Toreth the unbreaking - At first glance this looks broken. Basically granting divine shield minions immunity because theres just no way to deal damage three times to a minion and somehow still be in the game. Unfortunately though, this card is only ever broken in arena, because in competitive standard theres so many ways to remove minions that this comes across as simply useless, not even compared favourably to Amitus. Ironically, this card likely can just solo down paladin on its own, so if it ever gets mind controlled you might as well just concede then and there.
Critter caretaker - Its just a weird card because you'll never play this in anything other than control and do control decks even want this? Comparable to mistress of mixtures, something that was meta roughly 8 years back and which saw little to no play when it was reintroduced.
Mother duck - Will likely be playable in swarm decks and maybe DK because its practically 4 corpses + removal.
Ancient of yore - Aggro decks nowadays will destroy you far faster than this can heal and youve developed nothing on board so its like a 5 mana shield block. Might see play but Im not optimistic.
Meadowstrider - I like it only because it has 11 health and taunt. Unfortunately for this it'll never be playable in standard competitive. Too slow, easily removed, and its ability to negate fatigue is vastly underpowered compared to kiljaeden.
Nightmare lord Xavius - Personally think this card is unplayable but being able to tutor a minion may have its uses, though generally anything thats random that doesnt also win you the game tends not to be viable. Even at its best its a combo enabler, but Im not holding my breath
Nightmare dragonkin - Would have been busted had it been a battlecry but being a deathrattle has its uses in dhunter. At least it can be reliably tutored and quite frankly dhunter's cards have been so trash for the last two expansion that anything thats even remotely decent commands respect. And this one certainly is a good start
Ashamane - Not really familiar with the lore, so Ive no idea why he has a stake stuck in him. In any case, the card itself is not very good, and its perhaps suggestible that the only way it sees play is via malorne. Maybe in thief decks, if its viable at all that is.
Hopeful Dryad - Can start praying because its a 2/5 chance to get a brick in your hand and making this card's inclusion completely worthless in competitive standard
Gnawing Greenfin - It looks ok and then you remember that scarab keychain exist. Couple that with the fact that theres an absence of murloc decks + murlocs being generally shit in standard, makes this card utterly rubbish
Tranquil treant - Good potential to be among the most hated cards, or be the most unplayable. As befit ramp in general as a play pattern.
Illusory greenwing - Works wonders with tormented dreadwing which also curves from this card. Both being deathrattes unfortunately makes them a tad slow but at least the greenwing has taunt. If the power level is slow enough to permit playing greenwing, you can bet the combo with dreadwing being explored to some capacity, that is to say, if you can create a deck with no other dragons in it.
Briarspawn drake - Its only use is to be cheated out and nothing else. That said, being able to deal face damage makes the card scary enough that you just gotta believe it'll see play at some point.
Shaladrassil - Its funny because the corrupted dream cards are good, very good in fact, but good luck corrupting this card. We've already seen how hard it is to get corrupted cards going, and this puts 5 cards into your hand so that's another obstacle in of itself. For now, its looking like a druid card, because no other class can corrupt this fast enough for it to matter.
Selenic drake - Only way this sees play is that the power level is substantially lower than it is now. For what it is, its an arena card.
Grace of the greatwolf - When you consider that flanking strike is 7 years old now and still somehow looks better than this card, its kinda sad.
Goldrinn - The sort of card that will see play if only because it makes all other beast on board impossible to ignore. Its not really that great, but its the sort of card you put into the deck simply because it can scam wins out of nowhere.
barkshield sentinel - A joke of a card that will only be viable in dhunter and even then it wont be good.
A bit mixed over the new hp and dark gifts, but its early days.
Seems to me that imbueing hp is a bit too slow for hearthstone these days. Only way this is playable is that the hp does direct damage, or is so powerful that it cannot be ignored. The hunter and shaman hp, for example, is not that. But likely there would be a legendary that gives out a payoff for doing all these, though Im skeptical over whether it'll ever be worth it to play subpar cards just to get a hp that doesnt win you the game.
As for the dark gift, I like the concept but unless theres a way to give these gifts immediately to board, instead of discovering minions with it, I cant see it work neither. Its way too slow, and you'd get destroyed by anything that plays minions on turn 1-2-3. Gonna wreck arena though for sure.
For the new cards so far:
Ysera, emerald aspect - Playable only in druid and warrior because thats the only two classes that can actually ramp up to take advantage of the start of game effect. For all other classes, youre more likely capping your own knee just playing this card.
Naralex - Designed to be played with ysera surely. And for that reason its likely that it'll only see play in druid/warrior. But class dragons to be revealed or designed later would change this obviously. Its a combo card in essence anyway.
Ursoc - Funny thing about this card is that its too slow to act as a board clear, and likely if it survives its gonna get bobbed into your opponent's hand. Definitely a dangerous card, but we'll have to see if its even playable in DK.
And one last card thats not shown in this graphic but is shown in reddit:
Fun card. But unplayable surely. Think about how hard it is to even get mothership working and now we're suppose to believe priest can actually play this card, survive for 3 turns, and somehow win?
Well well, shaffar will likely get shafted because its was already fringe before the miniset, with only an OP interaction with zerglings. Even the slightest nerf will render this unplayable but we shall see.
As for fizzle, it was gonna happen at some point because of its ridiculous interaction with ceaseless causing games to escalate to idiocy. Even if the card itself is not really that offensive, you simply cannot leave a card that enable draws to happen at such a consistent level.
I suppose the only real surprise here is that dungar somehow didnt get touched because that card promotes such a toxic druid playstyle, you know, the same fucking druid playstyle that been plaguing the druid class until only recently before dungar got printed.
As for the buffs, seems more like a pathetic attempt at making protoss decks more viable when the more immediate method of making gateway better to play would have provided much greater impact. Whether its just as easy as spawning a 3/4 zealot on use, or as a 3 mana location discount for 2, whatever it is its certainly going to be tons better than playing a 4 mana card that does nothing, in a meta where doing such things typically leave you dead.
I havent commented on my of the cards thus far, mostly down to the lack of free time, but man I just got to make an exception for this one.
The cards rubbish. Comparable to Goliath, Sneed's Masterpiece, but worse, much worse. Wheras at least sneeds does the job, putting 10 damage to your opponent's board and developing an 8/8, this card doesnt even guarantee the damage dealt and is itself a feeble 3/4. The only mitigating circumstance is playing this on an empty board where its decent but nothing special but its practically an impossibility anyway on turn 8.
Well, I suppose where every expansion needs a fun but dud card, this one's it in spades.
Obviously this will only be proven when we get it hands on but somehow I very much doubt launching starships gonna be impactful. It just feels so contrived, in a world where you get destroyed if you so much as leave 1-2 minions on board untouched past turn 3.
Perhaps its just me but the card art of the starcraft cards so far...are a bit underwhelming. They look so standard, like tesla's cybertrucks. Kinda a bit lacking in action, like the deployed siege tanks dont catch its personality in the games. Perhaps its what happens when you shoehorn the usual hearthstone disney graphics on something thats supposed to look cool by default.
As for the cards themselves, its anyone's guess whether these will change anything. The starship gameplan have failed spectacularly so far, so this doubling down doesnt impress me as much yet. We'll see if they can work up into anything proper. At least the zerg and protoss look better, swarming and discounts usually work out someway or somehow.
Reno got nerfed down, and probably no longer playable. The playrates of highlander decks is already low enough prior to this and now that reno is no longer a fuck you card I just cant see why anyone would play it now.
Reska got changed from zero mana to zero mana. Yes, there is effectively no change here at all.
I like the reverts to conman and shill, because let's be honest these cards are an almost instant consideration in all but its own class.
Quasar got completely and utterly destroyed. Its unplayable now, not that I even gave it a shred of shit anyway.
I like how the one mana nerf to Everything Must Go! utterly changes the complexion of the entire deck because its interaction with robocaller is probably the only problem with the card.
Mystery Egg might well be unplayable now, but have to test it out first.
As for the buffs;
I'll be honest, I thought most of it is underwhelming. The only immediate positive here is that libram pally got a buff, but in my opinion might still be way too slow. Since pipsi pally got no changes, its still the best pally deck around
The buff to crewmates cards is hilarious, as though as these are enough to make it playable.
The Gravitational Displacer remains unplayable because its not the stats that made the card piss poor. But I guess with the nerfs to all the main decks perhaps we can expect to see rogue toying with starships, though I remain unimpressed with this buff.
ace wayfinder to 4 mana doesnt really change much other than make draenei warrior more awkward to play.
Overall buffs to starships probably doesnt change much. Only way these are playable is because the nerfs utterly changed the landscape enough for most of them to see play. But we'll have to see.
Couldve just made an expansion out of it. Seeing how much a dud the great beyond was, if team5 dont make swift changes the miniset would likely engulf the expansion itself anyway.
The most problematic issue will likely be the pricetag because I cant see a world where it stays at 2k gold or 20 bucks.
Elemental mage definitely the standout for being the least expected top meta deck around, which I think is because no one expected Saruun interaction with Overflow Surger, and obviously because everyones testing out new decks so heavy aggro would be favoured.
I can confirm that asteroid shaman is fun and can win games, but I suspect theres alot of room for improvement. Packing too much redundant cards like murmur, which should be swiftly cut from deck list soon.
Hunter isnt as dominant as I first thought. As I suspected, Exarch Naielle isnt as impactful as would be expected because most decks that have her is simply too slow. Even the starship builds are too slow, too susceptible to the 'one card per turn' issue, and the late game with yodler can be dealt with by either having way more health (which DK can absolutely do) or just having a few deathrattles so you cant nuke the board with a zero mana expanse.
Quasar rogue is obviously making some rounds on the top end of legend, because its really just a card made for them. For everyone else, this deck is just as baffling as I first suspected. Maybe its a skill issue, but against any deck that crap out minions every turn this deck is perhaps way too slow to do whatever it is that it wants to be doing.
Libram pally is surprisingly too slow, but that may be because elemental mages are everywhere. Ive underestimated how hard it is to get the librams to zero cost, and against control decks Libram of Divinity just isnt cutting it.
The amount of health DK can reach nowadays. Team5 will likely push out some nerfs if control DK is anywhere near the top tier. Legitimately can reach around 60 health, and now that fatigue has more or less been invalidated, those control mirror matchups can get demoralizing enough that auto concedes might be more productive use of time. Fortunately hearthstone tournaments have largely been scaled down. Imagine watching a blood control DK mirror with kiljaden, more likely the game crashes than an actual winner be found.
Dhunter is looking like a right mess, and perhaps its unsurprising. But there might yet be some life in this class. Have seen some form of starship dhunter running around, but I doubt it can overvalue control decks or out pace elemental mage.
Theres a few more decks Ive not tried yet like nebula shaman, wheelock, etc. Got screwed by my packs, but expansion looks decent, though I still suspect the old archetypes would eventually overwhelm most of the new stuff. Starships have largely been a failure to me, though I havent actually played any form of rogue starships yet.
Lumia - The most anti aggro card that ever existed. Basically if you opponent is aggro and has no spell answer to this card you practically win the game because there's really not much they can do other than heal you back to 30 and waste a turn. Unfortunately, outside of aggro this card will likely cost you damage rather than gain. Will it see play though, obviously yes. Any card that hard counters an entire archetype will never be left unplayed.
Yrel, Beacon of Hope - If librams are good this will see play. Not much else to say about this card other than point out that rush allows you to control this minion's deathrattle triggering, which obviously is a good thing.
Celestial Aura - Its the kind of card that's funny to meme about but in paladin is probably useless. The only thing unique about it is that in a way, this sort of counters certain AoE effects like Threads of Despair
Libram of Divinity - Id just like to point out that Lady Liadrin is in standard. Yes, this card will likely be aggravating enough to get nerfed at some point.
Well, there's really not much reason to rate the other libram cards because ultimately it'll only be playable in a libram deck. Just cheapen them down, and the game practically flows like the old libram pally without broomstick really. Id be surprised if libram pally isnt at least tier 1-2 because its a solid deck that does what paladin does, just put minions down and eventually win.
Paladin's set this time is certainly not as interesting as the previous three expansions
Murmur - Not exactly sure what this can do yet, but I would be surprised if this doesnt break the game in some capacity in future. But admitably its a little difficult to see where this card is leading towards because even if the cards costs only 1 after this, you're not developing more stats on board so the battlecries needs to either win you the game or setup for a win in the short term.
Farseer Nobundo - There's a lot of talk about how much value the lens provide, but really all this card really does is doubling your first spell and then you get another recast two turns later. And the card being a deathrattle means, you dont actually get to control when the lens appear, and your opponent will no doubt be saving a silence or transform effect to get rid of it. Or they stack so many stats on board that you've no choice except to spend the lens on a removal option. Good card, but perhaps not as broken as it seems.
Nebula - Most likely playable, but the cost is a bit too high to assume its gonna be viable unless the meta goes for value.
Shaman set is respectable, but to address the common theme of asteroids being a deck. I think it might work, but its not the same as the plagues were for DK, there's no helya for asteroids, and the fact is that even plague DK nowadays arent seeing much play themselves. I would say that the asteroid deck will likely be just another extension in an elemental deck rather than a genuine build around.
Had this been nothing more than a common card then fine. But its a legendary card with an effect thats just so mundane. That's mostly my problem with it.
Its not even like its quasar, where you can perhaps imagine it being better with added support. This card is as you say, just a buffed up SI:7 agent.
But all that said, it would probably see play in a combo rogue deck but otherwise I cant see how a better SI7 agent is even relevant in todays hearthstone.
Quasar - The one card that's been attracting alot of attention. Partially because its unique, and also because there's been levels of copium over what is very likely a shit card. Let's get some positives out first; this card does well with other draw cards like knickknack shack which can be setup earlier. Unfortunately, I'd like to ask what exactly is it going to accomplish that rogue already cannot do without? The answer: very little. Plus, lets not forget the fact that this card is 6 mana and therefore you'd very likely be dead trying to contrive this card to work.
Talgath - Alright, this card is shit isnt it? We already have Enchanter in standard that doesnt see play in rogue, so what is this doing? At best youd put this is a combo rogue deck because it fits the theme and ultimately still gives you a 4 damage card to immediately use with.
Pressure Points - Unironically might be the best card for rogue this set because the potentiality of setting up an OTK with eviscerate, sonya etc. cannot be taken lightly.
The Gravitational Displacer - Alright, rogue starship 'payoff'. Yes it does summon a copy of the starship, which is theoretically good value, but you first need this to be played without dying, play this without dying, and then this card needs to actually die, also without you dying. Bear in mind this card literally does nothing until the starship is launched. Yeah, I can feel the shittinest of this card. Also, if it so happens this card gets mind controlled, or transformed, you just lost your payoff.
I'll address the starship for rogue: team5 went and just shrugged their shoulders. I cannot see anyone make a deck out of the starship because the payoff is ambiguous, its literally parts from other classes, and the fact that you have to shove so many cards into the deck just to make it work. I can only assume you'd play the starship in a tess deck, but I cant see anything to suggest its gonna be good.
However, I do think the set is powerful simply because I can absolutely see sonya rogue make a comeback with pressure points as the focal point of the deck. And that will indeed be the obsession of all rogue players until team5 inevitably nerfs the deck, because no rogue deck of this sort ever escapes the nerf hammer.
Dirdra, Rebel Captain - A card that can only ever fit into aggro because having your deck filled with crewmates isnt exactly ideal for value decks, and you'd likely want to get rid of adjoining cards as quickly as you can, so it cant work for control neither. Whether this card itself is useful, its kinda like nerfed pozzik in that its kinda just there, playable but otherwise not a build-around. You'd play this in a deck that stacks crewmates in, not because of this card.
Emergency Meeting - A card that's likely more powerful than the legendary itself, very similar to Wild Spirits in that respect. Play this card, get two crewmates, play the demon on turn 3, and the crewmates on turn 4. One card, get cards to play for two turns.
Eldritch Being - A card that will likely see more play in wild. In standard, its just okay for what it is. Unlikely we'll see much of this card, because strictly speaking you cant really play this on turn 1, and it'll likely be a dead card in hand if you somehow have the perfect draw: a scenario which every player strives for.
Dhunter's set is kinda just functional, because I can see the crewmates working out alright, but its also kinda boring in a way because it's heading the familiar aggro-pirate style aggro direction. Wouldnt surprise me if its just shoehorning crewmates into pirate dhunter and pretend its new, then dropped within 1 month after launch.
As for the ship cards, Im a little less certain how they would work. The ship parts seem to imply that you should be playing this in a flood-board centric deck and yet fully armed with the knowledge that you'll likely be stuck playing one card per turn just to get it going - wheres all this wide board gonna come from? At best its Sigil of Skydiving into one of the most telegraphed winning sequences ever of which the playaround is simply to leave your board empty and watch as your opponent flail around.
Is there even a reason not to just play zilliax instead (for the +1+1 buff), which needs zero setup and will consistently win games for you. Rather that than spend 5 turns building a ship that's not guaranteed to win the game.
Uluu, the Everdrifter - Its yet another card that would see play in most other classes but in druid remains an unimpressive card. Its too inconsistent for one thing, and conventional druid decks is simply an amalgamation of win cons and ramp. This card fits none of those things. Its a decent card dont get me wrong, but only a midrange druid deck would play this, such as the long departed dragon druid, which eventually got coopted into the monstrosity we see today.
Star Grazer - Same as above. Good card. But the only way this card sees any play is that dorian remains playable, which I sincerely hope not.
Final Frontier - Yes, this is the sort of card druid wants. Create massive minions at fractional cost, with an upside of completely cheesing games.
Cosmic Phenomenon - Would probably see play, but I wouldnt be surprised if this card gets cut in high legend ranks where aggro is few and far between.
Arkonite Revelation - Just your everyday auto include into druid decks. Imagine ramping one turn earlier and having three mana crystals ahead of your opponent on turn 4.
Alright druid set. Personally the only way this set sees play is that druid's starship is indispensable. Most of its cards arent actually that great i.e. they present ambiguous win cons, and is generally competing with the powerhouse of win cons that currently exist in standard. Really, all it really takes is for druid to have an arcane spell that does direct damage, and perhaps that's the thinking process behind Exarch Othaar - get an Arcane Shot and suddenly druid looks tons more threatening.
The 8 Hands From Beyond - is genuinely evil. Against certain decks this card can immediately turn the tide largely in your favour. Plus against combo, its usually just an auto win unless your opponent happens to have all the pieces in their hand. The fact that this card can come out as early as turn 6 with exarch maladaar makes it even more insidious. I suppose the only mitigating factor is the fact that it requires two blood runes to play, so chances are it sees no play, though through no fault of its own.
Exarch Maladaar - I think its a single unholy rune card, which will limit this card somewhat, because essentially speaking this card is only ever useful if there is a win con that cost more than itself, otherwise its usually not worth the corpses. Maybe with Climactic Necrotic Explosion, which should be beefed up by the 10 corpses consumed as well.
Airlock Breach - Consumes way too much corpses and isnt strictly better than Corpse Bride. Only good thing is that its a pseudo Vampiric Blood that doesnt require triple blood.
Orbital Moon - Such a random requirement for this card. Im not sure if this card is good enough, because to gain reborn, which is probably what you want from this card, you need to first spend mana playing the cards beside it.
So DK's expansion set this time is mostly centered around reborn and spaceships. Just to comment on the starship pieces as a whole, DK's is all about putting huge stats on board. Fully loaded, the moment it gets launched we're looking at maybe two other big minions alongside it, and the ship itself has a deathrattle that summons another big minion. If Wakener of Souls is one of them, then the ship even gets resurrected to go again. Its easy to see what DK's end game looks like.
Probably why yogg got nerfed. Because I can see the entire DK win con disappearing with a mere tap.
Unless akama grants charge to sleeping minions I just dont see it. There's currently two ways of doing it, via Expedition Sergeant and Stranded Spaceman, the latter being better than the former. But as I mentioned earlier, you need board and if your board is already doing damage then youre technically ahead and akama is merely a win-more card. Kinda like bloodlust nowadays, except you need to set it up.
Im not saying akama wont see play. Chances are good you'll just put him in the deck because why not? But the real build around in my opinion is Stalwart Avenger, not akama.
And incidentally, stalwart avenger curves nicely from expedition sergeant, so its more likely designed with avenger in mind rather than akama himself.
Toreth the unbreaking - At first glance this looks broken. Basically granting divine shield minions immunity because theres just no way to deal damage three times to a minion and somehow still be in the game. Unfortunately though, this card is only ever broken in arena, because in competitive standard theres so many ways to remove minions that this comes across as simply useless, not even compared favourably to Amitus. Ironically, this card likely can just solo down paladin on its own, so if it ever gets mind controlled you might as well just concede then and there.
Critter caretaker - Its just a weird card because you'll never play this in anything other than control and do control decks even want this? Comparable to mistress of mixtures, something that was meta roughly 8 years back and which saw little to no play when it was reintroduced.
Mother duck - Will likely be playable in swarm decks and maybe DK because its practically 4 corpses + removal.
Ancient of yore - Aggro decks nowadays will destroy you far faster than this can heal and youve developed nothing on board so its like a 5 mana shield block. Might see play but Im not optimistic.
Meadowstrider - I like it only because it has 11 health and taunt. Unfortunately for this it'll never be playable in standard competitive. Too slow, easily removed, and its ability to negate fatigue is vastly underpowered compared to kiljaeden.
Nightmare lord Xavius - Personally think this card is unplayable but being able to tutor a minion may have its uses, though generally anything thats random that doesnt also win you the game tends not to be viable. Even at its best its a combo enabler, but Im not holding my breath
Nightmare dragonkin - Would have been busted had it been a battlecry but being a deathrattle has its uses in dhunter. At least it can be reliably tutored and quite frankly dhunter's cards have been so trash for the last two expansion that anything thats even remotely decent commands respect. And this one certainly is a good start
Ashamane - Not really familiar with the lore, so Ive no idea why he has a stake stuck in him. In any case, the card itself is not very good, and its perhaps suggestible that the only way it sees play is via malorne. Maybe in thief decks, if its viable at all that is.
Hopeful Dryad - Can start praying because its a 2/5 chance to get a brick in your hand and making this card's inclusion completely worthless in competitive standard
Gnawing Greenfin - It looks ok and then you remember that scarab keychain exist. Couple that with the fact that theres an absence of murloc decks + murlocs being generally shit in standard, makes this card utterly rubbish
Tranquil treant - Good potential to be among the most hated cards, or be the most unplayable. As befit ramp in general as a play pattern.
Illusory greenwing - Works wonders with tormented dreadwing which also curves from this card. Both being deathrattes unfortunately makes them a tad slow but at least the greenwing has taunt. If the power level is slow enough to permit playing greenwing, you can bet the combo with dreadwing being explored to some capacity, that is to say, if you can create a deck with no other dragons in it.
Briarspawn drake - Its only use is to be cheated out and nothing else. That said, being able to deal face damage makes the card scary enough that you just gotta believe it'll see play at some point.
New cards, my comments on the interesting ones;
Shaladrassil - Its funny because the corrupted dream cards are good, very good in fact, but good luck corrupting this card. We've already seen how hard it is to get corrupted cards going, and this puts 5 cards into your hand so that's another obstacle in of itself. For now, its looking like a druid card, because no other class can corrupt this fast enough for it to matter.
Selenic drake - Only way this sees play is that the power level is substantially lower than it is now. For what it is, its an arena card.
Grace of the greatwolf - When you consider that flanking strike is 7 years old now and still somehow looks better than this card, its kinda sad.
Goldrinn - The sort of card that will see play if only because it makes all other beast on board impossible to ignore. Its not really that great, but its the sort of card you put into the deck simply because it can scam wins out of nowhere.
barkshield sentinel - A joke of a card that will only be viable in dhunter and even then it wont be good.
A bit mixed over the new hp and dark gifts, but its early days.
Seems to me that imbueing hp is a bit too slow for hearthstone these days. Only way this is playable is that the hp does direct damage, or is so powerful that it cannot be ignored. The hunter and shaman hp, for example, is not that. But likely there would be a legendary that gives out a payoff for doing all these, though Im skeptical over whether it'll ever be worth it to play subpar cards just to get a hp that doesnt win you the game.
As for the dark gift, I like the concept but unless theres a way to give these gifts immediately to board, instead of discovering minions with it, I cant see it work neither. Its way too slow, and you'd get destroyed by anything that plays minions on turn 1-2-3. Gonna wreck arena though for sure.
For the new cards so far:
Ysera, emerald aspect - Playable only in druid and warrior because thats the only two classes that can actually ramp up to take advantage of the start of game effect. For all other classes, youre more likely capping your own knee just playing this card.
Naralex - Designed to be played with ysera surely. And for that reason its likely that it'll only see play in druid/warrior. But class dragons to be revealed or designed later would change this obviously. Its a combo card in essence anyway.
Ursoc - Funny thing about this card is that its too slow to act as a board clear, and likely if it survives its gonna get bobbed into your opponent's hand. Definitely a dangerous card, but we'll have to see if its even playable in DK.
And one last card thats not shown in this graphic but is shown in reddit:
Fun card. But unplayable surely. Think about how hard it is to even get mothership working and now we're suppose to believe priest can actually play this card, survive for 3 turns, and somehow win?
Well well, shaffar will likely get shafted because its was already fringe before the miniset, with only an OP interaction with zerglings. Even the slightest nerf will render this unplayable but we shall see.
As for fizzle, it was gonna happen at some point because of its ridiculous interaction with ceaseless causing games to escalate to idiocy. Even if the card itself is not really that offensive, you simply cannot leave a card that enable draws to happen at such a consistent level.
I suppose the only real surprise here is that dungar somehow didnt get touched because that card promotes such a toxic druid playstyle, you know, the same fucking druid playstyle that been plaguing the druid class until only recently before dungar got printed.
As for the buffs, seems more like a pathetic attempt at making protoss decks more viable when the more immediate method of making gateway better to play would have provided much greater impact. Whether its just as easy as spawning a 3/4 zealot on use, or as a 3 mana location discount for 2, whatever it is its certainly going to be tons better than playing a 4 mana card that does nothing, in a meta where doing such things typically leave you dead.
I havent commented on my of the cards thus far, mostly down to the lack of free time, but man I just got to make an exception for this one.
The cards rubbish. Comparable to Goliath, Sneed's Masterpiece, but worse, much worse. Wheras at least sneeds does the job, putting 10 damage to your opponent's board and developing an 8/8, this card doesnt even guarantee the damage dealt and is itself a feeble 3/4. The only mitigating circumstance is playing this on an empty board where its decent but nothing special but its practically an impossibility anyway on turn 8.
Well, I suppose where every expansion needs a fun but dud card, this one's it in spades.
Obviously this will only be proven when we get it hands on but somehow I very much doubt launching starships gonna be impactful. It just feels so contrived, in a world where you get destroyed if you so much as leave 1-2 minions on board untouched past turn 3.
Perhaps its just me but the card art of the starcraft cards so far...are a bit underwhelming. They look so standard, like tesla's cybertrucks. Kinda a bit lacking in action, like the deployed siege tanks dont catch its personality in the games. Perhaps its what happens when you shoehorn the usual hearthstone disney graphics on something thats supposed to look cool by default.
As for the cards themselves, its anyone's guess whether these will change anything. The starship gameplan have failed spectacularly so far, so this doubling down doesnt impress me as much yet. We'll see if they can work up into anything proper. At least the zerg and protoss look better, swarming and discounts usually work out someway or somehow.
My take on the changes;
As for the buffs;
Couldve just made an expansion out of it. Seeing how much a dud the great beyond was, if team5 dont make swift changes the miniset would likely engulf the expansion itself anyway.
The most problematic issue will likely be the pricetag because I cant see a world where it stays at 2k gold or 20 bucks.
Day one experience:
Theres a few more decks Ive not tried yet like nebula shaman, wheelock, etc. Got screwed by my packs, but expansion looks decent, though I still suspect the old archetypes would eventually overwhelm most of the new stuff. Starships have largely been a failure to me, though I havent actually played any form of rogue starships yet.
Lumia - The most anti aggro card that ever existed. Basically if you opponent is aggro and has no spell answer to this card you practically win the game because there's really not much they can do other than heal you back to 30 and waste a turn. Unfortunately, outside of aggro this card will likely cost you damage rather than gain. Will it see play though, obviously yes. Any card that hard counters an entire archetype will never be left unplayed.
Yrel, Beacon of Hope - If librams are good this will see play. Not much else to say about this card other than point out that rush allows you to control this minion's deathrattle triggering, which obviously is a good thing.
Celestial Aura - Its the kind of card that's funny to meme about but in paladin is probably useless. The only thing unique about it is that in a way, this sort of counters certain AoE effects like Threads of Despair
Libram of Divinity - Id just like to point out that Lady Liadrin is in standard. Yes, this card will likely be aggravating enough to get nerfed at some point.
Well, there's really not much reason to rate the other libram cards because ultimately it'll only be playable in a libram deck. Just cheapen them down, and the game practically flows like the old libram pally without broomstick really. Id be surprised if libram pally isnt at least tier 1-2 because its a solid deck that does what paladin does, just put minions down and eventually win.
Paladin's set this time is certainly not as interesting as the previous three expansions
Murmur - Not exactly sure what this can do yet, but I would be surprised if this doesnt break the game in some capacity in future. But admitably its a little difficult to see where this card is leading towards because even if the cards costs only 1 after this, you're not developing more stats on board so the battlecries needs to either win you the game or setup for a win in the short term.
Farseer Nobundo - There's a lot of talk about how much value the lens provide, but really all this card really does is doubling your first spell and then you get another recast two turns later. And the card being a deathrattle means, you dont actually get to control when the lens appear, and your opponent will no doubt be saving a silence or transform effect to get rid of it. Or they stack so many stats on board that you've no choice except to spend the lens on a removal option. Good card, but perhaps not as broken as it seems.
Nebula - Most likely playable, but the cost is a bit too high to assume its gonna be viable unless the meta goes for value.
Shaman set is respectable, but to address the common theme of asteroids being a deck. I think it might work, but its not the same as the plagues were for DK, there's no helya for asteroids, and the fact is that even plague DK nowadays arent seeing much play themselves. I would say that the asteroid deck will likely be just another extension in an elemental deck rather than a genuine build around.
Had this been nothing more than a common card then fine. But its a legendary card with an effect thats just so mundane. That's mostly my problem with it.
Its not even like its quasar, where you can perhaps imagine it being better with added support. This card is as you say, just a buffed up SI:7 agent.
But all that said, it would probably see play in a combo rogue deck but otherwise I cant see how a better SI7 agent is even relevant in todays hearthstone.
Quasar - The one card that's been attracting alot of attention. Partially because its unique, and also because there's been levels of copium over what is very likely a shit card. Let's get some positives out first; this card does well with other draw cards like knickknack shack which can be setup earlier. Unfortunately, I'd like to ask what exactly is it going to accomplish that rogue already cannot do without? The answer: very little. Plus, lets not forget the fact that this card is 6 mana and therefore you'd very likely be dead trying to contrive this card to work.
Talgath - Alright, this card is shit isnt it? We already have Enchanter in standard that doesnt see play in rogue, so what is this doing? At best youd put this is a combo rogue deck because it fits the theme and ultimately still gives you a 4 damage card to immediately use with.
Pressure Points - Unironically might be the best card for rogue this set because the potentiality of setting up an OTK with eviscerate, sonya etc. cannot be taken lightly.
The Gravitational Displacer - Alright, rogue starship 'payoff'. Yes it does summon a copy of the starship, which is theoretically good value, but you first need this to be played without dying, play this without dying, and then this card needs to actually die, also without you dying. Bear in mind this card literally does nothing until the starship is launched. Yeah, I can feel the shittinest of this card. Also, if it so happens this card gets mind controlled, or transformed, you just lost your payoff.
I'll address the starship for rogue: team5 went and just shrugged their shoulders. I cannot see anyone make a deck out of the starship because the payoff is ambiguous, its literally parts from other classes, and the fact that you have to shove so many cards into the deck just to make it work. I can only assume you'd play the starship in a tess deck, but I cant see anything to suggest its gonna be good.
However, I do think the set is powerful simply because I can absolutely see sonya rogue make a comeback with pressure points as the focal point of the deck. And that will indeed be the obsession of all rogue players until team5 inevitably nerfs the deck, because no rogue deck of this sort ever escapes the nerf hammer.
Dirdra, Rebel Captain - A card that can only ever fit into aggro because having your deck filled with crewmates isnt exactly ideal for value decks, and you'd likely want to get rid of adjoining cards as quickly as you can, so it cant work for control neither. Whether this card itself is useful, its kinda like nerfed pozzik in that its kinda just there, playable but otherwise not a build-around. You'd play this in a deck that stacks crewmates in, not because of this card.
Emergency Meeting - A card that's likely more powerful than the legendary itself, very similar to Wild Spirits in that respect. Play this card, get two crewmates, play the demon on turn 3, and the crewmates on turn 4. One card, get cards to play for two turns.
Eldritch Being - A card that will likely see more play in wild. In standard, its just okay for what it is. Unlikely we'll see much of this card, because strictly speaking you cant really play this on turn 1, and it'll likely be a dead card in hand if you somehow have the perfect draw: a scenario which every player strives for.
Dhunter's set is kinda just functional, because I can see the crewmates working out alright, but its also kinda boring in a way because it's heading the familiar aggro-pirate style aggro direction. Wouldnt surprise me if its just shoehorning crewmates into pirate dhunter and pretend its new, then dropped within 1 month after launch.
As for the ship cards, Im a little less certain how they would work. The ship parts seem to imply that you should be playing this in a flood-board centric deck and yet fully armed with the knowledge that you'll likely be stuck playing one card per turn just to get it going - wheres all this wide board gonna come from? At best its Sigil of Skydiving into one of the most telegraphed winning sequences ever of which the playaround is simply to leave your board empty and watch as your opponent flail around.
Is there even a reason not to just play zilliax instead (for the +1+1 buff), which needs zero setup and will consistently win games for you. Rather that than spend 5 turns building a ship that's not guaranteed to win the game.
Uluu, the Everdrifter - Its yet another card that would see play in most other classes but in druid remains an unimpressive card. Its too inconsistent for one thing, and conventional druid decks is simply an amalgamation of win cons and ramp. This card fits none of those things. Its a decent card dont get me wrong, but only a midrange druid deck would play this, such as the long departed dragon druid, which eventually got coopted into the monstrosity we see today.
Star Grazer - Same as above. Good card. But the only way this card sees any play is that dorian remains playable, which I sincerely hope not.
Final Frontier - Yes, this is the sort of card druid wants. Create massive minions at fractional cost, with an upside of completely cheesing games.
Cosmic Phenomenon - Would probably see play, but I wouldnt be surprised if this card gets cut in high legend ranks where aggro is few and far between.
Arkonite Revelation - Just your everyday auto include into druid decks. Imagine ramping one turn earlier and having three mana crystals ahead of your opponent on turn 4.
Alright druid set. Personally the only way this set sees play is that druid's starship is indispensable. Most of its cards arent actually that great i.e. they present ambiguous win cons, and is generally competing with the powerhouse of win cons that currently exist in standard. Really, all it really takes is for druid to have an arcane spell that does direct damage, and perhaps that's the thinking process behind Exarch Othaar - get an Arcane Shot and suddenly druid looks tons more threatening.
The 8 Hands From Beyond - is genuinely evil. Against certain decks this card can immediately turn the tide largely in your favour. Plus against combo, its usually just an auto win unless your opponent happens to have all the pieces in their hand. The fact that this card can come out as early as turn 6 with exarch maladaar makes it even more insidious. I suppose the only mitigating factor is the fact that it requires two blood runes to play, so chances are it sees no play, though through no fault of its own.
Exarch Maladaar - I think its a single unholy rune card, which will limit this card somewhat, because essentially speaking this card is only ever useful if there is a win con that cost more than itself, otherwise its usually not worth the corpses. Maybe with Climactic Necrotic Explosion, which should be beefed up by the 10 corpses consumed as well.
Airlock Breach - Consumes way too much corpses and isnt strictly better than Corpse Bride. Only good thing is that its a pseudo Vampiric Blood that doesnt require triple blood.
Orbital Moon - Such a random requirement for this card. Im not sure if this card is good enough, because to gain reborn, which is probably what you want from this card, you need to first spend mana playing the cards beside it.
So DK's expansion set this time is mostly centered around reborn and spaceships. Just to comment on the starship pieces as a whole, DK's is all about putting huge stats on board. Fully loaded, the moment it gets launched we're looking at maybe two other big minions alongside it, and the ship itself has a deathrattle that summons another big minion. If Wakener of Souls is one of them, then the ship even gets resurrected to go again. Its easy to see what DK's end game looks like.
Probably why yogg got nerfed. Because I can see the entire DK win con disappearing with a mere tap.
Lol, team5 actually destroyed marin and togwaggle in one move.
I knew wand was oppressive, but this makes the card more or less unplayable in all but reno decks now.
Unless akama grants charge to sleeping minions I just dont see it. There's currently two ways of doing it, via Expedition Sergeant and Stranded Spaceman, the latter being better than the former. But as I mentioned earlier, you need board and if your board is already doing damage then youre technically ahead and akama is merely a win-more card. Kinda like bloodlust nowadays, except you need to set it up.
Im not saying akama wont see play. Chances are good you'll just put him in the deck because why not? But the real build around in my opinion is Stalwart Avenger, not akama.
And incidentally, stalwart avenger curves nicely from expedition sergeant, so its more likely designed with avenger in mind rather than akama himself.