Hello all, I'm here with a new Standard analysis of Un'goro cards. Shoutout to 17arkOracle who inspired me to try and make my own analysis of cards with a slightly different perspective (I think he inspired me last year to do a WotoG one as well). I don't see enough of these lists around the site and I think its good to get discussion going in this manner.
To give you some background, I'm a monthly Rank 5 player with 5 golden classes and at least 200 wins in each other class. I've been playing since early GvG and I've never missed a Tavern Brawl. I made Legend for the first time this past October and I plan on pushing there each month this summer.
This Tier guide will be for Standard Constructed only, so the cards will be analyzed with Year of the Mammoth in mind and will not include any Arena or Wild factors, though they might be mentioned at certain parts of the guide. Please keep in mind that this is all based on my opinions and the opinions of others that have posted on this site and others, and that it is all subject to change based on future reveals. Also keep in mind that Adapt and Quest mechanics are hard to predict because they are new concepts that might not be good enough but that I cannot predict accurately.
Cards will be added as they are revealed and I will attempt to keep tiers alphabetized for easy searching. I will cease editing this post the day before the announced release date of the expansion.
Tier 0: Dr. Boom level of viability - This is the most difficult tier to predict and might remain empty anyway. We haven't had a neutral Dr. X since GvG and I don't expect that there will be one.
Spiritsinger Umbra (This is a card that I am confident putting in Tier 0, because it has Brann-level viability; time will tell on this one but I'm making the call)
Tier 1: Cards that fit into current Standard decks that are likely to remain - These are cards that may fill the role of cards that are rotating from top-tier decks, or may just be better than cards that are currently in Standard. Tier lists for decks are based on Tempostorm and Vicious Syndicate.
Tortollan Shellraiser (amazing for N'zoth Priest which really just needed a good Taunt Deathrattle minion to be viable)
Tier 1.5: Cards that fit into current Standard decks that are questionable - These cards either fit into lower tier decks that might be good enough with this set, or fit into decks that are losing a great deal of cards in the rotation, and thus their continued viability is questionable.
Awaken the Makers (technically fits in Reno Priest and N'zoth Priest is already a real deck, but its hard to tell if this is good enough)
Tier 2: Synergistic cards or cards that fill a niche or tech role that might be necessary, or create new decks - These cards make decks themselves or can be considered flex cards that move in and out of decks to fit the meta. Most viable Elemental cards will be here.
Tier 3: Gimmicks, Trolls and Memes - These cards are either too gimmicky to put higher up, are technically strong but unpredictable, or will only fit in (or create) specific fun decks that are unlikely to perform well on ladder (think Casino Mage or Randuin Wrynn). All Quest cards that do not seem viable will go here.
Volcanosaur (maybe in Beast Druid but Hunter has enough high-cost Beasts that are better than this)
Tier 4: Savagery Tier - These are pack filler cards that I do not think are good enough to make it into any sort of Standard Constructed deck, even for fun, and may do better in Arena or possibly some Tavern Brawls.
Corrupting Mist (too slow and doesn't stop your opponent from trading or just going face)
I created an account to respond to this topic. Where would you place Spiritsinger Umbra? I actually think she is on Tier 0 - 1. Thanks for the analysis! I bookmarked it out for further review.
I created an account to respond to this topic. Where would you place Spiritsinger Umbra? I actually think she is on Tier 0 - 1. Thanks for the analysis! I bookmarked it out for further review.
Thanks for the response!
I actually put Spiritsinger Umbra in Tier 0 because she fits the criteria to be played in nearly every deck, much like Brann Bronzebeard. It is difficult to tell whether she will actually be good but I would love to see her end up being a top tier card.
On another note, I just finished the tier list with today's final reveals, so all of the cards should be in the list. If somehow you notice that something is missing let me know. I will write out my thoughts on the upcoming meta in a couple days.
Tier 0: Dr. Boom level of viability - This is the most difficult tier to predict and might remain empty anyway. We haven't had a neutral Dr. X since GvG and I don't expect that there will be one.
Spiritsinger Umbra (This is a card that I am confident putting in Tier 0, because it has Brann-level viability; time will tell on this one but I'm making the call)
I agree that Spiritsinger is a top tier legend although she is one mana worse than Brann.
Tier 1: Cards that fit into current Standard decks that are likely to remain - These are cards that may fill the role of cards that are rotating from top-tier decks, or may just be better than cards that are currently in Standard. Tier lists for decks are based on Tempostorm and Vicious Syndicate.
Tier 1.5: Cards that fit into current Standard decks that are questionable - These cards either fit into lower tier decks that might be good enough with this set, or fit into decks that are losing a great deal of cards in the rotation, and thus their continued viability is questionable.
Awaken the Makers (technically fits in Reno Priest and N'zoth Priest is already a real deck, but its hard to tell if this is good enough)
The Last Kaleidosaur (moved up from 3 because of the reveal stream, has potential)
Awaken, Zavas, Meteor, Primordial Drake, and Primordial Glyph all strike me as tier 1. I'm wondering if Kaleidosaur might actually end up being tier 1 although I'm not sold on it yet.
Tarim strikes me as more situational than people seem to give it credit for. If you are losing on board this can be unplayable for much of the game. I'd rate it lower although I know it has its fans.
Tier 2: Synergistic cards or cards that fill a niche or tech role that might be necessary, or create new decks - These cards make decks themselves or can be considered flex cards that move in and out of decks to fit the meta. Most viable Elemental cards will be here.
Blazecaller (if Elementals make the meta, this will see play)
Glimmeroot strikes me as pretty weak compared to other priest three drops, even if you're assuming you succeed the challenge.
I think it's pretty weak to say that Elementals are Tier 2 because they are a new deck. Kalimos and Blazecaller could easily make elementals a playable deck and they will be the essential parts of that deck.
Gentle Megasaur is going to be playable in any deck that runs murlocs, and murlocs are already very strong due to finja.
Lyra seems a bit bad to me; priest has a lot of situational spells and it will be easy to end up with dead cards in hand.
Dred is going to be playable in pretty much any Hunter deck.
Waygate will be a pretty significant new win condition for mage.
Mostly I'm not sure I agree with your idea of "Tier 2" so it's hard to say if I disagree with you on the cards or the category here.
Tier 3: Gimmicks, Trolls and Memes - These cards are either too gimmicky to put higher up, are technically strong but unpredictable, or will only fit in (or create) specific fun decks that are unlikely to perform well on ladder (think Casino Mage or Randuin Wrynn). All Quest cards that do not seem viable will go here.
Bittertide Hydra may have some drawbacks but it is much, much better than Fel Reaver. The Beast Subtype is also significant, since this means it can can get charge off of the rhino.
Dinosize seems perfectly playable; any minion on board threatens 10 damage in midrange paladin? That's not a gimmick.
Spirit Echo is one of very few cards that will let you play your jade generators more than once, there's no comparison to infest.
Stone Sentinel is a 4/4 body (~3 mana) + Feral Spirit (~4 total mana) for 7 mana. Pretty solid 7 mana value, not at all trollish or memey.
Caverns won't be too hard to pull off with elementals.
I am pretty sure there's enough murloc stuff in this expansion to make murloc zoo a real possibility, I'd call that more of your "tier 2" new decktype than a lot of what you list there.
Tier 4: Savagery Tier - These are pack filler cards that I do not think are good enough to make it into any sort of Standard Constructed deck, even for fun, and may do better in Arena or possibly some Tavern Brawls.
Definitely agree on Explore, will have to see on Ozruks. There's a lot of elemental minion summoning and bouncing with deathrattles, and if you can get 3 or 4 off consistently a 5/15, 5/20 body will be good. Definitely one of the weaker legends, but not as bad as Explore. I'd be more likely to put Tortollan Primalist down here.
Great, I think SpiritCaller umbra will find her way into a lot of decks. I disagree on Emerald Hive Queen as Tier 1; I usually run minion heavy decks and she would have no place. She would be max Tier 2 for me.
I'll look through the list and see if I miss anything. I agree with a lot of TheKrazyKat's points. Some things are too high and others too low.
I played Volcanosaur this morning. Tier 3 is way too low. I gave it Poison and something else. Then somehow added two Houndmasters. Taunt with Poison. It was killed the next turn because of how OP it was. Took a lot of energy to kill it. Set me up for the win.
This card will replace Doomsayer in every single Warlock deck that plays it. It's not like Warlock has freeze effect, so it's typically played on turn 2-3, and nowdays this often not enough to pull it off.
I don't understand why everyone thinks Bittertide Hydra is a trash card. In hunter and druid decks this is like tier 0 broken cancer card. It's just obvious, everyone should see it by now. If you lose the game because of its text, you're doing it wrong, same as Fel Reaver.
Why would you ever play a quest that forces you to play shitty cards and rewards Queen Carnassa, when you can have two 5 mana 8/8 beasts in the deck for free ?
because it will be super enjoyable when shamans start teching volcano and suddenly 80% of your life went down the drain because you choose the risky path.
Corrupting Mist is worse than Doomsayer. Sure, it can't be removed without Silence, but if your opponent can't kill Doomsayer then they can't play minions. Corrupting Mist hardly slows down my turn and unless its played in conjunction with a big taunt will hardly do anything at all.
@omgiamgod89 Emerald Hive Queen will be great for any control deck that doesn't care about playing a minion on 2. Remember Zombie Chow? This card should end up being at least that good.
As far as Bittertide Hydra goes, I can see it being one of two things:
-Sees no play early but eventually picks up as the meta develops.
-Sees a ton of play early but gets teched really hard and stops seeing play.
Either way, I can't put it higher because it won't be a great card for some of the meta. It also gets hard countered by Volcano and I can see that card seeing enough play to push the Hydra out of the meta, not to mention how little aggro cares playing against this card.
edit: Also, Volcanosaur won't see play after today, unfortunately.
I made a couple changes to the OP. This list is my final list and I'll come back here in a couple months to review my review.
Surprisingly your list is very reasonable. I do disagree on some cards but you were pretty reasonable with most choices. I'd argue though that elementals deserve to be higher up and humongous plant 4/8 can't attack maybe higher
Surprisingly your list is very reasonable. I do disagree on some cards but you were pretty reasonable with most choices. I'd argue though that elementals deserve to be higher up and humongous plant 4/8 can't attack maybe higher
Technically, Humongous Razorleaf is in the right tier, because I didn't think at the time that it would be good. Thanks for reminding me though because maybe Handlock will come back and this can see play in that deck. Disgusting curve into Argus or Shambler.
Elementals are in their own tier because its hard to evaluate them since we've never seen anything like them. While they will probably be a meta deck, they still technically fit in Tier 2 as I defined it. most of what I put is based on the current meta with new cards, essentially.
If it's not a card you would expect you're right, but if volcano is in a meta deck then playing the Hydra into it is a clear mistake imo, and that doesn't make the card bad. Imp Gang Boss isn't bad because of Shadow Word: Pain, all the strongest cards in the game have counters.
For this card, the counters are so universal and debilitating that I don't see it seeing play. Maybe I'm wrong, but there are so many things that can go wrong with it that I don't see anyone playing it about a week into the expansion. Aggressive decks may not care about their life total, but when you can get chipped down faster and your opponent's game plan can revolve around destroying you through this card, I just don't see it.
If you're playing Hunter, and you're playing the type of deck that's willingly going to play this card, you DO NOT care about your life total unless it's 0.
I agree with most of your list, but Emerald Hive Queen is placed way to high in my opinion. The downside of the card is way too much. And where is Barnabus the Stomper? His effect should be crazy aswell.
I agree with most of your list, but Emerald Hive Queen is placed way to high in my opinion. The downside of the card is way too much. And where is Barnabus the Stomper? His effect should be crazy aswell.
If you played Zombie Chow then you know how good HIve Queen will be.
By the time you get Jungle Giants to give you Barnabus the Stomper, you've already got enough mana that you don't need your stuff to cost 0.
However, I do see a Quest Jade deck forming where you get a Jade Idol in hand, play Barnabus, then play Hemet, Jungle Hunter and just Idol away. That could be fun.
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Hello all, I'm here with a new Standard analysis of Un'goro cards. Shoutout to 17arkOracle who inspired me to try and make my own analysis of cards with a slightly different perspective (I think he inspired me last year to do a WotoG one as well). I don't see enough of these lists around the site and I think its good to get discussion going in this manner.
To give you some background, I'm a monthly Rank 5 player with 5 golden classes and at least 200 wins in each other class. I've been playing since early GvG and I've never missed a Tavern Brawl. I made Legend for the first time this past October and I plan on pushing there each month this summer.
This Tier guide will be for Standard Constructed only, so the cards will be analyzed with Year of the Mammoth in mind and will not include any Arena or Wild factors, though they might be mentioned at certain parts of the guide. Please keep in mind that this is all based on my opinions and the opinions of others that have posted on this site and others, and that it is all subject to change based on future reveals. Also keep in mind that Adapt and Quest mechanics are hard to predict because they are new concepts that might not be good enough but that I cannot predict accurately.
Cards will be added as they are revealed and I will attempt to keep tiers alphabetized for easy searching. I will cease editing this post the day before the announced release date of the expansion.
Tier 0: Dr. Boom level of viability - This is the most difficult tier to predict and might remain empty anyway. We haven't had a neutral Dr. X since GvG and I don't expect that there will be one.
Tier 1: Cards that fit into current Standard decks that are likely to remain - These are cards that may fill the role of cards that are rotating from top-tier decks, or may just be better than cards that are currently in Standard. Tier lists for decks are based on Tempostorm and Vicious Syndicate.
Tier 1.5: Cards that fit into current Standard decks that are questionable - These cards either fit into lower tier decks that might be good enough with this set, or fit into decks that are losing a great deal of cards in the rotation, and thus their continued viability is questionable.
Tier 2: Synergistic cards or cards that fill a niche or tech role that might be necessary, or create new decks - These cards make decks themselves or can be considered flex cards that move in and out of decks to fit the meta. Most viable Elemental cards will be here.
Tier 3: Gimmicks, Trolls and Memes - These cards are either too gimmicky to put higher up, are technically strong but unpredictable, or will only fit in (or create) specific fun decks that are unlikely to perform well on ladder (think Casino Mage or Randuin Wrynn). All Quest cards that do not seem viable will go here.
Tier 4: Savagery Tier - These are pack filler cards that I do not think are good enough to make it into any sort of Standard Constructed deck, even for fun, and may do better in Arena or possibly some Tavern Brawls.
Feel free to leave feedback, suggest changes, or call me a moron. I'm open to criticism.
Reserving for a short analysis of the meta, in case I decide to do it.
Hi eddie,
I created an account to respond to this topic. Where would you place Spiritsinger Umbra? I actually think she is on Tier 0 - 1. Thanks for the analysis! I bookmarked it out for further review.
Glimmeroot strikes me as pretty weak compared to other priest three drops, even if you're assuming you succeed the challenge.
I think it's pretty weak to say that Elementals are Tier 2 because they are a new deck. Kalimos and Blazecaller could easily make elementals a playable deck and they will be the essential parts of that deck.
Gentle Megasaur is going to be playable in any deck that runs murlocs, and murlocs are already very strong due to finja.
Lyra seems a bit bad to me; priest has a lot of situational spells and it will be easy to end up with dead cards in hand.
Dred is going to be playable in pretty much any Hunter deck.
Waygate will be a pretty significant new win condition for mage.
Mostly I'm not sure I agree with your idea of "Tier 2" so it's hard to say if I disagree with you on the cards or the category here.
Definitely agree on Explore, will have to see on Ozruks. There's a lot of elemental minion summoning and bouncing with deathrattles, and if you can get 3 or 4 off consistently a 5/15, 5/20 body will be good. Definitely one of the weaker legends, but not as bad as Explore. I'd be more likely to put Tortollan Primalist down here.
You are welcome!
Great, I think SpiritCaller umbra will find her way into a lot of decks. I disagree on Emerald Hive Queen as Tier 1; I usually run minion heavy decks and she would have no place. She would be max Tier 2 for me.
I'll look through the list and see if I miss anything. I agree with a lot of TheKrazyKat's points. Some things are too high and others too low.
I played Volcanosaur this morning. Tier 3 is way too low. I gave it Poison and something else. Then somehow added two Houndmasters. Taunt with Poison. It was killed the next turn because of how OP it was. Took a lot of energy to kill it. Set me up for the win.
> Corrupting Mist tier 4.
Oh you.
This card will replace Doomsayer in every single Warlock deck that plays it. It's not like Warlock has freeze effect, so it's typically played on turn 2-3, and nowdays this often not enough to pull it off.
I don't understand why everyone thinks Bittertide Hydra is a trash card. In hunter and druid decks this is like tier 0 broken cancer card. It's just obvious, everyone should see it by now. If you lose the game because of its text, you're doing it wrong, same as Fel Reaver.
Why would you ever play a quest that forces you to play shitty cards and rewards Queen Carnassa, when you can have two 5 mana 8/8 beasts in the deck for free ?
because it will be super enjoyable when shamans start teching volcano and suddenly 80% of your life went down the drain because you choose the risky path.
To answer some questions above:
Corrupting Mist is worse than Doomsayer. Sure, it can't be removed without Silence, but if your opponent can't kill Doomsayer then they can't play minions. Corrupting Mist hardly slows down my turn and unless its played in conjunction with a big taunt will hardly do anything at all.
@omgiamgod89 Emerald Hive Queen will be great for any control deck that doesn't care about playing a minion on 2. Remember Zombie Chow? This card should end up being at least that good.
As far as Bittertide Hydra goes, I can see it being one of two things:
-Sees no play early but eventually picks up as the meta develops.
-Sees a ton of play early but gets teched really hard and stops seeing play.
Either way, I can't put it higher because it won't be a great card for some of the meta. It also gets hard countered by Volcano and I can see that card seeing enough play to push the Hydra out of the meta, not to mention how little aggro cares playing against this card.
edit: Also, Volcanosaur won't see play after today, unfortunately.
I made a couple changes to the OP. This list is my final list and I'll come back here in a couple months to review my review.
Surprisingly your list is very reasonable. I do disagree on some cards but you were pretty reasonable with most choices. I'd argue though that elementals deserve to be higher up and humongous plant 4/8 can't attack maybe higher
If you're playing Hunter, and you're playing the type of deck that's willingly going to play this card, you DO NOT care about your life total unless it's 0.
Does the Un'goro Card Pack spell even NEED to cycle?
I agree with most of your list, but Emerald Hive Queen is placed way to high in my opinion. The downside of the card is way too much. And where is Barnabus the Stomper? His effect should be crazy aswell.
By the time you get Jungle Giants to give you Barnabus the Stomper, you've already got enough mana that you don't need your stuff to cost 0.
However, I do see a Quest Jade deck forming where you get a Jade Idol in hand, play Barnabus, then play Hemet, Jungle Hunter and just Idol away. That could be fun.