I agree with every point you made but I want to point out that priest has been the king of late game for as far as I've played this game. That heavy control priest with 2x entombs you described is a very greedy deck and in a control vs control match up the greediest deck (in general) has the upper-hand.
If you tech too much early game in order to do well in what you've called "the dominance of tempo decks" you will lose to greedier decks. That's just how hearthstone is: you sacrifice some match ups to be better in others. I bet those greedy priest decks have a harder time in this meta than you (specially if they don't draw their deathlords). I haven't played control priest lately but I bet these new reno decks might challenge them even late game.
I still don't think entomb is the problem.
I really don't see how having an Entomb, a Holy Fire, Vol'Jin and a LightBomb is greedy. They're all removal !
Seriously, Holy Fire is almost as good as a Healbot ( Heal-wise ) except it will kill the first step of a Sludge or a 5/5, Vol'Jin and Holy Nova is a very good removal combo against any deck ( It's one of the only way to easily deal with a Violet Teacher that already spawned several 1/1s for example ). Lightbomb is more often than not a board clear and only scarcely hits priest minions who usually have higher health than attack.
That's not greed, that's just teching 2 cards ( That still have use against almost any other deck, mind you ) to win any control match-up.
I mean, out of the 6 most popular priest decks on this site, 4 have 2 Entombs, 1 ( Dragonpriest ) has only 1 Entomb, and the other ( OTk priest, a combo deck that can't even spare playing Dr Boom ) obviously has 0. This doesn't look like a greedy tech to me.
I can see the argument of "This doesn't make priest OP overall", because yeah, I can see priest not being the best class ATM and not that many decks being hit by Entomb that much more than if it had been SW:D, but I definitly won't buy the "Entomb isn't OP" thing, because this card single handedly breaks match-ups apart.
That's because undertaker was used on top of already T1 decks. Entomb isn't, YET. Now priests can't get anything good because if they get better it'll be completely broken. Such an amazing design space.
Also if Entomb is fair so was Undertaker. A priest who entombs an Ysera, Anub'Arak or Tirion will almost surely win the lategame because they both negated an enemy win condition and acquired one. In both cases drawing that card at the right moment is a sure win, even less in Undertaker's case because you could just silence it, whereas you will never get your card back with Entomb, and Undertaker needed to make your deck around it, Entomb just is yet another removal.
Major difference is how fast they are drawn/played. Undertaker was on board turn 1 giving you absolutely no time to react. Either you were lucky enough to get an answer in your starting hand (+ maybe first and second draw) or you lost because if you waited until turn 3 to clear it was already too late.
Even IF entomb is as broken as undertaker was (which it definitely isn't) you have more time to react to it.
As others have said before, try to apply pressure and bait it out before you drop your win condition(s). If you can't do that it means you don't have board control and you know what happens when you lose board control against a priest? You lose the game.
Keep in mind you dind't lose to entomb though. It just feels that way because you were desperately hoping that last threat you played would win you the game (or at least bring you back to it) when it gets easily dealt the salt level exponentially increases.
Considering priest has some of the most massive AOE clears ( Lightbomb and Auchenai + Circle ) in the game, how do I retain board control without dropping big threats again ? I'm playing dragon rogue, and I can tell you you nearly can't win without Ysera, Anub'Arak or a very good Chromagus. Anything not one of those will die to a single late game minion or almost any board clear.
Anybody claiming you can win against priest without dropping big threats as a control deck ( Except warrior which nowadays can just wait out their opponent dying from fatigue ), which ALWAYS relies on said big threats to win, has never played against a priest.
I'm sorry if I was not clear enough. Off course you have to drop threats to apply pressure but if you have to force him to entomb your midgame threats instead of your win conditions. A priest will ideally save entomb for your biggest bombs but what will happen if you drop a thaurrisan and the priest doesn't have another answer in his hand? He'll entomb it! He won't let it live just to save an entomb.
That's what I meant. If your win condition is to exaust your opponent's removal and drop ysera or anub'arak for infinite value try to make him 'waste' his entombs on other cards like thaurrisan, boom, ragnaros, nefarian, alex or whatever else you play.
If your deck doens't apply enough pression midgame and it runs few late game threats you are screwed against priest.
Except no deck can realistically do that AND fare even remotely well in a temp oriented meta. Having even 2 late game threats is already pretty insane for any deck nowadays, and no, Entomb isn't the only removal priests have, they have SW:D, Vol'Jin, Lightbomb and sometimes even Holy Fire.
Seriously, look up any control priest decklist and you'll realize someone would need at least 5 mid-late game threats to even remotely hope having one stick ( And even then good luck maintaining pressure on a control deck with a measly 5/5 ), which simply isn't possible ; Even control warrior doesn't.
Control priest is only kept in check by the dominance of tempo decks, but any control mirror is nigh-unwinnable against them.
That's because undertaker was used on top of already T1 decks. Entomb isn't, YET. Now priests can't get anything good because if they get better it'll be completely broken. Such an amazing design space.
Also if Entomb is fair so was Undertaker. A priest who entombs an Ysera, Anub'Arak or Tirion will almost surely win the lategame because they both negated an enemy win condition and acquired one. In both cases drawing that card at the right moment is a sure win, even less in Undertaker's case because you could just silence it, whereas you will never get your card back with Entomb, and Undertaker needed to make your deck around it, Entomb just is yet another removal.
Major difference is how fast they are drawn/played. Undertaker was on board turn 1 giving you absolutely no time to react. Either you were lucky enough to get an answer in your starting hand (+ maybe first and second draw) or you lost because if you waited until turn 3 to clear it was already too late.
Even IF entomb is as broken as undertaker was (which it definitely isn't) you have more time to react to it.
As others have said before, try to apply pressure and bait it out before you drop your win condition(s). If you can't do that it means you don't have board control and you know what happens when you lose board control against a priest? You lose the game.
Keep in mind you dind't lose to entomb though. It just feels that way because you were desperately hoping that last threat you played would win you the game (or at least bring you back to it) when it gets easily dealt the salt level exponentially increases.
Considering priest has some of the most massive AOE clears ( Lightbomb and Auchenai + Circle ) in the game, how do I retain board control without dropping big threats again ? I'm playing dragon rogue, and I can tell you you nearly can't win without Ysera, Anub'Arak or a very good Chromagus. Anything not one of those will die to a single late game minion or almost any board clear.
Anybody claiming you can win against priest without dropping big threats as a control deck ( Except warrior which nowadays can just wait out their opponent dying from fatigue ), which ALWAYS relies on said big threats to win, has never played against a priest.
That's because undertaker was used on top of already T1 decks. Entomb isn't, YET. Now priests can't get anything good because if they get better it'll be completely broken. Such an amazing design space.
Also if Entomb is fair so was Undertaker. A priest who entombs an Ysera, Anub'Arak or Tirion will almost surely win the lategame because they both negated an enemy win condition and acquired one. In both cases drawing that card at the right moment is a sure win, even less in Undertaker's case because you could just silence it, whereas you will never get your card back with Entomb, and Undertaker needed to make your deck around it, Entomb just is yet another removal.
It's adventure card, so they've got no way of offering refund, so quoting Ben Brode in future: "Players will feel tricked, because they paid gold/money to get this specific card and we're simply taking it back without giving them something in return"
Simply put, blizzard tied its own hands with adventure card distribution design.
My biggest grief against this card is how direly Rogue would need removal to finally be control-viable, and how well it would have suited them thematically ( I mean, bouncing basically is a rogue keyword - Sap, Kidnapper, Vanish, and putting things in decks also is with Gang Up and Ambush), but it went to priest instead ( Who seriously didn't need removal ; SWs on top of all the stealing effect was already more than most classes can do ), and is the most massive counter to their control deck's win condition in a control mirror, Anub'Arak, not only denying it as any silence or polymorph would do, but also turning it against you so that this fatigue war death-star actually kills YOU instead of your opponent.
If Blizzard ever said "F*ck you, rogues" it was at the moment this card was given to priest.
Don't you people have problems with fatigue and running excavated evil in entomb priest? I'm often only a few cards ahead of my opponent until fatigue begins, and excavated only makes it worse.
Also, Justicar seems meh to me if you're not running Auchenai. 4 Heal for 2 mana is decent but not as crazy as 4 Armor, while 4 dmg is really good.
nobody has a problem with running excavated evil because nobody actually runs that shit lol. Seriously that card is garbage. Symmetrical damage, no dmg to hero, gives your enemy the card to use against you, gives your enemy anti-fatigue value etc.
Well, then I'm glad that I haven't tried it so far. But several people seem to actually like it, including even some pro players, so I'm still left wondering.
I think - I haven't played priest in a long time, let alone Excavated Evil - it's because this is a really good anti-aggro card. None of their minions will resist, yours likely will, and if they draw it that's a dead card for them which, because of the usual card deprivation they face, will really screw them over.
Think about a zoolock drawing it. Really, what's he gonna do ? Yeah, lifetap, because it's as good as drawing nothing ; If he doesn't have a board, he's already lost and this won't do anything for him except waste 5 mana + 2 for the lifetap, leaving him with 3 mana to entirely shift the game, yeah good luck ; If he has one, he better not cast that and you just wasted one of his draws.
Sure in control match-ups ( Which is the meta right now, hence why while the card may be great, it doesn't see play ), it kinda sucks ( Much like Deathlord, it's godlike against aggro but against control it can f*ck you up real bad ), but deeming the card worthless because of that is harsh.
Is it worth to entomb a piloted shredder? Probably not... But how do you deal with those pesky T4/T6 shredders as a priest? Death lord doesn't cut it. Do you velen's chosen your northshire?
I'd say it depends on your opponent's deck. For quite some decks, the Shredder will be the biggest threat they'll ever play, and if not, the rest would be Antonidas, Dr Boom or something that SW:D will handle. For those, yeah, why not Entomb. Else just play a minion that will trade it ( Sludge Belcher is good at that, but that's a T4 ; Else yeah, you don't have many very optimal choices ), even unfavorably, and wait for the lategame when you're better geared. Do note that a fair share of 2-drop can be Cabal-ed, Auchenai+HP-ed or won't be able to outright kill your minions, leaving you the ability to heal them back up, so it's not that bad to let the deathrattle go off
And now Entomb...While Rogue that always has had that "Send back to deck/hand" theme and is desesperately being pushed toward control by Blizzard is stuck with one of the worst removal in the game ( Maybe Druid's got it worse, but it's always been their very intended weakness ). I have trouble understanding why Blizzard denies Rogue cards that would fit in so well in it, but at least they finally got a new deck/a deck update since GvG that expansion, can't really complain.
I think the card is quite on the OP side of things, especially in a Tirion and deathrattle-heavy meta, and for priests ( Who already have tons of minion-handling solutions, Shadow Words first and foremost, but the stealing shenanigans along with them ). Destroying a minion usually comes at the price of 5 ( Without any condition that is ; Else, yeah, BGH and Shadow Words do it for cheaper ), but doing so while suppressing any deathrattle before getting the card yourself ( Which, usually, is very good ) is insane.
Compare to the 2 only ( AFAIR ) flat-out, condition-less destroy cards, Assassinate and Siphon Soul and you'll understand ; Sacrifice a 3-health gain or 1 mana to save yourself a 5/3 weapon for your opponent, one of your minions joining their side, or a random Legendary minion, or even just 2 2/2s ? Ermh. Yeah. I mean, I know cross-classes comparison are bad...But come on...
Blizzard is severely under-estimating the efficiency of silences, maybe because they see that they're only scarcely played amongst control decks ( Ironbeak Owl is the most played and even then isn't all that much played ), but it's mostly because they have an extremely low card-efficiency and that goes against control ; When they're put side-by-side with another ( More powerful ) effect or even just cheaper to mitigate that weakness, they usually become extremely good.
Polymorph isn't that much played - though it is still a one-off in a lot of mage decks - but mages do not play control.
Earth Shock, Hex, if you're leaving home without any combination of those as a Shaman, you've failed us all.
And now Entomb...While Rogue that always has had that "Send back to deck/hand" theme and is desesperately being pushed toward control by Blizzard is stuck with one of the worst removal in the game ( Maybe Druid's got it worse, but it's always been their very intended weakness ). I have trouble understanding why Blizzard denies Rogue cards that would fit in so well in it, but at least they finally got a new deck/a deck update since GvG that expansion, can't really complain.
Different classes have different strengths by design, so removal options cannot be compared across classes. For example, Druid has weak removal because of ramp and huge minions with taunt. Rogue is tempo-based, so Sap is perfect. Priest needs strong removal because it is a control class. It needed strong new removal to keep up with improvements to other classes, and because it is already one of the weakest classes. Entomb seems like a fair addition to me, not "OP".
I'm having trouble considering Anub'arak or Beneath the Grounds to be tempo plays. Blizzard is severely pushing control rogue yet hasn't given one of the N°1 tool for it, removal, that's what I'm saying. Priest already had very decent removal.
I think the card is quite on the OP side of things, especially in a Tirion and deathrattle-heavy meta, and for priests ( Who already have tons of minion-handling solutions, Shadow Words first and foremost, but the stealing shenanigans along with them ). Destroying a minion usually comes at the price of 5 ( Without any condition that is ; Else, yeah, BGH and Shadow Words do it for cheaper ), but doing so while suppressing any deathrattle before getting the card yourself ( Which, usually, is very good ) is insane.
Compare to the 2 only ( AFAIR ) flat-out, condition-less destroy cards, Assassinate and Siphon Soul and you'll understand ; Sacrifice a 3-health gain or 1 mana to save yourself a 5/3 weapon for your opponent, one of your minions joining their side, or a random Legendary minion, or even just 2 2/2s ? Ermh. Yeah. I mean, I know cross-classes comparison are bad...But come on...
Blizzard is severely under-estimating the efficiency of silences, maybe because they see that they're only scarcely played amongst control decks ( Ironbeak Owl is the most played and even then isn't all that much played ), but it's mostly because they have an extremely low card-efficiency and that goes against control ; When they're put side-by-side with another ( More powerful ) effect or even just cheaper to mitigate that weakness, they usually become extremely good.
Polymorph isn't that much played - though it is still a one-off in a lot of mage decks - but mages do not play control.
Earth Shock, Hex, if you're leaving home without any combination of those as a Shaman, you've failed us all.
And now Entomb...While Rogue that always has had that "Send back to deck/hand" theme and is desesperately being pushed toward control by Blizzard is stuck with one of the worst removal in the game ( Maybe Druid's got it worse, but it's always been their very intended weakness ). I have trouble understanding why Blizzard denies Rogue cards that would fit in so well in it, but at least they finally got a new deck/a deck update since GvG that expansion, can't really complain.
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Except no deck can realistically do that AND fare even remotely well in a temp oriented meta. Having even 2 late game threats is already pretty insane for any deck nowadays, and no, Entomb isn't the only removal priests have, they have SW:D, Vol'Jin, Lightbomb and sometimes even Holy Fire.
Seriously, look up any control priest decklist and you'll realize someone would need at least 5 mid-late game threats to even remotely hope having one stick ( And even then good luck maintaining pressure on a control deck with a measly 5/5 ), which simply isn't possible ; Even control warrior doesn't.
Control priest is only kept in check by the dominance of tempo decks, but any control mirror is nigh-unwinnable against them.
That's because undertaker was used on top of already T1 decks. Entomb isn't, YET. Now priests can't get anything good because if they get better it'll be completely broken. Such an amazing design space.
Also if Entomb is fair so was Undertaker. A priest who entombs an Ysera, Anub'Arak or Tirion will almost surely win the lategame because they both negated an enemy win condition and acquired one. In both cases drawing that card at the right moment is a sure win, even less in Undertaker's case because you could just silence it, whereas you will never get your card back with Entomb, and Undertaker needed to make your deck around it, Entomb just is yet another removal.
My biggest grief against this card is how direly Rogue would need removal to finally be control-viable, and how well it would have suited them thematically ( I mean, bouncing basically is a rogue keyword - Sap, Kidnapper, Vanish, and putting things in decks also is with Gang Up and Ambush), but it went to priest instead ( Who seriously didn't need removal ; SWs on top of all the stealing effect was already more than most classes can do ), and is the most massive counter to their control deck's win condition in a control mirror, Anub'Arak, not only denying it as any silence or polymorph would do, but also turning it against you so that this fatigue war death-star actually kills YOU instead of your opponent.
If Blizzard ever said "F*ck you, rogues" it was at the moment this card was given to priest.
I think the card is quite on the OP side of things, especially in a Tirion and deathrattle-heavy meta, and for priests ( Who already have tons of minion-handling solutions, Shadow Words first and foremost, but the stealing shenanigans along with them ). Destroying a minion usually comes at the price of 5 ( Without any condition that is ; Else, yeah, BGH and Shadow Words do it for cheaper ), but doing so while suppressing any deathrattle before getting the card yourself ( Which, usually, is very good ) is insane.
Compare to the 2 only ( AFAIR ) flat-out, condition-less destroy cards, Assassinate and Siphon Soul and you'll understand ; Sacrifice a 3-health gain or 1 mana to save yourself a 5/3 weapon for your opponent, one of your minions joining their side, or a random Legendary minion, or even just 2 2/2s ? Ermh. Yeah. I mean, I know cross-classes comparison are bad...But come on...
Blizzard is severely under-estimating the efficiency of silences, maybe because they see that they're only scarcely played amongst control decks ( Ironbeak Owl is the most played and even then isn't all that much played ), but it's mostly because they have an extremely low card-efficiency and that goes against control ; When they're put side-by-side with another ( More powerful ) effect or even just cheaper to mitigate that weakness, they usually become extremely good.
Polymorph isn't that much played - though it is still a one-off in a lot of mage decks - but mages do not play control.
Earth Shock, Hex, if you're leaving home without any combination of those as a Shaman, you've failed us all.
And now Entomb...While Rogue that always has had that "Send back to deck/hand" theme and is desesperately being pushed toward control by Blizzard is stuck with one of the worst removal in the game ( Maybe Druid's got it worse, but it's always been their very intended weakness ). I have trouble understanding why Blizzard denies Rogue cards that would fit in so well in it, but at least they finally got a new deck/a deck update since GvG that expansion, can't really complain.