Does anyone use Mana Wraiths? I only use them as a "best of these three bad cards" in Arena. I've heard people suggest that it's good against aggro, but in my experience I've found that it usually just ends up with my opponent trading two damage to face to kill it and then they resume dropping all of their minions.
In constructed, it is much more likely your opponent will have the removal in hand to get rid off the Mana Wraith before the effect even matters. The body is not too relevant either. If anything, it forces the opponent to not play a two drop. It might be good against aggro, but not so much against everything else.
It depends on how you use it really. For example, if you play Shieldbearer Turn 1 and then Mana Wraith on Turn 2, you put your opponent in a pretty weird situation. First of all, they have to use removal on the Mana Wraith (which uses up their turn and a removal spell). If they can't kill it but play a minion (for a higher cost) anyways. You can trade with a minion and not suffer the drawback. Its a tempo card that can backfire if misused.
My verdict with testing it in a bunch of decks is that it is a good tempo card, but extremely niche. It could see play in decks that wish to stall the game against aggro or one that doesn't run any minions. Furthermore, it could be used in a deck that generates a ton of tempo and has no issue regaining it if its lost. If played correctly, you are lessening your opponent's tempo with the possibility of not handicapping your own at all.
Does anyone use Mana Wraiths? I only use them as a "best of these three bad cards" in Arena. I've heard people suggest that it's good against aggro, but in my experience I've found that it usually just ends up with my opponent trading two damage to face to kill it and then they resume dropping all of their minions.
In constructed, it is much more likely your opponent will have the removal in hand to get rid off the Mana Wraith before the effect even matters. The body is not too relevant either. If anything, it forces the opponent to not play a two drop. It might be good against aggro, but not so much against everything else.
It depends on how you use it really. For example, if you play Shieldbearer Turn 1 and then Mana Wraith on Turn 2, you put your opponent in a pretty weird situation. First of all, they have to use removal on the Mana Wraith (which uses up their turn and a removal spell). If they can't kill it but play a minion (for a higher cost) anyways. You can trade with a minion and not suffer the drawback. Its a tempo card that can backfire if misused.
My verdict with testing it in a bunch of decks is that it is a good tempo card, but extremely niche. It could see play in decks that wish to stall the game against aggro or one that doesn't run any minions. Furthermore, it could be used in a deck that generates a ton of tempo and has no issue regaining it if its lost. If played correctly, you are lessening your opponent's tempo with the possibility of not handicapping your own at all.
Pint-Sized Summoner seems like a natural pairing with Mana Wraith. Have people tested this in a deck in constructed?
Multiples in arena can be pretty brutal - stopping you from hitting your 4-drops on time can really swing tempo if they get an aggressive start.