Hearthstone 18: Mean Priests of Gadgetzan

[Zevox]

Welcome to eighteenth GitP thread for Hearthstone. For anyone who doesn't know, Hearthstone is a video card game from Blizzard, based on the Warcraft series. The game is free to play and available here (http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/), so if you're interested, give it a shot. You've got nothing to lose but your free time. :smallwink:

For new players, something to be aware of is that there are a number of hidden "quests" you can complete which will give you free gold, dust, or even a pack. A complete list can be found here (http://www.hearthpwn.com/forums/hearthstone-general/general-discussion/1088-list-of-quests-and-daily-quests-in-hearthstone). Be aware that not quite all of those are ones you'll be able to complete quickly though.

And here is a list of Playgrounders currently in the game, for both NA and EU servers:

GitP UsernameBattle.net ID (US)
aethernoxethernox#1948
AgentPaperAgentPaper#1193
AmberVaelAmberVael#1225
AnarionAnarion55#1254
AntonokAntonok#1704
AnxeGoCorral#1879
BaelotBaelot#1149
CogwheelOmegaNixon#1123
banthesunbanthesun#1782
Dancing OwlbearOwlbear#1586
Destro YersulDestroYersul#1239
D_LordVolrock#1367
Duck999Duck999#1349
DuosDoctorDapper#1491
Firedaemon33Firedaemon#1486
flat_footedHiigara#1357
Fleeing CowardScorch#1432
GAADGAAD#1126
GaelbertSamHouston#1563
GamerlordGamerlord#1612
GandarielCiabatta#2958
GanorenasGanorenas#1457
GomipileGlodd#1784
Gray MageGrayMage#1723
GrytormGrytorm#1777
HamsteTheorules#1234
Haruspex_PariahHaruspexPari#1254
HatevahHatevah#1405
heronbpvAvan#1991
HircineIllusiveMan#1616
jindra34JinRia #1770
JohnjimcoJohnJimco#1482
KarohtKaroht#1505
KishGrazzt#1417
KradeKrade#1266
LegoShrimplegoshrimp#1722
Landis963Landis963#1789
Loreweaver15Loreweaver#1199
Lunix VandalLunixVandal#1952
MacGiollaMacGiolla#1982
MathMageMathMage#1797
MCerberusMCerberus#1734
mistformsquirrlmistformsqrl#1430
moosabiMoossabi#1325
Mystic MuseNSFJunkblade#1400
Neon KnightVultureCrook#1434
Neriractorneriractor#1483
NerociteJoeKage#1852
nhbdyNohbdy#1927
OlinserOlinser#1393
OnionbreathGiantSquid#1845
OrcusMcPOrcus#1805
otakuryogaScootaloo#1471
Pokonicpokonic#1166
PsyBombPsyBomb#1878
QwertystopQwertystop#1897
r2d2gor2d2go#1262
RodinRodin#1811
RosstinRosstin#1609
SamBurkeSamBurke#1486
ShishnarfneGruschenka#1375
SholosVeebeebee#1383
Stabbity Rabbit StabityRabit#1362
TechwarriorTechwarri0r#1572
TemoteiTemotei#1507
Tesla_pastateslapasta#1973
Thanatos 51-50Thanatos5150#1407
TheGlyphstoneGlyphstone#1419
The Hellbugthehellbug#1216
The_JackalTheJackal#1499
TogarthAsparag#1680
Trouble BrewingHairyPoppins#1949
UserCloneUserClone #1545
VolatarVolatar#1750
YaelUrashima#1810
YanaRaltis#1807
ZeroNumerousZeroNumerous#1913
ZevoxZevox#1522
ZmekJadeReaver #1783


GitP UsernameBattle.net ID (EU)
AdumbrationAdumbration#2419
Aran ThuleAranThule#2780
AvarisAvaris#2378
Avilan the GreyBeardedgeek#2355
Beelzebub1111SirArthurIV#1244
boomwolfBoomWolf#1169
DadaScrattlebear#2863
D-naras Dinos #2811
Epinephrine_SynSilverSeraph #2931
Fleeing CowardScorch#1432
Frog DragonVasemmasti#2618
FyreByrdFyreByrd#2962
GandarielCiabatta#2958
GolemsVoiceCrazyCat#29897
HewhosaysfishHeWhoSezFish#2503
Hippie_VikingHippieViking#2866
Infernally ClayWinny#1904
JormengandTrianna#2529
LionheartLionheart#2440
Mr.SilverSilverSmiles#2462
MurmaiderMurmaider#2273
PoscaMazura#2636
RaddishRaddish#2730
ScionoftheVoidJayPsi#2775
ShinyRocksMoodyTuskarr#2790
SianSian#2690
SilfirSilfir#2863
SlyGuyMcFlySlGuyMcFly#2562
TokayTokay#2518
TomeTaejix#2836
VolthawkVolthawk#1214
WeimannWeimann#2716
WraithIllusionist#2224
XianderXiander#2814

[Nerocite]

New Hunter card Revealed. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4wT4UwZSPM)

Dispatch Kodo
4 mana 2/4 Beast Rare
Battlecry: Deal damage equal to this minion's attack.

Pretty cool, obviously wants to be used with all the hand buffing cards.

[PsyBomb]

New Hunter card Revealed. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4wT4UwZSPM)

Dispatch Kodo
4 mana 2/4 Beast Rare
Battlecry: Deal damage equal to this minion's attack.

Pretty cool, obviously wants to be used with all the hand buffing cards.

Whew, a doozy to lead this one off. I actually REALLY like that card, getting a more patient buildup going. Base is a hair underwhelming, but usable. After even one buff, though, it gets good. I'll do full writeups in a bit

[Zevox]

New Hunter card Revealed. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4wT4UwZSPM)

Dispatch Kodo
4 mana 2/4 Beast Rare
Battlecry: Deal damage equal to this minion's attack.

Pretty cool, obviously wants to be used with all the hand buffing cards.
Well, how usable that will be will depend greatly on unreleased cards. If we somehow already know all of the cards that could potentially buff it prior to playing it, well, it's awful. All three provide their buffs at random, which means getting this thing buffed is way too unreliable to warrant play, because without buffs, it's weak. It's probably decent with even a +1/+1 buff, though, and becomes great at +2/+2 and beyond, so if there's a more reliable way to boost it, it could become usable.

Edit: Somehow, I read that thing as a 2/3 initially, so slight ammendment to the above: it's definitely already good with a +1/+1, and amazing at +2/+2 and beyond. Still, without a buff, I don't think it's strong enough, so it needs some way to get one consistently to see constructed play - and it's probably just poor in arena, since odds are long that you'll draft enough synergy for it.

[Yael]

Whew, a doozy to lead this one off. I actually REALLY like that card, getting a more patient buildup going. Base is a hair underwhelming, but usable. After even one buff, though, it gets good. I'll do full writeups in a bit

Keeper of the Groove Dispatch Kodo will see some play, it does not deal damage randomly, so if it is buffed even once, it will deal 3 damage on top of his 3/5 stats, for 4 mana is just worth it. Mixes well with Grimestreet Smuggler, and Shaky Zipgunner, and mostly with Trogg Beastrager, because of the beast tag. Even more, if you can manage to Discover a Grimestreet Enforcer, or a Grimestreet Outfitter using a Grimestreet Informant, or any other method, Kodo's value just skyrockets. I'm actually starting to like the Grimy Goons a lot, they push for hand/control/stall game, imo.

EDIT: probably ninja'd?

[Rodin]

It looks like hand-buffs are going to be Hunter's "thing" this expansion. Hunter buffs individual minions a fair bit - Paladin spams cheap minions and lots of draw with smaller, wide-area buffs. Priest is pushing Dragon Priest with an emphasis on board control.

[Yael]

Alongside with Dispatch Kodo, another card was revealed.

Backroom Bouncer <4>
Rare Neutral minion
Whenever a friendly minion dies, gain +1 Attack.
4/4

Ehh, just another Flesheating Ghoul with higher mana cost, but better stats for its cost than the Ghoul's. Probably it will see arena play.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

New Hunter card Revealed. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4wT4UwZSPM)

Dispatch Kodo
4 mana 2/4 Beast Rare
Battlecry: Deal damage equal to this minion's attack.

Pretty cool, obviously wants to be used with all the hand buffing cards.
A Stormpike Commando, but 1 mana cheaper and with a much better stat spread.

Also, it can get its battlecry buffed. A 4-mana 3/5 that deals 3 damage is arguably better than Blackwing Corrupter, based on the statline. Any more than that, and this becomes super-sweet.

[Destro_Yersul]

New cards:

Dispatch Kodo seems good. Damage dealing battlecries have historically been enough to justify poor stats, when the damage dealt was 3. This one has potential to be quite strong, if you can manage a few buffs for it. Hopefully there are more hand buff cards we haven't seen.

Backroom Bouncer is an Arena card. Decent there, but not for constructed.

RE: the brawl, I'm having fun with Mistcaller evolve shaman. The mistcaller buff is so very good in this format.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Also notable that Backroom Bouncer is significantly better than Flesh-eating Ghoul, stat-wise.

[GAAD]

But only works off of FRIENDLY minions.

[Rodin]

Also notable that Backroom Bouncer is significantly better than Flesh-eating Ghoul, stat-wise.

Although it's worth pointing out that the Bouncer only grows from your minions, not all minions, which means it grows about half as fast. Still, that's really only an issue in extreme cases - if only two minions die to the bouncer, he's a 6/4, while 4 minions dying to the Ghoul makes it a 6/3. Having better starting stats is probably worth more, overall, since playing a 4/4 for 4 is not at all bad in Arena, while playing a 2/3 for 3 is pretty painful.

[PsyBomb]

Card review time!

2/1 common neutral Murloc for 2, battlecry deal one damage. It's mediocre on its own merits, even coming from someone trying to make post-Anyfin Aggro work. Maybe if something else pops up for Synergy, but for now it's not worth running over other options.

2/6(!) Epic Neutral Minion for 2, Deathrattle summons a random minion from your opponent's hand for them. Welp, I hope you guys weren't planning on playing aggro like I was, the descendants of Deathlord are, if anything, stronger than the original. Comes down faster, trades with more equivalent drops, and actually eats enemy resources by taking from their hand instead of deck. Easier for the enemy to game the Deathrattle... but also easier for you to strip a combo piece.

2/4 Rare Hunter Beast for 4, battlecry deals damage equal to its attack. As I said above, this is decent (though not great) on its own. In tandem with Goons buffs, we may finally have a viable Control Hunter finisher (and an excellent addition to non-Secret Hunters). Once it catches at least +1/+1, it's good. Higher than that and it's amazing.

4/4 common neutral Minion for 4, whenever a friendly minion dies, +1 attack. Better body than flesheater, but only gets bonuses from friendly deaths. Not a fan.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

Card review time!

2/6(!) Epic Neutral Minion for 2, Deathrattle summons a random minion from your opponent's hand for them. Welp, I hope you guys weren't planning on playing aggro like I was, the descendants of Deathlord are, if anything, stronger than the original. Comes down faster, trades with more equivalent drops, and actually eats enemy resources by taking from their hand instead of deck. Easier for the enemy to game the Deathrattle... but also easier for you to strip a combo piece.


Dirty Rat's effect is a Battlecry, not a Deathrattle. So the enemy minion gets summoned immediately without having to kill the rat first. But it is still pretty strong.

[The Glyphstone]

Isn't the Sniper just a Murloc Tidehunter that trades the extra body-on-field for dealing its 1 point of damage up front? That is to say, it's outright inferior to an auto-awarded Basic set card since it loses synergy with Tidecaller, Oracle, Murkeye, etc.?

[Destro_Yersul]

Yeah, basically.

Somehow missed that the Dirty Rat was a battlecry rather than Deathrattle. That makes it a bit worse, but still not too bad.

[Yael]

Card review time!
2/6(!) Epic Neutral Minion for 2, Deathrattle summons a random minion from your opponent's hand for them. Welp, I hope you guys weren't planning on playing aggro like I was, the descendants of Deathlord are, if anything, stronger than the original. Comes down faster, trades with more equivalent drops, and actually eats enemy resources by taking from their hand instead of deck. Easier for the enemy to game the Deathrattle... but also easier for you to strip a combo piece.

Err, Dirty Rat's effect is a Battlecry.

EDIT: Monk'd

[Gandariel]

@Dirty Rat:
Well, thank goodness Shredder is out of rotation :D

[Yael]

@Dirty Rat:
Well, thank goodness Shredder is out of rotation :D

Wait, is Naxxramas released already? :smalleek:

[Yael]

Smuggler's Run {1}
Common Paladin Spell
All minions in your hand gain +1/+1.

I was expecting something better with the murloc art. Oh well, fits the archetype of handbuff. Awesome turn 1 play.

EDIT: This will be seen in 80% of paladin drafts in arena.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

Smuggler's Run {1}
Common Paladin Spell
All minions in your hand gain +1/+1.

I was expecting something better with the murloc art. Oh well, fits the archetype of handbuff. Awesome turn 1 play.

EDIT: This will be seen in 80% of paladin drafts in arena.

Well Blizzard seems pretty dedicated to their themes at least. It'll be interesting to see what the breakpoint is for gathering minions in hand vs casting this spell quickly.

[Nerocite]

Speaking of cards that want to get buffed...

New Neutral Card (https://youtu.be/KXMB5pEMfrM?t=23s)

Dopplegangster
5 mana 2/2 Rare.
Battlecry: Summon 2 copies of this minion.

Force of Nature without buffs, but can get big fast. I like cards that spread out your buffs, makes it feel less bad when your big guy gets removed.

[Yael]

Speaking of cards that want to get buffed...

New Neutral Card (https://youtu.be/KXMB5pEMfrM?t=23s)

Dopplegangster
5 mana 2/2 Rare.
Battlecry: Summon 2 copies of this minion.

Force of Nature without buffs, but can get big fast. I like cards that spread out your buffs, makes it feel less bad when your big guy gets removed.

Brann'ing that card will be so brutal if you can get it at least +3/+3, 5 mana (8 for the combo) for 5 5/5s on the board. I think it will be fun to use.

[Anarion]

Isn't the Sniper just a Murloc Tidehunter that trades the extra body-on-field for dealing its 1 point of damage up front? That is to say, it's outright inferior to an auto-awarded Basic set card since it loses synergy with Tidecaller, Oracle, Murkeye, etc.?

Outright inferior is an overly bold claim. The ability to do that 1 point of damage immediately is a lot of power, even if it's less synergistic than other murlocs in other cases. Of course, it also means murloc knight is summoning even more 2/1s than it was already (although I look forward to murloc knight summoning a Finja that summons two more murloc knights). And then losing to flamestrike


Smuggler's Run {1}
Common Paladin Spell
All minions in your hand gain +1/+1.

I was expecting something better with the murloc art. Oh well, fits the archetype of handbuff. Awesome turn 1 play.

EDIT: This will be seen in 80% of paladin drafts in arena.

I'm not sold on smuggler's run. In practice it's worse than power of the wild, I think. It's likely to buff 2-3 cards and you don't get haste so it's much more vulnerable to removal or board clear.

[Yael]

By the way, Doppleganster is an optimal Evolve target.

[heronbpv]

My hope is for the Paladin class to get back on track. It's right now less played than Priest, according to the latest VS Data Reaper.

I'm particularly interested in a reborn mid-range Paladin. Loved to muster + quartermaster back in the day. Nowadays, I'm trying a combination of Kibler's + StrifeCro Dragon Paladin, and a personal take on midrange, both to subpar success so far. :(

[Destro_Yersul]

Card Reviews
Smuggler's Run: Eh, seems kinda bad. Effects like this are better when they're stapled to minions. Being 1 mana it's at least easy to fit it in somewhere, and maybe you can combine it with card draw and stuff to buff a lot of things... Could get used, but I think it's not good enough.
Doppelgangster: FoN no longer gets played, and this is basically minion FoN... but slightly better with handbuff cards around. This is comparable to Patron, I think, so I hesitate to call it bad, but it can't snowball as hard as patron can. This'll be really dependant on how well hand buffs work out in constructed, but in Arena it's fine.

[Zevox]

Smuggler's Run I'm iffy as heck on. Spending a card for just +1/+1 to whatever minions are in your hand sounds like a dicey proposition to me - yeah, technically you're getting a good amount of stats for the cost even if you hit only two minions, but fundamentally here you're spending a card for just a buff that's spread out among several other cards. That, in and of itself, is dicey - it works for Power of the Wild because the things you're buffing are already on the board, so you're not playing it unless you're getting some genuine impact out of it. For things in your hand, it's a lot more questionable, especially without a body attached. You'll need at least some luck for the distribution of the buff to be meaningful on each card, I suspect, which doesn't inspire confidence.

Dopplegangster - Well, given I'm still very dubious about all of the hand-buff mechanics, I have to say I'm equally so about this card. I mean, so far we've seen these buffs mostly for Hunter, who gives them to random cards and so can't reliably buff Dopplegangster, and Paladin, who gives buffs to everyone in his hand at once and so at least hits it guaranteed, but is only giving +1/+1 at a time and each of those cards so far as looked iffy to me. I don't know, maybe this will be potent enough to see play and help make Paladin's buffers see play (I really can't see Hunter when you can't reliably get the buff on the minion you want buffed), but I'm very skeptical at this point.

[Rodin]

Dopplegangster is definitely going in my Evolve deck, assuming all 3 copies are 5 mana. Big Time Racketeer could also fit into that deck too, if the Ogre he summons is also a 6 mana card. I doubt it'll be meta-worthy but additional tools for Evolve decks are always welcome.

Interesting that we haven't seen a single Shaman card yet. I guess that means they're spending extra time working on those because Shaman is so OP right now and they need to make sure not to make things worse.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

Yes, the lack of Shaman cards is interesting. I guess they're going to clear the Grimestreet trio first before doing the other six classes in detail (except Priest, which got a fair amount of previews already). Does Warlock have a class-specific preview yet? Can't recall offhand.

[heronbpv]

@Haruspex_Pariah:
None, really. I believe this week is grimestreet goons only. Also, the set has been in-development for quite sometime, so it's my belief that no card is being designed now for Shaman. Who knows what will we get for them, possibly even more totem synergy...

And Priest is guaranteed audience, so no wonder they revealed some of it's cards first, to help bring some extra attention to the expansion. Smart move blizz, smart move :smalltongue:

[Haruspex_Pariah]

Maybe at least one totem-related card. With the Tuskarr Totemic nerf they're more free to add strong totems as well. Wouldn't mind a Windfury minion actually worth putting in a deck, or an Overload card that isn't completely bonkers.

[GAAD]

NEW CARDS!!!

Grimestreet Protector 7
Rare Paladin Minion
Taunt.
Battlecry: Give adjacent minions Divine Shield.
6/6

Grimy Gadjeteer 4
Common Warrior Minion
At the end of your turn, give a random minion in your hand +2/+2.
4/3

[Yael]

Grimestreet Protector {7}
Rare Paladin minion
Taunt.
Battlecry: Give adjacent minions Divine Shield.
6/6

Wow what? I actually liked this card!Grimy Gadgeteer {4}
Common Warrior minion
At the end of your turn, give a random minion in your hand +2/+2.
4/3

Another one?

EDIT: Pretty much ninja'd.

[Mando Knight]

Big Time Racketeer could also fit into that deck too, if the Ogre he summons is also a 6 mana card.

The "Little Friend" BTR summons is a 6 mana 6/6, yes.

[Zevox]

Hm, okay, Grimstreet Protector looks like a fairly solid card. But, well, I'm not sure if it can make it into constructed. It is a 7-drop, which have been lacking since Doctor Boom rotated out, but I don't know that it fits so well in N'Zoth or Anyfin Paladin, which already have plenty of late-game, nor do I see it spawning its own new type of Control Paladin. Maybe some of the other new Paladin cards will help in one of those areas, but for now, it mostly looks like a very good arena card to me, just with the potential to make it into constructed someday.

Grimy Gadgeteer... eh. Pretty much what I've said about hand-buffs so far applies: the stats look good if you count the buff with the existing stats of the minion, but I'm not so confident that works out to be a good measure of how strong the mechanic will be in practice. And it's another "random minion in your hand" buff, so not so hot for buffing something like Dopplegangster, since you can't do that reliably unless it's the only minion in your hand.

[tonberrian]

Think of Smuggler's Run as an option to play a minion at +1/+1 for 1 more. Hitting anything else is a bonus.

[Mando Knight]

Think of Smuggler's Run as an option to play a minion at +1/+1 for 1 more. Hitting anything else is a bonus.

I'd say that most of the Paladin Grimy Goon cards are only worth it if you either buff a key minion or you hit two or more minions with the buff. Otherwise, while it might be worth the mana, it's probably not worth the deck slot. If you use Smuggler's Run on a single minion and play it the same turn, you were better off running Divine Strength instead, for example.

[Gray Mage]

I can see Smugler's Run being at least tried on an aggro paladin. If used in the early game it can be effective and in an aggro, minion heavy deck it's likely to hit at least 2 minions, if not 3. It'd also make the 1 mana 1/2 that buys a card if attack is 2 or more a great turn 2 or turn 1 plus coin play. And on T2 you can even play another 1 drop minion.

[Zevox]

Think of Smuggler's Run as an option to play a minion at +1/+1 for 1 more. Hitting anything else is a bonus.
That just makes it sound far worse - used that way it's just an inferior version of Divine Strength (the 1 mana +1/+2 buff that has never seen play). Just buffing one thing with it is clearly not worth it.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Smuggler's Run is basically a Competitive Spirit that triggers exactly when you want it to.

[BRC]

Smuggler's Run is basically a Competitive Spirit that triggers exactly when you want it to.

And merely requires you to hold minions in hand, rather than start turn with them in play.

[Zevox]

Smuggler's Run is basically a Competitive Spirit that triggers exactly when you want it to.

And merely requires you to hold minions in hand, rather than start turn with them in play.
Except that the combination of those two things is why it may well be worse: buffs to minions that aren't on the board yet are not as good as buffs to those that are. Playing a minion from your hand that has a buff on it has the same functional problem as playing a minion, then buffing it - your opponent gets the chance to handle it in a favorable way before you can take advantage of the buff.

And even if it turns out to be better, being better than Competitive Spirit isn't a high bar to clear. Only Mysterious Challenger being as strong as it was managed to get that card played in serious decks, and even that fell apart once the best Paladin secret, Avenge, rotated out.

[Gandariel]

I will say I'm with Zevox on this one. The whole hand buff thing... I am skeptical.

I mean we have had sword of Justice, which is pretty much that, for forever and nobody plays it because it's better to do *stuff* that affects the board.

We also had Light in the Darkness and Mistcaller, both of which suck.

These cards seem (some of them at least) a bit better, but i am still iffy on the subject.

We'll see.
Hope this doesn't turn or to be Grand Tournament 2.0 (where most cards are too weak for constructed).
At least Control Priest is gonna be good

[Destro_Yersul]

Cards:
Grimestreet Protector Strong in Arena, for sure. Great card to have around in a format where minion trades matter. Probably not super good in Constructed.
Grimy Gadjeteer Is a 4 mana 6/5 good enough? Well, probably not. The effect is nice, and I can see it being decent in Arena, but it's sort of like Piloted Shredder. You play a 4 maan 4/3, and then you get something later. The difference is that the shredder was good because you got more stats on the board for free, and this is not as good because you still need to pay for the minion with the stats attached.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

It's really weird to evaluate. A lot of the Paladin ones seem to focus on buffing all minions in hand, thus favouring a strategy that holds onto cards, which is normally a slower style of play.

Maybe some kind of hand control paladin? Pass the early game by playing hand buffers and card draw, then wipe the board, heal thyself, and load the board with your own value minions. Still, doesn't seem very intuitive.

[Gray Mage]

I still feel that Smuggler's Run is cheap enough that it can be used very early in the game to strong effect. Sure, it is a wasted turn/card, but if you can play on the next turn a shielded minibot (argent squire with the buff) and another 1 mana buffed minion a lot of decks will struggle with that. Some aggro, zoo-ish version if you will. I think that at least it will be experimented on.

Also, new card for warrior.
Thorium Knuckles (http://www.hearthpwn.com/news/1930-new-card-reveal-thorium-knuckles)
4 mana weapon
2 attack, 3 durability
Give +1/+1 to a random minion in hand after your hero attacks

That is bad, IMO.

[Mando Knight]

Also, new card for warrior.
Thorium Knuckles (http://www.hearthpwn.com/news/1930-new-card-reveal-thorium-knuckles)
4 mana weapon
2 attack, 3 durability
Give +1/+1 to a random minion in hand after your hero attacks

That is bad, IMO.

It's similar to Sword of Justice: it affects one less minion and costs one more mana, but in return you activate the buff by swinging a 2 attack weapon instead of holding on to a 1 attack weapon. Like most of the non-Paladin Goon cards, though, its real value is heavily dependent on the boost hitting the minion you want it to.

[PsyBomb]

It's similar to Sword of Justice: it affects one less minion and costs one more mana, but in return you activate the buff by swinging a 2 attack weapon instead of holding on to a 1 attack weapon. Like most of the non-Paladin Goon cards, though, its real value is heavily dependent on the boost hitting the minion you want it to.

I foresee a warrior strategy something like Dragon, but rushing out most minions while holding one really nasty one for boosting (probably Shoggoth), to drop as a power-Bomb at the end.

[Hamste]

It's similar to Sword of Justice: it affects one less minion and costs one more mana, but in return you activate the buff by swinging a 2 attack weapon instead of holding on to a 1 attack weapon. Like most of the non-Paladin Goon cards, though, its real value is heavily dependent on the boost hitting the minion you want it to.
It actually affects 2 less minions, sword of justice has 5 durability.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

Ugh. I am loathe to re-roll 100 gold quests, but Murlocalypse is such a drag to get done.

I considered crafting Warleaders for an Anyfin deck, I may not have the complete build but it should be reasonably effective. Then I realized Anyfin Paladin (that I've seen) runs a grand total of 4 murlocs. That's a minimum of 19 games with the deck, if I manage to play all four in each game. And the combo is pretty tight; from what I've seen even one additional murloc can screw it up.

Everyfin Shaman seemed appealing, but I just have so many 1 health murlocs that I basically auto-lose against 33% of classes and do pretty badly if I try to load them all into my deck.

I only managed one win, and that was after falling so far down the ladder than I was matched against a rank 21 player. I was messing around with Priest Murloc (lol) with the enemy a fairly Basic Rogue, and it was a pretty close one.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Current Anyfin is fun but expensive. You need double Warleaders, a Forbidden Healing, Ragnaros Lightlord, and Tirion. Some decks mix it with N'zoth, which means you also need him and Sylvanas. The main reason you need all those cards is because Old Murk-Eye is out of Standard, so you can't reasonably win against a lot of decks without getting all your Murlocs out and pushing damage to the face (especially vs. Control Warrior).

I wouldn't say that even just one Murloc messes up the combo, though. The first Anyfin is only supposed to fetch four Murlocs, though it develops a board and deals 12 damage to face. The second Anyfin only has to deal 18 damage from there, and if you get four Warleaders plus three Bluegills (the worst-case scenario without other murlocs), that's still 30 damage. So if you can win off of 48 damage, you're solid. Add in one wayward Murloc, and the most damage you miss is 10, so both Anyfins get you to 38 damage, which is still lethal.

And even then, you have Tirion/Ragnaros to help you outlast the game.

[GolemsVoice]

Or you could just do it like me and stuff a deck full of all the X cards you need, and play Casual, where it doesn't matter if you win or lose.

[Yael]

I got the For Azeroth quest, and the 100 gold for 75 battlecries at the same time, and got it half done in Arena.

Either way, for specific quests that require a class that I don't like or exceed, I just go cassual :)

[Joran]

Ugh. I am loathe to re-roll 100 gold quests, but Murlocalypse is such a drag to get done.

I considered crafting Warleaders for an Anyfin deck, I may not have the complete build but it should be reasonably effective. Then I realized Anyfin Paladin (that I've seen) runs a grand total of 4 murlocs. That's a minimum of 19 games with the deck, if I manage to play all four in each game. And the combo is pretty tight; from what I've seen even one additional murloc can screw it up.

Everyfin Shaman seemed appealing, but I just have so many 1 health murlocs that I basically auto-lose against 33% of classes and do pretty badly if I try to load them all into my deck.

I only managed one win, and that was after falling so far down the ladder than I was matched against a rank 21 player. I was messing around with Priest Murloc (lol) with the enemy a fairly Basic Rogue, and it was a pretty close one.

Also, Murlocs summoned by Anyfin or Murloc Knight don't count, so trying to grind with Anyfin Combo is going to be tedious.

Honestly, I'd go with a deck in Wild, pack every single Murloc you can and then just play it out. The wife played an Aggro Paladin, then since she had a Hunter quest, put together an Aggro Murloc Face Hunter deck and won. Of course, this was rank 25 Wild, so people were playing basic decks. She didn't even have Warleaders.

[Nerocite]

New Hunter Card (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPMn93PciVQ)

Rat Pack
3 mana 2/2 Beast Epic
Deathrattle: Summon a number of 1/1 rats equal to this minions attack.

Interesting because it doesn't necessarily have to be buffed in hand to get value. Also gets wrecked by Aldor.

[Gandariel]

You know the problem with these cards? (Which also was a problem with TGT)

People are not encouraged to play these cards together. So few cards (like dopplegangster) actually want you to stuff you deck with handbuffs.

What I feel people is going to do is just figure out which ones are worth it, and throw them in their existing decks.

Hope it turns out differently (maybe with the legendaries)

Edit: just saw the last Hunter card. Pretty nice. That plus the 2/4 thing is almost good enough...

[GAAD]

WE FOUND THE HUNTER LEGEND!
AND IT'S COBRA SHOT!!! (http://www.hearthstonetopdecks.com/new-hunter-legendary-knuckles/)

Knuckles 5
Legendary Hunter Beast
Whenever this attacks a minion, it also hits the enemy hero.
3/7

[Zevox]

Hunter continues its trend of getting bad legendaries, I see.

(Although I am still surprised that Princess Huhuran never saw serious play, she looked good on paper at least. But eh, still wound up an unused card.)

[Destro_Yersul]

I dunno. One hand buff, and that's good. Two hand buffs, and it's great. Let's you clear stuff while still hitting face. Cobra shot was bad because it was a one-shot (hah) deal. This, at least, can stick around and kill a couple of things. And you never have to debate "Should I clear my opponent's 2/2 or hit face?" I think I'll go ahead and say that it is the best Hunter legendary.

The rat pack is also pretty nice. Can be compared to Haunted Creeper and infested wolf, where it's a mediocre body for cost, but it summons stuff when it dies.

[The Glyphstone]

It's the legendary that SmORC dreams of at night.

[BRC]

Officially the greatest card in hearthstone.

Now, when the Face plays taunt...you still go face.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Also, give it an attack buff from Dark Iron or Abusive Sergeant, and you wind up being able to swing for a lot: removal AND face damage in one!

[Yael]

The SMOrc theme just got its dream fulfilled! Taunts got nerfed (in the Taunt expansion...)

EDIT: Also, from Hearthpwn forums.


ME DO TRADE? YEP. STILL GO FACE? YEP. IS THIS DREAM? NOPE. SIGN ME IN! YEP.

[Hamste]

It is just the Grook Fu Master only with 2 more health, is a beast and a more restrictive windfury (That is only an advantage vs taunt that it can't kill and survive). I mean, it is better than Grook Fu Master (which isn't saying much) but it still isn't good.

[Destro_Yersul]

Grook-Fu Master with 2 more health and Beast would be good.

[Hamste]

Grook-Fu Master with 2 more health and Beast would be good.

Probably wouldn't see competitive play though.

Anyways, Grook Fu Master with 2 more health and beast that could only use its second attack to hit face is not good.

[Divayth Fyr]

http://i.imgur.com/AD5dcPn.png

7 mana
Battlecry - give a random minion in your hand +5/+5
5/6

[Haruspex_Pariah]

http://i.imgur.com/AD5dcPn.png

7 mana
Battlecry - give a random minion in your hand +5/+5
5/6

Ach, so Kazakus is the only gang leader with a Reno mechanic. I guess this one does fit with the other gang cards though. Except...giving +5/+5 to a 7 or 8 drop doesn't seem all that impressive, unless it's exactly Grom.

[The Glyphstone]

I'd see the Don more like making that otherwise useless 2-drop you pulled late in the game able to trade with a 7-8 drop, instead of being a speedbump. Could also pile it on something thats already big, but that's a really juicy removal target.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

I guess a 7/6 Argent Horserider would be a pretty rude surprise. Since you'd be playing it with mana to spare.

[Hamste]

I guess a 7/6 Argent Horserider would be a pretty rude surprise. Since you'd be playing it with mana to spare.

The real surprise is the 7/6 blue gill into 2 faceless manipulators. I'm still curious if a one turn kill will come from this (That hard part is the faceless manipulators can steal the buffs). If only Emperor was still in the game.

[The Glyphstone]

Yeah, or a 9/8 Kor'kron Elite - Grom Hellscream for 4 mana. Other things like that. But again, the problem is that the targeting is random.

[Kish]

Dopplegangster comes to mind as well.

[Mando Knight]

Han'Cho also only pays 2 mana for his effect, compared to a Pit Fighter's stats. He's a great way to get one last big Grimy Goons buff on a topdecked small minion: if he buffs Dispatch Kodo, that's basically a 3 mana Kraken. Knuckles becomes an 8/12 monster that breaks through taunts. Buffing Burnbristle into a Force-Tank MAX-sized minion greatly improves his projected healing output.

He's fairly slow, but greatly helps to extend a weenie deck's game past where a midrange or control deck would normally have an advantage.

[Zevox]

The real surprise is the 7/6 blue gill into 2 faceless manipulators. I'm still curious if a one turn kill will come from this (That hard part is the faceless manipulators can steal the buffs). If only Emperor was still in the game.
Emperor is still in the game. The next rotation is not coming with this set, but rather with the one after it. I don't get why people keep making that mistake :smallconfused: .

Anyway though, I'm still very unimpressed. Yes, that's a big buff for whatever it hits - but you paid 7 mana for an understatted minion to get it, which is generally quite bad unless its having a much more immediately-useful effect. At that mana cost, a ball of stats has historically never been good enough, and I don't think splitting it among two things (and thus raising the total mana cost of actually getting the full impact of those stats) is going to help, particularly since you can't get the buff on specific cards to come up with some crazy OTKO combo consistently due to the random element of it. Regardless of how hand-buffs work out more generally, I don't expect this particular one to see play.

[Yael]

I don't get why people act as if BRM/TGT/LoE weren't going to be relevant this expansion, they WILL, as the rotation changes by March next year, just like Zevox said.

Anyway, just Brann Don Han'Cho so you get either a minion +10/+10, or two minions +5/+5 (if I'm interpreting how Brann's random effect work) so you can rekt in the late game.

I think that C'Thun can get some use of the card, but it may get trickt to set up for him.


Ach, so Kazakus is the only gang leader with a Reno mechanic. I guess this one does fit with the other gang cards though. Except...giving +5/+5 to a 7 or 8 drop doesn't seem all that impressive, unless it's exactly Grom.

Am I the only one that's curious on which will be the Jade Lotus mechanic? Only the Lotus Agents has been released thus far. I really hope next week is theirs :smallbiggrin:

[Destro_Yersul]

Probably wouldn't see competitive play though.

Anyways, Grook Fu Master with 2 more health and beast that could only use its second attack to hit face is not good.

It is good in exactly Hunter. Face is what Hunter wants to hit, and Hunter has a bunch of stuff for beasts.

The Don:
Nice buff, but that cost... At 6 mana I think this would be incredible. 7 Might be a bit much to make it good, but it is a pretty nice pickup for Arena.

[PsyBomb]

More card reviews!

Leading off with the correction on Dirty Rat, I think the effect being a Battlecry makes it weaker, but only by a hair. Makes it harder for enemies to game, but also harder for you to have immediate solutions.

Much like the creature version, this is emphasizing a buff-rush tactic. I think it's DOABLE, but with the amount of anti-aggro tech running around I don't know how successful it can be.

Yeah... at one buff, this is rough to deal with. At three, it ignores most AoE and presents an immediate threat to life and limb. I'll be trying to (ab)use this, as will everyone else.

This is at odds with the hyper-rush style they seem to be pushing, but it's value town if you hit two decent guys. Better than a lot of 7s, but not great

I'm a lot more bullish on this card than most, the buff is too big to ignore despite it being so killable. I always keep an eye on soft-taunts that snowball this hard.

Getting a certain vibe here, and I think that once you get enough of these buffs rolling in a deck you're going to hit critical mass somewhere. Just have to make sure you only keep minions in hand that you want catching the buffs, dump the rest, and blitz. Will it work? Unsure, but it might be fun.

Dangit, I do NOT need my one good cheap deck to suddenly need two more Epics, but this is really good. Sticky, easy to buff, and an AMAZING Houndmaster target. This will see play.

Meh. Maybe if Control Hunter becomes a thing, but I agree that this isn't great. If it catches a bunch of buffs... it's a less-versatile Grook-Fu Master. Beast tag helps, but it won't be enough.

Boring, but surprisingly practical. The stats are weak for 7, but still good enough to take effort to clear. Again on the themes, you only hold the ones you want to catch buffs. People talked about Horserider and Kor'kron, I say Shoggoth and Faerie Dragon. Don hitting the field means you WILL have another major threat coming for cheap.

[heronbpv]

New card revealed in DisguisedToast's stream:


Madam Goya
6 mana 4/3 minion
Text - "Battlecry: Choose a friendly minion. Swap it with a minion in your deck"
The effect was confirmed to be random, by Toast.

It seems similar to Barnes, but there are some different interactions here.

[Gray Mage]

I think that Don Han'Cho would have been good in zoo. That late game Voidwalker topdeck? It's now a 6/8. Imp gangboss? It's a 7/9. Doomguard is 10/12 I wonder if this will mean that maybe we'll see attempts of zoo-like decks in GG classes.

[Hamste]

I think that Don Han'Cho would have been good in zoo. That late game Voidwalker topdeck? It's now a 6/8. Imp gangboss? It's a 7/9. Doomguard is 10/12 I wonder if this will mean that maybe we'll see attempts of zoo-like decks in GG classes.

The problem is one of card draw. Hunters draw is pretty bad so I'm pretty sure despite their token generators they can't really make a zoo deck. Warrior has some card draw and it is synergistic with buffs and a large number of minions but the hero power is terrible for zoo but I don't think they have the cards to pull it off. Paladin seems the most likely to pull it off with good hand buffs (even blessing of might to help with the final burst), draw that synergizes with a low hand size, a good hero power for zoo and cheap disposable minions as well as some of the best cheap minions (Argent protector, selflish hero, peacekeeper and maybe keeper). I do worry that they get the buff the entire hand cards, I'm not sure if they can keep a hand well enough as zoo to do anything with those but they may be able to depending on draw.

[Tvtyrant]

New card revealed in DisguisedToast's stream:


Madam Goya
6 mana 4/3 minion
Text - "Battlecry: Choose a friendly minion. Swap it with a minion in your deck"
The effect was confirmed to be random, by Toast.

It seems similar to Barnes, but there are some different interactions here.

So combo paladin? Only put ysera and this guy in, get ysera in return for ditching a 1/1?

[Destro_Yersul]

Rather amusing ending to my last game. My opponent drops 18/18 C'thun to kill everything on my board... except for Doomsayer, left at 1HP, which I had played as insurance against C'thun. The End is Coming, indeed.

[PsyBomb]

4/3 Neutral Legendary for 6, trades a friendly minion for one from your deck. Combo piece, to be sure. Most likely to be used in Reno/Kazakus decks to recycle important battlecries, possibly in decks that have either few creatures or else LOTS of huge ones that don't need to be played directly. It's going to see use, I'm sure

[GAAD]

New card!

Grimscale Chum 1
Common Paladin Murloc
Battlecry: Give a random Murloc in your hand +1/+1.
2/1

[Haruspex_Pariah]

New card!

Grimscale Chum 1
Common Paladin Murloc
Battlecry: Give a random Murloc in your hand +1/+1.
2/1

Interesting. If they're trying to push non-Anyfin murloc this looks like it could be a solid 1-drop. But we really need a bigger picture of the murloc ecosystem to know with any certainty.

Yeah, it's something like Barnes/Y'shaarj, but the return function provides other possibilities. It's also a limitation, as it seems like you can't use Goya on an empty board. Not so big an issue with Shaman and Paladin, however. I also think people will be trying this card out.

[PsyBomb]

2/1 Common Neutral Murloc for 1, battlecry gives a random murloc in hand +1/+1. So... I think I know what I'm going to try to pursue for Paladin. Aggro Murloc, in the vein of Kripparian's shot near the beginning of WotOG. This guy teams with Oracle, Tidecaller, and Inquisitor to guarantee that your Small-Time Recruits will ALWAYS have three targets to rush out. Really, it's a solid 1-drop that has some excellent synergies if you have more Murlocs in hand. Not entirely sure it'll see competitive play, but if the decks carrying it get good it will be the big difference.

[Yael]

2/1 Common Neutral Murloc for 1, battlecry gives a random murloc in hand +1/+1. So... I think I know what I'm going to try to pursue for Paladin. Aggro Murloc, in the vein of Kripparian's shot near the beginning of WotOG. This guy teams with Oracle, Tidecaller, and Inquisitor to guarantee that your Small-Time Recruits will ALWAYS have three targets to rush out. Really, it's a solid 1-drop that has some excellent synergies if you have more Murlocs in hand. Not entirely sure it'll see competitive play, but if the decks carrying it get good it will be the big difference.

I do think that Aggro Murloc Pally will use hand buffs, to either pseudo protect the Warleaders, or to buff the chargers.
Also, for wild the Good Ol' Murk Eye must be smiling at this :)

[heronbpv]

Three new cards revealed:


Spiked Hogrider
5 mana 5/5 Neutral minion
Text: "Battlecry: If an enemy minion has taunt, gain charge."

Leatherclad Hogleader
6 mana 6/6 Neutral minion
Text: "Battlecry: If your opponent has 6 or more cards in hand, gain charge."

Tanaris Hogchopper
4 mana 4/4 Neutral minion
Text: "Battlecry: If your opponent's hand is empty, gain charge."

Are they some sort of reference to something I'm not getting? At least the they don't seem like the type to be run on aggro decks.

Source: http://toucharcade.com/2016/11/14/new-gadgetzan-card-reveal-expansion-reception-and-more-hearthstone-weekly-news-and-videos-in-touchstone-72/


@Edit:


Volcanic Potion
2 mana Mage spell
Text: "Deal 2 damage to all minions."

Kabal Chemist
4 mana 3/3 Kabal minion
Text: "Battlecry: Add a random potion to your hand."

This comes from the official site, didn't noticed before editing x.x
http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/blog/20372474/a-taste-of-the-kabal-11-14-2016

[Hamste]

According to the site the potion is 3 mana not 2 which makes a very large difference in how good it is.

[heronbpv]

Ops, my mistake. Thanks for pointing that out, Hamste.

Still not sure what to think about the potion, it's not like mages need more AOE, right? Even though this one has the priest effect attached to it (deals damage to all minions), I don't think that's much of a detriment for mage (besides tempo mage, maybe? That one deck with a little more minions that mages have).
And the Kabal theme seems to be potion related. No, I didn't notice at the start, if that was obvious, but considering the effect of the newly revealed Kabal card, we are bound to see more potions like the priest ones.

[Grytorm]

I had noticed that the Priest Class had gotten a lot of potions but wasn't expecting it to be the larger theme. I think it is kind of a neat direction. I think the Volcanic Potion might see play in control style decks. Mage has strong board clears, but they are often more lategame over early board control.

For the Hogs, I don't know what to think. The 4 Drop seems the worst just because it probably won't activate on turn 4. But the 6 Drop is nice against control and the 5 drop is also reasonably reliable.

[Gray Mage]

I think this could see some use in Freeze Mage, in order to rein in some aggro.

[thirsting]

Abyssal Enforcer 7
Common Warlock Demon
Battlecry: Deal 3 damage to all other characters.
6/6

I like this. A lot.

[The Glyphstone]

6/6 with a Hellfire stapled to it, effectively getting a 6/6 for 3? Me like indeed.

[ChaosOS]

I'm not a fan of the "Body + Spell means body for super cheap!!!!" reasoning. Stat:Cost may seem linear in value, but a deck of yetis is a lot stronger than a deck of 8 mana 8/9s. Big creatures need powerful effects to be competitive, otherwise they're easy to tempo out. Beyond that, as we can see with our new "0 mana 7/7" it's more about what turn something can come down. Flamewreathed Faceless is a powerful aggro card because it's a lot closer to a 4 mana 7/7 since by turn 5 aggro shaman has mostly emptied its hand, while for Midrange shaman it's a lot closer to a 6 mana 7/7 because the overload is a lot more crippling. 1 mana 1/3s with upside exist, but still aren't auto includes (See Tunnel Trog being dropped from Midrange Shaman) because they're still very low value cards.

[The Glyphstone]

I like this one though because unlike its smaller brother Infernal, it's a functional boardsweeper. That's not a great card to have 2 of, but as a 1-off to decisively take board control against another late-game control deck when both of you have exhausted your counterplays and heavies, it could be really effective. It's too slow to counter aggro - that's what an actual Hellfire is for.

[PsyBomb]

6/6 with a Hellfire stapled to it, effectively getting a 6/6 for 3? Me like indeed.

It's also in the Common slot, which is critically important. It trades with Shoggoth and Ironbark, leaves Rooted Ancient at 1 without dying, and carries the Demon tag with it. I'll enjoy toying with it.

Now to go watch the video

[Anarion]

I like this one though because unlike its smaller brother Infernal, it's a functional boardsweeper. That's not a great card to have 2 of, but as a 1-off to decisively take board control against another late-game control deck when both of you have exhausted your counterplays and heavies, it could be really effective. It's too slow to counter aggro - that's what an actual Hellfire is for.

I actually think it might be good against aggro too. One of the most effective things against aggro is repeated board sweeping. Zoo decks, for example, can often recover from having most of their stuff blow up by just playing out the rest of their hand and drawing a bunch more cards, so having something like this that follows your first or second sweeps with another big sweep and now leaves you positioned to finish them off quickly is exactly what the doctor ordered for killing off an aggro deck. The self-sweep aspect is also good for not just making it a crushing aggro finisher.

[PsyBomb]

I actually think it might be good against aggro too. One of the most effective things against aggro is repeated board sweeping. Zoo decks, for example, can often recover from having most of their stuff blow up by just playing out the rest of their hand and drawing a bunch more cards, so having something like this that follows your first or second sweeps with another big sweep and now leaves you positioned to finish them off quickly is exactly what the doctor ordered for killing off an aggro deck. The self-sweep aspect is also good for not just making it a crushing aggro finisher.

I'm already planning out a RenoKaz Warlock deck for the short meta, and this made the list instantly. Now, I just need to get lucky with legendaries (short 3-4 of them right now, including Kaz and Goya). Anyone know if planting N'zoth in it could work?

[Anarion]

Anyone know if planting N'zoth in it could work?

I wouldn't recommend N'zoth in the same deck as Goya, you'll just anti-synergy yourself to death. Run Y'shaarj instead.

Edit: Although if you had enough stall, you could just always save Goya for use on N'zoth for massive value. Hmm.

[PsyBomb]

I wouldn't recommend N'zoth in the same deck as Goya, you'll just anti-synergy yourself to death. Run Y'shaarj instead.

Edit: Although if you had enough stall, you could just always save Goya for use on N'zoth for massive value. Hmm.

Yeah, the idea from my side is that the only CRITICAL battlecries are Reno, Kaz, and possibly N'zoth. Other minions would either emphasize field/Deathrattle effects, or else (like Enforcer or Farseer) don't really hurt too much if they get ripped. Jaraxxus is in that category as well, since he's still a 3/15 on the field.

[Zevox]

Whew, okay, lots of new ones for me to catch up with I see. Here goes!

Abyssal Enforcer - Holy cow, this one is good. Dread Infernal at +1 cost to triple the strength of the battlecry? That's insane. Especially with how little competition the 7-mana slot has. I mean, this guy is arguably better than Baron Geddon, and while he's hardly the best legendary around, he's been good enough to see play with Control Warrior and a handful of other decks at various times throughout Hearthstone history. I expect to see this helping fuel some new variety of Control Warlock, definitely. If nothing else a copy will be in every Renolock between Gadgetzan's release and when Reno rotates out. Powerhouse arena card too, might propel Warlock up the rankings there.

Madam Goya - Probably bad. Yeah, you could get Barnes-esque results out of it sometimes, but unlike with Barnes, she's not okay if you don't pull a strong result, with those awful stats for her cost. And in general that's too high of a mana cost for a card like this, I think.

Leatherclad Hogleader - Bad for constructed, usable but nothing great in arena.

Spiked Hogrider - Now this one might actually be able to squeak into an aggro deck in constructed, perhaps. 5/5 charge for 5 would be fantastic, and aggro decks always worry about having an answer to taunt. Probably good in arena at least, since taunt's not uncommon.

Tanaris Hogchopper - Trash, the worst of the "if X, gain charge" Hogs. Not even fair for arena.

Brass Knuckles - Seems bad. Maybe in combination with that 3 mana Warrior minion that buffs a weapon it isn't? But eh, don't know that it's good enough without that combo to warrant running regardless of whether that combo is good or not.

Kabal Chemist - Could well be pretty good. The potions that we've seen so far have been good, so if that keeps up, I see potential for this one.

Volcanic Potion - Speaking of, here's Demonwrath minus the whole "doesn't hit demons" part, in Mage. Looks good to me - something I've long though was an issue for Control Mages is how long it takes for their good AoE to come online, with Blizzard at 6 and Flamestrike at 7. Having this at 3 might well be a big boon to that sort of deck. If nothing else, it's a strong new option for Freeze Mage.

Grimscale Chum - Ugh... this is the part where I cross my fingers and hope this isn't good enough to bring aggro Murloc decks back from the grave. I had more than I could stand of those of back when Murlock was a serious deck. This one is, unfortunately, a good card for that sort of deck, though...

[PsyBomb]

Catching up on reviews:

3 mana Mage Spell, deals 2 to all minions. There is a WORLD of difference between 1 and 2 damage. Even with this striking your own field I think it's going to see play. Notably clears Totems, along with most early Aggro/Zoo minions.

3 mana Kabal Minion for 4, adds a random potion to your hand. Text on the site implies that the Priest Potion of Madness is a possibility, so from what we've seen this looks really solid. Although strong, those cards tend to be situational, so you probably want to play this early on curve to have the counter ready.

4 mana 4/4 Neutral Minion, has Charge if the enemy hand is empty. Dust. That situation nearly never happens, CERTAINLY not in a situation where topping a 4/4 will help. Maybe in Arena? Doubt it, though.

5/5 Neutral Minion for 5, has Charge if an enemy Minion has Taunt. Better, for sure, but not good enough for real use. In a meta sense, 5 charging damage typically isn't enough to deal with normal Taunt minions on 5. Goes double with the Goons cards, now.

6/6 Neutral Minion for 6, gains Charge if your opponent has 6 or more cards in hand. I like this more than the other two, it's much more likely to apply and make an impact, but I still doubt its viability. In Arena, you can count on never using the effect.

[Yael]

Two new additions.

Kabal Lackey {1}
Common Mage Minion
Battlecry: The next Secret you play this turn costs (0).
2/1

Wowowowow, buddy hold on. This will see play, probably bringing back Secret Mage or empowering Freeze once the meta rotates.
If you can manage to turn 1 secret in arena (whatever is not Mirror Entity) you're very ahead.

Inkmaster Solia {7}
Legendary Mage Minion
Battlecry: If your deck has no duplicates, the next spell you cast this turn costs (0).
5/5

I'm.
Crafting.
This.

[The Glyphstone]

1-mana Kirin Tor Mage? Heck yeah.

[moossabi]

And my interest in this expansion has suddenly increased indefinitely.

I'm still only interested in the priest/mage cards, but I've been thinking of doing secret mage for a while now and that murloc powercreep is insane.

[Yael]

http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/6/65/SyndraSquare.png/revision/latest?cb=20160526213755 ''My potential is limitless...!''

Frankly, this minion will be a beast, you can already hold the Kazakus spell early, and if it is 10 mana, and you get a wacky enough effect, you'll be very ahead. Just a thought.

[BRC]

I'm currently scheming up a FreezeReno variant, based on using Rafaam, Inkmaster ,and a Wolfrider for a finisher.

The ideal play is turn 9 Rafaam, take the +10/+10 spell. Turn 10 Wolfrider, Inkmaster, then give the Wolfrider +10/+10. Now I have a 13/11 charger and a 5/5 on board.

[PsyBomb]

Getting the feeling that the Kabal theme is Reno-style singleton decks. I need dust REALLY badly, now.

[Yael]

Getting the feeling that the Kabal theme is Reno-style singleton decks. I need dust REALLY badly, now.

I hope Reno will reign for a while.

[Zevox]

Two new additions.

Kabal Lackey {1}
Common Mage Minion
Battlecry: The next Secret you play this turn costs (0).
2/1

Wowowowow, buddy hold on. This will see play, probably bringing back Secret Mage or empowering Freeze once the meta rotates.
If you can manage to turn 1 secret in arena (whatever is not Mirror Entity) you're very ahead.

Inkmaster Solia {7}
Legendary Mage Minion
Battlecry: If your deck has no duplicates, the next spell you cast this turn costs (0).
5/5

I'm.
Crafting.
This.
*whistles* Wow, those are pretty good cards. Free secrets in Mage on a 1-drop is pretty huge - granted, not for the types of deck I'd prefer to play, but still, a very strong card without question. And Solia is the best Mage legendary since Antonidas - her existence alone pretty well guarantees that Kazakus decks will remain a thing even after Reno cycles out, I think. And before he does, well, Reno Mage will definitely be a major thing, I have no doubts about that at this point.

[Destro_Yersul]

Yeah, those are nice. Now you can have your Medivh's Valet on turn 2, and you can play free Kazakus spells.

[Yael]

WOWOWOWOW

Potion of Polymorph {3}
Rare Mage Spell
Secret: After your opponent plays a minion, transform it into a 1/1 sheep.

WOWOWOWOWOW

[PsyBomb]

WOWOWOWOW

Potion of Polymorph {3}
Rare Mage Spell
Secret: After your opponent plays a minion, transform it into a 1/1 sheep.

WOWOWOWOWOW

Good grief, that's a Potion card, too

[Destro_Yersul]

I mean, it's also 1 less mana in exchange for not being able to pick what it hits, so...

[Zevox]

I mean, it's also 1 less mana in exchange for not being able to pick what it hits, so...
Yeah, and that's a big deal. That one I'm not so impressed by - especially because the first secret people check for with Mage is already Mirror Entity, and anything they're dropping to test for that is already also a bad target for Potion of Polymorph. Definitely the worst Potion card so far, and I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up seeing no play.

[Seerow]

Yeah, and that's a big deal. That one I'm not so impressed by - especially because the first secret people check for with Mage is already Mirror Entity, and anything they're dropping to test for that is already also a bad target for Potion of Polymorph. Definitely the worst Potion card so far, and I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up seeing no play.

I hope you're right. The decks I like playing most tend to be the ones that get devastated by hex/poly.

[BRC]

I forget how order works. Battlecries trigger before secrets, right?

[Joran]

I forget how order works. Battlecries trigger before secrets, right?

Yes. If there's something that gets a buff from a Battlecry, you get the buff on the Mirror Entity. (Subject to how Blizzard actually codes this card)

[Destro_Yersul]

They do, yeah. I'm just imagining this hitting things like Grimestreet Outfitter and Jeweled Scarab and a million 2 mana 3/2's. Seems suboptimal.

[GolemsVoice]

It's still pretty nasty because it can block you if you have nothing to test it with.

[Destro_Yersul]

It's still pretty nasty because it can block you if you have nothing to test it with.

Not any more nasty than, say, Vaporise.

[Anarion]

Potion of polymorph, like mirror entity, is a poor three drop and a great play on turn 7 along with a 4 drop in arena. It might also see play in standard as a tech card for two reasons
1) Even cheap cards usually don't suck in standard so unless everything in the deck is "battlecry: multiple bodies" it's likely to be good and
2) There are a lot of really strong big cards out there (Tyrion, Old Gods, Sea Giant, Van Cleef, Doomguard, Antonidas, etc.) and playing it as a "Not this turn" card like iceblock where they have to throw something away and can't execute the combo they want could be effective.

[Mando Knight]

Yes. If there's something that gets a buff from a Battlecry, you get the buff on the Mirror Entity. (Subject to how Blizzard actually codes this card)
Poly Potion specifically states "after" a play, so it'll occur after the battlecry.

2) There are a lot of really strong big cards out there (Tyrion, Old Gods, Sea Giant, Van Cleef, Doomguard, Antonidas, etc.) and playing it as a "Not this turn" card like iceblock where they have to throw something away and can't execute the combo they want could be effective.
Basically, like an anti-minion version of Loatheb, minus the 5/5 body.

[Destro_Yersul]

And the part where it works for everything. I expect that if this gets used anywhere, it'll get used in Reno type mage decks where you don't run two regular polymorph. I still don't think it's good, though. I will give it credit for stopping chargers like Doomguard (though what self-respecting zoo DOESN'T have something to play into this?) and Grom (control warrior in general, really), as well as combo pieces. Maybe it works as a tech card, but there's just so many ways for it to go horribly wrong. Inconsistency is not a virtue.

[Anarion]

Basically, like an anti-minion version of Loatheb, minus the 5/5 body.

A cheaper anti-minion version of Loatheb, minus the 5/5 body.


And the part where it works for everything. I expect that if this gets used anywhere, it'll get used in Reno type mage decks where you don't run two regular polymorph. I still don't think it's good, though. I will give it credit for stopping chargers like Doomguard (though what self-respecting zoo DOESN'T have something to play into this?) and Grom (control warrior in general, really), as well as combo pieces. Maybe it works as a tech card, but there's just so many ways for it to go horribly wrong. Inconsistency is not a virtue.

If you're playing it relying absolutely on it taking out a threat, it will fail for you. If you're playing it so that "Grom next turn, kill you instantly" is off the table while you get stuff on the board and dig for your Reno, I think it's pretty good. Even with Zoo, if you're still in midgame, they might greed the doomguard to try and win as soon as they can play it, or topdeck it and play it first since they risk drawing something they can't play at the same time as hero power plus doomguard and would have to discard.

[Mando Knight]

If you're playing it relying absolutely on it taking out a threat, it will fail for you. If you're playing it so that "Grom next turn, kill you instantly" is off the table while you get stuff on the board and dig for your Reno, I think it's pretty good. Even with Zoo, if you're still in midgame, they might greed the doomguard to try and win as soon as they can play it, or topdeck it and play it first since they risk drawing something they can't play at the same time as hero power plus doomguard and would have to discard.

Or in other words, the purpose of a Secret isn't to absolutely block an opponent's action (the way such cards can be used in physical games, where you can generally choose to ignore the trigger in order to trap the intended target), but to force the opponent to play around the Secret, which can cause them to make sub-optimal plays themselves (hopefully enough that you get back the tempo and/or value of playing the Secret itself).

This is why the Mysterious Challenger tree was irritating: not because decks can't deal with 5 Paladin secrets appearing out of nowhere alongside a 6 mana 6/6, but because the process of dealing with the secrets without turning the 6/6 into something more dangerous often requires resources that are costly to use on "just one" minion, particularly when Tirion Fordring is due to show up two turns later.

[Destro_Yersul]

A cheaper anti-minion version of Loatheb, minus the 5/5 body.

That, again, only works once. Loatheb stopped all spells for the turn, pretty well. This stops one minion.


If you're playing it relying absolutely on it taking out a threat, it will fail for you. If you're playing it so that "Grom next turn, kill you instantly" is off the table while you get stuff on the board and dig for your Reno, I think it's pretty good. Even with Zoo, if you're still in midgame, they might greed the doomguard to try and win as soon as they can play it, or topdeck it and play it first since they risk drawing something they can't play at the same time as hero power plus doomguard and would have to discard.

I think in the Grom situation, I'd rather have Iceblock. As for the doomguard, with this around any player who plays doomguard into the secret without checking first is playing very poorly indeed. "My opponent might play badly" is not a point in the card's favour.


Or in other words, the purpose of a Secret isn't to absolutely block an opponent's action (the way such cards can be used in physical games, where you can generally choose to ignore the trigger in order to trap the intended target), but to force the opponent to play around the Secret, which can cause them to make sub-optimal plays themselves (hopefully enough that you get back the tempo and/or value of playing the Secret itself).

Which isn't good enough. Mirror Entity and Vaporise both force your opponent to play around them, and those never see any play. Well, never isn't accurate, but I think the last time I saw Mirror Entity in a serious constructed deck was over a year ago.

[Gandariel]

Tempo mage used to run two Entities (and one Effigy/counterspell).

But that is just because Mad Scientist was super OP.

Anyways, I think the comparing to Loatheb is kind of silly. "Cheaper Loatheb which works on minions, but only one, without the body"? Might as well compare it to something else :P

Overall I think it's a bit inconsistent. Not awful, pretty much in line with the others.

Might be slightly better than Entity, because usually the opponent is favored when both of you get the minion (it probably has synergy with his stuff, and he gets to trade into it)

[PsyBomb]

2/1 COMMON Mage Minion for 1, next Secret this turn costs 0. I'm putting two into AggroFreeze immediately, and I'm hearing rumbles of possible Mage Zoo. It lets you sneak cards into tight mana situations, think of it as an Innervate for Secrets that happens to spawn a 2/1.

5/5 Legendary Magie Minion for 7, if your deck contains no duplicates your next Spell this turn is free. Again with the mana sneaks, this card could be bonkers in combination with things like Pyroblast or a Kazakus 10-cost. It's big enough that I can legitimately see someone running dupes in the deck with the expectation of drawing one by the time turn 7 pops up. Well, maybe not, I'd still want Kaz active. Still, I see this getting at least some play.

3 mana rare Mage Secret, when the enemy plays a minion, turn it into a 1/1 sheep. I'm with the camp saying this isn't that great, but it's solid enough to see play. The trick isn't to snipe important targets, that's what Polymorph is for. The point is to interrupt combo play and force probes. Occasionally, you'll get a C'thun, Flamewreathed, Leeroy, or other such and just win.

[Beelzebub1111]

3 mana rare Mage Secret, when the enemy plays a minion, turn it into a 1/1 sheep. I'm with the camp saying this isn't that great, but it's solid enough to see play. The trick isn't to snipe important targets, that's what Polymorph is for. The point is to interrupt combo play and force probes. Occasionally, you'll get a C'thun, Flamewreathed, Leeroy, or other such and just win.
Doesn't quite work on C'thun. Battlecries trigger before secrets.

[PsyBomb]

Doesn't quite work on C'thun. Battlecries trigger before secrets.

Still means you don't have to deal with the ginormous Minion... nor, in many cases, Doomcaller (with or without Brann). That blast is rarely what actually kills these days.

[boomwolf]

Part of the beauty of polymorph potion is how secrets work.
They matter even if you don't have them in your deck, because any other secret you play MIGHT be this.

Also, unlike the mirror entity, this can stop charge killers. The mere fact the possibility exists will make such decks hesitate, and an extra turn might turn defeat into victory.

[Destro_Yersul]

Part of the beauty of polymorph potion is how secrets work.
They matter even if you don't have them in your deck, because any other secret you play MIGHT be this.

Also, unlike the mirror entity, this can stop charge killers. The mere fact the possibility exists will make such decks hesitate, and an extra turn might turn defeat into victory.

Yeah, but so can Vaporise, and that doesn't get played.

It occurs to me that you can find this from the 'add a random potion to your hand' guy, but if that happens your opponent will know exactly what secret it is, as long as they pay attention to card order in your hand.

[Joran]

Part of the beauty of polymorph potion is how secrets work.
They matter even if you don't have them in your deck, because any other secret you play MIGHT be this.

Also, unlike the mirror entity, this can stop charge killers. The mere fact the possibility exists will make such decks hesitate, and an extra turn might turn defeat into victory.

And even if it isn't good enough to be in your deck, it can still randomly appear from things like Babbling Book or Ethereal Conjurerer.

[Yael]

New card.

Seadevil Stinger [4]
Rare Warlock Minion
Battlecry: The next Murloc you play this turn costs Health instead of Mana.
4/2
Murloc

Thoughts?

EDIT: Added name.

[Hamste]

It is good tempo but unsure of its true value. If you play a 2 mana murloc you paid 2 mana and 2 health for a 4/2 murloc which is decent but not amazing, 3 and higher it becomes pretty good but it can't be played that early. There is currently 6 murloc cards that cost more than 3 that Warlock can use (including this card, corrupted seer and Finja)

[Chen]

Two of these plus a warleader on turn 4 would be pretty rough. Even just one of these + Finja or a warleader is good tempo. Late game you can play one plus the AoE clear and then repopulate the board with murlocs too. Murloc zoo could be a thing for warlock again.

[Gandariel]

Hey hey hey.

I think we're forgetting the most important thing here.

They got the name of the card wrong!! It should have been

Cho'Gill!

[Tyndmyr]

Put me in the camp of believing this Mage secret to be kind of weak. It's another Mirror Entity, though I'd argue slightly worse. Same cost, and instead of getting an equal creature, you're just gimping their creature. So, marginally less value overall. Plus, the two likely combo exceedingly poorly, so you can't line them up in order to get more resilience to creatures. Secret decks would have to get ludicrous in order for this to see play.

[Rodin]

What determines the order of secrets triggering when the condition is the same? Is it play order, or random? If it's play order, that would make a sick combo - it comes into play, you get a copy of it, and then their version gets polymorphed.

Of course, that doesn't remove the problem of all the above happening to a 2-drop, but still.

[Anarion]

What determines the order of secrets triggering when the condition is the same? Is it play order, or random? If it's play order, that would make a sick combo - it comes into play, you get a copy of it, and then their version gets polymorphed.

Of course, that doesn't remove the problem of all the above happening to a 2-drop, but still.

Typically, it's play order. Iirc, it's oldest played triggers first, but I might be getting that backwards.

[Gray Mage]

It's the same as deathrattle, first in, first effect.

[Nerocite]

Heroic Brawl is finally out. Watching streams it looks like a lot of Shamans, surprise surprise.

Also new neutral rare, Bomb Squad (http://www.hearthhead.com/news/hearthheads-mean-streets-of-gadgetzan-card-reveal-bomb-squad)

5 mana 2/2
Battlecry: Deal 5 damage to an enemy minion.
Deathrattle: Deal 5 damage to your hero.

[flatfooted]

This is one hell of a counter to Sylvanas on an empty board.

[Gray Mage]

Good combo with Madam Goya, but was it's 11 mana it's unlikely to be a good combo. It works better in Evolve Shaman. And funnily enough, in silence Priest. But mostly it's a hell of a Sylv counter.

[moossabi]

Heroic Brawl is finally out. Watching streams it looks like a lot of Shamans, surprise surprise.

Also new neutral rare, Bomb Squad (http://www.hearthhead.com/news/hearthheads-mean-streets-of-gadgetzan-card-reveal-bomb-squad)

5 mana 2/2
Battlecry: Deal 5 damage to an enemy minion.
Deathrattle: Deal 5 damage to your hero.

They should've waited until Gadgetzan dropped, there would actually be some variation rather than just 100% shamans.

I wonder what they're trying to push... (http://media-hearth.cursecdn.com/avatars/304/625/42061.gif)

[PsyBomb]

4/2 rare Warlock Murloc for 4, next Murloc you cast costs health instead of mana. So... first Warlock-specific card with this particular tribal tag. Not sure what to think of it, either. It's CURRENTLY mediocre, not enough to convince me the tribe is better off there instead of Paladin or Shaman even after Anyfin rotates. Seems that it wants you to use it for Warleader or Finja on 4 we need more information.

2/2 rare Neutral Minion for 5, battlecry deal 5 to a random enemy Minion, Deathrattle deal 5 to your hero. It has... potential? Well, some, it's a hard-counter to a lone Sylvanas, but the other Control cards are usually targeted. Maybe if we get ways to force the control to the enemy, or paired with Illusionist? Still not quite convinced it's playable.

[Rodin]

2/2 rare Neutral Minion for 5, battlecry deal 5 to a random enemy Minion, Deathrattle deal 5 to your hero. It has... potential? Well, some, it's a hard-counter to a lone Sylvanas, but the other Control cards are usually targeted. Maybe if we get ways to force the control to the enemy, or paired with Illusionist? Still not quite convinced it's playable.

I'm pretty sure it is targeted. It doesn't state random enemy, and it's the only way those stats make sense compared to Bomb Lobber (5 mana 3/3, deal 4 damage to random enemy minion).

I think it might have some value as a control card. Warriors often don't care about their health total after a certain point, Priests can heal up out of the damage. The problem is fitting it into a control deck, as the space is really tight in those to begin with.

[BRC]

4/2 rare Warlock Murloc for 4, next Murloc you cast costs health instead of mana. So... first Warlock-specific card with this particular tribal tag. Not sure what to think of it, either. It's CURRENTLY mediocre, not enough to convince me the tribe is better off there instead of Paladin or Shaman even after Anyfin rotates. Seems that it wants you to use it for Warleader or Finja on 4 we need more information.

2/2 rare Neutral Minion for 5, battlecry deal 5 to a random enemy Minion, Deathrattle deal 5 to your hero. It has... potential? Well, some, it's a hard-counter to a lone Sylvanas, but the other Control cards are usually targeted. Maybe if we get ways to force the control to the enemy, or paired with Illusionist? Still not quite convinced it's playable.
Check Bomb Squad again, its effect is targeted, not random.


I could see it finding use in control warrior, which always wants more removal and doesn't care about taking damage (Even if it is a little expensive for warrior removal), Reno decks, and Evolve Shaman, which will probably wait to play it until at least turn 6 (You don't want to let your opponent untap with it on the board)

[PsyBomb]

Huh, that's why i post thoughts. If it's targeted, then it's WAY better. Playable, really, 5 toughness is harder to kill efficiently.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Put me in the camp of believing this Mage secret to be kind of weak. It's another Mirror Entity, though I'd argue slightly worse. Same cost, and instead of getting an equal creature, you're just gimping their creature. So, marginally less value overall. Plus, the two likely combo exceedingly poorly, so you can't line them up in order to get more resilience to creatures. Secret decks would have to get ludicrous in order for this to see play.
Better to view it as a Vaporize that's easier to trigger. Or a superior Snipe. Potentially playable in Reno Mage, because against a lot of minions, it's good tempo.

[Yael]

New Neutral.
Backstreet Leper {3}
Common Neutral Minion
Deathrattle: Deal 2 damage to the enemy hero.
3/1

[The Glyphstone]

Bad card is bad.

[PsyBomb]

New Neutral.
Backstreet Leper {3}
Common Neutral Minion
Deathrattle: Deal 2 damage to the enemy hero.
3/1

At 2 cost, that would have been competitive. At 3, it's five dust.

[Zevox]

Seadevil Stinger - Oh good heaven no. A Warlock Murloc is not what I want to see. Please, Blizzard, let sleeping Dragons lie. I really hope this isn't good enough to bring that deck back...

Bomb Squad - Eh, seems iffy. That's pitiful stats and a nasty drawback for that battlecry. Sure, you're happy enough to use it on Sylvanas, but I don't think that alone will make it see use. I guess the key question is: why would you run it over whatever you class' removal options already are? For most classes, I'm thinking the answer is simply "you wouldn't." I guess it's okay for arena, though.

Backstreet Leper - Wow, that's pretty bad. Even compared to post-nerf Leper Gnome, this thing doesn't look very good, and the comparison to pre-nerf is laughable. Full-face aggro decks would rather run Wolfrider, and nothing else would want this.

[Nerocite]

New Warlock Card (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgbuTu26ksw)

3 mana Rare Spell
Give a friendly minion +3 attack.
If it's a demon, give it +3 health as well.

Brode really likes Demonfuse I guess.

[Zevox]

New Warlock Card (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgbuTu26ksw)

3 mana Rare Spell
Give a friendly minion +3 attack.
If it's a demon, give it +3 health as well.

Brode really likes Demonfuse I guess.
Yeah, that may as well just say "give a friendly demon +3/+3," since a 3 mana Blessing of Might is terrible. As-is, I don't expect anything out of this. If Blessing of Kings can rarely make the cut for constructed, I don't see this getting anywhere. Maybe it gets looked at if, at some point, an all-demon deck becomes a viable thing, but given that never happened even when Mal'ganis was around, I'm not expecting that. Obviously bad for arena, too, since you can't count on getting demons there.

[Destro_Yersul]

Well, standard zoo runs Flame Imp, Voidwalker, and Imp Gang Boss. The disco variant runs Malchezar's Imp. That's 8 demons, and hitting a 1/3 with this turns it into a 4/6, which is pretty hard to deal with on turn 3. I could see it getting some play.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Bomb Squad - Eh, seems iffy. That's pitiful stats and a nasty drawback for that battlecry. Sure, you're happy enough to use it on Sylvanas, but I don't think that alone will make it see use. I guess the key question is: why would you run it over whatever you class' removal options already are? For most classes, I'm thinking the answer is simply "you wouldn't." I guess it's okay for arena, though.

I can see an argument for it in Paladin, which is pretty lacking as far as single-target damage removal goes.

[Gray Mage]

Well, standard zoo runs Flame Imp, Voidwalker, and Imp Gang Boss. The disco variant runs Malchezar's Imp. That's 8 demons, and hitting a 1/3 with this turns it into a 4/6, which is pretty hard to deal with on turn 3. I could see it getting some play.

Don't forget Doomguards, so 10 demons in the deck. And Imp Gang Boss' tokens as well.

[Spore]

Don't forget Doomguards, so 10 demons in the deck. And Imp Gang Boss' tokens as well.

Yeah, but it is slow. It costs 3, has no body and can potentially be either dead for 3 turns or not even change the outcome of a trade. I suspect this card might be played on Divine Shield minions more often than not.

[Gandariel]

Or in other words:

Demonfire is probably better than this, and it sees no play.
I don't really expect this one to.

(Although now that we have several buff cards you *could* start thinking about making a buff deck like in Paladin...)

[Thialfi]

I think this just put the final nail in the coffin of Kabal Chemist being playable.

Also, we are 11 legends into this set and Kazakus and Inkmaster Solia are the only ones I really want.

[Yael]

This is just getting silly.
Felfire Potion {6}
Rare Warlock Spell
Deal 5 damage to all characters.

[Rodin]

I think this just put the final nail in the coffin of Kabal Chemist being playable.



I'm not so sure...

Currently revealed potions:



Volcanic Potion - Deal 2 to all minions. Great card.
Potion of Polymorph - Secret that Polymorphs. Not terrible, but not great either.
Dragonfire Potion - Deal 5 to all minions except dragons. Fantastic card.
Pint-size Potion - All enemy minions get -3 attack until end of turn. Situationally great card, still useful even if you only hit one minion with it.
Potion of Madness - Steal a minion with 2 or less attack until end of turn. Situationally great card.
Felfire Potion - Deal 5 damage to all characters. Great as long as it doesn't kill you - if you're using it, you woulda been taking more than 5 damage the next turn anyway.
Bloodfury Potion - Pretty terrible, but not useless.



So far, out of 7 revealed potions there's only two results that can really be said to be bad, and both of them are situationally quite useful. It's not like getting Shatter off of Babbling Book, for example. 3 of the potions can represent a board wipe, and depending on the board state you could say the same about Pint-size Potion.

Now, whether the tempo of the game is slow enough to allow a 4-mana 3/3 to see play, I dunno. Ethereal Conjurer never quite made it despite being a Discover card. It will definitely be a great pickup in Arena.

[Thialfi]

http://www.hearthpwn.com/news/1973-new-mage-card-reveal-kabal-crystal-runner


Okay, this card makes me happy. I got a healthy chunk of my golden Jaina done by playing secret mage before the expansions started hitting. I think it just might be viable again and this would be a great addition.

[Spore]

I think this just put the final nail in the coffin of Kabal Chemist being playable.

Also, we are 11 legends into this set and Kazakus and Inkmaster Solia are the only ones I really want.

Honestly, I feel Han'Cho, the Forgotten King and Shaku the Collector will see the most play. Both Kazakus and Solia will become close to useless when Reno leaves the standard rotation.



http://www.hearthpwn.com/news/1973-new-mage-card-reveal-kabal-crystal-runner


Okay, this card makes me happy. I got a healthy chunk of my golden Jaina done by playing secret mage before the expansions started hitting. I think it just might be viable again and this would be a great addition.


Mage was my 2. golden hero and I am excited for some Control or Grinder Style Decks. I loved Dragon Grinder Mage back in the day (1 Echo, two Duplicates, a slew of dragons, the good Mage spells and Rag/Antonidas).

[CarpeGuitarrem]

http://www.hearthpwn.com/news/1973-new-mage-card-reveal-kabal-crystal-runner


Okay, this card makes me happy. I got a healthy chunk of my golden Jaina done by playing secret mage before the expansions started hitting. I think it just might be viable again and this would be a great addition.
It's like a faster version of Arcane Giant for Secret-focused decks! Even playing just one secret makes it a 4-mana 5/5.

[Gray Mage]

It's like a faster version of Arcane Giant for Secret-focused decks! Even playing just one secret makes it a 4-mana 5/5.

I'd compare it more with Thing from Below.

[Rodin]

The question is whether the Mage secrets are good enough or not. Right now you only really see two in Ranked - Ice Block and Ice Barrier. Both of those are Freeze Mage staples, and Freeze Mage isn't likely to care about this card since they're just pushing through the deck as quickly as possible. I can see the card going into the Reno Grinder Mage along with Kazakus though, since that deck does run Block and Barrier and has a lot of random spell generation that throws up more of them.

[Destro_Yersul]

Honestly, I feel Han'Cho, the Forgotten King and Shaku the Collector will see the most play. Both Kazakus and Solia will become close to useless when Reno leaves the standard rotation.

Really? I don't expect to see any Shaku at all. Kazakus and Solia, on the other hand, are enough combined to drive a deck of that sort even without Reno.

The Secret card seems good as well, I think. Might see a return of mage secrets decks, since a 0 mana 5/5 is such strong tempo. This one doesn't have taunt, sadly, but I still think it's good enough that it might just make secrets viable, though probably more in a reno-style deck than a dedicated secret mage.

[Zevox]

Really? I don't expect to see any Shaku at all. Kazakus and Solia, on the other hand, are enough combined to drive a deck of that sort even without Reno.

The Secret card seems good as well, I think. Might see a return of mage secrets decks, since a 0 mana 5/5 is such strong tempo. This one doesn't have taunt, sadly, but I still think it's good enough that it might just make secrets viable, though probably more in a reno-style deck than a dedicated secret mage.
Agreed all around. The Kazakus + Solia combo is strong enough that I feel very confident that deck will stick around even post-Reno. Them and Kun the Forgotten King are who I'd peg as the strongest legendaries revealed so far, with Wickerflame Burnbristle next in line behind them (though fun fact: when I first saw him, I thought he was a normal, non-legendary card, so now I'm kind of disappointed that I can't have two of him in decks). Shaku seems poor, and I have severe doubts about Don Han'cho too.

And yes, Kabal Crystal Runner does seem like a pretty strong card too. The dream scenario is turn one coin + 2x Cabal Lackey + 2x secrets, turn 2 Kabal Crystal Runner for 2, which would be absolutely insane. More realistically, Kabal Crystal Runner is a turn 4 5/5 or a later 5/5 for 2 or 0, which can still be pretty good. I think it'll get secrets into the Reno/Kazakus/Solia deck for sure, and between it and Cabal Lackey you might see secrets return to Tempo Mage. Throw in another good new card that works with secrets - or a new secret that's actually strong, maybe - and you might see a genuine Secret Mage start to look like a possibility, but for the moment, I don't expect that.

[Grytorm]

Maybe even the three drop girl who makes secrets free could see play. With redundancy going for synergy becomes less scary.

[Zevox]

Maybe even the three drop girl who makes secrets free could see play. With redundancy going for synergy becomes less scary.
Eh, I think Kirin-Tor Mage is going to struggle to find a place in a real constructed deck. The issues I see being twofold: one, 4/3 for 3 are not very desirable stats; two, it's the same mana cost as a secret is to begin with, so all you're getting as an upside for using it is those stats. I'm just not sure whether it can overcome that.

[Destro_Yersul]

The ones I'd expect to see are the Avian Watcher and Medivh's Valet. The Watcher didn't get played much because there was little incentive to run secrets outside of freeze mage, but with a bit of extra synergy and a Reno-style deck I could see it making an appearance.

[PsyBomb]

More Reviews!

3 mana Rare Warlock Spell. Give a minion +3 attack. If it's a demon, also give it +3 health. Probably not going to see play unless Demon decks come forward in prominence, but I wouldn't rule that completely out. Still not likely, IMHO. It's easily the worst Potion overall so far, which hurts the Kabal Alchemist

6 mana Rare Warlock Spell, deal 5 damage to all characters. It's a lot like putting Ysera Awakens into the main deck, honestly not too shabby. Many critical targets are at 4-5 health, so this is going to make yet another excellent sweeper card. Warlocks just moved up into the AoE King slot, between this, Hellfire, Shadowflame, and Enforcer (and Demonfire if you count it, which I do). Means that even Highlander-style decks will be able to pack a ton of board clears. It's also pretty much unarguably better than Dragonfire Potion, since it works regardless of your enemy's creature types. It'll see play.

5/5 Rare Mage Minion for 6, costs 2 less for each Secret you've played this game. Calling it now, the AggroFreeze Mage archetype is going to run this and Lackey at 2 copies each. 5/5 is very good at 4 mana, and that is ludicrously easy to arrange or if you have even 4 secrets (twin Ice Block then two more of your choice). Mid- and late-game, it represents a serious threat that doesn't interfere with your other casts. I doubt that this will make Kirin Tor Mage playable, though. Doesn't need it, and Kirin Tor is subpar compared to Lackey for the aggressive styles Crystal Runner seems to favor.

As for the Legendary cards revealed so far, I'm actually excited about most of them (just not Knuckles, and even that one might see play in Goons-style decks). Even the "boring" ones like Don Han'Cho are well-designed overall and promote their playstyles, most of them interlock quite well with more than one deck or style as well (Kazakus giving people Reno Mage ideas, for example).

[Rodin]

The ones I'd expect to see are the Avian Watcher and Medivh's Valet. The Watcher didn't get played much because there was little incentive to run secrets outside of freeze mage, but with a bit of extra synergy and a Reno-style deck I could see it making an appearance.

I dunno, Avian Watcher is still kinda poor even when you get a Secret to play with it. Unless you're playing it on turn 8, the secret you play has to survive your opponent's turn. That's pretty much only assured with Ice Block. Once you do get it on the field, a 4/7 Taunt is useful but not especially impressive compared to, say, a 4 mana 7/7. And if you don't have a secret, the card is utterly terrible.

Reno decks were already running secrets (namely, Ice Block) and weren't running Avian Watcher. I don't expect this to change post-expansion. There's just so many more useful 5 cost cards a Mage can run.

Medivh's Valet, on the other hand, was already seeing play in some Reno decks. I can see it showing up more often now, especially since you can get out an early secret. Turn 1 Lackey + Secret into turn 2 Valet is a pretty huge tempo play, and the Valet still has value even if you don't get the early secret, and at worst it's a 2 mana 2/3 which is decent stats for the cost.

[Zevox]

I'd agree with Rodin about Avian Watcher - it's upside is just not strong enough to see play even if all of these good new secret-synergy cards start to push Mage secrets to prominence. Medihv's Valet though, oh yeah, that card is going to start seeing more play, no question.

[Destro_Yersul]

Yeah, the Valet is the one I think is more likely to stick, but I do think Watcher might get tried again. Especially if some really heavy aggro starts making a comeback.

[Yael]

Oh we got one.
Poisonous Swamp Ooze {3}
Common Neutral Minion
Battlecry: Remove 1 durability from your opponent's weapon.
4/3

[Rodin]

That Battlecry was terrible on the other dude, and it's terrible on this guy.

Will be an okay Arena card though. Standard-ish stats with an occasionally useful ability.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

Singleton Mage might survive the loss of Reno when the set after MSG comes out, not so sure about Warlock. Full heals become pretty relevant if your strategy involves hitting yourself in the face to draw cards.

What I'm curious about is Priest. Since Kazakus is technically a Priest card, I wonder if Reno Priest can be a thing. Seems terribly redundant (yo dawg I heard you like heals) but it would be strange if one of the classes can't really use the gang leader.

EDIT: Bah, I mean singleton Priest. You don't need Reno to run Kazakus, though he fits very well in one-of decks.

[GAAD]

What do you mean? REpeats NOthing decks seem pretty self-explanatory.

[Destro_Yersul]

That Battlecry was terrible on the other dude, and it's terrible on this guy.

Will be an okay Arena card though. Standard-ish stats with an occasionally useful ability.

Remove one durability is terrible on the pirate because it's a 1 mana 1/2. It's less terrible on this because of the somewhat reasonable stats, but there's still not any reason to take this over Acidic Swamp Ooze or Harrison. Fine in Arena, though.

[Grytorm]

Hooray, my latest arena run is now at 10/1. 2 Malchazar's Imp, 3 Soulfire is apparently good. (Also, solid curve with 1-drops and some good big dudes)

[Yael]

New priest hype.
Raza the Chained {5}
Legendary Priest Minion
Battlecry: If your deck has no duplicates, your Hero Power costs (0) this game.
5/5

[Thialfi]

New priest hype.
Raza the Chained {5}
Legendary Priest Minion
Battlecry: If your deck has no duplicates, your Hero Power costs (0) this game.
5/5


My golden Confessor Paletress just did a cartwheel.

[Corlindale]

I immediately thought of my Paletress-deck as well!

Imagine if you somehow managed to acquire a Coldarra Drake after playing this through some thoughtsteal/mindcontrol shenanigans. Would that mean you can trigger any Inspire effects as many times as you can fit in with the turn timer?

I know it's fantastically unlikely, but it's interesting to think about.

[Zevox]

New priest hype.
Raza the Chained {5}
Legendary Priest Minion
Battlecry: If your deck has no duplicates, your Hero Power costs (0) this game.
5/5
Holy moly that's good.

And you know what card that could make amazing? Shadowform, of all things.

[Yael]

The moment you realize Auctionmaster Beardo becomes useful. Just imagine it on a Shadowform deck.

[Rodin]

Reno Priest, here I come!

[Neon Knight]

Raza certainly looks strong, but I have some mild skepticism about the Priest Reno/Highlander deck that it wants to be included in. I guess I'm just wondering if Priest is going to have the necessary redundancy to make the no duplicate deck work out. Current Priest decks tend to pretty dependent on synergies, and while Mean streets is definitely adding powerful new options to the class, they still seem like they are dependent on certain combinations of cards: Shrinking Potion and a madness effect, etc.

If you're only running singletons, are you reliably going to be able to find the synergy cards you need to make the free Hero Power impactful? You'll likely run only one Auchenai and one Cleric, for example. With Dragonfire potion I suppose there is more redundancy in the board clear department than in the past.

Shadowform is an option, definitely, and that might be how the Raza deck works out. Maybe you even run two Shadowforms. I might be entirely off base here; it does seem like a very powerful effect. Maybe it is even worth it just for healing face for free every turn. It will definitely warrant experimentation.

[Destro_Yersul]

Holy moly that's good.

And you know what card that could make amazing? Shadowform, of all things.

Justicar Trueheart. Then you somehow acquire Coldarra Drake and play Auchenai Soulpriest and just win. The dream is real.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

New priest hype.
Raza the Chained {5}
Legendary Priest Minion
Battlecry: If your deck has no duplicates, your Hero Power costs (0) this game.
5/5

Wow. I guess that answers my question about singleton Priest. If this combos with Trueheart, that would be crazy. Turn 5, Raza, Hero Power. Turn 6, Hero Power, Justicar, Hero Power. And both effects are permanent battlecries; the opponent dealing with either minion changes nothing.

[Rodin]

Something interesting I noticed - the text on Kazakus and Raza differs from Reno. He states that you can not have more than 1 of any card in your deck. The new guys say you can not have any duplicates.

In theory that's the same thing, but the different wording makes me wonder. Will you be able to do Reno shenanigans with this where you have a few duplicates that you need to draw past to get them out? Or will it properly track the other duplicates?

It'll probably work the same as now, but worth keeping an eye on.

[moossabi]

Definitely crafting confessor first when I hit the pity timer on TGT packs.

My Reno Priest is already fun (awesome game from last night spoiler'd below), but I could definitely use the heropower insanity.

Fairly early on in the game, I get MegaDeathwing off Netherspite Historian, allowing me to trigge Chillmaw and clear his board. I drop Sylvanas to ensure that he can't play C'thun, using Deathwing to destroy any minions he played. Eventually he kills deathwing, bringing out Ysera. Ysera gives me a Dream, which in addition to the Reno and Young Brewmaster in my hand I can use to Fully heal three times. He executes Ysera shortly thereafter, but I just keep healing my Sylvanas and clearing his board. When my Sylvanas isdown to 1 health, I draw Museum Curator and get Sylvanas 2. I had N'zoth in my hand and he probably realized that as soon as he killed my Sylvanas(es) I would just N'zoth and bring back all my strongest minions. "I choose death!"

I'll post a decklist if you're interested.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

Something interesting I noticed - the text on Kazakus and Raza differs from Reno. He states that you can not have more than 1 of any card in your deck. The new guys say you can not have any duplicates.

In theory that's the same thing, but the different wording makes me wonder. Will you be able to do Reno shenanigans with this where you have a few duplicates that you need to draw past to get them out? Or will it properly track the other duplicates?

It'll probably work the same as now, but worth keeping an eye on.

They're probably trying to figure out which wording is best for the "highlander" effect. I suspect it'll work exactly the same as Reno. "contains no more than 1 of any card" versus "has no duplicates", I think the second one wins on brevity, which may be a factor if they plan to make more of these effects in the future.

[Destro_Yersul]

I kinda suspect that Reno was a test run, to see if powerful effects on a restriction like that were viable. Turns out they are, so now we're getting more of them.

[Hamste]

Justicar Trueheart. Then you somehow acquire Coldarra Drake and play Auchenai Soulpriest and just win. The dream is real.

Garrison commander is interesting as a combo piece with that though sadly velen, embrace the shadows and garrison commander is 1 too much mana. Double shadow form instead of Justicar and embrace the shadows does 12 with the other cards being useful even with out combo but is even more order dependent than Justicar with that card (assuming replacing hero power removes the effect)

[Binks]

As someone who currently runs a Reno Priest deck for fun I am loving these preview cards. Even more reason to run a Highlander deck. Now I get to do it for fun, and for value too! (well, more value than just Reno alone at least). I was very meh towards this expansion until these last couple of cards dropped, now I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on some of them.

[heronbpv]

A must have, for sure. And with this one, it seems we'll finally see more than a single viable archetype for the class, these being Dragon, Control (classic), Control (ressurrection), Singleton/Highlander (choose one), and possibly Shadow.
Hopefully I'll get this one within my first 50 packs :smallsmile:


Also, more cancer mage incoming with the new cards. Sorry, but outside arena, I hate this class (and Warlock) with a passion :smallsigh:

[moossabi]

Definitely crafting confessor first when I hit the pity timer on TGT packs.

My Reno Priest is already fun (awesome game from last night spoiler'd below), but I could definitely use the heropower insanity.

Fairly early on in the game, I get MegaDeathwing off Netherspite Historian, allowing me to trigge Chillmaw and clear his board. I drop Sylvanas to ensure that he can't play C'thun, using Deathwing to destroy any minions he played. Eventually he kills deathwing, bringing out Ysera. Ysera gives me a Dream, which in addition to the Reno and Young Brewmaster in my hand I can use to Fully heal three times. He executes Ysera shortly thereafter, but I just keep healing my Sylvanas and clearing his board. When my Sylvanas isdown to 1 health, I draw Museum Curator and get Sylvanas 2. I had N'zoth in my hand and he probably realized that as soon as he killed my Sylvanas(es) I would just N'zoth and bring back all my strongest minions. "I choose death!"

I wanted to put this up for critique anyways, so here I go:

1 mana
x1 Flash Heal (good when Shaman is being a pain)
x1 Mind Vision (copies opponents' early game)
x1 Northshire Cleric (generally fantastic card)
x1 Power Word: Shield (generally fantastic card)
x1 Twilight Whelp (early board presence + dragon synergy)

2 mana
x1 Faerie Dragon (early board presence + dragon synergy)
x1 Huge Toad (early board presence + N'Zoth fuel)
x1 Museum Curator (discover more N'zoth fuel)
x1 Netherspite Historian (discover more dragon synergy)
x1 Shadow Word: Pain (kills Tunnel Troggs)
x1 Wyrmrest Agent (early board presence)
x1 Youthful Brewmaster (multiple Reno uses)

3 mana
x1 Blackwing Technician (early board presence)
x1 Harvest Golem (early board presence + N'Zoth fuel)
x1 Shadow Word: Death (kills 0 mana 5/5 taunts)
x1 Thoughtsteal (copies opponents' higher-cost cards)

4 mana
x1 Shifting Shade (N'zoth fuel + copies opponents' higher-cost cards)
x1 Twilight Guardian (generally fantastic card + dragon synergy)

5 mana
x1 Azure Drake (dragon synergy)
x1 Blackwing Corrupter (kills Tunnel Trogg)
x1 Excavated Evil (kills shamans' boards)
Harrison Jones (kills weapons)

6 mana
x1 Book Wyrm (kills Tunnel Troggs)
x1 Entomb (gets rid of annoying stuff)
Reno Jackson (deck centerpiece)
Sylvanas Windrunner (generally fantastic card + N'zoth fuel)

7 mana
Chillmaw (dragon synergy + kills shamans' boards)

9 mana
Ysera (generally fantastic card + dragon synergy)

10 mana
N'zoth (deck centerpiece)
Yogg-Saron (I had spells, I had fun, why not add more of both?)

[Anarion]

I wanted to put this up for critique anyways, so here I go:

1 mana
x1 Flash Heal (good when Shaman is being a pain)
x1 Mind Vision (copies opponents' early game)
x1 Northshire Cleric (generally fantastic card)
x1 Power Word: Shield (generally fantastic card)
x1 Twilight Whelp (early board presence + dragon synergy)

2 mana
x1 Faerie Dragon (early board presence + dragon synergy)
x1 Huge Toad (early board presence + N'Zoth fuel)
x1 Museum Curator (discover more N'zoth fuel)
x1 Netherspite Historian (discover more dragon synergy)
x1 Shadow Word: Pain (kills Tunnel Troggs)
x1 Wyrmrest Agent (early board presence)
x1 Youthful Brewmaster (multiple Reno uses)

3 mana
x1 Blackwing Technician (early board presence)
x1 Harvest Golem (early board presence + N'Zoth fuel)
x1 Shadow Word: Death (kills 0 mana 5/5 taunts)
x1 Thoughtsteal (copies opponents' higher-cost cards)

4 mana
x1 Shifting Shade (N'zoth fuel + copies opponents' higher-cost cards)
x1 Twilight Guardian (generally fantastic card + dragon synergy)

5 mana
x1 Azure Drake (dragon synergy)
x1 Blackwing Corrupter (kills Tunnel Trogg)
x1 Excavated Evil (kills shamans' boards)
Harrison Jones (kills weapons)

6 mana
x1 Book Wyrm (kills Tunnel Troggs)
x1 Entomb (gets rid of annoying stuff)
Reno Jackson (deck centerpiece)
Sylvanas Windrunner (generally fantastic card + N'zoth fuel)

7 mana
Chillmaw (dragon synergy + kills shamans' boards)

9 mana
Ysera (generally fantastic card + dragon synergy)

10 mana
N'zoth (deck centerpiece)
Yogg-Saron (I had spells, I had fun, why not add more of both?)

7 dragons, 3 of which need a second dragon in hand to be good, is a recipe for disaster.

[moossabi]

7 dragons, 3 of which need a second dragon in hand to be good, is a recipe for disaster.

When Gadgetzan drops I'll probably end up doing away with them, but for now they've been working out alright.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Justicar Trueheart. Then you somehow acquire Coldarra Drake and play Auchenai Soulpriest and just win. The dream is real.
Don't even need Justicar Trueheart. Just Kabal Courier into Coldarra Drake and combo with Embrace the Shadows/Auchenai for an OTK of a thousand paper cuts.

[Thialfi]

If you are going reno dragon priest after Mean Streets hits, it will be real easy to get to 9 or 10 dragons. Drakonid Operative is really good and it's not a sin to put two of the 1 or 2 drops in there. Twilight Welp, Faerie Dragon, Twilight Guardian, Twilight Drake, Azure Drake, Drakonid Operative, Drakonid Crusher, Bookwyrm, Chillmaw, Ysera, Nefarian, and even Alexstrasza are all eminently playable in reno decks. Plus we have a good chunk of this set left to discover.

Personally, I'll probably try a dragon priest and a separate reno priest deck once the expansion hits.

[moossabi]

If you are going reno dragon priest after Mean Streets hits, it will be real easy to get to 9 or 10 dragons. Drakonid Operative is really good and it's not a sin to put two of the 1 or 2 drops in there. Twilight Welp, Faerie Dragon, Twilight Guardian, Twilight Drake, Azure Drake, Drakonid Operative, Drakonid Crusher, Bookwyrm, Chillmaw, Ysera, Nefarian, and even Alexstrasza are all eminently playable in reno decks. Plus we have a good chunk of this set left to discover.

Personally, I'll probably try a dragon priest and a separate reno priest deck once the expansion hits.

...I was saying that the dragons in that deck will be going away once Gadgetzan drops and I get the cards I need. I'll be aiming for separate decks as well.

[The Glyphstone]

Every so often you just get a 'fun' match. I had the '30 Battlecries' quest, so I threw together a Wild Warlock of every cheap Battlecry I had and went into Casual mode. Ran into another Warlock, and after about 5 turns of mirrored plays, figured out he was also doing For Azeroth! with a trash deck. Ended up spending about 20 turns politely trading minions with each other to free board space for more Battlecry cards.

[Grytorm]

Well got my 12 win arena. Started a new draft of course, pulled Prince Malcazhar partway through and went very hard early game after that.

Also, I have around 1000 gold. Should I go for the Brawl? If so, what deck.

[Zevox]

I wouldn't bother with the Brawl. You need to win a ton just to break even, and that's just on pack value - you don't get your gold back in full until 12. You're better off saving the gold for Mean Streets of Gadgetzan, I'd say.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Only drop the gold if you have gold or money to burn, IMO.

[Rodin]

Only drop the gold if you have gold or money to burn, IMO.

Still the silliest thing about this Brawl.

You can make a ton of loot...if you already have enough money not to need it in the first place.

It has been fun watching the streamers do it, so at least there's that.

[boomwolf]

Yea, don't know why they bothered doing this brawl again.
Few participated last time, fewer will this time.


I mean, obvious gold sink so we won't have as much when mean streets drop. but we aint falling for it, we can tell a bad "chance" when we see one.

[Destro_Yersul]

This is the first time they've run it. It was announced previously, and everyone hated it, so they waited a while.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

The brawl is essentially designed for streamers. Or, as someone said before, have more money than sense.

I initially did think it would be something high level players would enjoy. After seeing the VODs of Youtubers running it, I don't see what's so different about it compared to just running Ranked Constructed plus wagering $10/1000 gold.

Maybe the skilled players can feed off the people who think they're good but are just throwing money away. I dunno.

[Gandariel]

Definitely no "feeding" happens in terms of in game money.

It's extremely hard to go even, and most of the people who are really good don't really have much use for thestuff you win.

It's purely for people who enjoy gambling and streamers who get more viewers by showcasing skill or cool decks.

Overall, while I won't play it, it's a healthy thing in the game and I hope they do it again (possibly also with smaller costs)

[Gray Mage]

Jade Blossom
Druid, 3 mana cost spell. Gain an empty mana crystal anf summon a Jade Golem. Jade Golem stats unknown.
I feel this one will be run.

[Zevox]

Jade Blossom
Druid, 3 mana cost spell. Gain an empty mana crystal anf summon a Jade Golem. Jade Golem stats unknown.
I feel this one will be run.
Without knowing the stats, it's impossible to properly evaluate. But I'd say they need to be at least 2/2 for that to be viable. Paying an extra mana over Wild Growth for anything lower than that doesn't look good, and between Wild Growth and Mire Keeper, Druid has enough early-game ramp cards already that they don't need another, I think.

[PsyBomb]

I found a picture showing Jade Golem to be a 1/1 with an Innervate Deathrattle and tribal tag "Golem", but not sure of veracity.

https://gyazo.com/7337d143dabf14490226105865d697bc

[flatfooted]

So a useless death rattle when it's your opponents turn.

[Tvtyrant]

I currently have a "play a friend for 80 gold" quest. Anyone up for it? If so just add me as a friend and we will play, first come first served.

I am Tvtyrant#1128 .

[Hamste]

I'm up for it, sent a friend request.

[Tvtyrant]

I'm up for it, sent a friend request.

Weird, I am not seeing the request.

[moossabi]

Weird, I am not seeing the request.

Which server are you on?

[Tvtyrant]

Which server are you on?

Americo. We got it worked out.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

Jade Blossom
Druid, 3 mana cost spell. Gain an empty mana crystal anf summon a Jade Golem. Jade Golem stats unknown.
I feel this one will be run.

Ehh. The Jade Golem may be considered threat enough that the enemy uses resources to make sure it dies on their turn. Still seems not that competitive with other ramp options, I might be wrong.

[PsyBomb]

Ehh. The Jade Golem may be considered threat enough that the enemy uses resources to make sure it dies on their turn. Still seems not that competitive with other ramp options, I might be wrong.

I am going to reserve judgement on this card until Jade Lotus week. It got leaked accidentally, and we have no context on Druid's ability to capitalize on the effect. For all we know, there is going to be stuff to detonate your own Golems for effect, and the Druid theme is going to be putting tiny ones out with deathrattle riders. If that happens, I can see N'Zoth Druid being a thing. As it stands, Jade Blossom won't be used over existing options.

[Kish]

So a useless death rattle when it's your opponents turn.
Or to put it another way, a deathrattle that constitutes a strong incentive to kill it immediately.

[Zevox]

I found a picture showing Jade Golem to be a 1/1 with an Innervate Deathrattle and tribal tag "Golem", but not sure of veracity.

https://gyazo.com/7337d143dabf14490226105865d697bc
If that's real, it's not very good. You don't get any easier to kill than a 1/1 - several hero powers do it for free, as do most minions if they're already on the board and all AoE - so getting rid of it before the opponent can take advantage of that deathrattle is going to be a breeze. I don't think Jade Blossom will see play if that's what the Jade Golem is, barring some so far unrevealed cards making the Golem more useful than it looks at first glance.


I am going to reserve judgement on this card until Jade Lotus week. It got leaked accidentally, and we have no context on Druid's ability to capitalize on the effect. For all we know, there is going to be stuff to detonate your own Golems for effect, and the Druid theme is going to be putting tiny ones out with deathrattle riders. If that happens, I can see N'Zoth Druid being a thing. As it stands, Jade Blossom won't be used over existing options.
Even if there is, this would be terrible to put into a N'Zoth deck. N'Zoth uses up all of your mana, and these things don't have charge, so the only way you could use them on the turn N'Zoth gets played is if the detonator were a 0-mana card. And you really don't want to dilute N'Zoth resurrection pool with 1/1s, you want it bringing back actual threats.

[boomwolf]

You are completely missing the point with the golem.

Its not about being HARD to take care of, its about the fact they HAVE to.

And for that, they spent resources.
A hero power used is a card not played this turn, a creature attacking it is not attacking your other things/face.

Even if you will most times fail to keep it alive, the mere fact it has to be killed is useful.

[Gandariel]

I agree with Boom wolf that it's not completely worthless.

Say I play a minion on 1/2, you play a minion, I trade (or simply, neither of us has played a minion yet) and I play this card.

If a Warrior uses a War Axe swing on it, or even a Mage hero power, I'm pretty happy!

Essentially the golem puts you two mana ahead in any case (either by taking it out from your opponent, or by giving it to you).

Note: this only works if the enemy doesn't have a minion up, which is a very valid point considering its a 3 mana card.

Overall the bad case is "a minion kills it for free". The average case is "mage /druid Hero power" and the great case is "war axe swing/quick shot"

I argue the average case is still decent, but I fear the bad case will happen most of the time (and the 3 mana cost is actually very significant : forces you to put cheap drops in your deck, which is not super great with Ramp)

[Destro_Yersul]

You could always Innervate it turn 1. Gives you a 1/1 that'll return your innervate if it dies on your turn, and one extra mana. I'm not convinced it's better than Wild Growth, though.

[Gray Mage]

I don't think it's better than Wild Growth, but I think it could be better than Mire Keeper. Of course, if the golem is what has been said, it doesn't looks like it'll be the case. I was expecting a 2/2 or something like that.

It is a mana faster and a spell, which has synergy with Yogg and Arcane Giant and with full mana you gwt the golem and card cycle.

[Hamste]

It notably doesn't synergize well with wild growth on two compared to mire keeper which does. You will waste 1 mana if you play jade blossom on turn three with wild growth the turn before unless you have a 1 drop or innervate.

[Divayth Fyr]

Burgly Bully:

Neutral, 5 mana, 4/6 (epic)

Text: Whenever your opponent casts a spell, add a Coin to your hand.

http://i.imgur.com/v4M7XLO.png

[moossabi]

Burgly Bully:

Neutral, 5 mana, 4/6 (epic)

Text: Whenever your opponent casts a spell, add a Coin to your hand.

http://i.imgur.com/v4M7XLO.png

The original Troggs fell flat, this one will too.

[Gray Mage]

The original Troggs fell flat, this one will too.

Extra coins could be interesting for non rogue Miracle decks (since they don't have tomb pillager), but even then I don't think it'll be any good.

[Spore]

The card is not great but it is a very decent 5 drop, especially for Miracle Rogues. Turn 4 Tomb Pillager, Turn 5 Bully, Turn 6 Auctioneer Double (possibly triple!) Coin into ...SOMETHING. The Body trades very beneficial, the only real danger I see is the new (and some old) 5/5 drops, like Dragon Consort or Stranglethorn Tiger.

[Nerocite]

New Priest Epic (https://www.invenglobal.com/articles/387)

https://static.invenglobal.com/upload/image/2016/11/20/i1479642048915376.png

A solid priest 2-drop? Pinch me I'm dreaming.

[PsyBomb]

Do we have a visual on the Crystal it summons? Card is solid if they're vanilla, but that can change FAST in either direction if they aren't

[PersonMan]

Is there any general advice for building combo decks? I've got a mix of removal / card draw / board presence that's doing alright, but I'd like to improve it; are there guidelines I could follow, or is it more of a 'show me the deck list and I can give tips' sort of deal?

[Gandariel]

Yeah, it's "show list".

I mean without a list i can only tell you that you want a bunch of removal, card draw, anti-aggro stuff and Thaurissan.

Also, it's pretty meta-dependent, you often need to make tech decisions to counter specific cards.

(example: Control shamans run Stormcrack, an awful card, over Lightning Bolt because Frothing Berserker and Totem Golem's 4 Health are that important)

[Joran]

Is there any general advice for building combo decks? I've got a mix of removal / card draw / board presence that's doing alright, but I'd like to improve it; are there guidelines I could follow, or is it more of a 'show me the deck list and I can give tips' sort of deal?

Agreed with Gandariel, it's difficult to know what kind of advice to give, especially with no class identified.

The questions you should ask are: "What are the win conditions of my deck?"

For some combo decks, it's literally a single combo, like the old Raging Worgen decks (RIP Charge). In that case, you want all the card draw you can get and all the survivability tools so you can draw your combo quickly and then deploy it. You have no other threats, so you're mostly reactive.

Other combo decks have a combo as one of a few win conditions. Renolock with Leeroy + PO + Faceless is a good example. Sometimes it wins with the combo, sometimes it wins with a Jaraxxus play, sometimes it wins with just outvaluing their opponent. Likewise with current iterations of Malygos Druid. It can win off Arcane Giants, board control, outvaluing or Malygos burst. In these cases, since you have pro-active plays, card draw isn't as necessary and survivability is also not a huge concern.

Edit: Changed the name, sorry Gandariel!

[Gandariel]

Agreed with Galadriel, it's difficult to know what kind of advice to give, especially with no class identified.


Agreed with Galadriel


Galadriel

The pain, it hurts so much. I feel.. My masculinity... diminishing...

[flatfooted]

All shall love you and despair!

[Thialfi]

It looks like the hook for the Jade Lotus clan is having overcosted spells and minions that also summon jade golems. It looks like the first jade golem you summon each game is a 1/1 and they grow by +1/+1 for every one that you summon after that. That could snowball quickly as long as they can stay in the game.

[Gandariel]

Huh. So the Jade Golem was not what we thought it was.

Hmm... These ones are super hard to evaluate, i'd need to get a feel of how good those things are.

I will say i'm not happy that these cards punish you super hard if you want to put non-Jade Lotus cards in your deck.
Like, C'thun decks only really need you to fit 6-8 buffers in your deck.
With these, every non-JadeLotus card you put in is a huge cost

The Shaman spell is almost certanly good tho.