Now that we have the new expansion revealed, what does everyone think so far? I feel irrationally angry that one of my favorite Time Traveler Legendaries got copied almost verbatim and then powercrept by a Neutral Legendary, but I'm love with the theme and Starlight Groove is one of the most exciting cards for me to look at it from the perspective of a card creator.

Conversation this week is at the forefront of the stage.

Dug That Back Up

We start by congratulating Wailor with their Defiling Accusation which won the previous Card Design Competition.

They will be in charge of the next theme, which will mark the beginning of the second half of the season. Be sure to stick around for that.

Great Minds Think Alike

One of the first things that I saw when the expansion was announced was E.T.C., Band Manager as it probably was for most people and how... suspiciously alike it happened to be to my Time Traveler Legendary from Murder at Castle Nathria (I brought it up in that FCS and the last CDC) and the fact that they managed to powercreep it. Made me feel a whole range of emotions of both positive and negative alike.

Every time a new expansion is revealed, it's fun to watch the FC community talk about which one of their ideas they've done has now been covered in the game. Most notable of the cards revealed from the set so far is Starlight Groove, and hilariously, my last CDC mentioned "giving your hero Divine Shield" as an example of an effect people have made a lot that has yet to see light of day in the real game. Lo and behold, here we are. Card design space is quite vast, but it's not infinite, and with the amount of people who are invested in the hobby, it's inevitable that they'll end up predicting future mechanics.

As a matter of fact, the concept of music sets in general falls into this category. How many music sets have I covered on Fan Community Spotlight? Three. Wynnstock Festival, Rock in Azeroth, and Goodwills Orchestra.

Power Chord: Synchronize Card ImageGhost Writer Card Image

The Finale keyword itself is a rather interesting example of this to me since it has historically been one of the most disliked ideas for a custom mechanic. Unless you design the cards in a way to avoid this, it effectively just rewards you if you play on curve which is something decks typically want to do anyway.

Now that it's in the real game though, it becomes more fascinating to wait and see what Team 5 has come up with. The historically negative reception of this mechanic idea exemplifies this even more. Are they up to the challenge to prove that the mechanic can be good? In some ways, cards that designed by fans are more likely to receive some areas of both positive and negative feedback compared to cards in the real game even if those cards happen to be very similar (or even exactly the same).

Observe and Reflect

Our past Fan Community Spotlight took us to Prisoners of Ulduar, a set made by Luke_Wait. The set is themed in Ulduar (as you probably deduced from the name of the set) and adds the Observe mechanic which looks at the top 3 cards of your deck and rearranges them in any order.

I love this set for many reasons. The theme of Ulduar and how the cards tie in with it is something that Hearthstone should explore, the Observe keyword is great, and Luke_Wait got really bold with the ideas of Elementals with spell schools and another idea which didn't show up in the FCS, Priest Secrets. Incidentally, this comes right before Priest gets its own class-exclusive keyword, Overheal. The set is definitely worth your time to check out.

Use Your Words

The stage isn't just for musical concerts and the grand unveiling of ideas though, but there's also speeches that go on here. People use some pretty bold words, and it's your turn to use some bold words too. You still have time to submit an entry for the current competition in which you hit the audience with some words (and cards).