This card alone makes Control Shaman viable. I'm calling it now, it's going to be better than Volcano. The fact that you can't top deck it is the only weakness it has, but any control deck requires long term game planning. And you only need it to deal 3 damage for it to be worthy of the cost.
Playing Big Spell Mage, I always seemed to have a Flamestrike or a Blizzard sitting in my hand, waiting for the moment I needed to use it. If you're in top deck mode with control, you've probably lost.
Would have been better if the cost scaled, too (starting at 2 or 3 mana). Bad topdeck in the lategame and Shaman already has Lightning Storm, which doesn’t impact your own board.
Not good enough to replace Valcano but will have to do.
But it will replace Volcano because Volcano is rotating.
No, it certainly won't "replace" Volcano. Volcano is a powerful card to hold at any point during a game, especially when you have no board. This card however is a terrible topdeck or random card off Hagatha the Witch and requires you to deliberately hold a dead card for several turns in order to become somewhat strong. Even then, it can't deal with Deathrattles or huge minions effectively and you would (in case you use it in Mid Range lists) most certainly blow up your own board as well. Also, Control Shaman isn't a thing without any kind of heal (remember Healing Rain rotates soon) and has no real win condition. My vote goes to "bad".
Peter confirmed there is no upper limit (but for your imagination!)
That makes this pretty good. Not as good as volcano, but that card is dead to us now. If you're running this it seems you're also running Storm Chaser, so it's likely that it will be in your hand enough to upgrade sufficiently.
And my guess is that Krag'wa will return an upgraded version.
Eh... This card is situationally better than Volcano and situationally worse than Volcano. While Volcano was awesome, it had a damage limit, so it couldn't wipe big boards. The same problem exists with Lightening Strike too, since it can only deal 2-3 damage, so Shaman has no efficient way to clear the board. Hagatha's scheme completely fills that hole, and now other classes are going to have to wonder if a Shaman player has been holding this card in their hand the entire time.
This card has the potential to wipe extremely big boards if its in your hand long enough. Imagine someone with a board full of big dragons and you drop this card and it deals 10-12 damage to all minions? That can be a game winner.
The best part of this card is its unpredictability. AoE removal's main weakness is that it can be played around (except Mass Hysteria and Psychic Scream)--for example, if you are playing against a mage, you know to avoid having a board of minions with 4 health because of Flamestrike and you know that a board with around 15 health is just going to eat a Volcano--but this card cannot be played around. Your opponent doesn't know how long it has been in your hand and there is no upper limit for damage (RegisKillbin confirmed this) so any shaman can have an enhanced flamestrike in their hand once we hit around 5 mana.
Will have to wait to see if (Upgrades each turn!) means only on your turn or both players turn. If the former, the card will be good, if the latter the card will be one of the best board clears imo.
A pretty good new board clear for Shaman. Too bad that Shaman has nothing that's worth stalling for, except maybe some new busted Battlecries for Shudderwock.
I expect that eventually, at least by the end of the year, there will be a deck that makes good use of this.
This card will help me a lot against jade druid. Right now there's very little I can do as Shaman if I'm not playing retardwock or pull a lucky zentimo hex combo, volcano isn't nearly enough.
RegisKillbin covered this. It is only on the owner's turn and there is no upper cap beyond the turn limit.
If he's right, then they utterly messed up the text. Gruul uses the same "each turn" wording, and he gets bigger every turn, including your opponent's. So if it's only on the owner's turn, they royally messed up the wording hardcore.
This card alone makes Control Shaman viable. I'm calling it now, it's going to be better than Volcano. The fact that you can't top deck it is the only weakness it has, but any control deck requires long term game planning. And you only need it to deal 3 damage for it to be worthy of the cost.
Playing Big Spell Mage, I always seemed to have a Flamestrike or a Blizzard sitting in my hand, waiting for the moment I needed to use it. If you're in top deck mode with control, you've probably lost.
Would have been better if the cost scaled, too (starting at 2 or 3 mana). Bad topdeck in the lategame and Shaman already has Lightning Storm, which doesn’t impact your own board.
Time to mulligan for a 5-drop.
I mean, it is playable just based on the fact that Shaman doesn'T have access to great AoE atm....don't know why it has to hit all minions though.
Biggest problem is probably the fact that it's a really bad topdeck, but we do have Stormchaser and also Electra Stormsurge.
Shaman will take all AoE spells they can get, so this will probably see play if there's a reason to run Shudderwock/HAgatha
I tried having fun once. It was awful.
No, it certainly won't "replace" Volcano. Volcano is a powerful card to hold at any point during a game, especially when you have no board. This card however is a terrible topdeck or random card off Hagatha the Witch and requires you to deliberately hold a dead card for several turns in order to become somewhat strong. Even then, it can't deal with Deathrattles or huge minions effectively and you would (in case you use it in Mid Range lists) most certainly blow up your own board as well. Also, Control Shaman isn't a thing without any kind of heal (remember Healing Rain rotates soon) and has no real win condition. My vote goes to "bad".
It upgrades at the start of your every turn only. Upgrading it during your opponent's turn as well makes no sense.
Peter confirmed there is no upper limit (but for your imagination!)
That makes this pretty good. Not as good as volcano, but that card is dead to us now. If you're running this it seems you're also running Storm Chaser, so it's likely that it will be in your hand enough to upgrade sufficiently.
And my guess is that Krag'wa will return an upgraded version.
Eh... This card is situationally better than Volcano and situationally worse than Volcano. While Volcano was awesome, it had a damage limit, so it couldn't wipe big boards. The same problem exists with Lightening Strike too, since it can only deal 2-3 damage, so Shaman has no efficient way to clear the board. Hagatha's scheme completely fills that hole, and now other classes are going to have to wonder if a Shaman player has been holding this card in their hand the entire time.
This card has the potential to wipe extremely big boards if its in your hand long enough. Imagine someone with a board full of big dragons and you drop this card and it deals 10-12 damage to all minions? That can be a game winner.
The best part of this card is its unpredictability. AoE removal's main weakness is that it can be played around (except Mass Hysteria and Psychic Scream)--for example, if you are playing against a mage, you know to avoid having a board of minions with 4 health because of Flamestrike and you know that a board with around 15 health is just going to eat a Volcano--but this card cannot be played around. Your opponent doesn't know how long it has been in your hand and there is no upper limit for damage (RegisKillbin confirmed this) so any shaman can have an enhanced flamestrike in their hand once we hit around 5 mana.
with Omega Mind this has the potential to be a board wipe + reno on turn 10, seems like a decent replacement for Volcano
That's Incredible!
Will have to wait to see if (Upgrades each turn!) means only on your turn or both players turn. If the former, the card will be good, if the latter the card will be one of the best board clears imo.
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A pretty good new board clear for Shaman. Too bad that Shaman has nothing that's worth stalling for, except maybe some new busted Battlecries for Shudderwock.
I expect that eventually, at least by the end of the year, there will be a deck that makes good use of this.
Don’t think it’s very good. It’s an arcane explosion off a top deck for : extra mana. Think it’ll be far too fiddly for constructed.
RegisKillbin covered this. It is only on the owner's turn and there is no upper cap beyond the turn limit.
This card will help me a lot against jade druid. Right now there's very little I can do as Shaman if I'm not playing retardwock or pull a lucky zentimo hex combo, volcano isn't nearly enough.
Not as good as volcano, but still playable.
I like getting this out of hagatha.
Always expect the unexpectable!
thought of the exact same thing
This is way too powerfull in a control deck - late game you can destroy almost any board. The only downside is the timing of the draw.
SUPER-META-DEFINING
If he's right, then they utterly messed up the text. Gruul uses the same "each turn" wording, and he gets bigger every turn, including your opponent's. So if it's only on the owner's turn, they royally messed up the wording hardcore.