Hearthpwn

does finishing an arena run reward you the knc pack?

Yes

It's rated as an above average card, you were expecting higher? 

Why would it be broken? Sure it'll be good, but broken?

I don't agree that Stoneskin Basilisk will be broken, but surely everyone agrees it is an extremely good card. I'm also surprised it didn't get a mention. It's gonna feel so good playing this against non-ping classes.

How is it broken, exactly?  The two best arena classes, Mage and Rogue, will have little trouble dealing with it.

Its one of the best cards in arena right now and must pick. It should be rated really high, btw for now you can check some of arena tier lists, where it is one of the most high rated cards or just really high and I agree with that after playing 3 days of arenas.

Its one of the best cards in arena right now and must pick. It should be rated really high, btw for now you can check some of arena tier lists, where it is one of the most high rated cards or just really high and I agree with that after playing 3 days of arenas.

I feel like some cards were rated a bit too harsh - for example Lynessa Sunsorrow. While I agree that it is terrible without any buffs, as long as you played one Spikeridged Steed, it will be okay. Add in a Blessing of Kings, and you have a value drop. And if someone says that it is suspectible to silence - there are only so many silence effects, and we got a lot of good targets added this expansion. Without any silence to boot (not including Psychic Scream). In the right deck, this one can become a game finisher - similar to some other legendaries, it is a terrible card to draft early, yet can be a jackpot when having some decent synergies.

On the other hand, I feel like Astral Tiger was rated too high. It basically is a 3/5er drop for 4 (so, a worse Chillwind Yeti), with only one advantage: It can be recuited multiple times. Since recruit will be borderline bad in Arena, I doubt that this would justify a great increase in its rating (and regarding fatigue: Mind, that the minion has to die in the same turn (or generally), and that you have to come to fatigue first).

Rogue Secrets generally seem to be a tad too badly rated. Yes, the missing amount of Secrets makes it predictible, but it can save you in some situations. Image you have 2 minions on your board, a 1/1 and a 5/5. The  enemy is at 5 Health. Most would attack with the 1/1 in order to procc Sudden Betrayal only to realize that it was Evasion all along! To begin with, a better version of Getaway Kodo is not a bad card in itself. Then again, I do agree with the with most of their end-score.

Spiteful Summoner seems to split the jugdes. I would rather tend to 2 than a 4, to be honest. Simply put, the stats are fine as long as you summon an average 2-drop. While you could hit a miss with several big costed minions, it should rarely perform really badly. I feel like many classes have rather high spells (well, depends when you pick your Spiteful), possibly granting it insane value. 

Twilight Acolyte. Similar to the other cards, it is really dependant. In the worst case it is a 2/4 for 3, which is actually borderline okay. Not too good, but if it triggers? It can be a game changer. Due to it having 2 attack, it enable Potion of Madness, Cabal Shadow Priest, Shadow Word: Pain, Shadow Madness and even a Shadow Word: Horror. With the addition of two more neutral, and one (nope, not counting a useless legendary) priest dragon, it should allow a fairly high rate of activation. I truly think that you guys underestimate that card too much...

Similar for Duskbreaker. Get a few other Dragons, and this one will turn around tables. While I would not give it a 2, I think it should be increased to a 3.

Explosive Runes Maybe a bit underrated as well. Mage has a lot of secrets that are played around by dropping weak stated minions without an important battlecry. This secret, though, may very well steer you closer to victory in a tempo mage variant. I often feared every drawn card by my Mage opponents, hoping that they won't draw into a fireball - or even Icebolt. So when they played a secret, I was relieved. I could simply trigger it, most of the times, with low risk. Not anymore....

Not sure about Lesser Mithril Spellstone. Yes, a 5/5 for 7 is underwhelming. 10/10 value for 7 is not, though, and equipping a weapon won't be that hard in Warrior. After all, N'Zoth's First Mate, Blood Razor and even a Fiery Waraxe are fairly useful picks. You wouldn't scoff at an Arcanite Reaper or a [card]Fool's Bane[card], right? Sure, getting two upgrades seems unlikely, but getting one isn't that hard, either. It should IMO be a 3.

[card]Lesser Pearl Spellstone[/card] is underrated as well. A 2/2 taunt for 2 is okayish, and nothing to scoff at. Getting 3 Health (it doesn't have to be in one round!) is not that hard, IMO. Even if you ignore Benevolent Djinn or Ivory Knight, there are also Mistress of Mixtures, Chillblade Champion - or even a Friendly Bartender.You will curse at your opponent once he drops a 6(6 taunt for 2 Mana, right after he played Lay on Hands.

Scorp-o-matic can be devastating as well. Sure, most of the times it may sit in your hand, quite usless. But even if it only gets a Silver Hand Recruit, it turns out okay. If it hits a Stoneskin Basilisk or a Stubborn Gastropod? If you can combine it with Pint-Size Potion or Aldor Peacekeeper? I see quite a lot potential, especially if Stoneskin Basilisk becomes as overwhelming as I think it will.

Thanks for your detailed criticism. 

Generally cards that stand out in Arena are cards that are good by itself without help from synergies or requiring to draft specific cards. A lot of the examples you've listed you may noticed that you are mentioning other cards in combination for them to be good. This requires both the drafting, playing and the right situation for the card to be good. This generally isn't what makes a card good or great in Arena.

This why some of the spellstones are just not that great since they relay on multiple conditions to be great (first is to have it in your hand which isn't always something you want). 

True, but you can never jugde a card in a complete vacuum. A synergistic deck will always beat a deck with 'high value' cards - for example, Servant of Kalimos can be a very strong pick, even though it is subpar in a vacuum.

If there were only a few cards avaible that you needed to make it work, I could understand it. But IMO some of these cards do have sufficient activators and are therefor not as bad as they stood to critic.

Of course, that is only my personal opinion. It may be influenced by the desire to build synergistic decks in arna as well :D

Understandable.  That's why it's good practice when drafting to take a hard look at how cards that are lower in value (in a vacuum), INCREASE in value when there are activators or better conditions for them to shine. 

However, the challenge when grading cards is looking at the card mostly in a vacuum while applying some common sense to the likelihood of realizing their upsides and downsides in a random draft. 

The other challenge is putting cards together in a ranking scale that is condensed, easy to read and understand, but also allowing the card to differentiate itself from other cards of the same ranking. What I mean is that for example, 2 cards rated at 3, do not mean they are the same power level since the range of a 3 ranking can be "wide", but generally they are "close". I hope that makes sense.

The base score is rating a card by itself, assuming there are no syngeries to help it.

The dynamic score listed when it shows up gets adjusted based on how many syngergies are available at the point you draft it.  But it is possible you will NOT see any syngeries later in the draft, so a low base score is warranted - you can absolutely get screwed by the card.

I believe "Call to Arms" will have a huge impact if you atleast draft some 2 drops or even 1 drops - it thin your deck for better late game and gives you insane value 

I agree, it's a solid card. Although it's an epic, so the likelihood of a huge meta impact is lessened. 

True, forgot that it was not common - When you are lucky enought to get it though - winner winner chicken dinner.

Does anyone happen to know when today expansion launches? In 1 hour or later?

after 6 hours, i think