If you want to take aim at Demon Hunter's class identity, as your thread title suggests, then go right ahead. The class' main problem in my eyes is that it is designed to be excellent at all the basics, meaning it has no serious weaknesses, and now making them kings of disruption as well is going to be problematic.
But, that's not what you are doing here. You are making assumptions about the power levels of cards before seeing them in action, and letting those assumptions fuel anger before anyone can actually verify them. Of course the reveal season is all about making assumptions and projecting that forwards, but countless times people (and often the entire community) have called cards that end up seeing no play OP, or called some of the most notorious cards in the entire game trash.
You may well be right in your assessments and do not need to give Blizzard a penny, but you can still show some patience here because if experience of reveal seasons tells us anything, it is that you cannot trust your early assessments.
I won't engage in a discussion over all the cards you bring up, but I will wade in regarding Infiltrator Lilian to make a point. Your comparison to Piloted Shredder is appropriate, so let's break down that comparison and leave Kobold Barbarian out of it.
The first body is a 4/2 stealth vs a 4/3 mech. Which of these is better? Neither objectively, but most often I would take Lilian as it usually won't get caught in AoE crossfire unless you over-commit, and HS is a game which benefits the attacker more than the defender, so having more control on that with stealth is a significant plus point.
The mech tag can matter, but not much in rogue and certainly not in standard at the moment.
Meanwhile rogue wants things with stealth at the moment, so that's and extra plus.
What about the deathrattle: is a 4/2 instant random attack better than a random 2-drop? Again there is no objectively correct answer, but again I would side with Lilian here. Not only is 4/2 higher than average stats on a 2-drop, but similarly to stealth it denies your opponent the choice of how to deal with it before it attacks. Sure the attack won't always be optimal, but look at it this way: the worst it can do is run into the thing that your opponent would choose to trade into it with anyway.
So all put together, Infiltrator Lilian is usually better than Piloted Shredder on all fronts. At the very worst then it is a solid card, and nowhere near the pits in which Kobold Librarian lives.
You could also compare it to a Boom Bot, with the deathrattle always dealing 4 damage and possibly leaving a body behind too. Because the Boom Bot isn't a collectible card it is silly to read much into this, but keep in mind Boom Bots were always taken seriously and made Dr. Boom the first infamous card for good reason.
I never played MTG, so i am not familiar with Scry from personal experience, but the effect on this seems pretty interesting. Tho the biggest question will be, is this worth a card? You are already putting cards you do want to play in your deck and just drawing something else might not be worth it. Tho it could save you in a clutch, so who knows how will this end up performing.
Im honestly not too worried about Twig, whatever combo you were going to pull off, you just added another card to it. But then again, drawing cards was never Druids weakness, at least not in combo decks, so maybe it will push it over the top.
This will be excellent for Recruit Warrior. I can use the Armory to draw 2 weapons, 1 of these being it and can send any big minions back while I draw the lower control cards.
While I was checking out about Scholomance on Wowpedia, Gandling was one of the character that caught my eye due to his aesthetics so it's definitely a pleasant surprise to see him in card form. Alongside him being very powerful and useful, I really like the card art (Currently second-favorite). Might possibly golden craft him when I get the dust.
This is a really nice card as a common. I dont imagine it will find its way into many established decks, but as a cheap card generator and something to play early, it is definitely playable and by no means bad, it just isnt really doing anything specific for you.
Very similar to The Soularium, but you dont discard any cards. You do need to play whatever you were going to play before this tho. Still, being so cheap, im sure it will find its way into plenty of decks.
Pretty powerful effect and one that has been made multiple times by custom card designers, cool to see it made its way into the game. Tho in the end, i think that the card might be a bit overhyped, because shuffling a card into the deck screws with the entire process, so you might have only a limited window to utilize this, which if you just need to draw your highest cost card might be enough. I guess we'll see.
Supreme Archaeology certainly seems to be getting a LOT of support since it was introduced. I guess Blizzard took a hint from Discolock and they support new archetypes a lot faster now.
Its just a meme card at best. Rng to draw it, and you rid that card you draw to the bottom of your deck.
It has a slightly positive effect of maybe condemning a bomb to the bottom (in effect means the bomb will never trigger) assuming it works the way I think it does but that's a small niche not worthy of a deckslot.
So essentially this card allows you to circumvent draw rng in a way, at the cost of moving that momentarily useless card to the bottom of your deck, for another chance at a better card from draws.
Its really strong in a way, but functionally what is this card going to achieve? At least its 1 mana which means you can do this easily without sacrificing too much tempo, but if this is scary in any way your opponent can easily just ooze it to deny you its dubiously 'great' effect.
And its a weapon, which means you'll be holding this on and not playing another weapon. It has 4 durability though, in case any class needed to build their own weapon, if this is a thing at all.
It has an amusing effect of denying bombs triggering, assuming it works the way I think it does, so there's that, but is that really what you put this card in your deck to do?
So much going against it however, and I will be shocked if it sees tournament-worthy play at all.
I'm not too big on the Infiltrator's card art but I gotta say, I really dig her forsaken token art, looks pretty dope, even better then her KoTFT counterpart. This makes me really hope the next rogue hero portrait would Forsaken Lilian as that would be sick.
Function-wise, after seeing someone mentioned (and reminded me) about Necrium Blade in the card discussion thread, I do look forward to having fun with that if I ever get my hands on the card.
Pretty strong effect, stats are bad, which is a good thing, some decks might omit to run this, otherwise you would see it everywhere. Getting the information is certainly nice and being able to not only deny a card to your opponent making him draw it again, but with now revealed Lorekeeper Polkelt, this is a tech card against those decks as well.
Demon Hunter is certainly getting a lot of cool toys that other classes would love too. If DH becomes the "hand/deck" disrupting class with Scholomance only introducing us to what might come, I'm not sure that community will take that very well lol.
in a game about drawing cards knowing what you may draw should always be good.
and while this card and effect is powerful you should not forget that putting the card on the bottom of your deck means you may not see it for the rest of the game unless you are a very draw heavy class.
It should also be noted that this card does not offer its ability when drawing extra cards, so Plot Twist will not give you a chance to choose what you draw with this weapon.
It will still be very powerful with control decks, I believe, as they will have an extra chance to look for board clear and life sustain to keep the match going while their opponent runs out of steam, combo decks may also see this weapon in order to get crucial components for their win condition.
The only question is what do you substitute in your deck slot for this item?
I think what he meant is that when you shuffle anything into your deck the deck then reshuffles.
But maybe for the purpose of this card the game will remember what cards have been put on the bottom and will keep them there
I tend to agree with this, if it reshuffles whole deck as usual when you put a card on the bottom, then you could have card 1 put to the bottom, draw card 2, then put again card 3 on the bottom and draw card 1. If it works properly it should at least keep the cards put on the bottom there.
I suspect they decided (accurately) that Wild has become so degenerate that occasionally breaking Twig super early still isn't good enough to make it a Tier 1 deck.
New Neutral Minion - Wandmaker
Nice. More mana efficient than Cobalt Spellkin, but less body. I'd use it.
Demon hunter class identity.
If you want to take aim at Demon Hunter's class identity, as your thread title suggests, then go right ahead. The class' main problem in my eyes is that it is designed to be excellent at all the basics, meaning it has no serious weaknesses, and now making them kings of disruption as well is going to be problematic.
But, that's not what you are doing here. You are making assumptions about the power levels of cards before seeing them in action, and letting those assumptions fuel anger before anyone can actually verify them. Of course the reveal season is all about making assumptions and projecting that forwards, but countless times people (and often the entire community) have called cards that end up seeing no play OP, or called some of the most notorious cards in the entire game trash.
You may well be right in your assessments and do not need to give Blizzard a penny, but you can still show some patience here because if experience of reveal seasons tells us anything, it is that you cannot trust your early assessments.
I won't engage in a discussion over all the cards you bring up, but I will wade in regarding Infiltrator Lilian to make a point. Your comparison to Piloted Shredder is appropriate, so let's break down that comparison and leave Kobold Barbarian out of it.
So all put together, Infiltrator Lilian is usually better than Piloted Shredder on all fronts. At the very worst then it is a solid card, and nowhere near the pits in which Kobold Librarian lives.
You could also compare it to a Boom Bot, with the deathrattle always dealing 4 damage and possibly leaving a body behind too. Because the Boom Bot isn't a collectible card it is silly to read much into this, but keep in mind Boom Bots were always taken seriously and made Dr. Boom the first infamous card for good reason.
New Neutral Minion - Lorekeeper Polkelt
I love this. A brand new effect, and a pretty good one, situationally of course. Run this in ANY big minions deck for late-game power.
New Rogue Spell - Secret Passage
I'm on the fence with this one. I can see it being amazing, or useless. I'm intrigued by the concept and look forward to testing it out.
New Neutral Weapon - Sphere of Sapience
Seems like a support card for EDH in Magic haaha! Loved it!
New Neutral Weapon - Sphere of Sapience
I never played MTG, so i am not familiar with Scry from personal experience, but the effect on this seems pretty interesting. Tho the biggest question will be, is this worth a card? You are already putting cards you do want to play in your deck and just drawing something else might not be worth it. Tho it could save you in a clutch, so who knows how will this end up performing.
Im honestly not too worried about Twig, whatever combo you were going to pull off, you just added another card to it. But then again, drawing cards was never Druids weakness, at least not in combo decks, so maybe it will push it over the top.
New Neutral Weapon - Sphere of Sapience
This will be excellent for Recruit Warrior. I can use the Armory to draw 2 weapons, 1 of these being it and can send any big minions back while I draw the lower control cards.
New Demon Hunter Minion - Magehunter
More aggro tools for DH. I think this will be a very strong card.
New Demon Hunter Minion - Star Student Stelina
Really nice combo disruption. I like it!
Disciplinarian Gandling is a New Priest & Warlock Legendary Revealed for Hearthstone's Scholomance Academy Expansion
While I was checking out about Scholomance on Wowpedia, Gandling was one of the character that caught my eye due to his aesthetics so it's definitely a pleasant surprise to see him in card form. Alongside him being very powerful and useful, I really like the card art (Currently second-favorite). Might possibly golden craft him when I get the dust.
Two New Scholomance Cards Revealed - Secret Passage (Rogue) & Wandmaker
Secret Passage - Does this mean you can use up all those 5 cards and still get your former hand back? If yes then this is absolutely nuts.
Wandmaker - Smaller Cobalt Spellkin, and that's actually not too bad
Soul Fragment - anyone on what generates this?
How the hell did you guys manage to find these cards from that video, lol. Well done everybody
New Neutral Minion - Wandmaker
This is a really nice card as a common. I dont imagine it will find its way into many established decks, but as a cheap card generator and something to play early, it is definitely playable and by no means bad, it just isnt really doing anything specific for you.
New Rogue Spell - Secret Passage
Very similar to The Soularium, but you dont discard any cards. You do need to play whatever you were going to play before this tho. Still, being so cheap, im sure it will find its way into plenty of decks.
New Neutral Minion - Lorekeeper Polkelt
Pretty powerful effect and one that has been made multiple times by custom card designers, cool to see it made its way into the game. Tho in the end, i think that the card might be a bit overhyped, because shuffling a card into the deck screws with the entire process, so you might have only a limited window to utilize this, which if you just need to draw your highest cost card might be enough. I guess we'll see.
Supreme Archaeology certainly seems to be getting a LOT of support since it was introduced. I guess Blizzard took a hint from Discolock and they support new archetypes a lot faster now.
New Neutral Weapon - Sphere of Sapience
Its just a meme card at best. Rng to draw it, and you rid that card you draw to the bottom of your deck.
It has a slightly positive effect of maybe condemning a bomb to the bottom (in effect means the bomb will never trigger) assuming it works the way I think it does but that's a small niche not worthy of a deckslot.
We're Getting a Collectible Neutral Weapon - Sphere of Sapience! Scholomance Academy is Crazy
So essentially this card allows you to circumvent draw rng in a way, at the cost of moving that momentarily useless card to the bottom of your deck, for another chance at a better card from draws.
Its really strong in a way, but functionally what is this card going to achieve? At least its 1 mana which means you can do this easily without sacrificing too much tempo, but if this is scary in any way your opponent can easily just ooze it to deny you its dubiously 'great' effect.
And its a weapon, which means you'll be holding this on and not playing another weapon. It has 4 durability though, in case any class needed to build their own weapon, if this is a thing at all.
It has an amusing effect of denying bombs triggering, assuming it works the way I think it does, so there's that, but is that really what you put this card in your deck to do?
So much going against it however, and I will be shocked if it sees tournament-worthy play at all.
Infiltrator Lilian is a New Rogue Legendary Revealed for Hearthstone's Scholomance Academy Expansion
I'm not too big on the Infiltrator's card art but I gotta say, I really dig her forsaken token art, looks pretty dope, even better then her KoTFT counterpart. This makes me really hope the next rogue hero portrait would Forsaken Lilian as that would be sick.
Function-wise, after seeing someone mentioned (and reminded me) about Necrium Blade in the card discussion thread, I do look forward to having fun with that if I ever get my hands on the card.
Lorekeeper Polkelt is a New Legendary Revealed for Hearthstone's Scholomance Academy Expansion
It could maybe work in an aggro deck whose highest cost cards are 5s.
New Demon Hunter Minion - Star Student Stelina
Pretty strong effect, stats are bad, which is a good thing, some decks might omit to run this, otherwise you would see it everywhere. Getting the information is certainly nice and being able to not only deny a card to your opponent making him draw it again, but with now revealed Lorekeeper Polkelt, this is a tech card against those decks as well.
Demon Hunter is certainly getting a lot of cool toys that other classes would love too. If DH becomes the "hand/deck" disrupting class with Scholomance only introducing us to what might come, I'm not sure that community will take that very well lol.
New Neutral Weapon - Sphere of Sapience
in a game about drawing cards knowing what you may draw should always be good.
and while this card and effect is powerful you should not forget that putting the card on the bottom of your deck means you may not see it for the rest of the game unless you are a very draw heavy class.
It should also be noted that this card does not offer its ability when drawing extra cards, so Plot Twist will not give you a chance to choose what you draw with this weapon.
It will still be very powerful with control decks, I believe, as they will have an extra chance to look for board clear and life sustain to keep the match going while their opponent runs out of steam, combo decks may also see this weapon in order to get crucial components for their win condition.
The only question is what do you substitute in your deck slot for this item?
We're Getting a Collectible Neutral Weapon - Sphere of Sapience! Scholomance Academy is Crazy
I tend to agree with this, if it reshuffles whole deck as usual when you put a card on the bottom, then you could have card 1 put to the bottom, draw card 2, then put again card 3 on the bottom and draw card 1. If it works properly it should at least keep the cards put on the bottom there.
We're Getting a Collectible Neutral Weapon - Sphere of Sapience! Scholomance Academy is Crazy
I suspect they decided (accurately) that Wild has become so degenerate that occasionally breaking Twig super early still isn't good enough to make it a Tier 1 deck.
New Demon Hunter Minion - Magehunter
DH getting another option to nullify taunt and lifesteal? Definitely what the class needed: more DH-only tech. big kappa
Out of Cards' Avalon Will Eat a Shoe if the Next Legendary Doesn't Have Spellburst
Nah i won’t be disappointed if they don’t eat a shoe, bets are all well and good but this felt more like hyperbole taken too literally
New Demon Hunter Minion - Magehunter
Seems pretty weak to me, but not unplayable. It is a different choice for a Silence, which isnt bad, but its DH only, so ... yeah.