Since there's lots of highlander hunters and other dragon hunters, I replace the boar tech with Scalerider. I might change this to 1x Burrowing Scorpid, as rng keeps screwing me.
Freezing Trap is definitely great, but I'm not sold on Snake Trap. Pack Tactics sounds like a better option to me, because most minions have special abilities (evasive, poisonous, hero power synergy...). Have you tested it?
Played mine with Snake Trap even when dhunters were everywhere.
I switched to Pack Tactics for a while but found that dealing 3 damage is really not such a big deal for most classes. Unless you're rocking deathrattle, its really not worth it. And against other aggro classes, three 1/1 snakes can be really annoying to deal with and allows better trades from your side. I would go so far as to say that in some matchups, it literally decides games.
Honestly, there's little need for Dragonbane. Kill Command more of less does the same thing anyway in most matches. The only thing this can do is to maybe snowball a priest or mage matchup, which you're favored to win anyway.
This isn't true at all and, honestly, a very poor and shallow comparison.
Kill Command is a single damage output of 3 or 5 damage (depending on your board state) to one target. For one mana more Dragonbane is a 3/5 worth of stats which, if not cleared quickly, puts you at a massive advantage, if not wins you the game outright. It will either win you the board (harder), deal the same amount of face damage as a single Kill Command does, unconditionally, every turn, or forces removal and/or minion trades from your opponent.
There's a reason every hunter archetype runs the card, because it's one of the class' best performers.
OP most definitely made the right decision by crafting it. Even more so now that the beast package got nerfed and might even be replaced entirely in some archetypes.
Im not disputing its potential to snowball, but from my own experience, that nearly never happens unless you're facing a slow, value oriented class/deck like mage, priest or druid which you are already favored to win.
I played with Dragonbane, but I mostly find myself in situations where its a 50-50 chance for me to outright win the game or lose it from there. Maybe its just me, but the power to Kill Command for guaranteed damage rather than merely a chance works better.
Just like to stress that I don't think Dragonbane is bad, but a majority, if not the entirety, of the time I don't find myself missing it.
Sir Finley of the Sands is fine. I have a lot of experience with playing it, and it feels great as it is. And because paladin doesn't have that many 1 drops, you can easely pull it with Call to Adventure.
The problem is that it's a Paladin card. Paladin has mostly bad cards in standard for quite a while now. In wild highlander Pally is a pretty good off-meta deck! (from my experience) But that's mainly because paladin has a lot of good cards in wild. Paladin basicly needs good new cards that actually SUPPORTS EXISTING archetypes. (That are NOT murloc paladin!)
Honestly, there's little need for Dragonbane. Kill Command more of less does the same thing anyway in most matches. The only thing this can do is to maybe snowball a priest or mage matchup, which you're favored to win anyway.
This isn't true at all and, honestly, a very poor and shallow comparison.
Kill Command is a single damage output of 3 or 5 damage (depending on your board state) to one target. For one mana more Dragonbane is a 3/5 worth of stats which, if not cleared quickly, puts you at a massive advantage, if not wins you the game outright. It will either win you the board (harder), deal the same amount of face damage as a single Kill Command does, unconditionally, every turn, or forces removal and/or minion trades from your opponent.
There's a reason every hunter archetype runs the card, because it's one of the class' best performers.
OP most definitely made the right decision by crafting it. Even more so now that the beast package got nerfed and might even be replaced entirely in some archetypes.
Since there's lots of highlander hunters and other dragon hunters, I replace the boar tech with Scalerider. I might change this to 1x Burrowing Scorpid, as rng keeps screwing me.
Freezing Trap is definitely great, but I'm not sold on Snake Trap. Pack Tactics sounds like a better option to me, because most minions have special abilities (evasive, poisonous, hero power synergy...). Have you tested it?
I have one advice that I had not found in the comments yet - try to go to legend in one "sitting".
Thanks! That sounds good, but I'm afraid I can't afford long play sessions anymore, as I did when I was younger! I have too much to do! I can normally play only for 1-1.5 h, maybe 2 h if star align. I know, that sucks, but that's life...
Its the textbook definition of a card thats very strong but the class is not suited for it. Paladin needs fixing, this card itself is very good
Imagine this card in any class except Druid and Paladin
This times infinity. Certain decks can afford to run highlander versions without any payoff cards except Zephrys (think highlander aggro warrior of the previous expansion). Now imagine Finley in that deck. Having it in the mulligan will boost the deck's winrate to toxic amounts (think Prince Keleseth and Barnes prior to their rotation and nerf, respectively).
Finley isn't weak. The entire class it is in, is. Paladin has been struggling to find a viable archetype for multiple expansions now. Making it a highlander-build would be even more challenging.
Oh, and start of the game should never again be printed on a card. Especially when it's an effect as powerful as upgrading a hero power.
I have one advice that I had not found in the comments yet - try to go to legend in one "sitting". In my experience, both on the old and new system, once you catch a win streak you should not give up playing. Maybe it is the day when RNG is in your favor, or maybe the micro-meta is just favorable to your deck or your style (or, like myself, you believe that MM is not that random and it just gives you those good days (d5-legend) and bad days (d1-d5) )
Anyways, even you do not believe in conspiracy theories, this is how hitting legend has worked for me, did not matter how many times I was "almost there", there came losing streaks and legend was earned from the floor rank in one sittings.
Also, I am aware that others said it, but don't give up on your legend quest. If you have made it that far, you are on your way to legend, sooner or later. In the new system, you even still play with the same opponents, as it is based on MMR.
I remember reading somewhere when the card was launched that they indeed originally intended on making all the explorers the exact same stats and mana cost (except brann which also underwent modifications pre release) as their previous iterations. Finley was indeed intended to be 1 cost 1/3 but they changed it at the last moment because they felt it would be too swingy if played on turn one.
I don’t think it would’ve been that much stronger as they thought but I would like to see it go to one mana to give highlander pally any possible tool it can get to be atleast mildly competitive.
Maybe? Personally I have huge FOMO, so I've always been reluctant to spend common/rare wildcards right before Tuesday or a big region reward chest, but I really appreciate the logic behind your argument here.
I would say ultimately, it probably doesn't matter too much. E.g. say "hypothetically" you were sitting on 161 common wildcards. Scenario A: you convert them all just to fill out your collection; Scenario B: you do never use them. After a long enough time period, Scenario B would get exactly those 161 commons for free whereas Scenario A converts them to 15 shards/ea; any duplicates after those 161 would generate the same 15 shards/ea to both. That means the total difference between the two scenarios is 2,415 shards i.e. 80% of a single champion craft. And of course that's contingent on receiving an additional 161 non-wildcard commons of exactly the type you crafted; if they aligned perfect that could be ~5 weeks but in practice it will look more like an exponential decay graph where Scenario A nets fewer and fewer additional shards over Scenario B each week--probably months before even hitting the 2,000 mark.
I forget the refund rate for rares, but I imagine its not too much better. I interpret this all to mean that I shouldn't our hypothetical friend shouldn't feel at all reluctant to spend common and rare wildcards on any cards he actually intends to play, but spending them just to spend them only has a minimal strategic shard advantage and that you definitely want to have some in reserve by the time the next expansion is released.
Interesting.. I did not really do the math, did not really research how much refund I get for which rarity, I went with my gut feelings.. I guess I will put the numbers together and try to evaluate again.
I agree with Dapperdog's point that buffing Finley is too narrow: it only helps singleton and murloc decks, and I am not personally interested in making either more prevalent for a long time.
I have a hunch that paladin's real problem isn't even that it is especially weak, but rather that the strongest classes of the last few months are natural counters to it (I'm looking at you rogue and demon hunter). Admittedly, Finley giving you a different hero power that isn't dealt with more efficiently by theirs is helpful in this regard, but nevertheless I think it is healthier for paladin to wait for other classes with more favourable match-ups to take over.
you'd be correct, however....what does any of that have to do with Blizzcon?
Blizzcon is a completely useless event in terms of public service so cancelling it in favour of not contributing to the spread of a disease is pretty sensible. I'm pretty sure the hypothetical staff of Blizzcon has bigger problems at the moment than not being able to get this side-job.
God, guys, I'm so happy about this idea. Just need some way to perfect/balance it.
First I wanted to make "Trapped Room" a minion on its own, that put 5 secrets in play as a battlecry (or held 5 secrets active as long at it is alive) but that would've been way too powerful. Not too happy about the mana cost and the full flavour, maybe it should be a class specific Togwaggle? What are your thoughts on it?
The card is fine in the its current iteration. It provides a buffed hero power, which is just broken considering that dhunter's buffed hp is 2 attack for 1 mana.
Another argument against it is purely future card design and balances. If it gets too consistent, then devs might just want to avoid those very powerful unconditional cards for paladin in future expansions, not even mentioning its potential in wild.
Also, lets be honest, paladins state of affairs right now is the lack of tempo swing cards, like Rotnest Drake or, dare I say it, the lurker from below, or even just a decent rush minion. Buffing sir finley will boost highlander's paladin chances, but nothing else. Its best to simply address paladin's core issue, than just buffing one very conditional card.
Its potential in Wild would still be very limitedly reliable, given the Discover nature of the card, which is also bound to Highlander restriction, let's not forget it (Odd DH is a full-blown synergic deck built around the HP, Sir Finley can't do that, not even wit the Start of the Game buff suggestion).
I mean, in Wild we have stuff like [Hearthstone Card (Raza the Unchained) Not Found] and Shadowreaper Anduin, a buffed Sir Finley of the Sands pales in front of those (Raza buffs ANY HP in the game, Sir Finley binds you to his choices, and DK Anduin is easily repeatable with any cards, while upgraded HP is not) Or in front of Kazakus himself tbh, who is much more versatile with his double layer of Discovery.
Let's be honest here: there's zero chances that buffing Sir Finley of the Sands gets him even close to the consistency and power level that the devs agreed to provide to many cards in this game, Highlander or not. As long as it is a Discover that randomly offers 3 of 10 options.
And buffs don't really clash with each other. I mean, just look at the great Boomsday Buff patch: most buffs went completely forgotten and didn't really contribute to their classes, in either modes. So what Paladin needs the most right now in Standard is beyond the point of buffing this specific card.
BlizzCon 2020 Has Been Cancelled
Y E S
Stuck at Diamond 5. Like, really stuck.
Played mine with Snake Trap even when dhunters were everywhere.
I switched to Pack Tactics for a while but found that dealing 3 damage is really not such a big deal for most classes. Unless you're rocking deathrattle, its really not worth it. And against other aggro classes, three 1/1 snakes can be really annoying to deal with and allows better trades from your side. I would go so far as to say that in some matchups, it literally decides games.
Stuck at Diamond 5. Like, really stuck.
Im not disputing its potential to snowball, but from my own experience, that nearly never happens unless you're facing a slow, value oriented class/deck like mage, priest or druid which you are already favored to win.
I played with Dragonbane, but I mostly find myself in situations where its a 50-50 chance for me to outright win the game or lose it from there. Maybe its just me, but the power to Kill Command for guaranteed damage rather than merely a chance works better.
Just like to stress that I don't think Dragonbane is bad, but a majority, if not the entirety, of the time I don't find myself missing it.
From Foe To Friend - Card Design Competition Discussion Thread
I reduced his stats to 3/3, what do you think?
From Foe To Friend - Card Design Competition Discussion Thread
I don't know why that I could add only one token and I mistakenly submit. That feels really bad COL
Petition to buff Sir Finley of the Sands
Sir Finley of the Sands is fine. I have a lot of experience with playing it, and it feels great as it is. And because paladin doesn't have that many 1 drops, you can easely pull it with Call to Adventure.
The problem is that it's a Paladin card. Paladin has mostly bad cards in standard for quite a while now. In wild highlander Pally is a pretty good off-meta deck! (from my experience) But that's mainly because paladin has a lot of good cards in wild. Paladin basicly needs good new cards that actually SUPPORTS EXISTING archetypes. (That are NOT murloc paladin!)
The reason Sir Finley of the Sands is not a 1 mana 1/3 like the wild card Sir Finley Mrrgglton is because Sir Finley of the Sands would have been way too strong at 1 mana. If it was 1 atk, Sir Finley of the Sands would have been way too toxic, and nerfed withing a week.
Bunnyhoppor's Evolve Galakrond Shaman - Grandmasters 2020 S1W3
The only difference between this and the version I am running is that I use the Hungry Crab as a tech swap for Hoard Pillager
Stuck at Diamond 5. Like, really stuck.
This isn't true at all and, honestly, a very poor and shallow comparison.
Kill Command is a single damage output of 3 or 5 damage (depending on your board state) to one target. For one mana more Dragonbane is a 3/5 worth of stats which, if not cleared quickly, puts you at a massive advantage, if not wins you the game outright. It will either win you the board (harder), deal the same amount of face damage as a single Kill Command does, unconditionally, every turn, or forces removal and/or minion trades from your opponent.
There's a reason every hunter archetype runs the card, because it's one of the class' best performers.
OP most definitely made the right decision by crafting it. Even more so now that the beast package got nerfed and might even be replaced entirely in some archetypes.
Stuck at Diamond 5. Like, really stuck.
Freezing Trap is definitely great, but I'm not sold on Snake Trap. Pack Tactics sounds like a better option to me, because most minions have special abilities (evasive, poisonous, hero power synergy...). Have you tested it?
Stuck at Diamond 5. Like, really stuck.
Thanks! That sounds good, but I'm afraid I can't afford long play sessions anymore, as I did when I was younger! I have too much to do! I can normally play only for 1-1.5 h, maybe 2 h if star align. I know, that sucks, but that's life...
BlizzCon 2020 Has Been Cancelled
Considering that last Blizzcons had disappointing announcements, this year's was supposed to be the one that shined with the good ones.
Hope they make separate Online Blizzcon or something.
Petition to buff Sir Finley of the Sands
This times infinity. Certain decks can afford to run highlander versions without any payoff cards except Zephrys (think highlander aggro warrior of the previous expansion). Now imagine Finley in that deck. Having it in the mulligan will boost the deck's winrate to toxic amounts (think Prince Keleseth and Barnes prior to their rotation and nerf, respectively).
Finley isn't weak. The entire class it is in, is. Paladin has been struggling to find a viable archetype for multiple expansions now. Making it a highlander-build would be even more challenging.
Oh, and start of the game should never again be printed on a card. Especially when it's an effect as powerful as upgrading a hero power.
Stuck at Diamond 5. Like, really stuck.
Hi,
I have one advice that I had not found in the comments yet - try to go to legend in one "sitting". In my experience, both on the old and new system, once you catch a win streak you should not give up playing. Maybe it is the day when RNG is in your favor, or maybe the micro-meta is just favorable to your deck or your style (or, like myself, you believe that MM is not that random and it just gives you those good days (d5-legend) and bad days (d1-d5) )
Anyways, even you do not believe in conspiracy theories, this is how hitting legend has worked for me, did not matter how many times I was "almost there", there came losing streaks and legend was earned from the floor rank in one sittings.
Also, I am aware that others said it, but don't give up on your legend quest. If you have made it that far, you are on your way to legend, sooner or later. In the new system, you even still play with the same opponents, as it is based on MMR.
Cheers and good luck!
Petition to buff Sir Finley of the Sands
I remember reading somewhere when the card was launched that they indeed originally intended on making all the explorers the exact same stats and mana cost (except brann which also underwent modifications pre release) as their previous iterations.
Finley was indeed intended to be 1 cost 1/3 but they changed it at the last moment because they felt it would be too swingy if played on turn one.
I don’t think it would’ve been that much stronger as they thought but I would like to see it go to one mana to give highlander pally any possible tool it can get to be atleast mildly competitive.
BlizzCon 2020 Has Been Cancelled
They're actually a large corporation.
How to approach the wildcard/shards hoarding in the long term
Interesting.. I did not really do the math, did not really research how much refund I get for which rarity, I went with my gut feelings.. I guess I will put the numbers together and try to evaluate again.
Petition to buff Sir Finley of the Sands
I agree with Dapperdog's point that buffing Finley is too narrow: it only helps singleton and murloc decks, and I am not personally interested in making either more prevalent for a long time.
I have a hunch that paladin's real problem isn't even that it is especially weak, but rather that the strongest classes of the last few months are natural counters to it (I'm looking at you rogue and demon hunter). Admittedly, Finley giving you a different hero power that isn't dealt with more efficiently by theirs is helpful in this regard, but nevertheless I think it is healthier for paladin to wait for other classes with more favourable match-ups to take over.
BlizzCon 2020 Has Been Cancelled
you'd be correct, however....what does any of that have to do with Blizzcon?
Blizzcon is a completely useless event in terms of public service so cancelling it in favour of not contributing to the spread of a disease is pretty sensible. I'm pretty sure the hypothetical staff of Blizzcon has bigger problems at the moment than not being able to get this side-job.
BlizzCon 2020 Has Been Cancelled
should probably refute his points instead of just resorting to insults
Petition to buff Sir Finley of the Sands
Its the textbook definition of a card thats very strong but the class is not suited for it. Paladin needs fixing, this card itself is very good
Imagine this card in any class except Druid and Paladin
From Foe To Friend - Card Design Competition Discussion Thread
God, guys, I'm so happy about this idea.
Just need some way to perfect/balance it.
First I wanted to make "Trapped Room" a minion on its own, that put 5 secrets in play as a battlecry (or held 5 secrets active as long at it is alive) but that would've been way too powerful.
Not too happy about the mana cost and the full flavour, maybe it should be a class specific Togwaggle?
What are your thoughts on it?
Petition to buff Sir Finley of the Sands
I think it is fine. I also think making it 1 mana 1/3 would be ok. Dont have a preference either way.
Runeterra's Patch 1.2 Offers Balance Updates, Expeditions Archetype Changes, and New Personalization Options
Probably no refund in LoR for nerfed cards, right?
BlizzCon 2020 Has Been Cancelled
No Blizzcon? Fine for me. But no Blizzcon Bingo? That is too much..
EDIT: typos
Petition to buff Sir Finley of the Sands
Its potential in Wild would still be very limitedly reliable, given the Discover nature of the card, which is also bound to Highlander restriction, let's not forget it (Odd DH is a full-blown synergic deck built around the HP, Sir Finley can't do that, not even wit the Start of the Game buff suggestion).
I mean, in Wild we have stuff like [Hearthstone Card (Raza the Unchained) Not Found] and Shadowreaper Anduin, a buffed Sir Finley of the Sands pales in front of those (Raza buffs ANY HP in the game, Sir Finley binds you to his choices, and DK Anduin is easily repeatable with any cards, while upgraded HP is not) Or in front of Kazakus himself tbh, who is much more versatile with his double layer of Discovery.
Let's be honest here: there's zero chances that buffing Sir Finley of the Sands gets him even close to the consistency and power level that the devs agreed to provide to many cards in this game, Highlander or not. As long as it is a Discover that randomly offers 3 of 10 options.
And buffs don't really clash with each other. I mean, just look at the great Boomsday Buff patch: most buffs went completely forgotten and didn't really contribute to their classes, in either modes. So what Paladin needs the most right now in Standard is beyond the point of buffing this specific card.