I think this game/forum has a problem with balance.

I thought I read from one of the players here that FW, along with UD, was the top played faction because of its aesthetic?

 

Dwarves and Dragons, gonna get a lot of nerds with those, too

 

Yeah, but blue elves? Cat people? Wierd ugly brown hobbits, bat people and cyclops? No one likes them...
I'm the opposite. I *hate* playing anything that's not exotic or weirder then the norm. I've seen dwarves before, they're just short bearded people. But cat people and bat people, ferret people and mech-dragons, snow cyclops disaster survivor and amalgamations of everything in existence? Now that's cool.

 

Frog people. Squidfaced people with animalic legs that communicate mentally. Land-going jellyfish. Salamanders with sniper rifles.

I'm sorry, in terms of "weird" SP doesn't stand a chance

IS is really extremely classic, and FW and UD have thos unpleasant tryharding about them ... everything has to be EVIL and KVLT and 1337 and also sexy with oversized boobies.

So yeah, FS > all

(Spieky probably liked this before I edited in the second half)

 

It's getting somewhat off topic, but the HS and MtG rotation formats have some fundamental differences which are easy to overlook if you aren't familiar with both games. Non-rotating core set, and constant hero powers, are both big deals.

 

Yes, almost -- close enough.

I disagree. Having a central set of runes means that certain answers and threats will always be present within the game, which fundamentally alters future design.

For the last several years, MtG core has varied widely, and have added original cards. That will change though, because core sets are being removed entirely.

One of the big complaints about HS's core set is that some decks will always exist as a result. Zoolock, for instance, depends upon a few core runes and the Warlock hero power; something like 70 or 80% of that deck is in the core, which puts a minimum on any format's speed.

 

MtG rotated those, however. It's moot now, though, because that philosophy has not guided the core sets for the past 6 years.

 

2 big blocks, slightly longer rotation window.

 

Blocks are, I take it, still independent designs. I think the exact scale and release schedule has been modified somewhat, although I'd have to check the details.