Design Process

Before starting to make cards I've been passed through some preparatory steps:

  • Analysis of which cards would have rotated out of Standard Format and which ones would have remained, to understand on which tools I would have worked on and which archetype would have been possible to boost;

  • Analysis of the Meta-Game: Which decks were been Top Tier in the old Hearthstone Year (and which cards from these decks were been Meta-defining) and which decks weren't, to boost weaker/ less played deck archetypes;

  • Brainstorming of ideas for a new Keyword and expansion theme;

  • Brainstorming of some possible deck archetypes per class (some of them were slightly modified or totally changed as the works on the expansion went on)


Design Process on determined classes, archetypes or cards:

  • General: Most of the cards' designs were born from the Talent Show thematic, however balancing and functionality always have the last word. To keep balanced the Stats of my minions I usually tried to give them the average Stats of other minions with the same Cost and Keywords, but I didn't always applied this design process, since sometimes minions' effects are so strong that require Stats below the average in order to not become overpowered;

  • Neutral cards: Most of the neutral cards can work better with a specific class/few specific classes, but they're also studied to work (a little worse) with all other classes;

  • Talented minions: Since they basically do nothing when played and most of them have to survive in order to show their Talent, their stats are higher than the average or their Rewards are particularly strong, in order to make them balanced (like Blizzard done with Spellburst cards or more recent Frenzy minions);

  • Pack-fillers: As you may have noticed, some cards (especially neutral ones) seem weaker than others and many of you may call them "Pack-fillers". This was made to comply with Blizzard's design, since this kind of cards exists in real Hearthstone's expansions.This design choice makes some players to buy more packs, but some others may find funny and satisfying to play and win with the most unexpected cards;

  • Demon Hunter: Token and Big Demons DH never saw play last year, so I wanted to give them tools to steal the lights to more "aggressive" Demon Hunter decks;

  • Druid: I thought that what this class needed was a unique mechanic (not obligatorily the most innovative one), so I make Flower spells.They work like Bananas, but some minions have direct interactions with them.These minions start weak, but thanks to Flowers they may become stronger and unleash powerful effects.The other Druid archetype came out to synergize with big beasts from the past expansions;

  • Hunter: Hunter gained a bunch of Deathrattle-related cards over the past year, so I decided to give it more Deathrattles, to make the deck a bit more consistent. I also gave to Hunter a new archetype based on 'Shot' spells (such as Arcane Shot or the more recent Bola Shot) featuring new 'Shot' spells and other useful tools, that could synergize with one of the most unused Legendary of the Year of the Phoenix, Professor Slate, in order to make it a more interesting card to add into a deck;

  • Mage: One of Mage's archetypes I wanted to boost was the "No Minions" Mage one, but since spells with "If your deck has no minions" effects already existed in the game I tried to make something quite different.That's how the idea of Mage's Weapons came out. Then I tried to make some useful tools for the Big Spell Mage archetype;

  • Paladin: In Madness at the Darkmoon Faire we saw some cards to boost both Silver Hand and Menagerie Paladin.I followed what Blizzard devs have done and I boosted these archetypes.Also, since Odd Paladin was kinda broken in Wild, most of the cards intended to be part of Silver Hand Paladin have Even costs;

  • Priest: Over the course of the last year, Priests received a bunch of tools to buff their minions.Sethekk Veilweaver, for example, saw play in almost every Tempo Priest deck.However, players almost forgot that cards like High Abbess Alura and Devout Pupil were actually dual-class cards, since they're used only by Paladins. So I decided to give Buff Priest new and powerful tools, that can synergize with Veilweaver as well as Alura and Pupil.The Mirror Priest archetype is one of the funniest Priest archetypes in my opinion, but it never became viable because of the low support on it. I noticed that the most of Mirror Priest cards currently playable in Standard are based on copying enemy's minions, so I followed this concept during the design process of this archetype;

  • Rogue: Since the most of Rogue archetypes last year were "aggressive" I tried to give Rogue some control tools. Since Rogue minions don't have Taunt, I relied on Rush keyword to create Control-ish minions. Rush Rogue archetype came out lately as a consequence of this design choice. Lately, I decided to make cards with a mechanic based on Rogue's ability to play a lot of cards in a turn. These cards need a bit of build-up, but they can unleash powerful effects;

  • Shaman: Overload is Shaman's trademark, but it is also kinda criticized and some players thinks it is weak. I wanted to fix this by giving Shaman some tools that well synergize with the Overload keyword. I also gave Shaman some "If you cast a spell last turn" cards like those we've seen in Ashes of Outland and some useful spell that may trigger this effect;

  • Warlock: While Big Demons Warlock/Cubelock are good Control decks in Wild, in Standard Big Demon Warlock is not so good (Cubelock doesn't exist anymore), that's why I tried to improve it. I also focused on cards that become stronger as your hero's health lowers, in order to boost Self-damage Warlock without boosting its Wild version, which is more Midrange/Aggro than Control;

  • Warrior: Like Paladin, Warrior also got some Menagerie cards in MatDF, so I boosted this archetype. I also gave Warrior cards to boost Big Warrior, that well synergize with some cards from Scholomance Academy.