A way to change the heropower for ALL classes. Enough with getting stuck with a single heropower, that design phylosophy sucks. I want to play control hunter, combo paladin, AGGRO PRIEST! Imagine how diverse the game would be if we could build any class around a different heropower for FREE, through hero cards/spells etc.
I mean, based on card counts with 54 neutral cards from the basic set alone, there's gotta be a few vanilla 2/3s and 3/2s and whatever.
Only 13 Basic Neutral cards.
But that still means we're going to get some stinkers, as the only Basic Neutral cards that see any play are Acidic Swamp Ooze and Novice Engineer.
Oh shoot, you're right. I imagine it'll probably be Novice Engineer, Acidic Swamp Ooze, Sen'jin Shieldmasta, Kobold Geomancer, Dalaran Mage (if only for Primordial Studies), Gimscale Oracle, Murloc Raider, dunno if they'll keep any charge minions from the neutral set. But like, not every card needs to be a 5/5. Some 3/5s with average stats are probably okay to have in the discover pool.
I'm more curious what the new legendary pool is gonna look like, because that's often pretty relevant.
There are wild cards with lots of potential that never saw competitive play in standard, either cuz the meta didnt favor them or there wasnt enough support to make them viable at the time. Would be cool to see some of them have a second chance.
Tar Creeper is number one for me. Arguably one of the most balanced cards ever created. I would also like to see some cards like Devolve and Mass Hysteria return. Also, since there is some support in recent sets, I think Fire Plume's Heart would also be an acceptable choice.
Honestly one of the coolest neutral legendaries in the game. It validates weapon hate against non-weapon classes, it makes expensive spells more viable.
Just a really cool top-end for Hunter decks of a lot of different types. But definitely not a broken card. I think even at 8 mana, this card is still pretty fair.
I feel like Res priest is a pretty reasonable deck. And as long as Khartut Defender and Convincing Infiltrator aren't in this game, this is a pretty reasonable late-game tempo play.
I dunno if this is the best form for it, but I think having a 10 cost spell for ramp druid that draws cards makes a lot of sense. Would probably prefer an original card with a choose one style effect, but
Like Spirit Lash. I also think they should really keep Penance from Uldum in the core set. Both cards are just nice early anti-aggro tools in the class.
Both of these cards sort of validate the overload mechanic pretty well. Dunno if Thunderhead should be the exact form of that, but something like it would be cool.
Between Shadow Word: Ruin, Psychic Scream, Plague of Death, Lightbomb, and so forth, I think Mass Hysteria is probably the most interesting of the lot here.
Good paladin buff. Hand of Protection & Blessing of Might are too low value as cards, but combined they work pretty well. Could maybe be a 2 mana card.
One of my favourite shaman legendaries, also really brings elementals to the forefront of shaman identity and fits a nice number of versatile requirements shaman has.
I love magnetic, I think it's a really cool mechanic. I woudln't bring back every single magnetic card from boomsday, but a few basic ones to fill out a mech roster would be kinda neat.
Similarly I think a basic elemental package works nicely, and fire fly and glacial shard are both pretty balanced cards in their own right. (Could maybe nerf both of them a tiny bit)
These are pretty good discover effects for neutral cards. Gives most of the tribes a basic tutor that fits with each tribe's identity. Stonehill Defender is just a decent card in general.
Seem like pretty fair staple cards from priest and rogue to me. Radiant Elemental is much fairer in priest than it is in mage, and could maybe rework it a bit to make it make more distinct from mage apprentice.
Good, solid priest minions. I think Talonpriest is a better flavour & statline than Kul Tiran Chaplin. I doubt they're keeping the 0 mana silence, so I think Songstealer makes a lot of sense in priest.
We already know Lich King is pretty much confirmed as devs have been heavily teasing him, plus he's a fan favorite.
My hope is that Patches returns since he was a stable in Pirate decks. I care about the Pirate tribe and want more done with it, as well as pirate synergy decks to return.
Took some time to think of a handful of cards, probably will be more but I don't wanna sit here all day.
The Curator: Standard N'zoth needs more support, especially for other classes that don't have alot of support for it to begin with.
Dr. Boom: The Mad Genius himself in his first form, featured across multiple sets he is an iconic HS character, worthy for a spot in the core set. This DR. Boom lost alot of it's luster though, but he is balanced enough for standard and could find a home in some midrange decks, mostly for hunter as a late game finisher.
Zilliax: Honestly, this is a biased opinion and an obvious pick due to popularity, but you can't say you don't want Zilly in the core set. However, I think he actually has one of the least chances to be in the core set. For starters while he does feature alot of historically good card mechanics in one card, I think he represents too much of the Boomsday and GvG sets, and while the core set should feature more mechs and some iconic ones, I think Zilliax is not a very iconic card in terms of WoW or even HS lore, and for many decks to be able to reach for this card is a little too much. What this means is Zilliax would be way more stronger in standard than Wild, and that's saying alot.
Antique Healbot: Now here's a mech that I think has a good shot at being in the core set. This gives classes or decks that lack healing something to reach for that's not Earthen Ring Farseer and not as strong as Zilliax. Perfectly balanced for standard.
Archivist Elysiana: This card not only features the discover mechanic, but in a more controlled way that's not too toxic like most Discover effects. She tends to give you mediocre cards anyways. It's likely she'll be reverted back to 8 mana as well. If she ever does become a problem then just change her back to 9 mana. It's an option for some Control decks if they ever need her that's balanced enough.
Azure Drake: It's probably not as versatile as it once was, but still something for dragon decks to reach for. After the stndard rotation there won't be that much Dragons for classes so this helps. Same goes for Twilight Guardian, Netherspite Historian, etc etc...
Stonehill Defender: Since Discover got nerfed this card hasn't seen like any play in Wild, especially with a wider pool of taunts there. But for standard he'll probably be viable to see play in some classes like Warlock or Paladin, and def not as strong as it used to be, no longer going to get multiple Sunkeeper Tarim and Voidlord. A solid early game taunt for control vs aggro.
Sludge Belcher: Another decent taunt minion. Currently there seems to be very little decent mid-late game taunts in the standard neutral set, and this card will not only be just that but comes with deathrattle synergies.
Old Murk-Eye: Might be a little dangerous to include this card in the standard set but Tip The Scales is gonna rotate out so I think Murloc decks are gonna fizzle out, this at least throws a bone to them. Just gotta be careful not to print cards to make this Murloc busted.
Leeroy Jenkins: Now I know what you're thinking, but hear me out. Currently there aren't many decks that can abuse Leeroy to it's fullest. Plus I think team 5 has learned their lesson when it comes to Charge minions. Like I said with Murk-Eye just gotta be careful not to break this card. Also, it's such an iconic card.
Mulch: Druid really sucks at removing big minions, this gives them a balanced hard removal option, a bone thrown to them if you will. Doubt it'll be used that much but Ramp decks could use it.
Mass Hysteria or Lightbomb: A mass removal option for Priest that's not the niche Shadow Word: Ruin and not as strong as something like Psychic Scream. Priest needs to cement it's role as a the definitive Control class and they can't just keep on printing different mass removal cards for Priest each set, eventually they are gonna run out of ideas and it just gets repetitive. It also opens up more design space for Priest too.
Honorable mentions: Lots of Shaman cards too much to list. I have high hopes that Team 5 is gonna sort out Shaman's class identity anyways.
Enter the Colosseum so that Paladin can finally have some removal again.
What is your obsession with that card that you post this again? You already posted it to the news article as well and it's simply wrong.
Paladin had and has different forms of removal. Enter the Colosseum wasn't even played much as EQ+Consecration or Pyro+EQ was simply superior.
No, your argument is wrong. It’s solid removal that doesn’t require a combo card to work. It’s a great card to draw once you are behind. And equality or pyromancer is a terrible topdeck as they don’t do anything by themselves. Once Paladin loses control of the board, it’s most likely game over in most cases.
And so what if I mentioned this card twice? Who cares? I like the card. There’s a lot more ways to cheat out powerful minions now and create full boards that a card like this is necessary now.
Leeroy Jenkins: Now I know what you're thinking, but hear me out. Currently there aren't many decks that can abuse Leeroy to it's fullest. Plus I think team 5 has learned their lesson when it comes to Charge minions. Like I said with Murk-Eye just gotta be careful not to break this card. Also, it's such an iconic card.
Leeroy will never come back as long as Shadowstep is in standard, that much you can be certain. IF they decide to take SS away from rogue then maybe, but SS is an extremely iconic rogue card, would hurt the rogue identity too much so its not worth it imo.
I've got a massive wishlist! There's so many cards that I miss dearly. A lot of these aren't even necessarily great for the meta, but the nostalgia is strong and as of the moment I would love to play with them again. It's a shame I find Wild generally unenjoyable (and in a lot of cases these cards don't even see play in the game mode anymore as far as I can tell).
Stonehill Defender just always felt great. He's a mediocre body that generates a fair one, but the flexibility made him often skill-testing and very satisfying to use. The voiceline is iconic, too, I love this guy.
Primordial Drake, sort of related to Stonehill Defender, was just a fantastic control tool. I have many fond memories of barely surviving to turn 7 against aggro and dropping the Drake with a coin, wiping their board, and flipping the whole game around. It's just satisfying, and I never felt frustrated playing against it, even as more aggressive decks.
Shaky Zipgunner and Dispatch Kodo never saw serious play, but I really enjoyed playing my meme handbuff Hunter to Rank 5 (no way that deck got to legend before the ladder revamp) and doing with stuff to make the Kodo hit for massive damage.
Maybe I just didn't play enough during his reign of terror, but Deathstalker Rexxar was such a cool card that I would love for it to be in the meta for another year.
Ice Block would almost certainly get really old a week in, but the nostalgia goggles are strong on this card and I miss it because I've not seen one outside of Battlegrounds for ages.
Kazakus. I don't want highlander support to be in the core set, because I think it's a mechanic that's at its best when it rotates in and gets less fun the longer it's in (so I want it as expansion cards), but if it is I hope it's Kazakus. Maybe I love the original Reno more, but Kazakus was one of the smartest, funnest implementations of the mechanic ever. Just such a classic good-feeling card.
Frost Lich Jaina is a card people got really sick of by the time it left the meta, but I'm the sort of player who loves the insanely long games it leads to, plus it's one of the most skill-testing cards ever in the game. Whether I was playing as this card or against this card I never felt bad against it. That's just on a personal level though.
Righteous Protector I mainly play Paladin, so I'm going to miss a lot of Paladin card, but this is one I always thought felt perfect. Strong enough to be a powerful tool for the class, a great control card, perfect flavor, and never felt too bad to play against. It is definitely a little too strong to be a permanent fixture, but I just miss this lil' guy. Looking through the collection if I mention every Paladin card I miss I'll be here all day, so I'll just list them (most of them are here because I'm a Midrange Paladin player who liked having strong tools in the class):
Even as a non-Rogue player I have fondness for Vilespine Slayer for whatever reason, and Undercity Huckster feels to me like such a defining Rogue card I'm still regularly surprised to remember that it wasn't in Vanilla, it came out all the way in WotOG. To this day, every time I make some dumb Rogue deck (since I dislike playing the class regularly) I try to put the Huckster in there.
I do play a decent amount of Shaman, but Menacing Nimbus has a similar feeling where it feels so core to the class' identity that I forget it's not evergreen. Also, a similar thing with Hot Spring Guardian and Jinyu Waterspeaker, they're so elegant and they feel so natural for Shaman to have. Bog Slosher wasn't used that much, but it's enough fun I want it back in. Walking Fountain is more of a "I miss the swing turns I used to have with this +attack buffs vs aggro", but I do miss it.
People have already brought up Defile as a perfect Core Set card for Warlock, but man I also miss Darkbomb. It's so vanilla but was shockingly fun to use despite of it. I love Zoo, so basically any small minion that went in that deck and wasn't ridiculously broken I'd like to see (special props to my boys Possessed Villager and Dark Peddler though), but I also big warlock, so Mal'Ganis and Voidlord are also my boys. Rin, the First Disciple was fantastic and felt more like an actual quest than any quest card ever did. I'm also hoping for a reworked Lord Jaraxxus in the core set, that makes him playable again. He was such a core part of Warlock's identity and remains distinct from heroes and super cool.
Eternium Rover felt so amazing to play against Aggro it led me to climb to Legend with Mecha'thun Warrior when that deck wasn't even good, and I'd love it as an evergreen card. Weirdly despite Warrior being my third most played class after Paladin and Warlock it's the only card I miss, mostly because the slow Warrior deck I care about are defined by cards that are in the current core set plus whatever AoE is around, and those AoEs don't tend to feel all that different from one expansion to the next. I guess Sleep with the Fishes was unique, but I didn't dig it much.
Zombie Chow is no longer good enough, but man do I miss the guy. Possibly the most iconic control card in the Naxx and GvG era, which is when I played the game the most. The counterpart was Haunted Creeper, which despite how strong of an aggro card it was I never felt frustrated at playing against in an era where I never played aggro.
All of the original League of Explorers legendaries are among my favorites, but Brann Bronzebeard is by far the one I wish came back the most. Such a fun and versatile card, did good in everything from aggro to control to combo, and never felt overpowered. Just a stellar card design in terms of balance.
Spiritsinger Umbra was a really fun combo enabler in a lot of decks, and let slower decks do some really degenerate things. I had fun with this card.
Dragonmaw Scorcher just feels right. It just feels like a card that should be around forever, it's not too strong, but it's a perfect tech choice.
Sludge Belcher as you've probably gathered if you read this post, I'm a guy who likes Midrange and Control, and whose fondest memories are of playing a lot of Hearthstone during GvG and Naxx. I don't think I need to explain more.
Dr. Boom. See above. Also, Hearthstone's most iconic card ever? You can't not love the guy, even if he was broken at the time.
Emperor Thaurissan does do worrying stuff to design space, but it offers so much creativity to players that I think it's worth it.
Ragnaros the Firelord felt fantastic to play. I loved seeing him back in Doom in the Tomb, and I think the event proved that Standard is ready for him.
Mountain Giant and Molten Giant. I think it was correct to rotate these guys, but I miss Handlock enormously, and I don't think it'd break Standard. I'd love having them in there for a year at some point.
Most of all, however, and my favourite Hearthstone card ever, which I wish was put in Core when it rotated out and which I wish was always available in Standard. Tar Creeper. I think this card is single-handedly responsible for control decks being viable for the entire time it was in Standard, and it never felt oppresive or broken. It's a brilliant design that single-handedly makes the meta way more diverse and entertaining. They struck absolute gold here, and there's no reason why it shouldn't alway be around. Tar Creeper is the GOAT.
Hey that was a novel, but I had fun venting. Been having a major Hearthstone nostalgia trip for a few days.
I'd love defile back. The most rewarding and flexible board clear ever. Trading and calculating things correctly for a full board wipe is brilliant and removing a hadrobix druid of not only it's board but all of the subsequent taunts that were also summoned and then seeing them concede remains the most satisfactory moment I've had in hearthstone.
Only 13 Basic Neutral cards.
But that still means we're going to get some stinkers, as the only Basic Neutral cards that see any play are Acidic Swamp Ooze and Novice Engineer.
A way to change the heropower for ALL classes. Enough with getting stuck with a single heropower, that design phylosophy sucks. I want to play control hunter, combo paladin, AGGRO PRIEST! Imagine how diverse the game would be if we could build any class around a different heropower for FREE, through hero cards/spells etc.
Oh shoot, you're right. I imagine it'll probably be Novice Engineer, Acidic Swamp Ooze, Sen'jin Shieldmasta, Kobold Geomancer, Dalaran Mage (if only for Primordial Studies), Gimscale Oracle, Murloc Raider, dunno if they'll keep any charge minions from the neutral set. But like, not every card needs to be a 5/5. Some 3/5s with average stats are probably okay to have in the discover pool.
I'm more curious what the new legendary pool is gonna look like, because that's often pretty relevant.
Tess Greymane 🥺
There are wild cards with lots of potential that never saw competitive play in standard, either cuz the meta didnt favor them or there wasnt enough support to make them viable at the time. Would be cool to see some of them have a second chance.
My picks would be Hobgoblin, Eydis Darkbane, Dragon Soul and Immortal Prelate.
Tar Creeper is number one for me. Arguably one of the most balanced cards ever created. I would also like to see some cards like Devolve and Mass Hysteria return. Also, since there is some support in recent sets, I think Fire Plume's Heart would also be an acceptable choice.
I’d like to see Brann Bronzebeard, Reno Jackson, Tar Creeper, Zilliax, Antique Healbot, N’zoth, the Corruptor
I posted this elsewhere, but I came up with a more comprehensive list.
Medivh, the Guardian
Honestly one of the coolest neutral legendaries in the game. It validates weapon hate against non-weapon classes, it makes expensive spells more viable.
Zola the Gorgon
Another super solid legendary. Sees play in a lot of decks, isn't too broken, adds a little cost variety to legendary cards.
Babbling Book
I'd probably change "random spell" to something with a certain cost. Either a 2 cost spell, or maybe even a discover effect for a 1-3 cost spell.
Call of the Wild
Just a really cool top-end for Hunter decks of a lot of different types. But definitely not a broken card. I think even at 8 mana, this card is still pretty fair.
Mass Resurrection
I feel like Res priest is a pretty reasonable deck. And as long as Khartut Defender and Convincing Infiltrator aren't in this game, this is a pretty reasonable late-game tempo play.
Ultimate Infestation
I dunno if this is the best form for it, but I think having a 10 cost spell for ramp druid that draws cards makes a lot of sense. Would probably prefer an original card with a choose one style effect, but
Righteous Protector
Solid paladin one drop.
Obsidian Statue
Solid top-end for priest. Has good synergy with a lot of priest cards, as long as Shadow Essence and Barnes aren't in the core set.
Spirit Lash
Like Spirit Lash. I also think they should really keep Penance from Uldum in the core set. Both cards are just nice early anti-aggro tools in the class.
Thunderhead
Zap!
Both of these cards sort of validate the overload mechanic pretty well. Dunno if Thunderhead should be the exact form of that, but something like it would be cool.
Blood Razor
Good staple card in Warrior. Gives a lot of whirlwind effects. Doesn't feel too strong to me.
Tar Creeper
Sort of a weird inclusion with Overconfident Orc in the format, but I think Tar Creeper is just such an incredibly balanced card.
Arcane Artificer
One of my favourite cards from the K&C set. Gives Mage a bit of survivability while encouraging them to actually play things and combo cards with it.
Mass Hysteria
Between Shadow Word: Ruin, Psychic Scream, Plague of Death, Lightbomb, and so forth, I think Mass Hysteria is probably the most interesting of the lot here.
Sonya Shadowdancer
Probably my favourite Rogue legendary ever I think. Requires some thought/skill to play, while also generating resources in a clever way.
Twilight Guardian
Good basic dragon card, I think it makes more sense than Twilight Drake.
Chillmaw
Another kinda cool anti-aggro tech card. Fits into dragon decks nicely. Could maybe use a small stat adjustment.
Seal of Champions
Good paladin buff. Hand of Protection & Blessing of Might are too low value as cards, but combined they work pretty well. Could maybe be a 2 mana card.
Healing Rain
Shaman needs healing. This one is probably my favourite. Most mana efficient, requires some thought.
Earthquake
Of Shaman's AoE options I think this one is the best. Also Earthquake is a super iconic Shaman spell.
Kalimos, Primal Lord
One of my favourite shaman legendaries, also really brings elementals to the forefront of shaman identity and fits a nice number of versatile requirements shaman has.
Walking Fountain
It gives shaman some healing, some board control, it's an elemental. I think it's a neat, very balanced card.
Upgradeable Framebot
Wargear
Bronze Gatekeeper
SN1P-SN4P
Mecharoo
I love magnetic, I think it's a really cool mechanic. I woudln't bring back every single magnetic card from boomsday, but a few basic ones to fill out a mech roster would be kinda neat.
Fire Fly
Glacial Shard
Similarly I think a basic elemental package works nicely, and fire fly and glacial shard are both pretty balanced cards in their own right. (Could maybe nerf both of them a tiny bit)
Stonehill Defender
Servant of Kalimos
Netherspite Historian
Primalfin Lookout
These are pretty good discover effects for neutral cards. Gives most of the tribes a basic tutor that fits with each tribe's identity. Stonehill Defender is just a decent card in general.
Radiant Elemental
Shadow Visions
Vilespine Slayer
Seem like pretty fair staple cards from priest and rogue to me. Radiant Elemental is much fairer in priest than it is in mage, and could maybe rework it a bit to make it make more distinct from mage apprentice.
Dirty Rat
Good combo disruption. Also the metzen art is just really cool.
Kabal Talonpriest
Kabal Songstealer
Good, solid priest minions. I think Talonpriest is a better flavour & statline than Kul Tiran Chaplin. I doubt they're keeping the 0 mana silence, so I think Songstealer makes a lot of sense in priest.
Jinyu Waterspeaker
I'm calling for a lot of Shaman healing I guess, but Jinyu Waterspeaker was always a neat card.
Cabalist's Tome
Good sort of mid-game mage card. Would actually work very nicely with a lot of the corrupt cards too.
Shadow Strike
This always struck me as a very fair removal card for Rogue.
Kel'Thuzad
It just... works better than Whitemane. Whitemane would work better if she was a little cheaper, but I tend to really love the OG Kel'thuzad anyway.
We already know Lich King is pretty much confirmed as devs have been heavily teasing him, plus he's a fan favorite.
My hope is that Patches returns since he was a stable in Pirate decks. I care about the Pirate tribe and want more done with it, as well as pirate synergy decks to return.
Took some time to think of a handful of cards, probably will be more but I don't wanna sit here all day.
The Curator: Standard N'zoth needs more support, especially for other classes that don't have alot of support for it to begin with.
Dr. Boom: The Mad Genius himself in his first form, featured across multiple sets he is an iconic HS character, worthy for a spot in the core set. This DR. Boom lost alot of it's luster though, but he is balanced enough for standard and could find a home in some midrange decks, mostly for hunter as a late game finisher.
Zilliax: Honestly, this is a biased opinion and an obvious pick due to popularity, but you can't say you don't want Zilly in the core set. However, I think he actually has one of the least chances to be in the core set. For starters while he does feature alot of historically good card mechanics in one card, I think he represents too much of the Boomsday and GvG sets, and while the core set should feature more mechs and some iconic ones, I think Zilliax is not a very iconic card in terms of WoW or even HS lore, and for many decks to be able to reach for this card is a little too much. What this means is Zilliax would be way more stronger in standard than Wild, and that's saying alot.
Antique Healbot: Now here's a mech that I think has a good shot at being in the core set. This gives classes or decks that lack healing something to reach for that's not Earthen Ring Farseer and not as strong as Zilliax. Perfectly balanced for standard.
Archivist Elysiana: This card not only features the discover mechanic, but in a more controlled way that's not too toxic like most Discover effects. She tends to give you mediocre cards anyways. It's likely she'll be reverted back to 8 mana as well. If she ever does become a problem then just change her back to 9 mana. It's an option for some Control decks if they ever need her that's balanced enough.
Azure Drake: It's probably not as versatile as it once was, but still something for dragon decks to reach for. After the stndard rotation there won't be that much Dragons for classes so this helps. Same goes for Twilight Guardian, Netherspite Historian, etc etc...
Stonehill Defender: Since Discover got nerfed this card hasn't seen like any play in Wild, especially with a wider pool of taunts there. But for standard he'll probably be viable to see play in some classes like Warlock or Paladin, and def not as strong as it used to be, no longer going to get multiple Sunkeeper Tarim and Voidlord. A solid early game taunt for control vs aggro.
Sludge Belcher: Another decent taunt minion. Currently there seems to be very little decent mid-late game taunts in the standard neutral set, and this card will not only be just that but comes with deathrattle synergies.
Old Murk-Eye: Might be a little dangerous to include this card in the standard set but Tip The Scales is gonna rotate out so I think Murloc decks are gonna fizzle out, this at least throws a bone to them. Just gotta be careful not to print cards to make this Murloc busted.
Leeroy Jenkins: Now I know what you're thinking, but hear me out. Currently there aren't many decks that can abuse Leeroy to it's fullest. Plus I think team 5 has learned their lesson when it comes to Charge minions. Like I said with Murk-Eye just gotta be careful not to break this card. Also, it's such an iconic card.
Mulch: Druid really sucks at removing big minions, this gives them a balanced hard removal option, a bone thrown to them if you will. Doubt it'll be used that much but Ramp decks could use it.
Mass Hysteria or Lightbomb: A mass removal option for Priest that's not the niche Shadow Word: Ruin and not as strong as something like Psychic Scream. Priest needs to cement it's role as a the definitive Control class and they can't just keep on printing different mass removal cards for Priest each set, eventually they are gonna run out of ideas and it just gets repetitive. It also opens up more design space for Priest too.
Honorable mentions: Lots of Shaman cards too much to list. I have high hopes that Team 5 is gonna sort out Shaman's class identity anyways.
No, your argument is wrong. It’s solid removal that doesn’t require a combo card to work. It’s a great card to draw once you are behind. And equality or pyromancer is a terrible topdeck as they don’t do anything by themselves. Once Paladin loses control of the board, it’s most likely game over in most cases.
And so what if I mentioned this card twice? Who cares? I like the card. There’s a lot more ways to cheat out powerful minions now and create full boards that a card like this is necessary now.
Leeroy will never come back as long as Shadowstep is in standard, that much you can be certain. IF they decide to take SS away from rogue then maybe, but SS is an extremely iconic rogue card, would hurt the rogue identity too much so its not worth it imo.
Keep in mind guys, there's only one HoF card coming back and it's Shadowform.
So no Leeroy, Azure Drake, Sylvanas, Ragnaros, or whatever else has gone into the HoF.
For as much as that matters for wish lists.
I would love to see Dr. Boom, Mad Genius come back.
I've got a massive wishlist! There's so many cards that I miss dearly. A lot of these aren't even necessarily great for the meta, but the nostalgia is strong and as of the moment I would love to play with them again. It's a shame I find Wild generally unenjoyable (and in a lot of cases these cards don't even see play in the game mode anymore as far as I can tell).
Stonehill Defender just always felt great. He's a mediocre body that generates a fair one, but the flexibility made him often skill-testing and very satisfying to use. The voiceline is iconic, too, I love this guy.
Primordial Drake, sort of related to Stonehill Defender, was just a fantastic control tool. I have many fond memories of barely surviving to turn 7 against aggro and dropping the Drake with a coin, wiping their board, and flipping the whole game around. It's just satisfying, and I never felt frustrated playing against it, even as more aggressive decks.
Shaky Zipgunner and Dispatch Kodo never saw serious play, but I really enjoyed playing my meme handbuff Hunter to Rank 5 (no way that deck got to legend before the ladder revamp) and doing with stuff to make the Kodo hit for massive damage.
Maybe I just didn't play enough during his reign of terror, but Deathstalker Rexxar was such a cool card that I would love for it to be in the meta for another year.
Ice Block would almost certainly get really old a week in, but the nostalgia goggles are strong on this card and I miss it because I've not seen one outside of Battlegrounds for ages.
Kazakus. I don't want highlander support to be in the core set, because I think it's a mechanic that's at its best when it rotates in and gets less fun the longer it's in (so I want it as expansion cards), but if it is I hope it's Kazakus. Maybe I love the original Reno more, but Kazakus was one of the smartest, funnest implementations of the mechanic ever. Just such a classic good-feeling card.
Frost Lich Jaina is a card people got really sick of by the time it left the meta, but I'm the sort of player who loves the insanely long games it leads to, plus it's one of the most skill-testing cards ever in the game. Whether I was playing as this card or against this card I never felt bad against it. That's just on a personal level though.
Righteous Protector I mainly play Paladin, so I'm going to miss a lot of Paladin card, but this is one I always thought felt perfect. Strong enough to be a powerful tool for the class, a great control card, perfect flavor, and never felt too bad to play against. It is definitely a little too strong to be a permanent fixture, but I just miss this lil' guy. Looking through the collection if I mention every Paladin card I miss I'll be here all day, so I'll just list them (most of them are here because I'm a Midrange Paladin player who liked having strong tools in the class):
Flash of Light, Hydrologist, Crystalsmith Kangor, Shielded Minibot (I miss this guy sooo much!), Muster for Battle+Quartermaster (the defining combo of the first deck I got to Legend with), Keeper of Uldaman, Spikeridged Steed (my favorite buff card ever?), Sunkeeper Tarim, Val'anyr and Ragnaros, Lightlord
Even as a non-Rogue player I have fondness for Vilespine Slayer for whatever reason, and Undercity Huckster feels to me like such a defining Rogue card I'm still regularly surprised to remember that it wasn't in Vanilla, it came out all the way in WotOG. To this day, every time I make some dumb Rogue deck (since I dislike playing the class regularly) I try to put the Huckster in there.
I do play a decent amount of Shaman, but Menacing Nimbus has a similar feeling where it feels so core to the class' identity that I forget it's not evergreen. Also, a similar thing with Hot Spring Guardian and Jinyu Waterspeaker, they're so elegant and they feel so natural for Shaman to have. Bog Slosher wasn't used that much, but it's enough fun I want it back in. Walking Fountain is more of a "I miss the swing turns I used to have with this +attack buffs vs aggro", but I do miss it.
People have already brought up Defile as a perfect Core Set card for Warlock, but man I also miss Darkbomb. It's so vanilla but was shockingly fun to use despite of it. I love Zoo, so basically any small minion that went in that deck and wasn't ridiculously broken I'd like to see (special props to my boys Possessed Villager and Dark Peddler though), but I also big warlock, so Mal'Ganis and Voidlord are also my boys. Rin, the First Disciple was fantastic and felt more like an actual quest than any quest card ever did. I'm also hoping for a reworked Lord Jaraxxus in the core set, that makes him playable again. He was such a core part of Warlock's identity and remains distinct from heroes and super cool.
Eternium Rover felt so amazing to play against Aggro it led me to climb to Legend with Mecha'thun Warrior when that deck wasn't even good, and I'd love it as an evergreen card. Weirdly despite Warrior being my third most played class after Paladin and Warlock it's the only card I miss, mostly because the slow Warrior deck I care about are defined by cards that are in the current core set plus whatever AoE is around, and those AoEs don't tend to feel all that different from one expansion to the next. I guess Sleep with the Fishes was unique, but I didn't dig it much.
Zombie Chow is no longer good enough, but man do I miss the guy. Possibly the most iconic control card in the Naxx and GvG era, which is when I played the game the most. The counterpart was Haunted Creeper, which despite how strong of an aggro card it was I never felt frustrated at playing against in an era where I never played aggro.
All of the original League of Explorers legendaries are among my favorites, but Brann Bronzebeard is by far the one I wish came back the most. Such a fun and versatile card, did good in everything from aggro to control to combo, and never felt overpowered. Just a stellar card design in terms of balance.
Spiritsinger Umbra was a really fun combo enabler in a lot of decks, and let slower decks do some really degenerate things. I had fun with this card.
Dragonmaw Scorcher just feels right. It just feels like a card that should be around forever, it's not too strong, but it's a perfect tech choice.
Sludge Belcher as you've probably gathered if you read this post, I'm a guy who likes Midrange and Control, and whose fondest memories are of playing a lot of Hearthstone during GvG and Naxx. I don't think I need to explain more.
Dr. Boom. See above. Also, Hearthstone's most iconic card ever? You can't not love the guy, even if he was broken at the time.
Emperor Thaurissan does do worrying stuff to design space, but it offers so much creativity to players that I think it's worth it.
Ragnaros the Firelord felt fantastic to play. I loved seeing him back in Doom in the Tomb, and I think the event proved that Standard is ready for him.
Mountain Giant and Molten Giant. I think it was correct to rotate these guys, but I miss Handlock enormously, and I don't think it'd break Standard. I'd love having them in there for a year at some point.
Most of all, however, and my favourite Hearthstone card ever, which I wish was put in Core when it rotated out and which I wish was always available in Standard. Tar Creeper. I think this card is single-handedly responsible for control decks being viable for the entire time it was in Standard, and it never felt oppresive or broken. It's a brilliant design that single-handedly makes the meta way more diverse and entertaining. They struck absolute gold here, and there's no reason why it shouldn't alway be around. Tar Creeper is the GOAT.
Hey that was a novel, but I had fun venting. Been having a major Hearthstone nostalgia trip for a few days.
I'd love defile back. The most rewarding and flexible board clear ever. Trading and calculating things correctly for a full board wipe is brilliant and removing a hadrobix druid of not only it's board but all of the subsequent taunts that were also summoned and then seeing them concede remains the most satisfactory moment I've had in hearthstone.
Yes.
So you could play Libram of Hope for 4 mana and Enter the Coliseum on the same turn
The Curator would be great with Standard N'Zoth
I'd like to see in the core set Wild cards with unique effects that didn't see play, like Dinomancy.
What is the point of bringing back known top tier cards ?