Hearthpwn

Excellent card.  Defender of Argus and Sunfury Protector Ancient Watcher Paladin inc.  At least from me.

I am a huge fan of this new Jousting Mechanic.  It really gives control the advantage it needs over aggro.  Cheers blizzard.  This is a clever solution I don't think anyone else had considered.  Well done.

Unless you were already massively ahead, it really seems like you'd have to play this fella on curve.  That means you are giving your opponent a chance to kill him before benefitting from the inspire mechanic.  The good news is that IF he survives, you can play minions before triggering the buff with your hero power.

Intuitively however, this card seems very difficult to use, even in decks designed to be suitable for it.

It won't be very difficult to wait to play this until you have lava shock.  The same isn't true for minions - who you need to get out onto the board to prevent yourself from dying.  Same logic applies to removal.  Draw is a luxury early game.  Late game, you don't mind the overload so much.  This is good.

I like that you guys are actually theorycrafting decks here and not only using existing archetypes to justify your opinions.  Good job Hearthpwn.  I can't believe I just said that.

People are saying this has anti-synergy with quick shot.  That's not correct.  If you have those two cards in your hand, you can play the archer, play the quickshot, draw a card, and then use your hero power for 4 damage.  That's 7 damage + a card draw for 5 mana.

If you get the dream and draw another quickshot, you get another draw and make it 10 damage for 7 mana.

Of course, that's highly unlikely, but it may not be too difficult to hold brave archer until your you hand is nearly empty.

Remember gentlemen, that blizzards goal is NOT to make existing archetypes better, but to make more archetypes viable.

If we see the same 10 decks in the meta season after season, we will get sick of the game, even if we replace a card every once in a while.  Meta shifts are not only inevitable, but intended.

Quote from Neon_Strike jump

Quote from DyingAtheist jump

Quote from Neon_Strike jump

Old Undertaker was considered incredibly broken and should be immediately nerfed.

An Undertaker for midrange/control that slowly grows and trades with whatever your opponent plays and lives and grows further that also synergizes with a bunch of already very good cards like Loatheb, Shieldmaiden, Dr. boom etc. etc. is bad.

This forum man.

Except Undertaker was quick and could much easier be buffed the turn you play it. This card is slow as anything and isn't likely to survive past Turn 4 if that's when you play it, so, you have to play it later than that and at 4 mana that's already becoming difficult.

The forum is right. The card is mediocre at best. I like it, I like the design, but it will not see play.

Come back to me in a month when you'll be starving for 800 dust for this guy.

The reason Undertaker was OP while Mana Wyrm (for example) isn't, is that you gain buffs by doing things that you would do anyway (playing minions). Mana Wyrm can sometimes trick players into being inefficient with their spells.  While that positive is also true of Questing Adventurer, he has stats that reflect his very powerful effect. Undertaker was unequivocally better than Goldshire Footman.  He effectively had taunt, and traded as well as a Zombie Chow.   He did too much.

This card is good because it does the same thing as Undertaker - rewards you for playing minions you would have played anyway.  He also has stats that are only barely under par for his cost.  The reason it's not OP, per se, is that it comes late enough to give your opponent time to respond.  I give Crowd Favorite a rating of Solid.

I've only seen one guy notice how good recombobulator would be in a deck that this would also fit into.  You could play a bunch of minions with OP battlecries, recombobulate them, and end up with solid bodies.  Sure it's not terribly consistent but if you draw enough times, you're bound to hit one at least.  I'm calling it now: Effigy BattlecryRecombobulator Crowd Favorite Mage.

You are missing something.  Versatility has value.

Heheh.  Fair enough.  It'll be fun to see how much greed we can get away with using slow play.  I have a feeling that's what this expansion will be all about.  I intend to try to make Tournament Medic work as well, so I'll have to get back to you on that one.

What about Kodorider?  It's insane with Defender of Argus.  All the arguments against it are related to it's slowness.  If we're arguing the meta will shift more towards value, Kodorider could get value on turn 6 just for pulling hard removal, even without the very high inspire value.

Rogues don't usually play things on curve anyway.  When have you ever seen a rogue play one card in a turn?  When have you ever seen a rogue stress out about activating combo?  The class is filled with cheap spells.  Rogues always run draw mechanics.  Even if you play this on turn 7 it's good because you spent 2 mana sapping something, or spent 1 mana oiling up your dagger, or prepping something out; idk.

Also, has anyone noticed how many low-attack, high-health minions we've been seeing out of this expansion?  This expansion may create a "wall meta" where people figure out how to optimize Defender of Argus and Sunfury Protector beyond watcher druid and handlock.

Quote from DarkTycon jump

Synergies pretty well with Bloodmage, Kobold and overall shaman, maybe judicar could help finding a spell totem. It's basically a 3 Mana volcanic drake if you have spell damage.

Mage can turn 3 coin soot spewer, or priest with velens on the coin can get this out turn 3 (assuming they use it on a chow or northshire). Shaman is still probably the best class to play this in, although shaman is very clogged for 3 drops atm.

Thoughtful.  I have very little to add, except that the artwork is stunning.

edit: I truly don't understand the people thinking this is bad. Spider tank is a good 3 drop at 4 health.  We can assume that this card will always show up in decks where she can be played with her bonus.  Her vanilla stats should not even be considered, save for late-game topdeck value.

Has anyone noticed that a bunch of these new cards are straight value? People have remarked that blizzard is trying to slow down the game, but none of these cards seem to be able to actually stop aggro.  That's why many of you appear to be saying "won't see play"

All it would take is one good early aggro answer for each class and we'll be in a value meta.  Don't lament value cards.  These WILL be useful, in this expansion or the next.

Did anyone notice how much Tournament Medic could do to slow down aggro?  Usually, using your hero against aggro is so slow, it's a death wish.  But with him on the board, that changes.  Hero powers are intentionally mana-inneficient.  When that changes - when you can use your mana efficiently without consuming cards (inspire), Hearthstone changes fundamentally.  Value cards like Shado-pan Cavalry WILL see play.