Depending on how some people are feeling on a giving day LOR "sucks" right now.

There's a lot of salt, a lot of hate, on reddit specifically.

People don't know what decks to play, and as soon as they find a list it's invalidated by another.

Oh man these midrange lists sure are strong, nevermind ryze is toxic combo is too good, how about them Swarm decks? Then we go back to midrange again and the circle continues.

Meanwhile the deck brewers are doing crazy **** and winning games.

We have a new competitive yeti list on mastering runeterra with Darius, we have daybreak at top of S tier on mobalytics.

The reality is that this meta is like jello, it keeps changing shape and nobody knows what's going to happen.

To me that's exciting.

It's dynamic, it's moving, it's constantly changing, a world where anything is possible.

But to the salt lords who have to keep their edge because it's their career or livelihood or their claim to fame this meta is cancer.

They say one deck is top tier, and next week it's not. They say Nora is everywhere then Nora drops 5%. They say FTR doesn't exist and then FTR hits 55%.

This truly is the card game of champions right now and I'm going to enjoy every drop of it till rotation hits.

Let the salt lords cry, and the hardcores get mad, I'm having a blast.

Competition Theme: Hail Hydra

The Year of the Hydra came with some cool mechanics. What would happen if we put them together?

• You must make a card that utilizes at least two of the follow mechanics on the same card:
  
  • Colossal
  • Dredge
  • Naga Synergy
  • "Sunken" Cards
  • Infuse
  • Locations
  • "Suspicious" Cards
  • Reborn
  • Undead Synergy
  • Manathirst
• It is also important to note that merely just being a Naga or Undead does not count as synergy for the purposes of the competition.

The year of the Hydra is coming to an end, and Demon wants us to celebrate the year by combining its mechanics together.

As always, we 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, Feb 13 17:00 EST (GMT -0500). Runs until Sat, Feb 18 17:00 EST (GMT -0500)
• Voting Phase: Starts on Sat, Feb 18 17:00 EST (GMT -0500). Runs until Sun, Feb 19 16:00 EST (GMT -0500)
• Finalist Phase: Starts on Sun, Feb 19 17:00 EST (GMT -0500). Runs until Mon, Feb 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 set of new achievements popped up with the miniset.
Avalon, we miss your guides ! :)

I've been on out of cards for a long time.

I've built countless decks in my spare time many of whom I bring back time and time again each time getting more refined and playable.

But most people brew in LOR to fire and forget.

Oh I tried that it didn't work rage quit now time to counter brew what I just faced.

You see that's not going to work against someone who has miles on their engine because they just instantly go to their backlog of decks and pull out something else.

Instead the solution should be simple, build to last, build to succeed and build to get better at the game.

A new Free Mage Hero, Saraad, has been revealed!

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Today we are going to start the second season of the WCDC (weekly card design competition), and I wanted to share some of the lessons I learned about designing cards from the first season. Hopefully this list is useful to you, and I don't end up wasting my time writing this.

1. Keep it Simple, Stupid! K.I.S.S. or M.A.Y.A. (Most advanced, yet acceptable) are good acronyms to keep in mind when designing cards. You don't want your card to be super bland and boring, but if it is too different and unique then people won't be able to connect with it. You want your card to be as interesting and different as possible while still being within the realm of possibility. Don't try to think of something brand new, try to think of a new spin you can put on an existing thing.
2. Don't make too many cards. Sometimes people in the discussion thread create multiple cards and ask which one is best, and while this may seem like a good idea it usually isn't. All of your feedback will be split up and it will be hard to decide on which card is better. Just submit one card and if people don't like it then you whip out your second card. Don't bring out both cards at the same time and ask people to choose. 
3. Presentation matters. This is both concerning art, and the text on your card. Make sure the art fits Hearthstone's theme and flavor. I know finding art sucks, but it is worth the trouble. Also make sure you have proper punctuation, capitalization, and wording on your card. You could come up with the most creative and innovative card in the world, but if you don't present it in a proper way then it won't get very many stars.
4. The Customer is always right. If you want your card to do well, you should cater it to your audience. You may think your card is super cool and creative, but if nobody else agrees then your card will do poorly. You shouldn't make every change that people suggest, but you also shouldn't try too hard to defend your card when nobody agrees with you.
5. Check the submissions before submitting. I can recall a handful of times when multiple people made cards with the same art/ability/concept/or whatever, and they never did very well. Your idea has to be unique if you want people to vote high, so check to make sure nobody else has made the same card as you before you submit.
6. PUT YOUR CARD IN THE DISCUSSION THREAD BEFORE SUBMITTING! This is the most important thing you could do. Other people are smarter than you and might catch mistakes in your card that you didn't notice. I don't think a card submitted within the first 24 hours has ever made it to the finalists, let alone won. You have roughly 4 days to get feedback and make adjustments, use that time well. You don't get anything for being the first person to submit your card.

That is my list of lessons I learned from season 1, hopefully this stuff wasn't too obvious. If you have any advice you would like to share I would love to hear it. One thing in particular that I am interested in knowing is your opinion on the description box, and what kind of thing you write in it. Sometimes I would write about the practical uses of my card and how it might be played. Other times I would talk about the design process of my card and how it got to where it is. And sometimes I would just write flavor text. What do you think the best thing to put in the description box is? And does it even matter, or am I over-thinking it?

Dude it's a meme deck...like I dont even know what to say.

Am I that strong that my junk needs hard counter brews for me to be stopped?

Wait isn't that basically the same as Majin?

Am I the meme Majin or Swim 2.0?

I might be :)

Like if you're losing to mono freijord ramp with a splash of demacia don't feel bad.

Well maybe feel a little bad but you don't need to whip put meta tenticles to feel better about yourself.

I've been building decks for yeeeeears.

Of course my memes are almost as good as meta.

It comes with practice don't feel bad about it.

Like don't listen to streamers "here's the number 1 deck to climb to diamond with"

Dude the number of times I've climbed with complete dokey that I built myself...would be every time because I don't play meta lists.

So if I' diamond with garbage I'm basically omega masters.

Of course my memes are strong.

A new Free Warrior Hero, Varian Wrynn, has been revealed!

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A new Free Paladin Hero, Fanboy Leeroy, has been revealed!

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A new Free Warlock Hero, Mascot Nemsy, has been revealed!

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A new Free Death Knight Hero, Daring Darion, has been revealed!

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A new Common Druid Minion, Death Beetle, has been revealed!

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

Learn more about March of the Lich King

Head on over to our dedicated guide for March of the Lich King!

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Competition Theme: A Hero's Tale

No more of these side-characters hogging the screen: it's time for the main players to take the stage!

• You must design a Legendary minion for one of the main Hearthstone avatar characters - Jaina, Thrall, Rexxar, etc.
  • Arthas already has one in The Lich King, so he will not count for this competition.

The Mercenaries had their moment to shine on the battlefield; Demonxz95 wants to bring the attention back to the old guard!

As always, we 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, Feb 6 17:00 EST (GMT -0500). Runs until Sat, Feb 11 17:00 EST (GMT -0500)
• Voting Phase: Starts on Sat, Feb 11 17:00 EST (GMT -0500). Runs until Sun, Feb 12 16:00 EST (GMT -0500)
• Finalist Phase: Starts on Sun, Feb 12 17:00 EST (GMT -0500). Runs until Mon, Feb 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.

A new Legendary Paladin Minion, The Purator, has been revealed!

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Learn more about March of the Lich King

Head on over to our dedicated guide for March of the Lich King!

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A new Common Paladin Minion, Knight of the Dead, has been revealed!

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I dont like aggro, I don't.

I play next to zero aggro generally speaking.

But Ionia otk is such a polarizing archetype that it only has one weakness.

It has a 30% matchup table into every single aggro list.

Pirates yep, bandle yep, fearsome yep, hallowed yep.

But there is one list that trumps them all.

Pink region otk (rhyze) has a 20% winrate into lurk.

So I don't care if I have to play lurk into all the smooth brains running otk by running an even smoother brain deck I will do it.

You'll lose roughly 80% of the time.

Sorry you're playing something degenerate you don't get to complain.

A new Rare Warlock Spell, Nofin's Imp-ossible, has been revealed!

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https://app.mobalytics.gg/lor/meta-tier-list

https://masteringruneterra.com/meta-tier-list/

So post patch tier lists are in and they are both a bit sketch...hear me out before the hate.

I had said that Ionia would be meta and then Bandle would surge to counter Ionia.

So what do we see in S tier we have Majin otk Ionia deck, and we have bandle aggro.

Great, but if we look at mastering runeterra there is one more sneaky category that is over performing and its one that I have talked about extensively as the counter to do nothing Bandle.

Tempo!!!

We see decks like kalista nocturn fearsome with a 57% winrate not because they are good but because it is undoubtedly a very high tempo deck.

We have my tempo illoi list largely outperforming Majin Ionia illoi combo list. (Anecdotal but I won't play 2,000 games sorry)

We have hard control lists, we have aggro lists like pirate aggro hitting 57%

So its not just hey here's the Ionia deck Majin made and 3 bandle lists to counter it.

The meta is actually exceptionally diverse and balanced.

So I wouldn't be surprised to see more major shifts moving forward.

So I have test tempo Illoi vs meta bandle and won every match.

I would only say that the only deck that hard counters mine is nasus. It just goes taller its what the deck does. But thankfully playing one big dude is really bad in this meta so if someone is gonna whip out a bad deck to counter yours that's usually where you want to be brewing wise.

A new Common Warlock Spell, Plague Eruption, has been revealed!

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A new Rare Druid Spell, Rake, has been revealed!

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A new Rare Warlock Minion, Suspicious Peddler, has been revealed!

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A new Rare Druid Spell, Life from Death, has been revealed!

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I've been going on a bit of a schooling tear this fine Sunday. I do appologize I work an important job during the week so I'm getting it all out of the way now.

Sometimes winning is just winning, sometimes you need to level Champs, build a deck that does something, and play for the archetype.

A great example was the recent meta deck of echo Jinx, used to be an F tier deck leveling Champs is bad, proper deck building knowledge is bad, playing for the "quest" is bad.

But no a few numbers move around, a few subtle shift and now Echo the worst champion in the game in terms of winrate actually sported a 53% A tier stat line.

So the summarized lesson is here:

1. Play do nothing decks into excessive stall decks.

2. Play tempo decks into do nothing decks.

3. Always build for your Champs I dont care what anyone says.

4. Flex your archetype knowledge

5. Don't be a dick

There ya go LOR is my favorite card game even after Mogwais and Swims departures the people who brought me to this game and showed its possibilities 

In their wake we have Allen and Majin but their rigid mindsets and firm meta orientations make them somewhat lacking for originality 

Well nifty brings that in spades and originality my friends can't be beaten or countered.

See ya

-----final edit-----

The open attack delema:

Traditional knowledge in LOR says open attacking is always correct.

This is only true in elusive decks generally speaking and is a real hearthstone line of play.

Mtg traditional knowledge states that hp doesn't matter.

That it's better to wait things out leverage your hp as a resource and win decisively.

Illoi is very good at this and I'll share my list for what I think is one of the best decks in the meta right now.

There is some bad Ionia matchups depending on the amount of stall and their wincon but for the most part it's good into everything people are playing.

I used to run Riptide sermon but monster harpoon on average is cheaper and more efficient at eliminating midrange champions. Which the meta is full of right now.

I'm trying to tell you guys this deck is dope you can hit 3 jaxs on curve and an orn and sweat your nerdy little heart out and still lose.

A new Common Shaman Spell, Blazing Transmutation, has been revealed!

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