Arathi Weaponsmith on steroids. Both the 6/6 taunt and the 3/3 weapon are underwhelming by themselves, but together they can be good... in arena, the same place Arathi Weaponsmith finds a home. Seems too un-synergistic with the things Paladins do in constructed to see play.
Looks pretty good. When Maxima Blastenheimerdonger was revealed, I expected some tools to make a spell/big minion Hunter hybrid at least possible to make. What made spell Hunter good in the past was thair ability to summon minions through spells and this card is a perfect example of how to do it, and in a relatively powerful way.
I'm guessing the best application for this card is extra reach for aggro DH in the late game. The draw part is good, the upside is also good as long as the drawn card isn't awkward to play and that usually happens in T6/T7 for aggro DH when you just want to push that extra reach damage and you don't mind simply slapping that random 1-drop you drew.
To me the thing that stands out the most is not the very powerful effect but the fact that it is a 4 mana 2/6. If it had bad stats, Il'gynoth would be solely used for its effect but with that statline, it can also be simply slapped on the board T4 as setup.
Remember when Druids played with Fandral Staghelm because not only of their effect, but because it had to be dealt with immediately if played on curve or you'd risk getting very outvalued very fast? That's the same feeling with this card, except Il'gynoth has more health and is therefore harder to remove overall and the outvalued part is instead risking your health being dropped very hard very fast.
Spectral Pillager and Prize Plunderer are very different cards, despite looking very similar. Spectral Pillager is designed to be a finisher, something to punch your opponent for a lot of damage, while Prize Plunderer, in my opinion looks much more like a Vilespine Slayer, a card that puts tempo on the board while killing something, with the difference that Prize Plunderer can also act as reach for the rest of the board to deal with something for lower stats and more versatility. The design seems simplistic and also recycled from something that came before, but the applications are fairly different.
Secret Mage has some tools to generate value and tempo, like Apexis Smuggler and, more importantly, Cloud Prince, which corrupts this card while providing a 4/4 body and a Fireball. Assuming the Secret that triggers Cloud Princes battlecry is still online, it also allows to trim down on the discovered secret pool from a newly corrupted Ring Toss, which gives you reliability in getting the secrets you need for the game state.
The deck seems insanely synergistic but also seems like it will fold heavily if all pieces aren't stranded together at the same right time, making it highly unreliable and making the deck overall not very competitive; however, the highrolls the deck provides when the cards align perfectly make Secret Mage a possible threat in the new expansion providing some new synergies show up, because the deck can use Yogg-Saron, Master of Fate as endgame, for example.
This is a very small idea, but even though I really like the community bingo during card reveal season, I end up "forgeting it exists" because the thread gets lost underneath all the card reveal threads. So, my idea was to put a shortcut on the expansion page that lead to the community bingo thread.
Wrathscale Naga has a chance of killing your opponents board before you trade off all illidaris, which really lowers this card's consistency. That being said, I love the design, even though it's very polarizing in arena.
Very good in arena, and a reasonable way to stall before token DH really goes online. Honestly, it's not awful, but not broken, so I like it, even if, a lot of time, it's just a 4 mana 2/2 deal 3.
EDIT: Oh yeah, how good the card is. Well, it is a makeshift AoE on Hunter, but slow and very clunky. But, leaving it on the board means you can get your face tonked for 8 damage, so that's scary.
Spell Hunter used to be a thing in the past. Big Beast Hunter also used to be a thing. This card can work in a similar deck, but unfortunately, most cards that made those decks work are in wild now.
As a pure 3 drop card, it faces stiff competition from Goody Two-Shields. The corrupted version... still probably less impactful than Goody Two-Shields on a vacuum. Now, if dude Paladin makes a comeback, and if that comeback is in the form of a midrange-ish deck, this card can see reasonable play.
So far, all we know of this card is that it can provide a rather big and safe board swing in the late game. How safe and how big said board swing will end up being depends a lot on how many good Corrupt cards there will be.
One of my favorite cards of all time was The Curator, a simple yet effective designed card that brought the idea of a deck with multiple minion tribes.
And, in the same way The Curator worked better in decks that focused on 2 out of the 3 tribes it supported, I believe N'Zoth, God of the Deep will work better in a deck that has some tribes but not all of them in the hopes of playing the Old God.
For example, a Hunter deck with its beasts and dragons paired with just a random Dragonbane and Imprisoned Felmaw using N'Zoth, God of the Deep as another win condition will probably work better as a whole than a Hunter deck designed to summon a big minion from all tribes so N'Zoth, God of the Deep can shine.
Seems like a simple design to show off of Corrupt. I believe this can be a game changer in Arena and maybe end up being thrown into Corrupt decks as a one off. Y'Shaarj, the Defiler throwing out 0 mana 8/8 Giant tentacled Elephants at your opponents board does seem pretty good. Of course, that means having the card in hand and play it only after turn 6, but that's a fine price to pay for a giant board swing in the late game.
This card without Rod of Roasting is a very cool, albeit random card. This card with Rod of Roasting is the most degenerate crap ever designed. That effect on a PvE setting can be fun, on PvP is incredibly frustrating to play against.
And yes, it's only a 1/20 chance AFTER playing the card, but think of it this way: a game show where, out of 40 coin tosses, you need to just get heads once to win 10000€/$/whatever currency is in your country or you'll have to pay the same amount. You flip the 40 coins. You get 40 tails. That's how it feels to see the opponent get Rod of Roasting on a game you have won otherwise.
Now, imagine this is the finals of the HCT.
Imagine making it to the HCT finals without fully understanding and acknowledging that this card exists. Any competitor who doesn't accept Hearthstone as it is (and always has been) doesn't really deserve to win the HCT.
Ok, now imagine aknowledging this card exists, make it to finals and lose, not because your opponent used generated resources better or because he was able to dictate the pace of the game but because RNG pointed at your face more times than your opponents face.
I don't mind RNG, I don't even high variance RNG. When done right, RNG can make games exciting and unpredictable. But, in my opinion, a 1/20 chance to simply toss a coin under the disguise of big balls of fire being thrown around is not good design, especially when considering said design is just recycling a gimmick that was made on a PvE scenario, where game balance isn't as important.
So, lets see, Foe Reaper 4000 can cleave because I believe that's what it does in WoW (not sure, but the name certainly indicates it), Magnataur Alpha can cleave because it has a gigantic swinging weapon, Cave Hydra can cleave because it has three heads and Lake Thresher can cleave because it is a dinosaur with a pretty massive tail.
Darkmoon Rabbit can cleave because.... reasons? Still like the card design, but it makes no sense to be put on a random rabbit.
Unless the Mech tag will be relevant (which I doubt, the expansion is not about Mechs), I believe this card won't see much play. Even in spell generating decks, priests will prefer Cobalt Spellkin on 5.
Arathi Weaponsmith on steroids. Both the 6/6 taunt and the 3/3 weapon are underwhelming by themselves, but together they can be good... in arena, the same place Arathi Weaponsmith finds a home. Seems too un-synergistic with the things Paladins do in constructed to see play.
T3 Animal CompanionHuffer into T4 Corrupted Don't Feed the Animals double Wolpertinger. Aggro Hunter's mid-game dream right there.
Looks pretty good. When Maxima Blastenheimerdonger was revealed, I expected some tools to make a spell/big minion Hunter hybrid at least possible to make. What made spell Hunter good in the past was thair ability to summon minions through spells and this card is a perfect example of how to do it, and in a relatively powerful way.
I'm guessing the best application for this card is extra reach for aggro DH in the late game. The draw part is good, the upside is also good as long as the drawn card isn't awkward to play and that usually happens in T6/T7 for aggro DH when you just want to push that extra reach damage and you don't mind simply slapping that random 1-drop you drew.
To me the thing that stands out the most is not the very powerful effect but the fact that it is a 4 mana 2/6. If it had bad stats, Il'gynoth would be solely used for its effect but with that statline, it can also be simply slapped on the board T4 as setup.
Remember when Druids played with Fandral Staghelm because not only of their effect, but because it had to be dealt with immediately if played on curve or you'd risk getting very outvalued very fast? That's the same feeling with this card, except Il'gynoth has more health and is therefore harder to remove overall and the outvalued part is instead risking your health being dropped very hard very fast.
Spectral Pillager and Prize Plunderer are very different cards, despite looking very similar. Spectral Pillager is designed to be a finisher, something to punch your opponent for a lot of damage, while Prize Plunderer, in my opinion looks much more like a Vilespine Slayer, a card that puts tempo on the board while killing something, with the difference that Prize Plunderer can also act as reach for the rest of the board to deal with something for lower stats and more versatility. The design seems simplistic and also recycled from something that came before, but the applications are fairly different.
Secret Mage has some tools to generate value and tempo, like Apexis Smuggler and, more importantly, Cloud Prince, which corrupts this card while providing a 4/4 body and a Fireball. Assuming the Secret that triggers Cloud Princes battlecry is still online, it also allows to trim down on the discovered secret pool from a newly corrupted Ring Toss, which gives you reliability in getting the secrets you need for the game state.
The deck seems insanely synergistic but also seems like it will fold heavily if all pieces aren't stranded together at the same right time, making it highly unreliable and making the deck overall not very competitive; however, the highrolls the deck provides when the cards align perfectly make Secret Mage a possible threat in the new expansion providing some new synergies show up, because the deck can use Yogg-Saron, Master of Fate as endgame, for example.
This is a very small idea, but even though I really like the community bingo during card reveal season, I end up "forgeting it exists" because the thread gets lost underneath all the card reveal threads. So, my idea was to put a shortcut on the expansion page that lead to the community bingo thread.
Wrathscale Naga has a chance of killing your opponents board before you trade off all illidaris, which really lowers this card's consistency. That being said, I love the design, even though it's very polarizing in arena.
Very good in arena, and a reasonable way to stall before token DH really goes online. Honestly, it's not awful, but not broken, so I like it, even if, a lot of time, it's just a 4 mana 2/2 deal 3.
Tonk is the sound a fish makes when it hits a windshield. That was the first thing I saw when I read this card, for some reason.
EDIT: Oh yeah, how good the card is. Well, it is a makeshift AoE on Hunter, but slow and very clunky. But, leaving it on the board means you can get your face tonked for 8 damage, so that's scary.
Spell Hunter used to be a thing in the past. Big Beast Hunter also used to be a thing. This card can work in a similar deck, but unfortunately, most cards that made those decks work are in wild now.
As a pure 3 drop card, it faces stiff competition from Goody Two-Shields. The corrupted version... still probably less impactful than Goody Two-Shields on a vacuum. Now, if dude Paladin makes a comeback, and if that comeback is in the form of a midrange-ish deck, this card can see reasonable play.
So far, all we know of this card is that it can provide a rather big and safe board swing in the late game. How safe and how big said board swing will end up being depends a lot on how many good Corrupt cards there will be.
One of my favorite cards of all time was The Curator, a simple yet effective designed card that brought the idea of a deck with multiple minion tribes.
And, in the same way The Curator worked better in decks that focused on 2 out of the 3 tribes it supported, I believe N'Zoth, God of the Deep will work better in a deck that has some tribes but not all of them in the hopes of playing the Old God.
For example, a Hunter deck with its beasts and dragons paired with just a random Dragonbane and Imprisoned Felmaw using N'Zoth, God of the Deep as another win condition will probably work better as a whole than a Hunter deck designed to summon a big minion from all tribes so N'Zoth, God of the Deep can shine.
Seems like a simple design to show off of Corrupt. I believe this can be a game changer in Arena and maybe end up being thrown into Corrupt decks as a one off. Y'Shaarj, the Defiler throwing out 0 mana 8/8 Giant tentacled Elephants at your opponents board does seem pretty good. Of course, that means having the card in hand and play it only after turn 6, but that's a fine price to pay for a giant board swing in the late game.
Ok, now imagine aknowledging this card exists, make it to finals and lose, not because your opponent used generated resources better or because he was able to dictate the pace of the game but because RNG pointed at your face more times than your opponents face.
I don't mind RNG, I don't even high variance RNG. When done right, RNG can make games exciting and unpredictable. But, in my opinion, a 1/20 chance to simply toss a coin under the disguise of big balls of fire being thrown around is not good design, especially when considering said design is just recycling a gimmick that was made on a PvE scenario, where game balance isn't as important.
So, lets see, Foe Reaper 4000 can cleave because I believe that's what it does in WoW (not sure, but the name certainly indicates it), Magnataur Alpha can cleave because it has a gigantic swinging weapon, Cave Hydra can cleave because it has three heads and Lake Thresher can cleave because it is a dinosaur with a pretty massive tail.
Darkmoon Rabbit can cleave because.... reasons? Still like the card design, but it makes no sense to be put on a random rabbit.
After tinkering with the card, I can say it is pretty weak but it can provide really fun combos, so a definite 5/5.
Unless the Mech tag will be relevant (which I doubt, the expansion is not about Mechs), I believe this card won't see much play. Even in spell generating decks, priests will prefer Cobalt Spellkin on 5.