During the last week, Team 5 unveiled a rather large portion of Druid's set for the Murder at Castle Nathria expansion. Among all the new cards showcased, Rarran had the honor to reveal Convoke the Spirits, an Epic spell which is supposed to synergize with the new big minions/spells direction Malfurion seems to be pushed towards.
Two cards are still missing for the class, so we don't really want to give rushed judgments, but something we (and a large portion of the Hearthstone community) felt like pointing out is Convoke the Spirits' striking similarity with two other Mage spells: Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron from Saviors of Uldum and Rune of the Archmage from last year's Fractured in Alterac Valley.
Although there's no denying that these spells have some aspects in common, Hearthstone Developer Cora "Songbird" Georgiou gave some insights regarding Convoke the Spirits' design:
- They preferred to give players a card similar to others released in the past but with good gameplay.
- As you can see from the picture below, the Hearthstone version is faithful to the WoW Covenant Spell's effect.
Quote From Songbird I've seen some people noting that there are cards in this set that are similar to past Hearthstone cards, and you're not wrong. This is really similar to Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron and Rune of the Archmage, but it's also pretty faithful to the WoW Covenant Spell.
We tried a couple different designs here, but ultimately this is what had the best gameplay. Rather give you a good card that's fun to play than something that's worse but less similar to existing cards. Convoke casts a bunch of spells, so ultimately this is what we chose. :)
On a final note, here are a couple tidbits regarding how Convoke the Spirits actually works. First of all, you may want to know that, just like Rune of the Archmage and Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron, this spell won't be able to cast itself.
Quote From Songbird Can it cast itself?
No it can't.
Secondarily, Cora mentioned that they tried versions of Convoke the Spirits where the casted spells would prioritize certain targets (just like Solarian Prime or Jace Darkweaver), but they eventually scrapped these designs in favor of a more dynamic result.
Quote From Songbird Will it work like Convoke in WoW where it will prioritize certain spells depending on conditions?
We tried a version that would prioritize spells that target in some way, and would let you pick the targets throughout the spell cast. The targeted spell pool wasn't huge though and it made the time to cast Convoke really long. So this version has no prioritization, no.
What do you think about this card? Do you think it will see any play? Let us know in the comments below!
Comments
Innervate Innervate Innervate :/
although I'm not opposed to some more RNG fiesta, I feel that Cora pointing out the spell's core idea being similar to its original WoW twin is a very moot point.
Hearthstone puts its own filter on anything related to its WoW origins , so now suddenly going "yeah but see, we made it so it's true to the original druid spell's idea!" makes me go like ... yeah, so what? just because it suits you this time, suddenly that's an argument? haha :D
In Wild: summon summon summon, buff buff buff, Astral Communion, Poison Seeds :/
These spells could function as a last resort. Nowadays mages use it at least 4 times in a game.
I think that this card does not have any impact, since Druid spells dont pack a punch.
Knowing my luck, it will cast Mark of the Wild 8 times on my opponent’s minions, giving them +16/24 in stats
Fair enough.