• Home
  • Analysis of the New Discover Mechanic

Analysis of the New Discover Mechanic

by - 8 years ago

As many suspected, the big reveal at BlizzCon for Hearthstone was the announcement of a new adventure, entitled League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Explorers.  There’s a lot to be excited about with this new adventure.  Not only will there be more cards – 45 versus the 30 of Naxxramas or the 31 of Blackrock Mountain – in fewer wings (less gold/money to burn!), but Team 5 has started to speed up the release of new content to a rate more similar to a traditional paper CCG.  The Grand Tournament expansion was released on August 24th, and the first wing of LoE will come out less than three months after the TGT launch.  New cards will hopefully shake up the meta, and there are quite a few that look like they will be straight up fun to play.

In spite of all this excellent news, my initial gut reaction during the opening ceremony for BlizzCon was one of disappointment.  In the weeks leading up to BlizzCon, the Hearthstone corner of the internet has been buzzing with a general feeling of discontent.  Between Firebat’s commentary on the dominance of playing on curve in the meta, Secret Paladin hate, and the loss of enthusiasm of some of the game’s more creative content makers (please don’t go, Trolden and Disguised Toast!), morale has been low.  Ostkaka would go on to win the world championships with three decks that used a combined zero TGT cards.  Needless to say, there is some amount of pressure on this adventure to reinvigorate the game’s fan base.  And that’s when I saw this:

Hearthstone Discover mechanic

The image above is Eric Dodds’s reveal of the new Discover mechanic.  Discover takes the form of a Battlecry, where 3 cards fitting the criteria listed on the card played display on the screen, similar to the Hunter card Tracking.  The cards will either be neutral or of the same class you are playing; they are not cards in your deck, but a random assortment that meet the criteria (and can be played by your class, so a Druid would only see Druid and neutral cards, for example). You select one, and the card is added to your hand.  The image above is a random result of what would happen if the new card Jeweled Scarab was played.

Before I had processed what Eric was saying, I thought Hearthstone had finally introduced a search mechanic into the game, where there would now be cards that would help you specifically locate cards in your own deck. This is a very powerful mechanic that many CCGs employ, and Hearthstone currently has very few cards with this trait; Tracking and Sense Demons are the only ones, and both have an element of randomness. When I heard the actual explanation of the mechanic, I groaned. I have come to terms with most of the randomness in Hearthstone, and have actually embraced much of it, in that it makes the game much more interesting to spectate. However, there is a type of randomness that I cannot endorse, and that is the “small chance to just outright win you the game” type. Examples of these cards are Unstable Portal (hello, 5 mana Tirion), Bane of Doom (5 mana to kill a minion and summon Mal’ganis? Yes please!), and Ram Wrangler (always King Krush for my opponent). Looking at the three cards on the screen, I said to no one in particular “Yes, what Mage wouldn’t like an extra copy of Ice Block?”, and threw my arms up in disgust. A new RNG based mechanic that opens up more of these scenarios did not sit well with me.

After taking a few days to step back and really read through and think about the new cards, I have softened my stance on the Discover mechanic considerably. The reason I flip-flopped was because it seems Blizzard did a good job putting reasonable constraints on the type of cards the Discover mechanic can add to your hand, so my dreaded RNG scenarios are mostly just bad dreams. Below is a quick analysis of the nine Discover cards being released in LoE:

1) Some of the Discover cards are barely random. Sir Finley Mrrgglton gives us a 3/8 chance to get the hero power of our choice. Although any of the powerful artifacts can be situationally useful, Lantern of Power will be the go-to choice for Rafaam, as the other two options are not as good as Avenging Wrath or Onyxia, two cards that already do not see much play. Finally, Raven Idol will only be useful if an Auctioneer / Miracle Druid comes back into the meta, where having cheap spells in quantity becomes useful.  Otherwise, instead of playing this card, just play the useful minion or spell you would like to have in the deck.

sir-finley-mrrggltonarch-thief-rafaamraven-idol

2) Some of the Discover mechanics are not that good or not worth the tempo loss in the current meta.  A good example of the former is Dark Peddler. Besides a few of the 1 cost warlock spells (Power Overwhelming, Soulfire, and Mortal Coil especially), a random 1 drop is only useful in the most aggressive of decks. An example of the latter is Museum Curator. The potential to draw a Sludge Belcher or Sylvanas is probably not worth paying 2 mana for a 1 /2 body.  The mantra I keep coming back to is unless you’ve already maxed out that card in your deck, just play the card you would be looking for, as opposed to the Discover card that might gain you that card.

dark-peddlermuseum-curator

3) Gorillabot A-3 will be the most consistently used Discover card. It already fits in Mech Mage and Mech Shaman, and the ability to draw a Fel Reaver, any one of the shredders, or a Snowchugga against a weapon class is really good. Both of those decks also struggle with maintaining card advantage.

gorillabot-a-3

4) Every so often, there will be some wild swing turns.  The 5 mana 6/3 body has not worked well in Hearthstone – I’m looking at you, Hemet – but the potential for Ethereal Conjurer to draw a Fireball, Polymorph, Flamestrike or Pyroblast can be very powerful.  A 4/3/3 is not ideal for a four drop, but the possibility of drawing into a Highmane, King Krush or Malorne can make Tomb Spider playable.  Finally, Jeweled Scarab will always ensure that you have something to play on curve the next turn, and an additional Kill Command / Ice Block / Muster for Battle can definitely help swing a game.

ethereal-conjurertomb-spiderjeweled-scarab

Overall, I actually think Blizzard did a good job balancing the new mechanic.  Discover offers the possibility of adding very good – but usually not game-breaking – cards to your hand while playing a minion that is probably understatted for its cost.  At this point, we have no idea if any of these cards will become relevant in the post-LoE meta.  What do you think about the newest Hearthstone mechanic?


JR Cook

JR has been writing for fan sites since 2000 and has been involved with Blizzard Exclusive fansites since 2003. JR was also a co-host for 6 years on the Hearthstone podcast Well Met! He helped co-found BlizzPro in 2013.


Comments are closed.