Hearthpwn

Zombie chow is a 1 mana 2/3 deathrattle heal your opponent for 5hp.

Zombie chow can be a really good card or a mediocre card depending on the matchup. The card is played for tempo and early board control. Against aggro or tempo decks this card is extremely good. I found that is best against zoo and above average against mid range hunters. It often determines winner. Although, I still think flame imp is much better. The problem with using zombie chow in a tempo deck is that it actually slows down the game if it does not do anything within 1-3 turns. Surprising zombie chow is a slow card. If you draw it late game you most likely would not use all of your mana considering that you are playing a tempo deck since you are generally low on cards in your hand at that time. It is best played early where it can do something or in the midgame along with other minions. The heal 5hp drawback actually allows control decks to 'ignore' zombie chow to an extent and wait until they can get value exchanges or deal with other creatures. Zombie chow is simply not big enough of a threat as a 2/3 and having this stat is unfavourable compared to 3/2. An example is when you are playing against ramp druid they can simply ignore the chow and play their natural growth and summon a shieldmaster after. Since you have a 2/3 stat you can't dark iron dwarf or abusive seargant and kill it resulting in you requiring another card to finish it off and you losing value. This defeats the purpose of a tempo deck as they aim for early board control to make value trades. Also, tempo decks tend to fall off late game and require the threat of the opponent being low to force them into a defensive position so they can continue making favourable trades or finish them. Zombie chow forfeits due to its deathrattle. Also, its impact late game is minimal and is generally a dead card. The card doesn't really help you in a losing situation it only helps you gain a winning position if the game is neutral due to its 2/3 stat.

Similarly, the card should be ran in a control deck against aggro/tempo decks since the drawback is generally not an issue, but there are better cards to run against a control matchup since the early board position gained with chow is generally insignificant. An example is ramp druid, they just play taunts in response to aggro and tempo matchups hoping they have no easy way to deal with them. If they do, they will most likely get ran over. The zombie chow is good as it offers insurance in case of this situation. They will drop chow on turn 1 and ramp turn 2.

Quote from Hush_Hush »

well you're really comparing a rare to a common. also that one point of health is pretty relevant it puts it out range of every two drop except succubus and most 3 drops. i've seen the card in aggro pally since it has synergy with their divine favors and is a beefy boy for 3 mana. while giving it an extra point of health (to 5) would make the card playable, it maybe a little too powerful even considering its draw back. example is to look at chillwind yeti and realize why he's such a boss to be a 4/5 at 4 mana and the relevance that having 5 health is at 4 mana.

mid range decks are still very healthy. Look at tempo priest very good midrange deck, it curves out at 6.

Well if you want to compare dancing swords to a common then, you can consider the loot harder it trades 2 stats for a deathrattle draw. Then shouldn't dancing swords gain 2 stats for a draw?

Quote from Sparco »

It's great in decks like paladin who will use that card that gives em as much cards as the enemy. It's great in mill decks. Buffing it, will 100% sure make it op in those decks. It's a card that you should use only in certain decks and there it is a great card.

Isn't that exactly why it deserves a buff? Consider how viable these decks are are. Not very. This buff will definitely help these types of deck become more viable.

Dancing swords is a 3 mana 4/4 with death rattle your opponent draws a card. The downside of giving your opponent a card is simply not worth the extra 1 hp it is given over the injured blade master. Since it is a 4/4 it pretty much dies very easily almost making it always a 2 for 1 in favour of the opponent. Some scenarios of this for the current meta are wrath+hero ability from ramp druid or swipe, deathsbite from control warrior,and zoo can just use their minions or even worse a soulfire. There is also the option of making it a 3/5, but i think it's still not worth it. Also, silencing it is generally not an option since if you are running a silence you most likely want to save it for cards, such as cairne, syvannas or highmane. The cards used for silencing are also more of utility cards, so they will most likely get unfavourable trades too.

I think the card has potential to become viable, but i am not sure whether a 3 mana 4/5 is way too strong, so your opinions are required... Buffing the card will definitely make it an addition to  aggro and tempo and maybe a midrange decks. These decks are not very popular at the moment, so a buff could help bring these decks back into popularity while not buffing any of the current most played decks.

Update:

When I posted this, I knew that a 4/5 would be incredibly strong, but I considered the types of deck that would actually run this card. This card will not most likely not be ran in control decks, but in aggro decks and tempo decks. These decks are pretty weak at the moment and need a buff. Consider fire elemental it's probably the best card in the game, but why do shamans have it? Because they need it to stay somewhat viable. A better example I think though would be priest. Their cards are incredibly good, it's just their hero ability, which is compensated for with strong cards. Most likely at best, dancing swords will get a 2 for 2 and negate its death rattle. A common problem across tempo decks is that they often run out of cards and their opponent will have a 3+ card advantage, which means tempo decks need to have card draw or high value cards. Since dancing swords gives your opponent card draw and does not get value since it's often a 2 for 1, it needs to make a significant impact for it to be viable. Consider why zoo is somewhat viable, it gets value by running high value cards and has the card draw to back it up.

Also, with the upcoming nerfs to leroy and starving buzard, the meta will lack diversity and will mostly be control warrior and handlock. It's a good time to make the change.

Update: I thought about and I agree 4/5 is too op, a more suitable change would be a 4/4 charge death rattle your opponent draws a card. This would definitely benefit aggro and tempo decks as aggro decks can rush the face and will punished for it if they do not end the game in time as the opponent will gain card advantage and find more solutions. While tempo decks can gain a tempo boost and possibly get a 2 for 2 but still unlikely. The reason I chose 4/4 over 3/4 is because aggro decks do not care about value, so they will run arcane golem instead, which has sufficient hp to not die instantly. This is an appropriate change, which will retain the Nax deathrattle nature of the card while making it viable. Control decks will definitely not run this card, and it will be a direct buff to tempo and aggro decks.

Paladin

I am aware that there are already threads on this topic, but they are mostly outdated and not within this meta.

I am looking to run one of these cards in my tempo/control deck, but I don't have either and I can only craft one. Given that the board is empty and your opponent has used most of their clear spells and it is turn 6, which would be better? Some matchups i am looking at are hunter and control warrior. Also, which one would be better in a losing, stalemate and winning situation in this meta?

Edit: my deck is generally winning on turn 6 with 0-3 minions, and 2-3 cards in my hand out as it is a tempo deck. I am looking for the card that exploits the fact they have wasted all their removal and a sort of snowball card.

Why this is a fail experiment:

Player 1 will always win regardless of draw. 
Player 1 worst starting hand (goes first):
x2 wisp
x2 power overwhelming
Then proceed to always draw 1 drops but never knife jungler since death by knifes and young dragon hawkling since power overwhelming + windfury.

Player 2 is dead by around turn 6-7

Player one chooses warlock:

Player 2 chooses warlock

Warlock Cards

Neutral Cards