We're (finally) back with the winners of the last mini design contest. Although the prizes were given out in a timely fashion, we didn't get to showcase some of the great designs that readers submitted, for which I apologise. But before we look at those, let's talk about the next design contest:

With the Faerie Dragon landing in Season 5, let's celebrate the Cenarion by filling out their family with some minis! We have 5 codes to give away, each containing the following:

  • 1 Random Horde Leader
  • 2 stars of 1 Random Horde Mini
  • 300 Coins

To enter, design a mini troop or leader for the newly announced Cenarion faction and submit your design to [email protected]. Deadline for submission is the 14th of April, Anywhere-On-Earth.

Although many great designs were submitted, the following were a cut above the rest and it is my pleasure to showcase them to you.

First, we have Togar, with Van Cleef:

Name: Edwin Van Cleef.
Cost: 4g.
Traits: Alliance, Melee, One-Target, Ambush, Stealth.
Health: 680.
Dps: 117.
Ability: Money is King - Each Gold in hand increases damage by 30.
Talents:
Shadow Madness - After killing a mini, restealth.
Blood Money - When killing a mini with Ambush, gain 1 gold.

What I really like about this design is the leader ability. Holding resources in hand in order to get extra damage is a mechanic not featured yet in Rumble. It also has a nice synergy with both talents, as being able to quickly kill minis and trigger the effects is made easier with the bonus damage from pooling gold.

Next, we have Mute with Goblin Zepplin:

Name: Goblin Zeppelin
Traits: Horde, Unbound, Flying.
Cost: 3g.
Health: 250.
Ability: When played on the field, it will act as a potential deployment point for your minis. It will take 4 seconds to fully deploy and will stay for 10 seconds afterward

Talents:
Extra protection: Deploys with a shield that blocks 1 attack.
Oily ship: Burns surrounding enemies when destroyed.
Time is money: Deploy time will be cut to half.

The Horde currently lacks any kind of unbound minis so it's nice to see that design space explored. The notion of a unbound deployment point really opens up the potential for a lot of other underplayed minis, and the need to protect the Zeppelin creates interesting gameplay patterns.

Number Three, we have Omeleet with Crypt Fiend:

Name: Crypt Fiend.
Cost: 4g.
Traits: Physical, Ranged, Undead.
Health: 550 HP.
Ability: Web - Flying units hit by the Crypt Fiend are webbed and can be attacked as though they are land units.

Talents:

  1. Burrow away from melee attackers and heal 15% HP (once).
  2. Webbed attacks slow movement by 33%
  3. Chitinous Plating: Lose 150 HP but gain armored trait.

The Nerubians are some of my favourite designs from WC3 so I'm happy to see them return to Rumble. The Web passive is a neat design, allowing melee heavy armies to avoid counters in a novel way. It's also great flavour, and a good callback to one of the most iconic UD builds.

Followed by WenkChi with Dryad:

Name: Dryad.
Traits: Alliance, ranged, poison, resistance, fast.
Cost:4g
Talents:

  1. Dryad's spear can daze the target.
  2. Dryad dispels all enemies' buff within a range of 8, 10 second CD.
  3. Gain fury.

Even though this design is very simple, I think it fits the role well. Despite being submitted as Alliance, the Dryad design seems already well-positioned for the trickster theme being fleshed out for the Cenarion with Faerie Dragon, and should slot in nicely. Clean talents offer clear choices for the Dryad to support an army in different ways.

Finally, we have Rafaam from Stevethebarbarian:

Name: Rafaam.
Cost: 4g.
Traits: Ranged, One-Target, Elemental, Burn, E.V.I.L.
Ability: Arch-Thief - When Rafaam kills a mini, spawn a temporary 1-Gold Chest.

Health: 500
DPS: 150
Range: 8.

Talents:
Vast Riches - Rafaam’s chests are worth 2 Gold when you open them, but only 1 to your opponent.
Upward Mobility - Friendly Minis gain 1 level when opening Rafaam’s chests (up to 3).
Shiny Spoils - Rafaam’s chests Taunt enemies when spawned.

To begin with, I think the design undeniably overpowered. Being able to snowball with all the extra gold from a high-damage high-range mini is probably broken. But what I really love about the design is how bold it is. Even though spawning a bunch of chests everywhere is really way too good, it's an exciting idea to play and the talents build on the core mini design well. Balance issues aside, it's the kind of weird and wild design I'd like to see more of in Rumble.

That's all for now, see you next time.