Of course, we'll all try to use this on an empty board, which is unlikely, but if your opponent only has one minion, it's still a 50/50 chance of 7 face damage. SMOrc it up, boys.
Unless there's a bunch of wimpy shrimp-Dragons that'll be added in DoD, most Dragons are beefy minions. The effect, if you can draw enough portals, is pretty strong. If you can draw enough portals... it's definitely a slow card.
Better than Rogue's Galakrond? Maybe, but I feel like Rogue's Galakrond fits the class's default deck style (tempo) more than this fits Warrior. I suppose there could be a good Midrange (Dragon?) Warrior that would like the buffs on Turn ~7, and the Hero Power would help clear minions or act as a finisher. Also good in an Aggressive Warrior, depending on how bad the Invoke cards will (probably) be in terms of Aggro.
Time RIP. Priests theme with this expack is all about removal it seems.
It kind of always been the case as priest basic and classic sets don't really present many removal options, its arsenal - read viable archetype(s) - is forever changing every rotation.
What Zelgadis said, basically they tried to minimise the damage the winner would deal to the "enemy". They often took the turn to level up their Tavern instead of buying minions and putting more stuff on the board. Or they did buy minions they wanted, but didnt play them; or even sell some they would sell of next turn anyway. Position stuff that it would die to a Divine Shield Taunt etc. or so that Deathrattles would spawn as little crap as possible.
Health is a very important resource in Battlegrounds, *we can clearly see that just by how +20 Health on Patchwerk makes him one of the best Heroes*. So when they managed to minimise damage dealt to each other, or even cause a draw. And not only that, but often being able to upgarde Tavern on early turn where normally you would have been trying for board control so you dont take excessive damage, that created big advantages for them.
It was actually a very interesting to see the strategy behind this team play, which had some random elements to it attached still, for obvious reasons, but it was another layer of play and a big part of why the winning team won.
from the article: "Win a game with both of the statistically worst heroes, Patches and Putricide."
turns out it's not one of the best heroes.. at lest statistically maybe in high elo..
This card is great and quite flexible. It supports secret hunter, it can help the new hero power archetype that they are pushing and it also has some beast synergie. The stats are great for a 2 drop and in all scenarios, it thins out your deck (if you are running secrets of course).
Assassinate was never a bad card, it's just that rogue counld't afford to play such expensive removal, I don't even see them using Walk the Plank anymore. While priest would love having these cards and now they have a better Assassinate that gives you a card and enpowers your Galakrond, the Unspeakable.
If you are aiming at getting a card, this is a worse Curious Glimmerroot since you would normaly get a selection of 3 cards, 2 that did not help the opponents deck and then 1 that does which would be an easy pick. This time you get 2 cards that are in your opponents deck and one that is in their hand. It seems quite hard to be able to choose the right card, especially since this is a 2 mana card and you might want to get the tempo like we had with Curious Glimmerroot.
On the other hand, if you are aiming at gaining information, this is far superior than Curious Glimmerroot since you get to see 3 cards that your opponent decided to put in their deck.
And hey, if you really want to increase the odds at getting the card, you could play this after Madame Lazul.
Very powerful card that not only enpowers you Galakrond deck, but also allows your Galakrond deck to include some dragon synergy since you don't want to play this card on curve. You want to generate and draw lots of cards and then reduce their cost, so including some dragon synergy cards is nothing too expensive.
Resembles Shadowreaper Anduins battlecry without affecting your board and without the annoying machine gun hero power. Instead, it's a value generator aiming to out grind your oponnent which is fine by me. A powerful card with a simple goal.
While the card is strong for only 1 mana, I don't see someone wanting to put this in their deck. Playing cheap buffs such as this without a strong card draw spell like Divine Favor will ruin you. Not only that, but you want dragons, unless we get a bunch of strong cheap 1-2 mana dragons (we have Faerie Dragon but it can't be buffed), this won't work. For now, I only see this being played after being discovered by Firetree Witchdoctor.
While this card will pretty much only be in a dragon deck, you won't want to play the big dragons since you will want to be able to play the dragon that gets the buff as soon as possible. A deck that runs cheap dragons such as Faerie Dragon, Bronze Herald, Twilight Drake and maybe even Brightwing might work with this card.
While the effect is quite intense and might work against some aggro or tempo decks, it might ruin you against a control deck that desperately wants to reach 10 mana and your opponent will be the first one to use that mana. It might work in a big paladin, but i am having a hard time of thinking of a proper way of using this card since the goal of big paladin is playing big minions before your opponent has enough mana to deal with your threats. It reminds me a little of Temporus, obviously not as bad, but against certain decks you will lose when playing this on turn 4. All of this is if you aim on playing him on turn 4. You could just wait later in the game to make a strong tempo play.
Feels like an upcoming Firelands Portal with a consistent 6/6, I don't think people will want to run this in a spell heavy deck since you might not be able to draw it before needing to use your smaller spells. Instead, I see people using this in a slower control deck and try getting a high tempo play with big spells like a Flamestrike (with another spell), Pyroblast or even Power of Creation which can work with Tortollan Pilgrim (maybe not pyroblast...).
New Hunter Minion - Dragonbane
Of course, we'll all try to use this on an empty board, which is unlikely, but if your opponent only has one minion, it's still a 50/50 chance of 7 face damage. SMOrc it up, boys.
New Druid Minion - Emerald Explorer
One thing you want as a Dragon deck is MORE DRAGONS. This card has good stats on its own, plus it can get you more Dragons? Two, please!
New Druid Spell - Breath of Dreams
Sure, I'll try a Dragon Druid deck. This card alone might make it good.
New Druid Spell - Secure the Deck
G E T G O N K ' D !
New Druid Minion - Ysera, Unleashed
Unless there's a bunch of wimpy shrimp-Dragons that'll be added in DoD, most Dragons are beefy minions. The effect, if you can draw enough portals, is pretty strong. If you can draw enough portals... it's definitely a slow card.
New Warrior Hero - Galakrond, the Unbreakable
Better than Rogue's Galakrond? Maybe, but I feel like Rogue's Galakrond fits the class's default deck style (tempo) more than this fits Warrior. I suppose there could be a good Midrange (Dragon?) Warrior that would like the buffs on Turn ~7, and the Hero Power would help clear minions or act as a finisher. Also good in an Aggressive Warrior, depending on how bad the Invoke cards will (probably) be in terms of Aggro.
Hearthstone BattleGrind - A Battlegrounds Tournament
CardID or NameBADCARDNAMEOh right, my bad, they have similar names so I got them mixed.
New Rogue Hero - Galakrond, the Nightmare
The best Galakrond, IMO. We do still need to see Shaman's Galakrond.
New Druid Spell - Secure the Deck
Pack filler :)
Why would you run this card? If you run this, you probably would not run the Druid Quest. And why would you not run the Druid Quest?
Dawn of Desolation - An alternate ending to the Year of the Dragon - Custom Expansion
I've added Imgur links for those who would rather see the cards by themselves.
These Imgur Links work!
New Priest Spell - Time Rip
It kind of always been the case as priest basic and classic sets don't really present many removal options, its arsenal - read viable archetype(s) - is forever changing every rotation.
New Hunter Minion - Dragonbane
I second ; interesting effect but not ledgy worthy ... or we missing somethin
New Priest Hero - Galakrond, the Unspeakable
This card is going to be super annoying. Mark my words. Infinite value is never fun to fight against.
Hearthstone BattleGrind - A Battlegrounds Tournament
Patchwerk not patches
Hearthstone BattleGrind - A Battlegrounds Tournament
from the article: "Win a game with both of the statistically worst heroes, Patches and Putricide."
turns out it's not one of the best heroes.. at lest statistically maybe in high elo..
New Hunter Minion - Phase Stalker
This card is great and quite flexible. It supports secret hunter, it can help the new hero power archetype that they are pushing and it also has some beast synergie. The stats are great for a 2 drop and in all scenarios, it thins out your deck (if you are running secrets of course).
New Priest Spell - Time Rip
Assassinate was never a bad card, it's just that rogue counld't afford to play such expensive removal, I don't even see them using Walk the Plank anymore. While priest would love having these cards and now they have a better Assassinate that gives you a card and enpowers your Galakrond, the Unspeakable.
New Priest Minion - Envoy of Lazul
If you are aiming at getting a card, this is a worse Curious Glimmerroot since you would normaly get a selection of 3 cards, 2 that did not help the opponents deck and then 1 that does which would be an easy pick. This time you get 2 cards that are in your opponents deck and one that is in their hand. It seems quite hard to be able to choose the right card, especially since this is a 2 mana card and you might want to get the tempo like we had with Curious Glimmerroot.
On the other hand, if you are aiming at gaining information, this is far superior than Curious Glimmerroot since you get to see 3 cards that your opponent decided to put in their deck.
And hey, if you really want to increase the odds at getting the card, you could play this after Madame Lazul.
New Priest Minion - Fate Weaver
Very powerful card that not only enpowers you Galakrond deck, but also allows your Galakrond deck to include some dragon synergy since you don't want to play this card on curve. You want to generate and draw lots of cards and then reduce their cost, so including some dragon synergy cards is nothing too expensive.
New Priest Hero - Galakrond, the Unspeakable
Resembles Shadowreaper Anduins battlecry without affecting your board and without the annoying machine gun hero power. Instead, it's a value generator aiming to out grind your oponnent which is fine by me. A powerful card with a simple goal.
New Paladin Spell - Sand Breath
While the card is strong for only 1 mana, I don't see someone wanting to put this in their deck. Playing cheap buffs such as this without a strong card draw spell like Divine Favor will ruin you. Not only that, but you want dragons, unless we get a bunch of strong cheap 1-2 mana dragons (we have Faerie Dragon but it can't be buffed), this won't work. For now, I only see this being played after being discovered by Firetree Witchdoctor.
New Paladin Minion - Dragonrider Talritha
While this card will pretty much only be in a dragon deck, you won't want to play the big dragons since you will want to be able to play the dragon that gets the buff as soon as possible. A deck that runs cheap dragons such as Faerie Dragon, Bronze Herald, Twilight Drake and maybe even Brightwing might work with this card.
Maybe you could go for some of the bigger dragons if you use Nozdormu the Timeless.
New Paladin Minion - Nozdormu the Timeless
While the effect is quite intense and might work against some aggro or tempo decks, it might ruin you against a control deck that desperately wants to reach 10 mana and your opponent will be the first one to use that mana. It might work in a big paladin, but i am having a hard time of thinking of a proper way of using this card since the goal of big paladin is playing big minions before your opponent has enough mana to deal with your threats. It reminds me a little of Temporus, obviously not as bad, but against certain decks you will lose when playing this on turn 4. All of this is if you aim on playing him on turn 4. You could just wait later in the game to make a strong tempo play.
Quest Trading - Play A Friend!
Done
New Mage Spell - Learn Draconic
Feels like an upcoming Firelands Portal with a consistent 6/6, I don't think people will want to run this in a spell heavy deck since you might not be able to draw it before needing to use your smaller spells. Instead, I see people using this in a slower control deck and try getting a high tempo play with big spells like a Flamestrike (with another spell), Pyroblast or even Power of Creation which can work with Tortollan Pilgrim (maybe not pyroblast...).