So ever since Blizzard revealed the Priest Core Overhaul I was hoping that this would indicate that they may do a similar thing for the other classes in the future. In light of this, i've decided to brainstorm a few suggestions for the other classes (with varying detail because I'm more familiar with some than others)
Anyways, before we start I'd like to set up a few rules that I took into consideration before doing this. These rules are based on the standards that Blizzard has set for themselves when doing the Priest overhaul and the new Demon Hunter Basic set:
1) I will rework existing cards in order to better fit with the basic theme of the class (see Holy Smite)
2) I will buff existing cards in order to bring them in line with the current powerlevel without making them essential (see Thoughtsteal and Temple Enforcer)
3) I will entirely HoF cards that have an interesting premise but don't fit with the class identity that Blizzard is trying to establish (see [Hearthstone Card (Mindblast) Not Found] and Shadowform)
4) I will make use of keywords like Rush and Lifesteal since they have been added to the basic set via Demon Hunter
5) I will NOT remove clearly terrible cards as long as they fit with the class identity (see Mindgames, which is a clearly terrible card that will never see play but still embodies the Priest fantasy of using your opponent's deck against them)
With these in Mind I'm gonna go through the classes and make notes on each one. Some of them will only be suggestions for a direction while others will be more concrete.
Druid
Now Druid has been one of the first things I played in this game. Unfortunately their basic and classic set is kind of a mess at this point, a lot of which is due to rampant abuse of OTKs and other shenanigans. I genuinely don't feel qualified to do a full rework of this class because I'm still not sure which strategies the devs are actually comfortable with, but here are a few things:
Ancient of Lore: Now I really like this dude and it's kind of a shame what happened to him. Back in the day when Force of Nature still gave you treants with charge he was part of a nasty Combo deck that terrorized the meta for a while until it got absolutely destroyed through a number of nerfs to several cards, this one included.
Back in the day, this made sense. AoL was basically an auto include for ramp decks because back then, a /-mana 5/5 with Arcane Intellect was a very strong play...so strong in fact that to this day, people still compare new cards to this guy to demonstrate how good they are. Cards like:
-[Hearthstone Card (Hexlord Malacrass) Not Found]
-Countess Ashmore
Now those really weren't all that good now where they? The reason for this is because at this point, stats have been powercreeped so hard that playing a vanilla minion for 7-mana that only draws cards is a HUGE tempo loss and therefore only justifiable in very few situations (Hell, even Valdris Felgorge is hard to get on the board and he draws twice the amount that AoL did)
Basically AoL with 2 cards drawn would no longer be a problem so he should be reverted. Even then he probably wouldn't see that much play, but he would actually become an option for when Druid really needs card draw. It's just sad to see the card be completely underwhelming by any metric when it's technically one of the most iconic cards for the class.
Gift of the Wild: I know this was just a throwaway replacement for Naturalize but this should really just be 7-mana. NOt because that would make it more playable, but because it would actually make it usable when randomly generated.
Keeper of the Grove: another victim of the old Combo Druid. He used to be pretty essential as a 2/4, but nowadays even that wouldn't be all that impressive. Still I would just buff him to a 2/3 so he actually is a valid tech choice instead of being strictly worse than Owl. If Silence is going to be part of the Druid identity then at least their one Silence minion should be reasonably statted for its cost.
Savagery: I like the card, and Blizzar clearly wants to keep supporting Attack Damage Druid in some form, so I wish it had something that actually made it worth playing. Part of me really wants to make it able to target face so Attack Damage Druid can actually become its own thing with an aggro gameplan, but in that case you'd have to increase it's cost to at least 3-mana so it doesn't get misappropriated by Malygos Druids.
Moonfire: Speaking of Malygos Druid. Despite nerfing the Archetype in the past and abstaining from printing cheap damaging spells Bliizz still wants to keep this archetype around if Imprisoned Satyr is anything to go by. I'm personally not a huge fan of the archetype, but I respect that people enjoy it, so if anything, I would suggest rotating Moonfire entirely and replace it with something that fits Druid better (such as small removal in a similar fashion)
Swipe: As with Moonfire I think this card is a constant looming threat. At the same time there's no real way to deal with it other than making it completely unusable which would make Druid even worse at retaking the board than it already is. Maybe a solution would be to turn it into something like "deal 4 damage to a minion and 2 to adjacent ones"
Druid of the Claw: A relic of when Charge was still intended as removl. Not only is it essentially pointless these days, but also the charge aspect doesn't fit Druid whatsoever. Instead I propose to make the Cat a 6/4 with Rush, essentially modernizing it and adding some nice symmetry.
Hunter
Bestial Wrath: I do not understand what they ever intended to do with this card, but clearly it hasn't work. There has been virtually no support for it and even when dropped randomly it's rarely useful. However, I still feel it's not nearly useless enough to warrant removing and it still somewhat works with the identity of Hunter using minions as removal (which Rush emphasized even more). If anything I would just buff it to +3 attack. People still won't run it, but it's a lot better as a random drop and would at least make sense to combine with certain minions.
Scavenging Hyena: I don't think this really needs fixing, but it's something to keep an eye on because it just so dam frustrating when it snowballs to victory. If need be it would be changed to a 2/3 that only gains attack instead of health (effectively the Hunter equivalent of Frothing Berserker)
Explosive Shot: I'm not sure this really needs to be buffed because I fear it would become somewhat of a staple if you reduced its cost by 1, but I'm still mentioning it as something that isn't exactly up to the modern standards of cost efficiency
[Hearthstone Card (Gladiator's Bow) Not Found]: I honestly just want this to see play and I think aat 6-mana it potentially would. It's such a cool concept and it's wasted by being just a tad too slow. Once again, this is mostly preference though and it's not nearly as necessary as other stuff
Animal Companion: I have a long standing hatred for this card. It's the ultimate example of bad RNG in Hearthstone. In a tempo deck this is basically a 1/3 to give you the perfect answer to your current situation, while the other two probably lose you the game. However, due to it giving you slightly overstatted minions it'S always going to be included in Hunter decks that need a turn 3 play and as such it hogs the 3-mana spot for itself (when that slot is already crowded as hell).
My solution is simple: 4-mana: Choose an Animal Companion to summon. Will that see play? Probably not, but it actually gives it some actual value and lets you build around it. Need token buffs? Pick Leokk. Need removal/reach? Pick Huffer. Need a taunt or just a solid minion? pick Misha. This way it actually fits the style of a Basic card that's not exactly the optimal choice and outclassed by more specialized cards form expansions while still being worth running if your deck can use the flexibility. If necessary you can always buff the individual companions in stats to make up for the mana increase.
And no, it's not bringing Discover to the BAsic set because it basically uses the same mechanic as Tracking.
Starving Buzzard: Once an essential part of Hunter decks it got nerfed into complete submission, without ever addressing the real issue.
The problem with Buzzard was its synergy with stuff like Unleash the Hounds, which relied on the fact that BUzzard would draw on SUMMON instead of just PLAY. With that change you could easily buff it to a 4-mana card. Draw is no longer a complete weakness in Hunter anyways, but it's a shame that this card isn't at least on the level of Arcane Fletcher. Alternatively you could just rotate the guy, but I don't see the reason for that.
Tundra Rhino: Just yeet this thing already. I don't know why they insist on keeping this around when it's never going to do anything other than enable some abusive combo. Now that Leoroxx is a thing w'll probably see this show up a lot more and it's going to be frustrating every time. Degenerate combo enablers like this should just be Hall of Famed and be replaced with something more fitting for the class and the core set in general.
Mage
There's honestly not much to say about Mage, it has one of the most solid and coherent core sets out of all the classes. Only one card really sticks out and that's
Icicle: this card was used to replace Ice Block and just like it's Druid equivalent it was kind of a rush job. It honestly should either deal 3-damage or cost 1-mana. It's just so awkward compared to Frostbolt and Mage really needs more help in the draw department anyways.
Paladin
Guardian of Kings: Much like Temple Enforcer this just doesn't line up statwise anymore. They could buff the heal up to 8 (which is the typical baseline anyways) or just reduce its cost down to 6. It's never going to see play in any case since Paladin gets consistently better healing options, but it's still awful when it shows up from something like Lightforged Crusader.
Hammer of Wrath: this falls into the same category as [Hearthstone Card (Mindblast) Not Found]. Face damage isn't really Paladin's identity and the card is pretty awkward in any case. I'd rather they make it minion-only and reduce its cost to 3, so it can actually see play as an efficient cycling tool in Control decks while not being that useful for more aggressive strategies. This is especially needed seeing howAcolyte of Pain is no longer available.
Avenging Wrath: is the same scenario, however here I actually intend to make a genuinely powerful card. Removing the ability to damage face obviously makes this a more powerful removal tool. The simplest approach is to make it a 5-mana deal 8 split among all enemy minions. This would probably make it an autoinclude in most Slower Paladin decks (and even some midrange ones). A different idea would be to go down to 4-mana but reduce the damage to 6-mana, which makes it similar to Consecration but better against a single big target.
If both of these would end up too powerful, leaving it at 6-mana with only minion damage would still be an overall buff although the card would probably not see play.
Holy Wrath: Just rotate it. It's never really been part of any legit strategy and only popped up to abuse an OTK scenario, which is not something we'll probably see again in Standard, so just put this into Wild and make room for a card that fits better with the Paladin identity.
Rogue
Betrayal: I'm not saying this card needs to be changed, but I don't understand what kind of Rogue strategy it's supposed to represent. it's never really gotten any legit support and only showed up as a recycled effect in stuff like [Hearthstone Card (Unknown Contract) Not Found] or Sudden Betrayal.
Blade Flurry: Only 90s kids will remember that this used to be one of the most broken cards in the game and allowed Rogue to deal ridiculous burst damage. It's not wise to ever revert this to its former state but I believe that due to the nerf to Preparation it should be adjusted down to 3-mana. This way it also supports Weapon Rogue, a playstyle we haven't really seen in a while. I don#t want rogue to have a reliable boardclear, but there should be some sort of payoff for playing Bazaar Burglary or any type of deck that features multiple weapons with decent attack.
Master of Disguise: Already got nerfed once and I really like the overall falvour of the card, but at the same time rogue really doesn't give stealth anymore..they just play Stealth minions. Maybe this would be better in a reworked form, although it's not really necessary.
Kidnapper: Alright now this guy is something else. He's probably the ABSOLUTE WORST card ever created. It's actually baffling how garbage he is. Even when you consider it as Sap on a stick it's still just a 4-mana 5/3, which is far below vanilla...and on top of that he requires you to combo so you're effectively spending a huge amount of money on an effect you can get way more easily...from a basic card. Even further, his name makes NO SENSE! Since when does kidnapping mean returning a minion to its owner? He doesn't even give a cost increase or anything that could be interpreted as "ransom".
I propose this rework: Instead of being a shitty Sapman make him a 5-mana card with "Battlecry: Return a friendly minion to your hand, it costs (3) less". The idea is to emphasize the self bouncing theme in Rogue and give a counterpart to Shadowstep to teach players the difference between using a spell or a minion to achieve a similar effect and how they have different applications. He still won't see play, but he now has a purpose of being able to set up certain combos with more cost reduction than Shadowstep (in exchange for being much more expensive).
Edwin VanCleef: Now I'm a firm believer that edwin isn't actually in need of being HoF'd but just in case it ever happens I propose that we replace him with Vanessa VanCleef, just for the sake of the lore. No idea what her effect would be, but I want her in the game, damnit!
Fan of Knives: Should deal 1-damage to the enemy face also. Okay, hear me out on this one: It's by no means a bad card even though it's much more niche after Prep lost it's staple status. However, I still think it's a very interesting card to be used with Spell damage and giving it the ability to also chip at your opponent's health would make it more attractive for aggressive decks and fit with Rogue's identity of leveraging tempo and aggressiveness in exchange for not having much defense. Also, since Leeroy rotated Rogue has lost a lot of burst potential so a bit more damage would be appreciated.
Sprint: 6-mana to adjust it to the Prep nerf. I know that makes it a better Nourish, but Nourish pays for also being a ramp tool so that doesn't really compare. I just think that at least Rogue's core cards should be adjusted to the new Prep, especially since new Rogue cards are being designed with that nerf in mind.
Assassin's Blade: Swap the stats to a 4/3 weapon. The reason is the following: Originally the wanted you to equip this and then buff it for damage over multiple turns. However, buffing large weapons isn't exactly a good strategy in this game because of weapon removal. Rather it makes sense to get more damage over fewer turns. This also combos better with Blade Flurry (buffed or not) because it allows you to equip and swing into swing and Flurry on the next turn, which is more obvious and teaches players to use weapons for tempo and not to stack them up for later use. Probably won't make the card any more viable, but at least more in line with how weapons are designed nowadays.
Shaman
I honestly have no idea what to do here, it's kind of a mess. A lot of cards feel really awkward but they still support stuff that Shaman does to this day such as Overload or Totems. A few things:
Forked Lightning: Is just kind of pointless seeing how at turn 1 there'll almost never be two targets to hit. It would make much more sense for it to cost 2-mana but deal 3 each, that way it has some justification for existing.
Dust Devil. Is kind of iconic but also complete garbage. Shaman never really played this hyper aggressive style of trying to stick an early drop to immediately push face and they also don't really get buffs that would really support this. I'D rather they replaced this with something like a 1-mana Murloc 3/2 Overload (1) so the whole Murloc theme is rooted in the core set seeing how it's a staple these days.
Al'Akir the Windlord: he's just outdated. Rockbiter got nerfed so there's no wombo combo anymore and he was clearly designed as removal anyways. It would probably make sense to replace Charge with Rush, buff his stats and reduce his cost, but I don't feel qualified to come up with a concrete solution.
Warlock
Not gonna do Warlock here, because someone already did. Here's his thread:
https://outof.cards/forums/fan-creations/custom-hearthstone/3588-neogulis-warlock-core-set-changes
I left a comment down there which basically sums up my ideas for Warlock, although that class is such a clusterfuck that it's hard to really pinpoint where to start.
Warrior
Charge and Warsong Commander have already been confirmed to be changed at some point so no use in discussing them here.
Cleave: A bizarre card that doesn't really connect with any of Warrior's themes and I feel it could be more practically. Possibly as a 1-mana "deal 1 to two minions" as an activator for damaging synergies or as a 3-mana "deal 2 to 3 minions". I honestly don't know what to do with it, but it just feels so out of place and outdated.
Mortal Strike: Also a really weird card. Warrior really doesn't have any synergy with being low on health and this really only supports blind aggro and feels out of place by being one of the only face damaging spells of the class. I'd rather they'd rework it into some sort of removal that synergizes with having taken damage (maybe "deal x damage to a minion for missing health", but then again Warrior doesn't exactly need even more removal)
Brawl: My ancient arch nemesis. I just really hate the random factor and the fact that it's always going to be the go-to boardclear for Warrior and every new one is just an afterthought.
I'd rather the card would always have the minion with the highest attack survive so you eliminate RNG and give some interactivity with Warrior's Attack buffing shenanigans. In any case it limits design space, but I really like the flavour and I would love for it to be more tied into the Warrior aesthetic outside of just being the best thing available at all times.
Neutral
Since these are mostly just filler I'll only mention a few that could use some sort of update to better reflect how stat distribution works.
Ironforge Rifleman: 2/3 or 3/2 since he's just a worse version of Elven Archer. Alternatively up his battlecry damage to 2.
Dragonling Mechanic: 3/4 because at this point, minions that have their stats split into multiple bodies always end up with an above average statline to compensate for the split.
[Hearthstone Card (Stonetusk Board) Not Found]: Changed to Rush so the keyword has more representation in Basic so it doesn't appear like a Demon Hunter specific keyword. Possibly also buff the attack to 2. Also gets rid of the pesky Charge keyword to avoid future OTKs. this change could possibly be applied to any of the remaining Neutral Charge minions, but none of them ever really see play so I don't see the need.
Nightblade: Deal 4 damage. More symmetry and less obvious powercreep.
Stormpike Commando: Health to 3.
Lord of the Arena: Health to 6, taunt usually only subtracts one statpoint from the vanilla average.
War Golem: Health or Attack to 8 to be a better example of asymmetrical vanilla stats
Arcane Golem: give your opponent a card. this should be an example of a minion that gets increased stats in exchange for giving benefits to your opponent. Giving a Mana crystal is such a horrendously terrible thing that this is effectively just lying to new players about what is considered equivalent exchange in this game.
Silvermoon Guardian: 4/2. To better correlate with Scarlet Crusader
Priestess of Elune: 5-mana, restore 5 health. I would like this to be the basic Healing card that's good enough to use if you're desperate and currently it's just absurdly understatted for no reason at all.
Xavius: 5-mana, I mean for fuck's sake, it's XAVIUS, he deserves better than to just replace Illidan as wasted potential.
Final thoughts
Honestly I got pretty into this while writing. It made me realize how there's a lot of stuff in the core set that could be very easily fixed and I do hope the devs continue what they did with Priest for other classes, because it would help the game in the long run.
Either way, tell me what you think about any of my changes, I'm sure a lot of you have had similar thoughts at some point.
