Sure these are nerfs on the most powerful cards right now but are they reaĺly impactful?
Well I doubt it. Removing 1 Health from both Ruin Runner and Merciless Hunter doesn't make them a lot weaker since all the merciless Hunter nerf will do is making the unit more vulnerable to spell removal, which is not worth it most of the time for a 3 mana unit and Ruin Runner cares even less about 1 health lost.
Shaped Stone however drops significantly through 1 attack nerf and in combination with these nerfs could drop the shuriman midrange deck's winrate by 2-3% still it doesn't really impress me.
In my personal opinion, lore doesn't seem to be the main priority of LoR when deciding "what region should this Champion be?". Also it's not like Yordles are the only ones who are multi-region, there are Faes and Poro Sled as well. I don't think it's impossible for them to make multi-region a Bandle City exclusive identity. So honestly, I'm down for making more cards multi-region.
However, I don't think they should give it to champions that NEED their current regions to work. Zoe is a good example of this. You could give her any region and she'd be making use of it appropriately. However, someone like Ashe having a second region is pointless. I also don't think that giving it to only bad champs because they are bad is justified. Good champions could also get it, even if the new way to build them is worse. It'd still be interesting for the most part.
Elise being in Noxus would finally make Spiders less linear in deckbuilding even if it would be "just run PnZ burn" or smth along those lines. It's always weird as well since Elise's cards are in Noxus and she's supposed to be a Noxian noble of some sort (idk LoR lore but I'm pretty sure this is true). Though I can't really find many champions that fit Elise's circumstances as well.
Maybe Nasus since he's death-related? I would be a bit more scared of this than Elise because it'd be giving him access to Atrocity without running a second region.
Hecarim I could see being in other regions, mainly because he doesn't strictly stay in SI and roams around Runeterra. Giving him a second region would help whether it's Ionia or Demacia. Still it wouldn't really pull him out of SI so I don't see a purpose to it.
I could see Vlad becoming more viable if you gave him a second region but I can't really see it helping him that much. Theoretically only Freljord or Bilgewater could make sense in deckbuilding. So perhaps giving him a multi-region card or two of Freljord/Noxus makes more sense in that regard.
Taric could go to Demacia and it would probably be the most impactful out of all these. Though his Targon cards are equally powerful in terms of supporting him that I can't imagine too many ways to deckbuild even if he is in Demacia.
Riven could go to Ionia since she's already in Ionia anyways but I can't find it helping her that much in deckbuilding. Her support cards are in Noxus after all. Though if they were to go to Ionia as well, that'd be a bit more interesting.
Other than that followers that make sense in other regions could go there as well. Ruined followers could make sense out of their intended region and fit in SI pretty easily.
That's about all I could think of. I don't think lore should be the deciding factor but rather their theme, nor should their strength be one as well. It should be whether or not that change will breed new decks, I think that's the most important thing.
A little over 5 months since my last entry, and well, I'm pleased to announced some progress on all my remaining not 1k-certified classes - Druid, Shaman, Mage and Demon Hunter - and also completed long overdue Warrior's thousand-of-wins' portrait! ... well, I sorta-kinda-didn't really, as with one of the latest update for duels, we were retroactively granted our arena's & brawls ... which only really impacted the classes I've already abused well over 1000 wins, but heey! So here it is :
Most noticeable progresses were accomplished with Mage & Shaman, both closing in their last 100 or so, then I tried lots of variations of druid, but have yet to find my jazz. Maybe it'll be more inspiring once I am done with my current 2 main'ish class. At least, I'm having loads of fun with the new shaman elementals tool box.
I'll hopefully update next with 2 brand new hero portraits !
That sounds really interesting, in that case I think a card that like that would be really cool, sorry for the misunderstanding and I look forward to seeing more of your work in the future.
Hey Jimmothy, this is Banterbox. The idea behind Elise the Earthbound is indeed that you get to pick 3 Beasts in your collection to form the pack. That way, you could create some nifty combos between Beasts from all sorts of class to form a synergy, or reliably slot in some tech cards like you mentioned with Rustrot Viper. Happy you enjoyed the set!
Yeah I guess they kind of cornered themselves a bit by making the only multi-region cards Yordle specific.
That being said newly printed cards can essentially do anything. So as the expansions roll out I imagine the multi region potential will be further fleshed out naturally.
It has been a while since I played Battlegrounds, but most of these seem really strong to me. Pirates, not so much, but I may just lack the experience to see it.
I don't think that making mediocre champions multi region is gonna make them good.
Also some champions like A/Sol, Karma, Elise and TF don't need any buff. A/Sol and Karma just need the meta to slow down a bit. Elise don't need to always be top tier especially since she was was part of so many tier 1 decks. Whereas many champions couldn't even get a tier 3 deck, it's okay for her just be decent. And we all saw what happens when TF spirals out of control.
Warlock and Mage are popular in all brackets. The two of them combined make up at least 25% of the meta at every level. Try as you might, you cannot cherry-pick data that contradicts that.
A deck that beats the meta is a good deck. It doesn't matter if you think it's weak in a vacuum. This game isn't played in a vacuum.
The Bandle Tree : Average. While I'm not sold on it being a main wincon, it seems like a decent value generation against slower matchup. But I'll not rate it above average. If it's meta, it's because Poppy is bonkers.
Hexplosive Minefield : Stronk. Inexpensive stun which support destroy decks. It's only minor downside is that destroy landmark sources are mostly slow/ally based, making it a bit less reactive than a fast spell unless you have Unleashed energy. But for the double effect honestly who cares at this price.
Catalogue of Regrets : Below average. It kinda falls in those amulets which are a tad to slow to be a thing, but should meta become any slower (lol), it MIGHT be a good pick in certain decks.
Risen Altar : Below average. The cost is hella big so if you can play it on your defensive turn you are probably already winning the game. Which means you'll mostly play it on your offensive turn to be used either in your defensive turn with the help of Unleashed energy, or in the next offensive turn. Either way it's sluggish and it only looks scary until you acknowledge Sivir exists.
Obelisk of power : Good. A bit whacky to use but it's inexpensive for what it provides. Especially compaired to its absolute garbage counterpart, Spiral Stairs
Champions cards
Ziggs : Stronk/Good. Massive pressure cooker in a premium body, and fairly easy to evolve. Also Shurima so Sun Disc friendly. Probably a staple in any midrange Landmark deck.
Xerath : Average. I don't think there is enough support atm to make him works. The main problem after some test is that you either tune a deck to be Xerath oriented (so a lot of countdown reduction) and it will be sluggish, either you tune a deck for something a tad faster and board oriented and he'll mostly be a strictly worse Ziggs. Still, I smell some huge potential, so rate it average.
Landmarks related cards
Bomber twins : Stronk/Good. The landmark is totally random but with the support of several destroy card, even a bad/unrelated landmark can become destroy fodder. And the body is premium, making it "at worst" a 3/2 for 2. And it's Shurima so Sun disc friendly. What more to ask?
The Arsenal : Stronk. It's late in the game but what a monster. A bit on the random part but getting the much needed spellshield should happens fairly often.
Yordle Contraption : Abysmal. Hella expensive for any of its effect.
Inventive chemist - Scrappy bomb : Good/Average. An agressive statline and a free landmark is good in my books. Only downside is its large weakness to any aggro/token deck.
Safety Inspector - Inspection Passed : Average/Bad. I do see the point in landing a big ass follower followed by a free removal, but I'm still not sold in playing this with, or over, rite of the arcane
Rite of the Arcane : Good/Average. It's obviously made for a landmark deck, but in those deck it's almost a deal 4 for 3, which is okay.
Waste Walker : Good. If it sees a single landmark being destroyed it's dangerous for the opponent. Any landmark beyond that will make them sweat.
Sandseer: Below average. I UNDERSTAND what it tries to accomplish but Landmark decks are so crowded with staples that such a clumsy and random draw engine sounds... hella unappealing. Stick to Preservarium.
Herald of the magus : Good/Average. A tad slow but quite the creepy effect. It fits reasonably well most Shuriman champions.
Unleashed energy : Average. It's noticeably more expensive than its 1 mana counterpart but support destroy landmark, and is currently the only uncounterable destroy effect. It's downside is that it best support Xerath, but the buff isn't really Xerath friendly.
Ruinous acolyte : Average/Bad. On paper it sounds scary. On test, it seems to barely if ever get dangerous enough to be relevant. Still it's a pretty cheap destroy source.
Endless devout - Sarcophagus - Restored Devout : Uber. It's cheap enough that silencing it doesn't sound so good, and its body is good enough that it will deal with most early game. The amulet is very stronk and heavily support possibly every single Landmark deck. And it curves with Desert Naturalist. Probably a mandatory card in any landmark deck.
Servitude of desolation : Bad. It's quite the effect, but it's hella expensive, so it will only fit very slow decks. And I fail to see in which situation you need this over its mono-targetted 2 mana counterpart. Maybe as a one off in a Xerath control deck, if it's ever a thing?
Construct of Desolation : Average. It's more support for Ruinous acolyte, or more Obelisk of power, so I can see it being played.
So all in all it seems the expansion add a LOT of opportunities, which I can only rejoice.
You're right, I missed that interaction. Thing is though, Majordomo tends to be one of those scaling engines you drop the fastest since he's so restrictive on your attack order. Doesn't mean you can't get a ton of stats on Master of Realities in the few turns you keep him though. Those stats might be all you need to get a good head start. Still, the fact that he's not an Elemental himself means he's gonna be a tough buy. If you have Nomi or Newnomi even a tier 1 elemental will have better stats than Master and will help you scale your future stuff, and if you have Rag you don't want to be spending 3 gold on a non-Elemental either.
Beasts are fine, since Goldrinn, Macaw and Hydra are still there. Also, a key note is that Brittlebone accounts for any card you add to hand, so they can work with a lot of tribes. Even the new Bootlegger gives some mid-game scaling.
I don't think Pirates are SOLELY reliant on Hoggar, since Goldrubber exists and has recevied some support. But Hoggar will definitely be the best catalyst for Pirate builds, but that remains to be seen.
Not to go "off-topic", but Master of Realities might be great with a Majordomo feeding your left-most Ele +X/+X stats one at a time. That's the only way I see it popping off, but the possibility exists *shrugs*
Nowhere near as good as Garr, though, even if its Attack could end up higher.
That's my point though. Pirates already essentially cannot function without Hoggar, what with Southsea Strongarm and Salty Looter heavily pushing you to just spam Pirates like there's no tomorrow (or turn timer). And the only new thing they got for scaling is another card that's only really any good with Hoggar. So you have to get Hoggar to really be able to scale those cards but since those cards are so bad without Hoggar, you're more often than not gonna find yourself in a situation where you can buy or triple into a Hoggar, but you don't have any of the cards that combine with him because they were so bad on their own. You don't even really have a good early game progression, since Southsea Captain and Bloodsail Cannoneer are now gone. A stupid little Sewer Rat on Beast Tier 2 is better stats than most of the stuff Pirates have up to tier 5.
When you look at Elementals, those bastards scale on Tier 2 with Party Elemental (and Molten Rock self-scaling), Tier 4 with Majordomo and now the new Nomi, Tier 5 with actual Nomi, Tier 6 with Rag. Not gonna count the new Master of Realities cause I think that's gonna be trash. In addition, Elementals have access to Divine Shield, Windfury and pseudo-Cleave. Pirates now only have stats, cause they lost their one Windfury minion, and they have a harder time scaling those stats at most points in the game it seems to me. We'll have to see how good the economy aspect of Pirates is, but from what I'm seeing right now, it's not great. At least not great enough to make up for the inability to scale properly without one key card. Dragons had that same problem but at least they were unstoppable in the lategame if they got there. Pirates fold to a couple poisonous Murlocs with more than 50 health.
Essentially, what I'm getting at is: Pirates are by far the worst tribe in the game right now. And yet they seem to have gotten the least out of the patch beside Quillboars. All the other tribes are getting some pretty revolutionary stuff, mostly through new ways to scale or new ways to even build a composition from the ground up. Pirates are mostly stuck to what they were already doing (economy and Pirate churning), and what they were already doing wasn't working before all this new stuff came in. Why should it work now? The only tribe that may potentially end up taking a drop in power is Beasts because almost everything they're getting seems to be heavily dependent on things dying in the order you want them to and they lost Pack Leader. Then again, if the Reanimating Rattler works the way I think it does (i.e. permanent Reborn), Beasts are gonna be insane.
I have just reached for the 9th time in the month Diamond 1 + 3 stars.
All the previous times, this was the start of a sequence of losses, leading to restart the process to reach Legend ... now I decided to stop and go to bed ... Let see tomorrow, the last day of the month, if I finally succeed to reach Legend ...
Menagerie doesn't even need Mythrax. He's pretty much just the preamble until you find Aggem or Lightfang and he only makes sense if you start scaling him early.
Riot Targets Dominant and Disruptive Runeterra Decks With 5 Card Nerfs Coming in a Pre-Worlds Hotfix
Sure these are nerfs on the most powerful cards right now but are they reaĺly impactful?
Well I doubt it. Removing 1 Health from both Ruin Runner and Merciless Hunter doesn't make them a lot weaker since all the merciless Hunter nerf will do is making the unit more vulnerable to spell removal, which is not worth it most of the time for a 3 mana unit and Ruin Runner cares even less about 1 health lost.
Shaped Stone however drops significantly through 1 attack nerf and in combination with these nerfs could drop the shuriman midrange deck's winrate by 2-3% still it doesn't really impress me.
Riot Targets Dominant and Disruptive Runeterra Decks With 5 Card Nerfs Coming in a Pre-Worlds Hotfix
These are some of the biggest changes I have seen for LoR in a while, yet somehow it's a hotfix? Well, I'm not complaining.
Hearthstone Battlegrounds Is Getting a Large Revamp Tomorrow! 37 New Minions, New Keyword & More!
Is the PupBot running away from exploding sheep? Adorable!
New Multiregion Champs
In my personal opinion, lore doesn't seem to be the main priority of LoR when deciding "what region should this Champion be?". Also it's not like Yordles are the only ones who are multi-region, there are Faes and Poro Sled as well. I don't think it's impossible for them to make multi-region a Bandle City exclusive identity. So honestly, I'm down for making more cards multi-region.
However, I don't think they should give it to champions that NEED their current regions to work. Zoe is a good example of this. You could give her any region and she'd be making use of it appropriately. However, someone like Ashe having a second region is pointless. I also don't think that giving it to only bad champs because they are bad is justified. Good champions could also get it, even if the new way to build them is worse. It'd still be interesting for the most part.
Elise being in Noxus would finally make Spiders less linear in deckbuilding even if it would be "just run PnZ burn" or smth along those lines. It's always weird as well since Elise's cards are in Noxus and she's supposed to be a Noxian noble of some sort (idk LoR lore but I'm pretty sure this is true). Though I can't really find many champions that fit Elise's circumstances as well.
Maybe Nasus since he's death-related? I would be a bit more scared of this than Elise because it'd be giving him access to Atrocity without running a second region.
Hecarim I could see being in other regions, mainly because he doesn't strictly stay in SI and roams around Runeterra. Giving him a second region would help whether it's Ionia or Demacia. Still it wouldn't really pull him out of SI so I don't see a purpose to it.
I could see Vlad becoming more viable if you gave him a second region but I can't really see it helping him that much. Theoretically only Freljord or Bilgewater could make sense in deckbuilding. So perhaps giving him a multi-region card or two of Freljord/Noxus makes more sense in that regard.
Taric could go to Demacia and it would probably be the most impactful out of all these. Though his Targon cards are equally powerful in terms of supporting him that I can't imagine too many ways to deckbuild even if he is in Demacia.
Riven could go to Ionia since she's already in Ionia anyways but I can't find it helping her that much in deckbuilding. Her support cards are in Noxus after all. Though if they were to go to Ionia as well, that'd be a bit more interesting.
Other than that followers that make sense in other regions could go there as well. Ruined followers could make sense out of their intended region and fit in SI pretty easily.
That's about all I could think of. I don't think lore should be the deciding factor but rather their theme, nor should their strength be one as well. It should be whether or not that change will breed new decks, I think that's the most important thing.
Golden Hero Portrait - Completionist & Grind
A little over 5 months since my last entry, and well, I'm pleased to announced some progress on all my remaining not 1k-certified classes - Druid, Shaman, Mage and Demon Hunter - and also completed long overdue Warrior's thousand-of-wins' portrait! ... well, I sorta-kinda-didn't really, as with one of the latest update for duels, we were retroactively granted our arena's & brawls ... which only really impacted the classes I've already abused well over 1000 wins, but heey! So here it is :
Demon Hunter 125
Druid 767
Hunter 1068
Mage 935
Paladin 1111
Priest 1026
Rogue 1279
Shaman 899
Warlock 1176
Warrior 1000
Most noticeable progresses were accomplished with Mage & Shaman, both closing in their last 100 or so, then I tried lots of variations of druid, but have yet to find my jazz. Maybe it'll be more inspiring once I am done with my current 2 main'ish class. At least, I'm having loads of fun with the new shaman elementals tool box.
I'll hopefully update next with 2 brand new hero portraits !
Banterbox's "A Tale Untold" Custom Set - Hearthstone Fan Community Spotlight
Heh, so he created a Reno that turns into a dragon before we knew he was canonically a dragon.
New Patch Is fun but...
If I knew why I don't find the game fun presently, I'd be happy to give criticism that is more specific and constructive.
Unfortunately, there is nothing clear that I can point to for why I don't find it fun anymore. Maybe it's just me, who knows.
(A response to TheTrifarianGeneral)
Banterbox's "A Tale Untold" Custom Set - Hearthstone Fan Community Spotlight
That sounds really interesting, in that case I think a card that like that would be really cool, sorry for the misunderstanding and I look forward to seeing more of your work in the future.
Banterbox's "A Tale Untold" Custom Set - Hearthstone Fan Community Spotlight
Hey Jimmothy, this is Banterbox. The idea behind Elise the Earthbound is indeed that you get to pick 3 Beasts in your collection to form the pack. That way, you could create some nifty combos between Beasts from all sorts of class to form a synergy, or reliably slot in some tech cards like you mentioned with Rustrot Viper. Happy you enjoyed the set!
New Multiregion Champs
The only champion that thematically makes sense to be multi region out of your examples is Taric who has a strong connection to demacia lorewise.
For the rest however... not so much
Hearthstone Battlegrounds Is Getting a Large Revamp Tomorrow! 37 New Minions, New Keyword & More!
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles flavour is strong with that Sewer Rat. Love it!
Cursed ladder ?
Good luck, I hope you make it.
New Multiregion Champs
Yeah I guess they kind of cornered themselves a bit by making the only multi-region cards Yordle specific.
That being said newly printed cards can essentially do anything. So as the expansions roll out I imagine the multi region potential will be further fleshed out naturally.
Hearthstone Battlegrounds Is Getting a Large Revamp Tomorrow! 37 New Minions, New Keyword & More!
It has been a while since I played Battlegrounds, but most of these seem really strong to me. Pirates, not so much, but I may just lack the experience to see it.
New Multiregion Champs
I don't think that making mediocre champions multi region is gonna make them good.
Also some champions like A/Sol, Karma, Elise and TF don't need any buff. A/Sol and Karma just need the meta to slow down a bit. Elise don't need to always be top tier especially since she was was part of so many tier 1 decks. Whereas many champions couldn't even get a tier 3 deck, it's okay for her just be decent. And we all saw what happens when TF spirals out of control.
The Best Standard Hearthstone Decks According to Blizzard for Stormwind's Big Nerf Patch
Warlock and Mage are popular in all brackets. The two of them combined make up at least 25% of the meta at every level. Try as you might, you cannot cherry-pick data that contradicts that.
A deck that beats the meta is a good deck. It doesn't matter if you think it's weak in a vacuum. This game isn't played in a vacuum.
Hearthstone Battlegrounds Is Getting a Large Revamp Tomorrow! 37 New Minions, New Keyword & More!
good thing I got the battlegrounds weekly quest
Landmarks, the impossible equation ?
A review of the new ones with Bandlewood :
Landmarks
The Bandle Tree : Average. While I'm not sold on it being a main wincon, it seems like a decent value generation against slower matchup. But I'll not rate it above average. If it's meta, it's because Poppy is bonkers.
Hexplosive Minefield : Stronk. Inexpensive stun which support destroy decks. It's only minor downside is that destroy landmark sources are mostly slow/ally based, making it a bit less reactive than a fast spell unless you have Unleashed energy. But for the double effect honestly who cares at this price.
Catalogue of Regrets : Below average. It kinda falls in those amulets which are a tad to slow to be a thing, but should meta become any slower (lol), it MIGHT be a good pick in certain decks.
Risen Altar : Below average. The cost is hella big so if you can play it on your defensive turn you are probably already winning the game. Which means you'll mostly play it on your offensive turn to be used either in your defensive turn with the help of Unleashed energy, or in the next offensive turn. Either way it's sluggish and it only looks scary until you acknowledge Sivir exists.
Obelisk of power : Good. A bit whacky to use but it's inexpensive for what it provides. Especially compaired to its absolute garbage counterpart, Spiral Stairs
Champions cards
Ziggs : Stronk/Good. Massive pressure cooker in a premium body, and fairly easy to evolve. Also Shurima so Sun Disc friendly. Probably a staple in any midrange Landmark deck.
Xerath : Average. I don't think there is enough support atm to make him works. The main problem after some test is that you either tune a deck to be Xerath oriented (so a lot of countdown reduction) and it will be sluggish, either you tune a deck for something a tad faster and board oriented and he'll mostly be a strictly worse Ziggs. Still, I smell some huge potential, so rate it average.
Landmarks related cards
Bomber twins : Stronk/Good. The landmark is totally random but with the support of several destroy card, even a bad/unrelated landmark can become destroy fodder. And the body is premium, making it "at worst" a 3/2 for 2. And it's Shurima so Sun disc friendly. What more to ask?
The Arsenal : Stronk. It's late in the game but what a monster. A bit on the random part but getting the much needed spellshield should happens fairly often.
Yordle Contraption : Abysmal. Hella expensive for any of its effect.
Inventive chemist - Scrappy bomb : Good/Average. An agressive statline and a free landmark is good in my books. Only downside is its large weakness to any aggro/token deck.
Safety Inspector - Inspection Passed : Average/Bad. I do see the point in landing a big ass follower followed by a free removal, but I'm still not sold in playing this with, or over, rite of the arcane
Rite of the Arcane : Good/Average. It's obviously made for a landmark deck, but in those deck it's almost a deal 4 for 3, which is okay.
Waste Walker : Good. If it sees a single landmark being destroyed it's dangerous for the opponent. Any landmark beyond that will make them sweat.
Sandseer: Below average. I UNDERSTAND what it tries to accomplish but Landmark decks are so crowded with staples that such a clumsy and random draw engine sounds... hella unappealing. Stick to Preservarium.
Herald of the magus : Good/Average. A tad slow but quite the creepy effect. It fits reasonably well most Shuriman champions.
Unleashed energy : Average. It's noticeably more expensive than its 1 mana counterpart but support destroy landmark, and is currently the only uncounterable destroy effect. It's downside is that it best support Xerath, but the buff isn't really Xerath friendly.
Ruinous acolyte : Average/Bad. On paper it sounds scary. On test, it seems to barely if ever get dangerous enough to be relevant. Still it's a pretty cheap destroy source.
Endless devout - Sarcophagus - Restored Devout : Uber. It's cheap enough that silencing it doesn't sound so good, and its body is good enough that it will deal with most early game. The amulet is very stronk and heavily support possibly every single Landmark deck. And it curves with Desert Naturalist. Probably a mandatory card in any landmark deck.
Servitude of desolation : Bad. It's quite the effect, but it's hella expensive, so it will only fit very slow decks. And I fail to see in which situation you need this over its mono-targetted 2 mana counterpart. Maybe as a one off in a Xerath control deck, if it's ever a thing?
Construct of Desolation : Average. It's more support for Ruinous acolyte, or more Obelisk of power, so I can see it being played.
So all in all it seems the expansion add a LOT of opportunities, which I can only rejoice.
Hearthstone Battlegrounds Is Getting a Large Revamp Tomorrow! 37 New Minions, New Keyword & More!
I'm kinda sad that Warden of Old, Iron Sensei, Nat Pagle, Extreme Angler, and Faceless Taverngoer are being removed, but all these new cards should keep things fresh for a while!
Hearthstone Battlegrounds Is Getting a Large Revamp Tomorrow! 37 New Minions, New Keyword & More!
You're right, I missed that interaction. Thing is though, Majordomo tends to be one of those scaling engines you drop the fastest since he's so restrictive on your attack order. Doesn't mean you can't get a ton of stats on Master of Realities in the few turns you keep him though. Those stats might be all you need to get a good head start. Still, the fact that he's not an Elemental himself means he's gonna be a tough buy. If you have Nomi or Newnomi even a tier 1 elemental will have better stats than Master and will help you scale your future stuff, and if you have Rag you don't want to be spending 3 gold on a non-Elemental either.
Hearthstone Battlegrounds Is Getting a Large Revamp Tomorrow! 37 New Minions, New Keyword & More!
Beasts are fine, since Goldrinn, Macaw and Hydra are still there. Also, a key note is that Brittlebone accounts for any card you add to hand, so they can work with a lot of tribes. Even the new Bootlegger gives some mid-game scaling.
I don't think Pirates are SOLELY reliant on Hoggar, since Goldrubber exists and has recevied some support. But Hoggar will definitely be the best catalyst for Pirate builds, but that remains to be seen.
Hearthstone Battlegrounds Is Getting a Large Revamp Tomorrow! 37 New Minions, New Keyword & More!
Not to go "off-topic", but Master of Realities might be great with a Majordomo feeding your left-most Ele +X/+X stats one at a time. That's the only way I see it popping off, but the possibility exists *shrugs*
Nowhere near as good as Garr, though, even if its Attack could end up higher.
Hearthstone Battlegrounds Is Getting a Large Revamp Tomorrow! 37 New Minions, New Keyword & More!
That's my point though. Pirates already essentially cannot function without Hoggar, what with Southsea Strongarm and Salty Looter heavily pushing you to just spam Pirates like there's no tomorrow (or turn timer). And the only new thing they got for scaling is another card that's only really any good with Hoggar. So you have to get Hoggar to really be able to scale those cards but since those cards are so bad without Hoggar, you're more often than not gonna find yourself in a situation where you can buy or triple into a Hoggar, but you don't have any of the cards that combine with him because they were so bad on their own. You don't even really have a good early game progression, since Southsea Captain and Bloodsail Cannoneer are now gone. A stupid little Sewer Rat on Beast Tier 2 is better stats than most of the stuff Pirates have up to tier 5.
When you look at Elementals, those bastards scale on Tier 2 with Party Elemental (and Molten Rock self-scaling), Tier 4 with Majordomo and now the new Nomi, Tier 5 with actual Nomi, Tier 6 with Rag. Not gonna count the new Master of Realities cause I think that's gonna be trash. In addition, Elementals have access to Divine Shield, Windfury and pseudo-Cleave. Pirates now only have stats, cause they lost their one Windfury minion, and they have a harder time scaling those stats at most points in the game it seems to me. We'll have to see how good the economy aspect of Pirates is, but from what I'm seeing right now, it's not great. At least not great enough to make up for the inability to scale properly without one key card. Dragons had that same problem but at least they were unstoppable in the lategame if they got there. Pirates fold to a couple poisonous Murlocs with more than 50 health.
Essentially, what I'm getting at is: Pirates are by far the worst tribe in the game right now. And yet they seem to have gotten the least out of the patch beside Quillboars. All the other tribes are getting some pretty revolutionary stuff, mostly through new ways to scale or new ways to even build a composition from the ground up. Pirates are mostly stuck to what they were already doing (economy and Pirate churning), and what they were already doing wasn't working before all this new stuff came in. Why should it work now? The only tribe that may potentially end up taking a drop in power is Beasts because almost everything they're getting seems to be heavily dependent on things dying in the order you want them to and they lost Pack Leader. Then again, if the Reanimating Rattler works the way I think it does (i.e. permanent Reborn), Beasts are gonna be insane.
Cursed ladder ?
I have just reached for the 9th time in the month Diamond 1 + 3 stars.
All the previous times, this was the start of a sequence of losses, leading to restart the process to reach Legend ... now I decided to stop and go to bed ... Let see tomorrow, the last day of the month, if I finally succeed to reach Legend ...
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Menagerie doesn't even need Mythrax. He's pretty much just the preamble until you find Aggem or Lightfang and he only makes sense if you start scaling him early.