Things are truly up in the air with the addition of the Core Set in the next rotation, but even then, I do believe there are a few cards in Standard that will cause problems no matter what meta we end up getting, for various reasons. Here are my concerns:
Animated Broomstick: This is the strongest 1-cost minion available in the entire game (including Wild) by a very large margin. No other 1-cost minion comes close to the potential impact Broomstick is capable of, and I dont agree with this. 1-cost minions should not be able to cause such huge tempo swings so easily, and I dont see this problem going away post-rotation.
Nerf Suggestion: make it cost 2/3 mana and increase stats to compensate. Dont want to kill the card, just make it less swingy.
Illidari Studies: Why does this card exist? Wasnt one of DH's weakenesses supposed to be value generation? The hell was up with that?! Team 5 went full hypocrite with this one. Weaknesses are an essential part of class identity, this is not a line they can just blur as they please w/o screwing up balance.
Nerf Suggestion: Make the mana discount only last 1 turn. Wanna give value generation to DH? Go ahead, but make it less efficient than other classes' to make it clear it is a WEAKNESS.
High Abbess Alura: Cheese Paladin was just one example of the highroll potential Allura brings, and i'm sure there's more to come. By default, she makes any powerful high-cost spell a potential balancing problem for Paladin, too much "design space" taken up by a single card.
Nerf Suggestion: Change the effect to only cast spells that cost up to 6 mana. Thats the highest viable buff spell paladins are willing to include in any deck (Spikeridged Steed comes to mind), so the card would still be powerful, just not as OMEGALOL swingy.
Secret Passage: The meta post-rotation means nothing to Rogue. Every rogue player knows the class will be top-tier for the next year, ALL BECAUSE OF THIS CARD. Even after the nerf it is easily the best card in the entire Rogue arsenal, cuz it enables ANYTHING. Doesnt matter what crappy strategy Team 5 makes Rogue work with, SP will make it viable and thats not ok imo.
Nerf Suggestion: I think card draw engines MUST meet certain requirements to become efficient (Cutting Class and Battle Rage are great examples). SP craps all over this design phylosophy, which is why its absurdly broken. SOME kind of requirement has to be met before SP can give you 4 cards for 1 mana. Im not sure what would be the best requirement though, would love to hear suggestions on this one.
Feel free to say why you think im wrong or if you think other cards should be nerfed instead, just keep it civil guys. These are just my opinions, after all :).
I would agree with all of them except Illidari Studies. Maybe I'm biased because outcast demon hunter is one of my favorite wild decks right now, but it's more of a Mana ramp than a value generator. It takes up a card slot and gives one card. Demon hunter has other Mana ramp cards so I don't think it's too out of their identity.
I would agree with all of them except Illidari Studies. Maybe I'm biased because outcast demon hunter is one of my favorite wild decks right now, but it's more of a Mana ramp than a value generator. It takes up a card slot and gives one card. Demon hunter has other Mana ramp cards so I don't think it's too out of their identity.
Then you'd be fine with Rogue getting efficient healing? With Druid getting powerful AoE/ST removal?
Illidari Studies opens up a dangerous precedent imo. No class should be good at everything. Bear in mind, they CAN have everything, but not all of it can be GREAT. DH should not have great value generation cards, and rn it has TWO! (felosophy also falls in that category).
Just my two cents anyway, I think the game is better when classes weaknesses are well defined, and rn DH's rly arent.
Illidari Studies: Not sure why this is a problem, DH is the third worst class in the game rn in Standard and Wild, and barely makes it up one extra spot in Arena. It doesn't need a nerf.
Allura: You have to build an entire deck around her effect to make it consistent. The issue right now is Tip the Scales, which is already rotating out in the next expansion. The only other deck she's used in is Pure Pally, so the only thing your nerf would do is make her not pull Libram of Hope. Pointless nerf.
Secret Passage is also fine. Its played winrate is 4% lower than the decks it's in (it drops 60-61% winrate decks to 56-57%), and is literally the worst card for winrate in those decks, unless they run Sap. Secret Passage is a "I'm losing and this is my Hail Mary for my last chance to win" card. I mean, if you count "add 4 random temporary cards to your hand" as broken, why don't you count Evocation as broken too?
You know what's crazy to me is that despite animated broomstick being grossly overpowered and the most powercreeped card that puts to shame cards up to 5 or 6 mana, there are still decks that don't want to include him.
I wonder sometimes if it's powercreep gone insane or just intelligent design.
Sorry this is off topic, just wanted to share my thought. Agreed on nerfing the broomstick, I don't even care if the internal blizzard data shows that it doesn't break the game, it must be limiting design space like crazy, how do even make a better rush card than that in the future, make it 0 mana, give rush to your hand and deck ?
Nerfing it to 2 or 3 mana and giving it more stats doesn't solve the issue imo. First of all let's give it Patches treatment and remove it's own rush keyword. A card that gives rush to your board doesn't need to have rush itself, it's just pointlessly over the top. Then, yes, increase mana cost to 3. And keep the 1/1 stats. There you go, still a crazy strong card that doesn't limit design space nearly as much and is played in 20% of decks instead of 50%.
I don't really care about the other cards. Secret passage is abused by aggro but is also a good tool for anyone foolish enough to journey into the control rogue territory. Don't nerf my control rogue tools please.
Why does this card exist? Wasnt one of DH's weakenesses supposed to be value generation? The hell was up with that?! Team 5 went full hypocrite with this one. Weaknesses are an essential part of class identity, this is not a line they can just blur as they please w/o screwing up balance.
In hearthstone weaknesses differ from what they call "limitations". For example healing is a weakness of rogue and hunter. They do not want to support this weakness at all with expansion cards.
Limitations are different, hunter limitation for example is card draw, that means design space for Master's Call
Shaman limitation is card generation, that means design space for Guidance
Shaman weakness is card draw, that means you rarely ever see card draw in shaman. And things go wrong very quickly when you do. (Spirit of the Frog, Cagematch Custodian)
Paladin limitation is cost reduction, that's design space for librams.
paladin weakness is face damage, that means you won't get more cards like Avenging Wrath.
Do you get the point ? Class idendity is nothing more than design space. And illidari studies is clearly not enough by itself to consider it breaks DH weakness and identity, it's just a card that discovers an other card, no big deal, you won't go infinite with that. And studies are kind of special flavor cards given to most classes for Scholomance expansion regardless of strength and weakness, it's ok sometimes to break the rules.
Secret Passage: The meta post-rotation means nothing to Rogue. Every rogue player knows the class will be top-tier for the next year, ALL BECAUSE OF THIS CARD. Even after the nerf it is easily the best card in the entire Rogue arsenal, cuz it enables ANYTHING. Doesnt matter what crappy strategy Team 5 makes Rogue work with, SP will make it viable and thats not ok imo.
Nerf Suggestion: I think card draw engines MUST meet certain requirements to become efficient (Cutting Class and Battle Rage are great examples). SP craps all over this design phylosophy, which is why its absurdly broken. SOME kind of requirement has to be met before SP can give you 4 cards for 1 mana. Im not sure what would be the best requirement though, would love to hear suggestions on this one.
I feel like Secret Passage is a tricky one. Because, on the surface, it is "draw 4 cards for 1 mana" but it's not exactly that.
Not being able to keep the cards you "draw" afterward, and not being able to interact with your current hand (before playing SP) are weaknesses of the card. So maybe that's how they rationalize the mana cost.
I guess these days the decks that play it are all pretty low curve and optimized aggro decks that use it to find lethal, but I don't see it being all that broken. If they increase the mana cost to 2, maybe it could still be used, but not as easily. Or maybe it could be "swap your hand with 2 cards in your deck -- COMBO: swap your hand with 4 cards in your deck"
Illidari Studies: Not sure why this is a problem, DH is the third worst class in the game rn in Standard and Wild, and barely makes it up one extra spot in Arena. It doesn't need a nerf.
Allura: You have to build an entire deck around her effect to make it consistent. The issue right now is Tip the Scales, which is already rotating out in the next expansion. The only other deck she's used in is Pure Pally, so the only thing your nerf would do is make her not pull Libram of Hope. Pointless nerf.
Secret Passage is also fine. Its played winrate is 4% lower than the decks it's in (it drops 60-61% winrate decks to 56-57%), and is literally the worst card for winrate in those decks, unless they run Sap. Secret Passage is a "I'm losing and this is my Hail Mary for my last chance to win" card. I mean, if you count "add 4 random temporary cards to your hand" as broken, why don't you count Evocation as broken too?
Cards from your decks are not exactly random my friend, and evocation was already nerfed so yeah it was broken despite generating random cards.
I agree with you that secret passage is fine. But you're talking some real nonsense there. It's not just a hail mary either you can use it to find lethal when you're ahead.
A more accurate comparison is The Soularium. Secret passage is better in every way.
Illidari Studies: Not sure why this is a problem, DH is the third worst class in the game rn in Standard and Wild, and barely makes it up one extra spot in Arena. It doesn't need a nerf.
Allura: You have to build an entire deck around her effect to make it consistent. The issue right now is Tip the Scales, which is already rotating out in the next expansion. The only other deck she's used in is Pure Pally, so the only thing your nerf would do is make her not pull Libram of Hope. Pointless nerf.
Secret Passage is also fine. Its played winrate is 4% lower than the decks it's in (it drops 60-61% winrate decks to 56-57%), and is literally the worst card for winrate in those decks, unless they run Sap. Secret Passage is a "I'm losing and this is my Hail Mary for my last chance to win" card. I mean, if you count "add 4 random temporary cards to your hand" as broken, why don't you count Evocation as broken too?
Like I told the other guy, my problem with Illidari Studies is a design phylosophical one, not a current balance issue (for now at least). If DH can now have excellent value generation, then its ok for Rogue and Hunter to get powerful healing, right? But wouldnt that make them look too similar to DH? HMMMMMM......
Hope you get my point. Its a dangerous precedent imo.
Tip the Scales was just a wake-up call. The moment Team 5 releases another powerful high-cost spell for Paladin, Alura will warp the meta again, guaranteed. The nerf I suggested prevents this possibility, to an extent.
You're highly underestimating SP if you think its just a Hail Mary card. Most of the time It is a "find what I need RIGHT NOW" card. That means value generation, tempo swings, and often lethal, all for a 1 mana spell. What kind of deck WOULD NOT play something like that?!
Also the comparison with Evocation is wrong: Evo gives you random mage cards, many of them will be either useless or unplayable for lack of mana; SP gives you cards you added to the deck yourself, which makes it 1000x better in most cases.
I think the better nerf to Broomstick would be to change it to adjacent minions. Weaker, but still good.
Also, I am annoyed with ramp pally deck, but if they nerf Allura, it will be the second standard priest card in a row to be nerfed for something that isn't standard priest. :(
I think the better nerf to Broomstick would be to change it to adjacent minions. Weaker, but still good.
Also, I am annoyed with ramp pally deck, but if they nerf Allura, it will be the second standard priest card in a row to be nerfed for something that isn't standard priest. :(
That's actually a good point, it must be harder for blizzard to nerf dual class cards because they impact 2 different classes, I never thought of that
Regarding High Abbess Alura: I seem to recall Blizzard saying at one point that the intent of Alura was for cheating out buff spells like Blessing of Kings and Blessing of Authority. That being the case, if Alura does indeed need a nerf, the nerf I would favor would be:
"Spellburst: Cast a random spell from your deck that can target this. (It does.)"
That quite cleanly preserves the design intent, eliminates the possibility of cheating out massive board summoning cards, and keeps the card text simple and straightforward.
Regarding High Abbess Alura: I seem to recall Blizzard saying at one point that the intent of Alura was for cheating out buff spells like Blessing of Kings and Blessing of Authority. That being the case, if Alura does indeed need a nerf, the nerf I would favor would be:
"Spellburst: Cast a random spell from your deck that can target this. (It does.)"
That quite cleanly preserves the design intent, eliminates the possibility of cheating out massive board summoning cards, and keeps the card text simple and straightforward.
Thats more or less what I had in mind with my suggestion, but bear in mind yours is far stronger. In pure paladin, sometimes Alura will pull Consagretion, First Day at School, Libram of Justice etc, spells that are not great to play at any time. Making her pull only buffs could make her highroll potential more consistent, since "targets this" also includes Libram of Hope.
Regarding High Abbess Alura: I seem to recall Blizzard saying at one point that the intent of Alura was for cheating out buff spells like Blessing of Kings and Blessing of Authority. That being the case, if Alura does indeed need a nerf, the nerf I would favor would be:
"Spellburst: Cast a random spell from your deck that can target this. (It does.)"
That quite cleanly preserves the design intent, eliminates the possibility of cheating out massive board summoning cards, and keeps the card text simple and straightforward.
I also like this idea, and then maybe priest could actually use this card, too...
Outside of a deck running Shadow Word: Pain, it would be way more useful there too.
Thats more or less what I had in mind with my suggestion, but bear in mind yours is far stronger. In pure paladin, sometimes Alura will pull Consagretion, First Day at School, Libram of Justice etc, spells that are not great to play at any time. Making her pull only buffs could make her highroll potential more consistent, since "targets this" also includes Libram of Hope.
If the power level of this design is too high, it could always be accompanied by a mana cost increase. I doubt this design would be unfair at 5 mana, but it could be set to 6 if Blizzard wants to play it safe. (I will admit I didn't think of Libram of Hope, argh!)
I think the better nerf to Broomstick would be to change it to adjacent minions. Weaker, but still good.
Also, I am annoyed with ramp pally deck, but if they nerf Allura, it will be the second standard priest card in a row to be nerfed for something that isn't standard priest. :(
Great idea! but id take away the rush keyword from the card too, just in case..
All it takes is one great high-cost buff spell and Alura could be playable in Priest, rotation will be full of possibilities.
Secret Passage: The meta post-rotation means nothing to Rogue. Every rogue player knows the class will be top-tier for the next year, ALL BECAUSE OF THIS CARD. Even after the nerf it is easily the best card in the entire Rogue arsenal, cuz it enables ANYTHING. Doesnt matter what crappy strategy Team 5 makes Rogue work with, SP will make it viable and thats not ok imo.
Nerf Suggestion: I think card draw engines MUST meet certain requirements to become efficient (Cutting Class and Battle Rage are great examples). SP craps all over this design phylosophy, which is why its absurdly broken. SOME kind of requirement has to be met before SP can give you 4 cards for 1 mana. Im not sure what would be the best requirement though, would love to hear suggestions on this one.
I feel like Secret Passage is a tricky one. Because, on the surface, it is "draw 4 cards for 1 mana" but it's not exactly that.
Not being able to keep the cards you "draw" afterward, and not being able to interact with your current hand (before playing SP) are weaknesses of the card. So maybe that's how they rationalize the mana cost.
I guess these days the decks that play it are all pretty low curve and optimized aggro decks that use it to find lethal, but I don't see it being all that broken. If they increase the mana cost to 2, maybe it could still be used, but not as easily. Or maybe it could be "swap your hand with 2 cards in your deck -- COMBO: swap your hand with 4 cards in your deck"
Something like that?
Sounds good, at the very least would knock it down from the post of best topdeck in the game, would hit aggro the most too.
"Like I told the other guy, my problem with Illidari Studies is a design phylosophical one, not a current balance issue (for now at least). If DH can now have excellent value generation, then its ok for Rogue and Hunter to get powerful healing, right? But wouldnt that make them look too similar to DH? HMMMMMM......"
I do not think value generation means what you think it means... Illidari studies literally creates 0 value. It's a card you put in your deck, costs 1, reduces cost by 1, is a card you have to draw, creates a card you can play. You literally could just put in something else. what it does do is help fill in your curve for better and more tempo plays... It's a tempo card, not a value card.
It is a good card though, that is true, but the only way you can argue it offers value is that it allows you to create a large minion what you would never put in your deck otherwise, like if you draw it late game, but primarily it's a flexible tempo card.
"Like I told the other guy, my problem with Illidari Studies is a design phylosophical one, not a current balance issue (for now at least). If DH can now have excellent value generation, then its ok for Rogue and Hunter to get powerful healing, right? But wouldnt that make them look too similar to DH? HMMMMMM......"
I do not think value generation means what you think it means... Illidari studies literally creates 0 value. It's a card you put in your deck, costs 1, reduces cost by 1, is a card you have to draw, creates a card you can play. You literally could just put in something else. what it does do is help fill in your curve for better and more tempo plays... It's a tempo card, not a value card.
It is a good card though, that is true, but the only way you can argue it offers value is that it allows you to create a large minion what you would never put in your deck otherwise, like if you draw it late game, but primarily it's a flexible tempo card.
Anything that gives you additional cards that were not in your deck at the start is value, no matter how small. Pharaoh Cat is value, Renew is value etc etc. The CARD YOU GOT can give you tempo, thats a whole other story. Illidari Studies doesnt give you shitloads of value like other BS out there, but it is no doubt a value card.
Illidari Studies cant be nerfed as its a cycle card (both in format and intended behavior), you cant change the rule for 1, the card simply shouldn't have been printed, rogue should have gotten the last study card.
High Abbess Aluraprolly should have more limits applied to it, maybe just make it targeted spells (buffs, heals, damage), what Pure was already using it for.
Secret Passage isn't really a draw, maybe make it shuffle all cards both drawn by SP and created by SP so it doesn't create more value
I don't think any of these cards are a problem at all.
Outcast Studies is extremely limited value generation. Broomstick could maybe not be a rush minion itself, or be 2 mana, but I feel like that card really fits a certain niche.
Don't think Secret Passage or High Abbess Alura are an issue at all. Alura cheating out Tip the Scales is a problem, but the card is fine otherwise.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Things are truly up in the air with the addition of the Core Set in the next rotation, but even then, I do believe there are a few cards in Standard that will cause problems no matter what meta we end up getting, for various reasons. Here are my concerns:
Animated Broomstick: This is the strongest 1-cost minion available in the entire game (including Wild) by a very large margin. No other 1-cost minion comes close to the potential impact Broomstick is capable of, and I dont agree with this. 1-cost minions should not be able to cause such huge tempo swings so easily, and I dont see this problem going away post-rotation.
Nerf Suggestion: make it cost 2/3 mana and increase stats to compensate. Dont want to kill the card, just make it less swingy.
Illidari Studies: Why does this card exist? Wasnt one of DH's weakenesses supposed to be value generation? The hell was up with that?! Team 5 went full hypocrite with this one. Weaknesses are an essential part of class identity, this is not a line they can just blur as they please w/o screwing up balance.
Nerf Suggestion: Make the mana discount only last 1 turn. Wanna give value generation to DH? Go ahead, but make it less efficient than other classes' to make it clear it is a WEAKNESS.
High Abbess Alura: Cheese Paladin was just one example of the highroll potential Allura brings, and i'm sure there's more to come. By default, she makes any powerful high-cost spell a potential balancing problem for Paladin, too much "design space" taken up by a single card.
Nerf Suggestion: Change the effect to only cast spells that cost up to 6 mana. Thats the highest viable buff spell paladins are willing to include in any deck (Spikeridged Steed comes to mind), so the card would still be powerful, just not as OMEGALOL swingy.
Secret Passage: The meta post-rotation means nothing to Rogue. Every rogue player knows the class will be top-tier for the next year, ALL BECAUSE OF THIS CARD. Even after the nerf it is easily the best card in the entire Rogue arsenal, cuz it enables ANYTHING. Doesnt matter what crappy strategy Team 5 makes Rogue work with, SP will make it viable and thats not ok imo.
Nerf Suggestion: I think card draw engines MUST meet certain requirements to become efficient (Cutting Class and Battle Rage are great examples). SP craps all over this design phylosophy, which is why its absurdly broken. SOME kind of requirement has to be met before SP can give you 4 cards for 1 mana. Im not sure what would be the best requirement though, would love to hear suggestions on this one.
Feel free to say why you think im wrong or if you think other cards should be nerfed instead, just keep it civil guys. These are just my opinions, after all :).
I would agree with all of them except Illidari Studies. Maybe I'm biased because outcast demon hunter is one of my favorite wild decks right now, but it's more of a Mana ramp than a value generator. It takes up a card slot and gives one card. Demon hunter has other Mana ramp cards so I don't think it's too out of their identity.
Then you'd be fine with Rogue getting efficient healing? With Druid getting powerful AoE/ST removal?
Illidari Studies opens up a dangerous precedent imo. No class should be good at everything. Bear in mind, they CAN have everything, but not all of it can be GREAT. DH should not have great value generation cards, and rn it has TWO! (felosophy also falls in that category).
Just my two cents anyway, I think the game is better when classes weaknesses are well defined, and rn DH's rly arent.
Animated Broomstick: Yes, agreed.
Illidari Studies: Not sure why this is a problem, DH is the third worst class in the game rn in Standard and Wild, and barely makes it up one extra spot in Arena. It doesn't need a nerf.
Allura: You have to build an entire deck around her effect to make it consistent. The issue right now is Tip the Scales, which is already rotating out in the next expansion. The only other deck she's used in is Pure Pally, so the only thing your nerf would do is make her not pull Libram of Hope. Pointless nerf.
Secret Passage is also fine. Its played winrate is 4% lower than the decks it's in (it drops 60-61% winrate decks to 56-57%), and is literally the worst card for winrate in those decks, unless they run Sap. Secret Passage is a "I'm losing and this is my Hail Mary for my last chance to win" card. I mean, if you count "add 4 random temporary cards to your hand" as broken, why don't you count Evocation as broken too?
You know what's crazy to me is that despite animated broomstick being grossly overpowered and the most powercreeped card that puts to shame cards up to 5 or 6 mana, there are still decks that don't want to include him.
I wonder sometimes if it's powercreep gone insane or just intelligent design.
Sorry this is off topic, just wanted to share my thought. Agreed on nerfing the broomstick, I don't even care if the internal blizzard data shows that it doesn't break the game, it must be limiting design space like crazy, how do even make a better rush card than that in the future, make it 0 mana, give rush to your hand and deck ?
Nerfing it to 2 or 3 mana and giving it more stats doesn't solve the issue imo. First of all let's give it Patches treatment and remove it's own rush keyword. A card that gives rush to your board doesn't need to have rush itself, it's just pointlessly over the top. Then, yes, increase mana cost to 3. And keep the 1/1 stats. There you go, still a crazy strong card that doesn't limit design space nearly as much and is played in 20% of decks instead of 50%.
I don't really care about the other cards. Secret passage is abused by aggro but is also a good tool for anyone foolish enough to journey into the control rogue territory. Don't nerf my control rogue tools please.
In hearthstone weaknesses differ from what they call "limitations". For example healing is a weakness of rogue and hunter. They do not want to support this weakness at all with expansion cards.
Limitations are different, hunter limitation for example is card draw, that means design space for Master's Call
Shaman limitation is card generation, that means design space for Guidance
Shaman weakness is card draw, that means you rarely ever see card draw in shaman. And things go wrong very quickly when you do. (Spirit of the Frog, Cagematch Custodian)
Paladin limitation is cost reduction, that's design space for librams.
paladin weakness is face damage, that means you won't get more cards like Avenging Wrath.
Do you get the point ? Class idendity is nothing more than design space. And illidari studies is clearly not enough by itself to consider it breaks DH weakness and identity, it's just a card that discovers an other card, no big deal, you won't go infinite with that. And studies are kind of special flavor cards given to most classes for Scholomance expansion regardless of strength and weakness, it's ok sometimes to break the rules.
I feel like Secret Passage is a tricky one. Because, on the surface, it is "draw 4 cards for 1 mana" but it's not exactly that.
Not being able to keep the cards you "draw" afterward, and not being able to interact with your current hand (before playing SP) are weaknesses of the card. So maybe that's how they rationalize the mana cost.
I guess these days the decks that play it are all pretty low curve and optimized aggro decks that use it to find lethal, but I don't see it being all that broken. If they increase the mana cost to 2, maybe it could still be used, but not as easily. Or maybe it could be "swap your hand with 2 cards in your deck -- COMBO: swap your hand with 4 cards in your deck"
Something like that?
Cards from your decks are not exactly random my friend, and evocation was already nerfed so yeah it was broken despite generating random cards.
I agree with you that secret passage is fine. But you're talking some real nonsense there. It's not just a hail mary either you can use it to find lethal when you're ahead.
A more accurate comparison is The Soularium. Secret passage is better in every way.
Like I told the other guy, my problem with Illidari Studies is a design phylosophical one, not a current balance issue (for now at least). If DH can now have excellent value generation, then its ok for Rogue and Hunter to get powerful healing, right? But wouldnt that make them look too similar to DH? HMMMMMM......
Hope you get my point. Its a dangerous precedent imo.
Tip the Scales was just a wake-up call. The moment Team 5 releases another powerful high-cost spell for Paladin, Alura will warp the meta again, guaranteed. The nerf I suggested prevents this possibility, to an extent.
You're highly underestimating SP if you think its just a Hail Mary card. Most of the time It is a "find what I need RIGHT NOW" card. That means value generation, tempo swings, and often lethal, all for a 1 mana spell. What kind of deck WOULD NOT play something like that?!
Also the comparison with Evocation is wrong: Evo gives you random mage cards, many of them will be either useless or unplayable for lack of mana; SP gives you cards you added to the deck yourself, which makes it 1000x better in most cases.
I think the better nerf to Broomstick would be to change it to adjacent minions. Weaker, but still good.
Also, I am annoyed with ramp pally deck, but if they nerf Allura, it will be the second standard priest card in a row to be nerfed for something that isn't standard priest. :(
That's actually a good point, it must be harder for blizzard to nerf dual class cards because they impact 2 different classes, I never thought of that
Regarding High Abbess Alura: I seem to recall Blizzard saying at one point that the intent of Alura was for cheating out buff spells like Blessing of Kings and Blessing of Authority. That being the case, if Alura does indeed need a nerf, the nerf I would favor would be:
"Spellburst: Cast a random spell from your deck that can target this. (It does.)"
That quite cleanly preserves the design intent, eliminates the possibility of cheating out massive board summoning cards, and keeps the card text simple and straightforward.
Thats more or less what I had in mind with my suggestion, but bear in mind yours is far stronger. In pure paladin, sometimes Alura will pull Consagretion, First Day at School, Libram of Justice etc, spells that are not great to play at any time. Making her pull only buffs could make her highroll potential more consistent, since "targets this" also includes Libram of Hope.
I also like this idea, and then maybe priest could actually use this card, too...
Outside of a deck running Shadow Word: Pain, it would be way more useful there too.
If the power level of this design is too high, it could always be accompanied by a mana cost increase. I doubt this design would be unfair at 5 mana, but it could be set to 6 if Blizzard wants to play it safe. (I will admit I didn't think of Libram of Hope, argh!)
Great idea! but id take away the rush keyword from the card too, just in case..
All it takes is one great high-cost buff spell and Alura could be playable in Priest, rotation will be full of possibilities.
Sounds good, at the very least would knock it down from the post of best topdeck in the game, would hit aggro the most too.
"Like I told the other guy, my problem with Illidari Studies is a design phylosophical one, not a current balance issue (for now at least). If DH can now have excellent value generation, then its ok for Rogue and Hunter to get powerful healing, right? But wouldnt that make them look too similar to DH? HMMMMMM......"
I do not think value generation means what you think it means... Illidari studies literally creates 0 value. It's a card you put in your deck, costs 1, reduces cost by 1, is a card you have to draw, creates a card you can play. You literally could just put in something else. what it does do is help fill in your curve for better and more tempo plays... It's a tempo card, not a value card.
It is a good card though, that is true, but the only way you can argue it offers value is that it allows you to create a large minion what you would never put in your deck otherwise, like if you draw it late game, but primarily it's a flexible tempo card.
Anything that gives you additional cards that were not in your deck at the start is value, no matter how small. Pharaoh Cat is value, Renew is value etc etc. The CARD YOU GOT can give you tempo, thats a whole other story. Illidari Studies doesnt give you shitloads of value like other BS out there, but it is no doubt a value card.
Animated Broomstick should just be adjacent and remove its own rush
Illidari Studies cant be nerfed as its a cycle card (both in format and intended behavior), you cant change the rule for 1, the card simply shouldn't have been printed, rogue should have gotten the last study card.
High Abbess Aluraprolly should have more limits applied to it, maybe just make it targeted spells (buffs, heals, damage), what Pure was already using it for.
Secret Passage isn't really a draw, maybe make it shuffle all cards both drawn by SP and created by SP so it doesn't create more value
I don't think any of these cards are a problem at all.
Outcast Studies is extremely limited value generation. Broomstick could maybe not be a rush minion itself, or be 2 mana, but I feel like that card really fits a certain niche.
Don't think Secret Passage or High Abbess Alura are an issue at all. Alura cheating out Tip the Scales is a problem, but the card is fine otherwise.