My Heart is in Hearthstone

So... are you guys as excited about the Whispers of the Old Gods expansion as me?

Probably.

Regardless, I'm at the very least passionate enough to throw out some thoughts; some who-the-whatsits for our upcoming Old Overlords.

While it's true that I'm not known as an absurdly avid Hearthstone player, I have been picking it up more and more as the new set comes in and we start having a shifting meta. I used to be a truly avid Magic: the Gathering player and this new set has me intrigued with it's possibilities.

In other words, to those who do play Magic, I haven't been this intrigued in a card game since Hedron Dredge came onto the scene, which is just a flat out interesting concept for a deck.

So, what cards have captured my interest? First is Fandral Staghelm.

Hello, I'm a Big Mac Combo.

Fandral Staghelm is fun because he fulfills a common concept found in a lot of CCG: the two-for-one. Now, any Choose One card boasts the idea of a two-for-one already. What's awesome about Fandral is that it makes them better because you don't have to choose. You get to do two potentially great plays.

This was why Jund has become a common staple in Magic: the Gathering. It always followed the concept of a two-for-one. No single card had only one effect in a Jund deck and we might see something like that in Hearthstone if the selection of Choose One cards are actually strong.








Next card is Evolve.

Weenies no More

Evolve, to me, seems broken. The only argument I'd say against it is that it's random. Still, if you come up with some kind of aggro deck that can pop out a bunch of weenies quickly in the early game and you drop this?

This 1 mana card.

Boy, could they be in for a hurting.

Obviously the randomness is the downside. But we also know that the minions are being transformed into minions that cost 1 more. The potential positives just outweigh the potential negatives here.








Our third card is the Eternal Sentinel.

I hope you like losing

We can hop back into our Fandral Staghelm concept with this one. This card is a devastating 2-for-1.

First off, a 3/2 critter for 2 mana is inherently, at the very least, decent. I actually think it's GREAT, but for the sake of not getting too excited for something that hasn't seen play yet, let's just say it's decent.

That'd be the case if it were just a 3/2 for 2.

This card also unlocks your overloaded mana crystals.

Oh? The board I just wiped? Your fatty I just zapped? My golem I summoned? Let me get all that mana back for next turn please.

Oh, yeah, and my DECENT 3/2 critter as well.




And the last card I look forward to trying: C'Thun.

I'm... So... Old...

C'Thun looks fun for all the right reasons. It's a card design that is based on a character that many people are familiar with due to World of Warcraft.

And even if you never played WoW the flavor of this card has deck builders ready to make this card the late game bomb that it's destined to be.

Think about a Mage control deck that revolves around this card. There's a particular C'Thun supporter that boosts C'Thun's power by 1 every time you play a spell.

Oh, let me wipe your board then kick you later with my massive critter.

The possibilities are endless and this card reeks of potential as far as a late game bomb is concerned.





Needless to say, I'm very excited for this set. I hope to see some of y'all in the random matchups but until then stay inside. The Old Gods are comin.

Why Anyone Would Jump Over Time Pieces is Beyond Me

So. Overwatch comes out soon.

I was given the very fortunate opportunity to play about...

*checks watch*

3 hours of the beta with my sister, who, by the way, was a huge fan of Team Fortress 2.

Our initial reactions have been one of immense excitement.

First off I would like to point out that I was completely sucked into it's intrigue upon watching it's first cinematic trailer. Also, let's be honest. It was actually more or less a short film. Now that's fun. As a filmmaker and critic of both the filmic and gaming spectrum I was hooked. The film wasn't quite Pixar, I knew this in my mind, but it damn sure did a great job of making it feel like Pixar.

The marketing campaign up to this point has followed suit. 2 short films have been released up to the point of this blog post: Recall and Alive. Both are great. Both are immersing me.

And that's the appeal that's really getting me excited not just to play the game of Overwatch, but also what Overwatch is as an entity. It's a game like this has no business having a true immersive universe. A game of this genre calls for good, clean fun with good replayability and updates here and there to keep the game fresh. Where the hell did this sense of story come from?

So I can see some people saying this isn't new... like... at all. It has the gameplay of Team Fortress and the short films are kind of like the ones that Valve also did.

I get that, I really do, but the fact is that plenty of people have done plenty of the same things and what ends up standing out among the sea of clones is execution.

I've felt genuine emotion as I watch Widowmaker jump off the building and aim for her mark in the short film. I shouted an oh no! as my Roadhog was gunned down during an assault mission and leapt for joy as I heard my sister's character: Mercy yell "HEROES NEVER DIE!" It was true. As soon as I heard those words my Roadhog got back up, guns ablaze.

An emotional response like that doesn't just come from intriging world building and being just a fun game. No, I'm giddy just thinking about team comps and strategies. I suppose the feeling I can compare it to was when I signed up to play League of Legends during it's year of inception. I had played games like it before (DotA) but I hadn't played an iteration like this. And I was hooked from that point on.

But this still also feels different.

Blizzard has that kind of attention to detail that makes me feel like there's so much more. I can't wait to see more short films and I can't wait for the open beta. If Blizzard keeps this up, this will truly be a hero that never dies.