Hearthpwn

When you consider using a 5 mana 3/3 to counter a specific enemy minion, there are likely better options available.

Also a shame it's an epic. Even if Mechs should be relatively prevalent, it's hardly worth 800 dust. This really should be, at most, a rare.

Phew... good to know there is a counter to THAT.

Quote from iandakar >>

The point of rotation is Change.  This is the mode that forces you to get out of your comfort zone every few years and hunt for new ways to play the game.  There is not supposed to be some 'comfort pick' here.  That is what Wild is for.  Wild is where you go if you don't want to change, if you want to keep your deck or playstyle past the 2 year mark.

This is why cards like ice block was moved.  Every expansion, every rotation, when mage cards came out the question was always "How will this fit freeze mage." or "Will this revive Freeze mage?"  Sometimes the deck faded, but we always sought to bring it back. That is not how decks should work in Standard.  At some point the deck should die, or at worst, be remade completely into a new form (which is why 'zoo' stil exists, because what we deem as 'zoo' isn't anything like it was in 2017, or the version in 2016, or 2015, or so on and I wouldn't really argue if someone wanted to debate about this not being good enough).  

Honestly, Malygos decks haven't really changed in their game plan.  Find a way to cheat Mally out while holding a mass of spells, cast spells at face.  We haven't found a new way of using him. Just new cards that pull the same trick.  It's never been broken, but it hasn't really changed. That's exactly a HoF situation (as opposed to a nerf situation).  

That you always have to be careful of what spells you allow, what ramp you allow, and what cheat out effects you'll allow because "here comes the Mally deck!" is EXACTLY when you HoF a card.  

Rotation does not become necessary solely because cards or strategies stay in Standard or don't change much over the years. The point of Classic and Basic as permanent Standard sets is to have a baseline that expansions can build upon, and having good cards in those sets allows the developers to make new decks for specfic strategies without forcing reprints. Also, there are mechanics that help the game to stay balanced, and having a strong lategame finisher like Malygos is good to have a counter-strategy to control-heavy decks.

That being said, the whole "design-space" argument is nonsense. It is an issue, when you run out of options to make new cards, plain and simple. Claiming that this space is already fully explored is just wrong.

But what if you can't make new cards without old ones becoming too good, or always would be better? Well, it's up to you, what is "too good". Design space is only "limited" in that regard, when you set up a limit for how powerful certain cards may become. And Team5 has shown in several instances, that they don't mind to push that limit further and further, when it comes to lategame strategies. From Quest Rogue to Jade Druid, to Razakus Priest, to Cubelock, to Taunt Druid, to Shudderwock. Massive permanent minion buffs for huge charge damage, infinte minions that bypass fatigue, massive unblockable damage from hero power, huge taunts at early levels, endlessly repeatable damaging and stabilizing battlecries... there is no limit. Making Malygos more powerful is not even out of place considering the recent trends.

Be that as it may, the "problem" that Malygos poses with some of the new cards is a fabricated one and removing him from the game seems to me like the wrong reaction. In essence, I have my doubts how "fun" are all these mana cheating effects are anyway. When you introduce mechanics that make expensive minions more and more accessible and easier to play, it is meant to be unfair. The mana cost is part of what makes a card fair, bypassing that through recruit, massive ramping, or cards like Floop takes that out of the equation, resulting in unfair cards.

But considering, that Boomsday was probably designed and finalized about half a year ago, I'm pretty sure that any internal concerns about Malygos would have been addressed in April. They removed Coldlight Oracle because they wanted to make Shudderwock and Lab Recruiter. Either, Team 5 is trying to create a pretext to take out Malygos (why would they?) or they really think it's fine.

If Astromancer is good enough to build a Mage deck around card generating minions, this is probably good enough as well, though it also depends on the meta. A 3/3 dealing 7-9 damage is pretty strong against other tempo/zoo-decks, pretty bad against Master Oakheart pulling a Drakkari Enchanter along with a Dragonhatcher that pulls Ysera and a Sleepy Dragon on turn 5.

I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with "spells cast by minions", it's just the very obvious and easily spotted reason, that the Omega Mind is dead after the first one, and there is a short break before the second one is cast...

EDIT: Nervermind, as a battlecry, it should last the entire turn.

When you play Doomerang, the weapon will return to your hand - not working.

When you play Deathwing, he will be on the board instead - not working.

You have to play every last card in your hand, and you can't have any other minion left on the field, and you take fatigue damage, while those conditions are not met yet.

Also, drawing your entire deck takes time, and Druid is not having that many ways to handle threats without playing some of their own.

You can try of course, but my guess would be, that the second Ultimate Infestation can easily get in the way, you will fall behind very quickly with few ways to fully recover, and even against other control decks, it takes too long towards the end to set up your hand for the final turn.

Hard enough to pull off as a battlecry, borderline impossible as a deathrattle. I don't know if it was for "balance" or to make it just as hard as possible, so players have a challenge. Probably the latter.

There are a few ways to summon it and kill it off in the same turn. My Idea would be Eternal Servitude + Shadow Word: Death in a quest-based priest, that uses this and one other Deathrattle-minion with Shadow Essence and other summon- and resurrection-effects to get the quest done along the way to stay alive. And you still have 3 mana to play whatever leftover spells you have in your hand beforehand.

But seriously... whatever strategy can be conceived, you'll more than likely be dead before you can pull it off. Whatever your opponent is playing, he's getting help from fatigue damage, your turn where you have to play a 10/10, and that you can't have taunts or anything else keeping you alive, when you want to end the game.

I'm sure, one player will eventually make it happen, but it's a terrible card. Cool artwork, cool idea, crazy effect, but about as useful as The Boogeymonster, unless there are obvious synergy cards made just for this to work.

It's... ok?

Lost in the Jungle or Alleycat, with Rush and Overload. Worse on turn 1, better at any later point.

Unlike the other two cases, Shaman has not too many ways to profit from 1/1s on the board, but a few. With Flametongue Totem or Bloodlust, it is a pretty decent removal. The tokens might be Elementals, and can be played with Earthen Might. In a Token-oriented deck, it can draw two cards with Cult Master.

It's sort of a mini Unleash the Hounds, that can't deal face damage.

I think it's alright. Maybe some Shaman deck will find use for it. But given how the class performs outside of Shudderwock right now, it's not too promising either.

Until that nerf arrives, thank you for highlighting that combo.

Kinda surprised about how positive the voting is.

It's not a bad card by any means. It is good, but I'm not really thrilled about it either. It's a very decent 2-drop that can also be played with some healing effects later for some good recovery. It also has great synergy with other Lifesteal minions, and conveniently Corpsetaker.

In the days of Pirate Warrior, this card would have been amazing. But nowadays, the majority is control/combo decks, and slow Paladin decks have no win condition to close games out. Even the Death Knight is worthless against the competition.

Maybe one of the epics in this set puts this in a different perspective. If not, maybe in a future expansion, someday, when Paladin gets a card that can keep up with other lategame strategies. For now, I don't find it very appealing, aside from the fact that it's just a good card. But as a "good" card, it's not a must-have.

"out of nowhere" after your opponent has been stalling the entire game, just like almost every other combo-deck before.

I'm surprised that they decided to add such a card, but I don't mind either.

If Team5 thought that Malygos would be too dangerous to make cards like this or Floop, they would have rotated him this year already... I hope.

I just don't want them to come out afterwards and cry about "design space" after metaphorically sending us a written invitation to make more use of Malygos. Not to mention, that combos like Shudderwock or Hadronox aren't exactly "fun and interactive" either, and they apparently have no problem with that. But then they nerfed Cubelock, so what do I know... They still can't make up their mind, which combos are good and which are bad.

... at first, I was wondering why people are excited about possible Malygos combos. Then I realized, it summons a copy of a minion from your hand instead of your deck. I assumed, without giving it a second look, that this was pretty much the same as Gather Your Party or Shadow Essence, because Hearthstone.

But as it is... still not sure if this deck will be good enough. With 4 mana left, the number of spells you can use is limited, and the possible damage not entirely sufficient for an OTK combo, especially against classes with armor. Maybe you could use Doomhammer to get some damage in beforehand, or play the first Eureka with a Lava Burst or something like that... I don't know.

I say (for now), that Malygos Shaman would do worse than Shudderwock as a combo deck. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe other cards will change my mind.

Eureka! itself might be step towards a Shaman deck with heavier lategame. Getting an extra copy of a big minion out for six mana is pretty good, and the deck does not have to be entirely built around it (all other minions could cost 4 or less).

Read the text on Zap!. It only targets minions.