Hello everybody and welcome back to another Fan Community Spotlight. Do you know what brings us all here together? We're all gamers. Gaming is something that means something to all of us and it's something that most of us have been doing for basically our whole lives. Today on Fan Community Spotlight is a special surprise because we're taking a look at a gaming-themed set. One that I've actually covered in the past before.

The set in question is called The Arcane Arcade made by TheFriendlyEnemy, which you may remember I actually showcased a long time ago on this series. On October 4th 2020, I published the original installment showcasing this set, and almost 2 years later, we're back for more. Ever since the first release, the set was officially named as the best custom set in all of 2020 by the r/customhearthstone community and has seen a remaster which includes some significant card changes and the addition of an entire mini-set.

Retained from the original build is the Streak keyword. Cards with Streak play an extra copy of themselves at the start of your next turn as long as you fulfill a requirement on the current turn, and this can keep going for multiple turns as long as you're able to fulfill the requirement each turn.

If this was voted best set for a year, then you know that you're in for a treat, and I can assure you that you are absolutely in for one. The set contains lots of references to various gaming tropes and styles that all of us are surely very familiar with. It's time that we talked to TheFriendlyEnemy about the remastered set, so let's get to it!

It's been quite a while. How about giving us a recap of what the set is.

TheFriendlyEnemy: "The set is a video game themed expansion taking place in an arcade in Dalaran, run by Whizbang the Wonderful. Each class represents a different genre of video games, and the set has plenty of references to famous games. The keyword is Streak, which causes your spells to recast next turn if you meet the Streak condition, and then again on the turn after if you meet the condition again, and so on until you fail."

What all has happened since the last time this set was featured on the series?

TheFriendlyEnemy: "Since the set’s FCS in 2020, the Arcane Arcade has been reworked a lot. There are 59 totally new cards and a lot of reworks and buffs to the existing cards. One thing that I largely didn’t change was the overall flavour of the set, since that was its most popular aspect, but I did add in new references to games that were released after 2020. I also tried to avoid making changes to well received cards from the original set like Twenty Player Raid. Oh, and there’s also a 35 card mini-set as well."

What is the mini-set about and how do you connect that with the main set?

TheFriendlyEnemy: "The mini-set explores a theme I didn’t really touch on; streaming games. From a flavour perspective, content creators are a big part of the gaming world and I didn’t really touch on that very much. Mechanically, the miniset serves to round off archetypes in the main expansion, as well as introduce a few designs I couldn’t quite find a place for in the main set."

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

TheFriendlyEnemy: "One of my favourite cards in the set is Friendly Fire, because of how cohesive it is with the rest of the set. While it’s already a strong draw on its own, the damage can trigger a bunch of cards across multiple classes like Sharpshooter Tavish, C-C-Combo!, and Stoneclaw Watch Post. There are quite a few Neutral cards designed with subtle synergies like that, so I’d recommend looking at the Neutrals last if you want to appreciate them in the context of the class cards."

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

TheFriendlyEnemy: "Nothing in particular behind the scenes, other than the amazing Wassculaire and NightscaleReaper helping me out, who I also thanked last time The Arcane Arcade was on FCS. Also, remember to join the Custom Hearthstone Discord server if you haven’t already, it’s a great source of card art. Anyway, that’s all from me."

This may have been a shorter installment than usual, but there is a lot to unpack in this set and similarly, a lot to enjoy. Click the first banner below to check out the entire main set, and the second one to check out the all-new mini-set.