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Hearthstone | Posted by | 4 years, 9 months ago
Fan Creations

Tools Of The Trade - Card Design Competition Discussion Thread

Competition Theme: Tools Of The Trade

We're looking for professional cards this week, so get smithing!

  • You must create a 0-Attack weapon with a passive effect
    • We're obviously inspired by the new expansion here, but Sphere of Sapience is an earlier example
  • Your weapon should lose Durability in some way besides attacking with it
    • We don't want your weapon sitting around all game - these tools aren't indestructible!

FenrirWulf is looking to celebrate the new expansion announcement in this week's competition, so let's get crafty!

As always, I can be reached through Discord or here on the site via PM if you have any issues to report.

Competition Phases

Here are the phases of this card design competition

  • Submission Phase: Starts on Mon, Jul 5 17:00 EDT (GMT -0400). Runs until Sat, Jul 10 17:00 EDT (GMT -0400)
  • Voting Phase: Starts on Sat, Jul 10 17:00 EDT (GMT -0400). Runs until Sun, Jul 11 16:00 EDT (GMT -0400)
  • Finalist Phase: Starts on Sun, Jul 11 17:00 EDT (GMT -0400). Runs until Mon, Jul 12 17:00 EDT (GMT -0400)
  • Winner Selected: After finalist voting concludes and we validate votes.

Discussion Thread Rules

No thread rules were added to this season. Please populate and manually edit this thread with them.

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  • Competition Theme: Tools Of The Trade

    We're looking for professional cards this week, so get smithing!

    • You must create a 0-Attack weapon with a passive effect
      • We're obviously inspired by the new expansion here, but Sphere of Sapience is an earlier example
    • Your weapon should lose Durability in some way besides attacking with it
      • We don't want your weapon sitting around all game - these tools aren't indestructible!

    FenrirWulf is looking to celebrate the new expansion announcement in this week's competition, so let's get crafty!

    As always, I can be reached through Discord or here on the site via PM if you have any issues to report.

    Competition Phases

    Here are the phases of this card design competition

    • Submission Phase: Starts on Mon, Jul 5 17:00 EDT (GMT -0400). Runs until Sat, Jul 10 17:00 EDT (GMT -0400)
    • Voting Phase: Starts on Sat, Jul 10 17:00 EDT (GMT -0400). Runs until Sun, Jul 11 16:00 EDT (GMT -0400)
    • Finalist Phase: Starts on Sun, Jul 11 17:00 EDT (GMT -0400). Runs until Mon, Jul 12 17:00 EDT (GMT -0400)
    • Winner Selected: After finalist voting concludes and we validate votes.

    Discussion Thread Rules

    No thread rules were added to this season. Please populate and manually edit this thread with them.

  • This looks like the perfect occasion to bring back the Transmute mechanic from my custom Alchemist class.

    Main problem here is that I don't know if it is possible to make it so that the drawn cards replace the suffled ones, which is what I intend.

    EDIT: Just realized how similar this is to the Tradable keyword. I think this makes my card quite worse flavor-wise, since it would be weird to have the same mechanic represent trading and transmuting.

  • If you wish to remain faithful to the idea of the weapon being "profession tools" from World of Warcraft, make sure you choose a profession that actually exists lol. Here is a wikipedia page describing them: https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Profession

    @Wailor: Yeah...that's pretty close to Tradeable. Cool that your old idea was so similar to it, but I would probably think of something else.

    Friendly

  • Here's my first idea, going with the Engineering profession. There are numerous ways to trigger this in Standard, including but not limited to: Wound Prey, Kolkar Pack Runner, Pack Tactics, Petting Zoo, Tavish Stormpike, Sin'dorei Scentfinder, Teacher's Pet, Guardian Animals, and Beastmaster Leoroxx.

    Don't know what the Mech part could be used for in Standard other than flavor, but it has implications in Wild.

    Also pretty sure it should be +2/+1 or cost 3. Left it as-is for now.

    Friendly

  • Some addition to The Demon Seed. Not sure about stats and card at all.

  • A small upside to Tradeable cards. You can even save those Coins for later combos, but in the basic premise, they negate the initial Cost of using the Tradeable effect.

  • I also made a Druid version, but I didn't upload it to avoid cluttering the page.

    I'm quite unsure of which class is better, since death synergy is a Hunter thing, but Armor is a Druid thing.

    Will probably tweak the numbers later, since it really gives way too many Armor right now, even if you need to spend six mana in order to gain it.

  • Tough theme for me. We not only have to combine the flavor of the professions with the city-theme of Stormwind (I failed to get that done) but also predict archetypes for the classes and keep in mind that Weapon classes can easily buff and abuse their stuff. Finally, everybody and their mother will run the new Weapons tech card so we'd better make an impact quickly or do something low costed. 

    The profession I'm aiming at is obviously mining, we're digging for cards. Draw isn't easy for Warrior, so the reward had to be strong. Currently used support cards are mainly Stage Dive, Stonemaul Anchorman, Ringmaster Whatley, Taelan Fordring and Claw Machine.

    Some early feedback:

    Wailor
    Deathrattle Hunter support is always nice and restricting it to Beasts is quite flavorful, well done! The reward looks a bit problematic though, since you're giving Hunter draw and life gain which are both supposed to be class weaknesses. You might get away with the Armor since that's fitting flavor-wise, but the Tradeable keyword is overkill imho. Reducing the Durability to 3 would also help balance the card. Finally, you've missed the "Breastplate" in the main card's text. (On a sidenote I've actually searched for a Skinning Knife artpiece for longer than I'd like to admit because I wanted to make a card quite similar to yours. Since your art is obviously better, I took the Warrior route. Happy to see some Deathrattle Hunter love :-))

    Neoguli
    I'm sorry, but I'm not a big fan of this. Straight out negating a core part of the new keyword feels off and even if that point is ignored, we don't know how many Tradeable cards we'll get and if running this would be worth it. Regarding the flavor, I can't tell if a WoW profession is involved here (which isn't a hard requirement of course).

    R
    This looks pretty strong at first glance. Not sure if it is OP, but I'd at least make it an Epic. Regarding the flavor, I can't tell if a WoW profession is involved here (which isn't a hard requirement of course).

    linkblade91
    I like the art and the call back to Mech Hunter which could very well make a reappearance in Stormwind, but I don't like the effect very much. Maybe you could explain your thought process behind the summoning-not-playing aspect? Applying additional tribe tags is something I don't expect Blizzard to print on a card, because it is very counterintuitive in game. Imagine you see a Savannah Highmane in Wild and your opponent magnetizes a Zilliax onto it! Just stating "It is also a Mech." feels a bit clumsy as well. So all in all, I like you're general direction (Mech Hunter/Engineering), but the execution could be better. Thanks a lot for the link to the WoW professions!

  • Feedback:

    Linkblade:

    Show Spoiler
    Giving a single minion multiple minion types feels odd. We have Circus Amalgam and Nightmare Amalgam, but that is different then being able to grant any minion a second type. Furthermore, having a beast/mech hybrid wouldn't even be that useful. Aside from flavor, the tribe changing bit just feels like excess text that doesn't have any mechanical implications.

    R:

    Show Spoiler
    I like it. I might increase the durability and change it to restore the same amount of health as the damage taken. Restoring double the health feels a bit generous. Restoring the same amount of keeps the same function and flavor but doesn't do quite as much work by itself and you still have to depend on other healing cards.

    Neoguli:

    Show Spoiler
    I honestly wouldn't be surprised if this card won. The only thing you need to fix is the wording. It should say "Whenever you Trade a card, add a coin to your hand and lose 1 durability".

    Wailor:

    Show Spoiler
    The flavor on this card is beautiful. I don't know if it works better as a hunter or druid card since flavor wise it doesn't make sense for a druid to be skinning animals and turning them into armor, but also hunters traditionally don't have any armor gain. I would go with hunter since consistency with flavor is more important than consistency with mechanics.

    anchorman:

    Show Spoiler
    Warriors don't have a whole lot of card draw, and have never had anything to support a miracle style play, so the condition of having to draw 2 cards in a turn feels weird. I would just flip it upside down so that when you gain 5 armor in a turn you draw, then the flavor works better and it becomes more useful mechanically.

     

    Friendly

  • @KANSAS - I tried to use this wording, but I, to some extent, craze about aesthetics on Hearthcards cards, often adding more spaces to align the text more in an eye-pleasing way. That said, I wasn;t sure how people would understand me using Trade instead of Tradeable, but after tinkering a little with spacing and such on your wording, it's chef's kiss. Below I will showcase my care for clean text.

     

  • Took me a while before I came up with something that I felt okay with, so here we go.

    And feedback

    Wailor
    I prefer Leatherworker Tool Kit. Philosopher's Stone has the problem that I simply think all DH weapons in this comp would have which is that it encourages you to not use the mechanic that the entire rest of the class wants you to use (hero attacking).

    Linkblade91
    I think the flavor is on-point, and I do believe that an implementation of multi-tribed minions will happen in the game some day (other than the Amalgams obviously), though I do agree that's not really that useful in gameplay here since I don't really see what benefits you get from playing a Beast-Mech deck.

    R
    I do expect some healing for Warlock in the new set, so a design like this is one that I could see happening here (though not a weapon as Runed Mithril Rod has already been revealed).

    Neoguli
    "1 mana add 2 coins to your hand with a delay" is how I view the card. I feel like it probably doesn't have enough impact to see play. It's also unfortunately just not great in that it negates your Hero Power while you are encouraged to hold onto the weapon. I know all Rogue weapons have this to a lesser degree, but you can still always attack with them to get out of the way whereas you might not be able to with this one. This is unfortunately just a problem that all Rogue weapons in this comp will have (though maybe that means I shouldn't be hard on it?)

    Anchorm4n
    I think the card is fine, though I think the flavor is a bit weird. Then again, Waggle Pick doesn't really have good pickaxe flavor. I'm not so sure how to judge it.

    Friendly Staff

  • Trying to analyse linkblade's card has given me a new and hopefully better idea. I've sent them a DM to check if they're OK with me jumping the Mech Hunter train. While I'm waiting for a response, I'd be happy to hear your thoughts on this:

    In the current Standard card pool your obvious target would be Darkmoon Tonk with Claw Machine and Explosive Sheep as its wingmen, but for the sake of this competition let's pretend that Engineering will be Rexxar's profession in UiS and that there will come along one or two additional juicy Deathrattle Mechs. 

  • Hey everyone! I'm back! Here's my start for the new competition.

    With all those quests he's got stuffed iinside. Holding a literal ball of fire in there seems highly feasible.

  • Okay, people didn't like the Mech + Beast duo-tribe novelty as much as I was hoping. My thought process with the summon-not-play was that playing a Beast meant the Beast was "real", whereas with summon-not-play they were Mechnical pets you brought out. Don't read too hard into it; I'm shifting gears:

    ...not giving up on the premise, though :P Now, you replace rather than "improve". Very good with cards like Wolpertinger, Snake Trap, Sin'dorei Scentfinder, and Kolkar Pack Runner. Maybe too good lol. Can always tweak the numbers.

    Friendly

  • Some spicy strong contenders already; lookin' good everyone :D

    Show Spoiler

    Pokeniner - That's pretty cool, although I'm scared of Open the Waygate Wild shenanigans. The bigger the spell the better the payout of it costing 1 at the end, but that slows down the card significantly. I think this is a solid entry :)

    anchorm4n - I wonder if people will knock you a bit for revisiting Deathrattle Hunter so soon after MDF; it could go either way, with some wanting additional support and some wanting to see new things. Beyond that, I think the card is good to go, honestly.

    Demonxz95 - Did you mean for this to be effective on your opponent's turn, as well? Seems weird, but then again I remembered as I was typing this that Prismatic Jewel Kit can also proc on an enemy turn, so maybe it's fine. Not sure how I feel with it being a positive on your turn *and* a deterrent to big hits on their turn.

    Neoguli - I like the second version from your latest post, with the "boxy" text. I also think the card works, being a Combo activator and a sneaky refund on Tradeable's cost. Seems like something a Rogue would do :)

    Wailor - The Beast-dying + Leatherworking flavor is super on-point, but I wonder if there's something more interesting one can do than to simply gain Armor. I would keep it a Hunter card - because a Druid skinning his dead Beast friend seems super iffy lol - but find another payoff. Maybe a buff?

    R - I like it: it's a roundabout way to heal that's only accessible by using cards that hurt you first. Text could be cleaned up a bit; maybe something like "restore twice as much Health to your hero. (line-break) Lose 1 Durability."

    Friendly

  • Thanks everyone for your feedback! Especially linkblade, I really liked their suggestion to make the token a buff. I'm still a bit worried about the balance, however...

    Feedback:

    linkblade91

    Show Spoiler
    I'd say I prefer the latter version, but I'm not 100% sure. Both are interesting and flavorful, however.

    R

    Show Spoiler
    Simple, yet effective idea. "Lose 1 Durability" should be its own sentence, however. Also, I'd probably try to find a flavor that fits an actual  WoW profession.

    The stats seem fine.

    anchorm4n

    Show Spoiler
    Both are cool, but I think I prefer the Hunter card, mostly because it looks less out of place in Stormwind. I'd probably buff it a little bit, since right now, it seems very weak compared to Feign Death (and we've had tons of powercreep since then)

    Neoguli

    Show Spoiler
    Pretty nice idea, even if the total mana gain is quite low (only one). Maybe it could have one more Durability and it'd be fine.

    The last wording is definetly the best so far.

    Demonxz95

    Show Spoiler
    Compared to R's card, I think his base idea is stronger, but yours has a better execution. All in all, it's a solid card, but I'm not sure if you'll collide.

    Pokeniner

    Show Spoiler
    Very cool and original idea, but I'd probably change the watermark. It doesn't look alike the other tools in Stormwind, so it feels a bit weird to have it in the same expansion as them.

  • Hi everyone,

    Heres my initial idea for this week, tapping into arcane mage as a controlling archetype, inspired by Kharazan:

    Violet Signet Ring

    I'm also tempted by a version that summons 1/1 Skeletons/Ghosts with Arcane Spell Damage +1 for less control-oriented design. What are everyones thoughts? I'll try to provide feedback later as I'm posting at midnight.

  • @Wailor That definitely looks better, in my opinion.

    @Arkasaur I prefer the Mirror Images over the Spell Damage idea, but it's not very...profession tools-y. It's just a magic ring, flavor-wise. I might be the only one hung up on this *shrugs* Oh and Durability should be capitalized :P

    Edit: No one told me that "Mechanical" is spelled wrong on both of my ideas lol. Glad I noticed before submitting :P

    Friendly

  • Came up with a card idea but realized someone already posted one just like it as I was writing feedback. Dang. I'll try to come up with something else before the deadline, but here's some feedback anyway.

    Arkasaur:

    Show Spoiler
    I like the idea, although I would personally up the durability and just have it summon one at a time (also capitalize Durability).

    Wailor:

    Show Spoiler
    For balance I'd either lower the Durability or shuffle the armor into your deck instead.

  • So I made this and already submitted it so I guess I'm looking for thoughts on it anyway.

    • I like it. Not gonna lie, I had to look up "Alembic", but that turned out to be very neat flavor and an alliteration is always a good choice for a card's name. Mixing costly ingredients to get something potentially strong is also nice flavor. It's also very cool that the card curves into its effect. The one minor thing that literally caught my eye is that the last line isn't centered (compare it to the one above), probably to avoid a clash with the attack symbol. You could have tried to solve that issue with reducing the font size. Gonna vote 4 or 5 stars. 

  • Good luck to our finalists; I thought I had a cool idea but I scored quite poorly :(

    Friendly

  • Cg R! Even tho the card would probably make for some really obnoxious deck, i really like the card 😉

    Staff

  • Congrats to R!

    Friendly

  • After several finals and the second places I'm finally here! Thank you! :)

  • Congrats R! It almost feels like reaching Legend for the first time, doesn't it? :-)

    • Quote From anchorm4n

      Congrats R! It almost feels like reaching Legend for the first time, doesn't it? :-)

      Thanks! :)

      sad truth
      To be honest - I never reached the Legend. I'm too nervous when I play the ranked mod. So basically I play casual mod. Once I took over myself and reached rank 5. It was very easy, but I still was nervous and stopped. I don't know why, but this happens to me only in card games. Hmm… nevermind (:

  • Grats, R! Well deserved first place :)