Honestly not much to say about this that hasn't already been said - it's a gimmick card that probably won't see constructed play outside of for-laughs Plot Twist shenanigans decks. Still, it's always nice to have some of these around to keep things fresh.
Yes, it's a body which can actually accomplish something later into the game, but that analysis misses the deck context. Town Crier in Warrior is specifically slotting into the 1-drop slot which is otherwise solely the domain of Eternium Rover. It gives Warrior a consistent 1-drop on 1, which is very valuable at combatting aggro - important for a deck with a strong late-game.
By contrast, this card - despite having a better body than Town Crier - is a 3-drop trying to fit into Hunter, the class with arguably the most loaded 3-drop slot in Hearthstone (and has held this title for almost the entire history of HS, with only Priest competing for a while when Talonpriest etc. were around). Hunter doesn't have a lot of pure Rush minions, and this is competing for a slot against Eaglehorn Bow, Animal Companion, Masked Contender, Hunter's Pack, etc. etc.
It's not a BAD card, but I can't honestly say I'd even run it in Highlander hunter because of the amount of competition it has in its slot. If some kind of weird new rush-centric Hunter archetype emerges then it'll be very strong in that, of course, but right now it's nowhere near as good as a lot of you seem to think it is.
Overhyped in my opinion. Yes it's strong, yes it'll be played in every Highlander deck - but it won't be the centrepiece of those decks. It's no Zephrys, it's not going to make you play Highlander despite no other Highlander cards. It's just a late-game value card that will make you a big board in one turn, much like several other cards we already have right now (King Phaoris being the immediate example). Nothing to get overly excited about.
People are a little too down on this card I feel. Don't get me wrong, it's not an incredible card - but it's solid. Probably shouldn't be legendary, but still.
A major problem with Cyclone decks lately (Flamewaker shenanigans notwithstanding) is they have a nasty tendency to play 10 cards in a turn and not really accomplish much. This is a force multiplier card - those 10 cards can actually get something meaningful done when this is in play.
Of course, the major downside of the card is the same - it's a force MULTIPLIER, meaning you're going to need it alongside the plays you were making in the first place. Given mana is the major limiting factor of a Cyclone turn, you're kinda relying on it sticking to actually do much - you can play it before a combo, sure, but that's 3 mana spent on things that aren't spells, making your turn weaker before the 5/5s come in.
Overall, it's a medium card I feel. It's not going to make Cyclone strong, but if people are playing Cyclone, they'll play this.
I would mostly agree with the analysis here, with a couple of disagreements:
- As cute as it is, Valdris' hand size increase is not going to be a major factor in most games I feel. It's still a solid card, but it's a solid card because it's a sprint with a 4/4 stapled to it. And even that may not be enough to make it playable, considering we've not seen a good control warlock deck for a while now.
- Abyssal Summoner is, in my view, garbage. We've seen variable token summons on a LOT of cards over the years, and with the notable exception of Jade, almost all of them have been too weak to see play in Standard. Essentially the problem is that, no matter how big your hand is, it's still just a vanilla taunt coming out at the end of the day. 6 mana is usually too much to follow with anything significant, so we're looking at the 'main' play for the turn - which in turn means the power of this minion is basically just mana efficiency (i.e. minion size for cost) - the value of which goes down as cost goes up. Let's be generous and say you usually get this off with, say, 8 cards in hand. You're looking at an Ironbark and a 2/2 for 6 mana. Good on paper... but is that really a big deal in constructed most of the time? I'd say not, unless you're specifically playing it on turn 6 or 7.
- Fluffy Kibler Dragon (love that name) is, if anything, being underrated right now. And I say that despite most people being positive about it. My point, I suppose, is that this isn't a card that will be good or bad depending on Galakrond's strength - this is a card which MAKES Galakrond's strength. People (including me) will build Galakrond Warrior for this card even if all the others are trash.
Oh, and incidentally, the Raging Worgen comparison is a really bad one I'm afraid. Worgen was played in Warrior almost exclusively as a combo card, not for its own merit.
Guide largely agrees with my findings so far. Only parts I might disagree with:
- I don't agree with Deryl being top tier. He's strong, but slots in just below the top in my opinion. Patchwerk, on the other hand, IS top tier because your goal is to top 4, not to win necessarily - and Patchy-boi basically always does.
- Absolutely don't agree with Yogg being that high either. He's fun, but he's really not powerful - he falls off by the time midgame rolls around.
- Elise is trash tier in my eyes. You can guarantee a specific tavern tier, sure, but it's still 3 gold for a minion that you only -might- want, with no other benefit for the rest of the game. By contrast, Bartendotron should be a little higher due to his smooth curve (enabling him to upgrade without being significantly punished for doing so, which is his real power).
I'd pretty much agree with everything else. Only other thing I'd consider arguing about is whether cleave is the most powerful effect in the game - it's relatively straightforward to position against, after all. Poisonous, meanwhile, is obnoxiously strong.
I played the hell out of expeditions (musta done at least 20 runs after the initial 3 purchased ones, so 26 runs at least). Have to say I don't think I ever found Anivia to be a problem - in my opinion, if Anivia is causing issues you didn't pack enough removal. Her effect isn't even that powerful really, so long as she's not allowed to level before you can deal with her. Now, Tryndamere on the other hand - I stopped drafting Trynd after a while because it just wasn't fun anymore. A game in which Trynd hit the board was usually over (in my favour) inside two turns. People seemed to be really bad at playing against Overwhelm.
I do think Donnie's post below has some merit - the highlight of my runs was building a Poro deck which had 5x Poro Snax, 4x Iceborne Legacy, 5x the 3/3 Overwhelm Poro, and most amusingly, 4x Braum. That's right, all four of my champions were Braum. Every game was a race against the inevitable fluffy tide of monstrously growing Poro - for those unaware, when levelled up Braum summons a poro whenever he survives damage, and it's specifically the 3/3 Poro I already drafted 5 copies of with all the various deck-wide buffs.
Anyway, sorry, tangent. While Donnie's post has some merit - particularly noting that it seemed to be some champions got offered FAR more often than others, such that I only saw Yasuo offered once in 25+ runs and never saw Hecarim, yet got offered Ashe practically every run. That said, it's worth noting that LOR's card offering probably isn't complete yet. I'd expect to see Bilgewater, Shurima and the Void represented before the game hits full release (since adding Regions after-the-fact would be weird, especially given there's only a handful they could realistically add). As more Regions are added, and probably more cards are added to the current Regions too, it's reasonable to expect draft consistency to decrease accordingly.
Personally I greatly enjoyed expeditions, far more so than constructed (which was a little hit or miss for me to be honest). Looking forward to the new year when I get to play again.
@Zelgadis (as I can't reply due to browser issues): Demons can work, but require a very specific setup. You need to hard roll early game to find 3 Soul Weavers plus some demons (which usually pop up incidentally). An upgraded Soul Weaver usually gives you enough power through trickled buffs to see you through the early midgame.
You then stop off at level 2 briefly to pick up at least one Amalgam (preferably two), preferably NOT getting a third (Amalgam's major strength in a demon comp is being able to use Toxfin and Annoy-O-Module on it, and being able to do that twice is worth a lot more than the benefit you get from upgrading; you don't want to stay at level 2 for long enough to get 4, particularly since Amalgams are in high demand).
Optionally stop off at level 3 to get multiple copies of Soul Juggler. Optional because demon players often don't really know what they're doing and are in a relative minority anyway, so they'll usually pop up later anyway.
You then rush for level 5 and hard roll for Mal'ganis (to avoid self-damage due to Soul Weaver, which can stack up) and Battlemasters. Ideally, grab a Defender of Argus to give your Battlemaster(s) taunt, which makes them unassailable outside of Poisonous.
Actually winning with Demons is rare since even if done right, Mechs will usually outscale them. But you can pretty reliably make top 4 with them if the early game doesn't screw you on Soul Weavers.
I'm contemplating writing an in-depth guide for the deck I've been picking up Legend with in Wild for the past few seasons (Mecha'thun Warlock). The decklist wouldn't be anything particularly new - the point would just be to give a full explanation of the mechanics involved and the strategies required of the main matchups in the Wild metagame. It would, however, be extensive - meaning I don't really want to bother if nobody will read or care!
So - would anyone be interested in seeing a full deck guide of this nature?
While there are OTHER competitive decks than Combo Priest, suggesting that Aggro Warrior is *better* than Combo Priest is, in my opinion, entirely incorrect.
I'm going to propose something potentially controversial here. As a background:
I don't think it's deniable that entering Hearthstone as a new player is extremely difficult. Quite aside from the knowledge or skill barriers, the quantity of cards required to be *really* competitive is absurd. Even if we take the optimal point of entry, i.e. right at the moment of a year transition, a player needs:
- A significant number of Classic cards, as many are still in heavy use as 'core' class cards
- Cards from FOUR different expansions, at various rarities
Due to this, to even create a single high tier deck, a new player would need to spend a significant amount of money on packs to accrue the cards they need from the current expansion AND to accrue sufficient dust to craft cards from previous expansions that are still in Standard. And that's assuming they dust all the cards they don't need for that specific deck.
And that's just making a single deck. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd go crazy (or more likely, get bored and quit) if I only ever played the one deck. That isn't true for everyone - a friend of mine pretty much ignores all classes aside from Warrior - but I'd wager most people would be closer to my end than his. I myself purchase a minimum of 80 packs at the start of any given expansion - and typically I'll pre-order AND buy 40-80 packs. I'm not the typical case, as I play HS a lot and have no problem spending money on something that gives me entertainment - but I know plenty of people aren't like me.
Particularly, however, this is MUCH less likely to be true for a new player, who doesn't really know how much entertainment they're likely to get out of Hearthstone. Are you going to buy 100+ packs for a game you might not even be playing in a few weeks' time? Honestly, I probably would, but I doubt many others would.
So, here's my proposal: All players should be able to make a single payment, set, say, at the price of 40 packs (or maybe even less). In return, the purchasing player gets every single card in the Classic set. The purchased cards would be non-golden, and non-dustable.
My rationale - it's a single payment and you're guaranteed to have the entire set. The player is happier because they can entirely ignore Classic now and just spot-snipe the cards they want for any given deck (and often they'll own many of those cards already, thanks to the purchase). Blizzard is happy because players who would otherwise not bother playing the game, would spend at least a minimum amount on the game. While not limited to new players, those are pretty much the only people who'd buy the product since there's no value in buying it if you already own most of the cards. Those are the people Blizzard needs to be targeting, and those are the people who are far more likely to quit in frustration than sink the ludicrous amount of money into the game necessary to really play it on all levels.
Incidentally, noting the Tavern Brawl was mentioned in the article. If the idea of this was to assist new players, that idea is laughably naïve. A new player isn't going to say 'well, I can't really play any queue without being completely outclassed, so I'll just play weekly to get free packs'. You don't hook a new customer by drip-feeding them. The Brawl probably does fine in assisting casual players, but no more than that - it will do *nothing* to hook new customers.
Re: Bob, I strongly advise those who haven't to pick up the VIP card treasure when it's offered. I only picked it up out of curiosity in one of my runs, but subsequently was given the option to replace my deck with one of Bob's decks. The deck it gave me was absolutely obscene in terms of power. I won't spoil it for those who'd prefer to discover it in-game - but we're talking 'killing a plague lord from 300 health to 0 on turn 5' levels of power.
I can see a deck like this working, at least in premise. However, I'd recommend a few modifications.
In particular, you're running several cards designed to flood the board - Wispering Woods and Forest's Aid, in particular. Both cards are fairly underwhelming in isolation, and only become particularly potent when combined with cards which support them. I would recommend either a) dropping them, or b) adding in additional cards to support them. I recommend b), personally, as there are several cards in your list which would also synergise with token support (Snip-Snap, Garden Gnome, MCT).
I would therefore suggest adding in a Savage Roar (as a finisher) and a Soul of the Forest (to capitalise on a board position). Power of the Wild would also be a good addition, either to cement a board position or just to give you a better turn two option. Cenarius is also a possible option, as he can either further generate a board or cement an already developed one (and works very well with Floop, which I recommend adding below).
To make room, I would suggest dropping Witchwood Grizzly (many of the decks in the current meta tend towards large hand sizes, and with only one Witching Hour there's not enough to incentivise its inclusion), Stampeding Roar (just isn't good enough in a lot of circumstances, particularly as you're only running three large beasts even with the Grizzly and two already have rush), and Stampeding Kodo (perfectly fine card, but has anti-synergy with the more token-heavy variant I'm suggesting; also a poor result to pull from Predatory Instincts).
Further suggestions, I'd suggest replacing Hidden Oasis with Overflow. Oasis just isn't very good without the Druid Quest active, and your list otherwise lacks multi-card draw sources. Finally, I'd recommend fitting in Floop, perhaps by dropping the Starfire, simply because Floop is fantastic and can be paired with Elise in particular for high value plays.
@Lemushki - Agreed, the final Monster Hunt encounter was a really fun fight. Time will tell.
Right now I'm a little irritated at the Adventure, simply because I steamrolled wins in Normal with Reno and Finley and was well progressed in Heroic clearing. Then Elise comes out and I struggle to even clear a wing with her. Really not a fan of her available options.
Heh, this article highlights a full three cards that I desperately wanted to be good.
- Floating Watcher - Looks so good, with the siren song of endless growth... which, in the vast majority of cases, winds up being a slightly worse War Golem :(
- Unearthed Raptor - Solid on curve with Jades, but sadly Jade Rogue never really worked. Suffers from Rogue's issue with card draw - specifically, its gimmick options are so good that it's not allowed to have good non-gimmick draw. Raptor winds up being incredibly good when you can play it, but a dead card way too much of the time.
- Mistcaller - I *adore* this card, but I lost enough arena games after drafting it to realise it's just not good. Because it's only buffing your deck, it basically winds up being an awkward card that you just can't justify keeping in your mulligan, but which gets progressively worse the longer you go without drawing it. And when you do, it's a horrible tempo loss at an awkward mana cost, and then requires you to further invest mana into card draw to be able to use the advantage it offered.
Still, it's nice to see the spotlight on some cards that should have been good, even though they're not.
@Thonson - Cursed Blade is actually pretty good in the deck for competing at the higher end of Wild right now. About the only decks that can punish you for it are Even Shaman and maybe the occasional Odd Rogue; the vast majority of your games wind up being against decks that have no way of putting out meaningful early game pressure. Even the various aggressive Paladin decks aren't going to do a whole lot of face damage in the first three or four turns of the game. I laughed when I saw a Cursed Blade pulled out against my Renolock last week, but it had pretty much caved my face in by turn four...
Is there a reason so many of these decks tend to be so heavy on single cards rather than two-ofs when they're not running Highlander? I mean, I get that they're meme decks, but two-ofs are almost always optimal unless you have a specific reason for running single copies.
Re: Wild decks - I don't think the Wild meta is all that unstable, at least at high ranks. I picked up Legend last season with Mecha'thun Warlock and am doing so again this season - it's actually surprisingly well positioned against what is honestly a fairly predictable meta now. The vast majority of games are going to be Secret Mage, Even Shaman, Renolock, Snip-Snap Warlock or some form of aggressive paladin - you'll meet other matchups in maybe 20% of your games at most.
Re: Article deck - I'm honestly quite surprised to hear that combo priest has a high playrate. I only saw it occasionally during my Legend climb last season, though I will say I haven't played much Standard in the past few weeks.
If the deck is specifically targeting priest, though, I'd suggest a couple of changes. I realise that the deck is going to run dry quickly, but all the same I'm sceptical as to the build-around of Master's Call; its inclusion means you lose access to some very potent cards for the archetype, most notably Masked Contender, which is invaluable for the oppressive Secret Hunter curve (Secret-Contender-Hyena is pretty brutal in most matchups). Hunter's Pack works well as an alternative hand refill, particularly as the majority of Hunter secrets work well into Priest.
If you're targeting priest then I'd drop the Lifedrinkers altogether and instead lean towards Ironbeak Owl (assuming you stick with the Master's Call build, if not then Spellbreaker is preferable). You want at least one Deadly Shot, probably instead of a Kill Command, since it's pretty much perfect against current Priest builds - it can either snipe a big minion, or else help to isolate a buffed minion to play into a Freezing Trap setup. It also makes Zul'jin more of an out.
Explosive Trap is probably superior to Misdirection as a single secret tech - you play it to counter Lightwardens specifically and avoid playing it out otherwise due to Cleric shenanigans.
Finally, I'm pretty unconvinced by the double Shimmerfly. The card is barely worth playing in Highlander Hunter, and you have a lot more slots to fill in that deck. I would instead suggest Venomizer if you're going full anti-priest - current priest is basically forced into Pyromancer plays and otherwise has absolutely no way of answering it outside of an awkward Silence.
In my opinion, drop the Commanding Shout (adds nothing, you can Whirlwind before ripping the combo if you need to), both Omega Assemblies and both Dragons Roars (this is a combo deck, not a control deck, you're not looking for resource generation), and both Battle Rages (deck doesn't run enough minions to make them valuable for draw).
Replace with a second Plague of Wrath for board clearing, then a Witchwood Piper and a Baleful Banker - the latter to ensure you can still execute your game plan if you inadvertently draw all of your minions early, the former to draw the Banker more reliably to reduce your odds of hitting it with the Rippers. Remaining slots are filled with Shield Slams (important removal, not sure why they're missing) and probably Weapons Project to provide early spot-removal and some weapon destruction to improve your matchups vs Highlander decks (Tirion) and Holy Wrathadin.
Honestly not much to say about this that hasn't already been said - it's a gimmick card that probably won't see constructed play outside of for-laughs Plot Twist shenanigans decks. Still, it's always nice to have some of these around to keep things fresh.
'Worse Town Crier' is right in my view.
Yes, it's a body which can actually accomplish something later into the game, but that analysis misses the deck context. Town Crier in Warrior is specifically slotting into the 1-drop slot which is otherwise solely the domain of Eternium Rover. It gives Warrior a consistent 1-drop on 1, which is very valuable at combatting aggro - important for a deck with a strong late-game.
By contrast, this card - despite having a better body than Town Crier - is a 3-drop trying to fit into Hunter, the class with arguably the most loaded 3-drop slot in Hearthstone (and has held this title for almost the entire history of HS, with only Priest competing for a while when Talonpriest etc. were around). Hunter doesn't have a lot of pure Rush minions, and this is competing for a slot against Eaglehorn Bow, Animal Companion, Masked Contender, Hunter's Pack, etc. etc.
It's not a BAD card, but I can't honestly say I'd even run it in Highlander hunter because of the amount of competition it has in its slot. If some kind of weird new rush-centric Hunter archetype emerges then it'll be very strong in that, of course, but right now it's nowhere near as good as a lot of you seem to think it is.
Overhyped in my opinion. Yes it's strong, yes it'll be played in every Highlander deck - but it won't be the centrepiece of those decks. It's no Zephrys, it's not going to make you play Highlander despite no other Highlander cards. It's just a late-game value card that will make you a big board in one turn, much like several other cards we already have right now (King Phaoris being the immediate example). Nothing to get overly excited about.
People are a little too down on this card I feel. Don't get me wrong, it's not an incredible card - but it's solid. Probably shouldn't be legendary, but still.
A major problem with Cyclone decks lately (Flamewaker shenanigans notwithstanding) is they have a nasty tendency to play 10 cards in a turn and not really accomplish much. This is a force multiplier card - those 10 cards can actually get something meaningful done when this is in play.
Of course, the major downside of the card is the same - it's a force MULTIPLIER, meaning you're going to need it alongside the plays you were making in the first place. Given mana is the major limiting factor of a Cyclone turn, you're kinda relying on it sticking to actually do much - you can play it before a combo, sure, but that's 3 mana spent on things that aren't spells, making your turn weaker before the 5/5s come in.
Overall, it's a medium card I feel. It's not going to make Cyclone strong, but if people are playing Cyclone, they'll play this.
I would mostly agree with the analysis here, with a couple of disagreements:
- As cute as it is, Valdris' hand size increase is not going to be a major factor in most games I feel. It's still a solid card, but it's a solid card because it's a sprint with a 4/4 stapled to it. And even that may not be enough to make it playable, considering we've not seen a good control warlock deck for a while now.
- Abyssal Summoner is, in my view, garbage. We've seen variable token summons on a LOT of cards over the years, and with the notable exception of Jade, almost all of them have been too weak to see play in Standard. Essentially the problem is that, no matter how big your hand is, it's still just a vanilla taunt coming out at the end of the day. 6 mana is usually too much to follow with anything significant, so we're looking at the 'main' play for the turn - which in turn means the power of this minion is basically just mana efficiency (i.e. minion size for cost) - the value of which goes down as cost goes up. Let's be generous and say you usually get this off with, say, 8 cards in hand. You're looking at an Ironbark and a 2/2 for 6 mana. Good on paper... but is that really a big deal in constructed most of the time? I'd say not, unless you're specifically playing it on turn 6 or 7.
- Fluffy Kibler Dragon (love that name) is, if anything, being underrated right now. And I say that despite most people being positive about it. My point, I suppose, is that this isn't a card that will be good or bad depending on Galakrond's strength - this is a card which MAKES Galakrond's strength. People (including me) will build Galakrond Warrior for this card even if all the others are trash.
Oh, and incidentally, the Raging Worgen comparison is a really bad one I'm afraid. Worgen was played in Warrior almost exclusively as a combo card, not for its own merit.
Guide largely agrees with my findings so far. Only parts I might disagree with:
- I don't agree with Deryl being top tier. He's strong, but slots in just below the top in my opinion. Patchwerk, on the other hand, IS top tier because your goal is to top 4, not to win necessarily - and Patchy-boi basically always does.
- Absolutely don't agree with Yogg being that high either. He's fun, but he's really not powerful - he falls off by the time midgame rolls around.
- Elise is trash tier in my eyes. You can guarantee a specific tavern tier, sure, but it's still 3 gold for a minion that you only -might- want, with no other benefit for the rest of the game. By contrast, Bartendotron should be a little higher due to his smooth curve (enabling him to upgrade without being significantly punished for doing so, which is his real power).
I'd pretty much agree with everything else. Only other thing I'd consider arguing about is whether cleave is the most powerful effect in the game - it's relatively straightforward to position against, after all. Poisonous, meanwhile, is obnoxiously strong.
I played the hell out of expeditions (musta done at least 20 runs after the initial 3 purchased ones, so 26 runs at least). Have to say I don't think I ever found Anivia to be a problem - in my opinion, if Anivia is causing issues you didn't pack enough removal. Her effect isn't even that powerful really, so long as she's not allowed to level before you can deal with her. Now, Tryndamere on the other hand - I stopped drafting Trynd after a while because it just wasn't fun anymore. A game in which Trynd hit the board was usually over (in my favour) inside two turns. People seemed to be really bad at playing against Overwhelm.
I do think Donnie's post below has some merit - the highlight of my runs was building a Poro deck which had 5x Poro Snax, 4x Iceborne Legacy, 5x the 3/3 Overwhelm Poro, and most amusingly, 4x Braum. That's right, all four of my champions were Braum. Every game was a race against the inevitable fluffy tide of monstrously growing Poro - for those unaware, when levelled up Braum summons a poro whenever he survives damage, and it's specifically the 3/3 Poro I already drafted 5 copies of with all the various deck-wide buffs.
Anyway, sorry, tangent. While Donnie's post has some merit - particularly noting that it seemed to be some champions got offered FAR more often than others, such that I only saw Yasuo offered once in 25+ runs and never saw Hecarim, yet got offered Ashe practically every run. That said, it's worth noting that LOR's card offering probably isn't complete yet. I'd expect to see Bilgewater, Shurima and the Void represented before the game hits full release (since adding Regions after-the-fact would be weird, especially given there's only a handful they could realistically add). As more Regions are added, and probably more cards are added to the current Regions too, it's reasonable to expect draft consistency to decrease accordingly.
Personally I greatly enjoyed expeditions, far more so than constructed (which was a little hit or miss for me to be honest). Looking forward to the new year when I get to play again.
@Zelgadis (as I can't reply due to browser issues): Demons can work, but require a very specific setup. You need to hard roll early game to find 3 Soul Weavers plus some demons (which usually pop up incidentally). An upgraded Soul Weaver usually gives you enough power through trickled buffs to see you through the early midgame.
You then stop off at level 2 briefly to pick up at least one Amalgam (preferably two), preferably NOT getting a third (Amalgam's major strength in a demon comp is being able to use Toxfin and Annoy-O-Module on it, and being able to do that twice is worth a lot more than the benefit you get from upgrading; you don't want to stay at level 2 for long enough to get 4, particularly since Amalgams are in high demand).
Optionally stop off at level 3 to get multiple copies of Soul Juggler. Optional because demon players often don't really know what they're doing and are in a relative minority anyway, so they'll usually pop up later anyway.
You then rush for level 5 and hard roll for Mal'ganis (to avoid self-damage due to Soul Weaver, which can stack up) and Battlemasters. Ideally, grab a Defender of Argus to give your Battlemaster(s) taunt, which makes them unassailable outside of Poisonous.
Actually winning with Demons is rare since even if done right, Mechs will usually outscale them. But you can pretty reliably make top 4 with them if the early game doesn't screw you on Soul Weavers.
I'm contemplating writing an in-depth guide for the deck I've been picking up Legend with in Wild for the past few seasons (Mecha'thun Warlock). The decklist wouldn't be anything particularly new - the point would just be to give a full explanation of the mechanics involved and the strategies required of the main matchups in the Wild metagame. It would, however, be extensive - meaning I don't really want to bother if nobody will read or care!
So - would anyone be interested in seeing a full deck guide of this nature?
While there are OTHER competitive decks than Combo Priest, suggesting that Aggro Warrior is *better* than Combo Priest is, in my opinion, entirely incorrect.
I'm going to propose something potentially controversial here. As a background:
I don't think it's deniable that entering Hearthstone as a new player is extremely difficult. Quite aside from the knowledge or skill barriers, the quantity of cards required to be *really* competitive is absurd. Even if we take the optimal point of entry, i.e. right at the moment of a year transition, a player needs:
- A significant number of Classic cards, as many are still in heavy use as 'core' class cards
- Cards from FOUR different expansions, at various rarities
Due to this, to even create a single high tier deck, a new player would need to spend a significant amount of money on packs to accrue the cards they need from the current expansion AND to accrue sufficient dust to craft cards from previous expansions that are still in Standard. And that's assuming they dust all the cards they don't need for that specific deck.
And that's just making a single deck. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd go crazy (or more likely, get bored and quit) if I only ever played the one deck. That isn't true for everyone - a friend of mine pretty much ignores all classes aside from Warrior - but I'd wager most people would be closer to my end than his. I myself purchase a minimum of 80 packs at the start of any given expansion - and typically I'll pre-order AND buy 40-80 packs. I'm not the typical case, as I play HS a lot and have no problem spending money on something that gives me entertainment - but I know plenty of people aren't like me.
Particularly, however, this is MUCH less likely to be true for a new player, who doesn't really know how much entertainment they're likely to get out of Hearthstone. Are you going to buy 100+ packs for a game you might not even be playing in a few weeks' time? Honestly, I probably would, but I doubt many others would.
So, here's my proposal: All players should be able to make a single payment, set, say, at the price of 40 packs (or maybe even less). In return, the purchasing player gets every single card in the Classic set. The purchased cards would be non-golden, and non-dustable.
My rationale - it's a single payment and you're guaranteed to have the entire set. The player is happier because they can entirely ignore Classic now and just spot-snipe the cards they want for any given deck (and often they'll own many of those cards already, thanks to the purchase). Blizzard is happy because players who would otherwise not bother playing the game, would spend at least a minimum amount on the game. While not limited to new players, those are pretty much the only people who'd buy the product since there's no value in buying it if you already own most of the cards. Those are the people Blizzard needs to be targeting, and those are the people who are far more likely to quit in frustration than sink the ludicrous amount of money into the game necessary to really play it on all levels.
Incidentally, noting the Tavern Brawl was mentioned in the article. If the idea of this was to assist new players, that idea is laughably naïve. A new player isn't going to say 'well, I can't really play any queue without being completely outclassed, so I'll just play weekly to get free packs'. You don't hook a new customer by drip-feeding them. The Brawl probably does fine in assisting casual players, but no more than that - it will do *nothing* to hook new customers.
Re: Bob, I strongly advise those who haven't to pick up the VIP card treasure when it's offered. I only picked it up out of curiosity in one of my runs, but subsequently was given the option to replace my deck with one of Bob's decks. The deck it gave me was absolutely obscene in terms of power. I won't spoil it for those who'd prefer to discover it in-game - but we're talking 'killing a plague lord from 300 health to 0 on turn 5' levels of power.
I can see a deck like this working, at least in premise. However, I'd recommend a few modifications.
In particular, you're running several cards designed to flood the board - Wispering Woods and Forest's Aid, in particular. Both cards are fairly underwhelming in isolation, and only become particularly potent when combined with cards which support them. I would recommend either a) dropping them, or b) adding in additional cards to support them. I recommend b), personally, as there are several cards in your list which would also synergise with token support (Snip-Snap, Garden Gnome, MCT).
I would therefore suggest adding in a Savage Roar (as a finisher) and a Soul of the Forest (to capitalise on a board position). Power of the Wild would also be a good addition, either to cement a board position or just to give you a better turn two option. Cenarius is also a possible option, as he can either further generate a board or cement an already developed one (and works very well with Floop, which I recommend adding below).
To make room, I would suggest dropping Witchwood Grizzly (many of the decks in the current meta tend towards large hand sizes, and with only one Witching Hour there's not enough to incentivise its inclusion), Stampeding Roar (just isn't good enough in a lot of circumstances, particularly as you're only running three large beasts even with the Grizzly and two already have rush), and Stampeding Kodo (perfectly fine card, but has anti-synergy with the more token-heavy variant I'm suggesting; also a poor result to pull from Predatory Instincts).
Further suggestions, I'd suggest replacing Hidden Oasis with Overflow. Oasis just isn't very good without the Druid Quest active, and your list otherwise lacks multi-card draw sources. Finally, I'd recommend fitting in Floop, perhaps by dropping the Starfire, simply because Floop is fantastic and can be paired with Elise in particular for high value plays.
Good luck, sir.
@Lemushki - Agreed, the final Monster Hunt encounter was a really fun fight. Time will tell.
Right now I'm a little irritated at the Adventure, simply because I steamrolled wins in Normal with Reno and Finley and was well progressed in Heroic clearing. Then Elise comes out and I struggle to even clear a wing with her. Really not a fan of her available options.
Heh, this article highlights a full three cards that I desperately wanted to be good.
- Floating Watcher - Looks so good, with the siren song of endless growth... which, in the vast majority of cases, winds up being a slightly worse War Golem :(
- Unearthed Raptor - Solid on curve with Jades, but sadly Jade Rogue never really worked. Suffers from Rogue's issue with card draw - specifically, its gimmick options are so good that it's not allowed to have good non-gimmick draw. Raptor winds up being incredibly good when you can play it, but a dead card way too much of the time.
- Mistcaller - I *adore* this card, but I lost enough arena games after drafting it to realise it's just not good. Because it's only buffing your deck, it basically winds up being an awkward card that you just can't justify keeping in your mulligan, but which gets progressively worse the longer you go without drawing it. And when you do, it's a horrible tempo loss at an awkward mana cost, and then requires you to further invest mana into card draw to be able to use the advantage it offered.
Still, it's nice to see the spotlight on some cards that should have been good, even though they're not.
Ah the rare example of a quest deck which actually gains winrate percentage by mulliganing its quest away :P
@Thonson - Cursed Blade is actually pretty good in the deck for competing at the higher end of Wild right now. About the only decks that can punish you for it are Even Shaman and maybe the occasional Odd Rogue; the vast majority of your games wind up being against decks that have no way of putting out meaningful early game pressure. Even the various aggressive Paladin decks aren't going to do a whole lot of face damage in the first three or four turns of the game. I laughed when I saw a Cursed Blade pulled out against my Renolock last week, but it had pretty much caved my face in by turn four...
Is there a reason so many of these decks tend to be so heavy on single cards rather than two-ofs when they're not running Highlander? I mean, I get that they're meme decks, but two-ofs are almost always optimal unless you have a specific reason for running single copies.
Re: Wild decks - I don't think the Wild meta is all that unstable, at least at high ranks. I picked up Legend last season with Mecha'thun Warlock and am doing so again this season - it's actually surprisingly well positioned against what is honestly a fairly predictable meta now. The vast majority of games are going to be Secret Mage, Even Shaman, Renolock, Snip-Snap Warlock or some form of aggressive paladin - you'll meet other matchups in maybe 20% of your games at most.
Re: Article deck - I'm honestly quite surprised to hear that combo priest has a high playrate. I only saw it occasionally during my Legend climb last season, though I will say I haven't played much Standard in the past few weeks.
If the deck is specifically targeting priest, though, I'd suggest a couple of changes. I realise that the deck is going to run dry quickly, but all the same I'm sceptical as to the build-around of Master's Call; its inclusion means you lose access to some very potent cards for the archetype, most notably Masked Contender, which is invaluable for the oppressive Secret Hunter curve (Secret-Contender-Hyena is pretty brutal in most matchups). Hunter's Pack works well as an alternative hand refill, particularly as the majority of Hunter secrets work well into Priest.
If you're targeting priest then I'd drop the Lifedrinkers altogether and instead lean towards Ironbeak Owl (assuming you stick with the Master's Call build, if not then Spellbreaker is preferable). You want at least one Deadly Shot, probably instead of a Kill Command, since it's pretty much perfect against current Priest builds - it can either snipe a big minion, or else help to isolate a buffed minion to play into a Freezing Trap setup. It also makes Zul'jin more of an out.
Explosive Trap is probably superior to Misdirection as a single secret tech - you play it to counter Lightwardens specifically and avoid playing it out otherwise due to Cleric shenanigans.
Finally, I'm pretty unconvinced by the double Shimmerfly. The card is barely worth playing in Highlander Hunter, and you have a lot more slots to fill in that deck. I would instead suggest Venomizer if you're going full anti-priest - current priest is basically forced into Pyromancer plays and otherwise has absolutely no way of answering it outside of an awkward Silence.
In my opinion, drop the Commanding Shout (adds nothing, you can Whirlwind before ripping the combo if you need to), both Omega Assemblies and both Dragons Roars (this is a combo deck, not a control deck, you're not looking for resource generation), and both Battle Rages (deck doesn't run enough minions to make them valuable for draw).
Replace with a second Plague of Wrath for board clearing, then a Witchwood Piper and a Baleful Banker - the latter to ensure you can still execute your game plan if you inadvertently draw all of your minions early, the former to draw the Banker more reliably to reduce your odds of hitting it with the Rippers. Remaining slots are filled with Shield Slams (important removal, not sure why they're missing) and probably Weapons Project to provide early spot-removal and some weapon destruction to improve your matchups vs Highlander decks (Tirion) and Holy Wrathadin.