Hearthpwn

I think you're right, since they mentioned cards that discover Tribal tags would tag this card. Didn't even think about Zombeasts, nice catch.

Totem Muncher (Shaman Card)

Battlecry: Destroy all totems, this minion gains their stats and abilities.

Give it some base stats of 3/3 or 3/2 for 3 mana, and you got yourself a decent totem synergy minion. It may not win you the game on the spot, but crunching all your totems (and possibly enemy totems) down into one fat minion does free up your board space while still keeping your totem effects :3.

(Copied from my morning post on The Witchwood's main page, since it's probably a bitter fit over here).

My hopes for Shaman in this coming expansion:

1.) A single target damage spell with Echo, but it can only hit minions (might be too good if it could go face). Either that, or some type of cheap AOE similar to Maelstrom Portal.

2.) A spell/minion/effect that heals your hero for the number of Overload crystals you've accumulated (possibly even from overloaded crystal on deck for next turn). For example, a 0 cost spell that restores +2 health to your Hero for every crystal currently Overloaded.

3.) A "Mass Hex" spell/battlecry effect to better compete with Priest's Psychic Scream and Warlock's Twisting Nether. It could be something that cost 10 raw mana, or something like 7-8 mana with Overload.

4.) A minion similar to Mage's Ghastly Conjurer that gave you a copy of Basic Shaman cards not often seen in constructed. For example, a 5 mana 4/6 minion with Battlecry: Add an 'Ancestral Healing' spell to your hand. You could either used the Ancestral Healing on a damaged minion already on board you traded with, or if you are in a bind, you can give that 4/6 minion Taunt.

5.) Strong Overload minions that focus on defense. Drakkari Defender was very close, but it needed to have that 3 attack in order to make efficient trades, possibly something like a 3/6 instead of a 2/8. Or better yet, give it the "Tar Creeper" effect so that it isn't inherently aggressive, like Totem Golem was. In short, give Shaman some minions that are actually worth a damn!

My hopes for Shaman in this coming expansion:

1.) A single target damage spell with Echo, but it can only hit minions (might be too good if it could go face). Either that, or some type of cheap AOE similar to Maelstrom Portal.

2.) A spell/minion/effect that heals your hero for the number of Overload crystals you've accumulated (possibly even from overloaded crystal on deck for next turn). For example, a 0 cost spell that restores +2 health to your Hero for every crystal currently Overloaded.

3.) A "Mass Hex" spell/battlecry effect to better compete with Priest's and Warlock's late game.

4.) A minion similar to Mage's Ghastly Conjurer that gave you a copy of Basic Shaman cards not often seen in constructed. For example, a 5 mana 4/6 minion with Battlecry: Add an 'Ancestral Healing' spell to your hand. You could either used the Ancestral Healing on a damaged minion already on board you traded with, or if you are in a bind, you can give that 4/6 minion Taunt.

5.) Strong Overload minions that focus on defense. Drakkari Defender was very close, but it needed to have that 3 attack in order to make efficient trades, possibly something like a 3/6 instead of a 2/8. Or better yet, give it the "Tar Creeper" effect so that it isn't inherently aggressive, like Totem Golem was. In short, give Shaman some minions that are actually worth a damn!

The biggest problem with Shaman, as others have noticed, is that their Basic Cards are quite underpowered compared to most other Classes, especially after all the nerfs they keeps getting. Hnonestly I think some of the more useless cards like Totemic Might and Ancestral Healing should receive a buff of some sort to give their base set more viable options. For example, what if Ancestral Healing was increased to 1 mana and also cycled itself by drawing a card? It would be comparable to Preists Power Word: Shield but still unique enough (Shaman has somewhat of a theme of having alternate takes on cards from other classes, so why not).

Actually no, the Shaman type that I played in the past was a control variant, using Elemental Destruction and Hallazeal the Ascended for stabilization, rather than just "going face". I'm hoping Witchwood can lend to that style of play again, despite Hallazeal rotating out.

You're using even cost Freeze synergy cards, and you didn't include Brrrloc!?

Well shaman is getting an 8 mana Hero Card, so it's possible 3-4 of the new Shaman cards and a good chunk of neutral (Even) minions can help work toward whatever the Hero Card's ability is?

Your point is still valid though, unless there is some serious support for neutral Evens in this expansion, Shaman will likely be better off using Odds.

You know, it would be pretty cool if they printed a couple Odd/Even neutral minions that could discover other minions of the opposite mana cost. For example, what if there was a 1 mana minion with a battlecry that specifically discovered a choice of three 2 mana minions? Or a 2-drop that discovered a 3-drop?

This wouldn't be as crazy as Kabal Courier or Stonehill Defender because the card pool is at a set mana number, but it would help even out turns for those with deck restrictions.

Couldn't agree more. Hopefully Shaman will get some Control tools too. (I mean Hagatha is almost surely a control card, but Shaman is gonna need some early game help to make it to turn 8).

This one's been a funny one. Playing a turn 3 Eggnapper to get Arfus's Deathrattle, stealing that discounting Emperor guy and him getting a "If it's your opponent's turn, summon an 8/8" along with pulling a Kresh and Yip is great lol

Seriously I get that everyone hates these types of brawls but it's got a wacky charm to it and I love it.

So it's just to jebait your opponent into mulliganing the wrong cards lol

Not sure why they made it an orc, and not a troll.

Quote from RaptorWithWings >>

It’s great that in this difficult time you all could Rise to the Occasion. We all know the higher ups are hiding some Sketchy Information. Those assholes that Provoked everyone need to Seek Guidance. Maybe their Overdraft will teach them and their Two-Faced Investors a lesson.

 HYPERCLAP

Imagine a guy named after Leeroy Jenkins that complains about face decks! Lol very ironic

As a reminder, here is the schedule of events and rewards:

• Grandmasters Week 1 (April 9 – 11) : 2 Year of the Phoenix packs
• Grandmasters Week 2 (April 16 – April 18) : 2 Year of the Phoenix packs *
• Grandmasters Week 3 (April 23 – April 25) : 2 Year of the Phoenix packs *
• Masters Tour Orgrimmar (April 30 – May 2) : 2 Year of the Phoenix packs
• Grandmasters Week 4 (May 7 – May 9) : 2 Year of the Phoenix packs *
• Battlegrounds Brawl: Battle of the Boars (May 12) : 2 Forged in the Barrens packs
• Grandmasters Week 5 (May 14 – May 16) : 2 Year of the Phoenix packs *
• Grandmasters Week 6 (May 21 – May 23) : 2 Year of the Phoenix packs *
• Grandmasters Week 7 (May 28 – May 30) : 2 Year of the Phoenix packs *
• Grandmasters Week 8 (Play-offs) (June 4 – June 6) : 2 Forged in the Barrens packs

(Those marked with an * are shared rewards, i.e. you can only get 2 Year of the Phoenix packs at most from all those weeks altogether)

I feel - and this could be wrong and we'll see a meaningful difference - that the Shaman changes missed the mark a little bit, ya know?
Lilypad Lurker wasn't underplayed because its stats were bad, it was already solid on its own.  It was underplayed because elemental synergies are just kind of bad.  They're inflexible and reward making suboptimal plays sometimes.

Tidal Surge should never have costed 4 in the first place, so this is a great change - though I don't think Shaman has the tools to take full advantage of having a decent anti aggro card.  The things Control Shaman needs are absent from the game.

Unbound Elemental is also just... a suboptimal card.  It's a slightly worse Questing Adventurer that demands you play cards with downsides.  Just kind of stinky on the face of it, a single additional attack is nice but I don't see that pushing it into viability.

I wasn't expecting much for Shaman, tbh.  It needs changes way closer to the roots of its design, nothing they could possible change with a regular balance patch.  I'm not disappointed, but I hope more changes come next expansion that involve the whole class, not just cards that don't do well.  Ya know... since the whole class isn't doing well.

I am playing this deck right now and I am quite even on legend rank with it. I don't have second protector and switched it out for that weapon that gives 1+1 after attacking to give a little aggro boost. I must say that in all my games (maybe 8-10) I have never used cthun neither played the protector, because either I get crushed by people that have good removal early. then it doesn't seem to have enough draw to get to your lategame potential with cthun but I will try it out a bit longer... Kazakus is really handy in this deck, can buff your minions or draw you a lot and on curve turn 4 its incredible tempo... so all in all cool deck, will see how we have to adjust a little more :)

Thought I made a comment earlier but I guess it didn't go through. I said that I was excited about this deck and it looked very fun and interesting. Coming back to this post was to give an update. Hearthstone allowed me to queue for a little bit in the last hour and I went 4-0! 2 wins versus Libram Paladin, 1 versus Control Warrior, and 1 versus some sort of spell/control priest. Playing at Diamond 5 right now. The game isn't allowing me to queue anymore but I'll definitely keep playing with the deck. Had a lot of fun. Though the C'Thun cards can feel clunky at times, since the deck is primarily aggressive, they surprisingly helped me out in a few of the games. Super cool deck.