Hello guys, Sigma here, a Legend player, deck architect and guide writer here, on Hearthpwn! I will do a small series of analysis on the wings of the League of Explorers Adventure just to try to maybe give you a better insight into what you should expect from these cards, how OP some of these cards really are, and if there are maybe some hidden effects or tactics behind some of these cards. So here is the analysis of the second wing, enjoy!
Introduction
As in the 2nd wing , in order to present to you these 10 cards to its best, I will divide them into three tiers, first one being the God tier, second one being the Meh Tier and the third one, which is at the same time the worst one I will name, let’s say… Savagery Tier, as the card will most likely never see play. Most of the analysis will be directed at the Ladder play, but I will note Arena for some cards where note is due.
I will give it my best to analyse all of the cards thoroughly as I personally can, but as every other human, I might also be wrong, as some pros were for cards like Dr. Boom and Mysterious Challenger, so if you do disagree with me I would love to hear it in the comments below or if you agree, well, great minds thing alike! Also, even though the analysis will be thorough, I will also try to make it as compact as possible as it is in nobody’s interest for you to scroll for three hours through an analysis.
Firstly, I will try to illustrate what are the chances of these cards fitting some of the archtypes that are currently present in the meta, or what new decks could be made by including this card in them or completely revolving around them. You will also be able to see me discussing these cards live at www.twitch.tv/sigmasrb, www.facebook.com/sigmasrb or www.twitter.com/sigmasrb
Secondly, please note that this is an analysis for the cards in the long term period, which means the while both the god tier cards and the savagery cards might see some play in the beginning while the decks with them are being refined and tried out, the god cards are the ones which will probably remain in the meta in some form or shape.
Besides that, as I am sure that some of you will argue that none of these cards belong in the Savagery Tier know that I some of these cards have to be on the 10th or 9th place. This choice is always pretty difficult to make as I, as a deck builder, always see some value in all cards, like I am sure most of you do as well.
Lastly, as most people love the sweet stuff at the end, like eating the hard chocolate in the end of the Chocomania ice cream, I will start off with the Savagery Tier and move up to God Tier. Also, when I mention in which decks the card can fit in the current meta, I will go from top being the worst fit to bottom being the best one.
4 mana neutral 7/4 minion which shuffles an “Ancient Curse” into your deck that deals 7 damage to you when drawn.
Will it fit current decks? Most likely not.
Control decks – Let’s take Control Warrior for example. Some of them actually do run a 4 mana drop as a Piloted Shredder in them in order to put something sticky on the board and to be able to trade and keep the control of the board besides the warrior himself keeping the control of the board with his weapons. The card is probably not bad when being dropped, but the fact that it can be pretty easily removable with only a 3 or 4 drop, and you will most likely be dropping it on a board of more than one minion if you play control warrior or any other control deck so this doesn’t pay off.
Tempo decks - For tempo it might be a bit better especially if you manage to keep the tempo until turn 3 and then drop this on an empty board. It might require your opponent to go long distances to remove it by using maybe even more than one card, which will result in your advantage. But, again I can’t say with certainty how much it pays off as a shredder can easily trade into it and the Ancient Curse can also fuck you up pretty bad as a tempo deck and give your opponent an advantage in killing you.
Handlock/Echo Mage – It might actually fit decks like this in a more controlled oriented meta, which might not be that far away from us, as if you fight for example, a freeze mage, or a control warrior, you won’t be getting that much damage to your face and your Molten Giants will just simply be stuck in your hand. The Ancient Curse might actually help you reach that perfect Molten curve and heal yourself afterwards with a healbot. Even though Reno might help us get to that control meta many of us dream about, it won’t happen anytime soon.
Will there be any new decks made for it? Most likely not.
I believe no decks will be made for this deck, it might only serve to enhance the decks which already have strong turn 4 drops. I believe that a Piloted Shredder is miles better than this card so I see it never replacing that 4 mana slot, which is already so highly congested in many decks.
9. Summoning Stone
5 mana cost 0/6 minion which summons a minion the same cost of the spell used.
Will it fit current decks? Most likely not.
Oil Rogue – The only deck that I see where it MIGHT fit is the oil rogue, which is based heavily on spells. Even though it’s very situational and it would make the oil rogue an even more combo-based deck, it can somehow be able to fit. On the other hand, it’s pretty easy to remove on turn 5 by the minions of your opponent and it’s probably going to be spawning pretty bad minions as you will probably or in most of the time be playing cheap spells afterwards just to try to get some value out of it.
Will new decks be made for it? They might.
Some form of a control priest would be able to pop out of this lovely thing. As far as you manage to survive past turn 6 and drop this it might get you some value. We have to pay attention to the key word here – MIGHT. If you don’t manage to accomplish that, you will just feel the saltiness of the player we all know, let’s name him R, and you will most likely just remove it from the deck. Some rogue might be made from it as rogue also has pretty cheap spells but the card is too situational for it to see serious play (even though it might be good for the lols), and is therefore in the Savagery Tier.
Meh Tier
8. Sacred Trial
1 mana Paladin Secret that destroys the minion that your opponent plays if he already has 3 on the board.
Will it fit current decks? It might.
Aggro Paladin – Even though I honestly doubt that any secrets will find their way into the aggro paladin decks, it could prove somewhat useful. The problem is, is that with all aggro decks you want to make your opponent trade with your minions while making bad trades, while also at the same time you make good ones and apply constant pressure on your opponent’s face.
Secret Paladin – Even though it’s another secret that might buff the secret paladin’s dirty arsenal, it will probably not be able to find it’s place as the list is already heavily congested not even having space for a second Competetive Spirit or Repentance. It can prove useful in this deck of course, but at the point of playing Dr. 6 you should preferably not have more than 1 minion on your opponent’s board so from that point on it won’t be that helpful. It might probably help you in the early/mid game. The aggressive secrets have priority in secret paladin decks which is why Avenges are played before Repentance.
Will new decks be made for it? Probably not.
As it’s a secret, and nowadays secrets don’t pay off without the Mysterious Challenger, any deck someone makes will give or take turn into a secret paladin in whichever direction you go. Possibilities of a secret-something hybrid are of course open, and in this case the card might actually find some kind of use.
7. Obsidian Destroyer
7 mana Warrior 7/7 minion which creates a 1/1 minion with taunt at the end of every turn.
Will it fit current decks? It might.
Control Warrior – Funny thing is, is that the deck where most people said they might try this card out, I don’t see fitting at all. Dropping a 7/7 on turn 7 or best case 6, to an empty board from your side and a moderately full or less than that if you managed to control properly, this minion will go down harder than a sumo wrestler. BGH, Fireball + Hero Power, Execute, Siphon Soul all remove this minion with ease so it might remove one of your scarcely seen ctrl warrior minions. SIDENOTE: It can be a very good replacement for Dr. Boom for example in a budget control warrior.
Patron Warrior – My thoughts on this card are very divided. It’s a pretty sticky card, and if the board has been controlled that annoying scarab can actually cause a pretty big problem. If you do manage to clear the board in front of you with Whirlwinds and Inner Rages, while still managing to setup your board with Grim Patrons, then this card can be pretty devastating. I believe that one of the big minuses of this card is the the stats are whatever, as it’s a 7/7/7 card but that scarab might actually make it viable.
Reno Warrior – I would be willing to try this one in Renowarrior. Decks with Reno are mostly just collections of cards with the most value and even though there are a lot of good cards out there that the warrior can use, this one can actually be good as a massive turn 7 threat. There are good late game minions for warrior, but this one can easily be in the top 5 minions for turn 7.
Will some new decks be made for it? They might.
This also opens up the possibility of some potential bolster warrior. A VERY slight one, but a strong minion creating little taunts can prove to be good and trigger your weapon for another stack or make a free 3/3 taunt with Bolster. Besides that, I don’t think this card will see that much play.
ARENA SIDENOTE: This card is the bomb in arena. A warrior COMMON which basically wins the game if not dealt with on the same turn, which might be difficult as you have to spend an attack of one minion of a little 1/1 annoy-o-scarab. #arenawarriorsmatter
6. Rumbling Elemental
4 Mana Shaman 2/6 minion that deals 2 damage to a random enemy after you play a battlecry card.
Will it fit current decks? Most likely not.
Mech Shaman – I don’t think that this deck has a spot in any kind of mech shaman simply as the mech list is already highly congested and there are not even remotely enough battlecry cards in the deck for this card to fit.
Midrange Shaman – I don’t see this card as a bad one at all. It has decent, controlish stats for a 4 mana card, pretty sticky if you ask me, but I doubt it will fit into the midrange shaman itself.
Will some new decks be made for it? I believe so.
I strongly believe that people will be working on this card and making it work in some kind of a Brann Bronzebeard shaman where everything will be revolving around battlecries. I believe that it can be pretty devastating if you manage to pull off something with bran as a battlecry booster while the card is on the board already. I believe it can give you solid tempo after turn 4 and I am excited to see what kind of decks will come out of it.
5. Djinni of Zephyrs
5 mana cost 4/6 neutral minion that copies a spell cast on a friendly minion and takes
Will it fit current decks? Probably not.
Aggro Paladin – Too slow of a card, won’t fit in this concept, paladin needs small minions, preferably with divine shield. You can use Hand of Protection in order to put Divine shield on HIM, but that is again way too slow for an aggro deck.
Control Priest - Here it might even fit, especially when the meta itself gets slower as it’s slowly getting there and as the priest has quite a bit of buffs that can be taken by him, one copy of this card might actually be a good addition to some kind of a buff control variation. Definitely something worth considering at least.
Will new decks be made for it? I believe so.
The concept of the card is cool. It’s a neutral card taking buffs. There are a lot of buffs in the game. I see something happening here. I probably see this card most in some kind of a buff paladin, with Hand of Protection, Blessing of Might and Blessing of Kings. Also in some kind of Inner Fire priest, where you can probably buff some other minion next to it to the abyss and get it buffed as well. The only big minus and why the card is in the meh part is that it’s a VERY slow card, which requires buffs after it which also cost additional mana.
4. Anubisath Sentinel
5 mana cost 4/4 that has a Deathrattle that gives a friendly minion 3/3.
Will it fit current decks? Undoubtedly.
As it might fit in many decks I will just ordinate them by type.
Tempo – This is probably the type of a deck where it could fit least. The card is pretty slow on its own, and if you manage to get it out it will probably get removed after the minion next to it giving you no value. It doesn’t mean it would always be the case but in most cases I see this happening. It could fit in decks like the Midrange zoo for example, or anything that isn’t full gas, fitting even in the spot of a Sludge Belcher.
Control – Dark Cultist on steroids. Anduin Wrynn likes this. I see this card fitting preeeety nicely in control decks, as you should always try to have minions on the board, this guy can give them nothing but value. I am talking about Control Priest, Control Warrior, maybe even some kind of Control Druid and Paladin?
Combo – The first thing I see when I look at this card is the DEATHRATTLE. Oh boy oh boy oh boy. Deathrattle decks ahoy? I am pretty sure it could fit in the Rattle rogue deck instead of one belcher and I am pretty sure it would be able to give you some value. The only problem is that the card itself doesn’t have great stats, but a 4/4 isn’t also for throwing away. It might also fit in some Secret Paladin decks, where it could be alongside Loatheb on that turn 5 to give you amazing value and I wont even mention it coming to life via Redemption! Ouch! Feign Death hunter? :o
Will new decks be made for it? I believe so.
I am honestly hoping for the comeback of the Undertaker from the time it was nerfed so to see people play him again would bring some very nice memories back. Most of us miss the old decks like the Miracle Rogue, Charge Warrior and Undertaker Hunter no matter how much we hated them at that point. So three huzzahs to the Deathrattle decks!
ARENA SIDENOTE: This card is brutal in arena. The value you get from the Deathrattle is absolutely through the roof!
God Tier
3. Jeweled Scarab
2 mana cost 1/1 neutral Beast that discovers a 3 cost card as a battlecry.
Will it fit current decks? Undoubtedly.
Almost any kind of Midrange or Control deck really – I strongly believe that Hearthstone is a game of curves. The curve of the game is the most important thing here and if you manage to drop things on curve, giving you good, quality minions that build your board nicely, you will most likely be winning the game, as long as you don’t screw up the trading that much or run into massive removals from your opponent like Brawl or Lightbomb. This is the exact reason why Face Hunter is such a nuisance to deal with. That deck is all about staying in the curve, and trying to cover up the holes with your hero power that deals damage like a 1 mana or 2 mana minion constantly.
I see this card fitting in for example midrange paladin, midrange shaman and more, and in the control decks like the Control Priest which usually has problems playing things on turn 2 and 3 and therefore has to rely heavily on cards like Velen's Chosen which can be silenced easily, a Deathlord which can hit you back like a train by giving your opponent a very good minion and let’s say a Dark Cultist which needs a minion next to him which you usually don’t have as a control priest.
I believe or let’s say I hope that we will see this little guy often. I would love to try him out in my beast hunter and druid and see if I can maybe make it work. And I personally don’t see why wouldn’t it, just imagine getting a Mounted Raptor from him in a beast deck. I am starting to drool.
2. Dark Peddler
2 mana cost 2/2 Warlock that discovers a 1 mana cost card as a battlecry.
Will it fit current decks? Undoubtedly.
Reno Warlock- Even though this card is going to redefine turn 2 for most likely ALL warlocks, it somehow has a very awkward position in reno warlock, at least from my experience so far. It usually requires you to play it on turn 2 and then to coin out something that you get if it’s good or to play it on turn 2 without coin and then awkwardly tap and play a minion on turn 3. It’s a good card in reno, but it just somehow feels too weird for me. Therefore the reno is the “worst” of the best decks to play the peddler in.
Zoo/Midrange Zoo warlock – Man, I can’t seem to hide how much I love this card even through the half of its analysis. It just kind of makes me feel tingly inside, like, let’s say, a first kiss. Was that overboard? Huh. Well anyway, it fits the concept of the zoo like Ace Ventura would say “Liiiiiiikeee a GLOVE!” It gives you a minion to fill out any curve lacking you might have, it can give you a Soulfire or another Power Overwhelming as an extra finisher, or support your board with a taunt like Voidwalker or buff your entire board with something like a Reliquary Seeker.
Malygos Warlock – This is the deck I am most hyped about and I can’t wait to try it out. It will help you get through that early game that malygod mostly has problems with, it can give you another Soulfire to use when you drop Malygos, or it can help you support your board further. What more can you ask for??
Will new decks be made for it? Undoubtedly.
I belive that even now, two weeks atfter the card came out, it probably made the biggest hit on the warlock gameplay since the early beta. The card fits the warlock mechanisms so well, that even those people who never liked warlock or the zoo archtype started playing it. Regarding new decks, we might see the faster zoos again because of him, but it will complement the decks which we already have by quite a lot.
1. Reno Jackson
6 mana neutral 4/6 minion that heals you up FULLY if you don’t have more than one copy of each card in your deck LEFT.
*breaks out of the form of the analysis whilst yelling from the top of his lungs with a warcry louder than the almighty war cry of Gromash Hellscream*RENO MOTHERF***ING JACKSON. THE RENO IS HERE TO KICK ASS AND TAKE NAMES!
Wow, I love this card. I never thought I would enjoy it this much until I started playing it and saw the raw potential it has behind it. Some people are calling it the face hunter annihilator, some are calling him the tempo extinguisher, I call him the almighty Messiah of Hearthstone Control.
Even though the card itself can’t really fit in any decks that are alrady present, like someone tried to include him into the deck, I found it to be incredibly incostitent if you actually have more than one copy of your card while playing Reno and hoping to get him. The only deck I see him fitting is the Fatigue Warrior or some Fatigue Priest where one can survive for a long time until they are sure that they don’t have more than one copy and can play Reno in peace and see their opponent explode. Even though I love this card I have to point out some flaws that the decks including him might have. You are usually screwed when you don’t manage to draw him and your opponent managed to burn you down extremely quickly. If you don’t draw and heals it usually turns out to be your loss if you don’t draw Reno. Also, Beneath the Grounds is bad. Really bad. But the more important question is:
Will new decks be made for it? DAMN RIGHT THEY WILL.
It didn’t take too much time to see people trying him out and playing him with moderate to high success. It found its spot in competitive play I believe faster than any other deck before it. I believe that Reno will find his way through all 9 classes (10th too maybe, yeah I am looking at you Death Knight) and I love this simply because the variety of the decks will be immense and the diverse meta is always a good thing for deck builders.
Hearthstone has changed too much, everything became incredibly quick and the outcome of the game is usually known by turn 6. I love games where the outcome is unknown until the very end and Reno will take care of that I am sure.
And this is it for the 1st wing of League of Explorers guys, presented after the 2nd wing just like the Star Wars I, II and III were presented after the IV, V and VI. I tried to make it as short as possible for your enjoyment, so I am really sorry if some of the cards weren’t as detailed as you would like it to be, but you can always ask me anything in the comments or if you have anything to add or to argue about, let me know, just please be constructive, as I won’t be replying to those comments which aren’t!
If you would like to get in touch with me directly or come check out my stream where I practise for my tournaments, or where I try to reach legend with all kinds of interesting and new decks, stop by at www.twitch.tv/sigmasrb or come say hello, or you know, “man your guide is very wrong!” at www.facebook.com/sigmasrb or www.twitter.com/sigmasrb. I also do all kinds of events like Hearthstone Trivia, Viewer Tournaments that have awesome rewards and many more! Some of the videos of my crazy plays can be found at www.youtube.com/sigmasrb!
Mostly agree with what's been written here. My own comments:
1. I know this article is at least slightly predictive in nature, but with Anubisath Sentinel, have any legend-quality competitive decks arisen yet that include it, and actually use it well? After playing Magic for the better part of a decade, I'm very wary of cards that ask you to give up a fair bit now for the promise of value later. I'm not sold against it, but I'm not sold on it either - it's a very different scenario from Dark Cultist, who has a great statline as well as a useful deathrattle. Most decks tend to prefer a minion that isn't going to, well, suck (relative to the cost) if it's their only one out.
2. Deeeefinitely agree with Scarab. It's an amazing card. It seemed at least ok before we found out about the 4x class card design, but after that, it exploded in usefulness. Personally, I've made 3 decent+ decks where it's fairly key: secrets mage (Scarab makes it even more likely that you can get a Kirin Tor + secret turn 3, sometimes gives you the Kirin Tor Mage itself, and other times just gives you a solid card), beast hunter (not only is it a beast, but hunter has some very nice cards at 3 mana, especially for beast decks - Animal Companion anyone?) and beast druid (somewhat similar to hunter - off the top of my head the 3 drops in druid aren't quite as good on the whole, but it's a beast that smooths out your curve, and somewhat often can get you a Druid of the Flame which is a fantastic 3 drop in the deck).
3. Probably could have been even harder on the Shade. That thing is traaaaaash. Would a 6/5 have been too good? Very likely, but at 7/4 it just dies too easily for a drawback that takes off a quarter of your starting life. It's a worse Pit Lord, and Pit Lord is a mostly unseen card.
I tried shade, it's trash indeed the +2 attack doesn't matter at all even without a drawback.. Tried in aggro obviously.
I think you overrated anubisath it's not that good in my opinion.. It's too slow and easy to work around just like with dark cultist .. It's basically a worse dark cultist..
In rattle rogue idk.. Didn't liked rattle rogue we aren't there yet..
The jeweled scarab is really strong.. Hard to give up on slots on some decks.. But definetly worth it.
About Sacred Trial: I've tested it in my midrange secret paladin, and I definitely prefer it over Repentance for one simple reason: Dr. Boom. At least for now most opponents will try to play around repetance, but if they have even one minion on board and play Dr. Boom, trial destroys Boom immediately. For many current meta decks, Sacred trial is hard to play around even if they know what's coming, at the very least it forces suboptimal trades if one wants to have maximum of 2 minions on board when playing another. Of course Trial is mostly useless against control warrior, but that matchup is often favored for midrange decks anyway.
About Ancient Shade: I've seen Shade used occasionally in aggro druid and especially innervated early on it can give nice value whilst being a bit hard to remove by spells. But on the other hand I would not pick it over Fel Reaver for most MUs, so it probably isn't going to see much play.
Summoning Stone has more potential that you might see right now. I have the feeling this card is under-looked. Not only it enables fun archetypes (which is always good), it is always a priority target (thus, tanking 6+ damages) and giving values to "non-board affecting" spells.
Also, in rogue, as a side effect of a Preparation bug, playing Prep-Summoning Stone-Sprint (in that order) summons a 7 drop. It's a bug but as we know Blizzard is not very... effective as patching "non-game breaking bugs".
You don't have to build a deck around it. It can just act as a support/soft taunt card, just as Thaurissan is a combo-enabler/soft taunt.
Your 100% wrong on Anubisath Sentinel it will see next too zero constructed play and it suffers the same problem that Dark Cultist does that the deathrattle seldom hits a target because your opponent will play around it and kill it last..This happens often in Arena and will almost always be the case in Constructed.. <snip>
Agree with everything said about Anubisath Sentinel, not a good card in both game modes. Also you said Jeweled Scarab is good in pally, but why the hell will you give up Shielded Minibot for a slight chance to get a good 3-drop, when you have godly mustard, aldors and maybe a coghammer in your deck
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Has anyone made a deck out of the ancient shade plus fel reaver combo? I see it good in maybe aggro druid, with no backlash whatsoever.
Lacking a del reaver so I replaced a shade with it.. Kinda lame. The 4 hp is horrendous it doesn't trade with anything and the 2 attack barely matter savage combatant is way better.
Anubisath Sentinel is below Djinn of Zephyrs for me, it doesn't fit into anything at all. Tempo can't use a 4/4 on 5, Control would just use a bigger minion to begin with and a 4/4 on 5 has no right to exist in any Aggro deck.
Even in Raptor Rogue, the deathrattle is basically a weaker Nerubian Egg, except more situational and it costs more, and it doesn't even sorta ward off AoEs like the Egg could.
I haven't seen a single Anubisath Sentinel on ladder, and i've played a considerable amount of games this past week. Personally, i think that the card is trash tier in constructed, and moderately useful in arena.
Your 100% wrong on Anubisath Sentinel it will see next too zero constructed play and it suffers the same problem that Dark Cultist does that the deathrattle seldom hits a target because your opponent will play around it and kill it last..This happens often in Arena and will almost always be the case in Constructed..Noob review is noob review.
this. especially since we already have the metagame swing which cards are played and other are not.
Also you said Jeweled Scarab is good in pally, but why the hell will you give up Shielded Minibot for a slight chance to get a good 3-drop, when you have godly mustard, aldors and maybe a coghammer in your deck
Shielded Minibot is just two slots in your deck so there's nothing wrong with running Jeweled Scarab alongside it. Plus, like you said, pally has some great three drops so there's a good chance you will get yet another muster, aldor, or coghammer. Even Warhorse Trainer is pretty solid and Scarlet Purifier can be useful in the right situation.
Wow, you guys really got active! To start off with, that you very much to everyone who has been really supportive of this analysis series, there will be more coming, so I hope you guys will like those too!
As I can see many people commenting about Anubisath and some more cards, I will reply to all of them with this one message that mentioned that I overvalued/undervalued the card. So, as some of you rare individuals haven't even bothered to read through the introduction properly, the top 10 is based on how I see the cards being in the meta LONG-TERM, speaking of the potential of the card itself, and I believe that Anubisath Sentinel has a lot of potential to offer us as the deathrattle is just too strong to pass on. Sure you need a minion next to it, but if you do and your opponent cant remove both, you are putting him at a VERY awkward position, maybe one that is even bigger than Sylvanas Windrunner creates when dropped on a board. The only compromise that I can make with you guys is that I excluded Anubisath from the God Tier, but it's still on 4. spot.
Regarding the Shade, I've learned as an analyst to thoroughly look at every card from more than one perspective, if one is allowed so I have to present a neutral point of view if possible and give you guys the choice to take whichever road you want.
Also, please forgive me if you firmly believe that I undervalued your new favourite card or overvalued a card you see as really bad, the top 10 of almost anything is extremely hard to make as there must be some cards which will be in the 10. and 9. spot.
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Hello guys, Sigma here, a Legend player, deck architect and guide writer here, on Hearthpwn! I will do a small series of analysis on the wings of the League of Explorers Adventure just to try to maybe give you a better insight into what you should expect from these cards, how OP some of these cards really are, and if there are maybe some hidden effects or tactics behind some of these cards. So here is the analysis of the second wing, enjoy!
Introduction
As in the 2nd wing , in order to present to you these 10 cards to its best, I will divide them into three tiers, first one being the God tier, second one being the Meh Tier and the third one, which is at the same time the worst one I will name, let’s say… Savagery Tier, as the card will most likely never see play. Most of the analysis will be directed at the Ladder play, but I will note Arena for some cards where note is due.
I will give it my best to analyse all of the cards thoroughly as I personally can, but as every other human, I might also be wrong, as some pros were for cards like Dr. Boom and Mysterious Challenger, so if you do disagree with me I would love to hear it in the comments below or if you agree, well, great minds thing alike! Also, even though the analysis will be thorough, I will also try to make it as compact as possible as it is in nobody’s interest for you to scroll for three hours through an analysis.
Firstly, I will try to illustrate what are the chances of these cards fitting some of the archtypes that are currently present in the meta, or what new decks could be made by including this card in them or completely revolving around them. You will also be able to see me discussing these cards live at www.twitch.tv/sigmasrb, www.facebook.com/sigmasrb or www.twitter.com/sigmasrb
Secondly, please note that this is an analysis for the cards in the long term period, which means the while both the god tier cards and the savagery cards might see some play in the beginning while the decks with them are being refined and tried out, the god cards are the ones which will probably remain in the meta in some form or shape.
Besides that, as I am sure that some of you will argue that none of these cards belong in the Savagery Tier know that I some of these cards have to be on the 10th or 9th place. This choice is always pretty difficult to make as I, as a deck builder, always see some value in all cards, like I am sure most of you do as well.
Lastly, as most people love the sweet stuff at the end, like eating the hard chocolate in the end of the Chocomania ice cream, I will start off with the Savagery Tier and move up to God Tier. Also, when I mention in which decks the card can fit in the current meta, I will go from top being the worst fit to bottom being the best one.
Savagery Tier
10. Ancient Shade
4 mana neutral 7/4 minion which shuffles an “Ancient Curse” into your deck that deals 7 damage to you when drawn.
Will it fit current decks? Most likely not.
Control decks – Let’s take Control Warrior for example. Some of them actually do run a 4 mana drop as a Piloted Shredder in them in order to put something sticky on the board and to be able to trade and keep the control of the board besides the warrior himself keeping the control of the board with his weapons. The card is probably not bad when being dropped, but the fact that it can be pretty easily removable with only a 3 or 4 drop, and you will most likely be dropping it on a board of more than one minion if you play control warrior or any other control deck so this doesn’t pay off.
Tempo decks - For tempo it might be a bit better especially if you manage to keep the tempo until turn 3 and then drop this on an empty board. It might require your opponent to go long distances to remove it by using maybe even more than one card, which will result in your advantage. But, again I can’t say with certainty how much it pays off as a shredder can easily trade into it and the Ancient Curse can also fuck you up pretty bad as a tempo deck and give your opponent an advantage in killing you.
Handlock/Echo Mage – It might actually fit decks like this in a more controlled oriented meta, which might not be that far away from us, as if you fight for example, a freeze mage, or a control warrior, you won’t be getting that much damage to your face and your Molten Giants will just simply be stuck in your hand. The Ancient Curse might actually help you reach that perfect Molten curve and heal yourself afterwards with a healbot. Even though Reno might help us get to that control meta many of us dream about, it won’t happen anytime soon.
Will there be any new decks made for it? Most likely not.
I believe no decks will be made for this deck, it might only serve to enhance the decks which already have strong turn 4 drops. I believe that a Piloted Shredder is miles better than this card so I see it never replacing that 4 mana slot, which is already so highly congested in many decks.
9. Summoning Stone
5 mana cost 0/6 minion which summons a minion the same cost of the spell used.
Will it fit current decks? Most likely not.
Oil Rogue – The only deck that I see where it MIGHT fit is the oil rogue, which is based heavily on spells. Even though it’s very situational and it would make the oil rogue an even more combo-based deck, it can somehow be able to fit. On the other hand, it’s pretty easy to remove on turn 5 by the minions of your opponent and it’s probably going to be spawning pretty bad minions as you will probably or in most of the time be playing cheap spells afterwards just to try to get some value out of it.
Will new decks be made for it? They might.
Some form of a control priest would be able to pop out of this lovely thing. As far as you manage to survive past turn 6 and drop this it might get you some value. We have to pay attention to the key word here – MIGHT. If you don’t manage to accomplish that, you will just feel the saltiness of the player we all know, let’s name him R, and you will most likely just remove it from the deck. Some rogue might be made from it as rogue also has pretty cheap spells but the card is too situational for it to see serious play (even though it might be good for the lols), and is therefore in the Savagery Tier.
Meh Tier
8. Sacred Trial
1 mana Paladin Secret that destroys the minion that your opponent plays if he already has 3 on the board.
Will it fit current decks? It might.
Aggro Paladin – Even though I honestly doubt that any secrets will find their way into the aggro paladin decks, it could prove somewhat useful. The problem is, is that with all aggro decks you want to make your opponent trade with your minions while making bad trades, while also at the same time you make good ones and apply constant pressure on your opponent’s face.
Secret Paladin – Even though it’s another secret that might buff the secret paladin’s dirty arsenal, it will probably not be able to find it’s place as the list is already heavily congested not even having space for a second Competetive Spirit or Repentance. It can prove useful in this deck of course, but at the point of playing Dr. 6 you should preferably not have more than 1 minion on your opponent’s board so from that point on it won’t be that helpful. It might probably help you in the early/mid game. The aggressive secrets have priority in secret paladin decks which is why Avenges are played before Repentance.
Will new decks be made for it? Probably not.
As it’s a secret, and nowadays secrets don’t pay off without the Mysterious Challenger, any deck someone makes will give or take turn into a secret paladin in whichever direction you go. Possibilities of a secret-something hybrid are of course open, and in this case the card might actually find some kind of use.
7. Obsidian Destroyer
7 mana Warrior 7/7 minion which creates a 1/1 minion with taunt at the end of every turn.
Will it fit current decks? It might.
Control Warrior – Funny thing is, is that the deck where most people said they might try this card out, I don’t see fitting at all. Dropping a 7/7 on turn 7 or best case 6, to an empty board from your side and a moderately full or less than that if you managed to control properly, this minion will go down harder than a sumo wrestler. BGH, Fireball + Hero Power, Execute, Siphon Soul all remove this minion with ease so it might remove one of your scarcely seen ctrl warrior minions. SIDENOTE: It can be a very good replacement for Dr. Boom for example in a budget control warrior.
Patron Warrior – My thoughts on this card are very divided. It’s a pretty sticky card, and if the board has been controlled that annoying scarab can actually cause a pretty big problem. If you do manage to clear the board in front of you with Whirlwinds and Inner Rages, while still managing to setup your board with Grim Patrons, then this card can be pretty devastating. I believe that one of the big minuses of this card is the the stats are whatever, as it’s a 7/7/7 card but that scarab might actually make it viable.
Reno Warrior – I would be willing to try this one in Renowarrior. Decks with Reno are mostly just collections of cards with the most value and even though there are a lot of good cards out there that the warrior can use, this one can actually be good as a massive turn 7 threat. There are good late game minions for warrior, but this one can easily be in the top 5 minions for turn 7.
Will some new decks be made for it? They might.
This also opens up the possibility of some potential bolster warrior. A VERY slight one, but a strong minion creating little taunts can prove to be good and trigger your weapon for another stack or make a free 3/3 taunt with Bolster. Besides that, I don’t think this card will see that much play.
ARENA SIDENOTE: This card is the bomb in arena. A warrior COMMON which basically wins the game if not dealt with on the same turn, which might be difficult as you have to spend an attack of one minion of a little 1/1 annoy-o-scarab. #arenawarriorsmatter
6. Rumbling Elemental
4 Mana Shaman 2/6 minion that deals 2 damage to a random enemy after you play a battlecry card.
Will it fit current decks? Most likely not.
Mech Shaman – I don’t think that this deck has a spot in any kind of mech shaman simply as the mech list is already highly congested and there are not even remotely enough battlecry cards in the deck for this card to fit.
Midrange Shaman – I don’t see this card as a bad one at all. It has decent, controlish stats for a 4 mana card, pretty sticky if you ask me, but I doubt it will fit into the midrange shaman itself.
Will some new decks be made for it? I believe so.
I strongly believe that people will be working on this card and making it work in some kind of a Brann Bronzebeard shaman where everything will be revolving around battlecries. I believe that it can be pretty devastating if you manage to pull off something with bran as a battlecry booster while the card is on the board already. I believe it can give you solid tempo after turn 4 and I am excited to see what kind of decks will come out of it.
5. Djinni of Zephyrs
5 mana cost 4/6 neutral minion that copies a spell cast on a friendly minion and takes
Will it fit current decks? Probably not.
Aggro Paladin – Too slow of a card, won’t fit in this concept, paladin needs small minions, preferably with divine shield. You can use Hand of Protection in order to put Divine shield on HIM, but that is again way too slow for an aggro deck.
Control Priest - Here it might even fit, especially when the meta itself gets slower as it’s slowly getting there and as the priest has quite a bit of buffs that can be taken by him, one copy of this card might actually be a good addition to some kind of a buff control variation. Definitely something worth considering at least.
Will new decks be made for it? I believe so.
The concept of the card is cool. It’s a neutral card taking buffs. There are a lot of buffs in the game. I see something happening here. I probably see this card most in some kind of a buff paladin, with Hand of Protection, Blessing of Might and Blessing of Kings. Also in some kind of Inner Fire priest, where you can probably buff some other minion next to it to the abyss and get it buffed as well. The only big minus and why the card is in the meh part is that it’s a VERY slow card, which requires buffs after it which also cost additional mana.
4. Anubisath Sentinel
5 mana cost 4/4 that has a Deathrattle that gives a friendly minion 3/3.
Will it fit current decks? Undoubtedly.
As it might fit in many decks I will just ordinate them by type.
Tempo – This is probably the type of a deck where it could fit least. The card is pretty slow on its own, and if you manage to get it out it will probably get removed after the minion next to it giving you no value. It doesn’t mean it would always be the case but in most cases I see this happening. It could fit in decks like the Midrange zoo for example, or anything that isn’t full gas, fitting even in the spot of a Sludge Belcher.
Control – Dark Cultist on steroids. Anduin Wrynn likes this. I see this card fitting preeeety nicely in control decks, as you should always try to have minions on the board, this guy can give them nothing but value. I am talking about Control Priest, Control Warrior, maybe even some kind of Control Druid and Paladin?
Combo – The first thing I see when I look at this card is the DEATHRATTLE. Oh boy oh boy oh boy. Deathrattle decks ahoy? I am pretty sure it could fit in the Rattle rogue deck instead of one belcher and I am pretty sure it would be able to give you some value. The only problem is that the card itself doesn’t have great stats, but a 4/4 isn’t also for throwing away. It might also fit in some Secret Paladin decks, where it could be alongside Loatheb on that turn 5 to give you amazing value and I wont even mention it coming to life via Redemption! Ouch! Feign Death hunter? :o
Will new decks be made for it? I believe so.
I am honestly hoping for the comeback of the Undertaker from the time it was nerfed so to see people play him again would bring some very nice memories back. Most of us miss the old decks like the Miracle Rogue, Charge Warrior and Undertaker Hunter no matter how much we hated them at that point. So three huzzahs to the Deathrattle decks!
ARENA SIDENOTE: This card is brutal in arena. The value you get from the Deathrattle is absolutely through the roof!
God Tier
3. Jeweled Scarab
2 mana cost 1/1 neutral Beast that discovers a 3 cost card as a battlecry.
Will it fit current decks? Undoubtedly.
Almost any kind of Midrange or Control deck really – I strongly believe that Hearthstone is a game of curves. The curve of the game is the most important thing here and if you manage to drop things on curve, giving you good, quality minions that build your board nicely, you will most likely be winning the game, as long as you don’t screw up the trading that much or run into massive removals from your opponent like Brawl or Lightbomb. This is the exact reason why Face Hunter is such a nuisance to deal with. That deck is all about staying in the curve, and trying to cover up the holes with your hero power that deals damage like a 1 mana or 2 mana minion constantly.
I see this card fitting in for example midrange paladin, midrange shaman and more, and in the control decks like the Control Priest which usually has problems playing things on turn 2 and 3 and therefore has to rely heavily on cards like Velen's Chosen which can be silenced easily, a Deathlord which can hit you back like a train by giving your opponent a very good minion and let’s say a Dark Cultist which needs a minion next to him which you usually don’t have as a control priest.
The fact that it can give you a Shadow Word: Death, a Big Game Hunter, or maybe even Edwin VanCleef that you would maybe be able to get out with some kind of a cheap combo all seem pretty devastating to me. King Mukla? Oh my.
Will new decks be made for it? Undoubtedly.
I believe or let’s say I hope that we will see this little guy often. I would love to try him out in my beast hunter and druid and see if I can maybe make it work. And I personally don’t see why wouldn’t it, just imagine getting a Mounted Raptor from him in a beast deck. I am starting to drool.
2. Dark Peddler
2 mana cost 2/2 Warlock that discovers a 1 mana cost card as a battlecry.
Will it fit current decks? Undoubtedly.
Reno Warlock- Even though this card is going to redefine turn 2 for most likely ALL warlocks, it somehow has a very awkward position in reno warlock, at least from my experience so far. It usually requires you to play it on turn 2 and then to coin out something that you get if it’s good or to play it on turn 2 without coin and then awkwardly tap and play a minion on turn 3. It’s a good card in reno, but it just somehow feels too weird for me. Therefore the reno is the “worst” of the best decks to play the peddler in.
Zoo/Midrange Zoo warlock – Man, I can’t seem to hide how much I love this card even through the half of its analysis. It just kind of makes me feel tingly inside, like, let’s say, a first kiss. Was that overboard? Huh. Well anyway, it fits the concept of the zoo like Ace Ventura would say “Liiiiiiikeee a GLOVE!” It gives you a minion to fill out any curve lacking you might have, it can give you a Soulfire or another Power Overwhelming as an extra finisher, or support your board with a taunt like Voidwalker or buff your entire board with something like a Reliquary Seeker.
Malygos Warlock – This is the deck I am most hyped about and I can’t wait to try it out. It will help you get through that early game that malygod mostly has problems with, it can give you another Soulfire to use when you drop Malygos, or it can help you support your board further. What more can you ask for??
Will new decks be made for it? Undoubtedly.
I belive that even now, two weeks atfter the card came out, it probably made the biggest hit on the warlock gameplay since the early beta. The card fits the warlock mechanisms so well, that even those people who never liked warlock or the zoo archtype started playing it. Regarding new decks, we might see the faster zoos again because of him, but it will complement the decks which we already have by quite a lot.
1. Reno Jackson
6 mana neutral 4/6 minion that heals you up FULLY if you don’t have more than one copy of each card in your deck LEFT.
*breaks out of the form of the analysis whilst yelling from the top of his lungs with a warcry louder than the almighty war cry of Gromash Hellscream* RENO MOTHERF***ING JACKSON. THE RENO IS HERE TO KICK ASS AND TAKE NAMES!
Wow, I love this card. I never thought I would enjoy it this much until I started playing it and saw the raw potential it has behind it. Some people are calling it the face hunter annihilator, some are calling him the tempo extinguisher, I call him the almighty Messiah of Hearthstone Control.
Even though the card itself can’t really fit in any decks that are alrady present, like someone tried to include him into the deck, I found it to be incredibly incostitent if you actually have more than one copy of your card while playing Reno and hoping to get him. The only deck I see him fitting is the Fatigue Warrior or some Fatigue Priest where one can survive for a long time until they are sure that they don’t have more than one copy and can play Reno in peace and see their opponent explode. Even though I love this card I have to point out some flaws that the decks including him might have. You are usually screwed when you don’t manage to draw him and your opponent managed to burn you down extremely quickly. If you don’t draw and heals it usually turns out to be your loss if you don’t draw Reno. Also, Beneath the Grounds is bad. Really bad. But the more important question is:
Will new decks be made for it? DAMN RIGHT THEY WILL.
It didn’t take too much time to see people trying him out and playing him with moderate to high success. It found its spot in competitive play I believe faster than any other deck before it. I believe that Reno will find his way through all 9 classes (10th too maybe, yeah I am looking at you Death Knight) and I love this simply because the variety of the decks will be immense and the diverse meta is always a good thing for deck builders.
Hearthstone has changed too much, everything became incredibly quick and the outcome of the game is usually known by turn 6. I love games where the outcome is unknown until the very end and Reno will take care of that I am sure.
And this is it for the 1st wing of League of Explorers guys, presented after the 2nd wing just like the Star Wars I, II and III were presented after the IV, V and VI. I tried to make it as short as possible for your enjoyment, so I am really sorry if some of the cards weren’t as detailed as you would like it to be, but you can always ask me anything in the comments or if you have anything to add or to argue about, let me know, just please be constructive, as I won’t be replying to those comments which aren’t!
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Cheers,
Sigma
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I think Ancient Shade is for Aggro decks.
i fully agree with all 4 of your god tier choices
Anubisath deathrattle is +3/+3.
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Mostly agree with what's been written here. My own comments:
1. I know this article is at least slightly predictive in nature, but with Anubisath Sentinel, have any legend-quality competitive decks arisen yet that include it, and actually use it well? After playing Magic for the better part of a decade, I'm very wary of cards that ask you to give up a fair bit now for the promise of value later. I'm not sold against it, but I'm not sold on it either - it's a very different scenario from Dark Cultist, who has a great statline as well as a useful deathrattle. Most decks tend to prefer a minion that isn't going to, well, suck (relative to the cost) if it's their only one out.
2. Deeeefinitely agree with Scarab. It's an amazing card. It seemed at least ok before we found out about the 4x class card design, but after that, it exploded in usefulness. Personally, I've made 3 decent+ decks where it's fairly key: secrets mage (Scarab makes it even more likely that you can get a Kirin Tor + secret turn 3, sometimes gives you the Kirin Tor Mage itself, and other times just gives you a solid card), beast hunter (not only is it a beast, but hunter has some very nice cards at 3 mana, especially for beast decks - Animal Companion anyone?) and beast druid (somewhat similar to hunter - off the top of my head the 3 drops in druid aren't quite as good on the whole, but it's a beast that smooths out your curve, and somewhat often can get you a Druid of the Flame which is a fantastic 3 drop in the deck).
3. Probably could have been even harder on the Shade. That thing is traaaaaash. Would a 6/5 have been too good? Very likely, but at 7/4 it just dies too easily for a drawback that takes off a quarter of your starting life. It's a worse Pit Lord, and Pit Lord is a mostly unseen card.
I tried shade, it's trash indeed the +2 attack doesn't matter at all even without a drawback.. Tried in aggro obviously.
I think you overrated anubisath it's not that good in my opinion.. It's too slow and easy to work around just like with dark cultist .. It's basically a worse dark cultist..
In rattle rogue idk.. Didn't liked rattle rogue we aren't there yet..
The jeweled scarab is really strong.. Hard to give up on slots on some decks.. But definetly worth it.
As one of the persons asking for that all I have to say is [thrall]I thank you.[/thrall].
About Sacred Trial: I've tested it in my midrange secret paladin, and I definitely prefer it over Repentance for one simple reason: Dr. Boom. At least for now most opponents will try to play around repetance, but if they have even one minion on board and play Dr. Boom, trial destroys Boom immediately. For many current meta decks, Sacred trial is hard to play around even if they know what's coming, at the very least it forces suboptimal trades if one wants to have maximum of 2 minions on board when playing another. Of course Trial is mostly useless against control warrior, but that matchup is often favored for midrange decks anyway.
About Ancient Shade: I've seen Shade used occasionally in aggro druid and especially innervated early on it can give nice value whilst being a bit hard to remove by spells. But on the other hand I would not pick it over Fel Reaver for most MUs, so it probably isn't going to see much play.
Summoning Stone has more potential that you might see right now. I have the feeling this card is under-looked. Not only it enables fun archetypes (which is always good), it is always a priority target (thus, tanking 6+ damages) and giving values to "non-board affecting" spells.
Also, in rogue, as a side effect of a Preparation bug, playing Prep-Summoning Stone-Sprint (in that order) summons a 7 drop. It's a bug but as we know Blizzard is not very... effective as patching "non-game breaking bugs".
You don't have to build a deck around it. It can just act as a support/soft taunt card, just as Thaurissan is a combo-enabler/soft taunt.
My 2 cents.
Your 100% wrong on Anubisath Sentinel it will see next too zero constructed play and it suffers the same problem that Dark Cultist does that the deathrattle seldom hits a target because your opponent will play around it and kill it last..This happens often in Arena and will almost always be the case in Constructed.. <snip>
Agree with everything said about Anubisath Sentinel, not a good card in both game modes. Also you said Jeweled Scarab is good in pally, but why the hell will you give up Shielded Minibot for a slight chance to get a good 3-drop, when you have godly mustard, aldors and maybe a coghammer in your deck
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Has anyone made a deck out of the ancient shade plus fel reaver combo? I see it good in maybe aggro druid, with no backlash whatsoever.
Anubisath Sentinel is below Djinn of Zephyrs for me, it doesn't fit into anything at all. Tempo can't use a 4/4 on 5, Control would just use a bigger minion to begin with and a 4/4 on 5 has no right to exist in any Aggro deck.
Even in Raptor Rogue, the deathrattle is basically a weaker Nerubian Egg, except more situational and it costs more, and it doesn't even sorta ward off AoEs like the Egg could.
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My mandibles which are capable of pressing down and tearing, my talons which are known to intercept and hold.
No I'm talking turn four into shade, turn five fel reaver and you discard the curse, insta profit? Kappa
I haven't seen a single Anubisath Sentinel on ladder, and i've played a considerable amount of games this past week. Personally, i think that the card is trash tier in constructed, and moderately useful in arena.
Release the Kraken!
reno jackson is probably the best card launched in a adventure/expansion when it comes to change the meta.
sick card.
Wow, you guys really got active! To start off with, that you very much to everyone who has been really supportive of this analysis series, there will be more coming, so I hope you guys will like those too!
As I can see many people commenting about Anubisath and some more cards, I will reply to all of them with this one message that mentioned that I overvalued/undervalued the card. So, as some of you rare individuals haven't even bothered to read through the introduction properly, the top 10 is based on how I see the cards being in the meta LONG-TERM, speaking of the potential of the card itself, and I believe that Anubisath Sentinel has a lot of potential to offer us as the deathrattle is just too strong to pass on. Sure you need a minion next to it, but if you do and your opponent cant remove both, you are putting him at a VERY awkward position, maybe one that is even bigger than Sylvanas Windrunner creates when dropped on a board. The only compromise that I can make with you guys is that I excluded Anubisath from the God Tier, but it's still on 4. spot.
Regarding the Shade, I've learned as an analyst to thoroughly look at every card from more than one perspective, if one is allowed so I have to present a neutral point of view if possible and give you guys the choice to take whichever road you want.
Also, please forgive me if you firmly believe that I undervalued your new favourite card or overvalued a card you see as really bad, the top 10 of almost anything is extremely hard to make as there must be some cards which will be in the 10. and 9. spot.
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