5 health is enough for Barrens Blacksmith to somewhat reliably survive after attacking something. That thing is, without something like Animated Broomstick to make the admittedly amazing Frenzy effect to trigger, I feel like this card will just be discarded in favor of other easier to activate win more cards because you're spending 5 mana on a 3/5, which is not very impactful, and hoping your opponent either doesn't have an answer to kill Barrens Blacksmith immediatly or he doesn't trade into the rest of the board and force the Frenzy effect to trigger on nothing.
Since a lot of spells on the token Druid arsenal will probably become nature spells, when looking at how the deck operates and how useful an effect like Guff Runetotem's effect would be on that deck, the only reason why this card might not see play is the fact that Fungal Fortunes will most likely remain as a priority card for the class and the anti-synergy between these two cards is palpable.
However, if token Druid ends up deviating from Fungal Fortunes and finds another way to refuel his hand, Guff Runetotem will most likely be a staple on that deck.
Altruis the Outcast has shown how powerful a 1 damage continuous AoE effect can be. That said, he's mostly associated with 0 mana cards discounted by Skull of Gul'dan, of which Murloc Shaman has none. He's also a more mid to late game threat and, at that time, Murloc decks tend to want the game to already be over.
Firemancer Flurgl has good stats and allows you to go face with your murlocs while keeping the opponent's board clear. He can also be the bridge between the early game Murloc aggression and the late game value Magicfin provides. But he's not the make or break card Murloc Shaman needs, especially with Murloc Warleader gone denying a lot of burst.
Also, he's an insane AoE clear in wild with Toxfin.
It's a one use early Frothing Berserker lite. The biggest advantages Warsong Envoy has are the fact he's a great card to play turn 1, because he'll trade favorably against virtually all 1/3s in the game and the fact that you can use him to fix up your curve as a more aggressive warrior.
I don't recall them revealing the cards "Hog Rancher" and "Burning Blade Acolyte", which appears to be some sort of miscommunication issue, as there's also a "Golden [TO BE REVEALED] (Uncraftable Rare)" in the rewards track.
I'd say this might be surprisingly better than expected on control Warlock. Sure, the deal 6 to a minion with Lifesteal sounds pretty big, but attrition match-ups don't care about HP that much, so the battlecry effect will basically be "destroy a mid-size minion on turn 12" or something of the sort.
The reason why I can see control Warlocks adding Blood Shard Bristleback to their decks is the fact that Blood Shard Bristleback is a 3/3 Lifesteal for 3, which means he'll come into the board in the early game to contest the opponent's early plays and try to delay aggro decks before you can stabilize. He might not succeed in that task (the statline is still vulnerable to value trading from lower cost minions), but I can see him being tried, maybe in a deck that also includes Man'ari Mosher as another early game anti aggro tool.
The combination of effects in one card for such a small price is insane. The only good news in the middle of this is that, since Varden Dawngrasp is legendary, there won't be many instances of multiple copies being played for extra stall power. And lets not forget that mage has two possible control based win conditions: Mordresh Fire Eye, yet another card that does too much at the same time (although he actually has a requirement for that effect) and C'Thun, the Shattered, who is a pretty good win condition in his own right (just because the current meta is volatile towards atrition based win conditions, it doesn't mean the Barrens meta won't be).
The card seems to have a lot of potential, but the question is: imagine you attack with a 5 mana beast and you don't have a 4 mana beast in your deck, will Tavish Stormpike search for a 3 mana beast or will he fizzle out?
These days, most cards need to be more than just a pile of stats. Priest of An'she is just a pile of stats, unfortunately. In fact, it's a conditional pile of stats, and the condition is pretty passive.
At worst, it's a 3 mana 4/4 with Battlecry: Cast Arcane Shot. This sort of small conditional burst is more healthy for the game than Eviscerate, however, it will feel that much worse when taking the topdecked effect to the face for lethal.
While I appreciate the idea of conditional burst for Rogue, I would have prefered another approach. Still decent, though.
So, what Blizzard is telling, at least with the rank 3 part of Flurry (Rank 1) is that, after turn 10, the deal 1 damage portion of Cone of Cold is worth 3 mana, when a similar card like Shooting Star is 1 mana.
Why is this spell not 1 mana in the first place is beyond me.
It's a semi-targetable Hand of A'dal, with the condition that it has to be a Taunt minion. While not amazing, there are certain Taunts availavle for Druid that are seriously mana efficient, most notably Corrupted Dreaming Drake and other Corrupt shenanigans.
However, this is a win more card and, since Druids have virtually no way to interact with the opponent's board outside of punching them with their face and minion trading, a potential Taunt Druid needs stabilizing tools more than win more cards.
Well, 10 mana is like turn 6 for Druid, so tutoring a 2 mana Twilight Runner is pretty nice. That being said, Menagerie Warden is back, so there's a chance to copy bigger beasts more easily with this card. However, Guardian Animals feels more powerful than this combo, as the beasts summoned that way have rush, so they're more impactful right away.
Also, can someone tell me how is growing a tree related to beasts?
While I don't believe Nofin Can Stop Us is very good right now (every single murloc was shafted to wild), replacing the word "thing" with "fin" is just lazy and repetitive design. 0 stars.
Don't forget that Soul Fragments can be discarded with this effect, so Soul Rend can possiblly find a spot in control Warlock because of it. Also, Envoy Rustwix can help you refill your deck if you're playing into fatigue.
5 health is enough for Barrens Blacksmith to somewhat reliably survive after attacking something. That thing is, without something like Animated Broomstick to make the admittedly amazing Frenzy effect to trigger, I feel like this card will just be discarded in favor of other easier to activate win more cards because you're spending 5 mana on a 3/5, which is not very impactful, and hoping your opponent either doesn't have an answer to kill Barrens Blacksmith immediatly or he doesn't trade into the rest of the board and force the Frenzy effect to trigger on nothing.
Since a lot of spells on the token Druid arsenal will probably become nature spells, when looking at how the deck operates and how useful an effect like Guff Runetotem's effect would be on that deck, the only reason why this card might not see play is the fact that Fungal Fortunes will most likely remain as a priority card for the class and the anti-synergy between these two cards is palpable.
However, if token Druid ends up deviating from Fungal Fortunes and finds another way to refuel his hand, Guff Runetotem will most likely be a staple on that deck.
Decent disruption effect, really like this "Start of next turn" design. And boy am I glad Altruis the Outcast is going away.
"You don't pick the wand, silly"
Altruis the Outcast has shown how powerful a 1 damage continuous AoE effect can be. That said, he's mostly associated with 0 mana cards discounted by Skull of Gul'dan, of which Murloc Shaman has none. He's also a more mid to late game threat and, at that time, Murloc decks tend to want the game to already be over.
Firemancer Flurgl has good stats and allows you to go face with your murlocs while keeping the opponent's board clear. He can also be the bridge between the early game Murloc aggression and the late game value Magicfin provides. But he's not the make or break card Murloc Shaman needs, especially with Murloc Warleader gone denying a lot of burst.
Also, he's an insane AoE clear in wild with Toxfin.
It's a one use early Frothing Berserker lite. The biggest advantages Warsong Envoy has are the fact he's a great card to play turn 1, because he'll trade favorably against virtually all 1/3s in the game and the fact that you can use him to fix up your curve as a more aggressive warrior.
I don't recall them revealing the cards "Hog Rancher" and "Burning Blade Acolyte", which appears to be some sort of miscommunication issue, as there's also a "Golden [TO BE REVEALED] (Uncraftable Rare)" in the rewards track.
I'd say this might be surprisingly better than expected on control Warlock. Sure, the deal 6 to a minion with Lifesteal sounds pretty big, but attrition match-ups don't care about HP that much, so the battlecry effect will basically be "destroy a mid-size minion on turn 12" or something of the sort.
The reason why I can see control Warlocks adding Blood Shard Bristleback to their decks is the fact that Blood Shard Bristleback is a 3/3 Lifesteal for 3, which means he'll come into the board in the early game to contest the opponent's early plays and try to delay aggro decks before you can stabilize. He might not succeed in that task (the statline is still vulnerable to value trading from lower cost minions), but I can see him being tried, maybe in a deck that also includes Man'ari Mosher as another early game anti aggro tool.
The combination of effects in one card for such a small price is insane. The only good news in the middle of this is that, since Varden Dawngrasp is legendary, there won't be many instances of multiple copies being played for extra stall power. And lets not forget that mage has two possible control based win conditions: Mordresh Fire Eye, yet another card that does too much at the same time (although he actually has a requirement for that effect) and C'Thun, the Shattered, who is a pretty good win condition in his own right (just because the current meta is volatile towards atrition based win conditions, it doesn't mean the Barrens meta won't be).
The card seems to have a lot of potential, but the question is: imagine you attack with a 5 mana beast and you don't have a 4 mana beast in your deck, will Tavish Stormpike search for a 3 mana beast or will he fizzle out?
This isn't a joke, right? I mean, the art of the card is the card in golden.
These days, most cards need to be more than just a pile of stats. Priest of An'she is just a pile of stats, unfortunately. In fact, it's a conditional pile of stats, and the condition is pretty passive.
It's pretty bonkers in arena though.
At worst, it's a 3 mana 4/4 with Battlecry: Cast Arcane Shot. This sort of small conditional burst is more healthy for the game than Eviscerate, however, it will feel that much worse when taking the topdecked effect to the face for lethal.
While I appreciate the idea of conditional burst for Rogue, I would have prefered another approach. Still decent, though.
I don't care if Lock and Load ends up still being meme status, I will play the sh*t out of the deck because of this card.
So, what Blizzard is telling, at least with the rank 3 part of Flurry (Rank 1) is that, after turn 10, the deal 1 damage portion of Cone of Cold is worth 3 mana, when a similar card like Shooting Star is 1 mana.
Why is this spell not 1 mana in the first place is beyond me.
It's a semi-targetable Hand of A'dal, with the condition that it has to be a Taunt minion. While not amazing, there are certain Taunts availavle for Druid that are seriously mana efficient, most notably Corrupted Dreaming Drake and other Corrupt shenanigans.
However, this is a win more card and, since Druids have virtually no way to interact with the opponent's board outside of punching them with their face and minion trading, a potential Taunt Druid needs stabilizing tools more than win more cards.
Well, 10 mana is like turn 6 for Druid, so tutoring a 2 mana Twilight Runner is pretty nice. That being said, Menagerie Warden is back, so there's a chance to copy bigger beasts more easily with this card. However, Guardian Animals feels more powerful than this combo, as the beasts summoned that way have rush, so they're more impactful right away.
Also, can someone tell me how is growing a tree related to beasts?
While I don't believe Nofin Can Stop Us is very good right now (every single murloc was shafted to wild), replacing the word "thing" with "fin" is just lazy and repetitive design. 0 stars.
Well, I've always said Zoolock is aggro-control, so...
Don't forget that Soul Fragments can be discarded with this effect, so Soul Rend can possiblly find a spot in control Warlock because of it. Also, Envoy Rustwix can help you refill your deck if you're playing into fatigue.