Hearthpwn

Quote from ticandtac >>

I remember when they announced shieldmaiden everyone was like "meh" and well you know what happened next.

Considering this is a better shielmaiden, you know what will happen.

I think this card fix control warrior against hyper-aggro decks, put a minion on board and armor up for shield slam or weapon. 

Quote from Alsmir >>

Can we have a neutral minion that removes armor?

dreadstead warrior will be available tomorrow)

Shield Maiden was perfect for the time. As a 6 drop she was able to trade up or 1:1 against all 5 and 6 drops in the game with very few exceptions (Highmane was the main issue). Cairne, Sylvanas, Belcher, Loatheb and other turn 5/6 staple card where challenged by the maiden, and she provided 6 armor in the process.

Played later in the game she allowed for a 6 armor + hero power = 8/10 mana armor swing (depending on Justicar in more recent times) and a Shield Slam that could remove almost any minion in one hit.

The fact that Warrior had no playable 6 drop class cards also helped to push her popularity.

This portal will definitely see some play, I'm 100% sure that the first episode of Rage Orc/Trolden after this card is available will have a turn 4 coin-portal-7/7 for 4 (the Shammy one, not the trash one). People will probably also play it in Arcane Giant Golem thingy + Yogg Warrior decks.

To me it looks like a card that will be underwhelming 90% of the time (5 mana for a 3/4 - 4/4 - 4/3 minion or something along those lines + 4 armor feels really meh), game-loosing 5% of the time (5 mana for some shitty minion like the 1/4 and 4/1 Dragons, or a 2/2 Keeper of the Grove, the 1/1 Shambler etc) and 5% of the time it will win the game on the spot (7/7 for 5 with no overload + 4 armor os the clear winner, but in some games even getting a Water Elly or the funnel cakes master can change everything).

In non-Dragon Warrior decks the 5 slot is kinda vacant so it may become a staple, but I'm not a fan of early game cards that can have such a huge swing based exclusively on Rng

I doubt it will see play. You generally just don't have the luxury of playing this on turn 5.

From playing evolve shaman, I've learned that only 6 drops or 8 drops will guarantee you a good minion. Any other random mana cost minion will be undervalued by 1, so you are essentially playing gain 4 armour summon a 3 drop.

Shieldmaiden was only good because of the meta. Its case was similar to armorsmith which has now rotated out typical warrior decks. You play it to counter aggro decks and that was it.

Quote from Terlow >>

Would be really good for 4 mana, but I think for 5 it's just not worth it.

With so much aggro on ladder, this card is surprisingly good.