Recently, I got to participate in the Global School Play Day this year. I had a ton of fun relieving the stress of school and introducing a new game to my friends: 1000 Blank White Cards. A better explanation is on StephenVlog’s channel, but in short, it’s game where you make your own cards with tame to very drastic effects and play games with them. It encourages creativity when creating your cards and you can create more cards after being inspired by others’ card designs. Coincidentally, the game’s ideas of innovation and rules line up perfectly with the ideas of Global School Play Day.
With some of the cards I created, I had based off of card designs from Hearthstone. One of them was my card, Recycle: target [player] discards 3 cards and then draws 3; which I had based off of the old design of Illidan Stormrage. I believe that the process can go in the other way: creating cards to be put into Hearthstone. For example, one could create an interesting way of drawing cards that could be adapted into a Hearthstone card and post onto the r/customhearthstone subreddit. From the subreddit, if your idea is good enough, the post could be seen by a Blizzard employee and have their card design put into the game. If one creates enough well designed cards, one might also have a chance of getting a spot in the Blizzard design process.
There is a large disconnect from the table to the computer, as well as central game mechanics that one might have but the other doesn’t, however. An example is that there is no mana curve/ramp or system in 1000 Blank White Cards. So, the card design adaptation is mostly limited to card draw and replacing Hearthstone’s health points with a proportioned version to points from 1000 Blank White Cards. Many of the best designed cards from both card games are the ones that break the rules, though. Creating cards for both encourage creativity through being different and having the card stand out. So not only does having this game be played during the Global School Play Day benefit students in making a creative mind, but it could also land them a job at Blizzard in the future.
A small side note about the Global School Play Day is that I wish we had was a gathering of Hearthstone players, like an unofficial Fireside Gathering. Unfortunately, the guidelines/ rules of Global School Play Day say no screens or devices. If we were able to go through with this idea, though, we could possibly host a miniature tournament, probably just for fun and acknowledgement rather than a monetary or physical prize. We could also see each other’s either creative or competitive deck building, as we challenged each other and connect on through a similar interest. Some would bring their “meme” decks with cards known by the community to be fun, but not competitive. Others might bring their competitive decks that fit within the current meta game. But in all, I think it’s put elegantly in this quote by a fellow classmate:
I learned that sometimes it’s okay to just play or do something for ourselves, because it can make us forget, even just momentarily, about things that we’re worried about. We can enjoy ourselves in the moment and not focus on the past or the future, just the thing we’re doing or game we’re playing. -Diana Naughton
Discuss The Hearth 