Mage cards are solid, very solid. But that only depends on whether a minionless-mage build can rise above meme level, the same way hunters did. Two very solid cards in Apexis Blast and Font of Power works best in that archetype, and are the main reasons why you would want to play this kind of deck. Unfortunately, it will likely just stay a meme.
Both cards mentioned are very good cards, but not great. And does not substitute for cards that can be used to cover some of mage's obvious weaknesses. Another problem is the absence of any sort of win condition other than that randomly generated. So half the time you can get an Archmage Antonidas out of font and the other half you'll just be having Mana Wyrms. Its just not possible to run decks that cant even be sure of itself, which was mostly why Raid the Sky Temple just didnt work out.
Outside of that, cards like Incanter's Flow is outright broken. Imagine Alexstrasza into 1 mana Frost Nova. That's all I need to say really. Evocation is next best, being a massive reload for one turn. Play Sorcerer's Apprentice and go ham. If mage has to be about randomness, then this is the best way to do it.
Solarian Prime is absolutely insane. Playing this card presents an opportunity to just kill your opponent straight up from any life total. The spell damage is a bonus, as though you needed any more reason to play this in nearly every mage deck.
I watch those streams not merely to get deckbuilding ideas, but also to watch how matches can turn up. Besides, its the only stream available if you want to get a feel for cards, especially since aggro decks tend to flourish in the first few weeks of a new expansion.
I'm specifically looking at the first few turns of play, and even with a poor deck most players kinda know what they need when facing down aggro decks. In this case, what I saw was dhunter being ahead 3 times out of 3 (a terrible sample size, but bear with me here, he only had so much patience with pally) from turn 1. Even a Consecration (the earliest board clear for pally) couldnt seal the deal. Just couldnt take over the board, and paladin cant even match up to card advantage let alone value in those games.
Maybe a few more early taunts in the deck? perhaps. But what I saw was a massacre.
And firebat's basically semi retired nowadays. More streamer than player. But hes not into memes, I can assure you. He played highlander dhunter for about 7 hrs straight (correct me if Im wrong) . Didnt even bother playing or trying anything else in that stream. Just playing what he thought was the best deck at the time.
Its only really powerful played on turn 1, if you go first. But against dhunters, its just coin Battlefiend into hp. Your next best move would be to play a 3/4 Phase Stalker, which the Battlefiend will immediately trade if dhunters have either Umberwing, or just plain hp. It gets worse if they have Eye Beam but that card is so disgusting we wont consider it here.
However, play a Blazing Battlemage or Dwarven Sharpshooter turn 1 (go first) and now you contest their Battlefiend and even coin Umberwing. They cant even just hp it down and maintain card advantage. Again, you get wrecked by eye beam, but that goes without saying.
I'm not saying its necessarily unplayable, but it relies on specific deck building and highrolls. My bet is that it wont make the cut.
Imprisoned Felmaw makes me sad. On the one hand it seemed like a decent aggressive card that has potential to hit face. On the other hand, its greatest weakness is not that its attack is random but its a demon, and therefore unlikely to ever see play in any hunter bar the low end of a highlander list. Had this been a beast, well, its broken. Buff the bad boy, play on 3, then when it wakes, play Tundra Rhino for massive face damage. I have a sneaky suspicion that it had been a beast all along then someone in the dev team decided against it at the last minute.
Nagrand Slam - Too expensive, and too random. Watched the theorycrafting stream and this looks really really weak. Also, since when does hunter games ever last 10 turns?
Helboar - 1 health, and dhunters everywhere day 1. Yeah, this aint going nowhere.
Augmented Porcupine - I really love this card. But that doesnt change the fact that its not good. Its only good if you can buff this, but then its a 2 card for 1 deal, which is suboptimal in a class that cant draw. Incidentally because the deathrattle can also hit face, its not guaranteed to clear the board neither. Its also competing attention with so many other beast that will likely see a resurgence due to cards like Beastmaster Leoroxx and the very powerful Scavenger's Ingenuity. Oh well, maybe next expansion.
Also shout outs to the wonderful flavor text for each card, which is the real reason why I'm here.
I actually love this brawl. A small insight of what could have been had team5 went all in with the shrine concept. I think they did, but at the end concluded its too dependent on the shrine staying on board and nearly everyone's gonna run stuff that destroy it.
Jenalai's mantle basically destroys Zul'jin. Too bad its basically bad against nearly everyone else.
Hireek's hunger can work well against Zul'jin too. But I've not had a chance to test this. Basically warlock doesnt even need to attack to destroy others.
Lots of people (myself included) overlook Overgrowth and Bogbeam, but I think its likely we'll be seeing more of these cards than we think.
Overgrowth is a turn 4 ramp for 2, with an effect on 10 that is not yet confirmed (2 Excess Mana or 1). Disregarding that last point, its still a ramp for 2, and considering you can already ramp with Breath of Dreams or Wild Growth, this one can come 1 turn earlier, which is significant. At the end, we may as well be seeing druid ramping fast enough to be 4-5 mana ahead of the curve, and with cards like Winged Guardian being so handy at stabilizing there may not be any class outside of rogue that can deal with these effectively. This is not a quest card, its an embiggen/big druid support card that does what its supposed to do, give druid bigger turns at the cost of the the current turn.
Of course with ramping fast comes with risks, which is why cards like Bogbeam exist. Ramp up fast, then regain some tempo with a 0 cost 3 damage spell. Play Winged Guardian/Marsh Hydra, then deal 3 damage for free, as early as turn 4-5. That's the kind of turn plays that win games.
- from the article, does that mean that currently the MMR is not yet active, so if I start ranking up around 5 days from now, will I be expected to play against genuine newbies (genuine bronze players) rather than diamond players (my rank)?
- from May onwards, assuming I reach diamond on April, will I expect to face diamond players exclusively regardless of my current rank?
- if point 2 is correct, and I only start ranking up 10-20 days later in May (when everyone else have presumably got to their proper, respective ranks) I would actually be facing someone currently in the diamond rank even as my own current rank remain at bronze.
If you already drew with Wondrous Wand and made 3 cards 0 cost, and your opponent then plays Boompistol Bully, your 0 cost battlecry cards will now cost 5.
However, if you play Boompistol Bully and then they play Wondrous Wand, those cards that would have cost 5 more becomes 0.
If I'm not mistaken, the effect of both cards are based solely on when they are played. So at the time of playing, bully turns 0 cost into 5, while wand turns 5+ into 0.
Great article as usual. I've been haunting your demon hunter card reviews for the past two articles, and pretty much already made my views clear. So just to recap a little here;
Absolutely insane levels of power being seen, and I would be greatly surprised if there wasnt some adjustment made before the first month ends after launch.
Impeccable doomguard - I like the idea. But I dont get why you didnt just give Pit Lord taunt, since every pit lord in the game have taunt for some reason. Seemed a better fit than this card.
Drain soul - Might as well have just buff Drain Life to 2 mana. There's really no need to directly drag expansion cards into the set. Its not what team5 have been doing, so in that spirit I guess we shouldn't neither.
Kil'Jaeden - I like Kil'Jaeden as a concept, though not the effect since its nearly unplayable and I cant really say what this will do to Zephrys the Great. Maybe its time to just buff Lord Jaraxxus to an 8 mana HERO card, that grants no armor and sets health to 15 as a battlecry. And make him immune to Sacrificial Pact. Its been funny in the past, but time to move on with this joke.
Other than that, its a good attempt. I like the concept of warlock cards being more attrition based, or turn-based rather than immediate effect. Perhaps a card that deals x damage over several turns? or a card that targets friendly minions, "after 2 turns, transform this minion into x". Maybe you can expand on that too.
When I first started and have no cards, I rely solely on the tavern brawls to get me pass those 'win 3 games with warrior' quests that is otherwise absolutely impossible without good cards. Now the requirement is but to PLAY those classes. Win or lose, doesnt matter. That's substantially easier than it was. I dont get what is so 'difficult'
On the other hand, losing 10g is equal to asking me to win 3 matches to get it back. That's what I call 'difficult' in comparison.
Also, what's the purpose of reroll? To either get past quest that are otherwise impossible to accomplish, or to get more gold. It should not be to randomly decide that that I get an 'easier' quest, and thereby soft-locking me out of the game until I can reroll it tomorrow.
Edit: I should perhaps also indicate that even in those days when I didnt have any cards. I still did NOT reroll my 60g quests.
Welcome back artifact, I know that the new kid runeterra's got your seat warmed up this past year, maybe you'll get it back this year eh?
I'm no expert but artifact's gotta face facts that when you paste a $20 price tag on your game and then ask them to cough out some more for cards and packs, the game's gotta be solid gold to maintain any semblance of competition to hearthstone. Runeterra, as I heard, is more wallet friendly compared to hearthstone. That's the first step, Valve, you cant miss it.
Mage cards are solid, very solid. But that only depends on whether a minionless-mage build can rise above meme level, the same way hunters did. Two very solid cards in Apexis Blast and Font of Power works best in that archetype, and are the main reasons why you would want to play this kind of deck. Unfortunately, it will likely just stay a meme.
Both cards mentioned are very good cards, but not great. And does not substitute for cards that can be used to cover some of mage's obvious weaknesses. Another problem is the absence of any sort of win condition other than that randomly generated. So half the time you can get an Archmage Antonidas out of font and the other half you'll just be having Mana Wyrms. Its just not possible to run decks that cant even be sure of itself, which was mostly why Raid the Sky Temple just didnt work out.
Outside of that, cards like Incanter's Flow is outright broken. Imagine Alexstrasza into 1 mana Frost Nova. That's all I need to say really. Evocation is next best, being a massive reload for one turn. Play Sorcerer's Apprentice and go ham. If mage has to be about randomness, then this is the best way to do it.
Solarian Prime is absolutely insane. Playing this card presents an opportunity to just kill your opponent straight up from any life total. The spell damage is a bonus, as though you needed any more reason to play this in nearly every mage deck.
I watch those streams not merely to get deckbuilding ideas, but also to watch how matches can turn up. Besides, its the only stream available if you want to get a feel for cards, especially since aggro decks tend to flourish in the first few weeks of a new expansion.
I'm specifically looking at the first few turns of play, and even with a poor deck most players kinda know what they need when facing down aggro decks. In this case, what I saw was dhunter being ahead 3 times out of 3 (a terrible sample size, but bear with me here, he only had so much patience with pally) from turn 1. Even a Consecration (the earliest board clear for pally) couldnt seal the deal. Just couldnt take over the board, and paladin cant even match up to card advantage let alone value in those games.
Maybe a few more early taunts in the deck? perhaps. But what I saw was a massacre.
And firebat's basically semi retired nowadays. More streamer than player. But hes not into memes, I can assure you. He played highlander dhunter for about 7 hrs straight (correct me if Im wrong) . Didnt even bother playing or trying anything else in that stream. Just playing what he thought was the best deck at the time.
I hesitate to disagree, but after watching Kibler's theorycraft stream, I'm afraid its just not happening.
Priest have a better chance of matching aggro dhunters in my opinion. God, that's weird to say.
A fair opinion. But I rather rely on King Krush for 8 to the face and comes down 1 turn earlier.
Its only really powerful played on turn 1, if you go first. But against dhunters, its just coin Battlefiend into hp. Your next best move would be to play a 3/4 Phase Stalker, which the Battlefiend will immediately trade if dhunters have either Umberwing, or just plain hp. It gets worse if they have Eye Beam but that card is so disgusting we wont consider it here.
However, play a Blazing Battlemage or Dwarven Sharpshooter turn 1 (go first) and now you contest their Battlefiend and even coin Umberwing. They cant even just hp it down and maintain card advantage. Again, you get wrecked by eye beam, but that goes without saying.
I'm not saying its necessarily unplayable, but it relies on specific deck building and highrolls. My bet is that it wont make the cut.
barring demon hunters you mean.
and rogue
and some say mage
No, not you priest. Maybe next time.
Card unlikely to see play:-
Imprisoned Felmaw makes me sad. On the one hand it seemed like a decent aggressive card that has potential to hit face. On the other hand, its greatest weakness is not that its attack is random but its a demon, and therefore unlikely to ever see play in any hunter bar the low end of a highlander list. Had this been a beast, well, its broken. Buff the bad boy, play on 3, then when it wakes, play Tundra Rhino for massive face damage. I have a sneaky suspicion that it had been a beast all along then someone in the dev team decided against it at the last minute.
Nagrand Slam - Too expensive, and too random. Watched the theorycrafting stream and this looks really really weak. Also, since when does hunter games ever last 10 turns?
Helboar - 1 health, and dhunters everywhere day 1. Yeah, this aint going nowhere.
Augmented Porcupine - I really love this card. But that doesnt change the fact that its not good. Its only good if you can buff this, but then its a 2 card for 1 deal, which is suboptimal in a class that cant draw. Incidentally because the deathrattle can also hit face, its not guaranteed to clear the board neither. Its also competing attention with so many other beast that will likely see a resurgence due to cards like Beastmaster Leoroxx and the very powerful Scavenger's Ingenuity. Oh well, maybe next expansion.
Also shout outs to the wonderful flavor text for each card, which is the real reason why I'm here.
I actually love this brawl. A small insight of what could have been had team5 went all in with the shrine concept. I think they did, but at the end concluded its too dependent on the shrine staying on board and nearly everyone's gonna run stuff that destroy it.
Jenalai's mantle basically destroys Zul'jin. Too bad its basically bad against nearly everyone else.
Hireek's hunger can work well against Zul'jin too. But I've not had a chance to test this. Basically warlock doesnt even need to attack to destroy others.
It makes sense that you only get 1 Excess Mana. With 2, you can actually setup some insane malygos-kaelthas strats.
Still, my fingers crossed that you can get 2. The card is already good on its own, if it gives 2 Excess Mana, then it might well just be broken.
The sad thing about Ysiel Windsinger in standard is that Kael'thas Sunstrider can probably do it better.
The best way to play her in my opinion is to draw towards your win condition, with expensive cards like Overflow. That's it really.
Lots of people (myself included) overlook Overgrowth and Bogbeam, but I think its likely we'll be seeing more of these cards than we think.
Overgrowth is a turn 4 ramp for 2, with an effect on 10 that is not yet confirmed (2 Excess Mana or 1). Disregarding that last point, its still a ramp for 2, and considering you can already ramp with Breath of Dreams or Wild Growth, this one can come 1 turn earlier, which is significant. At the end, we may as well be seeing druid ramping fast enough to be 4-5 mana ahead of the curve, and with cards like Winged Guardian being so handy at stabilizing there may not be any class outside of rogue that can deal with these effectively. This is not a quest card, its an embiggen/big druid support card that does what its supposed to do, give druid bigger turns at the cost of the the current turn.
Of course with ramping fast comes with risks, which is why cards like Bogbeam exist. Ramp up fast, then regain some tempo with a 0 cost 3 damage spell. Play Winged Guardian/Marsh Hydra, then deal 3 damage for free, as early as turn 4-5. That's the kind of turn plays that win games.
Just a few questions on how the MMR works;
- from the article, does that mean that currently the MMR is not yet active, so if I start ranking up around 5 days from now, will I be expected to play against genuine newbies (genuine bronze players) rather than diamond players (my rank)?
- from May onwards, assuming I reach diamond on April, will I expect to face diamond players exclusively regardless of my current rank?
- if point 2 is correct, and I only start ranking up 10-20 days later in May (when everyone else have presumably got to their proper, respective ranks) I would actually be facing someone currently in the diamond rank even as my own current rank remain at bronze.
I think the interaction is:
If you already drew with Wondrous Wand and made 3 cards 0 cost, and your opponent then plays Boompistol Bully, your 0 cost battlecry cards will now cost 5.
However, if you play Boompistol Bully and then they play Wondrous Wand, those cards that would have cost 5 more becomes 0.
If I'm not mistaken, the effect of both cards are based solely on when they are played. So at the time of playing, bully turns 0 cost into 5, while wand turns 5+ into 0.
Great article as usual. I've been haunting your demon hunter card reviews for the past two articles, and pretty much already made my views clear. So just to recap a little here;
Eye Beam, Imprisoned Antaen, Priestess of Fury, Skull of Gul'dan, Coilfang Warlord, dhunters having lifesteal and weapons, access to one of the best aggro packages, etc.
Absolutely insane levels of power being seen, and I would be greatly surprised if there wasnt some adjustment made before the first month ends after launch.
Agreed. Your points are no doubt invaluable to this community. Now, follow your own advice and stop doing it.
Just a few observations:
Impeccable doomguard - I like the idea. But I dont get why you didnt just give Pit Lord taunt, since every pit lord in the game have taunt for some reason. Seemed a better fit than this card.
Drain soul - Might as well have just buff Drain Life to 2 mana. There's really no need to directly drag expansion cards into the set. Its not what team5 have been doing, so in that spirit I guess we shouldn't neither.
Kil'Jaeden - I like Kil'Jaeden as a concept, though not the effect since its nearly unplayable and I cant really say what this will do to Zephrys the Great. Maybe its time to just buff Lord Jaraxxus to an 8 mana HERO card, that grants no armor and sets health to 15 as a battlecry. And make him immune to Sacrificial Pact. Its been funny in the past, but time to move on with this joke.
Other than that, its a good attempt. I like the concept of warlock cards being more attrition based, or turn-based rather than immediate effect. Perhaps a card that deals x damage over several turns? or a card that targets friendly minions, "after 2 turns, transform this minion into x". Maybe you can expand on that too.
No one rerolls a 'difficult' quest, blizzard.
When I first started and have no cards, I rely solely on the tavern brawls to get me pass those 'win 3 games with warrior' quests that is otherwise absolutely impossible without good cards. Now the requirement is but to PLAY those classes. Win or lose, doesnt matter. That's substantially easier than it was. I dont get what is so 'difficult'
On the other hand, losing 10g is equal to asking me to win 3 matches to get it back. That's what I call 'difficult' in comparison.
Also, what's the purpose of reroll? To either get past quest that are otherwise impossible to accomplish, or to get more gold. It should not be to randomly decide that that I get an 'easier' quest, and thereby soft-locking me out of the game until I can reroll it tomorrow.
Edit: I should perhaps also indicate that even in those days when I didnt have any cards. I still did NOT reroll my 60g quests.
Welcome back artifact, I know that the new kid runeterra's got your seat warmed up this past year, maybe you'll get it back this year eh?
I'm no expert but artifact's gotta face facts that when you paste a $20 price tag on your game and then ask them to cough out some more for cards and packs, the game's gotta be solid gold to maintain any semblance of competition to hearthstone. Runeterra, as I heard, is more wallet friendly compared to hearthstone. That's the first step, Valve, you cant miss it.
Nice, a giveaway. I was wondering if you'll be doing one for this expansion.