Hello guys, Sigma here, Legend player, Deck Architect and Guide Writer here, on Hearthpwn! I will do a short series of analysis on the most important Naxx and GvG which are being phased out with the Standard&Wild Formats coming out to try to maybe give you a better insight into what you should expect from these drastic changes, which decks will be influenced most and what are the potential cards that might be replacing them further on. The first 5 will be Naxx&GvG legendaries! Enjoy!
Introduction
Some time ago Blizzard published the news that some of us were waiting for a long time (http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/blog/19995505/a-new-way-to-play-2-2-2016) and news that some might find scary or confusing. In the matter of a day there were already a thousand questions raised by the community on how will this, which can be called one of the biggest changes and moves in Hearthstone history, actually influence us and the game itself.
In this article, as a deck architect and guide writer I will try to explain to you what this change means for the meta, no matter if you are playing Hearthstone more casually or if you are reaching high ranks in the Legend part of the ladder. I will divide this explanation into two major parts and each part will be connected to a card, and as taking all 150 cards into consideration would take days of analysis, I will mention the ones that have shaped the Meta ever since they came out. I will also start it off with the neutral cards and move on to class specific cards.
The two major parts which will hopefully cover most of the questions of the community will be:
Which decks were influenced most by this card being phased out?
Which cards can potentially replace these cards?
There was also mentioning that “more than 2 cards but less than 20” from the Classic/Basic set will be changed, but nobody still knows if it will be for better or worse for the current meta which means that some cards (yeah I’m looking at you Illidan Stormrage, get your stuff together!) might be able to replace some of these cards that are being phased out. There is also a possibility of some cards being introduced, to fill out the biggest gaps left by the phased out cards. So I will present to you what we currently have at our disposal. You can also see me discussing these changes live at www.twitch.tv/sigmasrb, www.facebook.com/sigmasrb or www.twitter.com/sigmasrb.
Naxxramas & Goblins Vs. Gnomes Legendaries
I will start from the cards that influenced the meta most all the way to those that weren’t meta-defining but were still around to have mattered.
Dr. Boom
The very card that shaped the meta coming to us from Area 52, called Dr. Balance by most of the Hearthstone Community, we are parting ways with the card that was giving us most value possible as a single card played on turn 7 – Dr. Boom. If some of you have never seen this card for some reason, it used to spawn 2 Boom Bots as a Battlecry, which could deal up to 8 damage in total upon death, which was seen by many as overpowered, and with a good reason.
Which decks will this change influence most?
The phasing out of Dr. Boom will influence a HUGE variety of decks, ranging from some Aggro decks, all the way to Fatigue decks! Some of the decks which were in the top tiers of constructed play are: Tempo Mage, Secret Paladin, Combo Druid, Zoo Lock, Reno Lock, Control Warrior, Control Priest, Midrange Zoo, Handlock and the list goes on..
Which cards can potentially replace it?
The effect of the card will be quite difficult to replace, as there is no card with a similar effect and with the same amount of immediate board impact. The decks which ran Dr. Boom will either have to curve their decks up, which means to replace the card with a card of a higher mana cost, or to curve them down, which means that the card will be a lower mana cost than 7. Some of the cards which are surely worth considering are:
any case, a card whose removal will be celebrated by many, and a card that will be missed by many as well, to whom it gave sudden and unexpected lethals and with that tiny moments of glory and success. I’ll miss dropping this guy after a Freeze Mage plays a Doomsayer while being on low HP with Iceblock on. *sudden ninjas cutting onions* …damn, what am I saying; you will be missed, dear friend!
Loatheb
Also known as the Slayer of Mages, Loatheb has been a staple in a lot of Midrange/Control decks. He gets the title from the potential he has against spell-heavy decks like Tempo Mage and Freeze Mage. Just find the right spot to drop him on after a Freeze Mage plays Alexstrasza and he’s bound to lose. A card that also saw solid play during the reign of the hunters as it prevented them from that feared lethal with Kill Command/Quick Shot and gave you some more space to get some solid damage to the opponent’s face.
Which decks will this change influence most?
Same as for Dr. Boom, a large variety of decks will be hit. Some examples are: Combo Druid, Midrange Zoo, Midrange Hunter, Warlock Reno, Reno Warrior, while it will also have a miss in Aggro decks like Zoolock, in which it served a solid purpose of preventing pesky priests from using their Holy Nova on our precious gnomes and demons.
Which cards can potentially replace it?
Even though the cards has an effect unique to the game and not seen in any other card. As the meta will probably be faster as there will be a rush of fast decks with the exception of the good old Freeze Mage and Handlock, the decks will most likely be forced to curve down if there are no good 5 mana replacements. 5 mana or not, some of the replacements would be:
Ethereal Conjurer(5) for any variation of a Tempo Mage running Loatheb
A card that will probably be forgotten pretty quickly, but the miss will be felt when we just want to not let the opponent fire out a barrage of spells into our face, especially against freeze mages as there will probably be quite a lot more of them as the people will most likely turn to the good old decks after there are so many cards being phased out.
Mal'Ganis
Mal’Ganis, one of the nathrezim, send to delude the mind of King Arthas into joining the Scourge, has seen interesting times in the meta of Hearthstone, taking the biggest role in the Midrange Zoo as a super tempo swing after being pulled out by the Voidcaller. After that it has seen play in demon versions of the Handlock, later called Demonhand and after the release of Reno Jackson it was included in the demon versions of the Reno decks. I have had a lot of fun with this guy after making my version of all three of these decks (the midrange zoo being a lot more popular than the other ones).
Which decks will this change influence most?
As the card itself is limited to Gul’dan, the card was only to be seen in Warlock decks, but my, what decks they were! Midrange Zoos, Demonhands and Demon Renos will be missing this guy in their ranks, but he is one of the cards that will be able to find a replacement easily.
Which cards can potentially replace it?
Even though this one as most of the legendaries has a pretty unique effect, this one won’t be that difficult to replace. Either by throwing in one more heavy minion with a somewhat good impact on the board, it doesn’t really matter that much. Some cards that could potentially replace him are:
Lord Jaraxxus (9), if already not in the deck for any control decks
Of course that none of these will be able to replace him in a Midrange Zoo, maybe a Fearsome Doomguard for example but that one would only have good value if it was to be taken out of a Voidcaller, who will also get phased out, so the whole demon archtype, will unfortunately, fade away along with my most upvoted deck on Hearthpwn. Damn. /cry
Vol'jin
HERE GOES THE VOODOO… :’( Vol’jin, the first Shadow Hunter, one of my personal favourites from the World of Warcraft Lore, will also be departing with the formats. One of the rare wild cards from the priest arsenal, a great tool against any minion with a lot of HP, no matter if used in a control priest, dragon or a shadow priest of some sorts, for sure a card that managed to provide us with some crazy tempo swings in the past seasons.
Which decks will this change influence most?
Vol’jin, being another class legendary, only used in the priest decks of course, was the joker card in a lot of priest decks including but not limited to: Control Priest, Dragon Priest, Shadow Priest.
Which cards can potentially replace it?
As much as it was used by some decks and as much as some of the deck builders swore that the deck would not work without Vol’jin, there were plenty of decks which were as successful and yet still ran no Vol’jin in them, so I believe that even though he was a powerful tool to have in the Priest shed, was definitely not one that is not replaceable. Some of the cards that should be taken into consideration are:
Excavated Evil (5) for any kind of Control/Fatigue Priest, a risky tool but very useful if you don’t manage to set-up your board on time
A second Holy Nova (5) if you’re not running two already, but I believe it will not be used as much as Zoolocks and Paladins are getting hit with the formats pretty hard.
Sylvanas Windrunner (6) (again) as she fits most of these control kinds of deck types.
From all of the boring cards that Priest has in the arsenal, we are losing one of the fun ones boys. I am pretty sure that good ol’ Blizz will make it up to us for it though with another fun card. All in all, I will miss this card, but unless you are a fan of the chieftain of the Darkspear Tribe, you will most likely forget this card ever existed pretty quickly.
Kel'Thuzad
One of the cards that, after being played, would make the opponent go “OH COME ON MAN!” was the good ol’ K to the T. One of the most annoying cards that you could see in some of the most annoying druids that existed (besides the Mill Druids of course, there is a special place in hell for those), the taunt druid. You know, those druids that would drop Sludge Belchers or an Druid of the Claw in bear form, then drop this guy and kill those taunts off, just to make more taunts? Yeah, that deck.
Which decks will this change influence most?
Even though he is not that present in the meta right now, I believe we had some pretty crazy times for me to leave him out of the hall of fame of the good Naxx&GVG legendaries that we had fun with, but without him it will for sure be a tiny bit more difficult to make any Taunt decks, like Taunt Paladin and Taunt Druid, but also some control decks had a decent use out of him, like Control Warrior.
Which cards can potentially replace it?
The effect is definitely one of the most unique one this game has ever seen, and one of the most annoying ones too (if you’re facing him of course), but it can be successfully replaced by a lot of good value late game cards which would be very similar to the cards that can replace Mal’Ganis, perhaps with the addition of Arch-Thief Rafaam, as these taunt decks allow you to have as much space as possible to establish your late game, if you manage to reach it of course. Buahahah.
Conclusion
We are for sure going to be losing a lot of awesome lore characters, which is a really big shame, but as I mentioned before, I hope that Blizzard will either include them somehow else again in the game, or get us good legendary replacements that will maybe be even more interesting than these which are getting phased out.
On the general note, something that I really love about this change, something that a lot of people might mind is that everything that we knew so far is changing. All kinds of archtypes that we are familiar with will become unplayable and the road to new kinds of decks will open, and even though I see that as a very brave and bold move by Blizzard, it might be something that will ricochet back twofold. I guess that time will tell!
Also, 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!
So, my dear Hearthpwn readers, Sigma is back! I hope you enjoyed reading this short (or not as short) first part of the 7-part Series that I will be working on! Some of the other parts will take some Class-specific and neutral cards, be they from Naxxramas, GvG, common, rare or epic! There will be a part for each!
Thank you for the latest update article! Very well written. Especially KT raising Boom Bots will be missed (mixing two of the most annoying Legendaries over many expansions/additions to the game)
Voidcaller (VC) into Mal'Ganis (MG) into Faceless-ing Mal'Ganis will be missed. Even though most people think Faceless in the OTK sense. I do realize that MG has to live but at the Mid-Game, VC + MG addition to the game (going away from Standard) gives a possible chance to "a point of no return" right before "most Turn6 plays".
On the topic for card slots in decklists, since those two above things are going away, I might find myself with the old Shadowflame + Sea Giant again :) since you are trying really hard to stay alive against a "massive board swing" while your opponent keeps you on the edge (Molten Threshold). That is Two Cards vs. [Ancient Watcher #2 + 1 of your PO + Shadowflame which is a 3-card combo] or at least 1 Ancient Watcher that is alive on the board.
That moment when most of GVG and naxxramas legendaries suck and you could only find 4 useful ones so you talk about 1 that isn't even in the meta..
I disagree about putting a 2nd defender of argus in a renolock.. I mean.. renolock is all about having 1 of each maximum a copy of a real core card as many dreadsteed and demon(2nd void caller) renolocks run but just a defender? it's not worth ruining your reno heal..
TBH I am waiting to see how decks will be now that dr.boom is out.. this will be interesting.. you will need to put actual late game cards now.. and not just throw in dr. boom
I'm going to miss Loatheb more than Dr. Balanced. He really did it all. Protect you from fireball spam, save your guys from a flamestrike, stop a Force of Savage Roar, hell most of the time my Loatheb would take two of my opponent's cards to remove. A solid 5/5 for 5 mana which is beautiful vanilla stats, and the effect on top of it that makes spell removal of him impossible? I hope we see more legendaries like him in the future, with great powers but we can also play around a bit with. If there was one card I'd want to place among the Classic set it would be him.
I'm going to miss so much, I still don't understand why this change has to be so drastic? Is it because the game is getting too unbalanced? Can't we have a normal mode where anything goes & doesn't count for ranked at all? Rest in Piece Dr. Boom :'(
U see, there are arguably at least 2 common best drops in the game: Piloted Shredder as a 4-drop and Dr. Boom as a 7-drop. They are so powerful that they are mostly the only options to play for those mana costs. It just makes most of other minions with those costs senseless. In order to make an alternative to those minions u can just make an even stronger minion that will become a new best in slot card. So yes, some cards just have to go away.
im going to miss Piloted Shredder and Mad Scientist more than any other card....i think that those two in particular changed the concept of value/tempo.
I'm going to miss so much, I still don't understand why this change has to be so drastic? Is it because the game is getting too unbalanced? Can't we have a normal mode where anything goes & doesn't count for ranked at all? Rest in Piece Dr. Boom :'(
Thank you for the latest update article! Very well written. Especially KT raising Boom Bots will be missed (mixing two of the most annoying Legendaries over many expansions/additions to the game)
On the topic for card slots in decklists, since those two above things are going away, I might find myself with the old Shadowflame + Sea Giant again :) since you are trying really hard to stay alive against a "massive board swing" while your opponent keeps you on the edge (Molten Threshold). That is Two Cards vs. [Ancient Watcher #2 + 1 of your PO + Shadowflame which is a 3-card combo] or at least 1 Ancient Watcher that is alive on the board.
You are most welcome man. I found out that some might disagree with the replacements, but you gotta replace them somehow, right?
I also believe that we will be seeing these old ways of removal quite a lot while for example I do think that almost every Priest will be running one copy of the Excavated Evil, even those who haven't ran it before.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” -Dr. Seuss
Yeah, though I must say, the first ancient watcher would have been used for early-game silence with owl (unless they play only with one)
The 2nd ancient watcher is most likely a passive taunt and if they can't kill a simple 4/5 unless with brann/argus'd, then their board doesn't even deserve an AOE. And the taunt (an ancient watcher taunted) as-is, is more worthy than used for shadowflame regardless.
A taunt is a taunt if it can hold any "Charging/multiple minions to trade" or silenced or Entomb/Poly/Hex/etc... a silly taunt that blocks your opponent's way is better if you want them to over-commit a "hard removal" or waste a tech TBK or even an execute.
I am not saying I am right in any way, it's a suggestion and an old strategy. The Sea Giant tech I explain is the way that when your opponent has a huge board presence or the sum of the creatures on both sides of the board make it way cheap, such that ZooLocks with Sea Giant or Token Paladin would... then Sea Giant is a tech to be used with Shadowflame in light of the Molten Threshold. Comparatively, a Mountain Giant needs to have a huge hand and it is used more offensively. There are many situations needing more than just Shadowflaming an Ancient Watcher. A kind example, like a remaining 2nd Deathlord 2/x becomes 2/x-4 only and still will be healed or buffed... by Rampage or Shattered Sun Cleric or PWS or Seal of Champions to stall longer once again (depending on your opponent's decklist and collection of class)
Yeah I do agree with another example like Excavated Evil ..is a really awesome addition to AoE for Priest because Holy Nova does 2 and needed Wild Pyro to deal the other 1 AoE, and now they have a 1-card tool, just two disadvantages, slightly more expensive than Hellfire, and a downside of giving it away. Often, to deal 3 before, they needed multiple cards with Wild Pyro like PWS + etc... if they didnt have Holy Nova. So like I said before with 3 cards versus 2 cards, in Excavated Evil, it's 1 card on its own, so then you have more room and flexibility not relying on Combinations like the 3-card combo in the oldest of handlocks.
Yeah, I cannot wait for more new cards in the upcoming expansion too to fill the void from these changes in Standard.
im going to miss Piloted Shredder and Mad Scientist more than any other card....i think that those two in particular changed the concept of value/tempo.
I won't miss Mad Scientist. I miss the times of "timing" secrets, like Freezing Trap especially against current Kor'kron Elite or the old Argent Commander... or even Snipe that Kor'kron Elite or aFlamewaker. Even when your opponent plays an on-curve card like Highmane, you can time your secrets from hand better than a Mad Scientist that had wasted the freeze trap in the early-game since you usually drop your first mad scientist on turn2. So if your opponent doesnt trigger your first freeze trap, it means that they have a super weak opener hand or that their decklist is completely wrong. So I can't wait to go back to the training of timing your secrets to gain more value. Just like in arena when you actually "have a higher chance of getting a tempo drop" because they need to play something even though they get punished.
In terms of Shredder, I do agree that we might have gotten too used to this particular 4-drop. Chillwind Yeti or newer expansion 4-drop if it exists, will not replace the value of the shredder unless the new card has a decent after-effect.
I will miss Loatheb the most. Buck Foom and Suck Fhredder.
However, I think this is a great change in the game and it will finally give new players and f2p players a chance to catch up to the meta and bring different decks to the meta.
But we will only know when the changes actually happen.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Great art can never be created without great suffering.
We need to see the next expansion first and the changes to vanilla cards. I agree that Dr. Balance was a huge impact in the game and so was Pilted Shredder.
But, do anyone remember the old Miracle days (coming back) and how Freeze Mage was the less interactive game ever and CW was such and annoyance. These 3 decks will be top of the meta again because their main "counters" will be gone: Loathen, Belcher and Healbot will say bye bye. Yes, you cand fin replacements but when you see all the same cards over, and over, and over, and over again it becames boring.
You name 3 legendaries that are not used: Mal'Ganis -- BGH, Vol'jin -- Owl, Kel'Thuzad -- who uses that...too slow. The game is, sadly, more tempo and rush than ever.
You name 3 legendaries that are not used: Mal'Ganis -- BGH, Vol'jin -- Owl, Kel'Thuzad -- who uses that...too slow. The game is, sadly, more tempo and rush than ever.
I noted that this part is about the legendaries, and these 5 are the ones that have influenced the meta at some point, now or before.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” -Dr. Seuss
You name 3 legendaries that are not used: Mal'Ganis -- BGH, Vol'jin -- Owl, Kel'Thuzad -- who uses that...too slow. The game is, sadly, more tempo and rush than ever.
I noted that this part is about the legendaries, and these 5 are the ones that have influenced the meta at some point, now or before.
Toshley for mech mage + Antonidas was used more than KT. The original Dreadsteed deck that somehow worked was used with Baron Rivendare as well with Reincarnate Shaman; not top tier decks but the did "influenced the meta" that was infested with Face Hunter and Control Warrior.
You name 3 legendaries that are not used: Mal'Ganis -- BGH, Vol'jin -- Owl, Kel'Thuzad -- who uses that...too slow. The game is, sadly, more tempo and rush than ever.
I noted that this part is about the legendaries, and these 5 are the ones that have influenced the meta at some point, now or before.
Toshley for mech mage + Antonidas was used more than KT. The original Dreadsteed deck that somehow worked was used with Baron Rivendare as well with Reincarnate Shaman; not top tier decks but the did "influenced the meta" that was infested with Face Hunter and Control Warrior.
Still would say that they weren't as present as my picks. KT decks were ravaging the meta for a couple of seasons, so the card had maybe shorter influence but it was bigger, while Toshley was never a key card in mech mage. Baron Rivendare has always been a fun card for fun decks, it was never taken seriously, while Mal'Ganis is still used in Demonhands, Demon Renos and Midrange Zoos. Vol'jin is used by every second priest even now.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” -Dr. Seuss
Thank you for the latest update article! Very well written. Especially KT raising Boom Bots will be missed (mixing two of the most annoying Legendaries over many expansions/additions to the game)
On the topic for card slots in decklists, since those two above things are going away, I might find myself with the old Shadowflame + Sea Giant again :) since you are trying really hard to stay alive against a "massive board swing" while your opponent keeps you on the edge (Molten Threshold). That is Two Cards vs. [Ancient Watcher #2 + 1 of your PO + Shadowflame which is a 3-card combo] or at least 1 Ancient Watcher that is alive on the board.
You are most welcome man. I found out that some might disagree with the replacements, but you gotta replace them somehow, right?
I also believe that we will be seeing these old ways of removal quite a lot while for example I do think that almost every Priest will be running one copy of the Excavated Evil, even those who haven't ran it before.
except kelthudzad all of them are in the meta voljin is just tech (or maybe just most people don't have him)
Why do you laugh? The time when Vol'jin was used by all of the professional HS players was the time of the handlocks when priests just couldn't find enough removals for strong minions, even with two Lightbombs and Shadow Word: Deaths. I am not sure at which rank you play, but in the legend ranks there are loads of zoolocks running either one or even two Sea Giants.
Hello guys, Sigma here, Legend player, Deck Architect and Guide Writer here, on Hearthpwn! I will do a short series of analysis on the most important Naxx and GvG which are being phased out with the Standard&Wild Formats coming out to try to maybe give you a better insight into what you should expect from these drastic changes, which decks will be influenced most and what are the potential cards that might be replacing them further on. The first 5 will be Naxx&GvG legendaries! Enjoy!
Introduction
Some time ago Blizzard published the news that some of us were waiting for a long time (http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/blog/19995505/a-new-way-to-play-2-2-2016) and news that some might find scary or confusing. In the matter of a day there were already a thousand questions raised by the community on how will this, which can be called one of the biggest changes and moves in Hearthstone history, actually influence us and the game itself.
In this article, as a deck architect and guide writer I will try to explain to you what this change means for the meta, no matter if you are playing Hearthstone more casually or if you are reaching high ranks in the Legend part of the ladder. I will divide this explanation into two major parts and each part will be connected to a card, and as taking all 150 cards into consideration would take days of analysis, I will mention the ones that have shaped the Meta ever since they came out. I will also start it off with the neutral cards and move on to class specific cards.
The two major parts which will hopefully cover most of the questions of the community will be:
There was also mentioning that “more than 2 cards but less than 20” from the Classic/Basic set will be changed, but nobody still knows if it will be for better or worse for the current meta which means that some cards (yeah I’m looking at you Illidan Stormrage, get your stuff together!) might be able to replace some of these cards that are being phased out. There is also a possibility of some cards being introduced, to fill out the biggest gaps left by the phased out cards. So I will present to you what we currently have at our disposal. You can also see me discussing these changes live at www.twitch.tv/sigmasrb, www.facebook.com/sigmasrb or www.twitter.com/sigmasrb.
Naxxramas & Goblins Vs. Gnomes Legendaries
I will start from the cards that influenced the meta most all the way to those that weren’t meta-defining but were still around to have mattered.
Dr. Boom
The very card that shaped the meta coming to us from Area 52, called Dr. Balance by most of the Hearthstone Community, we are parting ways with the card that was giving us most value possible as a single card played on turn 7 – Dr. Boom. If some of you have never seen this card for some reason, it used to spawn 2 Boom Bots as a Battlecry, which could deal up to 8 damage in total upon death, which was seen by many as overpowered, and with a good reason.
Which decks will this change influence most?
The phasing out of Dr. Boom will influence a HUGE variety of decks, ranging from some Aggro decks, all the way to Fatigue decks! Some of the decks which were in the top tiers of constructed play are: Tempo Mage, Secret Paladin, Combo Druid, Zoo Lock, Reno Lock, Control Warrior, Control Priest, Midrange Zoo, Handlock and the list goes on..
Which cards can potentially replace it?
The effect of the card will be quite difficult to replace, as there is no card with a similar effect and with the same amount of immediate board impact. The decks which ran Dr. Boom will either have to curve their decks up, which means to replace the card with a card of a higher mana cost, or to curve them down, which means that the card will be a lower mana cost than 7. Some of the cards which are surely worth considering are:
any case, a card whose removal will be celebrated by many, and a card that will be missed by many as well, to whom it gave sudden and unexpected lethals and with that tiny moments of glory and success. I’ll miss dropping this guy after a Freeze Mage plays a Doomsayer while being on low HP with Iceblock on. *sudden ninjas cutting onions* …damn, what am I saying; you will be missed, dear friend!
Loatheb
Also known as the Slayer of Mages, Loatheb has been a staple in a lot of Midrange/Control decks. He gets the title from the potential he has against spell-heavy decks like Tempo Mage and Freeze Mage. Just find the right spot to drop him on after a Freeze Mage plays Alexstrasza and he’s bound to lose. A card that also saw solid play during the reign of the hunters as it prevented them from that feared lethal with Kill Command/Quick Shot and gave you some more space to get some solid damage to the opponent’s face.
Which decks will this change influence most?
Same as for Dr. Boom, a large variety of decks will be hit. Some examples are: Combo Druid, Midrange Zoo, Midrange Hunter, Warlock Reno, Reno Warrior, while it will also have a miss in Aggro decks like Zoolock, in which it served a solid purpose of preventing pesky priests from using their Holy Nova on our precious gnomes and demons.
Which cards can potentially replace it?
Even though the cards has an effect unique to the game and not seen in any other card. As the meta will probably be faster as there will be a rush of fast decks with the exception of the good old Freeze Mage and Handlock, the decks will most likely be forced to curve down if there are no good 5 mana replacements. 5 mana or not, some of the replacements would be:
A card that will probably be forgotten pretty quickly, but the miss will be felt when we just want to not let the opponent fire out a barrage of spells into our face, especially against freeze mages as there will probably be quite a lot more of them as the people will most likely turn to the good old decks after there are so many cards being phased out.
Mal'Ganis
Mal’Ganis, one of the nathrezim, send to delude the mind of King Arthas into joining the Scourge, has seen interesting times in the meta of Hearthstone, taking the biggest role in the Midrange Zoo as a super tempo swing after being pulled out by the Voidcaller. After that it has seen play in demon versions of the Handlock, later called Demonhand and after the release of Reno Jackson it was included in the demon versions of the Reno decks. I have had a lot of fun with this guy after making my version of all three of these decks (the midrange zoo being a lot more popular than the other ones).
Which decks will this change influence most?
As the card itself is limited to Gul’dan, the card was only to be seen in Warlock decks, but my, what decks they were! Midrange Zoos, Demonhands and Demon Renos will be missing this guy in their ranks, but he is one of the cards that will be able to find a replacement easily.
Which cards can potentially replace it?
Even though this one as most of the legendaries has a pretty unique effect, this one won’t be that difficult to replace. Either by throwing in one more heavy minion with a somewhat good impact on the board, it doesn’t really matter that much. Some cards that could potentially replace him are:
Of course that none of these will be able to replace him in a Midrange Zoo, maybe a Fearsome Doomguard for example but that one would only have good value if it was to be taken out of a Voidcaller, who will also get phased out, so the whole demon archtype, will unfortunately, fade away along with my most upvoted deck on Hearthpwn. Damn. /cry
Vol'jin
HERE GOES THE VOODOO… :’( Vol’jin, the first Shadow Hunter, one of my personal favourites from the World of Warcraft Lore, will also be departing with the formats. One of the rare wild cards from the priest arsenal, a great tool against any minion with a lot of HP, no matter if used in a control priest, dragon or a shadow priest of some sorts, for sure a card that managed to provide us with some crazy tempo swings in the past seasons.
Which decks will this change influence most?
Vol’jin, being another class legendary, only used in the priest decks of course, was the joker card in a lot of priest decks including but not limited to: Control Priest, Dragon Priest, Shadow Priest.
Which cards can potentially replace it?
As much as it was used by some decks and as much as some of the deck builders swore that the deck would not work without Vol’jin, there were plenty of decks which were as successful and yet still ran no Vol’jin in them, so I believe that even though he was a powerful tool to have in the Priest shed, was definitely not one that is not replaceable. Some of the cards that should be taken into consideration are:
From all of the boring cards that Priest has in the arsenal, we are losing one of the fun ones boys. I am pretty sure that good ol’ Blizz will make it up to us for it though with another fun card. All in all, I will miss this card, but unless you are a fan of the chieftain of the Darkspear Tribe, you will most likely forget this card ever existed pretty quickly.
Kel'Thuzad
One of the cards that, after being played, would make the opponent go “OH COME ON MAN!” was the good ol’ K to the T. One of the most annoying cards that you could see in some of the most annoying druids that existed (besides the Mill Druids of course, there is a special place in hell for those), the taunt druid. You know, those druids that would drop Sludge Belchers or an Druid of the Claw in bear form, then drop this guy and kill those taunts off, just to make more taunts? Yeah, that deck.
Which decks will this change influence most?
Even though he is not that present in the meta right now, I believe we had some pretty crazy times for me to leave him out of the hall of fame of the good Naxx&GVG legendaries that we had fun with, but without him it will for sure be a tiny bit more difficult to make any Taunt decks, like Taunt Paladin and Taunt Druid, but also some control decks had a decent use out of him, like Control Warrior.
Which cards can potentially replace it?
The effect is definitely one of the most unique one this game has ever seen, and one of the most annoying ones too (if you’re facing him of course), but it can be successfully replaced by a lot of good value late game cards which would be very similar to the cards that can replace Mal’Ganis, perhaps with the addition of Arch-Thief Rafaam, as these taunt decks allow you to have as much space as possible to establish your late game, if you manage to reach it of course. Buahahah.
Conclusion
We are for sure going to be losing a lot of awesome lore characters, which is a really big shame, but as I mentioned before, I hope that Blizzard will either include them somehow else again in the game, or get us good legendary replacements that will maybe be even more interesting than these which are getting phased out.
On the general note, something that I really love about this change, something that a lot of people might mind is that everything that we knew so far is changing. All kinds of archtypes that we are familiar with will become unplayable and the road to new kinds of decks will open, and even though I see that as a very brave and bold move by Blizzard, it might be something that will ricochet back twofold. I guess that time will tell!
Also, 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!
So, my dear Hearthpwn readers, Sigma is back! I hope you enjoyed reading this short (or not as short) first part of the 7-part Series that I will be working on! Some of the other parts will take some Class-specific and neutral cards, be they from Naxxramas, GvG, common, rare or epic! There will be a part for each!
Cheers,
Sigma
“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” -Dr. Seuss
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Thank you for the latest update article! Very well written. Especially KT raising Boom Bots will be missed (mixing two of the most annoying Legendaries over many expansions/additions to the game)
Voidcaller (VC) into Mal'Ganis (MG) into Faceless-ing Mal'Ganis will be missed. Even though most people think Faceless in the OTK sense. I do realize that MG has to live but at the Mid-Game, VC + MG addition to the game (going away from Standard) gives a possible chance to "a point of no return" right before "most Turn6 plays".
On the topic for card slots in decklists, since those two above things are going away, I might find myself with the old Shadowflame + Sea Giant again :) since you are trying really hard to stay alive against a "massive board swing" while your opponent keeps you on the edge (Molten Threshold). That is Two Cards vs. [Ancient Watcher #2 + 1 of your PO + Shadowflame which is a 3-card combo] or at least 1 Ancient Watcher that is alive on the board.
I lost to "Tempo Warrior" played Varian Wrynn which summoned Grommash Hellscream, Frothing Berserker and a Kezan Mystic. He also had a remainder Slime 1/2 Taunt from previous Sludge Belcher taken down. But hey, I did a cool clear with my love for the card Betrayal, so here's a cool Dark Iron Skulker AND Betrayal turn (to remind you I still lost but it's a cool clear): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFvuAODoffc
That moment when most of GVG and naxxramas legendaries suck and you could only find 4 useful ones so you talk about 1 that isn't even in the meta..
I disagree about putting a 2nd defender of argus in a renolock.. I mean.. renolock is all about having 1 of each maximum a copy of a real core card as many dreadsteed and demon(2nd void caller) renolocks run but just a defender? it's not worth ruining your reno heal..
TBH I am waiting to see how decks will be now that dr.boom is out.. this will be interesting.. you will need to put actual late game cards now.. and not just throw in dr. boom
I'm going to miss Loatheb more than Dr. Balanced. He really did it all. Protect you from fireball spam, save your guys from a flamestrike, stop a Force of Savage Roar, hell most of the time my Loatheb would take two of my opponent's cards to remove. A solid 5/5 for 5 mana which is beautiful vanilla stats, and the effect on top of it that makes spell removal of him impossible? I hope we see more legendaries like him in the future, with great powers but we can also play around a bit with. If there was one card I'd want to place among the Classic set it would be him.
I'm going to miss so much, I still don't understand why this change has to be so drastic? Is it because the game is getting too unbalanced? Can't we have a normal mode where anything goes & doesn't count for ranked at all? Rest in Piece Dr. Boom :'(
I like Bunnies! (:3
U see, there are arguably at least 2 common best drops in the game: Piloted Shredder as a 4-drop and Dr. Boom as a 7-drop. They are so powerful that they are mostly the only options to play for those mana costs. It just makes most of other minions with those costs senseless. In order to make an alternative to those minions u can just make an even stronger minion that will become a new best in slot card. So yes, some cards just have to go away.
BTW, don't forget about the Wild mode.
im going to miss Piloted Shredder and Mad Scientist more than any other card....i think that those two in particular changed the concept of value/tempo.
Why am I sticky?
I also believe that we will be seeing these old ways of removal quite a lot while for example I do think that almost every Priest will be running one copy of the Excavated Evil, even those who haven't ran it before.
“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” -Dr. Seuss
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Yeah, though I must say, the first ancient watcher would have been used for early-game silence with owl (unless they play only with one)
The 2nd ancient watcher is most likely a passive taunt and if they can't kill a simple 4/5 unless with brann/argus'd, then their board doesn't even deserve an AOE. And the taunt (an ancient watcher taunted) as-is, is more worthy than used for shadowflame regardless.
A taunt is a taunt if it can hold any "Charging/multiple minions to trade" or silenced or Entomb/Poly/Hex/etc... a silly taunt that blocks your opponent's way is better if you want them to over-commit a "hard removal" or waste a tech TBK or even an execute.
I am not saying I am right in any way, it's a suggestion and an old strategy. The Sea Giant tech I explain is the way that when your opponent has a huge board presence or the sum of the creatures on both sides of the board make it way cheap, such that ZooLocks with Sea Giant or Token Paladin would... then Sea Giant is a tech to be used with Shadowflame in light of the Molten Threshold. Comparatively, a Mountain Giant needs to have a huge hand and it is used more offensively. There are many situations needing more than just Shadowflaming an Ancient Watcher. A kind example, like a remaining 2nd Deathlord 2/x becomes 2/x-4 only and still will be healed or buffed... by Rampage or Shattered Sun Cleric or PWS or Seal of Champions to stall longer once again (depending on your opponent's decklist and collection of class)
Yeah I do agree with another example like Excavated Evil ..is a really awesome addition to AoE for Priest because Holy Nova does 2 and needed Wild Pyro to deal the other 1 AoE, and now they have a 1-card tool, just two disadvantages, slightly more expensive than Hellfire, and a downside of giving it away. Often, to deal 3 before, they needed multiple cards with Wild Pyro like PWS + etc... if they didnt have Holy Nova. So like I said before with 3 cards versus 2 cards, in Excavated Evil, it's 1 card on its own, so then you have more room and flexibility not relying on Combinations like the 3-card combo in the oldest of handlocks.
Yeah, I cannot wait for more new cards in the upcoming expansion too to fill the void from these changes in Standard.
:D I love fancy, is all.
I lost to "Tempo Warrior" played Varian Wrynn which summoned Grommash Hellscream, Frothing Berserker and a Kezan Mystic. He also had a remainder Slime 1/2 Taunt from previous Sludge Belcher taken down. But hey, I did a cool clear with my love for the card Betrayal, so here's a cool Dark Iron Skulker AND Betrayal turn (to remind you I still lost but it's a cool clear): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFvuAODoffc
I lost to "Tempo Warrior" played Varian Wrynn which summoned Grommash Hellscream, Frothing Berserker and a Kezan Mystic. He also had a remainder Slime 1/2 Taunt from previous Sludge Belcher taken down. But hey, I did a cool clear with my love for the card Betrayal, so here's a cool Dark Iron Skulker AND Betrayal turn (to remind you I still lost but it's a cool clear): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFvuAODoffc
I will miss Loatheb the most. Buck Foom and Suck Fhredder.
However, I think this is a great change in the game and it will finally give new players and f2p players a chance to catch up to the meta and bring different decks to the meta.
But we will only know when the changes actually happen.
Great art can never be created without great suffering.
We need to see the next expansion first and the changes to vanilla cards. I agree that Dr. Balance was a huge impact in the game and so was Pilted Shredder.
But, do anyone remember the old Miracle days (coming back) and how Freeze Mage was the less interactive game ever and CW was such and annoyance. These 3 decks will be top of the meta again because their main "counters" will be gone: Loathen, Belcher and Healbot will say bye bye. Yes, you cand fin replacements but when you see all the same cards over, and over, and over, and over again it becames boring.
You name 3 legendaries that are not used: Mal'Ganis -- BGH, Vol'jin -- Owl, Kel'Thuzad -- who uses that...too slow. The game is, sadly, more tempo and rush than ever.
“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” -Dr. Seuss
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Thank god Dr. Boom. That card is really one of the most cost-effective card.
“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” -Dr. Seuss
Go check me out on all of these lovely links!
So I laugh.
“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” -Dr. Seuss
Go check me out on all of these lovely links!