Hello everybody and welcome back to another Fan Community Spotlight. You may notice that last week didn't have a Fan Community Spotlight article at all, and that's very true. After 42 consecutive weeks of having one of these articles up, my streak finally breaks. I really thought I was going to make it through the whole year, but what can you do?

But now is not the time for musings. Now is the time for some fan-made content to hit the exposure of all our eyes, and this time we're cooking up a new class, and one that's been in the oven for a really long time now. Today we have the Cook class created by a person by the name of Aero. It is also the first FCS after Thanksgiving this year, so the theme of food is even more on-point now.

The Cook

As a cook, your base hero is Giovanni, who's so cool that he apparently doesn't need a last name. A very notable aspect of the Cook is the fact that you always start the game with a Trusty Cauldron equipped. A Trusty Cauldron is a "weapon that isn't really a weapon" that you drag Ingredients to to receive a Dish at the end of your turn. It if breaks, then you'll receive a new one.

Custom classes that have their own exclusive resource to manage are not necessarily a new concept, but the addition of Death Knight and its Corpse mechanic has normalized the concept much more. Where this concept might have seemed a bit out-there a long time ago is now something that we have existing precedence for.

But what exactly is an Ingredient or a Dish?

Your base Hero Power is Ingredient Storage which Discovers a "basic Ingredient", which can be either Enchanted Salt, BBQ Meat, Pandarian Spices, or Flour Sack. Some cards can also add Ingredients to your hand, but notice how the Hero Power specifies basic Ingredients. That's because while these four Ingredients will always be available to you, some Ingredients can only be generated through other means. Depending on the rotation, these Ingredients may not necessarily always be possible to generate. Each Recipe card uses basic Ingredients. No upgraded Hero Power is given.

These cards are not actually part of the Classic set. The Classic watermark is instead a substitute for what would represent that the additional bonus set that comes with the class like the Initiate set for Demon Hunter or Path of Arthas for Death Knight. The class's debut point is in Rise of Shadows.

Ingredients are their own spell school as well, which is mostly important to remember what counts as an Ingredients and also for the cards that generate them. How you use Ingredients is that when you play a Recipe card, it functions similarly to a Sidequest in that it'll stick with you until you cook the Dish. To cook the Dish, you simply need all the Ingredients listed in your hand, then drag them all to your Cauldron. At the end of the turn, you will receive the Recipe's corresponding Dish.

For example, let's look at Grilled BBQ: Recipe. The first thing you do is play the Recipe card. Then at some point you have all of them in your hand at one time, drag 3 copies of BBQ Meat from your hand to your Trusty Cauldron, and at the end of that turn, you will add a Grilled BBQ to your hand.

Additionally, the class also comes with its own keyword. Representative of the fact that cooking is a process that involves timing is the Prepare keyword. When you hold a card in your hand with Prepare for X turns, the card will upgrade and get a bonus effect.

Now, can you smell... what Aero is cooking?

Let us find out.

Give us an overview of the class. What does it do good at? Where does it falter? Which cards give us the best first view of the class?

Aero: "Cooks are the slow guys. Making Dishes and Preparing food or ingredients takes some time, so the class is very control-based. It can heal a lot, sometimes refresh Mana Crystals, remove swarms with Fire spells, or summon new clients big guys that protect you while you're working. The class is weak in face damage, swarwing your own board and removing big minions."

What initially gave you the idea to make a Cook class, as well as the specific new mechanics that are at play here?

Aero: "As a kid I always wanted to be a cook, but as I grew older that passion has faded out. When I started playing Hearthstone during Scholomance, I wondered if Cook could work as a functional class in the game. It took me a long time to get started, but the idea of the class was just as I wanted, without any major changes."

Were these mechanics designed first and the rest of the class around that, or were they made to go with what was already built?

Aero: "The first mechanic that actually started the class was Prepare. The card with Prepare upgrades if you hold it for that many turns. Here are some examples.

Here's the big guy that visited the Tavern for some food: Giant Fella! After he spends 5 turns in your hand after being drawn (or just starting there) he costs just 1 Mana!

Another Example of Prepare: The Flame of Uldum! It deals just 2 damage to all enemies as a base, but in 2 turns in hand has a chance to summon your Giant Fella or another big minion, for example Breadseller!

Now let's see a tutor for Prepare cards. Not only you can start preparing your cards, but also play them for cheaper later on.

Another important mechanic of Cook are Dishes and Ingredients.

Ingredients are randomly generated cards, just like Lackeys in RoS. There are 2 categories of Ingredients. These are the Basic Ingredients, which are used as a base of each Dish

The second category are Seasonal Ingredients. They are only used in Recipes from the first (except Stormwind Brie) expansions of the year.

Ok, but what are Dishes? Glad you asked! They are very simmilar to Sidequests, but with the only one goal: Get the needed cards in your hand. In this case, we need to hold two Bananas and a Flour Sack to progress to the next stage...

The second part requires a Cauldron, which you start the game with. If it breaks during the match, you always re-equip it after completing the first part of the Recipe. To get the Dish you want, you drag the Ingredients written in the Recipe to your Cauldron and receive it at the end of your turn. And here's the reward!"

Are there any other cards you wish to point out for any reason?

Aero: "Titanic Feast! (and the Titanic effort to make this balanced.)"

Do you have anything behind the scenes you want to share with us, or perhaps a sneak peak of what's next to come?

Aero: "Oooh, something's cooking on the horizon... A big party in Stormwind! But we need some food first!"

How long have you been making your own cards? What design philosophies do you have that you wish to share and spread to new creators?

Aero: "About a year. As for advices... Just do your thing! Ask for balance and design of your cards and you'll finally get to a point when you're good at it. I believe in you all!"

Do you have anything else you wish to share?

Aero: "Seventh: Drink water regularly!"

Hydration is indeed very important, and you should make you sure you always stay on top of that.

Do you know what you should also stay on top of? This class's development. You can click the banner below to look at the entire class.