So, apparently, Libram of Wisdom will be a Holy spell. That instantly makes Veteran Warmedic the perfect tool for Libram Paladin to go wide on board while also retaining their core package. Veteran Warmedic has a lot of potential, and since the Pure Paladin stuff is mostly going away, I guess "Hey loser!" will be heard even more.
Design is really interesting. Tamsin Roame allows for us to spend spell based answers much more freely as we get them back. However, the opponent will know what answers we have and can bait them out afterwards. Which means this is a very powerful effect but somewhat interactable.
Cariel Roame does so much. It's fast, relatively sticky (think a Fishy Flyer that summons the Spectral Flyer rather than adding it to hand) and discounts virtually all of Paladin's spells. A true jack of all trades type of card.
Adding a Mark of the Lotus to Prince Keleseth type effect on a class that tries to take on the board aggressively and whose curve can be very easily fixed, especially thanks to First Day of School allows for Invigorating Sermon to not be such a huge tempo loss as long as you have someone on board. And when adding Cariel Roame to the mix, a fast card with a discount effect, Invigorating Sermon has a very reasonable chance to be the centerpiece of a more aggressive midrange Paladin deck.
Combo activator: CHECK Useful effect especially since you don't want to hero power every turn as Rogue: CHECK A new take on Rogue stealing resources from other classes: CHECK Trump's reveal being glorious: CHECK
We did it, boys. We have achieved peak Hearthstone.
In all seriousness, I love Yoink!'s design. It's not Secret Passage levels of busted, but it's useful on virtually any scenario.
Base stats and effect underwhelming on a vacuum. The only reason to run this card is synergy with Mordresh Fire Eye. But I'm guessing it's amazing in arena, Twilight Flamecaller was pretty good in that game mode.
Kurtrus Ashfallen reminds me of Star Student Stelina: it's powerful when Outcasted, it's insanely bad when not Outcasted. And although Star Student Stelina didn't see play, that was mostly because aggro had so many better tools than her. Since a good number of those tools are going, Star Student Stelina can find a place on that deck.
Kurtrus Ashfallen, however, can't. His effect is control oriented, so it provbably won't find a place on aggro DH. Also, LIfesteal OTK DH tends to struggle somewhat with utilizing Outcast cards to their fullest potential, so I expect Kurtrus Ashfallen to be a tech option on that deck, but not a mainstay.
Really decent way to regain tempo after a turn 5 Barak Kodobane. LIke I said on that card's review, all 3 spells can be played on T6 and a 2 mana 4/4 Rush seems like a great way to regain the board in that scenario.
Not only is healing for 8 pretty good, Lightshower Elemental also has Taunt, protecting minions you already have on the board AND can help you keep your minions out of reach while they're value trading.
That's a Pyroblast. And a 10 damage AoE. On a Faceless Behemoth worth of stats. The true definition of a payoff to a control archetype. The big question is whether or not Hero Power Mage can hang around. So far, with just 2 cards that add to the archetype, I'd say that possibility isn't too far, as you can still run a fairly extensive control shell. We'll have to wait and see.
DHunter has the draw potential to not run out of steam easily, so the chance you have no targets available seems very small. Now, regarding what can this card pull off, the results are not very good, like [Hearthstone Card (Renouned Performer) Not Found] or [Hearthstone Card (Fishy Flier) Not Found] (cards that "lose" Rush if Razorfen Beastmaster is killed on your opponent's turn), Teron Gorefiend (mediocre without the Battlecry part), Educated Elekk (kekW).
I'd argue the best target I can think of for Razorfen Beastmaster to pull is actually Sneaky Delinquent, because that card itself is hard to effectively remove, but then there's the questions of why are you playing Sneaky Delinquent in DHunter and why didn't you play it T2.
Baseline is decent and can provide extra reach in the late game, when priest actually starts developing minions. I believe Condemn (Rank 1) will at least be a contender for a good number of control priest decks. Whether those decks are good enough or end up using this card after experimenting with it is another story, as Frenzy tends to discourage low damage AoE effects.
Very interesting take on anti-Secret techs. However, not being able to destroy said secrets will still restrain your turns, especially when playing against entire Christmas trees.
That'S pretty damn strong for any anti-aggro demon Hunter (and of course Lifesteal OTK remains untouched, because fun is illegal).
The upside is that you can completely shut down an opponent's curve.
THe downside is that if they find a way to buff their board out of reach then you need a backup plan
Either way I think this is consistent enough to just be playable in a slow DH deck to set up those spicy swing turn (Big Demon especially)
Back up plan might be Immolation Aura, a card that already sees play on exactly Lifesteal OTK DHunter. And any reason Lifesteal OTK DHunter has to delay aggro is very good for that deck, inluding delayed effects.
You don't need to restrict your deck to big spells to play Primordial Protector. Hell, you don't even need big spells in your deck to play Primordial Protector, mid cost but impactful spells like a standard version of Spikeridged Steed (for some reason the first example that came to my head) are enough. What you need is a meta slow enough to get to turn 8 and, considering a fair amount of classes are losing aggressive burst, that might happen.
Also, an elemental, so Grand Finale support, maybe? That card is already almost good enough to see play right now.
Ok, so even without knowing all effects, I can assume this card will see play on either a midrange deck with a 2 drop pool wide and strong enough to replace the 4 drop pool or in attrition decks that draw enough to bypass the "no 4-drops in deck restriction", the same way some decks run Zephrys the Great despite running duplicates.
Also, the way I see it, the minion summoned will most likely be slightly better than the spells old Kazakus created, as one of the options of said spells was summoning a minion with stats on par with the golem's stats.
Ringmaster Whatley doesn't see meaningful play, and I'd argue it's a better card as it can draw more impactful cards on the board and is in a class that is less punished by a loss of tempo. That being said, Spells are naturally faster cards than tribal minions, and you can play all spells on your next turn, so Barack ObamaBarak Kodobane has that going for him.
On a vacuum, Cannonmaster Smythe is not that amazing, since secret Paladin only played Secrets when said Secrets were cheated out (real Mysterious Challenger and Bellringer Sentry). I guess the biggest proof is that Oh My Yogg!, a very cheap and powerful disruption tool, doesn't see play unless it was generated. And the reason why is that Paladin Secrets, by themselves, aren't impactful enough to warrant a place on decks.
So, I believe Cannonmaster Smythe will see more meaningful play when combined with Secret generators (like Hydrologist) or with cards that cycle through the Secrets in your deck (like a Gadgetzan Auctioneer for Secrets).
Don't get me wrong, the best case scenario for Cannonmaster Smythe is really powerful, but Cannonmaster Smythe is the payoff card, so it is entirely dependant on how well a Secret Paladin operates (and in the offchance there's a small Secret package added to Libram Paladin).
So, the janky OTK stuff with Malygos is tried and tested, with decent results but, with the expansion rolling out and with the overall power level of decks hopefully decreasing, Shadow Hunter Vol'jin's ability as a disruptor can also shine, giving this card extra flexibility. However, Shadow Hunter Vol'jin will still face competition as a Neutral disruption tech tool with Maiev Shadowsong. There's also the chance you can run both, though, for the sake of consistency.
So, apparently, Libram of Wisdom will be a Holy spell. That instantly makes Veteran Warmedic the perfect tool for Libram Paladin to go wide on board while also retaining their core package. Veteran Warmedic has a lot of potential, and since the Pure Paladin stuff is mostly going away, I guess "Hey loser!" will be heard even more.
Design is really interesting. Tamsin Roame allows for us to spend spell based answers much more freely as we get them back. However, the opponent will know what answers we have and can bait them out afterwards. Which means this is a very powerful effect but somewhat interactable.
Cariel Roame does so much. It's fast, relatively sticky (think a Fishy Flyer that summons the Spectral Flyer rather than adding it to hand) and discounts virtually all of Paladin's spells. A true jack of all trades type of card.
Adding a Mark of the Lotus to Prince Keleseth type effect on a class that tries to take on the board aggressively and whose curve can be very easily fixed, especially thanks to First Day of School allows for Invigorating Sermon to not be such a huge tempo loss as long as you have someone on board. And when adding Cariel Roame to the mix, a fast card with a discount effect, Invigorating Sermon has a very reasonable chance to be the centerpiece of a more aggressive midrange Paladin deck.
Combo activator: CHECK
Useful effect especially since you don't want to hero power every turn as Rogue: CHECK
A new take on Rogue stealing resources from other classes: CHECK
Trump's reveal being glorious: CHECK
We did it, boys. We have achieved peak Hearthstone.
In all seriousness, I love Yoink!'s design. It's not Secret Passage levels of busted, but it's useful on virtually any scenario.
Good baseline, easy to achieve effect, should see a fair amount of play as long as 4/5s are infesting the metagame.
Base stats and effect underwhelming on a vacuum. The only reason to run this card is synergy with Mordresh Fire Eye. But I'm guessing it's amazing in arena, Twilight Flamecaller was pretty good in that game mode.
Kurtrus Ashfallen reminds me of Star Student Stelina: it's powerful when Outcasted, it's insanely bad when not Outcasted. And although Star Student Stelina didn't see play, that was mostly because aggro had so many better tools than her. Since a good number of those tools are going, Star Student Stelina can find a place on that deck.
Kurtrus Ashfallen, however, can't. His effect is control oriented, so it provbably won't find a place on aggro DH. Also, LIfesteal OTK DH tends to struggle somewhat with utilizing Outcast cards to their fullest potential, so I expect Kurtrus Ashfallen to be a tech option on that deck, but not a mainstay.
Really decent way to regain tempo after a turn 5 Barak Kodobane. LIke I said on that card's review, all 3 spells can be played on T6 and a 2 mana 4/4 Rush seems like a great way to regain the board in that scenario.
Not only is healing for 8 pretty good, Lightshower Elemental also has Taunt, protecting minions you already have on the board AND can help you keep your minions out of reach while they're value trading.
That's a Pyroblast. And a 10 damage AoE. On a Faceless Behemoth worth of stats. The true definition of a payoff to a control archetype. The big question is whether or not Hero Power Mage can hang around. So far, with just 2 cards that add to the archetype, I'd say that possibility isn't too far, as you can still run a fairly extensive control shell. We'll have to wait and see.
DHunter has the draw potential to not run out of steam easily, so the chance you have no targets available seems very small. Now, regarding what can this card pull off, the results are not very good, like [Hearthstone Card (Renouned Performer) Not Found] or [Hearthstone Card (Fishy Flier) Not Found] (cards that "lose" Rush if Razorfen Beastmaster is killed on your opponent's turn), Teron Gorefiend (mediocre without the Battlecry part), Educated Elekk (kekW).
I'd argue the best target I can think of for Razorfen Beastmaster to pull is actually Sneaky Delinquent, because that card itself is hard to effectively remove, but then there's the questions of why are you playing Sneaky Delinquent in DHunter and why didn't you play it T2.
Baseline is decent and can provide extra reach in the late game, when priest actually starts developing minions. I believe Condemn (Rank 1) will at least be a contender for a good number of control priest decks. Whether those decks are good enough or end up using this card after experimenting with it is another story, as Frenzy tends to discourage low damage AoE effects.
Very interesting take on anti-Secret techs. However, not being able to destroy said secrets will still restrain your turns, especially when playing against entire Christmas trees.
Back up plan might be Immolation Aura, a card that already sees play on exactly Lifesteal OTK DHunter. And any reason Lifesteal OTK DHunter has to delay aggro is very good for that deck, inluding delayed effects.
You don't need to restrict your deck to big spells to play Primordial Protector. Hell, you don't even need big spells in your deck to play Primordial Protector, mid cost but impactful spells like a standard version of Spikeridged Steed (for some reason the first example that came to my head) are enough. What you need is a meta slow enough to get to turn 8 and, considering a fair amount of classes are losing aggressive burst, that might happen.
Also, an elemental, so Grand Finale support, maybe? That card is already almost good enough to see play right now.
Ok, so even without knowing all effects, I can assume this card will see play on either a midrange deck with a 2 drop pool wide and strong enough to replace the 4 drop pool or in attrition decks that draw enough to bypass the "no 4-drops in deck restriction", the same way some decks run Zephrys the Great despite running duplicates.
Also, the way I see it, the minion summoned will most likely be slightly better than the spells old Kazakus created, as one of the options of said spells was summoning a minion with stats on par with the golem's stats.
Ringmaster Whatley doesn't see meaningful play, and I'd argue it's a better card as it can draw more impactful cards on the board and is in a class that is less punished by a loss of tempo. That being said, Spells are naturally faster cards than tribal minions, and you can play all spells on your next turn, so Barack ObamaBarak Kodobane has that going for him.
Plus, you know, Lock and Load.
On a vacuum, Cannonmaster Smythe is not that amazing, since secret Paladin only played Secrets when said Secrets were cheated out (real Mysterious Challenger and Bellringer Sentry). I guess the biggest proof is that Oh My Yogg!, a very cheap and powerful disruption tool, doesn't see play unless it was generated. And the reason why is that Paladin Secrets, by themselves, aren't impactful enough to warrant a place on decks.
So, I believe Cannonmaster Smythe will see more meaningful play when combined with Secret generators (like Hydrologist) or with cards that cycle through the Secrets in your deck (like a Gadgetzan Auctioneer for Secrets).
Don't get me wrong, the best case scenario for Cannonmaster Smythe is really powerful, but Cannonmaster Smythe is the payoff card, so it is entirely dependant on how well a Secret Paladin operates (and in the offchance there's a small Secret package added to Libram Paladin).
So, the janky OTK stuff with Malygos is tried and tested, with decent results but, with the expansion rolling out and with the overall power level of decks hopefully decreasing, Shadow Hunter Vol'jin's ability as a disruptor can also shine, giving this card extra flexibility. However, Shadow Hunter Vol'jin will still face competition as a Neutral disruption tech tool with Maiev Shadowsong. There's also the chance you can run both, though, for the sake of consistency.