So this is where the synergy with Fluffy Genie comes in. As long as you've taken damage at the point when you have this card, this thing is probably going to be the easiest card to upgrade out of all the spellstones. Not to mention you can generally get good board presence off of it and it combos well with buff cards because you have a lot of targets on board for it. I'm not sure if this expansion is going to bring Paladin back to its days of super-viability, but the cards it's gotten so far look good. And this one is no exception.
So I'm not saying this card is amazing, but I think everyone is really undervaluing it so far. At first glance, this is literally Frostwolf Grunt, which is terrible. If you upgrade this, then it's two Frostwolf Grunt which also doesn't seem great. But then if you consider that Saronite Chain Gang sees tons of play and that this card is two mana less.....then we see it maybe have some potential.
It's also worth mentioning that this card 1) Protects your Silver Hand Recruits from other minions and 2) is one of the few spellstones where it doesn't suck to have in your opening hand, unlike the Warrior and Shaman cards which make them almost unplayable.
What Paladin still lacks is a good card to buff minions that are already on the board, except for SVRs. But for other cards, putting them on the board at 2/2 with no way to improve them is just lacklustre. The new weapon does allow for divine shield or +1 attack, but it seems very risky to me.
Also, would I really want to play this over Keleseth in any minion based Paladin deck?
The tempo is there but the synergy is not, and it's a bit awkward to use.
Normally you start healing on turn 4 at the earliest with Truesilver, which means that you can have a 2 mana 4/4 taunt on turn 5. That's good, but it's not absurdly broken or anything. Your next heal might come from Ivory Knight, which would mean that you can play a 2 mana 6/6 on turn 7. That's really good, but you're most likely very close to dying by turn 7 against decks where taunts matter. Additionally if you're up against decks like Tempo Mage or Hunter, then chances are that you already have the board by then and it's instead burn that you need to worry about.
So you probably want to have some additional healing, maybe Mistress or Mixtures or the new healing minion for Paladin, or otherwise the spellstone will become active far too late. But, then you will start to run into the issue of value. With so many of your cards dedicated to taunts and heals, how do you also beat control? 3 2/2s is terrible against control decks because every control deck has AoE tailored towards beating swarms of smaller minions, and there aren't any cards that Paladin can use to combo with the spellstone in a control matchup, aside from Tarim. Maybe if Paladin had a more value oriented death knight, but it doesn't, which means that a control Paladin has to run a ton of value cards to stand a chance against other control decks. Cards like the spellstone and Mistress of Mixtures is good tempo, but it's not good value.
The only way to get this on T4 as an upgraded 6/6, is by redempting Wickerflame Burnbristle, or combining Wickerflame + the new Djinn we got. Anyway, I think a 6/6 is very dangerous against aggro. And might buy you lots of time. Problem is tempo rogue who will just Vilespine him, or deckhand + cold blood..
Looks like a cool card for heal paladin. Now the deck just needs some way to actually win the game! Maybe the weapon will be like, +1 attack per hp healed this game or something, heh.
spellstone is somehow similar to lost in the jungle when it comes to the snyergies but it is more flexible and better in the mid/lategame. most of my games as paladin main are lost due the fact that I am 1 turn "too late" with my win conditions. 3 2/2 taunts for 2 mana are good enough for me to give the card a chance.
I see different scenarios. In aggro decks you might play this card + lifesteal minions + weapons. Hero keeps the board clear and gets healed from lifesteal (wickerflame/corpsetaker/chillblade champion) or truesilver. A divine shielded corpsetaker with lifesteal is completing the quest almost alone. The taunts come in handy if we have some minions to protect.
midgame paladin/control flooding the board with a 2 mana spell is very good, escpecially for tempo swings. equality into pyromancer into spellstone clears the board and 9dmg remain on the board as a threat (for 6 mana)
nvm..it is only one taunt.. feelsbadman
lay on hands + spellstone in the same turn spellstone + sunkeeper tarim equality + pyromancer + spellstone spellstone + unidentified maul spellstone + bonemare spellstone + cobalt scalebane spellstone + spikeridged steed
For understanding of how the card upgrades, say if you restore 6 health in one turn - does this automatically upgrade the card to it's maximum? Or does each upgrade act as a tier (you restore minimum 3 health, you can restore more but the card has to go through each upgrade phase)?
Unless we get a token Paladin that replenishes the board easily, this card will not see play.
Against aggro it is too slow and against control those minions will be removed in one play, by spell or a primordial drake
Worst spellstone yet. Unplayable on turn 2, not enough value if played later.
Probaly really good in control paladin (truesilver, burnbristle, corpsetaker, uther DK, rag, djinn).
In a tempo matchup you can sometimes play it as a frostwolf grunt, but often you can at least upgrade it once, making it insane vs aggro.
I say this is playable for sure, since paladin lacks early game (2 drops) in non murloc decks. Probably best spellstone together with druid one.
So this is where the synergy with Fluffy Genie comes in. As long as you've taken damage at the point when you have this card, this thing is probably going to be the easiest card to upgrade out of all the spellstones. Not to mention you can generally get good board presence off of it and it combos well with buff cards because you have a lot of targets on board for it. I'm not sure if this expansion is going to bring Paladin back to its days of super-viability, but the cards it's gotten so far look good. And this one is no exception.
So I'm not saying this card is amazing, but I think everyone is really undervaluing it so far. At first glance, this is literally Frostwolf Grunt, which is terrible. If you upgrade this, then it's two Frostwolf Grunt which also doesn't seem great. But then if you consider that Saronite Chain Gang sees tons of play and that this card is two mana less.....then we see it maybe have some potential.
It's also worth mentioning that this card 1) Protects your Silver Hand Recruits from other minions and 2) is one of the few spellstones where it doesn't suck to have in your opening hand, unlike the Warrior and Shaman cards which make them almost unplayable.
What Paladin still lacks is a good card to buff minions that are already on the board, except for SVRs. But for other cards, putting them on the board at 2/2 with no way to improve them is just lacklustre. The new weapon does allow for divine shield or +1 attack, but it seems very risky to me.
Also, would I really want to play this over Keleseth in any minion based Paladin deck?
One thing that I don't remind being explained. This has to be on our hands to be upgraded or is like C'Thun that receives the upgrade on our deck?
Needs to be in hand
The tempo is there but the synergy is not, and it's a bit awkward to use.
Normally you start healing on turn 4 at the earliest with Truesilver, which means that you can have a 2 mana 4/4 taunt on turn 5. That's good, but it's not absurdly broken or anything. Your next heal might come from Ivory Knight, which would mean that you can play a 2 mana 6/6 on turn 7. That's really good, but you're most likely very close to dying by turn 7 against decks where taunts matter. Additionally if you're up against decks like Tempo Mage or Hunter, then chances are that you already have the board by then and it's instead burn that you need to worry about.
So you probably want to have some additional healing, maybe Mistress or Mixtures or the new healing minion for Paladin, or otherwise the spellstone will become active far too late. But, then you will start to run into the issue of value. With so many of your cards dedicated to taunts and heals, how do you also beat control? 3 2/2s is terrible against control decks because every control deck has AoE tailored towards beating swarms of smaller minions, and there aren't any cards that Paladin can use to combo with the spellstone in a control matchup, aside from Tarim. Maybe if Paladin had a more value oriented death knight, but it doesn't, which means that a control Paladin has to run a ton of value cards to stand a chance against other control decks. Cards like the spellstone and Mistress of Mixtures is good tempo, but it's not good value.
3 2/2 is bad, but a 6/6 is okay Vs control...
The only way to get this on T4 as an upgraded 6/6, is by redempting Wickerflame Burnbristle, or combining Wickerflame + the new Djinn we got. Anyway, I think a 6/6 is very dangerous against aggro. And might buy you lots of time. Problem is tempo rogue who will just Vilespine him, or deckhand + cold blood..
FOR THE HORDE!
your missing forbidden healing technically
.
Looks like a cool card for heal paladin. Now the deck just needs some way to actually win the game! Maybe the weapon will be like, +1 attack per hp healed this game or something, heh.
I think people are underrating this card.spellstone is somehow similar to lost in the jungle when it comes to the snyergies but it is more flexible and better in the mid/lategame. most of my games as paladin main are lost due the fact that I am 1 turn "too late" with my win conditions. 3 2/2 taunts for 2 mana are good enough for me to give the card a chance.I see different scenarios.In aggro decks you might play this card + lifesteal minions + weapons. Hero keeps the board clear and gets healed from lifesteal (wickerflame/corpsetaker/chillblade champion) or truesilver. A divine shielded corpsetaker with lifesteal is completing the quest almost alone. The taunts come in handy if we have some minions to protect.midgame paladin/controlflooding the board with a 2 mana spell is very good, escpecially for tempo swings. equality into pyromancer into spellstone clears the board and 9dmg remain on the board as a threat (for 6 mana)nvm..it is only one taunt.. feelsbadman
lay on hands + spellstone in the same turn
spellstone + sunkeeper tarimequality + pyromancer + spellstone
spellstone + unidentified maulspellstone + bonemare
spellstone + cobalt scalebane
spellstone + spikeridged steed
For understanding of how the card upgrades, say if you restore 6 health in one turn - does this automatically upgrade the card to it's maximum? Or does each upgrade act as a tier (you restore minimum 3 health, you can restore more but the card has to go through each upgrade phase)?