Oaken Summons 4 : Blizzard why do you hate my favourite class. The 6 armour is basically worth 1.2 mana but that card (Iron Hide) was never played and armour is worth less in arena than it is in constructed. This is a card you partially build your deck around but you're obviously not going to do that in arena... 4 mana to gain a little armour and potentially summon a 2-drop? Eh.
I actually like cards like these, even when the effects alone r a bit overcharged, you would never pick Iron Hide, cause it just gives u armor, thats a waste of a card. But u might want to get Oaken Summons, cause it also summons a minion. Yeah, its not very amazing card, but it is a card u might consider in some situations and some extra health (armor) is never a bad thing, when the card does more than just "heals" u. I dont mean to start an argument again :D but i wanted to share my point of view on cards like these ;-)
The problem is...well why draft it? Why would you not just draft yourself a two or three drop and save mana on the near useless bit? Combining two effects together in one card makes them stronger for sure, but when that effect is such a mediocre one and the other half relies on good rng for the minion....eh. if this was a Warrior card it would be substantially better.
Interesting huh? I'd never guessed that Blessing of Kings stapled into a 5/5 minion would make a tier 1 card either.
Bladed Gauntlet - Average. Unique weapon, I'd want to hold it until I can get enough armor to remove decent threat. That would make it a very cheap big removal, which is nice.
Kingsbane - Bad. I guess in arena you won't re-playing this a lot, making its ability less valuable. At least it's a cheap weapon that can be used more cheaply and has more durability than your hero power (maybe your other two Legendary option is worse than a cheap weapon).
Dragon's Fury - Good. Need some drafting tactic (avoiding cheap spells), but it's looking to be an efficient board wipe. At three its worse Hellfire, at four that feels like Flamestrike, at five that's cheaper Dragonfire Potion.
Dragonhatcher - Bad. Well, that really depends on your Dragons...If you get Ysera it's like you have higher chance to draw Ysera from your deck.
Crystal Lion - Excellent. I'm totally fine playing this at six mana : )
Ironwood Golem - Average. Like Sinti said, feels like a more expensive Tar Creeper (but not much stronger).
Oaken Summons - Bad. Right now armor isn't rewarding in Druid (except as a healing tool, though it's still lowly valued), and I have mixed feeling about the Recruit. The easier comparison seem to be Guild Recruiter, which give you a 2/4 minion instead of six armor, and that makes me feels sad about this card.
While I agree that it is a good pick, I see it being far from Bonemare's powerlevel and would classify as a better tier 2 (good) card. On curve, it really is a powerhouse, but nothing totally gamebreaking. Remember Hungry Dragon getting dropped from a rogue with equipped dagger that instantly killed the 2/1 or whatever the dragon spawned. Yeah, that was a strong turn 4, but nothing too extraordinary. On the downside, the deathrattle can be pretty impactful. 2 coins are not only 2 mana compensation, it also is increased flexibility in curving out and getting huge drops or boardclears out earlier. As it is a deathrattle it clearly is better than a Hungry Dragon, but yeah... not a 1++++ card in my opinion.
I don't think people really place it on same level with Bonemare. We're just saying while it has horrible deathrattle, your opponent is going to work hard dealing with a 5/6 efficiently, especially in early turns. Compare that to Hungry Dragon that always give your opponent some benefit. Also imo the definition of "nothing too extraordinary" is pretty blurry here, Tar Creeper is nothing extraordinary, but we know it's a very strong play that's difficult to deal efficiently.
Twilight's Call - Good. Being able to trigger two Deathrattle while also dealing damage with two 1/1 body looks good to me. Well, except if you have played minion with negative deathrattle (here goes today's Bomb Squad reference), then that would be bad, you might want to avoid that.
Dragoncaller Alanna - Good. Drafting at least two big spells might not be very difficult for mage, and the effect being separate body really helps avoid removal (compared to something like "gain +5/+5 for each big spell you cast this game" for example). She will easily turn your board into powerful board presence late game if you succeed.
You're an optimistic sort aren't you! I'd have both cards at 5 personally, way too much variance to be reliably good.
Lol yeah, we haven't played it after all, it doesn't hurt to be optimistic. I find both have certain consistency though:
For Twilight's Call : Summoning two minion with one card is always nice, even two 1/1 tokens have some flexibility of use. I'd say 3 mana is justified because both tokens have Deathrattle, which increases their value (yeah, except Hoarding Dragon, etc). I didn't find minion with decent deathrattle hard to find, though I'm not sure if K&C will be the same.
For Dragoncaller Alanna : Now, five mana spells looks harder to find than deathrattle minions, but the reward is huge. Multiple 5/5 bodies are very difficult to handle. Most big spells are decent too; Firelands Portal are common, Blizzard are rare, and you'd want Meteor, or Pyroblast if offered.
Twilight's Call - Good. Being able to trigger two Deathrattle while also dealing damage with two 1/1 body looks good to me. Well, except if you have played minion with negative deathrattle (here goes today's Bomb Squad reference), then that would be bad, you might want to avoid that.
Dragoncaller Alanna - Good. Drafting at least two big spells might not be very difficult for mage, and the effect being separate body really helps avoid removal (compared to something like "gain +5/+5 for each big spell you cast this game" for example). She will easily turn your board into powerful board presence late game if you succeed.
Lesser Diamond Spellstone - Bad. I don't think this card is entirely bad. You'll get lucky sometimes and hit a 4-mana and 5-mana minion. At least with it resurrecting two different minion you have more chance to have a good resurrection. It should be a decent spell after one upgrade, but upgrading it just takes a lot of effort in Arena.
Lesser Onyx Spellstone - Bad. I think this is similar to the Priest spellstone. Underwhelming before upgrade (five-mana Deadly Shot? Please), but requires very specific action to upgrade. On the other hand, Deathrattle minions aren't really hard to find, and after one upgrade it does look good. Let's see how it actually does after the expansion hits.
Lesser Emerald Spellstone - Good. Good base effect and looks easy to upgrade. I guess most will agree that this is a fine card.
Possessed Lackey - Bad. Recruit demon is actually okay, but initial impact of 2/2 body for 5 mana is just miserable. Isn't this Silver Vanguard all over again?
Val'anyr - Excellent. Finally, legendary weapon for one of "true" weapon classes. While it's kinda slow (4/2 weapon for 6 mana is...not strong enough play), the fact that it makes your minions better then *re-equips* itself makes it a weapon that never go away, and that's just amazing value.
Ixlid, Fungal Lord - Average. Powerful ability, but 4 Health really makes it vulnerable. Like Boozor mentioned, better if you have some way to protect it or hold playing it until late game, trying to drop it on empty board with strong taunt following next turn works too I guess. My guess playing it with at least copying one Taunt minion is enough to make it a very real threat.
Deck of Wonders - Bad. It's sad this doesn't do anything when played, looks like a fun card. I personally likes it, but not doing anything in turn 5 is miserable, hopefully those free spells does something for you. I'm still going to pick this at times for fun factor though lol.
Reckless Flurry - Average. Interesting, this is also quite cheap for a board clear spell. If in the new Arena warrior could get nice level of Armor without sacrificing tempo etc, I think this (and maybe Geosculptor Yip as well) will be very good. If that's true, then I like that it would also creates tension for your opponent whether to chase for board control and risk this card, or ignore threats to reduce Armor.
Drywhisker Armorer - Average. While I can easily rate every Armor card to be bad in arena, this looks like to be interesting direction for warrior. You don't really pick this for the body though as it's pretty weak.
Elven Minstrel - Good. Getting a 3/2 minion and drawing 2 minions from deck for 4 mana is very good. It's pretty much useless without Combo, so that should be considered when playing.
Unidentified Shield - Good. For a common card, this is quite nice. Weapon mode and Burn mode can interact, Golem mode turns it into Shieldbearer, and Shield Shield mode might save your life. If Armor theme could be successful, I think this card will be staple
Furbolg Mossbinder - Average. Interesting, at first I thought it was some kind of Bonemare, but then realized you can't immediately attack with the summoned 6/6 Elemental. "Healing" damaged minion and buffing token is good value, but that's kind of situational. Transforming minion, however, sounds pretty interesting as you can combo it after using drawback cards like Bomb Squad or Rattling Rascal. Overall, nice support ability to have in certain situations, but maybe not front-liner like Cobalt Scalebane or Bonemare.
Skull of the Man'ari - Terrible. You need a lot of demons to benefit from it, and that's pretty difficult to do in Arena.
Geosculptor Yip - Bad. As far as 8-mana minions go, this one is a bit tricky. I agree that this card is hard to benefit from, as armor isn't something you consciously get in Arena, but I do see small potential.
Unstable Evolution - Good. Now, I don't quite understand why this card is rated so highly. It does have high flexibility and allow you to efficiently use your mana, but unless you have some combo with it (I imagine Rattling Rascal, Bomb Squad), it looks like average buff spell for me. I appreciate the fact that it's a very flexible buff spell, depending on your game state and mana available. Looking forward to see how it plays.
Leyline Manipulator - Good. Good stats, and it certainly makes "add random mage spell" cards more interesting.
edit: edit on Unstable Evo rating after reading more about it
Lynessa Sunsorrow - Bad I'm not really sure, I think the only way to make her worth the cost is by playing Spikeridged Steed (one is enough, but it's really specific). I don't think even piling up three different cheaper buff could make her good 7-drop, and that's already hard to do in Arena. Maybe Paladin has powerful, common buff spell that hasn't been revealed yet?
Cataclysm - Average Its a very cheap board clear, and that is an amazing quality to have. The key should be knowing how to use it wisely (how many cards your opponent has left in hand, or how fast could they build their board again).
Call to Arms - Excellent It's true you should draft accordingly, but I agree that the first Call to Arms you play in a game should have huge impact, even mix of 1-mana and 2-mana minions are good, as long as you get three minions out of this, preferably on curve.
Windshear Stormcaller - Average That's crazy ability, but probably won't happen in most of arena games (Well, it would be crazy if it is). At least 5/5 minion for 5 mana is still playable, if you aren't being offered better epic choices.
Lesser Amethyst Spellstone - Average This is stronger Drain Soul, and upgrading it once already make it worth the cost. Great value once upgraded twice. Thankfully, we also get new decent minions that deal damage to yourself.
Primal Talismans - Bad Not really sure about this one (well, more like is this average or this is terrible?). You still got a lot of totems for small cost though.
Kobold Hermit - Good Maybe not the best tempo card, but I love the flexibility it has. Being able to choose Taunt, Spell Damage, or Healing at the right time is very valuable.
Kobold Librarian - Good Nice stats, free card, quite small drawback, just great.
Agreed, while the drawback is real, Hoarding Dragon's immediate impact is just too good to pass. Come Kobolds, I'm ready for Dragon Treasure hunt!
Voidlord - Playable While it doesn't do much on offense, it's very, very good at protecting you or your board. Its another prime Silence target though.
Fal'dorei Strider - Excellent Aren't we just talking about how good free 4/4 minion is? Sorry Arcane Tyrant, move aside. I like that this also make your card drawing spells and minions way, way better (heard that rogues got a lot of those).
Hungry Ettin - Excellent I'd say that getting free two-mana minion isn't worth having to face 10-Health Taunt with 4 Attack (well except if you get Doomsayer).
Hoarding Dragon - Good. The Deathrattle is obviously bad, especially in Arena, but at least your opponent has to work for it. You can try to silence it too if you can afford it, for example by playing Defias Cleaner on curve. Also, hey, excellent flavor.
I'm curious why you think it's especially bad in arena? Personally I'm very much of the opposite opinion. It's basically a pre-nerf innervate which was exceptionally strong in Constructed but fairly mediocre in Arena.
Okay, maybe not that special, but I don't think old Innervate is just fairly mediocre. Having two free coins allows you to have amazing flexibility on how to play your cards. You can ramp big minion like Bonemare early. You can do plays that normally impossible or would make you float a lot of mana. As using such opportunity to swing the game is really important in Arena, that makes it a serious downside in my opinion.
Interesting huh? I'd never guessed that Blessing of Kings stapled into a 5/5 minion would make a tier 1 card either.
Bladed Gauntlet - Average.
Unique weapon, I'd want to hold it until I can get enough armor to remove decent threat. That would make it a very cheap big removal, which is nice.
five cards, now some reviews...and crystal lion!
Kingsbane - Bad.
I guess in arena you won't re-playing this a lot, making its ability less valuable. At least it's a cheap weapon that can be used more cheaply and has more durability than your hero power (maybe your other two Legendary option is worse than a cheap weapon).
Dragon's Fury - Good.
Need some drafting tactic (avoiding cheap spells), but it's looking to be an efficient board wipe. At three its worse Hellfire, at four that feels like Flamestrike, at five that's cheaper Dragonfire Potion.
Dragonhatcher - Bad.
Well, that really depends on your Dragons...If you get Ysera it's like you have higher chance to draw Ysera from your deck.
Crystal Lion - Excellent.
I'm totally fine playing this at six mana : )
Ironwood Golem - Average.
Like Sinti said, feels like a more expensive Tar Creeper (but not much stronger).
Oaken Summons - Bad.
Right now armor isn't rewarding in Druid (except as a healing tool, though it's still lowly valued), and I have mixed feeling about the Recruit. The easier comparison seem to be Guild Recruiter, which give you a 2/4 minion instead of six armor, and that makes me feels sad about this card.
edit: adds crystal lion
Twilight's Call - Good.
Being able to trigger two Deathrattle while also dealing damage with two 1/1 body looks good to me. Well, except if you have played minion with negative deathrattle (here goes today's Bomb Squad reference), then that would be bad, you might want to avoid that.
Dragoncaller Alanna - Good.
Drafting at least two big spells might not be very difficult for mage, and the effect being separate body really helps avoid removal (compared to something like "gain +5/+5 for each big spell you cast this game" for example). She will easily turn your board into powerful board presence late game if you succeed.
Lesser Diamond Spellstone - Bad.
I don't think this card is entirely bad. You'll get lucky sometimes and hit a 4-mana and 5-mana minion. At least with it resurrecting two different minion you have more chance to have a good resurrection. It should be a decent spell after one upgrade, but upgrading it just takes a lot of effort in Arena.
Lesser Onyx Spellstone - Bad.
I think this is similar to the Priest spellstone. Underwhelming before upgrade (five-mana Deadly Shot? Please), but requires very specific action to upgrade. On the other hand, Deathrattle minions aren't really hard to find, and after one upgrade it does look good. Let's see how it actually does after the expansion hits.
Lesser Emerald Spellstone - Good.
Good base effect and looks easy to upgrade. I guess most will agree that this is a fine card.
Possessed Lackey - Bad.
Recruit demon is actually okay, but initial impact of 2/2 body for 5 mana is just miserable. Isn't this Silver Vanguard all over again?
Val'anyr - Excellent.
Finally, legendary weapon for one of "true" weapon classes. While it's kinda slow (4/2 weapon for 6 mana is...not strong enough play), the fact that it makes your minions better then *re-equips* itself makes it a weapon that never go away, and that's just amazing value.
Ixlid, Fungal Lord - Average.
Powerful ability, but 4 Health really makes it vulnerable. Like Boozor mentioned, better if you have some way to protect it or hold playing it until late game, trying to drop it on empty board with strong taunt following next turn works too I guess. My guess playing it with at least copying one Taunt minion is enough to make it a very real threat.
Now that's a lot of warrior cards.
Deck of Wonders - Bad.
It's sad this doesn't do anything when played, looks like a fun card. I personally likes it, but not doing anything in turn 5 is miserable, hopefully those free spells does something for you. I'm still going to pick this at times for fun factor though lol.
Reckless Flurry - Average.
Interesting, this is also quite cheap for a board clear spell. If in the new Arena warrior could get nice level of Armor without sacrificing tempo etc, I think this (and maybe Geosculptor Yip as well) will be very good. If that's true, then I like that it would also creates tension for your opponent whether to chase for board control and risk this card, or ignore threats to reduce Armor.
Drywhisker Armorer - Average.
While I can easily rate every Armor card to be bad in arena, this looks like to be interesting direction for warrior. You don't really pick this for the body though as it's pretty weak.
Elven Minstrel - Good.
Getting a 3/2 minion and drawing 2 minions from deck for 4 mana is very good. It's pretty much useless without Combo, so that should be considered when playing.
Unidentified Shield - Good.
For a common card, this is quite nice. Weapon mode and Burn mode can interact, Golem mode turns it into Shieldbearer, and Shield Shield mode might save your life. If Armor theme could be successful, I think this card will be staple
Furbolg Mossbinder - Average.
Interesting, at first I thought it was some kind of Bonemare, but then realized you can't immediately attack with the summoned 6/6 Elemental. "Healing" damaged minion and buffing token is good value, but that's kind of situational. Transforming minion, however, sounds pretty interesting as you can combo it after using drawback cards like Bomb Squad or Rattling Rascal. Overall, nice support ability to have in certain situations, but maybe not front-liner like Cobalt Scalebane or Bonemare.
Evasion - Bad.
Nice defensive tool, but I'm not sure it's something you want for Arena.
Skull of the Man'ari - Terrible.
You need a lot of demons to benefit from it, and that's pretty difficult to do in Arena.
Geosculptor Yip - Bad.
As far as 8-mana minions go, this one is a bit tricky. I agree that this card is hard to benefit from, as armor isn't something you consciously get in Arena, but I do see small potential.
Unstable Evolution - Good.
Now, I don't quite understand why this card is rated so highly. It does have high flexibility and allow you to efficiently use your mana, but unless you have some combo with it (I imagine Rattling Rascal, Bomb Squad), it looks like average buff spell for me.I appreciate the fact that it's a very flexible buff spell, depending on your game state and mana available. Looking forward to see how it plays.Leyline Manipulator - Good.
Good stats, and it certainly makes "add random mage spell" cards more interesting.
edit: edit on Unstable Evo rating after reading more about it
Whoops, a lot to catch up.
Lynessa Sunsorrow - Bad
I'm not really sure, I think the only way to make her worth the cost is by playing Spikeridged Steed (one is enough, but it's really specific). I don't think even piling up three different cheaper buff could make her good 7-drop, and that's already hard to do in Arena. Maybe Paladin has powerful, common buff spell that hasn't been revealed yet?
Cataclysm - Average
Its a very cheap board clear, and that is an amazing quality to have. The key should be knowing how to use it wisely (how many cards your opponent has left in hand, or how fast could they build their board again).
Call to Arms - Excellent
It's true you should draft accordingly, but I agree that the first Call to Arms you play in a game should have huge impact, even mix of 1-mana and 2-mana minions are good, as long as you get three minions out of this, preferably on curve.
Windshear Stormcaller - Average
That's crazy ability, but probably won't happen in most of arena games (Well, it would be crazy if it is). At least 5/5 minion for 5 mana is still playable, if you aren't being offered better epic choices.
Lesser Amethyst Spellstone - Average
This is stronger Drain Soul, and upgrading it once already make it worth the cost. Great value once upgraded twice. Thankfully, we also get new decent minions that deal damage to yourself.
Primal Talismans - Bad
Not really sure about this one (well, more like is this average or this is terrible?). You still got a lot of totems for small cost though.
Kobold Hermit - Good
Maybe not the best tempo card, but I love the flexibility it has. Being able to choose Taunt, Spell Damage, or Healing at the right time is very valuable.
Kobold Librarian - Good
Nice stats, free card, quite small drawback, just great.
Vulgar Homunculus - Excellent
This brings me bad memories about Wyrmrest Agent. That's just a very good card.
Agreed, while the drawback is real, Hoarding Dragon's immediate impact is just too good to pass. Come Kobolds, I'm ready for Dragon Treasure hunt!
Voidlord - Playable
While it doesn't do much on offense, it's very, very good at protecting you or your board. Its another prime Silence target though.
Fal'dorei Strider - Excellent
Aren't we just talking about how good free 4/4 minion is? Sorry Arcane Tyrant, move aside. I like that this also make your card drawing spells and minions way, way better (heard that rogues got a lot of those).
Hungry Ettin - Excellent
I'd say that getting free two-mana minion isn't worth having to face 10-Health Taunt with 4 Attack (well except if you get Doomsayer).