its just because of the wording of the flavor text it shows an oversight of the cards design
it should be Battlecry: Your opponent draws a card. Add two copies of that card to your hand
nothing special but its just the little things
I agree, it's my least favourite of the finalists. When you get to that stage, little things like that really stand out. As written, the card makes no sense. Obviously you can intuit what it's meant to do, but on first reading it just sounds wrong
In defence, I would argue the card to be copied is implicit. If it produced a copy of itself, it would be "add two copies of this", while nothing else is referenced. I could have used the wording suggested. which is arguably better, but there are examples in game where a subject is referenced once explicitly, and then a second time implicitly, which is what I've done here.
Edit: The more I look for examples, the more I'm convinced I was wrong. Oh well, learning experience.
This is the deck that gave me the idea for this challenge, as I've not seen an even mage before. Given that the highlander cards are predominately even, as well as multiple bounce cards, I built this deck with the aim to abuse these as much as possible, as well as synergy with the reduced cost HP with things like Ice Walker, Tournament Medic and Frost Giant. I've played a few games with this at the Rank 10 floor, and have managed a 5/3 record so far, so it's not an awful deck.
Even Reno?
A Even Mage Deck created by
shaveyou. Last updated 4 years, 2 months ago
I'm been messing around with a weird Even Highlander Mage deck recently, and it got me thinking. How good could some of the other Odd/Even decks be?
Obviously certain decks have seen play (Odd Warrior, Odd Mage etc), and certain decks still pop up in Wild fairly often (Odd Paladin, Even Shaman)
I played a bit in the deckbuilding challenge on the old site, and thought I'd see if there was much interest here for a more constrained challenge. Build an Odd or Even deck for each class, and see if you can pick up a win with it on the ladder. In the interest of getting people involved, I'll ask if you could limit completions to one every 8 hours (per person), so everyone can have a chance to get involved. If there is interest in this, maybe we could move to a more open, winner sets the challenge deck building thread.
The Caverns Below: Not a full reversal, but one step back, making the minions 5/5 again. There's too many hyper aggressive options for this to ever become problematic in Wild.
Saronite Chain Gang: With Doppelgangster existing, and the Shudderwock Combo not breaking Wild currently, I don't see why this needs to stay changed.
Spiteful Summoner: General power level being so high makes a high roll off this at 6 seem an average play.
With that in mind, I can only really see Divine Spirit, Malygos and [Hearthstone Card (Leeroy) Not Found] being considered. Divine Spirit because of it limiting design space and being an unfun card to play against, Malygos for limiting design, and [Hearthstone Card (Leeroy) Not Found] for being in every aggressive deck.
Of these, I think only Divine Spirit is worthy of being pulled from Classic, as it would allow new options for Priest, which are desperately needed.
Remove Leeroy and decks would just use Reckless Rocketeer, and be only slightly worse.
I think they've learned to build round Malygos to an extent that it's no longer a problem.
I like this a lot more than last weeks one. First couple of ideas:
As for feedback (please take with a pinch of salt, I'm not the best at judging!):
Linkblade91 - It does feel a little plain. Balanced though, Paladin doesn't really have weapons that feel horribly broken if you pull them for 4 mana.
Hordaki - Feels balanced enough, (would be strong with all the Lackeys in the current meta). Might be a little too close to Shaku, the Collector to stand out though.
thepowrofcheese - Balancing is definitely needed, as any aggressive Warlock deck would run this in it's current form. Personally, I feel that the concept will struggle to be balanced. It'll either feel oppressive, or not good enough, with very little (if any) middle ground. I'd like to see how you refine it though.
I've been playing around with a few different build to create an aggressive Priest build, without relying on the Divine Spirit/Inner Fire combo that has defined any aggro priest build. So far I've come up with this, which has comfortably taken me to rank 5, but seems to have stalled there. I'm hoping someone will have suggestions to improve this.
Hurt and Heal
A Aggro Priest Deck created by
shaveyou. Last updated 4 years, 3 months ago
So far, I've been coasting through certain match-ups (Mecha'thunlock, Reno Mage, Galarogue) but struggling with others, Handbuff Mech Paladin, being the most challenging, which seems to comprise a decent chunk of the meta.
I'll type up a guide once I'm happy with a final list, but I feel like there will be changes to come yet.
Enjoying it so far (despite playing nearly exclusively joke decks)
I've played:
Albatross/Waxadred Rogue - Not good, but brilliant to pull off. The Waxadred build is by far the strongest, but managing to put 20+ Albatrosses in your opponents deck is hilarious.
Paladin Paladin - Better than expected. Lightforged Zealot continues to impress, while Lightforged Crusader can provide a little too much value at times. The meta will settle and eat this alive, but it's a fun idea, and plays better than I thought it would.
Embiggen Egg Druid - Embiggen, as a lot of people suggested, is Keleseth on Steroids. If you draw it in the Mulligan, you win. If you don't....meh. I need to refine this deck, and make it work if Embiggen doesn't show up.
Albatross Priest - Making Renolocks cry since 2019. My record is 36 birds shuffled so far. So what if it loses to literally every other deck?
Neither of those, don't let the reference to Death mislead you, it's to do with the flavour of the card (coupled with a famous quote) rather than the mechanics.
One thing I see no-one has mentioned is the ability to combine this with Execute to remove 2 minions in virtually any scenario. Yes, admittedly it's an inefficient removal, but given both cards would be run in a control deck, it does provide that option.
I doubt it would work in a conventional deck, but in wild, an egg druid could make use of this. Every egg becomes that much better with this card. Even Runic Egg becomes a better Loot Hoarder. Couple that with the buffs that egg druid ran in the first place, I think this could work.
I'm absolutely stunned. Thanks to those who voted!
In defence, I would argue the card to be copied is implicit. If it produced a copy of itself, it would be "add two copies of this", while nothing else is referenced. I could have used the wording suggested. which is arguably better, but there are examples in game where a subject is referenced once explicitly, and then a second time implicitly, which is what I've done here.
Edit: The more I look for examples, the more I'm convinced I was wrong. Oh well, learning experience.
Taken you up on your suggestion, look forward to seeing what you come up with.
Thanks for the feature!
Good spot, Rotface was meant to be in there. Amended
Even Mage:
This is the deck that gave me the idea for this challenge, as I've not seen an even mage before. Given that the highlander cards are predominately even, as well as multiple bounce cards, I built this deck with the aim to abuse these as much as possible, as well as synergy with the reduced cost HP with things like Ice Walker, Tournament Medic and Frost Giant. I've played a few games with this at the Rank 10 floor, and have managed a 5/3 record so far, so it's not an awful deck.
I'm been messing around with a weird Even Highlander Mage deck recently, and it got me thinking. How good could some of the other Odd/Even decks be?
Obviously certain decks have seen play (Odd Warrior, Odd Mage etc), and certain decks still pop up in Wild fairly often (Odd Paladin, Even Shaman)
I played a bit in the deckbuilding challenge on the old site, and thought I'd see if there was much interest here for a more constrained challenge. Build an Odd or Even deck for each class, and see if you can pick up a win with it on the ladder. In the interest of getting people involved, I'll ask if you could limit completions to one every 8 hours (per person), so everyone can have a chance to get involved. If there is interest in this, maybe we could move to a more open, winner sets the challenge deck building thread.
Completions:
Odd:
Mage:
Shaman:
Druid: Shaveyou 12/03/2020
Paladin:
Warlock:
Hunter:
Warrior:
Rogue:
Priest:
Even:
Mage: Shaveyou 07/03/2020
Shaman:
Druid:
Paladin:
Warlock:
Hunter:
Warrior:
Rogue:
Priest:
Here's my guesses...
Wild:
The Caverns Below: Not a full reversal, but one step back, making the minions 5/5 again. There's too many hyper aggressive options for this to ever become problematic in Wild.
Saronite Chain Gang: With Doppelgangster existing, and the Shudderwock Combo not breaking Wild currently, I don't see why this needs to stay changed.
Spiteful Summoner: General power level being so high makes a high roll off this at 6 seem an average play.
Bonemare: See Spiteful Summoner above.
Spreading Plague: See Spiteful Summoner above
Raven:
Extra Arms: Won't stand out in Wild. Compared to Velen's Chosen, it's +2 attack for 1 extra mana in it's buffed form .
Giggling Inventor: Might see play at 5. Doesn't anywhere at 7.
Dr. Boom, Mad Genius: Is this as good as Frost Lich Jaina? Not even close.
Reckless Experimenter Nerf was made redundant by the Echo change.
Dragon
Sludge Slurper: A complete guess. I have no idea.
Generally, they only resort to Hall of Faming a card if is is either an overused Neutral (Azure Drake, Ragnaros the Firelord), limiting design space (Conceal) or generally unfun to play against (Coldlight Oracle, Power Overwhelming)
With that in mind, I can only really see Divine Spirit, Malygos and [Hearthstone Card (Leeroy) Not Found] being considered. Divine Spirit because of it limiting design space and being an unfun card to play against, Malygos for limiting design, and [Hearthstone Card (Leeroy) Not Found] for being in every aggressive deck.
Of these, I think only Divine Spirit is worthy of being pulled from Classic, as it would allow new options for Priest, which are desperately needed.
Remove Leeroy and decks would just use Reckless Rocketeer, and be only slightly worse.
I think they've learned to build round Malygos to an extent that it's no longer a problem.
I like this a lot more than last weeks one. First couple of ideas:
As for feedback (please take with a pinch of salt, I'm not the best at judging!):
Linkblade91 - It does feel a little plain. Balanced though, Paladin doesn't really have weapons that feel horribly broken if you pull them for 4 mana.
Hordaki - Feels balanced enough, (would be strong with all the Lackeys in the current meta). Might be a little too close to Shaku, the Collector to stand out though.
thepowrofcheese - Balancing is definitely needed, as any aggressive Warlock deck would run this in it's current form. Personally, I feel that the concept will struggle to be balanced. It'll either feel oppressive, or not good enough, with very little (if any) middle ground. I'd like to see how you refine it though.
I've been playing around with a few different build to create an aggressive Priest build, without relying on the Divine Spirit/Inner Fire combo that has defined any aggro priest build. So far I've come up with this, which has comfortably taken me to rank 5, but seems to have stalled there. I'm hoping someone will have suggestions to improve this.
So far, I've been coasting through certain match-ups (Mecha'thunlock, Reno Mage, Galarogue) but struggling with others, Handbuff Mech Paladin, being the most challenging, which seems to comprise a decent chunk of the meta.
I'll type up a guide once I'm happy with a final list, but I feel like there will be changes to come yet.
Enjoying it so far (despite playing nearly exclusively joke decks)
I've played:
Albatross/Waxadred Rogue - Not good, but brilliant to pull off. The Waxadred build is by far the strongest, but managing to put 20+ Albatrosses in your opponents deck is hilarious.
Paladin Paladin - Better than expected. Lightforged Zealot continues to impress, while Lightforged Crusader can provide a little too much value at times. The meta will settle and eat this alive, but it's a fun idea, and plays better than I thought it would.
Gala/Dragon Warrior - Now this has impressed me. Scion of Ruin is disgusting, and Smolderthorn Lancer provides a nice reply to Dragonmaw Poacher
In Wild:
Embiggen Egg Druid - Embiggen, as a lot of people suggested, is Keleseth on Steroids. If you draw it in the Mulligan, you win. If you don't....meh. I need to refine this deck, and make it work if Embiggen doesn't show up.
Albatross Priest - Making Renolocks cry since 2019. My record is 36 birds shuffled so far. So what if it loses to literally every other deck?
You got it, the brand new game being chess, with the added Check reference in the third line. You got the quote right as well!
Your turn.
Right class, wrong card
Neither of those, don't let the reference to Death mislead you, it's to do with the flavour of the card (coupled with a famous quote) rather than the mechanics.
Not Roll the Bones I'm afraid. There is a subtle clue as to what the new game is in the third line.
Firstly, much love for Ayla. I haven't played that game in years and now am feeling the itch.
This might be too hard, I'll start hinting in the morning if it's not solved.
They say Death will ride me,
But yet I help you recover,
Check me out and see,
A brand new game to discover,
One thing I see no-one has mentioned is the ability to combine this with Execute to remove 2 minions in virtually any scenario. Yes, admittedly it's an inefficient removal, but given both cards would be run in a control deck, it does provide that option.
Fairly certain it's Plaguebringer
I come with a small body on field - 3/3 isn''t huge
My namesake is something to wield - I think there may be a weapon, or gear in WoW with the same name
Out of context, I shouldn't exist
My effect is a chronological hitch - It's a classic card that never should have existed.
Screaming faces in billowing green - Card art shows a screaming green face
My predecessor vanished, but I'll never leave - It's predecessor vanished because it was hall of famed. And also was literally Vanish
I doubt it would work in a conventional deck, but in wild, an egg druid could make use of this. Every egg becomes that much better with this card. Even Runic Egg becomes a better Loot Hoarder. Couple that with the buffs that egg druid ran in the first place, I think this could work.