The latest patch has just dropped, so I'll be picking my way through my decks to see which ones need changing. I have a feeling the one called 'Utter Lunacy' might need a little bit of a tweak, but who knows? Maybe I won't touch it since the point is always to have the most fun, not the most optimal deck, at least in my opinion.

Let's see, what's the Conversation about this week... well, we'll have to flip a coin and find out! 

Ewe Did It!

Congratulations to the winner of the latest WCDC, Demonxz95 and their Sheep Cannon!

We look forward to seeing what idea they'll champion for next week's competition!

All Ogre Now

I've talked before about my love of Battlegrounds, and while waiting for the recently released Standard nerfs I dove right back in to the gamemode. The variety of playstyles available, from traditional builds to weird niche interactions that you only keep around for a turn or two make for such interesting decisions.

The latest Fan Community Spotlight also takes a look at Battlegrounds in the form of a custom Ogre set from Cydonianknight. I love this idea of using Battlegrounds as the place to introduce new minion types - I think it's a lot easier to make a minion type feel distinct there than it might be in Constructed formats, and by virtue of only having a select number of minion types each game you don't have to worry about populating the game with dozens of them at a time to push them into a fun and playable state.

You also don't have to worry about adding the minion type to a bunch of older cards, which could lead to unexpected or unwanted synergies. Take a look at poor Holy Wrath, for example, which didn't become a Holy card with the addition of Spell Schools, likely due to the interaction between Knight of Anointment, Lorekeeper Polkelt and Molten Giant. The flavour unfortunately breaks down in favour of better gameplay.

Who knows what mechanics an actual Constructed Ogre minion type might have - after all, Pirates, Dragons and Elementals play vastly differently between Constructed and Battlegrounds. I imagine in Constructed they may end up having to default to randomness - specifically 50% effects - in order to maintain synergy with numerous older designs, but is that really what you'd want? In Battlegrounds, you can give a potential minion type a whole new life without fear of being held back by traditions.

Go ahead. Imagine yourself up that perfect Undead minion type, unhindered by the vast swaths of existing cards - some of which already have conflicting minion types - and fit whatever mechanic you want to it. Battlegrounds is far more free in that regard.

Make sure you check out the interview and links to the full set at the link above.

Fair Play

The WCDC this week is all about sharing the wealth. Click the banner below to join in and spread the love!