The Fractured in Alterac Valley Mini-Set's day 2 of the reveal season is over, and with that we've come to know a large portion of the cards that will go live together with Patch 22.4 on February 15th. In order to sum up what we've seen so far:
- Day 1 Reveals - Dragons and Bonkers.
- Day 2 Reveals - Demon Hunter, Hunter and Druid.
- Day 2 Reveals - Deathrattle Rogue, Fel Warlock and Callback cards.
- Day 2 Reveals - Kazakusan makes Duels join Standard.
- We also created an article explaining how exactly Kazakusan works, as well as what Treasures it may offer you.
Just like she did after the day 1 reveals (check here in case you missed it), Game Designer Cora "Songbird" Georgiou decided to share again some design insights with the community. Here's a summary of the most relevant information:
- Dragonbane Shot almost didn't make the cut because of the synergy with Defend the Dwarven District.
- There are a couple cards coming down the line that we'll really like to Discover from Raid Negotiator.
- SI:7 Smuggler had one of the most ridiculous art descriptions Team 5 ever wrote as a team.
- "An asian female human SI:7 secret agent deep undercover as a dragon whelp. In a bad costume, but somehow not getting discovered, hiding amongst the eggs."
- Smokescreen is the most expensive spell ever printed for Rogue.
- Cora is excited to try out greedy Deathrattle Rogue decks on ladder.
- Bracing Cold used to read "Restore 6 Health to your hero. Reduce the Cost of spells in your hand by (1).", but they eventually toned down the mass cost reduction part.
- One learns from their mistakes!
- Impfestation, designed to go with Felwalker, was initially called "Ultimate Impfestation" which read "Deal 3 damage to all minions. Draw 3 cards. Summon a 3/3 Dread Imp." - a tribute to Ultimate Infestation.
- Part of this design eventually went to Dreadlich Tamsin.
- Cora already sees people trying out Hit It Very Hard with Mayor Noggenfogger.
If you want to read the whole thread instead, consider looking below.
Quote From Cora More Onyxia's Lair card reveals today! Let's go through card by card and talk about design stuff.
Wings of Hate (Rank 1): We wanted to make a new Rank spell in this set as a throwback to Forged in the Barrens, but all 10 classes already had one! So how did we decide on DH? I… honestly don't know. It's a good card though. Not much insight here. Sorry. :/
Dragonbane Shot: So this is a card that I believe was designed in Final Design, and I know they went back and forth a bit on the mana/textbox. At the time we were going back to do final balance for this set, Quest Hunter was looking a bit scary, so this card almost got axed.
Furious Howl: This was originally a 1 Mana buff spell that read "Whenever you summon a Beast this turn, give it +1/+2." I'm pretty happy with where it ended up though. Both serve a similar token/aggro Hunter archetype, just in different ways.
Keen Reflex: This piece originally didn't have Honorable Kill, but was a very similar design. Final Design put Honorable Kill on it and made it make a lot more sense in the context of the year. They're good at their jobs.
Raid Negotiator: One of my favorite art pieces of the set. When you can't decide which you want, just get both! And there are a couple cards coming down the line that I think you will really like to Discover from this. I'd rate 4/5, pretty good.
Razorglaive Sentinel: Outcast support piece, without having to say Outcast. It's a bit expensive for a low-curve DH deck, but you can have some pretty sweet turns with this. It's important for DH to have good card draw options.
Boomkin: Here comes the BOOMKIN They really let me get away with a lot as far as names in this set… If you couldn't tell, I'm a very top down designer. My designs are often inspired by flavor and story, and this is one of those pieces. The sub-spell art is pretty too. :)
Pet Collector: And one of the cutest cards we've ever made! The golden art for this piece is adorable. I can't take credit for this design, but I like it a lot. It's fun to play alongside Rat King or Teacher's Pet (before Scholomance rotates).
Quote From Cora 3rd batch of Onyxia's Lair card reveals! Let's talk about them.
Stormwind Avenger: I believe this card came about later in the process, but I'm not sure when. Pretty decent buff and handbuff target, and something we've gotten some good use out of internally.
Battle Vicar: This card is just plain good. Another one that came about further along in the process, but probably going to be a Paladin staple for a while. We've got some very complex cards in this mini set (you'll see one later today) so something simple like this is nice.
SI:7 Smuggler: One of the most ridiculous art descriptions we've ever written as a team. "An asian female human SI:7 secret agent deep undercover as a dragon whelp. In a bad costume, but somehow not getting discovered, hiding amongst the eggs." I love it. Good job us.
Smokescreen: I believe this is the most expensive spell we've ever made for Rogue? Very excited to see greedy Deathrattle Rogue decks, even if they're not Tier 1. I bet they're Tier FUN!
Spirit Mount: Uh. We wanted to make a mount card. No comment on the image.
Bracing Cold: This is a design that changed pretty late in the game (a month or two ago?) It used to read "Restore 6 Health to your hero. Reduce the Cost of spells in your hand by (1)." Turns out that mass cost reduction isn't a great idea? Don't say we never learned anything.
Impfestation: This is a fun one! We played quite a bit with it in final balance and it was really strong. Felwalker, which is in Alterac Valley, I actually designed to go with this card. We knew it wouldn't be great on launch, but after this comes out maybe it's more playable.
Oh! I forgot something! This card was originally called "Ultimate Impfestation," and for a while it was "Deal 3 damage to all minions. Draw 3 cards. Summon a 3/3 Dread Imp." You may recognize that text box from somewhere else…
Curse of Agony: MORE DOTS! MORE DOTS! This was called "More Dots" until somebody said that was too meta. Turns out that DOT spells are usually represented by some sort of Curse in Hearthstone, so we ended up here! Maybe "More Dots" will turn up somewhere else though…
Hit It Very Hard: I couldn't away with "More Dots," but "Hit it Very Hard" managed to squeak through! I think the effect fits the flavor really well. Already seeing people interested in this plus Mayor Noggenfogger. I see you, your strategies are valid, have fun.
Shoulder Check: We had to get a Tradeable card in this set! Nothing too flashy, but maybe you can find some use alongside "Whelp Bonker" for controlled card draw.
Comments
I too look forward to playing Smokescreen with all my favourite Rogue deathrattles such as Loan Shark and [TBA]
Cora caught a lot of sexist flak when she was a caster, but I always liked her back then. I think I like her even more now!
Can Mayor Noggenfogger actually force an attack to a target that it cannot attack? Far as I know it doesn't work this way, the targets are random but within its limitations. But obviously Ive never actually tried the interaction myself.
Glad to know that Bracing Cold was changed to what it is at present, which is planets apart from what it used to be.
Imagine the current Burn Shaman if they had access to a 2-mana instant octobot, jesus christ, we certainly dodged a bullet there
There are videos of Bladed Gauntlet lethal hits if you have never seen it. I’ve linked one here.
Mayor indeed cannot force attack on something target cannot attack at all... But he ignores "cannot attack heroes" effect and "Taunt" effects
Yes, it can ignore taunts and attack any enemy, including enemy hero. Otherwise it would not be able to ignore taunts.
When I saw Hit It Very Hard my first thought was “We’ll see this in a future Dane or Roffle video trying to go face!” But let’s be real, that’s probably more Mark’s territory!