This card is basically a combo support card. It'll negate the cost of a minion for a mere 2 mana investment, and as long as you play no other minions after this secret you'll get an near uninteractable survival of a minion of your choice.
So in standard, there's your Mr. Smites and Raj Naz'jan, the latter of which is quite nasty. Just play this card and then drop the secret for an easy 2 damage. Then go ham with spells the next turn, dealing extra damage, followed by this secret again. Two turns of uninterruptable Raj Naz'jans. If this happens on turn 5, that's free 13 damage over two turns + whatever burn spell you have.
Or you can play this on turn 5, smite on 6 and then your opponent takes 12 damage + other pirates by turn 7.
I can see face hunter doing both, probably more successfully with smite than raj.
Nerf potential? Only if combo hunter is possible. Might be good enough that people will play cards that spawn minions for your opponent just to counter this shit.
If it is a hydra, that'll put a smile on my face. Just love those multi headed monsters. Who needs a shark when you have a 3 dragon heads chasing after you.
A really wicked secret. Imagine raising the colossal minion back again and then it respawns all its appendages.
The dormancy for 1 turn is there solely to make it almost impossible to go face with the revived minion the following turn. But what this card essentially does is counter a removal card be it spell or battlecry.
This card can legitimately be way too much to handle, because if hunter plays this on turn 5 and then play Mr. Smite on turn 6, that's practically a catch 22 situation where outside of transform effects, there's just no way to deny another 6 damage to the face + whatever pirates hunter may play on 7.
Whatever the case, this card is powerful enough to slot into multiple archetypes that Im fairly convinced we'll see plenty of it next meta.
Without Skull of Gul'dan and Illidari Studies this card really just lost the payoff it needed. Its already hard enough to get the cards you want discounted on the far right or left, and you've still got to pay that 2 mana in this card. A faster skull would have justified most of this, since its practically the one card you'll mulligan your entire hand for anyway. And playing skull on 5 can and will still win you otherwise unwinnable matches.
But then again, this card is still some amounts of mana cheat, so there's still hope for this card to be competitive. Just have to figure out the payoff and how consistent it would be.
Its a card with all the potential in the world, but let down by shaman's shitty post rotation spell pool.
I guess there's still the core set reveal, possible giving us some actual spells that may save this poor thing. Eye of the Storm would be a good start. I mean, they printed this card in the next expansion and therefore they must have thought that through in some way. We can only hope that it'll give this card a semblance of a competitive use.
This one is hard to evaluate because the from what we can see right now, the probable best results would be for this card to cast Don't Stand in the Fire!, Glaciate, and Charged Call for a massive tempo swing. But I haven't seen any of these except for charged call, which currently only exist in quest shaman, anywhere around.
Most other spells have a tendency to backfire on your own stuff, while some of the better spells like Feral Spirit, or Wildpaw Cavern don't have any spell schools attached. So where will this actually exist in? Control shaman? That's hardly a thing now, and I doubt it'll be there next meta unless that colossal minion really takes the cake in control archetypes.
Mixed at best to me. But can certainly get better as we progress throughout the next 2 years.
A decent AoE spell that's marginally beaten by Fire Sale, which has the superior tradeable option available.
In many ways, this card will absolutely destroy aggro decks. Its cheap enough, and there's always the triggering factor that makes it awkward for your opponent to play more minions without having first destroy the one targeted. But its absolutely useless against nearly everything else. At least fire sale can be traded for another card.
A nice card that challenges Fire Sale, being a whole 2 mana cheaper, but loses the tradeable option. But Im not exactly sure if this card can replace fire sale. Mostly because if the meta moves away from aggro this card just isn't worth much whereas fire sale can easily be traded for another card. Not to mention that fire sale has an inherent synergy with Ignite, a card that'll be seeing play until its eventually nerfed.
Of course, if spell mage makes yet another entrance this card would be in it because there's really not many spells left and its still a good functioning AoE card on its own.
The description is a bit confusing. Does the AoE still happens if the minion doesn't die to this card but to something else later?
The best thing about this card, and likely the only thing that makes it playable at all, is that its a murloc. Ironically, unlike other murlocs, this one has decent stats, will kill unconditionally (almost anyway, divine shield etc.), and you can actually buff it on virtue of the fact that its dormant for 1 turn.
A nice addition into all murloc decks. Might even be useful in paladin, like most dormant minions.
This thing is an amusing card to me. Being a pirate means you can charge it up with Mr. Smite on the following turn, and at the same time this card diminish somewhat the power of juggernaunt because its dormant.
Outside of that this card is rather useless though. And I can't see anyone actually doing the smite combo unless they're really desperate because this card is simply too slow, requiring you to basically skip a whole turn 5.
So much potential, and yet its simply too slow. Had it been turn 4 dormant for 2 turns it might yet be salvageable. Oh well.
Anything that can get to 0 mana is dangerous, more so if its does that while you're playing spells. I already know it'll see play simply because of that. Whether it'll take the meta by storm Im less certain, because there's no yet much pay off. An 8/8 is hardly the end of the world, even if its 0 mana.
As for reliability, turn 6 is a bit too early, perhaps the only part of my own comments that Im willing to agree I got wrong. But turn 7-8, AoE remove the board and swing with 0 mana 8/8s. That's still a powerful enough play that I think it'll happen reliably.
The minion is good, but what it essentially allows is to play spells (removal, etc.) and put out a 8/8 as early as turn 6 (or less if youre druid). To do it you have to play nothing but spells until turn 5, and then whatever spell you play on turn 6 will be followed up by a 8/8 filling up the rest of your mana. Is it really as impossible as it seems? Its not like we haven't seen decks doing exactly that.
Now all we need is a payoff worth going through all that. If its true that Zola the Gorgon is coming back, that would be one of them. Brings back memories of playing giants rogue back in the day.
Usually cards like these are typical fodder trash stuff that was included into your packs as filler. But this one actually has applications other than being part of the bin.
For one thing, paladin can actually capitalize on this card better than they could with Imprisoned Vilefiend, because the dormancy is only 1 turn. Play this turn 1, turn 2 buff and take a value trade. Given how difficult it is for paladin to stick a minion down if they're not starting first, this card offers an advantage in terms of tempo, and a chance to use those buffs instead of praying or waiting another 1-2 turns on a sleeping minion.
In other decks, this is removal for 1 mana. And because of the dormancy you can easily time it to do a wipe sweep of the board, and your opponent has to play around it for 1 turn.
All in all, this card definitely has a mountain to climb for viability. Its always going to be outclassed, but if you wanted to, you can just play this card and suffer little drawbacks Id imagine.
Slimescale Diver is the better of the three. But that's hardly a surprise. Its a murloc that actually seems like it could survive a trade and will almost always kill its target.
Interestingly I think these dormant minions are better than the 'imprisoned' minions from AoO. Mostly because its less punishing to play off curve, and also because your opponent only has 1 turn to play around it.
It is Arcane Giant in all but name, and likely like arcane giant we'll see plenty of this guy.
Im fairly certain the team5 have playtested this card, because the cost is 8 mana higher than arcane giant, and surely even they should know how easy it is to play enough spells to get this to 0 mana.
I dont think a review is needed here. If there's a deck that plays plenty of spells and this can be 0 mana before turn 7 then it'll see play for sure.
A poor card that makes lots of demands for a massive stall but ultimately, where would this card even go into?
The 2 attack makes it easy for other minions to value trade into it, and even considering that its essentially 3 taunts in one card, its still costs 6, which means its practically 50-50 whether an aggro deck would destroy you before you pull out this god card to stop them.
Im reminded a bit of [Hearthstone Card (best of shell) Not Found], in that both are stallers, and puts out big taunts in a class that has difficulties maintaining tempo. But that card doesn't come with conditions, and can be traded whenever its a useless in the matchup. This card conversely offers none of that flexibility. Because lets be honest here, if its not specifically against aggro, this card would suck, and suck hard.
But we are still early into the reveals for dhunter and we still dont know the core set. So there's still a chance, however fleeting it may be.
If there were better weapons, then this card might be included simply because of that. But with so many Rustrot Vipers out there, Im a bit skeptical if this card would end up doing much at all.
An unspectacular card to be honest, and likely one of those cards where it'll sit in your collection for 2 years, and you've got it from a pack to add insult to injury.
There's a chance it might fit there, given that many of dhunter's main anti aggro tools are going away. But at the same time I really feel its kinda a weak inclusion. The main problem might be its 2 attack, which practically allows nearly anything to value trade it away.
Perhaps it stalls enough for dhunter to get to its win con more consistently, but this is something only lots of experimenting can show. Because if I go with my gut, then this is just a bad card against anything that's not aggro.
That was unusually fast if Im honest. Id had thought they allow this mess to come out before eventually patching it out.
Credits where credits due. Well done
This card is basically a combo support card. It'll negate the cost of a minion for a mere 2 mana investment, and as long as you play no other minions after this secret you'll get an near uninteractable survival of a minion of your choice.
So in standard, there's your Mr. Smites and Raj Naz'jan, the latter of which is quite nasty. Just play this card and then drop the secret for an easy 2 damage. Then go ham with spells the next turn, dealing extra damage, followed by this secret again. Two turns of uninterruptable Raj Naz'jans. If this happens on turn 5, that's free 13 damage over two turns + whatever burn spell you have.
Or you can play this on turn 5, smite on 6 and then your opponent takes 12 damage + other pirates by turn 7.
I can see face hunter doing both, probably more successfully with smite than raj.
Nerf potential? Only if combo hunter is possible. Might be good enough that people will play cards that spawn minions for your opponent just to counter this shit.
If it is a hydra, that'll put a smile on my face. Just love those multi headed monsters. Who needs a shark when you have a 3 dragon heads chasing after you.
A really wicked secret. Imagine raising the colossal minion back again and then it respawns all its appendages.
The dormancy for 1 turn is there solely to make it almost impossible to go face with the revived minion the following turn. But what this card essentially does is counter a removal card be it spell or battlecry.
This card can legitimately be way too much to handle, because if hunter plays this on turn 5 and then play Mr. Smite on turn 6, that's practically a catch 22 situation where outside of transform effects, there's just no way to deny another 6 damage to the face + whatever pirates hunter may play on 7.
Whatever the case, this card is powerful enough to slot into multiple archetypes that Im fairly convinced we'll see plenty of it next meta.
Without Skull of Gul'dan and Illidari Studies this card really just lost the payoff it needed. Its already hard enough to get the cards you want discounted on the far right or left, and you've still got to pay that 2 mana in this card. A faster skull would have justified most of this, since its practically the one card you'll mulligan your entire hand for anyway. And playing skull on 5 can and will still win you otherwise unwinnable matches.
But then again, this card is still some amounts of mana cheat, so there's still hope for this card to be competitive. Just have to figure out the payoff and how consistent it would be.
Its a card with all the potential in the world, but let down by shaman's shitty post rotation spell pool.
I guess there's still the core set reveal, possible giving us some actual spells that may save this poor thing. Eye of the Storm would be a good start. I mean, they printed this card in the next expansion and therefore they must have thought that through in some way. We can only hope that it'll give this card a semblance of a competitive use.
This one is hard to evaluate because the from what we can see right now, the probable best results would be for this card to cast Don't Stand in the Fire!, Glaciate, and Charged Call for a massive tempo swing. But I haven't seen any of these except for charged call, which currently only exist in quest shaman, anywhere around.
Most other spells have a tendency to backfire on your own stuff, while some of the better spells like Feral Spirit, or Wildpaw Cavern don't have any spell schools attached. So where will this actually exist in? Control shaman? That's hardly a thing now, and I doubt it'll be there next meta unless that colossal minion really takes the cake in control archetypes.
Mixed at best to me. But can certainly get better as we progress throughout the next 2 years.
Its a good card but the results will likely be inconsistent at best. With Skull of Gul'dan, Illidari Studies, Il'gynoth, and Mo'arg Artificer gone, there's really not many targets that'll give you a significant advantage with the discount. There's currently only hero kurtrus, Lady S'theno, Jace Darkweaver and perhaps Death Speaker Blackthorn but nothing on the level of a discounted skull.
But mana cheat will always be good in some way, and I wouldn't be too surprised to see this card in competitive at some point.
A decent AoE spell that's marginally beaten by Fire Sale, which has the superior tradeable option available.
In many ways, this card will absolutely destroy aggro decks. Its cheap enough, and there's always the triggering factor that makes it awkward for your opponent to play more minions without having first destroy the one targeted. But its absolutely useless against nearly everything else. At least fire sale can be traded for another card.
A nice card that challenges Fire Sale, being a whole 2 mana cheaper, but loses the tradeable option. But Im not exactly sure if this card can replace fire sale. Mostly because if the meta moves away from aggro this card just isn't worth much whereas fire sale can easily be traded for another card. Not to mention that fire sale has an inherent synergy with Ignite, a card that'll be seeing play until its eventually nerfed.
Of course, if spell mage makes yet another entrance this card would be in it because there's really not many spells left and its still a good functioning AoE card on its own.
The description is a bit confusing. Does the AoE still happens if the minion doesn't die to this card but to something else later?
The best thing about this card, and likely the only thing that makes it playable at all, is that its a murloc. Ironically, unlike other murlocs, this one has decent stats, will kill unconditionally (almost anyway, divine shield etc.), and you can actually buff it on virtue of the fact that its dormant for 1 turn.
A nice addition into all murloc decks. Might even be useful in paladin, like most dormant minions.
This thing is an amusing card to me. Being a pirate means you can charge it up with Mr. Smite on the following turn, and at the same time this card diminish somewhat the power of juggernaunt because its dormant.
Outside of that this card is rather useless though. And I can't see anyone actually doing the smite combo unless they're really desperate because this card is simply too slow, requiring you to basically skip a whole turn 5.
So much potential, and yet its simply too slow. Had it been turn 4 dormant for 2 turns it might yet be salvageable. Oh well.
Anything that can get to 0 mana is dangerous, more so if its does that while you're playing spells. I already know it'll see play simply because of that. Whether it'll take the meta by storm Im less certain, because there's no yet much pay off. An 8/8 is hardly the end of the world, even if its 0 mana.
As for reliability, turn 6 is a bit too early, perhaps the only part of my own comments that Im willing to agree I got wrong. But turn 7-8, AoE remove the board and swing with 0 mana 8/8s. That's still a powerful enough play that I think it'll happen reliably.
The minion is good, but what it essentially allows is to play spells (removal, etc.) and put out a 8/8 as early as turn 6 (or less if youre druid). To do it you have to play nothing but spells until turn 5, and then whatever spell you play on turn 6 will be followed up by a 8/8 filling up the rest of your mana. Is it really as impossible as it seems? Its not like we haven't seen decks doing exactly that.
Now all we need is a payoff worth going through all that. If its true that Zola the Gorgon is coming back, that would be one of them. Brings back memories of playing giants rogue back in the day.
Usually cards like these are typical fodder trash stuff that was included into your packs as filler. But this one actually has applications other than being part of the bin.
For one thing, paladin can actually capitalize on this card better than they could with Imprisoned Vilefiend, because the dormancy is only 1 turn. Play this turn 1, turn 2 buff and take a value trade. Given how difficult it is for paladin to stick a minion down if they're not starting first, this card offers an advantage in terms of tempo, and a chance to use those buffs instead of praying or waiting another 1-2 turns on a sleeping minion.
In other decks, this is removal for 1 mana. And because of the dormancy you can easily time it to do a wipe sweep of the board, and your opponent has to play around it for 1 turn.
All in all, this card definitely has a mountain to climb for viability. Its always going to be outclassed, but if you wanted to, you can just play this card and suffer little drawbacks Id imagine.
Slimescale Diver is the better of the three. But that's hardly a surprise. Its a murloc that actually seems like it could survive a trade and will almost always kill its target.
Interestingly I think these dormant minions are better than the 'imprisoned' minions from AoO. Mostly because its less punishing to play off curve, and also because your opponent only has 1 turn to play around it.
Oh shit, here we go again.
It is Arcane Giant in all but name, and likely like arcane giant we'll see plenty of this guy.
Im fairly certain the team5 have playtested this card, because the cost is 8 mana higher than arcane giant, and surely even they should know how easy it is to play enough spells to get this to 0 mana.
I dont think a review is needed here. If there's a deck that plays plenty of spells and this can be 0 mana before turn 7 then it'll see play for sure.
A poor card that makes lots of demands for a massive stall but ultimately, where would this card even go into?
The 2 attack makes it easy for other minions to value trade into it, and even considering that its essentially 3 taunts in one card, its still costs 6, which means its practically 50-50 whether an aggro deck would destroy you before you pull out this god card to stop them.
Im reminded a bit of [Hearthstone Card (best of shell) Not Found], in that both are stallers, and puts out big taunts in a class that has difficulties maintaining tempo. But that card doesn't come with conditions, and can be traded whenever its a useless in the matchup. This card conversely offers none of that flexibility. Because lets be honest here, if its not specifically against aggro, this card would suck, and suck hard.
But we are still early into the reveals for dhunter and we still dont know the core set. So there's still a chance, however fleeting it may be.
If there were better weapons, then this card might be included simply because of that. But with so many Rustrot Vipers out there, Im a bit skeptical if this card would end up doing much at all.
An unspectacular card to be honest, and likely one of those cards where it'll sit in your collection for 2 years, and you've got it from a pack to add insult to injury.
There's a chance it might fit there, given that many of dhunter's main anti aggro tools are going away. But at the same time I really feel its kinda a weak inclusion. The main problem might be its 2 attack, which practically allows nearly anything to value trade it away.
Perhaps it stalls enough for dhunter to get to its win con more consistently, but this is something only lots of experimenting can show. Because if I go with my gut, then this is just a bad card against anything that's not aggro.