but I don't think he needs to be. No other class really follows this strict "card art must coincide with occupation rule".
Pretty much all the other classes have been diluted in terms of overall aesthetic to the point where the only thing that matters is having a critical mass of thematic cards specific to the class.
Nobody cared that Warlock got Feeding Time, which could have easily been a HUnter card that noone would have questioned. Same goes for other completely random stuff like Omega Agent or Chameleos.
As it stands, the concept of "miscellaneous NPC, but blind" is already overplayed and would get extremely worn out if we stuck by it. At some point we'd just end up with a Demon Hunter Wisp called Illidari Bumtickler or something.
I think I have an explanation for the odd choice of theme for DH.
The class is only a year old and so far has only received support for its initial archetypes (which are standard attack based aggro/midrange, tokens, and big demons).
Beastmaster is the first indicator of a new archetype, which, presumably, is going to be a new take on Deathrattles that seems to be focussed on mediumm-cost deathrattles (instead of all previous deathrattle classes which usually aimed to get very big and impactful deathrattles out, whereas the midrange deathrattle builds rarely succeeded)
The Beastmaster itself looks weird as part of Demon Hunter, but sooner or later they have to expand the visual thematic. Thus far, every demon Hunter card is just some variation of a dude with a blindfold or some demon...which gets a tad boring eventually. Apparently this expansion DH s hanging with the pig people and I think that's just fine. Doesn't make any less sense than Discard Warlock getting pterodactyls and insects during Un'goro
No idea what how this will turn out, but it's kind of strange to print a card that pulls the thing you'd want to play on curve out of your hand. Then again, maybe there's just gonna be some crazy deathrattle synergies that make this playable
I can't help but feel like someone at Blizz fked up and that this is supposed to be a Hunter card, not a Demon Hunter card. It's called a 'Beastmaster' and it has Deathrattle synergy, checking off two Hunter boxes and no Demon Hunter boxes. Idk, I wouldn't be surprised if they announce it was meant to be Hunter at some point down the line.
That'S pretty crazy, but it might just be too slow.
10-drops usually have to be playable the turn you draw them, this might just not be online in time.
I guess this entirely comes down to how quickly you can juice it, but if you can do that reliably then this is an absolutely crazy swing card. Like, I don't think many decks in the game can come back from this.
but Jandice needs no setup while this entirely relies on your opponent not triggering secrets (and out of the available ones right now only Avenge is one that you can control, at the cost of not developing more than one minion at a time).
If this was a Hunter legendary I'd see the potential, but Paladin is really, REALLY bad at controlling the board without going for minions.
I think this will come down to how good the rest of the secret package (that I assume is going to be a thing) is because this by itself is not worth building a deck around.
yes, but Druid used to be able to leverage wide boards without much set up.
This is basically just a minor payoff for when your secrets don't trigger (and Paladin secrets you usually want to trigger fast because they are tempo oriented)
I'm gonna be honest, this doesn't look that promising.
It's a legendary, so single use only.
It's a 5-mana 4/4 so it needs to get a big payoff to justify its inclusion in the first place
The core set is reduced to 3 secrets, one of which (Noble Sac) is basically guaranteed to trigger quickly, meaning it's unsuitable as a set up. The other two are a bit more controllable, but require you to play passively for the payoff.
We're getting at most two more secrets (if even) in this expansion.
The soldiers are just tokens. They don't have rush or taunt. It's basically a worse version of Soulciologist Malicia.
Overall, I don't think this is gonna be good enough. OUt of all the secret buildarounds, this might just be one of the absolute weakest. On a good day you get to drop this on 5 with like 2 secrets up, meaning it's only slightly better than Jandice Barov who needs no set up and can highroll.
Perhaps there will be some secret related draw engine or other strong cards that just enable secret Pally by themselves, then this will just fit in by default. If not, then this is dead in the water.
Obviously a very powerful card just on paper, but I think it might be difficult to actually build a deck that wants this.
At 8-mana it's not an instant tempo win like Spiteful Summoner was. Add to that the fact that the 4 Old Gods now pollute the 10-mana slot so the result probably won't always be that good.
In a control deck this might just be too slow. It works in slow matchups for tempo, but the unreliable nature makes it a gamble.
I think the best way to use this would be in a midrange/tempo deck that runs a plethora of 8-cost spells....and the only one I can imagine right now would be some sort of Elemental Mage with Grand Finale
Then again, this probably has some major support within the expansion itself so it will end up playable in some shape or form (at the very least it could be nuts in Arena)
A lot of the powerful value and control tools are leaving standard, and Warlock was already looking to dominate that field with the new Jaraxxus and the retention of Twisting nether. This card slots perfectly into that deck, so as long as the meta isn't overwhelmed with more aggro than controllock can deal with, this will have a place
the problem is that Warlock tends to draw a lot so there's a really low chance that you can consistently slam your Protector with Nether still in deck. You can only run one Protector in that case (unless you also run some 6-cost spells as backup) and even if that's worth it, Warlock usually is more preoccupied with staying alive rather than developing random 8-drops (although it brings more consistency to corrupting Strongman so that might be a major factor)
Obviously a very powerful card just on paper, but I think it might be difficult to actually build a deck that wants this.
At 8-mana it's not an instant tempo win like Spiteful Summoner was. Add to that the fact that the 4 Old Gods now pollute the 10-mana slot so the result probably won't always be that good.
In a control deck this might just be too slow. It works in slow matchups for tempo, but the unreliable nature makes it a gamble.
I think the best way to use this would be in a midrange/tempo deck that runs a plethora of 8-cost spells....and the only one I can imagine right now would be some sort of Elemental Mage with Grand Finale
Then again, this probably has some major support within the expansion itself so it will end up playable in some shape or form (at the very least it could be nuts in Arena)
Hard to evaluate until we know the entire lineup of available 4-drops.
The issue with the Princes has always been that unless they just straight up win the game (Keleseth and Taldaram in respective combo decks) it's often hard to justify running them instead of a consistent curve (which is why Valanar only ever saw play in Rogue for one expansion, because he was simply better than their only other playable 4-drop Sherazin, and then got quickly replaced by the Spiderman in KnC).
I expect this to be run in any non-aggro deck that doesn't have any mandatory 4-drops. Being able to just create a playable 5-drop on curve is pretty neat, even in a midrange deck.
I'm assuming there's gonna be at least one or two tempo options to build
Here I was thinking that it would be really fun to revisit some of the older original HEarthstone characters like the Gadgetzan gangs because they never really got to shine that much, but I expected it not to happen this year because of the old-school Warcraft focus.
Well, color me impressed, here's our boy again.
Now let's do the same for Han'Cho and Aya Blackpaw and I'll be a happy boy
I really hope they don't cock this up by making the new Boar not a Beast. I was honestly looking forward to running a 2/1 Rush beast in midrange hunter
Good to hear I guess. They clearly don't mind Charge existing as a mechanic for Wild so it would be rather unfair if decks relying on those cards just get shafted for no reason.
Also good to see they are flexible enough to adapt to community feedback this late in the process.
but I don't think he needs to be. No other class really follows this strict "card art must coincide with occupation rule".
Pretty much all the other classes have been diluted in terms of overall aesthetic to the point where the only thing that matters is having a critical mass of thematic cards specific to the class.
Nobody cared that Warlock got Feeding Time, which could have easily been a HUnter card that noone would have questioned. Same goes for other completely random stuff like Omega Agent or Chameleos.
As it stands, the concept of "miscellaneous NPC, but blind" is already overplayed and would get extremely worn out if we stuck by it. At some point we'd just end up with a Demon Hunter Wisp called Illidari Bumtickler or something.
I think I have an explanation for the odd choice of theme for DH.
The class is only a year old and so far has only received support for its initial archetypes (which are standard attack based aggro/midrange, tokens, and big demons).
Beastmaster is the first indicator of a new archetype, which, presumably, is going to be a new take on Deathrattles that seems to be focussed on mediumm-cost deathrattles (instead of all previous deathrattle classes which usually aimed to get very big and impactful deathrattles out, whereas the midrange deathrattle builds rarely succeeded)
The Beastmaster itself looks weird as part of Demon Hunter, but sooner or later they have to expand the visual thematic. Thus far, every demon Hunter card is just some variation of a dude with a blindfold or some demon...which gets a tad boring eventually. Apparently this expansion DH s hanging with the pig people and I think that's just fine. Doesn't make any less sense than Discard Warlock getting pterodactyls and insects during Un'goro
No idea what how this will turn out, but it's kind of strange to print a card that pulls the thing you'd want to play on curve out of your hand. Then again, maybe there's just gonna be some crazy deathrattle synergies that make this playable
it's like a Stormhammer thing I guess?
I like it, but Outcast cards above 3-mana usually need to be really good to justify rearranging your hand for them.
It is at least a very strong tempo card so perhaps, if Midrange DH is a thing this will see play for the tempo swing alone.
I guess Demon Hunter is going Deathrattles now.
Also Kurtus is...iffy. I certainly won't mind him from Illidari Studies, but I'm very hesitant about actually putting him in my deck
That'S pretty crazy, but it might just be too slow.
10-drops usually have to be playable the turn you draw them, this might just not be online in time.
I guess this entirely comes down to how quickly you can juice it, but if you can do that reliably then this is an absolutely crazy swing card. Like, I don't think many decks in the game can come back from this.
Even without any synergies I can see this as a tempo mage staple.
It's basically [Hearthstone Card (Dragonmaw Scorcher,) Not Found] but asymmetrical AND cheaper
And if you combine it with any hero power damage buff it becomes pretty crazy.
Hell, mage has a very good selection of tempo based removals at this point, Tempo mage is back in business
Step one: Remove Pyroblast
Step two: go nuts
but Jandice needs no setup while this entirely relies on your opponent not triggering secrets (and out of the available ones right now only Avenge is one that you can control, at the cost of not developing more than one minion at a time).
If this was a Hunter legendary I'd see the potential, but Paladin is really, REALLY bad at controlling the board without going for minions.
I think this will come down to how good the rest of the secret package (that I assume is going to be a thing) is because this by itself is not worth building a deck around.
yes, but Druid used to be able to leverage wide boards without much set up.
This is basically just a minor payoff for when your secrets don't trigger (and Paladin secrets you usually want to trigger fast because they are tempo oriented)
I'm gonna be honest, this doesn't look that promising.
It's a legendary, so single use only.
It's a 5-mana 4/4 so it needs to get a big payoff to justify its inclusion in the first place
The core set is reduced to 3 secrets, one of which (Noble Sac) is basically guaranteed to trigger quickly, meaning it's unsuitable as a set up. The other two are a bit more controllable, but require you to play passively for the payoff.
We're getting at most two more secrets (if even) in this expansion.
The soldiers are just tokens. They don't have rush or taunt. It's basically a worse version of Soulciologist Malicia.
Overall, I don't think this is gonna be good enough. OUt of all the secret buildarounds, this might just be one of the absolute weakest. On a good day you get to drop this on 5 with like 2 secrets up, meaning it's only slightly better than Jandice Barov who needs no set up and can highroll.
Perhaps there will be some secret related draw engine or other strong cards that just enable secret Pally by themselves, then this will just fit in by default. If not, then this is dead in the water.
That is....strange
the problem is that Warlock tends to draw a lot so there's a really low chance that you can consistently slam your Protector with Nether still in deck. You can only run one Protector in that case (unless you also run some 6-cost spells as backup) and even if that's worth it, Warlock usually is more preoccupied with staying alive rather than developing random 8-drops (although it brings more consistency to corrupting Strongman so that might be a major factor)
Obviously a very powerful card just on paper, but I think it might be difficult to actually build a deck that wants this.
At 8-mana it's not an instant tempo win like Spiteful Summoner was. Add to that the fact that the 4 Old Gods now pollute the 10-mana slot so the result probably won't always be that good.
In a control deck this might just be too slow. It works in slow matchups for tempo, but the unreliable nature makes it a gamble.
I think the best way to use this would be in a midrange/tempo deck that runs a plethora of 8-cost spells....and the only one I can imagine right now would be some sort of Elemental Mage with Grand Finale
Then again, this probably has some major support within the expansion itself so it will end up playable in some shape or form (at the very least it could be nuts in Arena)
Hard to evaluate until we know the entire lineup of available 4-drops.
The issue with the Princes has always been that unless they just straight up win the game (Keleseth and Taldaram in respective combo decks) it's often hard to justify running them instead of a consistent curve (which is why Valanar only ever saw play in Rogue for one expansion, because he was simply better than their only other playable 4-drop Sherazin, and then got quickly replaced by the Spiderman in KnC).
I expect this to be run in any non-aggro deck that doesn't have any mandatory 4-drops. Being able to just create a playable 5-drop on curve is pretty neat, even in a midrange deck.
I'm assuming there's gonna be at least one or two tempo options to build
Here I was thinking that it would be really fun to revisit some of the older original HEarthstone characters like the Gadgetzan gangs because they never really got to shine that much, but I expected it not to happen this year because of the old-school Warcraft focus.
Well, color me impressed, here's our boy again.
Now let's do the same for Han'Cho and Aya Blackpaw and I'll be a happy boy
alright, once again I am a mental midget unable to read more than 3 words at once.
The weird "friend of Ysera" just threw me off I guess
I really hope they don't cock this up by making the new Boar not a Beast. I was honestly looking forward to running a 2/1 Rush beast in midrange hunter
Good to hear I guess. They clearly don't mind Charge existing as a mechanic for Wild so it would be rather unfair if decks relying on those cards just get shafted for no reason.
Also good to see they are flexible enough to adapt to community feedback this late in the process.