Again, I really think you need to look at this in the context of the other Primes:
Msshi'fin: Nobody's playing this. Druid either goes Big or Spell. Msshi'fin doesn't fit in with either.
Zixor: Is awesome! ...When you get him from an Exotic Mountseller. No Hunter decks are running Exotic Mountseller.
Solarian: What does Highlander Mage do that Spell Mage can't? Not much. In fact, I don't even like seeing this card generated in Spell Mage because I always get worried about it turning off my Apexis Blast... (providing the Albatross didn't do that already)
Murgurgle: Well hey, it's an auto-include in any Paladin deck! ...Paladin blows chunks right now and can't compete on the aggro or control side.
Reliquary of Souls: In theory a good card, kind of a meme in practice. It just doesn't fit into any viable Priest deck. And you don't want to res it, honestly.
Akama: Not terrible, but Stealth Rogue is outclassed by Galakrond Rogue. And Galakrond Rogue can run better cards than this. So, again, doesn't see much play because it's outclassed.
Ebonlocke: Sure, he's a Quest Warlock staple. Quest Warlock sucks and is vastly inferior to Galakrond Warlock, the deck of choice right now.
Kargath: In the same boat as Murgurgle. Sure, he goes into every Warrior deck. Warrior ain't doing much better than Paladin. Sure, they have decks, at least in theory, but I didn't see a single Warrior deck on the most recent tier list I've seen. And mind you, Pure and Libram Paladin made Tier 4. Before any Warrior deck. Somehow!
Vashj: Has a theorycraft OTK deck that doesn't actually work in practice.
...So, again, why are we only singling out Vashj here? "A theorycraft deck that doesn't actually work" is how I could sum up pretty much any other one of the Prime cards.
Probaly not her time yet. I think in the future expansion they maybe will print a realy strong spell( maybe game winning) that she can tutor for and the discount will be important for the combo . Who knows. But yes right now shes not that good.
Goal of this deck: Spam magic totems, control early and midgame, and you have two choices:
1. Burst damage on your opponent face with Lady Vashj, most of your spells deal lethal damage and cheap, so you should able to have three playable cards on the turn prime lady vashj played.
2. Or use this combo: Spell Totem (2 mana) -> use Ethereal Augmerchant on that totem (1 mana), Totemic Reflection (3 mana), results in spell damage +4 for 6 mana. Then play cheap spells from your hand or Lady Vashj's cost reduced spells.
Not strong deck, but its fun. Still experimenting the deck, and its lacking card draw. So I need some help to improve the deck.
Again, I really think you need to look at this in the context of the other Primes:
Msshi'fin: Nobody's playing this. Druid either goes Big or Spell. Msshi'fin doesn't fit in with either.
Zixor: Is awesome! ...When you get him from an Exotic Mountseller. No Hunter decks are running Exotic Mountseller.
Solarian: What does Highlander Mage do that Spell Mage can't? Not much. In fact, I don't even like seeing this card generated in Spell Mage because I always get worried about it turning off my Apexis Blast... (providing the Albatross didn't do that already)
Murgurgle: Well hey, it's an auto-include in any Paladin deck! ...Paladin blows chunks right now and can't compete on the aggro or control side.
Reliquary of Souls: In theory a good card, kind of a meme in practice. It just doesn't fit into any viable Priest deck. And you don't want to res it, honestly.
Akama: Not terrible, but Stealth Rogue is outclassed by Galakrond Rogue. And Galakrond Rogue can run better cards than this. So, again, doesn't see much play because it's outclassed.
Ebonlocke: Sure, he's a Quest Warlock staple. Quest Warlock sucks and is vastly inferior to Galakrond Warlock, the deck of choice right now.
Kargath: In the same boat as Murgurgle. Sure, he goes into every Warrior deck. Warrior ain't doing much better than Paladin. Sure, they have decks, at least in theory, but I didn't see a single Warrior deck on the most recent tier list I've seen. And mind you, Pure and Libram Paladin made Tier 4. Before any Warrior deck. Somehow!
Vashj: Has a theorycraft OTK deck that doesn't actually work in practice.
...So, again, why are we only singling out Vashj here? "A theorycraft deck that doesn't actually work" is how I could sum up pretty much any other one of the Prime cards.
As the others are better designed regardless of how much they are played. Like yeah most of them arent played, but if you add one to your deck its a pretty decent card. However, getting Vashji is much worse than the others as its 100% on what is in your deck. like adding Akama even if rogue does not use it atm lots, still is a decent card and the prime is good enough, where as Vasji is mediocre as a normal card and 100% based on RNG as a prime.
Basically Vashj will suck until blizzard gives it support where the others are decent/ok and can get better over time.
Again, I really think you need to look at this in the context of the other Primes:
Msshi'fin: Nobody's playing this. Druid either goes Big or Spell. Msshi'fin doesn't fit in with either.
Zixor: Is awesome! ...When you get him from an Exotic Mountseller. No Hunter decks are running Exotic Mountseller.
Solarian: What does Highlander Mage do that Spell Mage can't? Not much. In fact, I don't even like seeing this card generated in Spell Mage because I always get worried about it turning off my Apexis Blast... (providing the Albatross didn't do that already)
Murgurgle: Well hey, it's an auto-include in any Paladin deck! ...Paladin blows chunks right now and can't compete on the aggro or control side.
Reliquary of Souls: In theory a good card, kind of a meme in practice. It just doesn't fit into any viable Priest deck. And you don't want to res it, honestly.
Akama: Not terrible, but Stealth Rogue is outclassed by Galakrond Rogue. And Galakrond Rogue can run better cards than this. So, again, doesn't see much play because it's outclassed.
Ebonlocke: Sure, he's a Quest Warlock staple. Quest Warlock sucks and is vastly inferior to Galakrond Warlock, the deck of choice right now.
Kargath: In the same boat as Murgurgle. Sure, he goes into every Warrior deck. Warrior ain't doing much better than Paladin. Sure, they have decks, at least in theory, but I didn't see a single Warrior deck on the most recent tier list I've seen. And mind you, Pure and Libram Paladin made Tier 4. Before any Warrior deck. Somehow!
Vashj: Has a theorycraft OTK deck that doesn't actually work in practice.
...So, again, why are we only singling out Vashj here? "A theorycraft deck that doesn't actually work" is how I could sum up pretty much any other one of the Prime cards.
Akama as a card has a 54 percent winrate, and is seeing play in various Rogue decks; I think your "evaluations" are just guesses, but were fun to read at least.
My estimation is Vashj will see play eventually, but it is certainly not now, most classes can't keep up with the current meta, and Shaman just had an arm cut off. Play Shaman for fun, and hope for better days.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
If you thought you knew what you think I know, then you'd know I knew you knew I know.
I mostly agree, however I think this is exactly the kind of card that will get stronger with every new expansion. She's here to stay for the next 2 years and I'm sure the time when she shines is coming.
" Akama as a card has a 54 percent winrate, and is seeing play in various Rogue decks; I think your "evaluations" are just guesses, but were fun to read at least. "
Not really. At the time I wrote that, Galakrond Rogue -was- kind of kicking stealth Rogue to the curb. And there's better things you can put in Galakrond than Akama.
Having said that, the Stealth Malygos thing is starting to take off for them, and seems like a much better way to build the Stealth deck.
You get a 5/4, with +1 spell power. You pay 7 mana to get a 9 mana discount, You draw 3 cards of a SPECIFIC type that might even benefit from the spell power. And the base card is better than some other ones.
Shaman has plenty of win conditions and a lot of it is from basic cards. Lady vasj isn’t terrible. She’s great on curve and if you’re lucky enough to get her later on can win games.
I play a shammy deck using her, lackeys and spells to finish opponent. The new dragons and Lady Vashj I always use in conjunction with lava burst, lightning bolt to kill opponent.
2 mana lackey dude with 1/1 body + mutate is a very good early game combo for 2 mana. Really surprised not many people are playing tempo shaman decks they are surprisingly stronger than people think.
Rogue, Mage, Hunter, Paladin, and Priest primes all have good win rates (> 50%). Those are all meta-independent cards. That is, they will be good in almomst any deck in almost any meta.
Druid's would fit that category except we are in a strange meta for Druid. But think back on past Druid decks, and it would fit into most of them just fine. Same for Warrior.
Warlock and Shaman are the exceptions in that they need a very specific meta (or set of cards) in order to work.
Rogue, Mage, Hunter, Paladin, and Priest primes all have good win rates (> 50%). Those are all meta-independent cards. That is, they will be good in almomst any deck in almost any meta.
Druid's would fit that category except we are in a strange meta for Druid. But think back on past Druid decks, and it would fit into most of them just fine. Same for Warrior.
Warlock and Shaman are the exceptions in that they need a very specific meta (or set of cards) in order to work.
Winrates means shit if you don't know how to interpret them. Priest prime sucks, even more than Vashj, is not played in any Priest deck whatsoever.
You get a 5/4, with +1 spell power. You pay 7 mana to get a 9 mana discount, You draw 3 cards of a SPECIFIC type that might even benefit from the spell power. And the base card is better than some other ones.
You're crazy.
You forget to mention, You are only getting the discount IF THEY ARE IN YOUR DECK
So if it is your last card it is bad, If you have no spells left it is bad, if you draw spells you don't really want to combo with it is bad
You get a 5/4, with +1 spell power. You pay 7 mana to get a 9 mana discount, You draw 3 cards of a SPECIFIC type that might even benefit from the spell power. And the base card is better than some other ones.
You're crazy.
You forget to mention, You are only getting the discount IF THEY ARE IN YOUR DECK
So if it is your last card it is bad, If you have no spells left it is bad, if you draw spells you don't really want to combo with it is bad
Well ok, it has its situations where it's bad.. if you didn't build the deck right, or if you're unlucky. Yes, it's not an auto-include. But it's a damn fine card in the right deck. It just has to not go behind all of your expensive spells.
Well, she may be more building dependent, but her ceil should be higher than every other Prime.
All other Primes, except for maybe Ebonlocke, can be simply throw in many decks (specially highlander decks) and be OKish. Hunter, Mage and Priest do run theirs in Highlander lists, Paladin does run his Prime in every viable deck I remember (Murloc, Pure and Highlander), but they are so poor positioned in the current meta it isn't even worth to mention.
The Paladin, Hunter and Rogue ones are particularly stronger, cause they are very good on their own but could even get a little better if you build a viable dedicated deck (tribal synergies with Beast and Murloc tags, Stealth synergy), but Priest, Warrior and Druid don't seem to have a lot more to improve as far as deck building goes.
So, we may witness in a future meta a decklist which abuses Vashj's battlecry, and she will most likely be placed in a higher tier than Priest, Warrior and Druid dudes. It could be even the case for Vashj to be more played than Zixor (since a dedicated beast deck right now isn't even tier 4), but only time will tell.
They're adding a ton of new Shaman spells and Shaman spell-based cards in the new expac, so I could see Vashj getting a nice boost in playability.
3 mana spell power is still kinda awkward and the Prime is sort of wonky because you're potentially drawing her late in the game. But she is still a great, great card in any spell-based shaman deck anyway.
Again, I really think you need to look at this in the context of the other Primes:
Msshi'fin: Nobody's playing this. Druid either goes Big or Spell. Msshi'fin doesn't fit in with either.
Zixor: Is awesome! ...When you get him from an Exotic Mountseller. No Hunter decks are running Exotic Mountseller.
Solarian: What does Highlander Mage do that Spell Mage can't? Not much. In fact, I don't even like seeing this card generated in Spell Mage because I always get worried about it turning off my Apexis Blast... (providing the Albatross didn't do that already)
Murgurgle: Well hey, it's an auto-include in any Paladin deck! ...Paladin blows chunks right now and can't compete on the aggro or control side.
Reliquary of Souls: In theory a good card, kind of a meme in practice. It just doesn't fit into any viable Priest deck. And you don't want to res it, honestly.
Akama: Not terrible, but Stealth Rogue is outclassed by Galakrond Rogue. And Galakrond Rogue can run better cards than this. So, again, doesn't see much play because it's outclassed.
Ebonlocke: Sure, he's a Quest Warlock staple. Quest Warlock sucks and is vastly inferior to Galakrond Warlock, the deck of choice right now.
Kargath: In the same boat as Murgurgle. Sure, he goes into every Warrior deck. Warrior ain't doing much better than Paladin. Sure, they have decks, at least in theory, but I didn't see a single Warrior deck on the most recent tier list I've seen. And mind you, Pure and Libram Paladin made Tier 4. Before any Warrior deck. Somehow!
Vashj: Has a theorycraft OTK deck that doesn't actually work in practice.
...So, again, why are we only singling out Vashj here? "A theorycraft deck that doesn't actually work" is how I could sum up pretty much any other one of the Prime cards.
Probaly not her time yet. I think in the future expansion they maybe will print a realy strong spell( maybe game winning) that she can tutor for and the discount will be important for the combo . Who knows. But yes right now shes not that good.
She's actually pretty good in my Odd Shaman... so... I like her alot.
Goal of this deck: Spam magic totems, control early and midgame, and you have two choices:
1. Burst damage on your opponent face with Lady Vashj, most of your spells deal lethal damage and cheap, so you should able to have three playable cards on the turn prime lady vashj played.
2. Or use this combo: Spell Totem (2 mana) -> use Ethereal Augmerchant on that totem (1 mana), Totemic Reflection (3 mana), results in spell damage +4 for 6 mana. Then play cheap spells from your hand or Lady Vashj's cost reduced spells.
Not strong deck, but its fun. Still experimenting the deck, and its lacking card draw. So I need some help to improve the deck.
I like elementals and totems.
the card is 1 year too late. they are already pushing spell shaman with the frogs in Rastakhan, idk why they keep printing late cards.
As the others are better designed regardless of how much they are played. Like yeah most of them arent played, but if you add one to your deck its a pretty decent card. However, getting Vashji is much worse than the others as its 100% on what is in your deck. like adding Akama even if rogue does not use it atm lots, still is a decent card and the prime is good enough, where as Vasji is mediocre as a normal card and 100% based on RNG as a prime.
Basically Vashj will suck until blizzard gives it support where the others are decent/ok and can get better over time.
What about Jepetto, ? Prime/ Alex / Maly at 1 mana if You can survive
Akama as a card has a 54 percent winrate, and is seeing play in various Rogue decks; I think your "evaluations" are just guesses, but were fun to read at least.
My estimation is Vashj will see play eventually, but it is certainly not now, most classes can't keep up with the current meta, and Shaman just had an arm cut off. Play Shaman for fun, and hope for better days.
If you thought you knew what you think I know, then you'd know I knew you knew I know.
I mostly agree, however I think this is exactly the kind of card that will get stronger with every new expansion. She's here to stay for the next 2 years and I'm sure the time when she shines is coming.
got it on pre-order free golden legendary card. Disenchanted without a doubt immediately ^_^
" Akama as a card has a 54 percent winrate, and is seeing play in various Rogue decks; I think your "evaluations" are just guesses, but were fun to read at least. "
Not really. At the time I wrote that, Galakrond Rogue -was- kind of kicking stealth Rogue to the curb. And there's better things you can put in Galakrond than Akama.
Having said that, the Stealth Malygos thing is starting to take off for them, and seems like a much better way to build the Stealth deck.
WTF!
You get a 5/4, with +1 spell power. You pay 7 mana to get a 9 mana discount, You draw 3 cards of a SPECIFIC type that might even benefit from the spell power. And the base card is better than some other ones.
You're crazy.
Shaman has plenty of win conditions and a lot of it is from basic cards. Lady vasj isn’t terrible. She’s great on curve and if you’re lucky enough to get her later on can win games.
I play a shammy deck using her, lackeys and spells to finish opponent. The new dragons and Lady Vashj I always use in conjunction with lava burst, lightning bolt to kill opponent.
2 mana lackey dude with 1/1 body + mutate is a very good early game combo for 2 mana. Really surprised not many people are playing tempo shaman decks they are surprisingly stronger than people think.
Rogue, Mage, Hunter, Paladin, and Priest primes all have good win rates (> 50%). Those are all meta-independent cards. That is, they will be good in almomst any deck in almost any meta.
Druid's would fit that category except we are in a strange meta for Druid. But think back on past Druid decks, and it would fit into most of them just fine. Same for Warrior.
Warlock and Shaman are the exceptions in that they need a very specific meta (or set of cards) in order to work.
Winrates means shit if you don't know how to interpret them. Priest prime sucks, even more than Vashj, is not played in any Priest deck whatsoever.
You forget to mention, You are only getting the discount IF THEY ARE IN YOUR DECK
So if it is your last card it is bad, If you have no spells left it is bad, if you draw spells you don't really want to combo with it is bad
Moorabi 2.0
Well ok, it has its situations where it's bad.. if you didn't build the deck right, or if you're unlucky. Yes, it's not an auto-include. But it's a damn fine card in the right deck. It just has to not go behind all of your expensive spells.
Akama sucks.
Well, she may be more building dependent, but her ceil should be higher than every other Prime.
All other Primes, except for maybe Ebonlocke, can be simply throw in many decks (specially highlander decks) and be OKish. Hunter, Mage and Priest do run theirs in Highlander lists, Paladin does run his Prime in every viable deck I remember (Murloc, Pure and Highlander), but they are so poor positioned in the current meta it isn't even worth to mention.
The Paladin, Hunter and Rogue ones are particularly stronger, cause they are very good on their own but could even get a little better if you build a viable dedicated deck (tribal synergies with Beast and Murloc tags, Stealth synergy), but Priest, Warrior and Druid don't seem to have a lot more to improve as far as deck building goes.
So, we may witness in a future meta a decklist which abuses Vashj's battlecry, and she will most likely be placed in a higher tier than Priest, Warrior and Druid dudes. It could be even the case for Vashj to be more played than Zixor (since a dedicated beast deck right now isn't even tier 4), but only time will tell.
They're adding a ton of new Shaman spells and Shaman spell-based cards in the new expac, so I could see Vashj getting a nice boost in playability.
3 mana spell power is still kinda awkward and the Prime is sort of wonky because you're potentially drawing her late in the game. But she is still a great, great card in any spell-based shaman deck anyway.