2022 Retrospective - Hearthstone Fan Community Spotlight

The first FCS of the year took a look at a custom Artificer class made by Mr.Stupid, a colleague of mine in the realm of card creation. The class is a take on the Tinker formula and utilizes a new Upgrade keyword in which cards with Upgrade can be dragged to your hero to pay X mana and give a bonus to the card (or yes, upgrade it, if you must).

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This project made by Cydonianknight is one that implements a few of the heroes from Overwatch as Mercenaries into Hearthstone back when the month was still only a few months old. With Diablo and Tyrael from the Diablo series available in Mercenaries mode, such an addition may not be as far-fetched as we may have used to think.

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This installment looks at a custom Monk class made by Pokeniner, which notably does not feature its own class-exclusive keyword as many custom classes tend to do, instead solely relying on what's already there to make interesting cards. If you don't want to give your class its own mechanic, it's more than valid to do something like this, and this class definitely shows.

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This installment was the very first one on the series to cover a piece of content for the Duels mode (which is something that would launch into a trend). In this particular case, we looked at a fan-made implementation of Lazul as a Duels hero (in her "Puppetmaster Lazul" form) as a dual-class Priest/Warlock hero.

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Prior to Death Knight being added to the game in March of the Lich King, the class was a very popular one to make fan-made classes for, and here we have one of them. They predictably are very different to the real Death Knight with no Rune mechanic and no Corpses, fitting into the more typical design of how the other 11 classes in Hearthstone work. While these classes may now seem like relics of a previous time in the world of the FC community, it's still interesting to look at these classes and think what could've been the real Death Knight class.

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Only two weeks after the first installment of Duels content on the series came our second one, a dual-class Rogue/Warlock hero represented by Kazakusan made by Neoguli, who is our most reoccurring person on the series.

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Running from October 4th 2021 to February 21st 2022 was the fourth season of our Weekly Card Design Competitions.

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Shatterstar1998's "Love is in the Air" is a custom expansion that uses love is a pivotal theme, which is represented by the Devote mechanic in which you target a character and then when it's damaged, you trigger an effect. Additionally, Magnetic from The Boomsday Project comes back in this set. Given how Reborn was brought back with Death Knights in March of the Lich King, could we possibly bring another expansion-exclusive mechanic from a past set back?

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March 6th of this year was a two-fer week as you get a regular FCS in addition to this bonus word search encapsulating all of the custom classes that have been featured on the series up until that point.

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This is an installment that spotlights a single custom Mercenary, but a significant character who many would agree could have a better card than the one he currently has: Anub'arak.

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This installment features another custom Duels hero, Twisted Cornelius by Shatterstar1998. Cornelius is a Paladin/Warlock hero, and while this two are virtually as diametrically opposite classes flavorwise as possible, it perfectly captures the lore of Cornelius and his two daughters.

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This installment is the first of a two-parter focusing on two sets by Frostivus, a rather legendary name in the FC community, covering the same themes and the latter set being a continuation of this set. The first set is from 2018 called Around the World in 80 Meals and introduces the Mix keyword in which you shuffle a card into its owner's deck and then that player draws a card in a way that's quite similar to the Tradeable mechanic.

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Continuing from the previous week is Aletta's Kitchen which is a spiritual successor to Around the World in 80 Meals made 4 years later. In addition to keeping the Mix mechanic from the aforementioned set, this one also introduces the Recipe mechanic where these cards have multiple options and after you pick one, it will return to your hand with that option removed.

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Our fourth installment of fan-made Duels content looked at not one, but three heroes for the mode, all of them being implementations of characters from Elden Ring into the mode. It's no secret that Elden Ring is a massively successful game, and if you're a fan of it, then you may crack a smile at how these bosses are designed to represent them as they are in the game.

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It's time to make some concoctions (no, not those kind) on this installment as we look at an alchemy-themed set by colleague VexMagic known as "The Alchemy Symposium". In this set is the Elixir mechanic which lasts for X number of turns or until another Elixir is played. Additionally, it also introduces Red Mana Crystals which can be paid like normal Mana Crystals and they deal 1 damage to you when used (and then they disappear).

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This installment looks one of the most unique projects I've ever laid my eyes on, and it's not just new cards for a game mode, but an entire new game-warping mechanic for Duels made by AgentCroque. There is a lot to cover to the point where I can't really explain it in this short little blurb. It's better to just look at the article if you want a full explanation as to what all of this entails.

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This installment looks at another of VexMagic's creations as she shows us her custom Soul Warden class. The class uses some aspects some Magic and Priest, but is able to form its own identity with those inspirations to create a custom class unlike any I'd ever seen at that point.

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April 25th wasn't just the Soul Warden class though, but it was also the day that started the fifth season of our Hearthstone Weekly Card Design Competitions, starting with "Bottoms Up" which tasked us to make a card using the Dredge keyword. The mechanic was won by MrRhapsody with Clutches of the Deep.

Rastakhan's Rumble is regarded by many players as one of the worst sets in the entire game, if not the absolute worst. But that didn't stop KingKuba from attempting a take at making the set better by changing the existing cards up and adding some new ones for Demon Hunter and even some new PvE content.

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This day marked a very monumental occasion for the series as I reached the 100th installment. My method of celebrating this milestone was showing off an unfinished card game of mine that I made entirely with MS Paint and Photopea that, despite never quite reaching the testing phase, and obviously needing quite a bit of retooling, was also a project that I'm quite proud of and of all my attempts to make a card game, this is by far the one I got the most progress in and most support from. Every once in a while, I even still think of going back to it.

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This installment looks at a custom project by Beat (the creator of the Dragoon class), and this time, it's a custom mini-set for Whispers of the Old Gods titled "Communion of Ahn'qiraj" which features a bunch of new card designs for the set designed with a more modern power-level in mind (although mechanically, the set is still chronologically accurate).

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Order up! On this week's Fan Community Spotlight, we traveled to the Boomsday Labs where Whizbang has transformed the laboratory complex into a place holding many different food shops. Food and everything thereof is the theme here, and the new Bake mechanic allows you to pay a cheaper cost for a card and wait two turns to play it.

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This installment featured the return of TheFriendlyEnemy's set "The Arcane Arcade" from 2 years prior, this time with a new mini-set and some changes to some old cards. The Streak mechanic returns where cards cast themselves again next turn if you fulfill a certain objective.

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This set features a clash of two groups of classes known as Tomorrow's Rise who plans to take the Violet Rune and being an invasion and The Crystal Circle who intends to protect the Rune from them at all costs. Some cards have the Prophecy mechanic, and after you play 3 of them, you add a 2-Cost spell to your hand that plays all the Prophecy cards.

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This is the first part of a four-part installment of KingKuba's "Bringers of Doom" Custom Set themed around the end of the world and the effect its imminence has, which is notable with the Doom Clock mechanic. When you activate your Doom Clock, you'll be able to reap some benefits of cards, but if it ticks too much, then you automatically lose the game!

The first part focuses on the main set with later installments focusing on some extra content.

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This time, Rise of Shadows is part of the spotlight of existing sets getting a custom mini-set as we have Hii here to talk about "The Dalaran Heist", a mini-set with the same name as the expansion's PvE adventure.

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The second part of this four-part installment on KingKuba's "Bringers of Doom" set takes us to the Battlegrounds (for the only time in the entire year on FCS) where Doom Clock has some very different gameplay implications.

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Earlier in the year, we saw MrRhapsody design characters from Elden Ring as heroes for Dules, and since then, has added many more and we cover the rest of them that weren't in the original article in this one.

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It's not just existing sets with their own custom mini-sets though, because the community of cards creators also has their own mini-sets for their projects. In this article, LarryMoments returns to look at "Conspiracy Under the Cracks", a mini-set for "The Dawning Cataclysms".

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The third part of KingKuba's "Bringers of Doom" installment takes us to Duels and Mercenaries, both covered in the same article.

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Now we're taking a look through time as we explore RenoLord's custom expansion, "Battle of Time Valley" in this installment. No custom keyword. Just unique card designs to hold the set up, and time will tell how much it does that.

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This installment interviews two designers who each contributed to a group project and competition of creating a custom mini-set for Rastakhan's Rumble

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The final part of this four-part installment of KingKuba's "Bringers of Doom" set looks at its corresponding mini-set, "Doom of Stratholme". Jimmy the Doomsayer, who is represented in the Duels mode, joins us to stop the evil plan of Mal'Ganis and Deathwing.

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In this installment, we take a look at another custom mini-set for an existing set. This time, it's the Boom Labs I.T. Division for The Boomsday Project made by Wailor.

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All the heroes and villains of Hearthstone have worked tirelessly and they could all use a break. That's why they take a vacation to Un'Gol Island, where many familiar faces will appear, as well as the Recoverable keyword which allows you to pay 1 mana to add a card back to your hand at the start of your turn.

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This installment covers a custom expansion with one of the most unique themes I've seen to date, that being the world of various card creators. Additionally, the set comes with not one, but two new keywords. Cards with Shatter break themselves into multiple pieces and become playable once all the pieces are played (ala C'Thun, the Shattered), and cards with Behold activate an effect when a condition is met regardless of where the card happens to be.

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Running from April 25th to September 12th of this year, WCDC Season 5 consisted of another 20 weeks of friendly competition for people to design the best cards for various parameters.

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This installment looks an expansion set in Thunder Bluff, the homeland of the Tauren race. But not the normal Thunder Bluff we know in Warcraft, but rather in Toki's own little RPG campaign that she has prepared for everyone and dozens are in it. In the expansion, characters have Abilities which are represented as a new keyword where you add an Ability card to your minion while its corresponding minion is on the Battlefield and you can play it like a spell.

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HearthCards, the site we all know and live (next to Out of Cards of course!), comes out with its absolute biggest updated, completely overhauling the systems entirely and improving the framework. It comes equipped with automatic updating and a whole slew of new features to use.

Azeroth is a place we all know, even if we're not particularly versed with Warcraft lore. And in this set, we're going to go deep into the center of it. One may even say that we're Descending into it, which is the new keyword of the set. Descending cards reduce their Cost by 1 if your mana is greater than or equal to it at the end of your turn while it's in your hand.

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This installment looked at yet another Death Knight from before the actual class would be implemented with Arthas back in the driver's seat again. The three Runes we all are familiar with are implemented via the Empower keyword where you can spend some extra mana to give cards a bonus effect.

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TheFriendlyEnemy has created a custom Core set to hold the Year of the Spider, a collection of three sets. One of which being The Arcane Arcade, which we previously covered earlier in the year, and the second one would come later in the year. As of now, the third is still in development and I will absolutely be prepared to cover it when it comes out.

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Mr.Stupid's Artificer Class, which I previously covered as the very first FCS of the year, returned again on October to cover a whole slew of new content for the class.

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Art's custom expansion, Trouble at Thunder Bluff, returns again for FCS to showcase its associated mini-set, "Boss Fight in Mulgore" where Toki has added a whole new challenge to her existing campaign. New challenges for the campgain means new cards to play with.

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Whizbang's food shops in the Boomsday Labs has come back with Mr.Stupid's mini-set titled "Fel's Kitchen" for Food Fight at the Feastutorum where everyone has at each other's throats and the competitions have begun!

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November 1st was the reveal date for March of the Lich King, which came with not only the typical new expansion, but also with Death Knight being added as Hearthstone's 11th class. Also this isn't directly correlated to fan content, the concept of a new Death Knight class has been one that dozens of people have theorized and attempt to make their own versions of since the game launched to the public back in 2014 when no expansions had existed yet. After nearly 9 years, that dream is finally made into a reality and in a way that no one could have anticipated with the new Rune system and Corpse mechanic.

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In this installment, we take a look at the Broken Isles, specifically the tales within them. Every class represents an aspect of the land and they each get a Legendary location too! In this set are also Extreme cards which trigger if they are the highest or lowest-Cost cards in your hand when you play them.

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Neoguli appears for the tenth time on Fan Community Spotlight (being the first person to do so, and at the time of this article's writing, the only person) to talk about a mini-set for Saviors of Uldum, the "Halls of Origin".

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Here, we look at a custom class that had been in the oven for a really long time before finally being served to us on Fan Community Spotlight, that being a Cook class made my a person who goes by the name of "Aero". In this class, you have a Trusty Cauldron that you can put Ingredients in to make new cards and craft yourself a solution to victory. Cards with Prepare allow you to hold them for X amount of turns to get a bonus effect.

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We're going shopping! This installments looks at "Gallywix's Megastore" by TheFriendlyEnemy where we arrive a huge supermarket where you can buy absolutely anything, and there also seems to be a supernatural influence affecting the whole store. Also in the set is the Advert requirement, in which 2-mana Adverts will appear each turn and if you click the Advert, you will draw the card it's advertising.

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A little under two months after the biggest update to happen on the site is another major update where you can now prove that you have the best knowledge of every Hearthstone player ever.

In this custom expansion, we follow a story modeled after Alice in Wonderland, where Anveena Teague has woken up in Quel'Danas without memory of how she got there or who she is. Some cards have Absorb where you can drag them to your mana bar to pay X mana and give them a bonus effect.

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Get ready to make some noise in this new custom set by LarryMoments. It's the Goodwills Orchestra, where every class is based off of a certain genre of music and they each get their own hero card. Also with the set comes Elusive as a keyword and an all new keyword, Score. Cards with Score have a bonus effect that can happen if you play cards with certain parameters in the specified order.

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