It's probably pretty common to q up, mulligan immediately, and then run off to the bathroom or grab a snack. I know I'm guilty of doing this as it's the only semi-predictable length of time between matches.
It's not a big deal, but you could take a break of any length before queuing up. I understand that streamers want to get their viewers invested in a new match before they run off to the bathroom or kitchen, but most of us don't risk losing viewers if we take a break between matches.
Besides Blink Fox and Hench-Clan Burglar there is also the new Bazaar Mugger. And you can use Shadowstep of course, or discover more copies of Pilfer through lackeys. Face Collector can give you cards from other classes, but only about half of the time, since there are a lot of neutral legendaries.
Technically Academic Espionage also works, but then you're not playing a tempo deck and I'm not sure whether the upgraded hero power is all that useful in a value game.
It doesn't do anything the turn it's played though, so it's more like Beneath the Grounds than like Fal'dorei Strider. Being able to pick the minion might be useful enough for it to be included as a one-of in some decks, but I don't expect it to be a staple like Strider was.
Half your pings are from the token, so you don't take face damage for those. If you often spread the attacks, you can face-tank the smaller damage, while if you often direct both attacks at the same target you would be taking a lot of face damage indeed. My guess is that reborn and lackeys will play a significant role in the meta, in which case spreading attacks is often possible and useful, but it's hard to predict a meta.
One concern I have is that unlike Candleshot and Springpaw, you can't play this on turn 1, so you'd either have to find a different 1-drop or don't play anything on turn 1 and thereby give up on 1 "free" mana.
Another comparison is Muster for Battle: that's also 3 mana, gives you a comparable weapon (one charge more) and 3 tokens with possible synergies. Not receiving all your tokens at once is both an advantage and disadvantage: it makes you less vulnerable to AoE and gives you the opportunity to summon a beast for 0 mana when you need it for synergy, but it doesn't put as many offensive stats on the board immediately. In terms of synergy I think beasts are better than dudes were in GvG: Quartermaster wasn't played much until more dude cards came out.
I think you're right: Warlock is unlikely to get enough value from Tekhan. But when a Rogue discovers him off Hench-Clan Burglar, it will bring back the memories/nightmares of Crystal Core.
I think Nefarian will be the Big Bad of the third expansion. There were some hints towards that in the Fire Festival: the reward cards were Bronze Herald (a dragon) and Recurring Villain, plus Nefarian says "I'll be back" when you defeat him.
It's quite a bit more flexible than a 2/3 weapon: you can hit two targets, you can react to deathrattle summons and reborn, if you only need one damage or run the token into a 0-attack minion, you get to keep the token. And that's even before considering the beast synergies.
I see this as Candleshot and Springpaw in one card and both of those saw a lot of play.
A board of buffed taunt minions can be a win condition in itself. Against aggro, if you stabilize, you win. Versus control you can accept the tempo loss during the early turns to get a tempo advantage when you start playing buffed minions in later turns. The question then becomes whether your pressure can outlast their removal and minion generation does help with that.
One of the things Handbuff Paladin struggled with is keeping their hand size up. Drygulch Jailor helped a lot with that: it took the deck from hopeless to almost viable. This time around, both the minion generation and the buffs are better, so it might actually work now.
Another issue with handbuff is that because you can only buff minions, you want to have a minion-heavy deck, which in turn makes it harder to react to what your opponent does, since most reactive cards are spells. I don't know yet how Taunt Warrior would solve that: maybe using rush (like Zilliax and Amani War Bear), or maybe the buffs are strong enough now that you can afford to run more spells and still get enough value from them.
I think the stealth will make this trade better instead: Cursed Disciple would often get traded into by 1/1s and/or targeted by hero powers; the stealth on this will give the owner a better chance of picking trades instead of the opponent.
I don't think it's worth 5 mana though, especially since Cursed Disciple at 4 saw little play (mainly with Jungle Giants which itself wasn't played a lot). Another similar card, Shadow Rager, also saw little play for 3 mana, so while high-attack stealth has potential in theory, it wasn't all that great in practice.
You don't need the second Cultist: I just tested it vs the Innkeeper and the echo copy remains in your hand when Glinda is destroyed, it just won't create another echo when played.
Do echo copies in your hand disappear if Glinda Crowskin dies in the middle of your turn? If so you could still do it, but you'd need both Mogu Cultist in hand first.
I would expect the echo copy already in your hand to stick around, just not generate another echo when you play it.
While I do have Glinda in a deck I play, generally if she sticks I try to keep her alive, so I'm not 100% certain of the interaction.
Edit: I tested it and it works as I expected: the echo copy you had in your hand remains, but does not have echo itself.
You have to get rid of Glinda Crowskin as well to be able to play the 7th Mogu Cultist. You could use Grim Rally for that, but it does add a card and a mana to the combo.
This enables a lot of value generation with Soulwarden, especially if Soulwarden itself is discarded. This was a possible win condition for pre-rotation Standard discolock, but then you needed some luck to discard one Soulwarden and draw the other in time. With Expired Merchant you have much more control over what you discard.
It's not a big deal, but you could take a break of any length before queuing up. I understand that streamers want to get their viewers invested in a new match before they run off to the bathroom or kitchen, but most of us don't risk losing viewers if we take a break between matches.
Besides Blink Fox and Hench-Clan Burglar there is also the new Bazaar Mugger. And you can use Shadowstep of course, or discover more copies of Pilfer through lackeys. Face Collector can give you cards from other classes, but only about half of the time, since there are a lot of neutral legendaries.
Technically Academic Espionage also works, but then you're not playing a tempo deck and I'm not sure whether the upgraded hero power is all that useful in a value game.
It doesn't do anything the turn it's played though, so it's more like Beneath the Grounds than like Fal'dorei Strider. Being able to pick the minion might be useful enough for it to be included as a one-of in some decks, but I don't expect it to be a staple like Strider was.
Half your pings are from the token, so you don't take face damage for those. If you often spread the attacks, you can face-tank the smaller damage, while if you often direct both attacks at the same target you would be taking a lot of face damage indeed. My guess is that reborn and lackeys will play a significant role in the meta, in which case spreading attacks is often possible and useful, but it's hard to predict a meta.
One concern I have is that unlike Candleshot and Springpaw, you can't play this on turn 1, so you'd either have to find a different 1-drop or don't play anything on turn 1 and thereby give up on 1 "free" mana.
Another comparison is Muster for Battle: that's also 3 mana, gives you a comparable weapon (one charge more) and 3 tokens with possible synergies. Not receiving all your tokens at once is both an advantage and disadvantage: it makes you less vulnerable to AoE and gives you the opportunity to summon a beast for 0 mana when you need it for synergy, but it doesn't put as many offensive stats on the board immediately. In terms of synergy I think beasts are better than dudes were in GvG: Quartermaster wasn't played much until more dude cards came out.
I forgot that the Burglar only gives you spells; I haven't played Rogue in a while. Anyway, thanks to the Mugger the point still stands.
I think you're right: Warlock is unlikely to get enough value from Tekhan. But when a Rogue discovers him off Hench-Clan Burglar, it will bring back the memories/nightmares of Crystal Core.
I think Nefarian will be the Big Bad of the third expansion. There were some hints towards that in the Fire Festival: the reward cards were Bronze Herald (a dragon) and Recurring Villain, plus Nefarian says "I'll be back" when you defeat him.
It's quite a bit more flexible than a 2/3 weapon: you can hit two targets, you can react to deathrattle summons and reborn, if you only need one damage or run the token into a 0-attack minion, you get to keep the token. And that's even before considering the beast synergies.
I see this as Candleshot and Springpaw in one card and both of those saw a lot of play.
If I open one, I'd try it in Muckmorpher Shaman.
A board of buffed taunt minions can be a win condition in itself. Against aggro, if you stabilize, you win. Versus control you can accept the tempo loss during the early turns to get a tempo advantage when you start playing buffed minions in later turns. The question then becomes whether your pressure can outlast their removal and minion generation does help with that.
One of the things Handbuff Paladin struggled with is keeping their hand size up. Drygulch Jailor helped a lot with that: it took the deck from hopeless to almost viable. This time around, both the minion generation and the buffs are better, so it might actually work now.
Another issue with handbuff is that because you can only buff minions, you want to have a minion-heavy deck, which in turn makes it harder to react to what your opponent does, since most reactive cards are spells. I don't know yet how Taunt Warrior would solve that: maybe using rush (like Zilliax and Amani War Bear), or maybe the buffs are strong enough now that you can afford to run more spells and still get enough value from them.
I think the stealth will make this trade better instead: Cursed Disciple would often get traded into by 1/1s and/or targeted by hero powers; the stealth on this will give the owner a better chance of picking trades instead of the opponent.
I don't think it's worth 5 mana though, especially since Cursed Disciple at 4 saw little play (mainly with Jungle Giants which itself wasn't played a lot). Another similar card, Shadow Rager, also saw little play for 3 mana, so while high-attack stealth has potential in theory, it wasn't all that great in practice.
The 4/5 summoned when tapping, is that an unrevealed card? I don't recognize it and there are also no 3-mana 4/5 in the card database.
You can duplicate Glinda with Expired Merchant and Soulwarden, so if she doesn't stick right away, you can try again.
You don't need the second Cultist: I just tested it vs the Innkeeper and the echo copy remains in your hand when Glinda is destroyed, it just won't create another echo when played.
I would expect the echo copy already in your hand to stick around, just not generate another echo when you play it.
While I do have Glinda in a deck I play, generally if she sticks I try to keep her alive, so I'm not 100% certain of the interaction.
Edit: I tested it and it works as I expected: the echo copy you had in your hand remains, but does not have echo itself.
You have to get rid of Glinda Crowskin as well to be able to play the 7th Mogu Cultist. You could use Grim Rally for that, but it does add a card and a mana to the combo.
I can already imagine Zalae's review: "I want to talk about the art".
This enables a lot of value generation with Soulwarden, especially if Soulwarden itself is discarded. This was a possible win condition for pre-rotation Standard discolock, but then you needed some luck to discard one Soulwarden and draw the other in time. With Expired Merchant you have much more control over what you discard.
Removing duplicates or shuffled cards would also synergise with Impbalming.
FIrebat also published a video of the deck in action: