Galewing -- Hunter

This post is part a series wherein I've been designing Hero cards for Battlegrounds heroes who lack direct representation in Hearthstone proper -- or did at the time of publishing.

The Finished Product

The Process

Hunter should get more left/right-most stuff. Fite me about it. Flanking is a very "hunter" thing to do, and that's the best way to represent it in-engine. It should also be clear what my favorite Hunter card of all time is based on that third flightpath...Anyways.

This is the first of these designs that I feel very conflicted about, and that really shows some of the difficulty inherent with this kind of challenge. It's a design standard for HS Hero cards that they have powerful, impressive Battlecrys that help them maintain tempo, but Battlegrounds heroes have none of that.

Worse, Galewing's BG's design is all about delayed payoffs, and is now assigned to a class which really, really does not like sacrificing momentum in a game.

The solution I ended up with was still a delayed payoff, but one so strong as to (hopefully) be worth it. And, if I'm being honest, I think this particular hero/class pairing might simply be a mismatch. Galewing's identity is simply a nombo with Hunter's, and it's a hard tightrope to walk to compensate for that fact, while still getting a design that isn't completely absurd on-curve.

It's quite possible this should be Dormant for 1 turn, and originally was. But that original version snagged a random Beast from the hand, and I think Dormant 1 is too strong now that it can't "miss". Basically everything this is going to hit in Standard or Wild has Charge or Rush already, and getting bashed in the face by a King Krush on T6 seemed like a bit much.

And therein lies the issue with this kind of card, too. It's still super strong on curve, since it's not like a free Krush on 7 is bad. But what about a free King Krush on turn 11? Little bit less interesting, and this card simply does nothing when top decked.

Probably would see light or no play, but it's fun, and I love the flight paths. I would love ideas for a flavorful and more powerful battlecry. Maybe it should just discover a flight path and instantly complete it? Idk.

My Rating

6/10

This is really split between a 10/10 hero power and a 2 or 3/10 Battlecry. I'm just not convinced this card will lead to good experiences.

That being said, Rexxar basically says "do nothing" as its battlecry, and people LOVE that thing. So maybe they'd forgive me for this terrible battlecry and just revel in mini Nagrand Slamming people the way I want them to (and I want to!).