Before I start, this isn’t a complaint that X Class is OP with the miniset, that’s another discussion which these forums have already had ad nauseum and I imagine will continue to do until the next set. This is about how the mini-set is frankly well, lazy.
Aesthetically and as far as fantasy goes, it’s great. And more cards than a standard miniset? What great value! But it raises alot of fundamental questions about what is a miniset?
Traditionally mini-sets have been cards that enhanced the base set, usually (I’m not confident enough to say ‘always’ but I think it might be) complimenting cards and keywords existing in the primary set. So whats wrong here?
A Few Things:
Lack of synergy with the core set. Very few deck archetypes if any rely on a combination of cards from both the mini-set and the core expansion. That is to say, the mini-set is relatively self contained. You could not own a single Great Dark Beyond card asides from the mini-set purchase and you’d be almost ready to go with a meta deck. Additionally, with the exception of Terrans, none of the Great Dark Beyond’s signature features/mechanics are represented in the mini-set (Draenei Tribe, Spellburst, etc.) further increasing the detachment between set and miniset. This is a stark contrast to almost every miniset in the past.
Power Creep, the miniset is strong, very strong, questions of balance aside the power disparity between the set and miniset is very apparent. The Great Dark Beyond at launch was somewhat derided as underpowered (my personal opinion was this was a good thing as I thought it poised Blizzard to lower the powercreep in the coming year. Until now that is). The ‘self-contained’ nature of the miniset is further reinforced by this disparity. Which to some this may be a good thing! It could very well mean that the “Terran, Zerg, Protoss” deck archetypes will remain competitive until the set cycles out of standard. Which for f2p players is again a great value! 2,000 Gold and you’re off to the races. But as Blizzard’s goal as a company is to make money this also means the miniset will be the standard every set in the next year will have to set themselves against to warrant purchase, after all why pre-purchase new sets when my Terran Shaman is evergreen until March/April 2026?
tl;dr There’s nothing mini about this miniset, it’s basically a new set tacked on to Great Dark Beyond that has almost zero interplay with its parent set. Rather than expand foundational features of The Great Dark Beyond, like the Draenei Tribe they choose to completely veer off course.
edit: I want to add this came to me when I noticed I got a daily quest for the Event to trigger Spellburst when there isn’t a single spellburst card in the miniset.
i think one of the major issues curently for new players is players can have as many legendary cards in their deck as they want.
For a new player is an impentrable wall, have to face warriors who have, raynor, cost 100 card, bomb guy, bran, zillax, naga card, reno hero, kill jaden (preventing fatige game), etc
10 expansions ago, have a full legendary deck was a terrible deck, but currently if you have just a core terran cards + a couple of good cards and all the overpower legendaries you already have a solid deck, even if you have no strategy at all.
I belive blizzard should create a limit in the deck creation to have a maximum of 1 hero per deck and 3-4 legendaries per deck. If you discover a legendary with a card, that is fine. I think with that change the spectrum of posible deck will grow, the game will be more fun, accesible and less frustrated.
Also i really miss the rng in this game, sumon a pyromancer who wipe out your entire board, a random doomsayer, a noggenfogen baron, those cards were fun when they randomly appear in the board. Right now hearthstone have almost 0 rng.
Currently the game feels like a rock, paper, sissor.
The main mechanic introduced with The Great Dark Beyond (TGDB) is the Starship one. This mechanic as you know, is very present in the miniset, in fact I am quite sure its use has grown quite a lot with it. But it is true that “secondary” mechanics or the new tribe are not present at all. But if you remember other minisets, it was the same case with no new tribe.
It is certain that playing with the latest cards often gives you more advantage compared to an old mechanic or deck type, for instance an Odyn deck or an Overheal Priest. The same goes when any other new set appears, not just this miniset in particular.
When you build a new deck only based in the miniset cards, you can’t reach 30 cards, but stay around 15-20 cards, so you need the main set and/or others sets cards to complete it. In fact, there is the belief that not relying on a single-one win-condition can be a wise idea. So you can complete your 30-cards deck with support ones or with another complementary mechanic leaving the miniset cards aside. For instance, adding Odyn deck to your Terran one.
When you compare the price of others minisets (2000 gold) to this one (2500 gold) and say it’s too expensive, I don’t get it. Compared to other minisets, this one includes 3 totally fresh new main mechanics with singularities for each class, which is totally unprecedent in a miniset. They also bring a lot of interactions, and decisions (do I launch my ship now or on next turn to clear the board…). From my point of view, this miniset is a unique “cheap” set, and I really hope there will be more like this one! In terms of card value, this miniset is “totally nuts” compared to its predecessors.
If you look at the past, tribes weren’t introduced in any overwhelming way, you had warrior Pirates, undead Priest, beast Hunter, mech Rogue… so here you have some Paladin Draenei.
Concerning spellburst you have the free Shaffar card, and the very useful “Ethereal Oracle” common card. Those are often enough to reach your Daily Quest within 5 games probably.
I have to admit that I played StarCraft 1&2 and the way the cards are designed are really a very fine “hommage” to StarCraft (and even sadly missing some “Goliath online”).
So after all, from my point of view, I really would like to say to the designers “yes, please, bring more minisets like this one” rather than the opposite.
Anyway, I hope you’ll find your way to enjoy the game because I really think it offers plenty of fun!
Good game everyone!
Zerg DK has entered the chat, their only win con is Infestor right now, and its pretty reliable.
Priest Tutoring 2 cards and summon a 3/4 CHARGE minion for 4 Mana?
Protoss Mage is most braindead Deck and still manages to win every midrange game because Colossus is just outright hilarious.
Don’t get me started about HP druid, glad that Deck only has existed for the past month and one more.
The Power Creep is simply to much, at this point I just prefer playing Wild, there’s even more broken BS but at least there is some variety in the Decks you face there…
I really dislike this mini expansion. I was waiting for more draeneis, more starships, more aliens, more new worlds. What we got? a mini set that only works (visually and mechanic) with itself except for 5 cards.
Why we want zerg/terran/protoss cards? when we will see them return? in another 15 years. Totally wasted mini set.
Dont you dare ruin Emerald Dream mini-set Blizzard like you did with this one!!
Agreed. It is WAY too Standard of a Standard set. Most of its cards will never see play in Wild in a few years and that can be said of a LOT of mechanics from Standard lately. Excavate? Miniatures? Hell, even Draenei? (Who have zero class identity atm.) But to be fair, you can say that about a lot of sets.
This one though feels particular insulated from… well… anything besides Starships. They didn’t even bother with tribal tags on any of the Starcraft minions (besides some Mechs). Are Zerg not beasts?
The upside is that Emerald Dream looks to have a bit more legs in terms of synergizing with other decks. Someone is going to cook some kooky hero-power shenanigans with Baku and Genn thanks to all the Hero Power synergy (the Imbue keyword) coming. And Dark Gifts are basically a better Adapt, which any minion will be glad to have.
what classes got Zerg? Let’s see, demon hunter, hunter, warlock and umm… death knight. I guess beast synergy would matter mainly for Hunters. I guess I would maybe like to beta test Zerg with beast tag before making it a thing because I don’t know how much stronger Zerg would be as beast tribe. They could get charge easily, could be tutored more, could be buffed and shuffled copies into deck, it would be pretty dang strong. But maybe fair, I don’t know.
Yeah a miniset that makes everything that came before it irrelevant is not a good idea. Love the theme. But there is a reason all you’re seeing out there is starcraft decks. Not much else can keep up with them
At least when you hit legend and you don’t have to worry about your ranking anymore you can play whatever you want. As an aside, my old pain lock deck does pretty well since it can win a game in four turns but that’s not the kind of gameplay I actually enjoy
I think its a good thing that they printed this way. It was a one time thing and for once people got decks for one miniset purchase, but it got boring for people playing a lot because they cant experiment that much.
Don’t get me wrong - the Miniset value was superb compared to others. FTP players surely appreciated it. I just feel it made little to no impact in Wild and that seems to be a trend with recent expansions.
I just came back after a month break. This miniset in a long time that remember where it really dictates the entire meta. It’s so prominent that it feels likes it own expansion. None of the decks before it matter due to how well these decks have outperformed the prior meta.
This is also due to the lack of counter play against starships and the power that that Jim and Queen of Blades bring compare to their Protoss counter part.
The bad design didn’t start here. The game is a sloppy RNG fest that has almost nothing to do with strategy or skill. There are too many cards that are game deciders that if your oppoent draws (or you don’t draw) the right cards, the game is over. There’s essentially no practical need to even be present since the player isn’t much of a factor. You can sometimes go 7-8 games without a single legitimate match where you had to actually outplay the person.
Worse, its been years and the game still crashes every couple games with the usual “this is third rate slop and Hearthstone had to close, but don’t worry, your game was recorded!”. On every platform, every device, fresh install or not.
