: Happy 9th Birthday to Hearthstone! To celebrate, let's talk about 9 cards that are special to me. This list is all over the place. Milestones for the game. Milestones for me personally. This list will be totally different next year. (Plus, it will have 10 cards.)

    • Matt London
      Posted 2 years, 9 months ago (Source)
      1) Ysera This was the first Legendary I opened back in 2014. I was watching @TrumpSC's series on how to win free-to-play and built his mage deck (Yetis and all). This card was my top end and it was fun as heck. https://t.co/HoZl7A6sYV

      • Matt London
        Posted 2 years, 9 months ago (Source)
        2) Dr. Boom To me, Warcraft is Lord of the Rings if told by the Genie from Aladdin. It's Euro high fantasy but inundated in American badassery, pop culture references, derpy puns, and charm. I couldn't believe they'd print this card. I didn't even know it was a WoW enemy. https://t.co/yc6J8c6cLa

        • Matt London
          Posted 2 years, 9 months ago (Source)
          3) RAFAAAAAAAM This could have been anything from the League of Explorers adventure. It blew my mind. Witty banter, minecart chases, uncanny artifacts, super-powered minions. It created a genre of gaming that has barely been tapped, even by us. https://t.co/gTwMh2SlBy

          • Matt London
            Posted 2 years, 9 months ago (Source)
            4) C'THUN The Old Gods were all incredible when they first entered the game, but C'Thun is the obvious favorite. A whole archetype unto itself, parasitic design bedarned. And it was free! It brought me and a bunch of other lapsed players back to the game. https://t.co/X5Zf1z9ncV

            • Matt London
              Posted 2 years, 9 months ago (Source)
              5) Flobbidinous Floop Fun card. Cool concept. Kinda looks like Winston from Overwatch, doncha think? But this one's a more personal story. Did you know the first time I tried out for the Hearthstone team, I didn't make it? My on-site interview was right after Boomsday released... https://t.co/1MmtFrXdQc

              • Matt London
                Posted 2 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                5a) During one leg of the gauntlet, I was asked about the importance of legendary cards. Why are they great? "Signposts. Key characters. Aspirational. They make money." "Which legendaries from Boomsday do you think were crafted the most?"

                • Matt London
                  Posted 2 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                  5b) I said, "Well, Dr. Boom, that's obvious. Hero card. Face of the set. After that, must be Whizbang. So much value." They nodded. "Third...uh..." I thought back to the Youtube research I'd done at the hotel. What had been spoiled? What was on stream? My mind went blank."

                  • Matt London
                    Posted 2 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                    5c) "Floop?" Blank faces. "Zilliax." "Oh." "Yeah. Raw power." "Yeah." "Neutral." "Right." Obviously, this answer wasn't what cost me the job. But like a ten-day champion who blows a Final Jeopardy question, this one stuck with me.

                    • Matt London
                      Posted 2 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                      6) Temporal Loop I love cards that make you think of the game on a different axis, and this one did that. I love how brain-bendy it can be, how it leverages Hearthstone's RNG in an exciting way. I loved Monster Hunt (all the Dungeon Runs) and I love time travel. Just a fun card. https://t.co/SwVjpl81jX

                      • Matt London
                        Posted 2 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                        7) Silverleaf Poison When I joined the Hearthstone team, the three sets for Year of the Gryphon and the idea of the mercenaries had been approved. My task was to develop their personalities. We knew all 10 race/class combos. Book of Mercenaries had been scoped. But it was early. https://t.co/0dE4NmEzaX

                        • Matt London
                          Posted 2 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                          7a) In those early days I had free time and volunteered to chip in on art and vo writing for Forged in the Barrens. I did the first pass on Rogue and Warlock. That's why Scabbs and Tamsin are so prominent in the spell art, and Barrens Scavenger is a shameless Les Mis reference.

                          • Matt London
                            Posted 2 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                            7b) Some other things I remember from that process: the name "Blood Shard Bristleback" was a big hit. The art for 3 versions of Imp Swarm were hard to get right. No one called me out for there not being an octopus robot in the Barrens, but then Efficient Octo-bot became infamous.

                            • Matt London
                              Posted 2 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                              7c) It wasn't my call to bring Kazakus back into the game (a longer story), but he was one of my favorite characters, and I tried to seed origins-of-the-Kabal where I could. In Silverleaf Poison, I liked how video-gamey it felt to "Use Poison On Knife"

                              • Matt London
                                Posted 2 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                                7d) Then @AlexHorleyArt got a hold of it and elevated it. I couldn't believe the detail. I actually bought the original painting. It hangs next to my desk.

                                • Matt London
                                  Posted 2 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                                  8) Back to Back There are a lot of things in Book of Mercenaries that I'm proud of, but this design stands out. The art is gorgeous, showing Cariel and Kurtrus fighting off the Cult of the Burning Blade on Dreadmist Peak. https://t.co/KBbaaW98Wy

                                  • Matt London
                                    Posted 2 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                                    8a) Back to Back also breaks some rules. For one, it refers to the characters instead of the cards. Second, it appears three times in Book of Mercenaries. First in Kurtrus's book (Ch 4), Cariel's book (Ch 6), and Dawngrasp's book (Ch 10). Each time, it needed different code.

                                    • Matt London
                                      Posted 2 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                                      8b) Kurtrus Hero/Cariel Minion. Cariel Hero/Kurtrus Minion. Cariel Minion/Kurtrus Minion. You could do a lot with the card, and it was usually a big swing.

                                      • Matt London
                                        Posted 2 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                                        9) The Demon Seed Tamsin Roame might be my favorite character I've written for Hearthstone. She's hilarious, powerful, shamelessly evil, and has pet names for Guff. Her story, and that of the whole Roame family, might be what players ask me about the most (besides Wild changes). https://t.co/JO80W0XNlg

                                        • Matt London
                                          Posted 2 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                                          9a) I'm not sure what it is about this character archetype that so appeals to me. Maybe it's a bit of Helga Pataki, a bit of Prince Zuko, a bit of the Shredder. "It feels so good to be so bad." https://t.co/VXjnD8Eht8

                                          • TitoSantanaHS
                                            Posted 2 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                                            @themattlondon I do like that you didn't give her a redemption arc. She was evil, and that was that.

                                            • Matt London
                                              Posted 2 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                                              @TitoSantanaHS Never say never. You see glimmers of it. But yeah. In this story, the coin landed on the wrong side.

                                          • Matt London
                                            Posted 2 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                                            9b) But she's a bully you can't quite hate. There's a clear through line of this character in my work, from Vesuvia Piffle in The 8th Continent, to Merula Snyde, to Tamsin Roame. Sometimes it just makes sense and an ensemble needs this instrument. https://t.co/11VnT0yfs5

                                            • Matt London
                                              Posted 2 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                                              9c) The infamous Book of Mercs Chapter 5 Fight 8 when Tamsin melts her dad's brain was really a love letter to the classic Hearthstone adventures where sometimes you'd need an alternate condition to win. In my mind (not melted) our version elevates it through story and character. https://t.co/hMnG8hLqPh

                                              • Matt London
                                                Posted 2 years, 9 months ago (Source)
                                                So there you have it. Nine years of Hearthstone. I've been honored to be a part of a third of it as a designer. Leading up to the 10th Anniversary, I'm so excited about what we have planned for this year. Hope to see you on the journey with us. /end
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