If you have a Vulpera Toxinblade on the board and attack with the Self-Sharpening Sword, will the Toxinblade's +2 attack become permanent? I imagine not, but knowing how buffs act on minions when their attack and health are switched, I am permanently skeptical. Speaking of, though, there's a great idea for one of next season's Fan Creations Competitions - a card that switches your weapon's attack and health!
Fun, interesting, and ultimately useless interaction: Imagine if a Rogue has a Plagiarize up and a Plagiarize in hand when their opponent plays Mindrender Illucia. Could that be an infinite loop (with a cooperating player), or has my mind been ... rended ... by the complexity of things?
Secret Passage is absolutely bonkers, with just one drawback - (I assume) generated cards will be shuffled back into your deck as well. If you have a Passage in your deck, for instance, you don't want to run EVIL Miscreant. All you'd get when you play him from Passage is a worse deck and his soft, shitty body. That doesn't mean that the card is bad - it's definitely still real powerful, as Mr. Irwin would say - but it's a surprisingly effective drawback for Rogue, a class whose main strength at the moment is card generation. Secret Rogue and Aggro Rogue might want Secret Passage, but I don't imagine Galakrond Rogue will. Maybe. Maybe it's just too bleeping strong for that to matter.
Altogether, I wholeheartedly look forward to attempting a Combo Rogue and failing. For the third time.
My issue with that is that I think combo-disruption cards shouldn't be cards that an aggressive deck would play. I like Dirty Rat, for instance - it removes a card, but it's also not a card a fast deck would want. They're already good at, as you say, killing them as fast as you can. If we give aggressive strategies disruption cards, we're driving people like Markmz right out the door.
On that note, I like that Star Student Stelina doesn't remove the card from your opponent's deck, because that won't ruin a combo. And I really dislikeMindrender Illucia, because that can just shred cards.
To Magehunter - if Paladin is gonna be a thang in Standard, Demon Hunter will want all the silence they can get. Goody Two-Shields, Argent Braggart, Blessing of Authority, etc. - I'm going to predict we might as well rename that card to 'Paladinhunter'.
Regarding Potion of Illusion - Preparation *does* still exist, much as we like to forget what happened to it. If you're running a Combo-heavy Rogue deck, which there might actually be enough support for now, having Prep would be a great way to activate Combos and also Potion of Illusion, which could rake in even more Combo cards. Is there anything better for Combo than a bunch of 1-mana cards? I think not!
I would love it if they'd have spun the card that way, using Combo as an alternate effect rather than something you'd always want, but I don't think that's how Coerce works currently - the combo effect should kill any minion, damaged or undamaged.
To circle around while piggybacking on a bounce-off of your point, it would have been neat if they explored that damaged/undamaged dichotomy with one of these Warrior/Rogue cards. I can understand why they didn't, since many of the Warrior/Paladin cards dealt with similar themes, but something like Flesh Giant, which combined two classes' opposite sides of the same coin, would have been very neat. Or something like Runic Carvings, with different effects for damaged and undamaged minions.
The passage about Steeldancer got me thinking about Spectral Cutlass - would the dual class cards count as a card from another class? I think I recall that the MSoG triple-class cards did?
Nature Studies - "I have a first edition! Go ahead, count the rings."
Combustion - Sally is friends with three Silverhand Recruits conveniently standing in a line. After casting this spell, how many friends does she have left? (Show your work.)
Goody Two-Shields - These are my shields. There are at least two like them, and both are mine.
Commencement - "Remember, graduates?you carry a heavy weight on your shoulders now."
Really. He keeps explaining why cards are bad (and they're not valuable insights), instead of hyping them up by thinking about the best-case scenario. I can only imagine that the staff are tearing their hair out behind the scenes!
Alec: *excitement, fun thoughts, and designer insight*
Kripp: "Mhhm. Yeah. Alright."
------
Alec: *explaining designer thoughts and noting cute details*
Kripp: *extended monologue on why a card is either A) terrifying or B) underwhelming and doomed to never be seen in Standard*
------
This hurts to watch. There shouldn't be talk of whether cards will be competitive, and they shouldn't spend minutes beancounting their turns. Don't play at it being serious. Just have fun with the game, for goshygoshsakes.
These cards are truly powerful, and I'm gettin' pretty hyped for release. It seems like there will be a bunch of new decks to try.
That said, the flavor isn't there. Only a few of the legendaries (Druid, Warlock/Priest) have artwork that's reflected in the other class cards, so far, so most of the instructors just feel like random powerful blokes, disconnected from the setting. Take Mage, for instance - Mozaki, Master Duelist is a dude with pink hair and a sword. He's got nothing in common, art-wise, with Combustion or Lab Partner. And, speaking of Lab Partner, he's one of several cards which have flavor, but aren't that neat. Diligent Notetaker - yeah, he takes notes, but what does that have to do with Shaman? First Day of School - students, alright, but what's that got to do with Paladin? What about Frazzled Freshman is Priest-like?
There just aren't that many class-specific takes on what the classes do at Scholomance. I think Warlock/Priest is the best so far, with the ugly Disciplinarian Gandling and the Flesh Giant, obviously being some kind of nefarious backroom law enforcement bureaucracy. But what else? You'd think Mage would get a bunch of arcane, gnomely Professor Flitwicks casting charms and doing astronomy, Rogues would be shadowy figures sneaking around in artwork that references scenes in other classes' cards, Druids would be a bunch of gnarly Groot-likes sitting in a circle on the front lawn and doing herbology, and so on. There's a bit of that, but not enough - we need more cards like Glide, which zooms out and places that Demon Hunter in a school setting. That card lets me imagine something, lets me see what Demon Hunter students would be like at this school. Cards like Cycle of Hatred, though? Eh. That could be in any set.
Continuing with that idea of zooming more card artwork out a bit, to tell a greater story: what if they had included a mechanic like Rastakhan's class spirits? Each one could correspond and show a specific place in the school that would be referenced in the other class cards. I think that would do a great deal for establishing a school-y feeling, when looking at the set as a whole and when playing with the cards. Your opponent is a Warlock, and they slap down a 'Dungeon' card, that affects every minion on the board or spell played somehow. Alright - that feels like we're duking it out in the dungeon!
At the moment, Team 5 has uniformly decided that school equals one thing: BOOKS! I counted - 74 cards have been revealed, and 21 of them have some form of letters-on-a-page. About 30%!
We asked for Big Demon Hunter, and they delivered. This is huge, it gets even bigger, it kills tokens and reduces face damage each turn, and it's a demon, so you can cheat it out and discover it. Imagine summoning two in the same go - that's 20-20+ in stats and a free Consecration at the end of each turn. That's an effect you build decks around. That's an effect that makes Fel Summoner worth your while.
If a minion's health is reduced to 0, I do assume it dies? This'd be a bit broken otherwise.
If you have a Vulpera Toxinblade on the board and attack with the Self-Sharpening Sword, will the Toxinblade's +2 attack become permanent? I imagine not, but knowing how buffs act on minions when their attack and health are switched, I am permanently skeptical. Speaking of, though, there's a great idea for one of next season's Fan Creations Competitions - a card that switches your weapon's attack and health!
Fun, interesting, and ultimately useless interaction: Imagine if a Rogue has a Plagiarize up and a Plagiarize in hand when their opponent plays Mindrender Illucia. Could that be an infinite loop (with a cooperating player), or has my mind been ... rended ... by the complexity of things?
Secret Passage is absolutely bonkers, with just one drawback - (I assume) generated cards will be shuffled back into your deck as well. If you have a Passage in your deck, for instance, you don't want to run EVIL Miscreant. All you'd get when you play him from Passage is a worse deck and his soft, shitty body. That doesn't mean that the card is bad - it's definitely still real powerful, as Mr. Irwin would say - but it's a surprisingly effective drawback for Rogue, a class whose main strength at the moment is card generation. Secret Rogue and Aggro Rogue might want Secret Passage, but I don't imagine Galakrond Rogue will. Maybe. Maybe it's just too bleeping strong for that to matter.
Altogether, I wholeheartedly look forward to attempting a Combo Rogue and failing. For the third time.
Why so many one-of cards, mate? I like the idea, but I think it would be best to define and refine your idea a bit more.
My issue with that is that I think combo-disruption cards shouldn't be cards that an aggressive deck would play. I like Dirty Rat, for instance - it removes a card, but it's also not a card a fast deck would want. They're already good at, as you say, killing them as fast as you can. If we give aggressive strategies disruption cards, we're driving people like Markmz right out the door.
On that note, I like that Star Student Stelina doesn't remove the card from your opponent's deck, because that won't ruin a combo. And I really dislike Mindrender Illucia, because that can just shred cards.
To Magehunter - if Paladin is gonna be a thang in Standard, Demon Hunter will want all the silence they can get. Goody Two-Shields, Argent Braggart, Blessing of Authority, etc. - I'm going to predict we might as well rename that card to 'Paladinhunter'.
Regarding Potion of Illusion - Preparation *does* still exist, much as we like to forget what happened to it. If you're running a Combo-heavy Rogue deck, which there might actually be enough support for now, having Prep would be a great way to activate Combos and also Potion of Illusion, which could rake in even more Combo cards. Is there anything better for Combo than a bunch of 1-mana cards? I think not!
I would love it if they'd have spun the card that way, using Combo as an alternate effect rather than something you'd always want, but I don't think that's how Coerce works currently - the combo effect should kill any minion, damaged or undamaged.
To circle around while piggybacking on a bounce-off of your point, it would have been neat if they explored that damaged/undamaged dichotomy with one of these Warrior/Rogue cards. I can understand why they didn't, since many of the Warrior/Paladin cards dealt with similar themes, but something like Flesh Giant, which combined two classes' opposite sides of the same coin, would have been very neat. Or something like Runic Carvings, with different effects for damaged and undamaged minions.
The passage about Steeldancer got me thinking about Spectral Cutlass - would the dual class cards count as a card from another class? I think I recall that the MSoG triple-class cards did?
It's the
FINAL COUNTDOWN!
Is there any way to setup a Fireside Gathering and have friends from other places join you? It'd feel quite nice to be able to do that, at the moment.
I might put this in a Hadronox/N'zoth Druid deck.
I think, technically, you would say that there's less saturation and more brightness?
Selected favorites:
Partner Assignment's wholesome embrace of spider-human relations. (c'mon, there's obviously subtext there!)
Nature Studies - "I have a first edition! Go ahead, count the rings."
Combustion - Sally is friends with three Silverhand Recruits conveniently standing in a line. After casting this spell, how many friends does she have left? (Show your work.)
Goody Two-Shields - These are my shields. There are at least two like them, and both are mine.
Commencement - "Remember, graduates?you carry a heavy weight on your shoulders now."
Power Word: Feast
Cutting Class - When you actually are the sharpest tool in the shed.
Tidal Wave
School Spirits - "B-E A-G-G-R-E-S-S-I-V-E!" (It echoes within mine ears.)
Sphere of Sapience - This is what it sounds like when spheres scry.
Fishy Flyer (and Spectral Flyer!)
Pen Flinger - The pen is also a more aerodynamic short-range projectile than the sword.
"If you aren't a fan of this type of content, don't tune in!"
Well played, Flux. You saw us coming.
Why is it that half of the beast cards Druid gets aren't affected by the Druid/Hunter lego's deck buff? Grr!
Ha! @Xarkkal made this exact card for the D-A-M-A-G-E competition. That must feel good, eh?
Really. He keeps explaining why cards are bad (and they're not valuable insights), instead of hyping them up by thinking about the best-case scenario. I can only imagine that the staff are tearing their hair out behind the scenes!
Alec: *excitement, fun thoughts, and designer insight*
Kripp: "Mhhm. Yeah. Alright."
------
Alec: *explaining designer thoughts and noting cute details*
Kripp: *extended monologue on why a card is either A) terrifying or B) underwhelming and doomed to never be seen in Standard*
------
This hurts to watch. There shouldn't be talk of whether cards will be competitive, and they shouldn't spend minutes beancounting their turns. Don't play at it being serious. Just have fun with the game, for goshygoshsakes.
These cards are truly powerful, and I'm gettin' pretty hyped for release. It seems like there will be a bunch of new decks to try.
That said, the flavor isn't there. Only a few of the legendaries (Druid, Warlock/Priest) have artwork that's reflected in the other class cards, so far, so most of the instructors just feel like random powerful blokes, disconnected from the setting. Take Mage, for instance - Mozaki, Master Duelist is a dude with pink hair and a sword. He's got nothing in common, art-wise, with Combustion or Lab Partner. And, speaking of Lab Partner, he's one of several cards which have flavor, but aren't that neat. Diligent Notetaker - yeah, he takes notes, but what does that have to do with Shaman? First Day of School - students, alright, but what's that got to do with Paladin? What about Frazzled Freshman is Priest-like?
There just aren't that many class-specific takes on what the classes do at Scholomance. I think Warlock/Priest is the best so far, with the ugly Disciplinarian Gandling and the Flesh Giant, obviously being some kind of nefarious backroom law enforcement bureaucracy. But what else? You'd think Mage would get a bunch of arcane, gnomely Professor Flitwicks casting charms and doing astronomy, Rogues would be shadowy figures sneaking around in artwork that references scenes in other classes' cards, Druids would be a bunch of gnarly Groot-likes sitting in a circle on the front lawn and doing herbology, and so on. There's a bit of that, but not enough - we need more cards like Glide, which zooms out and places that Demon Hunter in a school setting. That card lets me imagine something, lets me see what Demon Hunter students would be like at this school. Cards like Cycle of Hatred, though? Eh. That could be in any set.
Continuing with that idea of zooming more card artwork out a bit, to tell a greater story: what if they had included a mechanic like Rastakhan's class spirits? Each one could correspond and show a specific place in the school that would be referenced in the other class cards. I think that would do a great deal for establishing a school-y feeling, when looking at the set as a whole and when playing with the cards. Your opponent is a Warlock, and they slap down a 'Dungeon' card, that affects every minion on the board or spell played somehow. Alright - that feels like we're duking it out in the dungeon!
At the moment, Team 5 has uniformly decided that school equals one thing: BOOKS! I counted - 74 cards have been revealed, and 21 of them have some form of letters-on-a-page. About 30%!
Thanks. I love it.
We asked for Big Demon Hunter, and they delivered. This is huge, it gets even bigger, it kills tokens and reduces face damage each turn, and it's a demon, so you can cheat it out and discover it. Imagine summoning two in the same go - that's 20-20+ in stats and a free Consecration at the end of each turn. That's an effect you build decks around. That's an effect that makes Fel Summoner worth your while.
If a minion's health is reduced to 0, I do assume it dies? This'd be a bit broken otherwise.