4th best deck in the meta based on today's Vicious Syndicate meta report. Moreover, the three archetypes above it (Galakrond Shaman, Galakrond Warrior and Deathrattle Rogue) will be nerfed.
Not sure where on Wild you're playing but in my experience Zoo Warlock is a laughing stock among top decks (bottom tier 2 as of December). It has little to no flexibility and very poor answers to many other, more powerful decks. Any kind of AoE tends to just wipe it off the board and in most cases, everything Zoolock does, Odd Paladin does better. In a meta of ultra defensive Reno decks, mana-cheating control decks and lightning-fast Secret Mages, Zoolock seems to barely get a word in. And now it just got worse.
When the autocomplete function is used, the deck populates on the screen. In my case, I didn't pay attention to it because I presumed a certain set of cards would be included. Couple that with the fact that I wasn't planning to play the deck competitively means I just didn't look at it before heading into play mode.
As the other reply said, it will only use cards in your deck to complete. If you want decent suggestions on what decks you can almost make with your collection, I reccomend using hsreplay.net. Download their decktracker to get your collection in their system. Then you can sort decks by win rate, select the option of only showing decks you can create, and then put a dust cost in the filter for how much you might be willing or able to spend. That will let you get a good idea of what is in reach for you.
Vessina isn't essential to the deck, I played it without her for ages. She definitely makes the deck a bit better, but you can add a dire wolf alpha and still feel fine about life. Bloodlust is great when you happen to have a full board, but this isn't really a dedicated token deck, so it'll often be a dead card.
Sludge slurper definitely got a bit worse, but the card does a lot of small things that this deck likes: it's a way to get overloaded for Likkim/thunderhead/vessina and it's a cheap minion that generates stuff, which matters a lot in the first few turns if you don't draw a curve. You can consider Sandstorm Elemental as an alternate cheap overload minion.
Was that Nerf really that needed? Genuine Question.
I only encountered a handfull of Gala-Warriors (mostly in Wild), but that Card was never a problem, not even buffed up.
Gala-War in Wild?! That's like the fringe of a fraction of a marginal sub-group within a minority that plays it there, unlike Standard, where it is a strong Tier 1 option. The Nerf is not only fair but also well deserved ; can't believe they printed that without seeing how crazy OP it is. I would still play it at 5 mana! 3 was just too greedy
I can't see myself playing this type of thing, even just for a quest. However, if you have a friend to play with, a neat "game mode" is to each craft a suicide deck and fight to see who can die first. You can run healing for your opponent to slow them down, as well as all the self-damage you can find. When you're sick of the ladder, try this out for fun!
This mainly hits the Spirit of the Frog/Zentimo build of Galakrond Shaman, which depended on this card for huge cheap swings. While this nerf pretty much renders that version of the deck unplayable, I think it's for the better. Going off with Spirit of the Frog to get a huge Mutate/Invocation of Frost/Earthen Might swing, or a cheap 4-mana freeze 3 minions get 3 2/1 rush minions and upgrade Galakrond at least once with Zentimo simply felt too unfair to play against.
Veiled Worshipper is not the powerhouse of the deck, in fact when looking at the drawn winrate of the most popular Galakrond Zoo deck on HSReplayFiendish Rites is at #1, while Veiled Worshipper is among the bottom cards. So, it makes sense to nerf Fiendish Rites when wanting to keep the deck in control. While I agree that it's not the most oppressive deck at the moment, it might become so after the nerfs to the other decks hit by this patch. So it feels more like a pre-emptive nerf to me, that won't destroy the deck.
The less I see this card played the better. As a mage mountain giant conjurer's calling junkie I don't mind the occasional mana cheat but this had me crying in the corner over mountain giants, galaxy spell and what not. If I draw the nuts I can still play a giant on 3 and conjure it on 4, but that needs 3 specific cards to work and not just one.
Well I wish I played you more often then since virtually every time I see someone drop her they get the ridiculous legendary Dragons and kill me in various and sundry ways :)
It's a good change, that won't even kill its main combos. You can still play it with Dragon Breeder and Barista Lynchen, the only thing you can't do anymore is play the buffed-up version after playing a fully invoked Galakrond, which I think is a great change because getting an Arcanite Reaper and three 7/6's with rush in one turn was way too busted.
In your first post you ask why the conditions are even there because nobody ever plays them without meeting them
I think you've misunderstood my original question: I did not ask why the conditions are there (I do understand deck/thematic synergy) - I asked why cost the cards as though anyone ever plays them WITHOUT the conditions being met. Or worded another way: why not cost them to reflect their actual play impact/usage.
We seem to be agreeing, but are just thinking about it differently. To your point if Dragons Pack was 5 mana with no condition it would be fantastically OP, which I agree with. And because nobody ever plays it without hitting the condition, it is - in actual, practical effect - exactly that. So why not just cost the card at 6 or 7 to reflect what it really is?
So take another analogous example: Quest Druid. Has anybody seen a lot of Oasis Surger or Hidden Oasis recently? No because those cards were effectively designed to be played with the completed quest, even though a 5 mana 5/5 with rush is just fine on its own. So Blizz is effectively undercosting strong cards to make them "playable" in situations where people do not play them. It's the tail wagging the dog and, while I understand the logic, I happen to disagree with it.
7 Hearthstone Cards are Getting Nerfed! The January Hearthstone Balance Patch Notes with Battlegrounds Changes
4th best deck in the meta based on today's Vicious Syndicate meta report.
Moreover, the three archetypes above it (Galakrond Shaman, Galakrond Warrior and Deathrattle Rogue) will be nerfed.
But yeah: devs bad, nerf Priest.
Card Nerf - Ancharrr
Fiendish Rites got nerfed. It was good, but was it worthy of the nerf? Let alone, does that indicate that we "know how good it is"?
7 Hearthstone Cards are Getting Nerfed! The January Hearthstone Balance Patch Notes with Battlegrounds Changes
Not sure where on Wild you're playing but in my experience Zoo Warlock is a laughing stock among top decks (bottom tier 2 as of December). It has little to no flexibility and very poor answers to many other, more powerful decks. Any kind of AoE tends to just wipe it off the board and in most cases, everything Zoolock does, Odd Paladin does better. In a meta of ultra defensive Reno decks, mana-cheating control decks and lightning-fast Secret Mages, Zoolock seems to barely get a word in. And now it just got worse.
Just Macaws
''Webspinners are so passé'' turns out they are aware of that
Just how bad is Galakrond Priest? Or the autocomplete is broken.
When the autocomplete function is used, the deck populates on the screen. In my case, I didn't pay attention to it because I presumed a certain set of cards would be included. Couple that with the fact that I wasn't planning to play the deck competitively means I just didn't look at it before heading into play mode.
As the other reply said, it will only use cards in your deck to complete. If you want decent suggestions on what decks you can almost make with your collection, I reccomend using hsreplay.net. Download their decktracker to get your collection in their system. Then you can sort decks by win rate, select the option of only showing decks you can create, and then put a dust cost in the filter for how much you might be willing or able to spend. That will let you get a good idea of what is in reach for you.
Card Nerf - Scion of Ruin
My favorite dragon kiblers >.< No more Gala + Kiblers for easy board clears >.<
Card Nerf - Dragonqueen Alexstrasza
Even with this ''nerf'', she is still a singleton powerhouse.
If anything, it just tone it down to great instead of brokenly divine.
Burn/Miracle Shaman
Vessina isn't essential to the deck, I played it without her for ages. She definitely makes the deck a bit better, but you can add a dire wolf alpha and still feel fine about life. Bloodlust is great when you happen to have a full board, but this isn't really a dedicated token deck, so it'll often be a dead card.
Sludge slurper definitely got a bit worse, but the card does a lot of small things that this deck likes: it's a way to get overloaded for Likkim/thunderhead/vessina and it's a cheap minion that generates stuff, which matters a lot in the first few turns if you don't draw a curve. You can consider Sandstorm Elemental as an alternate cheap overload minion.
Suicide warrior.
That's one of the most fun challenges. Although too easy with Unlicensed Apothecary and any token summoning spell like Forbidden Ritual.
Card Nerf - Scion of Ruin
Gala-War in Wild?! That's like the fringe of a fraction of a marginal sub-group within a minority that plays it there, unlike Standard, where it is a strong Tier 1 option. The Nerf is not only fair but also well deserved ; can't believe they printed that without seeing how crazy OP it is. I would still play it at 5 mana! 3 was just too greedy
Card Nerf - Fiendish Rites
Man!! That sucks!!
My C'Thun/Galakrond Warlock is now even worse!!
7 Hearthstone Cards are Getting Nerfed! The January Hearthstone Balance Patch Notes with Battlegrounds Changes
Dragon Pack should have been the 1st thing nerfed when they nerfed Shammy at the end of last year.
Burn/Miracle Shaman
What would you replace Vessina with? Bloodlust? Also, is Sludge Slurper still worth it after the nerf?
Vendetta's Tempo Galakrond
Currently Rank 3 with a nice winrate of 62%
Suicide warrior.
I can't see myself playing this type of thing, even just for a quest. However, if you have a friend to play with, a neat "game mode" is to each craft a suicide deck and fight to see who can die first. You can run healing for your opponent to slow them down, as well as all the self-damage you can find. When you're sick of the ladder, try this out for fun!
Card Nerf - Invocation of Frost
This mainly hits the Spirit of the Frog/Zentimo build of Galakrond Shaman, which depended on this card for huge cheap swings. While this nerf pretty much renders that version of the deck unplayable, I think it's for the better. Going off with Spirit of the Frog to get a huge Mutate/Invocation of Frost/Earthen Might swing, or a cheap 4-mana freeze 3 minions get 3 2/1 rush minions and upgrade Galakrond at least once with Zentimo simply felt too unfair to play against.
7 Hearthstone Cards are Getting Nerfed! The January Hearthstone Balance Patch Notes with Battlegrounds Changes
THANK YOU FOR THE ARENA BALANCE CHANGES! SOME OF US STILL PLAY THAT GAME MODE! UNNERF THE ARENA MENU BUTTON!
Card Nerf - Fiendish Rites
Veiled Worshipper is not the powerhouse of the deck, in fact when looking at the drawn winrate of the most popular Galakrond Zoo deck on HSReplay Fiendish Rites is at #1, while Veiled Worshipper is among the bottom cards. So, it makes sense to nerf Fiendish Rites when wanting to keep the deck in control. While I agree that it's not the most oppressive deck at the moment, it might become so after the nerfs to the other decks hit by this patch. So it feels more like a pre-emptive nerf to me, that won't destroy the deck.
Card Nerf - Necrium Apothecary
The less I see this card played the better. As a mage mountain giant conjurer's calling junkie I don't mind the occasional mana cheat but this had me crying in the corner over mountain giants, galaxy spell and what not. If I draw the nuts I can still play a giant on 3 and conjure it on 4, but that needs 3 specific cards to work and not just one.
7 Hearthstone Cards are Getting Nerfed! The January Hearthstone Balance Patch Notes with Battlegrounds Changes
Agreed zoo is being played a little less and will get played even less now
Group Therapy! Need to blow off some steam? Mega salty? Here's the place!
Well I wish I played you more often then since virtually every time I see someone drop her they get the ridiculous legendary Dragons and kill me in various and sundry ways :)
Card Nerf - Scion of Ruin
It's a good change, that won't even kill its main combos. You can still play it with Dragon Breeder and Barista Lynchen, the only thing you can't do anymore is play the buffed-up version after playing a fully invoked Galakrond, which I think is a great change because getting an Arcanite Reaper and three 7/6's with rush in one turn was way too busted.
7 Hearthstone Cards are Getting Nerfed! The January Hearthstone Balance Patch Notes with Battlegrounds Changes
I think you've misunderstood my original question: I did not ask why the conditions are there (I do understand deck/thematic synergy) - I asked why cost the cards as though anyone ever plays them WITHOUT the conditions being met. Or worded another way: why not cost them to reflect their actual play impact/usage.
We seem to be agreeing, but are just thinking about it differently. To your point if Dragons Pack was 5 mana with no condition it would be fantastically OP, which I agree with. And because nobody ever plays it without hitting the condition, it is - in actual, practical effect - exactly that. So why not just cost the card at 6 or 7 to reflect what it really is?
So take another analogous example: Quest Druid. Has anybody seen a lot of Oasis Surger or Hidden Oasis recently? No because those cards were effectively designed to be played with the completed quest, even though a 5 mana 5/5 with rush is just fine on its own. So Blizz is effectively undercosting strong cards to make them "playable" in situations where people do not play them. It's the tail wagging the dog and, while I understand the logic, I happen to disagree with it.
Card Nerf - Necrium Apothecary
Good change, it's still viable. Also don't think it will knock Rogue down from having a top-tier deck, since Galakrond is still insane.
Card Nerf - Fiendish Rites
This is the only nerf that feels weird to me. Galakrond probably was problematic so they wanted to nerf it inb4 I guess.