**MAJOR EDIT IN PROGRESS**
**So, I've had time to play a few cards, and interact with others. I personally don't have every card, so I won't be able to judge every card, but I'll make some calls now about stuff I've tested and what not. All new comments will be BOLD AND UNDERLINE**
To start I want to clarify some personal views about this expansion and part of why my review might seem much positive then some might expect. This set is coming on the heels of TGT and LoE. Both of these sets mostly focused on control related cards with less focus on strong aggressive minions with a few class specific exceptions in classes that weren't too aggressively focused before. Currently almost every aggro decks backbone is based on GvG, Naxx and Classic, so the loss of 2 out of the 3 major players will definitely shift the format, though it doesn't strictly mean Aggro is dead and gone, hopefully just slightly less dominant. I don't mind cards appearing less powerful than some of our old stalwarts, and I certainly don't mind more of the TGT and LOE cards that are good but not good enough filling new decks. I know a lot of people feel as though many of the cards aren't good, the expansion is a waste of money/gold, and Blizzard is ruining the game, but I really want to see what happens when the power levels change. I'm excited about the prospect of what is to come. Also, most of my review will focus on Standard. If a card has few Standard implications but major Wild/Arena ones I will certainly bring those up. So with that let's talk about cards.
Also, before we get down to brass tacks, we are going to look at all of the nerfed cards.
Druid -
Keeper of the Grove - This is a pretty big hit to Druid. Silence in general has been targeted and nerfed at least in its high value iterations. This is maybe still better than Ironbeak Owl for Druids, but it seems like Spellbreaker might become the go-to for many classes, which I don't think is a bad thing per say, Druid is catching a solid nerf to its class heal while other classes aren't.
Force of Nature - Another pretty substantial nerf. This is actually what I was hoping for. As Blizzard has realized, in a game where minions can generally just attack the opponents face Charge is extremely powerful. They have constantly nerfed Charge and its better minions. This isn't the only Charge related card being nerfed. This card is still playable, just not nearly as exciting. It does weaken Druid removal, and their Epics in Arena considerably. I haven't actually put this in a deck but I've taken it off of Raven Idol a couple of times and its been good. Generating those 3 2/2s for 5 is not bad, its not as good as an actual 6/6 minion against all the C'thun decks, but its was really great against an aggro Shaman, and fine otherwise. Of the nerfed cards this is probably the most playable, just not the place Druid is anymore.
Ancient of Lore - I really don't understand this not getting a cost reduction. At 7 mana you're only getting a 5/5 body and neither of these effects is worth the 5 stat points (2 1/2 mana worth of stats) that this card dropped them for. This make Ancient of Lore all but unplayable at 7 mana. It still would only be marginal with the nerf at 6 to be honest, and hopefully Blizzard realizes that and changes it to 6 mana. Druid is substantially weaker in general now, and while I think some things needed to be addressed the class looks massively overnerfed on my initial impressions.
Hunter -
Hunter's Mark - Its odd to see this targeted. I guess its true it was too high tempo, and it would has a chance to see much higher play with the nerft to Ironbeak Owl. Its a card people had complained about for some time, so it makes sense. It does drastically weaken Lock and Load, but that doesn't really matter anyway. This being 1 mana has hurt, but it hasn't ruined the card. I'm still playing it as cheap removal. I don't find hunter to be that great, C'thun Priest and Warrior can gain a huge amount of health off their C'thun guys and it can just pull them out of range of anything. Everyone is playing good bodied minions but without going full ham the control decks just lock you out. This is still great tempo though, and completely playable, just more fair. Its certainly not as bad as the Soulfire nerf was.
Rogue -
Blade Flurry - Wow, did they go hard against this one. I guess it does in general make weapon buffs extremely powerful for Rogue, and limits the ability to make powerful weapons and weapon buffs for the class moving forward if its left at 2 mana, but I didn't expect the damage to the enemy player to be removed as well as the the mana increase. I think this might be too far, but we'll have to see. Throwing away your weapon at the cost of 4 mana and losing the face damage seems utterly brutal. This puts Rogue well behind on solid board clears and might make any chance of a control Rogue go right out the window. Just want to mention I still haven't see anyone play this now that its nerfed.
Master of Disguise - This card has already been discussed because it, like Warsong Commander before it, dramatically limited design space on certain cards and force them away out of Neutral and into specific classes. This change isn't affecting anything currently happening in the game, but just opens design space for the future which is great.
Neutral -
Leper Gnome - Yikes, I think almost everyone was hoping for the Deathrattle to be reduced and the main body to stay the same, however Blizzard went the other direction. This makes the card much less playable as a 1/1 trades much worse and while you still get full value off the Deathrattle its harder to get any value out of the body which wasn't the case previous. One of many needed aggro nerfs either way, and I think the card could still be playable, just less required in aggro decks. Seen a few people still playing this, its not seemed very good.
Knife Juggler - If anyone thought this wasn't the nerft they were crazy. The biggest issue with Knife Juggler IMO has always been how efficient the stats were for the cost plus the ability. The ability is random and unreliable, but the body was always reliable which made the ability, good or bad RNG, a good ability. Now, he doesn't trade with 2/3 or even some of the growing 1 drops. He doesn't deal as much damage when killed by a weapon and just doesn't punish you as hard when trading medium minions into him. Still plays great in Wild with cards like Muster for Battle and Imp-losion, and of course still plays well with Unleash the Hounds, but you'll still take 2-3 less damage per game from him when he's good which often is the line between living a turn and stabilizing and losing. I have seen this guy a couple of times. The ability is still strong, but I honestly left one up for a couple of turns and taking 2 less face damage and it not trading as strong into my Taunt definitely helped me win the game. I ended at 8 Health against a Hunter, and that could have easily been dead.
Arcane Golem - This Neutral Charge minion has been around for ages, and has been dangerously powerful for a long time. The nerf here cuts off an additional Charge minion for Face decks, which is great, as well as slightly nerfing combo decks. Changing this over to Wolfrider in a Power Overwhelming Combo lock still only cuts off 2-3 damage, meaning you can still bash for 22 if you get your set up. I see this mostly as a nerf to aggro and not as a nerf to combo. NOTE!! I just want to make a comment that I've watched some streamers videos discussing this nerf, and pretty much the only thing anyone mentions is how this nerfs OTK combos. I know that Blizzard mentioned it when talking about it, but honestly using Wolfrider isn't that much less effective in those situations, where as in Aggro its removing another direct damage source. Maybe Blizzard is hoping by saying the OTK decks don't work anymore because this is gone everyone will just go along with that. Either way, its hilarious to me that no one else seems to see the larger impact of losing this for aggro decks than combo.
Ironbeak Owl - Well, I guess Spellbreaker's stock is at an all time high. I guess I understand the Silence nerfs. Abilities cost stat points. Silence negates your abilities, therefore your stats, while only costing a marginal amount of stats from the base creature. However, nerfing both this and Keeper of the Grove, but no other Silence effect makes no sense to me. I don't mind the nerf but I think this could have been a 3 mana 2/2 without breaking the game. This still shows up on rare occasion, mostly I see it in Wild aggro decks where its good because you don't expect it.
Big Game Hunter - I think this is clearly the nerf we all expected, but I'm still not sure its the right one. The base body is worth 2 1/2 mana, which means the kill effect is costing you the other 2 1/2 which is still perfectly reasonable. Its not as insanely tempo breaking as it was, but its still perfectly efficient and almost any control deck running BGH before is just as likely to run it now as long as its got a target against 70% of opponents. That may not end up being the case, but if indeed all these 10 drops are playable so is BGH at 5 mana. Seen this in a few Reno and Druid lists. Its still good, also seems to find targets less often as most N'Zoth decks have none, and while Shaman has a target, this typically can't kill it when you really need to, leaving it on the bench almost every time.
Molten Giant - And thus began the cries of the Handlocks. This nerf was soooooo needed and I'm super happy its here. Molten Giant was set to be a huge player in the new Standard world without this nerf. It might be a bit excessive, pushing the card to all but unplayability, which is definitely a bummer, but the card has become a staple breaking a number of Tavern brawls as well as being one of the most consistantly powerful minions in one of the most consistent decks in the game. If it weren't for Handlock I don't think this would have happened, but alas, it has come to pass. Yeah, this nerf was massive. Having to go down to well into the single digits to be able to play this cheaply just means you die. All the best decks have enough reach to finish you off well before this is usable.
On the whole these changes reduce the strength of common Aggro cards, and major tempo breakers in control decks. Druid clearly catches the worst of things, but I do think the class will be fine moving forward. Rogue is getting hit similarly hard by just targeting Blade Flurry, but it caught the most severe nerf of all cards if you ask me. Handlock is likely losing a Giant, and so that could definitely allow other control decks have more options. BGH being nerfed might make less of an impact than people suspect, but that will all depend how the meta pans out. I want to make a secondary comment, that Blizzard has stated that C'thun and cards related to him won't be available for Arena, that means that some classes are getting a larger card influx than others because some classes got 2 C'thun cards, some 1 and some got 0. That seems like an extremely odd choice, even if you wanted to make some classes more focused on other Old Gods, it just seems extremely disruptive to Arena. Anyway, let's get down to the new stuff.
Druid - **EDIT** Druid seemed like it was in a great place when the expansion first hit, but now it seems to have fallen out of favor again. There are at least 2 different Druid decks, both of which are fairly competitive and fun to play though. Fandral is a crazy good card, and Druid may still be the best C'Thun class vs C'Thun class, but its a touch weak against the power of the aggressive and midrange staples.
Mark of Y'Shaarj - They really push Beast Druid with every chance they get now. This card is one of if not the best buff spell we've seen so far, as long as you're casting it on a Beast. That isn't the hardest thing to do, as Druid has some very good class Beasts, and Neutral ones have also come a long way, however this set has very few new beasts (in Druid and Neutral) and most of them aren't that playable. This card pretty much makes Beast Druid a thing. Its a great tempo play and I'm glad it worked out.
Feral Rage - This is an interesting, mostly buff to Healing Touch. 8 Armor is almost certainly better than gaining out health, though you can't heal a minion with this. You can however use it as removal/direct damage instead, which is amazing. This may not be a staple of Druids everywhere, but its very likely to played in a control Druid and it will be stellar in Arena. This has been as popular as I think it is good, but I think that is mostly because there aren't too many Druids. The versatility of this is still impressive to me, Druid just lost a bit too many old staples and go bullied out of the meta.
Dark Arakkoa - This gives Druid one of the best C'thun synergies and also actually gives them a pretty cost efficient Taunt on top of all that. I guess Druid is the most C'thun ready class since you can ramp too it potentially before the game ends. This card is good enough to play regardless of C'thun for any Druid though, giving them great Taunts from the mid to the late game. This has obviously become a fairly common staple in Druid. Even Ramp without C'thun plays it, though that's not a meta staple, just proof of the cards quality.
Addled Grizzly - The name on this is confusing, but it seems like a sweet card for a fun Druid deck. Its likely this isn't quite good enough on its own to just see play, but it does great things with Living Roots, Wisps of the Old Gods, and the nerfed Force of Nature. Its likely not good enough to see serious constructed play, since you'll need to get 2 buffs before you've gotten your vaule, but its actually not a terrible card. Less dynamics than Hobgoblin, but works on every minion, not just your CAST 1 attacks. This showed itself to be much weaker than Hobgoblin and more or less doesn't see play. I would say Druids weakened card draw is the main reason this can't work.
Klaxxi Amber-Weaver - Chillwind Yeti used to be a Druid staple, and I don't see many reasons that C'Thun Druid won't be a thing. It could have been a staple if not for our next card. The best part about this card is that its good on turn 4 and its great once its active at any point in the game. He's not notably weak to Silence, and I can see Druid being the big winner of C'thun decks. Its notably disappointing that C'thun and cards tied to him won't show up in Arena. Another super gross card. This guy doesn't always come down on turn 4 as a 4/10, but he can, and each turn after that its almost an assurance. I've played a lot of C'Thun Druid and this guy has not been a letdown.
Mire Keeper - It looks like Druid is getting 3 new cards at 4, not a slot I felt like Druid needed help with. This is one of the more exciting 4 drop bodies as its 2 solid individual parts that come out ahead of curve on mana. If you are really interested in Ramp it gives you that option as well. This likely pushes most non-utility 4 drops out of Druid. Another pretty great card. This is a lot of what I think we all wanted from Darnassus Aspirant. Both modes are great and I've actually played both on turn 4. I think on the whole there isn't room for him in C'Thun and he's missing synergy for the Beast deck, but he's still very good and on the long term I believe he'll see good play.
Forbidden Ancient - This is more reliable than Forbidden Shaping, but it also always that touch under efficient for its cost. Silence got nerfed, so that is good for this since its super weak to Silence. On the whole this is probably playable in a Midrange/Control Druid, it fits all over the curve, but it won't ever be exciting. Not good enough to find a place in most decks. Synergy has over powered versatility since the release of TOGs.
Wisps of the Old Gods - These sorts of gimmick epics are a bummer. This does provide a decent amount of stats for the mana, and while the secondary effect is decent, its fairly pricey, and needs to hit at least 3 targets to be worth using most of the time. The biggest issue is to get the full stat value off of the first side you have to have an empty board which likely makes a bunch of 1/1s seem much less impressive. Druid's lost a dominant 7 drop, but I'm not sure this fills in for Ancient of Lore's nerf. I actually really like this card. I've played it a lot in Wild and Standard and it makes your opponent play very strangely most of the time, which is its main power.
Fandral Staghelm - Well, some of the less impressive Choose One cards are a lot more interesting with this guy around, however it doesn't play well with the Tranforming ones.The sequencing on both Cenarius and Power of the Wild look to be less impressive as well, since it should buff and then summon, unlike Wisps of the Old Gods which summons then buffs. Still Fandral is a decent 4 drop that makes a lot of Druid spells way better, which means he should see a fair amount of play while also increasing the stock on cards like Starfall and Raven Idol. NOTE! Its been brought to my attention that apparently the Transform minions will become an Amalgam with this cards, though I couldn't find it personally if that is true this card is really really good. It just makes a number of already good Druid cards better, as well as making a number of fringe playable ones much more playable/impressive. That means he's likely to see play in almost any Druid deck. If this turns out to be false, he's still good, and there are still plenty of reasons to play him, but its certainly the line between highly played to always played. This card is certainly worth the hype. The best cards with him are easily Raven Idol and Power of the Wild. The rest are fine, but those 2 are the real sweet spots. This guy is seeing play and even when he's not doing his CHOOSE BOTH thing, just like Brann he's a must kill, because his effect is so powerful. I'm glad it worked out.
Hunter - **EDIT** Midrange Hunter has become one of the Decks to Beat, and I hate it. I still think the Hunter hero power pushes classes and decks out of the meta and is one of the driving factors in narrowing it to such a small field.
Fiery Bat - Huge Toad is likely to start showing up in more Hunter lists, and if they want to be aggressive its sure this will see play. I guess Face Hunter just has to stay a thing. This is almost assuredly better than Leper Gnome even if it wasn't a Beast, but it is, so its leagues ahead. This sees lots of play but I find it to be very medium. Its as good a 1 drop as you're going to get, but I hate how deciding that 1 random damage can be to some games.
On the Hunt - So, this is like a mash up spell version somewhere between Elven Archer and Stonetusk Boar, which is great for Lock and Load, Spell Damage, and Beast synergy. The card isn't outstanding, but its certainly fine and having so many synergies might make it playable somewhere.
I do think this is better than Arcane Shot. Its great with Hunter's Mark, which I said I still think is playable. Its generates a smaller body than Blood to Ichor, but it always generates it and the Beast tag is a huge deal. Its playable, and does see play.
Carrion Grub - Well, Druid of the Flame saw some play before aggro got beyond scary, and this could help a Midrange/Control Hunter be more competitive. This plays very well with Houndmaster, but doesn't have the aggressive mode that Druid of the Flame has. Good, not great. Mostly off theme for Hunter though. Hunter isn't really in on this sort of thing. A full blown control Hunter isn't real, and N'Zoth Midrange isn't looking to play this. I still think its a fine card, just not well positioned.
Forlorn Stalker - Well, since GvG and Naxx are rotating out this card seems substancially worse. There are still the aggressive low cost Deathrattles, Savannah Highmane, but there are far far fewer than there used to be. The fact that this only buffs minions in your hand is also far worse, considering like I said most of them are your cheap early players. This might have in impact in Wild, but I don't see it making a difference in Standard. The issue is that you want to play your cards out. Loading your deck with a bunch of medium Deathrattles that cost 4+ so you will have played this first, or skipping early plays to try to hold your Deathrattles to buff them will make you lose tempo. His cost isn't that bad, but he's not a Beast or Deathrattle himself, so he just doesn't seem to play into enough things to be viable. Even with N'Zoth Midrange being the main Hunter deck this still isn't seeing play. Hunter doesn't have enough card draw to make this viable.
Infest - This is a tough card to evaluate. It has similarities to Soul of the Forest. Its worse in terms of tempo, but potentially better value. This does play very interestingly with Unleash the Hounds, but without that its hard to get a huge amount of value out of this unless you're being aggressive. You'll need this to hit at least 2 minions and you'll likely want it to hit at least 3 to have a decent shot of getting a good-to-great Beast. I think Ball of Spiders is probably a better raw card advantage source in a control deck, it does all the work itself, but this could be good in some form of midrange deck. Not being played.
Infested Wolf - Mini-Savannah Highmane is ok. This is higher tempo than Tomb Spider, but lower value most of the time. That said its a Beast that makes more Beasts and that could be just enough. Fixed Piloted Shredder is probably still very good. This is medium. Its a fine new 4 drop, but the proof is in the pudding on 3 attack being worse than 4. The variance being gone as opposed to Piloted Shredder often still doesn't favor this either, but is seeing plenty of play as a Hunter staple, but I don't think its irreplaceable.
Call of the Wild - I hate that this got spoiled second, and pretty much makes Giant Sand Worm look unplayable. Why they decided to make this card cost 8 is well beyond me. Animal Companion cost 3 mana, but each minion is valued over 3, even for a class minion, because of the randomness. However, this staples 3 of them together in a very specific way, which leads you to get 10/10 worth of raw stats for 8 mana, already approaching Dr. Boom levels, then you throw in the 3 separate abilities you've got an epic (meaning you can play 2 copies) that is higher value than most legendaries. Few 8 cost cards compare that well to this. You get a charger to either get in damage or trade right away, you get medium sized taunt, and you get a utility 2/4. This is just going to be brutal to play against, and I could see it being changed to 9 mana in the future. Man, its funny how stupid this card is. Almost the sole reason Hunter has any place in the meta. Dr. 8 Rides again!
Giant Sand Worm - Generally if you play this and they can't kill it or you the game is likely over. This is going to be an insane value swing and its going to force some horrific trades. That said this doesn't do anything proactively so its not going to save you if you're already losing unless your opponent just decides to let you win. Getting this off of Infest or something similar will be great even if it doesn't show up in many lists on its own. Its a shame this is almost completely overshadowed in playability by Call of the Wild. I don't know there are many minions more terrifiying than this in Arena. It should be called Giant Value Worm. I've gotten this many times off of random effects and its been dope. Its certainly not better than Call of the Wild, but its still a fine game ender when you get one.
Princess Huhuran - They seem to really be pushing Deathrattle as a Hunter effect. The problem is they've really cut back on the number of high impact Deathrattles. I'm not saying I want a bunch of crazy ones, but a Battlecry that triggers most current Deathrattles in standard only has a very limited number of worthwhile targets. However, unlike Forlorn Stalker, this does have added synergy with Explorer's Hat and Infest. Being able to trigger multiple cheap Deathrattle effects for more value might make this good enough, but we'll just have to see. That isn't to overly discredit this card. Its a strong offensive 5 drop Beast and the Battlecry likely has just enough upside to make it playable in many Hunter decks, and it will be pretty great any time you get it off of a random effect. With the removal of many powerful cheaper deathrattles its harder to hit this on curve for value or to combo it with a relevant Deathrattle. If the body had been a 5/6 I think it might have actually made this better.
Mage - **EDIT** Freeze Mage isn't as good as it used to be, and that just leaves Tempo/Yogg mage. You still also run into the occasional Reno Mage as well, and Mage certainly has a place in the meta.
Shatter - "insert tempature related pun here." The brass tax is that this is ok but not great. Freeze effects are somewhat hard to come by, and most of them already deal some amount of damage, so something like Ice Lance works much the same, throwing 4 extra damage to a Frostbolt or Blizzard will kill most things, so playing one more mana to for sure kill it if its Frozen, but do absolutely nothing if its not is probably not good enough. Even in a deck like Freeze Mage, you don't typically have space for a removal spell that requires something else to work and only kills one thing. I guess this weakens the common pool for Mage Arena? IDK. Not seeing play.
Twilight Flamecaller - Adding 1 mana and a 2/2 body to Arcane Explosion doesn't seem like it makes it that much more playable to me. You lose out on Spell synergies like + Spell Damage, Flamewaker, and the new Demented Frostcaller, and I feel like almost any mage deck looking for this sort of effect is probably looking for those spell synergies. This does add something new to Jeweled Scarab, and it will probably be pretty decent in Arena, but I don't expect it to make waves in constructed play unless Aggro is everywhere. This sees way more play in Wild than Standard, but even then the popularity of Zoo has giving this some legs. I still think Arcane Explosion is better since it has more synergy, but this does see play.
Faceless Summoner - To start, I hate that Blizzard seems to make a lot more good commons than rares or epics. This is one of the largest factors that ruins Arena, getting all these great commons and not having to worry about getting a sweet epic or something for an advantage. In fact often Epics in particular are worse or far more niche than any other rarity. Ok, so yeah we all get it, this is pretty much Silver Hand Knight but up 1 mana. Your other thing you get is more random, but you can't get worse than 14 stats for 6 mana, above curve, and you should average 16, which is well above curve. This card is very good, it will see play, it will be gross in arena, wee! Luckily the game slowed down just enough for this to not be the most insane 6 drop. Its still very good and one of the few reasons to slow your deck down just a bit.
Cult Sorcerer - This Mage C'Thun card is actually pretty cool. Its likely playabe outright, as a better Kobold Geomancer, and oddly may not be very good at buffing C'thun. That's an extremely interesting dynamic, might be better without C'thun. Mage is pretty loaded on 2 drops, so figuring out which ones are the best will probably take a while. One of the new staples of Mage. Its funny how giving Kobold Geomancer one extra power makes it a great card. Not really buffing C'Thun, just being one of the best Spell Damage minions.
Demented Frostcaller - Flamewaker just got a new best friend. Frostcaller is probably weaker in some situations than Flamewaker. He has the same statline but costs 1 more mana, making it harder to combo spells with him, however againt single minions and especially weapon using heroes he can be just as good if not better. I could easily see a version of tempo and freeze mage that want this guy. A reusable Freeze is a powerful effect. Making this good in Arena will require a pretty good draft. Is it odd I've seen thing guy show up off of Evolve twice and he was super gross both times. Freezing is really crazy in classes that don't normally have access. I tried this in Freeze Mage, but it wasn't great. It seems like it would be better served in Yogg decks, which have a glut of spells to cast, but you don't have space for this durdley 2/4. Currently weapon classes aren't extremely popular, so this guy doesn't gain much extra advantage.
Servant of Yogg-Saron - I don't get this card. The thing about a card like this its good more than its bad, and can do nothing so of the time as well, however the issue is that when its bad its likely far far worse than a bad Madder Bomber. Its also notable that the 5 cost and under limitation means most of the spells target openly and you also miss out on both strong mage AoEs which is a bummer. As I said, this is more likely to do nothing or be good than bad, but when its bad it will probably lose you the game outright. Turns out while the power of a lot of Random from Yogg-Saron is good, his servants just being a 1 shot isn't.
Forbidden Flame - This card is not popular among most critics, and I'm certainly not saying its the most playable card ever printed, its certainly low on efficiency especially considering it can only hit minions. That being said this does have a few high points. It does deal free damage with Spell Damage, though its generally worse than Arcane Blast. This is a free spell, this is very important with Flamewaker and Archmage Antonidas. So while its true you may be casting this to no actual effect its can fill in as a 0 mana trigger for more powerful effects. I'm not saying that makes it good, but it does offer flexibility that many cards don't which would just maybe give it a spot on occasion. Not the most powerful card, but still very playable. Its not got a dominant spot in the meta, but its one of the few flexible cards seeing play.
Cabalist's Tome - This is definitely worse than a 5 mana draw three in almost every situation, and I think also worse than Ethereal Conjurer. This is every likely to get you something good, Mage spells are better then most classes spells, but obviously you're at the whim of much higher variance than Ethereal Conjurer while providing less tempo. That isn't to say this card is bad, its certainly playable if you're just in the market for cards. It will be great in Arena and when you pick it off of Conjurer, but I feel like this is a 1 of in a new control/grinder mage shell. Man, this card is everywhere, since Yogg Mage is everywhere. Much like Yogg himself, this card is questionable. It does give you heaps of Spells. That is the real deal if your plan is to use Flamewaker or Yogg to try to win, and sometimes this hands you a bunch of great answers. Other times it gives you cabbages. I've seen someone cast 4 of these in a game and still lose. I drew 1 more actual card than him, but that still means from this alone he saw 11 more cards than me! And he still lost! Turns out it doesn't matter how many Frost Novas or Cone of Cold you cast if you don't actually ever draw your Yogg you just delay and delay and delay the inevitable. The card is probably better than I gave it credit for, but I still think its good and not great. If more aggro decks become common this is definitely too slow.
Anomalus - I'm not that into Freeze Mage getting more stuff, and I don't see this seeing play in many other situations. Its pretty decent in Freeze Mage, its a big body with a equally big board clear. You can't just leave it or it kills you quickly and if you kill it you have to start fresh. Might also see play in a Grinder Mage style, but on the whole just might not see any play. Shown up in some Reno lists, every interesting but not good. Great animation.
Paladin - **EDIT** Turns out N'Zoth works and surprise, Paladin is best suited to use it.
Divine Strength - This is a great little 1 cost buff. This does more than Blessing of Might most of the time, still letting you trade up, but also letting you keep your minion, and helps push minions out of range of damage based removal/sweepers. That said, its not as aggressive as Blessing of Might and in general its still a low impact one draw that a Midrange or Control deck probably doesn't want. It will be pretty sweet in Arena I think, but not likely a contructed standout.
A Light in the Darkness - This seems really cool. You trade a touch of tempo for versatility, and a bit of body. The fact that this can get you additional copies of powerful class minions is the real selling point, as Paladin has more dynamic class minions that most classes because it lacks spell removal. That should make this playable in a midrange/control deck. Haven't seen anyone else play this, but I loved it. The +1/+1 is good and yes, while its true I often cast it much later in the game, I've had the time to do that. This was good against control because it could be played on the middle turns and the lead me into tempo plays. Maybe some other "better" minion could have worked, but I picked at least 6 different mana costs and any number of different situational minions. Most notably the Paladin minions are all pretty sweet. My Ragnaros, Lightlord totally beat up my Priest opponents because it was a 9/9.
Stand Against Darkness - This is much worse than Muster for Battle, but I think we all know how good everyone thought that card would be and then how much better it was than expected. This card isn't great, but it certainly has its uses. Its still better than most random Paladin cards, its just a shame Quartermaster if gone from Standard, since this isn't strong enough to see play in Wild, and Steward of Darkshire doesn't make nearly as much impact with this, but its still something. I haven't seen this yet, but I've heard some stories of it being good. I haven't decided to play Aggro Paladin yet, but I think this is actually very good in there.
Selfless Hero - This is a pretty sweet 1 drop that happens to play well with the Paladin kit for N'Zoth, the Corruptor, work with Steward of Darkshire and kind of Rallying Blade, while not needing any of that to be playable. This might become a staple in all Paladin decks. This keeps aggro hopes alive and is still fine in Midrange decks. Seen this guy a few times. He's been good but not great. Exactly where you want him to be. I haven't see an N'Zoth cast from Paladin yet, but I'm sure someone has lived that dream and gotten a couple of these to go with Tirion and Sylvanas and just won the game.
Rallying Blade - I feel like this is much more suited for Wild, but with the loss of Coghammer and Muster for Battle this might have just enough synergies and the right weapon stats to see heaps of play. 3 cost 3/2 weapons typically are, so I don't see it being that hard to see this show up, even if the ability is much much less important than the base weapon.
Steward of Darkshire - With Quartermaster gone we've been given a much less impressive new option. This bumps heads with Warhorse Trainer a bit, though it has much more overall upside as it interacts well with Noble Sacrifice but luckily not with Redemption. Outside of that, most midrange/control type minions that come in with 1 health that might be considered playable already have Divine Shield, so this is likely an aggro tool, but not one that is a blatantly powerful as some of the older options which I think is a good thing. Run into this and again not been super impressed. Its gotten a couple of triggers off but not enough to win a game against a constant stream of larger minions like most of the decks atm.
Forbidden Healing - I think this is easily the worst of the Forbidden spells. This is one of the largest heals we've seen, but the efficiency on it is pretty bad. This card would feel so much better if you got 2+ the amount of mana spent. That would still make the efficiency pretty bad in comparison to every other heal, but it would make it feel less bad. Taking a turn off to gain a bunch of life doesn't mean anything unless you're close to parity. Lay on Hands at least give you more options, this is just a time buyer and finding a deck that can afford a card that only does that seems difficult. This card is crazy with Auchenai Soulpriest, but IDK how many times that will come up, but I'm sure we'll see a few Trollden highlight at some point.
Vilefin Inquisitor - Well, I guess if an aggro Murlock Paladin is going to be a thing this had to be pretty nuts in it. Changing your hero power to make Murlocs is pretty crazy if you want to aggressively push to kill. If you're still just trying to play some very weird Anyfin Can Happen deck this probably isn't for you. This could also be played solely to counter opposing Anyfin or even other Murloc decks since the buff effects are Symetrical.
Ragnaros, Lightlord - Boy, this is a saucy one. This version of Rag can play offense and defense well. If this lands a heal on the your face and then they have to trade some more cards for it you're going to be feeling pretty awesome. Its not as much pure value as Tirion Fordring, but its stronger to Silence, and equally great at salvaging games you're behind in. Control Paladin is looking scary. This card was great. It saved me IDK how many times. I actually can't think of a game where I played this and lost. Though I didn't always play it haha.
Priest - **EDIT** Priest seems fairly popular as well. It got some really strong healing minions and some really nice trading bodies. This makes its hero power stronger and allows it to jump back up to high amounts of health. The main variety is C'Thun, but Dragon Priest is also still running around. The high tempo of Dragon Priest can be good, but if you end up with a clunky start you'll often end up in a gummed up game that can lead to you losing. That said, Priest isn't in a bad place. When you can take advantage of your hero power you're in about as good a place as you can be. I personally have only played OTK Priest, but I didn't find myself losing that often. Shaman is still a tough match up, but against most of the C'Thun or even Dragon Priest you have time to find what you need and land a kill. A more standard Control Priest also isn't the worst, I'm not sure there is a class with more viable decks than Priest, but we'll have to see which 1-2 end up being the top performers.
Hooded Acolyte - To start, I just want to say that Priest got a ton of 4 and 5 drops this time, most classes had a decent mana split, but Priest was just loaded at 4 and 5. This is an interesting C'thun card, but doesn't seem worth trying to add combos for, just a bonus, and may not be worth enough to see play over a better utility 4 drop. I haven't seen this outside of C'Thun, and I haven't been overly impressed with it. Its a fine card, never bad, but it doesn't ever really add heaps to your C'Thun, and because of how many decks are built at the moment this doesn't get as much value as having a more proactive ability would (like Water Elemental).
Darkshire Alchemist - We'll, this is the most efficient Minion+Heal combo outside of the C'Thun reliant cards, and while restoring 5 to your hero on turn 5 may not be possible, you can just use this to heal a minion. It can also work with Auchenai Soulpriest and Embrace the Shadow, which other heal minions couldn't. This card seems totally awesome. I still think this card is awesome. I've seen it in every Priest deck I've run in to. Its never the best card in the deck or anything, but it just does a number of things you want as a Priest. I think this will remain a staple in Priest.
Power Word: Tentacles - I don't know how much value this. Its the same amount of stats as Blessing of Kings in a very very different way. I guess since Priest heals this could be good, but 5 mana is a lot to pay for 8 stat points. This should be fine in Arena, but again because of the cost-to-stat ratio you'll find this worse than most minions. I almost miss Velen's Chosen.
Shadow Word: Horror - Its funny that the art on this shows a bunch of Murlocs dying, because typically if you're got that many Murlocs a number of them won't have less than 2 attack. This card is very very meta dependant, but obviously when its good its great. When its not good its probably something like the worst Shadow Word: Pain you've ever cast. I'm also not sure Priest is the class that needed yet another AoE. That's 5 if you count Circle of Healing? But they are losing Lightbomb for Standard and gaining this? That seems pretty sad for Priest.
Shifting Shade - This card seems great. A 4 mana 4/3 that deathrattles to "Draw" a card is good. Thoughtsteal is pretty much the main Priest draw mechanic, and a nice mid range minion that gives you that is good. Not to mention the great positive interactions with this and Museum Curator. With C'thun and Dragon Priest being the dominant flavors I haven't really seen much of this card. It seemed good in the Control Priest deck, but I have only seen it played 3 times. The body still trades well enough, and the value of a random card from your opponent is pretty high when everyone is just playing a bunch of mid to late game minions and good removal.
Twilight Darkmender - Even if you're on C'Thun I'm not sure you need this. The stats are good enough though that its probably worth running just because. Its a bit of a bummer the class buffer isn't that very good, and this is both an excessive heal on a cheaper minion, making it hard to maximize. It also obviously doesn't play with Heal-to-Damage effects. Well, as we have all seen, this heals you for a shitload. Its powerful, the body is big and its efficient. This makes aggro decks cry, and is great against Freeze Mage. Priest is one of the better C'thun classes, as you can expect from any class that got 2 C'Thun related cards, much like Shaman and Hunter are some of the worst since they got 0.
Forbidden Shaping - This card seems awesome to me. I don't generally like cards that rely heavily on RNG, but this is much less of a gamble since you control at least 1 of the variables. This is one of the only cards in the game that can be played on any turn, though you likely shouldn't play it for 1 mana, but it gives you options the entire game, and once you hit that 9-10 mana range, while you do lose some Battlecry love, you still gain a card that if you needed it on turn 2 til then you could have played it, and now you're just getting a big body. Versatility is an amazing thing to have and if this card doesn't see play I'd be very very shocked.
Embrace the Shadow - I think this card is pretty cool. Its great to see Priest finally get more Auchenai Soulpriest effects. However, its lame this costs 2. Its not the end of the world, and I'm sure this was used as the cost because of Priests low cost, hi impact heals, but its still a bit odd. If you look at similar cards that do something a mininion does within their class or in the game in general they are all very cheap. Hand of Protection and Argent Protector, Inner Rage and Cruel Taskmaster, Windfury and Windspeaker. But this abitilty only costs Soulpriest 1 stat point, or half a mana at most, yet this card costs 2, that's quite a bit more expensive. Again, I know its because Circle of Healing cost 0 and Flash Heal cost 1, but it still makes this card appear worse than it actually is, because its great. Being able to play out your Auchenia while still having a 3rd or 4th way to activate your combos is pretty awesome. Its not for every Priest, but it makes Control and Combo Priest more reliable. Like I said, I've chosen to play Combo Priest (I guess I need to clarify, the Velen/Malygos kind, not the Divine Favor+Inner Fire/Confuse variety). I've also seen this come out from Control Priest. Its great in combo, giving me kills that Auchenai couldn't give, but also giving me high tempo plays like Embrace + Circle + Azure Drake or some other minion in the mid/late game. One game I didn't have a kill but I still had Maly + Embrace+ Cirlce and 20 damage and was able to leverage that into a win from there. This doesn't provide a body, but HS is a tempo game often, and this does provide that.
Herald Volazj - This guy is pretty interesting, though not particularly strong without some help. He's not awful value as long as you have 1-2 minions even if they don't do anything, and if you can copy the right stuff he's a potential game breaker. That said, his cost makes it hard to get him out the same turn as most high value copy targets, so it will require timing and a bit of luck, which means he's not super likely to be a major constructed player.
Rogue - **EDIT** I've mostly seen Deathrattle(N'Zoth I'd assume, though that has only been cast on me 1 time) and a Miracle Rogue (The kind that kills you with Cold Blooded attackers, not the Malygos kind). I've run into a couple random C'Thun Rogues, but I was winning the games by turn 8 before they got to their Blade of C'Thun and high value stuff. Again, the nerf to Blade Flurry seems to be causing issues. Shaman and even most of the C'Thun decks can start on strong curves, and without a solid AoE option its hard to keep winning the board without throwing out tons and tons of cards. That isn't to say Rogue is bad, I think Hunter is the worst class, and I think Rogue matches up well against some of the Control decks, but its very weak to mid range and aggro without very specific draws.
Bladed Cultist - Interesting 1 drop for Rogue. I don't feel like its that easy to get this on turn 1, and even if you have the coin you'll need 2 1 drops or you'll just play this on a different turn alongside something else, which still doesn't seem that impressive. 1 drops need to be good on turn 1 or 2 or bring utility, like enabling Combo while providing value, this isn't that kind of card. Its hard to play early, and bad value for starting Combo. I mean nothing wrong with 1 mana 2/3 but I'm not sure its a staple. Still don't fine this impressive. Its still better than most options for Rogue I guess, but low cost minions are much lower impact than they were in the aggro heavy meta.
Shadow Strike - This card seems pretty good. Its a good tempo based kill spell, and Rogue certainly needs something like this if its going to survive the Blade Flurry nerf. Its not the most busted card ever, it could have been pushed to 2 mana IMO, but its still very good at 3. I'm very happy this doesn't cost 2. 3 is very fair, and this is very good. It might be the best card Rogue got, its definitely the most important because it goes in every Rogue deck.
Southsea Squidface - Pirate Rogue lives! This is probably good enough to see play outside of a Pirate deck, though it will function more like Goblin Auto-Barber where you'll probably only buff half of a weapon most of the time. I've seen this pop up in the Deathrattle Rogue and either I don't get how you're supposed to play it, or my opponents didn't, because I never once saw anyone capitalize (and they had chances) on this buff. If you aren't going to use it, there almost has to be a better option. However, I feel like if my opponents had played it more for value and not tempo he might have beaten me.
Undercity Huckster - Its true that random class cards from other classes is a very high variance deal, but this isn't trading much in the way of stats for a random amount of additional value. This will most likely be worth casting, and I don't see many Rogue decks skipping this one. Unless you open really strong, which you just have to do as Rogue pretty much, since you can't have great comeback cards, this hasn't lived up to the hype. I still think its good, its more that Rogue is weak. The RNG on this is also a major issue. I've not seen it hand my opponents a game breaker, but that's probably just me being lucky. I've seen it give plenty of good cards, but never "THE" card. Its definitely worth playing, but don't think you're going to win just because you played this early.
Thistle Tea - What an odd card. Obviously this is the sort of thing that makes sense in a Control style Rogue, which isn't really a thing. The biggest issue is that you have to run some of Rogue lower impact cards, and so you never know what you're getting with this. Getting a bunch of certain cards isn't good, while others could be game breaking. A bunch of Blade Flurry for example wouldn't be great since you only have so many weapon buffs, so its kind of a bunch of weird/bad arcane explosions. Getting a bunch of Backstabs isn't the worst thing ever, but in the later stages, especially against another slower deck its likely they are just too low impact. I general its probably going to be decent either way, but paying only 1 less than Sprint but getting 1 less card, and effectively only 1 card, not being able to "dig" for an answer means this isn't likely showing up in a tempo or combo Rogue. Should be pretty decent in Arena, doesn't push you toward fatigue but helps you grind your opponents.
Journey Below - 1 mana Draw 1s aren't really that great. The fact that this kind of fills multiple curve spots doesn't make up for the fact that its effectively adding 1 mana to a mostly random card. Rogue has soooo many far better options than this. Still don't think this card is very good. I've watched people play this and pick good class Deathrattles, even powerful legendary ones, and they still just lose. People play this on turn 1 for tempo/value, and then its still just a 1 drop that gives you a random card, that you likely aren't playing for 3 turns. I haven't seen people trying to hold this to activate cheap Combo, and I haven't seen it being nearly as good as I think a 1 mana Draw a Card would have been. I'm sure people still want to disagree with me on this card.
Shadowcaster - Well, these Tavern Brawl gimmick cards continue. This card certainly isn't terrible, but like any Faceless Manipulator style card you've got to have something first, or 2 of these. This works 1 of 2 ways, and its better than a lot of copy effects because of this. This either copies a minion with a powerful ability/deathrattle like Ragnaros the Firelord, Ysera, Sylvanas Windrunner or anything that is a good with Herald Volazj. However, this is also the first card that can really copy a Battlecry well. So if you have a strong Battlecry like Nefarian, Reno Jackson, Dark Iron Skulker, Elise Starseeker, or even simpler things like Azure Drake, you can actually get value. This also helps get a cheap card for combo, but of course you have to stick something worth copying and then copy it, so much like Faceless Shambler, this isn't great on an empty board. Unlike Faceless Shambler the body is at least something, so topdecking this late isn't completely miserable, but if you're playing this you'll likely want to get a copy from it. This card seems playable in the right kind of deck and since Rogue more than any other class is going to have to redefine itself there is a decent chance this at least sees serious testing. This likely won't be great in Arena since you probably won't be able to build a deck full of targets, but if you've got the right amount of decent value Battlecry/Deathrattle minions this just might work. Saw this pop up in C'Thun Rogue, and they did all the really basic stuff with it that people talked about. Copy SI:7 or Disciple of C'Thun, which at the end of the day just gives you a card that is worth all the mana you paid and didn't break the game.
Blade of C'Thun - I mean I guess if you're playing C'Thun Rogue its going to be a control deck, and this is a fairly high value combination of effects, but its soooooooo slow. On top of that Rogue's only good AoE got totally owned, as did their ability to buff weapons in general. In an extemely Control heavy environment this is obviously nuts clearing their only minion or the bigger of 2 and giving you a body plus buffing the hell out of C'thun, but even against a midrange opponent killing one small to medium minion and leaving 2-3 behind still loses you the game. Never seen this cast, still assume its great when you do. I can imagine this stabilizing you for the 1 turn you need while buffing your C'Thun but 5 or so and then just winning the game with that huge C'Thun the next turn, I just haven't seen that happen.
Xaril, Poisoned Mind - Talk about spicy. Spare Parts might be gone, but Xaril is making you wish they'd been this good. Each of these is worth its 1 mana easy, and getting cheap combo enablers with high value is the #1 thing on the Rogue wishlist if you ask me. He's a bit under budget stat wise, but the Toxin value is completely legit. Get ready to hate this card, because the RNG on the Toxins will definitely annoy the hell out of people, but on the whole each one is so good that it doesn't really matter what they get. This guy has been cast against me about 5 times, 3 times in one game from the same guy. Its was pretty good. Not great, not what I would have hoped. I do think this is very good and all of those Toxins are good, though obviously you don't always get good ones for your situation.
Shaman - **EDIT** As we all know from playing with and against Shaman, they did indeed get an embarrassment of riches. Almost every card they got is good and almost all of them are seeing play. Add to that some of the stronger cards they got from TGT/LOE and I think Shaman have become the new #1 Class. This sets them up for Cancer complaints and heaps of whining and hate, but you know what, I think most of what they got and are doing is fair. Aggro and Midrange Shaman are both good. I haven't really seen any hard Control or Combo Shaman, but those other 2 decks are good and quite popular. Its funny as well that most of the Midrange hands that are the best are the ones that look and play like Aggro hands. Good strong Aggro starts are the best way to beat the slower Control and Combo decks, and Shaman is the most poised to have those starts.
Primal Fusion - This seems ok, but not great. Its mostly going to be in the range of +2/+2 which is still fine but not outrageous. If you can get this to be +3/+3 or +4/+4 reliably its worth it. The only Totem rotating out is Vitality Totem which leaves you a great Totem base. The problem with cards like this is that if they are good enough to see play they are likely insane/gamewinning, because even if they are around average they aren't going to see play over a real minion. This card isn't very good, and by that I mostly mean its not as good as Evolve. Evolve provides a much higher overall amount of stats and flexibility at one mana, this can give better tempo, but its harder to make good.
Stormcrack - With Crackle gone Shaman needed something, and this helps in a Midrange/Control style without being as nuts in Aggro. This card is fair but not great, playable but not exciting. Every time I've had this cast against me its been very good. Its not Crackle, but its great tempo against all the 4+ Health minions coming out of most decks. Turns out a targetible Flame Cannon with a small Overload is as good as I assumed, if not slightly better.
Flamewreathed Faceless - This feels like a crazy aggro card. It won't be bad in any Shaman deck persay, but its going to ruin a lot of games in Standard and Arena (because this needed to be a common for some reason). If the Year of the Shaman comes to pass this alone could be the reason everyone keeps playing Big Game Hunter and the reason that this then falls back out of favor. This card is dumb. This card is still dumb.
Evolve - Fun cards are fun? This might be some sort of weird 1-of just to turn your Totems into 2 drops. If that's what you want it might be good enough, but otherwise its a 1 mana dice roll that doesn't seem like it comes out ahead often enough. I missed the mark here. This card is certainly better than I gave it credit for. I doesn't sometimes give you disastrously bad cards, like Doomsayer, Wrathguard, Darnassus Aspirant, Ancient Watcher, Eerie Statue, Acidmaw, Baron Geddon, and Majordomo Executus, but that's not a huge number. There are still some bad Evolves, just getting lower stat Battlecry stuff and not gaining much off the card, however it also does crazy stuff and wins games outright. Getting stuff like Prophet Velen at random off of 1 of your 6 drops and then Lightning Storming your opponent out of the game. There are some very powerful higher cost minions, though upgrading your Totems typically isn't winning you the game, its those cheap/free 6 drops that really do the work.
Master of Evolution - This card is quite interesting. The body on this is fine, and missing the Battlecry isn't always bad. If you're playing this on curve you're almost definitely upgrading a minion into something better, going from 2 to 3, and 3 to 4 you pretty much have to gain stats. Going from 1 to 2 isn't as much of a sure thing, but this does let you transform a totem late game when you already have 4 letting you activate your hero power for value. Otherwise Shaman isn't loaded with great 4-5 cost minions without Overload and the randomness is minor enough this should always be good. Much like Evolve, this sometimes takes a crap on you, but only changing one minion and getting a solid 4/5 for 4 makes this generally less of a punish when it goes bad. Its not as dynamic, but its very solid. You almost never feel bad about playing this (unless you specifically hit Doomsayer).
Thing from Below - Shaman is getting some serious love. a 5/5 Taunt for 6 is medium, and 5/5 taunt for 5 is very good, and a 5/5 taunt for anything less than that is totally bonkers. The body is extremely solid, and the base cost is just barely over budget, that makes this card rather pushed. The best part is this doesn't really become some stupid aggro Shaman top end, because they try very hard to use as few hero powers as possible. There could a shift in aggro Shaman to try to play this but it would likely mean a relevant slow down to that deck. Either way, this card seems great. Hooray for Shaman. This guy is good. He's almost everything he was hyped to be, except slightly slower than I think some people expected. The trap with him often I think is you just want him to be free, you wait on playing him a turn and when you finally take the time to your opponent has had time to play some more stuff and its less dynamic. Its still great on tempo, but he's not a Giant, he's still fair to trade with, his major contribution is Evolving into something crazy right away.
Eternal Sentinel - Jesus, did Shaman get enough good cards? Lava Shock has shown its value, and this is as good if not better in most cases. This also gives you the ability to play 3-4 resets which is great. This card is still great. I've never kept it or played it on turn 2 just to get the body out, but I could see that not being terrible if you ran into aggro. Otherwise, having those extra Overload clears is great just like we all knew already.
Hammer of Twilight - This is an interesting card. Its odd they printed it at 5 mana, forcing it to compete with Doomhammer. This is stronger against weapon removal, and lets you dodge overload, but most Shaman don't mind that part too much. This is better against mid range minions as well, but on the whole it will be very hard to compete with Doomhammers kill speed and versatility. That isn't to say that card is bad, its very good, just competing with what most people consider the best weapon in the game. This is great in arena, but you don't see a lot of epics.
Hallazeal the Ascended - A lot has already been said about this card. Its great with the Shaman board clears. Its got a completely reasonable body for its cost, and its potentially the most important Shaman legendary to date. Hopefully this allows something other than Aggro Shaman to be a deck.
Continued in second post!!!
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Oh, so I can expect some trolden-moments with 3 pyroblasts to caster's face +transform Yoggy into sheep+assassinate himself....
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It looks good
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But BGH provides pretty crazy tempo swing, Enemy played Dr.Boom on turn 10? BGH+my Dr. Boom. He should be more like mid/late game (6 cost, 6/2 stats?)... I cannot bear thoughts about reducing his attack stats, he should be 'mighty' (and fit his battlecry).
p.s. 7 cost, 7/2. BGH "I have a BGH in my sight" eeh, craziness)
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Golden epic (Lay on Hands), epic (Kidnapper), 2 rare. Nice.
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Bah, I'm so excited... nope.
p.s. 1 week and then 3 more, i suppose...
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I used to DE all my golden cards (if i have non-golden versions), but this one... I simply cannot)