Hi fellas.

Something come up in my mind, and I decide to make it happen.

How about making a card that can describe:
- Your personality. (Meme or pun is acceptable, but it's optional), or
- Description of your user ID, or what effect would be if your ID was a card, or
- Something you like to do in your life and make that into a card.

Any feedback is always appreciated. Anything. But please make sure your ID is on the card name itself
And It's up to you to use any kind of card. Whether it's Runeterra, Hearthstone, etc.

But since I mostly played Hearthstone, here's mine.

Happy Weekend.
EDIT. I wonder what kind of card Flux would be. Had been in my mind a few times.

I'm more of a collector and thus never got into deck building in Hearthstone although I'm playing HS since the very beginning. Since the meta is getting more and more boring for me, I want to take a look at deck building. I feel, it is a good point in time, since next year a lot of sets will rotate and the card pool will be rather small.

However I can't find any real detailed guide about how to approach deck building at all. The best one I found is the Beginners Guide over at Icy-Veins, which is quite superficial.

Can you recommend any good guides (YT or Twitch Videos would be okay too), that go beyond the basic tips?

Well, I actually knew this was a thing a few days back but since only Reddit is showing it, I thought I should at very least keep all informed that Thjis is hosting an invitational tournament today (21st Dec) on 2pm CET. Watch it via his twitch or through the other participants. Far as I know, Kibler, bunnyhopper, nohandsgamer, gaby, and curiously Cora (currently in blizz as designer) are part of it.

At very least because its less serious than blizz run tournaments we can expect there to be a mix of tier 1-2 decks along with a few less viable but fun decks as well. It is, after all, the first tournament post patch.

For anyone serious about hearthstone esport, or just ranked standard should give it a watch. Its one of those rare non-blizz tournament I've seen in ages.

I'm probably the only person who feels this way because I'm a bit of a curmudgeon, but is anyone else finding the proliferation of skins a bit... much?

I started playing (mostly F2P, but I did get the two most recent Tavern Passes) back around TGT. There were some alternate skins then, but not a crazy number. I remember being so stoked when I got my first (Morgl, I think?) because of their (relative) rarity.

Now it seems like every other week there's a bundle of 5-8 dropping, or maybe two bundles. I don't feel compelled to collect them, and don't care if other people want them. And hey, if you don't want the bundles, there's the 14 or so on the rewards track. Plus the 200 level portraits. Go Nuts with trying to get them! No complaints. 

But it does seem like each time I load Battlegrounds I have trouble recognizing which hero is which. Every time* (*obviously not every time) I open the game there's new pop ups with ads for more bundles. I queue into a match and I'm kind of bewildered what my opponent is (particularly if playing on mobile).

It's not that it's bad, per se, but it seems a little overloaded to me.

Yesterday I saw two shop offers. Alterac Valley welcome (20 money, 10 AV packs, 10 Standard, 1 AV Legy)  and a similar golden bundle. I was confused there was no news on this site about this. Now the offer is gone. Did I miss it?

Source: https://hearthstone-decks.net/hearthstone-winter-veil-starts-on-december-21st-bundles-free-skin/

Is it intentional for Felwalker to not draw 3 cards from Hand of Gul'dan?

Competition Theme: Worth Every Penny

It's an expensive world we live in, and the cards you're making this week just keep asking for more mana!

• You must create a card which increases the cost of a friendly card or Hero Power
  • Just one card or all of them at once - you could even have it increase its own cost!

DestroyerR has asked us for cards that just keep making you pay for them - so make sure you've got spare mana to hand!

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, Dec 13 17:00 EST (GMT -0500). Runs until Sat, Dec 18 17:00 EST (GMT -0500)
• Voting Phase: Starts on Sat, Dec 18 17:00 EST (GMT -0500). Runs until Sun, Dec 19 16:00 EST (GMT -0500)
• Finalist Phase: Starts on Sun, Dec 19 17:00 EST (GMT -0500). Runs until Mon, Dec 20 17:00 EST (GMT -0500)
• Winner Selected: After finalist voting concludes and we validate votes.

Discussion Thread Rules

No thread rules were added to this season. Please populate and manually edit this thread with them.

A new Common Neutral Minion, Blood Guard, has been revealed!

Discuss this card below or head on over to the card page to give it a rating!

Learn more about Fractured in Alterac Valley

Head on over to our dedicated guide for Fractured in Alterac Valley!

Get Cheaper Card Packs

This section contains affiliate links.

If you want to save money when buying Hearthstone packs, you should check out Amazon Coins! It's an easy way to save up to 25% off Hearthstone packs so you can get into the new expansion without worrying about your wallet too much. We've got a detailed guide on how to Get Started with Amazon Coins, but if you've already dealt with them in the past, you can buy some more by clicking right here.

Am I wrong or there were supposed no nerfs today?

When Kennen first came along, I discovered in my first match that you don't have to play just recalled units for his trigger to level up. Any duplicate unit will work. This has led me to the question? What other play styles and champions does he pair with? Bellow is my first experiment.

As you can see, is focuses on fielding units (at best, the Encroaching Mist) and then recalling and copying them to re-trigger their effects. I think this is a deck style that could be used with other unit spam champions like Azir but what do you think? What are other creative ways to speed level Kennen? Or use his support cards to buff other decks?

PS: I'm also looking for feedback on this deck. It plays well, but not great and I'm looking for ways to improve.

Greetings, travelers.

I've been recently playing the three latest installments of Hearthstone's Solo Adventures. While playing them, I found myself enjoying the story much more than I thought, since they usually tend to be pretty back-bones. So, I thought I could make a little ranking just for fun. Yeah, it's ranking, not a tier list. Sorry for the clickbait.

As a quick disclaimer, I'll be just evaluating the storytelling, not the gameplay. Thus, Dungeon Run-likes and Dr. Boom's Puzzles are excluded, since they don't have much story going on (even if some of them have nice character moments). Also, this is obviously just my opinion. If you disagree, I encourage you to give your own opinion in a civil way or even make your own ranking.

Finally, beware, because there will be plenty of spoilers for pretty much every Solo Adventure.

So, let's begin.

#10 - Knights of the Frozen Throne: Icecrown Citadel

Let's get this out of the way. The Adventures which just try to recreate raids from World of Warcraft are all going to be at the bottom of the ranking. In terms of story, they tend to be a boss rush with a small twist in the end, if so.

Out of all of them, I find Icecrown Citadel to be the most basic. Sure, most characters here are iconic, but they're not depicted in an interesting way.

The best thing about this Adventure is the class challenge against The Lich King, but since that's a gameplay element, it doesn't count for this tier list.

#9 - Blackrock Mountain

In terms of pure storytelling, this is probably the most interesting out of all the WoW raid Adventures. I mean, it has the whole betrayal of Victor Nefarius and stuff happens not just at the end of the story.

That said, it hasn't much else going for it. Sure, the Dark Iron Dwarves have a pretty entretaining personality, but that's about it.

#8 - One Night in Karazhan

This might be a bit controversial, since I remember most people hating the party theme of this adventure back in the day, but I really enjoyed it. Hearthstone has a flavor distinct from the rest of the Warcraft universe, and I think this expansion really helped to cement this identity.

I'd highlight the Barnes wing, which was very cool and imaginative.

#7 - Curse of Naxxramas

Hearthstone's debut Adventure makes the top of the raid-inspired story modes. Yeah, it's true, the story is as basic as it gets, but there's one thing that elevates this Adventure.

Yeah, it's obviously Kel'Thuzad.

His Hearthstone personality is just so entretaining and sassy, I couldn't resist to put this on top. This is probably the first tonal departure Hearthstone had compared to the Warcraft universe, so, just like with Karazhan, you have to appreciate that.

#6 - Descent of Dragons: Galakrond's Awakening

I wouldn't be surprised if this was a fan favorite, but I honestly think there's too much going on here. As the conclusion of the experimental Year of the Dragon, this Adventure touches a lot of characters: the League of E.V.I.L., the League of Explorers, Karl and Lenny George, Kragg, Galakrond himself...

Sure, the conclusion of several arcs here is very satisfying (Reno and Karl/George come to mind), but I think I would've enjoyed it much more if this whole thing was a bit more focused.

In a way, this is like Hearthstone's Infinity War, a film which I don't personally enjoy as much as most people because of how many things it tries to focus on.

#5 - Ashes of Outlands: Trial by Felfire

In terms of pure storytelling, this is one of the strongest contenders in the whole ranking. Baduu leaving the group and later being brainwashed by the Rusted Legion was a very thrilling event. I also liked Aranna talking shit about her sister Elise, just to embrace her philosophy in the end. Sure, Illidan's final redemption was quite lame, but nobody is perfect.

Besides that, I also loved the flavor of assembling a group of Outcasts who help each other to survive (kinda like Aranna's own League of Explorers), even if the personality of none of them was particularly interesting.

So, why is this Adventure so low in the rank? Yeah, it's obviously the "talking in verse" gimmick. I guess they were trying to go for a shakesperean tragedy feel with this decision, but this whole thing is very optimistic for that. For a story which has its main characters' eyes replaced with demonic fireballs, it has a very feel-good and empathy-driven conclusion lol

In my opinion, this decision would've made way more sense for the Demon Hunter Prologue, since Illidan's story is quite tragic. Speaking of which...

#4 - Ashes of Outlands: Prologue

Even if in a pretty basic way, I think Illidan's fall from grace is pretty well told here. As I said above, this story's chain of misunderstandings has a very Greek/shakespearean tragedy flavor to them, in the sense that all issues are caused its protagonists' fatal flaws. Illidan's pride and power-hunger are obviously a pretty important part, but I like that the story also blames Malfurion's self-righteousness. All in all, pretty cool stuff.

#3 - Book of Heroes

I'm kinda surprised it took them so long to make this Adventure, since it's a pretty obvious move. Still, getting to know the background of these heroes we know from some long ago was pretty cool.

As someone whose main knowledge about the Warcraft universe comes from playing Warcraft III and reading the WoW Wiki, this story mode was pretty interesting. The stories told here had some familiarity, but I also discovered a lot of new information about Warcraft lore.

To be honest, this game mode is not without flaws. Some stories were not particularly well fit for being told in this fashion, which led to jarring time skips (ahem, Uther) or crucial character development being dispached with a short line of dialog.

Compared to something similar like the Demon Hunter Prologue, this is told in a more clumsy way, but, since this has more content, I decided to give it the upper hand.

#2 - The League of Explorers

We're the League! The Explorer's League! And we're a League of Explorers!

What's not to love here? Mysterious settings, thrilling adventures, ancient artifacts and memorable characters. All four members of the League and Rafaam are awesome and iconic. Sure, the story is a bit formulaic and mcguffin-y, but it's pretty entretaining (it's also very fitting that it's plot is structured like the first Indiana Jones movie).

This was the very first Hearthstone original story, which focused on (mostly) Hearthstone original characters. In a way, this is also the first expansion that feels like modern Hearthstone, so that alone makes it very important for the game as a whole.

But most crucially, it still holds up to this day as one of Hearthstone's best Adventures, at least in terms of story and characters.

#1 - Book of Mercenaries

I know this game mode isn't finished by now, but my god! The Stormwind battle, with Tamsin and Cariel's chapters is easily the most endearing story Hearthstone has ever told. Their relationship is so well done not just for Hearthstone, but for Warcraft in general. Cornelius' characterization as a strict father, just to end up like he does, and the way Cariel reacts to it. Awesome stuff.

I'll admit that I was pretty disapointed by the first two episodes (especially Rokara's), but the overarching story keeps ramping in a very well crafted way. Honestly, the final Alterac segment would need to flop incredibly hard for me to put this on second place.

And this was my ranking. I'd like to know your opinions or even your own personal rankings.

See you around :)

Check out the newest animation video from Carbot.

You know things have gotten bad for Blizzard when this hit the nail pretty good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5Hzh43k330

Greetings there! I am coming with something a bit different, after watching a fair bit of Solem playing niche card games, and also being a player of a few like Duelyst and Faeria. It's a concept of my own Collectible Card Game with the placeholder name Cyber Zone.

This picture shows what would separate my game from other card games. It has some elements of a Tower Defense game, played on a 8x5 grit (size subjective to change).

• Black dots are the 5-tile path every player creates at the start of the match. One on each side is covered by a beige dot, which I'll explain soon.
• Cyan dot is the Nexus that you also place at the start of your match.
• Purple dot is the Portal, but your opponent places it where they want, still near the end of the track you've built. This is where troops come from.

Troops are one of two minion types, marked by a beige dot, used to be summoned on your opponent's board, and once they reach the Nexus, they damage the opposing player for their Attack damage. They move one tile forward each turn. Heroes have 15 Health for now.

Turrets are the other minion type, marked by a dark blue dot, used to be summoned on your own board to prevent the enemy troops from reaching your Nexus. They can attack in straight lines as shown on the picture, but some will be able to bend those rules.

The yellow lines indicate how far and in which directions a turret can attack. On average, they can attack within a 3x3 area around themselves, like how King moves in Chess, and fire in straight lines. This picture shows an example card (Spiteful Flame Sentry) and from how afar it can attack the beige dot when positioned correctly, albeit my bad for slight misleading. The example cards are shown below (with obvious placeholder art and prototype covers).

Keywrords and more info here

Sentry Icon - for Turret cards. They can be only placed close to your track unless specified.

Solider Icon - for Troop cards. They come out of the Portal a turn after you play it.

Crystal Icon - for Pylon cards. These are like your Hero Powers that start in your hand like Quests. They can't be placed near the track, though, but can be placed everywhere.

Battery Icon - for Action cards. These are the equivalent of spells. For now, they are split by the same speed pattern from Legends of Runeterra (ignore Force Barrier and its inconsistent wording plz). Traps give a secret bonus to a tile of your choice, triggered when an enemy troop steps on it. They are always of Sharp speed, or otherwise Focus like in Exhaust.

Gear Icon - for Gear cards. These are the equivalent of weapons. You equip them on turrets. They have Attack and Durability.

There are six factions, five of which you can see on example cards (Fire, Thunder, Sun, Snowflake, Plasma) - the Squirrel's one is Neutral. Also, there are four rarities - Common, Rare, Epic and Legendary (may change names or add Mythic for Pylons).

Turn starts draw you a card, give a Crystal (Mana Crystal, up to 10) and move your Troops one tile. You start with 1 Crystals, and the player going second may get an equivalent to Coin.

There would be a casual gameplay mode, split into the equivalent of Hearthstone's Classic (only base set cards) and with all cards, and Ranked with all cards, MAYBE split into Standard and Wild once enough cards are created to warrant the separation.

Monetization system should be similar to LoR, as... come on, it's clearly the best and most f2p friendly so far on the market, so why not use it?

Keep in mind I never played Kenin Ezreal I am simple going imperically based on stats.

The deck has gone from a commanding 55% winrate to a 45% winrate. Putting Lee back as the best Ionia deck seeing it go up 1% to 52.

Honestly I don't know if it was actually worth it, like if you enjoy midrange decks absolutely they are doing better control is also doing better.

But it hasn't shaken up the meta in the way people thought, while simultaneously killing an entire archetype just because people couldn't tech properly or play the matchup.

So on the one hand you have a new champ being murdered one week into his release, just so the other decks can go up 2% on ladder like it seems like maybe the reaction was too strong here.

But on the other hand if a deck like Azir Irelia could be considered meta altering maybe Kenin was just as bad, who's to say.

What do you guys think?

Why do they even bother to release these fun cards if they aren't going to be competitive??? I started playing back in Meanstreets and it's always been the same problem: they release some very clever and enjoyable cards but rarely and never very successfully give them a buff or support when they fall short 

My eyes lit up when I found out neo burgle Rogue was actually decent... Well that was until the experimenting phase ended. Now I'm running into the same libram pals, quest mages and locks and etc ( YOu SOULESs ROBOTs Do Us A FAVOr ANd UNINSTALl YOURSELVEs).

But I really can't blame them. Nobody likes losing multiple times in a row with a horse that can't quite race. But what if it's the horse you love?

Why the crap haven't they learned over these years to just buff what ppl want to play. They A. Have the data. And B. They should have a responsibility to back up these cards they release and ppl look forward to.

So we talk a lot about meta, and card balance, and what Champs are strongest.

But sometimes it's worth drawing back the curtain on matchups we personally struggle with  and anything excluded is relatively easy to deal with or tech against, or play against.

1. Dragons - it challenges and strikes with demacia, it grows large midrange threats, and ramps into Asol...this deck scares me because it essentially perfect at being equally good into everything and the best decks often are.

2. Infinite cycle Heimer - kill one thing and they play another, and another and another and another...this deck is control proof and midrange proof so it's everything I hate.

3. Deep & Lurk - something about these decks just very menacing, one is an excellent tournament deck that is just waiting for its time, and the other will just steam roll you if you arent playing perfectly

4.  Ahiri - out of all the new Ionia cards Ahiri is the trickiest to deal with. Amazing stat line for mana with the best keyword, and she basically has elusive too. You enter into a tough situation do you sharpsite the droplet only to eat a twin disciples no you don't so you eat dmg every turn and it's death of a thousand cuts 

5. Rumble - the ultimate do you have the answer card, you can just throw it out. Much like Sivir it's just a pain but unlike her he has a much better level up, but if he does get answered you just loose.

6. Xerath, I have a lot of respect for players who main this guy because his play pattern when run well is exceptionally erratic and unpredictable. Will you beat him most of the time sure but it will be scary the whole time.

So yeah thats it for my list, once again I don't believe these are the best or most competitive decks just the lists that impact me the most when playing against them. 

Things like aggro, and Ezreal you run into so often you can run those matches in your sleep.

https://lor.mobalytics.gg/stats/decks

Honestly, I consider everything about these new stats to be absolutely terrifying.

All the decks are extremely strong and versatile and their winrates have gone through the roof.

1. Dragons already called that one plus 55%

2. Lisandra plus 55% 

3. Midrange plunder plus 55%

4. Pantheon plus 55%

I guess ezreal was keeping these decks in cheque and now that he's gone they are absolutely dominating

So no longer do you need to tech against aggro and combo now it's how the hell do you deal with all these midrange powerhouses?

Honestly, I don't know it's very possible something like a Lee Sin combo deck will ultimately be the tournament answer, but that lineup is scary and difficult to play against.

Maybe a new king of aggro will emerge and start pressuring from the other end as well, and that's usually when midrange starts to take a hit, but right now it's open season.

Yordle Trible, Kenin Ezreal, Pirate aggro all got hit pretty hard.

So you pretty much won't need to hard tech into these decks anymore and learn to win these matchups properly.

I think a lot of people will be happy about that, and honestly I am too.

Just because something is possible to beat if you work at it hard enough, doesn't mean every player should be required to exist in such a restrictive build space:

1. Poppy is a 2/3 or a 3/4 on swing

2. Ionia allegiance now requires you to run two different 1 drops you can't tutor duplicates

3. The bounce landmark had its countdown increased

4. The yordle Tribal 2 drop only buffs attack now

5. Gangplank is a 5/4

In most cases these decks and archetypes will require rebuilding and I'm happy to show off some options here except for pirate aggro because who cares:

First up splashing yordle mechs might give yordle Tribal a little more sustain. As for discard fodder you have 2 different owl generators, and squire.

Its very possible Kenin drops allegiance all together now that both allegiance and combo speed have been nerfed for a more sustained midrange play style, maybe even Yassao will see play in my dreams.

I haven't seen one of these yet, if it exists please point me to it. I rushed to diamond 5 before the expansion and now I'm trying to use this initial week or so to grind out some achievements before continuing my attempt at ladder climbing. While I don't expect achievement centered decks to be super competitive I do want to at least present a challenge while completing them. I'm not a great deck builder myself and have just been throwing a few pieces of class and neutral achievements into various 'good' decks and going from there. It has been a bit slower than I really wanted it to be and I'm hoping to find better ways to do this. Who is willing to share the decks they are using to get that bonus XP?

A new Legendary Demon Hunter Hero, Kurtrus, Demon-Render, has been revealed!

Discuss this card below or head on over to the card page to give it a rating!

Learn more about Fractured in Alterac Valley

Head on over to our dedicated guide for Fractured in Alterac Valley!

Get Cheaper Card Packs

This section contains affiliate links.

If you want to save money when buying Hearthstone packs, you should check out Amazon Coins! It's an easy way to save up to 25% off Hearthstone packs so you can get into the new expansion without worrying about your wallet too much. We've got a detailed guide on how to Get Started with Amazon Coins, but if you've already dealt with them in the past, you can buy some more by clicking right here.

Yeah so you're getting stunned, you're getting comboed out, and burst down and you can't do anything. I know it's frustrating, the meta decks just aren't cutting it right now, and you dont want to play the mirror.

Well boys I've got you covered here are 3 deck concepts that all do well into Kenin, you could call them control lists but they play like midrange.

1. Just challenge everything

Drag that little ****** with laurent protégé or bird as soon as he comes down, and then drag everything else over and over until you get the concede. Keep your singles and sharpsights for reactive plays.

2. Nami TF control

Pings all day long, and lots of attune and draw to keep things flexible. Probably the only "infinite" cycling deck I enjoy because there is some skill involved.

3. Slay Control

Vulnerable is almost as good as challenger, and we have things like vile feast and other sweepers to keep the party rolling. Has the addeded benefit of playing well into other midrange decks.

So yeah if you don't like these lists just build your own, remembering that if you can't out control the combo deck you have to out aggro them consistently so that limits your deck building option to low curve threats like pirate aggro etc. and most people already know those lists so here are the more interesting options.

---Bonus--- 

Swain decks are always strong in combo situations because youre essentially putting them on a clock to go off and they don't run a ton of non self bounces sometimes none. So yeah thats basically all the regions so you can counter Kenen with pretty much anything you want to greater or lesser effect as long as its built right.

Competition Theme: Honourable Mentions

We're all about honour this week - or I am, anyway, and you're all going to have to deal with it being spelt that way.

• You must create a card which utilises the new Honorable Kill mechanic
  • Whether by using the Keyword itself or interacting with cards that have it, we just want you to uphold your honour!

Wailor has asked that we have a clean and honest game this week, so make sure your cards are upholding their honour!

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, Dec 6 17:00 EST (GMT -0500). Runs until Sat, Dec 11 17:00 EST (GMT -0500)
• Voting Phase: Starts on Sat, Dec 11 17:00 EST (GMT -0500). Runs until Sun, Dec 12 16:00 EST (GMT -0500)
• Finalist Phase: Starts on Sun, Dec 12 17:00 EST (GMT -0500). Runs until Mon, Dec 13 17:00 EST (GMT -0500)
• Winner Selected: After finalist voting concludes and we validate votes.

Discussion Thread Rules

No thread rules were added to this season. Please populate and manually edit this thread with them.

I enjoy laughing at all the kids who cried for the last 4 months about quests are now crying about wombo combos and minion based interactions.  You gotta love the absolute self-hate these people exude.

Personally when I looked at the card lists I knew it was going to be an rng clown fest of high rolls and destroyed keyboards and mice. People will never be happy. This cycle has repeated itself since I started playing back in closed beta of 2014.  I’m done with the 7200 honor I’m level 30 on the RT and I’m just knocking down achievements. 

People really need to get over winning and losing because the game doesn’t track losses so  it’s all just meaningless grinding. The whole point of the game is to enjoy card based WoW and have some laughs.

I for one love the artwork and voice lines. The art in this expansion , I think, is the best yet.  

Casino mage is really crazy this time around and I already made my personal list solid gold for maximum effect. 

How is everyone dealing with the day 1 clown fest?

There's a lot of disruption/removal so spending all your mana on 1 huge minion seems like it still won't be very good in this meta.

There's a lot of new control cards so it looks like aggro may not be as good this expansion

This makes me think the meta will be Control, Tempo, Midrange, and just slowly bursting down your opponent while you stall them with control cards.

Control may still be too slow though.

Shadow Priest, Burst down freeze Shaman decks, Quest mage, tempo rogues. Any decks that can kill by turn 6 I think will be meta if not you will just lose to the control.