All Hearthstone Cards in One Image

/u/BetaKeyTakeaway over on Reddit Hearthstone posted a very cool image, in which he (or she) combined all current Hearthstone cards in one image. It certainly gives a different perspective on the breadth of the cards currently available, but also really goes to show how much room there really is still to grow.

There are 381 Hearthstone cards, and if compared to the 12752 some odd Magic: The Gathering cards - it looks pretty insignificant. That being said, I think that Hearthstone’s relatively few cards is not only unavoidable considering it’s a brand new game, but I consider it a good thing.

Magic: The Gathering at this point has a pretty high level of entry, with an extensive rule set…it can be very off-putting to many casual gamers. Hearthstone with it’s purely online focus and easy-to-pickup gameplay gives people a chance to enter into the CCG scene very easily. I think this is a good thing for everyone involved.

As discussed on this week’s Turn2 podcast, most people are itching to get new cards already. The meta-game has begun to stagnate as people figure out the best ways to play the game, and it does beg the question…when are we going to get new cards? How often will we get new cards in the future?

Right now it’s all based on speculation, but the fact is that developing new Hearthstone cards has a few added challenges that traditional physical CCGs don’t have to deal with. Custom animations for each card, audio voice-overs for cards, animating the card on the board and how it interacts with other things…all these extra factors add to development time. On the flip-side of course, they don’t have to deal with printing cards - and the actual production/distribution of those cards aside.

The big advantage is being able to be more risky with their releases, thus the ability to shave on development time. Patching an online game and changing the mana cost of a card is obviously a lot simpler than changing your mind after you print and distribute a few million cards!

All-in-all Hearthstone even with this few cards has a high skill cap. A skilled player will almost always beat an average player, and that is a good sign for the future - as more cards are introduced, that skill cap will continue to rise.