In card games, there is always a cost to playing cards, whether via some metric such as mana (as in Hearthstone or Magic: The Gathering) or a form of tribute where you have sacrifice previously played cards or discard cards from your hand (as in Yu-Gi-Oh). How are stats distributed though? What are the values of deathrattles, battlecries, persistent effects, and triggered effects? Mana Weight





Stats have a price attached to them, however the formula for determining vanilla (no abilities) stats on minions appears to be:



total stats of minion = mana cost x 2 + 1



The stats can be distributed in ways that make the minion top -heavy (more attack) or bottom heavy (more health), but on a vanilla minion, they most always follow this formula, except at higher mana values. It appears that at higher mana values the sheer amount of stats that these minions carry command a higher premium, for example, War Golem and Core Hound. In fact, at higher mana values the relative cost of each stat increases, for a 151% increase of mana cost per stat from 1 mana minions to 7 mana minions. I like to term this phenonemon “mana inertia,” as minions get bigger, they suffer intrinsic losses to mana efficiency and statlines. However this is just the formula for total stats of vanlla minions, once they get abilities, the maximum amount of stats they carry is reduced as a cost of carrying abilities.



The Cost of Having Abilities



When any sort of game-affecting text is inserted on a minion, it generally affects the total statline of the minion. Minions with taunt lose some of their attack or health (Senjin Shieldmasta and Lord of the Arena). Minions that are part of a tribe (mech, beast, etc.) also generally pay a price to be a part of that tribe, usually in the form of either lacking other abilities, or having non-optimal stat distributions (Puddlestomper and Core Hound). As shown previously, there is a sort of bias towards smaller creatures, as adding abilities reduces the statline of minions to lesser mana levels, but smaller creatures have less to lose (compare Argent Squire, 1/1 Divine Shield 1 mana, to Silvermoon Protector, 3/3 Divine Shield 4 mana).



The cases get even more murky with regard to class minions. Since they are limited by class, these minions are allowed to be stronger than neutral minions, and all these metrics for measurements get skewed. For example, Soot Spewer is part of the mech tribe and has spell damage +1, however, it only sacrifices 1 stat since it is a Mage class minion. Dalaran Mage, on the other hand, has spell power +1, but sacrifices 2 stats and is without a tribe since it is a neutral card.



Some abilities may simply have no price to them. Everyone agrees that Loatheb is a well designed card, however the mana cost of his battlecry is difficult to surmise. This case is the same for other legendary and non-legendary minions such as Big Game Hunter, Sylvanas, Recombobulator, and Alexstraza, where perhaps their cost is simply the fact that their abilities are unique.



Mana Inertia

As you travel up the mana ladder, minions become heavier in more ways than one. 9 mana minions commonly have to pay .56 mana for each stat they carry, compared to .33 mana per stat of 1 mana minions, and oftentimes having 8 or less health allows them to be easily removed. Even 8 and 7 mana minions suffer heavily from this “mana inertia” effect. Sometimes this is balanced by the insanely powerful effects that these cards carry.



For example, the 9+ mana legendary dragons (save Onyxia) are often game enders on their own, provided they last for a turn or two. However, since most of these cards carry passive effects, and to make use of them, you need to either protect these cards or have a substantial board presence already, often leading these cards to be described as “win-more” cards (I.e. Mekgineer Thermaplugg, Troggzor, Gruul). The issue is that faster minions can simply out-tempo you, which is why the majority of big minions do not see play. Why waste 9 mana on a 9/7 when it simply dies to a combined hit of a 2 drop and a 4 drop easily, unless there are ways to either cheat it into play (Malganis) or make full use of its ability during the turn that you play it turn (Malygos decks and Alexstraza).



Overweighted Cards

Eventually while making cards for Hearthstone there are going to be cards that simply carry more value than others, whether the effect is not anticipated to be as powerful as it turned out to be, or through simple power creep. One of these cards is Mad Scientist, which has been described by many pros as too good not to run in Hunter and Mage. Let's do the math behind the scientist, and see why he is so good. He is a 2/2, so only sacrificing 1 stat, or .4 mana to be a 2 mana minion. His deathrattle pulls a secret out of the deck, draw effects have been priced at 1.5 mana by blizzard (arcane intellect/novice engineer), he then plays the secret, which in hunter and mage costs 2 and 3 mana respectively, allowing a total of 5.1-6.1 mana worth of value in a single 2 mana minion, nearly a 300% return on investment. With such an absurd value, it's no wonder that scientist is the most used card in Hunter and Mage decks.

Another card that is overweighted in terms of attributes is Piloted Shredder. It is a 4/3 minion for 4, but on average, it gives a 2/2 minion on death, leading to a total of 6/5 worth of stats. This statline is on par for 5 mana minions, and that is not including any possible abilities or above average drops given by the shredder's deathrattle. Some games can and are definitely won off of insane shredder drops (doomsayer, millhouse manastorm, explosive sheep, nerubar weblord, etc.)



As stated before, 7+ mana minions heavily suffer from the effect of mana inertia. The grand exception towards this trend, however, is our favorite family physician, Dr. Boom. Not only does he have greater mana efficiency per stat than most 2 drops, but the relative value of the boom bots' deathrattles can range from (taking arcane shot as the baseline) an added 1-4 mana. AND to top it all off, the boom bots are mechs also, conferring an additional tribal bonus, which blizzard values at .5 mana each. Dr. Boom is not just a war golem, he is a war golem with 4-7 added mana of effects.



Conclusion

With the way stats are divvied up amongst minions, there is definitely a clear and undeniable bias towards smaller minions. Larger minions heavily suffer from mana inertia, and unless they have an immediate impact, even Ysera can be said to have an immediate impact, then they are rarely, if never used. This is an intrinsic issue with the game, and will not be changed until the underlying game philosophy behind minions is altered by Blizzard. There is also the issue of some cards being severely overweighted in terms of mana value, and I believe these cards need to be taken a look at by Blizzard. Piloted Shredder is fine due to its RNG element, but cards such as Mad Scientist and the old Undertaker should not be allowed to remain in their broken state. So while we all love to plop down big minions, those who wish to be the best will use the overweighted, most mana efficient minions in their decks.





By Blitzcrank BotV2 Stats have a price attached to them, however the formula for determining vanilla (no abilities) stats on minions appears to be:The stats can be distributed in ways that make the minion top -heavy (more attack) or bottom heavy (more health), but on a vanilla minion, they most always follow this formula, except at higher mana values. It appears that at higher mana values the sheer amount of stats that these minions carry command a higher premium, for example, War Golem and Core Hound. In fact, at higher mana values the relative cost of each stat increases, for a 151% increase of mana cost per stat from 1 mana minions to 7 mana minions. I like to term this phenonemon “mana inertia,” as minions get bigger, they suffer intrinsic losses to mana efficiency and statlines. However this is just the formula for total stats of vanlla minions, once they get abilities, the maximum amount of stats they carry is reduced as a cost of carrying abilities.When any sort of game-affecting text is inserted on a minion, it generally affects the total statline of the minion. Minions with taunt lose some of their attack or health (Senjin Shieldmasta and Lord of the Arena). Minions that are part of a tribe (mech, beast, etc.) also generally pay a price to be a part of that tribe, usually in the form of either lacking other abilities, or having non-optimal stat distributions (Puddlestomper and Core Hound). As shown previously, there is a sort of bias towards smaller creatures, as adding abilities reduces the statline of minions to lesser mana levels, but smaller creatures have less to lose (compare Argent Squire, 1/1 Divine Shield 1 mana, to Silvermoon Protector, 3/3 Divine Shield 4 mana).The cases get even more murky with regard to class minions. Since they are limited by class, these minions are allowed to be stronger than neutral minions, and all these metrics for measurements get skewed. For example, Soot Spewer is part of the mech tribe and has spell damage +1, however, it only sacrifices 1 stat since it is a Mage class minion. Dalaran Mage, on the other hand, has spell power +1, but sacrifices 2 stats and is without a tribe since it is a neutral card.Some abilities may simply have no price to them. Everyone agrees that Loatheb is a well designed card, however the mana cost of his battlecry is difficult to surmise. This case is the same for other legendary and non-legendary minions such as Big Game Hunter, Sylvanas, Recombobulator, and Alexstraza, where perhaps their cost is simply the fact that their abilities are unique.As you travel up the mana ladder, minions become heavier in more ways than one. 9 mana minions commonly have to pay .56 mana for each stat they carry, compared to .33 mana per stat of 1 mana minions, and oftentimes having 8 or less health allows them to be easily removed. Even 8 and 7 mana minions suffer heavily from this “mana inertia” effect. Sometimes this is balanced by the insanely powerful effects that these cards carry.For example, the 9+ mana legendary dragons (save Onyxia) are often game enders on their own, provided they last for a turn or two. However, since most of these cards carry passive effects, and to make use of them, you need to either protect these cards or have a substantial board presence already, often leading these cards to be described as “win-more” cards (I.e. Mekgineer Thermaplugg, Troggzor, Gruul). The issue is that faster minions can simply out-tempo you, which is why the majority of big minions do not see play. Why waste 9 mana on a 9/7 when it simply dies to a combined hit of a 2 drop and a 4 drop easily, unless there are ways to either cheat it into play (Malganis) or make full use of its ability during the turn that you play it turn (Malygos decks and Alexstraza).Eventually while making cards for Hearthstone there are going to be cards that simply carry more value than others, whether the effect is not anticipated to be as powerful as it turned out to be, or through simple power creep. One of these cards is Mad Scientist, which has been described by many pros as too good not to run in Hunter and Mage. Let's do the math behind the scientist, and see why he is so good. He is a 2/2, so only sacrificing 1 stat, or .4 mana to be a 2 mana minion. His deathrattle pulls a secret out of the deck, draw effects have been priced at 1.5 mana by blizzard (arcane intellect/novice engineer), he then plays the secret, which in hunter and mage costs 2 and 3 mana respectively, allowing a total of 5.1-6.1 mana worth of value in a single 2 mana minion, nearly a 300% return on investment. With such an absurd value, it's no wonder that scientist is the most used card in Hunter and Mage decks.Another card that is overweighted in terms of attributes is Piloted Shredder. It is a 4/3 minion for 4, but on average, it gives a 2/2 minion on death, leading to a total of 6/5 worth of stats. This statline is on par for 5 mana minions, and that is not including any possible abilities or above average drops given by the shredder's deathrattle. Some games can and are definitely won off of insane shredder drops (doomsayer, millhouse manastorm, explosive sheep, nerubar weblord, etc.)As stated before, 7+ mana minions heavily suffer from the effect of mana inertia. The grand exception towards this trend, however, is our favorite family physician, Dr. Boom. Not only does he have greater mana efficiency per stat than most 2 drops, but the relative value of the boom bots' deathrattles can range from (taking arcane shot as the baseline) an added 1-4 mana. AND to top it all off, the boom bots are mechs also, conferring an additional tribal bonus, which blizzard values at .5 mana each. Dr. Boom is not just a war golem, he is a war golem with 4-7 added mana of effects.With the way stats are divvied up amongst minions, there is definitely a clear and undeniable bias towards smaller minions. Larger minions heavily suffer from mana inertia, and unless they have an immediate impact, even Ysera can be said to have an immediate impact, then they are rarely, if never used. This is an intrinsic issue with the game, and will not be changed until the underlying game philosophy behind minions is altered by Blizzard. There is also the issue of some cards being severely overweighted in terms of mana value, and I believe these cards need to be taken a look at by Blizzard. Piloted Shredder is fine due to its RNG element, but cards such as Mad Scientist and the old Undertaker should not be allowed to remain in their broken state. So while we all love to plop down big minions, those who wish to be the best will use the overweighted, most mana efficient minions in their decks. Zenhurak , Saturday, 04/07/15 00:48