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Well, it doesn't seem too amazing in the current state of game, but it has some minor potential in Wild Mode. Kabal Crystal Runner wasn't too viable, but Thing from Below was. More than likely worse than both.
even if this would ever be good, token decks are not a thing anymore. Every single deck in the meta except for rogue, hunter, and shaman have an extremely oppressive hard counter to tokens. Druid has Spreading Plague, and priest now has Psychic Scream, both of which are literally "click concede no matter how the game was going if your opponent plays this card at any given time". Warlock has Defile and Despicable Dreadlord. Warrior "no one plays warrior anyway though" has a million whirlwinds.
It's really sad honestly. Token decks were my favorite archetype. They take some of the most skill to play because you always have at least 3 things on board that you have to actively decide where to trade most turns, plus you have to decide how much stuff to play and how to play around AoE and when to do it. But nope. Blizz had to make druid, priest, and warlock immune to tokens, probably forever. Once those cards rotate out, they're still soooo good, that they'll be in every deck even in wild mode. The community seems to love these cards as well and Spreading Plague has already been "nerfed", so it'd take a miracle for any of these cards to change.
In Standard -
Mediocre card. Not enough support as of now, but maybe we could see some shenanigans with a new midrangey archetype. Unidentified Maul can turn into Champion's Maul so that's nice too, and we could see Vinecleaver possibly run, but that's about it. The card itself can be just dropped as a 6 cost on it's own but it would be kinda slow, since it doesn't have Taunt, unlike certain 6 mana 5/5s (ahem Thing from Below). Having Divine Shield though, it would be a much bigger nuisance than Kabal Crystal Runner, and that card itself is already surprisingly hard to deal with. But like Crystal Runner, this is almost always going to be played as a win more card. It gains a ton of tempo on an empty board, but you can't deny that you'd rather have Lord of the Arena in play over this in a losing situation. Now the other problem, assuming a new archetype will not spawn, where to fit this minion? For most of the other cards in the set, I can see them going into already existing decks, especially Unidentified Maul. There are just way too many good 6-drops to compare with. Namely Sunkeeper Tarim and Spikeridged Steed. The only way I can see this card being run is that we shift from a murloc oriented midrage to a more general midrange, sprinkled in with some Silver Hand Recruits, handbuff (with Val'anyr), a handful of boardbuff (Level Up!), and even perhaps with Recruit (Call to Arms). I for one, am looking forward to this archetype and can't wait for Finja, the Flying Star to rotate out so we can see something fresher.
In wild -
Mostly the same as in Standard,
but this card may not need to wait till Finja leaves(Brain Fart, this probably won't happen). There are much more powerful tools in wild, namely Muster for Battle and Quartermaster. On the contrary, there are so many good cards in wild, we may not find a place for Crystal Lion, which is the main problem for most cards in the game mode.In arena -
Probably will see the most play here. It's not as common to come by a board clear as it is in constructed play, so it would be much easier to maintain a board of Silver Hand Recruits to get a Crystal Lion out by turn 4.
Silver hand recruit paladin is not happening, stop trying blizz. Muster for battle was rotated out for a reason get new ideas blizz.
There is a mode called wild for a reason...
Accurate
Turn 4 (or Turn 3 with Coin ): 2x Lost in the Jungle + this - dream turn for Paladin
Call Sunwalker... she's crying.
Should have been "Cost one less for each Silver Hand Recruit you've summoned"
You Crystal Lion vs the guy she tells you not to worry about Thing from Below
6 mana 5/5 with divine shield?
divine shield minions tend to have lower stats, Argent Squire is 1/1, not 1/2 (the divine shield blocks a hit, it will survive consecration but not earth shock) or 2/1, Argent Squire can only have the minimum stats because a 1 drop that is bigger than 2/2 is/can be broken, as a 1/1 divine shield Argent Squire is fairly good, that's why it has seen play in so many decks that want minions on board to work with (evolve shaman used it for example). Argent Commander has charge as an extra bonus (without it it would be pointless, as the card is meant to take two trades in one, so unlike other charge minions it isn't bad on an empty board, it is actually good cause then your opponent can't really play anything that dies to it) because you can't give charge minions good stats, they are made for face decks, just like divine shields who get lower stats because higher stats would open for unfair possibilities, the shield can tank infinite damage at once but then the low HP stat will be a bummer, divine shields are hard to remove (if you can't ping them or commit an ugly cat into them), can trade evenly and have the advantage of being able to play with stats (a 3/1 can trade into a 3/3 or even a 9/3 without caring for the HP), if you can make a divine shield hard to remove with spells that minion has the potential to be really powerful
why I like this card:
-doesn't care if you remove the divine shield as statswhise it is better than most divine shields if not all (Bolvar is an exception, 1/7 with divine shield demands 2 pings and a fireball, a lot, but the costs and the resources are are different just like the effect but the atk pays off as Bolvar will only be a 3/7)
-can happen to cost 5/4 even if you don't run dudes as you can always use the hero power and people won't always remove them
-it can fulfill many different roles in many different decks, it can be the crystal runner in dude paladin, it can be the skelemancer (doesn't die to AoE) in a midrange deck or it can be the one that won't be crap in divine shield paladin when all your minions lose divine shield
Please excuse me for my previous post
More like a 6 mana 4/5 Taunt Divine Shield without Taunt and 1 more Attack. And cost reduction.
I was half joking, I meant that the card may not be that bad as a stand alone card, I bet this will be good in arena
indeed, I failed to make it clear for everyone, there is 3/1 divine shield for 3, divine shields have bad hp (the core for a divine shield being all the divine shields in the classic format) I meant to say that for a 6 drop lowering just a bit the atk stat and rising the hp stat can be really nice, it makes the minion an even better stand alone minion, now ofc the card might not see play for it is only decent it will be good in the arena, if every card would be taken as a stand alone card this would be one of the better ones while the combo pieces would be wither bad or meh, I'll edit the post for my first post was lazy
But you went on about Bearshark and compared it to Nesting Roc in a completely nonsensical manner. That's the issue with the comment
I speak english better than you speak my language, do I?
however
Gorge your hatred. Embrace your rage!
now all you do is hate me for no real reason, there is pain that demands a different painkiller that not everyone has access to, the physical pain is caused by threats that have to be threats, to survive, to keep their nature, but those kind of threats that you deliver damage more the one who causes them, "HS community is the saltiest and most toxic community I ever dealt with" find your peace
This cost 3 mana with Muster for Battle o_O
In that moments im happy arena is not wild anymore.