A Priestess of Fury but neutral, and as such, with greatly reduced stats and effect. I mean, it hits your own minions too. And it can't hit face. So what's the point?
Shaman might consider it for a Corrupt the Waters sort of inclusion, except of course that there are better inclusions, especially for that hefty six mana. This card is definitely a high-risk arena pick. Especially with only 3 health. When you're that late in the game, you want things to stick around.
Really slow. Good as an initial removal card, but the remaining stats will not be something to rely on, and your opponent can pretty easily remove it afterwards. In short, good when you are ahead, not terribly helpful when you're behind.
Zoo decks want to maintain and retain board presence while trading in a lot. This is basically the card that makes your guys spawn murlocs, but demons, and attached to a fairly affordable body. Good card, might see play.
9/1 is a very cool, unseen statline for Hearthstone. If you can somehow proc that or give the 9/1 rush on your turn, then this guy could be seen as a niche removal card. Not sure if you can justify that in constructed, but Arena will love this guy.
Murloc decks will be running two of these. Whether that's any good will depend on how good murloc decks are in the upcoming meta. But a 4 mana 4/4 with a boost to the rest of your board is something that murlocs want: strong support and board stabilization.
Could be useful in fast metas featuring lots of little guys. Pick off a little guy, stick around to take down a bigger guy, right?
Except that if your opponent already has a guy to use 5 attack on, then this guy is a pretty slow answer. You probably want something faster or more immediate. Good arena card though.
Great against Priest-heavy Rez metas. Stick in a couple of these bad boys and soon the enemy Priest will be resurrecting nothing but 1/1 huntresses. GG.
Of course, Alabatross might be better for that, since many times Priest is also running Reno effects. But this is a budget Albatross and on a bigger, more sustainable stick. You get the rez dilution effect immediately, too.
The question really is whether or not Dormant pays off.
I would propose that for the most part... Dormant doesn't. Think of this in terms of topdecking mode: is this really a card that you want to topdeck? No way. This is basically a game over if you draw this while behind.
Sure, it has Rush for when it wakes up, but you might be dead by that point. This will have to fit into a deck that has a lot of drawing power, and if you have that in your deck, aren't there higher-power cards that you'd rather stuff in there?
Less initial damage than Amani Berserker; more damage possible if you can proc it twice, but that's tricky to set up, let alone sustain... and the benefit isn't that great. You could buff it, in say some sort of Zoo Priest deck or something. Could be an aggressive staple. But if you leave it as is, it's a bit underwhelming.
Definitely an arena card. You don't want to run this in constructed, unless you are new to the game and lack Bloodmage Thalnos. That card is strictly better, unless you somehow can game the deathrattle effect to trigger multiple times and create your own cumulative Malygos effect.
The weakest augmerchant, because spell damage is such a niche effect--even spell-heavy decks don't necessarily run a lot of spell damage. Think of it this way: is that extra spell damage worth the loss of one of the spells that you could otherwise stuff in your deck? Usually the answer is no.
But it'll be a fun find off of something like Jar Dealer or another 1-drop generator.
Wrathguard is the obvious comparison. You could say that this one is more aggressively statted, though, given that it costs only one mana and you can roll a buffed version of this with either Shadow Council or with the awoken Imprisoned Imp.
The augmerchants can easily be compared to Lackeys: 1-drop utility minions that give an effect that is arguably worth an additional one mana. Basically this one gives anything you want Rush at the cost of one additional mana and one less health. Beautiful.
The best of the augmerchants, this guy is going to be everywhere: enabling trades, bolstering taunts, going face. You think a King Krush is a good late-game drop? How about with Divine Shield attached?
Hall of Fame happens at 10am Pacific. (So in ten minutes.)
It's too close to the mark for me for comfort, so I've decided to just take the dust I'm going to get at this point and not risk messing it up by crafting goldens.
Given that Demon Hunter is extremely restricted in card generation, this is going to feature in a lot of control decks because it represents one of the very few ways that Demon Hunter has for getting cards into play that didn't start in their deck.
A Priestess of Fury but neutral, and as such, with greatly reduced stats and effect. I mean, it hits your own minions too. And it can't hit face. So what's the point?
Shaman might consider it for a Corrupt the Waters sort of inclusion, except of course that there are better inclusions, especially for that hefty six mana. This card is definitely a high-risk arena pick. Especially with only 3 health. When you're that late in the game, you want things to stick around.
Really slow. Good as an initial removal card, but the remaining stats will not be something to rely on, and your opponent can pretty easily remove it afterwards. In short, good when you are ahead, not terribly helpful when you're behind.
Zoo decks want to maintain and retain board presence while trading in a lot. This is basically the card that makes your guys spawn murlocs, but demons, and attached to a fairly affordable body. Good card, might see play.
9/1 is a very cool, unseen statline for Hearthstone. If you can somehow proc that or give the 9/1 rush on your turn, then this guy could be seen as a niche removal card. Not sure if you can justify that in constructed, but Arena will love this guy.
Very vulnerable to pings, though.
Murloc decks will be running two of these. Whether that's any good will depend on how good murloc decks are in the upcoming meta. But a 4 mana 4/4 with a boost to the rest of your board is something that murlocs want: strong support and board stabilization.
This is a Stormpike Commando with an upside.
Could be useful in fast metas featuring lots of little guys. Pick off a little guy, stick around to take down a bigger guy, right?
Except that if your opponent already has a guy to use 5 attack on, then this guy is a pretty slow answer. You probably want something faster or more immediate. Good arena card though.
Great against Priest-heavy Rez metas. Stick in a couple of these bad boys and soon the enemy Priest will be resurrecting nothing but 1/1 huntresses. GG.
Of course, Alabatross might be better for that, since many times Priest is also running Reno effects. But this is a budget Albatross and on a bigger, more sustainable stick. You get the rez dilution effect immediately, too.
Depends on what decks we'll be seeing.
This is the new Tar Creeper. Instead of losing the 3 attack on your turn, you sustain it until the opponent damages it.
Makes it great for slow metas, a bit weaker on fast metas. So it depends on what decks we'll be facing in coming weeks.
Is a 4/3 Glacial Shard really worth 2 more mana?
Probably not. Pass.
Nifty combat trick in arena, though. That's probably where this guy will shine.
The question really is whether or not Dormant pays off.
I would propose that for the most part... Dormant doesn't. Think of this in terms of topdecking mode: is this really a card that you want to topdeck? No way. This is basically a game over if you draw this while behind.
Sure, it has Rush for when it wakes up, but you might be dead by that point. This will have to fit into a deck that has a lot of drawing power, and if you have that in your deck, aren't there higher-power cards that you'd rather stuff in there?
Less initial damage than Amani Berserker; more damage possible if you can proc it twice, but that's tricky to set up, let alone sustain... and the benefit isn't that great. You could buff it, in say some sort of Zoo Priest deck or something. Could be an aggressive staple. But if you leave it as is, it's a bit underwhelming.
Definitely an arena card. You don't want to run this in constructed, unless you are new to the game and lack Bloodmage Thalnos. That card is strictly better, unless you somehow can game the deathrattle effect to trigger multiple times and create your own cumulative Malygos effect.
Hooray jank!
The weakest augmerchant, because spell damage is such a niche effect--even spell-heavy decks don't necessarily run a lot of spell damage. Think of it this way: is that extra spell damage worth the loss of one of the spells that you could otherwise stuff in your deck? Usually the answer is no.
But it'll be a fun find off of something like Jar Dealer or another 1-drop generator.
Wrathguard is the obvious comparison. You could say that this one is more aggressively statted, though, given that it costs only one mana and you can roll a buffed version of this with either Shadow Council or with the awoken Imprisoned Imp.
The augmerchants can easily be compared to Lackeys: 1-drop utility minions that give an effect that is arguably worth an additional one mana. Basically this one gives anything you want Rush at the cost of one additional mana and one less health. Beautiful.
The best of the augmerchants, this guy is going to be everywhere: enabling trades, bolstering taunts, going face. You think a King Krush is a good late-game drop? How about with Divine Shield attached?
Everywhere. You're gonna see this guy everywhere.
Hall of Fame happens at 10am Pacific. (So in ten minutes.)
It's too close to the mark for me for comfort, so I've decided to just take the dust I'm going to get at this point and not risk messing it up by crafting goldens.
Given that Demon Hunter is extremely restricted in card generation, this is going to feature in a lot of control decks because it represents one of the very few ways that Demon Hunter has for getting cards into play that didn't start in their deck.
It's mostly the 8-mana 6/3 "summon a few tribal guys" effect
Agreed on the deck-thinning and the controllable aspect. Still seems uncannily similar in stats, cost, and effect
That Prime is givin me some serious Captain Hooktusk feelings