It looks like a very solid fit for Soraka, who really desperately needed another partner option besides Tahm. The biggest problem for the entire archetype, however, is that a 3-mana card, Culling Strike, kills everything in it.
This needed spellshield in order to be a viable wincon. And I don't think it would be unreasonable to give it spellshield. If Starshaping (which heals your nexus 5) is allowed to find you a Great Beyond (9-cost with elusive and spellshield), then this guy is allowed to have spellshield also.
The mini-sets always have fast reveal periods and then launches.
Now, sure, it isn't life or death, but you know what it is? Inconsiderate. The Hearthstone Community Team is going about this all wrong. Dean wants to see them win a best community award and I'll tell you right now, this isn't it. As someone who has been in community management and development since I was in high school, and knowing there are people much older than I on that team with more experience in years on that professional game studio level, I am constantly impressed by their inability to push forward a coherent release of content.
This isn't how you community manage. They clearly all sit around the table and act like an echo chamber with no one being willing to say "hey, maybe that's not a great idea" or "have we considered this reaction". You will always get a negative reaction, it's the internet, but super basic stuff like calling a teaser a "card reveal" shows the community team's lack of knowledge.
It's pretty fucked up when you think about how much of Hearthstone's negative attention over the years could have been avoided by better community management. The game growth they could have seen from it too... maybe they wouldn't have crashed so hard the year after Old Gods if they just knew how to engage with people. There have been good people on the team and I'm certain people on the team now have certain skillsets, but they're missing out on basics. I worry they're going to continue down the route of "okay our community is the streamer population so let's ignore what's happening everywhere else". I don't need them to pay attention to Out of Cards, but they should put more effort into their own channels. We've seen some more blue posting on their forums, communicating about issues and when hotfixes go live which is awesome, and we've also seen some activity on their social accounts which is good, but that activity just feels so misguided at times.
I wish I had the team to just go through the entire history of Hearthstone and create a massive list of constructive feedback about how they've done things. Not only could that be an interesting article to write but it would be something that could be used to showcase what we could even avoid.
AAA game companies shouldn't be given a pass at this point for bad communication.
It requires you to hold on to these spells, and this being a situational card makes it a big problem. Against a fast deck, you'd might be forced to not play your Thrive in the Shadows or Palm Reading on curve because you might be gambling your clear away. That's just really iffy for a board clear effect that is usually needed on demand.
I don't think you are necessarily wrong, it does have a must stricter requirement than duskbreaker. However we have no idea what other cards released in the miniset or for the next year of HS will synergize with. For all we know dragons could be a broken keyword, and this is pre-emptive toning down by not making it "too easy" to activate. There could be some "dragon synergy" that makes this broken (eventually, perhaps...)
The notes say to make your way through all the Alterac Valley Bounties to prepare, so it looks like to complete the Tasks need to finish the all the PvE content.
For the special Chi-Ji event on the 22nd are they saying that we'll have to complete the current Alterac bounties first before we can access it?...
"As you prepare for this event to begin, make your way through all the Alterac Valley Bounties and take special care to strengthen your Beasts and Dragons, which will be essential for some of these Tasks."
Deep Breath concerns and bothers me, because it is a card that would best function in a spell-only Mage deck. Fine in theory, but we've seen the results of such a deck lately. I think most of us are ready for the Mage to go back to needing minions again.
Onyxian Drake, though...*chef's kiss* Shield Slam on a stick, with Taunt and a vanilla body? Crazy.
I'm really hoping that either this miniset, or the yearly rotation will give mages a chance to go back to minion based combat again. I wouldn't mind dragon mage, I loved playing dragon mage back in the DoD expansion. (plus Reno was so much fun
That card will be good if the new dragon package is good.
I hope that the new Onyxia will have some impactfull conditional battlecry like the new Yogg. Something like "if you sumoned 10 dragons..." or "if 10 friendly dragons died this game...".
Scabbs, Xyrella, and Bru'kan (And obviously Tamsin) aren't present within the trailer at all, not even during the scene with the heroes shadows.
Cariel however is so we can assume she survived being pulled off the bridge.
My bet is that our boy Bru'kan doesn't make it to Onyxia and dies defeating Tamsin, Xyrella and Scabbs might go on to save Xyrella's daughter instead of fighting against Onyxia.
My first thought was that this looks bonkers. Then I remembered that Groundskeeper is still in Standard, and when was the last time you saw anyone playing that? Unconditional Shield Slam is a lot better than conditional Flash Heal of course, but it's not that far off.
If Control Warrior is good, then this card will be played. If Control Warrior is struggling, I don't think this card is good enough to make an impact.
Varden seems okay; would have to see them in action.
I like Rokara a lot.
Onyxia's Hero Power looks like garbage.
Finishers do not interest me much.
I would consider the Jade board: it is pleasant to look at, although doing battle there seems off. Too serene for such bloodshed heh. Really need a Ragnaros board to go with my bartender.
People purging their collection each time we rotate cards is so tragic. The return on investment is generally garbage, and they're constantly burning a bridge one can't easily fix. I get that some people only play Standard, but still.
I don't know if this is good immediately. Hysteria seems more consistent and flexible. It might be good enough to see play, but I'm not hopeful.
However, on rotation this should be pretty strong. Priest is lacking in midrange board clears right now, and Quest Priest has so much search and card generation. I think it's unlikely that this card will be stranded.
You never finish the quest against an aggro deck anyway. All you have to do is survive until you can stabilize. I would gladly hold a card to guarantee the board swing.
Seriously, the number of times I've had to sit on Condemn (Rank 1) because it's not good until you have 5 mana hurts.
EDIT: I'm also used to holding Palm Reading until I've played my 4, for the record. It actually sucks getting your Hysteria cut to 3 mana and potentially stranding you.
Looks like something that would have been printed ages ago and only ended up as Arena filler. I guess dealing 4 damage on a 3/6 stick is decent but I don't see a dedicated dragon deck spontaneously spawn from just this mini-set.
@BloodMefist - Unfortunately, I just don't think Splintering Sword is a good card. You have to Honorably Kill something to get mediocre damage, and you only get two swings. It could be quite interesting with better numbers, but then it wouldn't work for the prompt... I'd save it for another one. The art and name are definitely worth hanging onto; they're pretty cool.
Surge of Light ain't bad. We have a good amount of 1-Mana "Heal 3 and do X" Priest cards, though; at least, it feels like we do.
Random discard is bad unless there'S a dedicated discard archetype. 6-mana is also really slow.
I think I need to point out that Brittlebone Destroyer is still in Standard and does not see play despite having excellent synergy in a powerful meta deck. If Questlock doesn't need Brittlebone it won't need this either. Same goes for Owllock (who can't run this anyways).
Hoping for some discard support in the future but right now this looks like just a meme card for meme's sake (which is still pretty funny. It's 50% Deathwing)
Might be better than Duskbreaker. Priest no longer has issues with drawing cards as much as they used to, I doubt it's going to be hard to have both spells in your hand by turn 4...and even if you don't, there's still some redundancy with Xyrella and Hysteria so you're not exactly relying on this alone for boardclears.
They're gonna make Quest Priest into a real thing and we're all gonna hate it...
Quick question: Is Shield Slam on a stick for 3-more mana better than the flexibility of being able to stack armor on the same turn you use it? I'm not sure it is.
It requires you to hold on to these spells, and this being a situational card makes it a big problem. Against a fast deck, you'd might be forced to not play your Thrive in the Shadows or Palm Reading on curve because you might be gambling your clear away. That's just really iffy for a board clear effect that is usually needed on demand.
I'd run this in Paladin without hesitation, it might even be better than Bannerman depending on the type of deck you're running. If you drop it on curve one draw is basically guaranteed and if it doesn#t get removed you can easily buff it to draw even more. Maybe that's not needed at the moment though, Paladin has some pretty decent draw these days.
Could also try and make Handbuff Warrior a thing again..
Galio: New Demacia Champion Reveal - 5 New Runeterra Cards Revealed
It looks like a very solid fit for Soraka, who really desperately needed another partner option besides Tahm. The biggest problem for the entire archetype, however, is that a 3-mana card, Culling Strike, kills everything in it.
New Demacia Card - Gorlith the Unscalable
This needed spellshield in order to be a viable wincon. And I don't think it would be unreasonable to give it spellshield. If Starshaping (which heals your nexus 5) is allowed to find you a Great Beyond (9-cost with elusive and spellshield), then this guy is allowed to have spellshield also.
Super unique and cool idea though.
Onyxia's Lair Card Reveal Schedule is Out! Reveal Period Lasts 5 Days
The mini-sets always have fast reveal periods and then launches.
Now, sure, it isn't life or death, but you know what it is? Inconsiderate. The Hearthstone Community Team is going about this all wrong. Dean wants to see them win a best community award and I'll tell you right now, this isn't it. As someone who has been in community management and development since I was in high school, and knowing there are people much older than I on that team with more experience in years on that professional game studio level, I am constantly impressed by their inability to push forward a coherent release of content.
This isn't how you community manage. They clearly all sit around the table and act like an echo chamber with no one being willing to say "hey, maybe that's not a great idea" or "have we considered this reaction". You will always get a negative reaction, it's the internet, but super basic stuff like calling a teaser a "card reveal" shows the community team's lack of knowledge.
It's pretty fucked up when you think about how much of Hearthstone's negative attention over the years could have been avoided by better community management. The game growth they could have seen from it too... maybe they wouldn't have crashed so hard the year after Old Gods if they just knew how to engage with people. There have been good people on the team and I'm certain people on the team now have certain skillsets, but they're missing out on basics. I worry they're going to continue down the route of "okay our community is the streamer population so let's ignore what's happening everywhere else". I don't need them to pay attention to Out of Cards, but they should put more effort into their own channels. We've seen some more blue posting on their forums, communicating about issues and when hotfixes go live which is awesome, and we've also seen some activity on their social accounts which is good, but that activity just feels so misguided at times.
I wish I had the team to just go through the entire history of Hearthstone and create a massive list of constructive feedback about how they've done things. Not only could that be an interesting article to write but it would be something that could be used to showcase what we could even avoid.
AAA game companies shouldn't be given a pass at this point for bad communication.
7 New Hearthstone Cards Revealed for Onyxia's Lair
Arena cards.
but hey, I love arena.
7 New Hearthstone Cards Revealed for Onyxia's Lair
I don't think you are necessarily wrong, it does have a must stricter requirement than duskbreaker. However we have no idea what other cards released in the miniset or for the next year of HS will synergize with. For all we know dragons could be a broken keyword, and this is pre-emptive toning down by not making it "too easy" to activate. There could be some "dragon synergy" that makes this broken (eventually, perhaps...)
Hearthstone Mercenaries Gets a Limited-Time Event Soon, Pandaria Characters Added as New Mercenaries
The notes say to make your way through all the Alterac Valley Bounties to prepare, so it looks like to complete the Tasks need to finish the all the PvE content.
Onyxia's Lair
Whales are going to spend, so nice of Blizzard to give them more ways to spend money.
Onyxia's Lair
For the special Chi-Ji event on the 22nd are they saying that we'll have to complete the current Alterac bounties first before we can access it?...
"As you prepare for this event to begin, make your way through all the Alterac Valley Bounties and take special care to strengthen your Beasts and Dragons, which will be essential for some of these Tasks."
7 New Hearthstone Cards Revealed for Onyxia's Lair
I'm really hoping that either this miniset, or the yearly rotation will give mages a chance to go back to minion based combat again. I wouldn't mind dragon mage, I loved playing dragon mage back in the DoD expansion. (plus Reno was so much fun
New Neutral Minion - Onyxian Warder
That card will be good if the new dragon package is good.
I hope that the new Onyxia will have some impactfull conditional battlecry like the new Yogg. Something like "if you sumoned 10 dragons..." or "if 10 friendly dragons died this game...".
Onyxia's Lair
Scabbs, Xyrella, and Bru'kan (And obviously Tamsin) aren't present within the trailer at all, not even during the scene with the heroes shadows.
Cariel however is so we can assume she survived being pulled off the bridge.
My bet is that our boy Bru'kan doesn't make it to Onyxia and dies defeating Tamsin, Xyrella and Scabbs might go on to save Xyrella's daughter instead of fighting against Onyxia.
New Warrior Minion - Onyxian Drake
My first thought was that this looks bonkers. Then I remembered that Groundskeeper is still in Standard, and when was the last time you saw anyone playing that? Unconditional Shield Slam is a lot better than conditional Flash Heal of course, but it's not that far off.
If Control Warrior is good, then this card will be played. If Control Warrior is struggling, I don't think this card is good enough to make an impact.
New Shaman Spell - Don't Stand in the Fire!
Reminds me of Volcano but reduced damage since it can’t hit friendlies.
Hearthstone Battlegrounds Gets 3 New Heroes, Returning Heroes, and Brand New Cosmetics Next Week
Finishers do not interest me much.
I would consider the Jade board: it is pleasant to look at, although doing battle there seems off. Too serene for such bloodshed heh. Really need a Ragnaros board to go with my bartender.
"STAY AWHILE AND LISTEN, INSECT!!"
Onyxia's Lair
People purging their collection each time we rotate cards is so tragic. The return on investment is generally garbage, and they're constantly burning a bridge one can't easily fix. I get that some people only play Standard, but still.
New Priest Minion - Lightmaw Netherdrake
I don't know if this is good immediately. Hysteria seems more consistent and flexible. It might be good enough to see play, but I'm not hopeful.
However, on rotation this should be pretty strong. Priest is lacking in midrange board clears right now, and Quest Priest has so much search and card generation. I think it's unlikely that this card will be stranded.
7 New Hearthstone Cards Revealed for Onyxia's Lair
You never finish the quest against an aggro deck anyway. All you have to do is survive until you can stabilize. I would gladly hold a card to guarantee the board swing.
Seriously, the number of times I've had to sit on Condemn (Rank 1) because it's not good until you have 5 mana hurts.
EDIT: I'm also used to holding Palm Reading until I've played my 4, for the record. It actually sucks getting your Hysteria cut to 3 mana and potentially stranding you.
New Mage Spell - Deep Breath
looks trash. I guess it's just Mage's fate to get really underwhelming cards each mini set. Let's hope the minions are good at least.
New Neutral Minion - Onyxian Warder
Looks like something that would have been printed ages ago and only ended up as Arena filler. I guess dealing 4 damage on a 3/6 stick is decent but I don't see a dedicated dragon deck spontaneously spawn from just this mini-set.
Make Your Own Luck - Card Design Competition Discussion Thread
@BloodMefist - Unfortunately, I just don't think Splintering Sword is a good card. You have to Honorably Kill something to get mediocre damage, and you only get two swings. It could be quite interesting with better numbers, but then it wouldn't work for the prompt... I'd save it for another one. The art and name are definitely worth hanging onto; they're pretty cool.
Surge of Light ain't bad. We have a good amount of 1-Mana "Heal 3 and do X" Priest cards, though; at least, it feels like we do.
New Warlock Minion - Spawn of Deathwing
Random discard is bad unless there'S a dedicated discard archetype. 6-mana is also really slow.
I think I need to point out that Brittlebone Destroyer is still in Standard and does not see play despite having excellent synergy in a powerful meta deck. If Questlock doesn't need Brittlebone it won't need this either. Same goes for Owllock (who can't run this anyways).
Hoping for some discard support in the future but right now this looks like just a meme card for meme's sake (which is still pretty funny. It's 50% Deathwing)
New Priest Minion - Lightmaw Netherdrake
Might be better than Duskbreaker. Priest no longer has issues with drawing cards as much as they used to, I doubt it's going to be hard to have both spells in your hand by turn 4...and even if you don't, there's still some redundancy with Xyrella and Hysteria so you're not exactly relying on this alone for boardclears.
They're gonna make Quest Priest into a real thing and we're all gonna hate it...
New Warrior Minion - Onyxian Drake
Quick question: Is Shield Slam on a stick for 3-more mana better than the flexibility of being able to stack armor on the same turn you use it? I'm not sure it is.
7 New Hearthstone Cards Revealed for Onyxia's Lair
It requires you to hold on to these spells, and this being a situational card makes it a big problem. Against a fast deck, you'd might be forced to not play your Thrive in the Shadows or Palm Reading on curve because you might be gambling your clear away. That's just really iffy for a board clear effect that is usually needed on demand.
New Neutral Minion - Whelp Bonker
I'd run this in Paladin without hesitation, it might even be better than Bannerman depending on the type of deck you're running. If you drop it on curve one draw is basically guaranteed and if it doesn#t get removed you can easily buff it to draw even more. Maybe that's not needed at the moment though, Paladin has some pretty decent draw these days.
Could also try and make Handbuff Warrior a thing again..