I've enjoyed following competitive Hearthstone more than I thought I would these past couple weeks, but I certainly agree things could've gotten very stale very quickly if everything remained as is. I'd also like to be able to tell more easily what to possibly play around.
I still think the most elegant solution to Il'Gynoth would have been to restrict Mo'arg Artificer to doubling damage instead of multiplying it. The same way that playing two cards that trigger battlecries twice doesn't make them trigger twice again. The effect shouldn't stack. It would require more lifesteal spells in hand to pull of the combo, similar to classic Malygos Druid, than dealing 30-100 damage with a single Felscream Blast.
our opinion is that there has never been a card which has performed better than before after being 'reworked' into a higher mana cost (the only exception being Twin Slice) - be wary of those who say otherwise.
Personally, I think that Shaman will be the top contender. I am hoping that we can get a few control decks that are viable. I've been enjoying Quest Priest with decent success. Warlock seems to be my hardest matchup with everything else being 50/50 or slightly in my favor.
It's true that this is better than frostbit when dealing with big units like Nasus, Viego, Nautilus, etc but there are many cases were frostbite is going to superior to this cards :
-Against quick attack units and lurks: Akhsan, Zed, Pyke and most of the lurk units tend to have low health allowing to get a favorable trade any time you frostbite them, with stress defense your given them 6 health which mean that they are gonna survive the trade.
-Against unit that want to strike the nexus: Champions like Ezreal, Teemo and Zoe want to strike the nexus to generate more value, card like Brittle Steel allow you to deny them that strike greatly diminishing their utility and slowing down there win con. Something you can't do with stress defense since your always giving them 1 power.
This is my fault that we've got the same thumbnail as the last article we published. I could have been lazy and reused the old thumbnail, but I recreated it. Noticed too late to get it switched out safely and tbh, it was still a good call since Avalon really hates Darkglare and legendary cards just make interesting thumbnails. I'll blame Sinti, who created the thumb for Aesan's article hours before I made this one, because I'm allowed to do that as the ruthless leader. :D
I'm so damn happy about the nerfs. Incanter's Flow, as much as I love the card, was in a stupid spot at 2 mana. Let's make Hearthstone amazing by getting rid of the hardcore mana cheating.
I really want to see a global rule to enforce cards never being able to be reduced below 1 mana. Some mana cheating is good and makes for fun gameplay, a trail of 0-cost cards is bullshit.
some of these decks were very fun and tricky to play, and I enjoyed them, but they had little to no interaction with the opponent, each player racing to get their combo first. It's not something you want for the game in the long run.
I wish the game can come back to a state where guessing your opponent's hand and playing around their potential cards actually matters.
Well, it'll make a huge difference in any game where dealing 4 damage to it is much easier than dealing 5. That certainly won't be every game, but it only has to happen in a few games in every hundred to have an appreciable impact on win rates.
It is really not fun having the animations go on forever deep into my turn! and with the amount of cards that classes play a turn it is really becoming a problem and killing my enjoyment of the game. It is not fun to waste half your turn for no good reason and watching your opponent play a milion fucking cards.
Poppy is good, but the elephant in the room here is Stress Defense. That card is bananas. The first, obvious use is to protect your own units from damage-based removal spells, and possibly heal them up as well. The other use is as a Bandle City Flash Freeze. Depending on the unit you're casting it on, setting its health to 6 can be a buff or a debuff- but the fact that you can debuff the health of massive, game-ending threats like Nasus, Viego, They Who Endure, Nautilus, etc. into a range where you can kill them, is pretty crazy.
Even if you couldn't target your own units, this card would be of comparable power with Flash Freeze, so being able to use this to save your own units from removal as well is downright humiliating for Freljord and the Frostbite package. Being able to find more copies of this with Trinket Trade and Conchologist just adds salt to the wound.
5/5. Phenomenal card which can protect your own units from combat and removal, as well as turn a mammoth-sized Nasus, Nautilus, They Who Endure, Viego, giant Elusive attacker, etc. into a much more manageable problem. Instant staple card for Bandle City, and you can even find more copies of this with the region's other instant staple card, Conchologist.
Ashe and the Frostbite package turn in their grave.
I meant Highlord Fordragon, but since you've solved both parts of the riddle that counts anyway :) You're next!
Sorry, I got confused by the Fondragons. First two lines are Bolvar Fordragon (dead minions = sort of blood magic), second part and the solution is Highlord Fordragon. I say R wins anyway, the riddle was practically solved.
2/5. Quick Attack is at its best when paired with high-attack units. The fact that this guy only buffs low-attack units with Quick Attack seriously undermines his utility.
2/5. As a unit with very poor stats and a very powerful ability, this looks like a card that could be a great recipient for buffs. The problem is, there's a much better recipient for buffs, and its name is Sparklefly. You can cast Battle Fury on Pompous Cavalier, and it'll still get chump blocked by a 1/1, not to mention that on defense, this guy is a chump blocker himself, nearly worthless vs. aggro decks.
The obvious source of buffs for this guy is Poppy, but even if you pull off that combo, a 2/2 with Double Attack is still not very impressive.
3/5. For Scout decks, Genevieve is superior to this card; it buffs units right away, including their attack, and she has Challenger on top of Scout to pick apart the enemy blockers and end the game. That doesn't mean Yordle Ranger is bad; if left unanswered, it can build an extremely resilient board very quickly. This looks like a solid enough card that's looking for a deck that she's a good fit for.
Flurgl has always been my favorite hero. He needed some love since the addition of other tribes, but this feels like a bit too much love. Basically, get to 3 stars, and start raking in those +1/+1 and +0/+2 board buffs.
I don't have 1st place with Daryl yet, with this buff I think I might finally get it.
Maiev's power isn't really about getting buffs, it's about high rolling dormant triples. But I guess now it has a better chance to survive long enough for that to work?
Shudderlings are nice, but they are useless early-to-mid game. Obviously they will be the best with Amalgadon and Brann Bronzebeard. If u will be lucky, you will get 2x mini amalgadons with divine shield and poisonous.
Fungalmancer will be op. It's my favourite hero with really high winrate. His biggest con was sometimes a problem with finding murlocs in tavern and now this con is completely removed. Even better, you can use minions like water droplet, alleycat or gambler to fill your tavern with murlocs almost for free.
Maiev is really weak, her HP is slow and buff is insignificant. If they want her viable they should decrease timer to 2, or cost to 0.
2/5. Effects that shuffle an enemy unit into its deck, such as Nautilus' Riptide and Sunk Cost, are best compared to Obliterate effects such as Falling Comet. Ejecting an enemy unit onto the top of the enemy deck is different, and worse; typically you would want to eject the biggest, most dangerous enemy unit... which your opponent can just play again next turn. That makes this spell closer to Will of Ionia than to Falling Comet, and Will of Ionia's value is as a Fast-speed tempo spell... whereas this is not Fast speed, and it's much less likely that you'll come out ahead on tempo.
With Card Nerfs Coming, This Might Be Your Last Chance to Climb Standard Ladder with Your Favorite Powerhouse Decks
I've enjoyed following competitive Hearthstone more than I thought I would these past couple weeks, but I certainly agree things could've gotten very stale very quickly if everything remained as is. I'd also like to be able to tell more easily what to possibly play around.
Our Thoughts on Hearthstone's August Stormwind Card Nerfs Including Il'gynoth & Darkglare
I still think the most elegant solution to Il'Gynoth would have been to restrict Mo'arg Artificer to doubling damage instead of multiplying it. The same way that playing two cards that trigger battlecries twice doesn't make them trigger twice again. The effect shouldn't stack. It would require more lifesteal spells in hand to pull of the combo, similar to classic Malygos Druid, than dealing 30-100 damage with a single Felscream Blast.
Our Thoughts on Hearthstone's August Stormwind Card Nerfs Including Il'gynoth & Darkglare
our opinion is that there has never been a card which has performed better than before after being 'reworked' into a higher mana cost (the only exception being Twin Slice) - be wary of those who say otherwise.
First Day of School?
Meta after the nerf?
Personally, I think that Shaman will be the top contender. I am hoping that we can get a few control decks that are viable. I've been enjoying Quest Priest with decent success. Warlock seems to be my hardest matchup with everything else being 50/50 or slightly in my favor.
What was everyone's first experience with Hearthstone?
I'd love to hear story's from everyone from your first experience and what made you fall in love with Hearthstone!
Poppy is the First New Bandle City Champion Revealed - 9 New Runeterra Cards
It's true that this is better than frostbit when dealing with big units like Nasus, Viego, Nautilus, etc but there are many cases were frostbite is going to superior to this cards :
-Against quick attack units and lurks: Akhsan, Zed, Pyke and most of the lurk units tend to have low health allowing to get a favorable trade any time you frostbite them, with stress defense your given them 6 health which mean that they are gonna survive the trade.
-Against unit that want to strike the nexus: Champions like Ezreal, Teemo and Zoe want to strike the nexus to generate more value, card like Brittle Steel allow you to deny them that strike greatly diminishing their utility and slowing down there win con. Something you can't do with stress defense since your always giving them 1 power.
Our Thoughts on Hearthstone's August Stormwind Card Nerfs Including Il'gynoth & Darkglare
This is my fault that we've got the same thumbnail as the last article we published. I could have been lazy and reused the old thumbnail, but I recreated it. Noticed too late to get it switched out safely and tbh, it was still a good call since Avalon really hates Darkglare and legendary cards just make interesting thumbnails. I'll blame Sinti, who created the thumb for Aesan's article hours before I made this one, because I'm allowed to do that as the ruthless leader. :D
I'm so damn happy about the nerfs. Incanter's Flow, as much as I love the card, was in a stupid spot at 2 mana. Let's make Hearthstone amazing by getting rid of the hardcore mana cheating.
I really want to see a global rule to enforce cards never being able to be reduced below 1 mana. Some mana cheating is good and makes for fun gameplay, a trail of 0-cost cards is bullshit.
With Card Nerfs Coming, This Might Be Your Last Chance to Climb Standard Ladder with Your Favorite Powerhouse Decks
some of these decks were very fun and tricky to play, and I enjoyed them, but they had little to no interaction with the opponent, each player racing to get their combo first. It's not something you want for the game in the long run.
I wish the game can come back to a state where guessing your opponent's hand and playing around their potential cards actually matters.
With Card Nerfs Coming, This Might Be Your Last Chance to Climb Standard Ladder with Your Favorite Powerhouse Decks
Well, it'll make a huge difference in any game where dealing 4 damage to it is much easier than dealing 5. That certainly won't be every game, but it only has to happen in a few games in every hundred to have an appreciable impact on win rates.
Meta after the nerf?
How do you think the Meta will evolve after the nerf? It seems Elemental Shaman was the less affected among the tier 1/2 decks ...
Group Therapy! Need to blow off some steam? Mega salty? Here's the place!
PLEASE FIX YOUR FUCKING ANIMATIONS BLIZZARD.
It is really not fun having the animations go on forever deep into my turn! and with the amount of cards that classes play a turn it is really becoming a problem and killing my enjoyment of the game. It is not fun to waste half your turn for no good reason and watching your opponent play a milion fucking cards.
With Card Nerfs Coming, This Might Be Your Last Chance to Climb Standard Ladder with Your Favorite Powerhouse Decks
Shaman is getting nerfed? If that one hp on op card rly change something
Handlock (No Quest!)
any replacement for the flesh giants?
[Game] Card Treasure Hunt (Hearthstone Riddles)
Dark and light.
Black and white.
Hate and love.
They from above.
Poppy is the First New Bandle City Champion Revealed - 9 New Runeterra Cards
Poppy is good, but the elephant in the room here is Stress Defense. That card is bananas. The first, obvious use is to protect your own units from damage-based removal spells, and possibly heal them up as well. The other use is as a Bandle City Flash Freeze. Depending on the unit you're casting it on, setting its health to 6 can be a buff or a debuff- but the fact that you can debuff the health of massive, game-ending threats like Nasus, Viego, They Who Endure, Nautilus, etc. into a range where you can kill them, is pretty crazy.
Even if you couldn't target your own units, this card would be of comparable power with Flash Freeze, so being able to use this to save your own units from removal as well is downright humiliating for Freljord and the Frostbite package. Being able to find more copies of this with Trinket Trade and Conchologist just adds salt to the wound.
New Bandle City Spell - Stress Defense
5/5. Phenomenal card which can protect your own units from combat and removal, as well as turn a mammoth-sized Nasus, Nautilus, They Who Endure, Viego, giant Elusive attacker, etc. into a much more manageable problem. Instant staple card for Bandle City, and you can even find more copies of this with the region's other instant staple card, Conchologist.
Ashe and the Frostbite package turn in their grave.
[Game] Card Treasure Hunt (Hearthstone Riddles)
I meant Highlord Fordragon, but since you've solved both parts of the riddle that counts anyway :) You're next!
Sorry, I got confused by the Fondragons. First two lines are Bolvar Fordragon (dead minions = sort of blood magic), second part and the solution is Highlord Fordragon. I say R wins anyway, the riddle was practically solved.
New Bandle City Card - Yordle Smith
2/5. Quick Attack is at its best when paired with high-attack units. The fact that this guy only buffs low-attack units with Quick Attack seriously undermines his utility.
New Bandle City Card - Pompous Cavalier
2/5. As a unit with very poor stats and a very powerful ability, this looks like a card that could be a great recipient for buffs. The problem is, there's a much better recipient for buffs, and its name is Sparklefly. You can cast Battle Fury on Pompous Cavalier, and it'll still get chump blocked by a 1/1, not to mention that on defense, this guy is a chump blocker himself, nearly worthless vs. aggro decks.
The obvious source of buffs for this guy is Poppy, but even if you pull off that combo, a 2/2 with Double Attack is still not very impressive.
New Bandle City Card - Yordle Ranger
3/5. For Scout decks, Genevieve is superior to this card; it buffs units right away, including their attack, and she has Challenger on top of Scout to pick apart the enemy blockers and end the game. That doesn't mean Yordle Ranger is bad; if left unanswered, it can build an extremely resilient board very quickly. This looks like a solid enough card that's looking for a deck that she's a good fit for.
[Game] Card Treasure Hunt (Hearthstone Riddles)
Bolvar, Fireblood and Highlord Fordragon. Bolvar Fordragon?
Five Battlegrounds Hero Powers Are Receiving Changes This Week - Buffs for Dancin' Daryl, Fungalmancer Flurgl, and More!
Flurgl has always been my favorite hero. He needed some love since the addition of other tribes, but this feels like a bit too much love. Basically, get to 3 stars, and start raking in those +1/+1 and +0/+2 board buffs.
I don't have 1st place with Daryl yet, with this buff I think I might finally get it.
Maiev's power isn't really about getting buffs, it's about high rolling dormant triples. But I guess now it has a better chance to survive long enough for that to work?
Five Battlegrounds Hero Powers Are Receiving Changes This Week - Buffs for Dancin' Daryl, Fungalmancer Flurgl, and More!
Shudderlings are nice, but they are useless early-to-mid game. Obviously they will be the best with Amalgadon and Brann Bronzebeard. If u will be lucky, you will get 2x mini amalgadons with divine shield and poisonous.
Fungalmancer will be op. It's my favourite hero with really high winrate. His biggest con was sometimes a problem with finding murlocs in tavern and now this con is completely removed. Even better, you can use minions like water droplet, alleycat or gambler to fill your tavern with murlocs almost for free.
Maiev is really weak, her HP is slow and buff is insignificant. If they want her viable they should decrease timer to 2, or cost to 0.
New Bandle City Spell - Keeper's Verdict
2/5. Effects that shuffle an enemy unit into its deck, such as Nautilus' Riptide and Sunk Cost, are best compared to Obliterate effects such as Falling Comet. Ejecting an enemy unit onto the top of the enemy deck is different, and worse; typically you would want to eject the biggest, most dangerous enemy unit... which your opponent can just play again next turn. That makes this spell closer to Will of Ionia than to Falling Comet, and Will of Ionia's value is as a Fast-speed tempo spell... whereas this is not Fast speed, and it's much less likely that you'll come out ahead on tempo.
[Game] Card Treasure Hunt (Hearthstone Riddles)
Negative, but close.