As Kobolds & Catacombs is only several days away. I think its interesting to look back how KoFT arena meta was. Please understand that I pick those due to my own personal experience in playing Arena mode, as I rarely watch streams.
How do you guys think? Have different experience? Do share!
If you are interested in my opinion/experience with those cards, you can read it below.
Bonemare: I think everybody will agree that Bonemare is very very strong. As long as you have another minion, it gives you amazing tempo. Most of the time, you can already attack with buffed minion, leaving your opponent to deal with high-attack, high-health Taunt and a 5/5 Minion after suffering huge damage or minion loss.
Deathspeaker: This has similar use to Bonemare. While its useful anytime, the later the game is, usually the bigger the swing you could gain from the Immunity.
Necrotic Geist: When right condition is met, you can make unending ghouls that will trade with any minion your opponent has.
Saronite Chain Gang: I've faced a situation where I must take down threatening minion or going to face, then my opponent put down Saronite Chain Gang. It's usually downhill from there.
Bone Drake: Very solid stats for 6-drops, and you can often get good Dragon from it.
Keening Banshee: I've drafted her a lot, and she delivers, thanks to her very solid stats. The drawback is pretty much non-existent if you shift your eyes to left after playing each card.
Righteous Protector: Just solid card. Divine Shield Taunt Minions are generally very distruptive.
Plague Scientist: Mini-Vilespine Slayer. Honestly I rarely plays it (or get offered) but I think it still has huge potential.
Shadow Ascendant: Not hard to remove, but if not answered immediately, it just get out of control rather easily.
Defile: Very cheap mass removal, and not that hard to chain, especially early.
Shadowblade: The fact that Rogue lost no life when attacking minion made it a very valuable minion removal tool. Makes me cringe everytime they hit huge minion with it and not making themselves lose the turn after.
Despicable Dreadlord: Average stat, but often protected well that you can't afford to play anything that will be vulnerable to it.
The Lich King: Amazing taunt, and Death Knight cards like Antimagic Shell, Army of the Dead, and Death and Decay is just too much for Arena.
Obsidian Statue: If not properly answered, can easily turn turns losing game to winning game. A real nightmare to play against.
Ultimate Infestation: Removing minion and escaping lethal, all while gaining board presence and drawing A LOT of cards, this card just does it all, as long as you are not very far behind.
You forgot Cobalt Scalebane, would definitely definitely be 2nd behind Bonemare for best neutral common.
The others I am in agreement, but for the legendaries to not mention Frost Lich Jaina i think is a mistake, she is probably the single largest reason why DKs are removed from Arena.
I agree, Cobalt Scalebane is the 2nd best common card from KFT for Arena.
Deathspeaker is 3rd, it's very similar to Argent Protector (+1 mana, +2 health) which is already one of the best Paladin cards (divine shield is a bit better than immune this turn though since it protects from AoE if it doesn't trade this turn or keeps the shield if it goes face). Who wouldn't want a neutral card that is on par with one of the best Paladin cards from arena?
I run 2 in my zoolock in constructed (Wabeka's list which does not have Gul'dan, since I don't have him yet), and it's my 2nd best deck after Tempo Rogue.
Best Neutral Rares: it might come as a surprise, but i would rate Shallow Gravedigger even above Corpse Raiser for just how easy it was to play her and get something in return. Corpse Raiser was obviously one of the best rares, but often times it was rly hard to get value out of him. I hate Keening Banshee. I agree she was a strong minion, but my personal preference will take hold here :P 1. Saronite Chain Gang 2. Bone Drake 3. Shallow Gravedigger
Honorary Mentions: Epic and Legendaries obviously any DK card would fall into this category, but i agree with these three with one small change, UI over Obsidian statue. One more i would mention is Sindragosa, she performed above average in most games. Tho you would usually get her from Bone Drake, not via draft. 1. The Lich King 2. Ultimate Infestation 3. Obsidian Statue
But to be honest, i dont like it at all. It is just so "unfair" towards the opponent in terms of that you need to be on top of your game at all times and think about all the possibilities or suffer an easy board wipe. A bit exhausting, if u ask me. I know im exaggerating to an extent and i enjoy a complex cards too, but it is an aspect that plays a factor in the match as well and shouldnt be overlooked. We could have easilly made an argument, that this card is exactly where the "skill" comes into play in Arena and it is true, but like i said, the added downside of it is a bit unfair.
I feel Blood Razor would be getting higher ratings in general if Warrior wasn't the worst arena class in the game. It's a great weapon, easily one of the best cards in the set, but the class is so bad that nobody plays it and learns to love it.
I feel Blood Razor would be getting higher ratings in general if Warrior wasn't the worst arena class in the game. It's a great weapon, easily one of the best cards in the set, but the class is so bad that nobody plays it and learns to love it.
I originally make it "Best Five" but I though that might be too much, so I reduce it to "Best Three". Both Cobalt Scalebane and Shallow Gravedigger were in the "Best Five" but I end up choosing the much swingier Necrotic Geist. Totally agreed that both are very strong, very consistent Arena Cards.
Like you guys said, I completely miss Blood Razor because I rarely choose Warrior to play. But a few warrior I play against does play them to great efficiency, board-wide ping in addition to weapon hits is very good. That's almost like doing Swipe twice for four mana.
Sorry Caddage but I think not everyone gets to draft Aggro Beast Druid as often as you ;)
Neutral commons were dominated by Bonemare, Cobalt, and Deathspeaker. Frostrider and Sunborne Valkyr also tops the list. It was very much a snowball meta.
Neutral rares were mostly just okay. Bone Drake, Keening Banshee, and Saronite are cards I would've picked as well. I probably like Bone Drake, then Banshee, then Saronite. Banshee is a deck-specific draft though. Amazing in non-ping non-value classes like Paladin and Hunter.
Class commons: Righteous Protector and Crypt Lord are the only commons that stood out. Plague scientist is just okay, hard to pull off and still kind of de-tempos due to having such a weak body while still requiring a body + a combo. Blood Razor isn't that good I find since the meta hasn't been about spreading little dudes, but mostly playing overstatted minion every turn.
Best class rares obviously goes to Defile/Dreadlord. The inclusion of these cards singlehandedly projected Warlock to tier 1 for me. I kind of enjoy Dreadlord more than Defile since a non-dual side board clear for Warlock is exceptional. Didn't really like the Rogue weapon too much, I liked Druid of the Swarm more and newbies loved owning me with Spreading AIDs.
Epics basically came down to who had Ultimate Infestation. Obsidian Statue was also super damn annoying but mostly because it came out of Free from Amber. Neutral Epics were pretty much forgettable with maybe Corpsetaker being good in Paladin.
The legendary DK debacle, in the long run, I'm glad DKs have rotated out. Losing to Jaina or Anduin when you've done everything right just feels sad. It can still come out of tri-class discovers but the chances aren't that great and newbies would de-tempo even more so that's okay.
Overall KFT was back to the basics which I enjoyed slightly more than Un'goro when people didn't care about tempo and could still win since there were so many powerful cards that swung the game (PDrake, Glyph, Meteor, Vilespine) while Warlock was at the bottom. ;_;
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Neutral rares were mostly just okay. Bone Drake, Keening Banshee, and Saronite are cards I would've picked as well. I probably like Bone Drake, then Banshee, then Saronite. Banshee is a deck-specific draft though. Amazing in non-ping non-value classes like Paladin and Hunter.
Interesting, I was using Banshee in almost any deck, could you explain more?
Banshee depends on your gameplan. The only class that I really avoid Banshee with is Warlock, since Warlock's hero power anti-synergizes Banshee by a lot. Most of my Warlock games have me down to sub 10 cards and I have fully straight up lost the game with Banshee with Warlock.
Banshee shines the most in aggro/midrange aggressive decks. She goes best in Hunter because Hunter is concerned about going face and this is the best 4 drop in the game for that.
I say she's amazing in non-ping classes because non-ping classes requires minions with high attack in order to trade evenly which Rogue and Mage can avoid doing. Card is still good in Rogue and Mage, just not as amazing as it is in Paladin/Hunter.
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Regular NA Arena Leaderboard player. Reached #1 in NA arena leaderboard in May 2018 with a 9.07 average!
As Kobolds & Catacombs is only several days away. I think its interesting to look back how KoFT arena meta was. Please understand that I pick those due to my own personal experience in playing Arena mode, as I rarely watch streams.
Best Neutral Commons
1. Bonemare
2. Deathspeaker
3. Necrotic Geist
Best Neutral Rares
1. Saronite Chain Gang
2. Bone Drake
3. Keening Banshee
Best Common Class Cards
1. Righteous Protector
2. Plague Scientist
3. Shadow Ascendant
Best Rare Class Cards
1. Defile
2. Shadowblade
3. Despicable Dreadlord
Honorary Mentions: Epic and Legendaries
1. The Lich King
2. Obsidian Statue
3. Ultimate Infestation
How do you guys think? Have different experience? Do share!
If you are interested in my opinion/experience with those cards, you can read it below.
Bonemare: I think everybody will agree that Bonemare is very very strong. As long as you have another minion, it gives you amazing tempo. Most of the time, you can already attack with buffed minion, leaving your opponent to deal with high-attack, high-health Taunt and a 5/5 Minion after suffering huge damage or minion loss.
Deathspeaker: This has similar use to Bonemare. While its useful anytime, the later the game is, usually the bigger the swing you could gain from the Immunity.
Necrotic Geist: When right condition is met, you can make unending ghouls that will trade with any minion your opponent has.
Saronite Chain Gang: I've faced a situation where I must take down threatening minion or going to face, then my opponent put down Saronite Chain Gang. It's usually downhill from there.
Bone Drake: Very solid stats for 6-drops, and you can often get good Dragon from it.
Keening Banshee: I've drafted her a lot, and she delivers, thanks to her very solid stats. The drawback is pretty much non-existent if you shift your eyes to left after playing each card.
Righteous Protector: Just solid card. Divine Shield Taunt Minions are generally very distruptive.
Plague Scientist: Mini-Vilespine Slayer. Honestly I rarely plays it (or get offered) but I think it still has huge potential.
Shadow Ascendant: Not hard to remove, but if not answered immediately, it just get out of control rather easily.
Defile: Very cheap mass removal, and not that hard to chain, especially early.
Shadowblade: The fact that Rogue lost no life when attacking minion made it a very valuable minion removal tool. Makes me cringe everytime they hit huge minion with it and not making themselves lose the turn after.
Despicable Dreadlord: Average stat, but often protected well that you can't afford to play anything that will be vulnerable to it.
The Lich King: Amazing taunt, and Death Knight cards like Antimagic Shell, Army of the Dead, and Death and Decay is just too much for Arena.
Obsidian Statue: If not properly answered, can easily turn turns losing game to winning game. A real nightmare to play against.
Ultimate Infestation: Removing minion and escaping lethal, all while gaining board presence and drawing A LOT of cards, this card just does it all, as long as you are not very far behind.
You forgot Cobalt Scalebane, would definitely definitely be 2nd behind Bonemare for best neutral common.
The others I am in agreement, but for the legendaries to not mention Frost Lich Jaina i think is a mistake, she is probably the single largest reason why DKs are removed from Arena.
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I agree, Cobalt Scalebane is the 2nd best common card from KFT for Arena.
Deathspeaker is 3rd, it's very similar to Argent Protector (+1 mana, +2 health) which is already one of the best Paladin cards (divine shield is a bit better than immune this turn though since it protects from AoE if it doesn't trade this turn or keeps the shield if it goes face). Who wouldn't want a neutral card that is on par with one of the best Paladin cards from arena?
I run 2 in my zoolock in constructed (Wabeka's list which does not have Gul'dan, since I don't have him yet), and it's my 2nd best deck after Tempo Rogue.
I agree with most of em. Here is my take on it:
Best Neutral Commons: there were actually tons of neutral common cards that were super good in KFT, like Acherus Veteran, Fallen Sun Cleric, Hyldnir Frostrider, Grave Shambler (super OP in rogue), Venomancer, Sunborne Val'kyr and the Necrotic Geist, that u had in your top3, it couldnt fit into mine for obvious reasons :) Even Grim Necromancer, Vryghoul, Tainted Zealot and Tuskarr Fisherman were decent enough commons most of the time.
1. Bonemare
2. Cobalt Scalebane
3. Deathspeaker
Best Neutral Rares: it might come as a surprise, but i would rate Shallow Gravedigger even above Corpse Raiser for just how easy it was to play her and get something in return. Corpse Raiser was obviously one of the best rares, but often times it was rly hard to get value out of him. I hate Keening Banshee. I agree she was a strong minion, but my personal preference will take hold here :P
1. Saronite Chain Gang
2. Bone Drake
3. Shallow Gravedigger
Best Common Class Cards: this is actually a very hard category to pick the top three. I would agree with the first two, but then it is not very clear for me, i suppose the 3rd place would be between Shadow Ascendant and Blood Razor, Shadow Ascendant might win, just cause warrior wasnt played as much as priest, but Blood Razor was definitely a super powerful card. Oh and dont forget about Dark Conviction, that turned games for sure.
1. Righteous Protector
2. Plague Scientist
3. Shadow Ascendant / Blood Razor / Dark Conviction.
Best Rare Class Cards: another very hard category, i must include two cards at 1st and 2nd place, cause there were just so damn similar in power level and impact they had in my games.
1. Defile / Spreading Plague
2. Shadowblade / Venomstrike Trap
3. Despicable Dreadlord
Honorary Mentions: Epic and Legendaries obviously any DK card would fall into this category, but i agree with these three with one small change, UI over Obsidian statue. One more i would mention is Sindragosa, she performed above average in most games. Tho you would usually get her from Bone Drake, not via draft.
1. The Lich King
2. Ultimate Infestation
3. Obsidian Statue
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I feel Blood Razor would be getting higher ratings in general if Warrior wasn't the worst arena class in the game. It's a great weapon, easily one of the best cards in the set, but the class is so bad that nobody plays it and learns to love it.
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I originally make it "Best Five" but I though that might be too much, so I reduce it to "Best Three". Both Cobalt Scalebane and Shallow Gravedigger were in the "Best Five" but I end up choosing the much swingier Necrotic Geist. Totally agreed that both are very strong, very consistent Arena Cards.
Like you guys said, I completely miss Blood Razor because I rarely choose Warrior to play. But a few warrior I play against does play them to great efficiency, board-wide ping in addition to weapon hits is very good. That's almost like doing Swipe twice for four mana.
Sorry Caddage but I think not everyone gets to draft Aggro Beast Druid as often as you ;)
Neutral commons were dominated by Bonemare, Cobalt, and Deathspeaker. Frostrider and Sunborne Valkyr also tops the list. It was very much a snowball meta.
Neutral rares were mostly just okay. Bone Drake, Keening Banshee, and Saronite are cards I would've picked as well. I probably like Bone Drake, then Banshee, then Saronite. Banshee is a deck-specific draft though. Amazing in non-ping non-value classes like Paladin and Hunter.
Class commons: Righteous Protector and Crypt Lord are the only commons that stood out. Plague scientist is just okay, hard to pull off and still kind of de-tempos due to having such a weak body while still requiring a body + a combo. Blood Razor isn't that good I find since the meta hasn't been about spreading little dudes, but mostly playing overstatted minion every turn.
Best class rares obviously goes to Defile/Dreadlord. The inclusion of these cards singlehandedly projected Warlock to tier 1 for me. I kind of enjoy Dreadlord more than Defile since a non-dual side board clear for Warlock is exceptional. Didn't really like the Rogue weapon too much, I liked Druid of the Swarm more and newbies loved owning me with Spreading AIDs.
Epics basically came down to who had Ultimate Infestation. Obsidian Statue was also super damn annoying but mostly because it came out of Free from Amber. Neutral Epics were pretty much forgettable with maybe Corpsetaker being good in Paladin.
The legendary DK debacle, in the long run, I'm glad DKs have rotated out. Losing to Jaina or Anduin when you've done everything right just feels sad. It can still come out of tri-class discovers but the chances aren't that great and newbies would de-tempo even more so that's okay.
Overall KFT was back to the basics which I enjoyed slightly more than Un'goro when people didn't care about tempo and could still win since there were so many powerful cards that swung the game (PDrake, Glyph, Meteor, Vilespine) while Warlock was at the bottom. ;_;
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Banshee depends on your gameplan. The only class that I really avoid Banshee with is Warlock, since Warlock's hero power anti-synergizes Banshee by a lot. Most of my Warlock games have me down to sub 10 cards and I have fully straight up lost the game with Banshee with Warlock.
Banshee shines the most in aggro/midrange aggressive decks. She goes best in Hunter because Hunter is concerned about going face and this is the best 4 drop in the game for that.
I say she's amazing in non-ping classes because non-ping classes requires minions with high attack in order to trade evenly which Rogue and Mage can avoid doing. Card is still good in Rogue and Mage, just not as amazing as it is in Paladin/Hunter.
Regular NA Arena Leaderboard player.
Reached #1 in NA arena leaderboard in May 2018 with a 9.07 average!
Haven't thought that way before, thanks for sharing!