Let's start with the starship pieces. I think it fits very conveniently into wheelock, and that's likely the main reason for it working in the class. Basically, the ship pieces Felfire Thrusters and Heart of the Legion are naturally defensive cards and can never realistically be a build around, more like support cards that enable win cons to work, like Wheel of DEATH!!!
As for the other cards;
Bad Omen - Its just another card you play in starship decks and nowhere else. At least the demons have taunt. Not much else to say about this card. If youre putting starship cards in your deck, then might as well play this card.
Healthstone - Maybe Im missing something here, but this card is likely trash. Why play this when you can just play Felstring Harp or Void Virtuoso? The only thing going for this is that youre actually taking damage, so it can realistically trigger pain cards while also healing you back, but for two card slots in your deck + the fact that its otherwise useless, I cant see it. At least void virtuoso is a 1 mana 1/3.
Abduction Ray - Yes, its to power up Archimonde, and yes its also not worth it. Spend mana to skip your turn in hopes of getting good demons out of a pool of traditionally poor cards. For every sargeras, there's like four flame imps waiting as you play this.
K'ara, the Dark Star - The good news is that warlock traditionally has access to plenty of cheap shadow spells. The drawback? Well, most of them are either not very good or comes with drawbacks like self damage. K'ara itself isnt all that great neither, but since its possible to steal from the enemy hero, there might well be something to this card that is not yet know.
Think its safe to say that deathrattle triggers that dont increase value or at very least keep the initial minion alive is very much an unfavourable option. At least desecrated graveyard actually gives additional value, not that the card itself sees much play when it was in standard.
Besides, with Yelling Yodeler still in standard, most if not all the time, I find my deathrattle minions being popped by my opponent.
As for the starship comment, if your opponent simply ignores it on field, then surely that's no downside to you anyway. Only a few classes can remove the minions without triggering it, I doubt this card is that important that it needs to be included into all hunter starship decks.
Exarch Naielle - At first glance you'd think this is a good card, because it virtually allows you to discover/draw a card for 1 mana each turn. But to me the downsides of losing your hp is way worse than drawing cards. Since when has tracking been that great to begin with? Far as I know, its usually cut from hunter decks these days, its win rate isnt even that great.
Gorm the Worldeater - Its just trash unfortunately. If slagmaw sees zero play what makes anyone think this one even has a chance? Doesnt even have rush, so you cant even use the very flavourful Always a Bigger Jormungar when it goes active.
Extraterrestrial Egg - Alien reference, got to love it. The card itself is better than most other eggs so theres that I suppose.
Alright hunter's set looks bad to me. First lets address the discover synergies, I simply dont think these are good enough. Its too centered on getting naielle up early, because the synergy cards are not good without a cheap discover card, of which there arent really that many to begin with. Not to mention, what exactly is the win con here? Having given up the 2 damage hp, you'd hope that hunter gets some extra damage cards for discovering all this stuff, but all we get is parallax cannon and alien encounters, both of which are too contrived to work consistently.
As for the ship synergies, that's anyones guess. Might work because of biopod, but might also just be a dud because youd get destroyed by aggro and you'll never outvalue the likes of druid or warrior.
Askara - Im really not sure what this can do in standard that makes it worthwhile. From the set, youd think the idea is to drop Shield of Askara on curve and develop two massively defensive cards on board but surely thats simply not worthwhile, especially since the shield isnt even that good on its own. Perhaps new velen? But Im yet to see where the win cons coming from. At least in wild, we can be sure this card can combo well with OG velen.
Overzealous Healer - Its going into zarimi priest but we dont even know if anyones even interested in playing zarimi priest to begin with. Not to mention the horrible synergy this thing has with velen, the only way this card sees play outside of a tempo priest is somehow Embrace the Shadow is back in standard.
Gravity Lapse - Its mainly to trigger spellburst, that is to say if its played at all. To be honest, if this wasnt zero mana it'll be hot garbage, and even at zero mana its still a baffling inclusion
Shield of Askara - Lifesteal, taunt, and divine shield should always be respected. However, at a day and age where removal cards are way too common, the only thing this card is accomplishing is theoretically stopping aggro, and at all other situations remains a massive brick in your hand thats difficult to play.
K'ure, the Light Beyond - Synergy with cheap holy spells. This expansion: no cheap holy spells. Pretty much sums up the shit situation with poor k'ure. When one considers how viable Raylla, Sand Sculptor is currently, it really doesnt bode well for this card. The only way this card even remotely sees any sort of play is somehow overheal priest feels inserting a card like this just for tempo is actually a good idea.
Mystified To'cha - The only card with any sort of respectability because theres a near zero chance this card doesnt trigger at some point in the game, probably prompting your opponent to tilt. That said, will this card actually see any play though? That ones a tough sell, because its likely going to be a control deck and that usually doesnt go well these days. I will say though, that reno control priest mirrors is going to look even more retarded than ever.
Have to say, with the benefit of the leaked card dump, priest set next expansion is looking like a complete miss, not that its enjoying itself in any way right now. Both legendaries arent really win cons, and the only card even remotely interesting is mystified tocha
Agreed that rabble bouncer did nothing, because outside of the scenario of a zero mana 2/7 taunt, its basically a terrible card and at 2 damage allows just about any serious card above 1 mana to value trade with it.
If I can play this at 3-4 mana, it's still a good card, on top of lifesteal being such a annoying keyword to face against. As with most meta dependent card obviously its power level is restricted, but its the sort of card that when it works its incredible enough to win games. I'd be surprised if it doesnt see any play whatsoever.
Kil'jaeden - Its a control buster, or a reno buster, because it cant be countered, you cant fatigue, and boomboss cant do shit to you once this is played. The only way to win after this is played is to kill the opponent, and fast. That said, this card is probably not gonna see much play outside of reno decks because 95% of the time you'd either die way before this card is relevant, or you'll just win without it.
Eredar Brute - Its a common card because you just know its gonna get nerfed. And if it doesnt get nerfed its a slap in the face for any and all aggro decks out there that doesnt go tall. Apart of that, its also packs abuse potential with pally and Showdown!, and is not a bad card in its own right anywhere around 5 mana and below.
Lunar Trailblazer - In a way, its another skyla, but I think its redundant. Not only is it inconsistent, but you dont really need so many cards that do the same thing in the deck. Synergy with draenei may make it more relevant.
Astral Vigilant - This card replicates your win con, so obviously its gonna see play
The Exodar - Theres only really one protocol you'll be seeing the most and that's emergency repairs, which will give you armor equal to double the ship's health, which usually means in excess of 10, maybe around 16. There's really not much to say about this card aside from the fact that it'll likely only be seen in druid because 90% of the time you'll either be destroyed before turn 8 or your opponent have assembled a board such that this card barely buys you another turn.
Red Giant - My opinion is that this card is trash. But no way to knowing that until we've seen if outcast dhunter can make a come back
Mutating Lifeform - It'll never see play outside of arena. 8 health is a lot, but its never gonna win you the game so why bother.
Star Vulpera - Obvious reference to starfox. But aside from that Im not seeing this card seeing any play outside of reno decks.
Doommaiden - Its funny, its meme, and its also trash. Reno deck card at best.
Braingill - Staple in murloc decks. Unfortunately, murloc decks havent been meta since the start of sunken city. Not expecting it anytime soon in the near future
Troubled Mechanic - A card that will very nearly see play in all decks simply because draenei tribal tags are so unique it basically tutors your win con.
Space Pirate - Staple in aggro decks because why not. Does what aggro decks wants, and also means you dont have to play Instrument Tech in your deck.
Probably have to get the miniset but its kinda the saddest miniset Ive seen thus far.
Perhaps its an indication of how poor the tourist mechanic really is. Pre-buff, most of the tourist cards are nigh unplayable shite, but yet you simply have to have them because the alternative is to not play the expansion, or indeed the game itself. Not to mention the persistent feeling like the cards for each class are actually designed for the purposes of other classes. Hunter for example may well not even have featured at all this expansion because ironically its cards are better suited in other classes.
Same with this miniset. Not inspiring to me, but yet the two legendary tourist are probably must haves, regardless of how good (or more likely how boring) they are.
Fine Print - The fact that it damages you is unlikely to be a problem. The only issue here is whether this card is straight up better than table flip, which is not only a one sided clear, it also has the potential to be cheaper than 4 mana. I suppose its all down to the meta because 3 health is about the sweet spot for most AoE cards nowadays, if it turns to 4, then this card will take precedence.
Eternal Layover - Its a combination of dead air and psuedo removal. The problem is dead air itself rarely sees play, even at 2 mana, and heres that card thats 2 mana more, with only the cavaet that it also affects non undead. I mean, is this really good enough for 4 mana? I suppose the only way it sees play is that there's a very specific combo with it, or somehow warlock needs something like this.
Clumsy Steward - Ashen elemental saw no play and its the precise problem why this card wont as well in standard. There's simply not many ways to compel the opponent to draw aside from frozen over, which along with this card guarantees removing two cards. And then there's also the issue of whether such a card is even needed at the end of the day, because you just know its a dead card most of the time, bricking your hand with sweet promises and then you get run over by aggro, remove this card from your deck and swear never to play it again.
Soul Searching - Quite powerful in control decks where corpses rarely becomes a problem. In most other decks though its a slightly more expensive tracking. I suppose that in of itself isnt bad. It'll likely see play, best I can say.
The fact that a taunt protects it is only ever relevant in arena where removal isnt just everywhere. In standard competitive however, that is simply never the case. Its nearly impossible to expect this to actually survive for more than the turn its played so theoretically youve just refreshed one minion hoping your opponent has no answers.
As for your commentary on the original cube, I think its safe to say that the requirement for an additional card to trigger it has never really been a problem. Certainly looking back at cubelock, big hunter, etc Ive never gotten the impression that its ever an issue.
I guess we'll see whether this card would be meta when it releases but Im struggling to see it as it is now.
Carnivorous Cubicle - Its not cube, and it will never be cube. The main issue with this card is that its not as versatile as cube was, and is reliant on consecutive turns to take advantage of, whereas cube made its name for giving value the very same turn its played. I just cant see where this card is playable, unkilliax is about the best target but aside from that its basically titans and hail marys.
Trust Fall - At some point theres going to be some crazy combination of cards that'll win you the game, such as leeroy + something else. But more likely this card is just a shite meme card thats played solely for achievements.
Number Cruncher - No reason to believe druid will ever play this, but in warrior its sort of a removal option that'll allow a value trade. Sort of like militia commander, once upon a time
Handle with Bear - And all other cards of this sort. Its completely and utterly useless in druid. No ones gonna want to keep this in hand just so you can play a massive taunt that'll likely get destroyed by one card while you watch from afar with lifeless expression. If even snuggle teddy sees no play, why should this be any different? and you spend 2 mana for the pleasure of bricking your hand.
Vacation Planning - Unfortunately paladin can draw nowadays and even they dont usually play draw cards because its all about maintaining tempo. And this card doesnt help with that too well. 4 mana to put three 1/1 tokens on board can hardly be useful when you consider that muster for battle costs 1 less.
Monkey Business - Practically unplayable in hunter. Its the sort of card for rogue to discover and then buff their board by +7+7, but otherwise its mainly just gonna stuff your hand with near unplayable bananas. Unless handsize is an actual archetype in hunter, this card will never see play. Same goes for shaman and priest.
Envoy of Prosperity - Its for narain and twilight medium, two cards that until now see zero play. Well, need I go on? This card is simply a contrivance to make useless cards less useless. Cant see it. At its best its another amanthul generator, as though as priest cant already generate tons of it without this card's help.
Demonic Deal - Yes, team5 has purposefully created an insane card just to make the failing big dhunter deck viable. Put aside the secondary effect, 2 mana to deal 4 damage with lifesteal? Is this where the next power creep meta is moving towards?
Job Shadower - Playable only in dhunter, because why the fuck would priest need this, and why would they want to build a pain deck just so they can take advantage of this card? Its not even that great. At least in dhunter, they can equip a weapon on 2 and proct this regardless of the pain cards.
Infernal Stapler - It does 9 damage to your face. God save you if you have to swing this into a minion. It'll probably kill you faster than your opponent can. Its sole niche being its obvious combo with aranna, but seriously is this the sort of card you'll want in your deck? Take away the self damage for a second and realise that this is merely fiery war axe with +1 durability, how is this a 3 mana weapon?
In a sane world this could have been a 4/2 for 3 mana and it'll still not be overpowered.
Portalmancer Skyla - One of the few cards with bafflingly poor art that Ive seen across hearthstone's history. Its like a human in one of those plastic felt fursuits. But the card itself, well its good in big spell mage, and could finally make the archetype playable.
Burndown - Its a better arcane intellect specifically for decks that play small spells or cards. It'll probably see play but I doubt it'll be anyway a good card because in a hearthstone meta where draw is no longer a class niche, this card is simply just a more efficient card than arcane intellect, which itself is mostly a middling card at best.
Huddle Up - Just another one of those cards you need to cheat out and even then you'll likely be left scratching your head. There's no reason whatsoever for this card to see play, because the naga pool is just dreadful to begin with. And if youre gonna cheat this out, wouldnt it be better just to cheat out tsunami instead?
Sharp Shipment - The only reason why this card cost 4 is because of sonya, perhaps one of those poor design choices because nowadays every card in rogue revolves around sonya. Even then this card can easily be reduced to 1 by sandbox scoundrel, but I guess there's not much you can do because the alternative would be to make this a 5 mana card. Will this see play? Well, Im not sure. Because sonya rogue is one of those decks that only ever works in high legend and yet remaining shit in most other brackets.
I will say this: If I were team5 Id be seriously thinking about nerfing sonya because its getting ridiculous. Its like we cant ever have cards properly costed in rogue because theres always a chance it turns into an OTK out of nowhere.
Robocaller - This looks so much like a neutral card masquerading as a rogue card, but I suppose if you need filler cards for classes then this ones it. What with rogue having to share cards with paladin and mage now, its unsurprising that you eventually see cards like these that have absolutely no reason to exist.
Interesting flavour, interesting concept, but because of its very inconsistent nature its nigh unplayable. At least in paladin you can sort of justify this because that class cant really draw, but as a rogue card its just plain redundant even at its best. The only surprising thing about this card is that its not the mandatory useless epic from minisets, which does not bode well for the yet to be revealed card.
So shaman is the only class that gets to use cards from two different classes this expansion. Might as well I suppose, given that hunter couldnt even use theirs.
Travelmaster Dungar - Its basically master oakheart, which will likely be abused further because its not really difficult to build decks with specific minions from specific expansions. Will it see play though? Probably not, because its rather difficult to imagine playing a 9 mana card which is dependent on you not drawing the key cards intended to be brought up.
Imployee of the Month - Gotta respect lifesteal but its such a shitty card to be honest. If there isnt some crazy demon that does AoE at the end of the turn, that can be targetted, then this card is just thrash.
Brochure cards - You'll only ever see the dalaran version of it, and you'll likely hate druid all the more, if you havent already.
Turbulus - Might actually unironically make elemental shaman work. Maybe. But Id imagine its just gonna be yet another method to abuse sasquawk even further in a class that can copy minions.
Well its not surprising that microsoft is already pushing its fingers into the hearthstone pie and decided, like they always do with other developer studios, that the franchise needs to make more money.
So less free stuff (board, music etc.), stuff of which adds to the flavour of the expansion but otherwise generates zero revenue, and more monetization (board with pets. etc.)
It'll be interesting for sure to see what theyre gonna do next, because the game is slowly fizzling out and I wouldnt be too surprise to see hearthstone 2 come out in the near future, generate some hype, and then get overwhelmingly poor reviews like all of blizz stuff tend to get these days.
Ah yes, the most toxic set has now arrived, let's have a look;
Mistah Vistah - Normally youd look at cards like this and just laugh. There's no chance druid can survive three turns playing nothing but spells. Unfortunately for those who are facing them, druid has access to some of the most broken spells + armor gain that it is completely possible that they not only survive past three turns, they'll be so ahead you might as well just concede. Frost lotus seedling by itself is already 10 armor, let alone sleep under the stars. So we can expect a possible gain of 25 armor + massive ramp ahead and/or few extra taunt minions.
Sleep Under the Stars - It is really cards like these that make people hate the class, and now its granted to both warrior and druid, you'd be praying hard that team5 doesnt ever nerf sailboat captain.
New Heights - As if the experience of facing guff wasnt bad enough, here's basically guff in spell form that cost 2 mana less. I mean come on team5. I hope you understand that there are other classes that want to actually play the late game too.
Hydration Station - A good card that will fit both classes. If youre gonna play high value taunts then this card is perhaps a decent shout at doing so. For druid, it may be the only late game option theyre gonna have aside from spamming eonar.
Dozing Dragon - Its not bad, but not good neither. I cant see this card seeing much play, but perhaps druid ramps so fast that this card might actually make the cut. Spawning 3/5 taunts every turn can hardly be dismissed.
Bouldering Buddy - Taken in isolation its a poor card. But armed with the knowledge that druid prob ramps as fast as lightning you'll probably see this card played more often than not.
Tortollan Traveler - Unironically the only normal card to have been printed for druid this expansion. Probably wont see play outside of warrior, because druid would want to dominate the late game. Whether warrior will bother with it though? Perhaps.
Trail Mix - Its gonna get nerfed. Might as well hang on to as many of this cards because there's no chance things like this dont get nerfed. Being able to essentially innervate the next turn is as broken as it gets for decks that rely on late game.
So, is druid gonna be toxic as fuck next expansion? Probably not, because warrior will beat them to it. For all the bile I spit at druid's face, there really isnt that many late game options that class can actually do right now, but warrior though...is filled with nothing but late game options in the form of odyn, brann, boomboss, etc. And here team5 just printed for them a ton of ramp cards of which to take full advantage of it. Yes, the druid cards are gonna get looked at, because there's no chance you dont nerf the shit out of at least two cards here, but ironically it wont be because of druid.
But what I really hate about this design is that yet again we see druid being forced into playing this bs feast or famine playstyle that has plagued the class everytime ramp spells go one step further up. Because look at this fucking set - youre either destroying druid/warrior in the first 6 turns or you get steamrolled. And in between that they ramp 4 mana above yours and gain 30 armor because why not?
Hamm, the Hungry - I love the idea, the art, and the fact that hes chewing on an oversized joint but honestly, this card isnt really good. It'll see play because it enables druid cards, and it still does remove a minion from your opponent's deck, but the keyword here is deck, not hand. Furthermore, this card is merely a 5/5 at the of the turn. What made mutanus good wasnt simply because of the hand interaction but also because he gains usually more stats than a typical 7 cost card. Hammy here doesnt, and at 6 mana there's little to no chance he survives till the next turn.
Draconic Delicacy - If you get this in arena, you probably just auto win from that point. This card is a menace in that format. In standard however, not so much. Yes, it'll remove something and it'll take another 5 extra hits to remove, but at the end not only is this card slow, its also no guarantees that it'll keep you alive while you play it.
Small chance you buff it up to all hell, your opponent plays yogg and you immediately concede. Yes, that's another unfortunate consideration.
Food Fight - 3 mana to do nothing but grant a 6 health token to your opponent. Against stuff like pally or shaman this will straight up kill you. In most other cases though, its a good card if you can get it to work consistently. My money is on the negative.
Char - Not good, but mostly because its redundant in a class that already have tons of removal options that are better. Even hunter doesnt need this crap.
Undercooked Calamari - Good in handbuff decks, useless without it. I dont see how this card will see play in either hunter or warrior.
All You Can Eat - Probably one of the best cards for warrior, if not straight up the best. Draw three cards for 3, in warrior, is premium. Even in hunter itll see some play. Seems like the power level of cards have yet again reach new heights.
Muensterosity - It has taunt, and if cheated out this card can actually win you the game. The problem though is when you dont cheat it out. Even if you do, I doubt itll take over the meta anytime soon.
Line Cook - Perhaps its deliberate that this card doesnt have a tribal tag. But really, I dont see where this card is actually good. Even in the current taunt warrior, its not like the class has no card draw or value options. Considering that the wind-up cards never saw any play, there's no reason to believe this card would turn tables anytime soon.
Cup o' Muscle - Any drink cards that cost 1 will surely see some form of play, because why not? It gives decent stat buffs for 1 mana, and you can do it three times. If bunch of bananas can see play, why wouldnt this one?
Overall, I think warrior cards are fine. But I see more application in hunter than in warrior itself. Team5 seems to be pushing warrior hard towards either menagerie or taunt warrior, both of which are tier 4 decks at their time. Perhaps it'll work this time? Well, at least hunter wouldnt be disappointed.
Let's start with the starship pieces. I think it fits very conveniently into wheelock, and that's likely the main reason for it working in the class. Basically, the ship pieces Felfire Thrusters and Heart of the Legion are naturally defensive cards and can never realistically be a build around, more like support cards that enable win cons to work, like Wheel of DEATH!!!
As for the other cards;
Bad Omen - Its just another card you play in starship decks and nowhere else. At least the demons have taunt. Not much else to say about this card. If youre putting starship cards in your deck, then might as well play this card.
Healthstone - Maybe Im missing something here, but this card is likely trash. Why play this when you can just play Felstring Harp or Void Virtuoso? The only thing going for this is that youre actually taking damage, so it can realistically trigger pain cards while also healing you back, but for two card slots in your deck + the fact that its otherwise useless, I cant see it. At least void virtuoso is a 1 mana 1/3.
Abduction Ray - Yes, its to power up Archimonde, and yes its also not worth it. Spend mana to skip your turn in hopes of getting good demons out of a pool of traditionally poor cards. For every sargeras, there's like four flame imps waiting as you play this.
K'ara, the Dark Star - The good news is that warlock traditionally has access to plenty of cheap shadow spells. The drawback? Well, most of them are either not very good or comes with drawbacks like self damage. K'ara itself isnt all that great neither, but since its possible to steal from the enemy hero, there might well be something to this card that is not yet know.
Think its safe to say that deathrattle triggers that dont increase value or at very least keep the initial minion alive is very much an unfavourable option. At least desecrated graveyard actually gives additional value, not that the card itself sees much play when it was in standard.
Besides, with Yelling Yodeler still in standard, most if not all the time, I find my deathrattle minions being popped by my opponent.
As for the starship comment, if your opponent simply ignores it on field, then surely that's no downside to you anyway. Only a few classes can remove the minions without triggering it, I doubt this card is that important that it needs to be included into all hunter starship decks.
Exarch Naielle - At first glance you'd think this is a good card, because it virtually allows you to discover/draw a card for 1 mana each turn. But to me the downsides of losing your hp is way worse than drawing cards. Since when has tracking been that great to begin with? Far as I know, its usually cut from hunter decks these days, its win rate isnt even that great.
Gorm the Worldeater - Its just trash unfortunately. If slagmaw sees zero play what makes anyone think this one even has a chance? Doesnt even have rush, so you cant even use the very flavourful Always a Bigger Jormungar when it goes active.
Extraterrestrial Egg - Alien reference, got to love it. The card itself is better than most other eggs so theres that I suppose.
Alright hunter's set looks bad to me. First lets address the discover synergies, I simply dont think these are good enough. Its too centered on getting naielle up early, because the synergy cards are not good without a cheap discover card, of which there arent really that many to begin with. Not to mention, what exactly is the win con here? Having given up the 2 damage hp, you'd hope that hunter gets some extra damage cards for discovering all this stuff, but all we get is parallax cannon and alien encounters, both of which are too contrived to work consistently.
As for the ship synergies, that's anyones guess. Might work because of biopod, but might also just be a dud because youd get destroyed by aggro and you'll never outvalue the likes of druid or warrior.
Askara - Im really not sure what this can do in standard that makes it worthwhile. From the set, youd think the idea is to drop Shield of Askara on curve and develop two massively defensive cards on board but surely thats simply not worthwhile, especially since the shield isnt even that good on its own. Perhaps new velen? But Im yet to see where the win cons coming from. At least in wild, we can be sure this card can combo well with OG velen.
Overzealous Healer - Its going into zarimi priest but we dont even know if anyones even interested in playing zarimi priest to begin with. Not to mention the horrible synergy this thing has with velen, the only way this card sees play outside of a tempo priest is somehow Embrace the Shadow is back in standard.
Gravity Lapse - Its mainly to trigger spellburst, that is to say if its played at all. To be honest, if this wasnt zero mana it'll be hot garbage, and even at zero mana its still a baffling inclusion
Shield of Askara - Lifesteal, taunt, and divine shield should always be respected. However, at a day and age where removal cards are way too common, the only thing this card is accomplishing is theoretically stopping aggro, and at all other situations remains a massive brick in your hand thats difficult to play.
K'ure, the Light Beyond - Synergy with cheap holy spells. This expansion: no cheap holy spells. Pretty much sums up the shit situation with poor k'ure. When one considers how viable Raylla, Sand Sculptor is currently, it really doesnt bode well for this card. The only way this card even remotely sees any sort of play is somehow overheal priest feels inserting a card like this just for tempo is actually a good idea.
Mystified To'cha - The only card with any sort of respectability because theres a near zero chance this card doesnt trigger at some point in the game, probably prompting your opponent to tilt. That said, will this card actually see any play though? That ones a tough sell, because its likely going to be a control deck and that usually doesnt go well these days. I will say though, that reno control priest mirrors is going to look even more retarded than ever.
Have to say, with the benefit of the leaked card dump, priest set next expansion is looking like a complete miss, not that its enjoying itself in any way right now. Both legendaries arent really win cons, and the only card even remotely interesting is mystified tocha
Agreed that rabble bouncer did nothing, because outside of the scenario of a zero mana 2/7 taunt, its basically a terrible card and at 2 damage allows just about any serious card above 1 mana to value trade with it.
If I can play this at 3-4 mana, it's still a good card, on top of lifesteal being such a annoying keyword to face against. As with most meta dependent card obviously its power level is restricted, but its the sort of card that when it works its incredible enough to win games. I'd be surprised if it doesnt see any play whatsoever.
Kil'jaeden - Its a control buster, or a reno buster, because it cant be countered, you cant fatigue, and boomboss cant do shit to you once this is played. The only way to win after this is played is to kill the opponent, and fast. That said, this card is probably not gonna see much play outside of reno decks because 95% of the time you'd either die way before this card is relevant, or you'll just win without it.
Eredar Brute - Its a common card because you just know its gonna get nerfed. And if it doesnt get nerfed its a slap in the face for any and all aggro decks out there that doesnt go tall. Apart of that, its also packs abuse potential with pally and Showdown!, and is not a bad card in its own right anywhere around 5 mana and below.
Lunar Trailblazer - In a way, its another skyla, but I think its redundant. Not only is it inconsistent, but you dont really need so many cards that do the same thing in the deck. Synergy with draenei may make it more relevant.
Astral Vigilant - This card replicates your win con, so obviously its gonna see play
The Exodar - Theres only really one protocol you'll be seeing the most and that's emergency repairs, which will give you armor equal to double the ship's health, which usually means in excess of 10, maybe around 16. There's really not much to say about this card aside from the fact that it'll likely only be seen in druid because 90% of the time you'll either be destroyed before turn 8 or your opponent have assembled a board such that this card barely buys you another turn.
Red Giant - My opinion is that this card is trash. But no way to knowing that until we've seen if outcast dhunter can make a come back
Mutating Lifeform - It'll never see play outside of arena. 8 health is a lot, but its never gonna win you the game so why bother.
Star Vulpera - Obvious reference to starfox. But aside from that Im not seeing this card seeing any play outside of reno decks.
Doommaiden - Its funny, its meme, and its also trash. Reno deck card at best.
Braingill - Staple in murloc decks. Unfortunately, murloc decks havent been meta since the start of sunken city. Not expecting it anytime soon in the near future
Troubled Mechanic - A card that will very nearly see play in all decks simply because draenei tribal tags are so unique it basically tutors your win con.
Space Pirate - Staple in aggro decks because why not. Does what aggro decks wants, and also means you dont have to play Instrument Tech in your deck.
Exodar protocols:
Is outofcards going to go through with the reveal season as if the dump didnt happen?
Because there are still some cards with vague enough wordings that we'll never know what the card does until its revealed.
Well at least this website captured it.
Does make the entire reveal season kinda shit now, but at least we wont be kept waiting.
Probably have to get the miniset but its kinda the saddest miniset Ive seen thus far.
Perhaps its an indication of how poor the tourist mechanic really is. Pre-buff, most of the tourist cards are nigh unplayable shite, but yet you simply have to have them because the alternative is to not play the expansion, or indeed the game itself. Not to mention the persistent feeling like the cards for each class are actually designed for the purposes of other classes. Hunter for example may well not even have featured at all this expansion because ironically its cards are better suited in other classes.
Same with this miniset. Not inspiring to me, but yet the two legendary tourist are probably must haves, regardless of how good (or more likely how boring) they are.
Fine Print - The fact that it damages you is unlikely to be a problem. The only issue here is whether this card is straight up better than table flip, which is not only a one sided clear, it also has the potential to be cheaper than 4 mana. I suppose its all down to the meta because 3 health is about the sweet spot for most AoE cards nowadays, if it turns to 4, then this card will take precedence.
Eternal Layover - Its a combination of dead air and psuedo removal. The problem is dead air itself rarely sees play, even at 2 mana, and heres that card thats 2 mana more, with only the cavaet that it also affects non undead. I mean, is this really good enough for 4 mana? I suppose the only way it sees play is that there's a very specific combo with it, or somehow warlock needs something like this.
Clumsy Steward - Ashen elemental saw no play and its the precise problem why this card wont as well in standard. There's simply not many ways to compel the opponent to draw aside from frozen over, which along with this card guarantees removing two cards. And then there's also the issue of whether such a card is even needed at the end of the day, because you just know its a dead card most of the time, bricking your hand with sweet promises and then you get run over by aggro, remove this card from your deck and swear never to play it again.
Soul Searching - Quite powerful in control decks where corpses rarely becomes a problem. In most other decks though its a slightly more expensive tracking. I suppose that in of itself isnt bad. It'll likely see play, best I can say.
The fact that a taunt protects it is only ever relevant in arena where removal isnt just everywhere. In standard competitive however, that is simply never the case. Its nearly impossible to expect this to actually survive for more than the turn its played so theoretically youve just refreshed one minion hoping your opponent has no answers.
As for your commentary on the original cube, I think its safe to say that the requirement for an additional card to trigger it has never really been a problem. Certainly looking back at cubelock, big hunter, etc Ive never gotten the impression that its ever an issue.
I guess we'll see whether this card would be meta when it releases but Im struggling to see it as it is now.
Carnivorous Cubicle - Its not cube, and it will never be cube. The main issue with this card is that its not as versatile as cube was, and is reliant on consecutive turns to take advantage of, whereas cube made its name for giving value the very same turn its played. I just cant see where this card is playable, unkilliax is about the best target but aside from that its basically titans and hail marys.
Trust Fall - At some point theres going to be some crazy combination of cards that'll win you the game, such as leeroy + something else. But more likely this card is just a shite meme card thats played solely for achievements.
Number Cruncher - No reason to believe druid will ever play this, but in warrior its sort of a removal option that'll allow a value trade. Sort of like militia commander, once upon a time
Handle with Bear - And all other cards of this sort. Its completely and utterly useless in druid. No ones gonna want to keep this in hand just so you can play a massive taunt that'll likely get destroyed by one card while you watch from afar with lifeless expression. If even snuggle teddy sees no play, why should this be any different? and you spend 2 mana for the pleasure of bricking your hand.
Vacation Planning - Unfortunately paladin can draw nowadays and even they dont usually play draw cards because its all about maintaining tempo. And this card doesnt help with that too well. 4 mana to put three 1/1 tokens on board can hardly be useful when you consider that muster for battle costs 1 less.
Monkey Business - Practically unplayable in hunter. Its the sort of card for rogue to discover and then buff their board by +7+7, but otherwise its mainly just gonna stuff your hand with near unplayable bananas. Unless handsize is an actual archetype in hunter, this card will never see play. Same goes for shaman and priest.
Envoy of Prosperity - Its for narain and twilight medium, two cards that until now see zero play. Well, need I go on? This card is simply a contrivance to make useless cards less useless. Cant see it. At its best its another amanthul generator, as though as priest cant already generate tons of it without this card's help.
Demonic Deal - Yes, team5 has purposefully created an insane card just to make the failing big dhunter deck viable. Put aside the secondary effect, 2 mana to deal 4 damage with lifesteal? Is this where the next power creep meta is moving towards?
Job Shadower - Playable only in dhunter, because why the fuck would priest need this, and why would they want to build a pain deck just so they can take advantage of this card? Its not even that great. At least in dhunter, they can equip a weapon on 2 and proct this regardless of the pain cards.
Infernal Stapler - It does 9 damage to your face. God save you if you have to swing this into a minion. It'll probably kill you faster than your opponent can. Its sole niche being its obvious combo with aranna, but seriously is this the sort of card you'll want in your deck? Take away the self damage for a second and realise that this is merely fiery war axe with +1 durability, how is this a 3 mana weapon?
In a sane world this could have been a 4/2 for 3 mana and it'll still not be overpowered.
Portalmancer Skyla - One of the few cards with bafflingly poor art that Ive seen across hearthstone's history. Its like a human in one of those plastic felt fursuits. But the card itself, well its good in big spell mage, and could finally make the archetype playable.
Burndown - Its a better arcane intellect specifically for decks that play small spells or cards. It'll probably see play but I doubt it'll be anyway a good card because in a hearthstone meta where draw is no longer a class niche, this card is simply just a more efficient card than arcane intellect, which itself is mostly a middling card at best.
Huddle Up - Just another one of those cards you need to cheat out and even then you'll likely be left scratching your head. There's no reason whatsoever for this card to see play, because the naga pool is just dreadful to begin with. And if youre gonna cheat this out, wouldnt it be better just to cheat out tsunami instead?
Sharp Shipment - The only reason why this card cost 4 is because of sonya, perhaps one of those poor design choices because nowadays every card in rogue revolves around sonya. Even then this card can easily be reduced to 1 by sandbox scoundrel, but I guess there's not much you can do because the alternative would be to make this a 5 mana card. Will this see play? Well, Im not sure. Because sonya rogue is one of those decks that only ever works in high legend and yet remaining shit in most other brackets.
I will say this: If I were team5 Id be seriously thinking about nerfing sonya because its getting ridiculous. Its like we cant ever have cards properly costed in rogue because theres always a chance it turns into an OTK out of nowhere.
Robocaller - This looks so much like a neutral card masquerading as a rogue card, but I suppose if you need filler cards for classes then this ones it. What with rogue having to share cards with paladin and mage now, its unsurprising that you eventually see cards like these that have absolutely no reason to exist.
Interesting flavour, interesting concept, but because of its very inconsistent nature its nigh unplayable. At least in paladin you can sort of justify this because that class cant really draw, but as a rogue card its just plain redundant even at its best. The only surprising thing about this card is that its not the mandatory useless epic from minisets, which does not bode well for the yet to be revealed card.
So shaman is the only class that gets to use cards from two different classes this expansion. Might as well I suppose, given that hunter couldnt even use theirs.
Travelmaster Dungar - Its basically master oakheart, which will likely be abused further because its not really difficult to build decks with specific minions from specific expansions. Will it see play though? Probably not, because its rather difficult to imagine playing a 9 mana card which is dependent on you not drawing the key cards intended to be brought up.
Dreamplanner Zephrys -
Yeah its good
Imployee of the Month - Gotta respect lifesteal but its such a shitty card to be honest. If there isnt some crazy demon that does AoE at the end of the turn, that can be targetted, then this card is just thrash.
Brochure cards - You'll only ever see the dalaran version of it, and you'll likely hate druid all the more, if you havent already.
Turbulus - Might actually unironically make elemental shaman work. Maybe. But Id imagine its just gonna be yet another method to abuse sasquawk even further in a class that can copy minions.
Well its not surprising that microsoft is already pushing its fingers into the hearthstone pie and decided, like they always do with other developer studios, that the franchise needs to make more money.
So less free stuff (board, music etc.), stuff of which adds to the flavour of the expansion but otherwise generates zero revenue, and more monetization (board with pets. etc.)
It'll be interesting for sure to see what theyre gonna do next, because the game is slowly fizzling out and I wouldnt be too surprise to see hearthstone 2 come out in the near future, generate some hype, and then get overwhelmingly poor reviews like all of blizz stuff tend to get these days.
Ah yes, the most toxic set has now arrived, let's have a look;
Mistah Vistah - Normally youd look at cards like this and just laugh. There's no chance druid can survive three turns playing nothing but spells. Unfortunately for those who are facing them, druid has access to some of the most broken spells + armor gain that it is completely possible that they not only survive past three turns, they'll be so ahead you might as well just concede. Frost lotus seedling by itself is already 10 armor, let alone sleep under the stars. So we can expect a possible gain of 25 armor + massive ramp ahead and/or few extra taunt minions.
Sleep Under the Stars - It is really cards like these that make people hate the class, and now its granted to both warrior and druid, you'd be praying hard that team5 doesnt ever nerf sailboat captain.
New Heights - As if the experience of facing guff wasnt bad enough, here's basically guff in spell form that cost 2 mana less. I mean come on team5. I hope you understand that there are other classes that want to actually play the late game too.
Hydration Station - A good card that will fit both classes. If youre gonna play high value taunts then this card is perhaps a decent shout at doing so. For druid, it may be the only late game option theyre gonna have aside from spamming eonar.
Dozing Dragon - Its not bad, but not good neither. I cant see this card seeing much play, but perhaps druid ramps so fast that this card might actually make the cut. Spawning 3/5 taunts every turn can hardly be dismissed.
Bouldering Buddy - Taken in isolation its a poor card. But armed with the knowledge that druid prob ramps as fast as lightning you'll probably see this card played more often than not.
Tortollan Traveler - Unironically the only normal card to have been printed for druid this expansion. Probably wont see play outside of warrior, because druid would want to dominate the late game. Whether warrior will bother with it though? Perhaps.
Trail Mix - Its gonna get nerfed. Might as well hang on to as many of this cards because there's no chance things like this dont get nerfed. Being able to essentially innervate the next turn is as broken as it gets for decks that rely on late game.
So, is druid gonna be toxic as fuck next expansion? Probably not, because warrior will beat them to it. For all the bile I spit at druid's face, there really isnt that many late game options that class can actually do right now, but warrior though...is filled with nothing but late game options in the form of odyn, brann, boomboss, etc. And here team5 just printed for them a ton of ramp cards of which to take full advantage of it. Yes, the druid cards are gonna get looked at, because there's no chance you dont nerf the shit out of at least two cards here, but ironically it wont be because of druid.
But what I really hate about this design is that yet again we see druid being forced into playing this bs feast or famine playstyle that has plagued the class everytime ramp spells go one step further up. Because look at this fucking set - youre either destroying druid/warrior in the first 6 turns or you get steamrolled. And in between that they ramp 4 mana above yours and gain 30 armor because why not?
Hamm, the Hungry - I love the idea, the art, and the fact that hes chewing on an oversized joint but honestly, this card isnt really good. It'll see play because it enables druid cards, and it still does remove a minion from your opponent's deck, but the keyword here is deck, not hand. Furthermore, this card is merely a 5/5 at the of the turn. What made mutanus good wasnt simply because of the hand interaction but also because he gains usually more stats than a typical 7 cost card. Hammy here doesnt, and at 6 mana there's little to no chance he survives till the next turn.
Draconic Delicacy - If you get this in arena, you probably just auto win from that point. This card is a menace in that format. In standard however, not so much. Yes, it'll remove something and it'll take another 5 extra hits to remove, but at the end not only is this card slow, its also no guarantees that it'll keep you alive while you play it.
Small chance you buff it up to all hell, your opponent plays yogg and you immediately concede. Yes, that's another unfortunate consideration.
Food Fight - 3 mana to do nothing but grant a 6 health token to your opponent. Against stuff like pally or shaman this will straight up kill you. In most other cases though, its a good card if you can get it to work consistently. My money is on the negative.
Char - Not good, but mostly because its redundant in a class that already have tons of removal options that are better. Even hunter doesnt need this crap.
Undercooked Calamari - Good in handbuff decks, useless without it. I dont see how this card will see play in either hunter or warrior.
All You Can Eat - Probably one of the best cards for warrior, if not straight up the best. Draw three cards for 3, in warrior, is premium. Even in hunter itll see some play. Seems like the power level of cards have yet again reach new heights.
Muensterosity - It has taunt, and if cheated out this card can actually win you the game. The problem though is when you dont cheat it out. Even if you do, I doubt itll take over the meta anytime soon.
Line Cook - Perhaps its deliberate that this card doesnt have a tribal tag. But really, I dont see where this card is actually good. Even in the current taunt warrior, its not like the class has no card draw or value options. Considering that the wind-up cards never saw any play, there's no reason to believe this card would turn tables anytime soon.
Cup o' Muscle - Any drink cards that cost 1 will surely see some form of play, because why not? It gives decent stat buffs for 1 mana, and you can do it three times. If bunch of bananas can see play, why wouldnt this one?
Overall, I think warrior cards are fine. But I see more application in hunter than in warrior itself. Team5 seems to be pushing warrior hard towards either menagerie or taunt warrior, both of which are tier 4 decks at their time. Perhaps it'll work this time? Well, at least hunter wouldnt be disappointed.
Seems to be that way, thanks for the clarification