As now i have seen all viable shaman cards, i think they pretty ok.
I think the new shaman cards are heavily reliant on other cards.
Like the theme is Spell damage/spell discovery shaman, now there is a obvious problem right out of the door, *overload*
Nobody makes a spell oriented shaman deck because most shaman spells suck, like the main reason why they suck is because overload.
If rogue has spell gens, it gets something useful without drawbacks, same goes to priest and mage but shaman spells are like "medicore effect with a huge drawback of sacrificing your next turn"
lightning storm 2 overload, lighting bolt 1 overload, lava burst 2 overload and than 4 (0) mana spells.
Board clears are getting better but many classes can cope with it.
But seriously, are these cards actually ENOUGH to boost shaman to be better?
If shaman becomes top tier in the coming expansion, you can quote me and tell me that i made too fast conclusions.
As my username checks, i definitely liked the new cards, especially the 4 mana 4/5 taunt and the new weapon. I think i will do a review of each card(in this post) on the pov of a control shaman main tomorrow, about to sleep so cant do much mow
I didn't expect to see an actual player base that is main shamans, I'm on tears lol.
Anyway, I think there are some really good and needed cards like Groundskeeper for example, some really interesting cards like Runic Carvings and Totem Goliath. But some underwhelming cards (at least for me) that shaman doesn't really need like Diligent Notetaker or Trick Totem.
Overall I am pretty happy with everything we got, but I don't think it's going to be enough, at least for standard mode.
I didn't expect to see an actual player base that is main shamans, I'm on tears lol.
Anyway, I think there are some really good and needed cards like Groundskeeper for example, some really interesting cards like Runic Carvings and Totem Goliath. But some underwhelming cards (at least for me) that shaman doesn't really need like Diligent Notetaker or Trick Totem.
Overall I am pretty happy with everything we got, but I don't think it's going to be enough, at least for standard mode.
I didn't expect to see an actual player base that is main shamans, I'm on tears lol.
Anyway, I think there are some really good and needed cards like Groundskeeper for example, some really interesting cards like Runic Carvings and Totem Goliath. But some underwhelming cards (at least for me) that shaman doesn't really need like Diligent Notetaker or Trick Totem.
Overall I am pretty happy with everything we got, but I don't think it's going to be enough, at least for standard mode.
Uh Dilligent Notetaker is extremely good
Yeah, maybe I am not seeing the full potential of it, but it brings me the same vibes as Omega Mind; on paper is a good card, but in practice not so much. What would you want to get back with it? Those are my choices, things like; Crackle, Lava Burst or Hagatha's Scheme. Maybe I'm thinking too much about a control build. :P
Edit: What about Spirit Echo? 5 mana a kind of infinite board until it's silenced or transformed, right?
shaman is all about dishing stats that get removed and than you are in trouble while priest can just generate cards and out power shaman.
I also think that galagrond nerfs should be undone because shamans powerful level isnt high enough and if galagrond goes south, we just nerf them back and wait for other expansions.
I didn't expect to see an actual player base that is main shamans, I'm on tears lol.
Anyway, I think there are some really good and needed cards like Groundskeeper for example, some really interesting cards like Runic Carvings and Totem Goliath. But some underwhelming cards (at least for me) that shaman doesn't really need like Diligent Notetaker or Trick Totem.
Overall I am pretty happy with everything we got, but I don't think it's going to be enough, at least for standard mode.
Uh Dilligent Notetaker is extremely good
Yeah, maybe I am not seeing the full potential of it, but it brings me the same vibes as Omega Mind; on paper is a good card, but in practice not so much. What would you want to get back with it? Those are my choices, things like; Crackle, Lava Burst or Hagatha's Scheme. Maybe I'm thinking too much about a control build. :P
Edit: What about Spirit Echo? 5 mana a kind of infinite board until it's silenced or transformed, right?
getting extra burn with lava burst and going hyper-aggressive sounds fun
Lightning Bloom -> I don't think you can afford using this in control shaman, since card draw is reallyy limited, but overall a good card for druid/combo shaman
Devolving Missiles -> Good tech against Res priest / pure paladin/ divine shield paladin stuff in general
Primordial Studies -> Seems really good due to the spell damage minions looking good stated right now and also a flexible card, Initially i'll run 2 of these
Diligent Notetaker -> I think this card is overrated for control archtype, as already stated, spellburst minions have to survive in order to trigger its effect, so this doesn't work with most of shaman board clears(only lightning storm), but overall good for aggro shaman.
Trick Totem -> You don't have card draw to afford this in control and looks really risky in aggro decks... i dont think this will ever see play in constructed but could be wrong
Speaker Gidra -> Hard to know if this is going to be good in control. Probably good in burst/totem but only time can tell
Molten Blast -> looks like that GvG warlock cards that summons imp, and that was good in zoo. I think aggro and burst shamans are the ones supposed to use this card
Groundskeeper -> Much better version of Jinyu Waterspeaker which was ok, but not having the overload downside and also taunt for the same amount of stats, this is incredibly good in control shaman
Ras Frostwhisper -> Better Despicable Dreadlord which was good in control warlock. really good sinergy with new weapon/spell damage totem, definitely running in my decks
Runic Carvings -> Really expensive to use with overload option, which was the good one for control shaman, so this is really bad
Tidal Wave -> Reminds me of a really good combo in old control shaman: Hallazeal the Ascended + Elemental Destruction. On the good side you have 2 cards mixed in one, and less (5) overload, but on the other side you don't have the flexibility of each card being played by its own or setting Hallazeal a turn before, also 3 damage is pretty bad for 8 mana, so you definitely need spell damage for this, so i think only time can tell. Also it is a good buff for hagatha
I think Totem Goliath is very much underrated and will go not only in totem decks but in spell damage decks alongside rune dagger, ras frostwhisper and primordial studies. It summons a spell damage behind a taunt, it's very powerful.
Primordial studies also underrated even though people think it's a good card. The biggest weakness of spell damage cards is their cost and the fact that we only get 10 mana per turn. Rune dagger obviously mitigates that weakness in a significant way, but given the limited shaman spell damage pool you're pretty much guaranteed to get a 1 mana spell damage card (thalnos, geomancer and mana reservoir) a 2 mana lady vashj, a 3 mana squall hunter or a 8 mana Malygos. This card only have good rolls, this is very valuable for combo decks.
Runic carvings really insane with the 0 mana totem buffs.
Tidal wave and Ras frostwhisper are win buttons against aggro, while retaining usability against other decks, really brilliant cards. I'm not sure how lifesteal fits thematically in Shaman but all their lifesteal cards are so fun well designed.
Ras frostwhisper and molten blast going face will make a huge difference with all that spell damage available.
Instructor fireheart provides lots of fuel while maintaining tempo, average card on curve but insane late game top deck for just about any deck.
But more important than powerlevel, I like the design of the cards, they usually do a very good job in that regard in most expansions. Shaman is harder to balance than any class but they have the best mechanics, simple, easy to understand and hard to master, RNG is part of shaman design but never went too far (hello mage), the most interesting hero power, and the best hero portraits. Long live shamans.
Lightning Bloom 5/5 card. Innervate was the best card in the game, this takes it down a notch with the overload but still enough to provide a huge tempo gain. In wild, you can stack overloads so although you lose a turn you can cheat out stuff much sooner. For example, coin, notetaker, bloom x2, 7/7 -> 9/10 stats on turn 1.
Devolving Missiles Devolve was a god card. This has RNG thrown in but imo, just as good. Will I use it over devolve...I don't know. Maybe yes, better against small boards and my games are usually under 5 minutes.
Primordial Studies Bad. Discover bad. If you want spell damage, just put the damn minion in your deck.
Diligent Notetaker At first I thought you could store up spellburst forever so I gave it 5/5. Now it was explained the notetaker has to actually survive, so I am disappointed. Still, it is a very good card, many synergies. Insane in even sham. Bottom line is it has vanilla stats, so it is never bad.
Rune Dagger High potential. Wish it was a 2/2 or 1/4. Strong in midrangey decks because a boosted LS is insane. Only sad thing is it cannot go into odd shaman.
Trick Totem RNG clown fiesta, hard to evaluate. For me it's an instant nope.
Instructor Fireheart Overrated and average. Ok, 3/3 discover 1 is alright in standard. But if you want to save up 8-10 mana for this - only as a hail mary. Would you pay 8-10 mana to discover 3-4 spells and cast them? Chances are no unless you are already losing. Spirit of the frog is 2x better because you control what you are getting.
Speaker Gidra Good. Well, great for druid, just good for sham. I don't think you have to be so greedy. Something like her + serpentshrine already gives you a 4/7 that opponents must remove. With feral pack it gives you 4/5, 4/5, 6/9. Crazy.
Molten Blast Good for standard with the new dagger. Otherwise meh.
Groundskeeper Boring but effective. Great stats, strong defensively.
Ras Frostwhisper Good. Can survive more than a turn and goes face. Again, this depends on the new dagger for spell damage.
Totem Goliath Meh. Doesn't need the overload attached to it. It's too easy to mitigate the deathrattle. Just knock down the totems before shaman can buff them. This is supposed to draw out a board wipe.
Runic Carvings Probably bad for shaman. Much better for druid (seems to be a trend, eh?)
Tidal Wave Abysmal. Nobody wants an 8 mana hellfire, even if it heals you.
In short, my complaints are:
No new spell to replace crackle. I don't want frills, just damage and maybe overload.
Unnecessary overload, first on serpentshrine, now on goliath.
No win condition minion-wise. We got a bunch of good stuff like the chain lightning lurker before, but we don't need more board clear.
For the LOVE OF GOD stop making RNG shaman's class identity. It sucks. Shaman is not the joker in the deck. If you want RNG make it big huge obvious with sparkles like yogg. Don't give rubbish like a 2 mana totem that looks like a serious attempt but is actually a clown fiesta.
They'll be hilariously reliant - ridiculously, even - on legendaries and/or huge synergies. Nothing about how Shaman plays out games is normal. Overload spells were originally strong but have now been brought low by powercreep. That's not to say the class isn't playable, but the last thing one can do is just throw together 30 Shaman cards and call it a deck.
That being said, that's some strong spell damage synergy. Anyone who thinks Primordial Studies (or any Study, for that matter) is a bad card doesn't understand just how powerful a 1-mana discount on a reactive or combo card is.
As now i have seen all viable shaman cards, i think they pretty ok.
I think the new shaman cards are heavily reliant on other cards.
Like the theme is Spell damage/spell discovery shaman, now there is a obvious problem right out of the door, *overload*
Nobody makes a spell oriented shaman deck because most shaman spells suck, like the main reason why they suck is because overload.
If rogue has spell gens, it gets something useful without drawbacks, same goes to priest and mage but shaman spells are like "medicore effect with a huge drawback of sacrificing your next turn"
lightning storm 2 overload, lighting bolt 1 overload, lava burst 2 overload and than 4 (0) mana spells.
Board clears are getting better but many classes can cope with it.
But seriously, are these cards actually ENOUGH to boost shaman to be better?
If shaman becomes top tier in the coming expansion, you can quote me and tell me that i made too fast conclusions.
i'd say yeah they are op
As my username checks, i definitely liked the new cards, especially the 4 mana 4/5 taunt and the new weapon. I think i will do a review of each card(in this post) on the pov of a control shaman main tomorrow, about to sleep so cant do much mow
I didn't expect to see an actual player base that is main shamans, I'm on tears lol.
Anyway, I think there are some really good and needed cards like Groundskeeper for example, some really interesting cards like Runic Carvings and Totem Goliath. But some underwhelming cards (at least for me) that shaman doesn't really need like Diligent Notetaker or Trick Totem.
Overall I am pretty happy with everything we got, but I don't think it's going to be enough, at least for standard mode.
Undo the galakrond shaman nerfs since the expansion is op
Keymaster Alabaster come faster
Uh Dilligent Notetaker is extremely good
Keymaster Alabaster come faster
Compared to other expansions they are good
But the other classes' cards this expansion are just completely broken..
Diligent Notetaker can be really good in totem schaman with the 0 cost spell.
Yeah, maybe I am not seeing the full potential of it, but it brings me the same vibes as Omega Mind; on paper is a good card, but in practice not so much. What would you want to get back with it? Those are my choices, things like; Crackle, Lava Burst or Hagatha's Scheme. Maybe I'm thinking too much about a control build. :P
Edit: What about Spirit Echo? 5 mana a kind of infinite board until it's silenced or transformed, right?
shaman is all about dishing stats that get removed and than you are in trouble while priest can just generate cards and out power shaman.
I also think that galagrond nerfs should be undone because shamans powerful level isnt high enough and if galagrond goes south, we just nerf them back and wait for other expansions.
Other than Fireheart and maybe Tricky Totem i dont feel like shaman really got anything. The dagger might be ok.
getting extra burn with lava burst and going hyper-aggressive sounds fun
Here i go:
Lightning Bloom -> I don't think you can afford using this in control shaman, since card draw is reallyy limited, but overall a good card for druid/combo shaman
Devolving Missiles -> Good tech against Res priest / pure paladin/ divine shield paladin stuff in general
Primordial Studies -> Seems really good due to the spell damage minions looking good stated right now and also a flexible card, Initially i'll run 2 of these
Diligent Notetaker -> I think this card is overrated for control archtype, as already stated, spellburst minions have to survive in order to trigger its effect, so this doesn't work with most of shaman board clears(only lightning storm), but overall good for aggro shaman.
Rune Dagger -> Exactly what you needed to run spell damage stuff. Really good sinergy with Ras Frostwhisper and Earthquake
Trick Totem -> You don't have card draw to afford this in control and looks really risky in aggro decks... i dont think this will ever see play in constructed but could be wrong
Instructor Fireheart -> Better version of Marshspawn which is already decent so will definitely see play
Speaker Gidra -> Hard to know if this is going to be good in control. Probably good in burst/totem but only time can tell
Molten Blast -> looks like that GvG warlock cards that summons imp, and that was good in zoo. I think aggro and burst shamans are the ones supposed to use this card
Groundskeeper -> Much better version of Jinyu Waterspeaker which was ok, but not having the overload downside and also taunt for the same amount of stats, this is incredibly good in control shaman
Ras Frostwhisper -> Better Despicable Dreadlord which was good in control warlock. really good sinergy with new weapon/spell damage totem, definitely running in my decks
Totem Goliath -> Looks okay for totem shaman
Runic Carvings -> Really expensive to use with overload option, which was the good one for control shaman, so this is really bad
Tidal Wave -> Reminds me of a really good combo in old control shaman: Hallazeal the Ascended + Elemental Destruction. On the good side you have 2 cards mixed in one, and less (5) overload, but on the other side you don't have the flexibility of each card being played by its own or setting Hallazeal a turn before, also 3 damage is pretty bad for 8 mana, so you definitely need spell damage for this, so i think only time can tell. Also it is a good buff for hagatha
I think Totem Goliath is very much underrated and will go not only in totem decks but in spell damage decks alongside rune dagger, ras frostwhisper and primordial studies. It summons a spell damage behind a taunt, it's very powerful.
Primordial studies also underrated even though people think it's a good card. The biggest weakness of spell damage cards is their cost and the fact that we only get 10 mana per turn. Rune dagger obviously mitigates that weakness in a significant way, but given the limited shaman spell damage pool you're pretty much guaranteed to get a 1 mana spell damage card (thalnos, geomancer and mana reservoir) a 2 mana lady vashj, a 3 mana squall hunter or a 8 mana Malygos. This card only have good rolls, this is very valuable for combo decks.
Runic carvings really insane with the 0 mana totem buffs.
Tidal wave and Ras frostwhisper are win buttons against aggro, while retaining usability against other decks, really brilliant cards. I'm not sure how lifesteal fits thematically in Shaman but all their lifesteal cards are so fun well designed.
Ras frostwhisper and molten blast going face will make a huge difference with all that spell damage available.
Instructor fireheart provides lots of fuel while maintaining tempo, average card on curve but insane late game top deck for just about any deck.
But more important than powerlevel, I like the design of the cards, they usually do a very good job in that regard in most expansions. Shaman is harder to balance than any class but they have the best mechanics, simple, easy to understand and hard to master, RNG is part of shaman design but never went too far (hello mage), the most interesting hero power, and the best hero portraits. Long live shamans.
I play mainly wild but this is my take:
Lightning Bloom 5/5 card. Innervate was the best card in the game, this takes it down a notch with the overload but still enough to provide a huge tempo gain. In wild, you can stack overloads so although you lose a turn you can cheat out stuff much sooner. For example, coin, notetaker, bloom x2, 7/7 -> 9/10 stats on turn 1.
Devolving Missiles Devolve was a god card. This has RNG thrown in but imo, just as good. Will I use it over devolve...I don't know. Maybe yes, better against small boards and my games are usually under 5 minutes.
Primordial Studies Bad. Discover bad. If you want spell damage, just put the damn minion in your deck.
Diligent Notetaker At first I thought you could store up spellburst forever so I gave it 5/5. Now it was explained the notetaker has to actually survive, so I am disappointed. Still, it is a very good card, many synergies. Insane in even sham. Bottom line is it has vanilla stats, so it is never bad.
Rune Dagger High potential. Wish it was a 2/2 or 1/4. Strong in midrangey decks because a boosted LS is insane. Only sad thing is it cannot go into odd shaman.
Trick Totem RNG clown fiesta, hard to evaluate. For me it's an instant nope.
Instructor Fireheart Overrated and average. Ok, 3/3 discover 1 is alright in standard. But if you want to save up 8-10 mana for this - only as a hail mary. Would you pay 8-10 mana to discover 3-4 spells and cast them? Chances are no unless you are already losing. Spirit of the frog is 2x better because you control what you are getting.
Speaker Gidra Good. Well, great for druid, just good for sham. I don't think you have to be so greedy. Something like her + serpentshrine already gives you a 4/7 that opponents must remove. With feral pack it gives you 4/5, 4/5, 6/9. Crazy.
Molten Blast Good for standard with the new dagger. Otherwise meh.
Groundskeeper Boring but effective. Great stats, strong defensively.
Ras Frostwhisper Good. Can survive more than a turn and goes face. Again, this depends on the new dagger for spell damage.
Totem Goliath Meh. Doesn't need the overload attached to it. It's too easy to mitigate the deathrattle. Just knock down the totems before shaman can buff them. This is supposed to draw out a board wipe.
Runic Carvings Probably bad for shaman. Much better for druid (seems to be a trend, eh?)
Tidal Wave Abysmal. Nobody wants an 8 mana hellfire, even if it heals you.
In short, my complaints are:
They'll be hilariously reliant - ridiculously, even - on legendaries and/or huge synergies. Nothing about how Shaman plays out games is normal. Overload spells were originally strong but have now been brought low by powercreep. That's not to say the class isn't playable, but the last thing one can do is just throw together 30 Shaman cards and call it a deck.
That being said, that's some strong spell damage synergy. Anyone who thinks Primordial Studies (or any Study, for that matter) is a bad card doesn't understand just how powerful a 1-mana discount on a reactive or combo card is.
Totem goliath is only good in totem shaman because a 5 mana 4/5 does nothing when played + overload 2 sucks for control
Burn Shaman will pump out huge damage
In a nutshell
Shaman cards are totally balanced and fair = It's not gonna make it
I think this is a correct assessment