.... Dr. Boom Is the Loatheb of this expansion and is played in pretty much every deck but I wouldn't see why you couldn't include Malorne and Dr. Boom solely because of Innervate. Being able to drop Malorne on Turn 5 (Or turn 4 if you've used Wild Growth can at the very least eat a Big Game Hunter or a hard removal, and make Dr. Boom a lot safer to play later in the game
I think the scary thing about Ramp is getting out large creatures early. Like, Innervating a Spectral Knight on T3.
By Turn 5, there's either board presence, card draw, and/or mana to take out an innervated Malorne quite easily. Besides, if I had another strong 5 drop (Spectral/DoTC), I might just get that out instead. Or if I had a better 7 drop (Lore/Boom) I think I'd pick that to innervate instead.
If I really just wanted to bait BGH before Boom, I'd probably T6 Ragnaros with the Innervate. Let's me curve out T5, T6-Innervate, T7 nicely. Also Rag has an immediate board impact, and is pretty good in many situations that call for it. (And if Rag isn't an "auto-include" in druid decks, what chance do you think Malorne has?)
It's just that in the current quick/face Meta, Malorne doesn't generally fit.
I'm not sure which is the absolute most (Probably Rogue though), but these are the ones that I think do more then the rest.
Handlock - Constantly calculating Hand size for Drake/Mountain and HP for Molten. Then combining it with current Mana and Play Order to drop the right cards. Hellfire can be used to (very slightly) complicate the plays as well.
Rogues - Needing to calculate Tinker Oil + Blade Flurry Lethal. Then often playing with Drake/Thalnos to tweak the numbers even more. While Prep alters mana. Combo mechanic adds sequencing into the mix as well.
Freeze Mage - Planning out all future stalls in advance, needs to make sure theres enough mana left over. Also needs to decide between Alex, Antonitas spam, or just early burn. Usually has Thalnos running in the calculations as well. Must consider Ice Blocks in between spells for the final plays.
Druids - Planning out future curve with Wild Growth/Innervates. Then doing damage calc for FoN+Savage lethal.
Shaman - Playing around your Overload, then your RNG Spells. Often plays with Drake/Thalnos. Damage + Positioning of the Flametongue totem (Specifically with Al'kir). Bloodlust lethal Calculations.
While there are builds like Math Warrior... it isn't common to run into those. So off the top of my head, these are the ones that came to mind.
His downside is the fact that he costs 7 Mana, and has no immediate board impact. If your opponent does anything to stall him (Freeze, Sap, Freezing Trap, etc) you've used your whole turn doing a whole lot of nothing. The 7 Mana just means he competes with Ancient of Lore's drop timing.
If your ahead in the game, you probably don't need to play him. In fact, it would probably be better playing Lore to dig for your FON+Savage Combo.
If your behind, then playing him will just give your opponent another turn in which to maul you down. Again, it's probably better to play Lore to either dig for answers or heal up out of lethal range. (Probably it's a different play you have to make though. Like FoN+Swipe)
He is a big body, and will probably need attention drawn to him (Possibly 2~3 for 1). As well as having him when all 60 cards in the match are exhausted will lead to an easy fatigue war. But overall, it doesn't seem like a huge game changing card.
Oh, there's also the time where you DO summon him, only to have him killed. Then later in the game you are depending on a topdeck only to get him back... That's quite a large negative as well. Would be better if he returned to the hand on deathrattle instead of the deck.
Edit: Oh right, Dr.Boom is also a 7 drop, how could I forget? So yeah, nobody would play Malorne over Boom.
blizz doesn't want to make too many hard-to-aquire card backs. It discourages new players and brings down blizz's revenue (all they care about)
To go with these two thoughts; the OPs ideas could be reduced to... - Get to level 50 with the Warrior class. - Get to level 50 with the Shaman class. - Get to level 50 with the Rogue class. - Get to level 50 with the Paladin class. - Get to level 50 with the Hunter class. - Get to level 50 with the Druid class. - Get to level 50 with the Warlock class. - Get to level 50 with the Mage class. - Get to level 50 with the Priest class. - Obtain a "Champion" arena key or better (8-Wins)
All requirements are lower then what was previously suggested so people are more inclined to reach them. In Arena, it bypasses the 7-win breakeven point so it encourages another go in arena. Getting an award for reaching the far may allow the player to feel good about themselves in a specific mode, and encourage more play in that specific game mode. (I picked 8 because it's the first win-count that can be awarded a random legendary) For levels, by the time a player reaches 50, they should be on the road to 500 wins in Ranked, so it may aid in the choice to continue the grind.
Furthermore, I seperated the classes so you can get 9 different card backs from grinding. This allows people to grind for a class they like (In case someone doesn't like a class' playstyle, or they don't have the cards to make a competitive deck) and also allows for 9 class-based card backs, to show off your class pride.
Overall disappointed in my packs. I guess I got a couple cards that I can use, and a handful of dust... But this kind of result doesn't make me jump to buy 60-Packs.
Why doesn't Blizzard attempt to change a card's text rather then just "increase mana cost by 1" for their balancing?
Soulfire: Cost: Discard 1 Random Card. Deal 4 Damage.
Flare: Costs (1) more for each stealthed enemy minion, and for each enemy secret on the battlefield. All minions lose Stealth. Destroy all enemy Secrets. Draw a card.
It seems quite lazy, and not really dealing with the issue of balance that lie with these cards. They took a similarly lazy approach to Buzzard, where they could have used "Play" instead of summoned to prevent UTH nonsense. Now I do think these changes will slow down the removal/cycling those cards allow, but I still think there are other ways they could have been handled.
I can see early game plays of like Undertaker + Coin + Webspinner into Loot Hoarder, into Webspinner + Feign Death. If the opponent had no early game answer, that would lead to 1 draw and 2 extra beasts. Pretty decent value for 2 mana.
I also see this as turn 7 plays. - T6 Savannah, T7 Tundra Rhino + Feign Death. (You can attack with 6/5, 2/2, 2/2, and 2/5 that turn. Perhaps even another 2/2, 2/2 if you suicide Highmane) - Sylvannas + Feign Death, for a better version of the priest death combo.
Love the use of Summoning Portals for that Antonidas route. But yeah, after thinking about it, potential infinite is probably less damage than a couple hundred billion. Since 6 Damage per Fireball * 10 Fireballs per second (Unreasonable) * 90 Second time limit = 5,400 damage only.
About Commanding Shout + Bouncing Blades; It does work. Even if you put more minions on the board, it stops when -all- have reached 1 HP. Since it is a clear board, the enemy has no minions. Thus it will keep bouncing till all minions (we only really care that Gahz'rilla does, but all will) reaches 1 HP. This makes Gahz'rilla's attack value = (6 + Buffs before Bouncing Blade) * (2^[Health-1]) with this combo. https://twitter.com/bdbrode/status/530939846227787776
My revised 10 Card, no "luck" factor list. Gahz'rilla (3 Mana Left), Commanding Shout (1 Mana Left), Preparation, Charge, Innervate (3 Mana Left), Innervate (5 Mana Left), Divine Spirit (3 Mana Left), Divine Spirit (1 Mana Left), Preparation, Bouncing Blade Would make 36 Health = (8 Attack * [2 ^ 35]) = 274,877,906,944 Attack. - I think playing 10 cards, and waiting for 35 bounce animation + Gahz'rilla powerups would take less then 90 seconds, so this combo is pretty valid.
Gahz'rilla ends with a whopping 26 Health and 28 attack, then when Bouncing Blade is cast, that 28 doubles 25 times.
28 x 225 = 939 524 096
Think we can hit 1 billion?
If you want to run 11 card hands by gambling on PW:Shield...
Gahz'rilla (3 Mana Left) Commanding Shout (1 Mana Left) Preparation Charge Power Word: Shield (0 Mana Left) Innervate (2 Mana Left) Innervate (4 Mana Left) Divine Spirit (2 Mana Left) Divine Spirit (0 Mana Left) Preparation Bouncing Blade
8 Attack, 44 Health 8 x 2^43 = 70,368,744,177,664 I think?
(Changed from a 12 Card combo w/ Sorcerer's Apprentice to 11 Card with 2x Innervate. To allow Bouncing Blades to work)
Edit: You can also remove Power Word: Shield from the combo to make it 10 cards, and not reliant on drawing. Would make 36 Health = (8 Attack * [2 ^ 35]) = 274,877,906,944 Attack. Not quite as high, but no random chance of drawing.
Yeah, you would be able to restrict Bouncing Blade if you didn't state that the board was clear.
But since it is, Commanding Shout + Bouncing Blade will hit the solo monster repeatedly; but stop once it reaches 1 health. Thus it's controlled for this exercise.
Try that again but this time add in commanding shout and bouncing blade ;)
I wouldn't really include Windfury because if you 1-hit the hero, the second attack doesn't get to activate.
But yeah, Berry's suggestion would definitely be better than your combination. Gahz + Prep-Charge (8 Attack) + 2x Inner Rage (44 Attack) + Commanding Shout + Prep-Bouncing Blades (6 Hits then stops = 2816 Attack) We can then use the last 2 cards in your hand for; 2x Moonfire (11,264 Attack)
-----
Although, my combo would rather be classic; (Dupped two Sorc Apprentice earlier in the match) Archmage Ant + Coin + 2x Innervate + 4x Sorc Apprentice = unlimited Fireball While you'd only get around 5~ to the face (pending armor), the overall potential damage is infinite.
For a duplicate-less version that works (as long as you don't have extra monsters in hand for ancestral call) see page 2.
And yet another version with even no variables! Uses Summoning Portals! (Best method yet for this)
4 Preps, again I don't think it counts. Actually, you can take out the two Preparations for Commanding Shout and Charge and replace it with just one Innervate, then it'll work. Damage should actually be 524,288 with that combo. Good for a 9 card combo. Dunno what other 1 card would boost it higher... inner rage? 655,360 damage with Inner Rage first.
For an 11 Card, 70 trillion damage combo, see page 2.
Classes that can "match up" with Hunter+Mage... - Druid/Shaman, since the daily quests need [Druid/Hunter] [Hunter/Mage] [Mage/Shaman], the symmetry would align nicely. - Zoolock / Undertaker Priest / Shockadin; assuming you run Undertaker Hunter + Undertaker+Secret Mage, these rush decks should feel a bit familiar. (If you play Midrange Hunter or Freeze Mage; then my bad) - Paladin, because it's the third class running secrets.
Otherwise if you're just looking for a strong deck, probably go with Zoolock, Handlock, or Wallet Control Warrior.
I can only see a couple of uses for this currently.
1) Turn 5 Alkir + Rockbiter. If you so happen to have the hand that let you T3 Feral Spirits, T4 Flametongue Totem; you could drop these on Turn 5 to burst 16 damage that turn. (If you have double rockbiter, and the flametongue is still alive... you can turn 6 this for 22 damage)
2) Turn 6+ Sylvanas + Reincarnate. If your opponent has no minions on board for the turn, you can Play 3 cards (Call/Sylv/Reinc) to make your opponent lose 1 card in hand, and summon Sylvanas + an enemy minion. Not too bad of a play.
3) Turn 6 KT + Reinc. Gives you 2 6/8 minions and plenty of resummons. Think about following a T5 Belcher with this, and suiciding the belcher onto either the opponent's current field, or their summoned monster. You'd get back 2 full belchers, and 1 mini one.
4) Turn 9+ Malygos + LB + LB + Lava Burst. As mentioned many times already, it's a 26 damage burst combo.
5) Simply disrupting the opponent's hand. On Miracle you can bet on gadgetzan being kept for their big plays. So if they don't drop it, you can force it out and drop it with spellpower + lightning bolt or something. Similarly, you might be scared of Control Warrior setting up for their end game. Fishing out a Grom or Alex and sylvanas+reincarnate / hex it to remove that option from them later on. Someone mentioned Cabal from priest earlier, and I wouldn't mind using Call to summon that, and sylvannas + reincarnate it away.
Some are mentioning Crusher (Earth Elemental) shaman, or even a new Giant Shaman. Perhaps those can work with this card, who knows. With all of this said and done, I still think it's a terrible card. But it'll definitely find it's place in some gimmicky decks.
0
I think the scary thing about Ramp is getting out large creatures early. Like, Innervating a Spectral Knight on T3.
By Turn 5, there's either board presence, card draw, and/or mana to take out an innervated Malorne quite easily. Besides, if I had another strong 5 drop (Spectral/DoTC), I might just get that out instead. Or if I had a better 7 drop (Lore/Boom) I think I'd pick that to innervate instead.
If I really just wanted to bait BGH before Boom, I'd probably T6 Ragnaros with the Innervate. Let's me curve out T5, T6-Innervate, T7 nicely. Also Rag has an immediate board impact, and is pretty good in many situations that call for it. (And if Rag isn't an "auto-include" in druid decks, what chance do you think Malorne has?)
It's just that in the current quick/face Meta, Malorne doesn't generally fit.
0
I'm not sure which is the absolute most (Probably Rogue though), but these are the ones that I think do more then the rest.
Handlock - Constantly calculating Hand size for Drake/Mountain and HP for Molten. Then combining it with current Mana and Play Order to drop the right cards. Hellfire can be used to (very slightly) complicate the plays as well.
Rogues - Needing to calculate Tinker Oil + Blade Flurry Lethal. Then often playing with Drake/Thalnos to tweak the numbers even more. While Prep alters mana. Combo mechanic adds sequencing into the mix as well.
Freeze Mage - Planning out all future stalls in advance, needs to make sure theres enough mana left over. Also needs to decide between Alex, Antonitas spam, or just early burn. Usually has Thalnos running in the calculations as well. Must consider Ice Blocks in between spells for the final plays.
Druids - Planning out future curve with Wild Growth/Innervates. Then doing damage calc for FoN+Savage lethal.
Shaman - Playing around your Overload, then your RNG Spells. Often plays with Drake/Thalnos. Damage + Positioning of the Flametongue totem (Specifically with Al'kir). Bloodlust lethal Calculations.
While there are builds like Math Warrior... it isn't common to run into those. So off the top of my head, these are the ones that came to mind.
0
His downside is the fact that he costs 7 Mana, and has no immediate board impact. If your opponent does anything to stall him (Freeze, Sap, Freezing Trap, etc) you've used your whole turn doing a whole lot of nothing. The 7 Mana just means he competes with Ancient of Lore's drop timing.
If your ahead in the game, you probably don't need to play him. In fact, it would probably be better playing Lore to dig for your FON+Savage Combo.
If your behind, then playing him will just give your opponent another turn in which to maul you down. Again, it's probably better to play Lore to either dig for answers or heal up out of lethal range. (Probably it's a different play you have to make though. Like FoN+Swipe)
He is a big body, and will probably need attention drawn to him (Possibly 2~3 for 1). As well as having him when all 60 cards in the match are exhausted will lead to an easy fatigue war. But overall, it doesn't seem like a huge game changing card.
Oh, there's also the time where you DO summon him, only to have him killed. Then later in the game you are depending on a topdeck only to get him back... That's quite a large negative as well. Would be better if he returned to the hand on deathrattle instead of the deck.
Edit: Oh right, Dr.Boom is also a 7 drop, how could I forget? So yeah, nobody would play Malorne over Boom.
2
To go with these two thoughts; the OPs ideas could be reduced to...
- Get to level 50 with the Warrior class.
- Get to level 50 with the Shaman class.
- Get to level 50 with the Rogue class.
- Get to level 50 with the Paladin class.
- Get to level 50 with the Hunter class.
- Get to level 50 with the Druid class.
- Get to level 50 with the Warlock class.
- Get to level 50 with the Mage class.
- Get to level 50 with the Priest class.
- Obtain a "Champion" arena key or better (8-Wins)
All requirements are lower then what was previously suggested so people are more inclined to reach them.
In Arena, it bypasses the 7-win breakeven point so it encourages another go in arena. Getting an award for reaching the far may allow the player to feel good about themselves in a specific mode, and encourage more play in that specific game mode. (I picked 8 because it's the first win-count that can be awarded a random legendary)
For levels, by the time a player reaches 50, they should be on the road to 500 wins in Ranked, so it may aid in the choice to continue the grind.
Furthermore, I seperated the classes so you can get 9 different card backs from grinding. This allows people to grind for a class they like (In case someone doesn't like a class' playstyle, or they don't have the cards to make a competitive deck) and also allows for 9 class-based card backs, to show off your class pride.
0
Lol...
When I'm running my Freeze Mage dailies in casual and I run into a warrior, I totally do the same.
1
25 Packs (125 Cards)
90 Commons + 1 Golden Common
26 Rares + 3 Golden Rares
5 Epics
- Dark Wispers
- Steamwheedle Sniper
- Steamwheedle Sniper
- Mini-Mage
- Clockwork Giant
Overall disappointed in my packs. I guess I got a couple cards that I can use, and a handful of dust... But this kind of result doesn't make me jump to buy 60-Packs.
1
Why doesn't Blizzard attempt to change a card's text rather then just "increase mana cost by 1" for their balancing?
Soulfire: Cost: Discard 1 Random Card. Deal 4 Damage.
Flare: Costs (1) more for each stealthed enemy minion, and for each enemy secret on the battlefield. All minions lose Stealth. Destroy all enemy Secrets. Draw a card.
It seems quite lazy, and not really dealing with the issue of balance that lie with these cards.
They took a similarly lazy approach to Buzzard, where they could have used "Play" instead of summoned to prevent UTH nonsense.
Now I do think these changes will slow down the removal/cycling those cards allow, but I still think there are other ways they could have been handled.
0
I think this card is pretty good.
I can see early game plays of like Undertaker + Coin + Webspinner into Loot Hoarder, into Webspinner + Feign Death. If the opponent had no early game answer, that would lead to 1 draw and 2 extra beasts. Pretty decent value for 2 mana.
I also see this as turn 7 plays.
- T6 Savannah, T7 Tundra Rhino + Feign Death. (You can attack with 6/5, 2/2, 2/2, and 2/5 that turn. Perhaps even another 2/2, 2/2 if you suicide Highmane)
- Sylvannas + Feign Death, for a better version of the priest death combo.
1
Which it's pretty funny that one Power Word: Shield at the start of it all would push the damage from 274 Billion to 70.3 Trillion.
1
Love the use of Summoning Portals for that Antonidas route. But yeah, after thinking about it, potential infinite is probably less damage than a couple hundred billion. Since 6 Damage per Fireball * 10 Fireballs per second (Unreasonable) * 90 Second time limit = 5,400 damage only.
About Commanding Shout + Bouncing Blades; It does work. Even if you put more minions on the board, it stops when -all- have reached 1 HP. Since it is a clear board, the enemy has no minions. Thus it will keep bouncing till all minions (we only really care that Gahz'rilla does, but all will) reaches 1 HP. This makes Gahz'rilla's attack value = (6 + Buffs before Bouncing Blade) * (2^[Health-1]) with this combo.
https://twitter.com/bdbrode/status/530939846227787776
My revised 10 Card, no "luck" factor list.
Gahz'rilla (3 Mana Left), Commanding Shout (1 Mana Left), Preparation, Charge, Innervate (3 Mana Left), Innervate (5 Mana Left), Divine Spirit (3 Mana Left), Divine Spirit (1 Mana Left), Preparation, Bouncing Blade
Would make 36 Health = (8 Attack * [2 ^ 35]) = 274,877,906,944 Attack.
- I think playing 10 cards, and waiting for 35 bounce animation + Gahz'rilla powerups would take less then 90 seconds, so this combo is pretty valid.
1
If you want to run 11 card hands by gambling on PW:Shield...
Gahz'rilla (3 Mana Left)
Commanding Shout (1 Mana Left)
Preparation
Charge
Power Word: Shield (0 Mana Left)
Innervate (2 Mana Left)
Innervate (4 Mana Left)
Divine Spirit (2 Mana Left)
Divine Spirit (0 Mana Left)
Preparation
Bouncing Blade
8 Attack, 44 Health
8 x 2^43 = 70,368,744,177,664 I think?
(Changed from a 12 Card combo w/ Sorcerer's Apprentice to 11 Card with 2x Innervate. To allow Bouncing Blades to work)
Edit: You can also remove Power Word: Shield from the combo to make it 10 cards, and not reliant on drawing. Would make 36 Health = (8 Attack * [2 ^ 35]) = 274,877,906,944 Attack. Not quite as high, but no random chance of drawing.
0
Yeah, you would be able to restrict Bouncing Blade if you didn't state that the board was clear.
But since it is, Commanding Shout + Bouncing Blade will hit the solo monster repeatedly; but stop once it reaches 1 health. Thus it's controlled for this exercise.
0
I wouldn't really include Windfury because if you 1-hit the hero, the second attack doesn't get to activate.
But yeah, Berry's suggestion would definitely be better than your combination.
Gahz + Prep-Charge (8 Attack) + 2x Inner Rage (44 Attack) + Commanding Shout + Prep-Bouncing Blades (6 Hits then stops = 2816 Attack)
We can then use the last 2 cards in your hand for; 2x Moonfire (11,264 Attack)
-----
Although, my combo would rather be classic; (Dupped two Sorc Apprentice earlier in the match)
Archmage Ant + Coin + 2x Innervate + 4x Sorc Apprentice = unlimited Fireball
While you'd only get around 5~ to the face (pending armor), the overall potential damage is infinite.
For a duplicate-less version that works (as long as you don't have extra monsters in hand for ancestral call) see page 2.
And yet another version with even no variables! Uses Summoning Portals! (Best method yet for this)
4 Preps, again I don't think it counts.Actually, you can take out the two Preparations for Commanding Shout and Charge and replace it with just one Innervate, then it'll work. Damage should actually be 524,288 with that combo. Good for a 9 card combo. Dunno what other 1 card would boost it higher... inner rage? 655,360 damage with Inner Rage first.For an 11 Card, 70 trillion damage combo, see page 2.
2
Classes that can "match up" with Hunter+Mage...
- Druid/Shaman, since the daily quests need [Druid/Hunter] [Hunter/Mage] [Mage/Shaman], the symmetry would align nicely.
- Zoolock / Undertaker Priest / Shockadin; assuming you run Undertaker Hunter + Undertaker+Secret Mage, these rush decks should feel a bit familiar. (If you play Midrange Hunter or Freeze Mage; then my bad)
- Paladin, because it's the third class running secrets.
Otherwise if you're just looking for a strong deck, probably go with Zoolock, Handlock, or
WalletControl Warrior.2
I can only see a couple of uses for this currently.
1) Turn 5 Alkir + Rockbiter. If you so happen to have the hand that let you T3 Feral Spirits, T4 Flametongue Totem; you could drop these on Turn 5 to burst 16 damage that turn.
(If you have double rockbiter, and the flametongue is still alive... you can turn 6 this for 22 damage)
2) Turn 6+ Sylvanas + Reincarnate. If your opponent has no minions on board for the turn, you can Play 3 cards (Call/Sylv/Reinc) to make your opponent lose 1 card in hand, and summon Sylvanas + an enemy minion. Not too bad of a play.
3) Turn 6 KT + Reinc. Gives you 2 6/8 minions and plenty of resummons. Think about following a T5 Belcher with this, and suiciding the belcher onto either the opponent's current field, or their summoned monster. You'd get back 2 full belchers, and 1 mini one.
4) Turn 9+ Malygos + LB + LB + Lava Burst. As mentioned many times already, it's a 26 damage burst combo.
5) Simply disrupting the opponent's hand.
On Miracle you can bet on gadgetzan being kept for their big plays. So if they don't drop it, you can force it out and drop it with spellpower + lightning bolt or something.
Similarly, you might be scared of Control Warrior setting up for their end game. Fishing out a Grom or Alex and sylvanas+reincarnate / hex it to remove that option from them later on.
Someone mentioned Cabal from priest earlier, and I wouldn't mind using Call to summon that, and sylvannas + reincarnate it away.
Some are mentioning Crusher (Earth Elemental) shaman, or even a new Giant Shaman. Perhaps those can work with this card, who knows.
With all of this said and done, I still think it's a terrible card. But it'll definitely find it's place in some gimmicky decks.