New Shaman Spell - Plague of Murlocs

I don't think Big Priest will be an issue after next expansion :)

Insane card. Incredible for every Control Shaman and against every Control deck. Love it. Also good Even Shaman can't use it ;)

You could totally guess the effect, hahaha. But I mean, who would have guessed the name? I thought they tried to take the name from the plagues of egypt.

First thought what a boring plague. Second thought this is alot better devolve vs big priest probably even when you have stuff on board. Probably will include in my wild lists just to have more transform effects without giving them the offchance on random +7 drops

As theremon said its such a good control card and its really good in most matchups as its quite low cost.

I kinda like this card. can decrease value of opponent board. Perhaps someone can fit it to murlock shaman. I still think it is more of control card

i approve of this card

Good counter against Conjurer's Calling or a mech deck with heavy magnetized minions.  I think it's overall good.

CC Mage and Big Priest are not happy after this reveal.

How many more good AOEs does Shaman need before people stop saying Control Shaman isn't a thing? 

I'm happy this card exists. :)

Seems really solid.

This is pretty great. Better than Devolve, even, because there are no murlocs with Taunt (I think) and you can drop giants into 3-ish drops on average.

A reprint of Devolve?

I know the spell won't always work this way (you could potentially upgrade the opponent's board, if you face other aggro decks), but this will certainly be included in control shaman and in some token decks against other control opponents or against some buff decks. Also, yeah, f*ck Big Priests in wild.

I see this as a pseudo Evolve and Devolve combo; it (likely) nerfs an opponent's board, and creates (or keeps) opportunity for murloc synergy on one's own board.  

Good or not, this will see play in my decks for sure.

Yesss this will be the perfect inclusion for shudderwock-bore-big-priest-to-death-with-infinite-armour-shaman in wild, love it. 

Seems like they're pushing Control Shaman A LOT. We already have Hagatha's Scheme or Lightning Storm, now we also get Earthquake and this. Aggro decks will have some troubles (btw, goodbye big priest and conjurer mage).

This card is the NUTS.  This might be the best AOE in standard when it comes to dealing with big boards.  It's an AOE transform, holy crap.  

It does have some balance built in because if you're far behind and you give them murlocs + a war leader you could just die so it isn't super strong against aggro.  The power level against decks that want a big board like cyclone mage, mech pally, res priest, etc is insane though.  This can even be a strong tempo swing card if you have some minions on a board and a lightning storm.  Take value trades, play this, storm, boom.

This is an actual answer to a conjurer's calling board whatever turn they play it.  This is the first card they've previewed that looks like it would actually make a big impact in the meta if it was released today.

Quote From kaladin

How many more good AOEs does Shaman need before people stop saying Control Shaman isn't a thing? 

I'm happy this card exists. :)

Control shaman needs good minions to play.  Part of why warrior is so strong is because it's removal often comes on a stick, militia commander, dynamatic, omegaLUL devestator.  The thunderhead buff gave us one, walking fountain is also the nuts.  Just one or two more and control shaman is in business. The ones they've shown so far have potential.  

This is just amazing.

In addition to all the advantages people have already noted, if you play Murloc Shaman, it allows you to potentially turn a bunch of crummy tokens you may be stuck with into Murlocs. E.g. Lackeys, or totems, etc.

If you are facing 4 mountain giants, suddenly they're just murlocs. 

If your opponent has one or two massive taunts on the board, again, poof, they're gone.

I am a Shaman fan (full disclosure), but this card is just great as it puts major risk back into decks that run huge minions. Those decks should not feel like they just can't lose if they hit their curve. 

Quote From Enk

You could totally guess the effect, hahaha. But I mean, who would have guessed the name? I thought they tried to take the name from the plagues of egypt.

I made a custom card for fun that turned all minions into the 0/1 frogs with taunt. and it was called plague of frogs. I think they had a similar idea but wanted it to be more 'Hearthstone' if you know what I mean.

this is awesome! it is like Hex, but it is cheaper and will affect all of the opponent's minions. I know it will also ruin my own minions, but in a control deck I say screw my own minions who cares. and in a aggro deck I am already wanting to play murlocs so this just re-rolls my board of murlocs. I love this card.

While Devolve might be better in wild (although this card absolutely decimates big priest, which I can only approve) this card looks insane in standard. Destroys all mech and mage synergies like it's nothing, for only three mana. 

TBH, I'm not sure this is a "control" card. Sure. It will be played in control. But, I think it's just a card that most Shamans will play unless they're hyper aggressive. It's transform and AOE that is cheaper than both Hex and Lightning Storm.

So they nerfed hex only to introduce a three mana board-transform?

Well alrighty then. Guess I might as well start crafting Hagathas.

Quote From iWatchUSleep

While Devolve might be better in wild (although this card absolutely decimates big priest, which I can only approve) this card looks insane in standard. Destroys all mech and mage synergies like it's nothing, for only three mana. 

And above all it destroys any priest player dreams of ever becoming relevent in standard again because blizzard can only print resurrect cards for priest.... 

Lol at all the comments about this being a great control shaman card. It could be that... but this is Insane in aggro Murloc shaman. Disrupt all your opponents plans and get rid of their taunts while making your totems into murlocs and keeping your murloc synergies? Yes please!

Quote From YJHS2000

Lol at all the comments about this being a great control shaman card. It could be that... but this is Insane in aggro Murloc shaman. Disrupt all your opponents plans and get rid of their taunts while making your totems into murlocs and keeping your murloc synergies? Yes please!

If your opponent manages to make a board against you and you're forced to transform everything into random murlocs you're in a terrible position. Now they get to value trade into your board and the murloc deck doesn't really have any sort of comeback other than spamming more murlocs. You'd much rather just have a hex or earth shock so you can actually push damage after killing the taunty guy.

With aggro decks it's generally a bad idea to include cards to counter worst-case scenarios (as opposed to cards that reward you for being ahead like Bloodlust) because even in the case where you get to play them, you're in a situation you're unlikely to win. Plague of Murlocs is best when your opponent has a board and that's never a situation the murloc shaman wants to be in.

Loved it. Nothing more to say. I'm always fan of transforming, it doesn't even matter how or into what.

Great card that could see play in control or aggro Shaman decks. It'll screw up giant boards (looking at you, Conjurer Mage) but still feels balanced because your opponent could get some really good murlocs that could screw you too. 

This is the method to fix wild, don't nerf cards but give counters. It helps not only against big priests but all mana cheating decks. It also helps against bloodreaver\N'zoth types of effect. 

Quote From Enk

You could totally guess the effect, hahaha. But I mean, who would have guessed the name? I thought they tried to take the name from the plagues of egypt.

Don't think they knew what a murloc was back then.. 

You are talking about the 10 plagues aren't you? blood, frogs, parasites, wild animals, black plague, skin infections, hail, insects, darkness, death of the firstborns. 

I mean murloc are close to frogs, madness fits non and death could fit the last one but nah.. The plagues being in a set inspired by ancient Egypt could mean they took inspiration from the Bible but none of the plagues seem related enough. 

Lucentbark goes to cry in the corner... at least it's not alone there, joining mechs and giants

This followed by Devolve could be hilarious... 

This card is mrrrgglgllgingiful.

Quote From EndlessTides

This followed by Devolve could be hilarious... 

I think that Plague of Murlocs followed by Lightning Storm is enough, there are just 3 or 4 murlocs with 3+ health.

Quote From Thriss

Lucentbark goes to cry in the corner... at least it's not alone there, joining mechs and giants

In fairness, Lucentbark was pretty destroyed by Shaman anyway.

This card might make me shift from Even to Murloc/Overload Shaman, just to enhance my chances of screwing Big Priest.

Old Murk-Aye likes it. A lot.

Love this card! But am I the only one that feels it might be OP? 

Well, mages had their fun with big minions, now its time to get back to basics, which is spells, damage and tempo play :). Maybe conjurers need Counterspell now. Oh and also Murloc Warleader. Just in case. Just conjure your apprentice, hope for Underbelly Angler and let that Murloc Warleader carry the day! Btw if the Angler is part of the random generated stuff, mage or any other class will not be very upset with the change of board. But when followed by a lightning storm all will be dead probably.

But if shaman gets this, mage should get something like "change all minions into sheep". And some way to capitalize on those sheeps, for instance a spell like "plant a mine in a sheep. If hit by a spell it will explode and do 5 random damage. If the damage hits a sheep, that one will explode as well." Some living bomb effect would be cool :)