Starcraft Mini-Set is bad game design

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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.

1 Like

my nick shows exactly what i think, i advise everyone to make similar nicks in game, it could be a wonderful trend

True. The synergies are very clunky. The only reason they’re playable is they’re temporarily OP.