Hey guys (and gals). Welcome back to another Fan Community Spotlight, and this time I'm back in my usual spot after Shadows interviewed me last time, which marked the 20th installment of this series.

Back in my usual spot for this series though, today we have a set created by RenoLord called Pirates of Vash'jir, and its adventure, Voyage of Maelstrom. Between the FCS I did of Deepsea Imperium last month and this one, I feel like I've found myself doing quite a few aquatic themed sets. That and we did just have Rising Tides in Legends of Runeterra. How weird.

Within the depths of the ocean lies some sunken treasure, and also sunken cards. I say sunken cards because we have a keyword in this set, Sink. When you play a card with Sink, it will sink itself into your deck again with Casts When Drawn (and it will also lose Sink). Do cards float on water? I'm not willing to test this out myself.

In addition to that, the Auto-Attack keyword found in places like the Karazhan Chess fight, and the Dogfight in Galakrond's Awakening make an appearance here as playable cards. For the first time in this series, we'll also be seeing some Demon Hunter cards!

So, without further ado. Let's set sail on this grand adventure.

Give us a taste of the set. What's it about? What will we see?

RenoLord: "First of all of course pirates, pirates and more pirates. With the a name like Pirates of Vash'jir that comes naturally. There will most definitely be classic aggro focused pirates like Tusskar Raider and the man himself Patches the Returned but there will also be a few slower and more control orientated bigger pirates like Blacksail Captain and the Slipstream. The another big theme is shuffling cards into your deck. With an entire new mechanic Sink focused arround it. Tsunami and Murky Water Fishing are some examples and there are also cards without the mechanic that shuffle cards into your deck like Whirlpool and synergy cards like Deepsea Naga. Plus a few Murlocs and Elementals."

How long have you been making your own cards? What about this set?

RenoLord: "I've been making cards for around three years now at this points mostly other sets most of my early sets are pretty bad so don't look them please. As for this Set i worked on it for around six-eight months. Tho during the first four-six months i only worked on and off made like 40 cards at most and most of the cards were finished during the last two months or so while in quarantine."

How did you arrive on Sink and Auto-Attack as the mechanics of your set?

RenoLord: "Sink was made early on in the design process i wanted a mechanic for my set that had something to do with the sea so decided to have spells that Sink into the ocean(Your deck) and you have to uncover them. Some of the earliest Sink cards i made where Lower the Anchor and Treasure Chest were the cards that sold me on the idea.

Auto-Attack was added when the Galakrond Awakening adventure. As you might have noticed some cards are suspiciously similiar to the adventure cards (Heavy Cannon, Upgraded Cannon)."

This is one of the earliest custom sets to have Demon Hunter cards. Were there any unique difficulties in making cards for the new class that aren't present in the original 9?

RenoLord: "It was both easier and harder. Because there significantly less cards for Demon Hunter the classes themes are harder to find, but also that means that much less design space was explored. When i designed the set for Demon Hunter i looked for some themes i found that quite a few cards deal damage cards like Priestess of Fury, Eye Beam and Chaos Nova and made a quest around that. Secrets of the Fel. Also made some cards that i just Demon Hunter would like. Like Deep Sea Fel, Demon Hunter Trainer and Fel Orc Blaster."

I noticed that Mage received a hero card, and Priest received a Legendary weapon. What is the significance behind these two cards?

RenoLord: "No real big significance. Depth Queen Azshara is important enough in the lore that i thought she deserved her own card. And Eye of N'zoth was just a cool weapon i designed for priest as every class that didn't have weapons like Warlock(Ritual Dagger) and Mage(Conjured Battle) got one so they can play pirate decks a bit better."

What connection does the adventure, Voyage to Maelstrom, have to the base expansion?

RenoLord: "No real connection other that Maelstorm is close to Vash'jir and i thought Elementals where done dirty by Blizzard and forgotten. So i hope to fish that by printing some powerful elementals like Rock Tumble, Tide Surfer and Therzane Earthmother."

Show Spoiler

What other cards do you wish to highlight for any reason?

RenoLord: "A couple

  • Naga Spellcaster - This probs my favourite card of the set it's such a simple design but it can pull your Sink cards, your Primes, or just other cards you shuffled into your deck.
  • Revibrate - Is my favourite Sink card in the set.
  • Deep Sea Serpent - This a taste of small of cards theme in the adventure(This mechanic might or might not be stolen from Legends of Runeterra)
  • Captain Eudora - My favourite Pirate of the set. Also shows the theme of shuffling cards into your deck. I designed her with the intent of her being powerful like Zilliax."

Do you have anything behind the scenes you wish to share?

RenoLord: "If you're saving art to use for cards later please name the art. plz. i've spent like 5 minutes eachtime while making a card searching for the right art on my computer."

What design philosophies do you have? What advice do you wish to spread to future creators?

RenoLord: "What design philosophies do you have? What advice do you wish to spread to future creators?
Make cards that you would want to play and think are cool. If you like Murlocs make Murloc cards, if you like the Singleton mechanic make some Singleton cards, if you like Hand-Size mechanics go right ahead, if you like rez priest don't. Just don't.

Also if you're making an Expansion theorycraft some decks if they feel weak or OP either buff some of the cards or nerf them."

Do you have anything else you wish to share?

RenoLord: "Yes am making the adventure currently and the adventure will feature upgrade Hero Powers starting Passive and Normal Tresures."

That does it for today. Check out his set to see the rest of the cards, and let us know what you think. Now that I've got my feet wet again (pun absolutely intended), join us next time where maybe I won't take on another water journey?