Hello guys, Sigma here, Legend player, Deck Architect and Guide Writer here, on Hearthpwn! I will do a short series of analysis on the most important Naxx and GvG which are being phased out with the Standard&Wild Formats coming out to try to maybe give you a better insight into what you should expect from these drastic changes, which decks will be influenced most and what are the potential cards that might be replacing them further on. The first 5 will be Naxx&GvG legendaries! Enjoy!
Introduction
Some time ago Blizzard published the news that some of us were waiting for a long time (http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/blog/19995505/a-new-way-to-play-2-2-2016) and news that some might find scary or confusing. In the matter of a day there were already a thousand questions raised by the community on how will this, which can be called one of the biggest changes and moves in Hearthstone history, actually influence us and the game itself.
In this article, as a deck architect and guide writer I will try to explain to you what this change means for the meta, no matter if you are playing Hearthstone more casually or if you are reaching high ranks in the Legend part of the ladder. I will divide this explanation into two major parts and each part will be connected to a card, and as taking all 150 cards into consideration would take days of analysis, I will mention the ones that have shaped the Meta ever since they came out. I will also start it off with the neutral cards and move on to class specific cards.
The two major parts which will hopefully cover most of the questions of the community will be:
- Which decks were influenced most by this card being phased out?
- Which cards can potentially replace these cards?
There was also mentioning that “more than 2 cards but less than 20” from the Classic/Basic set will be changed, but nobody still knows if it will be for better or worse for the current meta which means that some cards (yeah I’m looking at you Illidan Stormrage, get your stuff together!) might be able to replace some of these cards that are being phased out. There is also a possibility of some cards being introduced, to fill out the biggest gaps left by the phased out cards. So I will present to you what we currently have at our disposal. You can also see me discussing these changes live at www.twitch.tv/sigmasrb, www.facebook.com/sigmasrb or www.twitter.com/sigmasrb.
Naxxramas & Goblins Vs. Gnomes Legendaries
I will start from the cards that influenced the meta most all the way to those that weren’t meta-defining but were still around to have mattered.
Dr. Boom
The very card that shaped the meta coming to us from Area 52, called Dr. Balance by most of the Hearthstone Community, we are parting ways with the card that was giving us most value possible as a single card played on turn 7 – Dr. Boom. If some of you have never seen this card for some reason, it used to spawn 2 Boom Bots as a Battlecry, which could deal up to 8 damage in total upon death, which was seen by many as overpowered, and with a good reason.
Which decks will this change influence most?
The phasing out of Dr. Boom will influence a HUGE variety of decks, ranging from some Aggro decks, all the way to Fatigue decks! Some of the decks which were in the top tiers of constructed play are: Tempo Mage, Secret Paladin, Combo Druid, Zoo Lock, Reno Lock, Control Warrior, Control Priest, Midrange Zoo, Handlock and the list goes on..
Which cards can potentially replace it?
The effect of the card will be quite difficult to replace, as there is no card with a similar effect and with the same amount of immediate board impact. The decks which ran Dr. Boom will either have to curve their decks up, which means to replace the card with a card of a higher mana cost, or to curve them down, which means that the card will be a lower mana cost than 7. Some of the cards which are surely worth considering are:
- Sylvanas Windrunner (6 mana)
- Sea Giant, if the old Zoolock decks come out of their caves again (10 mana, potentially less)
- Ragnaros the Firelord (8)
- Even Stormwind Champion (7) doesn’t seem like to bad of an idea if you are running on a budget and a Zoolock for example
- Ancient of War (7) in a Combo Druid
any case, a card whose removal will be celebrated by many, and a card that will be missed by many as well, to whom it gave sudden and unexpected lethals and with that tiny moments of glory and success. I’ll miss dropping this guy after a Freeze Mage plays a Doomsayer while being on low HP with Iceblock on. *sudden ninjas cutting onions* …damn, what am I saying; you will be missed, dear friend!
Loatheb
Also known as the Slayer of Mages, Loatheb has been a staple in a lot of Midrange/Control decks. He gets the title from the potential he has against spell-heavy decks like Tempo Mage and Freeze Mage. Just find the right spot to drop him on after a Freeze Mage plays Alexstrasza and he’s bound to lose. A card that also saw solid play during the reign of the hunters as it prevented them from that feared lethal with Kill Command/Quick Shot and gave you some more space to get some solid damage to the opponent’s face.
Which decks will this change influence most?
Same as for Dr. Boom, a large variety of decks will be hit. Some examples are: Combo Druid, Midrange Zoo, Midrange Hunter, Warlock Reno, Reno Warrior, while it will also have a miss in Aggro decks like Zoolock, in which it served a solid purpose of preventing pesky priests from using their Holy Nova on our precious gnomes and demons.
Which cards can potentially replace it?
Even though the cards has an effect unique to the game and not seen in any other card. As the meta will probably be faster as there will be a rush of fast decks with the exception of the good old Freeze Mage and Handlock, the decks will most likely be forced to curve down if there are no good 5 mana replacements. 5 mana or not, some of the replacements would be:
- Ethereal Conjurer(5) for any variation of a Tempo Mage running Loatheb
- Bane of Doom (5) for Midrange Zoos
- Harrison Jones (5) if the meta continues to be weapon-heavy
- Sylvanas Windrunner (6) for any kind of Control decks
A card that will probably be forgotten pretty quickly, but the miss will be felt when we just want to not let the opponent fire out a barrage of spells into our face, especially against freeze mages as there will probably be quite a lot more of them as the people will most likely turn to the good old decks after there are so many cards being phased out.
Mal'Ganis
Mal’Ganis, one of the nathrezim, send to delude the mind of King Arthas into joining the Scourge, has seen interesting times in the meta of Hearthstone, taking the biggest role in the Midrange Zoo as a super tempo swing after being pulled out by the Voidcaller. After that it has seen play in demon versions of the Handlock, later called Demonhand and after the release of Reno Jackson it was included in the demon versions of the Reno decks. I have had a lot of fun with this guy after making my version of all three of these decks (the midrange zoo being a lot more popular than the other ones).
Which decks will this change influence most?
As the card itself is limited to Gul’dan, the card was only to be seen in Warlock decks, but my, what decks they were! Midrange Zoos, Demonhands and Demon Renos will be missing this guy in their ranks, but he is one of the cards that will be able to find a replacement easily.
Which cards can potentially replace it?
Even though this one as most of the legendaries has a pretty unique effect, this one won’t be that difficult to replace. Either by throwing in one more heavy minion with a somewhat good impact on the board, it doesn’t really matter that much. Some cards that could potentially replace him are:
- Lord Jaraxxus (9), if already not in the deck for any control decks
- Ragnaros the Firelord (8)
- Nefarian (9)
- Ysera (9)
Of course that none of these will be able to replace him in a Midrange Zoo, maybe a Fearsome Doomguard for example but that one would only have good value if it was to be taken out of a Voidcaller, who will also get phased out, so the whole demon archtype, will unfortunately, fade away along with my most upvoted deck on Hearthpwn. Damn. /cry
Vol'jin
HERE GOES THE VOODOO… :’( Vol’jin, the first Shadow Hunter, one of my personal favourites from the World of Warcraft Lore, will also be departing with the formats. One of the rare wild cards from the priest arsenal, a great tool against any minion with a lot of HP, no matter if used in a control priest, dragon or a shadow priest of some sorts, for sure a card that managed to provide us with some crazy tempo swings in the past seasons.
Which decks will this change influence most?
Vol’jin, being another class legendary, only used in the priest decks of course, was the joker card in a lot of priest decks including but not limited to: Control Priest, Dragon Priest, Shadow Priest.
Which cards can potentially replace it?
As much as it was used by some decks and as much as some of the deck builders swore that the deck would not work without Vol’jin, there were plenty of decks which were as successful and yet still ran no Vol’jin in them, so I believe that even though he was a powerful tool to have in the Priest shed, was definitely not one that is not replaceable. Some of the cards that should be taken into consideration are:
- Excavated Evil (5) for any kind of Control/Fatigue Priest, a risky tool but very useful if you don’t manage to set-up your board on time
- A second Holy Nova (5) if you’re not running two already, but I believe it will not be used as much as Zoolocks and Paladins are getting hit with the formats pretty hard.
- Anubisath Sentinel (5) for Control Decks.
- Sylvanas Windrunner (6) (again) as she fits most of these control kinds of deck types.
From all of the boring cards that Priest has in the arsenal, we are losing one of the fun ones boys. I am pretty sure that good ol’ Blizz will make it up to us for it though with another fun card. All in all, I will miss this card, but unless you are a fan of the chieftain of the Darkspear Tribe, you will most likely forget this card ever existed pretty quickly.
Kel'Thuzad
One of the cards that, after being played, would make the opponent go “OH COME ON MAN!” was the good ol’ K to the T. One of the most annoying cards that you could see in some of the most annoying druids that existed (besides the Mill Druids of course, there is a special place in hell for those), the taunt druid. You know, those druids that would drop Sludge Belchers or an Druid of the Claw in bear form, then drop this guy and kill those taunts off, just to make more taunts? Yeah, that deck.
Which decks will this change influence most?
Even though he is not that present in the meta right now, I believe we had some pretty crazy times for me to leave him out of the hall of fame of the good Naxx&GVG legendaries that we had fun with, but without him it will for sure be a tiny bit more difficult to make any Taunt decks, like Taunt Paladin and Taunt Druid, but also some control decks had a decent use out of him, like Control Warrior.
Which cards can potentially replace it?
The effect is definitely one of the most unique one this game has ever seen, and one of the most annoying ones too (if you’re facing him of course), but it can be successfully replaced by a lot of good value late game cards which would be very similar to the cards that can replace Mal’Ganis, perhaps with the addition of Arch-Thief Rafaam, as these taunt decks allow you to have as much space as possible to establish your late game, if you manage to reach it of course. Buahahah.
Conclusion
We are for sure going to be losing a lot of awesome lore characters, which is a really big shame, but as I mentioned before, I hope that Blizzard will either include them somehow else again in the game, or get us good legendary replacements that will maybe be even more interesting than these which are getting phased out.
On the general note, something that I really love about this change, something that a lot of people might mind is that everything that we knew so far is changing. All kinds of archtypes that we are familiar with will become unplayable and the road to new kinds of decks will open, and even though I see that as a very brave and bold move by Blizzard, it might be something that will ricochet back twofold. I guess that time will tell!
Also, if you would like to get in touch with me directly or come check out my stream where I practise for my tournaments, or where I try to reach legend with all kinds of interesting and new decks, stop by at www.twitch.tv/sigmasrb or come say hello, or you know, “man your guide is very wrong!” at www.facebook.com/sigmasrb or www.twitter.com/sigmasrb. I also do all kinds of events like Hearthstone Trivia, Viewer Tournaments that have awesome rewards and many more! Some of the videos of my crazy plays can be found at www.youtube.com/sigmasrb!
So, my dear Hearthpwn readers, Sigma is back! I hope you enjoyed reading this short (or not as short) first part of the 7-part Series that I will be working on! Some of the other parts will take some Class-specific and neutral cards, be they from Naxxramas, GvG, common, rare or epic! There will be a part for each!
Cheers,
Sigma
1
Great stuff all around. I think Kargath Bladefist is my new husbando.
1
Sure. I chose enrage for the simple reason that it would only activate once.
Suppose for whatever reason you had two on the board with full health and then played Whirlwind.
If it was 'whenever this minion takes damage' that would be a little too much don't you think? I mean, I could be wrong but, that just seemed like too much to me.
Edit: okay, after some reflection on the enrage keyword, I realized I Interpreted it strangely. I see now it's used to mean 'for as long as this creature is damaged, this effect is taking place', whereas I had thought that it meant 'when this creature takes damage, this effect activates'. Considering it's description, (specifically: "The stated effect activates when the minion is injured") maybe it's not too difficult to see where I got confused. Though this certainty sheds some light on why I find enrage's pool of effects to be so... boring...
2
I think this card would easily be fair at 0 mana.
I would argue that this card's nearest analogue is Totemic Might.
1) Both cards have a prerequisite to cast. (which can be a big deal in a game with only 30 card slots)
2) Both cards have synergy with their class's hero power, but there are also other class cards that they can be used on for better value.
Shield Slam might also be considered an analogue for these reasons, though I think it's cost could be justified by the fact that it deals direct damage.