Hearthpwn

In my experience this isn't the case. Maybe it's because I play mostly casual so I don't go up against the best of the best of decks. But Kalimos, Primal Lord has rarely been a dead card in my hand. Sure you can't just slam him down whenever like you could Ragnaros the Firelord. And as I said, the Invocation of Earth is just bad, I'll give you that. But especially the Invocation of Air just feels so powerful. It's the one I use the most, and even in the late game it's still often very useful. Of course, if your opponent only has Ragnaros the Firelord on his board, you're not gonna play Kalimos, Primal Lord. But he clears cards like Soulciologist Malicia, or Cannonmaster Smythe. And he cleans up nicely if your minions are just a little to weak to trade.

Furthermore, the Invocation of Water has saved me countless times against a control deck that almost had me dead. And the Invocation of Fire was sometimes just what I needed to kill the opponent.

But maybe I'm just biased cause it's my favorite archetype to play. And sure, as it stands, Elemental Shaman isn't anywhere near an A tier deck. But it's not a pathetic deck either. I guess what I'm trying to say is: It's not a bad mechanic in the slightest, and if you ask me, it's a really fun one even. But don't expect some weird broken combos.

I always remember that with the current ladder system, you have nothing to lose on the ladder. You can't drop below the rewarding ranks, so you don't lose your rewards. That was different back in the day, where I would also eventually not want to play ranked for fear of losing all my ranks and rewards, but these days I just remember that and keep playing.

I know it might not be so easy for you, but you have nothing to lose on the ladder, so don't worry about it.

I forgot to mention Stone Sentinel. This card of course being similar to Feral Spirit with a 4/4 body on top. Assuming again that 1 Overload = 1 Mana, this would make Stone Sentinel a 3 Mana 4/4. Maybe not the strongest, but you can't have it all, right?

Quote from HatShapedHat >>

"battlecry: if you played an elemental last turn, do something underwhelming that most any other class can do without the stipulation"

 I would disagree with this, but feel free to have a conversation with me.

Cards like Elementary Reaction, Arid Stormer, Lilypad Lurker, and definitely Kalimos, Primal Lord feel like pretty strong cards with their effects and prerequisites.

Elementary Reaction can be compared to Mimic Pod, but I would say it's straight up better. You need to have played an Elemental last turn for it to be 1 Mana cheaper than Mimic Pod, but even if you didn't play an Elemental last turn it's still a 2 Mana draw 1.

Arid Stormer could be compared to a Crabrider with a Smuggler's Run, sure, Crabrider feels stronger because Smuggler's Run isn't the only buff Paladins use on it, but as a 3 Mana, 2/5, Rush Windfury they are the same, only a Paladin pays 2 cards, and a Shaman pays an Elemental last turn.

Lilypad Lurker is just Hex on a stick. Whether you compare it to the old 3 Mana Hex, or the current 4 Mana Hex, Lilypad Lurker is at worst a 2 Mana 4/5. The only downside being you have to have played an Elemental last turn, but this is partially negated through the fact Lilypad Lurker itself is an Elemental, unlike Hex of course. (And you can't Hex your own Minions anymore or Hex on turn 4, but this is really minor.)

Kalimos, Primal Lord is arguably the best 'Elemental last turn' card of all. His Invocations being very strong for his total cost.

Invocation of Air being the same as Lightning Storm since its buff, would make Kalimos, Primal Lord a 3 Mana 7/7. (Assuming that 2 Overload = 2 Mana.)

Invocation of Fire is similar to a Fireball, but since it only goes Face let's say it's worth 3 mana. This makes Kalimos, Primal Lord a 5 Mana 7/7.

Invocation of Earth is most similar to Stand Against Darkness, you do get an extra Minion, so maybe make it cost 6 Mana. Eitherway this would make Kalimos, Primal Lord a 2 or 3 mana 7/7. Though I'm not gonna lie, this Invocation just isn't that good, despite the Mana/Value comparison. Probably better than Onyxia though, for what that's worth.

Invocation of Water is similar to Hidden Oasis, 6 Mana Forbidden Healing, or 3 Witch's Brews, this would make Kalimos, Primal Lord a 2 Mana 7/7. (Can only go face though.)

All those four Invocations with the only downside of an Elemental last turn of course. But the fact you can choose them is a great upside in its own right.

I guess what I'm trying to say with this colourful wall of text is that I believe the Elemental last turn mechanic really isn't as bad as you might think. Though this does depend on the amount of Elementals you have put in your deck of course. But for Wild players like myself, it only gets better and better as more and more viable Elemental cards get printed, even some without the Elemental last turn prerequisite.

Again, feel free to disagree and start a conversation, I'll be happy to discuss.

Also, I didn't go into any Neutral or non-Shaman class Elementals because you did say that Shaman isn't as strong as other classes with its Elementals, so I focused on Shamans Elementals.

Quote from StonedSaiyan >>

if you play mage in any capacity right now you're a degenerate and your parents don't love you

 Tell 'em Vegeta!

Fizzy Elemental would like to say hello.

RNG is not fun.

I'd say why not?

The portrait is purely cosmetic anyways, so why shouldn't Blizzard add an option to give you a random one at the start of the game?

As a low rank Wild player, I notice how everyone always cries about how OP certain decks are and that they need to be nerfed and that the meta is shit, only for me to start playing on my Silver ranks and just kind of float around there, winning and losing as I go, and I play a homebrew Elemental Shaman deck that's really just a super synergizing mess of kinda good. But clearly worse than the deck you created. xD

Maybe I'm wrong but I believe everyone always ends up either top rank Legend, or with a ~50% winrate, thanks to MMR. It's how players like Solem can be rank Legend and face Bronze players, cause he lost so much with the goofy decks he plays, he just ended up on Bronze MMR again, where he now has a ~50% winrate with his dumb decks.

The biggest thing you gotta ask yourself when having to craft new cards for a deck is if you really think the deck is going to be fun and worth the dust. Especially if, like you said, you don't care for reaching Legend. Again, I play pretty much the same homebrew Elemental Shaman since Un'Goro, and I'm still enjoying it. So much so I'm slowly crafting all the cards in gold.

I'd say, play the budget version of your deck, and if you find yourself thinking "If I had [Insert Card] right now I could win or do some cool play." a lot, I guess it's worth a craft.

But that's just me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Personally, I feel like Refreshing Spring Water is a dumb and too strong card. You could say that it's only as powerful as it is in Spell Mage, and it's more unreliable in Mage decks that run Minions, but the problem I see here is that Arcane Intellect is a card that exists. So if you want to play a Mage deck with Minions you can just not run Refreshing Spring Water and run Arcane Intellect instead. And if you play a Spell Mage, you get a direct upgrade, and not a small one at that.

Also, Mozaki, Master Duelist and Flamewaker OTK Mage run Minions as well as Spells, that's true. But they run so few minions that it almost never happens you draw two Minions from your Refreshing Spring Water, so it's almost always better than Arcane Intellect.

But let's be fair, Refreshing Spring Water may be a strong card, but it's not the card that makes or breaks the OTK decks. Sorcerer's Apprentice and Incanter's Flow are the problematic cards and should be nerfed to not be able to make Spells cost less than (1).

Yeah, I think it's odd too

And I feel both are kind of half assed and boring and not even really promoted

You were good son, real good.

Maybe even the best...

Quote from saintmurlok >>

Also I miss the spell power totem, 1/1 is useless.

You do realise that the Wrath of Air Totem was replaced with the Strength Totem, and not the Searing Totem, right?

Not that I disagree, I miss the Wrath of Air Totem too it was the best and the prettiest in gold, and the Searing Totem is just kinda bad. But that said, Shaman's Hero Power in general is just kinda bad. That's why I run Charged Hammer in all my decks

And that's that. I just reached Legend for the first time with exactly this deck

Final stats (If I didn't miss any) are 95-34

Demon Hunter: 4-2

Druid: 8-1

Hunter: 7-0

Mage: 23-8

Paladin: 10-8

Priest: 16-2

Rogue: 8-3

Shaman: 7-3

Warlock: 8-7

Warrior: 4-0

Thanks a lot :D

Don't you dare talk shit about Elemental Shaman