Legend of the Innkeeper : A Hearthstone Podcast for Casual Players

LOTI 126 : Mean Streets – Paladin


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Interview with Mike Donais at IGN

No plans right now for more cards like Reno
Jade Lotus –

Jade Golem mechanic was set in stone early on, Jade Idol playing out as expected and don’t expect more Jade Golem cards in the future.
But might see cards that improve them (like Brann Bronzebeard)


Grimy Goons –

Each class needed to be different even though using a similar mechanic (Paladins their hand, Warriors taunt minions and Hunters beasts).  
Wanted the obvious combo with hand-buffing so each class got one. GG Pali and Hunter aren’t very popular now, but might see boost with future sets.  
And by the end of testing, Paladin felts the most interesting to play since it had reliability and potential.


Kabal –

Originally it was all about spending your mana in a turn and getting a bonus for doing so.  It didn’t work out because you should be already spending your mana.  
Tried bonuses for not spending all your mana and that didn’t feel good.  
They tried mechanic of changing your mana into red crystals but didn’t like it.

Some cards would change your blue mana into red mana.
Cards could interact by gaining power based on the number of red mana available or spending the red mana.
One issue of red mana was that it didn’t work well on mobile.
It also didn’t feel cool enough.
Might look at this in the future.


Originally potions weren’t a thing in the Kabal. The team wanted to do more than just the Reno-effect Legendaries for the Kabal classes. They decided to rename the spells except one, to Potions.
Inkmaster Solia originally had the Kazakus effect.


Kazakus

Potions didn’t change much from early on.  Only two effects that were tested didn’t make it in.

There was a thoughtsteal effect
And something else.  (Mike couldn’t remember)


Wanted to capture different themes from each of the Kabal classes. The exception was the Armor potion, it was still good for those in desperation.
The Sheep effect was originally, 1-mana: Sheep a minion, 5-mana: Sheep 2, 10-mana; Sheep all minions.  It turned into what it is today.  The random sheep a minion for 1 mana didn’t feel good when it backfired.


Raza the Chained

Raza was a brand new idea that wasn’t something that they were sitting on.  It became a thing when they realized it would have the Reno restriction.  Priest needed help, so they made Raza the strongest of the Reno cards.


Inkmaster Solia

She was a 5-mana 5/5 early on but it was too good.


Krul the Unshackled

They didn’t want to simply make Reno better, they wanted to go in a different direction if you wanted to play Krul


Hunter

Mike thinks the class needs just more cool themes in order to succeed. They are normally good in the aggro meta, but slower than Pirates (which hurts)


Priest

Dragon Priest was made strong so that they could deliver on the fantasy before half the cards rotated out.
More “tricky” card will be seen going forward. (think Pint-sized potion and potion of madness)
Mike thinks that Priest may have the best shot at Reno decks in Standard once Reno rotates out, thanks to Kazakus and Raza.


Misc

Cards which make the game swing back and forth, such as board clears, large taunts, and large heals can be really fun. There may be room for more but they don’t want to overdo it.
Drakonid Operative was originally know as Investigator.  There was not a Dragon requirement on the Battlecry.
Cabal Leader was a 6 mana 4/8 Legendary.  At the end of your turn if you have unspent mana,
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Legend of the Innkeeper : A Hearthstone Podcast for Casual PlayersBy Vastidious and Espo, Hearthstone Podcasters