Ben Brode said in the live stream that they tested this card and as it turned out it's preeetty good.
Well, they had it at 4 mana and at 4 is was really good.
Too good to be exact.
Yeah I am hoping it's still good. But to be frank, that one mana bump could make a pretty big difference. Personally I am worried about how dead the card might be against priest, but that is only one class. I think it could be pretty good else where. I mean I spend five mana for 1/2 posiousous things and if they spend any resources on killing them I think that is a pretty good deal. Well, with the exception of mage perhaps who can dump very little mana into a clear against them and continue to build tempo.
The reason it is so strong, is because it does NOT have Taunt. Since druid got so many tough new taunts, it is easy to hide spiders behind taunt and have cheap removal on demand.
Yeah I'm starting to think this is what Bizz has in mind - see also the new Death Knight. Between this as 2-of and the DK that's 6 poisonous 1/2s that can be hidden behind a Taunt.
That explains to relatively high costing - Blizz sees this as a slightly delayed, potentially kill 2 enemy minions of your choice. Now that is STILL very expensive AND it has a 1-turn delay... so it's still pretty bad. But that must have been the reasoning for creating this card in this form.
What a surprise ... another card underrated because everyone is incapable of thinking outside the curve.
Not so much thinking of curve. I am just a little bit iffy on creatures as the main source of removal. Though it seems like druid can produce enough 1/2 poisonous guys a long with running a few others that it'll be reliable. I think this card will only get traction in taunt druid. With your removal method being creature based (slow) it's going to be pretty important to set them behind taunts. At five mana that is expensive to do on the same turn.
What a surprise ... another card underrated because everyone is incapable of thinking outside the curve.
Not so much thinking of curve. I am just a little bit iffy on creatures as the main source of removal. Though it seems like druid can produce enough 1/2 poisonous guys a long with running a few others that it'll be reliable. I think this card will only get traction in taunt druid. With your removal method being creature based (slow) it's going to be pretty important to set them behind taunts. At five mana that is expensive to do on the same turn.
Right, it's much better with taunts where you can dictate the trades. maybe even some form of taunt token druid.
What a surprise ... another card underrated because everyone is incapable of thinking outside the curve.
Or perhaps some people forget that AoE is a thing and that very popular cards like Primordial Drake completely destroy this. This is removal that allows your opponent to interact a lot with it and it costs 5 mana, sure it will almost always get you 1 for 1 or even 2 for 1, but its easy to ignore for an aggressive opponent by pushing damage to face and letting you do the trades. I have even started running 2x Starfall in my Ramp Druid and cut Swipe entirely, because 1 damage AoE is so bad. In fact most AoEs are either at least 2 damage or are run in decks that have some spell damage like Maelstrom Portal, which make this card seem even worse and likely to lose you the game instantly if it gets hard countered, because you did nothing with 5 of your mana. Sure these things would be a nuisance if you had consistent ways to generate more of them, but the fact that they are so weak (they would need at least 3 Health to resist some of the most basic AoE currently run in the game) and you can run so few in a deck probably won't constitute much of a problem for most opponents.
If you consider Druid is going to ramp x2 in his first two turns, this would be a turn three play against aggro. Not too bad. Seeing as against Murloc, turn 3 is Murloc Warleader, how is he going to clear 2x 1/2 poisonous? He has to trade right. Wait a turn for consecration? Also against a pirate deck? Trading a weapon strike and a pirate. I think the mana cost fits in with the ramp druid style, so it doesn't matter that it costs 5. Druid will play this on turn 3-4 most times. And will help him get to his later cards. Any deck that is going to use their AOE removal for this is going to pay for it later on. Not a truly terrible card. Fills 1 spot in the deck, gets 2x poisonous minions.
If you consider Druid is going to ramp x2 in his first two turns, this would be a turn three play against aggro. Not too bad. Seeing as against Murloc, turn 3 is Murloc Warleader, how is he going to clear 2x 1/2 poisonous? He has to trade right. Wait a turn for consecration? Also against a pirate deck? Trading a weapon strike and a pirate. I think the mana cost fits in with the ramp druid style, so it doesn't matter that it costs 5. Druid will play this on turn 3-4 most times. And will help him get to his later cards. Any deck that is going to use their AOE removal for this is going to pay for it later on. Not a truly terrible card. Fills 1 spot in the deck, gets 2x poisonous minions.
That's true, if they're 'forced' to use Aoe for this, Living mana becomes better in hand.
If you consider Druid is going to ramp x2 in his first two turns, this would be a turn three play against aggro. Not too bad. Seeing as against Murloc, turn 3 is Murloc Warleader, how is he going to clear 2x 1/2 poisonous? He has to trade right. Wait a turn for consecration? Also against a pirate deck? Trading a weapon strike and a pirate. I think the mana cost fits in with the ramp druid style, so it doesn't matter that it costs 5. Druid will play this on turn 3-4 most times. And will help him get to his later cards. Any deck that is going to use their AOE removal for this is going to pay for it later on. Not a truly terrible card. Fills 1 spot in the deck, gets 2x poisonous minions.
Yeah I like the play against murloc. Not so much against shaman and warrior with their poopy weapons. Also ramping on turn one isn't really a sure thing. Hell on two it isn't either but obviously much easier.
What a surprise ... another card underrated because everyone is incapable of thinking outside the curve.
Or perhaps some people forget that AoE is a thing and that very popular cards like Primordial Drake completely destroy this. This is removal that allows your opponent to interact a lot with it and it costs 5 mana, sure it will almost always get you 1 for 1 or even 2 for 1, but its easy to ignore for an aggressive opponent by pushing damage to face and letting you do the trades. I have even started running 2x Starfall in my Ramp Druid and cut Swipe entirely, because 1 damage AoE is so bad. In fact most AoEs are either at least 2 damage or are run in decks that have some spell damage like Maelstrom Portal, which make this card seem even worse and likely to lose you the game instantly if it gets hard countered, because you did nothing with 5 of your mana. Sure these things would be a nuisance if you had consistent ways to generate more of them, but the fact that they are so weak (they would need at least 3 Health to resist some of the most basic AoE currently run in the game) and you can run so few in a deck probably won't constitute much of a problem for most opponents.
If you are using AOE to deal with exactly one middling-cost card played by me, I'm a very, very happy Druid.
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"Why, you never expected justice from a company, did you? They have neither a soul to lose nor a body to kick." -- Lady Saba Holland
What a surprise ... another card underrated because everyone is incapable of thinking outside the curve.
Or perhaps some people forget that AoE is a thing and that very popular cards like Primordial Drake completely destroy this. This is removal that allows your opponent to interact a lot with it and it costs 5 mana, sure it will almost always get you 1 for 1 or even 2 for 1, but its easy to ignore for an aggressive opponent by pushing damage to face and letting you do the trades. I have even started running 2x Starfall in my Ramp Druid and cut Swipe entirely, because 1 damage AoE is so bad. In fact most AoEs are either at least 2 damage or are run in decks that have some spell damage like Maelstrom Portal, which make this card seem even worse and likely to lose you the game instantly if it gets hard countered, because you did nothing with 5 of your mana. Sure these things would be a nuisance if you had consistent ways to generate more of them, but the fact that they are so weak (they would need at least 3 Health to resist some of the most basic AoE currently run in the game) and you can run so few in a deck probably won't constitute much of a problem for most opponents.
If you are using AOE to deal with exactly one middling-cost card played by me, I'm a very, very happy Druid.
I see your point, but some AoE comes with an upside (like Maelstrom Portal), in some cards AoE is just a side-effect (like Primordial Drake), in some cases the spiders can be completely ignored since you may be playing against aggro, in other cases your opponent just uses the AoE to avoid trading their midrange threats and push more damage to face (which I am sure you wouldn't be a very happy Druid with) and several other scenarios where this is just bad. I doubt that I will ever be desperate enough to play a card that might net me some value, especially when its terrible against aggro, which is typically your weakness as Druid.
What a surprise ... another card underrated because everyone is incapable of thinking outside the curve.
Or perhaps some people forget that AoE is a thing and that very popular cards like Primordial Drake completely destroy this. This is removal that allows your opponent to interact a lot with it and it costs 5 mana, sure it will almost always get you 1 for 1 or even 2 for 1, but its easy to ignore for an aggressive opponent by pushing damage to face and letting you do the trades. I have even started running 2x Starfall in my Ramp Druid and cut Swipe entirely, because 1 damage AoE is so bad. In fact most AoEs are either at least 2 damage or are run in decks that have some spell damage like Maelstrom Portal, which make this card seem even worse and likely to lose you the game instantly if it gets hard countered, because you did nothing with 5 of your mana. Sure these things would be a nuisance if you had consistent ways to generate more of them, but the fact that they are so weak (they would need at least 3 Health to resist some of the most basic AoE currently run in the game) and you can run so few in a deck probably won't constitute much of a problem for most opponents.
If you are using AOE to deal with exactly one middling-cost card played by me, I'm a very, very happy Druid.
Eh. Depends. If you are counting on those little guys for removal you may not be. Additionally you just used a five mana card for them and your opponent does something silly like totem > malestrom portal and clears them, I think they won out on that exchange. Add the scenario of NEEDING the removal along with them getting removed for a far smaller investment (less mana and less expensive card) then you are in trouble.
Now not to say the card is bad, not at all. I just think it's high skill. First you need to anticipate when you will need it I think. Just playing it in reaction to minions you want to remove isn't good enough, especially if it is something like lyra or the lich king. This is proactive removal and knowing when an opponent will want to play something and preempting it with this can cause them to have to play out a worse turn in that they now have to spend mana on removal instead of playing out their The Lich King. Then you can can continually lay down poison minons and taunts making all of their turns far less efficient or down right bad.
So I think the card is actually pretty good, I also think the players will have to come at it in a different way. It's not reactionary removal and if people play it that way they will be sad and sorry.
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It isn't that bad.
What a surprise ... another card underrated because everyone is incapable of thinking outside the curve.
"Why, you never expected justice from a company, did you? They have neither a soul to lose nor a body to kick." -- Lady Saba Holland
Unless there is something else not mentioned in the card text, this might be the worst card of the expansion.
If you consider Druid is going to ramp x2 in his first two turns, this would be a turn three play against aggro. Not too bad. Seeing as against Murloc, turn 3 is Murloc Warleader, how is he going to clear 2x 1/2 poisonous? He has to trade right. Wait a turn for consecration? Also against a pirate deck? Trading a weapon strike and a pirate. I think the mana cost fits in with the ramp druid style, so it doesn't matter that it costs 5. Druid will play this on turn 3-4 most times. And will help him get to his later cards. Any deck that is going to use their AOE removal for this is going to pay for it later on. Not a truly terrible card. Fills 1 spot in the deck, gets 2x poisonous minions.
"Why, you never expected justice from a company, did you? They have neither a soul to lose nor a body to kick." -- Lady Saba Holland
Imo best golden animation of the whole game thus far.
I wonder what the cost of each token will be.