Well, the vanilla cards these days are much stronger than they used to be. That's nice!
In WoW, do the Razormanes and Quilboars do anything with beasts? Despite never having played the game, that feels natural, and I was thinking that we might see a few in Hunter or Druid.
I'm going to copy and paste this comment from Onyxia's page because I'm curious whether folks agree or disagree with me.
Quote From Me0203
They really did these new dragons dirty with the art. It's great art, don't get me wrong - just not on a card.
It's too detailed. There are too many colors for us to imagine a simple and majestic image with just the card's thumbnail. Compare to the old Malygos. The subject is the same (dragon breathing fire), but it's colored all in shades of blue. Some detail is omitted and the camera is zoomed in so that it reads on a small card. On this new Onyxia, almost the whole dragon is shown, with every part in full detail.
It's also too stereotypical. Look at the new dragons altogether. Notice how there are only two poses? They're the most typical poses, too. Sitting or breathing fire. Some of the old dragons share those poses, but they're twisting, turning, more sinuous and beautiful. Old Onyxia, for example - look how there are three distinct levels of detail to the pose. The head is most detailed, and then the body in the mid-ground, and then finally the tail whipping out. It's a sinuous and beautiful arrangement that guides your eye along the dragon's form. New Onyxia is a chonky block with a huge foreground, a tiny mid ground, and no background at all.
Finally, just look at the freaking pretty abstraction of a dragon that is old Deathwing. None of this new art comes close to that level of beauty. He is a looming, undeniable, animalistic force of nature. We read him differently because he looks different than what we know 'dragon' looks like. He's special. He's Deathwing. Deathwing the Destroyer, while undeniably produced by a skilled artist, lacks the spirit of individuality that set the old one apart. The artist drew a dragon, but he didn't go so far as to ask, "How can I represent the spiritual form as well as the physical?" "What holistic decisions can I make that will produce a unique whole?" In the old art, those radical decisions were the symmetry and the geometry (look at how the V of his jaw extends all down the chest. Not natural, obviously, but beautiful!).
Anyway, I'll stop spewing my thoughts on the keyboard now. I'm a l'il disappointed at the lack of artistry, but that's okey. The new ones are still pretty.
They really did these new dragons dirty with the art. It's great art, don't get me wrong - just not on a card.
It's too detailed. There are too many colors for us to imagine a simple and majestic image with just the card's thumbnail. Compare to the old Malygos. The subject is the same (dragon breathing fire), but it's colored all in shades of blue. Some detail is omitted and the camera is zoomed in so that it reads on a small card. On this new Onyxia, almost the whole dragon is shown, with every part in full detail.
It's also too stereotypical. Look at the new dragons altogether. Notice how there are only two poses? They're the most typical poses, too. Sitting or breathing fire. Some of the old dragons share those poses, but they're twisting, turning, more sinuous and beautiful. Old Onyxia, for example - look how there are three distinct levels of detail to the pose. The head is most detailed, and then the body in the mid-ground, and then finally the tail whipping out. It's a sinuous and beautiful arrangement that guides your eye along the dragon's form. New Onyxia is a chonky block with a huge foreground, a tiny mid ground, and no background at all.
Finally, just look at the freaking pretty abstraction of a dragon that is old Deathwing. None of this new art comes close to that level of beauty. He is a looming, undeniable, animalistic force of nature. We read him differently because he looks different than what we know 'dragon' looks like. He's special. He's Deathwing. Deathwing the Destroyer, while undeniably produced by a skilled artist, lacks the spirit of individuality that set the old one apart. The artist drew a dragon, but he didn't go so far as to ask, "How can I represent the spiritual form as well as the physical?" "What holistic decisions can I make that will produce a unique whole?" In the old art, those radical decisions were the symmetry and the geometry (look at how the V of his jaw extends all down the chest. Not natural, obviously, but beautiful!).
Anyway, I'll stop spewing my thoughts on the keyboard now. I'm a l'il disappointed at the lack of artistry, but that's okey. The new ones are still pretty.
This is a bit costly to play alongside a spell. It doesn't have bad stats, though, and it provides infinite silencable value. Think of the next card - that could be a 1-mana minion with +2 Spell Damage! That situation isn't so unlikely, given how many small bois Mage usually runs.
Power level aside, I love cards with loose, themed text. And the color scheme! *swoon* This is beautiful.
Anubisath Defender and Umbral Owl are good because they can make an immediate impact with Taunt or Rush. This doesn't have any keywords, nor can it fully negate its own cost. It doesn't seem worth a slot in your deck... but then, I've always underestimated this sort of card!
At first, I was very scared. And then I remembered Headcrack, which, true, costs one more mana than this and doesn't have Lifesteal. However, it's easier to trigger and easier to hit face with... and has never, ever been in a competitive deck. Headcrack is too slow.
A difference, though - you can play this multiple times per turn! But how many? Even in the best case scenario, only three times. Six damage and six healing (provided there are no taunts) for the price of three Outcast cards and your turn. Demon Hunter has far better ways to damage and heal than that.
I do think this will have a place to shine, though. It's more flexible than Headcrack, being a minion, so instead of aggression, imagine the opposite - your opponent has a board full of 1-1s and 1-2s that you need to clear. You can use Kor'vas Bloodthorn as a mini board clear and heal to sweep them up and exhaust their advantage. I think this will work best in a Control DH, god forbid, or simply to help aggressive DH builds better beat down other aggressive decks.
The best Battlegrounds cosmetic I can imagine is a new Barkeep! Replace Bob with... Stelina? Annoy-o-Tron? Gruul!?
That'd be super fun. I'd love to have Stelina sass my play. "Oh, I wouldn't have done that..." "If you'd peeked at his board, you would've won!" "Next time you'll be as successful as I am!"
That would make him a better card, yes, but it would also make him a different card. The fantasy of playing Jaraxxus involves risk. You can put out game-winning pressure... but if you can't keep it consistently, you die.
If they're going to remove the health limitation (or at the least not even reference it in a new ability) they might as well rename him.
I hope they don't rework him too much! But having seen how gracefully they treated our lovely Dragons (discounting the new art), I'm not worried.
Really, simply lowering his mana cost to 8 and increasing his health to 20 would create a very playable Jaraxxus. Playing him should be a risk - here's wishing they don't give him the generic "Battlecry: Gain 5 armor" treatment.
Deja Vol! I've just been on the board again.
Well, the vanilla cards these days are much stronger than they used to be. That's nice!
In WoW, do the Razormanes and Quilboars do anything with beasts? Despite never having played the game, that feels natural, and I was thinking that we might see a few in Hunter or Druid.
I'm going to copy and paste this comment from Onyxia's page because I'm curious whether folks agree or disagree with me.
Well, that's disappointing. Hope he gets used, at least!
They really did these new dragons dirty with the art. It's great art, don't get me wrong - just not on a card.
It's too detailed. There are too many colors for us to imagine a simple and majestic image with just the card's thumbnail. Compare to the old Malygos. The subject is the same (dragon breathing fire), but it's colored all in shades of blue. Some detail is omitted and the camera is zoomed in so that it reads on a small card. On this new Onyxia, almost the whole dragon is shown, with every part in full detail.
It's also too stereotypical. Look at the new dragons altogether. Notice how there are only two poses? They're the most typical poses, too. Sitting or breathing fire. Some of the old dragons share those poses, but they're twisting, turning, more sinuous and beautiful. Old Onyxia, for example - look how there are three distinct levels of detail to the pose. The head is most detailed, and then the body in the mid-ground, and then finally the tail whipping out. It's a sinuous and beautiful arrangement that guides your eye along the dragon's form. New Onyxia is a chonky block with a huge foreground, a tiny mid ground, and no background at all.
Finally, just look at the freaking pretty abstraction of a dragon that is old Deathwing. None of this new art comes close to that level of beauty. He is a looming, undeniable, animalistic force of nature. We read him differently because he looks different than what we know 'dragon' looks like. He's special. He's Deathwing. Deathwing the Destroyer, while undeniably produced by a skilled artist, lacks the spirit of individuality that set the old one apart. The artist drew a dragon, but he didn't go so far as to ask, "How can I represent the spiritual form as well as the physical?" "What holistic decisions can I make that will produce a unique whole?" In the old art, those radical decisions were the symmetry and the geometry (look at how the V of his jaw extends all down the chest. Not natural, obviously, but beautiful!).
Anyway, I'll stop spewing my thoughts on the keyboard now. I'm a l'il disappointed at the lack of artistry, but that's okey. The new ones are still pretty.
I really, really hope that this is part of a meta deck. Imagine every mirror match having 15 second turns!
This is just good fun. I love it. And if it does become part of a powerful deck, that'll have a very high skill ceiling!
Sorry, Ancient Harbinger. A new fella is in town, and it's tentacle time.
AND MY AXE! that costs 2 mana
I'm not sure what sort of exercise they do in the Void, but my spirit brother has some ripped pecs! Absolute smokeshow.
This draws the spell from your deck rather than generating another copy of it, yeah?
I love how that this can be used as removal or as a buff. It's a thought-provoking, flavorful card.
That said, it's weak removal and a buff for a weak archetype. Hrmm.
This is a bit costly to play alongside a spell. It doesn't have bad stats, though, and it provides infinite silencable value. Think of the next card - that could be a 1-mana minion with +2 Spell Damage! That situation isn't so unlikely, given how many small bois Mage usually runs.
Power level aside, I love cards with loose, themed text. And the color scheme! *swoon* This is beautiful.
Anubisath Defender and Umbral Owl are good because they can make an immediate impact with Taunt or Rush. This doesn't have any keywords, nor can it fully negate its own cost. It doesn't seem worth a slot in your deck... but then, I've always underestimated this sort of card!
Uh oh.
At first, I was very scared. And then I remembered Headcrack, which, true, costs one more mana than this and doesn't have Lifesteal. However, it's easier to trigger and easier to hit face with... and has never, ever been in a competitive deck. Headcrack is too slow.
A difference, though - you can play this multiple times per turn! But how many? Even in the best case scenario, only three times. Six damage and six healing (provided there are no taunts) for the price of three Outcast cards and your turn. Demon Hunter has far better ways to damage and heal than that.
I do think this will have a place to shine, though. It's more flexible than Headcrack, being a minion, so instead of aggression, imagine the opposite - your opponent has a board full of 1-1s and 1-2s that you need to clear. You can use Kor'vas Bloodthorn as a mini board clear and heal to sweep them up and exhaust their advantage. I think this will work best in a Control DH, god forbid, or simply to help aggressive DH builds better beat down other aggressive decks.
TAZ'DINGO!
I only just realized, thanks to your joke... is Darkmoon Tonk a play on Tank? Is it that dumb?
The best Battlegrounds cosmetic I can imagine is a new Barkeep! Replace Bob with... Stelina? Annoy-o-Tron? Gruul!?
That'd be super fun. I'd love to have Stelina sass my play. "Oh, I wouldn't have done that..." "If you'd peeked at his board, you would've won!" "Next time you'll be as successful as I am!"
That would make him a better card, yes, but it would also make him a different card. The fantasy of playing Jaraxxus involves risk. You can put out game-winning pressure... but if you can't keep it consistently, you die.
If they're going to remove the health limitation (or at the least not even reference it in a new ability) they might as well rename him.
I hope they don't rework him too much! But having seen how gracefully they treated our lovely Dragons (discounting the new art), I'm not worried.
Really, simply lowering his mana cost to 8 and increasing his health to 20 would create a very playable Jaraxxus. Playing him should be a risk - here's wishing they don't give him the generic "Battlecry: Gain 5 armor" treatment.