Bluetracker

Tracks Blizzard employees across various accounts.

All Brain Kibler's predictions on MSG cards so far in quick text format. (Part 1)

Hey! After my TrumpSC review text, the poll showed that a lot of people were interested in Kibler's opinion in text format, so since the second part of Trump's video isn't out yet, I'll do part 1 of Kibler's! (Gang cards and Priest)

I'll sum up his discussion on the cards up in short quotes that generally summarize the gist of what he's saying.

At the end I will name all disagreements on cards specifically to compare Kibler and Trump's opinions.

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Gang Cards

General:

"The general direction and idea of tri-class cards is great for the game because it makes classes and decks more varied. The gangs allow Blizzard to make strong cards that aren't either used by just one class, or by all of them. Generally more options for deckbuilding is great."

Grimestreet Informant:

• "Grimestreet informant is possibly the best of the three gangs' Discover cards. It's comparable to Jeweled Scarab, and having an effect like discover is more valuable on cheap cards."

Kabal Courier:

• "Kabal courier is probably the second best out of these three because it has the best value in the body, it's still a cheap effect, and it has a decent body"

Lotus Agents:

• "Lotus Agents is pretty expensive. It's similar to Ethereal Conjurer, but you don't usually get as much consistency and synergy with the Lotus Agents as you would with Conjurer."

Conclusion on Discover tri-class cards:

• "I don't expect any of these to see a lot of play, but they do have some potential. The cheap ones can be combined with Brann, but that's probably too niche and these probably won't see play in constructed much. In Arena, these cards are more valuable and probably will see some play"

Kazakus:

• "Another Reno-style card, and it will be available alongside Reno in standard until the next expansion launches. You obviously play it in the 1-of type deck. I'm curious to see if there's more "no duplicates" cards in the Lotus gang. The card is very valuable because it gives you a lot of options, and will have a place in slower decks. It pairs pretty well with Cho'Gall. It'll be interesting to see the other options Kazakus can give you. It's worth noting that there's enough options to not always be guaranteed of getting anything for certain like Board Clear. Kazakus will certainly be the centerpiece of some interesting and cool decks in the upcoming expansion"

Priest

Drakonid Operative:

• "This card is nuts. Dragon Priest really needs cards like these. It used to run Azure Drake, but Priest can't make great use out of the Spell Damage, but you're still paying for it. Priest especially can make a lot out of big bodies, which Azure Drake doesn't have. The effect is better than drawing a card, and the stats are much better because you get cards outside of fatigue, which is valuable in a slow deck like Dragon Priest. Priest generally didn't have reliable card draw before, but this card is really going to help Dragon Priest have a resurgance."

Dragonfire Potion:

• "It's like a lightbomb, but not quite as powerful against big stuff, but then again it's way better than smaller stuff, and this actually keeps your own Dragons alive. It does have some problems with using it against Azure Drake or Twilight Drake, which Priest already had problems with. Do note that you will be running non-dragon cards in Dragon Priest, so it's not necessarily a one-sided clear. Despite that, the card is outrageous, and Dragon Priest will see a lot of ladder play. It can also be good in non-dragon Priest decks as a lightbomb-type card.

Kabal Talonpriest:

• Reminiscent of Dark Cultist, but not necessarily better or worse. It's different. The Kabal Talonpriest is very powerful if you have a target for it early on. Northshire Cleric has had some trouble with trading up well now that cards like Tunnel Trogg are around, but this will help that problem. What's an even better target though is cards like Twilight Whelp or Wyrmrest Agent, because they contest the board much more. This card can ensure that your opponent will have trouble clearing your minions. It's definitely powerful, but in Dragon Priest it might not outclass Blackwing Technian.

Pint-Size Potion:

• "This card fills the role that Shrinkmeister left. It synergises a lot with Shadow Word Horror, Cabal Shadowpriest or Shadow Word: Pain. Cabal Shadowpriest has left the meta partly because Shrinkmeister was gone, but this card might bring it back and even better. It can bring up huge tempo swings if combined well, and it'll be interesting to see if specific decks will be made for this. There's a lot of cards Pint-Size Potion can combine well with, and it brings back Priest cards that aren't played currently. It's interesting to see what deckbuilding comes out of this."

Potion of Madness:

• "This card is kind of insane. Shadow Word Madness is usually used on 2-attack minions anyway to trade with other small minions, and with Potion of Madness you can do that for just 1 mana, meaning you don't have to wait until later on for these types of plays. the 1-mana cost is also significant because of Wild Pyromancer, which is also run a lot in Priest. The more cheap spells, the better Wild Pyromancer becomes. It's more situational than Holy Smite, but also a lot better when it's used. It's especially a great counter to Kindly Grandmother, stealing a 3/2 from them and dealing 1 damage is pretty powerful. Against specific decks like Tempo Mage it's pretty bad though because there's not a lot of targets. It also has a place in the Pint-Size potion deck."

Neutral/Semi-priest?

Fel Orc Soulfiend:

• "This isn't really a Priest card, but in practice it is. This card is better for a lot of what Priest wants to do than Injured Blademaster. It has a much higher chance to stick on the board because it isn't vulnerable to 3 damage cards like Fiery War Axe. This card is essentially a 3/5 minion regarding what your opponent has to deal with on their next turn. If you're able to continue to invest mana in it later, that early body is very valuable. Having a minion early on that's difficult to kill is very powerful, even if you have to invest mana in it later on. It also gives you a consistent target to heal, meaning that you won't have cards like Northshire Cleric being dead in your hand because you have no damaged minions. This minion might as well be a Priest card, and this could potentially give Priest more power in the early turns."

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Trump Comparison (the significant disagreements):

Trump ranks the gang discover cards from best to worst as:

1. Kabal
2. Lotus
3. Grimestreet

While Kibler ranks them as:

1. Grimestreet
2. Kabal
3. Lotus

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That's really all I can say for now. I tried to keep it as short as possible, but Kibler shared so much useful info on each card that I had to include. I'll be back once he uploads his second video!

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