Hello everyone, I'm back with another concept. I came up with it a while back when I was writing 
this article giving a brief outline of different ways that Hearthstone could be played. If you've already read that article, or have just read it, this is the Pyramid Format with a new, more fitting name. I made another post that outlined what a Tournament Mode in Hearthstone could/should look like. The visual aids I put in that were well received and I did the same for this post because it kind of help solidifies it instead of it being left up to the imagination. There are notes of self identified issues that I'll address and if you guys have gotten to know me at this point, I'm always open for constructive criticism, discussion, and exploration to improve upon my designs. Don't hesitate to tell me what you think.
So let's get started.
High Arcanist Thalyssra has entered the Tavern.
Unbeknownst to many, she too is a fan of Hearthstone.
She has set up her own table and is eager to show everyone her own dynamic rule set.
For winning 5 games in the Explorer Format for three consecutive months, this Mage hero portrait will be awarded.
Of course, right when I finished making this whole thing someone data-mined the new mage that might be coming.
Hearthstone greets us with music, background noise, and of course it's cheerful dwarven announcer, Harth Stonebrew.
From the cinematics we also get a wider cast of characters such as Ava, Velaris, Malto, and Lou to name a few.
Bob the Bartender has become a staple character in the Hearthstone universe over the last year and his implementation in Battlegrounds is definitely a welcomed fit into the game other than being tied to the Adventures in the Year of the Dragon.
I thought I'd introduce a new character, Thalyssra, to be the voice of the Explorer Format, as Bob is the voice of Battlegrounds.
I'll give you some example of some possible dialogue she could have through the year.
Once a player has met the criteria to play in Explorer, Thalyssra will ask them to go to their collection to get started making an Explorer decks.
Coming up with a name for this format was a challenge, it has to fit, you know?
I thought about what players would actually be doing when they play this format.
I thought "Players would be exploring possible cards interactions, new deck synergies, and strategies when staple cards are gone."
Thus the name, "Explorer".
Changing the format of your deck is as simple as switching from Standard to Wild and vise versa.
You just click the button and bam, you're making an Explorer deck.
Complete with it's own section in the Collection manager.
I had to use the art from the wild section since I'm not an artist and I don't own Photoshop.
Gimp helped out quite a lot though.
Essentially the Explorer pages will have a page color and hero border.
The beginning of the Standard year should mark when this Format starts.
This Format uses every card from every set including Basic, Classic, and HOF.
When expansions are released, those cards will be legal as well.
Depending on how much they're played, determines how fast they get moved out of the format.
As the Arcanist said herself, cards will become illegal as the year goes on.
Each month a set percentage of cards will be removed from the format based on Win rate.
"How many decks contained this card, and how often did those decks win with this card in it?"
In other words, if say Acolyte of Pain is being ran in most/every Explorer deck, it will be banned next month.
The format will have its own icon, I landed on a little book.
I kind of felt as the year went on, Thalyssra would write down what cards are legal or not.
This format will have its own ranked ladder to keep players invested into a meta that changes every month.
This will help keep players engaged when either the meta is stale, typically at the end of an expansion right before the release of the next.
And let's be real here, most players want the golden hero portraits
At the beginning of each month, after you've been rewarded your Ranked rewards, you will be presented with this screen.
Thalyssra will show you the top three most game winning cards from the previous month and state that they've been banned.
She will also tell you that other cards have been banned as well.
Once you open your collection manager and switch over to the Explorer format, you'll be able to see exactly what cards have been banned.
They have that nice red tape around them to indicate that they are no longer allowed in Explorer.
The Explorer decks you've made will likely be unplayable because they most likely lost a few cards.
If you're playing a meta deck within that month, chances are that most of it will be banned.
None the less, it's time to either craft a new deck, or find replacements for the cards that were removed from yours.
Now of course when you're making a deck you might want a toggle to see what cards are and aren't banned.
So bam, another button.
Make a deck with what's offered to you and get back on the ladder.
When the new Hearthstone year comes, Thalyssra will reset the format. Undoing all of the bans of that year.
Things will be the same as they once were during Month 1 of the previous year.
Criteria, issues, solutions, math, and outcomes.
Criteria
Earlier I stated that players would have to meet a certain criteria in order to play in the Explorer Format.
I said that because players need to have time to amass a collection to even be able to make a somewhat viable deck in Explorers.
Let alone be able to play after a couple of Ban Waves.
I think if players were to reach level 50 with each class, they should have somewhat of a collection to play with.
Issues
Probably the biggest issue with the entire format is that people dust their cards.
People who have been playing for years, and maybe even since launch probably already have dusted useless expansions.
Let alone their entire Wild collection if they're dedicated only to Standard.
On top of that, if those players, and new players can't afford to buy packs with actual money or gold, they're locked out of an entire part of the game.
Solution
Wild packs are available on the in-game store again, so that's a plus.
The only solution I can think of to help players with limited collections is to make Whizbang the Wonderful and Zayle, Shadow Cloak Evergreen cards in Explorer.
Also to add any cards that are similar to those into Explorer's Evergreen set.
Math
After Galakrond's Awakening there will be a total of 2,290 playable cards in Hearthstone.
My initial plan is to only ban 10% of the best cards each month. This is what it will look like though the year.
2,290 - April (Expansion release day) + Expansion cards
2,061- May
1,854 - June
1,669 - July
1,502 - August + Expansion cards
1,352 - September
1, 216 - October
1,095 - Novemeber
986 - December + Expansion cards
887 - January
798 - February
718 - March
646 - April (Up until the format resets with the new year)
That's the math of the first year.
The math may have to be played with in case the number of cards becomes so low that it's impossible to make a 30 card deck.
Outcomes
I see a lot of F2P's resenting the format, that they can't really play it unless they use Whizbang or Zayle.
I get it, it probably feels really bad, maybe one of you can come up with an additional solution?
After multiple years it might feel samey, but I think the introduction with new expansions through the year as this goes on will help it feel fresh all year.
So there's another long winded, thought out way to introduce something new to Hearthstone.
As I said in my Tournament Mode article, if we stay vocal about new ways to play and what we want, we might get something like this.
Thank you for reading,
Grif.
