Fan Community Spotlight - Neoguli's Core Set Reworks - Part 1 (Warlock and Druid)

Hello everybody, and welcome to another Fan Community Spotlight. This time, I'm going to be doing something I haven't done on this series for a while, and that is a Core Set rework. Last time I did one of these was when I interviewed ShadowsOfSense and Cheese for their Priest reworks way back in March. Today, I've got Neoguli with me to discuss his core set reworks which I will be doing over multiple installments. In this particular installment, I'm focusing on his Warlock and Druid set first.

With that in mind, let's get started. Let's see how Neoguli's Core sets stand up.

What cards did you decide to cut and why?

Neoguli: "I decided to cut away mostly cards that were either lacking usefulness or got power-crept severely. Some cards were also limiting design space, as proven time and time again.

I do believe the current Basic and Classic Set cards are usually on point in terms of power level and teaching about strengths and weaknesses of the class, so they do not need to be cut, but there are still outcasts that are obsolete and occupy spaces for cards that would otherwise be great to have in an evergreen set, and I want newer players to be on better footing than they are right now.. Some cards are fine by design, but are underpowered."

It wouldn't be an FCS without your own cards, so let's see them.

Neoguli: "Impeccable Doomguard may seem similar to Pit Lord that I've put to Hall of Fame, but I thought my new card better showcased the damaging nature and had a larger body to be used with Ectomancy. I also think the card is fairly strong enough to be good overall, especially as a budget card for aspiring Cube Warlock players.

Kil'Jaeden has replaced Lord Jaraxxus due to the latter being outclassed by all Hero cards. I also think Kil is more iconic, so some new players may resonate more with the Demon. He also adds a payoff to Discard synergies by being a high-risk, high-reward card, and the risk can be mitigated by having cards in hand like Hand of Gul'dan, thus making him work well with Discard.

Life Boon is a simple and flexible buff. It suits my envisioning of Druids being great at buffing allies, as Earthmother cares about their children. With both effects combined, this can give you a lot of stats in one go - +8/+8 for one minion and +2/+2 for adjacent ones."

It's a bit unusual for core set reworks to not include very many of the creator's own cards. What was the decision behind this based on?

Neoguli: "It mostly boils down to finding good art for the cards you want to include. I don't find it that easy to find the best suiting art. This was also the beginning of my journey through this project, so I gravitated towards adding more cards from future sets, but after listening to feedback, I started to gradually decrease the amount of future cards in my sets and put a bit more emphasis on adding more of my custom cards.

Druid was surprisingly not about me adding new cards, but adding some nice touches to existing cards, while Warlock was an expansion galore with some custom cards, one of which got removed after listening to feedback."

Actually, there are a few instances of expansion cards being added. Did these just happen to work perfectly with what you were trying to do?

Neoguli: "Yes. I enjoyed some designs from expansions that I thought would be cool to be added, but got overshadowed in expansions they were released in. Some cards just happened to serve a similar purpose to already existing cards, but did a better job in modern Hearthstone - an example would be Drain Soul that does more than Drain Life ever will these days."

What identity were you going for with both classes?

Neoguli: "For Warlock, I decided to show Warlock as a bit more selfish class with lack of card generation and limited access to card draw thanks to their Hero Power. It was also the messiest class I could come up with after Priest (who already got Blizzard's changes and some other custom ones from our community) and have more space to tinker around.

For Druid, I decided to go for more of the nature cycle route, slow but steady in what they try to do. To change the pros and cons accordingly, I wanted Druids to have more removal options at the cost of card generation, as at least for me, Nature takes time before it releases new species to the world, and card generation felt a bit instant for my liking.

Both changes in identity were dictated by looking at Blizzard's view at that topic, and I decided to go a slightly different way and change the classes to not be as similar. These changes also gave me a new approach to those classes."

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

Neoguli: "I do not have anything related to Hearthstone for now, but I will probably finish the project, including changes to Neutral cards. I actually tried to create new Neutrals halfway through, but this led to stagnation. One set for a class usually takes 3-4 hours, and Neutrals would take probably longer, so I wasn't as keen on focusing on that part.

I sometimes have larger ideas, but they tend to not stick on the wall, stuff like a new expansion and an MM Doc-like class expansion."

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

Neoguli: "When it comes to creating cards, I like to make them stand out among the rest. I want people to see them and imagine any possibilities to include them in their decks. Decently flashy design or designs that reward innovation and fun are some of my favorite cards - that's why I'm a big fan of cards like N'Zoth, the Corruptor, [Hearthstone Card (Da Undatakah[/car] and Shudderwock, aswell as [Hearthstone Card (Zephyr Sage) Not Found] and [Hearthstone Card (Anivia) Not Found].

To future creators, I wish you the best of luck in getting attention for your creations. I hope you can get recognised."

Do you have anything else you wish to share?

Neoguli: "Surely I do. This may sound too self-promotional, but what I'm going to share is my ambitious project. SHS Nexus Cup is my project revolving around my own League of Legends tournament for all high school students in my city. I'm looking for people who actually spread information about the tourney, this is my team's biggest obstacle to overcome. You can find us on Facebook and Youtube under SHS Nexus Cup, and on Instagram and SoundCloud under shsnexuscup_official (yes, we have our Soundcloud to store our original tracks to use).

In terms of Hearthstone-related stuff, I want people to actually pay more attention to Class Creator on Hearthcards. It's such an underrated tool for creating your classes or expansions. You can chek it to find my Witch Doctor class and Forgotten Wars expansion, which I have also covered in a thread on Forums.

I also hope everyone will do well in their future, be it when creating your stuff or having better relationships or whatever you wish would go the better way."

And that would do it for today's Fan Community Spotlight. Check out Neoguli's Warlock and Druid core set reworks, and let us know what you think of it. Next time we continue this, we'll be looking at Paladin and Warrior.