Both the reveal season and the first weeks of the Onyxia's Lair Mini-Set have been quite turbulent: while everyone's happy that new cards got added into the game, a remarkable part of the community lamented the fact that most of the 35 new cards (which you can see here in case you missed some) seem to have a rather low power level compared to other mini-sets and, in general, to the meta they were printed in.
In fact, people have been comparing them to today's best decks and pointing out that very few of them are able to stand a chance against, let's say, The Demon Seed Handlock.
At the very end of the Onyxia's Lair reveal season, Hearthstone Game Designer Cora "Songbird" Georgiou, who worked quite a bit on this mini-set, decided to answer the community and share her thoughts on the matter. Here are a few important points:
- Team 5 made a real effort in the last few months to reduce the power level and representation of combo/OTK in the meta.
- With the rotation and the new cards of next year, we'll see an effort to incentivize board-based gameplay.
- A lot of the Onyxia's Lair mini set is designed with the future in mind, and not necessarily just slotting cards into existing decks.
Read on to see everything Cora had to say. It looks like we're in for a fun new year once the rotation hits towards the end of March or early April.
Quote From Songbird I'm seeing some comments about cards in the Onyxia's Lair mini set basically boiling down to "these cards can't compete with OTK decks," and I'd like to share my thoughts.
We've made a real effort in the last few months to reduce the power level and representation of combo/OTK in the meta. Measuring every card reveal based on whether it can compete vs. a Questlock deck is totally reasonable, but the landscape will continue to change.
With the Core set rotation and the release of the first expansion of the new year, I think you'll see an effort to incentivize board based gameplay. It's something that I've personally been keeping in mind when designing cards for this upcoming year.
Basically, we want as much variety as we can have in a standard cycle. This year combo/OTK flourished, and so we will continue to create decks and balance the meta so other strategies have a chance to flourish as well.
A lot of the Onyxia's Lair mini set is designed with the future in mind, and not necessarily just slotting cards into existing decks. Some things certainly would fit the landscape for right now, but we like to think ahead as well.
So yeah. TLDR: I'm excited for what we've cooked up for this year, and I think you will be too. Hope you're enjoying the Onyxia's Lair card reveals. :)
What are your first thoughts on the Onyxia's Lair Mini-Set? Let us know in the comments below!
Comments
I feel like the way you mention incentives in your post you think they are adding a reward for winning the board. Maybe I'm just misunderstanding what you are saying, or how you are saying it, but I can't imagine that being the case. The incentives seemed to clearly just be cards in the Core set and 2022 expansions that will (hopefully) gear the meta towards more board-centric strategies. So they could reduce the amount of burn spells and turn towards more control or minion generating spells. They can reduce or eliminate mana cheating shenanigans, maybe not give Druids any ramp outside of the Guff hero card, etc, to reduce the presence of OTK style decks.
In the example of Demon Seed Warlock, they are losing some of the cards that helped them really stand out, such as Backfire, Raise Dead, Flesh Giant for the sudden big threats, and even the neutral Tour Guide that helped by giving them a discount on the hero power. While they will still have some self damaging cards, they might have to try and get Bloodbound Imp to stick for quest advancement, which you then have at least a chance to remove it before they get the benefit of the self damage. They could potentially take Flame Imp out of Core as well if they feel it necessary to limit Warlock's self damage ability. Not to mention the deck also loses Hysteria as a board clear option, and all the Soul mechanics from Scholomance will be gone for added healing.
So I feel that there are potentially a lot of things that could come from the new year. Will some powerful stuff from this year's meta still exist? Of course! Anything that doesn't lose too much of the core it needs will find replacements and keep trucking along. But even just a few loses here and there could knock certain decks from T1 status to either T2 or even T3. Will some players always try to find the most broken deck possible with the new cards, no matter how hard the HS team tries to make a board centric meta? Of course! Cards may change, but people rarely do, and many will gravitate towards the fastest or strongest strategies rather than trying something new or fun. But that's their right to do so if it's what they want to do.
Regardless, I'm not going to judge next year too much until I see what they are printing. And realistically I play more Wild than Standard, so while I will appreciate their efforts for a more board centric meta in Standard, I can only hope that Wild gets more board centric too without too much crazy power creep going on.
Sure, but again, you are warping all strategies around one card, that removes one of basic HS limitations - fatique.
The meta will only be warped around the card if the deck is still powerful and top tier. But with a loss of multiple self damage/draw tools it is no guarantee to be a strong deck next year (depending on what is Core and what else is printed). And frankly, avoiding printing or including certain cards to avoid a class being too powerful is nothing new.
To be clear I am not, was not, nor have I ever argued the card is fine as printed. I personally think it should not deal fatigue damage to the opponent. But I am also hopeful that without certain tools it will drop in power level and barely be an issue. When it rotates they’ll be forced to address the effect because there are too many things in Wild that make the QL easy and fast. And they can’t leave a Wild only card banned in Wild.
So as I said before, I’m hopeful they will avoid adding too much new support for certain things while pushing for more midrange style and/or control strategies. And I am not going to freak out over any deck being too OP before any of this year’s cards are even announced, and I’m certainly not going to complain about a single card “warping” a future meta when no one outside the dev team knows what that meta might look like
I still dont understand why so many people get worked up so much about this fatigue issue with questlock, as though as there's some kind of unwritten rule on how an opponent should be beaten. What difference does it make if its fatigue or death from Garrote bleeds or bombs? The Demon Seed allows it to happen but its hardly a one card show, the whole thing cant function without the help of other cards like Backfire or Hand of Gul'dan.
The main reason why OTK decks are cancerous in general has always been the same: mana reduction and overwhelming draw power. How they kill you is rarely a cause for concern.
The amount of card draw in the game right now is the biggest thing. The more card draw, the more matches begin to feel samey, as you can always guarantee you'll draw the cards you need, usually at the right time. Hearthstone has a smaller deck size than most CCG/TCGs, so card draw has a much bigger impact here.
They should increase the starting health and deck size to 40. I'd love to have longer games where I have a chance to play bigger cards.
if by that you mean control, it wouldnt happen. youd just see more combo as now thye can put even more draw and reduancies in that draw in their deck adn got 10 more hp to outlast any aggro that is meant to counter them.
Making such a massive change, bigger deck and health, would likely destroy aggro decks as a playstyle. Destroying fundamental gameplay is not a good idea.
Tell that to the devs, they destroyed control...