This feels like a payoff for Eliza and only an OK spell otherwise. In my gut, I feel like both Crop Rotation and Army of the Dead are just better most of the time.
This is really strong. Imagine the potential just with Reska. The new Dreadhound Handler is also exceptional with this, and I like the idea of using it with Eliza. There's a ton of good cheap minions with Deathrattle and giving them Reborn is really good. (My favorite is the new Adaptive Amalgam, who'll keep the Reborn for the next time you draw it).
Sort of similar to Threads of Despair - a board clear that feeds off of minions dying. A little like Jungle Gym for DK, but the damage feels a little capped in a turn if your opponent doesn't have minions to trade into but that's usually not something an aggro deck is too upset about. I think we could see this is an aggressive DK deck, if such a deck comes to be.
This could be a useful payoff in the early game for Freeze DK (you can play it on turn 2 with a Glacial Shard) and aggression is what Frost DK has usually done best. Depending on how regularly DK decks can drop this on turn 2 or 3, this could make the archetype very fast and good.
On demand freeze plus card draw is nice; of Freeze spells are there few but Freeze Weapons like Might and Crusher might be the better way to go with this. Northern Navigation is also pretty nice for a Frost DK. I think Freeze DK could have enough legs to at least get a try out.
This is fairly weak - a 2/2 body with a Deathrattle freeze (there aren't enough other freeze effects in the game to feel confident about getting the 5 damage regularly). You do have a few ways to trigger it yourself in Death Knight, and getting a double trigger off of Yodeler (or in Warlock with Darkmarrow) would be pretty cool, if a bit slow.
I love this with Death Growl, and there are other, more expensive, tools for getting extra triggers from the Deathrattle. And the Deathrattle, even without extra triggers, is pretty good. Aggro DK hasn't been around for a while, but maybe there's just enough here to make a decent deck.
I'm not really sold on this expansion's passel of Shaman cards, except for Cabaret Headliner and maybe Carress I don't think Rainbow Spells DK has that many tools to hold up. It's powerful card draw attached to a decent minion, but I think the deck it'll enable will be mid-Tier at best.
I think for me the DLC is a 9/10 with that single missing point because of the last boss. But overall it has to be the best DLC ever made, it's the equivalent to Elden Ring 1.5. Not a full sequel but almost a whole separate game. The level deign, exploration, improvement on old formulas like catacombs, all awesome. Most bosses are amazing too, Lion Dancer is a highlight. Some are more meh like Gaius but overall more hits than misses. Even the last boss is superb spectacle, ignoring the rest. And when it comes to lore, overall it is incredible again. Shaman Village, Metyr, Messmer, the Hornsent, Bayle, all amazing. Yeah lack of some topics like Gloam Eyed Queen is sad but there was no way it could address everything. Messmer was never going to be the final or main boss, that's just how fromsoft likes things. The main game had Malenia and Godrick all over the ad campaign. "Obstacles on the way to the real boss" is the rule for their DLCs. Bloodborne DLC had Lady Maria but final boss is Orphan of Kos. Dark Souls 1 had Artorias but Manus is the final boss. Dark Souls 3 DLCs are weirder i admit, not much focus on anyone and short as hell. More like 1 DLC cut in two. But you get the idea. Sadly that's what makes the final boss disappointing for me. With the expectation something even more amazing comes after Messmer, the buildup of Godwyn and especially talks of "reviving a brother's soul"... fully expected Godwyn to be the promised consort. Radahn just feels bad, it comes out of nowhere with no foreshadowing in the main game, 0 connections between him and Miquella to even hint he's so important to the young Empyrean. It also makes Malenia and Radahn's duel confusing and a bit more lame in hindsight.
But the glimpse in Marika's origins and motivations, the jar lore, dragon civil war, Finger origins and more on the Greater Will, the Hornsent and Crucible stuff, finally details about the ancient ruins that are all over the world and seem to be the foundations upon which it is built... can't say the DLC lore is bad. The last boss is a sour taste but everything else is so sweet it balances it up for it, for me.
Another good 1-Drop for Painlock, so the deck can be even more efficient in getting its late-game bombs into play. This would likely be better than Flame Imp in some matchups. Painlock can really go all-in, maybe I should reevaluate the Flamejuggler - there's just enough cheap self-harm in Warlock that it could be a good value for its cost pretty regularly.
Good for Deathrattle Warlock decks and honestly, paying 2 for three cards is really good even with the additional cost of killing your most expendable minion. This could be a good card to play in any number of decks, but we definitely see this in Tourist Lock, if that deck exists.
It's a bit too hit or miss, even in a deck like Painlock that's designed to take a lot of damage. It is a 4/4 if you play a Flame Imp, and if you have Haywire Zilliax or a Cursed Souvenir minion in play it would be 4/4 with no additional investment. Feels a little all-in to make work, but I can see a world where it makes the cut. (Am I mad to think this is insane in Wild thanks to Crystallizer?)
This is pretty decent for Warlock and OK for Rogue. I think we might see this in slower Warlock decks because the pop-off potential with a Pop'Gar on board is tantalizing (Barrels deal one more damage for the same amount of Mana and can go face, but this is targeted for minion removal meaning it can deal with the biggest problem on board).
This feels like it exists solely to play with Darkmarrow; it's otherwise a 1/6 soft taunt for a deck (Zoolock) that's probably the fourth or fifth most powerful Warlock archetype right now.
Setting up a later turn combo with Darkmarrow is powerful, but I'm always wary of cards that only trigger if they kill a minion. Just a touch too restrictive to make me think this burns up the meta as printed. (Would it be that much more powerful if if didn't need to kill a minion to trigger? It is Fel, which means Pop'gar could be a factor)
A decent buff spell, but probably only going to see play in decks that want to damage their Hero (luckily, just such a deck exists right now and probably wants a buff spell). If it were Fel, this would be a 5 star thanks to Pop'gar, but I think it's worth the slot in Painlock.
This feels like it's a card specifically designed for Rogue tourists, but even in that scenario it feels really weird and random. Yeah cost reduction is nice, but I'd rather pay full price for cards I chose to put in my deck.
Yeah, Tourist cards are confusing. I don't think I'll understand fully how they work for another month at least.
A weird mish-mash of Gandling and Rivendare. Works a treat with Ourobos-infected minions and the new Imp and there's an amount of combo with Brittlebone Buccaneer if you want to do something with a lot of Mana. This feels really good, even if it's in a class that doesn't usually have much to do with Deathrattles.
8 damage is not that much for a dedicated Painlock by turn 6 - that's like 1 Flame Imp and a Malefic Rook, or a Geode, Spirit Bomb and a Hero Power. This is going to be active on curve 95% of the time if you're a dedicated Painlock, and 65% of the time if you're a bog standard Warlock. Getting 12/12 stats on turn 6 by itself is really good, and adding the potential for a few extra Ouroboses (I will be calling it Ourobouros most of the time, sometimes by accident) is just icing, really.
Probably not good enough, you have to combine playing a 7 cost weapon with a fairly substantial amount of card draw to get your Mana's worth but who cares because I want to talk about that name. I'd like to know who decided to go with Ryecleaver when Doughcleaver was RIGHT THERE! Maybe they were worried someone on the internet would argue semantics like, "oooh, it's not ackshally a dough cleaver because the bread is baked" but in my opinion superior wordplay trumps accuracy.
(upvote for Doughcleaver, downvote for Ryecleaver to help me prove (pun intended) that I'm right)
Not that anyone asked, but for my money "the Best DLC Ever" remains "Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep", the final expansion for Borderlands 2. Taking the gunplay to a D&D-parody environment was super fun, and using the framework of Tina's fantasy story as a means to cope after Roland's death in the base game was inspired. The success of the DLC directly led to the fledged-out Tiny Tina's Wonderlands game, with some of the best Borderlands combat and character creation to date, as well as a full rulebook for their in-universe "Bunkers & Badasses" tabletop RPG system.
7 mana to get started and then the sandwich only ever comprises of minions drawn after the weapon was first played. Not to mention that there's no realistic method of rearranging the bread means even as combo potential you can easily get screwed if what youre intending to draw gets drawn too early.
Of course there's plenty of ways to manipulate it, and certainly tutoring means you can at least attempt to get what you want and thereafter you play these minions for only 2 mana, but its still such a tall ask. One might be tempted to also ask how warrior or druid is supposed to actually survive while all this is happening but you wouldnt think team5 would print this at 7 mana if they werent convinced it could work.
New Death Knight Spell - Ghouls' Night
This feels like a payoff for Eliza and only an OK spell otherwise. In my gut, I feel like both Crop Rotation and Army of the Dead are just better most of the time.
New Death Knight Minion - Brittlebone Buccaneer
This is really strong. Imagine the potential just with Reska. The new Dreadhound Handler is also exceptional with this, and I like the idea of using it with Eliza. There's a ton of good cheap minions with Deathrattle and giving them Reborn is really good. (My favorite is the new Adaptive Amalgam, who'll keep the Reborn for the next time you draw it).
New Death Knight Location - Horizon's Edge
Sort of similar to Threads of Despair - a board clear that feeds off of minions dying. A little like Jungle Gym for DK, but the damage feels a little capped in a turn if your opponent doesn't have minions to trade into but that's usually not something an aggro deck is too upset about. I think we could see this is an aggressive DK deck, if such a deck comes to be.
New Death Knight Minion - Snow Shredder
This could be a useful payoff in the early game for Freeze DK (you can play it on turn 2 with a Glacial Shard) and aggression is what Frost DK has usually done best. Depending on how regularly DK decks can drop this on turn 2 or 3, this could make the archetype very fast and good.
New Death Knight Spell - Slippery Slope
On demand freeze plus card draw is nice; of Freeze spells are there few but Freeze Weapons like Might and Crusher might be the better way to go with this. Northern Navigation is also pretty nice for a Frost DK. I think Freeze DK could have enough legs to at least get a try out.
New Death Knight Minion - Frostbitten Freebooter
This is fairly weak - a 2/2 body with a Deathrattle freeze (there aren't enough other freeze effects in the game to feel confident about getting the 5 damage regularly). You do have a few ways to trigger it yourself in Death Knight, and getting a double trigger off of Yodeler (or in Warlock with Darkmarrow) would be pretty cool, if a bit slow.
New Death Knight Minion - Eliza Goreblade
I love this with Death Growl, and there are other, more expensive, tools for getting extra triggers from the Deathrattle. And the Deathrattle, even without extra triggers, is pretty good. Aggro DK hasn't been around for a while, but maybe there's just enough here to make a decent deck.
New Death Knight Minion - Buttons
I'm not really sold on this expansion's passel of Shaman cards, except for Cabaret Headliner and maybe Carress I don't think Rainbow Spells DK has that many tools to hold up. It's powerful card draw attached to a decent minion, but I think the deck it'll enable will be mid-Tier at best.
New Warlock Minion - Party Fiend
Very solid 1 drop for Warlock (or Rogue dipping into Warlock), probably also makes a case for running the Ticking variants of Zilliax
Blizzard Has Now Banned Over 1.5 Million Hearthstone Accounts This Year
The Irony.
(Edit: Another bot acc slain, thank you!)
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree Review - The Best DLC Ever?
I think for me the DLC is a 9/10 with that single missing point because of the last boss. But overall it has to be the best DLC ever made, it's the equivalent to Elden Ring 1.5. Not a full sequel but almost a whole separate game. The level deign, exploration, improvement on old formulas like catacombs, all awesome. Most bosses are amazing too, Lion Dancer is a highlight. Some are more meh like Gaius but overall more hits than misses. Even the last boss is superb spectacle, ignoring the rest. And when it comes to lore, overall it is incredible again. Shaman Village, Metyr, Messmer, the Hornsent, Bayle, all amazing. Yeah lack of some topics like Gloam Eyed Queen is sad but there was no way it could address everything. Messmer was never going to be the final or main boss, that's just how fromsoft likes things. The main game had Malenia and Godrick all over the ad campaign. "Obstacles on the way to the real boss" is the rule for their DLCs. Bloodborne DLC had Lady Maria but final boss is Orphan of Kos. Dark Souls 1 had Artorias but Manus is the final boss. Dark Souls 3 DLCs are weirder i admit, not much focus on anyone and short as hell. More like 1 DLC cut in two. But you get the idea. Sadly that's what makes the final boss disappointing for me. With the expectation something even more amazing comes after Messmer, the buildup of Godwyn and especially talks of "reviving a brother's soul"... fully expected Godwyn to be the promised consort. Radahn just feels bad, it comes out of nowhere with no foreshadowing in the main game, 0 connections between him and Miquella to even hint he's so important to the young Empyrean. It also makes Malenia and Radahn's duel confusing and a bit more lame in hindsight.
But the glimpse in Marika's origins and motivations, the jar lore, dragon civil war, Finger origins and more on the Greater Will, the Hornsent and Crucible stuff, finally details about the ancient ruins that are all over the world and seem to be the foundations upon which it is built... can't say the DLC lore is bad. The last boss is a sour taste but everything else is so sweet it balances it up for it, for me.
New Warlock Minion - Party Fiend
Another good 1-Drop for Painlock, so the deck can be even more efficient in getting its late-game bombs into play. This would likely be better than Flame Imp in some matchups. Painlock can really go all-in, maybe I should reevaluate the Flamejuggler - there's just enough cheap self-harm in Warlock that it could be a good value for its cost pretty regularly.
New Warlock Spell - Eat! The! Imp!
Good for Deathrattle Warlock decks and honestly, paying 2 for three cards is really good even with the additional cost of killing your most expendable minion. This could be a good card to play in any number of decks, but we definitely see this in Tourist Lock, if that deck exists.
New Warlock Minion - Fearless Flamejuggler
It's a bit too hit or miss, even in a deck like Painlock that's designed to take a lot of damage. It is a 4/4 if you play a Flame Imp, and if you have Haywire Zilliax or a Cursed Souvenir minion in play it would be 4/4 with no additional investment. Feels a little all-in to make work, but I can see a world where it makes the cut. (Am I mad to think this is insane in Wild thanks to Crystallizer?)
New Warlock Spell - "Health" Drink
This is pretty decent for Warlock and OK for Rogue. I think we might see this in slower Warlock decks because the pop-off potential with a Pop'Gar on board is tantalizing (Barrels deal one more damage for the same amount of Mana and can go face, but this is targeted for minion removal meaning it can deal with the biggest problem on board).
New Warlock Minion - Sacrificial Imp
This feels like it exists solely to play with Darkmarrow; it's otherwise a 1/6 soft taunt for a deck (Zoolock) that's probably the fourth or fifth most powerful Warlock archetype right now.
New Warlock Spell - Felfire Bonfire
Setting up a later turn combo with Darkmarrow is powerful, but I'm always wary of cards that only trigger if they kill a minion. Just a touch too restrictive to make me think this burns up the meta as printed. (Would it be that much more powerful if if didn't need to kill a minion to trigger? It is Fel, which means Pop'gar could be a factor)
New Warlock Spell - Cursed Souvenir
A decent buff spell, but probably only going to see play in decks that want to damage their Hero (luckily, just such a deck exists right now and probably wants a buff spell). If it were Fel, this would be a 5 star thanks to Pop'gar, but I think it's worth the slot in Painlock.
New Warlock Spell - Announce Darkness
This feels like it's a card specifically designed for Rogue tourists, but even in that scenario it feels really weird and random. Yeah cost reduction is nice, but I'd rather pay full price for cards I chose to put in my deck.
New Warlock Minion - Summoner Darkmarrow
Yeah, Tourist cards are confusing. I don't think I'll understand fully how they work for another month at least.
A weird mish-mash of Gandling and Rivendare. Works a treat with Ourobos-infected minions and the new Imp and there's an amount of combo with Brittlebone Buccaneer if you want to do something with a lot of Mana. This feels really good, even if it's in a class that doesn't usually have much to do with Deathrattles.
New Warlock Minion - Party Planner Vona
8 damage is not that much for a dedicated Painlock by turn 6 - that's like 1 Flame Imp and a Malefic Rook, or a Geode, Spirit Bomb and a Hero Power. This is going to be active on curve 95% of the time if you're a dedicated Painlock, and 65% of the time if you're a bog standard Warlock. Getting 12/12 stats on turn 6 by itself is really good, and adding the potential for a few extra Ouroboses (I will be calling it Ourobouros most of the time, sometimes by accident) is just icing, really.
New Warrior Weapon - The Ryecleaver
Probably not good enough, you have to combine playing a 7 cost weapon with a fairly substantial amount of card draw to get your Mana's worth but who cares because I want to talk about that name. I'd like to know who decided to go with Ryecleaver when Doughcleaver was RIGHT THERE! Maybe they were worried someone on the internet would argue semantics like, "oooh, it's not ackshally a dough cleaver because the bread is baked" but in my opinion superior wordplay trumps accuracy.
(upvote for Doughcleaver, downvote for Ryecleaver to help me prove (pun intended) that I'm right)
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree Review - The Best DLC Ever?
Not that anyone asked, but for my money "the Best DLC Ever" remains "Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep", the final expansion for Borderlands 2. Taking the gunplay to a D&D-parody environment was super fun, and using the framework of Tina's fantasy story as a means to cope after Roland's death in the base game was inspired. The success of the DLC directly led to the fledged-out Tiny Tina's Wonderlands game, with some of the best Borderlands combat and character creation to date, as well as a full rulebook for their in-universe "Bunkers & Badasses" tabletop RPG system.
Shadow of the Erdtree is up there, though.
All Perils in Paradise Card Reveals for July 5 - Day 12 [Finished]
They have weapons with awesome effects, but with lamest themes.
Don't make it around bread, least make it a butcher's cleaver or something.
All Perils in Paradise Card Reveals for July 5 - Day 12 [Finished]
The weapon is actually pretty...well crap.
7 mana to get started and then the sandwich only ever comprises of minions drawn after the weapon was first played. Not to mention that there's no realistic method of rearranging the bread means even as combo potential you can easily get screwed if what youre intending to draw gets drawn too early.
Of course there's plenty of ways to manipulate it, and certainly tutoring means you can at least attempt to get what you want and thereafter you play these minions for only 2 mana, but its still such a tall ask. One might be tempted to also ask how warrior or druid is supposed to actually survive while all this is happening but you wouldnt think team5 would print this at 7 mana if they werent convinced it could work.