I just cannot see a world where this doesn't see a lot of play, it disrupts so many things some of which that will be relevant in the upcoming expansion and it doesn't have bad stats, this expansion seems to be pushing a lot of deck mechanics so you can see why this card is printed. This could easily be shoehorned into a lot of Hunter and aggro lists. Highlander decks could find room for this but I dunno if any other control decks can make room for this. And people will definitely be trying out a weasel tunnler style of deck with this.
Yeah, this card is really far more powerful than people give credit for. It counters so many things. And this can and will be abused by resurrect Priest. The ability to give your opponent a bunch of 1/1 that DON'T draw a new card is powerful against almost any deck. Even Aggro, they don't want to top deck a 1/1 when they are looking for a finisher or mid range card.
Also, this ruins so many other decks as I have to change my vote to meta-defining for sure. Even if this card NEVER gets played, it simply existing means that any deck that starts to get greedy, will get this card thrown at them.
Control decks cannot afford to draw 1/1 minions either. If they don't play the 1/1 after drawing it, it will sit in their hand, clogging it up with nothing they can use which means any card draw they do have will have to be careful not to overdraw and burn cards.
In Wild, I believe that we have an actual deck now that will annoy your opponent into conceding. N'zoth to keep those dead birds coming back for more too.
In Standard, this will keep Highlander decks from being too powerful and that new Dragonqueen cards seems like they are pushing for the Highlander decks too. If Zephyr cannot get the other player out of a jam because of some birds in their deck, that is truly meta-defining. I hope better players make this a competitive deck just so that casters of Hearthstone have to comment on this card constantly.
Seems like the best card of the set to me. I have trouble imagining a deck I wouldn't play 2x of this. It's just that good. Ripe for a nerf someday I'd guess.
Are people really under the assumption this card is being under rated? For whatever reason, there are people that really dislike the highlander decks and fantasize about teching this card to seal a win against them, as if everyone is going to be playing a highlander deck. I don't think highlander is going to be running over the meta, it will have its place, but there will be tons of other winning archetypes around that people will instantly jump on board and start playing. BLA will be a very powerful card with its moments, but it might disappoint the people who just 'throw it in'.
It's kind of in between a hard and a soft tech for highlander, but how much is highlander going to be run compared to all the other types of decks? Certainly the effect BLA has on non-highlander decks is not as impactful. You have to draw it, spend the mana to play it, pop it, then hope your opponent doesn't draw an albatross until they play one of their 3 highlander cards, assuming they haven't played them already. BLA still can't do anything against a T2 Zephyrs. While a BLA on turn 3 is efficient, drawing the BLA on turn 8+ might be just as useless as drawing an albatross itself.
Everyone wants to tech this card, but everyone also wants to tech the 4 mana 8/8 rush. Silence too? What about stealing your opponent's Weapon, or destroying their armor? Can't run every tech in every deck. At least week 1, Dragonmaw Poacher x2 should have priority over BLA.
My focus in this post as been for this card as a tech. Not just any tech, but mostly as a highlander tech, which is what most people are thinking with this card (yes it has many more uses). This card needs to be evaluated differently if it was to be the focal point of a deck, such as being abused with Priest, Rogue, or Hunter.
I see this card not only as a tech card, but as a specific build around card.
Denying your opponent good draws from their deck is a winning strategy. If they draw a 1/1 on crucial turns, that is such a huge tempo loss as well as potentially game losing on the spot.
Much like Corrupted Blood, once you get enough critical mass of these 1/1 birds, the opponent cannot draw on curve answers, board removal or anything relevant to play.
So that means people might start to tech in that OTHER card that changes all your neutral cards into class cards. You have a card this powerful that can nerf specific deck types (highlander) and just deny other decks the ability to play their deck properly.
Granted, shuffling 4 total birds is not statistical significant to swing unfavorable matches your way, especially if you are disfavored at 40 to 60 win rate. But, it should swing the percentage points in your favor 5 to 10 points, just enough to beat those 50/50 match ups.
But if you were to build an entire deck around this concept? You are talking resurrecting them. Getting more copies to play over and over again. 3 classes might be able to pull this off. Rogue, Priest and Hunter. Though I think Priest has the best chance to be consistent at an actual new deck archetype.
Call it Albatross Priest. The concept to is to limit your deck to the amount of deathrattles. Then keep resurrecting them over and over again.
If your opponents ignore the birds, that's ok, you can go face or trade and still get the ability. Mass Hysteria not only makes the board go away, it makes sure your opponent gets dead draws in the future.
I think the anti-highlander tech is a side benefit, not the main course. People will play highlander decks for fun and in the beginning to play with the new 9 drop Alexstraza. That card is that good. But most highlander decks do not have enough consistency or life gain to be a high tier competitive deck.
This card also hoses so many other decks and archetypes. The new Druid side quest? They now get to summon a 1/1. Big Paladin wants to play all big minions and Duel and so forth? Now they get a 1/1 instead. Hunter wants to draw cards with their Hunter's Call spell? Sure, but you are getting a 1/1 as well.
This card seems really disruptive and I don't think I have even touched on half of the interactions and deck types this screws up.
In Wild, with Weasel Tunneler, you have potentially a really sick crazy deathrattle deck waiting to be abused.
Will try with resurrect priest :-)
I just cannot see a world where this doesn't see a lot of play, it disrupts so many things some of which that will be relevant in the upcoming expansion and it doesn't have bad stats, this expansion seems to be pushing a lot of deck mechanics so you can see why this card is printed. This could easily be shoehorned into a lot of Hunter and aggro lists. Highlander decks could find room for this but I dunno if any other control decks can make room for this. And people will definitely be trying out a weasel tunnler style of deck with this.
Yeah, this card is really far more powerful than people give credit for. It counters so many things. And this can and will be abused by resurrect Priest. The ability to give your opponent a bunch of 1/1 that DON'T draw a new card is powerful against almost any deck. Even Aggro, they don't want to top deck a 1/1 when they are looking for a finisher or mid range card.
Also, this ruins so many other decks as I have to change my vote to meta-defining for sure. Even if this card NEVER gets played, it simply existing means that any deck that starts to get greedy, will get this card thrown at them.
Control decks cannot afford to draw 1/1 minions either. If they don't play the 1/1 after drawing it, it will sit in their hand, clogging it up with nothing they can use which means any card draw they do have will have to be careful not to overdraw and burn cards.
In Wild, I believe that we have an actual deck now that will annoy your opponent into conceding. N'zoth to keep those dead birds coming back for more too.
In Standard, this will keep Highlander decks from being too powerful and that new Dragonqueen cards seems like they are pushing for the Highlander decks too. If Zephyr cannot get the other player out of a jam because of some birds in their deck, that is truly meta-defining. I hope better players make this a competitive deck just so that casters of Hearthstone have to comment on this card constantly.
Seems like the best card of the set to me. I have trouble imagining a deck I wouldn't play 2x of this. It's just that good. Ripe for a nerf someday I'd guess.
Galavant Animation
Are people really under the assumption this card is being under rated? For whatever reason, there are people that really dislike the highlander decks and fantasize about teching this card to seal a win against them, as if everyone is going to be playing a highlander deck. I don't think highlander is going to be running over the meta, it will have its place, but there will be tons of other winning archetypes around that people will instantly jump on board and start playing. BLA will be a very powerful card with its moments, but it might disappoint the people who just 'throw it in'.
It's kind of in between a hard and a soft tech for highlander, but how much is highlander going to be run compared to all the other types of decks? Certainly the effect BLA has on non-highlander decks is not as impactful. You have to draw it, spend the mana to play it, pop it, then hope your opponent doesn't draw an albatross until they play one of their 3 highlander cards, assuming they haven't played them already. BLA still can't do anything against a T2 Zephyrs. While a BLA on turn 3 is efficient, drawing the BLA on turn 8+ might be just as useless as drawing an albatross itself.
Everyone wants to tech this card, but everyone also wants to tech the 4 mana 8/8 rush. Silence too? What about stealing your opponent's Weapon, or destroying their armor? Can't run every tech in every deck. At least week 1, Dragonmaw Poacher x2 should have priority over BLA.
My focus in this post as been for this card as a tech. Not just any tech, but mostly as a highlander tech, which is what most people are thinking with this card (yes it has many more uses). This card needs to be evaluated differently if it was to be the focal point of a deck, such as being abused with Priest, Rogue, or Hunter.
Twitch: Pacific_Onion
I see this card not only as a tech card, but as a specific build around card.
Denying your opponent good draws from their deck is a winning strategy. If they draw a 1/1 on crucial turns, that is such a huge tempo loss as well as potentially game losing on the spot.
Much like Corrupted Blood, once you get enough critical mass of these 1/1 birds, the opponent cannot draw on curve answers, board removal or anything relevant to play.
So that means people might start to tech in that OTHER card that changes all your neutral cards into class cards. You have a card this powerful that can nerf specific deck types (highlander) and just deny other decks the ability to play their deck properly.
Granted, shuffling 4 total birds is not statistical significant to swing unfavorable matches your way, especially if you are disfavored at 40 to 60 win rate. But, it should swing the percentage points in your favor 5 to 10 points, just enough to beat those 50/50 match ups.
But if you were to build an entire deck around this concept? You are talking resurrecting them. Getting more copies to play over and over again. 3 classes might be able to pull this off. Rogue, Priest and Hunter. Though I think Priest has the best chance to be consistent at an actual new deck archetype.
Call it Albatross Priest. The concept to is to limit your deck to the amount of deathrattles. Then keep resurrecting them over and over again.
If your opponents ignore the birds, that's ok, you can go face or trade and still get the ability. Mass Hysteria not only makes the board go away, it makes sure your opponent gets dead draws in the future.
I think the anti-highlander tech is a side benefit, not the main course. People will play highlander decks for fun and in the beginning to play with the new 9 drop Alexstraza. That card is that good. But most highlander decks do not have enough consistency or life gain to be a high tier competitive deck.
This card also hoses so many other decks and archetypes. The new Druid side quest? They now get to summon a 1/1. Big Paladin wants to play all big minions and Duel and so forth? Now they get a 1/1 instead. Hunter wants to draw cards with their Hunter's Call spell? Sure, but you are getting a 1/1 as well.
This card seems really disruptive and I don't think I have even touched on half of the interactions and deck types this screws up.
In Wild, with Weasel Tunneler, you have potentially a really sick crazy deathrattle deck waiting to be abused.
The thing I like best is that if everyone runs this card casually, it sort of cancels itself out.
Of course, that's not true of decks that work hard to exploit it, like perhaps Rez Priest. But for everyone else, it would be a wash.
"Why, you never expected justice from a company, did you? They have neither a soul to lose nor a body to kick." -- Lady Saba Holland
Rogue and Priest will have so much memeing fun with this card :)))
Delete it.
Stay hydrated
I'm guessing you are already gone lol
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