Sparkinarius's Avatar

Sparkinarius

Crossroads Historian
Joined 07/18/2019 Achieve Points 715 Posts 471

Sparkinarius's Comments

  • Sparkinarius's Avatar
    Crossroads Historian 715 471 Posts Joined 07/18/2019
    Posted 3 years, 9 months ago

    While I do think Totem Shaman would prefer something more consistent in a totem, it's hard to deny that this is the highest health totem you can play on turn 2 and adds to the consistency for Totemic Reflection on turn 3.

    However, I don't think this has enough synergy in Mage for it to be seen there.

    I think that The Amazing Reno has shown that one random spell a turn is on average positive. It also helps that secrets make up a good portion of the pool and they are usually tempo-driven. Overall, I do think Trick Totem has more tricks up its non-existent sleeve than it lets on at first sight (pun 100% intended).

     

  • Sparkinarius's Avatar
    Crossroads Historian 715 471 Posts Joined 07/18/2019
    Posted 3 years, 9 months ago

    3 mana for 3 damage AoE plus a 3/2 body is really good, the issue is does this make sense in a Tempo DH or will a slower DH make sense in Scholomance? Tempo DH cares a lot about early board presence, so I don't think this makes sense there. I also don't think a Midrange/Control DH has enough tools to work. Even if you run all the Soul Fragment package in DH, I don't think that's enough for a win condition, and slower DH don't have a consistent win condition now and they aren't getting much going into Scholomance. I think Shardshatter Mystic will work down the line, just not in the Scholomance meta. 

  • Sparkinarius's Avatar
    Crossroads Historian 715 471 Posts Joined 07/18/2019
    Posted 3 years, 9 months ago

    I see no reason you run this over Illidari Felblade. Both need to be outcasted to get their full effect, but Felblade with rush at a base is more tempo driven than Vilefiend Trainer even with the 1-Health difference. With the Outcast, I'd gladly trade 2/3 in stats to be able to remove my opponents 3 or 4 drop for free. Also, Illidari Felblade doesn't even see play in DH right now and the token synergy of Vilefiend Trainer doesn't matter much since Token DH looks terrible going into this expansion.

  • Sparkinarius's Avatar
    Crossroads Historian 715 471 Posts Joined 07/18/2019
    Posted 3 years, 9 months ago

    Token DH is in a bad spot because the pay-offs it currently has aren't game-winning as well as the fact that one of DH's established class weaknesses is that they can't buff wide boards. This isn't that game-winning payoff and it's a terrible top deck. At least with OG Corridor Creeper if you top-decked it in the mid-to-late game it was a sizable threat and could be discounted easier, making Fel Guardians so much worse in context.

  • Sparkinarius's Avatar
    Crossroads Historian 715 471 Posts Joined 07/18/2019
    Posted 3 years, 9 months ago

    Marrowslicer curves extremely well into this and both cards offer a lot of face damage. I think this, plus Marrowslicer and Spirit Jailer offer a lot of good tempo and face damage that Tempo DH loves.

  • Sparkinarius's Avatar
    Crossroads Historian 715 471 Posts Joined 07/18/2019
    Posted 3 years, 9 months ago

    This weapon is really good in setting up insane turn 5 pressure turns in both Glaivebound Adept and Soulshard Lapidary, not to mention it's an aggressively stated weapon that might give you some heal down the line (which is pretty likely to happen with all the good card draw DH has). I think this as well as Soulshard Lapidary and Spirit Jailer offer really good tempo and burst for Tempo DH to return it to its former glory (which is scary).

  • Sparkinarius's Avatar
    Crossroads Historian 715 471 Posts Joined 07/18/2019
    Posted 3 years, 9 months ago

    3/6 dragon on 4 is pretty good tempo, not to mention it's a good follow up to Stormhammer. Increasing that followup consistency for the weapon without sacrificing curve is deceptively powerful in Highlander Hunter. The spellburst is a nice addition, especially since Hunter is getting cheap spells like Demon Companion and Adorable Infestation. I don't think this sees play outside of Highlander Hunter because this seems only good in dragon decks that care about playing dragons for tempo and the statline might be too slow for Dragon Hunter.

  • Sparkinarius's Avatar
    Crossroads Historian 715 471 Posts Joined 07/18/2019
    Posted 3 years, 9 months ago

    When I was building my Totem Shaman, Trick Totem appeared under Shaman cards, but once I published the deck it appears under the neutral cards in the decklist. This seems to be occurring with all decks that include Trick Totem and I don't see this problem with any other dual class cards that I've included so far.

  • Sparkinarius's Avatar
    Crossroads Historian 715 471 Posts Joined 07/18/2019
    Posted 3 years, 9 months ago

    Alleycat with buff upside. Highlander Hunter would like to have this on turn 1 or as a 1 mana 6/6 with Scavenger's Ingenuity. Seems like a natural fit into most Hunter decks.

  • Sparkinarius's Avatar
    Crossroads Historian 715 471 Posts Joined 07/18/2019
    Posted 3 years, 9 months ago

    Believe or not, Lord Jaraxxus wasn't always a meme. When Emperor Thaurissan was in Standard, Jaraxxus saw play as discounting him to 8 mana to fit in the HP helped lessened the tempo loss of just playing him. In a Soul Fragment Warlock, I could see this with Jaraxxus plus Spirit Jailer and Void Drinker for a Sense Demons package. The Demon discover pool for Warlock isn't that bad as well, as there are those Soul Fragment Demons I just mentioned. Demonic Studies could allow for Lord Jaraxxus to be the win condition of that Soul Fragment deck, especially with all the healing in the deck and universal efficient burst cards like Leeroy Jenkins don't exist in standard anymore.

  • Sparkinarius's Avatar
    Crossroads Historian 715 471 Posts Joined 07/18/2019
    Posted 3 years, 9 months ago

    Big Paly finally a thing with this and Commencement? I think so! This is especially threatening getting pulled off of Commencement and is a sticky minion that most of the time kills something when pulled off of Duel!. I think with Sphere of Sapience and a possible Kael'thas Sunstrider package, Duel Paladin will get there finally!

  • Sparkinarius's Avatar
    Crossroads Historian 715 471 Posts Joined 07/18/2019
    Posted 3 years, 9 months ago

    Not good off of Commencement or Duel! or just straight up playing it. There is no reason to run this as the 4 attack lifesteal is minimal impact on 6 mana without it having rush or taunt.

  • Sparkinarius's Avatar
    Crossroads Historian 715 471 Posts Joined 07/18/2019
    Posted 3 years, 9 months ago

    Didn't draw your Skull of Gul'dan? Well no problem! With Double Jump not only are you nearly twice as likely to draw it, but you can guarantee the outcast discount on turn 7! Do I need to say anymore? Put it in all your Tempo Demon Hunter decks starting August 6!

  • Sparkinarius's Avatar
    Crossroads Historian 715 471 Posts Joined 07/18/2019
    Posted 3 years, 9 months ago

    This plus Frazzled Freshman plus Voracious Reader maybe makes Tempo Buff Priest a competitively viable deck? I think it's highly likely. The deck now has multiple ways to follow up a 1-drop and to reload in the midgame. I'm keeping my eye out for this archetype.

  • Sparkinarius's Avatar
    Crossroads Historian 715 471 Posts Joined 07/18/2019
    Posted 3 years, 9 months ago

    Insane in aggro decks that don't have card draw, like Tempo Buff Priest and Totem Shaman. It allows those decks to have reload after they dump their cheap early game hand. Not a staple in all aggro decks, but the stand-out card in aggro decks that need it.

  • Sparkinarius's Avatar
    Crossroads Historian 715 471 Posts Joined 07/18/2019
    Posted 3 years, 9 months ago

    Great stand-alone 1-drop for both classes. Sure, it'll suck to get [Hearthstone Card (Kelok) Not Found], but it's not that far off from Battlefiend, and the other two options are insane on turn 1, which are both 1 mana discounts on Bluegill Warrior and Frostwolf Grunt.

  • Sparkinarius's Avatar
    Crossroads Historian 715 471 Posts Joined 07/18/2019
    Posted 3 years, 9 months ago

    The power of Mana Wyrm in its prime was that it came down early on turn 1 and was tough to remove as you just played spells on curve and that was enough to end games sometimes. 5 mana plus a spell to summon 2 of them that demand quite a few spells to get the attack to anything that matters on turn 5 or later, that's a tough sell.

  • Sparkinarius's Avatar
    Crossroads Historian 715 471 Posts Joined 07/18/2019
    Posted 3 years, 9 months ago

    A comparison can be made to Fire Fly, but Adorable Infestation sacrifices consistency for tempo. While Fire Fly acts as both a 1- and 2-drop, Adorable Infestation demands another minion to buff on board, making it most times a 2-drop without being a 1-drop. The buff does add to more immediate tempo and gives Adorable Infestation strength over Fire Fly in that way. It really just depends on how consistently you have 1-drop on turn 1 for Infestation to be run.

  • Sparkinarius's Avatar
    Crossroads Historian 715 471 Posts Joined 07/18/2019
    Posted 3 years, 9 months ago

    Cheating out minions on turn 9 has seen play in the past with Master Oakheart, but that primarily saw play in Druid who played Oakheart earlier than turn 9 on average with their ramp. Also, Oakheart pulls 3 minions from your deck, which helps filter your future draws. Archwitch Willow only pulls 1 minion from your deck, lowers your hand resources by 1 card, and can't be played for the batttlecry earlier than turn 9. Willow just seems too slow to make sense out of running big demons in standard.

  • Sparkinarius's Avatar
    Crossroads Historian 715 471 Posts Joined 07/18/2019
    Posted 3 years, 9 months ago

    Highlander Mage would love efficient early game AoE, heck, they even ran Imprisoned Observer for a bit. Combustion serves that roll better than Imprisoned Observer ever could, since its faster and can also be early single target removal. Combustion is efficient flexibility, and that is pretty much the only flexibility that sees standard play nowadays.

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