There's about 5 more rogue cards left, so there's bound to be at least 2 secrets, because the current crop of secrets in rogue are fairly abysmal.
Either way, this card is fairly unamazing, but will likely see play as long as secret rogue does. Dont let the deathrattle fool you, there's little to no chance of rogue playing its deathrattle support cards along with this because its nearly impossible to fit both packages into a winning deck. The only worthy support card that will feature in both secret rogue would be Counterfeit Blade, and even then its would be mostly for the 8 damage.
Unless of course the secrets themselves synergizes with deathrattles, but at this point I regard any form of optimism for rogue deathrattle support to be mere sad cases of delusion brought upon by repeated let downs.
I personally don't see anything wrong with team5 revisiting old card effects. And its not like this is the first nor shall it be the last.
The artwork is to me a bigger problem because the gargon companions artwork is fairly poor, with no personality. Misha has taunt, huffer has charge, that makes sense thematically because the former is a bear and the latter's a wild boar. Hecutis and Margore might as well have been the same beast. They could've make one look large, imposing and the other sleek but rushing. Is this something to do with the lore that they look so boring?
It might end up being a card every player must have/craft because the only counter to this is by playing your own theotar.
I'm under the impression the devs expects Renathal to be the counterplay here.
Theothar heavily punish "one trick pony" decklist; meanwhile Renathal allow such deck to become "two trick pony" by adding 9 more cards to their list.
Seems sane to me.
Being able to add 9 additional cards doesn't mean any one of them would be a win con. As we are currently experiencing, something like quest hunter still only has one, despite having more cards.
In my opinion, if you manage to take away a key card like hero cards, Brilliant Macaw, even something as simply as brann, that's already a pretty good trade in your favor. Only in very rare situations like prestor or ramp druid does one card maketh a whole deck.
And if they did take away a key card, having spent 4 mana chances are they cant play it right away, so you have a chance at nicking it back with your mad duke.
This is one mean card. Practically counters combo decks, and in some cases might well just solo games. If you steal your opponent's hero card I think the game is over...unless you use your own theotar to steal it back.
It might end up being a card every player must have/craft because the only counter to this is by playing your own theotar. So much so that if its play rate climbs exponentially beyond anyone's expectation team5 might well be pressured to nerf it just so we dont end up with games decided by this card's rng.
Does it have a downside? I mean, we've been practically playing mutanus despite its 7 mana cost simply because it can sometimes take out a key minion from your opponent's hand. And now team5 just printed something that does the same, but cheaper, and infinitely more consistent. I personally think it'll be in every deck from day 1 and then it'll get nerfed to 5 mana.
You may argue that it hard counters druid decks. For that alone, I rate this a 5/5.
Its hard to evaluate this one, because the stats suck, and the effect may well end up doing nothing. In effect this card is basically like mutanus, except with a chance of backfiring.
But to me this is one legendary that might be mandatory to have because it offers a chance to nullify your opponent's theotar, or a chance to even the odds in case you lose something really key. Imagine losing your hero card to this; the only possible chance of winning at this point might well be to steal it back or to steal something equally important.
I personally like this card because it practically counters druids, particularly the Celestial Alignment kind. Hmmm...now that I think about it, this might actually replace mutanus from now onwards, because of its lower cost. I think I know what shaman deck I'll be playing on day 1.
Because if they made it against enemies then the keyword may well end up being a flop because you have no agency or control over it. Overkill, honor kill, and frenzy were largely ignored because you're depending on your opponent's gameplan. And because all it takes is a minion dying, having all dead things contribute to infuse punishes your opponent for playing minions, so that's not acceptable either.
It doesn't have to make sense. Frenzy for example makes zero sense thematically, especially considering what they pasted it on. The only prerequisite to being good is both impact and consistency. I think the idea that your own dead stuff providing you the anima for an powerup makes some sense at least.
5/5 stars. Dont care whether it'll be part of the next meta, but for its mere existence its already gratifying.
It'll do 2 damage to face by default and is highly likely to do more to certain classes like druid, rogue or mage; classes of which having no trouble inserting their dick where its not wanted via incredible rng, ramp bs, or simply plain annoying gameplans.
Of course, the card is not guaranteed to be in every deck. Play this against an aggro or midrange deck and very likely you've just shafted yourself. The fact that the effect only last a turn also simply delays their plans. And as always, decks that tend to draw fast also tend to gain health fairly easily, like druid or priest.
But as a tech in an aggro-midrange deck against control and combo? Its just possible to deal somewhere around 4-8 damage or perhaps forcing your opponent to be less efficient, which will likely grant you an incredible advantage. The fact that it'll do 2 damage regardless of what your opponent does means this card will at very least do something, so that's meaningful if nothing else.
This thing is such a hard counter to certain classes, and I wish we had this earlier. Would have made for quite a nice tech card against annoying as hell classes like mage drawing their whole deck, garrote bs, and of course the ever present druid hell.
Makes aggro decks perhaps a little better in the end game against control, but certainly raining hell on combo decks.
10/10, even if it doesn't become meta. Its like Platebreaker. The game is a whole lot better with it than without regardless of its actual viability.
I'll be honest here; even if this was the only full clear in priest it'll still likely be snubbed.
Because at its core, its simply Shadow Word: Ruin in reverse, and costing one more incidentally. However, aggro games have gotten to the point where if your removal costs more than 4 you might as well just tap concede. Even warlock tends to struggle against faster games, but at least in that class there's plenty of cheap removal to stall, which priest does not have.
And then there's the upgrade. How on earth this is accomplished in such a way that it does not backfire on your own minions? Quest priest tends to play plenty of minions themselves, and this card eliminates them, making it a card you'll only ever play if youre behind, and for a deck with 80% minions in it, that's a major problem. And in pure control decks this card will rarely ever get infused, never mind being played.
Just play Lightbomb. Cost one more but does the job without fuss. Or Shadow Word: Ruin for big minions and condemn for smaller ones.
This card has potential to be fairly cancerous, but for the time being its likely not as good as it seem.
Mostly because it disrupts the Jerry Rig Carpenter into Nourish gameplan, which nearly all druids bar aggro rely on. And I dont see a world where having two 8 mana cost cards that only ever does one thing win the game for you.
But it does add some consistency into celestial alignment druid so perhaps its worth it. And cards like these almost always tend to work because it adds to druid's consistency, just about the only weakness the class has or ever will have apparently.
Probably stuff druid simply does not need, but I can see a world where this is played.
The problem is that most druid spells dont tend to be good removal so if youre playing from behind chances are good this card will only ever delay your death, not resolve it in the same manner that Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron or Rune of the Archmage does. But it will likely gain you a bunch of armor, or draw, which is something, even if I dont respect it.
Still, let's be honest here. This 10 mana card can come as early as turn 6 at times so even if the effect isn't that great, its still more than enough impact on turn 6 when your opponent can barely react to whatever bs this thing does.
Probably not good, mainly because if you're running this you're playing control so what exactly is infusing this card? So on top of draw rng, there's just times where this card cant do shit because you havent any minions on board or hand to make this card properly work.
Just play Lightbomb, which though costing 1 more at very least does the job without further fuss. The harsh reality is that Shadow Word: Ruin might actually end up seeing more play than this card would.
Its certainly powerful, but likely its not going to be much played as we think it would be.
Because on first glance, this card greatly adds to Celestial Alignment's consistency, being able to either play alignment or anacondra. But because its a choose one spell, its disrupting the usual Jerry Rig Carpenter -> Nourish, enough so I feel the deck would actually lose win rates because of it.
And then there's the fact that the card is simply worthless if you already have the combo pieces in your hand, a dangerous thing for a class preyed on by aggro decks.
Seriously team5, can you please design druids so that they actually play hearthstone, instead of printing single player cards for them all the time.
The irony of this is that druid spells aren't especially good at removing things so half the time it'll either be ramp or board development, and the other half it would be gaining armor and drawing cards.
In other words, this card is just useless unless you're facing burn, or youre particularly ahead. But since druid tends to play shit like these much earlier than most classes can respond, you cant rightfully write it off even if its inconsistent with its impact.
The real problem here is why even bother doing it? Because if you could play a 10 mana cost card, you're better off just playing the slew of stupid shit from druid that would actually win you the game, instead of a card like this. Mage played puzzlebox because that's a win con; this on the other hand is not.
I remember giving Anchored Totem a thumbs down when it was first introduced but at the start of sunken city I was actually surprised at how well it worked in a sort of aggro/token shell. Perhaps, and that's again, perhaps, that's where totem aggro shaman is heading towards.
Flooding board is still a viable strat, and Im not saying stonewright will suddenly take over the meta with a party totem being its vizier, but its intriguing enough to me that at some point within the next 1.5 years we might actually have a totem aggro deck where both these cards being actual winners.
I think this is just another case whereby there's clearly a better archetype (murlocs) but if you really really want to just play totem shaman, then I can see it happening, and this card would be a key player in it.
Just more support for totem shaman. Yes it might be crap, but because of cards like these you can actually build a deck around totems and expect it to be around tier 2-3, which is saying alot given how terrible certain decks can actually get.
The fact that you can use Amalgam of the Deep to get more of this at a decent consistency makes it more interesting. All we need now is a reason to believe that totems can actually survive past the turn theyre played, and hey that may actually come true in the next 1.5 years. So here's to hoping.
But for now, if you want to win just play murlocs. Clownfish does the same, and better.
I dont hate it. But at the same time I just dont think there's enough reasons to run this card, aside from the fact that you really want to play totem aggro shaman.
The main problem here isn't really what this thing does, or the fact that you only summon basic totems, but because murlocs do the job a hell lot better. Clownfish practically allows the same thing for the same mana cost, with better stats, doesn't need infusions, and with Amalgam of the Deep & Gorloc Ravager you dont even need to bother too much about reload. In fact, if you need to flood the board so badly just play Schooling instead
But here's the thing. If you want to play totem shaman, you can because this card is decent, bordering to being good. Mostly because of The Stonewright, which when repeated by macaw makes this card completely insane. The infuse requirement is a mere 2, so its not even that hard to activate it. The deck only needs one more card that adds survivability to the totems and it might actually convince me to play this instead of murlocs.
I didn't manage to watch the video myself, but does the deathrattle explicitly spell out the spell it would cast? Otherwise it might be a generic "cast the last shadow spell casted", which means it should copy your own Mortal Coil used to kill it.
This card is weirdly positioned, because for something that cheats 3 mana you'd think it'll be the best card in warlock this set, but because of its inherent anti synergy with Tamsin Roame it can end up backfiring on your arse. Just imagine your Dragged Below being 0 mana now, so that's one curse card lost because of discount mechanics.
But as usual, anything that cheats mana will always get a second look. I wouldn't be too surprised that this see play, but how impactful? that's yet to be determined.
I keep thinking Shadow Clone is in standard. Oh well
3 secrets it is then. Because any less would be a farce, and any more would be unprecedented
There's about 5 more rogue cards left, so there's bound to be at least 2 secrets, because the current crop of secrets in rogue are fairly abysmal.
Either way, this card is fairly unamazing, but will likely see play as long as secret rogue does. Dont let the deathrattle fool you, there's little to no chance of rogue playing its deathrattle support cards along with this because its nearly impossible to fit both packages into a winning deck. The only worthy support card that will feature in both secret rogue would be Counterfeit Blade, and even then its would be mostly for the 8 damage.
Unless of course the secrets themselves synergizes with deathrattles, but at this point I regard any form of optimism for rogue deathrattle support to be mere sad cases of delusion brought upon by repeated let downs.
I personally don't see anything wrong with team5 revisiting old card effects. And its not like this is the first nor shall it be the last.
The artwork is to me a bigger problem because the gargon companions artwork is fairly poor, with no personality. Misha has taunt, huffer has charge, that makes sense thematically because the former is a bear and the latter's a wild boar. Hecutis and Margore might as well have been the same beast. They could've make one look large, imposing and the other sleek but rushing. Is this something to do with the lore that they look so boring?
Being able to add 9 additional cards doesn't mean any one of them would be a win con. As we are currently experiencing, something like quest hunter still only has one, despite having more cards.
In my opinion, if you manage to take away a key card like hero cards, Brilliant Macaw, even something as simply as brann, that's already a pretty good trade in your favor. Only in very rare situations like prestor or ramp druid does one card maketh a whole deck.
And if they did take away a key card, having spent 4 mana chances are they cant play it right away, so you have a chance at nicking it back with your mad duke.
This is one mean card. Practically counters combo decks, and in some cases might well just solo games. If you steal your opponent's hero card I think the game is over...unless you use your own theotar to steal it back.
It might end up being a card every player must have/craft because the only counter to this is by playing your own theotar. So much so that if its play rate climbs exponentially beyond anyone's expectation team5 might well be pressured to nerf it just so we dont end up with games decided by this card's rng.
Does it have a downside? I mean, we've been practically playing mutanus despite its 7 mana cost simply because it can sometimes take out a key minion from your opponent's hand. And now team5 just printed something that does the same, but cheaper, and infinitely more consistent. I personally think it'll be in every deck from day 1 and then it'll get nerfed to 5 mana.
You may argue that it hard counters druid decks. For that alone, I rate this a 5/5.
Its hard to evaluate this one, because the stats suck, and the effect may well end up doing nothing. In effect this card is basically like mutanus, except with a chance of backfiring.
But to me this is one legendary that might be mandatory to have because it offers a chance to nullify your opponent's theotar, or a chance to even the odds in case you lose something really key. Imagine losing your hero card to this; the only possible chance of winning at this point might well be to steal it back or to steal something equally important.
I personally like this card because it practically counters druids, particularly the Celestial Alignment kind. Hmmm...now that I think about it, this might actually replace mutanus from now onwards, because of its lower cost. I think I know what shaman deck I'll be playing on day 1.
Because if they made it against enemies then the keyword may well end up being a flop because you have no agency or control over it. Overkill, honor kill, and frenzy were largely ignored because you're depending on your opponent's gameplan. And because all it takes is a minion dying, having all dead things contribute to infuse punishes your opponent for playing minions, so that's not acceptable either.
It doesn't have to make sense. Frenzy for example makes zero sense thematically, especially considering what they pasted it on. The only prerequisite to being good is both impact and consistency. I think the idea that your own dead stuff providing you the anima for an powerup makes some sense at least.
5/5 stars. Dont care whether it'll be part of the next meta, but for its mere existence its already gratifying.
It'll do 2 damage to face by default and is highly likely to do more to certain classes like druid, rogue or mage; classes of which having no trouble inserting their dick where its not wanted via incredible rng, ramp bs, or simply plain annoying gameplans.
Of course, the card is not guaranteed to be in every deck. Play this against an aggro or midrange deck and very likely you've just shafted yourself. The fact that the effect only last a turn also simply delays their plans. And as always, decks that tend to draw fast also tend to gain health fairly easily, like druid or priest.
But as a tech in an aggro-midrange deck against control and combo? Its just possible to deal somewhere around 4-8 damage or perhaps forcing your opponent to be less efficient, which will likely grant you an incredible advantage. The fact that it'll do 2 damage regardless of what your opponent does means this card will at very least do something, so that's meaningful if nothing else.
This thing is such a hard counter to certain classes, and I wish we had this earlier. Would have made for quite a nice tech card against annoying as hell classes like mage drawing their whole deck, garrote bs, and of course the ever present druid hell.
Makes aggro decks perhaps a little better in the end game against control, but certainly raining hell on combo decks.
10/10, even if it doesn't become meta. Its like Platebreaker. The game is a whole lot better with it than without regardless of its actual viability.
I'll be honest here; even if this was the only full clear in priest it'll still likely be snubbed.
Because at its core, its simply Shadow Word: Ruin in reverse, and costing one more incidentally. However, aggro games have gotten to the point where if your removal costs more than 4 you might as well just tap concede. Even warlock tends to struggle against faster games, but at least in that class there's plenty of cheap removal to stall, which priest does not have.
And then there's the upgrade. How on earth this is accomplished in such a way that it does not backfire on your own minions? Quest priest tends to play plenty of minions themselves, and this card eliminates them, making it a card you'll only ever play if youre behind, and for a deck with 80% minions in it, that's a major problem. And in pure control decks this card will rarely ever get infused, never mind being played.
Just play Lightbomb. Cost one more but does the job without fuss. Or Shadow Word: Ruin for big minions and condemn for smaller ones.
This card has potential to be fairly cancerous, but for the time being its likely not as good as it seem.
Mostly because it disrupts the Jerry Rig Carpenter into Nourish gameplan, which nearly all druids bar aggro rely on. And I dont see a world where having two 8 mana cost cards that only ever does one thing win the game for you.
But it does add some consistency into celestial alignment druid so perhaps its worth it. And cards like these almost always tend to work because it adds to druid's consistency, just about the only weakness the class has or ever will have apparently.
Probably stuff druid simply does not need, but I can see a world where this is played.
The problem is that most druid spells dont tend to be good removal so if youre playing from behind chances are good this card will only ever delay your death, not resolve it in the same manner that Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron or Rune of the Archmage does. But it will likely gain you a bunch of armor, or draw, which is something, even if I dont respect it.
Still, let's be honest here. This 10 mana card can come as early as turn 6 at times so even if the effect isn't that great, its still more than enough impact on turn 6 when your opponent can barely react to whatever bs this thing does.
Probably not good, mainly because if you're running this you're playing control so what exactly is infusing this card? So on top of draw rng, there's just times where this card cant do shit because you havent any minions on board or hand to make this card properly work.
Just play Lightbomb, which though costing 1 more at very least does the job without further fuss. The harsh reality is that Shadow Word: Ruin might actually end up seeing more play than this card would.
Its certainly powerful, but likely its not going to be much played as we think it would be.
Because on first glance, this card greatly adds to Celestial Alignment's consistency, being able to either play alignment or anacondra. But because its a choose one spell, its disrupting the usual Jerry Rig Carpenter -> Nourish, enough so I feel the deck would actually lose win rates because of it.
And then there's the fact that the card is simply worthless if you already have the combo pieces in your hand, a dangerous thing for a class preyed on by aggro decks.
Seriously team5, can you please design druids so that they actually play hearthstone, instead of printing single player cards for them all the time.
The irony of this is that druid spells aren't especially good at removing things so half the time it'll either be ramp or board development, and the other half it would be gaining armor and drawing cards.
In other words, this card is just useless unless you're facing burn, or youre particularly ahead. But since druid tends to play shit like these much earlier than most classes can respond, you cant rightfully write it off even if its inconsistent with its impact.
The real problem here is why even bother doing it? Because if you could play a 10 mana cost card, you're better off just playing the slew of stupid shit from druid that would actually win you the game, instead of a card like this. Mage played puzzlebox because that's a win con; this on the other hand is not.
I remember giving Anchored Totem a thumbs down when it was first introduced but at the start of sunken city I was actually surprised at how well it worked in a sort of aggro/token shell. Perhaps, and that's again, perhaps, that's where totem aggro shaman is heading towards.
Flooding board is still a viable strat, and Im not saying stonewright will suddenly take over the meta with a party totem being its vizier, but its intriguing enough to me that at some point within the next 1.5 years we might actually have a totem aggro deck where both these cards being actual winners.
I think this is just another case whereby there's clearly a better archetype (murlocs) but if you really really want to just play totem shaman, then I can see it happening, and this card would be a key player in it.
Just more support for totem shaman. Yes it might be crap, but because of cards like these you can actually build a deck around totems and expect it to be around tier 2-3, which is saying alot given how terrible certain decks can actually get.
The fact that you can use Amalgam of the Deep to get more of this at a decent consistency makes it more interesting. All we need now is a reason to believe that totems can actually survive past the turn theyre played, and hey that may actually come true in the next 1.5 years. So here's to hoping.
But for now, if you want to win just play murlocs. Clownfish does the same, and better.
I dont hate it. But at the same time I just dont think there's enough reasons to run this card, aside from the fact that you really want to play totem aggro shaman.
The main problem here isn't really what this thing does, or the fact that you only summon basic totems, but because murlocs do the job a hell lot better. Clownfish practically allows the same thing for the same mana cost, with better stats, doesn't need infusions, and with Amalgam of the Deep & Gorloc Ravager you dont even need to bother too much about reload. In fact, if you need to flood the board so badly just play Schooling instead
But here's the thing. If you want to play totem shaman, you can because this card is decent, bordering to being good. Mostly because of The Stonewright, which when repeated by macaw makes this card completely insane. The infuse requirement is a mere 2, so its not even that hard to activate it. The deck only needs one more card that adds survivability to the totems and it might actually convince me to play this instead of murlocs.
I didn't manage to watch the video myself, but does the deathrattle explicitly spell out the spell it would cast? Otherwise it might be a generic "cast the last shadow spell casted", which means it should copy your own Mortal Coil used to kill it.
This card is weirdly positioned, because for something that cheats 3 mana you'd think it'll be the best card in warlock this set, but because of its inherent anti synergy with Tamsin Roame it can end up backfiring on your arse. Just imagine your Dragged Below being 0 mana now, so that's one curse card lost because of discount mechanics.
But as usual, anything that cheats mana will always get a second look. I wouldn't be too surprised that this see play, but how impactful? that's yet to be determined.