4/6 are okay stats for 5 mana, and this minion is probably really strong in the arena.
That said, it's a little slow in standard, since your opponent will have a turn to either remove it or arrange taunts so it doesn't clear 3 minions.
It works VERY well with the Guardian Animals spell Hunters and Druids have, summoning this and another 5 mana best from your deck and giving them rush, allowing you to use it's cleave ability on the turn it hits the board.
Druids will be able to buff the minion in deck with Embiggen to make it a sturdy 6/8 for 5, and Hunter's draw spell Scavengers ingenuity grants +2/+2 also if drawn, and scrap shot can make this a 7/9 if played on curve.
So this spell is probably best compared to Druid's Mark of the Wild, another 2 mana spell that gives it's minion +2/+2 and Taunt, or Warlock's Demonfire, which will deal 2 damage to a minion unless it's a friendly demon, giving it +2/+2.
Mark of the Wild hasn't seen play on the ladder in a long time, and Demonfire sees SOME fringe play here and there.
Where this spell shines is the text "fully heal this minion at the end of your turn", making this spell Fantastic when you need to trade, just buff your target, eliminate the opposing minion, and it'll heal before your opponent starts their turn.
This spell has a very strong synergy with the activate the obelisk quest, allowing for an easy way to restore health and complete the quest with only 2 mana.
I believe this spell will help Obelisk priest see a resurgence on the ladder once scholomance launches
4 mana 4/3 is acceptable stats, Kor'kron Elite, warriors 4 mana 4/3 with charge has seen play depending on the meta, usually when warrior is a very aggressive class playing pirates.
And while this murloc can't go face the turn it's played, it's rush is something that murloc decks usually lack - single minion removal. 4 attack is usually enough to chip a taunt in your way and finish it off with a token, or completely remove a taunt if Murloc Warleader is on the field.
What makes this minion even stronger still is the additional 4/3 with rush that it adds to your hand upon death. Not as mana efficient as say Restless Mummy that deals 6 damage for 4 mana, but this minion is still perfect cannon fodder for murloc decks that want to play aggressively (i.e, ALL OF THEM)
a 2 mana minion with stealth whose death rattle provides another 2 mana minion with stealth.
Rogues stealth package from AoO was pretty good, giving them ways to draw cards or give a minion immune and additional attack to clear a high value target.
Good, but not great, as only the minions that drew cards in the stealth package have seen play in the Galakrond decks.
The deathrattle also doesn't have synergy with most death rattle game plans, where the death rattle leaves minions on the board or deals damage to the opponents health. She might still see play in face hunter decks, however, as 3/1 that can't be targeted with single spell removal can allow for moderate face damage or to clear a small taunt in the way for the rest of your minions
This is a very strong but also very fair buff spell.
For 1 mana more this is twice the power of Blessing of Kings with the caveat that your minion can't attack your opponent the turn this is cast.
for +8/+8 worth of stats this spell has obvious synergy with taunt, lifesteal and divine shield minions, all of which will benefit from the impressive stat increase or live long enough to benefit from the blessing
In standard this minion has good synergy with Duel! and Commencement, which essentially recruits the minion from your deck and either attacks an enemy minion, or gives this minion taunt and divine shield to go with her already sturdy health pool and life steal
Playing it on it's own doesn't seem very strong, however, she doesn't impact the board once played.
Her high health pool does make her an easy target to apply buffs on, such as Blessing of Authority to make is a MASSIVE 12/17 with lifesteal or Shield of Honor.
Pharaoh's Blessing is also a very strong spell to play on this minion
a 0 mana 1/1 usually doesn't have much impact on the meta, they're usually just cute and sometimes added in zoo or tempo decks for an additional tiny threat on the board.
With this set, however, both Priest and Warlock have Disciplinarian Galding, whose passive ability destroys friendly minions played and summons a 4/4 in their place.
The imp can be discovered by Demonic Studies, but I feel like you don't want to discover a free demon.
Felosophy has a strong synergy with this card if the outcast effect is activated, giving you two 2/2 that cost 0 mana to play.
This minion is cheap and flexible, and unlike other 0 mana 1/1 of previous sets this has synergy with enough cards to see some constructed or fun casual play
Rastakhan's Rumble had a very similar minion with Waterboy, a 2 mana 2/1 minion that made your hero power on that turn cost (0)
This minion says "next hero power" allowing you to choose when you want to use that free hero power.
Decks such as zoolock will be able to play this on curve and hero power, Tempo DH can play this with Battlefiend and attack for 3/3 worth of stats on the board.
despite it's weak stats it's flexible cost and battlecry will have it find home in tempo and aggressive decks once scholomance launches
It's Azure Drake that discovers a card, and not draws a card.
Around 2 years ago before Azure Drake rotated my buddies who introduced me to this game said that Azure Drake is played in Miracle Rogue for the card draw, and not the spell damage (the spell damage was a nice bonus).
Discovering a card is not always as good as drawing a card from your deck, but being able to pull something that your opponent doesn't expect should be good, especially in a set that introduces a mechanic that's reliant on playing spells to activate.
It feels like playing this minion and then discovering a cheap removal spell is really strong, but that's not consistent enough to always work
I love that the studies cards are all cheap spells, it makes them flexible.
One of Dragon Preist's biggest weaknesses is that they don't have a way to discover dragons outside of their class. They can get lucky and generate them with the Skeletal Dragon, but it's taunt will have your opponents destroy it before you can get more than 1 dragon. This little spell is a fantastic way to get around that, allowing the portfolio of dragons introduced in Descent of Dragons to be at Priest's fingertips.
This also means you'll probably discover more of the neutral dragons than the powerful class dragons, but having it be discounted by (1) mana means the dragon should also be more flexible to play with as well.
It's only weakness is that outside of standard there's quite a few very weak dragons in wild this card can discover, and once Year of the Dragon rotates it's power in standard will drop quite a bit, only having the dragons from classic and Year of the Phoenix.
Having 12/12 for 6 is even better, but it comes with the prerequisite of having spell damage on the board for the battle cry to work.
Rise of Shadows saw a few minions that needed spell damage for their effects to work - Spellbook Binder and Arcane Watcher, Spellbook Binder saw NO play in standard, and Arcane Watcher I think only saw play in an early silence priest build that didn't run any spell damage minions.
The issue with this minion is that your opponent will go out of their way to remove any spell damage minion you have, unless they're absolute fools and don't think you have a board clear to back up the minion.
Now, Shaman can easily run this minion with their new Rune Dagger, which gives them spell damage after they attack, and Hunter's Legendary Veressa Windrunner gives them the weapon that also gives spell damage after attack, but that's less consistent than Shaman's daggers.
I think if anyone will run this minion it will be shaman, especially since they enjoy summoning tokens and then evolving them into larger minions.
In arena this minion will most likely just be a 6/6 on turn 6. Not terrible but not as good as a boulder fist Ogre, either
It's a slightly stronger but slower Flamewaker, and I'll explain that.
Flamewaker was a modest 2/4 for 3 mana that would deal 2 damage split across ALL enemies (players and minions) whenever a spell was played, and was used in the infamous aggro mage to clear your opponents board and deal massive damage to your opponent by playing spells being discounted by Sorcerer's Apprentice, allowing you to push lethal against your opponent.
The Firebrand is an impressive 3/4 for 3 mana, that deals 4 damage across all enemy minions, specifically. This is what I mean by "Slower", becase Firebrands ability won't target your opponent, they're life isn't affected directly by his ability. However, because his ability is now minions ONLY, it's consistent, and therefore stronger.
This minion will be able to shred enemy tokens that are mere 1/1s, or be able to remove a single enemy minion with 4 health left, whether they have stealth or not - allowing you to save that AOE for a large board.
It's very strong, I suspect it will be apart of a new aggro mage, or possibly find it's home in the highlander deck Mages have adopted as their legend climbing deck
5/12 for stats that can increase in attack with spells played is much better.
Despite the snowball powerlevel of mana wyrms, removing them at turn 5 and onward becomes increasingly easy, almost every class has received very strong board clears if not this set than in Ashes of Outland, and decks that don't run AOE will flood the board and trade up against the 1/3 wyrms before they become hard to manage.
If you're able to protect the wryms and increase their attack you have a game winning strategy, but I feel that the mana invested in that combo would be better served for something involving Archmage Antonidas and the Potion of Illusion
5/7 taunt for 6 mana is pretty good, other taunts around this mana level are somewhere between 3/4 (khartut defender) and 4/8 (emerald Explorer).
What sets this minion apart from other deathrattle taunts is that instead of leaving another body behind it adds the minion to your hand.
This can be a downside and an upside -
The downside is you'll have to spend the 6 mana again to play this minion a second time.
The Upside is you'll have another taunt minion to play if your opponent had to use minions or a weapon to attack it. Another upside is the taunt package Warriors received in Saviors of Ulduum, Into the Fray and Armegadillo make this already good statted minion into an impressive 7/9 for 6 mana, which is difficult for aggressive boards to push through without trading their board into it.
Stats make it a good choice for Arena, also. I feel this minion will find a home in the ladder once scholomance officially launches
This spell is a slightly more expensive and slightly more damaging Holy Water, that instead of adding the felled minion to your hand, summons it to your side of the board.
As expensive as this spell is, I highly doubt that this will be seen in constructed, Holy Water was barely seen except for a few niche decks, and Priest doesn't have any minions with spell damage in their class to make the damage more desirable.
That said, Priest does have ways to discover or generate this spell - Renew and Sethekk Veilweaver are able to generate spells you normally wouldn't have space to add to your deck, and this spell may be used as a secret weapon in the priest toolkit going forward.
Despite this cards low cost this is very much a late game tool, and not something that can be played on curve.
Her stats for mana cost is pretty weak, but her battlecry should allow you to see what your opponent was planning. If Combo decks become prominent this minion will be Priests' tool against them as they can throw away key pieces for their win condition.
Galakrond decks may also have issues with this minion, as she can steal your opponents hard earned Galakrond and play it before you get a chance too.
Having said all this, the key word is that this minion is situational, she's not a minion you base your win condition off of such as Prophet Velen or Disciplinarian Galding. Worse still, your opponent will also have your hand and deck, and if your win condition is in your hand your opponent has the chance to screw you over as well.
So 4 mana 3/6 is good for stats, it's not as aggressively powerful as a chillwind Yeti but can take more hits.
If I understand the spellburst effect correctly, this will only have +1 and taunt if you activate it's spellburst effect, and spellbursts are only good until your next turn. So to keep this minion as a 4/6 with Taunt you'll need to cast 1 spell a turn while it's out on the field, otherwise your opponent will be able to ignore it and go face.
In arena this minion is acceptable, but I feel that the classes all have better 4 mana options to play than this minion
It's sort of like small time bucanneer pre-nerf and mana wyrm, where Small time bucanneer gained +2 attack while your player had a weapon equipped, and Mana Wyrms attack bonus was based on spells played. However this minion can only gain 1 attack buff per turn, but it's a fairly large increase for 1 spell.
All the classes received very cheap, very flexible spells this set, I wouldn't be surprised if this minion found it's home in a competitive ladder climbing deck.
Tempo Demon Hunter could make use of this minion, they use spells such as twin slice and spectral sight that can increase this minon's attack permanently, it's hard to say if it could take the place of Battlefiend in the decklist. Other spells Demon Hunter could make this work is Demon Companion and Double Jump.
on paper it's a 1 mana cheaper Stanglethorn Tiger with -1/-1 stats.
the spellburst effect on a stealth minion is very interesting, the stealth allowing you to safely activate the spellburst next turn, which will generate you a combo card you can also use that same turn.
by the time Scholomance Academy launches there will be 15 combo cards available to Rogue - and are generally all very effective for removal or additional card generation.
This minion can work well with Whirlkick master, who will provide another combo card after using the one the Shifty Sophomore provides.
Otherwise she's an okay minion in arena, not exceptional but difficult to remove and can make favorable trades
4/6 are okay stats for 5 mana, and this minion is probably really strong in the arena.
That said, it's a little slow in standard, since your opponent will have a turn to either remove it or arrange taunts so it doesn't clear 3 minions.
It works VERY well with the Guardian Animals spell Hunters and Druids have, summoning this and another 5 mana best from your deck and giving them rush, allowing you to use it's cleave ability on the turn it hits the board.
Druids will be able to buff the minion in deck with Embiggen to make it a sturdy 6/8 for 5, and Hunter's draw spell Scavengers ingenuity grants +2/+2 also if drawn, and scrap shot can make this a 7/9 if played on curve.
BLESSED BE THIS FUNNEL CAKE
So this spell is probably best compared to Druid's Mark of the Wild, another 2 mana spell that gives it's minion +2/+2 and Taunt, or Warlock's Demonfire, which will deal 2 damage to a minion unless it's a friendly demon, giving it +2/+2.
Mark of the Wild hasn't seen play on the ladder in a long time, and Demonfire sees SOME fringe play here and there.
Where this spell shines is the text "fully heal this minion at the end of your turn", making this spell Fantastic when you need to trade, just buff your target, eliminate the opposing minion, and it'll heal before your opponent starts their turn.
This spell has a very strong synergy with the activate the obelisk quest, allowing for an easy way to restore health and complete the quest with only 2 mana.
I believe this spell will help Obelisk priest see a resurgence on the ladder once scholomance launches
4 mana 4/3 is acceptable stats, Kor'kron Elite, warriors 4 mana 4/3 with charge has seen play depending on the meta, usually when warrior is a very aggressive class playing pirates.
And while this murloc can't go face the turn it's played, it's rush is something that murloc decks usually lack - single minion removal. 4 attack is usually enough to chip a taunt in your way and finish it off with a token, or completely remove a taunt if Murloc Warleader is on the field.
What makes this minion even stronger still is the additional 4/3 with rush that it adds to your hand upon death. Not as mana efficient as say Restless Mummy that deals 6 damage for 4 mana, but this minion is still perfect cannon fodder for murloc decks that want to play aggressively (i.e, ALL OF THEM)
a 2 mana minion with stealth whose death rattle provides another 2 mana minion with stealth.
Rogues stealth package from AoO was pretty good, giving them ways to draw cards or give a minion immune and additional attack to clear a high value target.
Good, but not great, as only the minions that drew cards in the stealth package have seen play in the Galakrond decks.
The deathrattle also doesn't have synergy with most death rattle game plans, where the death rattle leaves minions on the board or deals damage to the opponents health. She might still see play in face hunter decks, however, as 3/1 that can't be targeted with single spell removal can allow for moderate face damage or to clear a small taunt in the way for the rest of your minions
This is a very strong but also very fair buff spell.
For 1 mana more this is twice the power of Blessing of Kings with the caveat that your minion can't attack your opponent the turn this is cast.
for +8/+8 worth of stats this spell has obvious synergy with taunt, lifesteal and divine shield minions, all of which will benefit from the impressive stat increase or live long enough to benefit from the blessing
Good stats for cost, very strong in the arena.
In standard this minion has good synergy with Duel! and Commencement, which essentially recruits the minion from your deck and either attacks an enemy minion, or gives this minion taunt and divine shield to go with her already sturdy health pool and life steal
Playing it on it's own doesn't seem very strong, however, she doesn't impact the board once played.
Her high health pool does make her an easy target to apply buffs on, such as Blessing of Authority to make is a MASSIVE 12/17 with lifesteal or Shield of Honor.
Pharaoh's Blessing is also a very strong spell to play on this minion
a 0 mana 1/1 usually doesn't have much impact on the meta, they're usually just cute and sometimes added in zoo or tempo decks for an additional tiny threat on the board.
With this set, however, both Priest and Warlock have Disciplinarian Galding, whose passive ability destroys friendly minions played and summons a 4/4 in their place.
The imp can be discovered by Demonic Studies, but I feel like you don't want to discover a free demon.
Felosophy has a strong synergy with this card if the outcast effect is activated, giving you two 2/2 that cost 0 mana to play.
This minion is cheap and flexible, and unlike other 0 mana 1/1 of previous sets this has synergy with enough cards to see some constructed or fun casual play
Rastakhan's Rumble had a very similar minion with Waterboy, a 2 mana 2/1 minion that made your hero power on that turn cost (0)
This minion says "next hero power" allowing you to choose when you want to use that free hero power.
Decks such as zoolock will be able to play this on curve and hero power, Tempo DH can play this with Battlefiend and attack for 3/3 worth of stats on the board.
despite it's weak stats it's flexible cost and battlecry will have it find home in tempo and aggressive decks once scholomance launches
It's Azure Drake that discovers a card, and not draws a card.
Around 2 years ago before Azure Drake rotated my buddies who introduced me to this game said that Azure Drake is played in Miracle Rogue for the card draw, and not the spell damage (the spell damage was a nice bonus).
Discovering a card is not always as good as drawing a card from your deck, but being able to pull something that your opponent doesn't expect should be good, especially in a set that introduces a mechanic that's reliant on playing spells to activate.
It feels like playing this minion and then discovering a cheap removal spell is really strong, but that's not consistent enough to always work
I love that the studies cards are all cheap spells, it makes them flexible.
One of Dragon Preist's biggest weaknesses is that they don't have a way to discover dragons outside of their class. They can get lucky and generate them with the Skeletal Dragon, but it's taunt will have your opponents destroy it before you can get more than 1 dragon. This little spell is a fantastic way to get around that, allowing the portfolio of dragons introduced in Descent of Dragons to be at Priest's fingertips.
This also means you'll probably discover more of the neutral dragons than the powerful class dragons, but having it be discounted by (1) mana means the dragon should also be more flexible to play with as well.
It's only weakness is that outside of standard there's quite a few very weak dragons in wild this card can discover, and once Year of the Dragon rotates it's power in standard will drop quite a bit, only having the dragons from classic and Year of the Phoenix.
6 mana 6/6 is acceptable stats for cost.
Having 12/12 for 6 is even better, but it comes with the prerequisite of having spell damage on the board for the battle cry to work.
Rise of Shadows saw a few minions that needed spell damage for their effects to work - Spellbook Binder and Arcane Watcher, Spellbook Binder saw NO play in standard, and Arcane Watcher I think only saw play in an early silence priest build that didn't run any spell damage minions.
The issue with this minion is that your opponent will go out of their way to remove any spell damage minion you have, unless they're absolute fools and don't think you have a board clear to back up the minion.
Now, Shaman can easily run this minion with their new Rune Dagger, which gives them spell damage after they attack, and Hunter's Legendary Veressa Windrunner gives them the weapon that also gives spell damage after attack, but that's less consistent than Shaman's daggers.
I think if anyone will run this minion it will be shaman, especially since they enjoy summoning tokens and then evolving them into larger minions.
In arena this minion will most likely just be a 6/6 on turn 6. Not terrible but not as good as a boulder fist Ogre, either
This is a very good mage minion.
It's a slightly stronger but slower Flamewaker, and I'll explain that.
Flamewaker was a modest 2/4 for 3 mana that would deal 2 damage split across ALL enemies (players and minions) whenever a spell was played, and was used in the infamous aggro mage to clear your opponents board and deal massive damage to your opponent by playing spells being discounted by Sorcerer's Apprentice, allowing you to push lethal against your opponent.
The Firebrand is an impressive 3/4 for 3 mana, that deals 4 damage across all enemy minions, specifically. This is what I mean by "Slower", becase Firebrands ability won't target your opponent, they're life isn't affected directly by his ability. However, because his ability is now minions ONLY, it's consistent, and therefore stronger.
This minion will be able to shred enemy tokens that are mere 1/1s, or be able to remove a single enemy minion with 4 health left, whether they have stealth or not - allowing you to save that AOE for a large board.
It's very strong, I suspect it will be apart of a new aggro mage, or possibly find it's home in the highlander deck Mages have adopted as their legend climbing deck
5 mana 3/6 is pretty sad for stats.
5/12 for stats that can increase in attack with spells played is much better.
Despite the snowball powerlevel of mana wyrms, removing them at turn 5 and onward becomes increasingly easy, almost every class has received very strong board clears if not this set than in Ashes of Outland, and decks that don't run AOE will flood the board and trade up against the 1/3 wyrms before they become hard to manage.
If you're able to protect the wryms and increase their attack you have a game winning strategy, but I feel that the mana invested in that combo would be better served for something involving Archmage Antonidas and the Potion of Illusion
5/7 taunt for 6 mana is pretty good, other taunts around this mana level are somewhere between 3/4 (khartut defender) and 4/8 (emerald Explorer).
What sets this minion apart from other deathrattle taunts is that instead of leaving another body behind it adds the minion to your hand.
This can be a downside and an upside -
The downside is you'll have to spend the 6 mana again to play this minion a second time.
The Upside is you'll have another taunt minion to play if your opponent had to use minions or a weapon to attack it. Another upside is the taunt package Warriors received in Saviors of Ulduum, Into the Fray and Armegadillo make this already good statted minion into an impressive 7/9 for 6 mana, which is difficult for aggressive boards to push through without trading their board into it.
Stats make it a good choice for Arena, also. I feel this minion will find a home in the ladder once scholomance officially launches
This spell is a slightly more expensive and slightly more damaging Holy Water, that instead of adding the felled minion to your hand, summons it to your side of the board.
As expensive as this spell is, I highly doubt that this will be seen in constructed, Holy Water was barely seen except for a few niche decks, and Priest doesn't have any minions with spell damage in their class to make the damage more desirable.
That said, Priest does have ways to discover or generate this spell - Renew and Sethekk Veilweaver are able to generate spells you normally wouldn't have space to add to your deck, and this spell may be used as a secret weapon in the priest toolkit going forward.
Despite this cards low cost this is very much a late game tool, and not something that can be played on curve.
Her stats for mana cost is pretty weak, but her battlecry should allow you to see what your opponent was planning. If Combo decks become prominent this minion will be Priests' tool against them as they can throw away key pieces for their win condition.
Galakrond decks may also have issues with this minion, as she can steal your opponents hard earned Galakrond and play it before you get a chance too.
Having said all this, the key word is that this minion is situational, she's not a minion you base your win condition off of such as Prophet Velen or Disciplinarian Galding. Worse still, your opponent will also have your hand and deck, and if your win condition is in your hand your opponent has the chance to screw you over as well.
So 4 mana 3/6 is good for stats, it's not as aggressively powerful as a chillwind Yeti but can take more hits.
If I understand the spellburst effect correctly, this will only have +1 and taunt if you activate it's spellburst effect, and spellbursts are only good until your next turn. So to keep this minion as a 4/6 with Taunt you'll need to cast 1 spell a turn while it's out on the field, otherwise your opponent will be able to ignore it and go face.
In arena this minion is acceptable, but I feel that the classes all have better 4 mana options to play than this minion
It's sort of like small time bucanneer pre-nerf and mana wyrm, where Small time bucanneer gained +2 attack while your player had a weapon equipped, and Mana Wyrms attack bonus was based on spells played. However this minion can only gain 1 attack buff per turn, but it's a fairly large increase for 1 spell.
All the classes received very cheap, very flexible spells this set, I wouldn't be surprised if this minion found it's home in a competitive ladder climbing deck.
Tempo Demon Hunter could make use of this minion, they use spells such as twin slice and spectral sight that can increase this minon's attack permanently, it's hard to say if it could take the place of Battlefiend in the decklist. Other spells Demon Hunter could make this work is Demon Companion and Double Jump.
oh this is a fantastic addition, now I have links to all the forum articles I need to comment on!
Thank you very much!
on paper it's a 1 mana cheaper Stanglethorn Tiger with -1/-1 stats.
the spellburst effect on a stealth minion is very interesting, the stealth allowing you to safely activate the spellburst next turn, which will generate you a combo card you can also use that same turn.
by the time Scholomance Academy launches there will be 15 combo cards available to Rogue - and are generally all very effective for removal or additional card generation.
This minion can work well with Whirlkick master, who will provide another combo card after using the one the Shifty Sophomore provides.
Otherwise she's an okay minion in arena, not exceptional but difficult to remove and can make favorable trades