Lesser Emerald Spellstone (1) : Great card at face value. Both wolves are beasts and you get good stats without having to upgrade. After playing one secret the card starts getting into insane territory. Now drafting and playing secrets migh not be a sure thing but I won't imagine it being that much of a stretch considering most hunter secrets are draftable.
Lesser Onyx Spellstone (3) : Removal is always playable in Arena, but this one is a much more expensive Deadly Shot with an upgrade condition that is probably never going to happen in Arena. If this was 4 mana it is probably at least an above average card but 5 mana is real expensive for a situational card with a rarely realized upside. Also, it's Rogue, they have plenty of tools for removing minions.
Lesser Diamond Spellstone (4) : The value of the card is there as long as the random targets are decent sized (no guarentees here, needs to at least 2 3+ mana drops or this is a disaster. The odd chance this card gets upgraded is rare, but plausible in the late game. Overall too unreliable, but probably worse cards out there.
Twilight's Call (4) : Deathrattle isn't an extremely common ability and to have two friendly minions to target from the graveyard is a bit of a stretch. Pretty unreliable card potentially a completely dead card. To be honest it's a great value card if you have the right deck (generates 2/2 stats and 2 deathrattle effects) but seems very unlikely to be able to reach its potential in Arena.
Dragoncaller Alanna (4) : Very draft dependent card but feels more plausible in Mage. To get fair value you'll need at least one 5 cost spell played, beyond that is just gravy. The problem is that with 9 mana, summon a bunch of stats that don't impact the board probably isn't going to cut it in most cases. It's potentially a one card army for the late game, but needs a supporting draft to accommodate it.
Possessed Lackey (4): Statwise it could be worthwhile some of the time depending on your draft. The initial tempo loss by playing a 2/2 for 5 mana is quite a bit of stats to give up, which means regaining that tempo from the deathrattle would require a pretty big demon. I just don't see it happening often enough to make this even a consistently average card.
Val'anyr (1): Closest comparable card is Hammer of Twilight which is a tier 1 card, this card is even better potentially but it's slower to realize its full gains. Silence isn't very common in Arena, and if the this weapon gets recast once from the buffed minion getting removed, it's value is just godly. Save your Sap and Polymorph for this.
Deck of Wonders (5): 5 mana do nothing.... Draw your scroll and potential ruin your board, face, or both. This card is total trash.
Reckless Flurry (4): it's an AOE at least, but the cost of armor (basically taking damage), the double sided wipe and the uncontrollable damage due to armor that was stacked up is something that will make this card really bad most of the time.
Drywhisker Armorer (4): Warriors version of Cult Apothecary. It's a bit better then Cult since the effect is armor (which can be stacked over your HP in the early gsme when you need s body) and can be stacked for synergies, and the card itself is cheaper for the effect, but that doesn't say much about the card which is still a below average card most of the time.
Unidentified Shield (3): +15 armor is poor value (Iron Hide costs 1 mana for 5 armor after all) compared to cards like Greater Healing Potion which can be targeted and costs 2 mana less. The 5 armor + 5/5 Is the same as the old Shieldmaiden which was an above average card before. The weapon version is quite good value and so is the damage version. Overall it's an average to above average card most of the time which is fine.
Elven Minstrel (2): Good value card, but low tempo card. Having to combo it out might be a bit awkward and since it has such low impact on the board you need to be careful when to use this card. Still a good card and I'd be happy to have 1 in my deck. I feel the minion Draw a generally are worse then spells or random Draws especially since this card swallows 4+ mana, it'll be hard to find a playable minion for lethal or an answer on the same turn as the draw.
Ixlid, Fungal Lord (3): Pseudo Taunt card, this thing is a must kill. Playing this on curve is pretty risky and it should be at least hidden behind a taunt. More likely plays would involve later turns so you can play this and then play minion afterwards to get immediate value. Keep in mind from the wording it's only copies minions that are played. So minions with battle cries or spawns wouldn't get copied. Overall bit slow, but could be a late game win condition for some drafts.
Evasion needs very specific conditions to be good. If you are far ahead on ressources and about to take over board control, you can play evasion to prevent your opponent from bursting you down. But in most cases, your opponent wants to trade with your board anyway and can just use a small minion to test for evasion / sudden betrayal. You basically pay 2 mana to force your opponent to order their actions awkwardly and may put more damage into your minions than they'd want to. And if you don't even have any minions out, chances are that one turn won't save you either.
Maybe I am missing something, but it seems like an awful arena card.
I'm rethinking the card a bit, and I think i am overvaluing the indirect effects of this card on the opponents play making. As a card, as mentioned it's somewhere around Ice Block and Ice Barrier which are both average to below average cards. I have adjusted my ranking accordingly.
Leyline Manipulator (2): As a comparison, it's roughly the same as a 4 mana Ethereal Peddler, although most cards generated for Mage are usually random spells (usually better then totally random cards), I'd argue the reduction ability on this card is more powerful then the Peddlers. Most of the time it will just be a 4 mana 4/5 with an elemental tag which is a still a solid card.
Evasion(2) (4): It's an absolute shame this is an epic card since it pairs so well with Sudden Betrayal just purely by playing mind games with opponents. Due to its rarity, most players won't play around it as often so they will just attack face with the smallest minion first. I can see this card or the presence of this card making situations awkward for opponents. If Evasion was more common then players might use their largest minion to face first instead of smallest leading to lots of misplays. The card is infinitely weaker against hero powers with pings since you can trigger the secret easily without using a minion. After more thorough consideration the card needs too specific of a board state to be consistently impactful. For only 3 secrets introduced there is at least some nice variety.
Furbolg Mossbinder (4): it's a close comparison to Darkspeaker,both have an upside and downside. Darkspeaker allows the minion to keep its abilities, allows for a tempo trade and can be played as a 3/6 for 5, not ideal but it's something. Mossbinder on the other hand offers much more value with the 6/6 body, specially in the early game. The minion can't attack however so it wont swing teh game the turn its played tho. I feel the card is about the same in terms of playability, although the Mossbinder can get decent value if you can land the transform effect on a very negative minion. Edited: 6/6 has summoning sickness.
Geosculptor Yip (4): Pseudo Taunt 4/8 for 8 mana, it has a decent chance of living for a turn and you might be able to work some armor gains into a big turn, but this card is a much worse Y'Shaarj, Rage Unbound overall.
Skull of the Man'ari (5): Odds of weapon removal the turn after it's played is low, so you can find some value from it casting a demon at the beginning of your turn, however, drafting demons isn't necessarily a sure thing, and then you need them in your hand when this is played to get value from it. Overall just not a viable card by itself in Arena.
Unstable Evolution (1): Very cool mechanic and design. Great flexible card for Shaman. Overpaying slightly for flexibility is pretty normal for card design, but this card gives flexibitily a totally new bar. Thing is you might get carried away with playing it, which might get a bit too expensive.
Lynessa Sunsorrow (4) : Some decks can accommodate this card, but it's too draft dependent to be consistently good.
Kobold Hermit (4) : It has flexibility but gives up stats and tempo. Certain situations this card would be great (totem synergy, taunt, heal, +1 spell power), but in general it's just an inconsistent card.
Windshear Stormcaller (3) : Don't bother reading the text, the likelihood of this in Arena is negligible. 5 mana 5/5 is average.
Lesser Amethyst Spellstone (2) : Very solid card, bit expensive for it's initial effect tho. We can compare this card to Shadow Bolt which gives up 1 damage and 1 extra mana for 3 points of healing. I feel that's about as good on it's base level. This is something Warlock really needs, a way to heal, however the healing will go towards the damage taken to upgrade so it's a bit of a wash.
Kobold Librarian (1) : This is a snap pick in most drafts. An extra 1 mana life tap that leaves you a 2/1 body, pretty insane for a 1 mana card.
Vulgar Homunculus (2) : Obviously a strong card for it's mana cost. The 2 health loss isn't a concern in most cases. My only gripe is the 2/4 stat line. It's actually not that overpowering on turn 2, and in a non ping class isn't as capable at cleaning up 2/3 and 3/4 stat lines. Either way it's a borderline tier 1/2 for me. Demon synergy and health loss synergy as well on top.
Is Call to Arms really that draft dependent? I mean, you're going to draft 2-drops, everyone drafts 2 drops, the only dependency I see in it is you not wanting it if you have Doomsayer in your deck. If you've drafted like 2 1/2-drops then sure but... well if you do that you're screwed anyway and you should probably be prioritising your early game more, especially in a board dependent class like Paladin.
Call to Arms 1 : Thins your deck of stuff you don't want to keep drawing, only needs to summon 2 minions to be absolutely immense value. Absolutely top tier.
Sometimes you just don't have that many to choose. Or you are just sacrificing too much value.
Even if you drafted 5-6 (which is reasonable) if you managed to play each drops on curve you've already used up half of your decks total recruit targets. This is perfect if you can play Call to Arms on curve and don't have drops in your hand. But thete will be instances or drafts where the margin is just too thin to comsider Call to Arms a snap pick. (5x recruit targets would be my bare minimum, even then might not be enough)
Also would disagree that getting 2 minions is enough to call it immense value. Its good to thin the deck but pulling 2x 2/3 for example is only okay. Cards like Mire Keeper produce 5/5 stats split over 2 bodies and it's just a slightly above average card.
Voidlord (2): Nice buff to Bane of Doom. The card is about stabilizing the board. Getting hard removed is a problem for any top tier minion, and this card suffers the same fate if your opponent had Polymorph. It compares closest to Soggoth the Slitherer and Giant Mastodon and I'd argue it's somewhere in between, although this card might be the most likely to save you from death in most situations since hard removals are quite rare. Its a demon too, so theres always interesting synergies eith that.
Fal'dorei Strider (Spider Ambush!: Leyline Spider) (1): Great card from a value perspective, although it's value comes from drawing the spiders which may or may not come in that case it's a 4 mana 4/4 with no immediate impact which is nothing to write home about. Its not up to Vilespine Slayer power levels, but it's a solid card.
Hungry Ettin (3): Huge stats on turn 6, but if we compared this to Ancient of Blossoms, it's a difference of 1/2 stats for a 2 drop. The best 2 drop might be Dirty Rat stat wise and Doomsayer is another potentially crippling pull. In that comparison its strictly a worse Ancient.
Cataclysm (4): i don't feel this card is very good. If the text read "Discard your hand at end of turn", this card might have been excellent, but dumping your hand (potentially a full hand due to being WL) is just too punish to come back from even if you could draw 2 per turn. However, it is a comeback AOE so it will always have some playability in tough situations.
Call to Arms (2): Very powerful card since this pulls small cards from your deck instead of being randomly generated. If you can play this on curve with a deck full of good solid 1 mana and 2 mana drops this is going to be a real strong tempo play. It also thins your deck of smaller cards so your mid and late game draws are improved. Also follows paladins general game plan pretty well and synergies with its buff cards. Only reason this is not a 1 is because it is somewhat draft dependent since occasionally somme drafts will be starved for low mana minions.
Hoarding Dragon (1) : Immediately I think of Hungry Dragon, although I do think this card is much stronger since it doesn't provide your opponent with an immediate compensation for the stats of the dragon. The delayed coins do make for a better turn from your opponent in the future, but they have to get thru the 5/6 body first and theres no guarentee they will be able to utilize the coins potential. The card also gets better as the game progresses since the coins decrease in value as the game drags on. You need to deal about 6 mana worth of tempo to make up for this card and its drawback, this shouldn't be an issue in most early game situations. Since its a common I'd expect this card to haunt us on turn 4s in many games to come.
Sonya Shadowdancer (3) : A board centric value generator, similar to Cult Master, but slightly more situational since the minions being changed to 1 mana versions need to have some kind of effect rather then be vanilla minions. The body also doesn't compete well when played on curve if needed compared to Cult Master. With all that said, it has a game breaking ability to recycle minions battle cries in the late game such as Bonemare, or Vilespine Slayer, so this card can be a difference maker in relatively common sitatuions. I'd argue that generating one card is enough value if that card can flip the turn in your favor, the key is not to be too greedy with this card.
Arcane Artificer (4) : Poor stat line and an ability that doesn't impact the board. It's value comes from it's low mana cost, so if you can afford to play a big spell 1 turn late, you can piggyback this card to gain a bunch of armor. Keeping in mind spells aren't a guarantee in any drasft and you have a near trash tier card. It's an elemental at least.
Grand Archivist (5) : Horrible stats for its cost. There's a couple ways Blizzard could have went to make this card playable, as it is right now it's terrible. If you consider Arena drafts, most will contain AOE, removal and minion buffs most often. So spending a removal on your own minion or buffing your opponents is certain disaster. The reason Tortollan Primalist is playable inspite of it's horrible body is the discover effect. The reason why Servant of Yogg-Saron is playable is because it's body is serviceable insight of it's completely random effect. I think this new card is much worse then those cards because it's random pool of cards will often consist of cards to remove or buff, but when you have a random target, it's a much higher chance of something going wrong.
Arcane Tyrant (3) : The card is better in certain classes then others and a bit draft dependent. It's a card that is suppose to pick up tempo after using a large spell. The classes that come to mind which would benefit the most would probably be Priest and Mage, for example after using cards like Mind Control or Firelands Portal. Its a scary sitiation when you combine high value and high tempo. Worse case scenario this card can at least be played as a 4/4 for 5 which isn't totally useless.
Psychic Scream (2): Another tool for Priest, this one is a full double sided unconditional removal. Really scary card and can't be played around. Probably a bit better then Twisting Nether, since it negates deathrattle effects. Since its an epic, luckily we won't be experiencing this card that often.
Explosive Runes (3) :Excellent value card, but easy to play around since opponents will play their worst minion into all mage secrets. It's best to consider this a removal card and it's damage portion as an additional affect. Overall at the very worst it's a small removal plus some burn. At it's best it'll give you lethal.
Lesser Pearl Spellstone (3) : In a pinch the base spell is a Frostwolf Grunt, with an upside that's not terrible at all. Getting 3HP isn't necessarily that hard for paladin and at 1 upgrade, this card is a very strong card for 2 mana.
Lesser Ruby Spellstone (4): Babbling Book would be a 1, Shimmering Tempest a 2, and Cabalist's Tome a 3, this card is probably worse then all 3. The likelihood of maxing this spellstone will probably be impossible in Arena, and at its base form its a pretty sub par card so aiming for 1 upgrade for good value is ideal. I'm questioning how likely getting 2 playable elemental are in a draft let alone playing them while this is in hand. Not convinced it will work out right now on this card.
Grumble, Worldshaker (3) - The body is excellent obviously, but the battecry can be awkward. The trouble here is it's a Shaman card which means overload minions. Having any on the board and bounced back to your hand can be painful. If you can get some buffs, heals, or damage off the recasting of your board then this can be insane. However I'm not sold that you'll get that much value on this cards affect often. Still obviously a stud play on an empty turn 6, but if you had to bounce back anything to your hand, it's a tempo loss for future value. Interesting mix of tempo and value. Should be a good card to great card.
Benevolent Djinn (3) - Fair stats, with a below average effect. Heals are generally lower value, especially one you can't target, however 3hp a turn is a good amount if left unchecked.
Temporus (5) - if this card was a 10/10 Taunt minion it might be playable but with that body and that battle cry being such a huge negative effect, I'm not sure how you can argue this card working out in 99% of situations.
Grizzled Guardian (3) - For it's heavy mana cost luckily this card has taunt, otherwise this card might be junk. If we were to compare this card to Ironbark Protector a very solid Druid card, we are giving up 5/3 worth of immediate stats for a deathrattle effect split into 2 separate bodies. I would argue that squeezing out 6/6 worth of stats from the deathrattle is probably enough to match the Ironbarks stat line. This seems quite reasonable albeit a bit draft dependent. If you get hit by Shadow Madness I'd rage quit too. The card should be at least an average card in most instances.
King Togwaggle (5) - Horrible stats per mana cost. Effect is also horrible. This is purely some kind of troll card from Blizzard and I hope it gets banned from Arena eventually. A waste of a pick.
Lesser Emerald Spellstone (1) : Great card at face value. Both wolves are beasts and you get good stats without having to upgrade. After playing one secret the card starts getting into insane territory. Now drafting and playing secrets migh not be a sure thing but I won't imagine it being that much of a stretch considering most hunter secrets are draftable.
Lesser Onyx Spellstone (3) : Removal is always playable in Arena, but this one is a much more expensive Deadly Shot with an upgrade condition that is probably never going to happen in Arena. If this was 4 mana it is probably at least an above average card but 5 mana is real expensive for a situational card with a rarely realized upside. Also, it's Rogue, they have plenty of tools for removing minions.
Lesser Diamond Spellstone (4) : The value of the card is there as long as the random targets are decent sized (no guarentees here, needs to at least 2 3+ mana drops or this is a disaster. The odd chance this card gets upgraded is rare, but plausible in the late game. Overall too unreliable, but probably worse cards out there.
Twilight's Call (4) : Deathrattle isn't an extremely common ability and to have two friendly minions to target from the graveyard is a bit of a stretch. Pretty unreliable card potentially a completely dead card. To be honest it's a great value card if you have the right deck (generates 2/2 stats and 2 deathrattle effects) but seems very unlikely to be able to reach its potential in Arena.
Dragoncaller Alanna (4) : Very draft dependent card but feels more plausible in Mage. To get fair value you'll need at least one 5 cost spell played, beyond that is just gravy. The problem is that with 9 mana, summon a bunch of stats that don't impact the board probably isn't going to cut it in most cases. It's potentially a one card army for the late game, but needs a supporting draft to accommodate it.
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#1 Arena Leader Board Player in North America - August 2018 and April 2020
#2 NA Nov 18, #2 Asia July 19, #2 NA Feb 20, #2 NA June 20
Possessed Lackey (4): Statwise it could be worthwhile some of the time depending on your draft. The initial tempo loss by playing a 2/2 for 5 mana is quite a bit of stats to give up, which means regaining that tempo from the deathrattle would require a pretty big demon. I just don't see it happening often enough to make this even a consistently average card.
Val'anyr (1): Closest comparable card is Hammer of Twilight which is a tier 1 card, this card is even better potentially but it's slower to realize its full gains. Silence isn't very common in Arena, and if the this weapon gets recast once from the buffed minion getting removed, it's value is just godly. Save your Sap and Polymorph for this.
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#1 Arena Leader Board Player in North America - August 2018 and April 2020
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You're right, for some reason j remembered the armor gain as +6. I'll edit my commen. Thanks.
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Deck of Wonders (5): 5 mana do nothing.... Draw your scroll and potential ruin your board, face, or both. This card is total trash.
Reckless Flurry (4): it's an AOE at least, but the cost of armor (basically taking damage), the double sided wipe and the uncontrollable damage due to armor that was stacked up is something that will make this card really bad most of the time.
Drywhisker Armorer (4): Warriors version of Cult Apothecary. It's a bit better then Cult since the effect is armor (which can be stacked over your HP in the early gsme when you need s body) and can be stacked for synergies, and the card itself is cheaper for the effect, but that doesn't say much about the card which is still a below average card most of the time.
Unidentified Shield (3): +15 armor is poor value (Iron Hide costs 1 mana for 5 armor after all) compared to cards like Greater Healing Potion which can be targeted and costs 2 mana less. The 5 armor + 5/5 Is the same as the old Shieldmaiden which was an above average card before. The weapon version is quite good value and so is the damage version. Overall it's an average to above average card most of the time which is fine.
Elven Minstrel (2): Good value card, but low tempo card. Having to combo it out might be a bit awkward and since it has such low impact on the board you need to be careful when to use this card. Still a good card and I'd be happy to have 1 in my deck. I feel the minion Draw a generally are worse then spells or random Draws especially since this card swallows 4+ mana, it'll be hard to find a playable minion for lethal or an answer on the same turn as the draw.
Ixlid, Fungal Lord (3): Pseudo Taunt card, this thing is a must kill. Playing this on curve is pretty risky and it should be at least hidden behind a taunt. More likely plays would involve later turns so you can play this and then play minion afterwards to get immediate value. Keep in mind from the wording it's only copies minions that are played. So minions with battle cries or spawns wouldn't get copied. Overall bit slow, but could be a late game win condition for some drafts.
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#1 Arena Leader Board Player in North America - August 2018 and April 2020
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@Aeris - Rin is a Deathrattle not a battlecry.
Leyline Manipulator (2): As a comparison, it's roughly the same as a 4 mana Ethereal Peddler, although most cards generated for Mage are usually random spells (usually better then totally random cards), I'd argue the reduction ability on this card is more powerful then the Peddlers. Most of the time it will just be a 4 mana 4/5 with an elemental tag which is a still a solid card.
Evasion
(2)(4): It's an absolute shame this is an epic card since it pairs so well with Sudden Betrayal just purely by playing mind games with opponents. Due to its rarity, most players won't play around it as often so they will just attack face with the smallest minion first. I can see this card or the presence of this card making situations awkward for opponents. If Evasion was more common then players might use their largest minion to face first instead of smallest leading to lots of misplays. The card is infinitely weaker against hero powers with pings since you can trigger the secret easily without using a minion. After more thorough consideration the card needs too specific of a board state to be consistently impactful. For only 3 secrets introduced there is at least some nice variety.Furbolg Mossbinder (4): it's a close comparison to Darkspeaker,both have an upside and downside. Darkspeaker allows the minion to keep its abilities, allows for a tempo trade and can be played as a 3/6 for 5, not ideal but it's something. Mossbinder on the other hand offers much more value with the 6/6 body, specially in the early game. The minion can't attack however so it wont swing teh game the turn its played tho. I feel the card is about the same in terms of playability, although the Mossbinder can get decent value if you can land the transform effect on a very negative minion. Edited: 6/6 has summoning sickness.
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#1 Arena Leader Board Player in North America - August 2018 and April 2020
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Geosculptor Yip (4): Pseudo Taunt 4/8 for 8 mana, it has a decent chance of living for a turn and you might be able to work some armor gains into a big turn, but this card is a much worse Y'Shaarj, Rage Unbound overall.
Skull of the Man'ari (5): Odds of weapon removal the turn after it's played is low, so you can find some value from it casting a demon at the beginning of your turn, however, drafting demons isn't necessarily a sure thing, and then you need them in your hand when this is played to get value from it. Overall just not a viable card by itself in Arena.
Unstable Evolution (1): Very cool mechanic and design. Great flexible card for Shaman. Overpaying slightly for flexibility is pretty normal for card design, but this card gives flexibitily a totally new bar. Thing is you might get carried away with playing it, which might get a bit too expensive.
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Lynessa Sunsorrow (4) : Some decks can accommodate this card, but it's too draft dependent to be consistently good.
Kobold Hermit (4) : It has flexibility but gives up stats and tempo. Certain situations this card would be great (totem synergy, taunt, heal, +1 spell power), but in general it's just an inconsistent card.
Primal Talismans (5) : Why basic totem? C'mon. Awful card.
Windshear Stormcaller (3) : Don't bother reading the text, the likelihood of this in Arena is negligible. 5 mana 5/5 is average.
Lesser Amethyst Spellstone (2) : Very solid card, bit expensive for it's initial effect tho. We can compare this card to Shadow Bolt which gives up 1 damage and 1 extra mana for 3 points of healing. I feel that's about as good on it's base level. This is something Warlock really needs, a way to heal, however the healing will go towards the damage taken to upgrade so it's a bit of a wash.
Kobold Librarian (1) : This is a snap pick in most drafts. An extra 1 mana life tap that leaves you a 2/1 body, pretty insane for a 1 mana card.
Vulgar Homunculus (2) : Obviously a strong card for it's mana cost. The 2 health loss isn't a concern in most cases. My only gripe is the 2/4 stat line. It's actually not that overpowering on turn 2, and in a non ping class isn't as capable at cleaning up 2/3 and 3/4 stat lines. Either way it's a borderline tier 1/2 for me. Demon synergy and health loss synergy as well on top.
See my thoughts to all revealed cards HERE!
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#1 Arena Leader Board Player in North America - August 2018 and April 2020
#2 NA Nov 18, #2 Asia July 19, #2 NA Feb 20, #2 NA June 20
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#1 Arena Leader Board Player in North America - August 2018 and April 2020
#2 NA Nov 18, #2 Asia July 19, #2 NA Feb 20, #2 NA June 20
Twitch Arena Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/boozor / Youtube Chanel: https://www.youtube.com/c/boozortv
#1 Arena Leader Board Player in North America - August 2018 and April 2020
#2 NA Nov 18, #2 Asia July 19, #2 NA Feb 20, #2 NA June 20
Voidlord (2): Nice buff to Bane of Doom. The card is about stabilizing the board. Getting hard removed is a problem for any top tier minion, and this card suffers the same fate if your opponent had Polymorph. It compares closest to Soggoth the Slitherer and Giant Mastodon and I'd argue it's somewhere in between, although this card might be the most likely to save you from death in most situations since hard removals are quite rare. Its a demon too, so theres always interesting synergies eith that.
Fal'dorei Strider (Spider Ambush!: Leyline Spider) (1): Great card from a value perspective, although it's value comes from drawing the spiders which may or may not come in that case it's a 4 mana 4/4 with no immediate impact which is nothing to write home about. Its not up to Vilespine Slayer power levels, but it's a solid card.
Hungry Ettin (3): Huge stats on turn 6, but if we compared this to Ancient of Blossoms, it's a difference of 1/2 stats for a 2 drop. The best 2 drop might be Dirty Rat stat wise and Doomsayer is another potentially crippling pull. In that comparison its strictly a worse Ancient.
Cataclysm (4): i don't feel this card is very good. If the text read "Discard your hand at end of turn", this card might have been excellent, but dumping your hand (potentially a full hand due to being WL) is just too punish to come back from even if you could draw 2 per turn. However, it is a comeback AOE so it will always have some playability in tough situations.
Call to Arms (2): Very powerful card since this pulls small cards from your deck instead of being randomly generated. If you can play this on curve with a deck full of good solid 1 mana and 2 mana drops this is going to be a real strong tempo play. It also thins your deck of smaller cards so your mid and late game draws are improved. Also follows paladins general game plan pretty well and synergies with its buff cards. Only reason this is not a 1 is because it is somewhat draft dependent since occasionally somme drafts will be starved for low mana minions.
See my thoughts to all revealed cards HERE!
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#1 Arena Leader Board Player in North America - August 2018 and April 2020
#2 NA Nov 18, #2 Asia July 19, #2 NA Feb 20, #2 NA June 20
Hoarding Dragon (1) : Immediately I think of Hungry Dragon, although I do think this card is much stronger since it doesn't provide your opponent with an immediate compensation for the stats of the dragon. The delayed coins do make for a better turn from your opponent in the future, but they have to get thru the 5/6 body first and theres no guarentee they will be able to utilize the coins potential. The card also gets better as the game progresses since the coins decrease in value as the game drags on. You need to deal about 6 mana worth of tempo to make up for this card and its drawback, this shouldn't be an issue in most early game situations. Since its a common I'd expect this card to haunt us on turn 4s in many games to come.
Twitch Arena Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/boozor / Youtube Chanel: https://www.youtube.com/c/boozortv
#1 Arena Leader Board Player in North America - August 2018 and April 2020
#2 NA Nov 18, #2 Asia July 19, #2 NA Feb 20, #2 NA June 20
Sonya Shadowdancer (3) : A board centric value generator, similar to Cult Master, but slightly more situational since the minions being changed to 1 mana versions need to have some kind of effect rather then be vanilla minions. The body also doesn't compete well when played on curve if needed compared to Cult Master. With all that said, it has a game breaking ability to recycle minions battle cries in the late game such as Bonemare, or Vilespine Slayer, so this card can be a difference maker in relatively common sitatuions. I'd argue that generating one card is enough value if that card can flip the turn in your favor, the key is not to be too greedy with this card.
Arcane Artificer (4) : Poor stat line and an ability that doesn't impact the board. It's value comes from it's low mana cost, so if you can afford to play a big spell 1 turn late, you can piggyback this card to gain a bunch of armor. Keeping in mind spells aren't a guarantee in any drasft and you have a near trash tier card. It's an elemental at least.
Grand Archivist (5) : Horrible stats for its cost. There's a couple ways Blizzard could have went to make this card playable, as it is right now it's terrible. If you consider Arena drafts, most will contain AOE, removal and minion buffs most often. So spending a removal on your own minion or buffing your opponents is certain disaster. The reason Tortollan Primalist is playable inspite of it's horrible body is the discover effect. The reason why Servant of Yogg-Saron is playable is because it's body is serviceable insight of it's completely random effect. I think this new card is much worse then those cards because it's random pool of cards will often consist of cards to remove or buff, but when you have a random target, it's a much higher chance of something going wrong.
Arcane Tyrant (3) : The card is better in certain classes then others and a bit draft dependent. It's a card that is suppose to pick up tempo after using a large spell. The classes that come to mind which would benefit the most would probably be Priest and Mage, for example after using cards like Mind Control or Firelands Portal. Its a scary sitiation when you combine high value and high tempo. Worse case scenario this card can at least be played as a 4/4 for 5 which isn't totally useless.
Psychic Scream (2): Another tool for Priest, this one is a full double sided unconditional removal. Really scary card and can't be played around. Probably a bit better then Twisting Nether, since it negates deathrattle effects. Since its an epic, luckily we won't be experiencing this card that often.
See my thoughts to all revealed cards HERE!
Twitch Arena Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/boozor / Youtube Chanel: https://www.youtube.com/c/boozortv
#1 Arena Leader Board Player in North America - August 2018 and April 2020
#2 NA Nov 18, #2 Asia July 19, #2 NA Feb 20, #2 NA June 20
Explosive Runes (3) :Excellent value card, but easy to play around since opponents will play their worst minion into all mage secrets. It's best to consider this a removal card and it's damage portion as an additional affect. Overall at the very worst it's a small removal plus some burn. At it's best it'll give you lethal.
Lesser Pearl Spellstone (3) : In a pinch the base spell is a Frostwolf Grunt, with an upside that's not terrible at all. Getting 3HP isn't necessarily that hard for paladin and at 1 upgrade, this card is a very strong card for 2 mana.
Lesser Ruby Spellstone (4): Babbling Book would be a 1, Shimmering Tempest a 2, and Cabalist's Tome a 3, this card is probably worse then all 3. The likelihood of maxing this spellstone will probably be impossible in Arena, and at its base form its a pretty sub par card so aiming for 1 upgrade for good value is ideal. I'm questioning how likely getting 2 playable elemental are in a draft let alone playing them while this is in hand. Not convinced it will work out right now on this card.
See my thoughts to all revealed cards HERE!
Twitch Arena Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/boozor / Youtube Chanel: https://www.youtube.com/c/boozortv
#1 Arena Leader Board Player in North America - August 2018 and April 2020
#2 NA Nov 18, #2 Asia July 19, #2 NA Feb 20, #2 NA June 20
Grumble, Worldshaker (3) - The body is excellent obviously, but the battecry can be awkward. The trouble here is it's a Shaman card which means overload minions. Having any on the board and bounced back to your hand can be painful. If you can get some buffs, heals, or damage off the recasting of your board then this can be insane. However I'm not sold that you'll get that much value on this cards affect often. Still obviously a stud play on an empty turn 6, but if you had to bounce back anything to your hand, it's a tempo loss for future value. Interesting mix of tempo and value. Should be a good card to great card.
Benevolent Djinn (3) - Fair stats, with a below average effect. Heals are generally lower value, especially one you can't target, however 3hp a turn is a good amount if left unchecked.
Temporus (5) - if this card was a 10/10 Taunt minion it might be playable but with that body and that battle cry being such a huge negative effect, I'm not sure how you can argue this card working out in 99% of situations.
Grizzled Guardian (3) - For it's heavy mana cost luckily this card has taunt, otherwise this card might be junk. If we were to compare this card to Ironbark Protector a very solid Druid card, we are giving up 5/3 worth of immediate stats for a deathrattle effect split into 2 separate bodies. I would argue that squeezing out 6/6 worth of stats from the deathrattle is probably enough to match the Ironbarks stat line. This seems quite reasonable albeit a bit draft dependent. If you get hit by Shadow Madness I'd rage quit too. The card should be at least an average card in most instances.
King Togwaggle (5) - Horrible stats per mana cost. Effect is also horrible. This is purely some kind of troll card from Blizzard and I hope it gets banned from Arena eventually. A waste of a pick.
See my thoughts to all revealed cards HERE!
Twitch Arena Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/boozor / Youtube Chanel: https://www.youtube.com/c/boozortv
#1 Arena Leader Board Player in North America - August 2018 and April 2020
#2 NA Nov 18, #2 Asia July 19, #2 NA Feb 20, #2 NA June 20