Yet another string of nerfs but its easy enough to see why it needs to be done. The new cards are simply not creating decks that are better than the ones before them. The situation is not quite as bad as lost city, because to be worse than that expansion would require a total recall of product, but youd be struggling to play the new cards and justifying them over the old ones.
And this is really the new reality for hearthstone, Im quite convinced. They are consistently printing cards that are 'fair', doing mass nerfing after, and we really should be asking to what end is all this for? Is it so they dont need to address wild all that much? I mean, just look at cards like ancient of yore, rc rampage, and ultralisk cavern. These are not cards that are problematic in that they create one sided games, but because their continued presence are suppressing the new cards they got the nerf hammer. Wouldnt it be easier just to print better new cards instead?
The ironic thing is that ever since this new direction has been established, I have been buying fewer new expansion packs, partially because alot of the cards (epics especially) arent particularly good so 50 packs more or less gets me the vast majority of what I need, but also partially because all these nerfs tend to give me back at least 5k dust each time so I was never left without resources. My dust collection has only ever been climbing upwards, and this is despite me crafting a minimum of at least 3-5 legendaries every expansion.
Here's hoping that rotation next year, where whizbang, perils and great beyond would be shifted back to wild, that we actually get to see the fruits of what they have been planning, not that Im even the slightest optimistic about it. Chances are good they just nerf a bunch of stuff again and we're back here talking about how powerful the previous set of expansions were in retrospect.
I did actually, but not directly. I reference that chronogor can draw you two cards while dealing 6 damage to the opponents face, which obviously would come from the shreds. My main concern is that to do this you would essentially have to drop cursed catacombs from your deck, and if you have no shreds then this card is working against you.
After some additional thoughts, maybe Im underestimating the shreds of time cards because you can go tachyon barrage into devious coyote immediately on turn 2 which can be backbreaking as an aggro deck. But we'll see if shuffling all these stuff in will be worth it
Timethief Rafaam - Probably the most interesting legendary in the game, but I remain skeptical as to whether you can actually win with this deck.
Its already incredibly slow, taking 10 turns with perfect draws to complete, each of those rafaams bar maybe two arent actually that good, and then there's the question of how this playstyle differs from wallowlock, which is basically just playing vanilla minions every turn, except that deck's finisher can easily come as early as turn 8.
But obviously viability arent as important as playability and in that regard this card is easily the best of the set. There's just no reason to believe this wouldnt be a day 1 craft for most players, simply because of the theme, playstyle and the fact that its rafaam. Id play this deck and lose 66% of my matches but Id love it.
Chronogor - Assuming perfect scenarios, this card is busted. Draw two cards and hit your opponent for 6 while having a 6/7 on board. In practice however, this card is probably mid at best, and at worse actively running against you. Drawing two of your best cards, good. Drawing two cards for your opponent, bad. Giving your opponent two of your cards, which can easily be cursed catacombs, even worse.
Shred of Time Cards - Honestly, this is painlock except more volatile. All these cards will shuffle 6 damage into your deck, and in order to get the bonuses, which ranges from 4 mana 7/7 lifesteal to double 5/5s with rush, you take 3 damage and draw a card.
The biggest problem is obvious. If youre not facing specifically control, you'll very likely get destroyed by hubris, and sometimes by sheer luck. It also makes anything on your opponents board extremely dangerous and unlike painlock, the cards like fatebreaker and velocidrake are mid game card so you cant even burst your opponent.
Azure Queen Sindragosa - Its a combo card piece. In fact her entire repertoire of fabled cards are basically just combo because theres zero chance this card sees play in an otherwise normal functioning deck. Both sindragosa and malygos in reality expected to be played or curve and expected to die, with the oathstone bringing them back so you kill the opponent with either cheap arcane spells that youve discovered or gotten via violet spellwing because the only other burn card is the new arcane barrage
Alter time - Play it and pray to get arcane missiles or arcane bolt. Its lucky to be printed in a class that usually dont care about tempo
Temporal Construct - Kinda shit in all but arena. Why would mage play a 7 mana draw card when it has tons of draw cards already?
Faceless Enigma - Its probably shit. There's just no reason to give your opponent a free secret. Just one more mana gets you observer of mysteries, an infinitely better card than this one
Timelooper Toki - Card that wouldve been playable prior to 2018, but sadly Toki chose the wrong timeline to appear in because mage is neither lacking draw, win cons, card gen, or effective finishers, so toki remains a decent though unimpressive card for a class that dont need her. Absolutely broken in arena though, so toki may want to rejig her time piece next time.
Mage. Just fresh out of colossal mage, and into another colossal mage thats made out of dragons. Lets not even pretend that this isnt basically the same play pattern but a little shittier because shaman will absolutely rip them to shreds, and youve got to pray to get some decent arcane spells out of card gen. I mean, what else is there? Youve got 4 cards dedicated to a dragon combo deck, and the rest of them are just random cards that dont fit anywhere. Even the most charitable attempt at building a mage deck with the new cards that isnt dragon combo is a kind of shittier zoo mage that uses toki for value, forgetting that elemental mage cant even get into the meta, let alone this.
Chrono-Lord Epoch - Another card that looks suspiciously nerfed post design phase because just look at this crap. Basically you are paying 6 mana to destroy maybe 2 minions, and that's being charitable. In most cases this card will just remove one big boy whilst leaving all his other friends on board to wail on you next turn.
Even if we grant the idea of a 7/5 that destroys a minion being a good thing, that's just a waste of a legendary slot for a class that really needs something different to play other than just control.
Stadium Announcer - Probably the worst rewind card so far? Giving your opponent stuff is never good, but giving them something that you cant interact with other than viper is just dumb. We're looking at giving them an average of 6 damage over two turns, while we get a weapon in return. Wouldnt it be significantly better just to play a weapon you want rather than also giving your opponent one?
Slow Motion - Probably will see play but Im not all that sure whether this is actually better than cult neophyte that usually ends up doing the same thing but also putting a 3/2 on board.
For Glory! - Its good only because you can play this in control. Given that most of the time your opponent will have at least 2 minions on board its only competition is all you can eat which is rotating next.
Undefeated Champion - Its the sort of card you wanna get out of random effects because playing this is just asking for a punch to the face
Lo'gosh, Blood Fighter - On one hand this card can be dangerous, because you risk 12 damage to face each time you kill one, but let's be real for a sec. For this card to get maximum value, you'll need to draw all three in hand, have the first blood fighter killed, and somehow contrive yourself to not be dead in the meantime. And then there's the question of where this card fits in? Aggro wouldnt want it, and control dont really need it.
Not gonna lie, warrior cards look absolutely shite. Bunch of stuff thats thematic because they all involve giving your opponent stuff so you can whack it yourself, but I cant help but feel someone in team5 that absolutely despise the class being given the rounds this time to design warrior cards.
The other legendary, which is lo'gosh, basically is just a decent minion at best because its just statspad for a class that really need finishers, not stats on board.
But obviously the real downer for warrior this time round is that there isnt really anything to build around, so we're facing yet more control warriors. Can we not just bring back rush or enrage warrior, or make use of the draenei cards, instead of the usual control builds again.
Broxigar - This card is quest in all but name but ironically it provides a reward that far exceed that of the majority of lost ungoro's quest. Getting a 12/12 charge is no joke, especially since there's really no requirements here other than drawing the portal and killing the paltry minion that spawns from it. The only real downside here is that each demon grants your opponent a draw, but that's hardly going to be an issue when every class practically draws like the wind anyway.
This and 2x lasting legacy alone is 28 damage. Something to ponder about, though Im sure you can practically play this card in all but aggro.
Perennial Serpent - Potentially dangerous because playing a dormant minion on 3 so you can play a 7/9 rush minion on 4 can be back breaking. But I suspect the dhunter direction this expansion will ensure that this card sees limited play
Lasting Legacy - This card plus broxigar ensures that your endgame is secured playing a no minion dhunter. But the condition only requires your deck having no minions when you play it means this card can actually work in a minion-based deck too. I can already see cycle dhunter doing some rounds.
The Eternal Hold - Basically play 6 mana to make your next demon cost 0. And subsequent use of the location will allow you to play a demon for free, on top of discovering one should you lack any. I have zero doubts this card will see play, though probably in a minionless deck only.
So dhunter got a lot of new stuff that looks powerful. Much needed as well, seeing how badly the current expansion is treating it. Broxigar alone makes up for a lot. I would be interested to see if this matches up with the starships as DK probably walls any dhunter deck bar starships of its own. But overall impressive set for dhunter next expansion.
Garona Halforcen - Yes, it'll probably win the set's most thematic card, but is it viable for competitive play? Honestly, you'll just put this card in your deck solely so your opponent can whiff a card draw because 90% of the time garona will either do nothing or you'll be too afraid to play her for nothing. There's just no reason to start playing cards like deja vu or shapeshifter just so you can be sure when to play garona. More or less you'll just do a hail mary and hope for the best
As for the theme itself...well, team5 made sure we wont feel too bad for assassinating King Llane now by making him evil in this timeline
Royal Informant - Its a decent card but will struggle to find relevance in a rogue deck because rogue traditionally dont play control. Probably never see any real play outside of discovers
Deja Vu - I find it funny that this card can actually do an OTK with Lorewalker Cho and Rumble Enthusiast. It'll probably get a nerf simply because of that. Outside of that bs OTK, the card is just decent. Might see play because its a 1 mana card that gets you a card from your opponent
Chrono Dagger - 3 mana fireball face. Yes, that's what it reads.
Flashback - Its only good because prep exist. Without it, its mediocre at best, and probably impossible to play on curve. Will rogue even bother with this card? Well, I suppose they would at least try it, because once a upon a time harbringer of the blighted was busted as hell despite being fairly similar to this
Time Admiral Hooktusk - Too slow, but the prospect of having a hand full of coins is tempting enough. Still think its not gonna be anything useful though. Gives team5 plenty of design space to make use of all those coins in future sets, but really 5 mana just to spawn a chest that you need to destroy? It didnt work for marin, it likely wont work now.
So rogue. I guess the only thing we can say about rogue's set next expansion is that there's loads of cards that look good but ultimately, its gonna be fyrakk, cycle or nothing. The main issue being that there's really nothing here that makes a deck, so we'll just to throwing a bunch of unrelated stuff and calling it whatever rogue again.
Maybe thief can make a comeback, but definitely not holding my breath.
Muradin, High King - So far its probably the most broken legendary revealed, along with the best fabled set of cards. Probably good enough to get into any shaman deck because why the fuck wouldnt it. The hammer and avatar form alone can easily deal 20 damage over two turns on its own, and is borderline impossible to avoid because the destroyed hammer goes back to the deck, gets a buff, and can be tutored even if clunkily by weapons attendant. So effective is this that muradin himself appears more like an afterthought.
Farseer Wo - Its just an okay cycle card for the most part but it does have potential to actually get nerfed because a few lucky players will get an OTK out of it. Or even deal more than 15 damage from just two cards. Basically printing a card that allows players to discover specifically nature spells from a class that has both damage and mana refresh is just digging your own grave.
Flux Revenant and Stormrook - Not a fan of the self damage theme that shaman is going for because stuff like these never work out. Both lightning rod and nascent bolt are basically hamstrung by the need for specifically this two cards in order to function to their best potential, so my question is: why the fuck bother building around them. The current iteration of elemental shaman is already pretty decent by itself, with an incredibly burn plan. These cards, while not entirely rubbish, doesnt help with that.
Thunderquake - Its decent, but you'll likely play this because theres really not that many mini clears for shaman and static shock can be combined by the hammer to deal even more damage to face.
Shaman set is just meh, but the two legendaries is insane. Easily fits into most shaman decks as it is, gives incredible value or just pure lethality. At least for once theres something to look forward to in the next expansion and we can hope there is more to come with that.
Krona, Keeper of Eons, Waveshaping, Kaldorei Cultivator - Gonna group all these into one because they are all uniquely useless. Basically none of these things will do enough to influence the game, are highly dependent on both drawing and playing krona, or otherwise playing timeless causality. And what is the payoff? Literally nothing except satisfying your self esteem that your best cards are not stuck at the bottom of your deck.
There's also another point. This is not even better than the current iteration of aviana druid, which at least can scam wins with a reasonable play pattern that is similar, but I would contend better than, this one.
Lady Azshara - Its a good card that will fit into most druid decks because it does what most druid decks want which is give value. The empowered well of eternity goes so far as to actually be a real win-con, and if this becomes in any way popular, be prepared to see a lot of demolition renovators teched into decks.
Alternate Reality - Meme card thats only worth mentioning because it takes up a card design slot for no other reason than to annoy.
Highborne Mentor - Be glad that druid are not known for bouncing cards. Can be good, but more likely something to consider after rotation because at present, its not outvaluing starships, and its not better than just playing fyrakk.
Endangered Dodo - A card that will be better fit in hunter but obviously give it to a class that dont play or need it. This is more or less a tech card against aggro for a class that traditionally do nothing for the first 4+ turns, but druid tends to prefer to sustain via health/armour gain, not put two big taunts out. Not to mention that most aggro decks these days can easily deal with big things on board, or they just straight up kill you because 10 health in todays meta, even in an underpowered one, is basically a death sentence.
So druid. At very least we dont get the usual toxic card as is expected from the class but instead we get something that's arguably worse, and that's an absence of anything to build around. I suppose in some world you can just build an aggro druid with azshara as the centerpiece, but more likely we just see the same druid decks from this expansion with maybe 2 new cards stuck into it.
King Maluk - Alright, this is the supposed payoff for running a cheap and fast deck that regularly runs out of cards in hand. The problem is: well, its kinda shit, relying entirely on the board sticking, and the downsides are so terrible that I cant see this card being any way viable. Basically the correct way to play this card is to draw it as early as possible and pray hard that none of your hand matters and do a hail mary on turn 4. From there, its another hail mary to get either draw options or consistently hitting top decks like a pro.
Worse part of all is the infinite banana isnt even that good. Youre always one board clear away from irrelevance and at best the banana ensures that you'll always trade well or maximize mana spent. Beast hunter is already maximizing what a board based aggro deck can do, so what is this payoff doing thats better than that already?
Precise shot - Good card. Not difficult to manipulate in an aggro deck where this card presumably gets the most of out it. Very lucky that kill command is no longer in standard.
Past Silvermoon - Bit slow but quite a good card for aggro. Its basically trampling rhino that'll make your opponent think twice about playing minions.
Untimely Death - Probably the best hunter card aside from Sylvannas. Play it and then from then on one of your minion will get a 2nd chance at sticking for more than the turn played, which honestly is kinda insane because it guarantees board presence or your opponent commits more resources to deny you.
So hunter cards next expansion...not looking too good. Far as I can see, nothing here will make another viable hunter deck, and at the very best you can sort of assuming discover hunter will still be playable. Sad to say that aggro hunter will probably only be possible after rotation because at the moment, every deck plays zilliax and beast hunter is already doing the board based thing well enough that you'll never build it around maluk. Besides which, if youre gonna play an extreme version of an aggro deck, youd probably just play dhunter where it is far more viable and powerful.
Medivh the Hallowed - Its very possibly broken on paper but in practice, I doubt priest would ever be able to use this card to its fullest potential. For one thing, the card already cost a minimum of 10 mana to play, and though you do get a massive board swing out of it, any deck that actually not conceded in 10 turns will very likely have a board clear adequate enough to counter it.
The staff is probably the only card here that's actually worth building around. Play this after a Tyrande turn and you'll likely win the game assuming your opponent cant viper it. Or just cheat this out with weapon attendant and fire up acupuncture and photon cannons.
Cease to Exist - A card that is printed solely to ensure that egg of khelos can never truly do anything. Not that this card is good mind, just annoying out of discovers.
Priest set reverting back to board base for this expansion. And honestly its not too bad, except the lack of card draw options. Only concern I have here is that it seems uncomfortably similar to the great beyond, in that all the draenei cards simply couldnt work due to the lack of card draw and the fact that theres simply better stuff out there. At least this time, even if the cards like eternus and divine augur ended up being unplayable, you can still stick some of the cards like disciple of the dove into zarimi priest.
And as for anyone willing to build around medivh, the challenge is to make a deck that isnt worse than wilted priest, which honestly isnt that easy.
The Fins Beyond Time - We've got this teased before that finley is in fact a time traveller, from the showdown expansion, so it shouldnt be surprising to see him make an appearance here. Went so far as to even hide his name, by giving this card a generic name.
As for the card itself. Well, its not terrible but its not good neither. Fact is that this card will only ever be viable in either a combo deck or something with lynessa in it. Its just not that practical in a class that usually plays 2 cards at max per turn.
Neon Innovation - Usually cards like these are rubbish, but since its very specifically a mech from pally's class, you can get anything from purator to leviathan, both of which are fairly devastating themselves, never mind the +5 to stats. Might actually see unironic play
Tankgineer - Looks shit, but it has a near 99% chance of actually surviving to the next turn when you can cubicle it and get both a tank and more tankgineers. If anything, you can play it in terran pally and not be 100% dependent on the egg to win.
Past Gnomeregan - Its kinda shit. Too slow, to be of any use realistically.
As usual, pally cards tend to be the most boring but easy to build and use. Perhaps lynessa pally can make a comeback with the cards, especially since the new set gives it some much needed finishers in the form of gelbin, so youre not all in on lynessa and shanty for the win.
Talanji of the Graves - I kinda dont think this card will be any good, at least not until rotation, because its plainly not better than starships. Why go through all the pain of building up your bwomsamdi when simple silence/hex destroys the entire point of the card, and it doesnt even win you the game whereas starship DK is resistant to such plans, spawns a few 10 drops, and is more flexible with regards to offence and defence.
Guess we should be thankful at least that this card doesnt have a rune requirement
Memoriam Manifest - Supposedly used to revive bwonsamdi but more likely its gonna just get you more stegodons, travel security, or hell just plain bring back pyromancer.
Chronochiller - Probably trash. The only deck that would want to play this is aggro, and starving yourself of options isnt exactly a very good thing even with a 8/7 on board. The downside of not being able to draw cards and reinforce is probably too much to give up. Not to mention that this card is straight up impossible to play against mage.
Forgotten Millinieum - Looks like a card that was nerfed in post. Had this been 6 mana it might possibly be worth it, but at 8 mana you're kinda insanely desperate to play this card and pray your opponent cannot finish you up. Probably most useful out of discovers.
Cryofrozen Champion - Pretty good card for aggro. Play a 1 one drop and get a value card in return is about as decent as it gets. Probably didnt need the frost rune requirement because its not like this card is absolutely insane anywhere else.
Shadows of Yesterday - Pretty good card overall. Just play it and chances are good you'll get what you need, whether its lifesteal or rush or taunt. The rune requirement is annoying but its probably so this card isnt just played everywhere because it absolutely could be. Whether it'll see any play now? Well, there isnt any real reason to play double unholy currently, so who can say.
Husk, Eternal Reaper - Its a get out of jail card, buys you an extra turn usually, and that might just turn the tides in your favour, especially against aggro.
Not much else to say because you cant discredit a 2nd chance after death, but this is not ice block in the sense that you can still theorectically be dead regardless, and then there's the fact that in most games this card just does nothing. Unless DK has some combo deck coming through, it may not see any play at all.
So all in all, decent set from DK, relatively speaking because the current expansion being so abominable. Suppose the biggest issue is that I cant see any of these cards making an archetype that supplants the current decks like blood control or starships, the latter in particular.
Some hope that frost DK gets back in the pic though. We'll see. At least team5 didnt stick rune requirements on the legendaries this time so theorectically its still open.
Misplaced Pyromancer - Dunno what this is supposed to be, nor am I aware of the apparent meme, but by the card's name and theme of the expansion you can kinda guess this is a keyword from a future expansion. Whatever it is, this card will join the ever growing list of filler cards until we actually know what shatter is.
Aeon Wizard - The one rewind card so far that's worth playing but honestly this card isnt anywhere near the levels of ghost writer or venomous scorpid. In fact, one might be tempted to ask whether rewind is basically a weaker version of discover but ten times more annoying. I would go so far as to say that if the animations are as dreadful as it is right now, this card wouldnt see play just because of it.
Paltry Flutterwing - There is a consistent pattern forming that there's gonna be generation with dormancy, so its fitting with the time theme of the next expansion. Far as this card goes though, kinda trash. No idea why its not just a battlecry because at least it wouldve been considered in arena. As it stands, the only thing this card is good for is to finish achievements.
Alright, seems that team5's new reveal strat is to release all these neutral filller cards first before giving us the class cards, which is fine because ultimately we're one month away from release and facts are these cards tend to be a little bit forgotten amidst the class cards.
Amber Warden - The only good thing here is that this has 12 health + taunt and you can get it out of random effects. The bad thing is, its shit. No one will play this deliberately from hand, or choose it unless there's absolutely no other choice. Its incomparable to niche 8 drops that already dont see play like splitting spacerock, mo'arg forgefiend, and meadow strider as it is.
Cyborg Patriach - Honestly though, this card...is kinda playable? I mean, for a greedy deck, just play this on 3 and it guarantees that you get to do something less defensive on turn 6 without risking too much, like shudderblock, which is already a little difficult to play on an empty board. And with the lower power levels nowadays, 12 health + taunt isnt easy to get rid of.
That said, I wouldnt be surprised if this just doesnt see any play because its just so damn slow and getting this in the late game is practically a brick in hand.
Devious Coyote - Realistically this is a 3 drop because unless theres some spell to hit face multiple times its never gonna be discounted to zero. Ive some theory that this was nerfed post design because had it cost 4 it could be an easy inclusion into most aggro decks.
Quantum Destabilizer - Funny little card, because there is a world where this card is actually good. If your opponent isnt an aggro token deck then this card is practically a 4/5 for 3 that will almost always require at least two cards/trades to remove. In arena I wouldnt be too surprised if this card is a genuine tyrant.
Chromie - My initial instinct is that this card probably wouldnt see any play. Too slow, have no taunt/rush, and draws you cards but in todays meta youd prob be able to draw more often than not regardless. Only way I can see this seeing some bit of play is in a deck like cycle rogue, where drawing entire decks is the goal but even then this cards too slow. A bit ironic that its both a deathrattle and yet have 6 health meaning you cant even kill her yourself to speed it up.
Murozond, Unbound - Its a discover card. Or a card you get out of chance. Theres just zero way this card sees actually competitive play unless theres some accompanying card that grants this immunity or stealth. And even then, you can argue that a 9 mana card that doesnt do anything on board really wouldnt see any play. Probably the weakest and blandest murozond yet considering that two cards that came before this.
Chrono-Lord Deios - One of those get serious cards you print out because the entire expansion is shit. Dunno what you can do with this outside of deathrattle synergy because its cost is simply too high and theres a zero chance this stays on board past the turn its played. Most likely gonna be abused by rogue or druid
Wizened Truthseeker - Only way this card is printed is that there's some crazy card unrevealed that cheats mana like no ones business. Because otherwise, this card is fairly redundant.
So far...not a good start. But early days I suppose.
Finally a new expansion is coming to wash this one away. Its been a long three months of slog.
We can only hope that this one would turn out better because I dont think I can stomach another expansion where we just play the same things over and over while new cards being patently too weak.
As for the new keywords and mechanics. Fabled will definitely work because of synergistic legendaries attached to it, while the rewind mechanic is sus at best. Its not that I think it wont work, but because the obnoxious animations will either break something, or the slowness of the animations will definitely make it less an incentive for me to like it. Predicting that team5 will speed up that animation few weeks into the expansion.
That is if we actually get there without first dying from sheer apathy. Its been a rough year. Dont think Ive ever felt so lethargic to even bother climbing ladder.
Point taken about power levels, but theres something more sinister afoot I suspect. Ungoro wasnt simply suffering from poor power levels, its just straight up boring to play. Feels more like classic hearthstone, where everything is basically just curve play until someone plays fyrakk or launches a mega starship. If youre not doing one of the two, then the deck simply doesnt work.
Power level arguments is one thing, but I dont think hearthstone can survive another dull expansion. The mere thought that I have to go through two more months of this is not pleasant to say the least.
Without shadow of a doubt, got to be the worst expansion paired with an even worse miniset.
Now, there should be some method to this madness of team5's current strat of lowering power levels, and Im guessing its because it makes it easier to balance wild, introduce legacy cards into standard without buffing them, and perhaps allow more design space. But this is getting absurd now, because nothing is changing, all the mechanics are either boring or too weak, and overall hearthstone just isnt all that interesting.
I mean, just look at the current meta. The best deck without a doubt is fyrakk rogue because its also the only deck that has a blow out turn in the form of scoundrel into ysera, or fyrakk bounce. Behind this is either starship warrior, starship DK, starship dhunter...we get the pic. Your aggro deck choices is either pirate dhunter or quest warlock, both of which does decently against rogue, but shits itself against any of the control/starship decks.
Mixed in with the constant events (seemingly we are never allowed to have a week without one), the ridiculous monetization that practically abuses whales and a straight middle finger to everyone else, the fact is that hearthstone is waning my interest quickly. One more shit expansion and who knows how much longer anyone can take.
Yet another string of nerfs but its easy enough to see why it needs to be done. The new cards are simply not creating decks that are better than the ones before them. The situation is not quite as bad as lost city, because to be worse than that expansion would require a total recall of product, but youd be struggling to play the new cards and justifying them over the old ones.
And this is really the new reality for hearthstone, Im quite convinced. They are consistently printing cards that are 'fair', doing mass nerfing after, and we really should be asking to what end is all this for? Is it so they dont need to address wild all that much? I mean, just look at cards like ancient of yore, rc rampage, and ultralisk cavern. These are not cards that are problematic in that they create one sided games, but because their continued presence are suppressing the new cards they got the nerf hammer. Wouldnt it be easier just to print better new cards instead?
The ironic thing is that ever since this new direction has been established, I have been buying fewer new expansion packs, partially because alot of the cards (epics especially) arent particularly good so 50 packs more or less gets me the vast majority of what I need, but also partially because all these nerfs tend to give me back at least 5k dust each time so I was never left without resources. My dust collection has only ever been climbing upwards, and this is despite me crafting a minimum of at least 3-5 legendaries every expansion.
Here's hoping that rotation next year, where whizbang, perils and great beyond would be shifted back to wild, that we actually get to see the fruits of what they have been planning, not that Im even the slightest optimistic about it. Chances are good they just nerf a bunch of stuff again and we're back here talking about how powerful the previous set of expansions were in retrospect.
I did actually, but not directly. I reference that chronogor can draw you two cards while dealing 6 damage to the opponents face, which obviously would come from the shreds. My main concern is that to do this you would essentially have to drop cursed catacombs from your deck, and if you have no shreds then this card is working against you.
After some additional thoughts, maybe Im underestimating the shreds of time cards because you can go tachyon barrage into devious coyote immediately on turn 2 which can be backbreaking as an aggro deck. But we'll see if shuffling all these stuff in will be worth it
Timethief Rafaam - Probably the most interesting legendary in the game, but I remain skeptical as to whether you can actually win with this deck.
Its already incredibly slow, taking 10 turns with perfect draws to complete, each of those rafaams bar maybe two arent actually that good, and then there's the question of how this playstyle differs from wallowlock, which is basically just playing vanilla minions every turn, except that deck's finisher can easily come as early as turn 8.
But obviously viability arent as important as playability and in that regard this card is easily the best of the set. There's just no reason to believe this wouldnt be a day 1 craft for most players, simply because of the theme, playstyle and the fact that its rafaam. Id play this deck and lose 66% of my matches but Id love it.
Chronogor - Assuming perfect scenarios, this card is busted. Draw two cards and hit your opponent for 6 while having a 6/7 on board. In practice however, this card is probably mid at best, and at worse actively running against you. Drawing two of your best cards, good. Drawing two cards for your opponent, bad. Giving your opponent two of your cards, which can easily be cursed catacombs, even worse.
Shred of Time Cards - Honestly, this is painlock except more volatile. All these cards will shuffle 6 damage into your deck, and in order to get the bonuses, which ranges from 4 mana 7/7 lifesteal to double 5/5s with rush, you take 3 damage and draw a card.
The biggest problem is obvious. If youre not facing specifically control, you'll very likely get destroyed by hubris, and sometimes by sheer luck. It also makes anything on your opponents board extremely dangerous and unlike painlock, the cards like fatebreaker and velocidrake are mid game card so you cant even burst your opponent.
Azure Queen Sindragosa - Its a combo card piece. In fact her entire repertoire of fabled cards are basically just combo because theres zero chance this card sees play in an otherwise normal functioning deck. Both sindragosa and malygos in reality expected to be played or curve and expected to die, with the oathstone bringing them back so you kill the opponent with either cheap arcane spells that youve discovered or gotten via violet spellwing because the only other burn card is the new arcane barrage
Alter time - Play it and pray to get arcane missiles or arcane bolt. Its lucky to be printed in a class that usually dont care about tempo
Temporal Construct - Kinda shit in all but arena. Why would mage play a 7 mana draw card when it has tons of draw cards already?
Faceless Enigma - Its probably shit. There's just no reason to give your opponent a free secret. Just one more mana gets you observer of mysteries, an infinitely better card than this one
Timelooper Toki - Card that wouldve been playable prior to 2018, but sadly Toki chose the wrong timeline to appear in because mage is neither lacking draw, win cons, card gen, or effective finishers, so toki remains a decent though unimpressive card for a class that dont need her. Absolutely broken in arena though, so toki may want to rejig her time piece next time.
Mage. Just fresh out of colossal mage, and into another colossal mage thats made out of dragons. Lets not even pretend that this isnt basically the same play pattern but a little shittier because shaman will absolutely rip them to shreds, and youve got to pray to get some decent arcane spells out of card gen. I mean, what else is there? Youve got 4 cards dedicated to a dragon combo deck, and the rest of them are just random cards that dont fit anywhere. Even the most charitable attempt at building a mage deck with the new cards that isnt dragon combo is a kind of shittier zoo mage that uses toki for value, forgetting that elemental mage cant even get into the meta, let alone this.
Chrono-Lord Epoch - Another card that looks suspiciously nerfed post design phase because just look at this crap. Basically you are paying 6 mana to destroy maybe 2 minions, and that's being charitable. In most cases this card will just remove one big boy whilst leaving all his other friends on board to wail on you next turn.
Even if we grant the idea of a 7/5 that destroys a minion being a good thing, that's just a waste of a legendary slot for a class that really needs something different to play other than just control.
Stadium Announcer - Probably the worst rewind card so far? Giving your opponent stuff is never good, but giving them something that you cant interact with other than viper is just dumb. We're looking at giving them an average of 6 damage over two turns, while we get a weapon in return. Wouldnt it be significantly better just to play a weapon you want rather than also giving your opponent one?
Slow Motion - Probably will see play but Im not all that sure whether this is actually better than cult neophyte that usually ends up doing the same thing but also putting a 3/2 on board.
For Glory! - Its good only because you can play this in control. Given that most of the time your opponent will have at least 2 minions on board its only competition is all you can eat which is rotating next.
Undefeated Champion - Its the sort of card you wanna get out of random effects because playing this is just asking for a punch to the face
Lo'gosh, Blood Fighter - On one hand this card can be dangerous, because you risk 12 damage to face each time you kill one, but let's be real for a sec. For this card to get maximum value, you'll need to draw all three in hand, have the first blood fighter killed, and somehow contrive yourself to not be dead in the meantime. And then there's the question of where this card fits in? Aggro wouldnt want it, and control dont really need it.
Not gonna lie, warrior cards look absolutely shite. Bunch of stuff thats thematic because they all involve giving your opponent stuff so you can whack it yourself, but I cant help but feel someone in team5 that absolutely despise the class being given the rounds this time to design warrior cards.
The other legendary, which is lo'gosh, basically is just a decent minion at best because its just statspad for a class that really need finishers, not stats on board.
But obviously the real downer for warrior this time round is that there isnt really anything to build around, so we're facing yet more control warriors. Can we not just bring back rush or enrage warrior, or make use of the draenei cards, instead of the usual control builds again.
Oh right, thats correct. The demon is summoned for your opponent so you get a card draw for killing it
Well, that makes the card look even better now. Baffling why team5 made it so they draw you a card when the quests themselves do not.
Broxigar - This card is quest in all but name but ironically it provides a reward that far exceed that of the majority of lost ungoro's quest. Getting a 12/12 charge is no joke, especially since there's really no requirements here other than drawing the portal and killing the paltry minion that spawns from it. The only real downside here is that each demon grants your opponent a draw, but that's hardly going to be an issue when every class practically draws like the wind anyway.
This and 2x lasting legacy alone is 28 damage. Something to ponder about, though Im sure you can practically play this card in all but aggro.
Perennial Serpent - Potentially dangerous because playing a dormant minion on 3 so you can play a 7/9 rush minion on 4 can be back breaking. But I suspect the dhunter direction this expansion will ensure that this card sees limited play
Lasting Legacy - This card plus broxigar ensures that your endgame is secured playing a no minion dhunter. But the condition only requires your deck having no minions when you play it means this card can actually work in a minion-based deck too. I can already see cycle dhunter doing some rounds.
The Eternal Hold - Basically play 6 mana to make your next demon cost 0. And subsequent use of the location will allow you to play a demon for free, on top of discovering one should you lack any. I have zero doubts this card will see play, though probably in a minionless deck only.
So dhunter got a lot of new stuff that looks powerful. Much needed as well, seeing how badly the current expansion is treating it. Broxigar alone makes up for a lot. I would be interested to see if this matches up with the starships as DK probably walls any dhunter deck bar starships of its own. But overall impressive set for dhunter next expansion.
Garona Halforcen - Yes, it'll probably win the set's most thematic card, but is it viable for competitive play? Honestly, you'll just put this card in your deck solely so your opponent can whiff a card draw because 90% of the time garona will either do nothing or you'll be too afraid to play her for nothing. There's just no reason to start playing cards like deja vu or shapeshifter just so you can be sure when to play garona. More or less you'll just do a hail mary and hope for the best
As for the theme itself...well, team5 made sure we wont feel too bad for assassinating King Llane now by making him evil in this timeline
Royal Informant - Its a decent card but will struggle to find relevance in a rogue deck because rogue traditionally dont play control. Probably never see any real play outside of discovers
Deja Vu - I find it funny that this card can actually do an OTK with Lorewalker Cho and Rumble Enthusiast. It'll probably get a nerf simply because of that. Outside of that bs OTK, the card is just decent. Might see play because its a 1 mana card that gets you a card from your opponent
Chrono Dagger - 3 mana fireball face. Yes, that's what it reads.
Flashback - Its only good because prep exist. Without it, its mediocre at best, and probably impossible to play on curve. Will rogue even bother with this card? Well, I suppose they would at least try it, because once a upon a time harbringer of the blighted was busted as hell despite being fairly similar to this
Time Admiral Hooktusk - Too slow, but the prospect of having a hand full of coins is tempting enough. Still think its not gonna be anything useful though. Gives team5 plenty of design space to make use of all those coins in future sets, but really 5 mana just to spawn a chest that you need to destroy? It didnt work for marin, it likely wont work now.
So rogue. I guess the only thing we can say about rogue's set next expansion is that there's loads of cards that look good but ultimately, its gonna be fyrakk, cycle or nothing. The main issue being that there's really nothing here that makes a deck, so we'll just to throwing a bunch of unrelated stuff and calling it whatever rogue again.
Maybe thief can make a comeback, but definitely not holding my breath.
Muradin, High King - So far its probably the most broken legendary revealed, along with the best fabled set of cards. Probably good enough to get into any shaman deck because why the fuck wouldnt it. The hammer and avatar form alone can easily deal 20 damage over two turns on its own, and is borderline impossible to avoid because the destroyed hammer goes back to the deck, gets a buff, and can be tutored even if clunkily by weapons attendant. So effective is this that muradin himself appears more like an afterthought.
Farseer Wo - Its just an okay cycle card for the most part but it does have potential to actually get nerfed because a few lucky players will get an OTK out of it. Or even deal more than 15 damage from just two cards. Basically printing a card that allows players to discover specifically nature spells from a class that has both damage and mana refresh is just digging your own grave.
Flux Revenant and Stormrook - Not a fan of the self damage theme that shaman is going for because stuff like these never work out. Both lightning rod and nascent bolt are basically hamstrung by the need for specifically this two cards in order to function to their best potential, so my question is: why the fuck bother building around them. The current iteration of elemental shaman is already pretty decent by itself, with an incredibly burn plan. These cards, while not entirely rubbish, doesnt help with that.
Thunderquake - Its decent, but you'll likely play this because theres really not that many mini clears for shaman and static shock can be combined by the hammer to deal even more damage to face.
Shaman set is just meh, but the two legendaries is insane. Easily fits into most shaman decks as it is, gives incredible value or just pure lethality. At least for once theres something to look forward to in the next expansion and we can hope there is more to come with that.
Krona, Keeper of Eons, Waveshaping, Kaldorei Cultivator - Gonna group all these into one because they are all uniquely useless. Basically none of these things will do enough to influence the game, are highly dependent on both drawing and playing krona, or otherwise playing timeless causality. And what is the payoff? Literally nothing except satisfying your self esteem that your best cards are not stuck at the bottom of your deck.
There's also another point. This is not even better than the current iteration of aviana druid, which at least can scam wins with a reasonable play pattern that is similar, but I would contend better than, this one.
Lady Azshara - Its a good card that will fit into most druid decks because it does what most druid decks want which is give value. The empowered well of eternity goes so far as to actually be a real win-con, and if this becomes in any way popular, be prepared to see a lot of demolition renovators teched into decks.
Alternate Reality - Meme card thats only worth mentioning because it takes up a card design slot for no other reason than to annoy.
Highborne Mentor - Be glad that druid are not known for bouncing cards. Can be good, but more likely something to consider after rotation because at present, its not outvaluing starships, and its not better than just playing fyrakk.
Endangered Dodo - A card that will be better fit in hunter but obviously give it to a class that dont play or need it. This is more or less a tech card against aggro for a class that traditionally do nothing for the first 4+ turns, but druid tends to prefer to sustain via health/armour gain, not put two big taunts out. Not to mention that most aggro decks these days can easily deal with big things on board, or they just straight up kill you because 10 health in todays meta, even in an underpowered one, is basically a death sentence.
So druid. At very least we dont get the usual toxic card as is expected from the class but instead we get something that's arguably worse, and that's an absence of anything to build around. I suppose in some world you can just build an aggro druid with azshara as the centerpiece, but more likely we just see the same druid decks from this expansion with maybe 2 new cards stuck into it.
King Maluk - Alright, this is the supposed payoff for running a cheap and fast deck that regularly runs out of cards in hand. The problem is: well, its kinda shit, relying entirely on the board sticking, and the downsides are so terrible that I cant see this card being any way viable. Basically the correct way to play this card is to draw it as early as possible and pray hard that none of your hand matters and do a hail mary on turn 4. From there, its another hail mary to get either draw options or consistently hitting top decks like a pro.
Worse part of all is the infinite banana isnt even that good. Youre always one board clear away from irrelevance and at best the banana ensures that you'll always trade well or maximize mana spent. Beast hunter is already maximizing what a board based aggro deck can do, so what is this payoff doing thats better than that already?
Precise shot - Good card. Not difficult to manipulate in an aggro deck where this card presumably gets the most of out it. Very lucky that kill command is no longer in standard.
Past Silvermoon - Bit slow but quite a good card for aggro. Its basically trampling rhino that'll make your opponent think twice about playing minions.
Untimely Death - Probably the best hunter card aside from Sylvannas. Play it and then from then on one of your minion will get a 2nd chance at sticking for more than the turn played, which honestly is kinda insane because it guarantees board presence or your opponent commits more resources to deny you.
So hunter cards next expansion...not looking too good. Far as I can see, nothing here will make another viable hunter deck, and at the very best you can sort of assuming discover hunter will still be playable. Sad to say that aggro hunter will probably only be possible after rotation because at the moment, every deck plays zilliax and beast hunter is already doing the board based thing well enough that you'll never build it around maluk. Besides which, if youre gonna play an extreme version of an aggro deck, youd probably just play dhunter where it is far more viable and powerful.
Medivh the Hallowed - Its very possibly broken on paper but in practice, I doubt priest would ever be able to use this card to its fullest potential. For one thing, the card already cost a minimum of 10 mana to play, and though you do get a massive board swing out of it, any deck that actually not conceded in 10 turns will very likely have a board clear adequate enough to counter it.
The staff is probably the only card here that's actually worth building around. Play this after a Tyrande turn and you'll likely win the game assuming your opponent cant viper it. Or just cheat this out with weapon attendant and fire up acupuncture and photon cannons.
Cease to Exist - A card that is printed solely to ensure that egg of khelos can never truly do anything. Not that this card is good mind, just annoying out of discovers.
Priest set reverting back to board base for this expansion. And honestly its not too bad, except the lack of card draw options. Only concern I have here is that it seems uncomfortably similar to the great beyond, in that all the draenei cards simply couldnt work due to the lack of card draw and the fact that theres simply better stuff out there. At least this time, even if the cards like eternus and divine augur ended up being unplayable, you can still stick some of the cards like disciple of the dove into zarimi priest.
And as for anyone willing to build around medivh, the challenge is to make a deck that isnt worse than wilted priest, which honestly isnt that easy.
The Fins Beyond Time - We've got this teased before that finley is in fact a time traveller, from the showdown expansion, so it shouldnt be surprising to see him make an appearance here. Went so far as to even hide his name, by giving this card a generic name.
As for the card itself. Well, its not terrible but its not good neither. Fact is that this card will only ever be viable in either a combo deck or something with lynessa in it. Its just not that practical in a class that usually plays 2 cards at max per turn.
Neon Innovation - Usually cards like these are rubbish, but since its very specifically a mech from pally's class, you can get anything from purator to leviathan, both of which are fairly devastating themselves, never mind the +5 to stats. Might actually see unironic play
Tankgineer - Looks shit, but it has a near 99% chance of actually surviving to the next turn when you can cubicle it and get both a tank and more tankgineers. If anything, you can play it in terran pally and not be 100% dependent on the egg to win.
Past Gnomeregan - Its kinda shit. Too slow, to be of any use realistically.
As usual, pally cards tend to be the most boring but easy to build and use. Perhaps lynessa pally can make a comeback with the cards, especially since the new set gives it some much needed finishers in the form of gelbin, so youre not all in on lynessa and shanty for the win.
Talanji of the Graves - I kinda dont think this card will be any good, at least not until rotation, because its plainly not better than starships. Why go through all the pain of building up your bwomsamdi when simple silence/hex destroys the entire point of the card, and it doesnt even win you the game whereas starship DK is resistant to such plans, spawns a few 10 drops, and is more flexible with regards to offence and defence.
Guess we should be thankful at least that this card doesnt have a rune requirement
Memoriam Manifest - Supposedly used to revive bwonsamdi but more likely its gonna just get you more stegodons, travel security, or hell just plain bring back pyromancer.
Chronochiller - Probably trash. The only deck that would want to play this is aggro, and starving yourself of options isnt exactly a very good thing even with a 8/7 on board. The downside of not being able to draw cards and reinforce is probably too much to give up. Not to mention that this card is straight up impossible to play against mage.
Forgotten Millinieum - Looks like a card that was nerfed in post. Had this been 6 mana it might possibly be worth it, but at 8 mana you're kinda insanely desperate to play this card and pray your opponent cannot finish you up. Probably most useful out of discovers.
Cryofrozen Champion - Pretty good card for aggro. Play a 1 one drop and get a value card in return is about as decent as it gets. Probably didnt need the frost rune requirement because its not like this card is absolutely insane anywhere else.
Shadows of Yesterday - Pretty good card overall. Just play it and chances are good you'll get what you need, whether its lifesteal or rush or taunt. The rune requirement is annoying but its probably so this card isnt just played everywhere because it absolutely could be. Whether it'll see any play now? Well, there isnt any real reason to play double unholy currently, so who can say.
Husk, Eternal Reaper - Its a get out of jail card, buys you an extra turn usually, and that might just turn the tides in your favour, especially against aggro.
Not much else to say because you cant discredit a 2nd chance after death, but this is not ice block in the sense that you can still theorectically be dead regardless, and then there's the fact that in most games this card just does nothing. Unless DK has some combo deck coming through, it may not see any play at all.
So all in all, decent set from DK, relatively speaking because the current expansion being so abominable. Suppose the biggest issue is that I cant see any of these cards making an archetype that supplants the current decks like blood control or starships, the latter in particular.
Some hope that frost DK gets back in the pic though. We'll see. At least team5 didnt stick rune requirements on the legendaries this time so theorectically its still open.
Misplaced Pyromancer - Dunno what this is supposed to be, nor am I aware of the apparent meme, but by the card's name and theme of the expansion you can kinda guess this is a keyword from a future expansion. Whatever it is, this card will join the ever growing list of filler cards until we actually know what shatter is.
Aeon Wizard - The one rewind card so far that's worth playing but honestly this card isnt anywhere near the levels of ghost writer or venomous scorpid. In fact, one might be tempted to ask whether rewind is basically a weaker version of discover but ten times more annoying. I would go so far as to say that if the animations are as dreadful as it is right now, this card wouldnt see play just because of it.
Paltry Flutterwing - There is a consistent pattern forming that there's gonna be generation with dormancy, so its fitting with the time theme of the next expansion. Far as this card goes though, kinda trash. No idea why its not just a battlecry because at least it wouldve been considered in arena. As it stands, the only thing this card is good for is to finish achievements.
Alright, seems that team5's new reveal strat is to release all these neutral filller cards first before giving us the class cards, which is fine because ultimately we're one month away from release and facts are these cards tend to be a little bit forgotten amidst the class cards.
Amber Warden - The only good thing here is that this has 12 health + taunt and you can get it out of random effects. The bad thing is, its shit. No one will play this deliberately from hand, or choose it unless there's absolutely no other choice. Its incomparable to niche 8 drops that already dont see play like splitting spacerock, mo'arg forgefiend, and meadow strider as it is.
Cyborg Patriach - Honestly though, this card...is kinda playable? I mean, for a greedy deck, just play this on 3 and it guarantees that you get to do something less defensive on turn 6 without risking too much, like shudderblock, which is already a little difficult to play on an empty board. And with the lower power levels nowadays, 12 health + taunt isnt easy to get rid of.
That said, I wouldnt be surprised if this just doesnt see any play because its just so damn slow and getting this in the late game is practically a brick in hand.
Devious Coyote - Realistically this is a 3 drop because unless theres some spell to hit face multiple times its never gonna be discounted to zero. Ive some theory that this was nerfed post design because had it cost 4 it could be an easy inclusion into most aggro decks.
Quantum Destabilizer - Funny little card, because there is a world where this card is actually good. If your opponent isnt an aggro token deck then this card is practically a 4/5 for 3 that will almost always require at least two cards/trades to remove. In arena I wouldnt be too surprised if this card is a genuine tyrant.
Chromie - My initial instinct is that this card probably wouldnt see any play. Too slow, have no taunt/rush, and draws you cards but in todays meta youd prob be able to draw more often than not regardless. Only way I can see this seeing some bit of play is in a deck like cycle rogue, where drawing entire decks is the goal but even then this cards too slow. A bit ironic that its both a deathrattle and yet have 6 health meaning you cant even kill her yourself to speed it up.
Murozond, Unbound - Its a discover card. Or a card you get out of chance. Theres just zero way this card sees actually competitive play unless theres some accompanying card that grants this immunity or stealth. And even then, you can argue that a 9 mana card that doesnt do anything on board really wouldnt see any play. Probably the weakest and blandest murozond yet considering that two cards that came before this.
Chrono-Lord Deios - One of those get serious cards you print out because the entire expansion is shit. Dunno what you can do with this outside of deathrattle synergy because its cost is simply too high and theres a zero chance this stays on board past the turn its played. Most likely gonna be abused by rogue or druid
Wizened Truthseeker - Only way this card is printed is that there's some crazy card unrevealed that cheats mana like no ones business. Because otherwise, this card is fairly redundant.
So far...not a good start. But early days I suppose.
Finally a new expansion is coming to wash this one away. Its been a long three months of slog.
We can only hope that this one would turn out better because I dont think I can stomach another expansion where we just play the same things over and over while new cards being patently too weak.
As for the new keywords and mechanics. Fabled will definitely work because of synergistic legendaries attached to it, while the rewind mechanic is sus at best. Its not that I think it wont work, but because the obnoxious animations will either break something, or the slowness of the animations will definitely make it less an incentive for me to like it. Predicting that team5 will speed up that animation few weeks into the expansion.
That is if we actually get there without first dying from sheer apathy. Its been a rough year. Dont think Ive ever felt so lethargic to even bother climbing ladder.
Point taken about power levels, but theres something more sinister afoot I suspect. Ungoro wasnt simply suffering from poor power levels, its just straight up boring to play. Feels more like classic hearthstone, where everything is basically just curve play until someone plays fyrakk or launches a mega starship. If youre not doing one of the two, then the deck simply doesnt work.
Power level arguments is one thing, but I dont think hearthstone can survive another dull expansion. The mere thought that I have to go through two more months of this is not pleasant to say the least.
Without shadow of a doubt, got to be the worst expansion paired with an even worse miniset.
Now, there should be some method to this madness of team5's current strat of lowering power levels, and Im guessing its because it makes it easier to balance wild, introduce legacy cards into standard without buffing them, and perhaps allow more design space. But this is getting absurd now, because nothing is changing, all the mechanics are either boring or too weak, and overall hearthstone just isnt all that interesting.
I mean, just look at the current meta. The best deck without a doubt is fyrakk rogue because its also the only deck that has a blow out turn in the form of scoundrel into ysera, or fyrakk bounce. Behind this is either starship warrior, starship DK, starship dhunter...we get the pic. Your aggro deck choices is either pirate dhunter or quest warlock, both of which does decently against rogue, but shits itself against any of the control/starship decks.
Mixed in with the constant events (seemingly we are never allowed to have a week without one), the ridiculous monetization that practically abuses whales and a straight middle finger to everyone else, the fact is that hearthstone is waning my interest quickly. One more shit expansion and who knows how much longer anyone can take.