So the thing is they sorta overbuffed Xhilag so now it can actually just wins by itself when it hits an empty board. Caria turned that into a very highrolly win condition
In a perfect world Caria would be left untouched but Xhilag would be reverted (and maybe buffed to 6-mana as compensation) but we don't live in that world so instead they chose to let Xhilag be playable and shaft Caria, perhaps because there are more powerful big demons yet to come or maybe because they won't support the archetype any further in Standard and so it's better to not render the standalone Xhilag unpllayable yet again.
Hell, even the Warlock legendary might be really good in Curselock if you play it right.
Neptulon is probably decent in Druid and maybe Ozumat isn't as bad in practice as he is on paper.
Compare that to the last mini-set which didn't have that many viable cards either (only 2 legendaries saw play and very few of the class cards made an impact)
If 3-4 damage was okay then this is completely outclassed by Chaos Nova. Boardclears need to be reasonably consistent or else they will lose you the game when you most need them.
You never run a card that if it low rolls will basically lose you the game...at least not one where eeven the best case scenario is only decent.
Unless I'm missing some hidden synergy this is just bad. Playing it on curve usually means not being able to play everything you get and there aren't even that many good Arcane spells to begin with (Runic Orb is the best outcome and if you want that just play any other spell discovery minions).
Hopefully this indicates some creative future for Arcane Mage.
Very valuable for Naga Mage although perhaps a bit clunky. Either way, the ability to just get extra health when you need it is pretty strong. Also a good discovery from Amalgam.
I wonder if the Arcane versions will enable some sort of combo, but then again, we already have Siphon Mana and it isn't even run in Naga Mage.
Spacerock seems bad. I'm guessing it doesn't just dump the spells if it dies on the opponent's turn, but still, temporary ressources just aren't great, especially if you can easily get something like Mass Polymorph which probably ends up unplayable. Interesting that they chose Arcane spells though, might indicate some future support (which everyone saw coming anyways, it's the last missing spell school to get an archetype)
Polymorph seems kinda good actually. It's a great tool to deal with buff decks (and I would unironically run it in Naga Mage just to have a way to deal with Naga Priest and Handbuff Paladin) but it also has the upside of being a really good way to get lots of Spell damage for yourself for cheap. Definitely looking forward to testing this one.
Naz'jar seems really strong but also quite expensive but the flexibility is what makes me optimistic about its place in Naga Mage. Just the fact that you can get access to 8 armor consistently is huge and the spell discount can also be pretty huge. Not sure about the Fire one but it can come in clutch if you need it.
Harpoon Gun is a very good card. Big Beast Hunter runs 6-8 Beasts. Very often your Harpoon Gun doesn't find a beast if you haven't set it up.
Big DH would likely be in a very similar spot because it can't reliably put their big stuff at the bottom and they can run like 10 cards with 5+ mana at max. That means there will be plenty of times where you play this and it just deals 1-2 damage and you lose the game because you just wasted a turn.
boardcelars that are this inconsistent have never seen play and will never see play. Dragon's Fury is the closest comparabale thing and that one has a way smaller margin for failure than this piece of shit.
Topple the Idol is actual garbage like holy shit, DH doesn't deserve something as trash as this. Even worse, this is presumably supposed to be Big Demon DH support but it's just unbearably awful.
The best thing you can do with it is hoping you find Faelin before playing it and that's really not something I look forward to. At least make it target only the enemy board, holy shit.
I swear HUnter gets the weirdest mini-set cards every time.
Krakenbane is just really weird, but I guess it makes Spell/face Hunter a lot stronger. More reach means more wins. Doubt you can use it in anything else, 3 spells is quite a lot.
Shellshot is....pointless? Like...Quest Hunter is just dead, so no worries there, but why is it random? Why wouldn't you let us choose the first target? It's not like a slightly cheaper Multishot is anything to write home about. Was it nerfed because of Quest Hunter's success and they just forgot to unnerf it?
The doggy seems surprisingly decent actually. I've wanted to make Sunscale Raptor work for a while but it's unreasonably difficult. THis helps (although not by much, I still need a proper Frenzy trigger)
Does this go into Naga Priest or not. Healing for 6 is strong, especially on this mana-cost and it should be fairly easy to activate. Naga Priest is already really good at just stacking stats that can't be killed in a ssingle turn and this invalidates any poke damage.
It's a better Entomb (which wouldn't see play today, but still) and it's the only single-target removal spell Priest will ever need for the forseeable future and since it goes to the bottom of your deck it won't even mess up your draw if you have to remove something useless (like Nellie's ship).
ONce again though, it only really fits Quest Priest, which is a terrible deck, but at least it sets up future control decks for success.
So the thing is they sorta overbuffed Xhilag so now it can actually just wins by itself when it hits an empty board. Caria turned that into a very highrolly win condition
In a perfect world Caria would be left untouched but Xhilag would be reverted (and maybe buffed to 6-mana as compensation) but we don't live in that world so instead they chose to let Xhilag be playable and shaft Caria, perhaps because there are more powerful big demons yet to come or maybe because they won't support the archetype any further in Standard and so it's better to not render the standalone Xhilag unpllayable yet again.
Am I missing something about the Dragon party? Because last time I checked, Cookie is not a pirate.
Mage looks good, Naga Mage got a solid boost.
Paladin and DH also got some decent stuff.
Hell, even the Warlock legendary might be really good in Curselock if you play it right.
Neptulon is probably decent in Druid and maybe Ozumat isn't as bad in practice as he is on paper.
Compare that to the last mini-set which didn't have that many viable cards either (only 2 legendaries saw play and very few of the class cards made an impact)
If 3-4 damage was okay then this is completely outclassed by Chaos Nova. Boardclears need to be reasonably consistent or else they will lose you the game when you most need them.
You never run a card that if it low rolls will basically lose you the game...at least not one where eeven the best case scenario is only decent.
Unless I'm missing some hidden synergy this is just bad. Playing it on curve usually means not being able to play everything you get and there aren't even that many good Arcane spells to begin with (Runic Orb is the best outcome and if you want that just play any other spell discovery minions).
Hopefully this indicates some creative future for Arcane Mage.
Very valuable for Naga Mage although perhaps a bit clunky. Either way, the ability to just get extra health when you need it is pretty strong. Also a good discovery from Amalgam.
I wonder if the Arcane versions will enable some sort of combo, but then again, we already have Siphon Mana and it isn't even run in Naga Mage.
At the end of the day a 3-mana polymorph with a minion that dies to ping is pretty good and on-demand spell damage is neat as well.
Spacerock seems bad. I'm guessing it doesn't just dump the spells if it dies on the opponent's turn, but still, temporary ressources just aren't great, especially if you can easily get something like Mass Polymorph which probably ends up unplayable. Interesting that they chose Arcane spells though, might indicate some future support (which everyone saw coming anyways, it's the last missing spell school to get an archetype)
Polymorph seems kinda good actually. It's a great tool to deal with buff decks (and I would unironically run it in Naga Mage just to have a way to deal with Naga Priest and Handbuff Paladin) but it also has the upside of being a really good way to get lots of Spell damage for yourself for cheap. Definitely looking forward to testing this one.
Naz'jar seems really strong but also quite expensive but the flexibility is what makes me optimistic about its place in Naga Mage. Just the fact that you can get access to 8 armor consistently is huge and the spell discount can also be pretty huge. Not sure about the Fire one but it can come in clutch if you need it.
Okay so just to put this into perspective.
Harpoon Gun is a very good card. Big Beast Hunter runs 6-8 Beasts. Very often your Harpoon Gun doesn't find a beast if you haven't set it up.
Big DH would likely be in a very similar spot because it can't reliably put their big stuff at the bottom and they can run like 10 cards with 5+ mana at max. That means there will be plenty of times where you play this and it just deals 1-2 damage and you lose the game because you just wasted a turn.
boardcelars that are this inconsistent have never seen play and will never see play. Dragon's Fury is the closest comparabale thing and that one has a way smaller margin for failure than this piece of shit.
Sounds really strong. Premium stats + defense and curves nicely out of Chaos Strike. Sounds like a good deal for everyone involved.
Well. In case there was ever any doubt that Multi-strike had to be nerfed.
Should still be pretty good, DH doesn't have that much draw and Fel DH could use a boost
Topple the Idol is actual garbage like holy shit, DH doesn't deserve something as trash as this. Even worse, this is presumably supposed to be Big Demon DH support but it's just unbearably awful.
The best thing you can do with it is hoping you find Faelin before playing it and that's really not something I look forward to. At least make it target only the enemy board, holy shit.
This reminds me of Deadly Arsenal
Deadly Arsenal was better
That's how bad this is
Sunscale Raptor support, but not really much else? What other 1-drops are there that would be worth dredging and summoning?
Good Face Hunter support I think? I don't know how easy it is to consistently activate this but it's a very strong finisher or tempo play.
Looks bad unless it procs Quest twice, then it's somewhat decent.
Wouldn't put this in a deck unless I need Nature synergy
I guess it works with Urchin Spines
I swear HUnter gets the weirdest mini-set cards every time.
Krakenbane is just really weird, but I guess it makes Spell/face Hunter a lot stronger. More reach means more wins. Doubt you can use it in anything else, 3 spells is quite a lot.
Shellshot is....pointless? Like...Quest Hunter is just dead, so no worries there, but why is it random? Why wouldn't you let us choose the first target? It's not like a slightly cheaper Multishot is anything to write home about. Was it nerfed because of Quest Hunter's success and they just forgot to unnerf it?
The doggy seems surprisingly decent actually. I've wanted to make Sunscale Raptor work for a while but it's unreasonably difficult. THis helps (although not by much, I still need a proper Frenzy trigger)
Does this go into Naga Priest or not. Healing for 6 is strong, especially on this mana-cost and it should be fairly easy to activate. Naga Priest is already really good at just stacking stats that can't be killed in a ssingle turn and this invalidates any poke damage.
Yeah...they might need to un-buff Serpent Wig..
Isn't this just completely busted?
It's a better Entomb (which wouldn't see play today, but still) and it's the only single-target removal spell Priest will ever need for the forseeable future and since it goes to the bottom of your deck it won't even mess up your draw if you have to remove something useless (like Nellie's ship).
ONce again though, it only really fits Quest Priest, which is a terrible deck, but at least it sets up future control decks for success.
Really strong. Fucks up their next draw and potentially removes one card from play by making it ureasonably expensive.
Unfortunately it doesn't go into any deck except Quest Priest which is probably still bad.