I play Hearthstone pretty casually, but have been having a blast with Val'anyr since it came out...
However, with Gadgetzen rotating out...is Hand Paladin even viable? I mean...to even make a deck out of it at all anymore? We're losing Enforcer, Outfitter, Smuggler's Run, Doppelgangster...
Does anyone have other ideas on making Val'anyr effective in Standard, or is this weapon going to only be viable in Wild now? Paragon of Light had a lot of potential, but I'm not sure how to spin the deck to keep Val'anyr at a super high level of production.
I feel like Val'anyr is sort of in a weird place atm. It's possible future expansions will feature cards making Val a mandatory inclusion, but as of right now -- it feels like a tech choice more than anything.
But to answer your question, I think the Handbuff archetype is done-zo (at least in standard mode).
Handbuff is definitely taking some big hits, but I think Val'anyr will still be ok. There's still Saronite Chain Gang. It's great on a Chillblade Champion, and I think it on gonna look purrty on a Paragon of Light.
I guess it also depends what you mean by "viable". I'm not sure many handbuff decks have been close to T1 outside of the fluid meta that comes immediately after a rotation and/or expansion. But I'm sure clever deck builders will find ways to make fun and/or effective decks using the weapon. It's pretty good value, albeit slow
I play Hearthstone pretty casually, but have been having a blast with Val'anyr since it came out...
However, with Gadgetzen rotating out...is Hand Paladin even viable? I mean...to even make a deck out of it at all anymore? We're losing Enforcer, Outfitter, Smuggler's Run, Doppelgangster...
Does anyone have other ideas on making Val'anyr effective in Standard, or is this weapon going to only be viable in Wild now? Paragon of Light had a lot of potential, but I'm not sure how to spin the deck to keep Val'anyr at a super high level of production.
Val'anyr is always viable in Dude Paladin. Nothing has changed.
I feel like Val'anyr is sort of in a weird place atm. It's possible future expansions will feature cards making Val a mandatory inclusion, but as of right now -- it feels like a tech choice more than anything.
But to answer your question, I think the Handbuff archetype is done-zo (at least in standard mode).
Handbuff is definitely taking some big hits, but I think Val'anyr will still be ok. There's still Saronite Chain Gang. It's great on a Chillblade Champion, and I think it on gonna look purrty on a Paragon of Light.
"Handbuff" is basically dead without it's core buffs, but I'm certainly gonna try a similar style deck at launch to make sure
I guess it also depends what you mean by "viable". I'm not sure many handbuff decks have been close to T1 outside of the fluid meta that comes immediately after a rotation and/or expansion. But I'm sure clever deck builders will find ways to make fun and/or effective decks using the weapon. It's pretty good value, albeit slow
Val'anyr is dead, my Weasel Liam Bakku deck will be the new paladin meta-deck - besides aggrodin.