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Hi,
I already left a longish comment on another thread about this but I feel like this is worthy of its own post.
One of the most common recurring suggestions I see in the Hearthstone community is there should be a keyword for the minion ability "Can't be targetted by spells of Hero Powers."
There is always a few different suggestions for this keyword and most of them are taken from MtG (i.e. hexproof, shroud) but the one that really makes no sense to me and comes up time and again is "Elusive".
Now, before we go any further let me quickly say that I am not arguing here as to whether or not the ability should or should not be keyworded. There are strong arguement on both sides for that. What I am strongly contesting, however, is this continuation that "Elusive" should be the keyword. Let me also add that I am not trying to stifle discussion. Discussion is good but this Elusive thing has gone on for years and it makes no sense to me so I think it is time to get this all written down to get everyone back in the realms of sanity.
Let's begin
First lets define elusive:
elusive /ɪˈluːsɪv/
adjective
1) difficult to find, catch, or achieve.
"success will become ever more elusive"
So the idea that a minion cannot be targetted is that an elusive minion can evade your targetting somehow or it can't be found so can't be targetted? Not sure, but let's carry on.
I think the best way to exemplify my point that elusive is a horrible choice of keyword is to go through every card one at a time which has this ability and talk about whether it makes sense to be Elusive and posit as to what the source of the ability is.
So let's start...
Cards which have "Can't Be Targetted"
Tyrantus: Tyrantus is a huge f*cking dinosaur towering over the trees in the jungle of Ungoro. Huge f*cking dinosaurs towering over the trees aren't exactly known for being elusive. I'm not sure why this can't be targetted but my best guess is it just has very tough skin which has protection? I don't know, your guess is as good as mine but either way it isn't because Tyrantus is elusive.
BearShark: Bears and sharks aren't exactly known for their graceful fighting technique. I imagine a zombie hybrid of the two of them will not possess an elusive fighting style. The ability maybe due to weird lichy witchy lich king magic?
Air Elemental: Ok, this one could make sense as elusive. A small fast air elemental minion. I do not believe that the potential elusiveness of the minion explains the ability though.
Beryllium nullifier: This thing looks huge. It is a giant mech holding a giant shield. I don't think that this is going to be dodging much. I think the ability comes more from the nullifying part of it.
Faerie Dragon: Sure, yeah I guess you can make a case for Faerie Dragon being elusive. Again, though, the source of this ability is not from the Faerie Dragon being elusive. Going all the back to the times of Warcraft 3 the Faerie Dragon has been an anti-magic tech. The cannot be targetted ability comes from the spell immunity property of the dragon as opposed to its ability to be elusive.
Arcane Nullifier: There is that nullifier thing again. And this has TAUNT! Taunt is thematically the opposite of elusive. It makes very little sense to have these two conflicting abilities coinciding on one card. IMO thematically this would be like giving a minion Charge and Can't Attack.
Spectral Knight: Again, a biggish minion which probably isn't very elusive. Again, most likely protected by some sort of magic, in this case something lichy. Lichy witchy skele magicy thing yup.
Soggoth the Slitherer: You have got to be joking if you think Elusive belongs on this guy. This guy is absolutely HUGE. He is like the size of a large mountain. Also again the card has taunt which is the opposite of elusive. Even without the evidence from all these other cards I'd say this card alone is enough to stop this elusive nonsense.
KobaldMonk/WeeSpellStopper/SpellwardJeweller: Honourable mention to these cards that give "can't be targetted". IMO it doesn't make sense that these things are making something else elusive. It is more like it is giving it some sort of warding protection.
Short analysis
- Out of 8 cards which have the ability only 2 of them can possibly be elusive.
- Out of the 2 that can be elusive the ability can be explained by other means.
- Every minion which has or gives this ability implies some sort of protection, whether that be magic or otherwise.
I don't believe there are any other important points to cover here, it is very possible I am overlooking something though so do let me know if you think I missed something important.
Conclusion
Given the evidence given from existing cards in the game I can safely say that using Elusive as a keyword for "Can't be targetted by spells of Hero Powers" is a terrible idea.
This mass hysteria that Elusive is a fitting keyword needs to stop. If you want to keyword the ability stop and think about what you are doing then name it.
My suggestion for a keyword if one had to be implemented would be a word that implies some sort of protection (magic or otherwise). My proposed keyword would be "Warded". Like I said at the start though I am not arguing that this should or should not be keyworded, this is just a constructive suggestion to add to the conclusion.
Thank you
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