Considering 40% of the top 10 rated cards in the community compendium are Shaman cards, we'll probably see more Shamanstone once the meta settles. Elemental shaman will probably move more towards midrange with the help of Canal Slogger and Granite Forgeborn
Thanks! It was fun doing all the math behind the questlines, except for DH. Playtesting for 4-5 hours where maybe like 3 and a half of it is spent shuffling Soul Fragments isn't my definition of fun, but the ends justify the means. Provided we see more cards that can get those types of breakdowns, expect more like them!
I was testing it in Big Warrior during the previous meta, and was actually pretty underwhelmed. It didn't do nearly enough to help stabilize. Most decks could deal with double 2/4s way too efficiently, and it felt better relying on more removal, card draw, or value instead (War Cache might still be too greedy).
Very good for killing almost all 3 mana minions and less, I think the tradable is usable lately in game where everything is hurt and you need another card. It's a very good card
Good if played on curve, the next turn using low cost beasts and swarming. I think they recycle the art of the witchwood Piper, if I remember well the pose is exactly the same
I don't think they will add core races like undead, human, elf etc. to the game as tribes. It brings a lot of problems about Pirate tribe for example. Tribes like Moonkin might find its place in the game at future tho. We saw that for Quillboar's for example.
For playable WoW races, it is better to keep them off from game as tribes in my opinion. It opens a lot of opportunities for tribes such as Pirate again. It makes possible to make for example a Merchant or Artisan tribe. That sounds better than simple Night Elf, Undead, Goblin etc.
For diversity of undeads, it would be better to add tribes as specific as Ghoul, Abomination etc.
I agree that it doesn't make sense to add the playable races as tribes because of the presence of "profession" tribes like Pirate. (They'd have to be more like MTG and have a type and subtype to make those work together). But with respect to undead, Dean Ayala has already said it makes sense as a tribe. I think the way you square that with playable races is by calling the playable undead "Forsaken" rather than "Undead." The former is the official WoW name for the race, while the latter is something of a holdover from Warcraft 3 race names.
That would probably lead to some confusion around which cards get an Undead tag, but it would suit the idea that playable WoW races aren't tribes.
Yeah i've read about Iksar's mention and you are probably right too. If "Undead" word would be used for a tribe, it would be probably for a general tribe that contains lesser undeads but not the Forsaken. I mean, while Flesheating Ghoul or Skeleton tokens from Grim Necromancer for example gets the Undead Tribe , Sylvanas Windrunner or Crazed Alchemist wont have any tribes and this is reasonable decision and what it should be in my opinion.
I made a Fire Mage deck last expansion in Wild which was basically Hero Power mage but with (almost) all fire spells. I will need to update it once the expansion launches. I sometimes felt I ran out of steam in long games against control with that deck. This card solves that issue.
One of Mage’s new achievements is to deal 10 with a “single caste of Ignite”. So I think it continually scales from 2 to 3 to 4, etc.
With that said, Hemet with 2x Ignite, 2x Sorceror’s Apprentice, and an Auctioneer in hand. With 10 mana and an empty deck (or just 1 card remaining) you now have all five cards needed to form a new type of Exodia Mage!
The girls make Ignite free, the Auctioneer will draw one when you play the other in a continuous cycle.
I don't think they will add core races like undead, human, elf etc. to the game as tribes. It brings a lot of problems about Pirate tribe for example. Tribes like Moonkin might find its place in the game at future tho. We saw that for Quillboar's for example.
For playable WoW races, it is better to keep them off from game as tribes in my opinion. It opens a lot of opportunities for tribes such as Pirate again. It makes possible to make for example a Merchant or Artisan tribe. That sounds better than simple Night Elf, Undead, Goblin etc.
For diversity of undeads, it would be better to add tribes as specific as Ghoul, Abomination etc.
I agree that it doesn't make sense to add the playable races as tribes because of the presence of "profession" tribes like Pirate. (They'd have to be more like MTG and have a type and subtype to make those work together). But with respect to undead, Dean Ayala has already said it makes sense as a tribe. I think the way you square that with playable races is by calling the playable undead "Forsaken" rather than "Undead." The former is the official WoW name for the race, while the latter is something of a holdover from Warcraft 3 race names.
That would probably lead to some confusion around which cards get an Undead tag, but it would suit the idea that playable WoW races aren't tribes.
I don't think they will add core races like undead, human, elf etc. to the game as tribes. It brings a lot of problems about Pirate tribe for example. Tribes like Moonkin might find its place in the game at future tho. We saw that for Quillboar's for example.
For playable WoW races, it is better to keep them off from game as tribes in my opinion. It opens a lot of opportunities for tribes such as Pirate again. It makes possible to make for example a Merchant or Artisan tribe. That sounds better than simple Night Elf, Undead, Goblin etc.
For diversity of undeads, it would be better to add tribes as specific as Ghoul, Abomination etc.
Just another thought concerning the keyword "egg":
Noblegarden is a possible explanation as it warrants an egg-type - but why wouldn't they implement treant then? Treants are a quasi-tribe with actual support (Goru the Mightree, Mulchmuncher) so this seems odd.
Treants don't really need a true tribe because they are always 2 mana 2/2s with 'treant' in their name. Adding a tag doesn't make them any easier to identify or affect the existing synergies. Plus them being a pseudo-tribe allows 'dual tribes' to exist like the Treant Totem summoned by Runic Carvings, without needing to modify the game to allow pairs of normal tribes. (I know a lot of people would like that to happen, but it's clear Blizz isn't keen on it.)
It's the same story with all the pseudo-tribes: they are all limited series of cards or tokens that specify their tribe in their name. Poisons in rogue are perhaps the most compelling case I can think of. They are all nature spells, and hence 'dual tribe' spells, but not all of rogue's nature spells are poisons. Apothecary Helbrim would only need to specify 'rogue nature spells' to work the same in Standard, but in Wild it makes a huge difference because a weapon rogue wouldn't want to get Hallucination, Razorpetal Volley or Mimic Pod of of him.
So I guess my conclusion is that pseudo-tribes are a useful extra degree of freedom that have benefits that outweigh the cost of maintaining two distinct ways of doing more or less the same thing. Its quite rare they actually capitalise on those benefits, but it's also rare [edit: there are any problems either].
New Shaman Minion - Canal Slogger
Very strong heal and support for elemental shaman, even without windfury is better than Walking Fountain
New Neutral Minion - City Architect
Maybe is not the most powerful card, but they are good for evolve shaman if you have the weapon already equipped
New Neutral Minion - Guild Trader
Wow, I think with the spell scholls we don't get more plain spell damage support, but I am glad to see it
New Neutral Minion - Northshire Farmer
Sword of a Thousand Truths will be enabled for all classes with this card, maybe is not the best win condition but..... For the Memes!!!!
New Paladin Minion - Catacomb Guard
It seems handbuff will be a thing on standard, but in wild probably it will be strong that is right now, with this removal can get soon to face
Eight Budget-Friendly Theorycraft Decks for Day One of United in Stormwind
Thanks for the deck lists! I know my F2P account will definitely be using some of these as I only managed to hoard 2100 gold there
Reviewing Hearthstone's New Shaman Cards Arriving With United in Stormwind
Considering 40% of the top 10 rated cards in the community compendium are Shaman cards, we'll probably see more Shamanstone once the meta settles. Elemental shaman will probably move more towards midrange with the help of Canal Slogger and Granite Forgeborn
Survive the United in Stormwind Launch! Day 1 Decks to Try, Freebies, and Everything You Need to Know About the Expansion
Thanks! It was fun doing all the math behind the questlines, except for DH. Playtesting for 4-5 hours where maybe like 3 and a half of it is spent shuffling Soul Fragments isn't my definition of fun, but the ends justify the means. Provided we see more cards that can get those types of breakdowns, expect more like them!
Survive the United in Stormwind Launch! Day 1 Decks to Try, Freebies, and Everything You Need to Know About the Expansion
I can't find the Tavern Pass in the shop; when does it go on sale? Nice write-up by the way!
The Big Company
I was testing it in Big Warrior during the previous meta, and was actually pretty underwhelmed. It didn't do nearly enough to help stabilize. Most decks could deal with double 2/4s way too efficiently, and it felt better relying on more removal, card draw, or value instead (War Cache might still be too greedy).
New Shaman Minion - Spirit Alpha
This on mulligan plus Lightning Bloom and Lightning Bolts is a very powerful tempo swing, the next turn you take off overload with the 1 mana spell
New Paladin Minion - Highlord Fordragon
This on turn 10 with 3 or 4 1 mana divine shields and broomstick is the wet dream of handbuff.
New Hunter Spell - Defend the Dwarven District
It's only a matter of time that someone will make it works on an odd deck in wild, I am getting razakus priest flashbacks right now.
Can be a spell hunter with huge pressure via the hero power.
Really like it
New Rogue Spell - SI:7 Extortion
Very good for killing almost all 3 mana minions and less, I think the tradable is usable lately in game where everything is hurt and you need another card. It's a very good card
The Big Company
Why no Barricade?
New Mage Minion - Sanctum Chandler
It can enable an otk combo with Ignite if it is the only fire spell in your deck, with some cost reduction will be like Mozaki Frost Mage
New Hunter Minion - Stormwind Piper
Good if played on curve, the next turn using low cost beasts and swarming. I think they recycle the art of the witchwood Piper, if I remember well the pose is exactly the same
New Neutral Minion - Varian, King of Stormwind
The king of Stormwind is very strong as I wanted to be, for respect to his character. Great draw engine and a lot of keywords. I really like it
New minion types incoming? (Spoiler or internal testing?)
Yeah i've read about Iksar's mention and you are probably right too. If "Undead" word would be used for a tribe, it would be probably for a general tribe that contains lesser undeads but not the Forsaken. I mean, while Flesheating Ghoul or Skeleton tokens from Grim Necromancer for example gets the Undead Tribe , Sylvanas Windrunner or Crazed Alchemist wont have any tribes and this is reasonable decision and what it should be in my opinion.
Ignite
I made a Fire Mage deck last expansion in Wild which was basically Hero Power mage but with (almost) all fire spells. I will need to update it once the expansion launches. I sometimes felt I ran out of steam in long games against control with that deck. This card solves that issue.
Ignite
One of Mage’s new achievements is to deal 10 with a “single caste of Ignite”. So I think it continually scales from 2 to 3 to 4, etc.
With that said, Hemet with 2x Ignite, 2x Sorceror’s Apprentice, and an Auctioneer in hand. With 10 mana and an empty deck (or just 1 card remaining) you now have all five cards needed to form a new type of Exodia Mage!
The girls make Ignite free, the Auctioneer will draw one when you play the other in a continuous cycle.
Reviewing Hearthstone's New Warlock Cards Arriving With United in Stormwind
Same same for this flavor text for Entitled Customer. Much better than Blizzard's one
New minion types incoming? (Spoiler or internal testing?)
I agree that it doesn't make sense to add the playable races as tribes because of the presence of "profession" tribes like Pirate. (They'd have to be more like MTG and have a type and subtype to make those work together). But with respect to undead, Dean Ayala has already said it makes sense as a tribe. I think the way you square that with playable races is by calling the playable undead "Forsaken" rather than "Undead." The former is the official WoW name for the race, while the latter is something of a holdover from Warcraft 3 race names.
That would probably lead to some confusion around which cards get an Undead tag, but it would suit the idea that playable WoW races aren't tribes.
New minion types incoming? (Spoiler or internal testing?)
I don't think they will add core races like undead, human, elf etc. to the game as tribes. It brings a lot of problems about Pirate tribe for example. Tribes like Moonkin might find its place in the game at future tho. We saw that for Quillboar's for example.
For playable WoW races, it is better to keep them off from game as tribes in my opinion. It opens a lot of opportunities for tribes such as Pirate again. It makes possible to make for example a Merchant or Artisan tribe. That sounds better than simple Night Elf, Undead, Goblin etc.
For diversity of undeads, it would be better to add tribes as specific as Ghoul, Abomination etc.
New minion types incoming? (Spoiler or internal testing?)
Treants don't really need a true tribe because they are always 2 mana 2/2s with 'treant' in their name. Adding a tag doesn't make them any easier to identify or affect the existing synergies. Plus them being a pseudo-tribe allows 'dual tribes' to exist like the Treant Totem summoned by Runic Carvings, without needing to modify the game to allow pairs of normal tribes. (I know a lot of people would like that to happen, but it's clear Blizz isn't keen on it.)
It's the same story with all the pseudo-tribes: they are all limited series of cards or tokens that specify their tribe in their name. Poisons in rogue are perhaps the most compelling case I can think of. They are all nature spells, and hence 'dual tribe' spells, but not all of rogue's nature spells are poisons. Apothecary Helbrim would only need to specify 'rogue nature spells' to work the same in Standard, but in Wild it makes a huge difference because a weapon rogue wouldn't want to get Hallucination, Razorpetal Volley or Mimic Pod of of him.
So I guess my conclusion is that pseudo-tribes are a useful extra degree of freedom that have benefits that outweigh the cost of maintaining two distinct ways of doing more or less the same thing. Its quite rare they actually capitalise on those benefits, but it's also rare [edit: there are any problems either].