Death Knight Concept - Original I Know :P

[Deleted]

This is my personal concept for a Deathknight hero. I know it's been done before, but I just thought I'd give a crack at it. Hopefully this will become part of a wider Northrend expansion. Anyway, 42 cards here (the rarities aren't precise). I wanted a focus on large minions at the cost of some downside. Some of the Naxx minions have made their way into this deck. The available Undead synergy is not huge, simply because the hero power provides consistent Undead synergy. Tell me what you think.

http://imgur.com/a/FBl0g

ETA:

Card edits:
> The Lich King is now a 2/10.
> Frostmourne is now an 8 mana 5/1, same effect, deathrattle deal 2 damage to all friendlies.
> Val'kyr Battlemaiden is now a 6 mana 5/4.
> Skeletal Mage is now a 4/5.
> Ebon Blade Greatsword now costs 7 mana.
> Haunted Battle-axe is now a 4 mana 2/3.

[BicycleMafioso]

Opinions:

• Hero power just roughly same/better than Mages'. Not in all scenarios, no, but where minions are on the field, strictly better.
• I think the Lich King hero power is a bit on the strong side in terms of mana per P/T due to not taking up a card. Yes, I'm aware of Lord J, but Lord J also caps your health at 30 lower.
• I actually think Darion is fine, but could possibly be 8. I think the minions spawned should be 1/1 taunt or 1/2 taunts rather than 2/2 taunts. Probably the former. Still better than Onyxia in many (but not all) circumstances. I like that it caps your total minions to theirs.
• Knight of the Ebon Blade, Darkfallen, Necrotician, Necroknight, Shadowmourne: sure
• Val'kyr Battlemaiden: 3/3 or increase mana cost, too easy to manipulate otherwise
• Skeletal Mage: Don't like the design. Prefer "give this minion Divine Shield at the end of your turn if there is a friendly secret in play"
• Wasteland Vargul: Probably "all friendly minions" instead, given the mana cost.
• Skeletal Smith: Despite being the Naxxramas-minion, I think the stat line is a bit generous, looking at the new secret-stealer minion from GvG as comparison.
• Rune Scribe: The stat line is a bit generous for its survival. 0/4 or 2/3? The weapon effect is pretty good, mind.
• Blood Worm: I don't get why this is a Battlecry. Does the minion get permanently chosen?
• Death Charger: its drawback is basically negligent for the generous abilities for its mana cost. Probably why it remained an NPC-only minion.
• Frostmourne: I don't like that it's just strictly better than Gorehowl - unless the opponent has a disarm-effect, its drawback is negligble.
• Ebon Blade Greatsword: Wow, no. 8 mana. Or 6 mana with one charge.
• Haunted Battle-Axe: Why would you ever attack with it? Make it 1 damage. Possibly bump the mana cost as well.
• Runed Soul Blade: Probably not.

That will do for now.

[Deleted]

Weapons are ridiculously overpowered. Pre-nerf Gorehowl? 3 damage to every minion attacking you, active forever barring ooze/harrison(cause not like there is any reason to actually swing with it twice)? 4/2 with Foe Reaper effect for 6 mana?

Lich King is beyond ridiculously overpowered. Heal for 15, gain permanent and unremovable 3 dmg attack(further improved with weapons), and a yeti hero power? Wow.


Those are the worst offenders of the OP clause in there.

[Deleted]

Thanks for the feedback.
> I think the hero power would be balanced given that a northrend expansion would add quite a lot of Undead minions to be used by all classes. Your opponent would be quite likely to have minions you couldn't ping. It also has less flexibility with pinging your own minions to trigger on damage effects and it can't hit face.

> I think I did make the Lich King a bit too powerful. I could lower his health to 10 or less I suppose. Keep in mind though he is a 10 mana card, and by that point you are probably at fairly low health. It is supposed to be a more powerful Jarraxus at the end of the day. What about a 2/10?

> I think Darion is fine as is. Sucks if your opponent has one or no minions, if your opponent has 2 minions he's a 7 mana 7/7 with partial taunt. If your opponent over-commits then they get punished.

> Val'kyr could probably be 6 mana 5/4.

> I think the Vargul is balanced. If you compare it to Pitlord it scales fine. The latter is a 4 mana 5/6 deal 4 damage to friendlies, the former a 5 mana 7/6 deal 4 damage to friendlies, just distributed differently. And I was thinking that (as a niche interaction that needn't be on the card text) if you have no minions it will just deal 4 damage to your hero.

> Skeletal Smith I think is balanced. If you compare it to say Dark Cultist, it has a nicher deathrattle and a worse stat distribution. It's a class card so it can be a little overbudget.

> I quite like the Skeletal Mage's effect but I could distribute the stats less aggressively so the immunity is not such a big deal. 4/5 instead of 5/4.

> Rune Scribe is a slightly different auto-barber. So I think that's fine.

> Blood Worm - yes choosing the minion is a battlecry, but it results in a permanent effect.

> Death Charger - I nerfed it slightly from it's Naxx incarnation. I think it's something that would need to be put into practice to determine. In Hunter it would be OP, but here DK doesn't have quite the rush potential.

> I'll tweak Frostmourne. 8 mana 6/1 perhaps.

> The Greatsword I think would be fine at 7 mana.

> Overlooked the abuse of Haunted Battle-Axe. I think nerfing it to 1 attack would render it unplayable though. A 2/2 perhaps.

> I don't see anything wrong with runed soulblade. It's a redistributed Light's Justice, albeit a much better distribution.

- - - Updated - - -

Card edits:
> The Lich King is now a 2/10.
> Frostmourne is now an 8 mana 5/1, same effect, deathrattle deal 2 damage to all friendlies.
> Val'kyr Battlemaiden is now a 6 mana 5/4.
> Skeletal Mage is now a 4/5.
> Ebon Blade Greatsword now costs 7 mana.
> Haunted Battle-axe is now a 4 mana 2/3.

[BicycleMafioso]

Additional comments in the quote

> I think I did make the Lich King a bit too powerful. I could lower his health to 10 or less I suppose. Keep in mind though he is a 10 mana card, and by that point you are probably at fairly low health. It is supposed to be a more powerful Jarraxus at the end of the day. What about a 2/10?
What makes it justified as a stronger Jaraxxus? The one more mana? It's very rare that you get to play something other than Jaraxxus anyway, albeit always the option for one turn earlier.

> I think Darion is fine as is. Sucks if your opponent has one or no minions, if your opponent has 2 minions he's a 7 mana 7/7 with partial taunt. If your opponent over-commits then they get punished.
But the budget is too high, compare it to Cenarius. And remember that they nerfed Cenarius because he was too strong before.

> Val'kyr could probably be 6 mana 5/4.
You took it down, so I don't remember what it was, but compare it to say, Bomb Lobber and Priestess of Elune, probably too strong still.

> I think the Vargul is balanced. If you compare it to Pitlord it scales fine. The latter is a 4 mana 5/6 deal 4 damage to friendlies, the former a 5 mana 7/6 deal 4 damage to friendlies, just distributed differently. And I was thinking that (as a niche interaction that needn't be on the card text) if you have no minions it will just deal 4 damage to your hero.
It's more like Venture Co. Mercenary without as much of a drawback. Even with my suggested change.

> Skeletal Smith I think is balanced. If you compare it to say Dark Cultist, it has a nicher deathrattle and a worse stat distribution. It's a class card so it can be a little overbudget.
It's rare that the opponent lets you get the benefit out of Dark Cultist, though. But it already has Undead synergy. So it's a swapped Spider Tank with an upside or a cheaper Golem with a worse death rattle. Still not convinced

> I quite like the Skeletal Mage's effect but I could distribute the stats less aggressively so the immunity is not such a big deal. 4/5 instead of 5/4.
or 5/1? :P Of course, being on the friendly side of it makes it very likable. That's the issue. Yes, I realise there is setup and two-card setup and that if you force a secret, it disappears. But I think giving it divine shield is better in both scenarios. For you and the opponent.

> Rune Scribe is a slightly different auto-barber. So I think that's fine.
Which is the issue. It has less attack, true, but the auto-barber doesn't stick around. This one does. And it (potentially) carries over multiples of weapons. I realise they are different classes, but it's a much better

> Death Charger - I nerfed it slightly from it's Naxx incarnation. I think it's something that would need to be put into practice to determine. In Hunter it would be OP, but here DK doesn't have quite the rush potential.
Really? I think I remember it being the same, hm. Either way, who would not play the card as a DK? Also a beast now?

> The Greatsword I think would be fine at 7 mana.
Since you took it down from the album (as I'm writing this), I don't remember whether you said both adjacent or just one. Either way, it's quite too powerful, especially if they can't attack their damage back

> Overlooked the abuse of Haunted Battle-Axe. I think nerfing it to 1 attack would render it unplayable though. A 2/2 perhaps.
It really wouldn't. It'd still be a great deterrent for anyone with divine shields or 1/1 minions (Paladin?). You'd make so many people unwilling to attack

> I don't see anything wrong with runed soulblade. It's a redistributed Light's Justice, albeit a much better distribution.
Really? Compare it to the Axe from Shaman, 2/3 for 2 with 1 overload. Which is 2 damage per mana, which weapons are budgetted in baseline for, with exceptions. Where Light's justice is one, because it's so weak. It also makes Rogues and their hero power cry, taking up a card place or not. This is twice the budget. A 1/2 possibly.

EDIT: Your post "updated" had not shown up by the time I started writing and had thus not seen it by the time I was done, take that into account.

[Deleted]

I think you're overestimating how much more powerful the Lich King is than Jarraxus. It does cost 1 more mana, that's a consideration especially at the higher mana costs. It has a worse hero power as well. I could consider changing the hero power entirely however to make it less similar to Jarraxus - open to suggestions there. The thing is, if you get to turn 10 against a DK and they're at a health total where they can play LK to get 30 or 40 health you've probably already lost anyway. I am open to more balance suggestions as to how you would handle the card though.

I can see the Cenarius/Darion comparison, however I still think Darion's ok. He has 3 less health (which itself is equal to 1 and a half less mana), has less flexibility, is a class card, and is a poor play on an empty board whereas Cenarius is a very good play on an empty board.

How much would you cost Val'kyr as? I think any more than 6 mana and it would be too slow. It's a card which your opponent can play around by killing weaker minions off first.

I think you're overstating the power of Skeletal Smith. It's good in a small amount of matchups but a mere 4/3 in most. Dark Cultist is good in all matchups, it's deathrattle will always come into play. I'd say Dark Cultist is much more powerful than Smith.

I also think you're overestimating the power of skeletal mage. You play it as a raw 4/5 and it will likely be removed before you can play a secret. Play it with a secret for a minimum of 7 mana, and it would be fairly easy to trigger the secret and then remove the 4/5. Hell, making it a 4/5 might actually be a slight buff to be honest. I might change it back.

I would say Rune Scribe is about equal to Barber. This is an ongoing buff, however that can be a downside if it dies early and gets less value. And unlike Rogue, DK does not have a near guaranteed weapon.

Are there that many Divine Shields and 1/1 minions to deter with Battle Axe? It's now a 4 mana 2/3. I think that's sufficient investment. Keep in mind it can still be removed (and in designing future Northrend cards I will look into further weapon removal ideas) and holding it prevents the use of other weapons.

You can't compare Runed Soul Blade to the Rogue hero power which is - well a hero power. You can use it every turn. In fact hero powers tend to be worth about 0 mana. A 1/2 weapon would suck. Twice as much as Light's Justice in fact. As for Stormforged Axe I kind of think Blizzard dropped the ball with it. It's outright a fiery war axe with a downside for no benefit.

- - - Updated - - -

I think in general there is a big fear people have when they review fanmade cards - that any good card is overpowered. Would Death Charger be strong? Yes it would. But is it really much stronger than South Sea Deckhand? They're really quite similar. Or Flame Imp for that matter. And I don't even think everyone would play it, it sucks in control.

[Shinela]

I know this is a bit off, but do you have the original picture of the Novice Deathknight? I can only find ones that show their real original look but not the edited one in the picture (see: Link)
I like the dark colours and purple swirl around the card art one

[Deleted]

Here it is:



- - - Updated - - -

Found it typing Deathknight Female into google.

[Shinela]

Here it is:



- - - Updated - - -

Found it typing Deathknight Female into google.

I wrote that and never found it. Tried it again and still couldn't find it. But at least I have this now. Thanks!

[Deleted]

Weird, it's like the fourth result on google images for me. Ah well.

Anyway. On the topic of cards I think Haunted Battle-Axe will become a 4 mana 2/4 or even 2/5 with the caveat that it loses durability from enemy attacks.

[sam86]

While I find some of his abilities OP, I always thought Lich King is the ultimate villain in wow and should be OP, so I have zero problem with current cards
The only note I say is you must find a way to make all his secrets cost same mana (yeah i'm hinting you may need - sadly - nerf some, or buff others), because if secret cost different value it kills big part of 'secret' strategy to it, I saw only 1 secret with 4 mana, anyone will know what 'secret' it is if u play 4 mana 'secret' then
And they don't have to be equal value, paladin secrets all cost the same while some secrets imo are superior to others

[Deleted]

I thought I'd spice things up with the secrets by having two tiers of secrets. There are three 2 mana secrets and three 4 mana secrets. So there is always a question of what secret it is.

- - - Updated - - -

Further changes:
> Lich King now has a different hero ability - Grasp of Death. Give a minion Deathrattle: Resummon this minion at half health. A powerful ability, but one that does not provide fuel in it's own right like Jarraxus' does.
> Frostmourne's deathrattle was removed. I felt that made it too weak for an 8 mana 5/1.
> Skeletal Mage is back to a 5/4. Mulling over how easy it is to remove the Immune effect, making it a 4/5 and hence making it more durable was actually a buff.
> Haunted Battle-Axe is now a 4 mana 2/5. It now loses durability when an enemy attacks (and I re-worded it so all attacking enemies take damage.).

[McNeil]

Looks a lot like how I would create my own DK concept, making Arthas the hero and all. Death Coil is not actually OP or even better than a mage's fireball, because you can't damage your own minions or damage your opponents hero. And if your lucky enough to get a heal out of it with an undead minion, its only 1 heal compared to the priests 2 heal.

[Deleted]

This looks epic. But no one noticed icy slumber? Only breaks when you use hero power. Basically a perma immune.

[Deleted]

This looks epic. But no one noticed icy slumber? Only breaks when you use hero power. Basically a perma immune.

It's only a heal. It's sort of like a vitality totem which can't be killed, but while you're using it you can't use weapons or your hero power.

[The Stormbringer]

Some of those cards look rather powerful, but honestly I really like the concept. 9/10 would play regularly.