Deadmines HYPE! Personally i haven't really played much WoW.. i mainly played just to get the Lady Liadrin paladin skin/portrait. BUT Deadmines was the one of the only dungeons i played. (Deadmines and the prison in stormwind... i think it was called stockades) Are the only dungeons i played, but the deadmines dungeon was definatly the place where i had the most fun during my brief WoW experience, so i'm obviously looking forward to the mini-set! I just hope Edwin VanCleefs new card is good. (Like i'm pretty sure he HAS to get a new card in the mini-set!) Also seeing Edwin again makes me wish rogue got some more portrait attention, like serieusly why haven't we gotten a Edwin Vancleef rogue skin yet? Or any other alternate rogue skins. Which aren't Scabbs. But back to hype:

I love the song and animation in the announcement! The animation looks so clean, especially at 0:38. That really blew me away! United in Stormwind really has been a banger with the announcement trailers! Lets hope the post-mini set meta will be as good as this trailer! 

When i opened my first 10 packs, my first legendary wasnt a new merc... No No. Instead i got a Grommash Hellscream portrait! As you might guess, i'm certainly NOT a fan of portraits! Personally i only like portraits as long as you have every merc of a specific rarety already, but i really HATE the fact that you can get portraits while your still missing a bunch of mercs.

Also literally that grommash portrait was in my first packs, and i didn't buy any pre-orders! Considering there are 16 legendary mercs (including Grommash) i must have been very unlucky with that... annoying... legendary portrait in the first 10 packs. As some might understand, i had a very bad first impression of mercenaries because of this. But i'm warming up on the mode after that horrible start. 

Wait a second.... Pirate King Garrosh is missing in the bundle. Could this perhaps hint towards Pirate King Garrosh being part of a legendary quest, just like the Malfurion Skin we got during the fire festival? Personally i really hope that's the case. I think Pirate King Garrosh is one of the most wanted skins (Alongside Anduin and Jaina) so if we can get Pirate King Garrosh for free, than that would be incredible! Also a Pirate skin for warrior has honestly been LONG overdue, considering Pirate Warriors history in hearthstone. So i'm just glad we finally got a pirate skin for warrior.

.... Oh and i just wanted to comment to say that it's so weird that in the HS Mercenaries promotions Valeera is THE face of Mercs, but at the same time she isn't on the list of playable mercs at launch... That's kinda funny to me. 

Seems like the prices for skins + card backs are still the same as before. After all i'm pretty sure they priced the last (old) pre-order skin for 15,- Euro/Dollar as well. I'm not really surprised about the pricing, considering these are "premium" skins that used to be available only on the 80,- Euro/Dollar pre-orders, their alternate heroes (not another reskin of [insert standard hero like jaina here]) and they include the card back. Oh and these skins do include special animations, like the intro animation and a different animation when you hero power. Pretty sure the newer ones from bundles don't include these? (Never bought one of those bundles, so i can't say for sure.)

But that being said, most skins these days are getting a lot less valueable considering how many skins they keep selling. Also most skins are like 4+ skins bundles for 20,- Euro/dollar, so that also doesn't really help with the pricing of King Rastakhan and Elise Starseeker. Personally i feel like 10,- Euro/Dollar would have been better prices for those skins, especially considering these 2 skins are a bit "lower quality" compared to all the pre-order skins that came after them i.m.o.. (Just look at the DoD pre-order Deathwing skin.) But even as "lower quality Premium Skins" their still better than the ones they sell on the x skins for 20,- euro/Dollar bundles these days. 

Oh and considering we get the rastahkans rumble and uldum pre-order skins, i wouldn't be surprised if we get the DoD Deathwing pre-order warrior hero skin in the shop in not too long. I'm not sure if Madame Lazul from the Rise of Shadows pre-order has returned in the shop yet, if not then i wouldn't be surprised to see her return alongside Deathwing.

I'm having quite a bit of fun right now. And i do swap between standard and wild quite often, just depending on what deck i feel like playing. 

In standard i don't have fun whenever my opponent plays Sorcerer's Gambit Mage. But outside of that i have a good amount of fun against most other classes. And most "meta" decks are kinda fun to play. Personally i dislike aggro/tempo decks, but Raid the Docks warrior in standard is surprisingly fun! I'm also having a lot of fun rn with BIG warrior. BIG warrior is not that bad, mainly because The Demon Seed warlock has basically been deleted.

But most of my fun is in Wild. Wild is a lot of fun for me right now, mainly because we finally got wild back after the The Demon Seed got banned. I can actually play a control deck (Reno deck obviously) and actually have fun... and have a decent winrate, without being absolutely solitaire lvl crushed. I can actually play Bazaar Burglary Rogue (with Maestra of the Masquerade) and Casino Mage again! :) The only deck in wild i have a problem with is (ODD) Defend the Dwarven District Hunter, but luckely i don't actually see that deck that often. Mainly because Wild (at least, around my rank of gold 5) has a huge variaty of decks that people play. I played about 20 games today and yesterday in total, and never came across the same deck/archetype twice.

Well considering datamines show that the miniset is most likely going to be Deadmines (see article on main page), i'm guessing were going to see a new Edwin VanCleef or another Vanessa VanCleef. My guess is on Edwin VanCleef, because Vanessa VanCleef is already in the core set. To be honest, im not sure what edwins effect could be because there is so much potential. He would of course be a rogue card, but he could be a tech card, Find the Imposter support card, or a stealth Rogue card. (reminiscing of him having stealth in beta) Also he could push Pirate Rogue*, in a similar way as Wailing Caverns pushed Freeze Mage. Of course this is all based on the theory that the mini set actually is deadmines. If it is not deadmines, then it will probably be Stockades. Which i bet will push elemental shaman or elemental mage some more (thought that one of the bosses there was an elemental?) And we will get another Hogger.

Either way i expect a questline support card this set, similarly to Sky Gen'ral Kragg. But with how powerful questlines already are, i'm scared about any kind of questline support.. Actually if it the mini set isn't deadmines, but actually stockades: In b4 Hogger reprint: "If you played a quest this game, summon 2 2/2 gnolls with taunt". But still, any questline support is still scary.

*I didnt play much WoW but doesnt the deadmines dungeon end on a giant ship in the middle of a cave? Actually on Edwin VanCleefs art is a ship on the background, so i think i recall this correctly? 

I generally dislike posting on this thread, but i really have to let off some steam. I played 10 ladder games in a row, ALL of them against Sorcerer's Gambit mage. Tried to play around them, because i know that Sorcerer's Gambit mage often run 2 copies of Ice Barrier, and Brain Freeze. But apparantly ALL of them also included 1 copy of Oasis Ally. I didn't play minions and didn't SMOrc face because i wanted to stall and Mutanus the Devourer their quest reward. Guess what? ALL of them played Primordial Studies into Brain Freeze and played their questline reward before i could Mutanus the Devourer it. Every. Single. Game.

Against that... unfun deck i try to play around the frost spells and delay their questline as long as possible, but i guess it was BOLD of me to ASSUME that any of my plays even mattered against a solitaire deck. What a lot of fun, i wish i was playing against The Demon Seed warlock in WILD instead. Actually i bet playing against ress/big priest is a ton of fun compared to this.

Btw when i decided to play a deck that actually counters Sorcerer's Gambit mage, guess what. Never found one again. And the second i go back to a deck thats weak to it, guess what. Another 5 Sorcerer's Gambit mages IN A ROW. :(

Welp my (horrible) opinion on the changes:

NERFs:

Irebound Brute: Well its going to be harder to highroll with this card now, i like it!

Perpetual Flame: Nice, this card was just too strong. Now aggro/tempo has a better chance of killing questline shaman before they get bursted down.

Command the Elements: Nice! now that they have to play 1 more overload card, it will take 1 turn or so longer to complete the questline. Maybe we can now actually get a chance to Mutanus the Devourer their quest reward.

The Demon Seed: YES. So glas this got nerfed... FINALLY. It's THE nerf people asked for since pretty much day 1, and now they actually did it! (Honestly i was kinda scared they were going to nerf Flesh Giant by 1 0 mana again lmao.) Also now that the quesline also got slowed down a bit... I really hope the deck is slowed down enough that Mutanus the Devourer can now eat their quest reward more often. Also im so happy they FINALLY banned this card in Wild. Honestly i'm surprised they actually took this long to ban it. Like Stealer of Souls was banned quite fast, but they let The Demon Seed run havok in wild for so much longer..?  So glad i wont be facing that card again in wild. But regardless Darkglare warlock will 100% remain the strongest deck in Wild, as it already was the best deck in wild before they got The Demon Seed.

Runed Mithril Rod: Yeah, this... does something? To me a mana increase doesnt really affect mithril rod, because playing it a bit later = probably more cards in hand to discount by 1 mana. I think that Runed Mithril Rod will probably continue to see play, because a card that can give 2 Emperor Thaurissan procs still seems really strong to me.

Rework: Mindrender Illucia: YESSSSSS! YEEEEAAHHH! Mindrender Illucia is DEAD! YES! Oh im so glad. This card was sooo toxic and maddening to play against. Aggro shadow priest used it as a 3 mana Time Warp and control priest used it to completely shut down any combo strategy. That being said, big RIP to the YES* priest archetype. :( (-* YES priest decks are decks that setup for example a Mecha'thun OTK and use Mindrender Illucia to give their opponent the combo/free win!)

Alright Buffs:

Mordresh Fire Eye: I LOVE this change. This will really help hero power mage in standard, and EVEN mage in wild! Also you can now hero power for example: A divine shield minion, and still kill the minion with Mordresh battlecry. I love this change and i hope hero power mage gets a lot better with this!

Wildfire: Okay here is a change thats both a buff AND a nerf at the same time. It's technically a nerf because being ODD-costed means that EVEN-mage cannot run it anymore... And that deck is actually quite popular as well... (And i personally like playing it a lot) But on the other side this change makes it so you can turn 1 Wildfire into turn 2 heropower! You no longer need a Coin in order to cast Wildfire turn 1! Also now that it costs 1 mana, ODD Mage can now run it! Not sure if ODD mage will actually run it, but i feel like it will make space for it. 

Leatherworking Kit: This will certainly help out RAT/Swarm hunter a LOT. Not only that, but Sword of a Thousand Truths Hunter also enjoys it. (Even though that deck isnt really competative) Not only that but this is a big buff to a lot of other hunter archetypes, considering hunter is quite bad at drawing cards.

Selective Breeder: Love this change. It always felt bad playing this on turn 2, because you just know that it gets removed instantly. Now it might be able to have a little bit of impact by idunno trading into a 1/1 minion and living? Still im happy this got buffed! (Maybe i should try out Beastmaster Leoroxx OTK hunter again soon...)

Stormwind Freebooter, Stonemaul Anchorman and Bloodsail Deckhand: Wow i did not suspect pirate warrior buffs. This deck is already very good in wild, and in standard it felt like it only needed some more decent pirates from something like a mini set. But man are these changes HUGE. Bloodsail Deckhand is now a premium 1 drop WITH and addition effect, which is NUTS. Stonemaul Anchorman was already decent and now the frenzy is easier to pull of, giving many warrior archetypes more draw. Stormwind Freebooter now has premium stats AND gives you +2 attack, this is just really strong! I really think questline Pirate warrior will be one of the better decks in the meta going forward, with these incredibly buffs. (Probably will craft the warrior questline with my Mindrender Illucia dust) :]

Well my predictions:

Nerf Predictions:

*Warlock: Runed Mithril Rod and probably The Demon Seed. 

*Shaman: This one is tricky, but i expect 2 out of these 4: Command the Elements, Charged Call, Whack-A-Gnoll Hammer, Lightning Bloom.

*DH: Illidari Inquisitor is the card i hope, but its probably going to be Death Speaker Blackthorn. (only expect 1 DH nerf tbh)

Redesign: PLEASE be Mindrender Illucia! Please redesign this annoying card that often acts as an onn-command 3 mana Time Warp.

Ban: Lets be honest, this is going to be The Demon Seed. Many people in the Wild community have asked for this ban for quite a while.

Buff Predictions:

*Mage: More minion focused archetypes is what i expect to get buffed. Sanctum Chandler, Grand Magus Antonidas and maybe Wildfire. (Hmm i'm also torn on this one, but i kinda hope they WONT unnerf Jandice Barov)

*Warrior: Probably Cowardly Grunt and/or Rancor. Tbh i really hope they buff Rancor. Rancor really needs either an mana decrease by (1), or it needs to deal +1 damage. Questline warrior honestly needs no help, because that archetype is already strong in wild, and in standard its decent. In standard it just needs some new/better pirates, which we can probably expect in the mini set and/or future sets. 

*Hunter: Probably some of the RAT hunter cards like Rats of Extraordinary Size and The Rat King i guess. Maybe they also buff some other swarm cards like Rodent Nest and/or Stormwind Piper to make swarm hunter actually usable.

Either way i'm excited for these changes, and i hope they ACTUALLY have an impact on the meta. The last changes did like nothing, and i really would like more variation in the meta. (I'm tired of almost only facing Questline Warlock, Questline Mage and Questline Shamans on ladder...)

Personally, i would LOVE a diamond Zephrys the Great! (Even if it gives non-diamond cards from the Discover.)

I unfortunatly don't really know how i got introduced to hearthstone back in the day. When i first tried the game out it was around the time NAXX was OUT. But i quit shortly after because: 1, i didnt find the game to be that enjoyable. And 2: I couldnt really afford playing the game back then. Too high cost of entry at the time, and i never considered free 2 play back then. Back then i felt like obtaining gold for Adventure Wings felt way too slow. Add to that the fact i barely had a collection of classic cards, and it created quite a bad feeling.

But i do FONDLY remember when i got re-introduced to hearthstone. After i initially quit, a LONG time went by and i only got re-introduced to Blizzard thanks to Overwatch. And during my first Blizzcon i saw the new hearthstone trailer which was for the Kobolds and Catacombs expansion, and the trailer looked AMAZING! Not only that, but i saw the reveal of DUNGEON RUN. A fully Free to play way of playing HS, which i enjoyed a LOT. Thanks to dungeon run i gave HS a second chance, and i never stopped playing since then. I started playing casual and ladder shortly after, but only thanks to Marin the Fox. Marin the Fox was such a fun card, and i auto-included him in every deck i played. Which was easy back then, because i hardly had a collection of cards. Which is why i love seeing the free legendaries every expansion, after all that free legendary can be "the Marin the Fox" for someone else! Also i remember when witchwood came out. (My first expansion after Kobolds) I Never really looked at any of the revealed cards at the time. But once i unpacked Tess Greymane and tried her out, rogue quickly became my favorite class for a looooong time. 

Personally i have been really enjoying the expansion so far, really enjoying The Demon Seed in standard right now. And honestly i rather wait untill the meta settles before begging for nerfs. However i do agree that some quests, like the Mage questline is a bit strong. But it's not just Mage, A lot of quest rewards are good because you can just burst your opponent down from cards in hand. There are not that many minions played, or boards to be fought over. It honestly makes the game feel like it's a game of solitaire.

The game feels very fun to play casually right now (which i like), but if your very competative then i imagine that these kind of non-interactive decks might be very annoying/frustrating to face. Also with all this burst we might as well bury the idea of there being Control decks for once and for all. :( 

Oh and about Incanter's Flow: PLEASE. That card keeps breaking stuff, and honestly it will keep doing that unless it gets addressed. Either that or there going to nerf every mage spell in the game by 1 mana, including 10 cost spells to 11 mana. (Which baffling enough wouldnt even surprise me these days.)

But having said that, lets wait until the meta settles before we start complaining and begging for nerfs. 

60 packs, i got Sheldras Moontree, The Demon Seed, Bolner Hammerbeak, Defend the Dwarven District and Lost in the Park.

From the Pass: Grand Magus Antonidas and Lady Prestor.

Overall i got a good amount of legendaries, cant really complain about that honestly. However in terms of Epics i feel like i was very unlucky. Got like 3-4 epics total. (not sure if thats unlucky or just average.) And i got 1 golden common and 2 golden rares, which feels like a low amount for 60 packs.

Might see play in handlock, but thats it i guess. Not sure that other deck would even considering using this.. actually maybe Questline Paladin? Meh.

Will see play in Questline Rogue decks, and maybe DH questline as well? But thats it.

Just seems like a nice card. Not sure in what decks she sees play, but probably still useable. Maybe some druid lists run her in order to discount something? Not sure. Maybe rogue uses her to discount some poisons.

Seems like filler, but probably will get better with future support.

In wild it might see play in some mech decks. 

Probably a arena card, but i wouldnt be surprised if it pops up in Swamp Hunter decks. The tradeable really helps you when you dont need it.

In wild it probably will see play in ODD Paladin instead of Frostwolf Warlord

Elwynn Boar support, and a fantastic voiceline. "It ain't much, but it's honest work". Great card that will help us fulfill our Sword of a Thousand Truthss meme dream.

This seems bad, keeping 8 cards in hand is hard, even in handlock. Just free dust.