New Shaman Minion - EVIL Totem

That's real gud.

Shamans are bad at card generation (c) Blizzard :D

This is an amazing totem. Will definitely want to try it in even wild shaman. If this sticks around for a couple of turns the value could be immense. We already know the lackeys are worthwhile. 

Quick question - what do you think of this card in wild Even Shaman? Is it good enough to be included there?

[edit] Shaman has some totem synergies like Thing from Below and Draenei Totemcarver, but I don't find this that attractive as Flametongue Totem, when it used to cost 2 mana.

Quote From strongpoint

Shamans are bad at card generation (c) Blizzard :D

Well, this is a very slow card generator so...

Now in all seriousness: right now Lackeys are amazing, since there are only 5 of them. However, Blizz did say at the RoS expansion that new Lackeys would show up on every expansion this year, IIRC. Which means that, even if they are all of similar power level to the ones we have right now, the added numbers will make the Lackeys less consistent and, therefore, a bit less good.

As far as this specific card is concerned, it's still a 2 mana 0/2, which means it will add you 1 Lackey and then die for 2 mana. We already have EVIL Cable Rat for that, with the added bonus that he might ping something before dying. So, this card is only better if it sticks for 2 turns. That is not easy. Add the fact that Shaman's have Sludge Slurper overloading their T2 sometimes makes this card even less consistent. So, the power is there; it's just very hard to capitalize on it.

Quote From ElSabidon

Quote From strongpoint

Shamans are bad at card generation (c) Blizzard :D

Well, this is a very slow card generator so...

Now in all seriousness: right now Lackeys are amazing, since there are only 5 of them. However, Blizz did say at the RoS expansion that new Lackeys would show up on every expansion this year, IIRC. Which means that, even if they are all of similar power level to the ones we have right now, the added numbers will make the Lackeys less consistent and, therefore, a bit less good.

As far as this specific card is concerned, it's still a 2 mana 0/2, which means it will add you 1 Lackey and then die for 2 mana. We already have EVIL Cable Rat for that, with the added bonus that he might ping something before dying. So, this card is only better if it sticks for 2 turns. That is not easy. Add the fact that Shaman's have Sludge Slurper overloading their T2 sometimes makes this card even less consistent. So, the power is there; it's just very hard to capitalize on it.

But more token generators is always a good thing for a deck that wants to generate tokens. It isn't that this is better than Slurper or Cable Rat, but it's excellent when played with those two.

Not sure if this is good.  It's definitely not as good as the warlock and rogue lackey generators in a tempo battle, but if it sticks for more than a turn that is some pretty strong value.  

It's a bad tempo card because you don't get a lackey when you play it and it's a 0/2.  0/2 is really bad with backstab/SI being in every rogue deck.  

Maybe in a slower shaman deck or just a slower meta in general it has the potential to be powerful.  

Quote From Kovachut

Quick question - what do you think of this card in wild Even Shaman? Is it good enough to be included there?

[edit] Shaman has some totem synergies like Thing from Below and Draenei Totemcarver, but I don't find this that attractive as Flametongue Totem, when it used to cost 2 mana.

I am definitely going to test it out. I think it could be good in wild even shaman. Will have to wait and see though. If it dies too quickly then it is a poor way to spend 2 mana however usually with even shaman you are flooding the board so much that this might go under the radar for a bit. If you drop this and your totemcarver on the same turn or this plus sea giant your opponent might go for the big creature first netting you more lackey's

Not that great IMO.  Primalfin Totem was good because it actually put stuff on the board and provided a threat, and the 3 health was not always easy to deal with. 

This is too slow, and I predict won't see play. 

It looks good but I think it's inferior to EVIL Cable Rat, why? cause you are guranteed of one lackey, and then if you don't protect it you are playing a slower cable rat and most of the time it will be killed on the next turn, it can snowball games but it has 2 hp compared to the murloc totem having 3.. that's a big deal.

also not having the lackey immediately is a big loss of tempo when played.

Unless the expansion has totem synergy I don’t see this one being played. EVIL Cable Rat can attack AND has Shudderwock synergy. This totem is just like Mana Tide Totem. It looks good and will occasionally net you 2 cards, but most of the time it’s a tempo loss because a 0-Attack minion is worthless

I mean....Lackeys are good and all but what does this fit into? In most scenarios iit will just generate one lackey making it a less efficient version of Sludge Slurper.

I guess if there's a good version of Token-Shudderwock Shaman comes around this might see play.

Quote From Kovachut

Quick question - what do you think of this card in wild Even Shaman? Is it good enough to be included there?

[edit] Shaman has some totem synergies like Thing from Below and Draenei Totemcarver, but I don't find this that attractive as Flametongue Totem, when it used to cost 2 mana.

Just compare this with Totem Golem, Jade Claws, Murkspark Eel and Dire Wolf Alpha. Then think which card you would rather have on turn 2.

My answer is a resounding no towards EVIL Totem.

Quote From iWatchUSleep

Quote From Kovachut

Quick question - what do you think of this card in wild Even Shaman? Is it good enough to be included there?

[edit] Shaman has some totem synergies like Thing from Below and Draenei Totemcarver, but I don't find this that attractive as Flametongue Totem, when it used to cost 2 mana.

Just compare this with Totem Golem, Jade Claws, Murkspark Eel and Dire Wolf Alpha. Then think which card you would rather have on turn 2.

My answer is a resounding no towards EVIL Totem.

Yeah, you have a point. I was only wondering, because the totem could give you some juice and I wanted to see how good this aspect could be. I admit, that Even Shaman doesn't really mind this, though I have seen some lists running Ancestral Knowledge.

the 2 health makes it weak. Nice but not shure if this will see competative play.

Quote From Kovachut

Yeah, you have a point. I was only wondering, because the totem could give you some juice and I wanted to see how good this aspect could be. I admit, that Even Shaman doesn't really mind this, though I have seen some lists running Ancestral Knowledge.

Lackeys are only good in aggro decks in wild and even then they need to be paired with a strong activator. Hence why only odd rogue and murloc shaman have hem at the moment. Even shaman isn't aggro nor is this activator good enough for wild's standards. In my opinion, at least.

As for decks running Ancestral Knowledge, unless it's part of the Thunderhead package, that's just even shaman suffering from the big priest syndrome. In which a deck's shell is so strong that people can add subpar cards to the deck (Jade Spirit, Windspeaker, Hagatha the Witch and, as you mentioned, Ancestral Knowledge) and still have good success with it, despite making the original deck worse.

Seems interesting as a concept, but the stats just aren't worth it. EVIL Cable Rat just seems better in most cases, the chance of you hiding this with taunts seems like more trouble than it's worth.

Decent card, but i personaly would have preferred if it would have more health! 

Best reveal so far, for mid-later play IMO.

If it survives, it's free spell generation every turn.

Aren't we bound to get more lackeys this expansion?

If that is the case, this card is a bit reliant on what those are, along with the previous lackey-generating ones.

There's no way this sees play over Sludge Slurper or Cable Rat. It *might* see play as a redundancy option alongside the other two, but at the moment the only token-y shaman deck wants murlocs, not totems or lackeys.

Good if you can play it in a situation where it won't die right away and you get more than one Lackey out of it.  Otherwise, just okay.  Also, as the Lackey pool grows (as they stated during Rise of Shadows reveal video that it would) the Lackey generation is going to become less consistent, less likely to pull the one you really need/want.  So rating this card really depends on the lackeys they add and if their effects are good or bad.

I have played Mana Tide Totem enough to know that this card is not very good. It is also worse than EVIL Cable Rat because when you play this, you have to wait until next turn to play the lackey, but with the rat you have the lackey for the same turn, and that makes this much worse tempo.