Although the majority seems to like my Arcane card better, I personally already agree with linkblade's feedback a lot. I think Avalan would do a good job standing out in this comp with Cast When Drawn cards and because it makes a currently undersupported archetype more viable.
Also, I made it so that the Crystallizations draw you another card, explicitly to make sure that they don't dilute the draw pool. And I'm aware I'm just being stubborn at this point (I just can't help myself when I get excited about an idea), but I'm going to justify the 'Thief' aspect by arguing that the card pool is specific enough by including Frost spells only. I would be open to making them discover Frost spells from any class.
Feedback
linkblade
I see you've already submitted. I like this version better as well.
Demon
Very fitting effect for the prompt. Obviously the triple-rune card is the grand prize, but the rest helps add value without making the card too cheap. And the randomness of it should keep it from being a problematic card, so I think it's well-balanced. I would love to see Blizzard print cards like this that interact based on your rune-distribution.
Not sure what to think on the generation in regards to multi-rune cards. On the other hand, Frost Queen Sindragosa could also be considered a single-rune card for both Frost and Blood. Regardless, as fun as it sounds, I think it would fit the card better to exclusively generate 'pure' rune cards. Anyway, is a good card and I say the multi-rune generation can be left up to interpretation. Also, it annoys me that they made Climactic Necrotic Explosion inconsistent with the rest.
Wailor
The very thought of no spell decks makes me very, very sad… That being said the card isn't bad, but I do think the reward could be a bit more interesting. It seems very obvious as well as powerful.
High Priestess Ishanah is a very realistic and fitting card, which has definitely helped you this season, but it's not the most original card here. It's obviously supposed to be a reverse Alexandros Mograine.
anchorm4m
It's hard to tell how balanced an effect like this would be. That being said, Fel spells work well with demons and I like that in order to profit from the Lifesteal, you have to give up the healing you could normally get from other spells, so I think it should be decently balanced. Stats don't really matter considering it's a Start of Game effect.
Of course the magic on the art looks very cool, but I do agree the art should be a bit more zoomed in on the character itself. And the magic from his left hand looks more shadowy anyway, so that would help focus on the fel-like magic at his right hand. Linkblade is right that Hearthstone doesn't really print heroes as minions (The Lich King aside). I don't know how much the general audience (not counting the people here, since many make it to the finals anyway) would have an issue with that? If you do change the art, I recommend making it a demon so it can profit from its own effect.
Crusader2010
As a 10-Cost battlecry card, this effect won't see play until late-game when you'll have drawn about half your deck already. Whether there will still be enough legendaries in your deck is up to luck most of the time, making the effect very inconsistent, even if you put a large amount of legendaries in your deck. Missing out on the effect you build your deck around because of something out of your control just feels very bad from a game-play perspective. And when you do get the effect it also seems very strong to me. 41 Health is more than you start the game with. I think the card would be more balanced with less Armor and a different, more consistent requirement. I recommend either making it a Start of Game effect (with a higher requirement) or moving away from the legendary requirement altogether.
The possibility of WCDC coming to an end is saddening, but I understand you guys put a lot of effort into it and it's good to ask yourselves if that's worth it. Regardless, I'd like to thank everyone who's part of these competitions. This season has been just as enjoyable as the previous ones thanks to each of you being here! Really, you all are an awesome and the most wholesome bunch. I normally don't interact anywhere, I'm a textbook example of a lurker, but I'm very glad I found such a great community to enjoy my passions with.
Sadly we're at the last comp of the season, but I'm still very much excited for it. I ended up with a bunch of ideas for this comp. All Mage cards, because for some reason I have a fascination with Mage and a love for Discovering cards. These are the ones I'm very happy with:
Avalan shapes ice crystals from far and wide, giving Frost Mage the versatility it is currently lacking. I really wanted Crystallization to be a Cast When Drawn, but sadly the Discover gets in the way of that.
Six Crystallizations might not be an awful lot for a restriction to only Frost spells plus adding a plain 3-drop to your deck. However, I chose six because they will be in your deck since the start of the game and will likely receive some more Frost synergy in the future. I think that's a well-balanced amount, but I would like to hear other's opinions on that.
A classic effect that I don't think I've ever used in a comp before. I'm not sure yet whether the reward is balanced enough for the requirement or if it's too rewarding as a Start of Game effect and should be a Battlecry instead.
Charge isn't too exciting. Most of the time it's either an annoying finisher or a boring minion. Seraphina the Siren is more exciting and seems somewhat balanced by the lack of direct face damage on Warlock spells. I was worried her effect scales too quickly. Warlock does have a lot of cards that summon imps, destroy your own minions for bonus effects or deal aoe damage. However, I mostly see her being powerful (face damage wise) in combination with Felfire in the Hole!, Mordresh style, which relies on your deck having exclusively Fel spells, so you're probably good.
Wailor
I appreciate the throwback that is Frenzied Doomguard, but discard just never really seems worth it. Soulstealing Familiar fits the prompt well. It really feels like a Priest card despite using Rush. I also like it since I'm a big Thief archetype enthousiast, but Cranky Hibernator has a more interesting effect and feels original, so that one's probably my favorite too.
wooder27
I'll admit I don't know any WoW lore, but the effects seem a bit disconnected to me. Giving your weapon Poisonous is an interesting effect that fits Warrior's aggressiveness well, encouraging you to smash your face into big minions and profiting off it, but I don't see why the minion also has Windfury. It gives me the impression that you probably added it because you wanted to make a card that has two keywords that fit the prompt.
Also, when you submit, I advice you to write a short explanation in the card description as to how the effect fits in with the lore.
Demon
The requirement is quite exciting. I definitely think most players would interpret this correctly, but it's still somewhat of a gray area. I personally prefer something along the lines of "a spell improved by Spell Damage" following the phrasing of cards like Unexpected Results.
Neoguli
Eldritch Atrocity doesn't really stand out that much. Cryotic Succubus is quite interesting, except it seems (correct me if I'm wrong) that so far it only synergizes with Going Down Swinging. An effect that is literally useless unless combined with one specific card is not something I approve of. Also, a hero is generally referred to as "it" instead of "them" (like Truesilver Champion).
I've been waiting for an excuse to use spell handbuffing in a comp again ever since it finally became legal in MotLK. Leech Glyph provides Mage with a bit of healing, which might not fit its identity, but that's why the healing is not very high, even compared to Neutral cards. However, the Lifesteal should become more valuable in a deck with spell damage cards. And since it specifies damaging spells, the card pool will most likely be favorable.
Edit:
Leech Glyph was obviously a bit expensive, but I didn't want to make it a 1-Cost to avoid it being a direct powercreep on Magic Trick. For some reason I didn't think of it yesterday, but of course I should've just made it a battlecry. So here's the new and improved version:
My second idea is Ice Sculpting. Warrior has Frost spells now, but so far the only one that actually Freezes is Snowed In. Ice Sculpting is a defensive tool that can be used to freeze a large minion and summon a copy for yourself for later or it can be played together with a buffed up Taunt minion to put a big wall on your board.
Managed to come up with this so far. I'm pretty happy with Draconic Nimbus. Forge Goliath still functions pretty similar, but it's a bit more straightforward. It's got a unique effect, but honestly feels like it could be in Neutral. I'll probably replace it if I come up with anything else interesting. I've also had a very hard time finding any meaningful effect for my hero card that uses Doomhammer and fits in the textbox. But I don't want to put the direct Doomhammer synergy on another card, because that would break the flavor of Thrall wielding it.
I like the inclusion of a token, bonus for it being Cast When Drawn. Although I don't think you can include both Static Charge and a Hero Power unless we have extra submission slots this week. I'm not a fan of the hero battlecry referring to your "next" Doomhammer. Doomhammer is a Legendary so there should only be one of it. It doesn't really fit unless there's a card in your package that specifically generates it. Maybe change it to "next weapon"? Wait it's an epic!?… I swear I play this game. Also, I did think Energy Enhancer was a great card for this comp, so I'm kinda sad to see it go… Wait, then what was my point in making a card that re-equips it when you've literally got a second copy?!
Wailor
I really like the new version of Thunderous Gladiator. On the other hand, Storm Bolt is a card I'm divided on. Doomhammer had Windfury and therefore less base Attack, so it relies on Thunderous Gladiator's buff quite heavily in order to fit into the archetype. Ragnar works well, but isn't much special.
Demon
I'm a big fan of Thunderstrike. Aggro-ish cards that reward you for targeting minions always make me happy. Shock Surger is great too. I do also encourage you to find a better condition for Thrall.
CursedParrot
I agree the weapons may work better as minions. I do really appreciate that the weapons also profit from their own effects, but it's simply disappointing that you can't play them while you already have Doomhammer equipped. Something I also noticed is that all your effects rely on Doomhammer to give somewhat unrelated bonuses. It would be nice to see some synergy the other way around as well.
I'm having a lot of second doubts about my package. I'm not entirely happy with the battlecry on the hero, mainly because I'm afraid it detracts from the intended archetype too much, Doomhammer becoming more of a requirement than a goal. I am still a big fan of the Hero Power, so I intend to keep it. And I admit Forge Goliath is really just there to 'do what Hoard Pillager does', but a bit more favorably. Which really sucks, because I love it's flavor, so I'm hoping I can go a different direction with it while keeping the flavor intact. With the battlecries on both cards changing, I'll probably leave out the Elemental synergy in favor of making the package more smooth.
About Stormy Charger, I really like the use of Overloading your opponent, because it just feels very original and flavorful, but it's impossible to balance the way it is now. The 'Whenever your hero attacks' part came first because it just works really well with upping any effect in power when you're using Doomhammer over any other weapon. I might have to give up one half of the effect in favor of the other.
I'll see what I can whip up. I'll see if I can get any more feedback, but I'm pretty confident I can make some nice improvements with this.
I decided to go a little wild and make a Doomhammer-Elemental package.
Stormcaller Thrall is a 4-cost so it can be played on turn six after playing Doomhammer. This does require you to have drawn both legendaries at that time, but the battlecry can still be triggered later even if you already broke Doomhammer. The Hero Power is a not too powerful +2 Attack this turn, but becomes twice as valuable when combined with the Windfury from Doomhammer or your Elementals. Charged Stormer can Overload quite a bit with Doomhammer's Windfury, but it's fragility should make up for that. And Forge Goliath is obviously there to renew your Doomhammer in late-game.
The new version looks great. Since it's almost guaranteed a 4/7 with charge, you're definitely getting your value out of it, with the potential to give it some great upgrades if you're willing to put in the work. I think changing the effect to be a battlecry was a great call, since otherwise drawing it late would ruin its value. And this might just be me, but having "all" in the sentence twice reads a little weird.
Wailor
Since before Shivering Sorceress was even a thing, I was fine with 1-Cost 2/2 minions with minor/requirement bonus effects as long as they're class cards. That being said, I feel like 3 Attack makes the stealth more worthwhile. You can only get it once per turn anyway, plus it requires synergy. At 2/2 I'm afraid it might not be worth trying to get the next stealth before attacking to the point where you'd likely just trade it instead. And I also think base stealth isn't a bad idea.
linkblade
You know, I think this could be balanced with the right stats. Something like 4-Cost 6 damage. That makes the window to use it for healing smaller and leaves you to be able to play other cards that turn. Or you could use it as a Fireball finisher. Can't say I enjoy supporting an already annoying archetype, but the effect is quite cool and I suppose with the right stats it isn't as toxic as some of the other cards you'd see in Shadow Priest decks. Although what I'm afraid of is that Lifesteal doesn't triggers if the card has already killed you?
BasilAnguis
I don't think you should remove anything, because you'd feel cheated when you can't steal Charge from that minion "because you can already steal Rush", except there's no enemies with Rush. For the same reason I do think it's very awkward that you aren't able to steal all static keywords. That includes Lifesteal, Poisonous and Windfury. Since that obviously wouldn't fit, I encourage you to use the lamer phrasing instead. Though, same as Demon's effect, I think the first "all" probably isn't necessary.
Crusader
As others have mentioned, this effect might be a bit too ambitious. Ambitious cards like this tend to have very cool effects, but often end up difficult to balance. It wouldn't be a bad idea to try and find a different direction for your card. If you do, I would recommend submitting it yourself, just to see how it does. And feel free to come to these threads for more feedback!
I haven't really had the motivation to give feedback for the past two comps because there's next to no-one here. :(
I personally don't really feel the need to have a large group of participants, I mostly enjoy having the regulars here. That being said, I do understand that it must be very discouraging when the participation drops like this. Most certainly since you're very involved. So I really hope it gets back up soon.
I actually wanted to participate this week, but I had a hard time finding anything interesting. Finale is just such an awkward keyword, almost certainly my least favorite one yet. There's just not really a purpose to the requirement. You can still play the cards on curve and you can still profit from their effects despite not having any Mana left (unless they would make finale cards with +spell damage or similar, but that defeats the purpose and they know those wouldn't see play). I would have rather seen something like "Does something at the end of the turn it was played."
I still ended up with something that I believe works well, but I just hope Blizzard isn't running out of ideas...
I'm not saying this is the main reason we've been seeing less participation these past few weeks or anything like that. It was just something I wanted to talk about.
I have always been a big fan of hero attack during your opponent's turn, so I'm leaning towards Talons of the Harpy. It also feels more original. However, 36 Armor is absolutely bonkers. And gaining Armor is also not very interactive. As in, the opponent will only ever have to worry about the first option, because the second one doesn't really affect them. So i recommend finding a more interactive alternative if you're planning on submitting this card.
Blade of Entropy is also appealing. My main concern is that the choice might be slightly too obvious based on the boardstate, but that'll be the case for many 'Secretly'-cards and this is still a more interesting way to execute an effect like Fatespinner's.
Demon
The effect is very neat and perfect for this comp. Only the reward feels 'just okay'.
Wailor
Interesting effect. I don't think it would be very powerful, but it can still be disruptive. She could probably use an extra statpoint considering her effect will only be effective against boards of 2+ minions since it's considered somewhat risky not to focus on removal in those situations.
Now, I believe how this would work is that it functions as a permanent enchantment, which I think will catch many players off guard. I recommend adding "Next turn," in front of the second sentence.
Not entirely happy with the art for the harmonic version of my card, but at least it fits the harmonic/dissonant transition perfectly, so I stuck with it anyways.
In retrospect it would have been nice if the prompt allowed for you to swap stats of/with other cards as well, since the design space ended up a little tight in my experience.
I like the concept, but its early-game potential as a difficult-to-remove Windfury minion scares me. May I suggest making the requirement be Mana spent on spells instead? That still makes you work up to it and encourages you too use it in a spell-heavy deck so you can play it early when it's extra valuable, but prevents it from being played on turn 3/4.
linkblade
I personally don't like how direct this synergy is. Printing a card for the sole purpose of increasing the value of an older card doesn't sit right with me. I know Doomhammer is suppose to be a special card, but I just think there's better ways through maybe a hero attack synergy or printing a new version the same way we're used to from the legendary dragons. Other than that it's a well balanced card. Potentially high value, but can't be played too early.
Wailor
I like its functionality. It seems fun and something you could use to your advantage, although I'd argue that doesn't warrant it to be a Legendary. My only concern is that as far as poisons are concerned Swinetusk Shank was probably better, since it gains an extra stat-point for each poison played, while this doesn't.
anchorm4n
P0NG being identical to Annoy-o-Module is something I have an issue with. And I agree with Wailor that these are quite powerful. A good solution to set them apart from Annoy-o-Module and Zilliax could be to reduce their stats + cost (2-cost with half stats seems like the most viable option?) That would reduce their base value and thus focus more on using them as Magnetic upgrades.
Neoguli
I appreciate how you used both new mechanics. The art is great, but as Wailor mentioned, it doesn't fit the expansion that well. I would like for it to stay in FoL because of the new mechanics, but I know art for this expansion is somewhat difficult to come by, so putting it in a different expansion is justifiable. Most certainly since the mechanics have evolved beyond "each turn" and "3 left". For the same reason it should at least be put in the mini-set for FoL.
Also, "2 Arrows left" makes this effectively a Twinspell. That's not a problem, it's like Echo and "Repeatable this turn". My issue with it is that it says "Swaps with each cast" while it will only ever swap once…
Here's my first idea. The flavor is nice, but it might be a bit unoriginal, so I intend to come up with a second option.
Edit: As promised, here's something a little more interesting. I'm open for suggestions.
I'm back! Didn't mean to go silent for so long. I don't always feel like joining feedback and decided I don't need to participate every week... Cue me not having a lot of inspiration for the prompts and skipping multiple weeks in a row, which I might regret once the season is over. Then I got a little busy irl, so my break took longer than expected. Still submitted a few decent cards in the meantime.
The way that a lot of the cards are worded, would the "third" option of the two be to decide not to scrap a card?
Yes. I mentioned it in the text, but that's easy to miss in the absolute textwall that this week's thread has become. I was planning on either adding it to the tooltip or mentioning it in the description.
Quote From anchorm4n
I have only one thing to criticize: I don't like the third option. It's a very cool effect, but I think the power level should be toned down a bit by forcing the player to discard one of the two cards. That way, it's still better than most current discard effects, but it's still a little risky to play them.
That's fair. Scrap doesn't quite have the risk of discarding random cards, unless you really need that extra effect like the second destroy from Unstable Void. But I personally really like the versatility of it. It creates a bit of strategy, which I always love to see on cards. Besides, otherwise it wouldn't really warrant bring a full keyword anymore.
Feedback:
linkblade
I'm a fan of Storm. I do think the tooltip should clarify when you pay the alternative cost. If I play the card with enough mana crystals, does it automatically upgrade or does it function like Choose One?
This might be an unpopular opinion, but I'm not a big fan of both Encore and Launch. Encore cards are only strong if you have another one ready to be played. They will reach maximum strength if you have as many in your deck as possible, meaning that's what they'll be balanced around and won't be very worthwhile outside of that scenario.
Launch is just another battlecry but with a minor requirement, which we literally just got another one of. I can still be convinced, but you'll need to design a card that would be specifically interesting if it can't be played after any other cards.
Demon
I like Objective, but I do agree about it impeding on Sidequest. And I think it needs a different name (probably something related to quests) considering objective spells are already a thing. I think the Warrior one is probably the least interesting of the four.
Wailor
I think I like Gunslinger better. I do agree a different name would be better to free up design space and because many minions with guns wouldn't have this.
anchorm4n
I'm afraid I agree that effects that rely on a minion to survive one or even multiple turns are simply too unreliable to make for an interesting keyword. And The Prismatic Disc shows the rider fully, but very little of the mount.
Dolphinslayer
I like the effect, although for some reason it feels a little weird to me that it also duplicates minions (instead of only the effects).
I'm not a big fan of Escalating Missile. It deals a lot of damage, so it should probably be rebalanced or at least not be able to hit the enemy hero. And the fact that it has a whole secondary effect just to deal a single damage more feels very insignificant. Maybe it could start lower and increase every time the effect is triggered? That would also work well with Mage since they can possibly discover another copy of it.
Matthieu
I'm a big fan of the keyword. It has a lot of potential, but I think the cards aren't executed very well. The Druid one becomes very powerful and you'd expect Nature spells to fit Harmony better since Druid has more ways of generating those. Pogo-Hip-Hopper's Harmony effect is way too easy to trigger and doesn't infinitely upgrade like Pogo-Hopper which is slightly disappointing. And the Mage card is a two-turn OTK. I also don't think Blizzard would print a Legendary with Harmony unless it's a Rogue card or duplicates itself, because copying/bouncing minions is way too specific.
CursedParrot
Fatal Flaw is a little more out there, so I don't know how the general audience will respond, but I think it's pretty cool. Especially Boom's Flawless Creation. But I think the other two cards aren't very well executed. As mentioned, Millhouse is probably a little too sticky. And I don't like Peerless Hero, first of all because it literally gives your opponent the means of getting rid of it and secondly, because said means is cheaper than the minion itself. Sure, you also get a Holy Smite, but you still pay 1 more Mana than your opponent so Peerless Hero looks more like a 2-Cost Neutral Holy Smite to me.
Maddened is also quite interesting and I like the cards you made for it. But there's indeed only room for 4 images in a submission so tokens will be a no-go this week.
Almaniarra
Infect should probably exclude heroes the same way poisonous does, because you're severely limiting your own design space here. The cards you made for it are interesting, but I'm not sure how well they would perform, since you generally don't want to wait a turn for a minion to die. Blood Boil is the only card like this they printed so far and that one functions more as an AOE where if the surviving targets attack your hero that will simply guarantee your hero will get some health back.
And keep in mind that Blightfang, which is half of the existing infect cards, has its infection effect trigger when the targets die.
I can't seem to log into Heartcards anymore. Whenever I press the 'sign in' button, it doesn't respond. I've tried it on different devices as well as the mobile version of the site. Even the 'change password' button has the same issue. Does anyone know what might be the cause?
This keyword is inspired by how absolutely terrible discard works as a game mechanic. It has never lived up to its full potential. That would change with the introduction of Scrap. Scrap is the user-friendly evolution of discard that lets you choose between (only) two cards to discard and gives you the option to keep both of those cards, but lose the effect in return.
Hmmm... my first thought is: Can a minion that is dormant lose stats? Maybe I'm missing something but I'm a little confused. I do like the versatility though, as ayou can also target your own stuff to set up a combo turn. Last but not least, for us non-WoW-players a little explanation about the connection between the violet hold and this being a Priest card would be cool, because from a HS point of view I see purple / violet, I think "Arcane" = "Mage".
There actually isn't a lore connection. I don't know any WoW lore myself past what I learn from Hearthstone. I just remembered it from the RoS cinematic/solo adventure and thought it'd be really cool to use it for this prompt. Being a control card with a stat-reducing effect, it made sense to put it in Priest. My excuse here is that the watermark depicts the symbol of the Kirin Tor (also appeared in RoS), which would likely be an expansion centered around the Kirin Tor/Dalaran. These are very magical and mage-like, kind of creating a MotLK situation where every class gets Death Knight-themed cards. I could still change it to Mage. Should I?
Also, yes, affecting a Dormant minion is questionable. Although I don't think it's too unrealistic in this effect, so I figured I'd just wait and see what people thought about that.
Feedback: I like the effect and would like to see it stay Neutral, but it currently has the value of a class-card. It's a strong card that could see use in a variety of classes, even bypassing weaknesses (Druid, when will you stop being problematic?), so I think it should be a 4- or even 5-Cost to balance that out. Otherwise it works just fine as a 3-Cost if you put it in something like Hunter.
Although the majority seems to like my Arcane card better, I personally already agree with linkblade's feedback a lot. I think Avalan would do a good job standing out in this comp with Cast When Drawn cards and because it makes a currently undersupported archetype more viable.
Also, I made it so that the Crystallizations draw you another card, explicitly to make sure that they don't dilute the draw pool. And I'm aware I'm just being stubborn at this point (I just can't help myself when I get excited about an idea), but I'm going to justify the 'Thief' aspect by arguing that the card pool is specific enough by including Frost spells only. I would be open to making them discover Frost spells from any class.
Not sure what to think on the generation in regards to multi-rune cards. On the other hand, Frost Queen Sindragosa could also be considered a single-rune card for both Frost and Blood. Regardless, as fun as it sounds, I think it would fit the card better to exclusively generate 'pure' rune cards. Anyway, is a good card and I say the multi-rune generation can be left up to interpretation. Also, it annoys me that they made Climactic Necrotic Explosion inconsistent with the rest.
High Priestess Ishanah is a very realistic and fitting card, which has definitely helped you this season, but it's not the most original card here. It's obviously supposed to be a reverse Alexandros Mograine.
Of course the magic on the art looks very cool, but I do agree the art should be a bit more zoomed in on the character itself. And the magic from his left hand looks more shadowy anyway, so that would help focus on the fel-like magic at his right hand. Linkblade is right that Hearthstone doesn't really print heroes as minions (The Lich King aside). I don't know how much the general audience (not counting the people here, since many make it to the finals anyway) would have an issue with that? If you do change the art, I recommend making it a demon so it can profit from its own effect.
The possibility of WCDC coming to an end is saddening, but I understand you guys put a lot of effort into it and it's good to ask yourselves if that's worth it. Regardless, I'd like to thank everyone who's part of these competitions. This season has been just as enjoyable as the previous ones thanks to each of you being here! Really, you all are an awesome and the most wholesome bunch. I normally don't interact anywhere, I'm a textbook example of a lurker, but I'm very glad I found such a great community to enjoy my passions with.
Sadly we're at the last comp of the season, but I'm still very much excited for it. I ended up with a bunch of ideas for this comp. All Mage cards, because for some reason I have a fascination with Mage and a love for Discovering cards. These are the ones I'm very happy with:
Avalan shapes ice crystals from far and wide, giving Frost Mage the versatility it is currently lacking. I really wanted Crystallization to be a Cast When Drawn, but sadly the Discover gets in the way of that.
Six Crystallizations might not be an awful lot for a restriction to only Frost spells plus adding a plain 3-drop to your deck. However, I chose six because they will be in your deck since the start of the game and will likely receive some more Frost synergy in the future. I think that's a well-balanced amount, but I would like to hear other's opinions on that.
A classic effect that I don't think I've ever used in a comp before. I'm not sure yet whether the reward is balanced enough for the requirement or if it's too rewarding as a Start of Game effect and should be a Battlecry instead.
Also, when you submit, I advice you to write a short explanation in the card description as to how the effect fits in with the lore.
I've been waiting for an excuse to use spell handbuffing in a comp again ever since it finally became legal in MotLK. Leech Glyph provides Mage with a bit of healing, which might not fit its identity, but that's why the healing is not very high, even compared to Neutral cards. However, the Lifesteal should become more valuable in a deck with spell damage cards. And since it specifies damaging spells, the card pool will most likely be favorable.
Edit:
Leech Glyph was obviously a bit expensive, but I didn't want to make it a 1-Cost to avoid it being a direct powercreep on Magic Trick. For some reason I didn't think of it yesterday, but of course I should've just made it a battlecry. So here's the new and improved version:
My second idea is Ice Sculpting. Warrior has Frost spells now, but so far the only one that actually Freezes is Snowed In. Ice Sculpting is a defensive tool that can be used to freeze a large minion and summon a copy for yourself for later or it can be played together with a buffed up Taunt minion to put a big wall on your board.
I really enjoyed this prompt. I hope we have more 'package' ones next season.
And I suppose it's not too early to wish everyone good luck in the finals!
Managed to come up with this so far. I'm pretty happy with Draconic Nimbus. Forge Goliath still functions pretty similar, but it's a bit more straightforward. It's got a unique effect, but honestly feels like it could be in Neutral. I'll probably replace it if I come up with anything else interesting. I've also had a very hard time finding any meaningful effect for my hero card that uses Doomhammer and fits in the textbox. But I don't want to put the direct Doomhammer synergy on another card, because that would break the flavor of Thrall wielding it.
First things first:
I'm having a lot of second doubts about my package. I'm not entirely happy with the battlecry on the hero, mainly because I'm afraid it detracts from the intended archetype too much, Doomhammer becoming more of a requirement than a goal. I am still a big fan of the Hero Power, so I intend to keep it. And I admit Forge Goliath is really just there to 'do what Hoard Pillager does', but a bit more favorably. Which really sucks, because I love it's flavor, so I'm hoping I can go a different direction with it while keeping the flavor intact. With the battlecries on both cards changing, I'll probably leave out the Elemental synergy in favor of making the package more smooth.
About Stormy Charger, I really like the use of Overloading your opponent, because it just feels very original and flavorful, but it's impossible to balance the way it is now. The 'Whenever your hero attacks' part came first because it just works really well with upping any effect in power when you're using Doomhammer over any other weapon. I might have to give up one half of the effect in favor of the other.
I'll see what I can whip up. I'll see if I can get any more feedback, but I'm pretty confident I can make some nice improvements with this.
^^ Feedback above ^^
Yeah, I noticed it as I was typing my post. And here I was hoping to change it before anyone noticed...
I decided to go a little wild and make a Doomhammer-Elemental package.
Stormcaller Thrall is a 4-cost so it can be played on turn six after playing Doomhammer. This does require you to have drawn both legendaries at that time, but the battlecry can still be triggered later even if you already broke Doomhammer. The Hero Power is a not too powerful +2 Attack this turn, but becomes twice as valuable when combined with the Windfury from Doomhammer or your Elementals. Charged Stormer can Overload quite a bit with Doomhammer's Windfury, but it's fragility should make up for that. And Forge Goliath is obviously there to renew your Doomhammer in late-game.
The thread seems to be moving a bit faster again this week. Hope I'm not too late.
I personally don't really feel the need to have a large group of participants, I mostly enjoy having the regulars here. That being said, I do understand that it must be very discouraging when the participation drops like this. Most certainly since you're very involved. So I really hope it gets back up soon.
I actually wanted to participate this week, but I had a hard time finding anything interesting. Finale is just such an awkward keyword, almost certainly my least favorite one yet. There's just not really a purpose to the requirement. You can still play the cards on curve and you can still profit from their effects despite not having any Mana left (unless they would make finale cards with +spell damage or similar, but that defeats the purpose and they know those wouldn't see play). I would have rather seen something like "Does something at the end of the turn it was played."
I still ended up with something that I believe works well, but I just hope Blizzard isn't running out of ideas...
I'm not saying this is the main reason we've been seeing less participation these past few weeks or anything like that. It was just something I wanted to talk about.
Blade of Entropy is also appealing. My main concern is that the choice might be slightly too obvious based on the boardstate, but that'll be the case for many 'Secretly'-cards and this is still a more interesting way to execute an effect like Fatespinner's.
Now, I believe how this would work is that it functions as a permanent enchantment, which I think will catch many players off guard. I recommend adding "Next turn," in front of the second sentence.
Not entirely happy with the art for the harmonic version of my card, but at least it fits the harmonic/dissonant transition perfectly, so I stuck with it anyways.
In retrospect it would have been nice if the prompt allowed for you to swap stats of/with other cards as well, since the design space ended up a little tight in my experience.
Also, "2 Arrows left" makes this effectively a Twinspell. That's not a problem, it's like Echo and "Repeatable this turn". My issue with it is that it says "Swaps with each cast" while it will only ever swap once…
Here's my first idea. The flavor is nice, but it might be a bit unoriginal, so I intend to come up with a second option.
Edit: As promised, here's something a little more interesting. I'm open for suggestions.
I'm back! Didn't mean to go silent for so long. I don't always feel like joining feedback and decided I don't need to participate every week... Cue me not having a lot of inspiration for the prompts and skipping multiple weeks in a row, which I might regret once the season is over. Then I got a little busy irl, so my break took longer than expected. Still submitted a few decent cards in the meantime.
Yes. I mentioned it in the text, but that's easy to miss in the absolute textwall that this week's thread has become. I was planning on either adding it to the tooltip or mentioning it in the description.
That's fair. Scrap doesn't quite have the risk of discarding random cards, unless you really need that extra effect like the second destroy from Unstable Void. But I personally really like the versatility of it. It creates a bit of strategy, which I always love to see on cards. Besides, otherwise it wouldn't really warrant bring a full keyword anymore.
Feedback:
This might be an unpopular opinion, but I'm not a big fan of both Encore and Launch. Encore cards are only strong if you have another one ready to be played. They will reach maximum strength if you have as many in your deck as possible, meaning that's what they'll be balanced around and won't be very worthwhile outside of that scenario.
Launch is just another battlecry but with a minor requirement, which we literally just got another one of. I can still be convinced, but you'll need to design a card that would be specifically interesting if it can't be played after any other cards.
I'm not a big fan of Escalating Missile. It deals a lot of damage, so it should probably be rebalanced or at least not be able to hit the enemy hero. And the fact that it has a whole secondary effect just to deal a single damage more feels very insignificant. Maybe it could start lower and increase every time the effect is triggered? That would also work well with Mage since they can possibly discover another copy of it.
Maddened is also quite interesting and I like the cards you made for it. But there's indeed only room for 4 images in a submission so tokens will be a no-go this week.
And keep in mind that Blightfang, which is half of the existing infect cards, has its infection effect trigger when the targets die.
I can't seem to log into Heartcards anymore. Whenever I press the 'sign in' button, it doesn't respond. I've tried it on different devices as well as the mobile version of the site. Even the 'change password' button has the same issue. Does anyone know what might be the cause?
This keyword is inspired by how absolutely terrible discard works as a game mechanic. It has never lived up to its full potential. That would change with the introduction of Scrap. Scrap is the user-friendly evolution of discard that lets you choose between (only) two cards to discard and gives you the option to keep both of those cards, but lose the effect in return.
There actually isn't a lore connection. I don't know any WoW lore myself past what I learn from Hearthstone. I just remembered it from the RoS cinematic/solo adventure and thought it'd be really cool to use it for this prompt. Being a control card with a stat-reducing effect, it made sense to put it in Priest. My excuse here is that the watermark depicts the symbol of the Kirin Tor (also appeared in RoS), which would likely be an expansion centered around the Kirin Tor/Dalaran. These are very magical and mage-like, kind of creating a MotLK situation where every class gets Death Knight-themed cards. I could still change it to Mage. Should I?
Also, yes, affecting a Dormant minion is questionable. Although I don't think it's too unrealistic in this effect, so I figured I'd just wait and see what people thought about that.
Feedback: I like the effect and would like to see it stay Neutral, but it currently has the value of a class-card. It's a strong card that could see use in a variety of classes, even bypassing weaknesses (Druid, when will you stop being problematic?), so I think it should be a 4- or even 5-Cost to balance that out. Otherwise it works just fine as a 3-Cost if you put it in something like Hunter.