(Repost from US forum, for more opinions)
This one is heavily inspired by MtG’s Commander aka Elder Dragon Highlander, and I’m sure this is probably not the first time it is mentioned, but I gave this idea some time and it seems fun, so here goes.
Ruleset:
Decks are composed of 59 different cards (Highlander) and the center piece of the deck, let’s name it The Champion. The idea is that the deck is built around the Champion to exploit either its theme or mechanics.
The Champion is a class legendary, which therefore determinates the deck’s class.
At the beginning of the game, each player’s Champion is shown beside the hero portrait, and is then placed in a new game zone, let’s call it the Champion’s Altar.
The mode’s distinctive mechanic is what follows:
· The champion is always in this zone.
· Any turn, if the player has mana for it, the Champion can be played from the Altar.
· The Champion can only be played once per turn.
· When the Champion ceases to be on the board it returns instead to the Altar. This includes Death, Morphing, Shuffling, Sap, Mind Control, etc. Deathrattles still trigger if the Champion died.
The way the Altar zone works does have some implications, specially because it would NOT be considered as the Champion being a card in hand, therefore:
· The Champion cannot be Hand Buffed, Discarded, Cost-Reduced, Hand-copied (Voone), Shuffled (Plot Twist), Hand Morphed (Demonic Project), Pulled (Dirty Rat), etc.
One more limitation to the Champion mechanic is that, by its nature, some Class legendaries would become oppressive or infinitely valuable should they be champions, so the final restriction is that the available champions must be in a list of allowed legendary minions, so they either are not OP nor non-functional (Shirvallah would be too much, Zavas would not work).
This mode focuses on allowing reliable access to cornerstone legendaries to enable thematic playstyles or mechanics that would otherwise be impossible to play.
What follows is a proposed list of available Champions and their proposed themes:
DRUID:
· Flobbidinous Floop: toolbox minion copying.
· Keeper Stelladris: choose one effects, flexibility.
ROGUE:
· Tak Nozwhisker: shuffling.
· Xaril, the Poisoned Mind: 1-cost spells, combo.
SHAMAN:
· Moorabi: freeze.
· Kalimos, Primal Lord: elementals.
MAGE:
· Stargazer Luna: tempo, spellslinging.
· Khadgar: summoning.
PRIEST:
· Chameleos: thief, spionage.
· Herald Volazj: field effects.
WARLOCK: (hard to pick)
· Blood Queen Lana’thel: discard.
· Glynda Crowskin: echo value. (?, easily broken)
HUNTER:
· Professor Putricide: secrets.
· Princess Huhuran: deathrattle.
PALADIN: (another hard one)
· Commander Rhyssa: secrets.
· ??? (paladin legendaries are either weak or too powerful for a champion)
WARRIOR:
· Hobart Grapplehammer: weapons.
· Blackhowl Gunspire: pain gain.
As an extra, a reward system is proposed. Each Champion has a Rank associated, which increases with each victory. At a set rank (say, rank 100), the player is awarded a thematic card back based on the champion and a non-disenchantable uncraftable platinum card of the Champion. It works the same as a golden one, but this version is an exclusive reward for whoever masters a particular champion deck archetype.
Also, this mode would probably use its own banlist, should the need arise.
What do you think? Would you play it?
Edit: I have been told Floop would be broken, so another similar candidate would be Ixlid, Fungal Lord.
