Goal is to provide a subjective review of the card that will be important in Tier 1,2,3 decks. I'll list meta-defining cards and very good cards, so I won't count every playable card here, nor will I mention the cards that are good and synergize with the below cards (such as rush minions with Town Crier)
A-rated cards : the meta-defining cards. Those cards significantly improve the viability of their class
Town Crier : Extremely storn one-drop that thins a deck, draw a card and puts a cheap body on the board.
Countess Ashmore : the new The Curator, a 6/6 that reliably draws two cards for 6 will find a home somewhere.
Baku the Mooneater : some classes will find powerfull builds, improved hero power from trun 1 is crazy good. Unlike many other good cards, though, I think he has absolutely no future in Wild due to the very brutal power level of the format.
Honestly the cards have been disappointing so far, this expansion seems the weakest in recent months.
Of course the power will be rescinded. This set will be around the longest. You cant have a bunch of OP cards around for two years. I love this expansion, and like that they dialed it back. This set requires some skill to use efficiently.
Town Cryer might not be Tier A, simply because the statline is bad (2/1 is far better than 1/2), and because you often do not draw a card (lategame it can be a pretty bad topdeck because you draw nothing with it) It is defintively not a bad card, but compared to Kobolt Librarian it's far far FAR weaker.
Toxmonger is also NOT Tier A. You said it yourself: Stonetusk Boar, Elven Archer: They are strong with this card, but without it they are dead waste in your hand. You never want to play a stonetusk boar, period. And it is too slow. And it does not work with Unleash the Hounds. Yes, there is a theorycraft-deck on place 1, but as we knew: they never work out. In the end it's a 4 mana 2/4.
Bellringer Sentry NOT TIER A, at least in Standard (and i'm not sure for wild too). Avenge was the combo-card that made Secret Paladin viable. Even then: the strength of Mysterious Challenger was that it pulled all cards out, and the combo for it was so strong. But we don't have seen all cards yet.
Dire Frenzy is DEFINITIELY NOT TIER A: It's a far weaker Blessing of Kings, and even Blessing of Kings only works in paladin because it is sticky, it has minions with Divine Shield AND You have a hero-power that gives you tokens to play it on. And it also has a beast-condition. Sorry, but this does have at least 1 condition too much to be a tier A card. 4 mana for a +3/+3 often cast on a low mana minion gives you later a low mana minion that's stronger, but in the end: does it really matter in the endgame? Hunter lacks card draw, and with it you draw more cards that are often useless in the endgame.
EDIT: changed Town Cryer: it's better than i wrote, but still might not be good enough.
The only card I see as 'meta defining' is Baku. Because I think Baku Hunter will be a force to be reckoned with and will warp the meta.
Lord Godfrey is an autoinclude for control Warlock. And will be amazing. But, I dont' think will change the meta much. Control Lock was a thing and will continue to be a thing. The other Lock legendary has the potential to be great as well.
Hagatha might be meta defining if it makes control Shaman good. It might. Control Shaman has a ton of tools already and this might be the tipping point. It seems a bit wonky to me though, so not expecting it to go nuts. Will have very good and poor results so not that reliable.
They are pushing rush Warrior, but I just don't think it has enough tools to enable a successful tempo strategy. Looks like it will be tried and fail to me.
Other than that, just a bunch of cards that might see play here or there, but not much that can't be replaced by other cards.
The only card I see as 'meta defining' is Baku. Because I think Baku Hunter will be a force to be reckoned with and will warp the meta.
Lord Godfrey is an autoinclude for control Warlock. And will be amazing. But, I dont' think will change the meta much. Control Lock was a thing and will continue to be a thing. The other Lock legendary has the potential to be great as well.
Hagatha might be meta defining if it makes control Shaman good. It might. Control Shaman has a ton of tools already and this might be the tipping point. It seems a bit wonky to me though, so not expecting it to go nuts. Will have very good and poor results so not that reliable.
They are pushing rush Warrior, but I just don't think it has enough tools to enable a successful tempo strategy. Looks like it will be tried and fail to me.
Other than that, just a bunch of cards that might see play here or there, but not much that can't be replaced by other cards.
I think people are sleeping on Hagatha. I still remember the very unenthusiastic reception at Lyra and the utter confusion when the devs said that she might be too good.
The only card I see as 'meta defining' is Baku. Because I think Baku Hunter will be a force to be reckoned with and will warp the meta.
Lord Godfrey is an autoinclude for control Warlock. And will be amazing. But, I dont' think will change the meta much. Control Lock was a thing and will continue to be a thing. The other Lock legendary has the potential to be great as well.
Hagatha might be meta defining if it makes control Shaman good. It might. Control Shaman has a ton of tools already and this might be the tipping point. It seems a bit wonky to me though, so not expecting it to go nuts. Will have very good and poor results so not that reliable.
They are pushing rush Warrior, but I just don't think it has enough tools to enable a successful tempo strategy. Looks like it will be tried and fail to me.
Other than that, just a bunch of cards that might see play here or there, but not much that can't be replaced by other cards.
I think people are sleeping on Hagatha. I still remember the very unenthusiastic reception at Lyra and the utter confusion when the devs said that she might be too good.
I don't think Lyra was too good. Playable. But not meta defining by any means. I suspect that Hagatha will be quite similar to Lyra. I was going to say that earlier but Couldnt' recall the name of Lyra.
The only card I see as 'meta defining' is Baku. Because I think Baku Hunter will be a force to be reckoned with and will warp the meta.
Lord Godfrey is an autoinclude for control Warlock. And will be amazing. But, I dont' think will change the meta much. Control Lock was a thing and will continue to be a thing. The other Lock legendary has the potential to be great as well.
Hagatha might be meta defining if it makes control Shaman good. It might. Control Shaman has a ton of tools already and this might be the tipping point. It seems a bit wonky to me though, so not expecting it to go nuts. Will have very good and poor results so not that reliable.
They are pushing rush Warrior, but I just don't think it has enough tools to enable a successful tempo strategy. Looks like it will be tried and fail to me.
Other than that, just a bunch of cards that might see play here or there, but not much that can't be replaced by other cards.
I think people are sleeping on Hagatha. I still remember the very unenthusiastic reception at Lyra and the utter confusion when the devs said that she might be too good.
I don't think Lyra was too good. Playable. But not meta defining by any means. I suspect that Hagatha will be quite similar to Lyra. I was going to say that earlier but Couldnt' recall the name of Lyra.
I agree. I don't think Hagatha is broken but free spells, even if random isn't bad. There is a lot of shaman spells I WOULD use if they didn't take up a deck slot.
Town Cryer might not be Tier A, simply because the statline is bad (2/1 is far better than 1/2), and because you often do not draw a card (lategame it can be a pretty bad topdeck because you draw nothing with it) It is defintively not a bad card, but compared to Kobolt Librarian it's far far FAR weaker.
Kobold Librarian is better in absolute terms, but he comes in a class that already has the best card draw in the game. Whereas Town Crier comes in the warrior class, a class that lacks drawing so much it has to play questionable basic cards like Acolyte of Pain
Toxmonger is also NOT Tier A. You said it yourself: Stonetusk Boar, Elven Archer: They are strong with this card, but without it they are dead waste in your hand. You never want to play a stonetusk boar, period. And it is too slow. And it does not work with Unleash the Hounds. Yes, there is a theorycraft-deck on place 1, but as we knew: they never work out. In the end it's a 4 mana 2/4.
1/1 toxicity, battle cry kill any ennemy minion for 1 is absolutely insane. That's what Elven Archer becomes with toxmoger. A 6-mana spell that says "destroy a minion, summo,n a 1/1 tox" would be playable. Same as a zero mana 3/4. And that what Toxmonger + Elven Archer provide for just 5 mana. I understand that those cards have to be played otgether, but the same can be said for Molten Reflection and Open the Waygate
Dire Frenzy is DEFINITIELY NOT TIER A: It's a far weaker Blessing of Kings, and even Blessing of Kings only works in paladin because it is sticky, it has minions with Divine Shield AND You have a hero-power that gives you tokens to play it on. And it also has a beast-condition. Sorry, but this does have at least 1 condition too much to be a tier A card. 4 mana for a +3/+3 often cast on a low mana minion gives you later a low mana minion that's stronger, but in the end: does it really matter in the endgame? Hunter lacks card draw, and with it you draw more cards that are often useless in the endgame.
BoK is a tempo card, it allow you to summon a late game minion in two turns (as well as some cool rush effects). Value-wise, BoK is questionnable.
Here, we are talking about a card that gives a decent tempo-boost, but also a huge value boost : you get 3 buffed minions in the game. Even a modest hungry crab with 4/5 stats for 1 is a good card at any point in almost any game. I think you underestimate the card.
The only card I see as 'meta defining' is Baku. Because I think Baku Hunter will be a force to be reckoned with and will warp the meta.
Wait & see. I am sure some Baku decks will fail, but I am also sure that at least one class will turn Baku into a top tier deck. My bet would be on druid.
Lord Godfrey is an autoinclude for control Warlock. And will be amazing. But, I dont' think will change the meta much. Control Lock was a thing and will continue to be a thing. The other Lock legendary has the potential to be great as well.
Hagatha might be meta defining if it makes control Shaman good. It might. Control Shaman has a ton of tools already and this might be the tipping point. It seems a bit wonky to me though, so not expecting it to go nuts. Will have very good and poor results so not that reliable.
You have a 30 card deck with a Haggatha plan and no tutoring mechanic. If Hagatha is in the boottom 10 cards of the deck, you loose in 90% of games. I don't see it as a recipe for success.
I agree Hagatha is good, but not strong enough to pull shaman out of his soon to be, jadeless, trash tier.
Really curious to examine the remaining cards to be revealed upon the full release. Which cards will be the sleeper hits like Corridor Creeper and Prince Keleseth?
Honestly the cards have been disappointing so far, this expansion seems the weakest in recent months.
Of course the power will be rescinded. This set will be around the longest. You cant have a bunch of OP cards around for two years. I love this expansion, and like that they dialed it back. This set requires some skill to use efficiently.
Tell me how printing weaker cards has anything to do with promoting skill. I think most everybody will agree that the strongest deck heading into the new expansion is going to be control Warlock. Doesn’t take skill to slot in godfrey and maybe countess Ashmore in place of nzoth and mistress of mixtures.
I know you’re trying to say that a skilled player would be able to see the value in cards that appear weak, and therefore would be able to make a strong deck because of it that others wouldn't see, but I completely disagree with you. Within 2 months most decks will be made and the meta will be very established. People will netdeck the same decks and the only innovation will be the difference of one card over the other. Maybe we’ll see a new deck after the meta establishes the way keleseth rogue did. Point is, the amount of people that are deck innovators/creators is very small, so small to the point where usually it’s only 1 person responsible for the making of a new deck. That isn’t skill, that’s playtesting. Playtesting shows your commitment to play the same deck over and over and look at the data and being able no to make a judgement call if a card is contributing to the deck or not. Just because cards are weak doesn’t mean that it takes skill to use them properly. That’s bullshit, and anybody making that claim doesn’t know what they’re talking about.
Lyra is a must-kill minion for a reason. The effect is insanely strong over several turns. Hagatha can't be removed so you're secured for a truck-load of value in the right deck. I think she's going to be very strong.
Out of all the cards in A tier, the only good one is Town Crier. The rest of them can be used for some combo of sorts, but they still aren't great even keeping those in mind.
Dire Frenzy could be a decent card if a some slow hunter deck pops up but in a midrange list, this card is just tempo suicide. Compare this to the usual 4 drop in midrange hunter, Houndmaster. The buff is almost the same, with Dire Frenzy giving an extra +1/+1, but Houndmaster gives a total of 3/2 more of stats. As for the second part of Dire Frenzy, this effect isn't going to be as strong as everybody makes it out to be since shuffling cards into your deck does not do anything the turn its played, nor does it do anything for the next several turns just due to how you still have the rest of the deck to draw from.
Onto Toxmonger, I don't think you understand how rare it is to draw a two card combo by turn 5. Sure it's strong that turn, leaving you with a 2/4 and sometimes a 1/1 poisonous, but hunter just doesn't need something like this. Hunter is still able to establish board early and hold onto it fairly well, to the point where the only time you actually lose board is when you get highrolled or due to a board clear. This card just isn't needed and adding trashy minions to your deck just so you can use a pseudo-Assassinate isn't worth it. Also, you mention that running Toxmonger and any of the 1 drops is similar to how OTK mage runs Open the Waygates and Molten Reflection, which honestly hurt me a bit inside to read. The difference between these two is that one of them just wins the game while the other kills a minion. One of them has a full deck based around drawing the combo cards, and the other is just (presumably) 6 cards you put in your deck. There is such a huge difference between these two that I don't understand why you'd ever make that comparison.
As for Bellringer Sentry, you kind of came to the conclusion that it wasn't going to be great because Getaway Kodo is rotating out, but even in wild this card is pretty bad. Mysterious Challenger was only ever good simply because Paladin secrets work well together. By themselves they are all pretty much trash as they are too specific and are pretty much all low impact. If they made this card just be either "Battlecry: Put 2 secrets in your deck onto the battlefield" or "Deathrattle: Put 2 secrets in your deck onto the battlefield" then it would be much better as a card.
As for the B-tier cards, i disagree with a lot of them but I already talked about a lot of them on the card posts and I don't want to sound like a broken record. This part of the list is much better though than the A-tier cards.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I don't have something witty about this deck, I just like it because Malygos is fun.
Hello
Goal is to provide a subjective review of the card that will be important in Tier 1,2,3 decks. I'll list meta-defining cards and very good cards, so I won't count every playable card here, nor will I mention the cards that are good and synergize with the below cards (such as rush minions with Town Crier)
A-rated cards : the meta-defining cards. Those cards significantly improve the viability of their class
B-rated cards : very good cards that will be reasons strong decks are strong.
Honestly the cards have been disappointing so far, this expansion seems the weakest in recent months.
NO!
Town Cryer might not be Tier A, simply because the statline is bad (2/1 is far better than 1/2), and because you often do not draw a card (lategame it can be a pretty bad topdeck because you draw nothing with it) It is defintively not a bad card, but compared to Kobolt Librarian it's far far FAR weaker.
Toxmonger is also NOT Tier A. You said it yourself: Stonetusk Boar, Elven Archer: They are strong with this card, but without it they are dead waste in your hand. You never want to play a stonetusk boar, period. And it is too slow. And it does not work with Unleash the Hounds. Yes, there is a theorycraft-deck on place 1, but as we knew: they never work out. In the end it's a 4 mana 2/4.
Bellringer Sentry NOT TIER A, at least in Standard (and i'm not sure for wild too). Avenge was the combo-card that made Secret Paladin viable. Even then: the strength of Mysterious Challenger was that it pulled all cards out, and the combo for it was so strong. But we don't have seen all cards yet.
Dire Frenzy is DEFINITIELY NOT TIER A: It's a far weaker Blessing of Kings, and even Blessing of Kings only works in paladin because it is sticky, it has minions with Divine Shield AND You have a hero-power that gives you tokens to play it on. And it also has a beast-condition. Sorry, but this does have at least 1 condition too much to be a tier A card. 4 mana for a +3/+3 often cast on a low mana minion gives you later a low mana minion that's stronger, but in the end: does it really matter in the endgame? Hunter lacks card draw, and with it you draw more cards that are often useless in the endgame.
EDIT: changed Town Cryer: it's better than i wrote, but still might not be good enough.
The only card I see as 'meta defining' is Baku. Because I think Baku Hunter will be a force to be reckoned with and will warp the meta.
Lord Godfrey is an autoinclude for control Warlock. And will be amazing. But, I dont' think will change the meta much. Control Lock was a thing and will continue to be a thing. The other Lock legendary has the potential to be great as well.
Hagatha might be meta defining if it makes control Shaman good. It might. Control Shaman has a ton of tools already and this might be the tipping point. It seems a bit wonky to me though, so not expecting it to go nuts. Will have very good and poor results so not that reliable.
They are pushing rush Warrior, but I just don't think it has enough tools to enable a successful tempo strategy. Looks like it will be tried and fail to me.
Other than that, just a bunch of cards that might see play here or there, but not much that can't be replaced by other cards.
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Galavant Animation
Kobold Librarian is better in absolute terms, but he comes in a class that already has the best card draw in the game. Whereas Town Crier comes in the warrior class, a class that lacks drawing so much it has to play questionable basic cards like Acolyte of Pain
1/1 toxicity, battle cry kill any ennemy minion for 1 is absolutely insane. That's what Elven Archer becomes with toxmoger. A 6-mana spell that says "destroy a minion, summo,n a 1/1 tox" would be playable. Same as a zero mana 3/4. And that what Toxmonger + Elven Archer provide for just 5 mana. I understand that those cards have to be played otgether, but the same can be said for Molten Reflection and Open the Waygate
Wait & see. I am sure some Baku decks will fail, but I am also sure that at least one class will turn Baku into a top tier deck. My bet would be on druid.
In this case I would say that Guldan and Voidlord[card] are meta-defining, while [card]Lord Godfrey is a good card fitting into an already good deck.
Lord Godfrey is great. Vodoo Doll is great. Countess is great.
Lyra is a must-kill minion for a reason. The effect is insanely strong over several turns. Hagatha can't be removed so you're secured for a truck-load of value in the right deck. I think she's going to be very strong.
Bloodreaver Gul'dan
Top deck is cheat
Out of all the cards in A tier, the only good one is Town Crier. The rest of them can be used for some combo of sorts, but they still aren't great even keeping those in mind.
Dire Frenzy could be a decent card if a some slow hunter deck pops up but in a midrange list, this card is just tempo suicide. Compare this to the usual 4 drop in midrange hunter, Houndmaster. The buff is almost the same, with Dire Frenzy giving an extra +1/+1, but Houndmaster gives a total of 3/2 more of stats. As for the second part of Dire Frenzy, this effect isn't going to be as strong as everybody makes it out to be since shuffling cards into your deck does not do anything the turn its played, nor does it do anything for the next several turns just due to how you still have the rest of the deck to draw from.
Onto Toxmonger, I don't think you understand how rare it is to draw a two card combo by turn 5. Sure it's strong that turn, leaving you with a 2/4 and sometimes a 1/1 poisonous, but hunter just doesn't need something like this. Hunter is still able to establish board early and hold onto it fairly well, to the point where the only time you actually lose board is when you get highrolled or due to a board clear. This card just isn't needed and adding trashy minions to your deck just so you can use a pseudo-Assassinate isn't worth it. Also, you mention that running Toxmonger and any of the 1 drops is similar to how OTK mage runs Open the Waygates and Molten Reflection, which honestly hurt me a bit inside to read. The difference between these two is that one of them just wins the game while the other kills a minion. One of them has a full deck based around drawing the combo cards, and the other is just (presumably) 6 cards you put in your deck. There is such a huge difference between these two that I don't understand why you'd ever make that comparison.
As for Bellringer Sentry, you kind of came to the conclusion that it wasn't going to be great because Getaway Kodo is rotating out, but even in wild this card is pretty bad. Mysterious Challenger was only ever good simply because Paladin secrets work well together. By themselves they are all pretty much trash as they are too specific and are pretty much all low impact. If they made this card just be either "Battlecry: Put 2 secrets in your deck onto the battlefield" or "Deathrattle: Put 2 secrets in your deck onto the battlefield" then it would be much better as a card.
As for the B-tier cards, i disagree with a lot of them but I already talked about a lot of them on the card posts and I don't want to sound like a broken record. This part of the list is much better though than the A-tier cards.
I don't have something witty about this deck, I just like it because Malygos is fun.