The final review before the expansion launches, tackling the final good guys cards. It's been a blast sharing these reviews with you guys and writing out the silly little jokes that go with them; obviously the reviews were easy, since we're always correct in every circumstance, but some of those jokes were real tricky. I shall reward myself with a game of Battlegrounds, which I shall lose immediately, such is my skill level.
Watch out for the famous Bonsai Bombers.
Quote From linkblade91 Aeroponics on the surface seems terrible: draw 2, for 5-mana? You would never want to play this for the full cost unless you were desperate. But in the right deck (Treants, obviously), this card could be exactly what is required. It only takes one Treant to drop it down to 3-mana, the same cost as Arcane Intellect (a card the Mage has been using since the dawn of time Hearthstone). Most Treant-generators, however, create more than one, which means this could cost 1 or less quite readily. Force of Nature, Landscaping, The Forest's Aid; even Cenarius can be combo'd with this card. Treant decks have been missing a way to draw more of their fuel, and this is exactly that.
Look out treelow!
Quote From linkblade91 Shrubadier is a 3/3 across two bodies, 2/2 of which benefits from Treant synergies. That's a great card for a Treant deck, whose early game has been somewhat lacking (I mean you could use Witchwood Apple, but that takes longer for you to contest the board). If you can't get the dream start of Treenforcements into Dendrologist, then at least Shrubadier can fit into your game-plan as a solid turn-2 play. Not much more to say, really; it's a fine enough card for the right deck, and it's something that deck could use more of.
Tree heads are better than one!
Quote From NudeWookie Hello Ramp Druid support! This card is fantastic for a ramp and/or Embiggen Druid deck that wants to cheat out big minions. My two issues with this card are that you lose any battlecries you may have been relying on and it doesn't start in your hand. This is the worst card to top-deck late-game. Issues asside, this seems like great mid-range support to give you tempo and draw a minion from your deck. It will be interesting to see how the various side-quests impact the metagame.
Ah, so this is how Murloc Knight got his title!
Quote From ShadowsOfSense This is a nice little card, but I worry that it's just a little too… fair. To take the best advantage of it, you want to have the most minions on board as possible - if you play this early and only summon one or two minions a turn, you might end up having them picked off before the buff can go off, leaving you to buff only one or two minions. This becomes worth the mana at somewhere between two and three minions, so perhaps it isn't all that bad. Certainly in any aggressive strategies, that extra buff is most welcome.
I guess you can compare it to Competitive Spirit in a way, in that that also required you to set up your board correctly to take full advantage of it.This is probably easier to pull off, since it relies on your action rather than your opponent's inaction.
Overall I think aggressive decks will enjoy this, but anywhere else just won't be interested.
Rigged to drop the mechs at just the wrong moment.
Quote From ShadowsOfSense Mech Paladin. Is that a thing? I don't remember that being a thing. Wait, no, what the fuck am I talking about, Kangor's Endless Army, oh my god.
Having said that, this card really does not play well with KEA. Getting extra Mechs out into your death pool is just a terrible idea. So whatever deck this goes in, it's not going to be similar to previous Mech Paladins.
I actually think this would just work best in an aggressive deck that runs a higher than normal number of Mechs to take some advantage of the Attack buff - notably, this is three minions in one, a great addition to a deck running Righteous Cause. That fact might even be enough to make it see play in aggro decks that aren't particularly Mech focused, and just run this incidentally.
We heard you like Paladin...
Quote From Demonxz95 To be honest, I'm really not a big fan of the whole "no Neutral Paladin" gimmick. I guess part of that was that it was just so random and out of nowhere, but the deckbuilding style just seems so weird. This and Lightforged Zealot will most likely just be two cards to support an idea that will never be revisited again, because this doesn't make for an interesting deckbuild. Ticks off the Incoherent Class Planning square.
If you do managed to get the Battlecry off, 5 random Paladin cards is a bit of a gamble. Like all classes, random Paladin cards vary of quality and situational usability quite a bit, but Paladin is arguably one of the biggest offenders of this. You have high quality Legendaries like Tirion Fordring or Shirvallah, and decent minion neutralizers. At the same time though, many Paladin Secrets are underwhelming, and many cards in general are just situational and not great.
If you do decide to build this weird "no Neutral Paladin", I suppose you'd include this, and it can even generate itself again. Just uh, good luck with it. Whilst I'm still not a big fan of this archetype that will inevitably never be supported again, I think the next card, Lightforged Zealot, is better support for it. Wyrmrest Purifier could support this, although it banks on you drawing a strange meme card (that itself is Neutral), just to play these weird, underwhelming cards.
...so we put more Paladin in your Paladin.
Quote From Demonxz95 And here it is, Lightforged Zealot. The other card for this weird duo of Paladin cards that force you to run no Neutrals (I mean, you can run some as long as you draw them, but most Highlander decks that tried this still found it awkward. Zephrys only works in these decks as a super late-game card). This one is better because it gives you better support right away and you know what you'll get. A Truesilver Champion with a free 4/2 is quite strong, although the fact that it only has 2 Health may very easily lessen some of that tempo advantage. If it trades with something though, then at the very least it got you value. I suppose you don't have to run Truesilver yourself in the deck as this will just get it for you with a 4/2 body.
This is the better of the two "no Neutral Paladin" cards, but I'm still not excited for the archetype.
A rolling fireball gathers no moss. Stationary ones tend not to either.
Quote From NudeWookie This is a really really really cool card! The theme is perfect and it has so many interesting interactions! It gives Mage a desperately-needed early board clear to help against token decks. I'm not sure exactly how the interaction works when you play it on a minion in the middle, but it runs straight when played from the right or left side. It's a hard card to play around and forces some interesting positioning if it becomes a staple. I'm very excited to try it and bowl over the opposition!
Little spells, Giant outcomes.
Quote From linkblade91 This card is an obvious addition to the Cyclone Mage that the class has been running lately, with the way they generate cards. It doesn't specify that you need to play spells, either, which means cards like Messenger Raven also work. With the loss of Flamewaker in Standard, Cyclone Mage could use a heavy hitter to add pressure to the game-plan. Discounting it by only half is still a great play, and odds are high that you'll do even better than that. Maybe you could pair it with Arcane Giant in Wild, and make some kind of Cyclone Giant Mage? The Elemental tag might mean something, as well, in an Elemental deck featuring Lesser Ruby Spellstone.
Last but not least: don't forget Open the Waygate, another archetype that wants to play cards that didn't start in the deck. There's a lot of potential to this card, is what I'm sayin'.
Don't feed the birds too much mana or they'll explode.
Quote From ShadowsOfSense This is a really strong early option for any Mage deck that wants to play a lot of low-cost spells, or ones generated instead of put into their deck. Arcane Missiles is a perfectly serviceable card, and having an additional 1/1 body tacked on to it is not bad at all. The fact that it's on a Deathrattle is a bit of a downside compared to something like Babbling Book which gets it on a Battlecry, but I still think this will find its way into quite a few Mage decks.
I do think that just running Arcane Missiles is better than running this card, but if you want even more copies of it, or you specifically want card generation for things like Mana Giant, then this is a great option.
Friends 'til the end. Or at least for a couple of turns.
Quote From FrostyFeet Elemental Allies will certainly be one of the trickier Sidequests as you are forced to play something in consecutive turns, unlike most Sidequests which will carry your progress over multiple turns. It's also one of the more interesting ones as you won't just get a 6/6 Dragon or a board buff, but something you are able to influence with your deckbuilding. I've never been a master strategist so I can't yet foresee all the possibilities the card opens, but being able to draw 3 cards of specific nature is something I wouldn't underestimate. I don't think it'll achieve Aluneth-esque role in aggressive Mage decks, but it'll see play.
Comments
btw, Lightforged Crusader might be used in some aggro type paladin deck to fill your hand again in standard of course because Paladin lost Divine Favor. There are some aggressive cards in paladin, not so sure but might be good even.
I hereby move for the 'no neutrals' Paladin archetype to be named 'Paladinadin'.
I feel like the "Pure Paladin" cards plus Wyrmrest Purifier are meant to be used in the very late game, wherein you've probably only have a handful of Neutrals left and you can turn them into last-ditch cards ala Arch-Villain Rafaam and Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron.
I find it very funny how both yours and blizzards flavour text for Sky Claw is basically the same thing.
I STRONGLY disagree with Pure Paladin being an uninteresting archetype.
Flavor-wise, it is actually one of the most interesting archetypes EVER.
It just needs some extra support card to mimic what Retribution Paladin is in WoW.
I'd love it if Pure Paladin becomes the new Aggro Paladin.
Another card on the same line as Lightforged Zealot could be enough.
it won't because mech paladin is just simply better. You don't need to wait for a 7-drop when you can just zerg down your opponent by turn 4
Which is why i said it needs another card similar to Zealot - not to Crusader (which is useless).
An early Pure Swarmer card for example, say turn-2.
fair enough, but I don't really feel comfortable with a deck that basically only ends up working because the buildaround cards are just so overpowered that you can't afford to not run them...which is basically the case with Pure Paladin. It doesn't have a new gameplan, it just kind plays aggro with a bunch of overstatted minions.
I hope that, if anything, future support makes it more distinct.
Strong Tempo bonuses/swings based on deck restriction.
It's basically the same design as Highlander.
Just Pure flavor instead of Highlander.
There is also Wyrmrest Purifier;
Since there are only 2 cards that has pure paladin synergy; That card might work as a tech card to make your deck pure when you need it, also against Bad Luck Albatrosses if it will be popular against highlander decks.
I loved the Purifier Paladin flavor so much.
Thank you for these reviews. The flavour texts have been on point. Also I am taking everything you say for gospel and coming back here to spew obscenities if i lose even one game off of your advice!!!
So obviously Blizz needs to hire you all to write their flavor text for them...I've been laughing at the "yo dawg" paladin meme for a solid 2 minutes.
I kind of wonder about those Paladin-only cards though - it's not unheard of for non-Highlander decks to run Zephrys simply because by the time you're halfway through your deck you'll have a good chance of being able to play him for the effect. Could those not be run anyways and just run similarly and/or sort of like Archivist Elysiana for a "very late game Hail Mary"?
Hoping for Treant Druid finally being a thing.