N'Zoth is surely the strongest (Y'Shaarj is strong only with Big Priest's shell, it doesn't count and it's not a build around card), but the funnier is Yogg Saron.
Legacy format:a subset of wild with an added set "ancient memories", with some card rotated here that won't be playable in wild. Those card are old card nerfed and then never used again reverted to an original status, like warsong commander. Some cards can exist both in this status and in their actual status, like Raza the Chained, but in this case you can only play the older one.
Friendly format: another subset of wild, but with some card banned, based on both winrate, presence and feels. Neutral cards can be restricted from some class, for example no Baku in paladin or rogue but yes Baku in druid. This is the place where to play meme deck vs meme deck.
Both this formats shouldn't have a ladder, only casual and friendly match.
I hate hate hate hate REALLY hate when I beat someone with a non meta deck and they add me just to insult me. I always add them and report to blizzard without an answer (I don't know if it's usefull or not), but I really dislike this kind of players. I have just played in wild with a midrange Prince Keleseth demon warlock created by me against a (I think) Shirvallah OTK paladin that had the tiger at the last card of their deck. As I played as the beatdown the instant I saw he was an OTK, I won: he tried to kill me with the spells with 3 cards left in his deck, and the tiger was the last. I was lucky, he added me and I said him that I was lucky, and then he replaied I should suicide (not with this "kind" words, of course).
This nerf comes one expansion too late to be meaningfull, as now in Wild big priest isn't a strong deck at all.
However, this nerf is useless, as while it's true that playing barnes ASAP is good in big priest, playing him one turn after have no difference at all.
This is not a nerf for Big Priest, but a nerf for all other decks using Barnes like Spell Hunter - and it's still a bad nerf.
In control decks nothing changes, except vs very fast aggro deck where you need to survive 2 turns more before healing. This just hurt a little the midrange or tempo deck that wanted to boost their winrate against control.
1 our ago, wild, reno mage with DK (me) vs sky temple quest reno mage (opponent), both Medivh avatar. Deck almost out. I was Frost Lich Jaina almost at full health, with some minion on board. Opponent was almost dead but with 2 secret out, one mage, one hunter: ice block and rat trap. I attacked with everything but a Water Elemental and he was at 3 health, then I played Zephrys that gave me Flare (with Fireball and Eviserate).
I don't know if attacking - setting up lethal with only 1 card missing - helped or not.
This is proof about how the Wild format isn't a dumpster for all the broken crap. Wins my confidence. Next time they sell a wild pack I'm ready to pony up. LOL not
However, I can say that Standard isn't a money grabber... Except, not.
Doesn’t Wild just mean that you’ve been giving Blizzard your money for longer?
It may be, or it may be not. I will make you 2 examples:
First, you can dodge an entire expansion and still be competitive in wild, while in standard you can't. There are a lot of good competitive high tier deck that can be played without any SoU cards at all. I am -for example- someone who like hearthstone and that have spent money on the game; but I feel so sicure that I can choose if preorder or not an expansion: I bought Boomsday, skipped RR, bought RoS, skipped SoU, and still I can play almost anything I want to.
Second: there are a lot of old deck that can still be played. Yesterdey I played with success a Secret Paladin, the deck still have power. And there are a lot of budget deck, as the more cards the more you can find good budget substitutes.
Back on topic, again, this is a OTK deck: the right tech is firstly playing the match in the right way. Be the beatdown, they said.
This is proof about how the Wild format isn't a dumpster for all the broken crap. Wins my confidence. Next time they sell a wild pack I'm ready to pony up. LOL not
It's just an OTK deck as the many OTK deck that have existed and that will exist in future. There is no difference between this and reducing opponent's life to 0, even if this is funnier.
However, I can say that Standard isn't a money grabber where everyone is playing the same 2 decklists full of high cost card crying for nerfs when losing to turn 3 giant turn 4 calling. Except, not.
I'm a wild player so I have more deck to think about.....
My all time favourite was secret "perfect curve" paladin, a secret paladin deck based on the idea to play the perfect curve, the most powerfull card for every mana slot. Another one was highlander quest value priest, an highlander priest played before Raza nerf, based on the quest to survive and the inspire synergy to get value and close the match.
I'm actually trying to create a videogame, but while I'm a coder I didn't studied as a game designer, I only used to write gamemodes and lore for a minecraft community :P
Sometimes I feel like I'm onto something, but am a crappy deckbuilder myself or lack the cards. So, I call forward all of you skilled players to mess around with good ol' Spiteful Summoner. I played some games with spiteful priest and King Phaoris was a nasty addition to hit those big spells we draw early. Especially, try a Khadgar with Spiteful. Maybe... highlander spiteful mage?!
Spitefull Summoner can be played in two types of decks:
1) Deck that want to play a high number of high cost spells where you do not have to change the deck to make Spitefull strong (example: big spell mage, some reno mage) 2) Deck that can't play that many spells because their strategy is heavily minion based, so that they won't need to cut that much low cost spell to add a spitefull summoner engine (example: Dragon Priest, my quest hunter, some anyfin paladins).
The first condition is something about Mage and other late game high spell class like druid. The second can apply to any class that has at least 2 big usefull spell and that has some archetypes minion-based with a good curve. Remember that Spitefull Summoner is a midrange card, very good if dropped on curve to substain your gameplay.
Spiteful Engines possible:
DRUID: ultimate infestation, tree of life, gift of the wild, the forest's aid, overflow, wisp of the Old Gods, HUNTER: call of the wild, crushing walls, Flark's Boomzoka MAGE: pyroblast, Puzzle box of Yogg-Saron, power of creation, glacial mysteries, firelands portal, flamestrike, Greater Arcane Missles PALADIN: Anyfin can happen, dinosize, tip the scales, lay on hands, kangor's endless army, a new challenger, PRIEST: mind control, plague of death, mass resurrection, Zerek's cloning gallery, free from amber, diamond spellstone, psichyc scream ROGUE: sprint SHAMAN: everyfin is awesome, sapphire spellstone, earthquake, WARLOCK: DOOM!, demonbolt, twisting nether, void contract, WARRIOR: dimensional ripper, the boomship, crush, mithril spellstone
This shows that every class but Shaman and Rogue can play a Spiteful Engine.
That is a deck that performs better then you think. I still think that if you don't mind about high legend, you can play almost anything. Often if the meta is right, the surprise element helps more then you think.
However, as you said, Mage is the best class for Spitefull. I have 2 lists on my device, I'll post it if you like.
Yes, there is a problem and that is related to the 2 legendaries per class. Back in the days the high number of neutral legendaries meant that there were cards safe to craft that will always keep their value (at least during their standard time for standard-only player). I think about the first legendaries I crafted: Ragnaros, Sylvanas, N'Zoth, Cairne, ... And some of them were crafted with 700 gold: Reno Jackson, Sr Finley, Emperor Thaurissan, Loatheb...
Nowaday most legendaries are class legendaries, so A) every deck must have its own legendaries, that won't be played anywhere else and B) the deckbuilding feel more forced, as there isn't much freedom in using class legendaries.
There is a reason if most interesting cards are still neutral (Mecha'Thun, Prince Keleseth, Zilliax,...) but they aren't as strong as they were some years ago like Ragnaros or Dr 7.
I have almost never played wow because money (and time, that is also money, but I can't talk about time 250 hours of skyrim after). I like the universe, but I still prefer single player RPG.
I remember that I was a wargen warlock, and that's all.
This all seems really cool! The only glaring issues I see are Lothraxian and Whispered Secrets. Lothraxian is blatantly overpowered since you're essentially adding a 4/4 body to an already good card for no extra mana cost, which makes him as good as a seven mana card while costing 4 mana. You could solve this by upping the mana cost or making him add Truesilver to your hand instead of equipping it."
Yeah, it's power creep, for sure. Truesilver Champion itself doesn't see a ton of play. If standard has a better 2 or 3 mana weapon, that typical gets chosen instead. My thought here is that the paladin set will have a lot of weapon synergy, which could easily backfire and cause a lot of weapon removal. I'll consider other variations, or even entire other concepts for the character. Thanks for your feelings on this one, it'll probably see changes.
Whispered Secrets doesn't functionally make sense, since if it's a Secret it should have a trigger. You could solve this by either just making it a normal Spell (taking away the part that says Secret:) or making it say "Secret: When your opponent plays a card, put a random secret into the battlefield." The "from any class" specification is unnecessary since random already means "from any class."
I need to think over the wording on this card more. I want it to go into play as a Rogue Secret, since this set will add to the 3 existing rogue secrets from KnC. I also want it to trigger secret synergy cards, like secret keeper. This was like the 2nd or 3rd wording I've used. I'm going to think over your suggestions and try to pin down the perfect wording.
"at the start of your opponent's turn, transform in a random secret"
While for Lothraxion I can see it either as a deathrattle like Tyrion, or at (5) mana, even as a 4/5.
Zephrys can't give cards from hall of fame. That's all. I don't remember any other cards in classic that can help you in fatigue case....
Next:
Very often. This is the challenge I like from this game, more than laddering alone.
N'Zoth is surely the strongest (Y'Shaarj is strong only with Big Priest's shell, it doesn't count and it's not a build around card), but the funnier is Yogg Saron.
Obviously the best is C'thun with his quotes.
Legacy format:a subset of wild with an added set "ancient memories", with some card rotated here that won't be playable in wild. Those card are old card nerfed and then never used again reverted to an original status, like warsong commander. Some cards can exist both in this status and in their actual status, like Raza the Chained, but in this case you can only play the older one.
Friendly format: another subset of wild, but with some card banned, based on both winrate, presence and feels. Neutral cards can be restricted from some class, for example no Baku in paladin or rogue but yes Baku in druid. This is the place where to play meme deck vs meme deck.
Both this formats shouldn't have a ladder, only casual and friendly match.
I hate hate hate hate REALLY hate when I beat someone with a non meta deck and they add me just to insult me. I always add them and report to blizzard without an answer (I don't know if it's usefull or not), but I really dislike this kind of players.
I have just played in wild with a midrange Prince Keleseth demon warlock created by me against a (I think) Shirvallah OTK paladin that had the tiger at the last card of their deck. As I played as the beatdown the instant I saw he was an OTK, I won: he tried to kill me with the spells with 3 cards left in his deck, and the tiger was the last. I was lucky, he added me and I said him that I was lucky, and then he replaied I should suicide (not with this "kind" words, of course).
I really HATE this.
I say that I would have LOVED to try it (as I didn't have internet back in the day :P) if there was a free to play option.
I have given too much money to blizzard with hearthstone to try wow again :(
It's a pre quest deck, but I have my own list that I think it's very good:
This nerf comes one expansion too late to be meaningfull, as now in Wild big priest isn't a strong deck at all.
However, this nerf is useless, as while it's true that playing barnes ASAP is good in big priest, playing him one turn after have no difference at all.
This is not a nerf for Big Priest, but a nerf for all other decks using Barnes like Spell Hunter - and it's still a bad nerf.
In control decks nothing changes, except vs very fast aggro deck where you need to survive 2 turns more before healing. This just hurt a little the midrange or tempo deck that wanted to boost their winrate against control.
For me this is lazy and not that usefull.
1 our ago, wild, reno mage with DK (me) vs sky temple quest reno mage (opponent), both Medivh avatar. Deck almost out. I was Frost Lich Jaina almost at full health, with some minion on board. Opponent was almost dead but with 2 secret out, one mage, one hunter: ice block and rat trap. I attacked with everything but a Water Elemental and he was at 3 health, then I played Zephrys that gave me Flare (with Fireball and Eviserate).
I don't know if attacking - setting up lethal with only 1 card missing - helped or not.
It may be, or it may be not. I will make you 2 examples:
First, you can dodge an entire expansion and still be competitive in wild, while in standard you can't. There are a lot of good competitive high tier deck that can be played without any SoU cards at all. I am -for example- someone who like hearthstone and that have spent money on the game; but I feel so sicure that I can choose if preorder or not an expansion: I bought Boomsday, skipped RR, bought RoS, skipped SoU, and still I can play almost anything I want to.
Second: there are a lot of old deck that can still be played. Yesterdey I played with success a Secret Paladin, the deck still have power. And there are a lot of budget deck, as the more cards the more you can find good budget substitutes.
Back on topic, again, this is a OTK deck: the right tech is firstly playing the match in the right way. Be the beatdown, they said.
It's just an OTK deck as the many OTK deck that have existed and that will exist in future. There is no difference between this and reducing opponent's life to 0, even if this is funnier.
However, I can say that Standard isn't a money grabber where everyone is playing the same 2 decklists full of high cost card crying for nerfs when losing to turn 3 giant turn 4 calling. Except, not.
I'm a wild player so I have more deck to think about.....
My all time favourite was secret "perfect curve" paladin, a secret paladin deck based on the idea to play the perfect curve, the most powerfull card for every mana slot. Another one was highlander quest value priest, an highlander priest played before Raza nerf, based on the quest to survive and the inspire synergy to get value and close the match.
I'm actually trying to create a videogame, but while I'm a coder I didn't studied as a game designer, I only used to write gamemodes and lore for a minecraft community :P
Spitefull Summoner can be played in two types of decks:
1) Deck that want to play a high number of high cost spells where you do not have to change the deck to make Spitefull strong (example: big spell mage, some reno mage)
2) Deck that can't play that many spells because their strategy is heavily minion based, so that they won't need to cut that much low cost spell to add a spitefull summoner engine (example: Dragon Priest, my quest hunter, some anyfin paladins).
The first condition is something about Mage and other late game high spell class like druid. The second can apply to any class that has at least 2 big usefull spell and that has some archetypes minion-based with a good curve. Remember that Spitefull Summoner is a midrange card, very good if dropped on curve to substain your gameplay.
Spiteful Engines possible:
DRUID: ultimate infestation, tree of life, gift of the wild, the forest's aid, overflow, wisp of the Old Gods,
HUNTER: call of the wild, crushing walls, Flark's Boomzoka
MAGE: pyroblast, Puzzle box of Yogg-Saron, power of creation, glacial mysteries, firelands portal, flamestrike, Greater Arcane Missles
PALADIN: Anyfin can happen, dinosize, tip the scales, lay on hands, kangor's endless army, a new challenger,
PRIEST: mind control, plague of death, mass resurrection, Zerek's cloning gallery, free from amber, diamond spellstone, psichyc scream
ROGUE: sprint
SHAMAN: everyfin is awesome, sapphire spellstone, earthquake,
WARLOCK: DOOM!, demonbolt, twisting nether, void contract,
WARRIOR: dimensional ripper, the boomship, crush, mithril spellstone
This shows that every class but Shaman and Rogue can play a Spiteful Engine.
As an example, I will post this:
That is a deck that performs better then you think. I still think that if you don't mind about high legend, you can play almost anything. Often if the meta is right, the surprise element helps more then you think.
However, as you said, Mage is the best class for Spitefull. I have 2 lists on my device, I'll post it if you like.
Yes, there is a problem and that is related to the 2 legendaries per class. Back in the days the high number of neutral legendaries meant that there were cards safe to craft that will always keep their value (at least during their standard time for standard-only player). I think about the first legendaries I crafted: Ragnaros, Sylvanas, N'Zoth, Cairne, ... And some of them were crafted with 700 gold: Reno Jackson, Sr Finley, Emperor Thaurissan, Loatheb...
Nowaday most legendaries are class legendaries, so A) every deck must have its own legendaries, that won't be played anywhere else and B) the deckbuilding feel more forced, as there isn't much freedom in using class legendaries.
There is a reason if most interesting cards are still neutral (Mecha'Thun, Prince Keleseth, Zilliax,...) but they aren't as strong as they were some years ago like Ragnaros or Dr 7.
I have almost never played wow because money (and time, that is also money, but I can't talk about time 250 hours of skyrim after). I like the universe, but I still prefer single player RPG.
I remember that I was a wargen warlock, and that's all.
"at the start of your opponent's turn, transform in a random secret"
While for Lothraxion I can see it either as a deathrattle like Tyrion, or at (5) mana, even as a 4/5.
Nice, I like it.
But all legendaries will be demons? It seems so strange.... There isn't a demon hunter or something like that in the lore?
Do you want this to be a evil only expansion, like Rise of Shadows, or a double team like Witchwood?