Hearthpwn

Might see play now if Small-Time Buccaneer still sees play

Like most overload cards, Stormforged Axe is one of the biggest culprits of either being a decent answer, or a complete disaster. If you play this turn 2 and it can't kill whatever your opponent plays next, your turn 3 is going to suck balls. Not only have you now thrown yourself off curve, but you don't have board control either. Good luck finding any kind of use against a dragon priest or a heavy control deck.

And to top off the turd sundae, this is just one more example of a Shaman card that is strictly worse than the Paladin equivalent. You can talk up the ability to play it on turn 2 all you want, it's never going to be better than a Shielded Minibot into Coghammer.

I certainly don't dispute any of those points. I made the statement before I realized the true, horrifying power of Tunnel Trogg, and I really wish that Shaman had more cards like it that minimize the downside of overload. And I don't contest that it's not fair to compare cards between classes, rarities and mana costs. But I still stick to my statement that Stormforged Axe is absolutely horribly valued.

I guess a better comparison would be Fiery War Axe. Not only does it not have the overload downside, but there are WAY more playable 2-drops with 3 health than there are with 2. And yeah, you could argue that that's unforeseen meta consequences, and that warrior weapons should be better or that durability is more valuable than damage. But could you honestly say that given the option you would ever put Stormforged Axe in a Shaman deck if you could take Fiery War Axe instead?

It just feels like one more card that was given overload because it's Shaman's "thing" and not because it's actually a well costed card.

3 mana buys you a 2/3 weapon with an upside. The upside with this is that by having one overload, you can play it on turn 2 to start getting value one turn sooner. This is a decent upside, especially in a meta with more 3/2s than 2/3s as 2 drops, but it's hard to imagine it as a more potent upside than Coghammer's ability to give a minion Taunt and Divine Shield, for instance. 

Very good in Arena games. In constructed it has been replaced from Powermace. But still a decent weapon. 

seems good to clean your opponets board (only for weak minions)

do you like golden animation?

The golden version of this card is my favorite of the weapons.

While this weapon is often less good today because many 1- and 2-drops have 3 health after Naxx and GvG, at least it doesn't feel bad to hit sticky minions with this if you have to - it's the only way as a shaman to avoid losing card advantage against sticky minions other than using Earth Shock. Often times you need Spell Power and the damage from totems to get a full card's value out of Earth Shock, such as using it against Haunted Creeper for example. It has to be said that minions with 3 health, such as Piloted Shredder, pose shaman a lot of problems. That 3-health range on sticky minions is brutal, to which Fire Elemental is the only value-based to really deal with it other than neutral silence effects.

Overall great weapon, but less good now that power creep has happened. Because of this, Crackle may be a better option, because at least it deals with the 3-health problem and has a chance to kill much bigger minions too, without taking loss of health.

"3 mana: Destroy 3 minions. Deal 8 damage to your hero." I would play the hell out of that, and that's often what this becomes.

Though called Stormforged Axe, the artwork is that of Rare Cataclysm Axes, the most prominent of which is probably the Lightning Whelk Axe (of Throne of Tides origins).