Priest- This is a great week to play priest. Their control and steal spells get double value. Mind games is pretty solid as opponents run few, but very valuable creatures. It excels at board wipe, healing, and control. They have a great curve for spells. Lots of value this week with this class.
Druid-Similar to priests in terms of value, not quite as good. They have lots of cards that let them fill the board, wipe the board pretty well, creature buff, and come back from tight spots. Innervate lets you put out a bigger spell quickly along with an ahead of the curve creature. Lots of people do good by a druid this week.
Good:
Rogue: Card draw and creature kill spells are nice. You can always keep a nice sized hand going to have lots of answers. However many rogue spells are cheap and they can pidder out. However some great plays like Prep+Sprint will give you early value.
Mage: People think spells, they think mage. Expect a lot of them. They are good, but not great. They lack the toughness to keep a solid board up. Vulnerable creatures and running out of cards a lot. They can really tempo ahead and win a lot of games, but if the opponent stabilizes (especially a healing class) then they will run out of solutions.
Meh:
Warlock: Solid spells and a few great combos. Slap a few demons in there and you can do pretty well. You can take advantage of the wide range in mana spells for warlock to hit a pretty nice curve while controlling the board. Not good, but alright.
Warrior: They do have a curve, but not a great one. Weapons don't count as spells so you won't get much value out of them. You can get a lot of cheap value out of crush, but it's really nothing to get giddy about. They don't have the volume of spells to take advantage of this week's mechanic.
Hunters: Not doing so hot this week (for a change of pace). They lack the spells to really pack a punch. Their secrets are ok, but not great at only 2 mana a pop. Lack of card draw will be a problem. Traditional rush type decks are based on weak creatures that lose lots of value this week.
Bad:
Paladin: 1 mana secrets hold little value, weapons don't do much, and they are just too weak to keep up with other classes. There are a few dream starting hands and muster can make for a good opening, but it's really just going to be a bad week for paladins.
Shaman: Battling valiantly for the bottom of the barrel, shaman's overload mechanic proves to be just too big of a burden. They have a couple very nice spells in Feral Spirits and Lightning Storm, but they follow up is too slow. Overload kills your tempo and shamans max out at 5 mana spells. The weapons will be even more of a tempo drag as most have overload on top of poor value this week. Lack of draw, lack of healing, lack of anything needed to do good this week. Much like the rest of HS right now, lots of struggles for shamans.
I'm liking how some of the huge cost spells play out too:
Druid get exclusive access to some of the best minions with 9-cost through Tree of Life, including Ysera but unfortunately also Majordomo Executus.
I think Paladins probably get the best deal with the 8-cost bracket minions using Lay on Hands. All the cards in this bracket are legendary except Force-Tank MAX. Unfortunately for warlocks, the minions get summoned before the spell effect so Twisting Nether isn't going to be that great unless you're praying for a deathrattle like Tirion Fordring or Sneed's Old Shredder.
The Best:
Priest- This is a great week to play priest. Their control and steal spells get double value. Mind games is pretty solid as opponents run few, but very valuable creatures. It excels at board wipe, healing, and control. They have a great curve for spells. Lots of value this week with this class.
Druid-Similar to priests in terms of value, not quite as good. They have lots of cards that let them fill the board, wipe the board pretty well, creature buff, and come back from tight spots. Innervate lets you put out a bigger spell quickly along with an ahead of the curve creature. Lots of people do good by a druid this week.
Good:
Rogue: Card draw and creature kill spells are nice. You can always keep a nice sized hand going to have lots of answers. However many rogue spells are cheap and they can pidder out. However some great plays like Prep+Sprint will give you early value.
Mage: People think spells, they think mage. Expect a lot of them. They are good, but not great. They lack the toughness to keep a solid board up. Vulnerable creatures and running out of cards a lot. They can really tempo ahead and win a lot of games, but if the opponent stabilizes (especially a healing class) then they will run out of solutions.
Meh:
Warlock: Solid spells and a few great combos. Slap a few demons in there and you can do pretty well. You can take advantage of the wide range in mana spells for warlock to hit a pretty nice curve while controlling the board. Not good, but alright.
Warrior: They do have a curve, but not a great one. Weapons don't count as spells so you won't get much value out of them. You can get a lot of cheap value out of crush, but it's really nothing to get giddy about. They don't have the volume of spells to take advantage of this week's mechanic.
Hunters: Not doing so hot this week (for a change of pace). They lack the spells to really pack a punch. Their secrets are ok, but not great at only 2 mana a pop. Lack of card draw will be a problem. Traditional rush type decks are based on weak creatures that lose lots of value this week.
Bad:
Paladin: 1 mana secrets hold little value, weapons don't do much, and they are just too weak to keep up with other classes. There are a few dream starting hands and muster can make for a good opening, but it's really just going to be a bad week for paladins.
Shaman: Battling valiantly for the bottom of the barrel, shaman's overload mechanic proves to be just too big of a burden. They have a couple very nice spells in Feral Spirits and Lightning Storm, but they follow up is too slow. Overload kills your tempo and shamans max out at 5 mana spells. The weapons will be even more of a tempo drag as most have overload on top of poor value this week. Lack of draw, lack of healing, lack of anything needed to do good this week. Much like the rest of HS right now, lots of struggles for shamans.
Seems like any spell that summons a minion is going to be great. Mirror Image, Feral Spirit, Animal Companion, Unleash the Hounds, Power of the Wild, Dark Wispers and I guess Resurrect. Are there others?
I'm liking how some of the huge cost spells play out too:
Druid get exclusive access to some of the best minions with 9-cost through Tree of Life, including Ysera but unfortunately also Majordomo Executus.
I think Paladins probably get the best deal with the 8-cost bracket minions using Lay on Hands. All the cards in this bracket are legendary except Force-Tank MAX. Unfortunately for warlocks, the minions get summoned before the spell effect so Twisting Nether isn't going to be that great unless you're praying for a deathrattle like Tirion Fordring or Sneed's Old Shredder.
Priests/Mages don't get much variety in the 10-mana bracket with Mind Control/Pyroblast. You get either Deathwing or Sea Giant...
Then you've got Rogues and Mages using Sprint/Flamestrike to summon the 7-mana cost Archmage Antonidas or Prophet Velen.
Should make for some interesting turns!
The curse of the unwanted sig space.