Scholomance Academy Arena Impact - Paladin Cards

Turalyon, the Tenured by AbusingKel

Paladin's biggest weakness is lack of removal, instead using stat-manipulation to keep the board under control. This fits the class perfectly and is an absolutely incredible minion. Hefty cost but it's guaranteed to trade well and generate a big swing turn. 

Turalyon, the Tenured by Boozor

Great overall card. Effectively a 3/9 paired with a conditional hard removal. It won't work against divine shield or deathrattle/reborn, but it's still very strong removal. The remaining body if not removed just creates huge problems for your opponent. If you're behind or even, 3/9 is not an imposing body to be traded off however. Is it better then the ultra premium legendaries like Siamat, probably not, but it's worth considering. 

Turalyon, the Tenured by sinti

Hard removal on a stick, that can continue to provide value. Pretty strong card in Arena.

High Abbess Alura by AbusingKel

Good on stats alone, especially for priest with the healing hero power. Better in paladin with a greater abundance of buff spells to take advantage of the ability. Trollden moments abound for priests that manage to buff it from hand and pull an Apotheosis to spawn a second, double-buffed game-winner. 

High Abbess Alura by Boozor

Stats are fine - the ability can be hit or miss - if it pulls a double sided board clear it's awful. It also removes the spell from the deck instead of making a copy - this can be horrible in some situations. Better in Paladin

High Abbess Alura by sinti

This card will be extra draft dependent because not only will you need to have spells (in your deck), you need to have spells that cannot screw you. In Paladin, you will mostly draft buffs, so if you can clear your opponents board not to accidentally buff enemy minions, this can provide a strong tempo turn.

Lord Barov by AbusingKel

A great example of the well thought out dual class work by the dev team. Great removal piece that fits both classes well and will have a big impact when played. 

Lord Barov by Boozor

Great card and package for it's cost. While the board clear is not immediate it effectively forces your opponent to go face instead of removing this minion. Might be worse in Paladin due to anti synergy with hero power, but insanely good in Warrior where they lack AOE and larger removals. 

Lord Barov by sinti

In Paladin, it will probably be rather difficult to have Lord Barov die on the same turn its played, the ability is still very powerful, but it might not be as easy as to just play him as board clear, you will usually have to invest other cards as well.

Lord Barov by sinti

Warrior should have a bit easier way to kill off Lord Barov on the turn its played, tho additional card investment will still be required. Still a pretty great card on its own for what it provides.

Devout Pupil by AbusingKel

This will be broken in constructed and is my first prediction for a nerf. Cost reduction is powerful stuff, and this will be strong in arena but has a bit more reliance on your draft. Both classes have very strong buffs in the 1-4 mana range but getting them in adequate numbers during your draft, then in proper order during your matches will be harder than constructed. It's decent without a reduction, which is the really crazy part.

Devout Pupil by Boozor

Improved Sunwalker for the classes. It's not bad, and if cheated out for anything less then 5 mana it's just insane. 

Devout Pupil by sinti

It might not be as easy to discount this as it would be in constructed. Still, at worse it is a Sunwalker, which is great.

Ceremonial Maul by AbusingKel

I really want to score this as a 5 because it can get really bonkers, especially for Paladin. Weapon removal isn't all that prevalent so it should be easy to have it stay on board, helping clear and then paying off with a moderate-to-massive minion, if you're lucky. Warrior will have a much harder time getting the huge high-roll but can still get solid value with even a 2 drop thanks to the taunt. 

Ceremonial Maul by Boozor

The weapon is passable and the ability can be strong. Spells in paladin and Warrior are usually on the smaller side, and are only situational good. Think it's a bit too clumsy to high roll to it's full potential with either class.  

Better in Paladin since the class has less weapons then Warrior. 

Ceremonial Maul by sinti

Early weapon removal is never bad and this weapon has added potential for more value/tempo. Paladin is going to be pretty happy about this one I imagine, stuff like Blessing of Kings, Hammer of Wrath, Consecration, Righteousness and Pharaoh's Blessing are all great cards to play on curve after this and maybe Scholomance Academy will give us even more spells to play. Still, even getting a 2-drop from this is fine, so the weapon is going to be ok most of the time.

Argent Braggart by AbusingKel

I'm assuming this will copy the highest attack and highest health separately since that's how it looks on my reading. This is broken as a tempo play. With minions like Dragonmaw Sky Stalker and Disguised Wanderer prevalent in arena, there's certainly going to be opportunity to have this be mean in early stages of the game. It'll be broken in the late game more often than not.

Argent Braggart by Boozor

Seems insane for 2 mana. It doesn't have initiative but evens the playing field very cheaply. 

Argent Braggart by sinti

This card is actually beyond insane, like are you kidding me? You can combo this with other minions to make a tempo play or just slam it whenever and it will almost always be extremely cost efficient. The Health and Attack does not even have to come from the same minions. Nor a friendly one for that matter! I cant believe this is 2 mana. Just crazy.

Commencement by AbusingKel

Super expensive with a good chance to be a terrible tempo play since your arena deck should have a balanced curve. Definitely looks like a constructed card that will be far less effective in arena.

Commencement by Boozor

Needs a 4/4+ minion to be average. I'd say the odds are stacked against that. If you pull a 2 drop you risk losing the game.  

Commencement by sinti

If we consider that getting a Divine Shield + Taunt would cost 2 mana, then we end up with a 5-cost Gather Your Party, still pretty bad. You will really have to consider your draft, if you want to experiment with this.

Blessing of Authority by AbusingKel

Unique idea for this card, which I love. It's a huge buff that allows you to clear the biggest threat your opponent controls and then the next turn it's free to go face. A high value card that will demand immediate removal by your opponent is always strong. Only downside will be when  you have no minion.

Blessing of Authority by Boozor

Blow out card - this is an insane buff. Usually you buff into a trade first anyways as Paladin, so it's drawback isn't really a drawback most of the time.  

Blessing of Authority by sinti

Insanely strong buff for its cost, comparable to Dinosize, tho the inability to attack heroes in the turn its played will matter. Still amazing card and will usually generate card advantage via trades.

Goody Two-Shields by AbusingKel

Scarlet Crusader with a hefty bump as a class card. Paladin has many low-cost spells so gaining a second shield shouldn't be too difficult. Definitely an auto-pick type of card, assuming it's not paired with two other top cards. 

Goody Two-Shields by Boozor

Huge power creep on Scarlet Crusader and Candletaker . This card is nuts. 

Goody Two-Shields by sinti

Very strong 3-drop. Scarlet Crusader is a pretty good 3-drop and this is better in so many ways. More Attack, can't be pinged away (the Shield can) and could potentially regain Divine Shield once more. Seems like a card that can establish Paladin on the board early and help him stay there.

I can already see people saving The Coin to refresh the Divine Shield instead of just Coining this on T2, it can be a correct choice, but don't underestimate getting this out asap, it can help you even more!

Gift of Luminance by AbusingKel

There's certainly potential with this card if you can target a value minion (deathrattle, poisonous, etc.) but the total cost of the card is underwhelming on any basic minion. Hand of Protection + Argent Squire for 3 mana... not that exciting. I'm curious to see it in action, though. 

Gift of Luminance by Boozor

This can be insane in the right draft depending on the minions available. Cards with reborn, deathrattle, end of turn effects will be great with this. At 3 mana it's a Hand of Protection and a 2 mana 1/1 - so you'll need some value from the 1/1 to make this worthwhile. 

Gift of Luminance by sinti

This is kinda a win-more card in a disguise. You generally dont draft Hand of Protection, but i think you would draft this, even tho at face value, it does not look like the cost is justified.

Judicious Junior by AbusingKel

Big health that should allow her to keep you from dying for an extra turn or two. Hits the board one turn after Amber Watcher to ensure you are damn near immortal as paladin. 

Judicious Junior by Boozor

Hard to remove with minions, so it'll almost certainly demand large removal. It's a tough card to deal with especially with Aggressive openers.

Judicious Junior by sinti

Very strong card with a huge comeback potential for Paladin.

Wave of Apathy by AbusingKel

Crazy powerful at only 1 mana but you have to be able to take out the opponents minions or it's gone by your next turn. Small minions for Paladin and good AoE for priest should make that doable. 

Wave of Apathy by Boozor

A board wide Humility for a turn. It will have it's uses, maybe slightly better in Priest. 

Wave of Apathy by sinti

Similar to Curse of Weakness in terms what you are going to use it for. This is actually miles stronger. Yes, you cant get the Attack to 0, but you also dont have to spend your entire turn doing so.

Shield of Honor by AbusingKel

Blessing of might with a shield and the condition (damaged minion) is generally easy to meet in arena. Excellent card that lets you trade without losing the minion and could be just the burst you need to finish off your opponent.

Shield of Honor by Boozor

Crazy buff card and swing potential for 1 mana - I believe Warrior might be able to utilize this better then Paladin with their self damaging cards. 

Shield of Honor by sinti

Pretty strong card, it might not be always easy to play it where you want, but for 1 mana? Yes this is powerful.

First Day of School by AbusingKel

A zero cost spell that pairs well with the newly introduced Goody Two-Shields and nets two 1-cost minions is pretty good. With Paladin's relatively weak draw, cards that build your hand are always smart picks in the draft.

First Day of School by Boozor

Better then [Hearthstone Card (Firefly) Not Found] on average which is great.  

First Day of School by sinti

There are some pretty good 1-drops in Standard right now and getting two in one card is very nice. Yes, those are just 1-drops, but you don' lose any tempo with this card and it potentially generates additional resources, more so, if you get lucky. Pretty great card.