Greetings, friends!
This is actually my first post on the Out of Cards forums proper- you may know me as FearGralex, the writer of the weekly Meta Breaker column here on Out of Cards. Although my main involvement with the community so far has been with Standard deckbuilding, I also have a lot of passion for custom card design and I'm excited to finally have a (mostly) finished project to share with all of you. So without further ado, I present to you my own custom class: The Duelist!
Tala Foeseeker is a maverick, a wanderer, but most of all, an adventurer. Wandering across Azeroth in search of unseen lands, new foes, and fresh challenges, Tala seeks to prove her own prowess. |  
The Duelist's Hero Power is "En Garde!", which allows for a bit of minor healing and also equips a small weapon. Any good fencer knows that you need expertise in both offense and defense, and as such Duelists come prepared to excel in both. |
Upgraded Hero Power:
Retaliate
Retaliate is the new mechanic for the Duelist class. After a Retaliate minion is attacked and both minions take damage, a small animation plays where the Retaliate minion hits its attacker back. Only the opponent's minion takes damage during this second attack.
For those of you familiar with MtG, you can think of Retaliate as a powered-down version of Double Strike- it only occurs when the Retaliate minion gets attacked, and the "extra attack" happens after the regular damage step, not before).
Retaliate minions are very strong in combat when attacked, meaning the opponent will often have to leave them alone unless absolutely necessary, leaving those minions free to trade how they want to or go face. They also combo very well with cards that can grant Taunt, meaning cards like Sunfury Protector are highly prized by the Duelist.
Themes
Here are some mechanical strengths and weaknesses that form the Duelist's class identity. In general, the Duelist is a tempo-focused class that focuses on maintaining board control with strong minions, buffs, healing and some direct damage. However, where the Duelist can struggle is below-average access to card draw, limited hard removal, and no AoE.
Strengths | Weaknesses |
- Efficient minions
- Mid-sized weapons
- Above-average access to healing
- Direct damage
- Relatively strong buffs
- Pirate synergy
| - Below-average card draw
- Buffs usually tend to only buff Attack or Health, but not both
- Limited hard removal, usually relies on minion combat to remove opposing minions
- Weak AoE
|
Basic Set
The Duelist's basic set lays a lot of the mechanical foundations for the class:
Relic Weapons:
- Defensive Stance is a bread-and-butter spell for the class, setting up advantageous trades and forcing the opponent to interact with your Retaliate minions.
- Confrontation at Sea is the first example of the Pirate support the Duelist employs- those with wanderlust have to stick together! The aim for the Duelist's Pirate support is that it can support more midrange-y styles, rather than the face-rolly Aggro Pirates we're all familiar with.
- Back Alley Showdown is if efficient removal but has a pretty hefty drawback- part of the Duelist's class identity is that hard removal is rare and usually comes with an extra condition. Fight your opponents fair and square!
- Legendary Find is like an Animal Companion for weapons- Tala finds some exciting and powerful weapons on her extensive journeys!
Classic Set
The Duelist's Classic Set introduces an extensive set of new tools for the class- Retaliate minions, various removal options, more Pirates and Pirate support, and some nasty fencing techniques that let you style on your opponent.
Tokens:
- Deadly Duel allows you to provoke your opponent's minions into starting a fight they can't win- for best results, play this card when your board consists only of Retaliate minions.
- Parry Riposte represents the fencing technique where the user blocks an opponent's attack and makes an attack of their own- in this case, the Duelist responds in kind! The amount of damage the spell does will be indicated in italics on the card.
- Richpath Looter provides a small bit of Coin generation- what's a wanderer's journey without treasure? Could this also hint at some Coin synergy for the Duelist in the future? (No comment).
- Feint represents another fencing technique with a false attack followed by a real attack past your opponent's parry. In Hearthstone, Duelists are quite good at getting through opposing Taunts with this card.
- Counterattack is the other hard removal option for Duelists, though it's only limited to minions that attacked you last turn.
- Fleche represents the fencing technique often used as a finishing blow- the fencer launches themselves at top speed to run the opponent down before running off the strip and resetting. In Hearthstone, Fleche can be used as a burst damage finisher that requires a minion- and if that minion doesn't finish off the opponent, perhaps you can even re-use its Battlecry!
- Song-Jin Richpath is a Hearthstone original Legendary who runs a nasty Pirate crew. Whenever his flunkies go out to plunder, they bring in the spoils! Note that Song-Jin and any other Retaliate minions will give you TWO Coins whenever they are attacked by the opponent.
Curse of Naxxramas
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Mighty Blow gives Duelists another removal option- but once you vanquish a foe in battle, their corpse sticks around to fight for you. Spooky!
Goblins vs. Gnomes
Duelists in Goblins vs. Gnomes get access to plenty of new toys to play with. A couple cheap Mechs, some Spare Part generation, more healing tools, and a spot of Pirate support round out this expansion.
Blackrock Mountain
The Duelist doesn't mess around with Dragon synergies too much. Instead, Duelists can harness the power of the Mountain's fire and enlist the help of Victor Nefarian's guards. The cards in this set aren't big build-arounds, but they're solid role-players that can perform well in multiple strategies.
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- Soul's Fire can be a free Cold Blood pretty easily, which can help fuel some explosive starts in Aggro decks.
- Blackguard is a less-persuasive Cabal Shadow Priest. Why change someone's mind when you can just separate their mind from their body? It's quite strong in Arena and has some potential to be flexed in Constructed as well.
The Grand Tournament
The Grand Tournament is music to Tala's ears! It's an amazing opportunity to face new foes and prove her skills. Duelists in The Grand Tournament receive some build-around cards for multiple archetypes: Weapons, minion buffs, and Inspire all have a couple cards to support those archetypes. Not only that, but Lord Jorach of House Ravenholdt is here to show his prowess- has a challenger worthy of Tala's skill finally arrived?
League of Explorers
Exploring is once again right up Tala's alley- this set we've got a couple role-player spells and a minion that helps out with running a Reno Jackson Highlander deck.
Whispers of the Old Gods
You may have noticed that so far Duelists can buff Attack and Health, but usually not both at once. Whispers of the Old Gods gives Duelists ways to work around that disadvantage- swapping Attack and Health represents the corruption of the old gods while playing well with the various buff spells the Duelist has available.
One Night in Karazhan
In Karazhan Tower, the Duelist gets a couple cards related to the Romulo and Julianne encounter- as well a portal that reveals THE MIGHT OF STORMWIND!
Mean Streets of Gadgetzan
Duelists in the Mean Streets are members of the dastardly Grimy Goons. Duelist Goons control the docks of Gadgetzan, forcing exorbitant tolls and smuggling weapons and other contraband from overseas. All the Duelist handbuffs hit the highest-Attack minion in your hand- that way you have more control over where the buffs go and you can really build up some big monsters. Oh, and did we mention these Goons are also Pirates?
Journey to Un'Goro
Given Tala's status as an Explorer, it's no surprise that she'd be quite good at Discovering things! In Un'Goro, The Duelist's Quest is about Discovering parts of this majestic jungle, and rewards you with a completed Map of the World. The set's also got your standard mix of Dinos and jungle dangers, as expected of Un'Goro.
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Tokens:
- Grand Cartography - Tala follows her dream of drawing a map of the world- and she just needs Un'Goro to finally finish it! Most of the Discover support comes from the Duelist cards in this set, or from neutral Discover cards like Stonehill Defender. Once you finally complete the quest, you've got a complete Map of the World that lets you Discover a new surprise every turn.
- Trusty Machete can potentially net you two spells, which is quite powerful, but you've got to set up kills with the weapon specifically in order to cash in on that value.
- Jungle Forager is friends with all sorts of various jungle critters, and can help you complete your Quest on the cheap.
- Hardy Lookout can actually Discover itself AND Stonehill Defender, as well as a whole host of other Battlecry minions.
- Boiling Anger provides a small amount of weak AoE, as well as a Taunt body that gets bigger the more enemies you hit. Also plays really well with Spell Damage minions like Bloodmage Thalnos.
- Larger than Life gives you a flexible buff that should help make any stray minion into a massive threat. Watch out for that potential +3 Attack + Windfury!
- Skyscraper Bracchio takes a little time to get started, but if you drop him on an empty board or one with mostly small minions, he can end up being a massive threat.
- Ignius ignites fury in your other minions- if you strike them, they'll hit back twice as hard!
Knights of the Frozen Throne
While Tala seeks out worthy opponents and defeats them in honorable combat, Death Knight Tala seeks to crush inferiors beneath her boots. Duelist has a theme of enemy minions having Taunt this expansion- either being anti-Taunt or gaining benefits from the opponent having a Taunt minion. This set also features the venerable Dranosh Saurfang... oh no! He's been cut down by the Lich King!
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Tokens:
- Shiver Me Timbers is more Discover support for Grand Cartography, but it serves another purpose. In a Pirate deck, you can get awesome late-game value if you happen to discover a Pirate that's already died, and for the low cost of 1 mana. This can be tough to pull off if you aren't running many Pirates, but it's definitely doable in dedicated Pirate decks.
- Icecrown Axe is a "fixed" version of Fiery War Axe where you have to spend a turn killing the 3/3 before you can hit anything else. There are also various other benefits to your opponent having Taunt minions, which we'll see shortly.
- Grim Monolith is another way to give your opponent a Taunt, but this one you actually want to stick around. Being able to prevent your opponent's minions from attacking makes this very powerful in the right situation, but there are 2 drawbacks. First, it has Taunt, which means you're going to have to kill it eventually to damage your opponent. Second, Duelist is not really a combo class and, unlike a class like Mage, doesn't really benefit from stalling out the game too much other than perhaps building up some extra board presence.
- Chainer Ghoul is an undercosted minion that drags an unsuspecting victim into the battle. Although its Battlecry may seem like a drawback, it lets you get key minions that are hiding behind Taunts and enables our next card.
- Northrend Brute is a regular Yeti unless the circumstances are correct. If your opponent has a Taunt or you curved this after Chainer Ghoul, you've got a brick wall minion that should really help put the brakes on aggro. Very strong against decks like Zoo.
- Spectral Swashbuckler is a nice midrange Pirate minion that replaces itself. Midrange Pirate decks now have quite a few tools to help them draw more Pirates, and this is nice to get back with Shiver Me Timbers.
- Dranosh Saurfang once famously charged at the Lich King, only to get cut down where he stood. In Hearthstone, he keeps that same foolhardy recklessness (he will suicide to The Lich King in game), and comes back as Deathbringer Saurfang, a fearsome guardian who protects Icecrown Citadel from unwanted visitors.
- Arthas' Rider knows that face is the place- he's tough to kill, and he can slowly but surely be your win condition while you slow down your opponent's board with Grim Monoliths.
- Tala, Death's Champion admires only the strong, and despises those who rely on magic or other abilities. She cuts down all keyworded minions your opponent controls when you play her. Not only that, but in her ruthlessness she's gained control of all three Relic Weapons, and can continuously summon them to wreak havoc on the battlefield. I think this card is quite strong, but about on par with the other Death Knights in this set.
Kobolds and Catacombs
In the Catacombs, Duelists are all about finding party members and buried treasure. Recruit is a major theme of this class, and there's lots of treasure to be found, whether that's in the form of Coins, Discovered cards, or the legendary burning blade Tiriosh.
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Tokens:
- Loot Drop is a relatively consistent Discover card- there aren't TOO many Duelist weapons released at this time, so your chances of being offered any particular weapon are actually quite good. Plus it's more support for the Quest.
- Candleholder gives a small amount of AoE, which is very useful for Duelists since they normally don't get much access to it. His mini-candle does a great THE CANDLE impression.
- Golden Idol - You have to whack things for a couple turns before the idol breaks and you can sell it- or you can speed up the process a little bit with your Hero Power.
- Candlebeard - Solid stat-efficient minion for a more aggressive Pirate strategy. Being able to potentially grant Charge to anything costing (4) or less allows for some exciting combos, although they'll often be difficult to execute since the Recruit is random and drawing Candlebeard early isn't guaranteed.
- Candle Guru gives Duelists a small amount of incidental value on a midrange minion. Really nice minion to Recruit.
- Dungeon Prospector is another solid Recruit prospect, and he works really well with Loot Hoarder and the like. Note that you can only trigger his effect once a turn, but he does still play very well with cards like Gadgetzan Auctioneer.
- Tiriosh is a legendary blazing blade in Warcraft lore. In Hearthstone, the wielder can ignite minions it hits in battle, dooming them to their eventual demise.
- Loot Shop - think Slay the Spire vibes. It's nice to have a vendor in the middle of the dungeon so you can spend all those Coins you just found.
- Lesser Ametrine Spellstone Recruits an additional minion every time you upgrade it. Recruiting three 4-drops is quite powerful, but it's balanced by the fact that you need to play 3 minions to upgrade it each time. Doing so will usually require that your deck has at least some proportion of cheap-ish minions in it, which limits the potential impact of the triple-Recruit.
- Dungeon Dive is an unusual Duelist card in that it allows you to draw a ton of cards. The drawback is that it's very expensive and requires you to build your deck a certain way. Ideal Recruits include Candle Guru, Dungeon Prospector, and Injured Blademaster.
The Witchwood
Werewolves, ghosts, and Pirates, oh my! Duelist in The Witchwood has the theme of a haunted Wild West town- filled with Pirates, gargoyles, Rush and Retaliate minions, and even a nasty Tax Collector and a Sheriff!
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Tokens:
- Eerie Graveyard is an unusual effect for Duelist that doesn't usually get resurrection effects. Limiting the effect to the same turn, though, makes the uses a lot more narrow. Combos quite well with All Hands on Deck.
- All Hands on Deck lets you summon the ghosts of Pirates who were executed in this town. Note that similarly to Power of Creation, you don't get the copies of the Pirates in your hand as well. Some great Pirates to hit with this include Candlebeard, Candleholder, Spectral Swashbuckler, Dockside Extortionist, Song-Jin Richpath, Southsea Captain, and Small-Time Buccaneer. Getting these 1/1 copies out early can also help you set up for Eerie Graveyard and Shiver Me Timbers.
- Monstrify is a strong early game buff that has the added potential of being used on an opponent's minion in a pinch.
- This town Ain't Big Enough for the two of us!
- Rampart Gargoyle is a slightly stronger version of Silithid Swarmer, since you can theoretically just keep your Hero Power once, keep your weapon equipped, and have a 3 mana 4/4.
- Collector Garrow is here to take your gold! Don't let him stick around too long, or the Duelist will be flush with cash.
- Hot Pursuit is an open-ended combo enabler that can help cheat out some top-end minions a little early.
- Nefarious Outrider can be drawn for either side of Ain't Big Enough- maybe you even get 2 copies of it!
- Sheriff Red-Eye's shot will keep firing through your opponent's minion line until your opponent either runs out of minions or the 10 damage has been used up. For example, if your opponent has a 5/5 on the left followed by two 3/3s, the right-most 3/3 takes 3 damage, then the middle 3/3 takes 3 of the remaining 7 damage, then the 5/5 takes the 4 remaining damage and survives.
The Boomsday Project
On The Boomsday Project, the Duelist is concerned with building the perfect combatant by any means necessary, never mind the cost or moral implication. Mechanical themes include minion buffs, "strength" represented by having a minion with power 4 or greater, and even combining minions together to make stronger combatants!
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- Steroid Project is an undercosted minion buff that hits both sides. The player who casts the spell has a slight advantage, though, since they can attack first and can potentially take out the opponent's buffed minion before it can even be used.
- Rustbolt Tracker is an OK minion by itself, but it really shines when slapped onto another Mech, making that Mech a force to be reckoned with in combat. Combos especially well with W4R-M4CH1N3.
- Battle Suit makes the targeted minion a LOT more difficult to take down- not just buffing by 2 Health but basically buffing by another Health every time the minion is dealt damage, notably preventing ALL instances of exactly 1 damage. Really nice to slap this thing onto a Taunt (like the aforementioned W4R-M4CH1N3).
- Omega Battlecruiser - A decent vanilla early-game drop that provides a TON of stats in the late game.
- Rustworg Rider is another great receptacle for buffs, although he is not a Mech. Being able to continually take out weaker minions (even low-Attack minions with high Health) makes this a must-kill threat. Luckily, he's got low Health.
- Titanic Crush is another card in the vein of Wing Blast and Vendetta. Dealing 4 damage for free right after playing a 3-4-cost minion is a really nice tempo swing.
- W4R-M4CH1N3 is the guy you most want to put all your buffs on, particularly Rustbolt Tracker. This guy can eat entire armies of Zoo minions for breakfast if they don't have a removal spell at the ready.
- Grenzo, Perfect Specimen lets you combine all your board minions (maybe right after they've attacked?) into one huge Rushing threat. It's kind of an all-in strategy, but who doesn't want to have a random 50/50 hit their side of the board every now and then?
- Grenzo's Masterstroke is in a similar vein, but it lets you combine one of your minions with one of your opponent's and COMBINE THEIR EFFECTS. Now obviously this causes some coding challenges. I would have the card's display look like this:
This combination text-formatting technology is already implemented on Swamp Queen Hagatha, I believe. Then once you play the card, hovering your mouse over it will display the effects gained by each minion as buffs, similarly to how Magnetic works. Some more clarifications on how the card works: - The Ultimate Machine will always cost (10) and will always be a Mech.
- Its stats will be the combined stats of the two component minions.
- Battlecries, Deathrattles, etc. all work as normal. Even Magnetic works since The Ultimate Machine is a Mech!
- I'm sure this card allows for some broken combos- however, these combos are quite inconsistent because of the nature of the card. It always combines one of your minions with an opponent's, and it does both at random. For this reason, I feel the scenarios where this card does something truly silly will be limited to the occasional Trolden highlight clip.
Rastakhan's Rumble
Geeeet ready to rumble, folks! Rastkhan's Rumble, like TGT, is like a fairground for the Duelist because of the spirit of competition in battle. Unlike TGT, however, we're abandoning honorable combat in favor of an all-out brawl! Torcali the Direhorn is the Loa for this class, since the Direhorn represents strength and the ability to take on all comers. Mechanical themes for this set include Retaliate, Overkill, and forcing enemy minions to attack.
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- Victory is a good tool to heal up your minions right after they come out of combat. If you manage to get a minion with a flashy Overkill, you're rewarded with an extra card. Note that the minion you target does not need to have an Overkill effect itself to draw a card off of Victory.
- Zandalari Shanker bothers your opponent's minions by slashing their ankles and goading them to attack. He himself can trade with any 3-Health minion if he's the only minion on your board, although you also might want to try going for some cheeky plays where you force an enemy minion to attack your Retaliate minion.
- Epic Uppercut makes for a great finishing blow- so great, in fact, that you can use it as a finishing blow over and over again provided it's an Overkill each time!
- Ritual Daggers compares slightly favorably to Arcane Intellect in the early game, but in the later turns you have to wait a turn or spend a Hero Power before you can see the second card.
- Wulva Wildclaw can potentially slice through an entire board of minions if given the proper setup and buffs- but he's usually going to be vulnerable the turn the Duelist plays him.
- Spirit of the Direhorn combos well with Wulva and Torcali, as well as making your minions a lot more durable in combat.It's not quite as powerful as Battle Suit since the minion has to survive damage to get the extra Health, but having it on your whole board is still quite nice.
- Roar of Challenge is a buff and a removal spell packaged together. Note the enemy minion you provoke is random, so some board setup is required to get maximum potential.
- Bilgeblade Raider is yet another in a long line of Pirate tutors. He represents a must-kill threat, or he'll just keep drawing the Duelist cards.
- Although Torcali, the Direhorn may seem somewhat similar to the new Warrior Deathwing from Descent of Dragons, this card actually works a little differently. Tocali draws aggro from all your opponent's minions every single turn, and has Taunt as insurance against Charge/Rush minions. However, on your turn, she only hits for 6 damage as opposed to Deathwing's 12.
Rise of Shadows
It's time for all those Coin generators to pay off! The Duelist is a Dalaran-sided class in Rise of Shadows, and the full force of Dalaran's underground/banking/mogul network is here to help protect the city! Mechanical themes include Coins, Pirates, and unspent mana.
More to Come!
Thanks so much for reading to the end of this showcase. I really hope you enjoyed the class. It's not done yet, though! Here are the things I plan to add to the class in this thread:
- Saviors of Uldum and, eventually, Descent of Dragons - duh.
- Balance changes to individual cards- I'm not perfect, and I have no doubt that some of these cards are too strong/too weak. I really value your feedback. Let me know what card(s) you think should be changed and why.
- Sample Duelist decks- hopefully at least 1 for each set- designed for each Standard meta. May also try to make some Wild ones as well.
- Solo adventure content- Dungeon run buckets, Rastakhan's Rumble Shrines/Treasures, Dalaran Heist/Tombs of Terror details
- Arena-exclusive card
- Battlegrounds cards
Above all else, I value honest feedback! I want to make this class the best it can be, so please share me your honest opinions about what you do and don't like about the class. And thanks again for reading :)
