The stealth is what makes this card playable in my opinion, and a 3/5 stealth minion is not too bad for inclusion. I think its only genuinely powerful in a midrange curve deck. Cheating out 1 mana for combo is hardly enough, but I look forward to someone somehow making it possible to create multiple copies on board for that true 7 mana reach.
Its almost certainly built to push out control shaman aggressively. I guess there's a world where overload shaman could use this too. Being able to lower the RNG on random minions summoned should not be underestimated. And there's more than enough support in Hoard Pillager to ensure that this weapon stays for the duration of the match. Not even sure why this needed to be 4 durability considering that Atiesh has only 3.
The reasoning that its too slow, I think that's basically what everyone thought Medivh, the Guardian was too.
Looks like the leaks were somewhat real after all. If that's true then there's some support for aggro. The one where you reduce its cost by damage dealt to enemies is very interesting. Almost close to a key card building something like heal zoo, except now the conditions is even easier. Will be looking forward to seeing the leaks confirmed.
Now for something confirmed;
Escaped Manasaber - What this card essentially does is to automatically play a coin every time it attacks. But its not for the effect why this card is playable, its the fact that it has stealth, and with a health pool of 5 its not going to be AoE'd down easily. Most midrange and highlander will likely play this card. Being able to cheat out one mana may not be a lot, but it still counts. And if the minion survives the first attack, its a soft taunt that cannot be ignored.
The Fist of Ra-den - Just when you think shaman has some of the most OP cards in this set then here comes something that literally defies all decent sense. Its not just that it gives a minion, it gives a legendary minion, which substantially lowers the RNG factor on the minion summoned. And before you think its just an ooze away from being done, any deck that plays this card will almost certainly play 1-2 copies of Hoard Pillager so lucks out I guess, unless you Kobold Stickyfinger it away. Very powerful card, easily a centerpiece for control shaman.
Shoutout to that Loatheb like card for battlecry card (edited from minions) that will almost certainly see play. I look forward to this being the new most-hated-card candidate if it gets confirmed to be real.
First I'd like empathize with the 400 euro spending. Its not easy to get into hearthstone if you're gonna start now.
I've read most of the comments here and I have to agree in part with yourprivateswamp, in that face hunter, specifically full balls to the wall face hunter in DoD, is braindead in the best description of the word. There's literally no draw cards in the deck aside from tracking. Pretty much from turn 1 all efforts are made literally counting how much damage it will take to kill the opponent. After that its mostly decisions on whether to keep a card to deal with Zilliax or not. Hell, I've seen players lump a Kill Command to my face on turn 3 before. Half the time secrets are played even when they are not relevant, so long as you can still hero power.
Having said that, face hunter historically have never been as completely brain dead as claimed. I will list some obvious decision making below;
- To keep Timber Wolf or play it so your board can trade - To use Unleash the Hounds to trade or keep it as a finisher - How many hero powers must be pressed in addition to playing minions in the next few turns - To hold Tundra Rhino, or play and pray theres no answer - To Kill Command a big minion (No taunt, lifesteal) to sustain board, or keep it for face
That is the face hunter of yore, during the ungoro days. Same strat, but in no way braindead. Games typically drag as far as turn 8-9. Back in the day when call of the wild was 8 mana, face hunter has 1-2 copies too.
Beast hunter is still playable in the meta right now. Its just a more complex deck compared to the current face hunter. In fact, lets not even call that face hunter, lets just call it 'turn 6 hunter'. Games never last longer.
A little distressing to see that tavern brawls have been repeatably plagued with problems for the past few months. Hope this gets resolved in future before it gets really heated for the community
That the card exist is good enough. Reminds me of the argument back when Rain of Toads was introduced, when some pros were saying that the best thing out of a card like that is that it can be discovered or randomly generated.
Will it be in constructed? Probably not. Maybe in control or highlander, but that's about it. Its still a massive flood of stats across three bodies for 10 mana, not easy to remove, if indeed shaman ever gets there that is.
For Eye of the Storm, I'm beginning to have second thoughts about this card, somewhat anyway. Galakrond Shaman tends to keep up the tempo very well but I always thought a control deck can easily keep it in line. Adding one copy of this into the deck for control matchups isn't really that bad. But I still think its a discover pick rather than deliberate add into the deck.
On your Branching Paths comment, I think you have a good point but I also think we can acknowledge that the card is so powerful, there's plenty of room for Rising Winds to be a weaker version of Branching Paths and still good enough for standard. Particularly since this card have the potential to basically replaces Nourish in non-quest decks as a card draw engine.
I would really prefer that we get to just craft them rather than buy the whole set. Even if its extra dust per card, its still an alternative to $20. 700 gold is just way too much to ask per wing.
I like how its an epic battle of dragons, good versus evil, while the whole world looks on with baited breath and clenched teeth as two sides clash to decide the fate of the world as we know it.
- Eye of the Storm - Considering that dragon's pack was 5 mana summon two 5/6 with no overload, I think this poor card has been nerfed recently before release. At 10 mana its really just not good enough, but I can see this as something to be experimented upon with control shaman and King Phaoris. Other than that, its just somewhat surprising to see something like this cost 10, and overload for 3. Given how powerful shaman has been for DoD, I doubt this card will see constructed play anytime soon
- Sky Gen'ral Kragg - Lol. Wasn't expecting this. Its a mishmash of good stuff with a condition that is easily satisfied. Its not quite Questing Explorer, but better since it guarantees an effect so long as a quest has been played, not if its active. I can see why its a conditional card; its just good, flexible stuff. Summoning a 4/2 rush is already somewhat acceptable for 4 mana, but establishing a taunt as well? I can see this being auto include in quest decks. Just slightly more difficult to activate for sidequests decks, since you don't draw them on turn 1.
- Arcane Amplifier - its Daring Fire-Eater, except its now an elemental and costing 2 more with better stats. Is it good enough to see constructed? I think so, but probably less for the obvious Jan'alai, the Dragonhawk synergy, but more because its an elemental, and its not a bad one. Elemental Allies is one of DoD's best cards and yet its also one of the most unplayable, given the lack of good elementals in standard. This one makes an elemental heavy deck for mage a little less terrible.
- Rising Winds - Its a flexible card that might see a one off in quest druid. Aside from that I just don't see it. Perhaps in embiggen druid, given that its a flexible draw card and you can establish a minion at your choosing. The twinspell is what makes this playable. Its 2 mana cycle, and that's not really half as bad as it looks.
I agree that Madame Lazul have been hyped to high heaven as was Chameleos. But in both instance, they only allowed a glimpse, not the entire hand. I think its fair to say that being able to switch gears or strats mid game is not to be underestimated.
I would also argue that the reason both are not as popular is because priest does not have a proper mid range deck that could use a value generator (not to mention information of the opponent's hand). We've seen this in spiteful priest, where one of the best card (aside from Spiteful Summoner herself) was Drakonid Operative and not always because of the 5/6 body.
Also, this not only provides information, but it allows you your choice of a card. Its not even random. Essentially it means I will almost always have my opponent's hero card, or finisher, or at very worst a tech card or spell. In most mid-range and control games, this may well be the decider where games go from then. (As a spiteful priest player myself, I can't say how many countless times games was decided by merely discovering dk guldan off drakonid)
I like the cards, but I think we can straight up ditch the 'copy X card from your opponent' mechanic. Its just one too many for a basic set.
A few observations;
Meeting of minds is straight up busted. It essentially allows you complete information of your opponent's hand AND your choice of a card.
Prosper in peace is interesting and kinda a nice spin, but since its condition for draw affects both sides, it punishes your opponent for having a board, making this almost broken in both aggro and control decks (essentially any deck). I would either raise its mana cost to 4-5, or straight up only allow draws on characters on your side, not the opponents.
I'm a little torn over the barrier concept. Its very powerful, almost close to ice block levels of denial but without the 2 card restriction per deck. And this applies to both face and minions. I think restricting this to minions is a better idea.
I really like the battle medic, to be honest, and hope to see it one day in standard for priest.
I've been seeing alot of comparisons with Vilespine Slayer but heres some differences to consider;
- Vilespine Slayer destroy the minion. Aeon Reaver merely deals damage to it. Means it can't go through divine shields.
- Aeon Reaver deals damage equal to the target's damage. It is therefore not a guaranteed kill. Most pro players generally believe health to be better than damage and therefore more cards in standard decks generally reflect that. Its worth noting that most taunts do not have more damage than health. So as a tempo tool, this can sometimes be a whiff
- Priest decks are usually combo or control. The closest priest deck that isn't that, is spiteful priest. This would fit rightly inside that. But aside from that, you'd have to go back to year 1 of hearthstone to find anything remotely close to a midrange or aggro deck (with more than 50% win rate). Aeon Reaver is more a tempo card, since priest often have better control options for removal than this.
Given that there's quite a lot of tempo tools provided to priest I think this is the direction team5 wants priest to go into. Probably as a prelude to HoF-ming Divine Spirit come Apr 2020.
Tried it, both this and the previous iteration. Worth a shot, its actually faster than most people think it is.
I think the main reason why its probably better than res priest is because it plays almost similar to it for the first 5 turns. If you keep you first mulligan, most will not strike face on first few turns. The main giveaway is the invoke cards really.
I hold that somewhere around in standard is a way for paladin to swarm the board consistently, and this card will be key to that. Will definitely be looking forward to experimentation on this concept.
The stealth is what makes this card playable in my opinion, and a 3/5 stealth minion is not too bad for inclusion. I think its only genuinely powerful in a midrange curve deck. Cheating out 1 mana for combo is hardly enough, but I look forward to someone somehow making it possible to create multiple copies on board for that true 7 mana reach.
Its almost certainly built to push out control shaman aggressively. I guess there's a world where overload shaman could use this too. Being able to lower the RNG on random minions summoned should not be underestimated. And there's more than enough support in Hoard Pillager to ensure that this weapon stays for the duration of the match. Not even sure why this needed to be 4 durability considering that Atiesh has only 3.
The reasoning that its too slow, I think that's basically what everyone thought Medivh, the Guardian was too.
Looks like the leaks were somewhat real after all. If that's true then there's some support for aggro. The one where you reduce its cost by damage dealt to enemies is very interesting. Almost close to a key card building something like heal zoo, except now the conditions is even easier. Will be looking forward to seeing the leaks confirmed.
Now for something confirmed;
Escaped Manasaber - What this card essentially does is to automatically play a coin every time it attacks. But its not for the effect why this card is playable, its the fact that it has stealth, and with a health pool of 5 its not going to be AoE'd down easily. Most midrange and highlander will likely play this card. Being able to cheat out one mana may not be a lot, but it still counts. And if the minion survives the first attack, its a soft taunt that cannot be ignored.
The Fist of Ra-den - Just when you think shaman has some of the most OP cards in this set then here comes something that literally defies all decent sense. Its not just that it gives a minion, it gives a legendary minion, which substantially lowers the RNG factor on the minion summoned. And before you think its just an ooze away from being done, any deck that plays this card will almost certainly play 1-2 copies of Hoard Pillager so lucks out I guess, unless you Kobold Stickyfinger it away. Very powerful card, easily a centerpiece for control shaman.
Shoutout to that Loatheb like card for battlecry card (edited from minions) that will almost certainly see play. I look forward to this being the new most-hated-card candidate if it gets confirmed to be real.
Maybe one copy into embiggen druid, for the draw. It stills draw 2 for 1 card. For a deck with very few draw cards, its not that bad.
First I'd like empathize with the 400 euro spending. Its not easy to get into hearthstone if you're gonna start now.
I've read most of the comments here and I have to agree in part with yourprivateswamp, in that face hunter, specifically full balls to the wall face hunter in DoD, is braindead in the best description of the word. There's literally no draw cards in the deck aside from tracking. Pretty much from turn 1 all efforts are made literally counting how much damage it will take to kill the opponent. After that its mostly decisions on whether to keep a card to deal with Zilliax or not. Hell, I've seen players lump a Kill Command to my face on turn 3 before. Half the time secrets are played even when they are not relevant, so long as you can still hero power.
Having said that, face hunter historically have never been as completely brain dead as claimed. I will list some obvious decision making below;
- To keep Timber Wolf or play it so your board can trade
- To use Unleash the Hounds to trade or keep it as a finisher
- How many hero powers must be pressed in addition to playing minions in the next few turns
- To hold Tundra Rhino, or play and pray theres no answer
- To Kill Command a big minion (No taunt, lifesteal) to sustain board, or keep it for face
That is the face hunter of yore, during the ungoro days. Same strat, but in no way braindead. Games typically drag as far as turn 8-9. Back in the day when call of the wild was 8 mana, face hunter has 1-2 copies too.
Beast hunter is still playable in the meta right now. Its just a more complex deck compared to the current face hunter. In fact, lets not even call that face hunter, lets just call it 'turn 6 hunter'. Games never last longer.
Don't really quite understand this. Emperor wraps (the hero power for quest paladin) creates a 2/2 of any friendly minion. It does not gain reborn.
As far as I can see, this will be included into quest paladin in the same manner Truesilver Champion is in there: to act as removal.
A little distressing to see that tavern brawls have been repeatably plagued with problems for the past few months. Hope this gets resolved in future before it gets really heated for the community
That the card exist is good enough. Reminds me of the argument back when Rain of Toads was introduced, when some pros were saying that the best thing out of a card like that is that it can be discovered or randomly generated.
Will it be in constructed? Probably not. Maybe in control or highlander, but that's about it. Its still a massive flood of stats across three bodies for 10 mana, not easy to remove, if indeed shaman ever gets there that is.
For Eye of the Storm, I'm beginning to have second thoughts about this card, somewhat anyway. Galakrond Shaman tends to keep up the tempo very well but I always thought a control deck can easily keep it in line. Adding one copy of this into the deck for control matchups isn't really that bad. But I still think its a discover pick rather than deliberate add into the deck.
On your Branching Paths comment, I think you have a good point but I also think we can acknowledge that the card is so powerful, there's plenty of room for Rising Winds to be a weaker version of Branching Paths and still good enough for standard. Particularly since this card have the potential to basically replaces Nourish in non-quest decks as a card draw engine.
The card art makes this more convincing than it should be.
I would really prefer that we get to just craft them rather than buy the whole set. Even if its extra dust per card, its still an alternative to $20. 700 gold is just way too much to ask per wing.
Kinda sure I saw undamaged character instead of undamaged friendly character.
Oh well, guess I made a mistake :p
I like how its an epic battle of dragons, good versus evil, while the whole world looks on with baited breath and clenched teeth as two sides clash to decide the fate of the world as we know it.
here's a giant parrot with an orc sitting on it.
Quick thoughts;
- Eye of the Storm - Considering that dragon's pack was 5 mana summon two 5/6 with no overload, I think this poor card has been nerfed recently before release. At 10 mana its really just not good enough, but I can see this as something to be experimented upon with control shaman and King Phaoris. Other than that, its just somewhat surprising to see something like this cost 10, and overload for 3. Given how powerful shaman has been for DoD, I doubt this card will see constructed play anytime soon
- Sky Gen'ral Kragg - Lol. Wasn't expecting this. Its a mishmash of good stuff with a condition that is easily satisfied. Its not quite Questing Explorer, but better since it guarantees an effect so long as a quest has been played, not if its active. I can see why its a conditional card; its just good, flexible stuff. Summoning a 4/2 rush is already somewhat acceptable for 4 mana, but establishing a taunt as well? I can see this being auto include in quest decks. Just slightly more difficult to activate for sidequests decks, since you don't draw them on turn 1.
- Arcane Amplifier - its Daring Fire-Eater, except its now an elemental and costing 2 more with better stats. Is it good enough to see constructed? I think so, but probably less for the obvious Jan'alai, the Dragonhawk synergy, but more because its an elemental, and its not a bad one. Elemental Allies is one of DoD's best cards and yet its also one of the most unplayable, given the lack of good elementals in standard. This one makes an elemental heavy deck for mage a little less terrible.
- Rising Winds - Its a flexible card that might see a one off in quest druid. Aside from that I just don't see it. Perhaps in embiggen druid, given that its a flexible draw card and you can establish a minion at your choosing. The twinspell is what makes this playable. Its 2 mana cycle, and that's not really half as bad as it looks.
I agree that Madame Lazul have been hyped to high heaven as was Chameleos. But in both instance, they only allowed a glimpse, not the entire hand. I think its fair to say that being able to switch gears or strats mid game is not to be underestimated.
I would also argue that the reason both are not as popular is because priest does not have a proper mid range deck that could use a value generator (not to mention information of the opponent's hand). We've seen this in spiteful priest, where one of the best card (aside from Spiteful Summoner herself) was Drakonid Operative and not always because of the 5/6 body.
Also, this not only provides information, but it allows you your choice of a card. Its not even random. Essentially it means I will almost always have my opponent's hero card, or finisher, or at very worst a tech card or spell. In most mid-range and control games, this may well be the decider where games go from then. (As a spiteful priest player myself, I can't say how many countless times games was decided by merely discovering dk guldan off drakonid)
I like the cards, but I think we can straight up ditch the 'copy X card from your opponent' mechanic. Its just one too many for a basic set.
A few observations;
Meeting of minds is straight up busted. It essentially allows you complete information of your opponent's hand AND your choice of a card.
Prosper in peace is interesting and kinda a nice spin, but since its condition for draw affects both sides, it punishes your opponent for having a board, making this almost broken in both aggro and control decks (essentially any deck). I would either raise its mana cost to 4-5, or straight up only allow draws on characters on your side, not the opponents.
I'm a little torn over the barrier concept. Its very powerful, almost close to ice block levels of denial but without the 2 card restriction per deck. And this applies to both face and minions. I think restricting this to minions is a better idea.
I really like the battle medic, to be honest, and hope to see it one day in standard for priest.
I've been seeing alot of comparisons with Vilespine Slayer but heres some differences to consider;
- Vilespine Slayer destroy the minion. Aeon Reaver merely deals damage to it. Means it can't go through divine shields.
- Aeon Reaver deals damage equal to the target's damage. It is therefore not a guaranteed kill. Most pro players generally believe health to be better than damage and therefore more cards in standard decks generally reflect that. Its worth noting that most taunts do not have more damage than health. So as a tempo tool, this can sometimes be a whiff
- Priest decks are usually combo or control. The closest priest deck that isn't that, is spiteful priest. This would fit rightly inside that. But aside from that, you'd have to go back to year 1 of hearthstone to find anything remotely close to a midrange or aggro deck (with more than 50% win rate). Aeon Reaver is more a tempo card, since priest often have better control options for removal than this.
Given that there's quite a lot of tempo tools provided to priest I think this is the direction team5 wants priest to go into. Probably as a prelude to HoF-ming Divine Spirit come Apr 2020.
Tried it, both this and the previous iteration. Worth a shot, its actually faster than most people think it is.
I think the main reason why its probably better than res priest is because it plays almost similar to it for the first 5 turns. If you keep you first mulligan, most will not strike face on first few turns. The main giveaway is the invoke cards really.
Probably better to leave out Oondasta and rely on Witching Hour for the screams
I hold that somewhere around in standard is a way for paladin to swarm the board consistently, and this card will be key to that. Will definitely be looking forward to experimentation on this concept.