this isn't exactly a nerf to make highlander decks less OP, this is just a hotfix to make the card more reasonable.

Mounted Raptor?

Yes, it gave pirate warriors too much card advantage. An aggro deck should have strong tempo in the early game, but have bad card draw in the later game, but ancharrr allowed pirate warriors to get strong tempo and strong card draw which was too much.

I agree, these constant nerfs do make it hard to build a deck and keep it for a while. But if you don't do constant nerfs then the meta will get stale and everybody will hate the game, there is a little gray area and I think team 5 is just trying to find the right number of nerfs in between expansions.

I think the best thing you can do right now it not focus so much on getting the best deck and being competitive. Or you could focus only on 5-6 classes and dust the stuff you get for the others, this is what I do and it has made it a little easier to get good decks for the classes that I play.

I partly like this and partly don't, now there is a lot of indecision about whether or not I should disenchant the card or hold onto it. But at the same time it is nice to see more balanced nerfs.

Altar of Pantheon is not a very good card. This is just a 3 mana tap for 1 and those types of cards just don't see play. It can gain you life, but not enough to be worth it, and it does give you extra devotion, but so does any other card with a color.

Thessa's Oracle by itself is a 2 mana 1/3 scry 2. We already have a card exactly like that left standard last rotation, Omenspeaker. Though it is very easy to make this card scry 3, or 4, or more. It can also make you win the game (I was not expecting that part when I first read the card) but you would need to have either a lot of devotion, or a very small library, or a bit of both. This will very likely not be a very competitive deck (at least in standard, there is probably some combo in other formats), but I know that some johnny players will have fun with this.

Taranika, Akroan Veteran will at least be a good card in limited, though I am not sure about constructed. It does not really inspire a deck by itself, but it does help an already existing deck to be better. You can turn any other creature you control into a 4/4 indestructible until end of turn, but that only happens when Taranika attacks. I feel like in too many situations it would be too easy to kill a 3/3 that has to attack in order to trigger its ability. Maybe I am wrong and it will be very easy to make this minion survive for multiple attacks. I suppose it all depends on what your opponent is playing.

Eidolon of Obstruction will probably end up not getting very much attention. 95% of the time your opponent will either not have a planeswalker in their deck, or won't care about having to pay a little extra mana. I am not even sure if this card is worth sideboarding, I would much rather play a spell that can simply kill a planeswalker than give them a small tax. This card is useless most of the time, and even when it is useful it is still not very useful.

Dreamshaper Shaman is a nice little chaos card for people who enjoy that sort of thing. There might be some kind of convoluted combo deck that wants to cheat out a specific permanent for 3 mana but other than that I don't see this card being good. For one it is expensive and slow, but also you are trading random cards for more random cards and I don't see why that would ever be a good thing if you want your deck to win.

Sea God's Scorn is not a good card, at 6 mana your cards should be more impactful than this. You should be working on clearing the board instead of just delaying 3 cards, or you should be actively working towards your win condition. This card simply isn't good enough to make the cut in 99.7% of all decks.

Calix, Destiny's Hand is a pretty neat planeswalker. He draws you cards, he removes threats, and if you ever get the the ultimate he can resurrect enchantments. We will no doubt be played in any deck focusing on enchantments if such a deck is ever good. The only thing that makes me skeptical is that he doesn't really have much of a way of protecting himself. All of the best planeswalkers can use their plus abilities to protect themselves either by neutralizing an enemy, or generating tokens to block with. But Calix will have to rely on other sources to help him out. He does have the -3 ability that can kill creatures or enchantments, but that is a minus ability and it can only be used so many times. I don't think he will be necessary in an 'enchantment' deck, but he will help the deck to have extra steam and stability.

Skophos Maze Guardian is a little confusing, there is a land card yet to be revealed called "Labyrinth of Skophos" and I would assume it is able to target creatures, we don't know what the land does yet or how good it will be which makes it hard to evaluate how good this minion will be, but I am going to go out on a limb and say that this creature will not be very good. I don't think it will be consistent enough, and the payoff isn't big enough to compensate for the lack of consistency. I might have different thoughts when we see Labyrinth of Skophos, but for now I don't think this card will be useful.

Enigmatic Incarnation is a bit hard to evaluate because it all depends on the creatures and enchantments you are playing in your deck. I imagine that there will be some deck that wants this, but I am not sure what it would look like. I like that this triggers at your end step because then you get a creature the same turn you play it which makes it much more proactive then if it triggered at your upkeep. I honestly don't know exactly what to do with this card, but it is worth experimenting with.

Lagonna-Band Narrator is pretty interesting. I think we have enough tools in this set to make some kind of enchantment themed deck possible. This effect is almost never useless, though putting it on top of your library instead of in your hand might make it too slow in some circumstances. This card can for sure be used somewhere, and even if it is not used that much, having access to a card that can bring things back from the graveyard is always nice.

Furious Rise looks like it might be useful in the color where card draw is hard to find. But I am not so sure it will be played much. Mono-red decks don't usually want to make a lot of big creatures, and if you are playing another color such as blue, black, or maybe even green, there is almost always going to be a better way to draw cards. There might be a deck where this card is necessary, but most of the time I think there are better ways to draw cards where you don't need a specific board.

Yeah, are we going to be getting a full adventure every two months in between every expansion? Are we basically going to have 6 sets a month instead of 3? Will these cards be craftable? Will they be necessary? Will the adventure still cost 700 gold per wing?

I am honestly a little worried that we might be getting too many cards dumped on us at once and F2P/Casual players won't be able to keep up unless this adventure is different from past ones.

Do you really think these nerfs are happening because someone made a bad deck and then complained about losing so much that blizzard caved? If blizzard were that easy to manipulate than things like buffs would have happened way sooner, and things like autosquelche or tournament mode would be here already.

Quote From Echo

If we go by milling in terms of hearthstone, that was just making the opponent overdraw, I think that would be fair since most ways to print cards in this vein are just cards that'd draw both cards, which is something many decks would want it would still most likely decimate control decks, but I think that creates more of a challenge in making a control deck that is able to pressure someone down instead of durdling until late game to slam a bunch of stats in play.

By this do you mean a control deck that is a midrange deck? If your control decks strategy is to play a lot of high value minions on curve throughout the game then it is no longer a control deck. 

Eat to Extinction reminds me of Vraska's Contempt, except instead of gaining 2 life you get to surveil. Gaining 2 life wasn't really a big selling point, it was mainly played because you could exile a planeswalker as well as a creature, and you could do it at instant speed. If Vraska's Contempt was a good card, then this one will be as well.

Kiora Bests the Sea God is a very impactful saga, you get to add a ton of stats on the board (with hexproof) and then right after that you tap all of their blockers. The last ability will probably end up being irrelevant most games, I imagine that the first 2 should be enough to finish off your opponent. The only reason I am skeptical about this card seeing play is that by the time you reach 7 mana you want your opponent to already be dead. You will be playing this card in an aggro/midrange deck as a finisher, but for the majority of your games you won't even get to the point where you can play this card. I think most of the time it will just be a dead card in your hand. If nothing else though it will be a super powerful card in limited.

Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger is the opposite of Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath. One of them will make you draw a card and gain life, the other one will make your opponent discard a card and lose life. I don't think Kroxa will be any less powerful than Uro, but I do think it might see more play simply because the colors are better for graveyard strategies. 

Ichthyomorphisis (I hope I spelled that right) is best compared to Frogify, or Kasmina's Transmutation. The big issue with all of those cards is that they don't remove the creature, and they cannot be played at instant speed. Your opponent can always use a 1/1 or even a 0/1 in some way, these spells won't do much to keep the aggro deck down. This card is much better than the other "frogify" type cards because it does stop the creature from being able to attack, but if your opponent plays a 1 drop on turn 1, a 2 drop on turn 2, and a 3 drop on turn 3, turning their 3 drop into a 0/1 won't help you a whole lot. This is not a very good removal card, but it is better than some other mono-blue removal cards.

Fateful End isn't a bad card for limited where the general quality of cards is lower, but in constructed I don't know if it is worth it. Dealing 3 damage for 3 mana isn't the best deal, and I am not sure if the scrying will make the difference. 

Soul-Guide Lantern is an amazing sideboard card. It only costs 1 colorless mana and it can exile every card in your opponent's graveyard. If any graveyard strategy becomes popular then this card will be popular too.

Alseide's Gift of Life is not a bad card. It reminds me of Siren Stormtamer, a 1 mana 1/1 with a 1 mana ability to effectively counter something that targets a creature you control. The big downside of this card is that a 1 mana 1/1 lifelink is not nearly as useful as a 1 mana 1/1 flying creature. It is not a bad card, but it is only useful for it's ability, so then why not just play Gods Willing?

Thryx, the Sudden Storm is very interesting. For one, it is a 5 mana 4/5 flash flying, which isn't bad, but it also prevents your "big drops" from being countered. I don't know how much you will be able to utilize this ability, usually you don't want to play too many big drops because it makes your early game less consistent. I just can't think of a deck where you would want to play this card. You wouldn't want to just take 4 copies of this guy, a couple of ramp spells and a 20 cards that cost 5 or greater. I am just stumped as to where or why you would play this card.

Dryad of Ilysian Grove is a nice ramp card. Being able to play double lands will be useful in the mid-game. I am not sure how good this card will be or if there will be any good decks using it, the effect is kind of generic and it isn't really obvious where you want to play him. But I am glad to have a card with an effect like this in standard.

Hydra's Growth isn't bad, but it will probably end up being outclassed by better cards. Being able to put a +1/+1 counter on everything you control is usually worth less than 3 mana, two turns after you play the enchantment the enchanted creature will have four +1/+1 counters on it. But I don't think you would want to play this card because you already have cards like Venerated Loxodon, Unbreakable Formation, and Ajani, the Greathearted.

Discordant Flute Player is kind of confusing. I don't see why you would want to make a 0/1 goat except for chump-blocking or so you can sacrifice it. I don't think this card does enough for it to be used in constructed, but it isn't bad in limit where chump-blockers are much more valuable.

Eutropia, the Twice-Favored looks pretty good. I don't know how many enchantments you will be playing in a single turn, so I don't know how often she will trigger, but she will be able to deliver some damage, if nothing else she will make your opponent sweat. I don't know if this deck will be any good, we don't have any deck like it in standard right now to compare it to, but I have hope that something will be possible.

Archon of Sun's Grace is for one, amazing in limited. It is not a bad first pick in draft, and it will be super useful at any point in the game. But like just about any other card with the constellation keyword, I have a very hard time imagining how useful it will be in standard. I would think that there is enough support for a deck like this to work in standard, but it will probably end up being pushed out of the meta by faster more consistent decks.

Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath is pretty big. There is a lot of value in this card, but it is very slow. This is a card that you would mainly want to play in a self-mill deck. There is no way you are spending 3 mana on turn 3 doing nothing and then escaping on turn 4. If you want to get this out early you will need to be milling yourself a lot. The effect however, when combined with some of the other self-mill tools in standard now, will probably be enough to make a decent off-meta deck.

Mantle of the Wolf is a pretty good aura, giving a ton of stats right off the bat is pretty good. And I am confident in saying that this is way better than Blessing of Kings. +4/+4 means a lot less in a game where the attacker chooses the blockers, and where damage stays across multiple turns. Plus, it leaves wolves behind when the creature dies, which are creatures you can enchant. I cannot say for sure whether or not an "Aura" deck will be good or not, but this card will be used in it.

Whirlwind Denial will - just in case anyone was confused - effect everything your opponent has on the stack. This card can be huge when you stack up multiple abilities and triggers and then suddenly you counter everything your opponent does. Even if this only hits one thing that is still good value. Being able to counter any spell or ability is very good. Disallow was played a ton when it was in standard, this is only slightly less good when it only hits a single target, but the ability to counter multiple things makes this card worth it.

Highlander mage is a good deck, it is just the wrong meta. Once the nerfs hit and different decks start being played mage might look a bit better.

Also, please no more secret mage, I don't want the deck to get any better than it already is in wild.

I have been on this site since it was Hearthstation and I must say this site has been far better than Hearthpwn since day 1. 

A big thank you to all of the staff for the great site! I look forward to all of the changes in 2020!

I opened Kronx and I was super happy about it. However, I haven't really used him as much as I thought I would. I would wait and see how you feel about it later, try some galakrond decks without him and see what happens.

Siona, Captain of the Pyleas looks like a very useful tool for "aura" decks. She doesn't have the worst stats in the world, but the is able to semi-tutor you an aura, and she will pump out extra tokens for you to put the auras on. This card will help the consistency of the deck a lot because it both creates targets for your auras to hit and it also gets you an aura in your hand. 

Arena Trickster probably won't be played outside of just the right limit deck. Brineborn Cutthroat is already a card that does the exact same thing only it is so much better. This card will trigger less often, it does not have flash, and it costs more. I really don't see why you would ever play this card.

Oread of Mountain's Blaze will probably end up getting outclassed in constructed for stronger cards, but I don't think this card was made to be played in constructed. This doesn't have bad stats for a 2-drop, it is able to block (and survive) just about any 1 or 2 drop in the set, which makes it a pretty good card for limited. Plus, in a set where consistency and card advantage can be hard to find, any sort of drawing/cycling ability is appreciated.

Foe Reaper 4000?

It got 'replaced' you could say, by Cave Hydra. But now it sees a ton of play in battlegrounds where it attacks a lot of minions, but not face.

I almost want to say Leeroy Jenkins because the card was inspired by a WoW player, so the whole "going online" seems to fit with that. Also it got nerfed, so the "got shut down" could be a double meaning in that sense. But Leeroy goes face, he just does.

Yes please, there are some very confusing cards in here.

Icicle?

Ice Lance used to be used to deal lots of burn damage the the opponent's face, but then it was moved the Hall of Fame. Now we have Icicle to replace it, but Icicle cannot hit your opponents face.

Vexing Gull isn't a very exciting creature. It won't be impactful enough to be played in constructed (Faerie Duelist, or Faerie Vandal are just better). But in limited, like most flyers, it isn't a bad card.

Purphoros's Intervention is like Banefire only it hits creatures harder and players softer. Your opponent is able to block the creature reducing the damage, but at the same time they won't want to sacrifice their own creature if yours was just going to die anyway at the end of the turn. Don't think about it like making a creature and then it dying, think of it like a burn spell that your opponent has the option to redirect into their own creature. It won't be as reliable as some other burn spells red has, but it will hit a lot harder. Maybe the force of this card will counteract the downside of both needing to have a lot of mana and needing your opponent to have a relatively small board. I honestly don't think this card will see too much play except as a removal option in the late-game. (If there are any late-game decks using red.)

Naiad of the Hidden Coves is another card that wants you to be playing cards on your opponent's turn. We already saw a couple of creatures like that here. The main problem I had with all of them is that they didn't have flash. There is already a 'flash' deck that only wants to play cards on your opponent's turn, and I have played that deck enough to know that you never ever want to tap all of your lands on your turn. So if you are playing a sorcery-speed creature then it has to be powerful. I am not sure if perhaps this deck can be shifted to a more control-type deck to fit these cards in, but in the current configuration of the deck I don't think these cards are worth it. But there is certainly potential in these cards.

Shoal Kraken probably won't be used except as a 'big body' in limited. Cycling through cards isn't bad, but this card is 5 mana and it doesn't even do anything the turn you play it. You have to play other cards alongside it to make it do anything and even then the payoff isn't that big. This card is just too slow and too much trouble. However, in limited a 3/5 body will be able to block just about anything and survive, don't underestimate this card in draft.