Hearthstone 22: Evening the Odds

[Zevox]

Welcome to twenty-second 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)
GandarielCiabatta#2958
Geno9999Geno9999#1674
Gluteus_MaximusRubiksCube#11427
HamsteTheorules#1234
KishGrazzt#1417
Lord RaziereTrizap#1729
NerociteJoeKage#1852
otakuryogaScootaloo#1471
RodinRodin#1811
SeerowOshi#1354
TheGlyphstoneGlyphstone#1419
ThranatarThrantar#1416
ZevoxZevox#1522



GitP UsernameBattle.net ID (EU)
GandarielCiabatta#2958




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
Gluteus_MaximusRubiksCube#11427
GomipileGlodd#1784
Gray MageGrayMage#1723
GrytormGrytorm#1777
HamsteTheorules#1234
Haruspex_PariahHaruspexPari#1254
HatevahHatevah#1405
heronbpvAvan#1991
HircineIllusiveMan#1616
Jaxzan ProditorJaxzan#1878
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
SeerowOshi#1354
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
ThranatarThrantar#1416
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

[Gluteus_Maximus]

Add me to the NA list, if you please- RubiksCube #11427.

[Zevox]

Add me to the NA list, if you please- RubiksCube #11427.
Taken care of.

[Lord Raziere]

Aaaaaaaaw, most boring title. I preferred pretty much all the others.

oh well. time to see what Brawl is going on this week.

[Zevox]

Aaaaaaaaw, most boring title. I preferred pretty much all the others.

oh well. time to see what Brawl is going on this week.
*shrug* I preferred a Shudderwock reference myself. But this one got the most votes.

And it's a terrible one. Your spells cost health. The game ends on turn 2, with the way the Druid deck people have put together for it goes.

[Lord Raziere]

*shrug* I preferred a Shudderwock reference myself. But this one got the most votes.

And it's a terrible one. Your spells cost health. The game ends on turn 2, with the way the Druid deck people have put together for it goes.

I managed to win with a mage deck....ironically by it functioning as an aggro deck, never drawing any of my big spells and the rogue conceding because they didn't use any spells

the second one I tried I faced a golden mage guy with legend backs. so. I got beaten.

its a weird brawl where you only win if you use spells right: use them too much and you lose, don't use them at all and you lose.....yeah its horrible.

[Zevox]

I managed to win with a mage deck....ironically by it functioning as an aggro deck, never drawing any of my big spells and the rogue conceding because they didn't use any spells

the second one I tried I faced a golden mage guy with legend backs. so. I got beaten.

its a weird brawl where you only win if you use spells right: use them too much and you lose, don't use them at all and you lose.....yeah its horrible.
Ah, you didn't face one of the Druids. Lucky. They basically win by a combination of spells that draw cards (Nourish, UI, Starfire, Choose the Path) and cards that both deal damage and give armor (Bite, Gnash, Claw). Or they can play the Hand-Druid card that fills their board with Wisps + Soul of the Forest to set up for Savage Roar the next turn, demanding two board wipes out of you to prevent it. Both of the ones I faced killed me on turn 2. My win came from a Priest whose strategy I couldn't figure out - don't think he knew what he was doing. Though to be fair, neither did I, I just threw a Mage deck together with damaging spells and some minions that synergize with spells.

[Lord Raziere]

Ah, you didn't face one of the Druids. Lucky. They basically win by a combination of spells that draw cards (Nourish, UI, Starfire, Choose the Path) and cards that both deal damage and give armor (Bite, Gnash, Claw). Or they can play the Hand-Druid card that fills their board with Wisps + Soul of the Forest to set up for Savage Roar the next turn, demanding two board wipes out of you to prevent it. Both of the ones I faced killed me on turn 2. My win came from a Priest whose strategy I couldn't figure out - don't think he knew what he was doing. Though to be fair, neither did I, I just threw a Mage deck together with damaging spells and some minions that synergize with spells.

No, I did, the two ones before that were a druid that basically used the 5555 plague card costs ten a bunch of other cards to gain more armor and health than he was losing so I condeded, and a priest that got free from amber and other such spells early and had like, a taunt mammoth and an Alextrasza on the board on like turn 1 or 2. I was just sharing the one where I actually won first.

[otakuryoga]

rog is BS in this since they can cast as many spell as they want while immune from their weapon

[Gluteus_Maximus]

Sound the bells is op'd in this brawl, play a stonetusk boar and a few healing spells and you've got lethal turn 1

[Seerow]

rog is BS in this since they can cast as many spell as they want while immune from their weapon

Rogue really doesn't have a lot in the way of power spells here though. You'd have to get to turn 3 (to play the weapon), and have 1-2 sprints pretty early in your deck for it to have any chance of working, and even then I'm not sure it could OTK.

The real problem is Druids just stomp all over everyone. Their spell selection is basically ideally tailored for this sort of brawl.


Edit: Also I am not in the player list Oshi#1354

[Spore]

Hearthstone is pretty boring and annoying to me these days. I like a relaxed game in Standard ladder. Somehow I tend to always play around/into the wrong things because the meta game is extremely varied. Which is a nice thing for streamers and people heavily into the game, but not for me (at least anymore). Also at first I liked the ladder changes. But somehow I miss beating up others with a quick laddering deck. And people tend to run more control oriented styles now that they dont have to rush through 20+ ranks.

[Psyren]

If you want a fast aggro deck to rush you up the ladder, then Odd Paladin/Hunter, Tempo Mage and Quest Rogue have you covered. Yes you'll lose to the control and combo decks that have great mulligans, but that's a good thing, just concede and re-queue.

[Gluteus_Maximus]

I've been having fun between ranks 10 and 7 messing around with Healing Zoo, Combo Priest, and Overload Shaman.

[Rynjin]

Bopping around rank 20 because I only play 1-2 ranked matches a week. Seems everybody is playing some variant of Taunt druid, which annoys my Cult of Azari Warlock deck immensely. Had to swap in silences just for them.

Speaking of, on a scale of 1 to bad, how bad is this deck?
# Class: Warlock
# Format: Standard
# Year of the Raven

# 2x (1) Dark Pact
# 2x (1) Kobold Librarian
# 1x (1) Mortal Coil
# 2x (1) Voidwalker
# 1x (2) Defile
# 2x (2) Vulgar Homunculus
# 1x (3) Shrieking Shroom
# 1x (3) Unwilling Sacrifice
# 1x (3) Voodoo Doll
# 1x (4) Grim Necromancer
# 1x (4) Hellfire
# 2x (4) Lesser Amethyst Spellstone
# 2x (4) Saronite Chain Gang
# 2x (4) Spellbreaker
# 1x (5) Bane of Doom
# 1x (5) Carnivorous Cube
# 1x (5) Despicable Dreadlord
# 1x (6) Rin, the First Disciple
# 1x (7) Lord Godfrey
# 1x (9) Lord Jaraxxus
# 2x (9) Voidlord
# 1x (10) Sea Giant

I've been fiddling with it off and on for months and avoiding net decking, but I think it's okay...I just struggle with it against a lot of stuff. I have Odd Pally and Spellhunter (my main deck, I love it so much) for tryharding, but I feel like this one COULD be good.

[Psyren]

It's a control deck right? One with Rin and Jaraxxus as win conditions. I wonder if you might be dividing your focus a bit too much between things like Shrieking Shroom and Grim Necromancer, which only seem to be there so you can try to set up an early-ish Sea Giant, but you only have one. You might benefit from focusing more on your endgame instead, having more board clears like a second Defile, a second Despicable Dreadlord, maybe even a Twisting Nether. You should also look into a Hooked Reaver to help you stabilize against aggro.

[Rynjin]

The Necromancer and Shroom are also there as easy targets for Unwilling Sacrifice or Dark Pact, though post-nerf on the latter it seems less worthwhile.

The idea was more a toolbox deck, but you're right thatmaking it more control oriented might be better; there's only so much tools alone will do for you in HS it seems.

[Psyren]

Hmm... I personally think Voodoo Doll and Spellstone give you enough spot removal that you shouldn't need Unwilling Sacrifice. It's also a dead draw if you have no board, which you definitely don't want. I'd probably go for something like Siphon if you need more spot removal - but again, your priority (at least imo) should be more clears.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

If you want early Sea Giants and a guaranteed Defile starter, honestly consider Wisp. I'm not even joking. Because it costs 0 mana, it does what you're relying on Shroom and Necro for, but you don't have to play it the turn before; you can drop it immediately. If you have room, also adding Snowflipper Penguin helps consistency.

It's purely a utility card, but with all of Warlock's card draw, you can afford to slot a few "usually unplayable" cards with niche purposes.

Potentially worth experimenting with.

[Mikemical]

Add me on NA server: ChachoPato#1115

Also, got an Emeriss and a Lady in White off a 5-pack bundle I saved up and bought. Any deck ideas or should I dust them?

[ChaosOS]

Both will be around for a while, I wouldn't dust them as it's not hard to imagine either becoming relevant within the next two years even if they're not super playable now. I'm currently using Emeriss in a wild C'thun Hunter deck

[Rynjin]

Emeriss goes into the "Dragon Hunter" archetype which...isn't really a thing. The pre-built is kind of fun, but pretty trash.

Hang onto it in case some baller dragons come out or you want to have fun meme-ing people with a 16/16 King Krush or something.

[Winthur]

If you want early Sea Giants and a guaranteed Defile starter, honestly consider Wisp. I'm not even joking. Because it costs 0 mana, it does what you're relying on Shroom and Necro for, but you don't have to play it the turn before; you can drop it immediately. If you have room, also adding Snowflipper Penguin helps consistency.

It's purely a utility card, but with all of Warlock's card draw, you can afford to slot a few "usually unplayable" cards with niche purposes.

Potentially worth experimenting with.

I'd sooner slam Kobold Geomancer or Bloodmage Thalnos if I were that starved for lowdrops and/or Defile starters.

re: Cult of Azari: as much as I hate to say it, Bloodreaver Guldan is simply superior to Jaraxxus in this meta. You run quite a few demons and BRG is a much better hero. Ofc, I understand if you can't afford it, but if you're into improving this deck, I'd start with that.

I'd cut the Voidwalker, because it doesn't really do that much for you (you have a powerful taunt at 2 mana, Defile, and Hellfire to deal with aggro), instead aiming at some decent value common minion in any of the other mana tiers - with the Grim Necromancers and Chain Gangs, and to preserve the feeling that I'm assuming you're trying to achieve, maybe you could run something like a Cobalt Scalebane. The deck feels more like a Midrange Warlock than Control because it plays value minions every turn, runs two Silences (kinda unnecessary imho in this kinda decklist) to deliver burst easier, etc. It doesn't have enough of that ridiculous Control Lock value that we got in this meta.

As it stands, it looks kinda like it can't decide whether it wants to be Zoo or Cubelock - Sea Giant, Grim Necromancer and perhaps the Spellbreakers feel kinda off here.

Basic / Common / Rare cards I'd consider as replacements (I'm assuming you're not a whale, since the deck does run one-offs of some pretty strong epics, like Cube, and it runs the fairly outdated Jaraxxus) while still preserving the flavor of the deck - I know I could just say "just download Cubelock lmao", but let's try to give you some ideas:
Plated Beetle - the best defensive 2 drop, outside of Doomsayer, ofc.
Shadow Bolt - to counter Odd Rogue's turn 3 (Hench-Clan into dagger stab means an annoying, sticky 4/4) and give you additional board control.
Shroom Brewer - for efficient healing and a decent minion to play on curve
Rotten Applebaum - solid statline on a taunt, and good healing.
Defender of Argus - you run plenty of tokens and are more on the defensive side.

What cards do you have? I think there's some website that lets you post your entire collection. I'd really shift around your curve to include more late-game minions, personally, because I feel like if you're not running full on Zoo, Warlock's early game is in a really good spot and control lists want some immense value generating cards. If you have an LK or an Ysera laying around, or hell, given the Midrange flavor, I'd even slap Cairne into here if I really wanted to, I'd certainly do that.

[Rynjin]

It runs Jaraxxus primarily because I drew it recently. Plus he's fun. I think this is the only deck I have with three Legendaries and none crafted. The Spellbreakers are there specifically because I lost like three consecutive games against some variant of Taunt Druid and being able to silence Hadronox, Cube, or Spiritsinger Umbra (on one occasion) would have turned all three into sure victories. I had...I think Curse of Weakness and Drain Soul instead at the time? Something like that.

I have a decent collection I think, but lack most of the Classic Legendaries. I'll see about hooking it up to that app here in a sec.

Thanks a bunch for the advice so far!

Here. (https://www.hearthpwn.com/members/Rynjin/collection)

You can tell I didn't REALLY start playing until K&C came out; I hopped on for thevery first time with Frozen Throne but Dungeon Run is what got me to actually stay and play long term at first.

[Gluteus_Maximus]

I've gotten to Rank 2, 1 star from rank 8, 1 star using Healing Zoolock, with somewhere less than 10 losses, on NA.

Around 5 games have been Odd Paladins where I got insanely lucky, drawing keleseth on 2 and despicable dreadlord on 5.

I'm running a version with 1 Void Ripper and 1 Spellbreaker. Void Ripper does well to find lethal using Voidwalkers and Tar Creepers, killing doomsayers and mana tide totems, and setting up easy trades against low attack taunts.

Spellbreaker silences taunts, the odd slimeling or lackey, and doomsayers.

### The Veterinarian
# Class: Warlock
# Format: Standard
# Year of the Raven
#
# 2x (1) Flame Imp
# 2x (1) Kobold Librarian
# 2x (1) Lightwarden
# 2x (1) Soulfire
# 2x (1) Voidwalker
# 2x (1) Voodoo Doctor
# 1x (2) Prince Keleseth
# 2x (3) Fungal Enchanter
# 2x (3) Happy Ghoul
# 2x (3) Tar Creeper
# 1x (3) Void Ripper
# 2x (4) Lifedrinker
# 2x (4) Saronite Chain Gang
# 1x (4) Spellbreaker
# 2x (5) Despicable Dreadlord
# 2x (5) Fungalmancer
# 1x (5) Leeroy Jenkins
#
AAECAf0GBK8E8gWc4gL96gINMIQBzgfCCPcMysMCm8sC980Cn8 4C8tAC0eECh+gC7/ECAA==
#
# To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone

I have at least 10 more games until I hit legend. With this winrate, it'll be more around 15, I would guess based on my winrate.

[Mikemical]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH0wacpNuDQ

Magnetic feels like a weird choice of keyword. I would've picked Fuse or Assimilate.
Oh yeah, Mechs are back baby, can't wait for new Dr. Turn 7.

[Resileaf]

Magnetic feels like a weird choice of keyword. I would've picked Fuse or Assimilate.
Oh yeah, Mechs are back baby, can't wait for new Dr. Turn 7.

Oh yeah, Boom is definitely a legendary again.
And I suppose they went for magnetic because it only affects mechs and something like fuse assumes that it will work for anything.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

So, Magnetic is functionally a buff spell, but you can drop it as a minion. It can't be counterspelled, though I wonder if it triggers Explosive Runes. Because HS is weird. The tribal requirement is pretty restrictive for some classes, but maybe the cards are just good enough on their own. Spider Bomb is probably playable, it's Deadly Shot with a 2/2 body, though not immediate.

I'm not immediately impressed by Project cards. Every example of a similar mechanic we've seen so far has been mediocre, except for Coldlight being used for mill and aggro.

Omega is an interesting way to seal off long games, working a little like Kicker cards in Magic. Great for topdecking, dominant in Arena.

Shaman legendary seems super powerful. Imagine a doubled Far Sight, Healing Rain, Ancestral Spirit, or Spellstone. In a pinch, you can eat a ton of overload for a huge single target removal. Probably the new Kazakus for Overload Shaman.

[Psyren]

It'll definitely trigger ER if you drop it as a creature. The question is whether it will do that if you drop it as a buff. I'm thinking no but we'll see.

Tribes skewing more towards some classes than others is nothing new. Beasts are more prevalent in Hunter and Druid, Pirates were more prevalent in Warrior and Rogue, Elementals in Mage/Shaman/Priest , Demons in Warlock etc.

[The Glyphstone]

I'm not sure a 2/6 Taunt for 4 is as 'good' as they describe it without the Omega trigger.

[Spore]

I'm not sure a 2/6 Taunt for 4 is as 'good' as they describe it without the Omega trigger.

It's odd that they write "Omega" to mark druid class cards nowadays instead of giving them the brown border.

No seriously it is not extremely good but depending on if Omega is triggered by playing or summoning, it is a great addition to both normal druid and taunt druid.


Tribes skewing more towards some classes than others is nothing new. Beasts are more prevalent in Hunter and Druid, Pirates were more prevalent in Warrior and Rogue, Elementals in Mage/Shaman/Priest , Demons in Warlock etc.

Question is, which class will Mechs skew towards if they do at all. I hope they don't do the same what GvG did and give every class a mech that ranges from OP (shielded mini-bot) to unplayable (Metaltooth Leaper, Iron Sensei).

[Psyren]

I'm not sure a 2/6 Taunt for 4 is as 'good' as they describe it without the Omega trigger.

Well, it's a Stegodon+. Not great, but not bad either. Taunt Warrior would probably want it the most - it's reasonable while you're completing the quest and very good late-game as a 4-mana 12/6 taunt.

[Rynjin]

Well, it's a Stegodon+. Not great, but not bad either. Taunt Warrior would probably want it the most - it's reasonable while you're completing the quest and very good late-game as a 4-mana 12/6 taunt.

Not particularly relevant since Taunt Warrior cycles as soon as this comes out though.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

No seriously it is not extremely good but depending on if Omega is triggered by playing or summoning, it is a great addition to both normal druid and taunt druid.

It's not a unique mechanic, just a new archetype for battlecries and maybe/probably spell effects. It's similar to card cycles in Magic.

For this minion, it's a battlecry effect, so, summon won't trigger it. It can also be silenced away.

[gomipile]

Not particularly relevant since Taunt Warrior cycles as soon as this comes out though.

O.o What to you mean? Nothing cycles out again until the first expansion of 2019

[Rynjin]

O.o What to you mean? Nothing cycles out again until the first expansion of 2019

I thought a set cycled after every expansion?

[ChaosOS]

No, sets only cycle with the April expansion and the big "Year of..." transition. Creates more of a rhythm to the year.

[Psyren]

Not particularly relevant since Taunt Warrior cycles as soon as this comes out though.

Really? I thought we wouldn't lose Un'goro until next year :smallfrown:

EDIT:


No, sets only cycle with the April expansion and the big "Year of..." transition. Creates more of a rhythm to the year.

Oh good :smallbiggrin:

[Rynjin]

I agree; I was actually very sad about Un'Goro potentially cycling because a lot of good/fun cards are from there.

Maybe I will craft a second Vinecleaver after all.

[Zevox]

So, Magnetic is functionally a buff spell, but you can drop it as a minion. It can't be counterspelled, though I wonder if it triggers Explosive Runes. Because HS is weird. The tribal requirement is pretty restrictive for some classes, but maybe the cards are just good enough on their own. Spider Bomb is probably playable, it's Deadly Shot with a 2/2 body, though not immediate.

I'm not immediately impressed by Project cards. Every example of a similar mechanic we've seen so far has been mediocre, except for Coldlight being used for mill and aggro.

Omega is an interesting way to seal off long games, working a little like Kicker cards in Magic. Great for topdecking, dominant in Arena.

Shaman legendary seems super powerful. Imagine a doubled Far Sight, Healing Rain, Ancestral Spirit, or Spellstone. In a pinch, you can eat a ton of overload for a huge single target removal. Probably the new Kazakus for Overload Shaman.
Yeah, I agree with this in general. Magnetic as a keyword seems viable as long as we get enough mechs, particularly if the minions with it are costed as fairly as Spider Bomb. Projects, by contrast, unlikely. Effects that benefit both players have historically not been very good, except for card draw in mill decks or decks that benefited so heavily from draw that Coldlight Oracle was worth it just because 3 mana draw 2 was a big deal to them. Ramp for both players by contrast seems like a bad idea, since the whole reason ramp is powerful is because you get to play very potent cards before your opponent has the mana to answer them. I dunno, maybe some other Project will have an effect that seems like a better idea, but I think it would need to be something that awfully specifically works great for your deck but isn't too likely to bite you back that badly.

Omega is a mechanic that I like at first glance, since it seems tailor-made for big-value control decks. Not super sure about the Omega Defender, since 2/6 taunt for 4 is mediocre at best (see Stegadon, which isn't even all that desirable in arena), but with a benefit as huge as that in the late-game, maybe even it will be good.

Electra Stormsurge seems very potent - cheap minion with fair stats that doubles a spell is serious value, and potentially a big combo piece. Myra's Unstable Element, by contrast, not so much. The only kind of deck that would want that is clearly a combo deck, but you can't actually play it until there's few enough cards left in your deck that you can hold them all, or you'll just burn your combo pieces. That doesn't seem good at all.

All in all, I'm personally kind of eh on things for now, but the omega cards in particular have my attention at least.

[tonberrian]

Mira's Unstable Element and Curio Collector would be a great combo if they were available in the same deck.

[Gluteus_Maximus]

well, you can't say the beast tag doesn't equal "Battlecry: if you have 10 mana, this gets 10 attack"

I like the magnetic stuff. Spider Bomb looks really good in deathrattle hunter since it's both +2/+2 which is generally worth about 1.5 and then "destroy a random enemy minion" is deadly shot so that's 4.5 mana's worth of stuff in a 3 mana card, and 3 mana out of that 4.5 can be triplicated with play dead for 8.5 mana of value, killing 2 enemy minions and sticking a decent minion. On top of that, you can also just play Spider Bomb as a 2/2 with the same effect. 4/5

The shaman legendary looks absolutely bonkers. A 24 heal with Healing Rain, a 27-30 damage clear with Volcano, and lethal with 5 0 attack minions from the turn before with Bloodlust. The best thing about it is that for Bloodlust and Healing Rain it also puts down a 3/3, which is about 2.5-3 mana. You get 9 mana of value out of healing rain and 13 mana of value out of Bloodlust. Hmmm... If you equipped Stormforged Axe, then on a later turn played Southsea Deckhand, Windfury, Electra, Rockbiter, Rockbiter, it's a 24 damage combo. The best thing about it is that you can play this in Shudderwock with Zola and return it a few times for a later overpowered spell. If they release some powerful 1 mana overload shaman clears, that's something you can play after your shudderwock. 5/5

Everything else so far is just meh.

[Resileaf]

How has no one commented yet on Mecha-Jaraxxus?!

[Psyren]

I agree; I was actually very sad about Un'Goro potentially cycling because a lot of good/fun cards are from there.

Maybe I will craft a second Vinecleaver after all.

I just want to try Quest Rogue. Even post-nerfs it looks so much fun.

[tonberrian]

I'm forseeing the same problems, but worse, with Magnetic as with DK Rexxar. Unless they do some new coding, you're going to run out of text space on your mega mech with a bunch of magnetic creatures stuck together.

[Joran]

How has no one commented yet on Mecha-Jaraxxus?!

I have Nemsy (I drove 45 minutes each way to grab Nemsy and I'm never giving her up) and it's gated behind a $80 pre-order.

Entrance looks badass but the voice lines seem to be mostly recycled without the whole "YOU FACE JARAXXUS EREDAR LORD OF THE BURNING LEGION" greetings, which was the best part... oh and the INFERNO! as his hero power.

Edit: Although the Oops " Error! Error!" is great.

[Zevox]

How has no one commented yet on Mecha-Jaraxxus?!
:smallconfused: I would presume because it wasn't in the reveal trailer. What is it?

[Seerow]

:smallconfused: I would presume because it wasn't in the reveal trailer. What is it?

The only thing we know is that he exists and you get him for preordering the Mega Bundle.

[Zevox]

The only thing we know is that he exists and you get him for preordering the Mega Bundle.
Oh. Well, doesn't matter to me then, no way you're ever getting me to spend as much money as those crazy pre-order bundles want you to.

[Seerow]

Oh. Well, doesn't matter to me then, no way you're ever getting me to spend as much money as those crazy pre-order bundles want you to.

On that note, I just found out you can preorder both bundles if desired. 130 dollars for 130 packs plus 2 golden legendaries, a regular legendary, and 2-3 card backs is actually a pretty solid deal. Getting a similar number of packs in past expansions would typically cost 20 bucks more, and no bonus legendaries for the preorder.

My main concern is that they cut the free legendary given to everyone that has become the norm with them putting bonus legendaries on the preorder. But as long as they still give everyone a bonus legendary, this new bundle seems all good to me.

[Rynjin]

Oh. Well, doesn't matter to me then, no way you're ever getting me to spend as much money as those crazy pre-order bundles want you to.

They're the only bundles I really buy. It's basically a 50% discount on packs and lets you start playing the new decks right off the bat. With a Golden Legendary in the mix, you're also guaranteed a usable legendary (either by it being good or giving you enough free dust for a Legendary of your choice).

For a game I play daily now, the price of a new game every 4-5 months or so is actually pretty fair.

Buying packs OUTSIDE of deals like this is a big scam, but the lump sum with the good bulk discount is good.

[Destro_Yersul]

Yeah, I usually go ahead and drop the cash for the pre-order deal. It's roughly equivalent to buying any other full-price game, and I get enough time out of Hearthstone to justify that.

[Zevox]

Yeah, I usually go ahead and drop the cash for the pre-order deal. It's roughly equivalent to buying any other full-price game, and I get enough time out of Hearthstone to justify that.
I sure don't. Been a very long time since the amount of time I spent on Hearthstone was comparable to what I spend on a new game.

My pattern for years now has been spending $20 every second expansion (was buying the adventures and not spending on expansions until they stopped doing adventures) - and I actually broke that pattern with Kobolds & Catacombs and skipped spending there, since there was little in the set that piqued my interest. This time around is one of my "just save gold" expansions. Though honestly, I might not have much saved when the time comes, as I didn't play that much the past month or so. BlazBlue and God of War stole my attention - and BlazBlue still has it, to a greater extent than Hearthstone at least.

[Spore]

I wanted to cut down on dropping so much money on HS (so I can spend it on Magic!) but HS doesn't make it easy on me since I am still moping that I couldn't get Khadgar. But Mecha Jarraxus looks decidedly boring. It's just the demon as a permanent hero. No interesting voice clips, not even really that impressive a change from the standard hero. It's all angry power hungry demon lord. At least Nemsy has fun doing what she does.

Thematically I'd had expected a Fel Reaver hero, and for 80 bucks I expect at least two heroes (since it still costs 80 Euros making EU decks about 15% more expensive). Maybe Dr Boom himself, or at least some of the Exarchs/Draenai (Paladin heroes) fighting him. Though that spot is probably held open for Yrel. An Ethereal Mage/Priest/Warlock would've been fun too.

[Psyren]

I tend to be most motivated to buy packs when they dip below $1 each. I spent quite a bit on the Get In Here bundle for instance (80 cents per pack.) I do wish I had grabbed the Witchwood pre-order bonus (~72c per pack.)

I was also missing a lot of Classic rares and epics at the time (e.g. I only had one Doomsayer!) before that bundle came out.

[Kish]

If they actually released a non-joke* card that you have to spent real money to get, I will be irritated.

*The gnome king is a joke card. If "Mecha-Jaraxxus" is a similar level of This Will See A Serious Deck When The Twisting Nether Freezes Over, I won't be irritated.

[The Glyphstone]

If they actually released a non-joke* card that you have to spent real money to get, I will be irritated.

*The gnome king is a joke card. If "Mecha-Jaraxxus" is a similar level of This Will See A Serious Deck When The Twisting Nether Freezes Over, I won't be irritated.

From what I can tell, Mecha-Jaraxxus isn't a minion, it's a variant hero like Nemsy, Maiev, Arthas, Muradin, etc.

[Psyren]

MJ is indeed a Warlock Hero as stated on the preorder page. (https://us.shop.battle.net/en-us/product/hearthstone-boomsday-project)

[otakuryoga]

the only way i see that legendary rog spell being useful is if there is a card in the set that casts all spells you draw with random targets..and even that would be a hail mary move
but lots of people played with Yogg for hail mary sooooo..

[Mikemical]

the only way i see that legendary rog spell being useful is if there is a card in the set that casts all spells you draw with random targets..and even that would be a hail mary move
but lots of people played with Yogg for hail mary sooooo..

Consider the following: you've filled your deck with Fel'Dorai Strider's spiders, and both you and your opponent have no board. You get 6+ 4/4 spiders + any other card that isn't an ambush into your hand. If you vanished the turn before, you can fill your deck again with 4/4s if the first wave gets wiped. I'm not saying it's a guaranteed win condition, just theorycrafting about the uses of the spell.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Consider the following: you've filled your deck with Fel'Dorai Strider's spiders, and both you and your opponent have no board. You get 6+ 4/4 spiders + any other card that isn't an ambush into your hand. If you vanished the turn before, you can fill your deck again with 4/4s if the first wave gets wiped. I'm not saying it's a guaranteed win condition, just theorycrafting about the uses of the spell.
Only as many cards as you can hold in your hand. Everything else gets milled, including spiders once your hand is full.

The card works as such: you now have ten cards which need to win you the game. What ten cards can win you a game? Is that a best-case situation, worst-case scenario, or somewhere in between? The more options your deck has to win with only ten cards, the better this card is.

As long as you're not relying on two or three explosive turns to win, because you might not draw this spell.

[Spore]

the only way i see that legendary rog spell being useful is if there is a card in the set that casts all spells you draw with random targets..and even that would be a hail mary move
but lots of people played with Yogg for hail mary sooooo..

The rogue spell could replace a second Gadgetzan. It is however terrible until late game. I'd say it is best in a combo deck (ala Malygos Rogue - cast the spell, draw Maly, Shiv, Shiv, Prep, Prep, keep Coin, Eviscerate for 21 damage)


What ten cards can win you a game?[...]The more options your deck has to win with only ten cards, the better this card is.


Ten cards is a third of a deck. There are enough combos that can win you that easily.

[Psyren]

Consider the following: you've filled your deck with Fel'Dorai Strider's spiders, and both you and your opponent have no board. You get 6+ 4/4 spiders + any other card that isn't an ambush into your hand. If you vanished the turn before, you can fill your deck again with 4/4s if the first wave gets wiped. I'm not saying it's a guaranteed win condition, just theorycrafting about the uses of the spell.

Note that if you burn the spiders they don't spawn. Meaning if they aren't part of those first 10 cards, you get nothing.

I would say that card is obviously best used in aggro, since in control or combo you risk burning your win condition if you use it before the last 10 cards, and if you wait until then to use it it's a dead draw the entire time. So with that said I would probably drop it into Odd Rogue, in place of Sprint, for finishing out games where the opponent is about to stabilize. If you can't finish them off with 10 more cards in hand then you were probably going to lose anyway. It also lets you point and laugh at Rin decks. ("You can't fire me, I already quit!")

[The Glyphstone]

No one has yet asked the important question - how do we get Dave Kosak to make a rap song for us?

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Ten cards is a third of a deck. There are enough combos that can win you that easily.
Though, it has to be a combo that works when missing a significant number of combo pieces, because unlike most combo decks where you can keep waiting until you draw into the pieces, you draw 6-9 cards and hope you have enough of your combo to go off.

[Resileaf]

I find that another risk is that rogues rarely have small hands at any point in the game. Their card draw is already so good that it would be difficult to run out of cards if you tried. Drawing the rest of your deck risks having a hand too full to make the best use of it. If you have five or more cards in your hand, you'll lose most of your deck to the milling.

[Psyren]

I find that another risk is that rogues rarely have small hands at any point in the game. Their card draw is already so good that it would be difficult to run out of cards if you tried. Drawing the rest of your deck risks having a hand too full to make the best use of it. If you have five or more cards in your hand, you'll lose most of your deck to the milling.

This again is why aggro is the best fit for this card - dumping your hand is something you end up doing naturally anyway so that you can race control and combo effectively. Top-decking this when you have one-card in hand and need to get rid of a pesky taunt or respond to a big tempo swing (board clear or lifegain) is perfect.

[Joran]

No one has yet asked the important question - how do we get Dave Kosak to make a rap song for us?

Ben Brode only did rap songs for expansions without theme songs, so Journey to Un'goro and Knights of the Frozen Throne; he didn't do one for Kobolds and Catacombs or Witchwood.

Boomsday Project has a theme song, albeit not much of one. It's just a chorus.

<sentence that's broken into two parts, with the last words rhyming> "when you work with Doctor Boom!"


This again is why aggro is the best fit for this card - dumping your hand is something you end up doing naturally anyway so that you can race control and combo effectively. Top-decking this when you have one-card in hand and need to get rid of a pesky taunt or respond to a big tempo swing (board clear or lifegain) is perfect.

I can definitely see this fitting in a similar spot in Aggro Rogue as Aluneth does in Aggro Mage.

[Geno9999]

Speaking of Aggro, Hearthstone revealed a new card (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxeAZQ6TeKM), and it looks like Mage might have an alternative for Aluneth in Stargazer Luna.

[Joran]

Speaking of Aggro, Hearthstone revealed a new card (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxeAZQ6TeKM), and it looks like Mage might have an alternative for Aluneth in Stargazer Luna.

Stargazer Luna
Mage Legendary minion
3 mana 2/4
After you play the right-most card in your hand, draw a card.

¿Porque no los dos?

There are some Aggro Mage lists that have both Aluneth and Arcane Intellect; seems like it could slot in for an Arcane Intellect. Interesting mechanic; they're expanding design space even more.

I can see best case scenarios for Luna + Sorcerer's Apprentice and then just running through the deck (there's a bevy of 1-2 cost spells that Mage can run). 2/4 stat line means that it's going to be difficult to remove if the enemy doesn't have an early minion. Looks good for burn/Aggro mage.

[Psyren]

I can definitely see this fitting in a similar spot in Aggro Rogue as Aluneth does in Aggro Mage.

Indeed, and it's even better than Aluneth in many cases. Aluneth doesn't instantly fatigue you, but once you start, you begin fatiguing 4x per turn, killing you in no time. This card meanwhile, even though it does start fatigue instantly, it's only 1x per turn (and furthermore you can get that down to 0x with a Kingsbane if you want.)

[Spore]

Stargazer Luna
Mage Legendary minion
3 mana 2/4
After you play the right-most card in your hand, draw a card.

¿Porque no los dos?

There are some Aggro Mage lists that have both Aluneth and Arcane Intellect; seems like it could slot in for an Arcane Intellect. Interesting mechanic; they're expanding design space even more.

I already love this card for three reasons.

1) For the enemy, you suddenly have another layer of complexity added that they can play around or into. Does the tempo Mage have Luna? Which cards are where in his hand?

2) It buffs my favorite archetype.

3) The Yu-Gi-Oh memes are real. Heart of the cards, don't fail me now!

[The Glyphstone]

So this brawl taught me an interesting unexpected card interaction. If Shifter Zerus transforms into one of the Witchwood stat-swap minions (Spellshifter, Gilnean Royal Guard, etc.) - the swapped stats become permanent even after Zerus turns into something else. I had a Zerus-into-Spellshifter who swapped from 1/4 to 4/1, then every other monster he turned into for the rest of the game had its native stats overridden to 4/1.

[Gandariel]

Well, the reveal video was incredibly cringe-worthy, but the shown cards look nice.

I assume "magnetic" means, if you have a mech you HAVE to cast it as a buff, you don't get to choose. In that case it risks being pretty bad, because in my experience there are many cases where I'd prefer having two separate dudes.

Anyways, cards look cool.

As the reveals come out, please point out to the ones you think are most interesting or you don't know about: I'll gather them and do a poll like last time :)

[Spore]

Well, the reveal video was incredibly cringe-worthy, but the shown cards look nice.

Agreed. Maybe they should have asked Carbot. At least his drawing style is enjoyable and his jokes are funny.

[Geno9999]

I assume "magnetic" means, if you have a mech you HAVE to cast it as a buff, you don't get to choose. In that case it risks being pretty bad, because in my experience there are many cases where I'd prefer having two separate dudes.


Nope, you can still play the Magnetic Minion normally. They have a little showcase gif on their website, what you have to do to activate the Magnetic is playing the Magnetic Minion on the left of the Mech you want to buff.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Nope, you can still play the Magnetic Minion normally. They have a little showcase gif on their website, what you have to do to activate the Magnetic is playing the Magnetic Minion on the left of the Mech you want to buff.
Man, Hearthstone's minimalist UI design is really starting to show...

[Joran]

Nope, you can still play the Magnetic Minion normally. They have a little showcase gif on their website, what you have to do to activate the Magnetic is playing the Magnetic Minion on the left of the Mech you want to buff.

I'm surprised they didn't borrow the Choose 1 feature. I can see situations where I'll want to play a minion as a minion to play around something (small minion to play around Crushing Walls) and getting it magnetized to a minion.

Although, flavor-wise, playing with magnets, they do sometimes stick in ways I didn't anticipate and that "SNAP" feeling is always great.

[The Glyphstone]

I'm surprised they didn't borrow the Choose 1 feature. I can see situations where I'll want to play a minion as a minion to play around something (small minion to play around Crushing Walls) and getting it magnetized to a minion.

Although, flavor-wise, playing with magnets, they do sometimes stick in ways I didn't anticipate and that "SNAP" feeling is always great.

Maybe the Choose 1 code doesn't allow for a minion/spell pairing? They could do it as a buff/summon, but that wouldn't trigger Battlecries and lock out a lot of potential design space.

[Kish]

More likely, they simply didn't want to make a druid-specific mechanic universal.

[Psyren]

Man, Hearthstone's minimalist UI design is really starting to show...

The limitations of a minimalist UI are a paltry price to pay for enabling cross-platform play with the entire mobile market though.

[Joran]

The limitations of a minimalist UI are a paltry price to pay for enabling cross-platform play with the entire mobile market though.

I've played Hearthstone on every device that supports it.

When I initially played Hearthstone, it was on my iPad 2. Then I swapped to PC when the iPad got too slow. Now, I play about 50-50 PC/Android phone now.

I like the PC interface the best, but it's still a nice experience on the phone once you get used to it.

At some point, I should probably download a deck tracker.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

The limitations of a minimalist UI are a paltry price to pay for enabling cross-platform play with the entire mobile market though.
Maybe, but Eternal demonstrates that you can pull off a lot better UI on mobile.

[Psyren]

More likely, they simply didn't want to make a druid-specific mechanic universal.

And for druids, running that alongside Fandral might cause coding headaches.


Maybe, but Eternal demonstrates that you can pull off a lot better UI on mobile.

Who?

[gomipile]

Who?

I assume they mean Eternal, the game by Dire Wolf Digital. I could be wrong, though. I only just found out about it by Googling it because of this thread.

[Psyren]

I assume they mean Eternal, the game by Dire Wolf Digital. I could be wrong, though. I only just found out about it by Googling it because of this thread.

I was being facetious; I don't actually care about every inconsequential CCG out there.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

It definitely puts Hearthstone to shame in the UI department, among other things.

[otakuryoga]

fire festival time!
all quests award double gold!
and i cleared my quest log yesterday 8(

[Spore]

BDP feels weird in that regard that it actually buffs wild more than standard as there are many MANY more mechs in that format. Anyone thinks there will be a new focus on wild with the changed team?

[Resileaf]

Wild gets massively buffed with every expansion as the new cards mix with the old ones in completely broken combos, it's not a new situation.
The only difference is that mechs already existed in the past, so the new generation of mechs will have more combos with the old one.

[Thomas Cardew]

So I ended up binging on Hearthstone overnight. I finishing up some quests with a very old spiteful priest when I got blindsided by burst priest combo (Alexstraza-> Mind Blast x2 + Holy Fire). Realized I only needed to craft Alexstraza for it. A few hours later, I'd climbed from 20 to 10 and maxed out on gold for the day, my sign I needed to quit for the day.

I enjoy the deck, it does favorably against paladin and most warlocks I went up against but I still had to put in a decent amount of thought and make choices. But druid. OH MY GOD DRUID.

I realize I'm playing a one-hit wombo combo and deck and that's going to struggle but my god druid feels overtuned. Way too much armor, and way too much reward for stacking the armor, and everything just synergizes way too well together. It's ridiculous how much armour and utility they get even before you include the absurd value that is hadronox. I swear it gets more armour than C'thun warrior.

[Mikemical]

I enjoy the deck, it does favorably against paladin and most warlocks I went up against but I still had to put in a decent amount of thought and make choices. But druid. OH MY GOD DRUID.

I realize I'm playing a one-hit wombo combo and deck and that's going to struggle but my god druid feels overtuned. Way too much armor, and way too much reward for stacking the armor, and everything just synergizes way too well together. It's ridiculous how much armour and utility they get even before you include the absurd value that is hadronox. I swear it gets more armour than C'thun warrior.

Two Words: Skulking Geist. Ruins their Haddronox spam/mill and removes their only removal from hand. Taunt Warrior ruins their fun with Cornered sentry's raptors and Shaman with Hex's frog. I ran into one with my budget Shudderwock deck(no Hagatha or Grumble), and the two times he rolled his rez, two times he rez'd a 0/1 taunt. It was glorious. But yeah, Druids have extremely consistant decks that have very little chance to lose in any matchup because they can outvalue aggro, midrange and outlive control decks in the late game.

And God forbid they managed to get a turn 5 Oakheart and pull Dragonhatcher and the 1/5 that doubles end of turn effects. Literally get 4-5 lategame minions for 5 mana.

[Resileaf]

Two Words: Skulking Geist. Ruins their Haddronox spam/mill and removes their only removal from hand. Taunt Warrior ruins their fun with Cornered sentry's raptors and Shaman with Hex's frog. I ran into one with my budget Shudderwock deck(no Hagatha or Grumble), and the two times he rolled his rez, two times he rez'd a 0/1 taunt. It was glorious. But yeah, Druids have extremely consistant decks that have very little chance to lose in any matchup because they can outvalue aggro, midrange and outlive control decks in the late game.

And God forbid they managed to get a turn 5 Oakheart and pull Dragonhatcher and the 1/5 that doubles end of turn effects. Literally get 4-5 lategame minions for 5 mana.

Don't forget mage polymorph. They can also add a beast to the enemy pool.

[Gandariel]

Four new cards. (https://playhearthstone.com/en-us/blog/21953431/)

Al'akir lite is likely pretty good (plus Corpsetaker and Ashmore!), and the new 1/5 mech is probably a very scary minion even outside Mech synergy.

[Spore]

Four new cards. (https://playhearthstone.com/en-us/blog/21953431/)

Al'akir lite is likely pretty good (plus Corpsetaker and Ashmore!), and the new 1/5 mech is probably a very scary minion even outside Mech synergy.

1/5 is just annoying vs. aggro decks. But then again, somehow game development seems to combat aggro style decks with every expansion. I can see why because they are annoying to play against (no interaction ala Magic with blocking) but there's enough stuff to stop that already.

As for Zilliax, I think it's a main stay in almost any mech deck. The strength of magnetic are keywords, not stats imho. Unpowered Steam Bot into Zilliax is a 3/11 divine shield, rush, windfury taunt lifesteal. Drawing and playing that is pretty much the death of any aggro deck. Hard removal is its poison.

Is there any news if the fused mech has summon sickness? If not, even wargear might be viable.

[Destro_Yersul]

Zilliax and the 1/5 seem pretty good (though no windfury). The others... I'm less positive. Maybe wargear is ok.

[Mando Knight]

As for Zilliax, I think it's a main stay in almost any mech deck. The strength of magnetic are keywords, not stats imho. Unpowered Steam Bot into Zilliax is a 3/11 divine shield, rush, windfury taunt lifesteal. Drawing and playing that is pretty much the death of any aggro deck. Hard removal is its poison.

Unpowered Steambot -> Zilliax costs 9 mana--if you're at turn 9 and can safely play it in one turn (i.e. aren't in danger of dying through removal anyway), you're probably fairly safe against aggro. If you try to play it over two turns earlier in the game, then you're giving an aggro player what's essentially a free turn to set up against your gameplan, including possibly just hitting your face with Leeroy for lethal.

[tonberrian]

1/5 is just annoying vs. aggro decks. But then again, somehow game development seems to combat aggro style decks with every expansion. I can see why because they are annoying to play against (no interaction ala Magic with blocking) but there's enough stuff to stop that already.

As for Zilliax, I think it's a main stay in almost any mech deck. The strength of magnetic are keywords, not stats imho. Unpowered Steam Bot into Zilliax is a 3/11 divine shield, rush, windfury taunt lifesteal. Drawing and playing that is pretty much the death of any aggro deck. Hard removal is its poison.

Is there any news if the fused mech has summon sickness? If not, even wargear might be viable.

I think I recall something that a magnetized mech can attack if its predecessor could attack, though I don't have a source.

[Thomas Cardew]

Two Words: Skulking Geist. Ruins their Haddronox spam/mill and removes their only removal from hand. Taunt Warrior ruins their fun with Cornered sentry's raptors and Shaman with Hex's frog. I ran into one with my budget Shudderwock deck(no Hagatha or Grumble), and the two times he rolled his rez, two times he rez'd a 0/1 taunt. It was glorious. But yeah, Druids have extremely consistant decks that have very little chance to lose in any matchup because they can outvalue aggro, midrange and outlive control decks in the late game.

And God forbid they managed to get a turn 5 Oakheart and pull Dragonhatcher and the 1/5 that doubles end of turn effects. Literally get 4-5 lategame minions for 5 mana.

Yeah I figured out the skulking ghiest bit after the after the third mage I played dropped it on me. I couldn't figure out why they all had it in there at first. I'm tempted to add a chief inspector as well to deal with some mages but I'm worried it will be to slow against mage and hunter and it's useless by default against everyone else. Priest doesn't have good options for diluting the beast pool unless I'm missing something. Maybe I could add in a cornered sentry, I'm running 2 pyromancers and a bunch of spells after all but that seems... sub optimal.

I do think jade spellstone is way too cheap/effective especially when you compare it shield slam, which requires you to actually have the armor. Shield slams ceiling might be higher, but it's floor is much much lower.

[Psyren]

I'm okay with a 2 mana 1/5 vanilla mech actually. Druid of the Swarm is a 2 mana 1/5 beast with taunt, that can also transform into soft removal if that is needed, and that wasn't gamebreaking. The loss of taunt and versatility is worth the conversion from class card to neutral imo.


1/5 is just annoying vs. aggro decks. But then again, somehow game development seems to combat aggro style decks with every expansion. I can see why because they are annoying to play against (no interaction ala Magic with blocking) but there's enough stuff to stop that already.

I mean, aggro has gotten plenty of goodies too. If you look at an Odd Paladin decklist for example, you'll see key cards from every expansion in Standard. I think they're balancing the meta between the big 3 archetypes (aggro, control and combo) well.

[Gandariel]

1/5 is just annoying vs. aggro decks. But then again, somehow game development seems to combat aggro style decks with every expansion. I can see why because they are annoying to play against (no interaction ala Magic with blocking) but there's enough stuff to stop that already.

As for Zilliax, I think it's a main stay in almost any mech deck. The strength of magnetic are keywords, not stats imho. Unpowered Steam Bot into Zilliax is a 3/11 divine shield, rush, windfury taunt lifesteal. Drawing and playing that is pretty much the death of any aggro deck. Hard removal is its poison.

Is there any news if the fused mech has summon sickness? If not, even wargear might be viable.

I'm actually in total disagreement with you, while still being on the same side.

The 1/5 is not a good anti aggro card. It's a good aggro card. If Zoo doesn't run Keleseth I'm thinking they will run him.

And Zillax is good, but Unpowered steambot is probably the worst thing for him to Magnetize on.

First off there's the old adage "if the individual cards are bad on their own, the deck won't work" (which has been proven true countless times)

And then, for 9 mana and two cards that's not even that amazing.

The best target we've been shown is probably the 1/5, because you give it taunt and a more balanced stat line. Or the Hunter bomb guy, where it should kill at least 2 minions and heal a bunch.

The 5/5 would be a better target too.
10 mana and 2 cards is not too crazy a price for "kill a minion, heal 8, and have an 8/7 taunt lifesteal".
The only effect I can compare it to is Ultimate Infestation, which means it's on the right track.

[Anarion]

The 2 mana 1/5 is almost certainly going to bring out the inner fire combo priests.

Other cards look strong, but we’ll have to see. If Magnetize can be silenced, aggro decks will have a very strong game plan to push through damage considering how much goes into a single combined card.

[Winthur]

First off there's the old adage "if the individual cards are bad on their own, the deck won't work" (which has been proven true countless times)
Raid Leader tho

[Mikemical]

Raid Leader tho

It still hurts.

[Mando Knight]

Raid Leader tho

Raid Leader isn't what makes the deck work. If Odd decks could run Dire Wolf Alpha instead, then they'd do so.

[Thomas Cardew]

Fire festival brawl with mini rag. Time to get those fireworks.

[Psyren]

Raid Leader isn't what makes the deck work. If Odd decks could run Dire Wolf Alpha instead, then they'd do so.

DWA is certainly better, but that doesn't mean Raid Leader (a bad individual card) isn't one of the best 3 drops this deck could run.

[Rynjin]

Why would Dire Wolf be better, exactly? It has less impact on this kind of deck. You're generally never going to have less than 4 minions on board, so the position dependent +1 attack to two creatures is going to have far less value than +1 to 3, 4, 5, or 6 minions.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

With a lot of tokens, they give roughly the same benefit unless you're pushing face damage. When you trade one token in, the next one gets the +1 attack bonus.

And DWA is 1 mana cheaper.

[Rynjin]

With a lot of tokens, they give roughly the same benefit unless you're pushing face damage. When you trade one token in, the next one gets the +1 attack bonus.

Fair enough, though your endgame a lot of the time with Odd Paladin is to just nuke their face with as much damage as possible once your board is set up. 4 dudes plus Level Up plus Raid Leader is a bigger spike than the same but Wolf instead.


And DWA is 1 mana cheaper.

Right, but it WOULDN'T be if, as Mando Knight said, Odd decks could run it. It would have to cost either 1 mana (in which case it's clearly OP, since it's essentially a 1 mana 4/2 under ideal circumstances, and a 1 mana 2/2 at worst, which is still great) or 3 (in which case we're back to "it's undeniably worse than Raid Leader unless you're Hunter").

[Mando Knight]

Right, but it WOULDN'T be if, as Mando Knight said, Odd decks could run it. It would have to cost either 1 mana (in which case it's clearly OP, since it's essentially a 1 mana 4/2 under ideal circumstances, and a 1 mana 2/2 at worst, which is still great) or 3 (in which case we're back to "it's undeniably worse than Raid Leader unless you're Hunter").

I actually meant it more as a "if Odd decks could run DWA as-is" note--if you relax the Odd-Only requirement imposed by Baku (such as pre-Witchwood aggro/recruit Paladin), you run DWA over Raid Leader. If there was "DWA, but a 2/4 (or possibly even 2/3) for 3", Odd Paladin would probably consider it over Raid Leader for the larger body. Raid Leader gets cut in Wild Odd Paladin, where you can get some Wild 3-drops that do have better stats (Warhorse Trainer) or a potentially-better ability (Steward of Darkshire).

[Kish]

I actually meant it more as a "if Odd decks could run DWA as-is" note
If imagining that makes someone's brain hurt too much, imagine if they moved Dire Wolf Alpha to three mana and gave it, "Battlecry: Refill one mana crystal."

[MacGiolla]

I have a challenge a friend quest. Anyone willing to swap one? I am normally able to play between 9-12 PM eastern time.

[Anarion]

Raid Leader is quite heavy synergy with a deck that can expect to put 4+ bodies on the board during the middle turns of the game. It’s also a bad card, but it can offer both trading and sometimes acts as a lava burst (which is a good 3 mana card), so it’s conditionally worth playing. Also though, identifying when a niche card can become a top tier contributor does not contradict the general rule that playing a lot of bad cards is bad.

[MacGiolla]

What does everyone think of Whizbang? I think this might be the first ever Golden legendary that I craft.

And I normally dust all golden cards that I already have 2 copies of.

[Mando Knight]

What does everyone think of Whizbang? I think this might be the first ever Golden legendary that I craft.

And I normally dust all golden cards that I already have 2 copies of.

He's niche, but not in the way most niche legendaries are. Whizbang is for the player who doesn't really know what kind of deck they want to play, but wants to play some Hearthstone anyway. He's the cheapest way to experience a wide variety of cards from the current sets (until April-ish 2020 in Standard, and indefinitely in Wild), but is terrible for consistency (since you randomly play one of 18 decks every game).

[Psyren]

Will Golden Whizbang turn your whole deck golden?

...If so I might be right there with you in crafting it! It'll depend on whats in the recipes though.

[Mando Knight]

Will Golden Whizbang turn your whole deck golden?

...If so I might be right there with you in crafting it! It'll depend on whats in the recipes though.

It's the same (non-Classic+Basic) deck recipes that the game offers you when you decide to build a new deck, two decks per class that change every time they release a new set.

[MacGiolla]

Will Golden Whizbang turn your whole deck golden?

...If so I might be right there with you in crafting it! It'll depend on whats in the recipes though.

It should turn your deck golden if it works like other golden cards. That means you would even get to use the golden coin.

[Lord Raziere]

Whizbang The Wonderful: THE ONLY CARD YOU'LL EVER NEED.

Sure you can get better ones to actually win, but to play the game? Only card you'll technically need. :smalltongue:

I'm waiting for the inevitable card they're going to introduce to combine with Myra's Unstable Element. Right now its just a bad card or in very specific situation a last resort play, but if they make something even like "every time you draw a card deal 1 damage to the enemy player" boom, it'll be something good. Or if you could somehow find a way to cast it upon your opponent.....

[Destro_Yersul]

The existence of that spell actually makes Deck of Wonders a lot scarier. Right now there's a few bad effects in there, but this might be the one most likely to make you instantly lose. Nobody uses DoW, of course, but it does sometimes come up as a random spell.

[Thomas Cardew]

I'd say it's about the same as Astral Communion. One burns your deck but gives you a full hand and about 4 turns before fatigue kills you to win. The other gives you 10 mana and the hope of drawing something usefull/card draw to be able to win. I'd honestly prefer unstable element, at least I feel I have some control over what happens next.

[Psyren]

We talked about Myra a couple pages back, before we knew its name. I stand by my initial assessment - it'll be decent in aggro like Odd rogue as a come-from-behind card. If you're losing it can restock your hand/board better than Sprint can and let you turn the tables, and if you're winning it doesn't matter because you can just hold it.

Some of the tricks being talked about won't work that well. Burning cards doesn't count as drawing them, so you won't trigger "on-draw" effects like Scroll of Wonders or Ambushes. The ones that would have made it to your hand (i.e. first 10 cards) will though.

There may end up being a combo that uses it.

[Spore]

Weird that people talk about Whizbang as if it were a card for beginners. You need a good amount of deck knowledge for it and there are inevitably good decks in the pool and some very very poor ones.

No, he is a card for streamers and for the guys in HS that already have every other important card.

[Lord Raziere]

Weird that people talk about Whizbang as if it were a card for beginners. You need a good amount of deck knowledge for it and there are inevitably good decks in the pool and some very very poor ones.

No, he is a card for streamers and for the guys in HS that already have every other important card.

well its a good card for learning how other decks play so that you can break out of your shell, and see whats good and what isn't.

but yeah, I can see your point: its very much the "random fighter" option in card game form. you pick it if you've mastered every fighter and don't need to choose a style to beat someone. I think I might be getting it regardless, because if someone can beat people with any deck thats better than just beating them with specific kinds. I'll be able to use it to see what cards I want to play with.

also today I opened a pack and got two legendaries: Captain Greenskin again and Baron Geddon. now Greenskin, probably not doing anything with it, but Baron Geddon.....that sounds like a good effect to have. good for a single turn board clear if nothing else. I also luckily got Sea Giant earlier and had 500 spare dust on hand so I crafted a second because sea giant seems pretty good to me. I can see that being useful for time to come. I already pre-ordered my 80 packs to get mecha-jaraxxus so I'm not concerned about spending my coins on classic packs.

[Psyren]

If you want "random fighter" in deck form there's a much cheaper option (https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Explore_Un%27Goro) :smalltongue:

IIRC Geddon is used in some control decks like Big Spell Mage and Odd Warrior.



No, he is a card for streamers and for the guys in HS that already have every other important card.

Yeah that. If I opened him I'd play a few games before dusting though.

[Thomas Cardew]

We talked about Myra a couple pages back, before we knew its name. I stand by my initial assessment - it'll be decent in aggro like Odd rogue as a come-from-behind card. If you're losing it can restock your hand/board better than Sprint can and let you turn the tables, and if you're winning it doesn't matter because you can just hold it.

Some of the tricks being talked about won't work that well. Burning cards doesn't count as drawing them, so you won't trigger "on-draw" effects like Scroll of Wonders or Ambushes. The ones that would have made it to your hand (i.e. first 10 cards) will though.

There may end up being a combo that uses it.

I believe he was talking about Scroll of Wonders casting the unstable element from its random pool and costing you the game. Comparable to how it can occasionally pull astral communion right now. Not talking about using it to draw more scroll of wonder cards.

I think Whizbang IS a casual player card. And a pretty good on at that. I play about every other expansion or every third ladder season for about a month. I'm not going to bother finding it, but I remember Brode talking about that's how a lot of people play hearthstone, they leave and come back. I'm decent at the game but don't play excessively so I don't 1) climb to ranks higher than 5. 2) have an excessive collection of dust/cards to make any deck I want. I've got C'thun because he was free and that's the only Old god I have. There's a lot of archetypes I'd love to play but can't due to missing key cards. As long as the decks are somewhat viable and more importantly fun, I'll be making whizzbang just to have some variety.

Definitely a streamer card as well though.

Depending on the mechanics of how he works, he's also good for those pesky play X class quests.


If you want "random fighter" in deck form there's a much cheaper option (https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Explore_Un%27Goro) :smalltongue:
I get you're joking but there's a world of difference between a themed deck and a build-your-arena-deck as you go.

[Spore]

A casual player card it is. But casual like Noxious or Kibler fun deck casual, not Jonny Everygamer that started Hearthstone 2 months ago or Lily Cuteplayer that crafts and plays cards depending on how adorable the art is.

Edit: just realised you might mean the play mode casual. :)

[Thomas Cardew]

TBF Kibler is my favorite hearthstone personality. I don't really follow hearthstone media, despite youtube's algrorithim's attempt to force it down my throat after I made the mistake of watching a few videos, but of the little I've seen I like Kibler's stuff. Lots of fun decks and Timmy stuff with decent production value. Some of the Trump or Disguised Toast stuff, I forget which, I watched was just too low quality despite enjoying the contents. Kripp's production value is good but I can not stand him.

And if it makes the full deck golden, I'm pretty sure it is a Lily Cuteplayer once she finds out about it :smalltongue:.

[Psyren]

Kibler is... okay I guess, but he's not my favorite.

For Arena I go with Amaz, Hafu and Trump.
For Constructed I like Trump, Thijs, Toast (though I skip the ones where he's teaching his girlfriend, her voice and play are nails on chalkboard), and Gaara.


I believe he was talking about Scroll of Wonders casting the unstable element from its random pool and costing you the game. Comparable to how it can occasionally pull astral communion right now. Not talking about using it to draw more scroll of wonder cards.

Ah, gotcha. Well I mean, "cast random spell with random targets" are always hail mary effects anyway. What you really want are DISCOVER random spell, because (a) it limits it to you class pool for easier synergy and (b) you have a much better chance of getting something with asymmetrical benefit, like being able to pick a board clear when you're behind.



Depending on the mechanics of how he works, he's also good for those pesky play X class quests.

This is a great point. I hate paladin so I might just run Whizzadin to get those quests done. He could actually pay for himself that way.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

The reason Whizzbang appeals to new and casual players is that having one legendary gives you access to tons of different cards you don't own, including other Legendaries.

You don't have reliable access to them, but having reliable access only matters if you're being competitive, which new and casual players can't be, anyway.

[Psyren]

FYI - there's some cards on the official spoiler page (https://playhearthstone.com/en-us/expansions-adventures/the-boomsday-project/cards) I don't think we've talked about yet.

My initial thoughts:

- Looks like Druid is getting a Treant theme this expansion? Hey. that Cenarius I pulled ages ago might actually see play!
- Flobbidinus = Hadronox #2. Yay.
- How does Supercollider choose which neighbor gets hit? It'll be funny with poisonous minions regardless.
- Electra + Spellstone or Bloodlust will make for one heck of an alpha strike.

[Anarion]

FYI - there's some cards on the official spoiler page (https://playhearthstone.com/en-us/expansions-adventures/the-boomsday-project/cards) I don't think we've talked about yet.

My initial thoughts:

- Looks like Druid is getting a Treant theme this expansion? Hey. that Cenarius I pulled ages ago might actually see play!
- Flobbidinus = Hadronox #2. Yay.
- How does Supercollider choose which neighbor gets hit? It'll be funny with poisonous minions regardless.
- Electra + Spellstone or Bloodlust will make for one heck of an alpha strike.

Treant synergy is currently a strong maybe. Dendrologist and Landscaping are efficiently costed, but cheap Druid cards have to compete with ramp and removal for space in a deck. Probably the bigger question is whether the available removal will thwart token Druid or not. If it’s good, treant synergy can probably fit in there as a bonus or variant deck.

Probably random for Supercollider. Although if they built the tech to allow you to temporarily select actions for your opponent’s cards, I think that would actually be really cool.

Electra is yet another in a long line of shaman cards that looks crazy if you manage to draw 20+ cards of your deck and have everything you need. Tbh though, it’s probably better in Shudderwock just to Lightning Storm or Healing Wave twice. It’s one of the safest crafting choices I’ve seen, it’s practically guaranteed to see play as long as Shaman has any place in the meta at all.

[Spore]

Trump is a cool guy but all of his youtube is filled with so much cringe I cannot stand to watch him anymore. He helped me more than any other streamer to understand HS better bit his cringey personas and his weird taste sours it to me.

He even used an edited porn fanart of Nefarian for a tavern brawl. Not that I blame him for that but the whole deal is weird to me.

To explain it in a weird D&D analogy: He is the Cha 10 / Int 16 wizard that tries to be the face instead of flabbergasting you with his im depth knowledge.

[Joran]

FYI - there's some cards on the official spoiler page (https://playhearthstone.com/en-us/expansions-adventures/the-boomsday-project/cards) I don't think we've talked about yet.

My initial thoughts:

- Looks like Druid is getting a Treant theme this expansion? Hey. that Cenarius I pulled ages ago might actually see play!
- Flobbidinus = Hadronox #2. Yay.
- How does Supercollider choose which neighbor gets hit? It'll be funny with poisonous minions regardless.
- Electra + Spellstone or Bloodlust will make for one heck of an alpha strike.

Flobbidinus = Malygos #2; it also means the biggest counter to Malygos Druid (destroying the Twig and healing/armoring out of a single Malygos + double moonfire burst combo) no longer works.

I'm unsure he'll be used in Hadronox Druid because Oaken Summons can draw him, along with Master Oakhearth.

Edit: Whizbang won't be much of a streamer card in the usual sense. Why would a streamer want to play a random underpowered constructed deck? Dog already runs a randomizer on his stream occasionally, with the bonus of being able to select which decks are selectable.

Instead, there's definitely going to be a challenge for someone to hit Legend with just Whizbang.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

I'm unsure he'll be used in Hadronox Druid because Oaken Summons can draw him, along with Master Oakhearth.
Guaranteed Hadronox #2 that you can cube, and which also beats transform effects and Skulking Geist, seems like a really big strength. Good enough to not use Oakheart, possibly good enough to risk Oaken Summons. So it'll be a new variant on the deck.

[Psyren]

Flobbidinus = Malygos #2; it also means the biggest counter to Malygos Druid (destroying the Twig and healing/armoring out of a single Malygos + double moonfire burst combo) no longer works.

I'm unsure he'll be used in Hadronox Druid because Oaken Summons can draw him, along with Master Oakhearth.

You're right, he'll definitely see more play in Twig druid. Speaking of which, I just realized I have almost all the pieces for that...



Edit: Whizbang won't be much of a streamer card in the usual sense. Why would a streamer want to play a random underpowered constructed deck? Dog already runs a randomizer on his stream occasionally, with the bonus if being able to select which decks are selectable.

Instead, there's definitely going to be a challenge for someone to hit Legend with just Whizbang.

I mean, "the usual sense" for streamers definitely includes Legend challenge runs and memeing, so this shouldn't be any different.

[Hamste]

So shadowboxer is getting nerfed and you are going to get full dust refund if you still have it. A few other cards are getting nerfed as well though just tag changes and enchantment changes.

[Psyren]

More new cards:

- We got the Paladin legendary spell, and it looks like Mech Paladin is going to be a thing.
- Dr. Boom is a Warrior hero card after all. Any idea what his hero power will be? (Also, cue Mechwarrior jokes.)
- Unexpected Results seems like it'll be interesting in some form of tempo mage.
- Weaponized Pinata seems like a good addition to Quest Priest since it'll spray out win conditions. But I don't see traditional control decks surviving until/unless Shudderwock is nerfed again.

(If you're having trouble finding the new cards, follow the spoiler link I posted above.)

[Resileaf]

Demonic project sounds like it will be incredibly popular since it can kill combos if it works out. Imagine getting rid of Shudderwock, for example.
Omega agent's card art is really cool. Probably a fairly good effect too.
Lab recruiter takes gang up and makes it a million times better (cheaper AND has a body on board).

[CarpeGuitarrem]

- Dr. Boom is a Warrior hero card after all. Any idea what his hero power will be? (Also, cue Mechwarrior jokes.)

Courtesy of /r/CompetitiveHS (https://imgur.com/a/55OYimn)

[Resileaf]

Courtesy of /r/CompetitiveHS (https://imgur.com/a/55OYimn)

So if I understand right, it costs 4 mana to activate Boom's hero power, two to press the big red button, two to cast the hero power itself?

[Joran]

So if I understand right, it costs 4 mana to activate Boom's hero power, two to press the big red button, two to cast the hero power itself?

No, the Big Red Button is just what it shows on the Collection page when you hover over the hero.

You get one of the random 5 hero powers when he's played.

[Resileaf]

No, the Big Red Button is just what it shows on the Collection page when you hover over the hero.

You get one of the random 5 hero powers when he's played.

Ah, okay, I get it. Very odd, you're pretty much certain not to get the right one when you need it, but every single one of them is incredibly powerful.

[Psyren]

Hooray, more RNG! :smalltongue:


Demonic project sounds like it will be incredibly popular since it can kill combos if it works out. Imagine getting rid of Shudderwock, for example

Nice, I didn't even think about that. Hopefully other classes get anti-combo tech.



Lab recruiter takes gang up and makes it a million times better (cheaper AND has a body on board).

I mean, we already got Gang Up But Better (Dire Frenzy) and it didn't amount to much. I suppose anything's possible though.

***

Unrelated note - my main hope for Boom is that Quest Mage can make a comeback. It's been completely useless since Cabalist rotated...

Also, I wouldn't mind if we got some kind of replacement for Ice Block in Standard, maybe as the Mage legendary spell - or at the very least, if we got a version of it similar to the Rogue's Evasion.

[Resileaf]

I mean, we already got Gang Up But Better (Dire Frenzy) and it didn't amount to much. I suppose anything's possible though.


Yeah, but hunters don't care about gang up. Rogues do, and it's a rogue card.
Rogues love that kind of stuff. Wild decks often use gang up.

[Psyren]

Yeah, but hunters don't care about gang up. Rogues do, and it's a rogue card.

In what deck? It can't be used in Odd, it's too slow for Even, it's definitely too slow for Quest, and it's anti-synergy in Kingsbane.



Rogues love that kind of stuff. Wild decks often use gang up.

That might be the case. I wouldn't know - the Wild meta is as relevant to me as the Tavern Brawl meta. In another game.

[Rynjin]

At a Wild stab, I'd say Jade Rogue if nothing else probably runs it.

[Psyren]

At a Wild stab, I'd say Jade Rogue if nothing else probably runs it.

Gotcha. As mentioned though, Wild is of little interest to me.

[Zevox]

Have not been keeping up with the card reveals, so, looking a the page Psyren linked to, thoughts:

Neutral
1: Faithful Lumi - Solid as far as the numbers go, but it does have the problem of being a 1-drop you don't want to play on 1. Maybe it'll find its way into constructed, maybe not, hard to say. Similarly, not entirely sure about arena, since it's not that easy to draft creature-type synergies. Kinda lukewarm on this one overall.
2: Upgradeable Framebot - That's a card you definitely want to slap Magnetic cards onto. If new Mech decks work out, I expect to see this guy in there, unless Magnetic just proves to be a failure of a keyword, which I currently doubt.
4: Whizbang the Wonderful - Yeah, this is a card just for people who want to screw around. Obviously not worthy of serious use in constructed, though some people will obviously use it anyway due to finding it amusing. And will it even be in arena? Seems like the kind of card they might just not put into the arena card pool.
4: Weaponized Pinata - Huh, not too bad. Kind of reminiscent of Polluted Hoarder, except with +1 health and the card isn't from your deck. Unfortunately random legendaries are often not that great, since there's plenty of bad ones out there, and the good ones tend to be late-game cards. In constructed I think you just run whichever legendaries you actually want instead. Probably a strong arena card though.
5: Zilliax - That is a lot of keywords for one card, but terrible stats. Obviously meant to be used for the buff half of Magnetic's options, so it depends a lot on the other mechs of the set whether it will find a place in constructed, though the higher mana cost does leave me a bit skeptical. In arena, probably not so good for the same reason other synergy-dependent cards tend not to be.
5: Wargear - The most vanilla magnetic mech card. If this is good, then magnetic and mechs in general are great. More likely, I'l guessing this is an arena card we won't see much of in constructed.

Druid
2: Dendrologist - Depends on how well the treant theme turns out. For the moment, looks solid, but perhaps not "unfair" enough to make it in constructed.
3: Landscaping - Probably the best treant-theme card so far. 3 mana for two 2/2s is just good on its own, easily a strong arena card, maybe even a strong constructed card even absent treant synergies.
4: Flobbidinous Floop - I hate this card already. I can't imagine what possessed them to print something that will so obviously result in truly degenerate combos with Hadronox or Malygos. Ugh...
10: Mulchmuncher - Kind of iffy. On the upside, it counts every treant from the entire game, not just ones that die in your hand. On the downside, there's not that many treant-generating cards right now. Landscaping, Witchwood Apple, Force of Nature, Soul of the Forest, Cenarius, and I think that's it. If a slow control deck with treant synergies can work, then that might be enough, but otherwise Witchwood Apple and Cenarius are likely too slow, and Force of Nature is eh, and Soul of the Forest can be hard to use. Moreover, a potentially-cheap 8/8 rush seems like a midrange deck's card, so, I have some skepticism unless we get more treant-making cards. Probably bad for arena, too hard to discount there.

Mage
3: Stargazer Luna - Strong card. Not much else to say, it's just a card draw engine.
4: Unexpected Results - The question in my mind is, is it the number of minions summoned or the cost that gets increased with spell damage? Either one's pretty good, but the former is probably better, since it will be hard to have more than +1, maybe +2 at any given time. Either way, looks potentially promising, it's fair even before the spell damage boost and could become great with even +1.

Paladin
1: Autodefense Matrix - Looks like the strongest Paladin secret we've seen in a while, though probably still not that great. Strong if you only have mid- or high-cost minions out, pretty bad with, say, your hero power, though maybe a sufficiently aggressive deck could make it work even with such weak minions. Not expecting much of it at this point though.
4: Annoy-o-Module - At twice the cost of Annoy-o-Tron, it's probably not nearly as good, even with Magnetic thrown on. Maybe good for arena, probably not for constructed.
7: Kangor's Endless Army - Well, that's a big finisher. Strongly encourages you to stack magnetic buffs on a few mechs during the course of the game, so you get a ton of power back in the late-game. If Mech Paladin is a thing, this will be in it, I'd be pretty sure.

Priest
2: Dead Ringer - Deathrattle synergy on a mech huh? Weird. Hard to judge what deck would want this, but it is 2 mana 2/1 + draw, which is proven good (Loot Hoarder), and it's drawing something specific, which is a plus, so it definitely has potential. Good in arena most likely, unless I'm misjudging how easy/hard deathrattles are to get.
5: Reckless Experimenter - Big discount, but basically just makes your deathrattle minions be their deathrattles alone. With some, like Sylvanas, I could see that being worth it. With others especially the cheaper ones, probably not so much. Maybe a deck based on this guy can be made, but I'm not seeing it right now, at least not in standard.

Rogue
2: Lab Recruiter - Almost strictly-better Gang Up. Solid for arena obviously, but constructed... eh. If Coldlight Oracle were still around, Mill Rogue would have a field day with this guy, but without that, I don't see what they'd use him for, personally.

Shaman
2: Menacing Nimbus - Very solid, but Elemental Shaman really isn't much of a thing, and I don't see this being the card that changes that. Maybe it finds a home in other Shaman decks as just a good card though.

Warlock
2: Demonic Project - Combo-killer, ho! Unfortunately though, pretty useless, and sometimes counter-productive, against anything else. Tech option if some nasty combo decks are popular, nothing more.
5: Omega Agent - A bit sub-par by default, but that upside come turn 10 is pretty strong. I'm nonetheless unsure if it's strong enough to see play though, being just a 5 mana Yeti until that late is pretty questionable.

Warrior
5: Supercollider - Cool, but a bit gimmicky. Great against control decks that are trying to do things like drop Giants, but pretty bad against most other deck types. Not expecting to see this one in constructed, and it's probably not a high pick even in arena.
7: Beryllium Nullifier - That is a high cost for what it brings. As a minion, it sucks - way too little attack. As a buff, it's too expensive I think. Likely just bad.
7: Doctor Boom, Mad Genius - I only wish this were a more control-oriented card, because it looks fun. Still, hard to judge whether it's good now, relies a lot on what mechs we get and whether Warrior can pull off a mech deck, which is pretty questionable given Warrior in general is not in great shape last I checked.

[Psionic Dog]

I'll take a stab at rating predictions.

Part 1:

Ratings:
Poor: I don't think any serious decks will run this.
Balanced: A decent card that will see play in fun/meme/arena decks.
Strong: A useful card that will see play in constructed and could spawn new archtypes in combination with other cads.
Over Powered: What was blizzard thinking!? These cards will push noticeable power creep and either singlehandedly define new top-tier archetypes or will be randomly included in multiple existing archetypes.


Neutral
Faithful Lumi: Poor. I'm thinking a niche variant of Fallen Sun Cleric, but I don't think that's a card mech combo decks would actually want to run.
Upgradable Framebot: Overpowered. Raise your hand if you like Dire Mole. Now add mech synergies.
Weaponized Piñata: Balanced. Good card value but probably too inconsistent for a meta deck.
Whizbang the Wonderful: Strong. An excellent card for alt-accounts, new players, casual players, or anyone else low on ladder.
Omega Defender: Overpowered. A stall card for slow greedy decks that becomes an insane late game top deck.
Wargear: Strong. 5 mana 5/5 neutral with tribe and keyword. Probably not as unfair as Scalebane, but still strong.
Zilliax: Strong. A neutral mech varient of either Al'Akir the Winlord or Chillblade Champion. It will see play.

Druid:
Biology Project: Balanced. Probably not as good as Innervate or Wild Growth.
Dendrologist: Balanced. Solid combo with treants, but the combo isn't going to trigger on curve and I'm not convinced treant druid will become a meta deck.
Landscaping: Strong. I expect token druid will run this and others might as well just for tempo.
Flobbidinous Floop: Over Powered. Do you want a second 4-mana Malygos? Litch King? Hadronox? Aya Blackpaw? etc?
Mulchmuncher: ????. Strong if they reveal another strong treant card, balanced otherwise.

Hunter
Spider Bomb: Balanced. Niche but I can see egg hunter running this for extra deathrattles.

Mage
Stargazer Luna: Strong. Passes the vanilla test and has a useful utility.
Unexpected Results: Balanced. The combo probably isn't unfair or reliable enough for either constructed or arena. When was the last time you saw a meta mage deck run any spell damage besides Bloodmage Thalnos?

[Joran]

4: Unexpected Results - The question in my mind is, is it the number of minions summoned or the cost that gets increased with spell damage? Either one's pretty good, but the former is probably better, since it will be hard to have more than +1, maybe +2 at any given time. Either way, looks potentially promising, it's fair even before the spell damage boost and could become great with even +1.


It's been stated that it'll increase the mana cost of the random minions depending on the amount of spell power. So, +1 spell power will summon 3 drops, +5 spell will summon 7 drops.

[Resileaf]

It's been stated that it'll increase the mana cost of the random minions depending on the amount of spell power. So, +1 spell power will summon 3 drops, +5 spell will summon 7 drops.

Ooh, I thought spellpower increased number of minion drops. That makes it quite a bit more interesting.

[Psyren]

7: Doctor Boom, Mad Genius - I only wish this were a more control-oriented card, because it looks fun. Still, hard to judge whether it's good now, relies a lot on what mechs we get and whether Warrior can pull off a mech deck, which is pretty questionable given Warrior in general is not in great shape last I checked.

How is it not control-oriented? It fits like a glove into Control Warrior from where I'm sitting. Hell, it's even Odd!


.
Unexpected Results: Balanced. The combo probably isn't unfair or reliable enough for either constructed or arena. When was the last time you saw a meta mage deck run any spell damage besides Bloodmage Thalnos?

Spell damage is actually pretty useful in Arena, especially in Mage. The trouble is that you probably won't pick this unless you've nabbed Archmage or Tuskarr Fisherman earlier in the draft, which is a pretty specific circumstance

As for constructed... Maybe there'll be some kind of Ancient Mage combo? Honestly I think this would have been better off in Shaman.

[Zevox]

How is it not control-oriented? It fits like a glove into Control Warrior from where I'm sitting. Hell, it's even Odd!
What Control Warrior? Last I heard (though admittedly I haven't played much in the last couple of months) that archetype is dead, aside from some fringe use of Taunt Warrior. And frankly I think Taunt Warrior is better without Baku, personally - you lose too many very good cards with the odds-only restriction, like Blood Razor and Warpath.

Anyway, my thought on why it's not control-oriented is because its special effect is A) Rush, which is generally best for midrangey, zoo-ish decks, and B) for Mechs only. This implies to me that it goes into a much more minion-oriented deck than is practically ever the case with true late-game Control decks. I don't know, maybe the hero powers being as strong as they are will make it more viable for Control decks and the Rush for mechs will be more of a little-used extra, but with the hero powers cycling randomly I'd think they'll be too unreliable to be the main thing you play the card for.

Anyway, new cards on that reveal page today:

Neutral
5: Giggling Inventor - Two Annoy-o-Trons and a 2/1 for 5 eh? That's a deal mana-wise, though those are all pretty weak bodies for that much mana. Could see it in more aggressive decks that run things like Savage Roar or Bloodlust to capitalize on going wide though. Or Odd Paladin... yeah, okay, I get the feeling I'm not going to like this card.

Mage
2: Celestial Emissary - Hm, a spell damage +2 card that's not crazy overpriced, but only affects one spell. That just might work, but only really in some kind of combo deck most likely.
7: Astromancer - Oh, now her I like. That's a pretty sweet Control Mage card right there. I can't say I'm overly optimistic for Control Mage to be too serious of a deck, given even Frost Lich Jaina hasn't brought it that much beyond fringe status, but still, would be nice if it were.

Priest
2: Cloning Device - Arena card, probably. As nice as Discover effects are, 2 mana for just a Discover is probably never going to be constructed-worthy, especially when you can't use it for some kind of combo because your options depend on your opponent's deck.
3: Omega Medic - Eh... doesn't Priest have enough good healing already? I mean, it's a 3/4 for 3, which means better stats-to-cost ratio than the other Omega cards to date, but the actual effect isn't as big of an upside nearly as consistently as the others, since healing is situational at best against any non-aggro decks, and a Priest that reaches turn 10 against an aggro deck has probably already won. Not very impressed.
9: Zerek's Cloning Gallery - Looks iffy. I mean, I don't doubt there's some nutty combos you could pull with this... but I don't see what they are in constructed currently. And they depend on you not having already drawn the things you want to clone. And it's so expensive that you can't do any Big Priest-esque shenanigans with it. Yeah, I don't think this will be any good, barring a combo I'm not seeing right now.

[Joran]

5: Giggling Inventor - Two Annoy-o-Trons and a 2/1 for 5 eh? That's a deal mana-wise, though those are all pretty weak bodies for that much mana. Could see it in more aggressive decks that run things like Savage Roar or Bloodlust to capitalize on going wide though. Or Odd Paladin... yeah, okay, I get the feeling I'm not going to like this card.


Two sticky mech minions that can be Magnetized next turn; I think it's going to be good.

[Psyren]

What Control Warrior? Last I heard (though admittedly I haven't played much in the last couple of months) that archetype is dead, aside from some fringe use of Taunt Warrior. And frankly I think Taunt Warrior is better without Baku, personally - you lose too many very good cards with the odds-only restriction, like Blood Razor and Warpath.

Putting aside that calling T2 decks "fringe" is rather weird of you, I actually agree - Quest Warrior works better with the even cards you mentioned. But Odd Warrior is T4, not too far off that some decent odd cards in BDP won't change that.

All the control decks are weaker thanks Shudderwock, but it wouldn't surprise me if that won't get nerfed again anyway.



Anyway, my thought on why it's not control-oriented is because its special effect is A) Rush, which is generally best for midrangey, zoo-ish decks, and B) for Mechs only. This implies to me that it goes into a much more minion-oriented deck than is practically ever the case with true late-game Control decks. I don't know, maybe the hero powers being as strong as they are will make it more viable for Control decks and the Rush for mechs will be more of a little-used extra, but with the hero powers cycling randomly I'd think they'll be too unreliable to be the main thing you play the card for.

The hero power being a hero's main draw, as opposed to its battlecry or passive, is nothing new.

Agreed on Astromancer, that card looks scary.

[Rynjin]

All the control decks are weaker thanks Shudderwock, but it wouldn't surprise me if that won't get nerfed again anyway.

The issue with Shudderwock isn't so much its raw power (it's just a combo deck, albeit one that deals arbitrary damage instead of a "large enough to kill someone twice over but technically finite" amount of damage), but that it limits design space until Witchwood rotates, and then it still screws with Wild (which Blizzard seems to care about). Every card now has to be evaluated for "Does this Battlecry break the game via Shudderwock?", and unless they outright change the effect, I don't think any amount of nerfing will really fix that.

[Psionic Dog]

As for constructed... Maybe there'll be some kind of Ancient Mage combo? Honestly I think this would have been better off in Shaman. It would be probably be overpowered in Shaman. Ancient Mage is a common card in cheap/basic decks, but the cheap/basic decks aren't interested in epics.

Moving on to the classes I messed yesterday...

Part 2:

Paladin
Autodefense Matrix: Balanced. It looks better than Redemption, but one usually wants higher card value in a deck.
Kangor's Endless Army: Strong. Better than your typical legendary and could be used to make a magnetic mech deck viable in Paladin.
Annoy-o-Module: Balanced I almost called it poor by class card standards but if you are running Kangor's Endless Army you might also run this for the synergy.

Priest
Cloning Device: Poor. I'm thinking Mind Vision. +Discover, -extra cost, -no chance of a weapon/deathnight. Maybe it will see play in arena.
Dead Ringer: Strong. In constructed this is a better more reliable version of Loot Hoarder.
Omega Medic: Strong. This is the weakest of the revealed Omega Cards but most of those are just asking for a nerf.
Reckless Experimenter: Poor. It combos nicely with voodoo doll, but otherwise you either want the deathrattle to trigger during your turn or you want to get value out off the card stats.
Zerek's Cloning Gallery: Balanced. It improves the consistency of quest priest and resurrect OTK, but summoning up to 7 1/1s for 9 mana may not be worth the tempo loss.

Rogue
Lab Recruiter: Strong. Apparently Baleful Banker wasn't played enough so they gave rogue an improved version with extra attack, triple the shuffle, and lower rarity.
Myra's Unstable Element: Poor. Unless this enables a Togwaggle combo I don't anyone would want to run this over Sprint.

Shaman
Menacing Nimbus: Strong. Adequate stats, value battlecry, activates other elementals next turn.
Electra Stormsurge: Overpowered. The raw power seems reasonable by legendary standards, but I expect it to be so versatile that it becomes an auto-pick in every Shaman deck that isn't Even in all formats.

Warlock
Demonic Project: Strong. The top meta defining class (pre nerf) has just received the one and only combo breaker. On the other hand combo breakers can be liabilities if you aren't facing a combo deck.
Omega Agent: Strong. In a balanced meta 12/15 on three bodies for 5 mana would be an insanely overpowered late game card, but it's rather weak if played on curve, doesn't fit in even, and has to compete with the other overpowered control/cube late game cards.

Warrior
Supercollider: Balanced. Odd Warrior might love this one. Maybe.
Dr. Boom. Mad Genius: Balanced. This has the lowest immediate impact of any hero card plus an RNG hero power.
Beryllium Nullifier: Poor. Weak by class card standards. It will probably be included in Mech Warrior deck lists but I'm thinking it won't be worth the dust to craft.

[Zevox]

Two sticky mech minions that can be Magnetized next turn; I think it's going to be good.
Oh. Yeah, I actually didn't think of magnetize while I was looking at that one. Yeah, it'll be good alright, and probably for just the sorts of deck I'll hate...


Putting aside that calling T2 decks "fringe" is rather weird of you, I actually agree - Quest Warrior works better with the even cards you mentioned. But Odd Warrior is T4, not too far off that some decent odd cards in BDP won't change that.
Taunt Warrior, T2? That's news to me. Though like I said, haven't played much the past couple of months. Ever since BB Tag dropped and I picked up God of War, I've spent most of my gaming time on other games.


The hero power being a hero's main draw, as opposed to its battlecry or passive, is nothing new.
The battlecry/passive normally still has a big role to play in the deck though. Gul'dan's insane board, Jaina's free healing, Hagatha's AoE - heck, Garrosh's weapon is arguably the better part of that hero card. Malfurion is the only one that comes to mind where the battlecry is just sort of a bonus, and even then it's a nice, universal bonus. (Well, and Valeera, but she's struggled to find decks that use her and are competitive.)

Doctor Boom's just feels like it's designed for a specific deck, and that deck is more likely to be something midrangey than something controly. I'll be happy if that's not the case, but that's how it strikes me, given that battlecry/passive bonus.

[Psyren]

Zerek's Cloning Gallery = Barnes 2.0?


The issue with Shudderwock isn't so much its raw power (it's just a combo deck, albeit one that deals arbitrary damage instead of a "large enough to kill someone twice over but technically finite" amount of damage), but that it limits design space until Witchwood rotates, and then it still screws with Wild (which Blizzard seems to care about). Every card now has to be evaluated for "Does this Battlecry break the game via Shudderwock?", and unless they outright change the effect, I don't think any amount of nerfing will really fix that.

I wouldn't describe it as "just a combo deck" though. Combo decks have actual pieces, which you need to find, which limit your space to put in answers and stall. Shudderwock has one piece; "include good battlecry minions" isn't a combo :smalltongue:

The easiest comparison is C'thun; it's another "survive to endgame, play a creature that wins you the game no matter what your opponent was doing" card. But unlike Shudderwock, you have to build around it, typically with creatures that are not nearly as good on their own, and which (as mentioned above) crowd out your space to include answers.


Ancient Mage is a common card in cheap/basic decks, but the cheap/basic decks aren't interested in epics.

That's the beauty about the Basic/Classic set though - you never know what overlooked cards from it will rise to prominence due to a card in some future set. Before all these odd decks for example, Stormwind Champion was very much a F2P/arena card. When you can reliably flood the board though, it gets a lot better.



Taunt Warrior, T2? That's news to me.

Yep.



The battlecry/passive normally still has a big role to play in the deck though. Gul'dan's insane board, Jaina's free healing, Hagatha's AoE - heck, Garrosh's weapon is arguably the better part of that hero card. Malfurion is the only one that comes to mind where the battlecry is just sort of a bonus, and even then it's a nice, universal bonus. (Well, and Valeera, but she's struggled to find decks that use her and are competitive.)

Hagatha is good even on an empty board though. The hero power is why she's played. Same with Anduin. I'm not saying the B/P are irrelevant, but the hero power is the reason to run these cards. (That, and the free heal for 5.)

[Zevox]

Zerek's Cloning Gallery = Barnes 2.0?
Oh, definitely not. Way too expensive for that. Barnes coming down on 4 was a big deal for the decks that ran him.

[Psyren]

Exodia Mage won the brawl for me easily (first try!)

https://hsreplay.net/replay/7KrLgz5ZhrsygUUjT7qpjK

[Thomas Cardew]

Went jade druid, also absurdly easy. Side note: When did they make jades cap at 30/30? Or was it always like that?

[Joran]

Went jade druid, also absurdly easy. Side note: When did they make jades cap at 30/30? Or was it always like that?

It was always like that. I like how the art changes depending on how big your even larger and larger man becomes.

[Psyren]

I also beat it with Exodia Paladin. (One of my quests today was win three Brawls - lucky me.) Two fun things I learned that match:

1) Merely having 4 horsemen isn't enough to trigger the instakill. They must be the actual 4 different horsemen summoned by the hero power. (i.e. you need 1,2,3,4 - duplicates like 1,1,2,4 won't work.) I had included Zola as a one-off in this deck in order to test that, and now I know. She's still valuable for duplicating my Lich King and Marin though.

2) Winning the game without doing damage does not make them switch places, you just win. I completed the combo vs. Ahune phase 1 and it never went back to Ragnaros phase 2, I straight up won.

[otakuryoga]

enter boom labs ep 3 is out
reveals the warrior omega card:
1 mana: discover a mech
if at 10 mana keep all 3 cards

[Psyren]

Relinking the official spoiler page (https://playhearthstone.com/en-us/expansions-adventures/the-boomsday-project/cards) for ease of replying.

Omega Assembly is bonkers. It's 1 mana draw 3. Not only that, but it gets you no closer to fatigue. And the mechs you draw might have magnetic, which is basically Charge in a mech deck. Yikes.

I'm sad though - so far, nothing looks like it's going to bring Quest Mage back.

[otakuryoga]

and Toast just revealed his card
Gloop Sprayer:
8 mana Druid Common
4/4
battlecry: summon a copy of each adjacent minion

[Rynjin]

*sobs*

As if playing against Druids wasn't obnoxious enough in Witchwood.

I can just see the perfect storm where you get absolutely ****ed on the card draw and the Druid plays something like Hadronox --> Floop (or Cube) Innervate/Innervate (or Twig of the World Tree or something) Gloop Sprayer, or just multiplies a couple of big minions outright. End up facing a board of like Sleepy Dragon/Lich King x2 on turn 9.

[Psyren]

and Toast just revealed his card
Gloop Sprayer:
8 mana Druid Common
4/4
battlecry: summon a copy of each adjacent minion

FYI - All the new cards are being added to the page I linked above in real time, including that one. Just to save you some typing :smallsmile:


*sobs*

As if playing against Druids wasn't obnoxious enough in Witchwood.

I can just see the perfect storm where you get absolutely ****ed on the card draw and the Druid plays something like Hadronox --> Floop (or Cube) Innervate/Innervate (or Twig of the World Tree or something) Gloop Sprayer, or just multiplies a couple of big minions outright. End up facing a board of like Sleepy Dragon/Lich King x2 on turn 9.

Alternatively: Malygos->Biology Project->Innervate->Taldaram->break twig->Flobb->Swipe->Swipe->Moonfire->Moonfire = 70 damage to enemy face and 32 to their board in one turn.

...My math might be off on one of the swipes there, which lowers it to 51, but you can squeeze it back in with the second Biology Project and Innervate I think.

[Zevox]

Alternatively: Malygos->Biology Project->Innervate->Taldaram->break twig->Flobb->Swipe->Swipe->Moonfire->Moonfire = 70 damage to enemy face and 32 to their board in one turn.

...My math might be off on one of the swipes there, which lowers it to 51, but you can squeeze it back in with the second Biology Project and Innervate I think.
Yeah, with nine specific cards and a Twig of the World already set and read to break. That's never going to be remotely practical.

Anyway though, thoughts on today's cards:
Neutral
7: Star Aligner - Well, the name's apt - the stars really need to align to ever use that ability. Pack filler, and even in arena he's just War Golem 99% of the time.

Druid
8: Gloop Sprayer - Seems like a card whose combo applications were already rendered obsolete by the reveal of Flobbidinous Floop, who does that better anyway due to being half the cost and not requiring the minion he's copying to live for a turn. And as a strictly value card, eh, the whole "needs something good to survive a turn" thing is a harsh restriction. Don't think we'll see this guy past the experimentation phase.

Hunter
2: Cybertech Chip - It's like Infest for mechs, except at a 1-mana discount. Infest never quite worked out, but a discount might be enough to change that, if random mechs are good enough. Not sure they will be though.

Rogue
2: Pogo-Hopper - Well, here is a (the?) reason Lab Recruiter exists. It's like Jade that grows twice as fast, but only benefits other copies of itself. Have to admit, there may be possibilities for a Pogo-Hopper + Lab Recruiter combo where you use Myra's Unstable Element to get rid of your deck then play Pogo-Hopper and Lab Recruiter x2, allowing you to go infinite on Pogo-Hoppers. Could also easily not work out due to being too hard to set up or too slow most of the time or something, but it's a possibility.
4: Blightnozzle Crawler - If you get to break this on your turn, it's obviously great. If you don't, it's pretty weak. I'm guessing that means it's overall not a good card and will mostly just see some play in arena at best.

Warrior
1: Omega Assembly - Well, that is value once you get to turn 10 - 1 mana to gain 3 cards. But are three random mechs really worth running a card that's otherwise just "1 mana - discover a mech?" Does even a Mech Warrior want this over other late-game cards? I'm not so sure, personally.

[Psyren]

Yeah, with nine specific cards and a Twig of the World already set and read to break. That's never going to be remotely practical.

Er, that's the for the 70+ damage version; you can easily OTK with less than that far more reliably, because most classes can't get their life total that high at all. (You said earlier that you weren't aware of the current tier decks - can I safely assume that includes Twig Druid's current tier?)

[Destro_Yersul]

FYI - All the new cards are being added to the page I linked above in real time, including that one. Just to save you some typing :smallsmile:

People have gotten annoyed in the past when we haven't posted full stats for things, because some of them look at this thread from work or somewhere that the various reveal sites are blocked.

[Zevox]

Er, that's the for the 70+ damage version; you can easily OTK with less than that far more reliably, because most classes can't get their life total that high at all. (You said earlier that you weren't aware of the current tier decks - can I safely assume that includes Twig Druid's current tier?)
You can. But my comment was specifically about such an elaborate combo, not Malygos combos in general, which can of course be far more practical than that.

[Psyren]

You can. But my comment was specifically about such an elaborate combo, not Malygos combos in general, which can of course be far more practical than that.

Good, didn't want to assume. The standard is Malygos + clone (Faceless or Taldaram usually, now Flobb works too) + Swipe/Moonfire x2 for 36. Generally, only Druids, Big Mages, and maybe Quest Priest/Warrior are healing out of range of that before it goes off (and even in the Priest's case, they need their Quest reward to do it.)

Flobb is particularly nice because he actually lets you drop Maly a turn before the combo goes off - say, if you need to Swipe or Starfall your opponent's board for 6-7 to stay alive one more turn. Even after you break your twig to do that, and even if your opponent immediately removes Malygos, you get another one that costs 4, which you can then clone and double moonfire for 22. Throw in the innervate and swipe you're back at 36.

[Mando Knight]

In case people were afraid that Savannah Highmane's position as "Best Hunter Legendary" was in jeopardy, don't worry, it isn't:

Boommaster Flark
Hunter Legendary
7 mana 5/5
Battlecry: Summon four 0/2 Goblin Bombs.


Goblin Bomb
Neutral Common Mech
1 mana 0/2
Deathrattle: Deal 2 damage to the enemy hero.

[Zevox]

In case people were afraid that Savannah Highmane's position as "Best Hunter Legendary" was in jeopardy, don't worry, it isn't:

Boommaster Flark
Hunter Legendary
7 mana 5/5
Battlecry: Summon four 0/2 Goblin Bombs.


Goblin Bomb
Neutral Common Mech
1 mana 0/2
Deathrattle: Deal 2 damage to the enemy hero.
So it would seem. That would honestly be fairly scary if those were only 1/1s instead of 0/2s, but it is hard to guess how they think Hunter will trigger them when they can't attack by default. Perhaps I've forgotten, but I don't think Hunter has any full-board attack buffing cards. Magnetize maybe? But then you need four more cards to make this one work, which isn't impressive at all. I guess you could throw in something like Baron Geddon to trigger them, but that doesn't seem worth it, particularly given this obviously wants to be in a more aggressive deck than Geddon does.

[Resileaf]

So it would seem. That would honestly be fairly scary if those were only 1/1s instead of 0/2s, but it is hard to guess how they think Hunter will trigger them when they can't attack by default. Perhaps I've forgotten, but I don't think Hunter has any full-board attack buffing cards. Magnetize maybe? But then you need four more cards to make this one work, which isn't impressive at all. I guess you could throw in something like Baron Geddon to trigger them, but that doesn't seem worth it, particularly given this obviously wants to be in a more aggressive deck than Geddon does.

Well I already know that in wild, it synergizes well with feign death. They also work as anti-AoE because they're instant 8 damage to the face.

[Rynjin]

So it would seem. That would honestly be fairly scary if those were only 1/1s instead of 0/2s, but it is hard to guess how they think Hunter will trigger them when they can't attack by default. Perhaps I've forgotten, but I don't think Hunter has any full-board attack buffing cards. Magnetize maybe? But then you need four more cards to make this one work, which isn't impressive at all. I guess you could throw in something like Baron Geddon to trigger them, but that doesn't seem worth it, particularly given this obviously wants to be in a more aggressive deck than Geddon does.

Play Dead. Terrorscale Stalker.

I could see a weird combo with Seeping Oozeling, one of those two, and something like Abomination or Primordial Drake. Spells like Grievous Bite and Explosive Shot can also target friendlies. The former also forces the opponent to look for a silence or eat 8+ damage to the face AND trade at least one minion or a spell into a 5/5 Taunt.

I don't think it will be a particularly GOOD combo, but I can see a meme deck built around it and the dream of nuking your opponent's face with a bunch of pseudo-Boom Bots.

[Zevox]

Well I already know that in wild, it synergizes well with feign death. They also work as anti-AoE because they're instant 8 damage to the face.
True about Feign Death, though I really tend not to care about Wild - only reason I'd venture into that is to play classic Handlock a bit. And as anti-AoE goes, they seem a tad counter-productive due to taking up so much space on your board that it becomes hard to have a board that demands AoE.


Play Dead. Terrorscale Stalker.

I could see a weird combo with Seeping Oozeling, one of those two, and something like Abomination or Primordial Drake. Spells like Grievous Bite and Explosive Shot can also target friendlies. The former also forces the opponent to look for a silence or eat 8+ damage to the face AND trade at least one minion or a spell into a 5/5 Taunt.

I don't think it will be a particularly GOOD combo, but I can see a meme deck built around it and the dream of nuking your opponent's face with a bunch of pseudo-Boom Bots.
Play Dead seems like a bad use of that card - you've basically turned it into an Arcane Shot that can only be aimed at the face. Terrorscale Stalker is a bit better since it comes attached to a 3/3, but still nothing overly impressive.

I suppose Seeping Oozeling to get more of them could be a thing, but that only helps if you have ways to activate them. And Abomination and Primordial Drake kind of fall under what I said about Geddon.

[Rynjin]

Kind of, but I think it could work in some kind of hypothetical Control Hunter where you stall them out, chip away at them, and then finish them off with a burst of damage at the end.

Might pair well with the 2 Mana Infest but Mechs card to give you a bit of refill at the last edge of the game.

[otakuryoga]

FYI - All the new cards are being added to the page I linked above in real time, including that one. Just to save you some typing :smallsmile:

but..

People have gotten annoyed in the past when we haven't posted full stats for things, because some of them look at this thread from work or somewhere that the various reveal sites are blocked.
yeah..that


Anyway though, thoughts on today's cards:
Neutral
7: Star Aligner - Well, the name's apt - the stars really need to align to ever use that ability. Pack filler, and even in arena he's just War Golem 99% of the time.


alternatively..shot in the arm to good ol cubelock
not hard for cubelock to get 3 or 4 of the charging 5/7's out..(and run one into something to go from 4 to 3)

[Psyren]

but..

yeah..that

It's your wrist, pal. *shrug*



alternatively..shot in the arm to good ol cubelock
not hard for cubelock to get 3 or 4 of the charging 5/7's out..(and run one into something to go from 4 to 3)

...Oh crap, I forgot about Dreadlord. 7 to the enemy's whole board and 17 to the face is actually not bad.


Well I already know that in wild, it synergizes well with feign death. They also work as anti-AoE because they're instant 8 damage to the face.

...But... why the heck would you AoE them? The hunter has willingly given up 4 board slots on crappy minions you never have to interact with. (5 if you consider that the 5/5 is woefully overcosted.)

Sure he might magnetize them next turn... but if he had 4 minions he could've dropped in one turn, he could've just done that last turn.

[Rynjin]

...But... why the heck would you AoE them? The hunter has willingly given up 4 board slots on crappy minions you never have to interact with. (5 if you consider that the 5/5 is woefully overcosted.)

Sure he might magnetize them next turn... but if he had 4 minions he could've dropped in one turn, he could've just done that last turn.

That's his point. You're disincentivized to use board clears while those are up, in a way.

In practice it essentially makes Blizzard like smacking a 4/2 Taunt with a weapon. Not a huge discouragement when put that way, but still some of one. The discouragement increases as the number of bots grows and become a potentially bigger threat, though so does available board real estate decrease.

Potential mind games, especially when enemy health is low. Sure they can Dragon's Fury their Flamestrike to clear the board, but eating a potential 8 damage when they only have 10 left is a gamble, and likely leaves the Hunter the board (if he doesn't outright win in that scenario via non-Deathstalker hero power).

Combined with a future Mark of the Lotus style board buff and it could be a pretty great combo. Hell, something like Dire Wolf alpha could force the issue. It's not like Magnetize is the ONLY Minion buff available, after all.

[Psyren]

That's his point. You're disincentivized to use board clears while those are up, in a way.

Not my point. I meant, why would you need to?

Board clears are for if your opponent has a board full of threats. A bunch of 0/2s are not threats, even if they can be "buffed later."

Compare this to casting Spellstone. You leave this alone, you might take 6-9 damage next turn, and even then most of that is from the 5/5 which you can deal with individually. You leave the wolves alone, you're definitely taking 12, maybe even 16 if the followup is Leokk, to say nothing of eating KC or hero power on top of that.

[Rynjin]

Not my point. I meant, why would you need to?

Board clears are for if your opponent has a board full of threats. A bunch of 0/2s are not threats, even if they can be "buffed later."

Compare this to casting Spellstone. You leave this alone, you might take 4-6 damage next turn. You leave the wolves alone, you're definitely taking 12, maybe even 16 if the followup is Leokk, to say nothing of eating KC or hero power on top of that.

If there's a 5/5, a 5/4 (the Oozeling), a 3/3 (the Stalker) and two 0/2's, you might consider dropping a Flamestrike/Ping, or a Dragon's Fury is my point. This makes you take 4 damage, and produces 4 more 0/2s, which can be easily buffed from hand the next turn, or played alongside other sticky minions like Savannah Highmane or that new mech that summons a pair of Annoy-o-Trons and a 4/4 or whatever. You're now again faced with the choice of clearing board (and taking 8 damage), trading 4 minion attacks to knock off the Annoy-o-Trons (or killing the Highmane, leaving the 2/2s to deal with), or doing nothing about it.

Edit: Forgot it summoned 4 by default, so you'd have 3 0/2s for 6 damage in the first case.

[Geno9999]

Void Ripper can be conveniently played after Boommaster at 10 Mana, turning the 0/2 minions into 2/0s and from there into 8 face damage. The legendary is still terrible, I don't think this is going to find itself in too many Mech or Deathrattle Hunters, if at all.

The 0/2 Goblin Bombs have also been confirmed as being collectible neutral commons. Woo.

[Mando Knight]

If there's a 5/5, a 5/4 (the Oozeling), a 3/3 (the Stalker) and two 0/2's, you might consider dropping a Flamestrike/Ping, or a Dragon's Fury is my point. This makes you take 4 damage, and produces 4 more 0/2s, which can be easily buffed from hand the next turn, or played alongside other sticky minions like Savannah Highmane or that new mech that summons a pair of Annoy-o-Trons and a 4/4 or whatever. You're now again faced with the choice of clearing board (and taking 8 damage), trading 4 minion attacks to knock off the Annoy-o-Trons (or killing the Highmane, leaving the 2/2s to deal with), or doing nothing about it.

Edit: Forgot it summoned 4 by default, so you'd have 3 0/2s for 6 damage in the first case.

Boommaster Flark summons the Goblin Bombs as a Battlecry, making Seeping Oozeling (which copies a Deathrattle at random from the deck with its Battlecry) irrelevant. You're not producing even more Goblin Bombs without a bounce effect.

[Rynjin]

Boommaster Flark summons the Goblin Bombs as a Battlecry, making Seeping Oozeling (which copies a Deathrattle at random from the deck with its Battlecry) irrelevant. You're not producing even more Goblin Bombs without a bounce effect.

Whoops. I misread the card as "Deathrattle: Summon 4 0/2 bots". Hm.

Not sure how to make that work then.

[Psyren]

Whoops. I misread the card as "Deathrattle: Summon 4 0/2 bots". Hm.

Not sure how to make that work then.

All good. I was sure I had misread it too. It just seems bad.

And knowing my luck, it's the one I'll get - just like I got Shaw when the only Hunter deck I play is Spellhunter :smallannoyed:

[Rynjin]

On the bright side, at least Shaw is a good card.

I got Splintergraft. A Golden Splintergraft, which takes the sting out, but absolute trash nonetheless.

And yeah, I'm disappointed. I like my misinformed headcanon version of the card way better, I was already planning a deck around it. =/

[Zevox]

alternatively..shot in the arm to good ol cubelock
not hard for cubelock to get 3 or 4 of the charging 5/7's out..(and run one into something to go from 4 to 3)
Hm... while that sounded like a fair point at first, I don't think that would be likely to work either. Simply because it's too much mana - Cube is 5, which means it can't be played the same turn as Star Aligner even before you add Pact or something to pop it, making the combo unreliable as heck, and sticking you with a War Golem in your deck whenever it doesn't work out. And if you get two Doomguards out via Cube and your opponent does nothing about them for a turn, odds are you've already won anyway.

[Psyren]

I just realized Crystology pulls both Lynessa and Primalfin Champion, so I'm expecting it to probably show up in some kind of buff paladin deck (e.g. Quest Paladin.)

[Seerow]

I just realized Crystology pulls both Lynessa and Primalfin Champion, so I'm expecting it to probably show up in some kind of buff paladin deck (e.g. Quest Paladin.)

Good call on that. It's probably one of the few situations where it'd be a better value than Call to Arms (which is mostly trash post-nerf). As someone who has tried to make buff paladin work every expansion since pulling a Golden Galvadon on day one of Ungoro, I look forward to trying this out.

[Psyren]

Yeah, CtA is what made me look at it; I was wondering if Crystology would be any good in Even Paladin. It's... not, but it's nice to think of it for this archetype instead, which I always liked better than the even/odd rushdown decks anyway.

BTW, as far as making Flarky and his 0/2 bombs work, one card I had overlooked completely was Void Ripper, which would be a cheap and easy way for a Hunter to set off all his bombs at once. Even more interestingly, Flark and VR are both odd cards, and you have the mana to drop both in one turn if you make it to endgame, need just a bit of damage to seal the deal, and they've already taken both of your Kill Commands to the face. So Odd Face Hunter could make a comeback.

Speaking of Kill Command, it strikes me that Nightmare Amalgam, on top of ALSO being Odd. is both a Beast and a Mech - so you could get some magnetize and other mech synergies going without giving up your 5 damage burst spell.

[Zevox]

Oh, that's right, today's new cards.

Neutral
6: Mechanical Whelp - Reminds me of Skelemancer, which turned out not to be so good, but this one loses the "must die on your opponent's turn" restriction in exchange for +1 cost and -1/-1 to the minion it summons (and gaining the mech tag). Could succeed where Skelemancer failed, particularly in Doctor Boom Warrior decks, where it gets Rush after Boom is played.
6: Missile Launcher - So, it's a weaker, more expensive Despicable Dreadlord that also hits your stuff, and both faces. Eh, not seeing a lot of hope for this one, unless Odd Paladin overruns the meta or something. It is magnetic too I guess, but I don't see a ton of reason you'd want to magnetize it to something else either.

Hunter
2: Fireworks Tech - If a mech Hunter is a thing, this will be a part of it, and likely no small part of why it becomes a thing. Very competitive stats and effect.

Paladin
2: Crystology - Two mana draw two specific cards looks good. Granted, Small-Time Recruits never quite got that good despite seeming like it should be, but 1 attack minions can be better than 1-cost minions by far - Stonehill Defender, Tar Creeper, or the new 2-mana 1/5 mech, to name a few. Will likely see play in many Paladin decks, though perhaps as a one-of in some.

Rogue
4: Academic Espionage - This is either really good or totally worthless, with little chance of anything in between. A few of Trump's ideas for it seem feasible, like combining it with Myra's Unstable Element. It will just need testing to find out how good or bad a deck with/built around this truly is.

Shaman
6: Eureka! - Combo card waiting to happen, except that Shaman already has a combo deck that this doesn't work with and which will be hard to dethrone from that role. I'm not seeing it as good enough as a pure value card either, particularly since pure value has never quite worked for Shaman. My expectations for this are thus low.

Warrior
1: Eternium Rover - Solid anti-aggro 1-drop, and a body to slap magnetizes onto. Definitely a candidate for a Mech/Doctor Boom Warrior deck, though if the meta is more control-oriented it may not make the cut even if such a deck is good.
9: The Boomship - Speaking of control metas, holy moly, a Control Warrior would love to have this bad boy in a slow enough meta. The only question is whether Control Warrior will be a thing again, and whether the meta will be slow enough to run a 9-mana card just to summon a bunch of other big cards from your hand at once. I'm pretty skeptical of that myself, but if it happens, I might well want to play that deck.

[Mando Knight]

The meme play with Missile Launcher is in Wild: a turn 8 Snowchugger -> Magnetize Missile Launcher play freezes the entire rest of the board at the end of your turn, every turn, forcing your opponent to either find a way to remove the missile-chugger or sit around doing almost nothing until the Mage finishes building whatever combo they're stalling for.

[Spore]

The meme play with Missile Launcher is in Wild: a turn 8 Snowchugger -> Magnetize Missile Launcher play freezes the entire rest of the board at the end of your turn, every turn, forcing your opponent to either find a way to remove the missile-chugger or sit around doing almost nothing until the Mage finishes building whatever combo they're stalling for.

I can't even begin how many weak points this plan has. But I'll try: hard removal, card generators (LK, Ysera), damage removal (6/7 is not THAT hard), cards that benefit from being attacked (it's not like Acolyte of Pain is uncommon), weapons (though hampered), the combo requires two cards that are terrible individually if you don't have any other synergies. Also Mech Mage finishes up combat at turn 6-7 the latest. You'd more likely use Snow Chugger before. Honestly I can see a Snowchugger into Zilliax to remove two targets or one target and freeze the enemy hero (while leeching for 10 life) but not Missile Launcher.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

On the other hand, Control Mages run Frost Nova, which only ever freezes for one turn. I think having a pair of cards that says "deal with me or be permafrozen" is pretty good. Especially since it's almost entirely weapon immune (barring a hero swap).

[Psyren]

The meme play with Missile Launcher is in Wild: a turn 8 Snowchugger -> Magnetize Missile Launcher play freezes the entire rest of the board at the end of your turn, every turn, forcing your opponent to either find a way to remove the missile-chugger or sit around doing almost nothing until the Mage finishes building whatever combo they're stalling for.

Cute, but if you can't deal with one creature in Wild, you were probably dead anyway.

More likely, Missile Launcher will be a budget replacement for Baron Geddon in a couple of decks. Maybe there'll be a way to grant all mechs Lifesteal?

[Zevox]

Mage
1: Shooting Star - Well, that's efficient for what it is. Often it's a 1-mana Arcane Explosion. The question is, does any deck want a tiny AoE like this? Barring something like Odd Paladin overrunning the meta, I have a hard time seeing this being that desirable.
4: Cosmic Anomaly - Cool name, meh card. Granted, a lot better than any spell damage +2 card we've seen before, aside from perhaps the one-use battlecry one from this same set, but still, I don't know that spell damage on a 4-mana minion is desirable enough to make it see play.

Paladin
2: Crystalsmith Kangor - Eh... I don't know. Paladin has liked a few healing cards at various times in its history, but right now, they're not really a big thing. Maybe if one of the unrevealed cards goes well with it it can find a place?
5: Shrink Ray - Cool, but I can't help but think that the main thing you'd want to use this for is exactly the same as you would for Equality, which makes it not worth the +3 mana. Heck, if you have anything on the board, you'd prefer Equality to keep their attack scores up. So it only really beats Equality when used against a decently threatening enemy board but you lack the AoE to follow up and finish them off. Would you run it in addition to Equality in a Control Paladin then? ...maybe? I don't know, I'm not enthusiastic about this one, but I also don't want to write it off completely.

Priest
6: Zerek, Master Cloner - Interesting. But aside from Power Word: Shield, what's Priest got to activate this guy with? Because it's going to take more than that to make him feasible, and I'm blanking on other good options. I mean, there's Divine Spirit and Inner Fire, but you don't want those just to activate this guy's deathrattle, you want to combo them into a kill.

Rogue
5: Myra Rotspring - Why couldn't she have been printed back while Jade was still in standard? Ugh. At the moment, not really seeing this one. I mean, she's value, sure, but not insane value, and nothing that's simply value has ever made a deck in Rogue work.


I can't even begin how many weak points this plan has. But I'll try: hard removal, card generators (LK, Ysera), damage removal (6/7 is not THAT hard), cards that benefit from being attacked (it's not like Acolyte of Pain is uncommon), weapons (though hampered), the combo requires two cards that are terrible individually if you don't have any other synergies. Also Mech Mage finishes up combat at turn 6-7 the latest. You'd more likely use Snow Chugger before. Honestly I can see a Snowchugger into Zilliax to remove two targets or one target and freeze the enemy hero (while leeching for 10 life) but not Missile Launcher.
Weapons aren't a weakness - Missile Launcher hits face, so with Snowchugger's effect, no weapons are getting used. And Snowchugger isn't terrible individually, it was a Mech Mage staple.

I'll give it this much, it's the best idea I've seen for Missile Launcher. But even if it worked so well it was worth running Missile Launcher for, which I think is questionable, it's wild only, so meh, don't really care.


Cute, but if you can't deal with one creature in Wild, you were probably dead anyway.

More likely, Missile Launcher will be a budget replacement for Baron Geddon in a couple of decks. Maybe there'll be a way to grant all mechs Lifesteal?
What decks would want a budget replacement for Baron Geddon though? Most decks don't want Baron Geddon in the first place. The only one I think I've seen him run in anytime recently is Control Mage for his synergy with Frost Lich Jaina, and Missile Launcher sure can't replace him there.

[Seerow]

Cute, but if you can't deal with one creature in Wild, you were probably dead anyway.

More likely, Missile Launcher will be a budget replacement for Baron Geddon in a couple of decks. Maybe there'll be a way to grant all mechs Lifesteal?

Are there any poisonous mechs out there? If so watch out.

Also potential synergy with self damage warrior but I think they finally gave up on pushing that

[Geno9999]

I think Shrink Ray could find it's home in Odd Paladin. Right now, Odd Paladin doesn't have access to Equality or any AoE. Odd Paladin is already good at filling up the board, and this only makes it easier for the 1/1 Recruits to trade efficiently.

[Gluteus_Maximus]

I like this expansion so far. I've been playing around with deck builders, and I've found it's easier to figure out what's good in control, combo, and midrange decks than aggro.

I just know that when the expansion hits I'm going to craft Electra and Flobbidinous Floop if I don't open them or get them for free. Also Malygos. Here I come, Malygos Shaman and Flobbidinous Malygos Druid!

[Zevox]

I think Shrink Ray could find it's home in Odd Paladin. Right now, Odd Paladin doesn't have access to Equality or any AoE. Odd Paladin is already good at filling up the board, and this only makes it easier for the 1/1 Recruits to trade efficiently.
Eh, maybe? I don't know, Odd Paladin is very aggressive, and Shrink Ray is pretty blatantly a Control deck's card. It works if all they've got is 1/1s and they need to deal with some bigger things, but it's actively detrimental to Odd Paladin's board after they've dropped something like Fungalmancer, Level Up, or Scalebane. And it's a pretty big mana cost for an effect whose utility to their gameplan seems iffy.

[Psyren]

Now I wonder - does Zerek come back WITH the spells you put on it?


Are there any poisonous mechs out there? If so watch out.

Toxic Arrow?


Also potential synergy with self damage warrior but I think they finally gave up on pushing that

Now that you mention it - Sudden Genesis?

[Lord Raziere]

Me, I'm thinking of a Lab Recruiter + Fal'Dorei Strider combo. that and Pogo-Hopper. its a bit slow, but you can go infinite with it. or oooh! Lab recruiter into Star Aligner. now you have three Star aligners to fulfill the condition....now if only you could play them all on the same turn, then the three Star Aligners would all deal 7 damage, for a total of 21 to the enemy......but where would you get the way to cut the cost?

[Zevox]

Now I wonder - does Zerek come back WITH the spells you put on it?
I can't imagine it does. If it did, it would say so, like how that Paladin legendary spell specifies that the mechs it revives keep Magnetize buffs.

[Gluteus_Maximus]

Reckless Experimenter on 5 into Mecanical Whelp and Cube on 6 then trade one whelp is a turn 7 Star Aligner combo.

[Psyren]

Me, I'm thinking of a Lab Recruiter + Fal'Dorei Strider combo. that and Pogo-Hopper. its a bit slow, but you can go infinite with it. or oooh! Lab recruiter into Star Aligner. now you have three Star aligners to fulfill the condition....now if only you could play them all on the same turn, then the three Star Aligners would all deal 7 damage, for a total of 21 to the enemy......but where would you get the way to cut the cost?

For Star Aligner I think Shaman will be a safer bet than Rogue, due to its copy effects (read: Spellstone and the new Eureka), battlecry synergy (Murmuring) and better control chassis (more board clears and healing, which you'll need in a Star Aligner deck.) It's worth noting that Grumble is also a 7/7. (Amusingly, Cryostasis + Moorabi will also get you a 7/7, but I think that's way too slow.)

And speaking of battlecry synergies, another thought occurs - if you could somehow get 1 more health onto Shudderwock, it could clone itself and then potentially blast your opponent's face and board for 7 repeatedly by chaining SA's battlecry. It would add a ton of face burst to what Lifedrinker gets you. Not the simplest to set up, but...



As for Pogo Hopper + Lab Recruiter - I could see that as a decent win condition in Even Rogue. You can find your Hopper army easily via Elven Minstrel and Witchwood Piper. Cheap Shot, Backstab and Eviscerate would work as removal while Pick Pocket will help you nab unexpected disruption.

[Gluteus_Maximus]

Keleseth gets 1 health onto shudderwock. You would have to have the star aligner battlecry trigger after two saronite chaingang batlecries but before grumble's, however.

[Gandariel]

Keleseth gets 1 health onto shudderwock. You would have to have the star aligner battlecry trigger after two saronite chaingang batlecries but before grumble's, however.

Almost like the stars would need to align or something....

But seriously, Cube and Doomguard looks like the easiest way to go.

[The Glyphstone]

Star Aligner also says 7 health - if a damaged minion whose health is less than 7 doesn't count, that makes it even harder. Not only do you have to get 3 other 7/7 minions out, but they have to stay undamaged until SA drops.

[Psyren]

Keleseth gets 1 health onto shudderwock. You would have to have the star aligner battlecry trigger after two saronite chaingang batlecries but before grumble's, however.

Right - I had thought of Keleseth, but discounted it because Shudderwock would repeat his battlecry. But by the time he does, Shudderwock will be out of your deck and thus unaffected a second time. Brilliant!

There's a major downside to Keleseth though - you won't be able to run Murmuring Elemental, which I think might actually be more damage overall.


Star Aligner also says 7 health - if a damaged minion whose health is less than 7 doesn't count, that makes it even harder. Not only do you have to get 3 other 7/7 minions out, but they have to stay undamaged until SA drops.

They can't be damaged in your hand :smallbiggrin: Enter Grumble - not only will he bounce them all, they will cost 1, allowing you to replay them both the moment your aligner shows up.

[Gluteus_Maximus]

Star Aligner also says 7 health - if a damaged minion whose health is less than 7 doesn't count, that makes it even harder. Not only do you have to get 3 other 7/7 minions out, but they have to stay undamaged until SA drops.

Two other 7/7 minions* Star Aligner counts for its own battlecry, because it would count as on the board when a whenever effect would trigger, which happens before battlecries.


Right - I had thought of Keleseth, but discounted it because Shudderwock would repeat his battlecry. But by the time he does, Shudderwock will be out of your deck and thus unaffected a second time. Brilliant!

There's a major downside to Keleseth though - you won't be able to run Murmuring Elemental, which I think might actually be more damage overall.

Keleseth repeating through shudder won't matter, since it only buffs minions in your deck, If you hit Shudderwock once with it Shudder could summon two 7/7 copies of itself and then star aligner. There is also that the most common version of shudder runs keleseth to buff the saronites.

[The Glyphstone]

Right - I had thought of Keleseth, but discounted it because Shudderwock would repeat his battlecry. But by the time he does, Shudderwock will be out of your deck and thus unaffected a second time. Brilliant!

There's a major downside to Keleseth though - you won't be able to run Murmuring Elemental, which I think might actually be more damage overall.



They can't be damaged in your hand :smallbiggrin: Enter Grumble - not only will he bounce them all, they will cost 1, allowing you to replay them both the moment your aligner shows up.

Yeah, that makes me think SA is only functional at all in a Shaman deck. Pity Earth Elemental has 8 health.

[Zevox]

Yeah, that makes me think SA is only functional at all in a Shaman deck. Pity Earth Elemental has 8 health.
Honestly, I still don't think he'll be functional at all. Cubelock with Doomguards is still the best suggestion given for how to activate him I think, with everything else requiring overly-elaborate setup that's probably not worth the payoff or just not being likely to work, and I don't really think Cubelock with Doomguards is that like to work most of the time either. Even that's still not possible to do in one turn, and your opponent just needs some silence or transform effect for the Cube or removal/damage for a Doomguard to disrupt it.

[Gluteus_Maximus]

Shaman, Warlock, Hunter, and Priest have easiest access to making a combo happen with SA :P

[Thomas Cardew]

Shaman, Warlock, Hunter, and Priest have easiest access to making a combo happen with SA :P

Yeah I was gonna say priest. Between the injured blademaster+circle of healing package and PW:Shield to bump a 5 hp minion to 7 they've got a decent amount of options. If they had a good triger for cubelock it would be pretty ridiculous.

Could also see another silence priest meme deck with things like that cheap 7/7 can't attack unless only minion.

[Zevox]

The problem being that all of these ideas rely on two minions staying on the board at exactly 7 health for a full turn to go off. The only way around that is Grumble, and he still requires two minions with 7 health as their base being on the board at the same time, which definitely means they need to survive at least one turn if not more since there's no conveniently 2-mana 7 health minion. (Except Doomsayers, but playing those to activate Star Aligner is a tad counterproductive, unless you just need the 7 damage burst for lethal.)

All of these ideas are very unlikely to work out at all consistently in practice. A cube that goes unanswered due to lack of silence/transform and can then be popped is at least somewhat feasible, but the rest of these suggestions are pretty pie-in-the-sky.

[Gluteus_Maximus]

The combo for Hunter:

Corpse widow on board, Mechanical Whelp + Cube then Play dead on 7, On 8 trade a whelp and then play SA.

The combo for Priest:

Reckless Experimenter on board, Mechanical Whelp + Cube which dies and summons 2 whelps, turn 7 trade a whelp and play SA.

The combo for Warlock:

Skull pulls Doomguard on 6, Cube pact, turn 7 SA

The combo for Shaman:

Keleseth'd shudderwock with 2 saronite and SA, has to be a specific 1/6 chance of happening of summoning 2 copies and then SA battlecry.

Warlock's looks the most vulnerable to AoE, since Hunter's and Priest's summon deathrattles that summon 7 health minions, and Shaman's is the least vulnerable since it's all in one turn but has to happen in a specific order. The first two require that your opponent won't single-target remove your corpse widow or reckless experimenter before even starting the combo. Warlock's suffers to weapon hate.

[Thomas Cardew]

The problem being that all of these ideas rely on two minions staying on the board at exactly 7 health for a full turn to go off. The only way around that is Grumble, and he still requires two minions with 7 health as their base being on the board at the same time, which definitely means they need to survive at least one turn if not more since there's no conveniently 2-mana 7 health minion. (Except Doomsayers, but playing those to activate Star Aligner is a tad counterproductive, unless you just need the 7 damage burst for lethal.)

All of these ideas are very unlikely to work out at all consistently in practice. A cube that goes unanswered due to lack of silence/transform and can then be popped is at least somewhat feasible, but the rest of these suggestions are pretty pie-in-the-sky.

I don't think anyone saying it will be consistent. Just that people are going to make it work the meme. It's definitely not a top tier deck, but there will be plenty of wtf moments. Sort of how purify-inner fire priest was a thing. Not a top tier deck but you could still see it on occasion.

[Zevox]

Yeah, none of those look practical. They all depend on several things sticking on the board for at least one turn each, which is not something you want to depend on in constructed, because it often won't happen. Especially if they're known pieces of a combo that gets disrupted if they're removed - people will make a point of killing them with whatever they've got to do it. That's the reason that for instance Mage decks using Antonidas never just dropped him and hoped he survives to the next turn, they played him with cheap spells to get immediate use out of him, because it was likely they wouldn't get any if they didn't. Plus you seem to be hoping to land them all on-curve, which requires drawing 4+ card combinations in the first third or so of your deck on average.

And yeah, Shudderwock is just an RNG fest to get it, and can only possibly work on your first Shudderwock since the others won't have the Keleseth buff. And for what? Shudderwock going off already means you win, Star Aligner's help there is totally unnecessary.

[Mando Knight]

Meanwhile in Wild, Togwaggle Druid got a "tutor its entire combo" card:

Juicy Psychmelon
Epic Druid Spell
4 mana
Draw a 7, 8, 9, and 10-cost minion from your deck.

So, the deck draws
7: Azalina Soulthief
8: King Togwaggle
9: Aviana
10: Kun the Forgotten King

And then on turn 10 it plays Aviana-Kun-Togwaggle-Azalina to steal both your deck and your hand, and has another King's Ransom to make sure that you're stuck with the Druid's deck (and they have yours).

[Gluteus_Maximus]

I've put it into a malygos deck that only runs 1 9 drop (malygos) just to tutor it. I might put in Lich King to have it also draw Arthas

[Psyren]

Yeah, Arthas + Malygos would be the only thing I'd use that for.

[Geno9999]

Meanwhile in Wild, Togwaggle Druid got a "tutor its entire combo" card:

Juicy Psychmelon
Epic Druid Spell
4 mana
Draw a 7, 8, 9, and 10-cost minion from your deck.

So, the deck draws
7: Azalina Soulthief
8: King Togwaggle
9: Aviana
10: Kun the Forgotten King

And then on turn 10 it plays Aviana-Kun-Togwaggle-Azalina to steal both your deck and your hand, and has another King's Ransom to make sure that you're stuck with the Druid's deck (and they have yours).

As scary as that card is in Wild, it's also a very telegraphed tutor that screams "PLAY DIRTY RAT OR DIE."

I'm more concerned about Standard, as it can still pull Azalina, Togwaggle, and Malygos, but there's only Warlock's Demonic Project that we've seen so far that could hard counter a Combo strategy.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

It's also a somewhat more fair version of UI.

[Mando Knight]

As scary as that card is in Wild, it's also a very telegraphed tutor that screams "PLAY DIRTY RAT OR DIE."

If you land the wrong minion on the Dirty Rat (1/4 to get Aviana, assuming no non-combo minions are in hand), you lose anyway. And that's assuming you have the Dirty Rat in hand before the Druid plays the Psychmelon.

[otakuryoga]

Reminder: today is last day to complete your quests for double gold

[Destro_Yersul]

If you land the wrong minion on the Dirty Rat (1/4 to get Aviana, assuming no non-combo minions are in hand), you lose anyway. And that's assuming you have the Dirty Rat in hand before the Druid plays the Psychmelon.

Hitting Aviana still breaks the combo, provided you can kill it immediately.

[Gluteus_Maximus]

Isn't Kun the more pivotal card to dirty rat? It has no abilities on board unlike Aviana.

[Destro_Yersul]

Hitting any of the four breaks the combo. The least impactful is probably Azalina, since they can still try to fill your hand with naturalise to prevent you getting the Ransom.

[Psyren]

Reminder: today is last day to complete your quests for double gold

I notice I've only been getting one quest per day under this event. At the start of it I was getting the normal 3 but that slowly petered down to two then one. Is that a standard thing or do they institute that for quest events like these?

[Destro_Yersul]

I notice I've only been getting one quest per day under this event. At the start of it I was getting the normal 3 but that slowly petered down to two then one. Is that a standard thing or do they institute that for quest events like these?

You're only supposed to get one new quest per day. If you were getting more, I have no idea why.

[Lord Raziere]

You're only supposed to get one new quest per day. If you were getting more, I have no idea why.

Depends on how much you log in. if you log in only every three days, you get three. Psyren just must be logging in more often.

[Gluteus_Maximus]

What are everyone's thoughts on Storm Chaser, Thunderhead, Replicating Menace, and Security Rover?

[Lord Raziere]

What are everyone's thoughts on Storm Chaser, Thunderhead, Replicating Menace, and Security Rover?

dunno, the card reveal page seems to be stuck on Myra Rotspring for me. :smallconfused:

[Seerow]

What are everyone's thoughts on Storm Chaser, Thunderhead, Replicating Menace, and Security Rover?

Security Rover coming a day after I claim blizzard finally stopped pushing the self damage mechanic is kind of hilarious. And sad because it's not even a good card for that mechanic. It's literally a worse version of hogger which never saw competitive play, the mech tag isn't enough to save it even with the new synergies.

[Zevox]

dunno, the card reveal page seems to be stuck on Myra Rotspring for me. :smallconfused:
Yeah, I think they aren't updating it on the weekend. So, no idea what new cards might be popping up.

[Gluteus_Maximus]

HearthstoneTopDecks has a dedicated updated list minutes after card reveals.

[Thomas Cardew]

Finally managed to hit rank 5 today, just in time for the end. I'd been hovering around 6-8 for the last few week due to lack of time to play, really bad rng, and my inability to make it past 6. I hit 6 full stars like 10 times but couldn't manage to get that final win. Now it's time to not play again for 3 months... Oh well :smallsmile:

[The Glyphstone]

Mecha'Thun is such a bizarre card. What's even the point of a win condition that niche and hard to pull off?

[Gluteus_Maximus]

Mecha'Thun is such a bizarre card. What's even the point of a win condition that niche and hard to pull off?

Same reason Fire Plume Harbinger with grumble in hand one turn then leeroy into 5 mana grumble another turn and then 1 mana leeroy windfury greater sapphire spellstone for 48 damage exists.

To have fun with friends and laugh when you manage to pull it off once at bargain basement rank 5 or legend.

[Rynjin]

To make Myra's Unstable Element a meme OTK deck, of course.

And also of course, as anti-Azari strats.

[tonberrian]

Hmm. I was going to suggest Mecha'thun -> Unstable Element > Deathwing, but that leaves you with a Deathwing on the board...

[Lord Raziere]

To make Myra's Unstable Element a meme OTK deck, of course.

And also of course, as anti-Azari strats.

Yep, thats the card I was waiting for. time to figure out how to make that work! card draw will be important....as well as playing a lot of cheap things....maybe some weird aggro-combo hybrid so that you be aggressive early game but use card draw late game.....

[Psyren]

I mean, in Rogue you should have no trouble emptying your hand even without Deathwing - they're designed to have the cheapest spells around.

My first thought was doing something with Myra and Kobold Illusionist, but then the Mecha itself is still in your hand. Any ideas on getting rid of it?

My second thought was a Warlock with Dollmaster Dorian + Cataclysm, but it feels too slow against any kind of aggro.

My third thought was sticking him into a Twig Druid deck as an alternative win condition to Malygos. Play him, break twig, then you have 10 crystals to do things with. Druids have few problems either with drawing their entire deck or stalling long enough to do so. That's probably where I'd start.

[Gluteus_Maximus]

People in youtube comments suggesting a hemet warlock with all 3 or less cost besides hemet, cataclysm, and Mecha'Thun.

The Rogue combo would have to go mecha'thun into shadowstep into next turn mecha'thun backstab prep evis evis or backstab prep evis prep evis