ramp druid 8 mana on turn 4
ramp druid 8 mana on turn 4
ramp druid 8 mana on turn 4
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76% WR to Legend
From Bronze10 to Diamond5 I played my version of Soulshard Demon Hunter (63% WR) and from Diamond5 to Legend I played Enrage Warrior (76% WR) Bronze10 to Diamond5: ### Soul Reaper DH# Class: Demonh…
From Bronze10 to Diamond5 I played my version of Soulshard Demon Hunter (63% WR) and from Diamond5 to Legend I played Enrage Warrior (76% WR)
Bronze10 to Diamond5:
### Soul Reaper DH
# Class: Demonhunter
# Format: Standard
# Year of the Phoenix
#
# 2x (1) Battlefiend
# 2x (1) Consume Magic
# 2x (1) Spirit Jailer
# 2x (1) Twin Slice
# 2x (2) Blade Dance
# 2x (2) Manafeeder Panthara
# 2x (2) Soul Shear
# 2x (3) Aldrachi Warblades
# 2x (3) Shardshatter Mystic
# 2x (4) Ashtongue Battlelord
# 1x (4) Kayn Sunfury
# 2x (4) Marrowslicer
# 2x (5) Glaivebound Adept
# 2x (5) Soulshard Lapidary
# 2x (6) Skull of Gul'dan
# 1x (7) Soulciologist Malicia
#
AAECAea5AwLaxgPP0gMOh7oDnLwD4LwD2cYD1MgD98gD/MgD/sgD0c0D+84DzNIDzdID1NID99UDAA==
#
# To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone
# Generated by HDT - https://hsreplay.net
Diamond5 to Legend:
### Enrage Warrior
# Class: Warrior
# Format: Standard
# Year of the Phoenix
#
# 2x (0) Inner Rage
# 2x (1) Athletic Studies
# 2x (1) Risky Skipper
# 2x (1) Shield of Honor
# 2x (1) Sky Raider
# 2x (2) Armorsmith
# 2x (2) Battle Rage
# 1x (2) Corsair Cache
# 1x (3) Ancharrr
# 2x (3) Bloodsworn Mercenary
# 2x (3) Bomb Wrangler
# 2x (3) Livewire Lance
# 1x (3) Lord Barov
# 2x (3) Warmaul Challenger
# 2x (4) Kor'kron Elite
# 2x (7) Bloodboil Brute
# 1x (8) Grommash Hellscream
#
AAECAQcE0gLerQPAuQOT0AMNFhyQA9QE9agD3KkD3a0DpLYDq7YDu7kDnLsD4swDkdADAA==
#
# To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone
# Generated by HDT - https://hsreplay.net
Avatar Themes CSS styles not okay for long usernames
Hi, I just wanted to point out that the CSS style used for the Avatar Theme is not okay when the username is long. Currently, it is set to "left: -2px;" but it should be "left: 50%; margin-left: -92…
Hi, I just wanted to point out that the CSS style used for the Avatar Theme is not okay when the username is long.
Currently, it is set to "left: -2px;" but it should be "left: 50%; margin-left: -92.5px;" instead. Just saying 😅
https://css-tricks.com/forums/topic/horizontal-centering-of-an-absolute-element/
EDIT: Forgot to mention that it occurs on the member page like https://outof.cards/members/[USERNAME]/
Save your class packs for even more Madness!
I've been thinking and technically it should work. If you don't open your Mage and Hunter class packs till Madness at the Darkmoon Faire launches, you might be able to get some extra class specific c…
I've been thinking and technically it should work. If you don't open your Mage and Hunter class packs till Madness at the Darkmoon Faire launches, you might be able to get some extra class specific cards from the new expansion due to the no duplicates rule across all rarities. I'm keeping my packs to verify :D
These are the packs I'm talking about: https://imgur.com/a/JVigX9d
How it feels to play libram paladin
Scorched Earth.
Can anyone see a reason to not run three of these in their deck? Landmark removal or a wounded unit killer as a fast spell. It’s an absolutely fantastic card I guess Nox was hurting. I do…
Can anyone see a reason to not run three of these in their deck? Landmark removal or a wounded unit killer as a fast spell. It’s an absolutely fantastic card I guess Nox was hurting. I don’t think they were but this fabulous card should be really helpful to balancing things out. It’s just like crumble as a landmark removal except it’s fast. It cost less mana and it doesn’t require you to burn a unit to use it but just like crumble.
Magic the Gathering Cards search filter not working
It seems like the 'add filter' option does not work?
It seems like the 'add filter' option does not work?
New Freljord Spell - Feel The Rush
A new Epic Freljord Spell, Feel The Rush, has been revealed! [runecardimg rating]806[/runecardimg] Discuss this card below or head on over to the card page to give it a rating! Learn more about Ca…
A new Epic Freljord Spell, Feel The Rush, has been revealed!
Discuss this card below or head on over to the card page to give it a rating!
Learn more about Call of the Mountain
Head on over to our dedicated guide for Call of the Mountain!
New Ionia Spell - Go Get It
A new Epic Ionia Spell, Go Get It, has been revealed! [runecardimg rating]805[/runecardimg] Discuss this card below or head on over to the card page to give it a rating! Learn more about Call of t…
A new Epic Ionia Spell, Go Get It, has been revealed!
Discuss this card below or head on over to the card page to give it a rating!
Learn more about Call of the Mountain
Head on over to our dedicated guide for Call of the Mountain!
New Targon Spell - Out Of The Way
A new Epic Targon Spell, Out Of The Way, has been revealed! [runecardimg rating]804[/runecardimg] Discuss this card below or head on over to the card page to give it a rating! Learn more about Cal…
A new Epic Targon Spell, Out Of The Way, has been revealed!
Discuss this card below or head on over to the card page to give it a rating!
Learn more about Call of the Mountain
Head on over to our dedicated guide for Call of the Mountain!
New Shadow Isles Spell - Go Hard
A new Epic Shadow Isles Spell, Go Hard, has been revealed! [runecardimg rating]802[/runecardimg] Discuss this card below or head on over to the card page to give it a rating! Learn more about Call…
A new Epic Shadow Isles Spell, Go Hard, has been revealed!
Discuss this card below or head on over to the card page to give it a rating!
Learn more about Call of the Mountain
Head on over to our dedicated guide for Call of the Mountain!
New Piltover & Zaun Spell - Give It All
A new Epic Piltover & Zaun Spell, Give It All, has been revealed! [runecardimg rating]801[/runecardimg] Discuss this card below or head on over to the card page to give it a rating! Learn more…
A new Epic Piltover & Zaun Spell, Give It All, has been revealed!
Discuss this card below or head on over to the card page to give it a rating!
Learn more about Call of the Mountain
Head on over to our dedicated guide for Call of the Mountain!
reward details
A part the general principle, is there any detail about how much you get from a win and how do you get rewards from progress ? I would like to know figures not "philosophy" - tks
A part the general principle, is there any detail about how much you get from a win and how do you get rewards from progress ?
I would like to know figures not "philosophy" - tks
Draconic Ragers achievement does not trigger
Visited all the card pages for Descent of Dragons' worst-rated cards by the community, but the Draconic Ragers achievement does not trigger unfortunately.
Visited all the card pages for Descent of Dragons' worst-rated cards by the community, but the Draconic Ragers achievement does not trigger unfortunately.
Stack limit
Is there seriously such a thing as maximum how many abilities and spells can be on the stack? Today as I was playing ranked, I played Rex with plunder on a Ledros that had 1hp left, with me still hol…
Is there seriously such a thing as maximum how many abilities and spells can be on the stack? Today as I was playing ranked, I played Rex with plunder on a Ledros that had 1hp left, with me still holding a Death's Hand as well as a Ravenous Flock with 4 mana. Rex already created 7 abilities on the stack and the guy just played Unspeakeble Horror and Atrocity and the game did not give me prioritiy to react. In my opinion this is such a ridicolous way to lose a ranked game.
[New Class] Archivist
Greetings here! I'm here to present you my version of how I would change Priest's Core Set... new class. I've taken a break from my core set plans and created something a bit different.&nbs…
Greetings here! I'm here to present you my version of how I would change Priest's Core Set... new class. I've taken a break from my core set plans and created something a bit different.
This time, it's an entirely new class. In my interview about Hunter and Demon Hunter Core Set Changes, I did say making one for Demon Hunter was close to creating a new class, but Archivist was one true new class, because I had to make everything from sratch instead of having ready pieces like I had with DH. It's been at least a year since I attempted to make a new class - my latest one beforehand was Monk, and before Monk - Witch Doctor, which was actually one of the first ever classes released to Hearthcards Class Creator. But without further adieu, let's move on to Archivist!
For your information, you can also check the class in Hearthcards Class Creator.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Show Spoiler
- Strengths
- Card Draw and Generation - Archivists must quickly move through pages to find exact information.
- Discard - Informations may sometimes be lost, but that can also clean up the text if an error occurs.
- Buffs - Poets can take inspiration from books they read.
- Removal - In a library, you must remain silent. Obey this rule or else get expeled!
- Cost Reduction - Digging in books faster at a cheap price? Count them in!
- Limitations
- Agression - To read and find inromation fast, you need to BE fast.
- Survivability - Some medicine can't hurt if it means to find information more precisely.
- Mill - Your opponent is also encouraged to read on a regular basis.
- Weaknesses
- Spell Damage - While interrupting silence will get you kicked, you won't get vanquished. Yes, they don't have any form of damage to heroes and even minions (!).
- RNG - Archivists must be precise. They musn't allow mistakes to happen. They happen, but they should be quickly eliminated.
Heroes and Cards
Show Spoiler
Hero and Hero Power
Basic Set
Initiate Set
Tokens
I'm Rooting For You - Card Design Competition Discussion Thread
Competition Theme: I'm Rooting For You It's time to enter the Tavern! The best minions have to be versatile, after all.You must create a minion which will appear in both…
Competition Theme: I'm Rooting For You
It's time to enter the Tavern! The best minions have to be versatile, after all.
- You must create a minion which will appear in both traditional Hearthstone and Battlegrounds
- You will need to submit two cards - one with a normal mana cost, and one with a Battlegrounds Tier
- A comprehensive guide on how to create a Battlegrounds card in Hearthcards can be found here, but to summarise, you need to click the small settings option between the input and the preview
Wailor wants us to take on the Battlegrounds this week, so make sure your minions are ready to fight!
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, Oct 26 17:00 EDT (GMT -0400). Runs until Sat, Oct 31 17:00 EDT (GMT -0400)
- Voting Phase: Starts on Sat, Oct 31 17:00 EDT (GMT -0400). Runs until Sun, Nov 1 16:00 EST (GMT -0500)
- Finalist Phase: Starts on Sun, Nov 1 17:00 EST (GMT -0500). Runs until Mon, Nov 2 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.
Can't add Impish Aid to the deckbuilder
It's invisible for me, and I can't add it. Is it a bug or am I just impatient enough?
It's invisible for me, and I can't add it. Is it a bug or am I just impatient enough?
Collection page not working
For the past few days, I have been unable to edit my HS collection, or view collection progress. The page just hangs, never loading. Using an Android tablet. Tried in Opera Beta and…
For the past few days, I have been unable to edit my HS collection, or view collection progress. The page just hangs, never loading. Using an Android tablet. Tried in Opera Beta and Google Chrome browsers.
Cheese's custom core sets revamp - Global thread (done!)
Cheese's Custom Core set revamp Instead of doing 1 thread per class, I've decided to do a single master thread for my whole shit. Some changes happened for the classes I already posted before accord…
Cheese's Custom Core set revamp
Instead of doing 1 thread per class, I've decided to do a single master thread for my whole shit.
Some changes happened for the classes I already posted before according to the feedback I've received. There are also some revamped cards that I shamelessly ripped off from other people's reworks (credit is given when it happens) because the main goal of this revamp is not to be creative.
Directions
General directions I follow for the core sets
Goal of Basic and Classic
Blizzard's official post on class identity is weird. It mixes class mechanics with strengths and weaknesses so most of the stuff doesn't make sense. The way I proceeded is completely different. I started by listing what should be the primary and secondary mechanics of the class, the strengths and weaknesses of the class as well as the archetypes available to it should follow from this list.
I say "core sets" a lot, but the Basic and Classic set are NOT interchangeable in their functions.
- The Basic set is the spine of the class. It ensures the class' viability and establishes its primary mechanics.
- Must be simple. Most cards must have 2 lines of text or less. Only simple keywords.
- Versatile to support multiple playstyles
- Minimal kit of everything a class needs to be viable (card draw; removal; direct damage; good standalone minions;...) even if not part of identity
- Fine if slightly more OP than what you would expect from expansions
- The Classic set is the limbs of the class. It ensures the class' internal diversity and estables its secondary mechanics.
- Presents the more "complex" mechanics of the game (Deathrattle, etc...)
- Because Classic packs are bought, there should be a sense of progression
- Unlike the Basic set, Classic cards should be slightly below average to let room for expansions
Tribal synergies
- Beasts
- All size of minions
- Good standalone value
- Buff each other a lot
- Each type of Beast has its subtheme (Bears=Taunt; Boars=Rush; Cats=Stealth; Wolves=buff other beasts; etc...)
- Most common type of minions, as such their identity is less precise
- Demons (Warlock & DH)
- All size of minions
- Powerful but with a drawback (taking damage; discard; ...)
- Dragons
- Medium to big minions
- "If you're holding a Dragon"
- Hand synergy
- Lots of legendaries
- 4/12 statline as a signature
- Elementals
- All size of minions
- "If you played an Elemental last turn"
- Value generation
- Battlecries
- Mechs
- Mechs were the focus of only 2 expansions (GvG and Boomsday) but they're otherwise a rare tribe and have no central identity!
- Murlocs
- Small minions
- Board-wide buffs for other Murlocs
- Relies on early-game snowballing. If allowed to stay on the board, they become nearly unstoppable
- Pirates
- Small to medium minions
- Weapon synergy
- Lots of direct damage
- Totems (Shaman)
- Small minions
- 0 attack with some exceptions
- Powerful ongoing effects (aura/end of turn/whenever)
Tribal synergies are part of a class primary identity in only 3 cases
- Beasts for Hunter
- Totems for Shaman
- Demons for Warlocks and DHs
All other class-tribe associations are mostly a matter of coincidence as these tribes happen to fit in the class identity (eg pirates for Warrior/Rogue)
Keywords
- Charge vs Rush - As you know, Charge is a dangerous keyword. This is why Rush was introduced...however there are a few cards that were meant to be finishers that wouldn't make sense without Rush. I will replace Charge with Rush on all core cards with Charge (and tweak stats accordingly) EXCEPT when Charge is on a legendary minion. There are 4 legendary minions with Charge in the classic set and they will keep Charge
- Discover - Disover offers a choice between cards that are in standard. Due to how easy Discover can become skewed when the right cards are printed, there will be no Discover cards in my core sets. I changed my mind. My core sets have discover cards. See below.
- Poisonous - There were originally no Poisonous cards in the Basic set before the introduction of [Hearthstone Card (Master Poisoner) Not Found]. I will therefore also have poisonous cards in my basic set
- Lifesteal - There are currently no Lifesteal cards in the core sets. However the keyword is simple and I will therefore introduce some.
NEUTRALS
Specific directions for neutral cards
- The function of neutral core sets isn't the same as class sets. Neutral cards exist to support multiclass strategies and needs. The power level of neutral cards is lower than class cards'. However, classes can use them to compensate for their weaknesses (eg. Taunt, healing, etc).
- The Basic neutral set :
- Has 50 cards
- Must remain extremely simple. No more than 3 lines of text, but most cards should have 2.
- Should feature all essential mechanics of the game.
- Contains Vanilla and French vanilla (=only keywords) minions with pertinent statlines for their tribes and keywords.
- Contains simple implementations of multiclass mechanics (eg. healing, summon, multiclass tribes like murlocs, etc)
- Should be weaker than neutral sets from Classic or from expansions (unlike Basic class sets).
- The Classic neutral set :
- Has 75 cards (32 commons, 15 rares, 15 epics, 13 legendaries)
- Is more complex and advanced than the basic set, and introduces "advanced" mechanics and keywords, but remains highly versatile.
- Allows for more complex gameplans.
- Contains tech cards against specific mechanics not normally counterable (eg. secrets, spells, battlecries, specific tribes, etc).
- Has buildaround cards for multiclass archetypes (eg. Malygos).
- Both neutral sets contain less cards than the actual neutral sets. This is because neutral cards, being usable by all classes, have a greater chance to "eat" expansion cards if they're too powerful. I kept the neutral-cards-to-class-cards ratio of 1/3 that is typical of expansions (before DH).
- Nevertheless, I strongly oppose Blizzard's philosophy of making evergreen sets intentionnaly weak to leave room for expansions. This is the easy way out. I want to make sets that are interesting without wrapping the entire game around them.
- I didn't make the effort to change the watermarks for the cards I just rotated without changing them. However, for the Basic cards I modified or created, I added the Basic set icon as a watermark to them. It is weird that the existing Basic Set doesn't have one.
- Some of those cards were put there just for meme value. Memes matter.
BASIC neutral set (50 cards)
NOTE: If you're an Arena player, you will probably look at this set in horror since it contains a lot of cards that are or were notoriously very good or even outright cancer in this mode. There's really no way around it. The Basic set is supposed to be generalistic and versatile, this intrinsically makes it broken in Arena. If it were real, this Basic set would NEVER be part of any Arena rotation.
CLASSIC neutral set (75 cards)
COMMONS (32)
RARES (15)
EPICS (15)
(as you can tell, I hate Freeze Mage)
LEGENDARIES (13)
List of changes to non-custom cards
Card changes
- Deathwing : Art changed.
- Nozdormu : Effect changed completely. (Previous effect was too cancer)
- Alexstrasza : Effect is now healing and only affects your hero. (Previous effect was too cancer). Art changed.
- Vulpera Scoundrel : Attack reduced to 1. (Would have been too good for Classic otherwise)
- Violet Teacher : Art changed. Effect is now "after" rather than "whenever".
- Thorium Blacksmith : Name changed. (Formerly Dark Iron Dwarf, that's like naming a card "human"!)
- Reckless Rocketeer : Charge replaced by Rush. Attack increased to 9 (to compensate).
- Frost Elemental : Attack and Health increased to 6.
- Core Hound : Attack and Cost decreased by 1. Its stats are now vanilla.
- Wolfrider : Charge replaced by Rush.
- Sha'tar Cleric : Name changed (formerly Shattered Sun Cleric, artwork was Lady Liadrin!). Art changed accordingly.
- Raid Leader : Stats changed from 2/2 to 1/3. (This is a minion you want to keep alive). Art changed.
- Novice Engineer : Art changed.
- Kobold Geomancer : Art changed.
- Orgrimmar Grunt : Health increased to 3. Name changed (formerly Frostwolf Grunt). Art changed accordingly. I know I could consider this a completely different card altogether but I didn't want to.
- Bluegill Warrior : Charge replaced by Rush. Health increased to 2.
- Bloodfen Raptor : Art changed
- Stonetusk Boar : Charge replaced by Rush.
- Shieldbearer : Art changed.
Cards moved from Classic to Basic
- Frost Elemental
- Silver Hand Knight
- Scarlet Crusader
- Emperor Cobra
- Earthen Ring Farseer
- Shieldbearer
- Argent Squire
- Wisp
Shortlisted neutral cards
Listed below are cards I considered adding to the core sets but didn't, either because they have a flaw that make them unfit for core sets, or because there was no room for them anymore.
9+ mana
9+ mana
- Big Bad Archmage
- Deathwing, Dragonlord
- Living Monument
- Burly Shovelfist
- Onyxia
- Sathrovarr
- Sleepy Dragon
- A vanilla 10 mana 12/12 to teach new players how the curve works.
7-8 mana
7-8 mana
6 mana
5 mana
5 mana
- Abomination
- Antique Healbot
- Big Game Hunter
- Blackwing Corruptor
- Bloodworm
- Boompistol Bully
- Cobalt Spellkin
- Cult Apothecary
- Dalaran Crusader
- Darkscale Healer
- Djinni of Zephyrs
- Nesting Roc
- Rotten Applebaum
- Seaforium Bomber
- Silver Hand Knight
- Sludge Belcher
- Spectral Knight
- Summoning Stone
- Sunborne Val'kyr
- Trogg Gloomeater
- A 5mana 2/2 minion with mega-windfury
4 mana
4 mana
3 mana
3 mana
- Argent Horserider
- Blackwing Technician
- Blood Knight
- Dragonslayer
- Flesheating Ghoul
- Flying Machine
- Hench-Clan Sneak
- Imp Master
- Living Dragonbreath
- Microtech Controller
- Pantry Spider
- Questing Adventurer
- Spider Tank
- Ravencaller
- Razorfen Hunter
- Shallow Gravedigger
- Silent Knight
- Spawn of N'Zoth
- Spider Tank
- Squirming Tentacle
- Untamed Beastmaster
- Zola the Gorgon
2 mana
2 mana
- Acidic Swamp Ooze
- Arcane Servant
- Blowgill Sniper
- Dire Wolf Alpha
- Dirty Rat
- Duskboar
- Echoing Ooze
- Fishflinger
- Gilblin Stalker
- Knife Juggler
- Nerub'ar Weblord
- Pompous Thespian
- Puddlestomper
- Quicksand Elemental
- Serpent Egg
- Shieldbreaker
- Spellbook Binder
- Spellzerker
- Stubborn Gastropod
- Sunreaver Spy
- Tainted Zealot
- Transmogrifier
- Volatile Elemental
- Youthful Brewmaster
- A 1/1 minion that deals 3 damage to a beast.
0-1 mana
0-1 mana
- Deadscale Knight
- Goldshire Footman
- Grimscale Oracle
- Hot Air Balloon
- Mecharoo
- [Hearthstone Card (Sir Finley Mrrglton) Not Found]
- Southsea Deckhand
- Toxfin
- Voodoo Doctor
- Young Dragonhawk
- Zealous Initiate
- Target Dummy
CLASS CARDS
DRUID
Druid class identity
- PRIMARY MECHANICS
- RAMP - Druid have cards to gain mana crystals quicker than opponents, and play high-cost cards earlier than you would expect them, at the cost of tempo.
- VERSATILITY - The Choose One keyword gives the Druid class a flexibility that other classes don't have. It can adapt its game plan depending on circumstances.
- TOKENS/TREANTS - Druid can make a swarm of small minions bigger and bigger through board-wide buff spells, to take advantageous trades and keep control of the board.
- SECONDARY MECHANICS
- HERO ATTACK - Weapons are for losers. Druids jump into the fray with cards that directly give your hero attack for a turn.
- ARMOR - Not as much as Warrior, but it is present.
- HEALING - Not as much as Priest, but it is present.
- BIG SPELLS - Not as much as... ok you get it. Jack of all trades, master of none.
- KEYWORD AFFINITIES - Choose One; Taunt; "mana"
- TRIBAL AFFINITIES - "Treants"; Beasts
BASIC Druid set (10 cards)
TOKENS
CLASSIC Druid set (15 cards)
COMMONS
RARES
EPICS
LEGENDARY
TOKENS
List of changes to non-custom druid cards
Card changes
- Starfire : Cost and damage dealt reduced by 1.
- Wild Growth : Nerf reversed.
- Savage Roar : Nerfed to 4 mana.
- Nourish : Nerf reversed; rarity changed to epic.
- Ancient of Lore : Nerf reversed; healing increased to 8.
- Ancient of War : Has Rush for the 10/5 option. Art changed.
- Cenarius : Statline changed from 5/8 to 7/7
Cards moved from Classic to Basic
Shortlisted cards
The following cards almost made it into my core sets, but didn't because there were no room left for them.
HUNTER
Hunter class identity
In terms of core set quality, Hunter is above average, although its sets aren't as good as Mage's or Rogue's. The main issue with Hunter's current set is its one-dimensionality. Up to 2017, Hunter was a one-dimensional class with an extremely linear gameplay. It had only one viable archetype (at best), oscillating between face and midrange.
After 2017, internal diversity increased: Egg, Cube, No-minion, Big, etc... Deathstalker Rexxar enabled late-game-oriented Hunter archetypes. Big Beast synergies enabled non-linear playstyles. One major constraint, as Blizz themselves noticed, is Hunter's lack of card draw. Lack of card draw intrinsically limits a class' design space. However Blizz developed workarounds such as card generation (Rhok'delar)or costly but powerful tutoring (Scavenger's Ingenuity, Ursatron) as opposed to general card draw, or "Recruit" mechanics.
- PRIMARY MECHANICS
- BEASTS (big and small) - All classes have tribal synergies, but only in Hunter is this particular tribal synergy so central.
- SMORC - Face is the place.
- SECONDARY MECHANICS
- SECRETS - Hunter is a class with Secrets. Unlike Mage secrets (which are defensive) and Paladin secrets (which are situational), Hunter secrets are tempo-focused in nature, and helps you keep the lead on the boa
- SUMMONING SPELLS - Hunter has a lot of them. This is what allows the class to have minionless archetypes.
- TUTORING - Hunter has few "undiscriminated" card draw but has a lot of cards to tutor exactly the cards they need.
- HANDBUFF - Alongside other "Grimy Goon" classes, Hunter has lots of handbuff. Hunter's handbuff tends to be focused on big single-target buffs
- PARTIAL REMOVALS - Hunter AOE removals tend to be very partial and position-hased. See Powershot.
- KEYWORD AFFINITIES - Rush; "enemy hero"
- TRIBAL AFFINITIES - Beasts (duh); Mechs.
BASIC Hunter set (10 cards)
![(4) Multishot[3]](https://i.imgur.com/ys6Lyr8.png)
TOKENS
CLASSIC Hunter set (15 cards)
COMMONS
RARES
![(7) Bursting Shot[6]](https://hearthcards.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/60/ee/c3/6a/60eec36a.png)
EPICS
LEGENDARY
TOKENS
List of changes to non-custom Hunter cards
Card changes
- (S)Kill Command : Art changed. Old one was ugly AF.
- Animal Companion : Art changed.
- Arcane Shot : Art changed. I like changing art.
- Cobra Shot : Cost decreased to 4.
- Scavenging Hyena : Nerfed. Only gains +1/+1. (would imply a change in HSBG too)
- Call of the Wild : Nerfed to 9 mana (again).
Shortlisted cards
The following cards almost made it into my core sets, but didn't because there were no room left for them.
MAGE
Mage class identity
Mage is a mostly well-defined class. Blizzard's description of Mage's class identity is mostly accurate. The changes to my set are mostly polishing. Oh and also about nuking every combo piece of the fucking abomination that is Freeze/Exodia mage.
- PRIMARY MECHANICS
- SPELLS, SPELLS, AND SPELLS - Big ones, small ones. Mage is the most spell-centric class in the game. Minions are only there to boost them.
- FREEZE - Mage can freeze enemies to stall the game and execute its game plan in peace. Fun and interactive!
- CASINO - Mage has a lot of cards with random effects. In particular, cards that summon random minions of a given Cost.
- CARD CONJURING - A lot of mage spells are about drawing or generating other cards.
- SECONDARY MECHANICS
- SECRETS - Mage has more affinity with its secrets than the other secret classes.
- DRAW + HAND SYNERGIES - Not as much as Warlock, but a subtheme nonetheless.
- COST REDUCTION - Mage has a lot of cards to reduce the Cost of other cards. That mechanic doesn't appear much in the core sets though as it is dangerous.
- KEYWORD AFFINITIES - Freeze; Spell Damage; Secret; "cast"
- TRIBAL AFFINITIES - Elementals; Dragons.
BASIC Mage set (10 cards)
CLASSIC Mage set (15 cards)
COMMONS
RARES
EPICS
LEGENDARY
List of changes to non-custom Mage cards
Card changes
- Jaina Proudmoore : un-nerfed.
- Archmage Antonidas : Now generates random spells instead of just Fireballs, à la Lyra. Fuck Freeze mage and Exodia mage. Seriously.
- Unexpected Results : Cost raised to 4. (OG cost)
- [Hearthstone Card (Sorcerer's Apprentice.) Not Found] : Rarity bumped to rare. Stats nerfed to 2/2. Now only discounts the first spell of your turn. It's a [Hearthstone Card (Pint-size Summonner) Not Found] for spells. As I said, fuck Freeze/Exodia mage.
- Shatter : Cost decreased to 1.
- Flamestrike : Art changed. Old one was ugly, unnerfed Jaina is beautiful.
- Cabalist's Tome : Cost decreased to 4. Rarity decreased to common.
- Did I already mention how cancerous Freeze/Exodia mage is? I can't say it enough.
Shortlisted cards
The following cards almost made it into my core sets, but didn't because there were no room left for them.
PALADIN
Paladin class identity
Paladin has some well-defined themes (i.e. buffs), but there are too few of them. Paladin has historically always been a swing class, meaning its power level from expansion to expansion varies greatly due to both its extremely shitty core sets, which means its class identity has always been all over the place.
For example, Silver Hand Recruit synergy is a theme that has been mostly underexploited except during the Odd Paladin era. It's strange that board-wide buffs is considered a Druid theme but not a Paladin one. It would fit better here.
Large heals, even though it's been a Paladin theme, have been weak and don't feel different enough from Priest ones.
I've tried to gather everything I coul that make Paladin class identity, however it's clear Paladin needs something more.
Finally, I've gotten rid of secrets in Paladin's core sets. Devs said in the past that they gave Paladin secrets because they wanted to give them to Rogue originally, but Rogue already had the Combo keyword and they thought Paladin was the next best thing. But Paladin's secrets have always felt out of place within the class and they were almost never viable (except for Avenge and during the TGT era with Mysterious Challenger). This doesn't prevent Paladin secrets to be re-introduced during rotations as it is the case for Rogue secrets right now.
- PRIMARY MECHANICS
- MINION BUFFS - Paladin is the king of buffs and has lots of spells to make even the smallest of minions threatening.
- ...AND MINION DEBUFFS - Paladin prefers to weaken enemy minions rather than eliminating them directly.
- MINION RESILIENCE - Thanks to Divine Shields and buffs, Paladin minions also stick on the board.
- SILVER HAND RECRUITS - Reporting for duty! Paladin has a special relations to his recruits and have several synergies with them.
- SECONDARY MECHANICS
- HANDBUFFS - Buffs also include handbuffs. Paladins have access to the most cost-effective handbuffs.
- HEALING - Not as prominent as in Priest but important nonetheless. Paladin focuses on big single-target heals rather than
- SET - Rather than removing minions, paladin weakens them.
- KEYWORD AFFINITIES - Divine Shield; Lifesteal; "Silver Hand Recruit"; "set X to Y".
- TRIBAL AFFINITIES - Murlocs; Dragons.
BASIC Paladin set (10 cards)
TOKENS
CLASSIC Paladin set (15 cards)
List of changes to non-custom Paladin cards
Card changes
- Light's Justice : replaced by Overdue Justice because the art is better. LJ's artwork was clearly not meant to be a weapon artwork.
- Subdue : Cost raised to 3.
- Drakonid Enforcer : made into a Paladin card.
- Consecration : Art changed. The original art looks like it comes from MTG!
Shortlisted cards
The following cards almost made it into my core sets, but didn't because there were no room left for them.
PRIEST
Priest class identity
- PRIMARY MECHANICS
- Healing - Priest should be the best class at healing. It should have the most powerful and cost-effective healing cards, both single-target and multi-target. It should have healing synergy.
- High-health minions - Going hand-in-hand with that, Priest should also have access to a lot of minions with high-health for their cost, as well as several ways of buffing a minion's health.
- Copying your stuff - Priest has a lot of cards to copy his own or his opponent's stuff, either through summon or card generation. This also implies that Priest is good at greed and value.
- SECONDARY MECHANICS
- Hard removals - Priest has a lot of hard removals, that is removal that says "destroy" on the card rather than removal throught direct damage or other ways. Think of the Shadow Words.
- Cost-effective but situational small spells - This is a theme that was explored during the Year of the Mammoth (2017) and culminated in Razakus Priest, which was the best deck in the game before its nerf.
- Resurrect - I know this is a...controversial aspect of Priest, but gameplay-wise it is ok as long as it doesn't allow minion cheating.
- Silence - Priest has a near-exclusive access to silencing effects.
- KEYWORD AFFINITIES - Lifesteal; Deathrattle; "copy"; "destroy"; "created by".
- TRIBAL AFFINITIES - Dragons.
BASIC Priest set (10 cards)
CLASSIC Priest set (15 cards)
COMMONS
RARES
EPICS
LEGENDARY
List of changes to non-custom Priest cards
Card changes
- Northshire Cleric : Cost and Health increased by 1.
- Inner Fire : Cost increased to 2. Rarity changed to Epic.
Shortlisted cards
The following cards almost made it into my core sets, but didn't because there were no room left for them.
- Vampiric Touch (1 mana spell "Give a minion Lifesteal")
- Psychic Conjurer
- Purify
- Priest of the Feast
- Acolyte of Agony
- Psionic Probe
- Devour Mind
- Extra Arms
- Plague of Death
- Sethekk Veilweaver
- Natalie Seline
ROGUE
Rogue class identity
Rogue is a mostly well-defined class with identifiable strengths and weaknesses, as well as a lot of different themes.
- PRIMARY MECHANICS
- COMBOS - Rogue keeps tempo by comboing several low-cost cards in a turn. Rogue doesn't have many high-cost cards.
- STEALIN' YO STUFF 2 ELECTRIC BOOGALOO - Rogues have plenty of cards to add cards from other classes to their hand and the synergies that go with it.
- WEAPONS & WEAPON BUFFS - Rogue are weapon specialists. Unlike Warrior, Rogue weapons are smaller but they have plenty of ways to make them bigger.
- SECONDARY MECHANICS
- BOUNCE - Rogue has plenty of ways to bounce its cards back into its hand to replay their effects again.
- SHUFFLE - Rogue has a lot of cards to shuffle stuff into their deck... or the opponent's!
- COINS - Rogue can generate coins.
- 1/1 COPIES - That theme isn't in my core sets though. It's too dangerous.
- KEYWORD AFFINITIES - Combo; "weapon"; "shuffle"; "Coin"
- TRIBAL AFFINITIES - Pirate.
BASIC Rogue set (10 cards)
TOKENS
CLASSIC Rogue set (15 cards)
COMMONS
Fun fact: Adrenaline Rush existed in HS alpha but it costed 1 back then and was probably considered too OP.
RARES
EPICS
LEGENDARY
TOKENS
List of changes to non-custom Rogue cards
Card changes
- Shadowstep : Moved to classic. Discount removed (too dangerous).
- Burgle : Now add 3 cards to hand. Now "from another class". Rarity changed to common.
- Lotus Assassin : Rarity changed to rare.
- Patient Assassin : Rarity changed to rare. Cost decreased to 1.
Shortlisted cards
The following cards almost made it into my core sets, but didn't because there were no room left for them.
SHAMAN
Shaman class identity
Shaman is a swing class. It has a lot of well-defined but underexploited themes, while its core sets are too meme-y. Even though Shaman has potential, the class is hard to balance. One can clearly see that Blizz doesn't really know what to do with it. Also, no, card generation is not a Shaman weakness.
Shamans wins by keeping board control. The longer it keeps the board, the more powerful it becomes. Shaman is also the best at burst damage. On the flip side they struggle to recover a lost board.
- PRIMARY MECHANICS
- TOTEMS - Totems are (generally) 0-attack minions with a powerful ongoing effect. Shaman is rewarded by keeping its Totems alive and snowball into victory.
- OVERLOAD - AKA "anti-ramp". Shaman can play cards that are OP for their costs. As per the official post, "they are able to overload their Mana Crystals with lightning, allowing them to ramp up for a burst of power faster than other classes. Shamans are thus rewarded for planning a few turns ahead by tuning their mana curve."
- SNOWBALLING - A generalization of the above theme. Shaman wins by keeping board control. The longer it has board control, the more likely it is to win.
- BURST DAMAGE - Due in part to Overload & Windfury, Shaman is king to dish out high amount of damage in one turn - either from spells, weapons, or from minions - provided your opponent didn't disrupt your game plan! This one is tricky though. Putting too much burst damage in the class will not only make the class uninteractive, but will also restruct future design space because burst damage is additive. I hope I balanced this right by giving Shaman just the right amount of burst damage in its Classic set to define the class and not break the game.
- SECONDARY MECHANICS
- EVOLVING - AKA the "transform minion into one that costs more" mechanic. This mechanic was introduced in WOTOG and has since received continuous support, with most expanions having at least 1 evolving card. This fits very well into Shaman's theme of leveraging board control.
- BATTLECRIES - Shaman has a lot of good battlecries and battlecry synergy. This theme is mostly represented by Elementals which also give Shaman some value generation. Also fits well with Evolving since Battlecry minions are generally weak for their cost.
- VERSATILITY - Although Shaman has an identity, it is also more versatile compared to other classes. Aggro, Midrange, Control, Combo, Shaman has the tools to do it all. A trait it shares with Druid.
- KEYWORD AFFINITIES - Overload; Windfury; "transform".
- TRIBAL AFFINITIES - Totems; Murlocs; Elementals.
BASIC Shaman set (10 cards)
TOKENS
Note: I strongly hesitated to change Shaman's basic totems but decided against it out of caution & conservatism.
CLASSIC Shaman set (15 cards)
COMMONS
RARES
EPICS
LEGENDARY
TOKENS
List of changes to non-custom shaman cards
Card changes
- Earth Elemental : Attack increased by 1. Rarity changed to common.
- Flametongue Totem : Unnerfed.
- Feral Spirit : Art changed.
- Lightning Bolt : Art changed.
Shortlisted cards
The following cards almost made it into my core sets, but didn't because there were no room left for them.
- Vitality Totem
- Lava Shock
- Witch's Apprentice
- Stone Sentinel
- Crackling Doom
- A 1-mana 2/3 Taunt Overload(1)
WARLOCK
Warlock class identity
Warlock is weird because it's mostly defined by its HP. It's not that Life Tap is intrinsically better than other HPs, it's just that it's deck-defining. Life Tap alone guarantees that Warlock will always have two archetypes at its disponsal : "vomit your hand and reload" and "play Twilight Drake/Mountain Giant on turn 4", independently of any class cards. If class cards didn't exist, Warlock would be the only class that still feels unique because of its HP (MAYBE Hunter would also feel unique because of SMOrc).
Fortunately Warlock has a few other themes than defines it... but those themes are largely under-exploited.
- PRIMARY MECHANICS
- SACRIFICES... - Warlocks will not hesitate to make sacrifices in order to play powerful cards on curve. Whether it's cards in hand, or minions on board. The Demon tribe exemplifies this aspect of the class.
- ...AND SELF-HARM - Warlocks love BDSM. They will also sacrifice their own mana crystals, or even their own health, to play powerful cards on curve.
- DRAW & HAND SYNERGY - Due to Life Tap, Warlock will never lack card draw. In addition, it has (well, should have) a lot of draw synergy and hand size synergy.
- DEMONS - Demons are Warlock's main tribe. Most Demons have high-stats but a negative effect.
- SECONDARY MECHANICS
- APOCALYPTIC BOARD CLEARS : - Warlock is THE board clear class. Even more so than mage.
- HAND & DECK DISRUPTION - Warlock is one of the only class allowed to screw with the opponent's ressources (cards, mana, etc...)
- KEYWORD AFFINITIES - Lifestal; "draw"; "discard"
- TRIBAL AFFINITIES - Demons
BASIC Warlock set (10 cards)
TOKENS
CLASSIC Warlock set (15 cards)
COMMONS
RARES
EPICS
LEGENDARY
TOKENS
List of changes to non-custom Warlock cards
Card changes
- Felhunter/Succubus : Stats swapped. Art & name un-nerfed.
- Shadow Bolt : Damaged increased by 1.
- Malchezaar's Imp : Cost increased to 2.
- Doomguard : Charge nerfed to Rush. Attack increased to 7.
- Drain Life : Damage increased by 1. Keyworded to Lifesteal.
- Lord Jaraxxus : Made into a hero card.
Shortlisted cards
The following cards almost made it into my core sets, but didn't because there were no room left for them.
WARRIOR
Warrior class identity
Warrior is probably the best designed class in the game. No overhaud needed here, just some edge polishing.
- PRIMARY MECHANICS
- ARMOR - If left unchecked, Warrior is capable of gaining a shitton of armor.
- POWERFUL WEAPONS - Unlike Rogues and their puny daggers, Warriors use big ass axes to smash the face, or anything in the way.
- ENRAGE - Warriors are sadists. They love to inflict suffering on their own minions for personal gain. They can take advantage of damaged minions in a variety of ways.
- SECONDARY MECHANICS
- RUSH - ye
- TAUNT - Warrior has access to powerful Taunt minions to protect its face.
- REMOVALS - Warrior has plenty of removals at its disposal, either as spells, rush minions, or weapons. This way, Warrior can sometimes run the opponent out of ressources.
- KEYWORD AFFINITIES - Rush; Taunt; "Armor"; "damaged".
- TRIBAL AFFINITIES - Pirates; Mechs; Dragons.
BASIC Warrior set (10 cards)
I strongly hesitated to un-nerf win axe or to change its stats, but I couldn't find anything good. RIP FWA. F.
CLASSIC Warrior set (15 cards)
COMMONS
RARES
EPICS
LEGENDARY
TOKENS
List of changes to non-custom Warrior cards
Card changes
- Frothing Berserker : Cost increased to 4.
- Kor'kron Elite : Health increased by 1. Charge replaced by Rush.
- Grommash Hellscream : Art changed. Old one was too close.
Shortlisted cards
The following cards almost made it into my core sets, but didn't because there were no room left for them.
- A 2-mana 3/2 rush minion
- A playable version of Warsong Commander
- Sword and Board
- Alley Armorsmith
- Bloodhoof Brave
- Obsidian Destroyer
- Magnataur Alpha
- Slam
Challenge a Friend in New System
I'm sure it's too early to tell, but I was wondering if anyone has heard whether or not all existing quests will be ported to the new system with appropriately adjusted XP rewards?Specifically thinki…
I'm sure it's too early to tell, but I was wondering if anyone has heard whether or not all existing quests will be ported to the new system with appropriately adjusted XP rewards?
Specifically thinking about the Challenge a Friend for 80 gold quest that exists now as I got it today and then challenged a friend. I was thinking after how this particular quest might not be continued, and how sad that would seem. I have never personally participated in the 80g quest sharing as I have local friends I usually trade those with. But I know many people save them until they can get a trade through the forums and double their shared gold.
Would be sad to see it go. Maybe it'll still be around. But unless any specifics have been shared about if any current quests won't be ported over we'll just have to wait and see I guess.
Trick And Treat - Card Design Competition Discussion Thread
Competition Theme: Trick And Treat For this competition, we've decided to give you a treat - you get to choose any of these three options for your card to qualify!Spooky Noi…
Competition Theme: Trick And Treat
For this competition, we've decided to give you a treat - you get to choose any of these three options for your card to qualify!
- Spooky Noises
- Design a card with the Echo keyword
- We will allow 'Repeatable this turn' as well, though Echo is far more flavourful
- Design a card with the Echo keyword
- Not As They Seem
- Design a card which transforms a minion in some way
- Minions which transform themselves (like Shifter Zerus or the worgen cards) also count for this prompt
- Design a card which transforms a minion in some way
- Rise Of The Dead
- Design a card which generates dead minions
- This could be through Resurrect effects, or cards like Raise Dead, or some other interpretation - as long as the minions died at some point, you're good
- Design a card which generates dead minions
Does anyone have what it takes to pull off the ultimate trick and meet all three prompts?
Happy Hallow's End! As part of our upcoming Hallowe'en celebrations, we bring you a spooky competition to celebrate the season.
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 Sat, Oct 24 17:00 EDT (GMT -0400). Runs until Thu, Oct 29 17:00 EDT (GMT -0400)
- Voting Phase: Starts on Thu, Oct 29 17:00 EDT (GMT -0400). Runs until Fri, Oct 30 16:00 EDT (GMT -0400)
- Finalist Phase: Starts on Fri, Oct 30 17:00 EDT (GMT -0400). Runs until Sat, Oct 31 17:00 EDT (GMT -0400)
- Winner Selected: After finalist voting concludes and we validate votes.
Discussion Thread Rules
Please note: This is a special competition and not in a normal season.
Halloween Site Event Delay
Making a post here for visibility. We were supposed to have our Halloween event go live earlier today, as teased via "Out of Cards Surprise" on the October card back post for Hearthstone. We're behi…
Making a post here for visibility.
We were supposed to have our Halloween event go live earlier today, as teased via "Out of Cards Surprise" on the October card back post for Hearthstone. We're behind on schedule due to the craze that was this past week (sup Hearthstone announcements and Duels deckbuilder) so I just wanted to let everyone know that it is delayed until tomorrow.
I don't have the exact time when it will go live tomorrow, but I can tell you that we'll be extending the availability of the Halloween event a couple of days to make sure we have at least a full week for it. It doesn't line up perfectly with Halloween being the final day, but we'll just say we're also celebrating Day of the Dead alongside it =D
I think people will like what we've got in store. It's a jump up from our previous site events and will also be the basis for our Holiday event in December. Super stoked!
Quest progress
Hey guys, I just played a few games against 3 friends today (they all had the Challenge a friend quest) and after none of these games my quest log has been updated. I had 2 50 gold quests "…
Hey guys,
I just played a few games against 3 friends today (they all had the Challenge a friend quest) and after none of these games my quest log has been updated.
I had 2 50 gold quests "play 30 cards" and "destroy 25 minions" but there was no quest progress -> still 0/30 and 0/25.
Is it bugged? Has anyone else experienced this phenomenon yet?
RNG vs skill: a false competition
Hearthstone often called an RNG fiesta, and the prevailing wisdom is that it takes less skill to play than other TCGs/CCGs because of it. I’m not here to argue whether HS, MtG, LoR etc. is the …
Hearthstone often called an RNG fiesta, and the prevailing wisdom is that it takes less skill to play than other TCGs/CCGs because of it. I’m not here to argue whether HS, MtG, LoR etc. is the more skilful since as far as I know the concept of ‘skill’ cannot be quantified, so we’d be stuck using opinions and gut feelings which get us nowhere.
No, the purpose of this thread is to make the case that RNG, in HS as well as other (card) games, should not be regarded with the surface-level analysis that it usually receives. Namely: “you have less control of the outcome, therefore that outcome requires less skill”. To escape the ever-present debate of whether RNG in deck order counts, I'll focus more on randomness outside of card games, which helps shed a different light on things.
Chess and ‘the bamboozle play’
Show Spoiler
I start with chess: a board game where 1 player goes up against another in a fair, zero-RNG battle of wits and planning. Well, no RNG except for who gets to go first anyway. In a sense we can view chess like a card game mirror match where both players’ decks start on the board. At every point in the game you know exactly what you are up against and you know exactly how every piece is going to behave.
In such a deterministic environment you can plan several turns ahead, working out what you want to do, how you want to do it, and devising counter-plays for your opponent’s inevitable counter-plays. It’s all very skilful… if you are a good player and that description applies to you. I am not a good chess player: I know the rules, but I’m not interested enough in the game to invest the time and effort to make chess a skill of mine. Because of this, I know that if I play against a good player, my odds of winning are very small (which frankly acts as a deterrent against me wanting to play the game, and is certainly a good argument for why HS has so much RNG: to let bad players still enjoy it. But I digress).
However, while I know I’m bad at playing chess conventionally, I also know I can help even the odds by reducing my opponent’s ability too. Which brings me to what I call ‘the bamboozle play’. The idea is simple: do something the opponent won’t expect yet doesn’t do you any harm either. Often this involves moving a piece that still leaves all your key pieces protected but has no influence on the current points of tension on the board. I basically pick a piece at random and as long as it can do something safe I’m happy to move it.
The upshot of the bamboozle play is that it leaves the opponent unsure what I’m going to do, thereby negating a lot of their advantage in being able to predict future turns. The bamboozle play itself is not especially skilful; yes, I must know the rules well enough to know what is safe to do, but it doesn’t go a whole lot deeper than that. However, the very idea of the bamboozle play is quite skilful since it is designed specifically to counter my main disadvantage.
Thus, by feeding a bit of randomness into how I play, I am a more skilful player than I would be without it. Of course I could choose to be even more skilful by actually learning to play chess properly, but I have better things to do than that.
The genius of Monte Carlo simulations
Show Spoiler
Moving away from games, let’s talk about using RNG in a serious setting: to run scientific simulations and therefore better understand the world around us. The simulations in question, named after the casinos in the city of Monte Carlo (so it’s got some connection to card games through that at least), choose to ignore the known equations provided by mathematics and/or physics in favour of generating a heck of a lot of random numbers instead.
Perhaps the simplest example is calculating the value of the mathematical constant pi (i.e. the pi in the area of a circle = pi * r^2). The way to do this is to snugly put a circle inside a square so the circle’s diameter is equal to the square’s width, 2r = w, and then fire randomly generated vectors at it, each landing at a position (x,y) inside the square. Do this a lot of times, then at the end count what fraction of those vectors landed inside the circle. That will equal the ratio of circle area to square area (pi*(r/w)^2 = pi/4), so multiply it by 4 et voila! You have calculated pi!
You can do much more sophisticated things than this, and I personally have a lot of experience in running Monte Carlo simulations of polymers or swimming bacteria which need to interact in complex ways through the fluid they are in. Each random number does something that has no physical meaning, but real physics can be made to come out if you generate enough of them in the right way.
The point is that RNG can be extremely clever at a statistical level, but that only becomes apparent after a long time. If you focus on individual random numbers, then it looks uncontrolled and you might mistake the end result as an accident of chance when it is in fact just as likely to happen as if you used deterministic equations to get there.
Relating these to Hearthstone
Show Spoiler
Now to bring things back to RNG in HS.
The bamboozle play can be most easily related to random card generation, letting you do something the opponent won’t expect and plan for. That could be entirely accidental, which is often the case with casting a random spell or summoning a random minion, in which case it is probably not skill or wisdom that led you to do it. Even here though there are examples where it does involve skill, e.g. recognising your only path to victory lies in summoning a taunt.
The discover keyword provides the cleanest demonstration of this ‘bamboozle skill’. There are at least 3 tiers of skill here: 1) you just pick randomly; 2) you pick the card that best suits your deck; 3) you pick the card that best suits your deck while also acting as a counter to the opponent. There’s a lot of knowledge and understanding that goes into making the right choice.
Ultimately, I think the middle ground random card generation (i.e. it goes into your hand, but you don’t have any choice in what card it is) hides the most skill of these three. Being able to work out a good use for a card that has no obvious use arguably shows more skill than following the same old game-plan with a low RNG deck. That comparison can be debated; I’m just pointing out there’s an argument for it.
Monte Carlo’s relation to RNG in Hearthstone is usually one of win rates rather than individual games. Put succinctly, you play the random effects that statistically improve your odds of winning, even if each individual effect looks uncontrolled. The entire reason RNG makes it into strong decks is statistical, and the people who worked out the RNG cards were good (I’m not looking at you netdeckers!) were the skilled players that saw past the variance… OK, and deck-trackers build the statistics for them so they only actually need to know that a larger number is good. But that diminishment of skill is down to the deck-trackers and HS websites, not the game design itself.
Ultimately, a player’s skill in any game is just a measure of how well they can navigate the environment they are given. You can be great at chess but hopeless in HS and vice versa, not so much because one game requires more skill than the other, but because the two games require a different set of skills. To comment on the amount of RNG in HS is to comment on the game environment, not the skill it takes to play it well.
To round things off I’m going to make a comment regarding Burgle Rogue (which has long been my favourite archetype and I am therefore very biased). Given my preference for the bamboozle play in chess, it is perhaps obvious that I would gravitate to a deck whose main win condition is to bamboozle the opponent into submission by doing it so much that statistics shine through within a single game. I guess all I really want is for people to recognise that there’s a lot more skill and planning going on than it looks like when you meet me on ladder and I beat you up with an Animated Avalanche in a deck with no elementals in it.
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Tl;dr: seriously? If you really want 1500 words condensed into a single sentence I guess I’ll repeat this: To comment on the amount of RNG in HS is to comment on the game environment, not the skill it takes to play it well.