It baffles me why people trust reviews made by arena players/websites and "fun" streamers when it comes to assessing the powerlevel of cards in ladder. Why not look at reviews by tournament players/"ladder-worried" websites instead? And I'm not saying that you should blindly follow what tournament players say, or that arena players are always wrong, but come on, these people play at completely different levels.
Anyway, after that little rant, here's my discussion of the cards you listed (keep in mind that my response is standard-focused)
1. Zephrys the Great (score 234) will probably be the most crafted card, might be the only safe day 1 craft. We still have to wait and see how good the AI is. I still expect it to be autoinclude in any wild Reno decks and this may force me to try a version without Prince Keleseth we may see highlander even in standard as well.
Agree
2. Octosari [/card] (score 197) is the Dr. 8 of this expansion, absolutely broken in aggro/tempo/faster midrange decks and will be in most such decks except wild odd decks. It's too slow to be run in control and combo decks since you often have a big hand and can burn key cards. We might see double [card]spellbreaker run in most decks and BGH could make a comeback in control decks too.
Turn 8 do nothing? Idk about that, it only has the chance of being good if you're facing control.
3. Siamat [/card] (score 175) is the Dr. 7 of this expansion. Might even be strong enough to be run in wild alongside [card]Dr. Boom in slower decks, especially Reno decks. Probably a safe day 1 craft, but doesn't hurt to wait.
Agree.
4. Colossus of the Moon (score 168) is one of the most broken single 10 cost minion ever. This will make big priest in wild even more OP and make any big or control decks in standard stronger vs. the mirror. Very difficult to remove, will often end games on it's own in 2 or 3 turns.
I'm not sure if you play this in standard in your control deck, you're probably better of running a Mecha'thun package in that case. Also, the only viable control decks are warrior and shaman (because heroes are busted), and I don't see either wanting to run this card.
5. Wrapped Golem (score 153) is a very strong 7 drop, could be the Bonemareof the set and a nerf candidate to 8 mana. Be sure to save a silence or BGH for this guy.
REALLY doubt it. It's like an Obsidian Destroyer (which didn't see play) but with less health. Yes, it comes back to life thanks to reborn, but only with 1 HP, which is ver easy to deal with, specially by turn 7.
6. Vulpera Scoundrel (score 132) a strong card for discovering a board clear or removal. Looks like a great fit in control and highlander decks, including Reno decks in wild.
I think it's OK in highlander decks, but other than that, no. And I wouldn't call it a safe craft, specially given that it's an epic
I'm not sure if it's worth the slot most of the time tbh. It would be best used in priest, but it pollutes the resurrect pool, so idk.
8. History Buff (score 129) is another insane card that can be run in almost any deck that runs minions, especially zoo decks. It's vanilla with a considerable upside and might get nerfed to a 3/3.
I'm not so sure about this one, handbuffing tends to not work.
9. Quicksand Elemental (score 128) puts Shrinkmeisterto shame and will be run in every aggro/tempo deck so they can make value trades. Should get nerfed to 3 mana.
I agree to an extent.
10. Candletaker (score 123) is a solid card for aggro decks.
Scarlet Crusader copycat? No thanks, there are WAY better cards to run.
11. Bug Collector (score 114) another good card in aggro and zoo decks.
It's a slightly different Hench-Clan Hogsteed, and that doesn't see play, so...
Hunters get Desert Spear (score 177) which will be an autoinclude till it rotates out. Be sure to tech in an ooze! They also have Hunter's Pack (score 132) for hand refill. Scarlet Webweaver (score 109) rounds it up and lets you cheat out big beasts.
Not so sure about Desert Spear tbh, but I could be wrong. Hunter's Pack is great but most of the time it competes with Master's Call and we all know who wins that. Webweaver is great.
Mages have Arcane Flakmage (score 180) which is so good with secrets. They also have Reno the Relicologist (score 168) which should fit great in wild Renomages.
Both great, but I'm not sure if cyclone mage is being dethroned anytime soon.
Paladins got three new great cards, they are Pharaoh's Blessing (157) and Subdue [/card] (148) and[card] Ancestrial guardian (139)
Pharaoh's Blessing is too fair. Buffs are best utilized in aggro/midrange/tempo decks, and this costs too much for that, and if you were to play it in control paladin, it would be a worse Spikeridged Steed most of the time. Besides, control decks other than warrior or shaman will probably never see play until boom and hagatha rotate.
Subdue is too situational and Ancestral Guardian heals you but does nothing the turn it's played (and you would only play it in control, and as I said before, control paladin ins probably not going to be competitive any time soon)
I think Pharaoh Cat is great but: reborn minions seem pretty bad overall, the fact that most of them are neutral mean it won't activate your quest/vendetta and it competes with the quest as a turn 1 play (and the quest is great because the burgle shell is great).
Shamans got an interesting card Plague of Murlocs (173) but I honestly don't see this being run because it's useless vs. aggro and you can just rush big priest by playing aggro or murloc shaman anyway and win with Bloodlust. Sandstorm Elemental (149) is another great card as well as EVIL Totem (127) and Splitting Axe (125)
You're 100% going to be running Plague of Murlocs in control shaman because cyclone mage exists. Sandstorm Elemental and EVIL Totem are good, Splitting Axe, not so much (let's be real, most of the time you'll be summoning a copy of a basic totem or nothing at all)
Zoolocks could be the strongest deck in the expansion due to Plague of Flames (230) that lets them clear your board and rebuild theirs. Diseased Vulture (201) will win zoolocks games on it's own if it lives. They got a good removal in the form of Impbalming [/card] (168) but I don't see control warlock being viable and you can't run this in highlander. For all the hype over [card]Riftcleaver (137) it's still worse than Siphon Soul (157) and neither card sees play anyway. Sinister Deal [/card]and [card]Evil recruiter will break the game and cause EVIL Recruiter to be nerfed to 4 mana.
I think Diseased Vulture is not as great. Might be good because of Neferset Thrasher, but if you're doing that, then you're probably not on the Magic Carpet plan, which may be worse as a deck. So yeah, I wouldn't consider this as a safe craft, specially considering it's an epic.
Impbalming is trash no matter the deck you play it in. Riftcleaver is good because tempo=good, but it may not have the necessary support to see play.
There's never a safe time to craft a deck. We'll need a few weeks to make sure the meta settles, then you'll have the first wave of nerfs, perhaps a second wave of nerfs or even buffs, and then the next expansion.
Just play the decks you want to play, and craft the cards you want.
Probably good to wait 48h for the first HSReplay statistics before investing significant dust, but no point in waiting too long.
admittedly i was overly excited for big spell mage and crafted everything immediately. however, i don't regret it, the first few days playing that deck was the most fun.
i haven't spent money on the game in a long time and have been maximizing my resources. Aggro-quest pally looks fun, and most of the cards are rare neutrals and commons.
even more counter to waiting to craft legendaries, I hate crafting commons as I open packs later, it stings to have even bothered to craft. Hope for lucky packs! lol. Ironically, every free legendary, since they started giving out expansion launch legendaries are always from classes I never play.
The only thing I disagree with hard is that Rogues will love to run Sahket Sapper.
Sap is effective because you can choose your target.
A random sap places the control of what gets sapped in to your opponents' hands. They can effectively use this to sap one of their minions that has a powerful battlecry.
The only thing I disagree with hard is that Rogues will love to run Sahket Sapper.
Sap is effective because you can choose your target.
A random sap places the control of what gets sapped in to your opponents' hands. They can effectively use this to sap one of their minions that has a powerful battlecry.
I mostly agree, but with the caveat that Sahket Sapper is probably at least a one-off if Captain Hooktusk sees play going forward. Although I doubt it will.
I'll be honest, I too disagree with this. Draw 8 cards is ALOT, I see it more of a detriment than a advantage. Most decks that would need to draw 8 cards are aggro decks. Dump all your 1 cost 2 cost minions quick and go face, try to win the game by turn 6 or 7 with no cards or 1 or 2 cards in hand. My problem with this card is that, I wont run it in a control deck and a aggro deck it's to slow. 8 mana minion is way to high cost for aggro. Imagine holding this in your hand for 5 turns, I'd rather have a bloodlust and end the game quick. This is basically like I dump my hand onto the board, do 26 damage to face, my opponent clears and taunts up. Now you have no cards in hand, nothing on board and your in trouble. In that scenario Octosari might save you, but its soooooooo slow. Unless you trigger the deathrattle, I'll just ignore it, I'll take 8 damage sure. I will.not let an aggro deck draw 8 cards lol.
Now on the other hand, burning cards is not a good game plan. Most of the time that is what will happen. Since it's an 8 mana card, throughout HS history the 8 mana slot as been the strongest cards in the game (ragnaros, lich king etc). This card nerds the 8 cost minion bc if I'm playing control and somehow I get this card randomly on my board... well odds are alot of my cards are getting burned.
I think this card is more of a 2 or 3 star card out of 5. Mediocre at best. For me, King Pharois will probably be the strongest neutral just bc it can create a big board, even if it's just 1 2 3 4 mana minions that are generated its still a ton of value for free. But, holding the spells in your hand to play the King, can you survive? Idk we will see, I'm hypeddd
Octosari actually makes Conjurer's Calling on an 8-drop slightly more awkward. Most Conj Mages run with fairly full hands and if this appears it could cause you some problems.
I don't know that I would say it's "bad", but certainly will make you hesitate and consider your next move more carefully.
The only advice I can agree with is don't auto craft cards because a streamer claims its the best deck. No one is going to know that or have any data for a few weeks. Most people will be playing 'fun' decks the first few days and therefore just be careful with your crafting choices.
You do NOT want to craft Octosari at all. Aggro decks do fine without right now. Maybe it ends up being amazing in 1 specific aggro deck, but don't count on it.
Some cards I agree might be 'safe' crafts, but only if you plan on playing specific classes or just want to have fun. Don't expect to craft these cards hoping to reach legend because everyone is playing 1 particular deck on days 1 and 2.
And do not craft Quest cards at all. Even the ones highly rated by the community. Trust me on this, if you go and craft the Druid Quest, you will probably regret it later. You can ALWAYS craft it later if the card ends up being the next Zilliax of the set.
Beaming Sidekick is not a very good 1-drop, just saying. It's a very strong 1-cost minion, but it's pretty bad on turn 1 when you don't have anything to buff.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
It baffles me why people trust reviews made by arena players/websites and "fun" streamers when it comes to assessing the powerlevel of cards in ladder. Why not look at reviews by tournament players/"ladder-worried" websites instead? And I'm not saying that you should blindly follow what tournament players say, or that arena players are always wrong, but come on, these people play at completely different levels.
Anyway, after that little rant, here's my discussion of the cards you listed (keep in mind that my response is standard-focused)
Agree
Turn 8 do nothing? Idk about that, it only has the chance of being good if you're facing control.
Agree.
I'm not sure if you play this in standard in your control deck, you're probably better of running a Mecha'thun package in that case. Also, the only viable control decks are warrior and shaman (because heroes are busted), and I don't see either wanting to run this card.
REALLY doubt it. It's like an Obsidian Destroyer (which didn't see play) but with less health. Yes, it comes back to life thanks to reborn, but only with 1 HP, which is ver easy to deal with, specially by turn 7.
I think it's OK in highlander decks, but other than that, no. And I wouldn't call it a safe craft, specially given that it's an epic
I'm not sure if it's worth the slot most of the time tbh. It would be best used in priest, but it pollutes the resurrect pool, so idk.
I'm not so sure about this one, handbuffing tends to not work.
I agree to an extent.
Scarlet Crusader copycat? No thanks, there are WAY better cards to run.
It's a slightly different Hench-Clan Hogsteed, and that doesn't see play, so...
There are better things to run imo.
1 drops that are not good on turn 1 tend to not see much play, so idk
Oasis Surger is great.
Not so sure about Desert Spear tbh, but I could be wrong. Hunter's Pack is great but most of the time it competes with Master's Call and we all know who wins that. Webweaver is great.
Both great, but I'm not sure if cyclone mage is being dethroned anytime soon.
Pharaoh's Blessing is too fair. Buffs are best utilized in aggro/midrange/tempo decks, and this costs too much for that, and if you were to play it in control paladin, it would be a worse Spikeridged Steed most of the time. Besides, control decks other than warrior or shaman will probably never see play until boom and hagatha rotate.
Subdue is too situational and Ancestral Guardian heals you but does nothing the turn it's played (and you would only play it in control, and as I said before, control paladin ins probably not going to be competitive any time soon)
I agree to an extent.
Sahket Sapper is probably too slow. Bazaar Mugger is decent, but not amazing imo.
I think Pharaoh Cat is great but: reborn minions seem pretty bad overall, the fact that most of them are neutral mean it won't activate your quest/vendetta and it competes with the quest as a turn 1 play (and the quest is great because the burgle shell is great).
You're 100% going to be running Plague of Murlocs in control shaman because cyclone mage exists. Sandstorm Elemental and EVIL Totem are good, Splitting Axe, not so much (let's be real, most of the time you'll be summoning a copy of a basic totem or nothing at all)
I agree about Plague of Flames.
I think Diseased Vulture is not as great. Might be good because of Neferset Thrasher, but if you're doing that, then you're probably not on the Magic Carpet plan, which may be worse as a deck. So yeah, I wouldn't consider this as a safe craft, specially considering it's an epic.
Impbalming is trash no matter the deck you play it in. Riftcleaver is good because tempo=good, but it may not have the necessary support to see play.
Livewire Lance is great but it directly competes with Wrenchcalibur, and the bomb package (Clockwork Goblin, Wrenchcalibur and Blastmaster Boom) is too powerful to be replaced by it in most decks.
Restless Mummy if anything will replace Militia Commander (depends on the meta), I don't see it replacing Omega Devastator, but I could be wrong on this one.
I agree about Frightened Flunky.
There's never a safe time to craft a deck. We'll need a few weeks to make sure the meta settles, then you'll have the first wave of nerfs, perhaps a second wave of nerfs or even buffs, and then the next expansion.
Just play the decks you want to play, and craft the cards you want.
Probably good to wait 48h for the first HSReplay statistics before investing significant dust, but no point in waiting too long.
admittedly i was overly excited for big spell mage and crafted everything immediately. however, i don't regret it, the first few days playing that deck was the most fun.
i haven't spent money on the game in a long time and have been maximizing my resources. Aggro-quest pally looks fun, and most of the cards are rare neutrals and commons.
even more counter to waiting to craft legendaries, I hate crafting commons as I open packs later, it stings to have even bothered to craft. Hope for lucky packs! lol. Ironically, every free legendary, since they started giving out expansion launch legendaries are always from classes I never play.
The only thing I disagree with hard is that Rogues will love to run Sahket Sapper.
Sap is effective because you can choose your target.
A random sap places the control of what gets sapped in to your opponents' hands. They can effectively use this to sap one of their minions that has a powerful battlecry.
Sahket Sapper is going to suck, I believe.
I mostly agree, but with the caveat that Sahket Sapper is probably at least a one-off if Captain Hooktusk sees play going forward. Although I doubt it will.
I'll be honest, I too disagree with this. Draw 8 cards is ALOT, I see it more of a detriment than a advantage. Most decks that would need to draw 8 cards are aggro decks. Dump all your 1 cost 2 cost minions quick and go face, try to win the game by turn 6 or 7 with no cards or 1 or 2 cards in hand. My problem with this card is that, I wont run it in a control deck and a aggro deck it's to slow. 8 mana minion is way to high cost for aggro. Imagine holding this in your hand for 5 turns, I'd rather have a bloodlust and end the game quick. This is basically like I dump my hand onto the board, do 26 damage to face, my opponent clears and taunts up. Now you have no cards in hand, nothing on board and your in trouble. In that scenario Octosari might save you, but its soooooooo slow. Unless you trigger the deathrattle, I'll just ignore it, I'll take 8 damage sure. I will.not let an aggro deck draw 8 cards lol.
Now on the other hand, burning cards is not a good game plan. Most of the time that is what will happen. Since it's an 8 mana card, throughout HS history the 8 mana slot as been the strongest cards in the game (ragnaros, lich king etc). This card nerds the 8 cost minion bc if I'm playing control and somehow I get this card randomly on my board... well odds are alot of my cards are getting burned.
I think this card is more of a 2 or 3 star card out of 5. Mediocre at best. For me, King Pharois will probably be the strongest neutral just bc it can create a big board, even if it's just 1 2 3 4 mana minions that are generated its still a ton of value for free. But, holding the spells in your hand to play the King, can you survive? Idk we will see, I'm hypeddd
Octosari actually makes Conjurer's Calling on an 8-drop slightly more awkward. Most Conj Mages run with fairly full hands and if this appears it could cause you some problems.
I don't know that I would say it's "bad", but certainly will make you hesitate and consider your next move more carefully.
Is this a joke? Wrapped golem is the bonemare of this expansion? Sure...
I stopped reading when OP started referring to all the cards as the "Dr. X" of the expansion.
OP's reviews are strange and mostly very wrong. Don't fall into these traps!
“Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.”
Wow awesome info here. Great job!
The only advice I can agree with is don't auto craft cards because a streamer claims its the best deck. No one is going to know that or have any data for a few weeks. Most people will be playing 'fun' decks the first few days and therefore just be careful with your crafting choices.
You do NOT want to craft Octosari at all. Aggro decks do fine without right now. Maybe it ends up being amazing in 1 specific aggro deck, but don't count on it.
Some cards I agree might be 'safe' crafts, but only if you plan on playing specific classes or just want to have fun. Don't expect to craft these cards hoping to reach legend because everyone is playing 1 particular deck on days 1 and 2.
And do not craft Quest cards at all. Even the ones highly rated by the community. Trust me on this, if you go and craft the Druid Quest, you will probably regret it later. You can ALWAYS craft it later if the card ends up being the next Zilliax of the set.
this +1000
Beaming Sidekick is not a very good 1-drop, just saying. It's a very strong 1-cost minion, but it's pretty bad on turn 1 when you don't have anything to buff.