Hello everyone, and welcome back to another Fan Community Spotlight. I'm sad to say that this will be the last one on the website, and that's for one reason - THE WORLD IS ENDING!!! It was supposed to end in 2012, and it feels like it's been ending all throughout 2020, but we have officially reached the Dawn of the Apocalypse, a fan-made Hearthstone expansion by MrRhapsody showing us the many ways the world will end. It's all but confirmed to happen.

The set contains a new keyword, Catastrophe. Catastrophes are cards that have three different "stages", a 1-Cost, 5-Cost, and 10-Cost stage, of which each grows up in power from the previous. Truly a fitting keyword for what's about to happen as we have foretold the end. Catastrophes are not collectable cards, but instead generated by some cards in the set.

What exactly is this set about?

MrRhapsody: "This set is about end of the world possibilities (Like zombie apocalype or meteor collision) adapted to the Hearthstone / Warcraft universe using a little lore i've created for the set. to summarize, a entity know just as "The End" is trying to break free from a mystical chamber, but to accomplish that, it had to open 10 enchanted padlocks that would only open after a specific situation happens, then the entity gathered heralds around the whole universe to open them. The set mainly focus on the Azeroth heralds, like Andoris, Kakko and Zerox, but some heralds from others planets are represented in the neutral set, like Kirovond and Han'Jon. Back to the basics, there's a new keyword called Catastrophe and two new mechanics called Prophecy and Augur, all meant to improve the apocalyptic vibe."

Where does the idea of the Catastrophe mechanic originate from?

MrRhapsody: "Actually, it originated from a brainstorm, i know i wanted to make a apocalype themed expansion, but i had no idea of what kind of new keyword i wanted, it's very hard to come up with new keywords nowadays, it seens like the custom cards community has already came up with every possible idea. So instead of trying to find "diamonds in the mud", i went to a "jewelry", wich is Hearthstone, and played some games in search for new ideas. Then, during a game againts a Reno Priest, the opponent played a perfect Kazakus potion, and i wondered "Hum, you now what? I like the kazakus potion mechanic, but i don't like the RNG, what if i make something like it, but more specific?" Ideas came and went, and eventualy i came up with the Catastrophe mechanic. The first Catastrophes and its generators were a LOT more powerful and some had totally diferent effects, most of them got scraped, the only generators who remained close to the origirals are Prophecy of Invasion, Herald of the Endtimes and Doombringer."

How about Prophecies and Augurs?

MrRhapsody: I wanted to make the Catastrophes more accessible and versatile with some specific cards for each class, that's where the Prophecy mechanic came from. They have weak effects for the cost, but let's you Discover a Catastrophe of any cost (From your class, of course) some examples are the Prophecy of Devastation and the Prophecy of Domination. At first, all classes had a Prophecy, but since it was limitating my creativity, i had to scrap some of them, like the Prophecy of Rebellion for hunter, or the Prophecy of Darkness for Rogue. Also, they are all common for a reason, arena is way too boring nowadays, it needs some spicyness! And about the Augurs, they are minions with powerful battlecries that triggers after a certain number of turns, usually 2 or 3, some of them requires a target like Undeath Augur, others triggers the effects by themselves, like Elemental Augur. The Augur mechanic was something i came up very late in the creation process, i thought that Catastrophes and Prochecies were not enough, so the Augurs came in to fill the void in a natural and flavourful way.

What was the inspiration for the set theme?

MrRhapsody: "Reality is the greater inspiration when making a art piece, and this expansion was no different. The real world is going to hell, people are turning insane with all the bad news, we start the year with a World War menace, then the Covid came, and then the "son" of the biggest volcano ever awakened, then riots started to happen around the world, then a giant meteor got close to the Earth, and yada, yada, yada. Then i tried to take some good from the disgrace, and this custom expansion was the "fruit" of it. The first to take a theme was Druid, there was just no way i wouldn't represent the Covid pandemic, some examples are Transmition and Cure Testing . Bonus info: Dencoha's name is a Word Play with previous pandemics that happened in my country."

Of note is Hunter's Legendary weapon. What's the significance of The Shadow Hunter?

MrRhapsody: "As many of my cards, The Shadow Hunter card and the Shadow of Falaski was inspired by a song from Angra, wich was written out of a tale of a crusader knight (EXCELENT song, btw). Back to the card, The Shadow Hunter was originally created to support the Spell Hunter archetype, wich i loved to play back in 2017/18, but i didn't know how to make a flavourful and functional effect for it. At first it was supposed to be a more controlish style Hunter card, and summoned the Shadow only if you attack a minion, but unlike DH, hunters have no acess to Healing, so sadly i had to cut the idea. But after a little brainstorm, i came up with something that could indirectly support Spell Hunter, and that is the Weapon Hunter archetype, with cards like Multi Ammo, Spiritual Bow and Signature Weapon."

Are there any other cards you wish to showcase for any reason?

MrRhapsody: "As a Warlock fanboy, I want to highlight the Overdraw Warlock archetype, with Derek Ashraiser, Cycle of Ash, Ash Weaver and Rise of the Undead. Man, how i wish that those cards existed, i have lost the count of how many cards i've overdrawn in my life, either by a careless Life Tap, or by a stupid, disgusting, dumb and repulsive Coldlight Oracle!"

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

MrRhapsody: "Oh my, i have a lot to share, so allow me to use this space to writte a little trivia:

-The original archetype for Warlock was the "Bad Battlecry Lock", see some examples below. Also, Zombie Builder was the card that inspired me to make the Augur mechanic.

- Keeper Alindre was supposed to be a reference to my favorite YU-GI-Oh! (first card game i ever played) card of all time: Legendary Six Samurai- Shi En. But sadly, i had to change the name, art and flavour to fit the set.

-The End was supposed to have the "Augur" mechanic, but it got changed for flavour reasons.

- A lot of the cards were named after a music, artist, album or band from my Spotify gallery.

-Shaman's Catastrophes passed through 4 diferent versions, one of them used weaker and stronger Elemental Evocations, Jo'han and Elemental Augur are the legacy from that version.

Tokens

- Some of the cards were based of scraped ideas from card design comps, like Dina, Course Shifter and Comet Trip.

-Some cards have some fun hidden references, like Tal'Bata, wich was named after a city in my country where some famous swindlers and local memes came from, like the women who said to be pregnant of 8 children, when it was actually just a big ball under a dress…Well, it happened back in 2007, people were dumber back there.

- A highly considered theme for Hunter/ Druid was Forest Fires, but when came up with the idea, it was too late. Fire Starter is a small remnant of the concept.

Do you have anything else you wish to share?

MrRhapsody: "I would like to welcome everyone to take a look at my last mini set, the Dragonslayers, it is a smaller set, but i think it's totally worth sharing with those who didn't saw it. And also one last message: The end is near!"

The end is now! This is it. THIS IS THE END!!! Fan Community Spotlight is over! The world is over!

(Have I dug this joke into the ground yet? Anyway, thank you for reading. Be sure to check out the full set, let us know what you think, and I'll see you next time.)