Our Arena Highlights for The Witchwood
The Witchwood is sure to make a huge impact on Constructed games, but we'd also like to take a look at what the new expansion offers for the Arena environment. There are many dangers lurking deep within The Witchwood and here are some thoughts from our Arena moderators to help you steer clear of disaster on your next draft. AbusingKel will start us off with his thoughts on the winners/losers from the influx of new cards, while we all share some insight into our new favorites of the set.
AbusingKel: Class Strengths and Weaknesses
The Witchwood brings a total of 86 new CLASS cards to the Arena, because 4 odd/even class cards will be unavailable in arena drafts. Based on the scores assigned to each card by the Arena Moderators in the Arena Impact thread, the incoming set looks well balanced between each of the 9 classes. With a rating system of 1-5 (1 being the best score) most of the Heroes have an average card score of 3 but Warrior and Shaman tied for the best mark at 2.7.
Shaman has a good crop coming in, especially with the potential value of Hagatha the Witch and Zap!. However, there were a few cards for Shaman that earned wider gaps in the scoring from one mod to the next. Earthen Might, Blazing Invocation, and the mighty Shudderwock each had ratings that ranged from 1-3, making it easier to declare Warrior the biggest winner.
Warrior gets an influx of Rush synergy which should improve his ability to control the board early while keeping a decent tempo by trading favourably. With 9 of his 10 Witchwood cards garnering scores of 1-3 and the big legendary, Blackhowl Gunspire, ruining the curve with a 5, Warrior is likely to see an even bigger bump in his draft consistency. It's a pretty exciting time to be a Warrior player in Arena!
So which class is getting the weakest additions from the set? By a landslide, it's Druid. With all the other classes earning an average card score between 2.7 - 3.1 based on our 5 point scale, Druid comes in at an abysmal 3.8 average. The Arena moderators were unanimous in their ratings of the "hand-druid" cards, consistently remarking that cards like Duskfallen Aviana and Forest Guide were bad tempo plays because of their stats AND because their ability benefits the opponent first. A double whammy that is sure to hurt the viability of Druid in the Arena, especially during the increased drop rate that comes with the launch of a new set.
As we've seen in recent sets, strong Neutrals like Bonemare and the lovable flappy bird (Vicious Fledgling) can quickly dominate the Arena meta. I'm curious to see the impact of two incoming Neutral minions: Witchwood Grizzly and Night Prowler. The Grizzly will be a powerhouse on-curve, likely hitting the board as a 3/7 Taunt or better, which will be brutal to hack through. On the other end of the spectrum we find the Prowler that should be fairly easy to trigger for a 4 mana 6/6.
Neonangel: A Watchful Eye
I always like to look closely at the Common Neutral cards of the set because those should have the most impact overall. Sadly, in this expansion there are no clear standouts, but we all agree you should keep an eye out for Blackwald Pixie, Furious Ettin, and Rotten Applebaum, as they are sure to cause trouble for your opponents. If I had to pick a favorite card of the set I would have to say that Nightscale Matriarch is going to be an absolute must-pick the next time I'm playing Priest!
Boozor: Prowling with the Royal Guard
I wanted to highlight two powerful Neutral "sleeper" cards that I see making an impact on the meta: Gilnean Royal Guard and Night Prowler. Both of these are insane tempo cards and huge threats in different ways.
Gilnean Royal Guard absolutely hammers large minions and leaves a large threat behind. It's better then Charged Devilsaur most of the time and has added flexibility if you need the 3/8 body, although this feels like the much worse version. The new Rush cards in general will be extremely influential for Arena since initiative is so powerful and opens up different avenues in deck building for traditional classes that lack tempo options like Priest. I'm excited about the new Rush ability and it should give Arena runs the feeling of a back and forth fight instead of a "lop-sided, player that goes first wins most of the time", type feeling.
Night Prowler is interesting to me because it really works well with the set rotation. The remaining sets lack quality 2 drops, so curves will most likely still start around 3 mana. The 2 mana options for Witchwood are borderline undraftable. This leaves draft options limited for early game minions and takes advantage of decks with a thin early game by punishing them with a back-breaking 6/6 on turn 4 (turn 3 coin, scary). The effect is obviously powerful, but I feel this card has a good chance to thrive in a slower meta with worse/less early 1 and 2 drops.
Sinti: Exciting Times Ahead
So with the new drafting system any card is pretty much on (or off) the table now. We can no longer assume which card will have the biggest impact since drafting is no longer solely dependent on the card's rarity. With that being said, I'm very excited to bust out some T3 Marsh Drakes in Rogue (and equally afraid of my opponent doing just that). Though the card I'm probably most interested in seeing how it will end up performing is Arcane Keysmith. It might just be one of the most annoying cards to play against. It might not end up being that good, but it's still a versatile card with decent enough value and Secrets are just so annoying to play around in general.
What are you looking forward to in Arena and The Witchwood set?
Share your thoughts with us below and be sure to join us over on The Arena Forum!
I really think she is going to be subpar unless you get her early on and know to draft more minions or minions that add minions to your hand. shaman has some really bad spells still and worst of all totemic might which is considered the worst spell ever created.
Shaman also has Crackling Doom
I'd take a handful of Totemic Might's for a Crackling Doom
did they confirm you can get crackling doom with hagatha? seems like a possible design flaw if it happens in standard too which would mean 2 different hagathas and i doubt they thought that far ahead. im pretty sure you cant get crackling doom but we shall see?
Don't think she will be, i mean you can't have dk's anymore since the powerspike was just too big why would they leave Hagatha the Witch
Carckling Doom will no longer be available in arena.
What are you smoking? Board clear with a card that gives you double value for every normal card.
When you get it from Hagatha it's called Cackling Doom
I'm really looking forward to the changes in arena, with rush/echo having a (way) bigger impact than in constructed! (And also Warrior being better then ever!)
Hagatha probably will not be draftable just likr DKs.
i got Hagatha in arena from a discovery.
@nirwolf: You're still able to get the DKs from Discover.
You all are nuts if you think hagatha wont be draftable, the rule was for DK only. Until they know if hagatha is format warping, they will let her be in because she could be terrible or not even impactful enough.
edit: would also like to remind people that shaman has some of the worst spells in the game.
And I would like to remind you that a big part of arena is having card advantage dude.
And playing something like a Sen'jin and "drawing" a subpar/average card is still a big advantage. Also the battlecry itself is a huge help.
As others have said and will continue to say, it wouldn’t make sense for Hagatha to be an option for Arena since the other hero cards are not in the format. Please, let us know if/how you can verify Hagatha will be draftable.
DKs were only removed because of the frequency that people would be able to use the more powerful ones (Jaina, Anduin, Gul'Dan, Rexxar) to carry their drafts and completely decimate many players who didn't have a DK. If Hagatha does not have the same effect in arena then there would be no need to exclude her.
"It's better then Charged Devilsaur most of the time and has added flexibility if you need the 3/8 body, although this feels like the much worse version. " - Won't Gilnean Royal Guard, and other "worgen" minions, who change stats each turn, have the same stats on your turn? 3-8 when you draw a card, then 8-3 on opponent's turn, then back to 3-8 on your turn? You need to get a card on opponent's turn to get opposite stats.
no. Opponent's turn and your turn aren't different turns. They are just different phases of turns. Turn 1 is both of your first turn and opponent's first turn and it's same for other turns too.
I just don't know how they interact if your opponent makes you draw them. I guess it will be 8/3 when you get your turn to play.
If you watch the last stream you can see how they interacts with turns, I remember that day9 holds the Gilnean Royal Guarda few turns in his hand.
Compare Gruul and Shifting Scroll - "Each turn" includes your opponent's; "each turn in your Hand" includes only your own turn. I admit, this is not very clear...
It is indeed unclear; on the final stream Ben Brode said that in changes each tuen (yours and your opponent's) so it's a matter of luck if you get the defensive or the offensive stats each game (unless Temporus or the Mage Quest were used)