Paladin would have been t3 or worse without this card.
I was running a murloc aggro paladin list last season that ran fine without it, so I think there're hyper aggressive lists that don't care about the value where stone hill is a little slow
Is it strong? Absolutely. Is it "too strong"? Probably not, at least not in Constructed (it's a little absurd in Arena though....). The thing is currently 75% of the Paladin Class legends in standard have Taunt, which means there is a very good chance a Stonehill will present at least one of them as an option. Even when they don't get a legend, Un'Goro has added a number of very good Taunt minions in neutral including Tar Creeper (for early game/curve consideration), Primordial Drake as just a fat body taunt that helps board clear, or just re-rolling with another copy of Stonehill Defender. Furthermore, Grimestreet Protector is a pretty solid consolation prize if you aren't nabbing a Tarim or Tirion or something.
What this means is Stonehill is good at basically any point in the game you play him. You play him on turn 3? You've got a decent roadblock versus aggro and maybe rip a second copy of it as a followup or something like a Tar Creeper or Burnbristle. Rip it late? You can get a fairly bomby minion to play out same/next turn. It is absolutely a strong card, particularly in Standard, because the pool of Taunt minions is small enough that you're often getting at least one excellent choice and very often multiple choices. I suspect with the next expansion we may see a few more cards like Booty Bay Bodyguard or Ironfur Grizzly at common neutral to help diffuse Stonehill's utility.
Powerlevel is pretty fair IMO. Sure, you can discover Tirion, but I've had some terrible options as well. Also, these stats are absolutely abysmal. It never trades for anything, and it will always be weaker than Tar Creeper on curve for the same mana cost. It is also a neutral card, meaning it can be played in every single class.
I am okay with stonehill as it is. It's for some classes better than for others as with many neutral cards. I just think it's funny that this card is actually more versatile then any of the paladin legendaries. It's actually better to craft stonehill defender than any of the legendaries when you are a new player. You can discover what you need at each actual matchup like Tirion vs control or the other one vs aggro. First choice in crafting. You get actually more annoyed when you draw your own tirion in round 3 instead of stonehill which could discover it and block damage in round 3
To the people getting all defensive, I'm not attacking paladins lol I'm quite happy they have mid range and control decks that are viable.
To the people saying paladin would be tier 3 without Stonehill Defender, you're obviously clueless on the subject of paladins. Murloc aggro is a tier 1 deck
There's a reason you can't have more 1 legendary in a deck while building it I don't understand why you can discover a Tirion and have 2 now.
That's actually a good point - as a solution they could restrict the discover choices so as to not include any cards that you already have in your deck. That would prevent Mages from getting infinite Primordial Glyphs, Priests from getting 4+ copies of Drakonid Operative, and Paladins from getting 2+ copies of Tirion or Sunkeeper. There are still plenty of options out there.
I haven't had too much bad luck against it in constructed, but it's stupidly OP in arena, and it should be modified or banned from that format. Almost every time I use it, I got a chance to discover a paladin legendary. Absolutely ridiculous.
For constructed it is fine as a second tirion can be way to slow sometimes. But it is a very strong card indeed.
Perhaps it could be changed a bit in arena. I had a 12 win run where Stonehil defender and Servant of Kalimos more or less carried me all the way. Lightlord Ragnaros, Tirion, Sunkeeper are all very strong arena cards.
Malchezaar doesn't give you a legendary that's already in your deck, nor will the 5 legendaries he add contain a duplicate. He follows deckbuilding rules.
Ah ok, thank you very much!
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It has an advantage for both Shaman and Paladin. You just don't see very many shamans on ladder right now.
With that said. I think the problem is actually the discover mechanic in general. TOO many legendaries pop from weak minion (hello Yesera from a stupid 1 cost 1/3 minion...REALLY!?!?!).
1-3 cost minions shouldn't be giving SO many legendaries out. I believe discover cards like these should only go up to purple and not grab legendaries.
Discover always will be broken after rotation because with few cards is very easy to get a very good one, this one in paladin and historian for dragon priest.
I bet the next set includes at least 1 or 2 paladin class taunts so that this card is a bit less powerful for the class.
I'm going to claim victory on this prediction. Righteous Protector is a great card turn 1, but probably pretty bad in most situations off Stonehill Defender.
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Is it strong? Absolutely. Is it "too strong"? Probably not, at least not in Constructed (it's a little absurd in Arena though....). The thing is currently 75% of the Paladin Class legends in standard have Taunt, which means there is a very good chance a Stonehill will present at least one of them as an option. Even when they don't get a legend, Un'Goro has added a number of very good Taunt minions in neutral including Tar Creeper (for early game/curve consideration), Primordial Drake as just a fat body taunt that helps board clear, or just re-rolling with another copy of Stonehill Defender. Furthermore, Grimestreet Protector is a pretty solid consolation prize if you aren't nabbing a Tarim or Tirion or something.
What this means is Stonehill is good at basically any point in the game you play him. You play him on turn 3? You've got a decent roadblock versus aggro and maybe rip a second copy of it as a followup or something like a Tar Creeper or Burnbristle. Rip it late? You can get a fairly bomby minion to play out same/next turn. It is absolutely a strong card, particularly in Standard, because the pool of Taunt minions is small enough that you're often getting at least one excellent choice and very often multiple choices. I suspect with the next expansion we may see a few more cards like Booty Bay Bodyguard or Ironfur Grizzly at common neutral to help diffuse Stonehill's utility.
Balancing busted cards version 1.0.
Powerlevel is pretty fair IMO. Sure, you can discover Tirion, but I've had some terrible options as well. Also, these stats are absolutely abysmal. It never trades for anything, and it will always be weaker than Tar Creeper on curve for the same mana cost. It is also a neutral card, meaning it can be played in every single class.
Achieved Gold Priest- April 2017
no ones complaining about the high discover rate of darkonid operative from netherspite historian, also let paladin have this :/
Kobolds are almost as bad as goblins, they gotta die (⌐■_■)–︻╦╤─
I bet the next set includes at least 1 or 2 paladin class taunts so that this card is a bit less powerful for the class. Problem solved.
Any other nerf or change would take almost as long to come around, and the power level of the card doesn't justify it anyway.
I am okay with stonehill as it is. It's for some classes better than for others as with many neutral cards. I just think it's funny that this card is actually more versatile then any of the paladin legendaries. It's actually better to craft stonehill defender than any of the legendaries when you are a new player. You can discover what you need at each actual matchup like Tirion vs control or the other one vs aggro. First choice in crafting. You get actually more annoyed when you draw your own tirion in round 3 instead of stonehill which could discover it and block damage in round 3
A lot of good points and arguments brought up.
To the people getting all defensive, I'm not attacking paladins lol I'm quite happy they have mid range and control decks that are viable.
To the people saying paladin would be tier 3 without Stonehill Defender, you're obviously clueless on the subject of paladins. Murloc aggro is a tier 1 deck
There's a reason you can't have more 1 legendary in a deck while building it I don't understand why you can discover a Tirion and have 2 now.
my favorite la croix flavor is lime
I haven't had too much bad luck against it in constructed, but it's stupidly OP in arena, and it should be modified or banned from that format. Almost every time I use it, I got a chance to discover a paladin legendary. Absolutely ridiculous.
But hyper aggresive decks are boring and braindead AF.
Then go enjoy smashing your opponents face until hes dead on t5. What a fun and interactive tactic and gamestyle.
White Eyes can also be discovered and is amazing when you get extra copies for nzoth
For constructed it is fine as a second tirion can be way to slow sometimes. But it is a very strong card indeed.
Perhaps it could be changed a bit in arena. I had a 12 win run where Stonehil defender and Servant of Kalimos more or less carried me all the way. Lightlord Ragnaros, Tirion, Sunkeeper are all very strong arena cards.
Could be nerfed in the future by printing other taunt paladin cards with less power level. Besides that, oes not really need a nerf or anything.
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To live is to suffer, to survive is to find meaning in the suffer!
To live is to suffer, to survive is to find meaning in the suffer!
It has an advantage for both Shaman and Paladin. You just don't see very many shamans on ladder right now.
With that said. I think the problem is actually the discover mechanic in general. TOO many legendaries pop from weak minion (hello Yesera from a stupid 1 cost 1/3 minion...REALLY!?!?!).
1-3 cost minions shouldn't be giving SO many legendaries out. I believe discover cards like these should only go up to purple and not grab legendaries.
Discover always will be broken after rotation because with few cards is very easy to get a very good one, this one in paladin and historian for dragon priest.
I'm going to claim victory on this prediction. Righteous Protector is a great card turn 1, but probably pretty bad in most situations off Stonehill Defender.