Hearthstone Players!

I don't think that two-turn Dragon thing will be that huge a deal, Matt, and definitely not as frustrating as Exodia which, for me, was always about the third Ice Block. Giving me two unmolested turns after turn 7? I will kill your ass. That's what every Hunter build will be saying, plus a bunch of Mages. That card is dangerous, and I don't think it's as robust a win condition as the existing meta-dominant Razakus decks. Maybe once that rotates out.

That other dragon though, holy shit that card is awesome. Early game awesome and late game awesome. With Dragonfire Potion you deal 8 AoE and have a 3/3 body? Siiiick. Get two of those. Or stock up on Divine Shields.

Hrm. A while back, I pitched an idea on the HS Reddit (which can number itself among the more mindless and mob-driven subs out there) that when the time came to do the next rotation, they should roll Evolve into the Classic set for Shaman. It's a mechanic unlike any other class in the game and has essentially provided the identity of Shaman for the past year or so (witness the Death Knight.) Part of the reason for that is that one of Blizzard's complaints has been that the class, in fact, lacks an identity and has basically swung toward whatever cards happened to be powerful at any given time (or which were compensating for a shitty mechanic *ahem*Trogg*ahem*), rather than having something clearly marked out like Warrior or Druid. I've had that driven home again today while trying to finish quests in preparation for the new set next week.

I had Play 50 Shaman cards and Play 20 minions that cost 5 or more. I had been playing a Paladin control deck for the latter (Tarim, Tirion, Bonemares, Cobalts; more than half the deck is above 5.) But I figured I'd try to swing both quests at once with my Shaman Elemental deck (Servants, Flames, Blazes, Kalimos.) Ha. No. See, the reason Shaman has become so inextricably linked with the Evolve mechanic is not just that it's unique to the class, but it's also the only deck that works. Whether you're playing token with Bloodlust or a more controlly version like I use, it's basically the only way to play Shaman on ladder at this point. Elemental is just too slow and you find yourself waiting to play minions that, in and of themselves, don't have a lot of impact on the board and certainly don't help you kill your opponent faster unless you happen to draw them in the perfect sequence that doesn't cripple tempo. In other words, Elemental has the same problem Overload does. I've had a little fun with Pirate Shaman, but it's certainly not something I'd try to ladder with on a regular basis.

Looking at the Kobolds cards, it seems they're trying to change this in a very minor way with Grumble. Dumping a couple Fire Elementals or Blazecallers back on the same turn or the following one could be a real swing, but you're also depending on drawing one legendary for that and I don't see much in the currently-revealed neutral cards that would fit the theme, other than dropping an Arcane Tyrant on the turn you clear the board with Volcano. The main identity they're trying to revive in the set seems to be totems. It'd be really cool to keep summoning Al'Akir, but the problem with totems is the same problem it's always been: they die too easily to board clears of which there are so many in the current environment. So, the jury will still be out for some time.

I did finish the Only the Mighty quest with the control Paladin deck. Here's a nice lengthy control battle with Gul'dan: hsreplay.net/replay/JMULsWEUPo8HVGo4Wt8PKM

Also, I have to say that I just love Firebat's editor, even for basic videos that don't show anything really exciting, like the below:

Kobalds & Catacombs Intro, Part I
Kobalds & Catacombs comes out this Thursday (December 7), the third expansion for HEARTHSTONE this year. It doesn't trigger a set rotation, nor a Hall of Fame sequestering (of Ice Block). As noted on my earlier set reviews, I will focus on Standard, but will call out Arena and Wild movers if the cards really scream for it. You should be aware that I am a Johnny, and try to express myself through deckbuilding and cool plays, so some cards may pique my interest even if they won't rocket you up the rankings.

New mechanics
Legendary Weapons
Each Hero has a Legendary Weapon, and this is the guaranteed Legendary from the Solo play feature (akin to Death Knight from the last expansion). They are all over the place. Priest and Mage have 0/3 Weapons that trigger and lose durability automatically, the others are traditional Weapons that lose durability when attacking. Fleshing out your Ooze/Harrison Jones collections is probably smart, there are some potent effects.

Recruit
Recruit summons a minion from your deck into play. (ie, no Battlecry effects, but would carry in-deck buffs, like Keleseth). Getting minions for "free" is generically very powerful in Hearthstone, given the heavy emphasis on minions and board control. Not to mention, a deck built around Recruit would maximize the effects, using Deathrattle, efficient (think Injured Blademaster) or end-of-turn effect minions (like Cobalt Scalebane.) You are going to see this everywhere.

Spellstones
Spellstones are Rare spells that can be buffed while in your hand. Each Hero has one, and starting effects range from Dealing 2 damage to a minion (Druid, for {1}) to resurrecting two different friendly minions (Priest for {7}). The buffs are caused by doing thematic stuff as your Hero, e.g., taking damage from your cards (Warlock) or playing Secrets (Hunter). The cost stays the same, but the effect is magnified. Gain enough Armor and that Druid Spellstone deals 6 to a minion for {1}. Play enough spells and you get four different minions back as Priest.

Unidentified Items
A mini-theme (just three of them), these cards get a buff when drawn.
Unidentified Elixir—Priest Common, {3}, Give a minion +2/+2, Gains a bonus effect in your hand: the bonus ranges from Lifesteal, Divine Shield, Deathrattle bouncing, and getting a 1/1 copy of it.
Unidentified Maul—Paladin Rare 2/2 Weapon, {3}, Gains a bonus effect in your hand: Could be all your minions get Taunt, Divine Shields, +1 Attack, or you get 2 Silver Hand Recruits.
Unidentified Shield—Warrior Common, {6}, Gain 5 Armor, Gains a bonus effect in your hand: Bonuses could be Gain 10 more Armor, Deal 5 damage, Summon a 5/5 Golem, Equip a 5/2 Weapon. I like this one because it lets us determine value from known costs. Arcanite Reaper costs {5}, Shieldmaiden cost {6} and was Rare, Iron Hide costs {1}. This makes +10 Armor look like hot garbage and 5 damage look like a sweet deal (Warrior's closest equivalent is Mortal Strike, dealing 4 (or 6, situationally) for 4 at Rare. There's a new deck archetype for Warrior that exploits this, so all outcomes are OK.

Dungeon Run
This the new Solo play mode, and it looks to be a riot. Blizzard brought in Peter Whalen, the designer of DREAMQUEST, an iOS roguelike that's very successful despite its unironic literal stick figure graphics (he promised better ones in updates). That it's a hit is a testament to its gameplay, and Blizzard took note and brought him in. If you've enjoyed the deckbuilding Tavern Brawls, you'll enjoy this mode, as you tune your deck and make choices to find your way through Monsters, Traps, and Bosses.

The Standard ladder is currently dominated by three Heroes: Druids, Priests, and Rogues. Druids play "Big," using ramp effects (even using Nourish for Mana, not cards) to play huge spells, huge creatures, and finish the game with overwhelming effects while you try to hang on. You also see "Aggro" and "Jade" at this point. Priests have about three builds active: "Razakus," a comboish deck that uses Raza the Unchained to get a free Hero Power, which turns into a win condition when Shadowreaper Anduin comes down and shenanigans ensue. "Big" builds are still out there, which try to survive the early turns and kill you with a seemingly endless pile of Obsidian Statues that they keep resurrecting or summoning out of Barnes and Shadow Essence. The latest Priest build to make a splash is "Breakfast," a Divine Favor/Inner Fire combo deck that uses Meatwagons to keep the board active by fetching Dinosaur Eggs. You also see plenty of "Tempo" (Keleseth) that curves out with efficient minions, and punishes any overreach with asymmetric clears. Rogues… has there ever been a time in HEARTHSTONE when Rogues didn't have a top tier build? "Keleseth" is the defining build here, just playing an insanely effective Tempo deck to outpace you if you're slow and outgun you if you're fast. Some folks are dabbling with "Miracle" too, but it's mostly flavors of Keleseth high on the ladder. Last I checked, more than one in every 10 decks is Tempo Rogue!

The neutral cards you see most often are Firefly, Bonemare, and Tar Creeper. These indicate the game is dominated by board control and you can count on seeing turn 7 (it has not always been thus. Ask anyone around during the Reign of Undertaker Hunter). Minion-driven buffs (like Bonemare) also show up in the commonly seen Cobalt Scalebane and Pirate interactions (not to mention Prince Keleseth).

With this in mind, let's explore how the different Heroes will benefit and be punished by Kobalds & Catacombs.

Druid
There are some interesting things happening with Druid. The Hero's foci are Ramp, Armor, and Choose effects. How does K&C move the needle on these, and how will new cards impact current builds? They get a small Ramp effect in
Greedy Sprite—Druid Rare 3/1, {3}, Deathrattle: Gain an empty Mana Crystal. This is generically pretty good and will see lots of play in decks that currently run Jade Blossom just for Ramp. There's also an odd Ramp effect in:
Twig of the World Tree—Druid Legendary 1/5 Weapon, {4}, Deathrattle: Gain 10 Mana Crystals. You would certainly want some kind of Weapon to make this work in a shorter timeframe and everyone's eyes turn to Medivh, The Guardian. Turn 7, Twig + whatever, turn 8, hit something, Medivh makes Atiesh, you get 10 crystals, cast Ultimate Infestation for ... just fucking the opponent up, basically. Big Druid is pleased.

There are also some new Armor effects. Folks bemoan that Druid has better Armor gain than Warrior, but from what I have heard about WORLD OF WARCRAFT, this is canon. Warriors get Weapons, Druids get Armor. Check these out:
Oaken Summons—Druid Common, {4}, Gain 6 Armor, Recruit a Minion that costs (4) or less.
Branching Paths—Druid Epic, {4}, Choose Twice: Draw a card; Give your minions +1 Attack; Gain 6 Armor.
Barkskin—Druid Common, {1}, Give a minion +3 Health. Gain 3 Armor.
Oaken Summons is just solid as a rock. You could use it to fetch the Greedy Sprite, or a solid defender like
Ironwood Golem—Druid Common 3/6, {4} Taunt. Can only attack if you have 3 or more Armor.
...Or Fandral! Branching Paths is annoying to me because it seems really good and I get annoyed at really good cards at Epic. You want two of them and they are so pricy. We know two cards cost {3} from Arcane Intellect, so for 1 more mana to be able to pivot to Savage Roar(ish), or Feral Rage(ish) or a melange of them is a bargain. You'll see this everywhere, even in Aggro builds that are starved for cards or need to kill you on turns 5, 6, 7 and this helps out. Barkskin is not that great on its own. But coupled with Lesser Jasper Spellstone, it points to a resurgent build of spell-oriented "Miracle Druid." Raven Idol was the last card that made this viable, so seeing this warms my Moonkin-Druid-playing-heart. Yogg-Saron, Hope's End is still in Standard, people!


Rogue
Secrets! What the hell!? They get 2-cost Secrets. Rogue loves cheap spells. They enable Combo effects, Edwin van Cleef, and card draw in Miracle builds. The big players here are:
Evasion—Rogue Epic Secret, {2}, After your Hero takes damage, become Immune this turn.
Cheat Death—Rogue Common Secret, {2}, When a friendly minion dies, return it to your hand. It costs (2) less.
Is... Is Evasion better than Ice Block? It costs 2 and triggers on the first hit. I don't know how to grasp this one making it through development when the whole HS community wants Ice Block to fuck off to the Hall of Fame. Well. There you go. I guess it's worse when they can kill you with one huge hit, as it doesn't prevent lethal damage. I read Cheat Death as "Malygos costs 7." Malygos @ 7 + Eviscerate + Sinister Strike deals 17 from the hand on turn 10 on an empty board. Cheat Death allows Rogue to play Leeroy Jenkins early without much consequence. It means the Gadgetzan Auctioneer they played and drew on last turn pops back cheaper when you handle it the first time. These Secrets alone mean Rogue will maintain its streak of having a top tier deck in competitive play.

What else are we looking at? The Legendary Weapon is interesting:
Kingsbane—Legendary Rogue 1/3 Weapon, {1}, Deathrattle: Shuffle this into your deck. It keeps any enchantments.
Couple this with:
Cavern Shinyfinder—Rogue Common 3/1, {2}, Battlecry: Draw a Weapon from your deck.
..and Deadly Poison and now you're talking. In Wild, this could make Tinker's Sharpsword Oil back. That weapon is going to be bad ass in the lategame and you can reliably fetch it. This slots into Miracle builds nicely.

Tempo Rogue doesn't get a ton, and thank goodness. I think folks will be trying these two:
Elven Minstrel—Rogue Rare 3/2, {4}, Combo: Draw 2 minions from your deck.
and the neutral
Shroom Brewer—Common 4/4, {4}, Battlecry: Restore 4 Health.
Tempo Rogue can be outpaced, and Shroom Brewer helps out there with a body and the heal. The Minstrel will see play, but I don't think it will make the deck that much better; compare to Xaril, another weak body on 4-mana with a good effect.

Jade Rogue might get some action with the addition of
Carnivorous Cube—Epic 4/6, {5}, Battlecry: Destroy a friendly minion. Deathrattle: Summon 2 copies of it.
Any Johnny player out there wants two CCubes. This is a guaranteed craft for me. Here, it exploits Jade Swarmer reliably, akin to Unearthed Raptor tricks in Wild. And what Hunter can do with it... oh my God. More on that later.


Priest
D to the R to the A to the G-O-N-S. I leave this here without comment:
Duskbreaker—Priest Rare Dragon 3/4, {4}, Battlecry: If you are holding a Dragon win target game, deal three damage to all other minions.
(ok, one comment: This might be the best card ever made at Rare. No joke.)

You could legit see Quest Priest tried out again. So much meme, I know. And is 40 life really that big a deal? Maybe. But a couple cards make it worth it to try:
Twilight's Call—Priest Rare, {3}, Summon 1/1 copies of 2 friendly Deathrattle minions that died this game.
Lesser Diamond Spellstone—Priest Rare, {7}, Resurrect 2 different friendly minions.(Cast 4 spells to upgrade).
Unlike some of the other Quests, Priest's works with Summons, not just Plays. There are issues with being alive by the time you get your seventh DR minion and then have 5 mana to cast Amara, Warden of Hope. But there is some fresh hell for getting 3, 4, 5 Tortollan Shellraisers in the midgame and following up with as many Obsidian Statues later on. Barring the Quest, just playing Twilight's Call with Dinosaur Eggs, Duskbreaker, and Carnivorous Cube tricks is going to be a thing.

Does Big Priest gain much? Another clear:
Psychic Scream—Priest Epic, {7}, Shuffle all minions into your opponent's deck.
Probably costs too much for them to exploit overly, but it will see play in other decks. This could be used:
Grand Archivist—Epic 4/7, {8}, At the end of your turn, cast a spell from your deck (targets chosen randomly).
Things like Shadow Essence, Lesser Diamond Spellstone, Eternal Servitude will make this fun.

Razakus builds get Psychic Scream and will be utterly dominant. I don't even know how to tech against this. I welcome suggestions.

This card is dangerous, but more in Wild than Standard I think:
Temporus—Priest Legendary 6/6 Dragon, {7}, Battlecry: Your opponent takes two turns, then you take two turns.
If they don't kill you, you win. But they might kill you. Such is HEARTHSTONE.

I'll be back with more tomorrow, still have six more Heroes to cover!

jeb wrote: Priest and Mage have 0/3 Weapons that trigger and lose durability automatically, the others are traditional Weapons that lose durability when attacking.

Not actually the case. Neither loses durability with their effect nor does the Warlock one. The durability is there to make weapons consistent and to allow them to be affected by things like Bloodsail Corsair. The Mage one sounds OP, until you realize that unless you can play your hand fast enough, you'll be milling a lot of your deck away and ending up in fatigue. The Priest one means you basically have to dump your hand to get a 5/5. Unless you have Lyra in play, the effect is potentially both counterproductive and underwhelming. The Warlock one takes decisions from your hand but saves you mana. It avoids Doomguard's Battlecry, but loses Abyssal's. If they lost durability on their effects, no one would touch them. As it is, the Priest one will likely go unused and the Mage one is quite risky unless you're playing Aggro/Burn Mage. Warlock is a toy. The best ones are probably the Rogue one, since you can build around it for a decently powerful weapon, and the Druid one for the insane potential ramp. Even then, they're not meta-defining. I wonder if they were deliberately tuned down to avoid the backlash that came with the Quests being required legendaries?

jeb wrote: Spellstones
Spellstones are Rare spells that can be buffed while in your hand. Each Hero has one, and starting effects range from Dealing 2 damage to a minion (Druid, for {1}) to resurrecting two different friendly minions (Priest for {7}). The buffs are caused by doing thematic stuff as your Hero, e.g., taking damage from your cards (Warlock) or playing Secrets (Hunter). The cost stays the same, but the effect is magnified. Gain enough Armor and that Druid Spellstone deals 6 to a minion for {1}. Play enough spells and you get four different minions back as Priest.

Some of the Spellstones are interesting. The Shaman one is rejected by default, given the stupid Overload cost. That is, unless control Shaman will somehow desire to drown itself in the second-worst mechanic in the game (Snowfall Giant!) But most of the others are at least something to play around with. The Mage one is a ridiculous boost to RNG because, you know, the game and especially Mage needed more of that...

In contrast to my customary disdain for RNG, I really kinda like the Unidentified items and will certainly be playing the Priest and Paladin ones.

jeb wrote: Greedy Sprite—Druid Rare 3/1, {3}, Deathrattle: Gain an empty Mana Crystal. This is generically pretty good and will see lots of play in decks that currently run Jade Blossom just for Ramp.

Maybe once Jade rotates out? If you cast Wild Growth or Blossom, you get the crystal. With this you have to wait until the Sprite dies, which makes it less reliable. The Medivh thing for the Twig makes that one of the more likely weapons to get played. I still think their approach to Druid ramp is mildly out of control.

jeb wrote: There are also some new Armor effects. Folks bemoan that Druid has better Armor gain than Warrior, but from what I have heard about WORLD OF WARCRAFT, this is canon. Warriors get Weapons, Druids get Armor. Check these out:

Kinda true. Warriors, Druids, Paladins, Monks, and Death Knights can all be tanks in WoW. The Druid version for much of the game's history was more reliant on toughness, because Guardian Druids (Bears) didn't use shields, so they had to make up in health what they couldn't have in blocking. But as much as there are Arms and Fury Warriors, there are also Feral Druids, so... Branching Paths seems pretty cool, but none of the Druid cards really blow me away.

jeb wrote: Secrets! What the hell!? They get 2-cost Secrets. Rogue loves cheap spells.

Why it's taken this long to have Rogue Secrets is kind of confusing to me. It's so much more thematic than Paladin. Paladin Secrets seem like they were looking for a mechanic for the class that wasn't already covered by Priest and Warrior, so they tossed Secrets in there. Once Mysterious Stranger rotated out, no one has ever played one again that wasn't preceded by a shout of "Eureka!" and a frog. Evasion will be a good delay, similar to Ice Block, which kind of makes me grit my teeth, since Rogues are in the same place Mages are in terms of combo/OTK stuff. Cheat Death is a mediocre replacement for Shadowstep, since it removes control and timing from the Rogue and may give you back a minion you either didn't want or can't properly cast, even with the discount. So, we'll see how they work out. No one should be playing Sudden Betrayal.

Kingsbane is potentially the best of the weapons, but it also depends a lot on draw. Still, drawing a 3/3 Poisonous weapon for 1 mana would be some good. People on Hearthpwn were pissing all over Elven Minstrel because of stats. And this is why much of the playerbase doesn't advance past level 20 in any given month. I think the Rogue Spellstone is one of the better ones, as well, since Rogue has a fair number of good Deathrattle dudes already and they're often cheap.

jeb wrote: Duskbreaker—Priest Rare Dragon 3/4, {4}, Battlecry: If you are holding a Dragon win target game, deal three damage to all other minions.
(ok, one comment: This might be the best card ever made at Rare. No joke.)

Agree with that. It's amazing. I guess they're really determined to make Priest THE Dragon class from here to eternity. They originally made Drakonid OP because Priest was in bad shape and dragon decks had never worked (because Priest's classic cards suck ass. /rant) Now it seems like they're determined to make sure there's at least one other archetype for Priest that is powerful enough to drag people away from Razakus.

Tangent: I really like Priest. I've been playing the class since the closed beta; at least in part because of my inclination to find the root of what the developers were aiming at. They spent all this time creating something that clearly worked in-house, so there must be something to it, right? So, I've often played stuff just to try to make it work, even with card selections and/or in metas where it's obviously subpar. It's why I've been playing Control Paladin recently. However, even with Razakus being Priest's indisputable (and first ever) Tier 1 deck, I find that I really don't enjoy it. It's challenging to play and best when piloted by someone who knows it backwards and forwards (in other words, not your typical netdeck.) But I just don't find the fun in it most of the time. /tangent

Shadow Acolyte also pushes the Dragon deck forward, since you can play a somewhat less-draconically-populated version that includes Cabals to do a little combo. Might be too slow, though. One Acolyte might end up in Razakus, though, since it protects against Druids and enables SWH. The other card going right into Razakus is Psychic Scream, which is insane. (Jeb, clearly the way to tech against it is to play minionless Hunter(!)) Twilight's Call and the Spellstone kinda enable Quest Priest, but the focus of the deck is still counterintuitive. "Priest: the one class with a healing power has a quest that makes its minions only worth their cost when they die!" I still don't think it has enough of a win condition. All the other quests enable a way to win. Priest's just says it takes longer to kill you. The subpar Gilded Gargoyle, for example, won't be going into Quest decks, but could be used for Lyra/weapon decks that need more spells. Big Priest is still the ultimate Ben Brode RNG deck. I don't see much here that is really compelling.

Mage
Mage is in an odd spot. For whatever reason, Team 5 has decided "cost reductions" are a theme for this Hero more than any other. Why you would do this in a game as defined by Tempo as HEARTHSTONE is something for ludologists to ponder (cf, "Ramp"). Anyway, making spells cheaper or free is a theme, which handcuffs the spells Team5 can make, as making them free might be gamebreaking. Mage has two dominant decks right now: Quest Mage, which is a combo deck that kills you with Sorcerer's Apprentice-fueled free Fireballs from Archmage Antonidas. (The thinking is it tops out around 100 damage in 90 seconds.) Also prominent is Tempo Mage (aka Secret Mage), which uses Arcanologists to draw Secrets that get played for free (Kirin Tor Mage) that power Medivh's Valet bullets and make Kabal Crystal Runner free. Couple all this freeness with Secrets that gain Tempo like Counterspell and Mirror Entity and that's a solid deck. There's also Elemental Mage, playing the Zzzzz.... it's a snoozefest.

How does K&C impact these? What new space does it open?
Explosive Runes—Mage Rare Secret, {3}, After your opponent plays a minion, deal 6 damage to it and any excess to their Hero.
That's an upgrade in Tempo builds. Mirror Entity is played to counter the opponent's board—copy their minion so you can trade it away on your turn. This Secret just kills that minion and saves you the trouble. It handles bigger butts better too, with things like Vilespine no longer being so impactful.
Dragon's Fury—Mage Epic, {5}, Reveal a spell from your deck. Deal damage equal to its Cost to all minions.
I am on the fence on this one. Elemental decks would like it, I should think, but every Mage wants to run Primordial Glyph and this card runs counter to that. No one wants a 5-mana Volcanic Potion. Maybe Kazakus builds start to come back? It's probably good more often than it's bad, and that can be enough for 1-of in Reno builds. A new Big Mage deck would leverage this though. Just big spells and generating value from Medivh and Firelands Portal, and cards from minions and:
Aluneth—Mage Legendary 0/3 Weapon, {6}, At the end of your turn, draw three cards.
They could just chill behind efficient Taunts, and draw a shitload of pricy burn and point that at your face area. I don't think you even need to go Big with this concept. Just plain old Burn Mage could be a deck. Drawing three cards midgame is potent. Even if you start to mill yourself, who cares? You are throwing burn and playing Arcane Giants and these guys:
Arcane Tyrant—Epic 4/4 Elemental, {5}, Costs (0) if you've cast a spell that costs (5) or more this turn.

Quest Mages, they didn't forget about you. You will have a moment in the sun on Ladder, replacing Babbling Book with
Lesser Ruby Spellstone—Mage Rare, {2}, Add 1 random Mage spell to your hand. (Play 2 Elementals to upgrade).
Your Elementals to buff this into Cabalist's Tome are Fire Fly, Tar Creeper, Shimmering Tempest or this handy addition:
Leyline Manipulator—Mage Rare 4/5 Elemental, {4}, Battlecry: If you're holding any cards that didn't start in your deck, reduce their Cost by (2).
So, screw you Ethereal Peddler, I guess. Damn. This works on all your spawned spells, the Elementals from Fire Fly or Steam Surger, the Simulacra of Sorcerer's Apprentice and maybe the product of…
Shifting Scroll…I don't know how this works. It's got no cost and acts like Shifter Zerus or Molten Blade, transforming turn over turn. Does casting it count as not starting in your deck and impact Quest? Beats me. I guess we find out this week.

The implications of Leyline Manipulator are manifold—I don't think you need the actual Quest anymore to kill people with the Exodia combo. I think you can power it out on one turn if the right cards get reduced by the Manipulator. This will end in tears.

Hunter
Deathrattle Hunter is going to be a legit deck. Not Tier 1 (or Tier 0 or whatever Razakus Priest is) but really quite good, and that's a relief because Hunter has been in the shitter since the Call of the Wild nerf. There is currently no combination of Hunter and Neutral cards in Standard that can out-Tempo Rogue or Mage or outpace Pirates and burn as summoned by Warrior and Shaman or keep ahead of Aggro Druid without them misplaying into Explosive Trap. Trust me on this; I speak from many Rank 15.0 and 10.0 games of experience. The big boost here comes from Carnivorous Cube, coupled with Play Dead, and this addition:
Seeping Oozeling—Hunter Rare 5/4, {6}, Battlecry: Gain the Deathrattle of a random minion in your deck.
There's nothing random about it, it's going to make two 2/2 Hyenas or a 5/5 Devilsaur. Or 7 1/1s, to wit:
Violet Wurm—Common 7/7 Beast, Deathrattle: Summon 7 1/1 Grubs.
But you are saying, "Jeb, why does this matter? Doesn't Hunter have the same problems? Getting new turn 6 cards isn't going to help them." You are correct, until I reveal:
Candleshot—Hunter Common 1/3 Weapon, {1}, Immune while attacking.
and
Dire Mole—Common 1/3 Beast, {1}.
Hunter can contest the early board and possibly win. To this point, they needed, desperately, to play Alley Cat turn 1 into Crackling Razormaw turn 2 (and highroll the Adapt effect) to stand a chance. They could parry with Pirates and maybe get you to mess up and misplay against a Big Bad Wolf, but they were likely at your mercy after turn 3 or 4 as they tried to squeeze something effective out of Stitched Tracker or get Cloaked Huntress to eat their whole hand for some tricks. Candleshot opens the board up like Glaivezooka used to, and doesn't use your Health. Tar Creeper is still an issue, but you don't have to just concede once they play it.

These two cards enable Midrange Hunter to rise again. Couple them with probably the best class Legendary:
Kathrena Winterwisp—Hunter Legendary 6/6, {8}, Battlecry and Deathrattle: Recruit a Beast.
Charged Devilsaur is a beast. King Krush is a Beast. This card says {8}, take 7, and then if you opt to not take 6, take 8. Between spells and plenty of decent non-Beasts at all costs, you can guarantee 7-to-the-face on turn 8. Or just, you know, luck into it if that's your thing.
This is an excellent play as well:
Lesser Emerald Spellstone—Hunter Rare, {5}, Summon two 3/3 Wolves. (Play a Secret to upgrade).
6/6 in stats for {5} is OK, and 9/9 is frigging good (and 12 is hnnnnnggggg). And these are Beast stats, which matter more in Houndmaster/Kill Command decks.

Warrior
Warrior is in about as bad a shape as it has ever been. Pirate Warrior is good! It is. But Golakka Crawler exists and welp, that's that. It can never dominate again, the metagame will respond and crush it. Classic Control Warrior has no means to beat Jade Druid or Quest Mage. It just can't. Quest Warrior is pretty good, and can get wins. Sure. So can the crazy-expensive-overly-complicated Dead Man's Hand/Bring It On fatigue thingy whatsit. But they are Tier 2 at best. Tier 3ish. What's changing?

Recruit.
Woecleaver—Warrior Legendary 3/3 Weapon, {8}, After your Hero attacks, Recruit a minion.
Gather Your Party—Warrior Rare, {6}, Recruit a minion.
What minion would you like? The Lich King? Ysera? Y'Shaarj? The aforementioned Violet Wurm or Grand Archivist? Perhaps one of these?
Sleepy Dragon—Common 4/12 Dragon, {9}, Taunt.
Silver Vanguard—Common 3/3, {8}, Deathrattle: Recruit an 8-Cost minion.

You don't need to run any minions except for the huge ones you are going to cheat out with Recruit effects. You can use I Know A Guy to get some Taunts in hand, Brawl, Shield Block, Whirlwind, Sleep With The Fishes, Unidentified Shield, dabble in
Reckless Flurry—Warrior Epic, {3}, Spend all your Armor, deal that much damage to all minions.
…and weapons (Forge of Souls!) to keep things under control until you get the Good Stuff®.

This is going to be solid.

Paladin
Wow, man, Team5 really wants you playing with Silver Hand Recruits. I guess they are seeing the faults in the "Murlocs? Sure!" Paladin theme from the last couple years and heading back towards Silver Hand buffing like in the good old Quartermaster days.
Level Up!—Paladin Epic, {5}, give your Silver Hand Recruits +2/+2 and Taunt.
Drygulch Jailer—Paladin Common 1/1, {2}, Deathrattle: Add 3 Silver Hand Recruits to your hand.
Crystal Lion—Paladin Rare 5/5, {6}, Divine Shield. Costs (1) less for each Silver Hand Recruit you control.
You can see the makings of a Tempo SHR deck in these cards. Follow up with some decent Blessing of Kings or Spikeridged Steed plays and this can be pretty good and not easily matched in other decks play for play. Not to mention buffs you might get from your Unidentified Maul.


They threw a bone to folks that liked Quest Paladin. Quest Paladin, sigh. It… it is not good. Here is your bone:
Lynessa Sunsorrow—Paladin Legendary 1/1, {7}, Battlecry: Cast each spell you cast on your minions this game on this one.
Spikeridged Steed and one other buff and this is good. If it was Blessing of Kings, that's a 7/11 Taunt that leaves a 2/6 Taunt behind for {7}. No complaints. It will likely have much more and be Polymorphedamazing!!

Paladin also has one of the best Recruit spells:
Call To Arms—Paladin Epic, {4}, Recruit 3 minions that cost 2 or less.
As evinced by Mysterious Challenger, thinning your deck of low-cost cards is good. This card builds a board all by itself and make the rest of your turns better. Great card for lots of builds. Another one I find annoying at Epic because I want two.

I am looking forward to games against Paladins that don't Mglrrmglglllgrrgl me to death.


Warlock
Warlock plays Demons. You play Abyssal Enforcer, Kruul the Unshackled, Despicable Dreadlord and all that. Or Doomguard, Malchezaar's Imp, and Flame Imp. And Voidwalkers. Everyone plays those. Well, get ready, K&C brings you a whole new class of creatures! Demons!
Vulgar Homunculus—Warlock Common 2/4 Demon, {2}, Taunt. Battlecry: Deal 2 damage to your Hero.
Hooked Reaver—Warlock Rare 4/4 Demon, {4}, Battlecry: If you have 15 or less Health, gain +3/+3 and Taunt.
Seems like they want Warlocks to survive the early game. Or if you are Zoo, and the board gets away from you, don't worry:
Cataclysm—Warlock Epic, {4}, Destroy all minions. Discard your hand.
(Really looking forward to Yogg-Saron screwing me with this one). Tap into one of these and you're on your way back:
Kobald Librarian—Warlock Common 2/1, {1}, Battlecry: Draw a card. Deal 2 damage to your Hero.
All this damage, yikes. You need to heal up!
Dark Pact—Warlock Common, {1}, Destroy a friendly minion. Restore 8 Health to your Hero.
Lesser Amethyst Spellstone—Warlock Rare, {4}, Lifesteal. Deal 3 damage to a minion. (Take damage from your cards to upgrade.)

I don't have any cool narratives or anything to comment on here. Warlock is very one-dimensional. Demons. Small and Zoo. Or Big and Deathknight. Enjoy.

Shaman
I like Shaman. Even when it is hard to like. Aggro Shaman? That was a rough go. Sorry about that. It was nerfed though! Jade Shaman. Jeez, that was dumb, sorry about that too. It's gone though, basically. Brann and Tunnel Trogg rotated away, Azure Drake is in the Hall of Fame. If you are playing Shaman now, it's for Evolve effects. And kind of Elementals, I guess. But we've talked about that synergy earlier in this thread, it's weak compared to Dragons, Pirates, Demons, &c that look at the board or hand instead of the previous turn's plays.

K&C brings us some more Elementals:
Murmuring Elemental—Shaman Rare 1/1 Elemental, {2}, Battlecry: Your next Battlecry this turn triggers twice.
Wax Elemental—Common 0/2 Elemental, {1}, Taunt. Divine Shield.
…and the Arcane Tyrant mentioned above. The Tyrant is weak in Shaman though, as they don't have 5-mana spells to cast outside of what... Volcano? Bloodlust? Their totally shitty Spellstone? No, just not going to happen.

There's also a push for basic Totems and WHY? Why do this, Blizzard? Basic Totems are the worst thing. No one likes them. No one. When you made a Totem that was 3/4, that was cool. When you make sweet 0/3 Totems that do cool things like draw cards, buff guys, or make guys, that was also cool. But the regular Totems? No. Remember when Tuskarr Totemic went from awesome to unplayable by sticking "basic" in there? Yeah. Anyway, if you want:
Kobald Hermit—Shaman Common 1/1, {2}, Choose a basic Totem. Summon it.
Primal Talismans—Shaman Rare, {3}, … no I am not even going to type this. It's so bad.
If you have all four basic totems in play, you can play a guy that Battlecry's Al-Akir into play. That's it. That's the big payoff. Jesus.

Evolve is more broken than ever:
Unstable Evolution—Shaman Epic, {1}, Transform a friendly minion into one that costs {1} more. Repeatable this turn.
This is a cool effect—the card returns to your hand after casting, and disappears at the end of the turn. Plenty of memes to be had if you stumble onto Sorcerer's Apprentice.


Other items to note:

• You can Evolve into a 1/1 at {5} (Furbolg Mossbinder). Or a 2/4 at {9} (See below).
• Hunter wins the worst card award with To My Side!—Hunter Epic, {6}, Summon an Animal Companion, or 2 if your deck has no minions. Think about this card. Not too hard, just a little. Think about it. ps, it can't even make two Huffers.
• They want to hem Dragons in, which seems schizophrenic: Dragonslayer—Common 4/3, {3}, Battlecry: Deal 6 damage to a Dragon.
• This card is crazy good: Master Oakheart—Legendary 5/5, {9}, Recruit a 1, 2, and 3-Attack minion. That's another Warrior deck right there. This is like Call of the Wild, except you get Tar Lord, Alley Armorsmith, and Direhorn Hatchling…with a 5/5 body tagging along. Warlock can cheat out their Tar Lurker, Something 2-Attack(?) and the new Voidlord—Warlock Epic 3/9 Demon, {9}, Taunt. Deathrattle: Summon three 1/3 Demons with Taunt. Ooh, ooh, for 2-Attack, everyone can fetch: Dragonhatcher—Epic 2/4, {9}, At the end of your turn, Recruit a Dragon.
• I love this Unicorn! Shimmering Courser—Epic 3/3 Beast, {4} Only you can target this with Spells and Hero Powers. I don't know why, it just seems good. Paladin buffs maybe? I play a lot of untargetable stuff (Faerie Dragon, Arcane Nullifier X-21) but sometimes I want to target them with Power Word: Shield or whatever.
• This guy kills Doomsayers: Scorp-o-matic—Rare 1/2 Mech, {2}, Battlecry: Destroy a minion with 1 or less Attack.

The set looks fun. Standard will be a bloodbath, with Priests and Mages battling for dominance and Rogue probably beating both of them. Hunter and Warrior have totally viable decks, and Shaman is back in the dumpster.

Mage:

Explosive Runes is a total upgrade to Snipe, too. RIP Hunter. The combination of Glyph and Tome in the recent environment has made me recoil from the list of cards coming in Kobolds. Deck of Wonders, the spellstone, Leyline, and worst of all, Shifting Scroll, are just going to make me hate games against Mage for the next two years. Not only is it a reversion to the "RNG is fun for EVERYONE!" theme of GvG, but it's doing so at reduced costs a lot of the time. The argument can be made that "It's totally random! So they could draw something useless!" if you're being totally facile. Go ahead and look down the list of Mage spells and count the ones that are useless. I'll wait. You found maybe... what? Two? OTOH, go ahead and count the number of spells that could give you another chance to look for even more random Fireballs. Or give you more almost-free draws into your deck. Or give you the opportunity to extend the game. Dragoncaller Alanna is cute and actually works contrary to efficient use of Aluneth, so it's clear that they were trying to get Mage another archetype, but their method of approach to that is to roll more dice. Ugh. I like that they're trying Joust effects again with cards like Raven Familiar. Donais said in an interview that they've changed it so that ties go to the active player, which is a good step forward.

Hunter:
Having tried to get Control Hunter to work for years, I'm immediately interested in the idea of minionless Hunter. However, since I no longer play Hunter... sad trombone. Also, the problem with Rhok'delar is that, unlike Mage, a lot of Hunter spells really suck. Like, say, Crushing Walls. I think Violet Wurm is an Arena card and little more. The difference between it and Onyxia is that she doesn't have to die to fill the board with Dudes. I think you're right that Deathrattle Hunter will be a thing. I don't agree that Candleshot or Dire Mole will be worthwhile in moving the class forward. First off, you have to have both of them to kill your opponent's 3/2 and you still lose the Mole. Secondly, you still kind of have to concede to Tar Creeper because it will take you four turns to get through and you'll lose the Mole the first time it attacks. The Spellstone, OTOH, is the shit for those Secret Hunter decks that never seem able to get off the ground. The problem with most of them is the lack of draw. There's not a single playable card in Hunter that helps with the problem of running out of gas, which is the problem with the control archetype that they've tried to fix with asinine RNG like Lock and Load. Once you've blown your wad, you're stuck drawing 1 card/turn and hoping that Steady Shot isn't totally nullified by the opposing Hero Power, since it won't be helping your board state at all.

Warrior:
I don't think Warrior is in as dire a spot as, say, pre-Drakonid OP Priest. There's a ton of stuff currently available and coming tomorrow that can put Control Warrior back in the mix. The problem is that most of it isn't very exciting. How thrilling will armoring up and putting down fat taunts ever really get? You notice that most Druids don't play Ancient of War anymore, right? Why? Because dropping fat Taunt guys isn't very dynamic or fun unless they do something amazing like Obsidian Statue. Their answer to this is the Recruit mechanic, which might let you pull Grom and Co. on to the board a couple turns early. I still don't think s 3/3 weapon and the opportunity to do so is worth 8 mana, but whatevs. I think the best card in the set for the Control archetype might be Drywhisker Armorer, since it directly reacts to what your opponent is doing, rather than just throwing speedbumps out front that you're hoping he has to hit. Overall: Meh.

Paladin:
Because of the new keyword, we can't just say "Recruit" as shorthand for the Hero Power anymore. Therefore, we will revert to the time-honored (Kjeldoran) "Dude". Le sigh. The new Dude stuff is... regrettable. See, time was, only the smarter players would clear your Dudes at every opportunity. Then GvG introduced Quartermaster and everyone knew to do it as first priority from then on. There's so much AoE in the game right now (and more coming; see: Reckless Flurry) that trying to emphasize the production of a bunch of 1/1s is almost always a wasted effort. They've been pushing it with every set (Stand Against Darkness, Vinecleaver) and people refuse to engage because the value just isn't there. So now they're going all out and the results are about as plebeian as you'd expect. How many Dudes are you going to have available on turn 5 when you want to cast Level Up! to save your ass from Aggro Druid? One? And when you want to cast it later in the game as an offensive card, you'd really rather not have Taunt attached, since you're hoping to keep your Dudes alive to kill the opponent while they have to spend the turn attacking Tarim. Instead, they can clear most of your board because Taunt says they have to. Drygulch Jailor MIGHT help with this, since it halves the cost of bringing Dudes into play. But I still look at that card and think: "Another 1/1 for 2 that only affects your hand. Just like Grimestreet Informant. That no one plays, even if they're playing handbuff." And Crystal Lion? Ugh. Again, how many Dudes are you likely to have on turn 6 when you want to cast this on tempo? One? So you're getting a 5/5 for 5 with Shield? That's not horrible, but it's not "Gottahavethatcard!", either. What bugs me is that is that it works against the DShield decks out there that tend to ignore Dudes because they don't come with Shields. Steward of Darkshire is way too slow and clumsy most of the time. I mean, yeah, maybe you SAD on turn 6 and get 5 Dudes and a 5/5 DShield for 6 mana. Woo hoo! Then your opponent Defiles and you're left with a 5/4 for the price of 6 mana and two cards.

Holy shit (Paladin appropo), I wish Val'anyr worked on a minion in play. It's just sooooo slooowwww, otherwise. Since you can choose your minion, maybe you drop a 5/3 Argent Squire that turn. But it just feels like you sacrifice a lot of tempo to make the thing work. As you say, Lynessa is an attempt to patch Galvadon. It will not work because Silence exists and you will have spent 7 mana for a 1/1, which isn't even as good as your 5 mana for a Silenced 5/5 if Galvadon didn't roll Stealth. I played Galvadon for shits and giggles for many months. I finally sacrificed it to the (Old) dust gods because it was never going to work. Lynessa won't, either. I like the Maul. I like the Spellstone for control. Potion of Heroism is one of the best cards in the set for its cost. And I agree that Call to Arms is probably the best Recruit card.

Warlock:
Aside from the class legendary being a joke card, I think Warlock made out OK. As noted, Skull of the Man'ari is a pro/con card. If you're playing just the "traditional" demons (Flame Imp, Voidwalker, Doomguard, and now Dreadlord), then you're not missing much. OTOH, two of those only cost 1 mana, so you're also not gaining much. It also works spectacularly with Voidlord, which is Deathrattle, rather than Battlecry. Hooked Reaver looks like a great control card. Problem is, it doesn't work with Skull and it also doesn't work with Gul'dan, since neither of those effects activates Battlecries. So I'm not sure it's going to find a place in the decks that would otherwise use it (mostly thinking about Gul'dan here, of course.) Dark Pact is the "We're not totally forgetting about Zoo!" card. Possessed Lackey is bad. Vulgar Homonculus is OK. The spellstone is OK. Kobold Librarian is a-ma-zing. Half the mana cost of Life Tap AND put a 2/1 into play? I'll take five. Thanks. I understand the dismay of pushing Warlock even more towards the tribe than the other classes, but it is one of two (the other being Hunter and Beasts) that really have a bond with a single tribe, down to Basic and Classic cards like Demonfire. I think some of this is an attempt to further enable tribal cards like Demonfire and Bloodfury Potion and even Crystalweaver (although why the latter is not a demon, thus muting the point, is a mystery.) I'm betting that their thought is that Warlock has been trapped in two archetypes: Zoo and Control, both of which rely largely on non-demons. The demon overload might be their way of constructing a kind of midrange Warlock that just happens to intersect with the tribe that is almost unique to the class.

Incidentally, one of the non-unique members is one of the best tech cards in the set: Void Ripper. "Spreading Plague? Uh huh. That's nice. Have a Defile." And, yes, for those of you who love to get your Yogg on, Cataclysm is kinda spectacular. It doesn't fit into control at all and you don't want to wipe the board as Zoo, so I'm not sure where it fits. Unless you just want to roll the dice and hope that your next draw is Gul'dan. At the very least, this is the only card in the new set with the word "Discard" attached so, you know, progress...

Shaman:
Let's just go straight down the list. The Runespear is RNG writ large and not worth 8 mana for a 3/3 weapon, like Woecleaver. The difference is that the spell is Discovered, allowing you some choice, and Shaman spells often aren't targeted (Totemic Might!!!), allowing you some control. Still: meme card. Grumble would be really cool (overstatted for cost, enables Battlecry plays) if Elemental decks weren't slow and lacking win conditions. Maybe this is a win condition, but it will take much testing to see if that's true. Windshear Stormcaller is a meme Epic. Unstable Evolution is teh awesomeness and a clear indication that Evolve is now part of Shaman's class identity (My assertion that Evolve, the card, should just be folded into Classic, remains.) The spellstone is worthless because of the Overload requirement. Even a requirement of 2 might have made it playable. Primal Talismans...

So, here's the thing: Donais has complained that Shaman lacks a class identity, which is true. You'd think that Elementals would be one of those, given the nature of the class in WoW, but Elemental decks, by and large suck, so no one wants to play them. Clearly, Evolve is now one of those but it's also the only one that's worked for the past year. Think hard now: Have you seen a single Shaman deck that wasn't running Evolve in all of 2017? How'bout them Freeze Shaman decks? Yeah, boy! But unless they really are going to put Evolve (the card) into Classic, they need something other than depending on the second-worst mechanic in the game that no one likes and everyone avoids. So they've settled on totems, which is fine. As you said, stuff like Flametongue and Mana Tide are excellent. But depending on basic totems to save the day is basically just throwing your hands up and saying: "Look. Play Bloodlust, OK?", which is the very definition of one-trick pony. (Something something "lacking an identity"?) This is like trying to get Dudes to work for Paladin. There are simply too many board clears available right now for that to be viable. Primal Talismans is basically there to get Stormcaller to work, which is a meme card. It's not viable at all. Also, speaking of Shaman mechanics, it's interesting that one that's been in the game since its inception, Windfury, never gets any attention from the devs. Just FYI: the Wrath of Air totem in WoW is what used to give Windfury to Shamans. I always wondered why they decided to avoid that and instead just go with spell damage. It's funny that the best Windfury minion in the past two years is a neutral one (Grook Fu Master) that gets played by Paladins almost solely to activate Corpsetakers.

Murmuring Elemental, OTOH, is an auto-include in a lot of decks. People played Brann sometimes to enable a single Battlecry in their decks. They will play a 2-cost minion to do the same thing. There are some Battlecries in Elemental decks that would obviously work well here, but too many of the best ones are tied to the "If you played a guy last turn", which is the restrictive element (ahem) that makes those decks largely uncompetitive in the first place. Healing Rain is cool. Kobold Hermit MIGHT be cool, except that it, like so many past Shaman cards, is basically trying to make up for the class' flawed mechanics and, thus, isn't that great at face value. Crushing Hand is the "Oh, please use Overload!!!" card of the set. Pass.

In addition to the neutral cards you mentioned, I really like Corridor Creeper for Arena, Kobold Monk for tech hijinks, and The Darkness, just because it's hilarious.

Jackwraith wrote:

jeb wrote: Priest and Mage have 0/3 Weapons that trigger and lose durability automatically, the others are traditional Weapons that lose durability when attacking.

Not actually the case. Neither loses durability with their effect nor does the Warlock one. The durability is there to make weapons consistent and to allow them to be affected by things like Bloodsail Corsair. …The best ones are probably the Rogue one, since you can build around it for a decently powerful weapon, and the Druid one for the insane potential ramp. … I wonder if they were deliberately tuned down to avoid the backlash that came with the Quests being required legendaries?

Dang, thanks! I have avoided reveals and things like that for the most part to try and develop my opinions in isolation. But I thought I heard somewhere that these "decayed." My bad. I didn't bother pointing out a lot of them for the reasons you cite—they just aren't that big a deal. There's lots of removal for them that is efficient, and they just aren't super splashy in competitive play outside of the four I note: Druid, Rogue, Warrior, and maybe Mage's. Warlock's is just unnecessary. What card do you cut to put that weapon in? It seems never worth it.

Jackwraith wrote:

jeb wrote: Spellstones
Spellstones are Rare spells that can be buffed while in your hand.…

Some of the Spellstones are interesting. The Shaman one is rejected by default, given the stupid Overload cost. That is, unless control Shaman will somehow desire to drown itself in the second-worst mechanic in the game (Snowfall Giant!) But most of the others are at least something to play around with. The Mage one is a ridiculous boost to RNG because, you know, the game and especially Mage needed more of that...

In contrast to my customary disdain for RNG, I really kinda like the Unidentified items and will certainly be playing the Priest and Paladin ones.

I still play some Overload in Wild where I have access to Lava Shock and Tunnel Trogg. But in Standard? There is no upside or easy way out. It's a trap and it springs on bad players. Someone had a Control Shaman that used the Giants and Volcano and all that craziness, but it was very delicate and would usually win with Evolved Doppelgangsters. What's the point of all that other stuff outside of novelty?

I am not as impressed by the Unidentified items as you. They will irk me every time I low roll and my fragile psyche can't handle too much of that.

Jackwraith wrote:

jeb wrote: Secrets! What the hell!? They get 2-cost Secrets. Rogue loves cheap spells.

Cheat Death is a mediocre replacement for Shadowstep, since it removes control and timing from the Rogue and may give you back a minion you either didn't want or can't properly cast, even with the discount. So, we'll see how they work out. No one should be playing Sudden Betrayal.

Kingsbane is potentially the best of the weapons, but it also depends a lot on draw. Still, drawing a 3/3 Poisonous weapon for 1 mana would be some good. People on Hearthpwn were pissing all over Elven Minstrel because of stats. And this is why much of the playerbase doesn't advance past level 20 in any given month. I think the Rogue Spellstone is one of the better ones, as well, since Rogue has a fair number of good Deathrattle dudes already and they're often cheap.

I disagree about Cheat Death. Shadowstep is still there, but that's YOUR card to bounce and replay the minion. Cheat Death gets your opponent to spend the card and lift that critter for you. I could see some sad moments caused by Dirty Rat or something, but for the most part, you're going to get what you "should" from Cheat Death. I'll be trying this out.

Pissing on Elven Minstrel because of stats is a laugher. I… I am not playing it for the stats. Like I said, compare to Xaril at that cost. I want those teeny spells, man. I feel most folks see drawing two cards as worth playing. Do they not remember Ancient of Lore?

Jackwraith wrote:

jeb wrote: Duskbreaker—Priest Rare Dragon 3/4, {4}, Battlecry: If you are holding a Dragon win target game, deal three damage to all other minions.
(ok, one comment: This might be the best card ever made at Rare. No joke.)

Tangent: I really like Priest. I've been playing the class since the closed beta; at least in part because of my inclination to find the root of what the developers were aiming at. They spent all this time creating something that clearly worked in-house, so there must be something to it, right? So, I've often played stuff just to try to make it work, even with card selections and/or in metas where it's obviously subpar. It's why I've been playing Control Paladin recently. However, even with Razakus being Priest's indisputable (and first ever) Tier 1 deck, I find that I really don't enjoy it. It's challenging to play and best when piloted by someone who knows it backwards and forwards (in other words, not your typical netdeck.) But I just don't find the fun in it most of the time. /tangent

Shadow Acolyte also pushes the Dragon deck forward, since you can play a somewhat less-draconically-populated version that includes Cabals to do a little combo. Might be too slow, though. One Acolyte might end up in Razakus, though, since it protects against Druids and enables SWH. … The subpar Gilded Gargoyle, for example, won't be going into Quest decks, but could be used for Lyra/weapon decks that need more spells. … I don't see much here that is really compelling.

Yep. I get this totally. I love Priest. It's vying with Hunter for most wins (over 400 on both of those) for me. But I have no interest in playing Razakus. I have all the cards (save Velen, but there are plenty of builds that don't need him). It's just boring. I have been playing all kinds of Tempo builds with and without Prince Keleseth and having fun with the struggle. I have an inordinate love of Coins, so I will be trying that Gilded Gargoyle out for sure. Might need to craft Lyra to feel complete.

Jackwraith wrote: Mage:
Explosive Runes is a total upgrade to Snipe, too. RIP Hunter. The combination of Glyph and Tome in the recent environment has made me recoil from the list of cards coming in Kobolds. Deck of Wonders, the spellstone, Leyline, and worst of all, Shifting Scroll, are just going to make me hate games against Mage for the next two years. Not only is it a reversion to the "RNG is fun for EVERYONE!" theme of GvG, but it's doing so at reduced costs a lot of the time. The argument can be made that "It's totally random! So they could draw something useless!" if you're being totally facile. Go ahead and look down the list of Mage spells and count the ones that are useless. I'll wait. You found maybe... what? Two? OTOH, go ahead and count the number of spells that could give you another chance to look for even more random Fireballs. Or give you more almost-free draws into your deck. Or give you the opportunity to extend the game.

YES. Thank you. I complained bitterly about Primordial Glyph in Zetalot's chat once when he played Shadow Visions, ie, that Mage gets this spell except with cost reduction. And chat got all cranky because "they are so different" and "Shadow Visions would be so broken if it gave a reduction." Like, does Mage give a shit about what three spells appear in Glyph? They want burn. It's hard to miss burn or another Glyph. This card is ridiculous and it heartens me to hear from a kindred soul. It chaps my hide as being unfair. At least Unstable Mutation could screw you with the 1-drop from time to time. Glyph is never not good. (And Epic! Grr!)

Jackwraith wrote: Also, the problem with Rhok'delar is that, unlike Mage, a lot of Hunter spells really suck. Like, say, Crushing Walls. I think Violet Wurm is an Arena card and little more. The difference between it and Onyxia is that she doesn't have to die to fill the board with Dudes. I think you're right that Deathrattle Hunter will be a thing. I don't agree that Candleshot or Dire Mole will be worthwhile in moving the class forward. First off, you have to have both of them to kill your opponent's 3/2 and you still lose the Mole. Secondly, you still kind of have to concede to Tar Creeper because it will take you four turns to get through and you'll lose the Mole the first time it attacks.

They alone aren't the answer to the early board, they help you actually contest the early board. Prior to Candleshot and Mole, you only had Pirates and Alley Cat/Crackling Razormaw and they did not work well together. Now you can scrap the Pirates and stick with Beasts and your immune face to handle things. Folks were playing Jeweled Macaw for crying out loud. I think these cards help a TON in getting Hunter to the midgame without just plain losing.

Jackwraith wrote: The Spellstone, OTOH, is the shit for those Secret Hunter decks that never seem able to get off the ground. The problem with most of them is the lack of draw. There's not a single playable card in Hunter that helps with the problem of running out of gas, which is the problem with the control archetype that they've tried to fix with asinine RNG like Lock and Load…

Yep, Spellstone is good. Again, gotta get there, but yeah, it helps a lot. DR Hunter is going to be playing Loot Hoarder too, I think. Can't get around the need to draw and other options are kind of janky. Or maybe screw all y'all and go with Cult Master. We'll see, I will be trying out different options.

I can tell you to not go the "I Hunt Alone" minionless way. It doesn't work in deep, DEEP ways.

Jackwraith wrote: Warrior:
I don't think Warrior is in as dire a spot as, say, pre-Drakonid OP Priest… Their answer to this is the Recruit mechanic, which might let you pull Grom and Co. on to the board a couple turns early. I still don't think s 3/3 weapon and the opportunity to do so is worth 8 mana, but whatevs. I think the best card in the set for the Control archetype might be Drywhisker Armorer, since it directly reacts to what your opponent is doing, rather than just throwing speedbumps out front that you're hoping he has to hit. Overall: Meh.

I agree with that assessment. Pirate Warrior is a real thing. Priest had nothing after that first rotation before Drakonid. Dark times. I think Recruit Warrior is legit though—if it can make it to turn 8 and have 20+ life, they are going to be rolling. Ysera or The Lich King comes out that turn and they can just start casting them after that point. Mind you--they got one with a turn 6 Recruit too. This will be something to figure out.

I like the little Armorer too, but it fucks up the Recruit deck and I glossed over it. It doesn't do anything in any build I see mattering.

Jackwraith wrote: Paladin:
Because of the new keyword, we can't just say "Recruit" as shorthand for the Hero Power anymore. Therefore, we will revert to the time-honored (Kjeldoran) "Dude". Le sigh. The new Dude stuff is... regrettable. See, time was, only the smarter players would clear your Dudes at every opportunity. Then GvG introduced Quartermaster and everyone knew to do it as first priority from then on. There's so much AoE in the game right now (and more coming; see: Reckless Flurry) that trying to emphasize the production of a bunch of 1/1s is almost always a wasted effort. …Again, how many Dudes are you likely to have on turn 6 when you want to cast this on tempo? One? So you're getting a 5/5 for 5 with Shield? That's not horrible, but it's not "Gottahavethatcard!", either. What bugs me is that is that it works against the DShield decks out there that tend to ignore Dudes because they don't come with Shields. Steward of Darkshire is way too slow and clumsy most of the time. I mean, yeah, maybe you SAD on turn 6 and get 5 Dudes and a 5/5 DShield for 6 mana.

Friends don't let friends play Stand Against Darkness. There is no way to make that card good. Lost In The Jungle? Sure. I could even see Vinecleaver being a thing if Paladin didn't already have awesome weapons at 8 (Tirion) and 9 (DK Uther), but SAD is an appropriate acronym. I could see Turn 5 LitJ + Shiny Lion. That seems nice. You know better than I though; Paladin isn't my thing, by and large.

Jackwraith wrote: And I agree that Call to Arms is probably the best Recruit card.

Let's break this card. Is there enough high-end in Paladin to break this? Can we just rely on Bonemares and shit to carry the day? What do we want to pull out? Stewards? Hasty Murlocs? Taunty Bubbles?

Jackwraith wrote: Warlock:
…Incidentally, one of the non-unique members is one of the best tech cards in the set: Void Ripper. "Spreading Plague? Uh huh. That's nice. Have a Defile." And, yes, for those of you who love to get your Yogg on, Cataclysm is kinda spectacular. It doesn't fit into control at all and you don't want to wipe the board as Zoo, so I'm not sure where it fits. Unless you just want to roll the dice and hope that your next draw is Gul'dan. At the very least, this is the only card in the new set with the word "Discard" attached so, you know, progress...

Ooh, that is nice about Void Ripper. I have done the whole flippy-dippy thing in Priest with Confuse but I haven't looked at in ages given all the Taunts. Rogues could use this too to abuse Fan of Knives and covert Attack to toughness after Cobalt has triggered a couple times. Interesting.

Jackwraith wrote: Shaman:
…Primal Talismans is basically there to get Stormcaller to work, which is a meme card. It's not viable at all. Also, speaking of Shaman mechanics, it's interesting that one that's been in the game since its inception, Windfury, never gets any attention from the devs. Just FYI: the Wrath of Air totem in WoW is what used to give Windfury to Shamans. I always wondered why they decided to avoid that and instead just go with spell damage.

…while trimming the Damage tree of Crackle, Lava Burst, and Lava Shock. They want Shaman to win, but only in very particular ways it seems. The best way to cheat Al-Akir into play is via Master Oakheart.

Jackwraith wrote: Murmuring Elemental, OTOH, is an auto-include in a lot of decks. People played Brann sometimes to enable a single Battlecry in their decks. They will play a 2-cost minion to do the same thing.

Yeah, this thing is probably broken. It's not for Elemental decks though. More like Bonemares and Recruits and what not. I don't have the energy to think about this, akin to what I saw in Doppelgangster last time I reviewed a set. It's probably great, someone in EU will figure it out.

Jackwraith wrote: In addition to the neutral cards you mentioned, I really like Corridor Creeper for Arena, Kobold Monk for tech hijinks, and The Darkness, just because it's hilarious.

Someone needs to put together an all-meme win condition deck with The Darkness, Iron Juggernaut, Blood of the Ancient One, and that shitty Warlock Legendary. I vote for Dane.

That Priest card is absurd -- Abyssal Enforcer for 3 less.

As for Warlock, it has long been my favored class. I really only play it or Mage for the most part. I made it up to 8 last season with Prince Karath and Zoo and then up to 9 in Wild with a Renolock build. Generally, I find zoo boring to play as the decisions aren't that interesting.

At the start of this month, I started messing around with a mill deck -- so far, I have climbed from 20 to 17. I have started to use treachery to great effect, so that is pleasing. I know that I will try to make use of that shitty Warlock legendary card, if for no other reason destroying someone's deck appeals to me. As for the other cards:

Dark pact: It's ok. 8 health is a lot, but you have to use up a minion.

Kobold Librarian: Probably will take the place of my Possessed Villager

Vulgar Homonculus: Won't play

Hooked Reaver: Not bad -- probably won't play. Too slow.

Spellstone: Ok, I guess. Not as good as defile and strictly inferior to Soul Siphon. Probably won't play as it is conditional on getting the cards that damage you to come out -- otherwise it is dead in your hand.

Possessed Lackey: Ok. Probably too slow for any use

Cataclysm: I like it in principle, but who knows what deck it would go in. Not good for Zoo or Control.

Voidlord: Too expensive.

Skull of the Man'ari: Ok if you are pure demon, I guess. Not worth the slot with all the weapon hate that will be running around.

jeb wrote: Friends don't let friends play Stand Against Darkness. There is no way to make that card good. Lost In The Jungle? Sure. I could even see Vinecleaver being a thing if Paladin didn't already have awesome weapons at 8 (Tirion) and 9 (DK Uther),

Your honor, I object to the statement that DK Uther is an "awesome" anything, unless said descriptor is followed by the phrase "waste of dust." Seriously, he's by far the worst of the Death Knights, since his Hero Power is a) just a doubling of the one he had before, unlike any of the rest (even Druid, which is a tripling); b) totally ineffective in the late game, as it simply produces vanilla 2/2s, unlike any of the rest; c) is a total meme "victory condition" which is basically impossible to pull off without the jankiest of decks (Auctionmaster Beardo? I'm amazed that I haven't dusted that card yet.); and, d) has the lamest fucking visual effect EVER for an ability that's supposed to be the four horsemen of the Apocalypse and is, again, virtually impossible to pull off. I've enjoyed Knights far more than I thought I would and have seen fun and interesting and often dominant plays by all of the Death Knights... except Uther, which is abysmally bad.

jeb wrote:

Jackwraith wrote: And I agree that Call to Arms is probably the best Recruit card.

Let's break this card. Is there enough high-end in Paladin to break this? Can we just rely on Bonemares and shit to carry the day? What do we want to pull out? Stewards? Hasty Murlocs? Taunty Bubbles?

Hm. You want things that have significant board impact that don't rely on Battlecries or other minions to function. In that respect, I think the Stewards remain too slow, since they're basically reliant on Dudes to be anything other than vanilla 3/3s. If you Call at 4, you don't have the mana to produce a Dude until someone wipes out your Steward (which they will.) Or do you Call for the reload, meaning you're waiting until turn 6 or 7 to do it, so you can pull a bunch of Bubble people and then immediately follow with your Rallying Blade? Even then, you're often only producing a 2/2, 3/3, and 4/4, which is cool, but hardly game-ending. Murlocs will probably be better, simply for the ability to pull two of any kind plus a Warleader. But then you have to protect them...

Actually, I might take out the Voidwalkers for the Vulgar Homonculus -- don't know for sure. Probably will because of that stupid Priest card.

Sorry to interrupt all the excitement on the new expansion with a sob-story but I just lost my longest ever Arena streak at 8 wins from a good position via a horrible accident.

My deck was Warlock and it had two removal spells, Blastcrystal potion which removes a minion and one of your mana and Unwilling Sacrifice which removes one or your minions and one of the enemies. They'd been instrumental in getting me this far.

I had both in my hand, and I wanted to cast Unwilling Sacrifice, which you drop on your own target to kill the enemy minion. I used Blastcrystal Potion by accident, and just rubbed out mine.

8 wins. Could have been longer: if I'd scrubbed the big minion in my way it was shaping up nicely

MattDP wrote: Sorry to interrupt all the excitement on the new expansion with a sob-story but I just lost my longest ever Arena streak at 8 wins from a good position via a horrible accident.

My deck was Warlock and it had two removal spells, Blastcrystal potion which removes a minion and one of your mana and Unwilling Sacrifice which removes one or your minions and one of the enemies. They'd been instrumental in getting me this far.

I had both in my hand, and I wanted to cast Unwilling Sacrifice, which you drop on your own target to kill the enemy minion. I used Blastcrystal Potion by accident, and just rubbed out mine.

8 wins. Could have been longer: if I'd scrubbed the big minion in my way it was shaping up nicely

OOOOOooooouch. So sorry, Matt. That is a drag. I had someone spectating me in an Arena game when I confused Paladins' Dark Conviction (make a minion +3/+3) with Desperate Stand (Give a minion "DR: When killed, this minion comes back to life with 1 health.") Both were in my deck, they are both 2-cost spells starting with "D" and I am playing on my phone at the time. Needless to say, making my opponent's Boulderfist Ogre come back to life was not a winning play. Would have been better to make it a 3/3, you see. Lots better.

jeb wrote: Would have been better to make it a 3/3, you see. Lots better.

Thank you. I feel marginally better for hearing someone else's tale of woe.

I get the expansion a day later than you guys. Looking forward to hearing your initial thoughts on it.