Hello everyone. After a long year of absent I am finally back to the community. This time I brought you guys a class that I've been brewing (and harassing people's DM to give their feedback LOL) for a long time. I entered this class for the Class Creation Competition in Hearthpwn and ended up at top 9. Now that I was eliminated, I'll present to you:
The Detective
A land full of people and magic power like Azeroth is a land full of mysteries waiting to be revealed and solved. The Detective is here to leave no stones unturned looking for clues and information and training new apprentices to join their rank.
Hero Portrait:
Margaret Christie is one of the most seasoned and renowned Detectives in all of Azeroth. She doesn't regret leaving her homeland Gilneas to adventure on her own when learning that it will enter isolation from the outside world, although she always wonder how useful to her investigation it would be if she was to become a worgen. Now rumors of unsavory magic has led Christie to use all of her wit, might and health potion to investigate the seemingly unsuspecting Scholomance Academy.
Margaret Christie's name is a reference to the author Agatha Christie and her most famous character detective Miss Marple. She was picked instead of the other famous fictional detective Sherlock Holmes to give the hero portraits both more female characters and an elderly-looking character. She is the basic hero that represent the class that all players receive when they create their account.
Great Inspector Margaret is an alternative Hero the player can receive with this class. She is the hero the player will receive when you obtain 1000 wins with the class. She is meant to be an alternative version of Margaret if she had kept quiet about her opinion on the Greymane Wall and remained with Gilneas, similar to Cap'n Valeera
Alternative Hero Portrait:
- Exile Noble Margaret is the class's Book of Hero bundle portrait. She is a younger version of Margaret who just got exiled from Gilneas for speaking out against the country's isolationist policy. Book of Hero follow her adventure from an outspoken but somewhat pampered and naive noble spinster woman into her rise of becoming one of the most famous detective in Azeroth who discovered and trained numerous other famous detectives like Arthur Holmes, Argus Poirot and James Chesden.
- Noble Lady Margaret Wu is the class's Hero Portrait for the Romance of the Three Kingdom bundle. The name is based on a major supporting character from the novel Lady Wu, wife of Sun Jian and mother in law of Liu Bei.
- Private Eye Margaret is the class's Reward Track portrait. In the vein of the portraits being a more "badass" version of the hero, she is the version of Margaret in her twilight year where she became an extremely influential private detective who run a massive network of crime fighters across Azeroth.
- Wraith Bainsher Margaret is the class's Tier 2 Tavern Regular reward. Similar to Demon Hunter, the class don't have a tier 2 Armor and thus I have to get creative. This skin depicts Margaret on her days of banishing Wraiths that appear in location that she wants to get into as a Detective since hiring an adventurer would cost too much money for an exiled noble.
- These three skins are the class's Mercenary skins, featuring the class's main Mercenary Annoc. A draenei who got corrupted into serving the Burning Legion (Legion Annoc), the death of his main master Kil'Jaeden has weaken the control of the legion over him enough to allow him to break free from the control of the Burning Legion.
- However, ashamed of his actions during his serve, he doesn't contact his old people and wandering around aimlessly until he met Margaret, who took him in, gave him a new name Watson to distant him from his past and train him as an Apprentice and partner him up with her adopted son as well as her first and most brilliant apprentice turned detective Arthur Holmes. (Santified Watson)
- The two rose to fame by solving numerous high profile crimes until Holmes's death under the hand of Doyle Moriaty. Watson was once again extremely depressed and beg for Margaret to assign the investigation of Holmes's death to him. However, after Margaret's refusal due to him not being a full fledge Detective at the time, he deserted Margaret to search for clues of Moriaty's organization at the Barrens to avenge Holmes. (Investigator Watson).
- His name is a reference to the character Dr. John Watson created by Arthur Conan Doyle. His previous name Annoc is an anagram of Conan.
Hero Power
Token:
Detective Training is the default Hero Power of the class. It's basically a more consistent and strategic version of the Shaman Hero Power Totemic Might. The class's Hero Power support many playstyle of the class: From aggressive token spamming to a more controlling playstyle (due to the Taunt on the tokens) as well as hinting at one of the class's main theme of revealing cards to your opponent.
Detective Drilling is the class's upgraded Hero Power. It's an extremely powerful one, allowing you to create a much better token to have more board presence.
Themes:
- Revealing cards: Playing as a Detectives mean that you will get into the enemy's business. But the investigation business also require absolute transparency for those evidences to hold up in court. Cards and effects that reveal cards and gain benefit from those effects will be prominent in the class. Note that a card after being revealed to the enemy will kept being revealed, which mean that reveal effect will not land on a card already revealed (which is the main reason why I put that word on the Hero Power).
- 0-Attack and 0-cost cards: Who doesn't love a zero to hero story? Unlike the other classes who require being gifted in some kind of magic or physical prowess, the Detective love their puny 0-Attack minions / Apprentices and 0-cost cards (some minions are even both) and will have prominent synergies to them.
- All for One: The class's main tribal synergy will not just specialize in two or three types, but all of them! Yes, the class's tribal cards will reward you for having as much as possible number of tribal minions in your deck!
- Crimes and Police: Crimes are of course an important part of the career of a detective, but they cannot do everything by themselves without a legal system as well as the police forces (or some equivalent of it in the Warcraft universe). The class will have cards reference both of these in addition to the usual detective work.
Strength and Weakness:
Show Spoiler
Things the class excel at:
- Token spawning: Margaret Christie is famous for talent of training and attracting new recruits. The Hero Power as well as a high amount of cards in the class will allow them to easily hoard and spam out tokens.
- Survivability: Detectives don't get to the bottom of the truth by being easily taken out. The class will have excellent, cost-efficient healing and Taunt. Just look at the Hero Power itself!
- Combos: A detective strike when they have all the evidences and can make a case undoubtable. The playstyle of revealing cards and the high amount of cheap, 0 cost cards naturally benefit a combo playstyle. And the class would have the survivability to back it up.
Things the class is okay at:
- Removal: Detectives don't start fight, but they finish them. The class will have good and efficient removals, but not too much of them.
- Board clear: Detectives work in the shadow, but sometimes they stumble across large cases that will have profound impact on the world. Board clear of the class will be efficient, if not numerous.
- Buff: The class have powerful buff, but they are very specific and are limited to the token playstyle half of the class
- Burst: Detectives name get made by how rapidly and quickly they can strike their cases with accurate deductions. The class will have a decent amount of burst damage in either spells or weapons.
- Card draw and generation: With a Hero Power that generate a very useful token for both the control / combo playstyle and the token playstyle, the class will back it up with a decent amount of draw options to draw into their win condition / important buffs.
Things the class is bad at:
- Turn 4-6: Detectives either strike first when the criminals are still at the crime scene or they need time to gather evidences. The class have little to no active play in these mana slot. Their play in these turns are either reactive (weapon, board clear, removal) or leveraging the the token you spawned earlier to help dealing with the opponent. This translate to an inability to play a midrange deck and an extreme weakness in these turn if not played smartly and rationing out your Apprentices
- Disruption effect: Since most important combo pieces you want to put in your deck needed (or heavily encouraged) to actively revealing cards in your hand to your opponent, you will be extra vulnerable to disruption effects. Your opponent will know a good time to play that Dirty Rat or Unseen Saboteur that can potentially destroy your entire combo.
Class Keywords:
What better ways for the Detectives to learn or improve than to look through a few of the most famous cases solves by Christie and her other students or fellow Detectives? Cases are basically reverse Secrets where you will activate a powerful spell that will last until you or your opponent can satisfy the Solve requirement. Cases are designed so that your opponent will have to quickly solve them before they snowball out of control. However, you have to play carefully or else you'll end up solving the Cases yourself and lose the advantage. Of course, if the Cases are also hurting you, you can Solve them yourself. Cases took the place of the Secret slots, which mean you can only have 5 Case with different names active. All of the Cases and their supporting cards are named after detective novels and short stories.
Basic set:
Their Basic cards aim to establish the mechanic, flavor, strength and weakness of the class while also provide tools for them to play a two main playstyles: Aggressive token based or Control / combo:
The Apprentice's Dossiers Set
Anticipating the dangerous mission ahead of her in order to get to the bottom of the truth at Scholomance Academy, Christie enlist a new generation of Apprentices in training to help her. Before they can venture into the darkness of the Academy, she brought out her old case files in order for these newbies to familiar themselves with her work
The Apprentice's Dossier set function as the class's Initiate set, with the goal to expand upon the class's theme and mechanic as well as introducing the class's main tribal synergy and class keywords:
Common
- A Scandal in Stormwind's name is a reference to the Sherlock short story A Scandal in Bohemia that introduce the famous Irene Adler. The name is also a reference to the Onyxia raid where she disguised herself as a Stormwind noble.
- The Problem at Elrendar Falls's name is a reference to the short story The Final Problem where Sherlock Holmes tackle his most famous villain Professor Moriaty at Reichenbach Fall.
- A Revendreth Mystery's name is a reference to the novel A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie. Revendreth is the newly-introduced land of the Vampyre in WoW.
Rare
- Sign of the Four Types's name is a reference to the Sherlock Holmes short story Sign of the Four.
- And Then There Were None's name is a reference to the famous novel And Then There Was None by Agatha Christie.
- Four Little Apprentices's name is a reference to the Agatha Christie's novel Five Little Pigs.
Epic
- Murloc in the Brown Suit's name is a reference to the novel The Man the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie.
- The Hound of Gilneas's name is a reference to the novel the Hound of Baskerville.
Legendary
Poirot's Favorite Case:
- Arthur Holmes is a reference to the famous detective Sherlock Holmes by author Arthur Conan Doyle.
- Argus Poirot's name is based on one of Agatha Christie's most famous character Detective Poirot. All of the Cases he created are named after famous Agatha Christie novels: Death on the Nile, Cards on the Table, Evil Under the Sun, They Do It With Mirrors and While the Light Last.
Scholomance Academy:
Scholomance Academy is the set that the class will make their debut. Margaret Christie respond to call for help by one of her old apprentice James Chesden to help him investigate the Academy. What they found is horrifying: The Headmaster Kel'thuzad dabbled in Necromancy and has resurrected one of Arthur Holmes's most famous arch nemesis Professor Doyle Moriaty. As if that not enough, Kel'thuzad has also enthralled Chesden's old flame at the Academy Molly Butcher to serve as a bodyguard! Can they save Molly in time and put Moriaty back to the Netherworld where he belongs?
Common:
Rare:
- The Academy of Fear's name is a reference to the Sherlock Holmes story the Valley of Fear.
Epic:
Legendary:
Molly's Upgraded Forms:
- Detective Alumni and Molly Butcher's name are reference to the series the Dresden File by Jim Butcher and its hero Harry Dresden (represented here by Detective Alumni) and his love interest Molly Carpenter.
Dual Classes cards (with Shaman):
- Doyle Moriaty is a reference to the famous Professor Moriaty, criminal mastermind and the man who almost killed Sherlock Holmes in the story the Final Problem.
Tokens:
Dual Class Cards (with Mage):
- Infuse on Infusor Voidion means that the spells will transform into Elemental with the same cost and stats equal to its cost that will also cast the spell. Example is in the token section below. He will activate the reveal synergies in your spells before infusing them. He also will keep any discount you had put on, but that will scale down the stat of the Elementals.
Token:
Duels:
Hero:
Hero Power:
Treasure:
- Skull Companion is a reference to Harry Dresden's magical skull named Bob, who is a major supporting character in all Dresden Files book
- Storm Front's name is a reference to the Dresden Files's first novel Storm Front.
Madness at the Darkmoon Faire:
Common:
Rare:
Epic:
- The Singer in the Faire is a reference to the Agatha Christie's book the Body in the Library.
Legendary:
Token:
- Mary Adler's name is a reference to two supporting female characters in Sherlock Holmes: Mary Watson, Dr. Watson's wife and Irene Adler, the woman who outsmarted Holmes in the short story a Scandal in Bohemia.
Darkmoon Races:
Dual Classes:
Token:
Ice Shard
Duels:
- Kazzin's name is a reference to Detective Karrin Murphy, a major supporting character from the Dresden File
2021 Core Set:
New cards:
- Occult Speaker and Inciting Victim are the tools that were given to a new archetype that I plan to develop for this new year: Deathrattle Detective.
- The Irregular Summoning is a reference to a Sherlock Holmes character group called the Baker Street Irregulars who help him gathering intels and evidences.
- An Evidence is Announced is a reference to the Agatha Christie novel a Murder is Announced starring Miss Marple.
Returning cards:
Forge in the Barren:
Common:
Rare:
Epic:
Legendary:
Token:
- They Came to the Barren is a reference to the Agatha Christie novel They Came to Baghdad
- Watson the Deserter is a reference to the character John Watson, the sidekick for Sherlock Holmes.
- Occult Chaser Halsing is a reference to the occult detective Abraham Van Helsing from the novel Dracula.
The Wailing Caverns:
- The Big Sleep is a reference to the 1939 detective novel that was later adapted to a 1946 movie The Big Sleep.
- Verdan the Everliving is adapted from the boss with the same name from the Wailing Cavern dungeon in WoW.
United in Stormwind:
Following the event of Forge in the Barren, Watson finds himself tracking down the missing renounced Detectives Halsing to Stormwinds, where he suspect the Cult of the Damned, who is harboring an Occult Tome that hold incredible death magic. Watson managed to infiltrate the Cult and stole their Tome. But before he managed to destroy it, the evil power of the Tome lashes on to him, making it impossible for him to destroy the Tome. He now constantly struggle to fight against the whisper of the Burning Legion and the Scourge inside his head, threatening to go mad at any minutes. In one moment that he succumbed to madness, he resurrected Halsing and wrought destruction to Stormwind.
Common:
Rare:
Epic:
Legendary
Dead Mines mini set:
- Defias's Folly name if a reference to Agatha Christie's novel Dead Man's Folly
Fractured in Alterac Valley:
Finding that he is fighting a losing battle with the whisper from both the Burning Legion and the Scourge and wrecked with guilt, Watson now has no choice but to return to his mentor Margaret. While incredible disappointed and angry at him for disobeying her and acting alone, Margaret still goes out of her way to help him to manage his condition. However, as unrest in Stormwind grew, she is forced to step up and investigate what is going on, so delegating the situation in Stormwind to her apprentices, she came along with him as emotional support to a safehouse Alterac Valley. However, as luck would have it, the Alliance and Horde fighting in Alterac Valley broke out and killed a lot of people, driving Watson insane surrounded with so much death. Watson almost killed Margaret when she tried to snap him out of the influence, but stop at the last minute. In a moment of sanity, he begged her to kill him before he can hurt anyone else. Tearfully, she struck him down and hastily buried him in Stormpike Graveyard before going off fighting Tamsin.
Common:
Rare:
Epic
Legendary
Onyxia's Lair:
After gathering all the evidences collected by her apprentices, Margaret figured out Katrana's true identity as Onyxia and exposed her to the people of Stormwind. Teaming up with other adventurers and the other class Mercenaries, they chase Onyxia out of Stormwind and into Onyxia's lair.
- Alliance Can Remember's name is a reference to the Agatha Christie Elephants Can Remember
