The only good thing this card offers is that it essentially board swings in 99% of all games.
But at 7 mana, and the hp being what it is, you're really just banking on the board swing to do the job for you, which it might. The hp allows you to do more shenanigans with ending games, like using new alex, or just plain wicked stab + something else.
It'll see play courtesy of its battlecry (which honestly makes every other hero card's battlecry so far looks infinitely like shit in comparison), which allows rogue a clean break on 7, that is if it survives till 7.
Want it to be good, to be meta, but likely it'll never be.
Pyros was introduced in a much weaker and slower meta and that card never really saw play outside of reno mage. And this card practically apes it at a time where mage really dont play or need minions at all to succeed.
But for what its worth, it provides a decent minion with the dreaded freeze effect. So there's always that. In some form of irony, had this been a minion (and obviously an elemental), it might have carved a niche out in elemental mage, which isn't really bad in of itself. Too bad.
Its just a good minion, but therein lies the problem: its a druid card, and its a beast.
So you can't play Guardian Animals with this card in because obviously you dont ever want to draw it out. And most druid decks tend to play broken stuff so its practically sharing the same problem with Druid of the Plains: Good card, but not good enough in specifically druid.
But if there ever was a midrange beast druid, this card is just core. You cant go too far from what this one offers, both stealth and deathrattle, which means its nearly 100% guaranteed to maintain something on board for you.
This one is a bit weird. Druid never had problems with slow cards, but this card is slow and at the same time is likely only ever considered in a deck that needs to tempo out, given that druid has nearly no removal options available.
It has a niche in that the cubs are stealthed, so you'll nearly always have a target for buff cards, but is this really where druid wants to be? I feel that at some point this card would be core in some deck, but at first glance it does look terrible.
Im on the fence with this one. With intelligent deck building this card just tutors out exactly what you need so its hard to ignore the obvious potential.
But most important druid cards are often around the cost of 3-4, or 7-8, and certainly you can't play them without at least considering space for Survival of the Fittest, which is as expensive as it gets.
Still, tutoring cards are always going to be good at some point. So there's no reason to completely ignore this card.
Its decently stated, have taunt, is a beast, and more importantly it supports an archetype that's not meta at the moment. I would say that its a card for a healthy deck, unlike the usual druid madness of drawing one card and win.
Its obvious support for big dhunter, but as long as illidari inquisitor is still here, its basically always going to be good.
Outside of the big deck, you can easily build a midrange demon deck with Illidari Inquisitor and Bladed Lady, and this card will still be a strong addition to the deck. Basically speaking, being able to essentially cheat out a demon at 6, whether its Priestess of Fury or inquisitor is invaluable.
Better to hold onto packs. The diminishing returns of pack quality and the fact that merc tasks are finite means at some point coins for new mercs would have to come directly from beating the bosses directly. At 10-20 coins per try, it'll take a hell lot of time to even grind one merc up.
Its 2 mana to do more damage on board. But its unmistakably support for token dhunter. Play this and at any point of time your tokens will do a good deal of damage, so what's there not to like? Even a +1 attack shouldn't be snuffed at, that's basically what Voidtouched Attendant was doing before shadow priest got nerfed.
But if token dhunter or aggro dhunter is bizarrely too slow for the meta then this card may not see play at all. But it'll not be for the lack of power, that's for sure.
Well, they definitely subverted my expectations that's for sure.
Im not claiming the tamsin-cariel storyline as basically the hearthstone equivalent of schindler's list. But for what's it worth, the progression was good. She had a background, was raised back as an undead after dying to the scourge, resentful of her condition and plotted to destroy stormwind, personally reduced her father to a monster, and later we experience the end game where she was taken down by her own sister. The story had a start and an end, and if that was the end it would've been great.
Its not that she's dead which makes it good writing. Its bringing her back to contrive her appearance in this expansion that sours it a little for me. Its kinda like (god forgive me for using this example) how the star wars sequel trilogy completely pulled a bs ending by bringing Palpatine back at the end. It completely removes any and all consequences from the experience if Bambi's mom keeps coming back to life. What's the point of having a tragic ending - or indeed any form of closure at all - if at the back of my head is constantly reminding me "They'll bring em' back".
I thought for once team5 grew a massive set of balls and actually pulled an unexpected good storyline in the middle of the three expansion, and have it actually mean something. But as it happens, my expectations were too high.
I would be interested to see how they tie it to the storyline and what will tamsin be doing while everyone else indulge in the horde vs alliance factor. So there's that at least.
Its interesting that they are essentially giving you prep as a hero power that works with all cards. Its a little weak in comparison with the other hero cards so far, but can definitely be better with the release of more cards and combos in rogue.
I can see this in garrote rogue, assuming that deck even survives in Alterac, because this is just an immediate board swing with a hero power that essentially enables combos. But the cost is a little problem though, given that most rogues dont tend to ever play the long game, and garrote rogue games will usually end somewhere around turn 7-9.
Maybe some kind of shenanigans with new alex? Then we can bring back tempo contact rogue like in barrens.
In case anyone is wondering what Tamsin's rift does, it summons a 3/3 imp.
I like Dreadlich Tamsin as a card, but if you're committing to play it you'll likely have to drop the discard package like Blood Shard Bristleback, which shouldn't be too much problems, because tamsin can win games on her own. The problem is that she'll win games slower than questlock can, and is generally support for controlock, which is a very iffy thing indeed.
As part of the story, I dislike it. Firstly, tamsin being 'alive' here is proof if proof be needed that the consequence of being dead is technically a moot point as far as storyline goes. What's the damn point of building up the story, having us tearfully destroy Cornelius and then taking out Cariel's sister, having Cariel herself feel terrible for having ended her own bloodline, but then bringing tamsin straight back in a month's time. If the idea was to have her as a hero card in Alterac, just have the story end in Alterac.
As for the other cards: Capture Coldtooth Mine, very good. Field of Strife will only be good if there are more token synergy. Snowball Fight! is technically just frost nova, which is yet another annoying freeze effect. Tamsin's Phylactery can be insane in the correct deck, its mostly going to be somewhat close to Soul of the Forest but can easily be a massive ender if something like leper gnome is made in standard. Build a Snowman is just there, as a pseudo pyros, in case anyone is interested in actually building a board in mage.
I like the idea of a beast druid. But admitably these dont look very good. Out of all Frostsaber Matriarch is the only one with the best chance to see play and that's only because it can get to 0. But Umbral Owl is still likely the better choice between the two.
But, if you want to play beast druid, the cards are there. Just dont expect to take the meta by storm.
Im actually waiting to see if dhunter gets more early game cards that can decently curve into this so we can have a midrange dhunter deck of which this card may be the perfect 4 drop in.
Its obviously not designed to be placed into big dhunter. Team5 have subtlely set its cost to 4 to interfere with the obvious Vanndar synergy and its fairly obvious that getting this out from Proving Grounds will prove disastrous that no one will do it.
We'll have to see from further reveals. But for me, this is midrange stuff, not big demons.
Until we see the frost cards, it may be impossible to judge its viability. On its own, its lucky enough to have the elemental tag, of which without its significantly worse than it may look.
The only good thing this card offers is that it essentially board swings in 99% of all games.
But at 7 mana, and the hp being what it is, you're really just banking on the board swing to do the job for you, which it might. The hp allows you to do more shenanigans with ending games, like using new alex, or just plain wicked stab + something else.
It'll see play courtesy of its battlecry (which honestly makes every other hero card's battlecry so far looks infinitely like shit in comparison), which allows rogue a clean break on 7, that is if it survives till 7.
Want it to be good, to be meta, but likely it'll never be.
Pyros was introduced in a much weaker and slower meta and that card never really saw play outside of reno mage. And this card practically apes it at a time where mage really dont play or need minions at all to succeed.
But for what its worth, it provides a decent minion with the dreaded freeze effect. So there's always that. In some form of irony, had this been a minion (and obviously an elemental), it might have carved a niche out in elemental mage, which isn't really bad in of itself. Too bad.
Its just a good minion, but therein lies the problem: its a druid card, and its a beast.
So you can't play Guardian Animals with this card in because obviously you dont ever want to draw it out. And most druid decks tend to play broken stuff so its practically sharing the same problem with Druid of the Plains: Good card, but not good enough in specifically druid.
But if there ever was a midrange beast druid, this card is just core. You cant go too far from what this one offers, both stealth and deathrattle, which means its nearly 100% guaranteed to maintain something on board for you.
This one is a bit weird. Druid never had problems with slow cards, but this card is slow and at the same time is likely only ever considered in a deck that needs to tempo out, given that druid has nearly no removal options available.
It has a niche in that the cubs are stealthed, so you'll nearly always have a target for buff cards, but is this really where druid wants to be? I feel that at some point this card would be core in some deck, but at first glance it does look terrible.
Im on the fence with this one. With intelligent deck building this card just tutors out exactly what you need so its hard to ignore the obvious potential.
But most important druid cards are often around the cost of 3-4, or 7-8, and certainly you can't play them without at least considering space for Survival of the Fittest, which is as expensive as it gets.
Still, tutoring cards are always going to be good at some point. So there's no reason to completely ignore this card.
Keyword here is summoned, which means it works with Glowfly Swarm, Adorable Infestation, and Thorngrowth Sentries, all of which are featured cards in token druid.
Its decently stated, have taunt, is a beast, and more importantly it supports an archetype that's not meta at the moment. I would say that its a card for a healthy deck, unlike the usual druid madness of drawing one card and win.
Its obvious support for big dhunter, but as long as illidari inquisitor is still here, its basically always going to be good.
Outside of the big deck, you can easily build a midrange demon deck with Illidari Inquisitor and Bladed Lady, and this card will still be a strong addition to the deck. Basically speaking, being able to essentially cheat out a demon at 6, whether its Priestess of Fury or inquisitor is invaluable.
Better to hold onto packs. The diminishing returns of pack quality and the fact that merc tasks are finite means at some point coins for new mercs would have to come directly from beating the bosses directly. At 10-20 coins per try, it'll take a hell lot of time to even grind one merc up.
Its highest and lowest cost card not minion. Not easy to make either both cheapest or most expensive without significant drawbacks
Its 2 mana to do more damage on board. But its unmistakably support for token dhunter. Play this and at any point of time your tokens will do a good deal of damage, so what's there not to like? Even a +1 attack shouldn't be snuffed at, that's basically what Voidtouched Attendant was doing before shadow priest got nerfed.
But if token dhunter or aggro dhunter is bizarrely too slow for the meta then this card may not see play at all. But it'll not be for the lack of power, that's for sure.
Well, they definitely subverted my expectations that's for sure.
Im not claiming the tamsin-cariel storyline as basically the hearthstone equivalent of schindler's list. But for what's it worth, the progression was good. She had a background, was raised back as an undead after dying to the scourge, resentful of her condition and plotted to destroy stormwind, personally reduced her father to a monster, and later we experience the end game where she was taken down by her own sister. The story had a start and an end, and if that was the end it would've been great.
Its not that she's dead which makes it good writing. Its bringing her back to contrive her appearance in this expansion that sours it a little for me. Its kinda like (god forgive me for using this example) how the star wars sequel trilogy completely pulled a bs ending by bringing Palpatine back at the end. It completely removes any and all consequences from the experience if Bambi's mom keeps coming back to life. What's the point of having a tragic ending - or indeed any form of closure at all - if at the back of my head is constantly reminding me "They'll bring em' back".
I thought for once team5 grew a massive set of balls and actually pulled an unexpected good storyline in the middle of the three expansion, and have it actually mean something. But as it happens, my expectations were too high.
I would be interested to see how they tie it to the storyline and what will tamsin be doing while everyone else indulge in the horde vs alliance factor. So there's that at least.
Both Dire Frostwolf and Frostsaber Matriarch are minions. And Frostwolf Kennels will summon a 2/2 at the end of the turn after you play it. So don't know what you mean by immediate effects.
Its interesting that they are essentially giving you prep as a hero power that works with all cards. Its a little weak in comparison with the other hero cards so far, but can definitely be better with the release of more cards and combos in rogue.
I can see this in garrote rogue, assuming that deck even survives in Alterac, because this is just an immediate board swing with a hero power that essentially enables combos. But the cost is a little problem though, given that most rogues dont tend to ever play the long game, and garrote rogue games will usually end somewhere around turn 7-9.
Maybe some kind of shenanigans with new alex? Then we can bring back tempo contact rogue like in barrens.
In case anyone is wondering what Tamsin's rift does, it summons a 3/3 imp.
I like Dreadlich Tamsin as a card, but if you're committing to play it you'll likely have to drop the discard package like Blood Shard Bristleback, which shouldn't be too much problems, because tamsin can win games on her own. The problem is that she'll win games slower than questlock can, and is generally support for controlock, which is a very iffy thing indeed.
As part of the story, I dislike it. Firstly, tamsin being 'alive' here is proof if proof be needed that the consequence of being dead is technically a moot point as far as storyline goes. What's the damn point of building up the story, having us tearfully destroy Cornelius and then taking out Cariel's sister, having Cariel herself feel terrible for having ended her own bloodline, but then bringing tamsin straight back in a month's time. If the idea was to have her as a hero card in Alterac, just have the story end in Alterac.
As for the other cards: Capture Coldtooth Mine, very good. Field of Strife will only be good if there are more token synergy. Snowball Fight! is technically just frost nova, which is yet another annoying freeze effect. Tamsin's Phylactery can be insane in the correct deck, its mostly going to be somewhat close to Soul of the Forest but can easily be a massive ender if something like leper gnome is made in standard. Build a Snowman is just there, as a pseudo pyros, in case anyone is interested in actually building a board in mage.
I like the idea of a beast druid. But admitably these dont look very good. Out of all Frostsaber Matriarch is the only one with the best chance to see play and that's only because it can get to 0. But Umbral Owl is still likely the better choice between the two.
But, if you want to play beast druid, the cards are there. Just dont expect to take the meta by storm.
There's plenty of demons you'll want. Taintheart Tormenter, Illidari Inquisitor, Ancient Void Hound, Priestess of Fury, and of course, Pit Commander. Its basically a very flexible card that will go anywhere you can fit at least illidari inquisitor, because getting that out, even as a 6/6 is just nuts.
Im actually thinking of slotting this into deathrattle dhunter just so I can get another, albeit smaller, illidari inquisitor on 6.
Too bad its a warlock card eh ;)
Im actually waiting to see if dhunter gets more early game cards that can decently curve into this so we can have a midrange dhunter deck of which this card may be the perfect 4 drop in.
Its obviously not designed to be placed into big dhunter. Team5 have subtlely set its cost to 4 to interfere with the obvious Vanndar synergy and its fairly obvious that getting this out from Proving Grounds will prove disastrous that no one will do it.
We'll have to see from further reveals. But for me, this is midrange stuff, not big demons.
Well, we've seen this before when it was leaked.
Until we see the frost cards, it may be impossible to judge its viability. On its own, its lucky enough to have the elemental tag, of which without its significantly worse than it may look.