Inspire

Inspire
Does something after you use your Hero Power.

Inspire

Inspire icon

Inspire is a special kind of triggered effect which activates each time the controlling hero uses their Hero Power. It was created for, and remains closely associated with, The Grand Tournament expansion card set.

Inspire effects are represented by a light blue flag icon under the minion's portrait on battlefield.

Notes

• Inspire effects take effect after the effect of the triggering Hero Power, which can be strategically important.

Example: Using Reinforce while controlling a Murloc Knight will result in a Silver Hand Recruit being summoned before the Murloc Knight's Inspire effect is activated: thus, if you already had 6 minions in play, the Silver Hand Recruit will prevent Murloc Knight from summoning a Murloc due to the board having become full.

Example: If you control Thunder Bluff Valiant and use Totemic Call, the newly-summoned Totem will be buffed by Thunder Bluff Valiant's Inspire effect.

• An Inspire minion put into the battlefield by other Inspire effects will not have its effects triggered by the original Hero Power usage, since all eligible Inspire effects have already been queued for activation before the new minion enters play.
• An Inspire minion put into the battlefield by a Hero Power which summons minions (e.g., the Tavern Brawl Hero Power Pile On!!!) will have its effects triggered by that same Hero Power usage, since the new minion enters play before eligible Inspire effects are queued for activation.
• If the consequences of using a Hero Power kills a hero, it is not possible for a triggered Inspire effect to save them.

Example: If a 2-Health warlock with a Tournament Medic on board uses Life Tap, they will die.

• Minions in play with Inspire effects are denoted by a small blue flag icon on the bottom of their portraits.
• Similarly to Inspire effects, Poisoned Blade and Dart Trap are triggered effects that trigger when a Hero Power is used, after the effect of the triggering Hero Power. However, while all Inspire effects belong to minions, Poisoned Blade is a weapon a Dart Trap is a Secret (it also triggers when the opponent's Hero Power is used, not the controlling player's).

Cards

Collectible

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Uncollectible

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Sources of Inspire

Inspire-generating cards

This section lists cards which generate cards that have the ability to Inspire.

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Cards with the Inspire mechanic

Even though these cards don't possess the keyword, they behave exactly the same as Inspire cards.

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Lore

"The courageous deeds of champions have long served as a source of inner strength for others, and witnessing a hero’s gallantry in action can be enough to inspire even the lowliest of squires to great feats of strength."

Conceptually, Inspire effects are meant to reflect the minion being inspired to "great victory" by the heroism of the controlling player. Inspire summon effects are described as "[attracting] additional allies to your cause".

Development

Inspire was the design concept that "started the whole development of The Grand Tournament." Even before the developers knew what they wanted the theme or setting for the expansion to be, they knew that they wanted it to feature the Inspire mechanic. The developers plan and design substantially in advance, and therefore whenever they came up with a card that had such an effect, they set it aside for use in a Hero Power-themed set at some point in the future. Steamwheedle Sniper was in the minds' of the developers as they were searching for a new mechanic for the expansion. The developers had previously prototyped "activated powers" - alternate abilities minions could effect instead of attacking. However, they had been unable to reach a satisfactory design. Inspire provided a way to do something similar, by granting an additional activated effect that belonged to the minion and yet that the player could directly choose when to enact.

Inspire was initially represented by the text "Whenever you use your Hero Power do X". The developers felt that replacing it with a new keyword would both save space on cards and also highlight the new mechanic as a key feature of the new expansion. They also felt that the game had been around long enough that it was acceptable to introduce a new keyword.

Alternate names for Inspire during development include 'Empower', 'Heroism', 'On Hero Power' and 'Hero Powered'.

Inspire cards were intentionally made weak. The team ultimately weren't sold on the gameplay of Inspire by the time The Grand Tournament entered development. Since they had no time to redesign the mechanic and couldn't scrap the expansion's core theme, they felt safer lowering the power level of the cards.

Trivia

• Inspire is the first keyword to relate to Hero Powers.
• Inspire was the first new full keyword added to the game. The only other keyword added before it was Mega-Windfury, which was only seen on V-07-TR-0N.
• Showcase matches streamed just before the expansion's release featured a golden version of the Inspire icon, due to using an old build.
• Rogue is the only class not to have any class specific Inspire minions. This has been jokingly ascribed by developers to equipping a knife not being especially "inspiring".
• Descent of Dragons eventually reused Inspire's concept, with the hunter cards Phase Stalker and Dragonbane also being triggered by using your Hero Power, though they are worded with a more generic "After you use your Hero Power" instead.

See also

• Hero Power