That mentality is exactly what pushes power creep and is why I generally oppose buffs. Cards are in Standard for 16-24 months, and often find a home sooner or later. If you push everything to be viable in their own expansion then they are ridiculous when the decks that would have made use of them without needing buffs arrive. To deal with that while making all the new expansion's cards viable forces rampant power creep.
I disagree - wanting the cards I buy to be of any relevance is not a mentality that hurts the game. I don't think the cards need to be outright busted. Rather, I would like to see changes to game modes, more ways to acquire cards etc. The main power creep reason, in my opinion, is to make people buy cards. But that's not really what this topic is about so let's leave it at this.
Quote From dapperdog
Tidal Wave is outclassed by Earthquake at the moment, and if healing if your game you'll find Walking Fountain still does pretty well. To make this playable it has to be 6 mana, maybe deal 2 instead of 3.
I play shaman and Tidal Wave seems fine to me. You have Hagatha's Scheme on turn 5, Earthquake on 7. Tidal Wave at 6 dealing 2 damage to all minions wouldn't be good - 2 damage to all minions for 6 mana with no board development would leave you behind. At 7 it would compete with Earthquake. So, settling on 8 mana seems ok.
Aside from whether the changes are needed, let me comment on your proposed changes:
Archwitch Willow - without the change, the card is much less consistent unless you build your deck around it. With your change, you would be able to create a massive power swing by summoning (potentially) two very powerful demons. Consider post-nerf Dragonqueen Alexstrasza - you can only play one of the dragons on the same turn (if you're at 10 mana), and they are random. Still, that is already one of the most OP effects in the game in my opinion. I think that your proposed change is even over this level - a tad too much. Perhaps keep it random, but summon copies of the demons?
Tidal Wave - I think that card is good as it is, considering that shaman already has a strong turn 7 removal - Earthquake. And you can still combo Tidal Wave with spell damage totem or a card like Bloodmage Thalnos.
Wyrm Weaver - I thought this card would see more play. Mana reduction is ok, but I would also reduce health to 5 in this case.
Quote From meisters39
Those archetypes can come back/be powerful with subsequent expansions or with rotation next year.
That's true, but, at least me personally, I'd like to see new cards make more impact in general when an expansion hits, instead of having to wait 2-3 expansions for them to be even slightly viable.
Ok, new idea. Not too sure of the cost. Yes, this can turn your tokens into Ragnaroes, or enemy elementals into Totems.However it requires setup and could be a dead card some of the time.
@shaveyou - I agree with everything Kansas said. Xavathras is the more interesting card, but if it’s disgusting itself then a transform effect makes more sense
Nicely done, my favourite for this competition so far. Not only would it work great on your valuable minion, but also on your opponent's small minion to make adjacent ones small as well. I'd argue that it should cost 6 mana instead, though, as the effect is pretty powerful and provides a potential powerful swing turn.
I disagree - wanting the cards I buy to be of any relevance is not a mentality that hurts the game. I don't think the cards need to be outright busted. Rather, I would like to see changes to game modes, more ways to acquire cards etc. The main power creep reason, in my opinion, is to make people buy cards. But that's not really what this topic is about so let's leave it at this.
I play shaman and Tidal Wave seems fine to me. You have Hagatha's Scheme on turn 5, Earthquake on 7. Tidal Wave at 6 dealing 2 damage to all minions wouldn't be good - 2 damage to all minions for 6 mana with no board development would leave you behind. At 7 it would compete with Earthquake. So, settling on 8 mana seems ok.
Aside from whether the changes are needed, let me comment on your proposed changes:
Archwitch Willow - without the change, the card is much less consistent unless you build your deck around it. With your change, you would be able to create a massive power swing by summoning (potentially) two very powerful demons. Consider post-nerf Dragonqueen Alexstrasza - you can only play one of the dragons on the same turn (if you're at 10 mana), and they are random. Still, that is already one of the most OP effects in the game in my opinion. I think that your proposed change is even over this level - a tad too much. Perhaps keep it random, but summon copies of the demons?
Tidal Wave - I think that card is good as it is, considering that shaman already has a strong turn 7 removal - Earthquake. And you can still combo Tidal Wave with spell damage totem or a card like Bloodmage Thalnos.
Bonechewer Raider - I like this change. It's like rogue's Underbelly Fence, but with warrior flavour. Me likey.
Wyrm Weaver - I thought this card would see more play. Mana reduction is ok, but I would also reduce health to 5 in this case.
That's true, but, at least me personally, I'd like to see new cards make more impact in general when an expansion hits, instead of having to wait 2-3 expansions for them to be even slightly viable.
Thanks for the feedback guys, seems my idea would be hard to implement the way I thought about it.
Different idea - mushing it all up Amalgam style - all currently existing tribes referred to (picture author: Evgeny Konyakhin, found here):
Demonxz95: added the missing Battlecry, thanks!
Congrats to the winner. What do you guys think of this one (author of the image: Brayan Menchú, found here)?
Flavour: Sir Magnet-o-Mrgl's one-on-one classes: make your own Abomi-mrgl-nation!
No vanilla stats since the effect allows for a pretty swingy turn.
Nicely done, my favourite for this competition so far. Not only would it work great on your valuable minion, but also on your opponent's small minion to make adjacent ones small as well. I'd argue that it should cost 6 mana instead, though, as the effect is pretty powerful and provides a potential powerful swing turn.
My idea for this competition (author of the image: George REDreev, found here):
Flavour: You're gonna pay or face my furry.
Vanilla stats for the cost since the card affects both players. This is a tech card useful against both: