Shadow Word: Horror is a cheap conditional AoE and it's nice to have variety in that area (aka depending on your choices, as a one of could be good).
Steward of Darkshire; I'd even consider it good simply because his stats make it playble on turn 3. I wouldn't pick it over Aldor Peacekeeper or Muster for Battle but it has high chance to be a great pick simply because it synergises with the hero power and other mass-summoning cards.
Shadow Word: Horror... I hope you're not serious. It is a beyond bad card, because you will rarely see 2 or more 2 attack minions on their side. If there were any, they would've been bullied already by your minions + healing from hero power. As a comparison, Shadow Madness is a strictly better card because it kill a 3 attack minion to trade with another 3 health minion, giving value of 2 minions similar to Shadow Word: Horror. Furthermore, anti-synergy with low attack minions you want to draft like Northshire Cleric.
In arena, all the overpowered tokeny board swamp cards are available. This makes AOE all the more useful (and makes horror much more valueable especially against paladin). There are many situations where it will be better than Shadow Madness. It won't be a top tier card, but it's better than you probably think.
What are everyone's thoughts on the Ravaging Ghoul? It seems like it could be quite good. It definitely helps with divine shields and a couple of token spawners. It's a little situational, but generally you are at least getting an ironforge with a 3/3 body. In any kind of slower warrior, it seems like an auto pick, but maybe rate it slightly above average since it has anti synergy in agressive decks.
What are everyone's thoughts on the Ravaging Ghoul? It seems like it could be quite good. It definitely helps with divine shields and a couple of token spawners. It's a little situational, but generally you are at least getting an ironforge with a 3/3 body. In any kind of slower warrior, it seems like an auto pick, but maybe rate it slightly above average since it has anti synergy in agressive decks.
Just another great common card for Warriors. It's like a mini-Dread Infernal and since warriors lack effient AoE removal it can synergise well with their other cards. Depending on my choices, I'd draft it 6-7/10 times.
Shadow Word: Horror is a cheap conditional AoE and it's nice to have variety in that area (aka depending on your choices, as a one of could be good).
Steward of Darkshire; I'd even consider it good simply because his stats make it playble on turn 3. I wouldn't pick it over Aldor Peacekeeper or Muster for Battle but it has high chance to be a great pick simply because it synergises with the hero power and other mass-summoning cards.
Shadow Word: Horror... I hope you're not serious. It is a beyond bad card, because you will rarely see 2 or more 2 attack minions on their side. If there were any, they would've been bullied already by your minions + healing from hero power. As a comparison, Shadow Madness is a strictly better card because it kill a 3 attack minion to trade with another 3 health minion, giving value of 2 minions similar to Shadow Word: Horror. Furthermore, anti-synergy with low attack minions you want to draft like Northshire Cleric.
Steward of Darkshire have a 3/3 stat so I agree it's at least average, but its effect is so niche. Compare with Silver Hand Regent, would you rather have two 1/1ss or an argent squire? If you drafted Blessing of Kings or gg musters, the latter may be better, but as a stand-alone I would prefer the Regent. I'd rate it lower, slightly.
It all depends on your drafting choices. I would pick SW: Horror over Angry Chicken and Target Dummy.
How am I rating the Tentacle of N'Zoth too high at poor, it certainly is not a bad card. It's really difficult for most cards to be bad in arena, especially since we have so much variety with the classes (aka again depending on my choices, I'd draft Angry Chicken in Hunter)
I was really puzzled how good Vilefin Inquisitor is and i am still not sure. I agree with op that it is basically a vanilla 1/3, but i disagree that it can trade up. It can't kill a 2/3 or 3/2. However, it can handle almost all 1 drops. Since 2 drops are more common than 1 drops i would rather think that he is poor, at the most decent, but not good. He is worse than a Warbot and that guy is not rated very high as well.
You're absolutely right. I definitely made an error in the initial ranking here. Thanks for pointing that out!
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"To build or destroy...only you decide which joy." - Last Crack
Shadow Word: Horror is a cheap conditional AoE and it's nice to have variety in that area (aka depending on your choices, as a one of could be good).
Steward of Darkshire; I'd even consider it good simply because his stats make it playble on turn 3. I wouldn't pick it over Aldor Peacekeeper or Muster for Battle but it has high chance to be a great pick simply because it synergises with the hero power and other mass-summoning cards.
Shadow Word: Horror... I hope you're not serious. It is a beyond bad card, because you will rarely see 2 or more 2 attack minions on their side. If there were any, they would've been bullied already by your minions + healing from hero power. As a comparison, Shadow Madness is a strictly better card because it kill a 3 attack minion to trade with another 3 health minion, giving value of 2 minions similar to Shadow Word: Horror. Furthermore, anti-synergy with low attack minions you want to draft like Northshire Cleric.
Steward of Darkshire have a 3/3 stat so I agree it's at least average, but its effect is so niche. Compare with Silver Hand Regent, would you rather have two 1/1ss or an argent squire? If you drafted Blessing of Kings or gg musters, the latter may be better, but as a stand-alone I would prefer the Regent. I'd rate it lower, slightly.
It all depends on your drafting choices. I would pick SW: Horror over Angry Chicken and Target Dummy.
How am I rating the Tentacle of N'Zoth too high at poor, it certainly is not a bad card. It's really difficult for most cards to be bad in arena, especially since we have so much variety with the classes (aka again depending on my choices, I'd draft Angry Chicken in Hunter)
Haha, what I meant is that the tentacle is such a low-impact, non-immediate card that I would feel bad whenever my opponent plays this, because I know they got a bad draft, or misclicked. It's not bad tier, it's Ancestor's Call tier
Just to elaborate the many reasons I think it is bad...
1 health = pinged, while drafting more resilient minions will at least let you trade the minion away.
Incoherent drafting. This card shines in decks that stall before playing their valuable minions, but Arena is very tempo-driven unlike in constructed.
Not proactive, and lets your opponent choose the trade unless you can play with the Tentacle like a Jaina. This makes it even harder to drop the tentacle beyond turn 1, as you may already have other minions on your board.
1 damage AoE hardly kills, even against most aggressive Arena boards. As a stall card, it barely achieves its purpose.
1+4 means that the card is of low value. 2+3 means that this card is not effective to gain tempo. Trash.
It does trade with 3/2s, but that's niche. Unless I'm Mage, I probably will still pick Stoneskin Gargoyle or Angry Chicken over this, just to get the safe tempo option.
Shadow Word: Horror is a cheap conditional AoE and it's nice to have variety in that area (aka depending on your choices, as a one of could be good).
Steward of Darkshire; I'd even consider it good simply because his stats make it playble on turn 3. I wouldn't pick it over Aldor Peacekeeper or Muster for Battle but it has high chance to be a great pick simply because it synergises with the hero power and other mass-summoning cards.
Shadow Word: Horror... I hope you're not serious. It is a beyond bad card, because you will rarely see 2 or more 2 attack minions on their side. If there were any, they would've been bullied already by your minions + healing from hero power. As a comparison, Shadow Madness is a strictly better card because it kill a 3 attack minion to trade with another 3 health minion, giving value of 2 minions similar to Shadow Word: Horror. Furthermore, anti-synergy with low attack minions you want to draft like Northshire Cleric.
In arena, all the overpowered tokeny board swamp cards are available. This makes AOE all the more useful (and makes horror much more valueable especially against paladin). There are many situations where it will be better than Shadow Madness. It won't be a top tier card, but it's better than you probably think.
What are everyone's thoughts on the Ravaging Ghoul? It seems like it could be quite good. It definitely helps with divine shields and a couple of token spawners. It's a little situational, but generally you are at least getting an ironforge with a 3/3 body. In any kind of slower warrior, it seems like an auto pick, but maybe rate it slightly above average since it has anti synergy in agressive decks.
Maybe our arena experiences differ, but I do not often play against tokeny opponents in Arena, instead I deal with Shredders and Yetis far more often. I can understand your point regarding AoE being a necessity, but Priests generally draft more lower attack, higher health minions so the potential to hurt oneself is quite large. Not damaging the higher attack minions also meant that this AoE does not really help to slow down the lethal clock against midrangey decks.
And Ravaging Ghoul is very very good. It's an AoE, which gets a premium in Arena. Then, all the synergy with Battle Rage, Commanding Shout (because your minions won't die), and OMG Execute. The 3/3 body will make less impact to the board compared to the 6/6 of Dread Infernal, but it is still a very good card, especially for warriors. I think I will put it at about the level of Cruel Taskmaster, maybe higher.
I'd be absolutely fine with my opponent spending their second turn pinging my Tentacle of N'Zoth rather than playing a two drop. On the other hand, if they play a 3/2 the tentacle trades with it. It's a pretty awkward card for your opponent to deal with as a turn 1 play.
No way Cabalist's Tome is rated Tier 1. It is a little bit better than Nourish since it generates new cards and can lead to an extra Flamestrike, Blizzard, Fireball or even Pyroblast, but the average 3 mage spells are not much better (if at all) than 3 cards drawn from your deck. So the card should be somewhere between Tier 2 and 3 imo.
Haven't posted around here for a long time - good to see you're still doing these! - I'll try and go through every card when I get the time, but for now I feel that healing is being overrated a bit much. Cult Apocathery stood out to me in particular.
The assessment of the new cards (update 04/07/16) is missing.
I apologize for the lack of updates last week. I was in the middle of a move and now I'm dealing with a flooded basement, plumbers, and insurance adjusters. Needless to say, it's been a very hectic week. I will be making updates ASAP and I appreciate your patience.
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"To build or destroy...only you decide which joy." - Last Crack
My idea of the newer cards I expect to see play, and why, in order of expected tiers 1,2 and 3:
Tier 1:
Call of the Wild. (Dr Boom Tier?) A better North Sea Kraken (sole exception against big AoE, Flamestrike), playable 1 turn earlier, moreover allows 7 dmg burst at t10. With taunt if you're behind.
Master of Evolution . Comparable to Argent Protector, with a 4/5 body which is better than 2/2 in Arena. As AbusingKel mentioned above, works better with positive-effect Battlecry minions like Defender of Argus. And generally transforming a 3-drop into 4-drops is pretty awesome.
Ravaging Ghoul. A slightly worse Dread Infernal for its body, but this card being in warrior decks lets you synergize your damaged minions with other spells.
Tier 2:
Y'Shaarj, Rage Unbound. A worse Varian Wrynn due to inherent weakness to hard-removal, and cannot reliably pull taunts to compensate its slow nature. Better than Ysera, especially in near-lethal circumstances where thinning deck helps to draw reach. Close to Tier 1, but didn't make the cut.
Mire Keeper. Close to Silver Hand Knight, the mana crystal option isn't a likely pick as it isn't likely you would draft a very tall, value deck that can survive the harsh landslide-like tempo-driven nature of the Arena.
Twilight Summoner (?). Current placement considers Silence getting a possible nerf, and the pool of silence cards is getting reduced. Otherwise, the slight stat advantage can prove to make this card very good, even if there's a one turn delay in summoning the 5/5 to let your opponent summon a countering body (e.g. Pit Fighter)
Wisps of the Old Gods. While overpriced and does not offer the taunt effect of Dark Wispers, either effects generates decent value depending on board state.
Simply because Ravaging Ghoul is a Warrior card, I also think it's a tier 1 card. I dont think you're generous with Thistle Tea though. 4 should be perfect for it since it gives you midgame value; hence depending on your draft you might have crazy early tempo and while you dont want to overextend on board, you want to get some value out of your turn. Not to mention that in the rare section, it competes with 2 of the best arena class cards.
Thistle Tea is like sprint, but higher chance of missing follow up you need (like Sap) because you are only drawing 1 card. You cannot immediately play 5+ mana cost cards, and furthermore you are giving information about the other two cards - enemy can then decide whether to ignore your North Sea Krakens or to play around Backstabs. So putting it at the lower ends of Tier 4 is actually reasonable.
Soggoth the Slitherer – 3 – a big, untouchable taunt seems good but, for 9 mana, I think you'll often find yourself wishing he had just a little more on his attack. By that point in the game you're facing things like Boulderfist Ogre andNorth Sea Kraken and this guy won't have the power to remove them. He will, however, do a great job buying you the extra turn to find answers.
To me, Soggoth the Slitherer certainly cannot be in Tier 3 if it can reliably grind enemy minions to dust. 9 health meant that it will often take 2 or more hits to kill this taunt, 5 attack kills most minions that come to it, while sufficiently weakening larger minions to be killed off by trading or spells (Flamestrike says Hello) and having the weakness to hard removals of Ancient of War covered means that the card is very solid.
Twilight Summoner – 2 – based on the stats, you'll (hopefully!) get 6/6 for 4 mana. Ultimately, he's more likely to be a tempo loss that puts you behind, though. I'm not sure he should be this high and am curious to see him in action….. but I want somebody else to go first. lol
Ikr, there is no similar card to this that I can use to assess. Not a 6/6 stat as you've said, but a 5/5 with ping, maybe Fire Elemental? But the ping works differently, and this even works with Dark Iron Dwarf.
But most times in Arena every slight advantage in stat can prove to be game-winning, so Tier 2 is my prediction too.
I'd put Twilight Summoner in Tier 3 not 2 as people are suggesting. Sure it's value for the stats, but it's a massive tempo loss (it really is stupidly slow) and I think arena has become more tempo heavy over time.
If mage got this insane minion, im afraid to even think of the other classes lol :P They said they took the rarity into account when creating the cards ... we will see.
If mage got this insane minion, im afraid to even think of the other classes lol :P They said they took the rarity into account when creating the cards ... we will see.
What was the question to which they gave that answer? Cuz it sure doesn't look like it was a question regarding arena. O.o
It was in that long article/interview posted on the main page. There was one question about arena, which they pretty much dodged btw, but they at least stated, that they did test arena and they took rarity into consideration. Well we will see after entire set is released i guess :F
Deathwing, Dragonlord - 2 - based on 10 mana for 12/12 stats. Pretty unlikely you get the battlecry to trigger to any effect and most games are decided by turn 10 so the same applies here as it did to the old gods cards - lots of better Legendary minions that are more effective in arena. If you're lucky enough to get that constructed looking deck and have lots of dragons you're sure to make your opponent cry if you can drop this and get a dragon or two out of hand free.
Faceless Summoner - 1 - clear cut stud and fills a gap for mage's 6 drops AND it's a common. Jaina will be tough to pass on if you get her as a choice to start your run. Between this and Ethereal Conjurer you have 2 tremendously strong common cards that could populate your arena deck.
Isn't Deathwing, Dragonlord a Deathrattle card? It's Tier 3 or 4 for sure.
Faceless Summoner's randomly summoned 3 drop do tend to have battlecries and under-vanilla stats, so this card should not be too powerful... although I do admit that with the average stat of about 2.5/3 this card outperforms Silver Hand Knight by a long shot. And the 5/5 body is soo much better than the 4/4.
Edit: Just read the comments on Faceless Summoner to realize that King Mukla and Injured Blademaster is a thing. Holy Crap.
Mage still a very annoying class in arena, Ben Brode never fails.
Deathwing, Dragonlord - 2 - based on 10 mana for 12/12 stats. Pretty unlikely you get the battlecry to trigger to any effect and most games are decided by turn 10 so the same applies here as it did to the old gods cards - lots of better Legendary minions that are more effective in arena. If you're lucky enough to get that constructed looking deck and have lots of dragons you're sure to make your opponent cry if you can drop this and get a dragon or two out of hand free.
Faceless Summoner - 1 - clear cut stud and fills a gap for mage's 6 drops AND it's a common. Jaina will be tough to pass on if you get her as a choice to start your run. Between this and Ethereal Conjurer you have 2 tremendously strong common cards that could populate your arena deck.
Isn't Deathwing, Dragonlord a Deathrattle card? It's Tier 3 or 4 for sure.
Faceless Summoner's randomly summoned 3 drop do tend to have battlecries and under-vanilla stats, so this card should not be too powerful... although I do admit that with the average stat of about 2.5/3 this card outperforms Silver Hand Knight by a long shot. And the 5/5 body is soo much better than the 4/4.
Mage still a very annoying class in arena, Ben Brode never fails.
Deathwing is a tier 2 based on the 10 mana 12/12 not the effect.
Deathwing, Dragonlord - 2 - based on 10 mana for 12/12 stats. Pretty unlikely you get the battlecry to trigger to any effect and most games are decided by turn 10 so the same applies here as it did to the old gods cards - lots of better Legendary minions that are more effective in arena. If you're lucky enough to get that constructed looking deck and have lots of dragons you're sure to make your opponent cry if you can drop this and get a dragon or two out of hand free.
Faceless Summoner - 1 - clear cut stud and fills a gap for mage's 6 drops AND it's a common. Jaina will be tough to pass on if you get her as a choice to start your run. Between this and Ethereal Conjurer you have 2 tremendously strong common cards that could populate your arena deck.
Isn't Deathwing, Dragonlord a Deathrattle card? It's Tier 3 or 4 for sure.
Faceless Summoner's randomly summoned 3 drop do tend to have battlecries and under-vanilla stats, so this card should not be too powerful... although I do admit that with the average stat of about 2.5/3 this card outperforms Silver Hand Knight by a long shot. And the 5/5 body is soo much better than the 4/4.
Mage still a very annoying class in arena, Ben Brode never fails.
Deathwing is a tier 2 based on the 10 mana 12/12 not the effect.
A 10 mana 12/12 seems about on par with War Golem.
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'There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact'
Sherlock Holmes
'There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact'
Sherlock Holmes
"To build or destroy...only you decide which joy." - Last Crack
My greatest achievement yet:
Not disenchanting my double Shadowbomber
I'd be absolutely fine with my opponent spending their second turn pinging my Tentacle of N'Zoth rather than playing a two drop. On the other hand, if they play a 3/2 the tentacle trades with it. It's a pretty awkward card for your opponent to deal with as a turn 1 play.
The assessment of the new cards (update 04/07/16) is missing.
No way Cabalist's Tome is rated Tier 1. It is a little bit better than Nourish since it generates new cards and can lead to an extra Flamestrike, Blizzard, Fireball or even Pyroblast, but the average 3 mage spells are not much better (if at all) than 3 cards drawn from your deck. So the card should be somewhere between Tier 2 and 3 imo.
Arena Leaderboard EU - September 2018: #47 (@7.77 Wins Average)
Haven't posted around here for a long time - good to see you're still doing these! - I'll try and go through every card when I get the time, but for now I feel that healing is being overrated a bit much. Cult Apocathery stood out to me in particular.
"To build or destroy...only you decide which joy." - Last Crack
My idea of the newer cards I expect to see play, and why, in order of expected tiers 1,2 and 3:
Tier 1:
Master of Evolution . Comparable to Argent Protector, with a 4/5 body which is better than 2/2 in Arena. As AbusingKel mentioned above, works better with positive-effect Battlecry minions like Defender of Argus. And generally transforming a 3-drop into 4-drops is pretty awesome.
Hammer of Twilight. Pure Value. Effect comparable to Argent Commander, but not to Death's Bite because it cannot punch through 5 health (and currently notorious taunts like Sen'jin Shieldmasta, Sludge Belcher, Sunwalker). General lack of Shaman weapons (unlike warrior) also meant that weapon slot will unlikely be clogged.
Tier 2:
Tier 3:
My greatest achievement yet:
Not disenchanting my double Shadowbomber
Simply because Ravaging Ghoul is a Warrior card, I also think it's a tier 1 card. I dont think you're generous with Thistle Tea though. 4 should be perfect for it since it gives you midgame value; hence depending on your draft you might have crazy early tempo and while you dont want to overextend on board, you want to get some value out of your turn. Not to mention that in the rare section, it competes with 2 of the best arena class cards.
'There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact'
Sherlock Holmes
My greatest achievement yet:
Not disenchanting my double Shadowbomber
'There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact'
Sherlock Holmes
I'd put Twilight Summoner in Tier 3 not 2 as people are suggesting. Sure it's value for the stats, but it's a massive tempo loss (it really is stupidly slow) and I think arena has become more tempo heavy over time.
If mage got this insane minion, im afraid to even think of the other classes lol :P They said they took the rarity into account when creating the cards ... we will see.
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My greatest achievement yet:
Not disenchanting my double Shadowbomber