Pretty interesting design, and I love that it's another big demon you can throw in a Big DH deck (which I've been trying to make work). That archetype still needs other support to work though, and I doubt this new demon will see play without some bonkers way to cheat it out. I don't think Raging Felscreamer, Fel Summoner, or Pit Commander are enough.
The weird thing about Ancient Void Hound is that the more the minion benefits off its effect, the more likely the DH playing it going to lose the game. Ancient Void Hound doesn't do anything to protect the DH the turn they play it, and if their opponent has a wide board the opponent can just usually end the game even if they lose attack on their board. Against slower decks with less minions, the effect does very little and the DH spends their entire turn developing it for it to be removed most of the time by their opponent, giving the opponent initiative. I just don't see an effective use for Ancient Void Hound anyway I slice it, despite how crazy the stats and effect appear to be.
This is a Big Minion that control Demon Hunter was needing for their toolkit.
Not only does it have impressive stats for cost (the legendary dragons save Deathwing are 9 mana 8/8 in stats roughly) but it's AOE effect can sap a significant amount of health and damage from your enemy's board with no way to prevent it.
Once this minion does land on your side of the field, your opponent will be forced to remove it or finish the match on that turn, less your Ancient Void Terror become too big to remove.
That said, this minion doesn't have TAUNT and at turn 9 it's very unlikely that your board will be filled with 1 health minions for this guy to remove. So say your board full of tokens is still around after this minion is played, you can easily play Savage Roar and Bloodlust and go face completely ignoring this minion.
There's also the fact that this minion does not have the Elusive ability, and control matchups will likely have an efficient spell removal for this guy. Mage's have Devolving missiles and polymorph, Shaman also has Devolving missiles and Hex, Warlocks have Siphon Soul and Keli'Dan the Breaker, Priest has Shadow Word: Death, Time Rip, Soul Mirror, Mind Control, Convincing Infiltrator (okay Priest has not worry about this minion, Paladins have Turalyon the Tenured, Equality and Consecration, Warriors have Lord Barov and Whirlwind, or Whirlwind and Execute, Hunters have Deadly Shot, Rogues can bounce it or use Flik Skyshiv to remove it and any copies you might have.
Druids only answer to this minion is in wild with Naturalize, they and other Demon Hunters will be in trouble against this minion.
This minion is an absolute slam pick in Arena. it's Big that just becomes BIGGER. it's perfect
You know, as much as I absolutely love this card’s art (seriously, this is probably my favorite in a long time) and the effect, I don’t think it’s actually that good. It being summoned by Pit Commander nullifies the effect for a turn, so it’s not too great there, and the point where killing a bunch of low health minions matters is way before this card would ever come out
For Priest: 5 mana 3/0 with battlecry: add a random Priest minion to your hand.
This brings me joy honestly lol. I just see the priest portrait I get titled.
Trying to speak objectively, priest needs to build another archetype (buff and/or tempo priest) to support this card. Too many removal cards in gala priest.
This expansion is full of very interesting ideas. A big minion that weakens all enemy minions and grows stronger is really unique. But at 9 mana it's kinda hard to play. You can cheat this out with Pit Commander or get a discount with Raging Felscreamer but the main problem is staying alive against aggro. DH mostly kills stuff by running their faces into them and the health loss can be fatal. This card doesn't have Taunt or something that will effectively protect you. Weakening the enemy board won't do a lot if they have quite a few things on their side. And Demon Hunter excels at killing people way earlier so this seems like just a fun thing to do but not a practical one. Good if wanna have fun. Bad if you want to be competitive.
There are not enough big Demons in Standard to justify running her and she is just unnecessary in wild. Good card but won’t see play unless she gets more support in Standard
These cards are truly powerful, and I'm gettin' pretty hyped for release. It seems like there will be a bunch of new decks to try.
That said, the flavor isn't there. Only a few of the legendaries (Druid, Warlock/Priest) have artwork that's reflected in the other class cards, so far, so most of the instructors just feel like random powerful blokes, disconnected from the setting. Take Mage, for instance - Mozaki, Master Duelist is a dude with pink hair and a sword. He's got nothing in common, art-wise, with Combustion or Lab Partner. And, speaking of Lab Partner, he's one of several cards which have flavor, but aren't that neat. Diligent Notetaker - yeah, he takes notes, but what does that have to do with Shaman? First Day of School - students, alright, but what's that got to do with Paladin? What about Frazzled Freshman is Priest-like?
There just aren't that many class-specific takes on what the classes do at Scholomance. I think Warlock/Priest is the best so far, with the ugly Disciplinarian Gandling and the Flesh Giant, obviously being some kind of nefarious backroom law enforcement bureaucracy. But what else? You'd think Mage would get a bunch of arcane, gnomely Professor Flitwicks casting charms and doing astronomy, Rogues would be shadowy figures sneaking around in artwork that references scenes in other classes' cards, Druids would be a bunch of gnarly Groot-likes sitting in a circle on the front lawn and doing herbology, and so on. There's a bit of that, but not enough - we need more cards like Glide, which zooms out and places that Demon Hunter in a school setting. That card lets me imagine something, lets me see what Demon Hunter students would be like at this school. Cards like Cycle of Hatred, though? Eh. That could be in any set.
Continuing with that idea of zooming more card artwork out a bit, to tell a greater story: what if they had included a mechanic like Rastakhan's class spirits? Each one could correspond and show a specific place in the school that would be referenced in the other class cards. I think that would do a great deal for establishing a school-y feeling, when looking at the set as a whole and when playing with the cards. Your opponent is a Warlock, and they slap down a 'Dungeon' card, that affects every minion on the board or spell played somehow. Alright - that feels like we're duking it out in the dungeon!
At the moment, Team 5 has uniformly decided that school equals one thing: BOOKS! I counted - 74 cards have been revealed, and 21 of them have some form of letters-on-a-page. About 30%!
It's a massive minion that is very awkward to play and doesn't have a huge impact the turn it is played. Historically throughout the game's history, there's only been a few 9 drops that have been able to fill this mold but still be relevant, things like both the old and new Ysera being good examples. They are strong cards but only served the purpose of beating up other control decks.
What differentiates Rattlegore and Ancient Void Hound from both the Yseras are that they are one body, which is significantly easier to deal with than what the Yseras do, this results in them being weaker to hard removal such as Polymorphs and Rotnest Drakes, as well as being a great Zephrys target, which is currently the most played card in standard (going by HSreplay, this might change in top 1k legend but I'm poor and do not have premium so I go by pleb stats, either way it shouldn't differentiate a ton). I think Ancient Void Hound is stronger than Rattlegore due to it having a little bit more of a presence on board, as well as DH having easier ways of getting around the clunky 9 mana cost, but more often than not I feel like it's just a giant Timmy beat stick card, which is fine design wise, just not typically the type of cards to make the cut in more refined decklists.
If this type of card does end up seeing a lot of play, I'm happy because that means that Blizzard was able to balance out (hopefully in a fair way) an archetype of card that has historically almost always been to clunky to see play.
Um, what? Steal?! As in reduce enemy stats and increase my own? I would call it OP, except that would encourage a nerf and I really want to try this out, lol.
Interesting card but very slow. This is a 17/17 against a full board with the added benefit of destroying all enemy tokens. The effect is also persistent not a battlecry and needs to be removed immediately (unless opponent has lethal). Insane if drawn by Pit Commander, or cheated out by Raging Felscreamer or Fel Summoner.
So Risky Skipper + Lord Barov is 2 card board clear? In paladin i feel there will be some deathrattle support, just a feeling. All in all, i can see myself playing with this card.
New Demon Hunter Minion - Ancient Void Hound
Pretty interesting design, and I love that it's another big demon you can throw in a Big DH deck (which I've been trying to make work). That archetype still needs other support to work though, and I doubt this new demon will see play without some bonkers way to cheat it out. I don't think Raging Felscreamer, Fel Summoner, or Pit Commander are enough.
Ancient Void Hound is a New Demon Hunter Card Revealed for Hearthstone's Scholomance Academy Expansion
Yikes, Demon Hunter's nasty arsenal of late-game Arena options just keeps growing.
Turn 6: Imprisoned Antaen
Turn 7: Priestess/Flamereaper/Cycle of Hatred
Turn 8: Coilfang/Hulking Overfiend
Turn 9: Nethrandamus/Void Hound
Should be a fun expansion.
New Demon Hunter Minion - Ancient Void Hound
The weird thing about Ancient Void Hound is that the more the minion benefits off its effect, the more likely the DH playing it going to lose the game. Ancient Void Hound doesn't do anything to protect the DH the turn they play it, and if their opponent has a wide board the opponent can just usually end the game even if they lose attack on their board. Against slower decks with less minions, the effect does very little and the DH spends their entire turn developing it for it to be removed most of the time by their opponent, giving the opponent initiative. I just don't see an effective use for Ancient Void Hound anyway I slice it, despite how crazy the stats and effect appear to be.
Ancient Void Hound is a New Demon Hunter Card Revealed for Hearthstone's Scholomance Academy Expansion
Dh has taunt and board clears and healing, they just weren't using them yet
New Warlock Minion - Archwitch Willow
I prolly won't craft this card, but if I unpack this I wanna play with some demon lock shenanigans.
This would've been bonkers as a DH card which have stronger but slower demons, especially the new Ancient Void Hound.
New Demon Hunter Minion - Ancient Void Hound
This is a Big Minion that control Demon Hunter was needing for their toolkit.
Not only does it have impressive stats for cost (the legendary dragons save Deathwing are 9 mana 8/8 in stats roughly) but it's AOE effect can sap a significant amount of health and damage from your enemy's board with no way to prevent it.
Once this minion does land on your side of the field, your opponent will be forced to remove it or finish the match on that turn, less your Ancient Void Terror become too big to remove.
That said, this minion doesn't have TAUNT and at turn 9 it's very unlikely that your board will be filled with 1 health minions for this guy to remove. So say your board full of tokens is still around after this minion is played, you can easily play Savage Roar and Bloodlust and go face completely ignoring this minion.
There's also the fact that this minion does not have the Elusive ability, and control matchups will likely have an efficient spell removal for this guy. Mage's have Devolving missiles and polymorph, Shaman also has Devolving missiles and Hex, Warlocks have Siphon Soul and Keli'Dan the Breaker, Priest has Shadow Word: Death, Time Rip, Soul Mirror, Mind Control, Convincing Infiltrator (okay Priest has not worry about this minion, Paladins have Turalyon the Tenured, Equality and Consecration, Warriors have Lord Barov and Whirlwind, or Whirlwind and Execute, Hunters have Deadly Shot, Rogues can bounce it or use Flik Skyshiv to remove it and any copies you might have.
Druids only answer to this minion is in wild with Naturalize, they and other Demon Hunters will be in trouble against this minion.
This minion is an absolute slam pick in Arena. it's Big that just becomes BIGGER. it's perfect
Ancient Void Hound is a New Demon Hunter Card Revealed for Hearthstone's Scholomance Academy Expansion
Big Demons are cool and all, but why does every piece of Big DH support have to work badly with Pit Commander?
New Demon Hunter Minion - Ancient Void Hound
You know, as much as I absolutely love this card’s art (seriously, this is probably my favorite in a long time) and the effect, I don’t think it’s actually that good. It being summoned by Pit Commander nullifies the effect for a turn, so it’s not too great there, and the point where killing a bunch of low health minions matters is way before this card would ever come out
New Paladin & Priest Minion - High Abbess Alura
This brings me joy honestly lol. I just see the priest portrait I get titled.
Trying to speak objectively, priest needs to build another archetype (buff and/or tempo priest) to support this card. Too many removal cards in gala priest.
Ancient Void Hound is a New Demon Hunter Card Revealed for Hearthstone's Scholomance Academy Expansion
this card is fine at 9 mana, too bad no one is ever spending 9 mana on this
Forest Warden Omu is a New Druid Legendary Revealed for Hearthstone's Scholomance Academy Expansion
Scholomance is set to have more nerfs than Ao
Ancient Void Hound is a New Demon Hunter Card Revealed for Hearthstone's Scholomance Academy Expansion
This expansion is full of very interesting ideas. A big minion that weakens all enemy minions and grows stronger is really unique. But at 9 mana it's kinda hard to play. You can cheat this out with Pit Commander or get a discount with Raging Felscreamer but the main problem is staying alive against aggro. DH mostly kills stuff by running their faces into them and the health loss can be fatal. This card doesn't have Taunt or something that will effectively protect you. Weakening the enemy board won't do a lot if they have quite a few things on their side. And Demon Hunter excels at killing people way earlier so this seems like just a fun thing to do but not a practical one. Good if wanna have fun. Bad if you want to be competitive.
Ancient Void Hound is a New Demon Hunter Card Revealed for Hearthstone's Scholomance Academy Expansion
Still an absolutely cancer card when it works...
New Warlock Minion - Archwitch Willow
There are not enough big Demons in Standard to justify running her and she is just unnecessary in wild. Good card but won’t see play unless she gets more support in Standard
New Paladin & Priest Minion - High Abbess Alura
For Paladin: 4 mana 4/7 with battlecry: restore 8 health and summon an 8/8 with taunt and divine shield.
For Priest: 5 mana 3/0 with battlecry: add a random Priest minion to your hand.
Seems legit.
Scholomance Academy
These cards are truly powerful, and I'm gettin' pretty hyped for release. It seems like there will be a bunch of new decks to try.
That said, the flavor isn't there. Only a few of the legendaries (Druid, Warlock/Priest) have artwork that's reflected in the other class cards, so far, so most of the instructors just feel like random powerful blokes, disconnected from the setting. Take Mage, for instance - Mozaki, Master Duelist is a dude with pink hair and a sword. He's got nothing in common, art-wise, with Combustion or Lab Partner. And, speaking of Lab Partner, he's one of several cards which have flavor, but aren't that neat. Diligent Notetaker - yeah, he takes notes, but what does that have to do with Shaman? First Day of School - students, alright, but what's that got to do with Paladin? What about Frazzled Freshman is Priest-like?
There just aren't that many class-specific takes on what the classes do at Scholomance. I think Warlock/Priest is the best so far, with the ugly Disciplinarian Gandling and the Flesh Giant, obviously being some kind of nefarious backroom law enforcement bureaucracy. But what else? You'd think Mage would get a bunch of arcane, gnomely Professor Flitwicks casting charms and doing astronomy, Rogues would be shadowy figures sneaking around in artwork that references scenes in other classes' cards, Druids would be a bunch of gnarly Groot-likes sitting in a circle on the front lawn and doing herbology, and so on. There's a bit of that, but not enough - we need more cards like Glide, which zooms out and places that Demon Hunter in a school setting. That card lets me imagine something, lets me see what Demon Hunter students would be like at this school. Cards like Cycle of Hatred, though? Eh. That could be in any set.
Continuing with that idea of zooming more card artwork out a bit, to tell a greater story: what if they had included a mechanic like Rastakhan's class spirits? Each one could correspond and show a specific place in the school that would be referenced in the other class cards. I think that would do a great deal for establishing a school-y feeling, when looking at the set as a whole and when playing with the cards. Your opponent is a Warlock, and they slap down a 'Dungeon' card, that affects every minion on the board or spell played somehow. Alright - that feels like we're duking it out in the dungeon!
At the moment, Team 5 has uniformly decided that school equals one thing: BOOKS! I counted - 74 cards have been revealed, and 21 of them have some form of letters-on-a-page. About 30%!
Ancient Void Hound is a New Demon Hunter Card Revealed for Hearthstone's Scholomance Academy Expansion
It's a massive minion that is very awkward to play and doesn't have a huge impact the turn it is played. Historically throughout the game's history, there's only been a few 9 drops that have been able to fill this mold but still be relevant, things like both the old and new Ysera being good examples. They are strong cards but only served the purpose of beating up other control decks.
What differentiates Rattlegore and Ancient Void Hound from both the Yseras are that they are one body, which is significantly easier to deal with than what the Yseras do, this results in them being weaker to hard removal such as Polymorphs and Rotnest Drakes, as well as being a great Zephrys target, which is currently the most played card in standard (going by HSreplay, this might change in top 1k legend but I'm poor and do not have premium so I go by pleb stats, either way it shouldn't differentiate a ton). I think Ancient Void Hound is stronger than Rattlegore due to it having a little bit more of a presence on board, as well as DH having easier ways of getting around the clunky 9 mana cost, but more often than not I feel like it's just a giant Timmy beat stick card, which is fine design wise, just not typically the type of cards to make the cut in more refined decklists.
If this type of card does end up seeing a lot of play, I'm happy because that means that Blizzard was able to balance out (hopefully in a fair way) an archetype of card that has historically almost always been to clunky to see play.
Blizzard's Celestalon Talks Demon Hunter, Scholomance Academy, and New Classes in Hearthstone
There's a difference between "now" and "after release". Nerfing 10+ cards does tend to make a class weaker.
New Demon Hunter Minion - Ancient Void Hound
Um, what? Steal?! As in reduce enemy stats and increase my own? I would call it OP, except that would encourage a nerf and I really want to try this out, lol.
Ancient Void Hound is a New Demon Hunter Card Revealed for Hearthstone's Scholomance Academy Expansion
Being very slow. Though Rattlegore at least can’t be cleared as easily
New Demon Hunter Minion - Ancient Void Hound
Big DH support!
Interesting card but very slow. This is a 17/17 against a full board with the added benefit of destroying all enemy tokens. The effect is also persistent not a battlecry and needs to be removed immediately (unless opponent has lethal). Insane if drawn by Pit Commander, or cheated out by Raging Felscreamer or Fel Summoner.
Most insane if spawned by Warlock Gala by turn 7.
Ancient Void Hound is a New Demon Hunter Card Revealed for Hearthstone's Scholomance Academy Expansion
Exactly :/
Ancient Void Hound is a New Demon Hunter Card Revealed for Hearthstone's Scholomance Academy Expansion
Very cool card, but 2 copies in every deck is unlikely to go well.
Ancient Void Hound is a New Demon Hunter Card Revealed for Hearthstone's Scholomance Academy Expansion
What demise does this card fall into that Rattlegore does as well?
New Paladin & Warrior Minion - Lord Barov
So Risky Skipper + Lord Barov is 2 card board clear? In paladin i feel there will be some deathrattle support, just a feeling. All in all, i can see myself playing with this card.