Thanks for the encouragement! These reviews do take up a fair amount of time and energy. There are just too many cards being revealed too quickly! When I was writing this one the internet went out and I had to restart my computer and write the whole thing again, that was pretty disappointing. And then after I had finished it another batch of cards was revealed. *Ssssssiiiiiiiiiiiiiiggggggggghhhhhhhh*

Quote From duppie

1. Add Shudderwock to the classic set

2. More game modes, even if they aren't for ranked.  I would like a best of 3 mode with a sideboard like magic.  I think a real sideboard (not that specialist shit) could be fun.  I don't think you would even want it ranked because a lot of tech cards are way too swingy in hearthstone as apposed to magic but it would still be cool.  You could steal other stuff like pauper.  In fact, i'd love to see a hearthstone version of commander, lol.  

3. More cosmetic rewards perhaps through a new currency.  Seeing the new currency things they're adding to the chinese version of the game to bypass gambling laws made me think what if there was like a token you got from reaching legend each month (or perhaps two tokens for legend, one for rank 5, something like that) and you can use them to buy some old and new cosmetic stuff like cardbacks.  You could add some new cardbacks and have the old ones cost like 2-3 tokens so you really have to grind to get them.  Maybe some new emotes.  Stuff like that which you can monetize but also hopefully get just from playing the game.  I would also love some alternate card art.  Maybe not for every card but for a lot of the iconic cards like Leeroy, Edwin, Shudderwock, etc.

4. Balance and support for wild.  I think as long as hearthstone sticks around, wild has a real chance of becoming a lot more played than it is now.  If you make it a good playing experience while also allow people to play all the stuff from different eras of hearthstone, there is a lot of potential there.  Every time a new group of sets rotate, a lot of memories of decks and synergies rotate with it and people will want to nostalgia it.  

 

 

 

A lot of people say brawliseumm but I don't think that's a good idea.  It would just split the playerbase from ladder and make ladder completely irrelevant unless they made the gold return so low you can't go infinite, which defeats a lot of the fun of a permanent brawliseum.  

1. Please don't make shudderwock classic. That is a horrible idea and he would be HoFed very quickly.

3. I don't want more cosmetics or more currencies in Hearthstone. The lack of such things is what makes Hearthstone stand out from other games. Things like pets, guildes, gems, an endless amount of cosmetics seem like staples in any online game, and frankly I don't like a lot of them for that exact reason. It just feels like copying what other popular games have, or simply a way to make more money.

Nadir Kraken looks like a very useful tool for tempo/aggro/midrange blue decks in the future. 1 mana is a small price to pay to generate an extra 1/1 token every turn. It looks like there are enough tools in this set to give blue a decent creature based deck. I think what the deck is mainly missing is a way to protect your creatures similar to Dive Down. If we can get a nice card like then we should have a pretty good blue aggro/tempo deck.

Escape Velocity looks like it could be good, or it could be bad. We already have Crystal Slipper and that card doesn't see hardly any play, this card might be different though. The Slipper is 2 mana to get it on the field and then 1 mana to attach it to something, whereas Escape Velocity is 1 mana to get it on the field and 2 mana to attach it, plus it will immediately buff a creature as soon as it enters. This small difference is a very important one, it makes the card faster, and much more impactful. On a side note, that art is just amazing.

Kunoros, Hound of Athreos is incredible. Regardless of whether or not you need the anti-graveyard tech, this is still a 3 mana 3/3 Lifesteal, Vigilance, Menace, and that is super good. As we can see with cards like Questing Beast, and to some extent Zilliax, creatures with a bunch of Keywords are often very good. The only downfall is that there are so many colors that you won't be able to play it in as many decks.

Treacherous Blessing is bad. 3 mana to draw 3 is good, but then you will start to lose life until it gets targeted by a spell or ability. Your opponent won't want to target this so you will have to, so now it is 3 mana draw 3 then you have to spend one of your cards to get rid of it, which will deal at least 1 damage to you. At its very best, this will be 3 mana draw 3, lose 1 life, throw away a card from your hand.

Cling to Dust looks like it will be a decent card. It is a tech card, but it can do more than just exile things. 1 mana to draw 1 at instant speed is only slightly worse than Opt, and 1 mana to gain 3 life at instant speed is only slightly worse than Healing Salve (which is pretty bad, you probably won't be using the gain 3 option very often. Drawing cards is almost always better than gaining life). So yeah, this is basically just Opt without the scry and ability to ruin graveyard strategies. This isn't a card you would want to play unless there are graveyard decks in the meta, but this isn't a bad tech option because it is still okay even if your opponent doesn't care about the graveyard.

Atris, Oracle of Half-Truths is a very interesting card. I don't think it will see a lot of play in the competitive scene because it isn't reliable, it forces you to take risks, and your opponent is allowed to mess around with your cards. But this is a very interesting card, there is so much strategy needed from both players to make this work right. I don't think this will be any good, but it will be a lot of fun.

Idyllic Tutor isn't a bad card. You don't have to be playing an "Enchantment" deck to be playing this, you could run maybe one or two key enchantment cards and play this as well to make your deck more consistent. Obviously 3 mana is a lot to only gain a single card, so there would have to be a very powerful enchantment that needs tutoring. The playability of this card mostly depends on whether or not there is already a good white control deck, and whether or not there is a good enchantment in that deck that needs tutoring.

Heliod, Sun-Crowned already has a deck it will fit in. Orzhov Lifegain is already a deck that you can play, this card fits right in. The deck mainly wins by getting either Ajani's Pridemate or Bloodthirsty Aerialist and then gaining a ton of life to make them huge. With Heliod, you can effectively turn any creature into an Ajani's Pridemate. This may not make the deck tier one, but I know that Orzhov Lifegain players will be happy!

Banishing Light is an awesome card. For one, in limited this is amazing removal, but also in constructed this is incredible. Compare this to Murder. It isn't an instant, but it has less colors in it's cost making it easier to cast, it can hit any nonland permanent, so planeswalkers, enchantments, and artifacts are all fair game, and it exiles them. There is the possibility of the enchantment dying and your opponent getting their permanent back, but 95% of the time this enchantment will stick. Truely a 5 star removal card.

One with the Stars is interesting. Blue traditional has the worst removal (Ignoring counterspells of course) but here we are with a 4 mana straight up remove a creature. But to be fair this is a pretty bad removal card, it is very slow and it doesn't even kill planeswalkers or enchantments. Note though that if you hit an aura it will lose the aura type and become useless. Honestly, I have no idea why you would play this over cards like Kasmina's Transmutation or Frogify.

Inspire Awe is obviously meant to be played in a deck with a lot of enchantment/enchanted creatures. You can "fog" your opponent's creatures but leave yours un-touched. I don't know if this deck will take off, I don't think this card is enough to push the deck. And even if this "enchantment" deck works I don't know how good this card will be. Obviously the effect is powerful, but to gain the most value from this card you will have to have a lot of creatures on the field, and then play Inspire Awe so that your opponent's creatures will take damage and die but yours stay alive. But that won't happen every game, and you won't need this card most games. Most of the time this card will just end up being an over-costed fog.

Towering-Wave Mystic is neat but probably too bad to be played. You want to keep on hitting your opponent over and over again, but a 2/1 is pretty small and easy to block, and it will only mill 2 cards. This creature is just too small and underwhelming. There are better ways to mill, and there are better creatures to fight with. 

Mire Triton is much better than the aforementioned Towering-Wave Mystic. It is still a 2/1 for 2, it still mills you 2 cards. But it also gains you life (which is fairly small), and you don't have to hit your opponent to mill yourself, plus it also has Deathtouch. This isn't a bad 2-drop, it will be relevant at all stages in the game thanks to deathtouch, and milling yourself is very useful. I am still waiting for something like Stitcher's Supplier that can just plop a ton of cards into your graveyard by itself, but until then I will be playing Mire Triton.

Aphemia, the Cacophony is not a bad card. For one it is a 2 mana 2/1 flying which will be enough for it to see play in limited, but it can also make a 2/2 Zombie every turn. This will trigger at your end step so you can start to gain value from it the same turn you play it. I could see a midrange/graveyard type deck being made with this card in it. Being able to make a free token every turn is a very powerful ability, all you have to do is keep the graveyard full. Hopefully we get more cheap self-mill cards in this set and a Graveyard deck might be viable.

Devourer of Memory is another great self-mill payoff card. This card will get +1/+1 for each card you mill, which means that you can mill yourself 3 cards and smack your opponent for 5 unblockable. This will be a very intimidating card that will keep your opponent on their toes. And the second ability will help make sure that even without any other way to mill yourself, you can do at least 3 unblockable damage each turn. Hopefully we get more cheap self-mill cards in this set and a Graveyard deck might be viable. (Please reprint Stitcher's Supplier. Please. Please? Please reprint him).

Would you mind posting your freeze shaman deck? I am very interested, I don't mind if it is outdated.

Well the sooner you jump into the game the sooner you will start to get the hang of it.

Archon of Falling Stars will probably end up being too slow for constructed. At 6 mana you want to be doing more proactive things, this creature is easily removed and the effect is underwhelming. In limited though big flyers are super good.

Thassa, Deep-Dwelling is kind of hard to evaluate, honestly I don't know what to think for any of these gods. On one hand, they are overstated indestructible creatures with upsides, on the other hand we have ahd creatures like this before with any other god card and very few of them actually saw play. For this particular one though, I don't think it will be all that good for standard constructed. Being able to flicker a creature every turn is neat, but maybe too slow and too unimpactful. 

Haktos, the Unscarred looks like a very threatening creature. For those who maybe aren't familiar with the 'Protection' keyword, it means that it cannot be Damaged, Enchanted or Equipped, Blocked, or Targeted by anything that it has protection from, you can remember with the acronym "DEBT". So this creature will have protection from everything except for cards that cost either 2, 3, or 4 at random. This will without a doubt be a very powerful creature that will be very hard to answer.

Ash Phoenix is a very powerful card, Skyknight Legionnaire already sees play and this is the exact same card plus more. Having the pump ability helps you to deliver a bunch of damage later in the game, and it can constantly come back. The escape cost only demands 3 cards, that isn't a lot. You could easily resurrect this card two or three times throughout the game. This card will always be relevant and it won't ever be useless.

The Triumph of Anax probably won't see too much play. 3 mana is kind of a lot when you aren't going to get any significant bonus until two turns after it is played. Red aggro decks right now want to be way faster and deal damage way sooner. Plus, not a lot of red aggro creatures have a lot of creatures that they would want to make fight. There are other means of buffing up your creatures and there are better ways to get rid of your opponent's creatures. Maybe this card isn't bad, but there are certainly better cards.

Saprophage Harpy isn't going to be a good constructed card, there are bigger flyers and more efficient ways to exile your opponent's graveyard (*cough* Ashiok *cough*). But in limited where flyers are way more valuable this will be a good pick.

callaphe, Beloved of the Sea is an interesting card. It will slow down your opponent but it doesn't really do much in terms of affecting the board. I don't think it will be played a lot because there are just too many matchups and too many situations where your opponent simply won't care about this ability. This is obviously an aggressive creature, but I just don't think it is doing what an aggro deck wants to do. 

Dawn Evangel is kind of hard to evaluate, this whole Aura thing isn't a deck that we have right now, it is a brand new deck in this set, so I have a hard time saying if it will be bad or not. This card will certainly be powerful in the deck, it helps give you extra steam and it makes sure that you will have a target for your auras to hit. But I cannot really say whether or not this deck will be good. It is a powerful card, but it may not be a powerful deck.

The First Iroanian Games looks like a powerful saga. The turn it hits it doesn't do anything, but very soon after that it will make a 4/4, draw some cards, and create a gold (I am not 100% sure about this but I am pretty sure that the 'gold' token will have "sacrifice this, add 1 mana of any color to your mana pool"). All of the effects are powerful on their own and you can play this by itself on an empty board and everything will still trigger. Plus, the flavour of the card is great, there is a regular dude who wants to compete in the games, then he gets outfitted and gets stronger, then he wins some gold. The story on this saga is told very well.

Omen of the Sun isn't all too good by itself, two 1/1's for 3 mana is super underwhelming, but if the aura deck takes off then this card will provide extra targets for enchanting. It is important to have cards that summon extra creatures because you don't want to end up a hand full of buff spells but no creatures, anything that summons multiple creatures will help to make the deck more consistent. The question is, will this make the cut over other creature spells? I guess that all depends on whether or not the deck has enough card advantage for the scry ability to be necessary or not.

Shimmerwing Chimera isn't a bad creature by itself, 3/2 with flying for 4 isn't the worst card in the world. And there are enough enchantments with good enter-the-battlefield abilities that this card can probably find a home somewhere in a deck. I am not sure if this card will be too slow or situational to be used in a top-tier deck, but if nothing else it will be fun to play around with. And it will also be good in limited whether or not you actually have good enchantments to hit.

Pious Wayfarer might be a good card if you are able to slam down an enchantment every turn, but I think that most of the time this card just won't be big enough to actually be of any value. The effect is rather small and it is only until the end of the turn, I think you would rather be playing creatures with bigger payoffs. If the deck doesn't have a powerful enough early game then this might be worth considering, but most of the time there are better cards to play instead.

Erebos's Intervention is a good tech card. The first ability isn't powerful enough to be played by itself, but if you are in a meta where the graveyard matters a lot then the second ability will make up for it. I like this card because it can tech against certain decks, but it can still be used even when the exiling ability cannot. This will probably be in a lot of sideboards, or if you care enough about gaining life then it might end up in your mainboard.

Tymaret, Chosen from Death is another card where it is a powerful tech options against graveyard decks, but it isn't useless against other decks as well. This probably isn't as good to add to your sideboard as Erebos's Intervention, but if you are playing an aggro or midrange deck than this is just a solid 2 drop with the possibility of ruining your opponent's strategy. This card won't be good unless the meta is just right, and even in the right meta it won't be the most powerful card, but at the same time it is not a bad card.

Omen of the forge will not be played unless you really care about enchantments, or you really need that scry. Dealing 2 damage for 2, even at instant speed, is really bad. You will have to get lots of value from the enchantment tag for this to be worth adding to your deck.

Warden of the Chained might see some play in some midrange decks. If you can drop him on 3 and then follow it up with a big creature on 4 such as Questing Beast then you have probably just won the game. Keep in mind that even if you don't control any other creatures it can still block, which makes this card a lot better. And you also only need to have another creature with power of 4 or greater under your control, it doesn't have to be attacking also. I am not sure if this card will be consistent enough to be used in midrange/aggro decks but if you are willing to take the risk the payoff can be big.

How come all of the brawls that just say "lots of RNG" come back so often?

A WONDROUS fishing rod!

Pharika's Spawn doesn't look to promising. In limited it will probably be super good just for being two okay creatures bundles into one card, but it is far too slow and unimpactful in constructed.

Nessian Board is probably going to end up being bad except for a finisher. The extra stats will probably be irrelevant most of the time, and forcing your opponent's creatures to block isn't good when your opponent gets to refill their hand. The only way this will end up being good is if you need a way to get all of your other creatures past your opponent's blockers. But we already have Prized Unicorn, which is admittedly smaller, but with an effect like this that doesn't really matter.

Nylea's Intervention isn't a good card. Tutoring lands is great except they go into your hand so you can still only play one a turn. Sucking all of the lands out of your library does mean you are going to draw more spells in the future, but it is still far too slow. Being able to destroy flyers is nice but that isn't enough to make the card good.

Drag to the Underworld is exactly the kind of card that I am going to end falling in love with (Murder is probably my favorite Magic card), black, instant, cheap, hard removal. It is not a bad card, amazing for limited. This is better than a lot of other removal spells out there (Such as Consign to the Pit). If you can control one or two black permanents then this is 2 mana destroy anything instant, which is amazing. This will probably end up out-classing Murder, but still be worse than Murderous Rider.

Tectonic Giant is interesting, it can either push extra damage, or give you a little extra steam, this will be a no brainer pick in draft, and it might end up seeing play in red aggro decks in the future. If you can get it to survive attacking more than once then you can get a lot of value from this. The only way I see this not being played is if it simply ends up being too slow. Mono-red aggro decks are amongst the most aggressive decks in standard, they have a super low mana curve, so a 4 mana card that doesn't do anything the turn you play it and won't reliably make it until the turn after will probably end up getting cut for faster, more reliable cards.

Blood Aspirant is interesting, I am always open to aristocrat-type cards, but this probably needs more setup than aggro decks want. You have to have extra mana and an extra creature to make this work. You are sacrificing a potential attacker and tapping a potential attacker to get rid of a single blocker, this better be a big blocker and that better be a small creature you sacrificed. If you are playing a deck that really cares about sacrificing things and getting things into the graveyard and whatnot then you might consider this card, but I don't think any competitive deck wants this.

Arasta of the Endless Webs looks interesting, Mammoth Spider is one of my favorite draft picks. It has prime stats plus reach, this will ward off some attackers. The extra mini-spiders will be useful, they won't be the reason the card is good because they rely on your opponent playing the right kind of deck for them to work, but they are a bonus. This will not be a must-have, but it looks like fun in the right midrange deck.

Polukranos, Unchained looks redonkulous, there is just so much going on with the card. 4 mana 6/6 but then it is a 6 mana 12/12 with escape and it takes a ton of hits to kill but it also gets smaller and it is able to fight other things. For self-mill decks this looks like it will be good, by turn 6 you can probably get this into your graveyard, and a 12/12 on turn 6 is incredible. Made even better by the fact that it can kill any blockers before the attack faze via it's triggered ability and then go face for 9-10 damage. There are other cards that work similarly with the +1/+1 counters and they lose a counter when they get hit such as Ugin's Conjurant or Oathsworn Knight, but they are all burdened with heavy downsides, or simply lack of upsides, btu Polukranos has enough upsides to warrant being played in a deck. *edit* nevermind I just noticed that it lost a +1/+1 counter for each point of damage it took, I thought that it lost a single +1/+1 counter whenever it took damage. This card is bad and I am a little disappointed.

Rebirth for Glory seems interesting, There are plenty of other 5 mana cards that put creatures from the graveyard onto the battlefield and none of them have really seen play. The fact that this can bring back an aura might make the difference, but I just don't know what you would do with this, maybe there is a combo where you make a big creature with haste/flying/a ton of attack/lifelink or something like that. I don't know all of the creatures and auras that you can combine, but there might be something there for johnny players to play around with.

Wavebreak Hippocamp looks like it will end up seeing play somewhere, but I don't see any competitive decks using this. There is such thing as a 'flash' deck where you don't play any cards on your turn and your deck is full of counterspells and flash creatures, maybe that deck needs more draw and this card will be a huge help. The issue is that this doesn't have flash so it can only be played on your turn and you don't want to be spending mana on your turn.

Final Death is just a reprint of Final Reward just with a different name. Final Reward wasn't played, so this won't be. There are better, cheaper ways to remove a creature.

Omen of the Sea looks amazing. It is basically just Opt with an extra scry for an extra mana. But on top of that you get the extra scry later in the game and it is an enchantment for enchantment synergies and it has a mana cost for devotion synergies. The best part is that you can do all of this stuff at instant speed. This is a nice little way to cycle through your hand and deck, there is a deck somewhere that wants this.

Nyx Herald is not going to be played very much. It is synergy with enchantment creatures and auras, and that is nice. But is a small buff on a small creature that requires a lot of build-around. Even if you get this "enchantment" deck to work out you still wouldn't want to play this guy, there are just better cards in the game you can play instead.

Stinging Lionfish, like Wavebreak Hippocamp, looks powerful and like it might help the aforementioned 'flash' deck, but it might not be used for the simple fact that it doesn't have flash. But who knows, maybe the deck will allow some non-instant speed cards in the list if the payoff turns out to be good enough, and so far the payoff looks big enough. Just keep in mind that these effects will only trigger once per round, this is "the first card you play on your opponent's turn" not "each card you play in your opponent's turn".

Well in the riddle you literally say "you gotta feed my knife".

Luckydo Buccaneer?

If you want him to be at his best then you have to "feed" your weapon

Quote From sinti

Yeah, some old adventures, even Heroic, are not as tough as they were originally, since you can use new cards that make the bosses look like a bit silly.

My favorite adventure boss is Terestian Illhoof, whos hero power Dark Pact allows him to only be damaged by Icky Imps, which is a 1/1 with "Deathrattle: resummon this". Do you remember why they changed Dreadsteed? Well they didn't change Icky Imp. It was the easiest boss in my life.

Ashiok's Erasure looks like it will be a staple card in any blue deck in the future. It is basically just ixalan's binding with flash that doubles as a counterspell. *edit* I have just noticed that you cannot hit cards that are already on the battlefield (I am still not 100% sure on this, some clarification would be nice) so this card doesn't work as hard removal, but it is still a nice counterspell.

Birth of Meletis looks like a nice little card for decks that care about enchantments. 2 mana to tutor a land plus get some defensive tools is nice, probably not enough to warrant inclusion in a deck, but being an enchantment that puts itself into the graveyard might make it worthwhile.

Dalakos looks weird, blue isn't the color for equipping creatures. I just don't really see a deck where this guy is good. Although flying and haste might be a big enough advantage to make something happen.

Sweet Oblivion probably isn't good enough, milling any player for 4 cards isn't bad, but 4 mana escape cost makes it worse than some of the mill tools we have available right now. The translation isn't confirmed yet, let's hope maybe it is a little bit better, maybe milling more cards or make the escape cost less.

Glimpse of Freedom looks very interesting. Being able to draw a card any time you want is a nice little mana sink. However, needing to exile 5 other cards from your graveyard each time makes this card look a lot worse. Radical Idea wasn't used too much outside of Draw 2 decks or some other niche decks that cared about casting instants/sorceries. I don't think this card is good enough to replace Radical Idea, and I don't think it is good enough to run alongside it.

Reverent Hoplight looks pretty obvious in mono-white midrange decks. Being able to make lots of tokens is always useful, though I don't know if this card will be needed. If you have a big board, then you shouldn't worry too much about making an even bigger board but rather using your current board to just kill your opponent. This card doesn't help you to get back up when you fall behind, it is just a 'win more' card. If you are doing good, then it will help you to do even better, but if you are doing poorly, then you will continue to do even worse after playing this.

Chainweb Aracnir looks pretty neat. It is a small creature in the early game, and a bigger creature in the later game. It also has flying-hate, but you would mainly want to play it simply because it is multiple creatures in one. It just seems like a decent creature all around, not much to hate about it. And remember that you can escape as many times as you want, so this is way more than a one-drop and a five-drop, it is always there to be played.

Settesan Priest is probably not a very good card. Gaining life isn't a very exciting effect unless you get a good payoff from it like Ajani's Pridemate or Dawn of Hope. Gaining life in general isn't a very reliable strategy, why would I want to stack up 70+ life points when I could just kill you?

Venomstrike Trap?

Rat Trap?

The thing is, dual lands are really good. I mean like, really good. Like, so so good.

There is no way you could reduce the rarity to common, and bumping it down to uncommon wouldn't really make them any harder to get than making them common would be. Rare is a nice place for them to be in, though I do agree that making them appear more often would be nice.

I am afraid that the price can't be helped though. Wizards of the Coast can't control the price of the cards, it is all up to the sites/stores that sell them. There is a set market price, but Wizards doesn't control that. 

I don't know what you could do to make them easier to get but still pay due respect to how good they are. 

Would you consider adding Lorewalker Cho to the deck?  You only have 8 spells, and nobody expects it. I have been playing around with Lorewalker in a couple of decks and it is surprising how good he is.

Shudderwock?

Quote From ARES

Wow! That is a lot of effort put in a deck I initially crafted to have fun in casual. I don't have a lot of the cards you mentioned - Valeera and Preparation. Also the deck is called Tekhan Rogue so I feel like Galakrond 's kind of important there.

If you want this deck to be good, you cannot get attached to certain cards. You shouldn't worry too much about the flavor of your deck or playing cards simply because they are 'cool'. If Galakrond isn't a good card, then change the flavour of your deck so that it can be better.

Or if you don't care much about win rate and having the best version of the deck then go all in with the flavour and 'cool stuff'.

What could I replace Force of Nature with?