Lots of balance changes this week! All these buffs make me tempted to try making another Core Set - it sounds fun to try and find older cards that almost fill a niche and buff them up appropriately. Of course, every time I think about doing that I then want to go the whole way and make an entire year to go with it. A fun challenge, but so very time consuming. Someday I'll just have to force myself to start a project or I never will, I fear.

This Conversation I'd like to remind you of our feedback thread for the Season!

Envious Infusion

We begin with a congratulations to linkblade91, whose Jealous Shade won the latest Competition!

We'll have to wait and see what they come up with for next week's theme!

DOOM! (For Real This Time)

It's the final instalment of a multi-week long look into an entire custom expansion - we've seen the main set and a variety of content for other modes, but now it's time to look at KingKuba's "Doom of Stratholme" Mini-Set for their Bringers of Doom expansion!

I've gushed before about how much I like this whole expansion for Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3, so I'll keep it brief - once again KingKuba has knocked it out of the park. A thread that has run through each of their showcases is how impressive I find their expansion to be on a believability level. That is, each part is well-crafted enough that it truly feels like it could be an actual Hearthstone expansion, something that is very hard to achieve.

The careful balance of commitment to the theme with retention of that signature Hearthstone whimsy that was present in the main set returns for the Mini-Set. I must admit, one of my personal favourite cards is their Phase Hound - the concept of a card which gives you a choice between immediate damage or hidden danger, lying in wait has been one I've designed countless times, so I'm a little biased.

The complexity balance is also well done - again with a card like Phase Hound, such simple text belies the number of decisions that can come with it, all while still feeling incredibly easy to understand and play with. You need simple cards to not overwhelm players, but designing them like this shows that simple doesn't have to mean boring.

Make sure you check out the interview at the link above - it contains links to the other parts of the set and the corresponding interviews. You can also check out the previous Conversations if you'd like, which are linked above too.

Fan Favourites

Hey, remember these archetypes? Yeah, me neither - better click the banner below to give yourself a refresher!