Librams look pretty cool, especially if they plan on making more in future.
Also, there was a sneaky reveal of Hand of A'dal: 2 mana spell, give a minion +2/+2. Unless there's another line of text the card itself isn't super interesting, but I guess it confirms the naaru will be paladin's prime legendary.
Edit: others spotted it, not sure I like it always drawing a card. We used to have to work for that.
Here we go again. At least it makes Innervate cost 1 too, so as long as they never print a spell that refreshes all your mana crystals it should be fine and not break the game like Aviana did.
The last time Sac Pact saw any form of major play was when Cubelock was in its prime, as well as being a majority of the metagame. Even when it is "0 mana kill an enemy's creature, gain 5 health", it still did not win the game every time it was cast. Now looking at a meta where every other deck runs maybe 2-4 demons in it, Sac pact still would not be incredibly strong unless the demons were deck-defining cards that would win the game if left alone. It'll be a fun "haha gotcha!" moment to sac pact an opponent's demon, I'd find it hard to justify running a card just to counter a couple of cards in half of the metagame.
Another reason why I think Sac Pact is fine is due to the nature of tech cards. The only times a tech card has been nerfed was when it still is playable even when it's not against the card you are trying to tech against. The two examples of this are with Big Game Hunter and Flare, which used to cost 3 and 1 mana respectively. BGH was essentially in every deck because 9/10 decks were also running Dr. Boom, but against that 1/10 matches, it was still a 3 mana 4/2 which was still playable. As for Flare, it was a 1 mana card that said "draw a card", which I'd argue would still be strong if printed today. If we look at the other times a tech card starts seeing major play and becomes a very omnipresent card, such as Blood Knight back when Giggling Inventor was 5 mana, it is less the tech card being too strong and more the card it is meant to counter being too strong. If Sac Pact is put into every deck to counter a specific card, chances are that specific card its meant to counter is too strong and not Sac Pact being too strong.
Right, but Sac Pact was designed and balanced in a world where demons were used only by warlocks, and the few neutral demons that have seen play are not real threats. The introduction of the demon hunter class, along with the more temporary spike in demons available to other classes, completely changes the landscape for the card.
It is not specific cards being too strong and prevalent, as it was for Dr Boom and Giggling Inventor, but an entire tribe being much more common than Sac Pact was balanced for. We'll have to see how it pans out, but if people are forced to not run demons simply to avoid Sac Pact then that will be a failing of one of the major parts of the expansion, all because of outdated balance for a card.
That's a pretty complicated version of Deathwing. I guess there's a few catches: you cannot really take advantage of killing the 1/3s efficiently with minions, and you're upset if your opponent Shadowsteps or evolves one of the Warders. Will be interesting if this actually finds a home of if in practice the hoops are too awkward to jump through to compensate for the initial 4-mana do nothing.
The issue is one of having a way to actually win. Without minions you have to deal 30 damage (plus however much healing there is) just from spells and the hero power. Sure mage in principle has enough, but minions are way more efficient for that job.
Conversely, if they are given enough for spell-only mage to work with very few minion summons, then that will be really uninteresting to play against: you just get stalled and eventually burned down. Meanwhile there is nothing to interact with and no tension for the opponent. They just send their minions to face and hope they don't die out of nowhere.
Don't get me wrong, the flavour does indeed fit the mage fantasy very well, but I doubt it translates into anything good for the game unless it stays a meme deck.
Good catch. It doesn't actually specify what happens when you follow the proposed dust farming procedure, i.e. if you have owned everything of a given rarity, does it or does it not prioritise those you don't currently own? I suspect they changed it from how the existing legendary protection works as a subtle way around dust farming, which is fair enough. Clever even since they get to sell it as not being able to open cards you already decided you didn't want and hence dusted them.
Still, I hope is hasn't been tracking this for years. I'd love to guarantee I can open cards nerfed and dusted long ago in a single pack, e.g. get 2x Leeching Poison from the first Frozen Throne pack.
In any case, when the change arrives I'll do science and test how it works on a random common I don't care about.
I know the existing legendary protection sees only what is in your collection. Of course you need all legendaries in a set to test it, so I understand why it is not common knowledge, but if you do have them all and dust one you are guaranteed to see that one as your next legendary.
It can be exploited to try to get a specific golden legendary (I did this for Lord Jaraxxus) but unless you are very lucky it is more useful as a way to fill in nerfed cards.
Now, this doesn't prove it won't work as you suggested for other rarities, but it should be quite quick and safe to test that when it comes into effect.
That's certainly not what happens with legendaries. I once rigged getting a golden Lord Jaraxxus by dusting him when I had all leg.s in the classic set, then as expected the only leg. I open is the old Lord J. (I was actually hoping to open him in a golden classic pack. I didn't, but got super lucky with him being golden in the very next normal pack.)
In any case, with commons it is easy to test because you usually get them all way before finishing opening packs, so you can expect to see them again at some point anyway.
Exactly what I'm thinking. I'm more than happy to spend 100 gold on an old pack if I know I'll get the commons/rare I'm missing, with a reasonable chance I get a bonus epic too.
I wonder if dust farming for future nerfs on commons and rares becomes sensible. If even just a common of a set is nerfed, you can keep opening packs 1 at a time, each pretty much guaranteed to give 2x the nerfed card and hence a minimum of 110 dust. Even better because any golden commons will likely be the nerfed card too.
On a related note: if you open enough packs to have all the commons and there are any you want golden, keep dusting them between packs 'til you open the golden versions! Can do the same with rares if/when you get all of those, though that's a much slower process.
Even though she knows she can little afford to lose the 3 health, Valeera sits smugly in front of the other 8 original heroes who have always mocked her for not having a single taunt minion to her name...
That much is true, though the 2 legendaries in each class each set usually take the class in different directions. So it is quite possible, if unlikely.
She has links to Shattrath City (in Outland), and I think it is only the basic 10 heroes that have (unwritten?) rule to not become non-hero cards. Maiev will definitely appear (neutral legendary by the looks of it) and of course Medivh and Khadgar are already minions.
Well it definitely won't be a legendary spell because the Paladin Prime card is still to revealed. But yes, there probably is at least 1 new buff spell that makes Liadrin look more impressive.
There's always overlap between classes so I don't think there's going to be any drive to cut back on rogue's tempo and weapon side. There's lots of stuff demon hunters are supposedly bad at that rogue usually gets tools for anyway, e.g. single target removal and card generation.
But yes, it is good for this expansion especially to lean on rogue's other aspects. Even more so given the class is doing just fine as it is, so they can do something janky like bring back secrets.
First off, I'm hoping this finally means rogue has a bit of a stealth focus again; aside from the odd card here and there, this had amazingly only been pushed once previously in MSoG.
Even failing that, rogue has lots of shuffle shenanigans, and perhaps importantly a tutor for the prime card in Stowaway. So just because of the other class tools there's more to work with than the other prime cards. Though it does have to compete with / find a home in the current top deck so it still may not have a big presence in the meta.
The surprise is that Maiev Shadowsong won't be a rogue legendary. So I guess she'll be neutral like Kael'thas is.
OK, so Blizzard expedited the process with their announcement of The Darkness no longer appearing in random transformations; essentially they played Stowaway (not advisable against The Darkness BTW!).
Anyway, I'd like people to imagine the perfect comment, and how it puts a smile on everyone's face, even stirring respect and envy from those who disagree with it (let's call such people 'opponents'). Then, with it standing majestic before you, it is shot down, stunned, utterly disrespected and stabby stab stabbed to death.
But things with so much build up rarely pay off. Sometimes the anticipation is more interesting than the end result, and the midst of reveal season is the perfect time to make that point. The Darkness isn't good competitively, but it is nevertheless one of the coolest cards in Hearthstone, and can make a game feel interesting for both players even when it flops hard.
Librams look pretty cool, especially if they plan on making more in future.
Also, there was a sneaky reveal of Hand of A'dal: 2 mana spell, give a minion +2/+2. Unless there's another line of text the card itself isn't super interesting, but I guess it confirms the naaru will be paladin's prime legendary.
Edit: others spotted it, not sure I like it always drawing a card. We used to have to work for that.
Here we go again. At least it makes Innervate cost 1 too, so as long as they never print a spell that refreshes all your mana crystals it should be fine and not break the game like Aviana did.
Costs too much? How much do you think a 4/6 with significant upside should cost?
Right, but Sac Pact was designed and balanced in a world where demons were used only by warlocks, and the few neutral demons that have seen play are not real threats. The introduction of the demon hunter class, along with the more temporary spike in demons available to other classes, completely changes the landscape for the card.
It is not specific cards being too strong and prevalent, as it was for Dr Boom and Giggling Inventor, but an entire tribe being much more common than Sac Pact was balanced for. We'll have to see how it pans out, but if people are forced to not run demons simply to avoid Sac Pact then that will be a failing of one of the major parts of the expansion, all because of outdated balance for a card.
That's a pretty complicated version of Deathwing. I guess there's a few catches: you cannot really take advantage of killing the 1/3s efficiently with minions, and you're upset if your opponent Shadowsteps or evolves one of the Warders. Will be interesting if this actually finds a home of if in practice the hoops are too awkward to jump through to compensate for the initial 4-mana do nothing.
The issue is one of having a way to actually win. Without minions you have to deal 30 damage (plus however much healing there is) just from spells and the hero power. Sure mage in principle has enough, but minions are way more efficient for that job.
Conversely, if they are given enough for spell-only mage to work with very few minion summons, then that will be really uninteresting to play against: you just get stalled and eventually burned down. Meanwhile there is nothing to interact with and no tension for the opponent. They just send their minions to face and hope they don't die out of nowhere.
Don't get me wrong, the flavour does indeed fit the mage fantasy very well, but I doubt it translates into anything good for the game unless it stays a meme deck.
Good catch. It doesn't actually specify what happens when you follow the proposed dust farming procedure, i.e. if you have owned everything of a given rarity, does it or does it not prioritise those you don't currently own? I suspect they changed it from how the existing legendary protection works as a subtle way around dust farming, which is fair enough. Clever even since they get to sell it as not being able to open cards you already decided you didn't want and hence dusted them.
Still, I hope is hasn't been tracking this for years. I'd love to guarantee I can open cards nerfed and dusted long ago in a single pack, e.g. get 2x Leeching Poison from the first Frozen Throne pack.
In any case, when the change arrives I'll do science and test how it works on a random common I don't care about.
I know the existing legendary protection sees only what is in your collection. Of course you need all legendaries in a set to test it, so I understand why it is not common knowledge, but if you do have them all and dust one you are guaranteed to see that one as your next legendary.
It can be exploited to try to get a specific golden legendary (I did this for Lord Jaraxxus) but unless you are very lucky it is more useful as a way to fill in nerfed cards.
Now, this doesn't prove it won't work as you suggested for other rarities, but it should be quite quick and safe to test that when it comes into effect.
That's certainly not what happens with legendaries. I once rigged getting a golden Lord Jaraxxus by dusting him when I had all leg.s in the classic set, then as expected the only leg. I open is the old Lord J. (I was actually hoping to open him in a golden classic pack. I didn't, but got super lucky with him being golden in the very next normal pack.)
In any case, with commons it is easy to test because you usually get them all way before finishing opening packs, so you can expect to see them again at some point anyway.
If you have the dust to, then yes. It is a lot less risky than it feels.
Exactly what I'm thinking. I'm more than happy to spend 100 gold on an old pack if I know I'll get the commons/rare I'm missing, with a reasonable chance I get a bonus epic too.
I wonder if dust farming for future nerfs on commons and rares becomes sensible. If even just a common of a set is nerfed, you can keep opening packs 1 at a time, each pretty much guaranteed to give 2x the nerfed card and hence a minimum of 110 dust. Even better because any golden commons will likely be the nerfed card too.
On a related note: if you open enough packs to have all the commons and there are any you want golden, keep dusting them between packs 'til you open the golden versions! Can do the same with rares if/when you get all of those, though that's a much slower process.
Even though she knows she can little afford to lose the 3 health, Valeera sits smugly in front of the other 8 original heroes who have always mocked her for not having a single taunt minion to her name...
VENGEANCE!
"Shred" is overstating it a bit. Being reasonably good at dealing with 1 card doesn't completely turn the tide in an otherwise poor match-up.
That much is true, though the 2 legendaries in each class each set usually take the class in different directions. So it is quite possible, if unlikely.
She has links to Shattrath City (in Outland), and I think it is only the basic 10 heroes that have (unwritten?) rule to not become non-hero cards. Maiev will definitely appear (neutral legendary by the looks of it) and of course Medivh and Khadgar are already minions.
That design is brilliant. I don't care whether there are hand-buffs to make it more functional, this card should have existed from the very start.
Well it definitely won't be a legendary spell because the Paladin Prime card is still to revealed. But yes, there probably is at least 1 new buff spell that makes Liadrin look more impressive.
There's always overlap between classes so I don't think there's going to be any drive to cut back on rogue's tempo and weapon side. There's lots of stuff demon hunters are supposedly bad at that rogue usually gets tools for anyway, e.g. single target removal and card generation.
But yes, it is good for this expansion especially to lean on rogue's other aspects. Even more so given the class is doing just fine as it is, so they can do something janky like bring back secrets.
First off, I'm hoping this finally means rogue has a bit of a stealth focus again; aside from the odd card here and there, this had amazingly only been pushed once previously in MSoG.
Even failing that, rogue has lots of shuffle shenanigans, and perhaps importantly a tutor for the prime card in Stowaway. So just because of the other class tools there's more to work with than the other prime cards. Though it does have to compete with / find a home in the current top deck so it still may not have a big presence in the meta.
The surprise is that Maiev Shadowsong won't be a rogue legendary. So I guess she'll be neutral like Kael'thas is.
OK, so Blizzard expedited the process with their announcement of The Darkness no longer appearing in random transformations; essentially they played Stowaway (not advisable against The Darkness BTW!).
Anyway, I'd like people to imagine the perfect comment, and how it puts a smile on everyone's face, even stirring respect and envy from those who disagree with it (let's call such people 'opponents'). Then, with it standing majestic before you, it is shot down, stunned, utterly disrespected and stabby stab stabbed to death.
But things with so much build up rarely pay off. Sometimes the anticipation is more interesting than the end result, and the midst of reveal season is the perfect time to make that point. The Darkness isn't good competitively, but it is nevertheless one of the coolest cards in Hearthstone, and can make a game feel interesting for both players even when it flops hard.