I've been holding onto a couple spare Pyromancers because I can see it getting HoF'd. It didn't this time, but maybe next? Cards like this will continue to make it an auto-include in many control decks.
In light of the recent Demon Hunter and Priest revamp news in Hearthstone, and the fact that MTG has never introduced a sixth color to its wheel, I've been thinking about whether or not LoR's regions have clear enough identities. Ultimately, I think the answer is no, they don't have enough identity.
The stated Riot philosophy is that every card should be playable in at least one deck, and I think you see a lot of that reflected in the ways that certain region pairs combine to form themes. Some examples:
The Shadow Isles and Noxus pair has access to a Spiders deck
The Freljord and P&Z pair has access to a Poro and/or Elnuk Cloning deck
The Demacia and P&Z pair has access to a Big Spells deck
The Freljord and Noxus pair has access to a Crimson Self-harm deck
The result is that a lot of the theming seems to have been done primarily at the "region pair" level, and it makes less obvious combinations of those same regions clumsier. Yes, regions have their some of their own dedicated mechanics (e.g. Demacia has Tough Elites, Freljord has Frostbite, Ionia has hand buffs etc.), but those mechanics don't generally pair in interesting ways across regions. Because so much of the work of theming has been done at the "region pair" level, many of the decisions on how to pair a region feel forced and ultimately deck-building is less interesting and more paint-by-numbers.
By contrast, when you look at a game like MTG (which is probably the best comparison, because you can mix/match colors there like you can regions), you see primary and secondary themes for colors, and players are left to mix and match those colors to get to useful synergies. I can very easily build a Black/White deck that emphasizes token creatures for a more go-wide aggressive strategy, and I can create a Black/White deck that uses hard removal and AoE to control the game. Yes, there are multi-color cards that tend to emphasize shared themes, but even in those you see variety. Taking Blue/White as an example, you see cards that emphasize the shared enchantments and artifact subtheme of those colors, but you also see cards that emphasize the smaller fliers theme that they share. This leaves players with a lot of freedom to decide which colors to run, and how much of any primary or shared themes they want to emphasize in their deck.
Ultimately, I think this problem will only get more muddled in LoR as they introduce more regions. The reason other major CCGs have been so reticent to add new classes, colors, etc., is because you have to divide up the game mechanics pie into smaller pieces, which ultimately makes the archetypes more prescriptive and hinders creative deck-building. LoR seems to have started at a place of fairly prescriptive deck-building already, so cutting that pie up could do a lot of damage.
This is played in pretty much every Demon Hunter deck. Just like Kobold Librarian was played in every Warlock (and still is played in every warlock deck in wild)
This one, like Kobold Librarian, is an awesome card for aggro decks. I think I want to give a try a Zoo DH deck and this kind of drawing cards keep the card flow of going next to Spectral Sight and maybe Skull of Gul'dan (DH doesn't have the powerful draw engine of the Warlock's Hero Power).
A decent T1 that can be crazy good with the Outcast trigger. Also a really nice cantrip card when it's topdecked.
I think this card will be better in combo type decks that mainly want to play this for the draw and not necessarily for the good 1-drop. Most of the time you won't be able to trigger this on turn one, which is fine, but makes it a less powerful tempo play.
All in all an amazing card, but I don't think it will be quite as good as Kobold Librarian.
That deck was quite rare to see but so powerful and successful and easy to make you at least diamond rank. I assume that this change was a bit needed because there are so much ways to summon Spiderlings and everytime they come, They are buffed as hell. I guess they want to decrease its earlier power level and even better at late game which is quite reasonable when i think of that deck.
I think this is exactly right. It may have been rare, but it's clearly pretty popular right now - it's considered an S Tier meta deck on Mobalytics. It looks like Riot realized this deck would be a problem after the other nerfs they made, and changed Iceborn Legacy so that it would really fit better into the clone decks they want it to go into, and not the Spiders deck it would be going into today. This represents the broader philosophy Riot has espoused for this game - each card should be playable, and should fit into at least one particular deck, even if that deck isn't very powerful.
I suspect also Brood Awakening forced them to nerf Iceborn Legacy too or should i say a rework instead of nerf ? because, after you use Brood Awakening, if there is not bunch of removals/pings or an AOE spell in your opponent's hand, it is easier to use Iceborn Legacy on a spiderling.
That wasn't the case before because the list i have mentioned before did not use Brood Awakening just because old Iceborn Legacy was just enough to carry you to mid-late game. After Brood Awakening buff, probably [Hearthstone Card (Iceborn Legacy) Not Found] is way too powerful for what it does.
I DONT CARE ABOUT STREAMERS OPPINIONS OR THEIR DECKS I CAN THINK, PLAY BUILD DECKS AND EVALUATE GAMEPLAY SITUATIONS ON MY OWN AND I DO NOT TOLERATE IF ANYBODY ASSUMES THAT I JUST COPYPASTE SOME STREAMERS OPPINION AS MINE
PS: that last Statement just had to be to stress my standpoint
I did not say that you are part of the crowd. People in forums, people who shares their thoughts on forums are already mostly players who plays the games with their own way. We forum people tend to discover the game with our own style and share our experiences in forums. That's why we are part of the forum and opening threads about the game and our ideas/experiences.
I know you don't copypaste some streamer's opinions as yours. That's why i started as "you might not know " as well. So don't be mad. I said that crowd example just because %60-70 of playerbase play games, especially card games just like that. You might not be the part of the crowd and have a unique way to play. I'm not judging anyone here. I'm just speaking in general.
The fact that most of the crowd (%70) exists and plays as i describe above doesn't change the truth that there is also the %30 exception part which is always changes the experiments results in sciences and logic. Statistics can't do anything but saying "There are always exceptions" fact at the end. This is why statistics mostly sucks because it generalize the fact as that is the only truth. :) it even puts us the same %30 as "unique guys" even if we all are completely different. :)
you can see that for medicines for example. "That medicine is effective %70 of patients." but the truth is you might be on the %30 part and that medicine might not be effective on you but statistics don't interest in that and says that the medicine is effective enough. :)
New Paladin Spell - Libram of Justice
I've been holding onto a couple spare Pyromancers because I can see it getting HoF'd. It didn't this time, but maybe next? Cards like this will continue to make it an auto-include in many control decks.
Does each region have enough of an identity?
In light of the recent Demon Hunter and Priest revamp news in Hearthstone, and the fact that MTG has never introduced a sixth color to its wheel, I've been thinking about whether or not LoR's regions have clear enough identities. Ultimately, I think the answer is no, they don't have enough identity.
The stated Riot philosophy is that every card should be playable in at least one deck, and I think you see a lot of that reflected in the ways that certain region pairs combine to form themes. Some examples:
The result is that a lot of the theming seems to have been done primarily at the "region pair" level, and it makes less obvious combinations of those same regions clumsier. Yes, regions have their some of their own dedicated mechanics (e.g. Demacia has Tough Elites, Freljord has Frostbite, Ionia has hand buffs etc.), but those mechanics don't generally pair in interesting ways across regions. Because so much of the work of theming has been done at the "region pair" level, many of the decisions on how to pair a region feel forced and ultimately deck-building is less interesting and more paint-by-numbers.
By contrast, when you look at a game like MTG (which is probably the best comparison, because you can mix/match colors there like you can regions), you see primary and secondary themes for colors, and players are left to mix and match those colors to get to useful synergies. I can very easily build a Black/White deck that emphasizes token creatures for a more go-wide aggressive strategy, and I can create a Black/White deck that uses hard removal and AoE to control the game. Yes, there are multi-color cards that tend to emphasize shared themes, but even in those you see variety. Taking Blue/White as an example, you see cards that emphasize the shared enchantments and artifact subtheme of those colors, but you also see cards that emphasize the smaller fliers theme that they share. This leaves players with a lot of freedom to decide which colors to run, and how much of any primary or shared themes they want to emphasize in their deck.
Ultimately, I think this problem will only get more muddled in LoR as they introduce more regions. The reason other major CCGs have been so reticent to add new classes, colors, etc., is because you have to divide up the game mechanics pie into smaller pieces, which ultimately makes the archetypes more prescriptive and hinders creative deck-building. LoR seems to have started at a place of fairly prescriptive deck-building already, so cutting that pie up could do a lot of damage.
Crimson Sigil Runner is a new Demon Hunter Card Revealed for Hearthstone's Ashes of Outland Expansion
a conditional Kobold Librarian.
Otherwise it's just a Worgen Infiltrator without Stealth
New Demon Hunter Minion - Crimson Sigil Runner
Its hard to imagine some variant of DH not being very good this meta.
Crimson Sigil Runner is a new Demon Hunter Card Revealed for Hearthstone's Ashes of Outland Expansion
This is played in pretty much every Demon Hunter deck. Just like Kobold Librarian was played in every Warlock (and still is played in every warlock deck in wild)
Crimson Sigil Runner is a new Demon Hunter Card Revealed for Hearthstone's Ashes of Outland Expansion
This one, like Kobold Librarian, is an awesome card for aggro decks. I think I want to give a try a Zoo DH deck and this kind of drawing cards keep the card flow of going next to Spectral Sight and maybe Skull of Gul'dan (DH doesn't have the powerful draw engine of the Warlock's Hero Power).
A decent T1 that can be crazy good with the Outcast trigger. Also a really nice cantrip card when it's topdecked.
New Shaman Minion - Shattered Rumbler
I also love The Lonely Island
New Demon Hunter Minion - Crimson Sigil Runner
I think this card will be better in combo type decks that mainly want to play this for the draw and not necessarily for the good 1-drop. Most of the time you won't be able to trigger this on turn one, which is fine, but makes it a less powerful tempo play.
All in all an amazing card, but I don't think it will be quite as good as Kobold Librarian.
New Paladin Minion - Aldor Truthseeker
Great minion, great Battlecry. Even if you grab this off Lightforged Crusader and you're not running Librams, it's still good.
Can riot please revert the Iceborn legacy changes?
I suspect also Brood Awakening forced them to nerf Iceborn Legacy too or should i say a rework instead of nerf ? because, after you use Brood Awakening, if there is not bunch of removals/pings or an AOE spell in your opponent's hand, it is easier to use Iceborn Legacy on a spiderling.
That wasn't the case before because the list i have mentioned before did not use Brood Awakening just because old Iceborn Legacy was just enough to carry you to mid-late game. After Brood Awakening buff, probably [Hearthstone Card (Iceborn Legacy) Not Found] is way too powerful for what it does.
I did not say that you are part of the crowd. People in forums, people who shares their thoughts on forums are already mostly players who plays the games with their own way. We forum people tend to discover the game with our own style and share our experiences in forums. That's why we are part of the forum and opening threads about the game and our ideas/experiences.
I know you don't copypaste some streamer's opinions as yours. That's why i started as "you might not know " as well. So don't be mad. I said that crowd example just because %60-70 of playerbase play games, especially card games just like that. You might not be the part of the crowd and have a unique way to play. I'm not judging anyone here. I'm just speaking in general.
The fact that most of the crowd (%70) exists and plays as i describe above doesn't change the truth that there is also the %30 exception part which is always changes the experiments results in sciences and logic. Statistics can't do anything but saying "There are always exceptions" fact at the end. This is why statistics mostly sucks because it generalize the fact as that is the only truth. :) it even puts us the same %30 as "unique guys" even if we all are completely different. :)
you can see that for medicines for example. "That medicine is effective %70 of patients." but the truth is you might be on the %30 part and that medicine might not be effective on you but statistics don't interest in that and says that the medicine is effective enough. :)
Crimson Sigil Runner
Premium aggro stats and card draw for a class that allegedly doesn't have it? Way OP.
New Paladin Spell - Hand of A'dal
Mini Blessing of Kings that's also card draw. Amazing card!
New Paladin Minion - Aldor Attendant
This one seems good. Vanilla stats and good effect. Will see play in MOST libram decks.
New Paladin Spell - Libram of Justice
After upgrading it this will be the old pre-nerf Equality but only opponent side and gives you a weapon. Good card.
New Paladin Minion - Imprisoned Sungill
Welp looks weak, but will probably be supricingly good.
New Paladin Weapon - Underlight Angling Rod
Definitely playable, but you'll need to highroll those rando murlocs for it to be great.
New Paladin Spell - Libram of Wisdom
This is an amazing card. Looking forward to also memeing with it in wild with that rastakhan rumble card. (That minion with the Kingsbane effect)
New Paladin Minion - Aldor Truthseeker
Must use in any libram using paladin deck. Amazing card.
New Paladin Weapon - Underlight Angling Rod
Not good enoegh for murloc paladin. You really need a high roll for this to be good.
New Demon Hunter Minion - Crimson Sigil Runner
Wow, MORE card draw for DH! These guys will just never run out of steam. Also, a solid turn 1 play, even without the draw.
New Paladin Spell - Libram of Hope
Great control card, and with Lady Liadrin you can cast this 4 times in a game. (More if you bounce her)
New Paladin Minion - Murgur Murgurgle
Good card in most paladin decks. The prime gives 4 random murlocs, but what doesn't matter because their really sticky with divine shield.
New Paladin Minion - Lady Liadrin
Good card now that we know about librams. looking forward to playing paladin... for once.
New Mage Minion - Imprisoned Observer
Slow but powerful. Great fit in nearly every mage deck. Just shuts down aggro on their most important turn.
New Mage Minion - Apexis Smuggler
Maybe a control secret mage archetype? Probably not. We need to get at least 1 more secret this expansion for this to be decent.