So first of all, Subjugator kind of reminds me of the old Acolyte + Shadow Priest combo from Dragon Spiteful Priest which was one of the most annoying and game ending combos around at that time (aside from Spiteful herself)
Conjurer doesn't need any more Thief synergy (because Rogue didn't have much either when it first came out and it was still in every deck)
Velen's Chosen was a very popular card back in the day, I have no idea what you're talking about. Granted, it was far more powerful than Infusion, but still, giving +6 health to a minion for 4-mana isn't a bad deal, especially if the minion has an effect that scales with it (Lightspawn for instance or even something as simple as a taunt or Lightwarden)
Natalie is just the top end of a tempo chain. Sure she's expensive, but she can really deliver that final swing (for instance against Embiggen Druid)
I have no idea how you don't find Chaplain great. It's literally a more consistent Kabal Talonpriest, a card that has seen a ton of play during its time. Now you actually have a reason to play a decent 1-drop in Priest (such as LIghtwarden, Subjugator, and probably some others yet to come). Once again, it could actually push a successful tempo Priest because it allows you to value trade and stay on the board early. Just imagine curving into this from a Blazing Battlemage.
Obviously just by itself these won't be enough, but they set a baseline that we previously didn't have.
If all this doesn'T convince you then just let me remind you how absolutely nuts Priest was with a 2-mana Extra Arms. They have the potential to play a dominating tempo game (that can still run removal and boardclear thanks to the new buffs), all they need is a bit more consistency.
If you've ever played League you'd know that Riot has been consistently awful with making competent balance decisions. There is absolutely nothing stopping them from continuing to do that in another game.
Data doesn't mean shit if the people interpreting it don't have a clue what to do.
I don't get the hatred for him. If he bothers you that much, just fucking run Ironbeak Owl. It fits the exact mana slot and leave the Rogue without ressources (they don't have Mana Cyclone, you know).
There are way more consistent blowout cards with far less counters (such as Mountain giant and Divine Spirit, which, big surprise, just got HoF'd). They already killed Preparation, what more do you want?
Zoolock might like this, but it still seems a bit too costly. You're effectively playing a 3-mana Grim Rally. If you don't actually kill it immediately it is vulnerable to silence, meaning you just played a 3/4 that wiped your own board and you should probably surrender.
What also doesn't help is that Scarab Egg and [Hearthstone Card (Grim Rally rotate) Not Found] which makes this a lot less appealing. The only direct synergies right now are [Hearthstone Card (Sea Serpent Egg) Not Found] and EVIL Genius (and maybe Void Terror if you can go that slow).
Maybe Demon Hunter can do something with this, they have a bit of synergy with sacrificing their own minions.
Quest Hunter could also probably use this to accelerate their quest (but it's kind of slow).
Either way, if this is actually good, people will run Silence which would then make this terrible.
The elusive new Handlock support now that Giant got yeeted. I don't really see this being a thing. If you want to play it immediately the discount is negligable, so it makes most sense to play this as a set up for future turns, in which case I have to ask why we don't just play the minion striaght up.
Maybe there's some weird combo involving select minions and Plot Twist for consistency, but I have no idea what that would be (if you say Malygos I'll punch you in the face)
Pretty good I think. Shaman has enough draw to get to this in a timely fashion and a decent spell damage minion is never unwelcome. The main question is whether there are enough good Shaman spells for a Control Shaman list to work.
This time it actually looks playable. Basically a 2-mana cobra, which is great value. Quite similar to Rat Trap actually since it really deters your opponent from making optimal plays.
This could be the only secret for Rogue and it would still see play because the "hidden" aspect is almost entirely irrelevant.
I don't believe in this mechanic whatsoever. spending 3-mana to do nothing only to get a benefit 2 turns later just seems ridiculously slow. There've been better cards that haven't seen play for this exact reasons. 2-damage is especially insulting. For this condition it would have to be 3 at least. Only perplexingly slow token decks will be punished by this, everyone else just plays around it. I mean ffs, we can't even play Doomsayer without Freezes these days, how would this be any different.
Also, Demons for every class, Sac Pact will be nerfed soon :^)
hey look, a Mage card that isn't a Mage card, but probably a Mage card anyways.
Ray of Frost makes this pretty nuts....even more so in Cyclone builds (which will desperately need it now that Elemental Evocation bounced). remember that this can proc multiple times in a turn...with Sorcerer'S Apprentice and a few random spells that could get out of hand fast.
Quest Druid also might be able to use this quite well seeing how Innervate and Invalid Deck ID and Invalid Deck ID are common in those decks.
Rogue could in theory do some sick combos with Prep, Backstab and Sprint, but I don't think they're desperate for card draw at the moment.
Every other class just seems a bit too memey at the moment. You can't really build an entire deck aorund a legendary that can't be tutord and pretty much only gives you a one-time tempo play requiring 4 pieces at least.
All the others make sense. Cleric and Spirit were a given and Holy Fire and Shadow Form, while not really problematic, are simply relics of a playstyle they won't support, so there's really no reason to keep them around (even though I'm still pissed why they decided to keep Mindgames around out of all things).
However Auchenai was never really a problem, nor does it depend on specific support. They've always printed healing effects for Priest that don't just target allies. Auchenai + Circle was one of the most iconic combos in the game in the old days. The only reason I could possibly imagine is that they're printing some sick healing spells that would absolutely wreck with Soulpriest still around. I guess we'll see..
wait what? How are the new cards garbage. I'd say SW:Ruin is the worst out of the bunch.
Subjugator is absolutely insane especially with a buffed Shadow Madness.
Now, with Lazul's Scheme there's enough consistency for a mind control package that makes for pretty big tempo swings.
Galakrond now also works as a win condition since we actually get something to do early (even though Card draw might still be an issue)
Natalie and Chaplain are amazing in a tempo build, which is now fully posssible because we got 3 playable 1-drops (including Ligthwarden), an amazing 2-drop to curve into (as well as Neferset and Tol'Vir) and the usual Priest shenanigans.
Sure, the lack of draw will hurt a bit, but who knows what else we'Re going to get in the new expansion.
Inner Fire is also still around, so while OTKs are no longer a thing you can still create a big beater out of nowhere and win from there (considering that Spellbreaker just got yeeted and less decks will run dedicated silence)
So first of all, Subjugator kind of reminds me of the old Acolyte + Shadow Priest combo from Dragon Spiteful Priest which was one of the most annoying and game ending combos around at that time (aside from Spiteful herself)
Conjurer doesn't need any more Thief synergy (because Rogue didn't have much either when it first came out and it was still in every deck)
Velen's Chosen was a very popular card back in the day, I have no idea what you're talking about. Granted, it was far more powerful than Infusion, but still, giving +6 health to a minion for 4-mana isn't a bad deal, especially if the minion has an effect that scales with it (Lightspawn for instance or even something as simple as a taunt or Lightwarden)
Natalie is just the top end of a tempo chain. Sure she's expensive, but she can really deliver that final swing (for instance against Embiggen Druid)
I have no idea how you don't find Chaplain great. It's literally a more consistent Kabal Talonpriest, a card that has seen a ton of play during its time. Now you actually have a reason to play a decent 1-drop in Priest (such as LIghtwarden, Subjugator, and probably some others yet to come). Once again, it could actually push a successful tempo Priest because it allows you to value trade and stay on the board early. Just imagine curving into this from a Blazing Battlemage.
Obviously just by itself these won't be enough, but they set a baseline that we previously didn't have.
If all this doesn'T convince you then just let me remind you how absolutely nuts Priest was with a 2-mana Extra Arms. They have the potential to play a dominating tempo game (that can still run removal and boardclear thanks to the new buffs), all they need is a bit more consistency.
come back once you sit on a dead card while your opponent hass a full board of 4-attack minions.
If you've ever played League you'd know that Riot has been consistently awful with making competent balance decisions. There is absolutely nothing stopping them from continuing to do that in another game.
Data doesn't mean shit if the people interpreting it don't have a clue what to do.
cute, now list how many of those don't get countered by Deny
I don't get the hatred for him. If he bothers you that much, just fucking run Ironbeak Owl. It fits the exact mana slot and leave the Rogue without ressources (they don't have Mana Cyclone, you know).
There are way more consistent blowout cards with far less counters (such as Mountain giant and Divine Spirit, which, big surprise, just got HoF'd). They already killed Preparation, what more do you want?
Zoolock might like this, but it still seems a bit too costly. You're effectively playing a 3-mana Grim Rally. If you don't actually kill it immediately it is vulnerable to silence, meaning you just played a 3/4 that wiped your own board and you should probably surrender.
What also doesn't help is that Scarab Egg and [Hearthstone Card (Grim Rally rotate) Not Found] which makes this a lot less appealing. The only direct synergies right now are [Hearthstone Card (Sea Serpent Egg) Not Found] and EVIL Genius (and maybe Void Terror if you can go that slow).
Maybe Demon Hunter can do something with this, they have a bit of synergy with sacrificing their own minions.
Quest Hunter could also probably use this to accelerate their quest (but it's kind of slow).
Either way, if this is actually good, people will run Silence which would then make this terrible.
(in Wild)
Pretty much no reason not to run this in just about any Warrior deck (especially Galakrond)
a decent turn 4 that's always a good draw later on and especially valuable in a face race. Thank god Town Crier rotates.
The elusive new Handlock support now that Giant got yeeted. I don't really see this being a thing. If you want to play it immediately the discount is negligable, so it makes most sense to play this as a set up for future turns, in which case I have to ask why we don't just play the minion striaght up.
Maybe there's some weird combo involving select minions and Plot Twist for consistency, but I have no idea what that would be (if you say Malygos I'll punch you in the face)
Pretty good I think. Shaman has enough draw to get to this in a timely fashion and a decent spell damage minion is never unwelcome. The main question is whether there are enough good Shaman spells for a Control Shaman list to work.
Too inconsistent for any degenerate OTKs though.
Here we go again with the secrets.
This time it actually looks playable. Basically a 2-mana cobra, which is great value. Quite similar to Rat Trap actually since it really deters your opponent from making optimal plays.
This could be the only secret for Rogue and it would still see play because the "hidden" aspect is almost entirely irrelevant.
I don't believe in this mechanic whatsoever. spending 3-mana to do nothing only to get a benefit 2 turns later just seems ridiculously slow. There've been better cards that haven't seen play for this exact reasons. 2-damage is especially insulting. For this condition it would have to be 3 at least. Only perplexingly slow token decks will be punished by this, everyone else just plays around it. I mean ffs, we can't even play Doomsayer without Freezes these days, how would this be any different.
Also, Demons for every class, Sac Pact will be nerfed soon :^)
hey look, a Mage card that isn't a Mage card, but probably a Mage card anyways.
Ray of Frost makes this pretty nuts....even more so in Cyclone builds (which will desperately need it now that Elemental Evocation bounced). remember that this can proc multiple times in a turn...with Sorcerer'S Apprentice and a few random spells that could get out of hand fast.
Quest Druid also might be able to use this quite well seeing how Innervate and Invalid Deck ID and Invalid Deck ID are common in those decks.
Rogue could in theory do some sick combos with Prep, Backstab and Sprint, but I don't think they're desperate for card draw at the moment.
Every other class just seems a bit too memey at the moment. You can't really build an entire deck aorund a legendary that can't be tutord and pretty much only gives you a one-time tempo play requiring 4 pieces at least.
NOt really sold on this one. Pretty easy to get through for aggro decks who usually deal cip damage anyways.
A great tool against burn/combo decks, but then again, it's easily countered by Ooze or Zephrys, which those decks can easily tech in.
At the very least it has a fair cost. Maybe there's some self-damaging cards that like to play with this. Hoard Pillager is a thing still.
probably hiding from Zephrys pulling Ooze.
I don't really get why Auchenai Soulpriest had to be axed.
All the others make sense. Cleric and Spirit were a given and Holy Fire and Shadow Form, while not really problematic, are simply relics of a playstyle they won't support, so there's really no reason to keep them around (even though I'm still pissed why they decided to keep Mindgames around out of all things).
However Auchenai was never really a problem, nor does it depend on specific support. They've always printed healing effects for Priest that don't just target allies. Auchenai + Circle was one of the most iconic combos in the game in the old days. The only reason I could possibly imagine is that they're printing some sick healing spells that would absolutely wreck with Soulpriest still around. I guess we'll see..
wait what? How are the new cards garbage. I'd say SW:Ruin is the worst out of the bunch.
Subjugator is absolutely insane especially with a buffed Shadow Madness.
Now, with Lazul's Scheme there's enough consistency for a mind control package that makes for pretty big tempo swings.
Galakrond now also works as a win condition since we actually get something to do early (even though Card draw might still be an issue)
Natalie and Chaplain are amazing in a tempo build, which is now fully posssible because we got 3 playable 1-drops (including Ligthwarden), an amazing 2-drop to curve into (as well as Neferset and Tol'Vir) and the usual Priest shenanigans.
Sure, the lack of draw will hurt a bit, but who knows what else we'Re going to get in the new expansion.
Inner Fire is also still around, so while OTKs are no longer a thing you can still create a big beater out of nowhere and win from there (considering that Spellbreaker just got yeeted and less decks will run dedicated silence)
you're acting like they didn't already have that.
Also, did you just call Holy Nova overpowered?
Do we actually need to elaborate why this is great for almost any Priest deck (minus Rez). Lightwarden is back on the menu.
Vol'jin except without the extra steps. Probably an auto include in any Priest deck just for the tempo swing.