Hallow's End Meta predictions

Submitted 4 years, 5 months ago by

So I'm just gonna try to predcit how the 23 Wild cards will impact all 9 classes. I'm mostly doing this to see what applications other people think of and if I missed certain combos. Anyways, here goes.

Druid

Quest Druid has gotten another very powerful tool with Kun the Forgotten King. At face value, he doesn't look very immpressive, seeing how it'S still just a 0-mana 7/7 at turn 10 only...but thanks to the Quest you also get 10 Armor, which can be very relevant in a lot of matchups, not to mentiont that the body will usually demand an answer fro your opponent. Even if he ends up not being included in the deck (although I don't see why he wouldn't) you're probably still going to have to account for him appearing through Discovery

Astral Communion will probably not have any impact. I don't know why they gave us this over something potentially more interesting. There's just not even enough big cards that would warrant running this. At best you could run it in a Quest deck and hope you don't brick after dumping your hand. One saving grace might be Overflow, but I doubt it will be enough.

Ragnaros the Firelord, Sylvanas Windrunner and [Hearthstone Card (N'zoth the Corruptor) Not Found] could find their way into Quest Decks, but there is little overall synergy.

Emperor Thaurissan on the other hand, might have some applications, mainly if one were to give [Hearthstone Card (Gonk the Raptor) Not Found] another shot. With Gonk dead you can discount Mad Summoner and double Witching Hour + any number of attack buffs (Claw and Pounce mostly) and actually pull off the combo in one turn without having to RNG the Dreampetal Florist that being said, this is still a 5-7 card combo that requires you to play and kill off a 7-drop (that also cannot be transformed), making it even more inconsistent than Malygos currently is. Not to mention the relatively high amount of combo pieces makes the Quest shell much weaker.

Mage

Now Mage is a pretty interesting case since it'S currently on life support. People don't seem to be that excited about Babbling Book, but I think it could be crucial in making more tempo oriented Mage builds (including Secret Mage) more viable, purely on the basis of being an actual 1-drop for a class that currently has none.

Flamewaker on the other hand feels a bit overhyped. Granted, we can go machinegun with a Sorcerer's Apprentice and a Mana Cyclone for reload, but would be more of a combo deck, not unlike the previous Cylone Mage which isn't all that great at the moment. I still believe Flamewaker is good enough to pick Mage up from the dumpster, but I don't think we're gonna get higher than tier 2.

Regular Tempo Mage also seems a bit weak at the moment...at least too weak to rely entirely on Flamewaker to carry it. Keep in mind that unless you are absolutely certain he won't get removed, you can't actually play Flamewaker on 3, and you need at least apprentice, Ray of Frost, Cyclone and Elemental Evocation to really pop off...in a deck that can't tutor any of the pieces.

Aside from the class cards Emperor Thaurissan is a strong addition to Highlander Mage (since you're usually holding a big hand and it bridges the 7-mana gap in some cases). Furthermore, N'zoth allows for another board refill by just running [Hearthstone Card (Karthut Defender) Not Found], Rotten Applebaum and Sylvanas Windrunner. Ragnaros might find a way in too, but I suspect that would be a bit greedy.

Whatever happens, Mage is certainly going to be much better than it is now, even if just by a little.

Paladin:

Now it's pretty obvious that Secret Paladin is going to return. Both Mysterious Challenger (effectively Subject 9 on steroids) and Avenge (the best secret to keep a lead on the board) should be enough to make the deck at lest playable. The draw issue is pretty much solved, although including both Challenger and Bellringer Sentry will warrant quite a large amount of Secrets. Maybe MC makes its way into Highlander Paladin as well with a Secret heavy build (read: every single available Secret) although I feel like Octosari is still a safer choice.

Much less talked about is the potential Control Paladin, that could "return". Paladin has always been the best class (next to Warlock) to use N'zoth, but it just never took off. A N'zoth that resurrects Tirion Fordring, Sylvanas and Karthut Defenders is probably the best turn 10 play for any lategame deck. What's different this time around is the existence of the Holy Wrath + [Hearthstone Card (Shirvallah the Tiger) Not Found] combo. With just 3 cards you add a 25 damage burst into a control deck, but instead of going the regular way of mowing through your deck we play it slow and grind out the opponent until we finish him off. You can go pretty light on the minion side and just use the best defensive options and a bit of draw with most of the removal spells. The challenge would be to properly balance the amount of removal and actual minions. The biggest problem with this idea would be that most other classes will just end up running N'zoth as well and it's questionable whether the addition of Tirion is enough of an upside to make a difference.

N'zoth could also work in a minion focussed Midrange/lategame deck, maybe even Highlander (just don't run Octosari or you will find a very unfortunate end).

Hunter

Hunter got some very solid additions. Lock and Load is probably not going to be competitive, but makes a very spell heavy Hunter at least worth trying. I can't see it taking up a slot in Highlander however. Value Generation isn't exactly needed for Hunter at the moment.

Call of the Wild on the other hand is way more interesting. It occupies a very interesting mana slot at 9, meaning that you can play it as a set up for Zul'jin which is especially relevant since it mitigates the downside of having to play Zul'jin for tempo/defense without having used Unleash the Beast first. With just this and a few Secrets you will have enough value to stay in the game. Not to mention the card isn't a bad topdeck later on at gives you 5-damage reach.

N'zoth and Sylvanas are also interesting. On one hand you could build a deathrattle centered Highlander build. In this slower variant Emperor Thaurissan might get good value as well. Next to that there's the possibility of reviving mech Deathrattle. Nine Lives is already incredible and Sylvanas onnly makes it better. Going light on the actual deathrattles to get the best possible outcome from N'zoth would also allow for more defensive tools. The main argument for this deck would be that N'zoth being popular makes grindy decks better and requires more value to beat them, which current Highlander Hunter probably can't.

Shaman

I see no real use for Thing from Below. There's just not enough totems at the moment to get any benefit out of it. Evolve on the other hand fits perfectly into all Shaman decks running Mogu Fleshshaper. The combo of Fleshshaper + Mutate is already busted and Evolve just doubles the consistency (next to being even more generally useful in token decks than Mutate).

Shaman can also make good use out of N'zot since Shudderwock essentially gives you a second one. Combine it with lackey generators and Hagatha the Witch you have a solid lategame plan to grind most decks into dust...the question is whether this is a better grinding gameplan than other N'zoth decks.

Rogue

Swashburglar is great for both Quest and Quest-less thief Rogue. It essentially makes curving into a Underbelly Fence much easier without the tempo loss of Pilfer (except against other Rogues). As a result it makes the Burgle package a much better inclusion in just about any possible Rogue build. [Hearthstone Card (Shaku the Collector) Not Found] on the other hand is pretty much garbage. It's a slower Blink Fox with stealth + soft taunt being the only upside. Not great when you have to consider that getting a 0-cost Vendetta on turn 3 might be more important.

Once again we have Deathrattle shenanigans. [Hearthstone Card (Anka the Buried) Not Found] allows for shenanigans with Sylvanas (and Anubisath Warbringer), while Shadowstep and [Hearthstone Card (Togwaggle's Scheme's) Not Found] enables complete N'zoth lockdown. The resulting deck might be unbearably slow and bricky, but it's gonna be loads of fun when it pays off. You thought infinite Tess Greymane was a Warrior killer? Let's see how many Sylvanas the can deal with before they give up.

Priest

I'll be honest, I have no idea how Priest is going to turn out. Vol'jin doesn't really have a purpose at the moment. Priest doesn't run 2-damage removal so there's really no point to include him anywhere. Lightbomb is a good additional boardclear which will make the slower Quest/Resurrect builds a bit better against aggro and N'zoth and Sylvanas won't hurt either in that kind of deck. Once again the question remains which class makes the best use of N'zoth.

Warlock

Gul'dan got shafted again. Renounce Darkness is for memes only, obviously, although Zephrys could probably be of use in there (if you get lucky enough to not get too many duplicates, and let's be honest that's kind of why you play the deck in the first place).

Zoo get Imp Gang Boss, which is still one of the most powerful standalone 3-drops in the game which will imrpove their winrate but won't change their palystyle. Highlander Zoo certainly appreciates it.

N'zoth Sylvanas and Ragnaros are very interesting additions to Plot Twist Warlock as both Fel Lord Betrug and Dollmaster Dorian can get incredibly value from them (they can be used to quickly charge your N'zoth with Karthut defenders or Sylvanas). Combine it with Mechanical Whelp and there's a decent strategy. Unfortunately it has to compete with all other potential N'zoth grinders, where it will most likely lose out based on the fact that it hits fatigue way earlier. Personally I'm going to revive my Anubisath-HIr'eek-Omega Agent Handbuff build, because why not, it's not like it's getting any better.

Warrior

Not terribly exciting. Bloodhoof Brave is a potentially cool card for Aggro/Tempo Warrior (specifcally Highlander), but it's probably not proactive enough. Taunt Warrior has unfortunately been nerfed through the discovery nerf, so I don't see that picking up steam all of a sudden. Varian Wrynn could potentially make it viable, but with Tomb Warden and [Hearthstone Card (Frigthened Flunky) Not Found] having pretty much essential battlecries it makes no sense to risk pulling them out on the field.

I also don't believe in Big Warrior. Warrior has no ramp or mana cheating and waiting until turn 10 to actually do stuff is just...not realistic.

Funnily enough, Control Warrior is probably also the least likely class to make good use out of N'zoth. having no class deathrattles means at best you're gonna get a Karthut wall with Sylvanas in a deck that wins the lategame through other means. It might still end up running N'zoth out of necessity just to not get outvalued by all other Deathrattle decks.

I really wish we got [Hearthstone Card (Alexstraza's Champion) Not Found] instead.

Miscellaneous

I currently see no real good use for The Curator. There aren't any good murlocs or dragons outside of tribal decks. Nightmare Amalgam technically gives you two guaranteed draws, but that's not really enough to slot into any deck. The only thing I can come up with would be a) Midrange Dragon Paladin with Murmy and a Mech Package or b) Hooktusk Rogue with the same principle (which is just an inferior version of Tempo/thief Rogue anyways, so no point).

I also can't really imagine Ragnaros in too many decks. He's a good card and there's a reason why he was Hall of Famed, but at this point in the game most decks are so heavily specialized that they have simply no space for a card that doesn't actually synergize with their gameplan. The only exception are Highlander decks of course. Hunter will probably find a place for Rag, purely on the basis of not having an 8-drop, and Mage will probably enjoy having any proactive options. He might be too greedy for Paladin though (although he could be an interesting choice in Quest Paladin....if that deck wasn't dead).

Thaurissan probably has way more combos than I listed, but I don't think most of them will amount to anything more than memes. He's probably best as just a Highlander 6-drop in Mage to smooth out the curve.

Closing thoughts

Writing this I kinda got worried that the meta might become a very one dimensionnal N'zoth slugfest for a while until the best N'zoth class emerges to kick all others off the table...who will then proceed to build the most aggressive decks possible to kill them before turn 10.

Whatever happens, i'm glad that this event exists, even if just to showcase how broken stuff can get with the right tools. If the meta goes completely haywiere at least we only have to wait until November for it to return back to normal. Pretty sure after being N'zoth-locked for 3 weeks straight will make Control Warrior look fun and interactive in comparison.

  • YourPrivateNightmare's Avatar
    Skeleton 2010 4741 Posts Joined 03/25/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago

    So I'm just gonna try to predcit how the 23 Wild cards will impact all 9 classes. I'm mostly doing this to see what applications other people think of and if I missed certain combos. Anyways, here goes.

    Druid

    Quest Druid has gotten another very powerful tool with Kun the Forgotten King. At face value, he doesn't look very immpressive, seeing how it'S still just a 0-mana 7/7 at turn 10 only...but thanks to the Quest you also get 10 Armor, which can be very relevant in a lot of matchups, not to mentiont that the body will usually demand an answer fro your opponent. Even if he ends up not being included in the deck (although I don't see why he wouldn't) you're probably still going to have to account for him appearing through Discovery

    Astral Communion will probably not have any impact. I don't know why they gave us this over something potentially more interesting. There's just not even enough big cards that would warrant running this. At best you could run it in a Quest deck and hope you don't brick after dumping your hand. One saving grace might be Overflow, but I doubt it will be enough.

    Ragnaros the Firelord, Sylvanas Windrunner and [Hearthstone Card (N'zoth the Corruptor) Not Found] could find their way into Quest Decks, but there is little overall synergy.

    Emperor Thaurissan on the other hand, might have some applications, mainly if one were to give [Hearthstone Card (Gonk the Raptor) Not Found] another shot. With Gonk dead you can discount Mad Summoner and double Witching Hour + any number of attack buffs (Claw and Pounce mostly) and actually pull off the combo in one turn without having to RNG the Dreampetal Florist that being said, this is still a 5-7 card combo that requires you to play and kill off a 7-drop (that also cannot be transformed), making it even more inconsistent than Malygos currently is. Not to mention the relatively high amount of combo pieces makes the Quest shell much weaker.

    Mage

    Now Mage is a pretty interesting case since it'S currently on life support. People don't seem to be that excited about Babbling Book, but I think it could be crucial in making more tempo oriented Mage builds (including Secret Mage) more viable, purely on the basis of being an actual 1-drop for a class that currently has none.

    Flamewaker on the other hand feels a bit overhyped. Granted, we can go machinegun with a Sorcerer's Apprentice and a Mana Cyclone for reload, but would be more of a combo deck, not unlike the previous Cylone Mage which isn't all that great at the moment. I still believe Flamewaker is good enough to pick Mage up from the dumpster, but I don't think we're gonna get higher than tier 2.

    Regular Tempo Mage also seems a bit weak at the moment...at least too weak to rely entirely on Flamewaker to carry it. Keep in mind that unless you are absolutely certain he won't get removed, you can't actually play Flamewaker on 3, and you need at least apprentice, Ray of Frost, Cyclone and Elemental Evocation to really pop off...in a deck that can't tutor any of the pieces.

    Aside from the class cards Emperor Thaurissan is a strong addition to Highlander Mage (since you're usually holding a big hand and it bridges the 7-mana gap in some cases). Furthermore, N'zoth allows for another board refill by just running [Hearthstone Card (Karthut Defender) Not Found], Rotten Applebaum and Sylvanas Windrunner. Ragnaros might find a way in too, but I suspect that would be a bit greedy.

    Whatever happens, Mage is certainly going to be much better than it is now, even if just by a little.

    Paladin:

    Now it's pretty obvious that Secret Paladin is going to return. Both Mysterious Challenger (effectively Subject 9 on steroids) and Avenge (the best secret to keep a lead on the board) should be enough to make the deck at lest playable. The draw issue is pretty much solved, although including both Challenger and Bellringer Sentry will warrant quite a large amount of Secrets. Maybe MC makes its way into Highlander Paladin as well with a Secret heavy build (read: every single available Secret) although I feel like Octosari is still a safer choice.

    Much less talked about is the potential Control Paladin, that could "return". Paladin has always been the best class (next to Warlock) to use N'zoth, but it just never took off. A N'zoth that resurrects Tirion Fordring, Sylvanas and Karthut Defenders is probably the best turn 10 play for any lategame deck. What's different this time around is the existence of the Holy Wrath + [Hearthstone Card (Shirvallah the Tiger) Not Found] combo. With just 3 cards you add a 25 damage burst into a control deck, but instead of going the regular way of mowing through your deck we play it slow and grind out the opponent until we finish him off. You can go pretty light on the minion side and just use the best defensive options and a bit of draw with most of the removal spells. The challenge would be to properly balance the amount of removal and actual minions. The biggest problem with this idea would be that most other classes will just end up running N'zoth as well and it's questionable whether the addition of Tirion is enough of an upside to make a difference.

    N'zoth could also work in a minion focussed Midrange/lategame deck, maybe even Highlander (just don't run Octosari or you will find a very unfortunate end).

    Hunter

    Hunter got some very solid additions. Lock and Load is probably not going to be competitive, but makes a very spell heavy Hunter at least worth trying. I can't see it taking up a slot in Highlander however. Value Generation isn't exactly needed for Hunter at the moment.

    Call of the Wild on the other hand is way more interesting. It occupies a very interesting mana slot at 9, meaning that you can play it as a set up for Zul'jin which is especially relevant since it mitigates the downside of having to play Zul'jin for tempo/defense without having used Unleash the Beast first. With just this and a few Secrets you will have enough value to stay in the game. Not to mention the card isn't a bad topdeck later on at gives you 5-damage reach.

    N'zoth and Sylvanas are also interesting. On one hand you could build a deathrattle centered Highlander build. In this slower variant Emperor Thaurissan might get good value as well. Next to that there's the possibility of reviving mech Deathrattle. Nine Lives is already incredible and Sylvanas onnly makes it better. Going light on the actual deathrattles to get the best possible outcome from N'zoth would also allow for more defensive tools. The main argument for this deck would be that N'zoth being popular makes grindy decks better and requires more value to beat them, which current Highlander Hunter probably can't.

    Shaman

    I see no real use for Thing from Below. There's just not enough totems at the moment to get any benefit out of it. Evolve on the other hand fits perfectly into all Shaman decks running Mogu Fleshshaper. The combo of Fleshshaper + Mutate is already busted and Evolve just doubles the consistency (next to being even more generally useful in token decks than Mutate).

    Shaman can also make good use out of N'zot since Shudderwock essentially gives you a second one. Combine it with lackey generators and Hagatha the Witch you have a solid lategame plan to grind most decks into dust...the question is whether this is a better grinding gameplan than other N'zoth decks.

    Rogue

    Swashburglar is great for both Quest and Quest-less thief Rogue. It essentially makes curving into a Underbelly Fence much easier without the tempo loss of Pilfer (except against other Rogues). As a result it makes the Burgle package a much better inclusion in just about any possible Rogue build. [Hearthstone Card (Shaku the Collector) Not Found] on the other hand is pretty much garbage. It's a slower Blink Fox with stealth + soft taunt being the only upside. Not great when you have to consider that getting a 0-cost Vendetta on turn 3 might be more important.

    Once again we have Deathrattle shenanigans. [Hearthstone Card (Anka the Buried) Not Found] allows for shenanigans with Sylvanas (and Anubisath Warbringer), while Shadowstep and [Hearthstone Card (Togwaggle's Scheme's) Not Found] enables complete N'zoth lockdown. The resulting deck might be unbearably slow and bricky, but it's gonna be loads of fun when it pays off. You thought infinite Tess Greymane was a Warrior killer? Let's see how many Sylvanas the can deal with before they give up.

    Priest

    I'll be honest, I have no idea how Priest is going to turn out. Vol'jin doesn't really have a purpose at the moment. Priest doesn't run 2-damage removal so there's really no point to include him anywhere. Lightbomb is a good additional boardclear which will make the slower Quest/Resurrect builds a bit better against aggro and N'zoth and Sylvanas won't hurt either in that kind of deck. Once again the question remains which class makes the best use of N'zoth.

    Warlock

    Gul'dan got shafted again. Renounce Darkness is for memes only, obviously, although Zephrys could probably be of use in there (if you get lucky enough to not get too many duplicates, and let's be honest that's kind of why you play the deck in the first place).

    Zoo get Imp Gang Boss, which is still one of the most powerful standalone 3-drops in the game which will imrpove their winrate but won't change their palystyle. Highlander Zoo certainly appreciates it.

    N'zoth Sylvanas and Ragnaros are very interesting additions to Plot Twist Warlock as both Fel Lord Betrug and Dollmaster Dorian can get incredibly value from them (they can be used to quickly charge your N'zoth with Karthut defenders or Sylvanas). Combine it with Mechanical Whelp and there's a decent strategy. Unfortunately it has to compete with all other potential N'zoth grinders, where it will most likely lose out based on the fact that it hits fatigue way earlier. Personally I'm going to revive my Anubisath-HIr'eek-Omega Agent Handbuff build, because why not, it's not like it's getting any better.

    Warrior

    Not terribly exciting. Bloodhoof Brave is a potentially cool card for Aggro/Tempo Warrior (specifcally Highlander), but it's probably not proactive enough. Taunt Warrior has unfortunately been nerfed through the discovery nerf, so I don't see that picking up steam all of a sudden. Varian Wrynn could potentially make it viable, but with Tomb Warden and [Hearthstone Card (Frigthened Flunky) Not Found] having pretty much essential battlecries it makes no sense to risk pulling them out on the field.

    I also don't believe in Big Warrior. Warrior has no ramp or mana cheating and waiting until turn 10 to actually do stuff is just...not realistic.

    Funnily enough, Control Warrior is probably also the least likely class to make good use out of N'zoth. having no class deathrattles means at best you're gonna get a Karthut wall with Sylvanas in a deck that wins the lategame through other means. It might still end up running N'zoth out of necessity just to not get outvalued by all other Deathrattle decks.

    I really wish we got [Hearthstone Card (Alexstraza's Champion) Not Found] instead.

    Miscellaneous

    I currently see no real good use for The Curator. There aren't any good murlocs or dragons outside of tribal decks. Nightmare Amalgam technically gives you two guaranteed draws, but that's not really enough to slot into any deck. The only thing I can come up with would be a) Midrange Dragon Paladin with Murmy and a Mech Package or b) Hooktusk Rogue with the same principle (which is just an inferior version of Tempo/thief Rogue anyways, so no point).

    I also can't really imagine Ragnaros in too many decks. He's a good card and there's a reason why he was Hall of Famed, but at this point in the game most decks are so heavily specialized that they have simply no space for a card that doesn't actually synergize with their gameplan. The only exception are Highlander decks of course. Hunter will probably find a place for Rag, purely on the basis of not having an 8-drop, and Mage will probably enjoy having any proactive options. He might be too greedy for Paladin though (although he could be an interesting choice in Quest Paladin....if that deck wasn't dead).

    Thaurissan probably has way more combos than I listed, but I don't think most of them will amount to anything more than memes. He's probably best as just a Highlander 6-drop in Mage to smooth out the curve.

    Closing thoughts

    Writing this I kinda got worried that the meta might become a very one dimensionnal N'zoth slugfest for a while until the best N'zoth class emerges to kick all others off the table...who will then proceed to build the most aggressive decks possible to kill them before turn 10.

    Whatever happens, i'm glad that this event exists, even if just to showcase how broken stuff can get with the right tools. If the meta goes completely haywiere at least we only have to wait until November for it to return back to normal. Pretty sure after being N'zoth-locked for 3 weeks straight will make Control Warrior look fun and interactive in comparison.

    I tried having fun once.

    It was awful.

    5
  • Lucuma's Avatar
    160 28 Posts Joined 07/26/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago

    I'm not that experienced in HS to make an addition to this. Just wanted to say thanks for the time and effort put into this post. 

    0
  • YourPrivateNightmare's Avatar
    Skeleton 2010 4741 Posts Joined 03/25/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago
    Quote From Lucuma

    I'm not that experienced in HS to make an addition to this. Just wanted to say thanks for the time and effort put into this post. 

    why thank you

    you shouldn't be afraid to participate in discussions, at worst you'll suggest something that doesn't work and someone will tell you why it doesn't.

    I tried having fun once.

    It was awful.

    0
  • AliRadicali's Avatar
    465 713 Posts Joined 06/06/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago

    Among the class cards, I expect Flamewaker, Babbling Book, Call of the Wild and Evolve to do some heavy lifting. I think the paladin cards are heavily overrated in light of the average power level that existed in their glory days. Secret Paladin is garbage now and I don't think these 2 will change that.

    Personally I think Emperor T Ragnaros and Sylvanas are going to have the most impact. A bold prediction, I know, but there it is. I think N'zoth isn't nearly as strong as he used to be: there are tons of cards that summon wide boards nowadays, Phaoris, Nomi, Zul'jin, Kangor's Endless Army, Tip the Scales, etc. The current pool of deathrattles isn't terribly exciting, and the only current deck that naturally synergises with N'zoth is the meme that is quest Warlock.

    1
  • YourPrivateNightmare's Avatar
    Skeleton 2010 4741 Posts Joined 03/25/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago
    Quote From AliRadicali

    Among the class cards, I expect Flamewaker, Babbling Book, Call of the Wild and Evolve to do some heavy lifting. I think the paladin cards are heavily overrated in light of the average power level that existed in their glory days. Secret Paladin is garbage now and I don't think these 2 will change that.

    Personally I think Emperor T Ragnaros and Sylvanas are going to have the most impact. A bold prediction, I know, but there it is. I think N'zoth isn't nearly as strong as he used to be: there are tons of cards that summon wide boards nowadays, Phaoris, Nomi, Zul'jin, Kangor's Endless Army, Tip the Scales, etc. The current pool of deathrattles isn't terribly exciting, and the only current deck that naturally synergises with N'zoth is the meme that is quest Warlock.

    wouldn't say Secret Pally is garbage. It has some of the best secret synergies in the game...but it just runs out of steam within 5 turns, which is where MC comes in. Secret Paladin would have been amazing during RoS if Divine Favour hadn't ben Hall of Famed.

    It1-mana secrets are amazing with Sunreaver Spy and Secretkeeper.

    Also, I still feel like Ragnaros doesn't really fit into anything (although I would very much like to run it in Cyclone Mage just for the potential turn 4 Rag with double Elemental Evocation)

    I tried having fun once.

    It was awful.

    -1
  • GameTheory345's Avatar
    Island 475 386 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago
    Quote From YourPrivateNightmare
    Quote From AliRadicali

    Among the class cards, I expect Flamewaker, Babbling Book, Call of the Wild and Evolve to do some heavy lifting. I think the paladin cards are heavily overrated in light of the average power level that existed in their glory days. Secret Paladin is garbage now and I don't think these 2 will change that.

    Personally I think Emperor T Ragnaros and Sylvanas are going to have the most impact. A bold prediction, I know, but there it is. I think N'zoth isn't nearly as strong as he used to be: there are tons of cards that summon wide boards nowadays, Phaoris, Nomi, Zul'jin, Kangor's Endless Army, Tip the Scales, etc. The current pool of deathrattles isn't terribly exciting, and the only current deck that naturally synergises with N'zoth is the meme that is quest Warlock.

    wouldn't say Secret Pally is garbage. It has some of the best secret synergies in the game...but it just runs out of steam within 5 turns, which is where MC comes in. Secret Paladin would have been amazing during RoS if Divine Favour hadn't ben Hall of Famed.

    It1-mana secrets are amazing with Sunreaver Spy and Secretkeeper.

    Also, I still feel like Ragnaros doesn't really fit into anything (although I would very much like to run it in Cyclone Mage just for the potential turn 4 Rag with double Elemental Evocation)

    I agree that Secret Pally is definetly not garbage, but it's been long since the glory days of Secret Pally of old. J4CHKIE played some Secret Pally last night, and it was quite successful, being able to run down lots of the slower N'Zoth decks and going toe-to-toe with some of the slower aggro decks like Aggro Warrior and Highlander Warrior and Paladin. Being able to be guaranteed to draw Secretkeeper via Crystology is nuts, allowing you to play Secretkeeper plus a secret on the following turn, or coin Secretkeeper out on turn 1. With Bellringer Sentry and Mysterious Challenger you can consistently belt out secrets without losing tempo. However, the probelm arises that Paladin does not have many good secrets anymore. Blizzard made a good choice with Avenge, being probably the best secret to snowball a board lead next to Competitive Spirit, but other secrets like Hidden Wisdom and Never Surrender! just don't help push aggro-wise.

    Hunter has mutliple very aggro-based secrets like Snake Trap and Explosive Trap and secrets that can be used to force the opponent into a suboptimal play like Rat Trap, Freezing Trap and Pressure Plate. As a result, Hunter can utilise the secrets either to push for aggro or use the extra room from the opponent's suboptimal plays to push for more aggro. On the other hand, Paladin's secrets do not pose a threat, since they are all so defensive. Although Paladin secrets are much harder to play around than Hunter's, they punish the opponent not through damage, but by simply lessening the impact of their actions, which is not what an aggressive deck looks to do. Despite Paladin having very strong ways to put out secrets (like the aforementioned Mysterious Challenger and Bellringer Sentry) and strong payoff cards for having secrets (like Mysterious Blade and Commander Rhyssa), those secrets don't do as much as they used to. The gameplan of Secret Pally has essentially changed to be a more bord-centric deck, but use secrets to cement the board state. Therefore, it's less like Secret Pally, and more like Aggro Pally with Secrets because why not.

    EDIT: Also, this is the first time I've been able to have all of the card commands work first try. This is an amazing moment for me.

    ???

    0
  • Zwane's Avatar
    Wizard 320 423 Posts Joined 06/04/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago

    I think we will see Warlock using Expired Merchant to give him more than one N'Zoth, the Corruptor. I faced it once already and saw it on a stream. It has almost infinite board fill with taunts that heal, kinda like the old taunt lock where Guldan resurrected all your demons and you had to kill all the taunts again. Except here it is worse, since they can do it 4 times.

    0
  • FieselFitz's Avatar
    Prince Charming 1105 1355 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago

    Well so far i've seen lots of Sylvans, Thaurissan and Ragnaros - some N'Zoth but not that much.

    The Flamewaker Mage is the only "new" deck i've tested out so far and it's pretty nuts - the burst damage with this deck is bonkers - and if you have Stargazer Luna on board you can even burst for more damage (at least most of the time)

    I will defenitely mess around with the other Wild Cards that got added but so far the Mage Flamewaker Build (I tried RDU's version) seems quite strong. 

    Also saw some lists like Rezz Priest using N'Zoth , Sylvanas and Rag - and some control Warlock with N'Zoth - very interesting!

     

    Challenge me ... when you're ready to duel a god!

    0
  • PopeNeia's Avatar
    Darkmaster 640 841 Posts Joined 07/06/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago

    Well boys, Flamewaker is breaking the game again. Whats new

    This ain't no place for a hero

    0
  • RandomGuy's Avatar
    430 614 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago

    TBH I think that Flamewaker deck is straight trash. But, kind of like Murloc Paladin, sometimes you high roll pretty easy wins.

    1
  • Zwane's Avatar
    Wizard 320 423 Posts Joined 06/04/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago

    I do not think it is straight trash but more a first attempt. The coming weeks will lead to more consistent variants is my expectation. I tried one variant with secret package and one without; both are fun but I always kept Antonidas to close the deal late game. I think I will now first try some mecha'thun combo against all that n'zoth trash.

    0
  • RandomGuy's Avatar
    430 614 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago
    Quote From Zwane

    I do not think it is straight trash but more a first attempt. The coming weeks will lead to more consistent variants is my expectation. I tried one variant with secret package and one without; both are fun but I always kept Antonidas to close the deal late game. I think I will now first try some mecha'thun combo against all that n'zoth trash.

    i agree it will improve. I was just saying that the the all in otk thing thats popular right now is not a good or sustainable build,. Flamewaker, generally, is the nuts, and I'm sure better versions will be found.

    1
  • Zwane's Avatar
    Wizard 320 423 Posts Joined 06/04/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago

    Totally agree!

    If there was a way to consistently get Flamewaker, SA and Luna on the board with the rest of your deck/hand being 1-mana spells...before the opponent walks over you...I will try to figure out a way how to do this when I have the time :).

    0
  • YourPrivateNightmare's Avatar
    Skeleton 2010 4741 Posts Joined 03/25/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago
    Quote From Zwane

    I think we will see Warlock using Expired Merchant to give him more than one N'Zoth, the Corruptor. I faced it once already and saw it on a stream. It has almost infinite board fill with taunts that heal, kinda like the old taunt lock where Guldan resurrected all your demons and you had to kill all the taunts again. Except here it is worse, since they can do it 4 times.

    tried that, but the unfortunate downside is that N'zoth will end up summoning the Merchants as well and with every merchant dead every next N'zoth will summon even more.

    I tried having fun once.

    It was awful.

    0
  • YourPrivateNightmare's Avatar
    Skeleton 2010 4741 Posts Joined 03/25/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago
    Quote From PopeNeia

    Well boys, Flamewaker is breaking the game again. Whats new

    Highlander Hunter can beat it pretty consistently, as can any deck doesn't lose to a single boarclear essentially. All Flamewaker can really do is  a one turn wipe + burst, and after that they need to RNG further pressure from Cyclone or lose

    I tried having fun once.

    It was awful.

    0
  • Starscream's Avatar
    180 99 Posts Joined 05/28/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago

    Flamewalker is absolutely disgusting with all the cheap mage spells they have now and also the elemental that gives them a million spells for vomiting out all the spells they already had in their hand.

    I took over 30 damage from two flamewalkers on turn 8 the other day. That was in addition to killing off my minions which had a combined health of 21. How is that not absolutley ridiculous?

    0
  • PopeNeia's Avatar
    Darkmaster 640 841 Posts Joined 07/06/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago
    Quote From YourPrivateNightmare
    Quote From PopeNeia

    Well boys, Flamewaker is breaking the game again. Whats new

    Highlander Hunter can beat it pretty consistently, as can any deck doesn't lose to a single boarclear essentially. All Flamewaker can really do is  a one turn wipe + burst, and after that they need to RNG further pressure from Cyclone or lose

    After trying the deck for myself, I realise how much i get highrolled by the deck. It is incredibly hard to actually get the combo pieces, and by the time they are there, you simply do not survive half the time. It is a very high-rolly deck and you lose most of the time. But when you win, my God do you just delete people

    This ain't no place for a hero

    0
  • YourPrivateNightmare's Avatar
    Skeleton 2010 4741 Posts Joined 03/25/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago
    Quote From PopeNeia
    Quote From YourPrivateNightmare
    Quote From PopeNeia

    Well boys, Flamewaker is breaking the game again. Whats new

    Highlander Hunter can beat it pretty consistently, as can any deck doesn't lose to a single boarclear essentially. All Flamewaker can really do is  a one turn wipe + burst, and after that they need to RNG further pressure from Cyclone or lose

    After trying the deck for myself, I realise how much i get highrolled by the deck. It is incredibly hard to actually get the combo pieces, and by the time they are there, you simply do not survive half the time. It is a very high-rolly deck and you lose most of the time. But when you win, my God do you just delete people

    I'M kinda numb to it at this point. I got highrolled by Shaman so much in the past weeks that this just doesn't register as much. Overall we got a lot of really highrolly combos with the update, so I don't think Mage is really going to stick out for too long. I'm more worried about Quest Priest at this point. If they get to play a minion and then follow it up with Psychopomp there's basically no way for any deck that isn't control Warrior to actually beat them (and even those have trouble)

    I tried having fun once.

    It was awful.

    -1
  • iWatchUSleep's Avatar
    1095 819 Posts Joined 05/28/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago
    Quote From Starscream

    Flamewalker is absolutely disgusting with all the cheap mage spells they have now and also the elemental that gives them a million spells for vomiting out all the spells they already had in their hand.

    I took over 30 damage from two flamewalkers on turn 8 the other day. That was in addition to killing off my minions which had a combined health of 21. How is that not absolutley ridiculous?

    I can tell you don't play wild, lol. 

    Imagine the above with even more 0-1 cost spells, Time Warp and at least two Arcane Giant.

    -1
  • duppie's Avatar
    HearthStationeer 320 240 Posts Joined 04/02/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago

    It's looking like the meta has changed a solid amount but maybe not drastically. 

    Evolve is a huge buff to aggro/token shaman and even quest shaman.  But both of those were top decks already

    Rag is a buff to highlander decks which are mostly midrange.  Emp is a buff to combo decks.  Nzoth a buff to control decks, mainly res priest but warrior and warlock are interesting but probably not strong enough.

    Mysterious challenger is pretty nutty. 

    Flamewaker mage is solid but inconsistent, i'm sure apxvoid will refine it.

     

    All in all I don't like the "new" cards that much.  I wish there wasn't as much generically powerful stuff and instead some build around stuff to explore "new" archtypes.  I didn't really want to see these cards for the rest of this expansion.

    Quote From YourPrivateNightmare
    Quote From PopeNeia
    Quote From YourPrivateNightmare
    Quote From PopeNeia

    Well boys, Flamewaker is breaking the game again. Whats new

    Highlander Hunter can beat it pretty consistently, as can any deck doesn't lose to a single boarclear essentially. All Flamewaker can really do is  a one turn wipe + burst, and after that they need to RNG further pressure from Cyclone or lose

    After trying the deck for myself, I realise how much i get highrolled by the deck. It is incredibly hard to actually get the combo pieces, and by the time they are there, you simply do not survive half the time. It is a very high-rolly deck and you lose most of the time. But when you win, my God do you just delete people

    I'M kinda numb to it at this point. I got highrolled by Shaman so much in the past weeks that this just doesn't register as much. Overall we got a lot of really highrolly combos with the update, so I don't think Mage is really going to stick out for too long. I'm more worried about Quest Priest at this point. If they get to play a minion and then follow it up with Psychopomp there's basically no way for any deck that isn't control Warrior to actually beat them (and even those have trouble)

    I agree about nzoth priest. it is a bit toxic because if it picks up in popularity it will be very meta warping because it has very polarized match ups.  and it's a fairly strong timmy kind of deck and people love to play these decks (like big priest).  I think it's finnicky early game against aggressive strategies will keep in check enough but it's a deck i hate queuing into as most things (and i like playing the deck myself)

    nzoth priest is very easy to counter if you want to target it though.  It's a sitting duck for combo decks like holy wrath paladin and malygos druid and it can also be out greeded by decks that go psuedo infinite.  

     

     

    0
  • YourPrivateNightmare's Avatar
    Skeleton 2010 4741 Posts Joined 03/25/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago
    Quote From duppie

    It's looking like the meta has changed a solid amount but maybe not drastically. 

    Evolve is a huge buff to aggro/token shaman and even quest shaman.  But both of those were top decks already

    Rag is a buff to highlander decks which are mostly midrange.  Emp is a buff to combo decks.  Nzoth a buff to control decks, mainly res priest but warrior and warlock are interesting but probably not strong enough.

    Mysterious challenger is pretty nutty. 

    Flamewaker mage is solid but inconsistent, i'm sure apxvoid will refine it.

     

    All in all I don't like the "new" cards that much.  I wish there wasn't as much generically powerful stuff and instead some build around stuff to explore "new" archtypes.  I didn't really want to see these cards for the rest of this expansion.

    Quote From YourPrivateNightmare
    Quote From PopeNeia
    Quote From YourPrivateNightmare
    Quote From PopeNeia

    Well boys, Flamewaker is breaking the game again. Whats new

    Highlander Hunter can beat it pretty consistently, as can any deck doesn't lose to a single boarclear essentially. All Flamewaker can really do is  a one turn wipe + burst, and after that they need to RNG further pressure from Cyclone or lose

    After trying the deck for myself, I realise how much i get highrolled by the deck. It is incredibly hard to actually get the combo pieces, and by the time they are there, you simply do not survive half the time. It is a very high-rolly deck and you lose most of the time. But when you win, my God do you just delete people

    I'M kinda numb to it at this point. I got highrolled by Shaman so much in the past weeks that this just doesn't register as much. Overall we got a lot of really highrolly combos with the update, so I don't think Mage is really going to stick out for too long. I'm more worried about Quest Priest at this point. If they get to play a minion and then follow it up with Psychopomp there's basically no way for any deck that isn't control Warrior to actually beat them (and even those have trouble)

    I agree about nzoth priest. it is a bit toxic because if it picks up in popularity it will be very meta warping because it has very polarized match ups.  and it's a fairly strong timmy kind of deck and people love to play these decks (like big priest).  I think it's finnicky early game against aggressive strategies will keep in check enough but it's a deck i hate queuing into as most things (and i like playing the deck myself)

    nzoth priest is very easy to counter if you want to target it though.  It's a sitting duck for combo decks like holy wrath paladin and malygos druid and it can also be out greeded by decks that go psuedo infinite.  

     

     

    obviously combo decks wreck this kind of gameplan, but tbh I'm just not a fan of beating non-interactive strategies with even less interactive ones.

    At this point Priest's early isn't even that bad. You have both all 3 Shadow Words + Penance which should keep the pressure low until 5 where you can Hysteria and follow it up with Lightbomb. If you aren'T dying at that point you basically won against any board centric strategy.

    But yeah, I guess combo decks will keep it in check so it's not the only thing on ladder.

    I tried having fun once.

    It was awful.

    -1
  • YJHS2000's Avatar
    Uther 315 119 Posts Joined 06/03/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago

    Well, it's only been a couple days, but so far pretty much all my matches have been against the same combo priest, highlander hunter etc. that I faced before

    Communism is just a red herring

    0
  • RandomGuy's Avatar
    430 614 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago

    Some thoughts from Day 3/4 of our new meta:

    - Evolve Shaman and Combo Priest are the aggro decks of choice IMO. Not sure which is better. Spirit of the Frog turned Evolve Shaman into a more consistent deck.

    - Druid is again trying to figure out what its best win condition is. It probably won't settle on something until the metagame settles.

    - Highlander Hunter is well positioned as probably the best midrange deck.

    - Holy Wrath Paladin is in a decent spot at the moment with all of the greedy AF N'Zoth decks and it has an okay mu against Priest/Shaman.

    - At least one of these greedy N'Zoth decks feels like it could be a high T2 deck. They shut down the game really quickly if they make it to the right point.

    - I wonder what will happen to Quest Shaman. The aggro evolve ones feel better to me at the moment.

    - Tempo Rogue is certainly better than it used to be.

    - Not a fan of any of the variants of Flamewaker mage as of yet.

    - Secret Paladin is fine. Not scared of it though.

    0
  • YourPrivateNightmare's Avatar
    Skeleton 2010 4741 Posts Joined 03/25/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago
    Quote From RandomGuy

    Some thoughts from Day 3/4 of our new meta:

    - Evolve Shaman and Combo Priest are the aggro decks of choice IMO. Not sure which is better. Spirit of the Frog turned Evolve Shaman into a more consistent deck.

    - Druid is again trying to figure out what its best win condition is. It probably won't settle on something until the metagame settles.

    - Highlander Hunter is well positioned as probably the best midrange deck.

    - Holy Wrath Paladin is in a decent spot at the moment with all of the greedy AF N'Zoth decks and it has an okay mu against Priest/Shaman.

    - At least one of these greedy N'Zoth decks feels like it could be a high T2 deck. They shut down the game really quickly if they make it to the right point.

    - I wonder what will happen to Quest Shaman. The aggro evolve ones feel better to me at the moment.

    - Tempo Rogue is certainly better than it used to be.

    - Not a fan of any of the variants of Flamewaker mage as of yet.

    - Secret Paladin is fine. Not scared of it though.

    I'd say Highlander Hunter has gotten a lot weaker despite the upgrades. It's just too slow to compete with fast decks and at the same time can't really pressure combo/N'zoth decks enough to win consistently.

    Secret Hunter seems to be much better positioned because it's faster (at the expense of not having that good of a lategame)

    Although there is always the possibility of cutting the reactive secret package from highlander and go for Octosari instead

    I tried having fun once.

    It was awful.

    0
  • Zwane's Avatar
    Wizard 320 423 Posts Joined 06/04/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago

    I turned back to an old favorite being a hand mage using Khadgar+Mountain giants+Conjurer, N'zoth, Faceless Manipulator, galaxy spell and the default deathrattles including the new Sylvanas, Rag, Thaurissan. It can lead to strong refillable boards and some insane combo's, for instance a conjurer on a Sylvanas to get the Thaurissan from the opponent...I am enjoying it a lot. And the ability to copy the most annoying minion (say a Ragnaros) from the opponent is very nice, and when you need refill you always have n'zoth at your disposal. And the pool of 6 mana minions for conjurer is so strong: lots of taunts, deathrattles and new legendaries :). Combine that with Khadgar for some serious board state estate.

    I also played a lot of flamewaker aggro/tempo mage but it is a bit boring...you stall until you have the combo cards, and if the train gets rolling (you also have draw) you win, and if not, you lose, except if you did enough damage to close the game with reach.

    0
  • Xarkkal's Avatar
    Servant of Illidan 910 1321 Posts Joined 03/29/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago

    Evolve Shaman is a real problem. Evolve should not have been brought back into standard. This deck is completely unfun to play against, and it's making me play the game less. 6 matches in a row today against Evolve Shaman. 

    1
  • CableKnight's Avatar
    Rexxar 405 187 Posts Joined 03/14/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago

    I really like Taunt Warrior w/ Varian, super fun

    Gosh dang it, cards bad.

    1
  • Zwane's Avatar
    Wizard 320 423 Posts Joined 06/04/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago

    The mana cheat king of the moment. I remember a certain mage nerf to counter those mana cheated boards, which required you to do nothing for 4 turns. Shaman can play anything he wants and then cheat out 3 4-mana minions for 4 mana on turn 3/4, and then evolve it a turn later to get even more value at turn 5. It will be the only deck I play until they nerf it to hell. Sorry mage.

    0
  • GameTheory345's Avatar
    Island 475 386 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago
    Quote From Zwane

    The mana cheat king of the moment. I remember a certain mage nerf to counter those mana cheated boards, which required you to do nothing for 4 turns. Shaman can play anything he wants and then cheat out 3 4-mana minions for 4 mana on turn 3/4, and then evolve it a turn later to get even more value at turn 5. It will be the only deck I play until they nerf it to hell. Sorry mage.

    People are comparing Evolve Shaman to Combo Priest, but I really don't see the similarities. First off, Combo Priest is the most board-centric deck in the game right now, so that facotr can be exploited. If you can keep the board clear for the early turns, you can solidify your game plan and snowball your lead. Beause Combo Priest doesn't have any cards that directly impact the board (aside from [Hearthstone Card (Wild Pryomancer) Not Found], but it's moreso used to gain a larger lead when the Priest is ahead), they can be shut down if you remove their minions turn after turn. However, if the Priest highrolls into Injured Tol'vir + Circle of Healing Turn 1, unless you have exactly Backstab + Eviscerate, you've probably lose the game.

    On the other hand, Evolve Shaman has a completely different gameplan. They seek to do multiple things: one, they can create a massive board spontaeneously via Desert Hare + Evolve, or they can abuse the understatted battlecry minions when running Corrupt the Waters. Evolve Shaman is so much more consistently powerful compared to Combo Priest; even if they don't hit their turn 4 Evolve combo, they still have good enough cards to win through tempo. No class can deal with four 4 drops on turn four, nonetheless an 8 drop before turn 8 with Mogu Fleshshaper. This is closer to Conjurer Mage, where once the deck gets it's combo off, it's basically unstoppable.

    ???

    0
  • RandomGuy's Avatar
    430 614 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago

    The version of highlander hunter I meant was the version that cuts the secret package. That version has been the worse of the two for about 2 weeks now.

    0
  • RandomGuy's Avatar
    430 614 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago

    I would rather play against a degenerate evolve shaman than a degenerate resurrect priest every day of the week.

    1
  • Painkiller1724's Avatar
    200 132 Posts Joined 05/28/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago
    Quote From RandomGuy

    I would rather play against a degenerate evolve shaman than a degenerate resurrect priest every day of the week.

    +1

    I just wanted to check out standard after some months only playing wild... all I see is this degenerate N'Zoth priest...

    So... back to wild. At least here big priest is gone!

    0
  • YJHS2000's Avatar
    Uther 315 119 Posts Joined 06/03/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago

    This could have been amazing... and almost was... but N'Zoth, the Corruptor and Mysterious Challenger have turned Standard into Wild Lite---i.e., first to draw degenerate combo wins. I think they went just a little too far. Without those two cards (and maybe something more playable for Warlock), it would have been pretty good. 

    Communism is just a red herring

    -2
  • Xarkkal's Avatar
    Servant of Illidan 910 1321 Posts Joined 03/29/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago
    Quote From GameTheory345
    Quote From Zwane

    The mana cheat king of the moment. I remember a certain mage nerf to counter those mana cheated boards, which required you to do nothing for 4 turns. Shaman can play anything he wants and then cheat out 3 4-mana minions for 4 mana on turn 3/4, and then evolve it a turn later to get even more value at turn 5. It will be the only deck I play until they nerf it to hell. Sorry mage.

    People are comparing Evolve Shaman to Combo Priest, but I really don't see the similarities. First off, Combo Priest is the most board-centric deck in the game right now, so that facotr can be exploited. If you can keep the board clear for the early turns, you can solidify your game plan and snowball your lead. Beause Combo Priest doesn't have any cards that directly impact the board (aside from Wild Pryomancer, but it's moreso used to gain a larger lead when the Priest is ahead), they can be shut down if you remove their minions turn after turn. However, if the Priest highrolls into Injured Tol'vir + Circle of Healing Turn 1, unless you have exactly Backstab + Eviscerate, you've probably lose the game.

    On the other hand, Evolve Shaman has a completely different gameplan. They seek to do multiple things: one, they can create a massive board spontaeneously via Desert Hare + Evolve, or they can abuse the understatted battlecry minions when running Corrupt the Waters. Evolve Shaman is so much more consistently powerful compared to Combo Priest; even if they don't hit their turn 4 Evolve combo, they still have good enough cards to win through tempo. No class can deal with four 4 drops on turn four, nonetheless an 8 drop before turn 8 with Mogu Fleshshaper. This is closer to Conjurer Mage, where once the deck gets it's combo off, it's basically unstoppable.

    I had a game where the Shaman had three 4 mana and two 8 mana minions on turn 4. A board like that should not be possible in this game. It is extremely unhealthy and not fun to play against. 

    -1
  • Xarkkal's Avatar
    Servant of Illidan 910 1321 Posts Joined 03/29/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago
    Quote From YJHS2000

    This could have been amazing... and almost was... but N'Zoth, the Corruptor and Mysterious Challenger have turned Standard into Wild Lite---i.e., first to draw degenerate combo wins. I think they went just a little too far. Without those two cards (and maybe something more playable for Warlock), it would have been pretty good. 

    I have been playing a lot of Warlock lately, and I keep thinking to myself "What if Warlock got Defile instead of Renounce Darkness?" Defile would have been a true game changer for Warlock, but alas...

    2
  • YJHS2000's Avatar
    Uther 315 119 Posts Joined 06/03/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago
    Quote From Xarkkal
    Quote From YJHS2000

    This could have been amazing... and almost was... but N'Zoth, the Corruptor and Mysterious Challenger have turned Standard into Wild Lite---i.e., first to draw degenerate combo wins. I think they went just a little too far. Without those two cards (and maybe something more playable for Warlock), it would have been pretty good. 

    I have been playing a lot of Warlock lately, and I keep thinking to myself "What if Warlock got Defile instead of Renounce Darkness?" Defile would have been a true game changer for Warlock, but alas...

    YES. This

    Communism is just a red herring

    0
  • Fog's Avatar
    50 2 Posts Joined 10/12/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago

    Been playing quest druid for two seasons to get my 500 druid wins. Last season the deck was ok, this season has been harder. Bringing back certain cards has only benefitted certain classes, I really hate seeing N'Zoth back in the mix. I wish they'd just keep standard standard. I don't want to see this old nonsense again.

    1
  • YourPrivateNightmare's Avatar
    Skeleton 2010 4741 Posts Joined 03/25/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago
    Quote From Xarkkal
    Quote From YJHS2000

    This could have been amazing... and almost was... but N'Zoth, the Corruptor and Mysterious Challenger have turned Standard into Wild Lite---i.e., first to draw degenerate combo wins. I think they went just a little too far. Without those two cards (and maybe something more playable for Warlock), it would have been pretty good. 

    I have been playing a lot of Warlock lately, and I keep thinking to myself "What if Warlock got Defile instead of Renounce Darkness?" Defile would have been a true game changer for Warlock, but alas...

    Defile would be too recent, but Demonwrath could have solved so many problems for Control Warlock. As it stands you can't deal with an early board before Hellfire which means you basically lose to Murloc Tidecaller 100% of the time. At the very least Darkbomb could have made it in.

    I tried having fun once.

    It was awful.

    0
  • YJHS2000's Avatar
    Uther 315 119 Posts Joined 06/03/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago

    I'm done. I'm playing arena for the rest of the month. I've never had less fun on ladder. The Shaman BS is too much, and when the rest of games are against Secret Pally or N'Zoth Priest... I miss minion trading and strategy.

    Communism is just a red herring

    0
  • YourPrivateNightmare's Avatar
    Skeleton 2010 4741 Posts Joined 03/25/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago
    Quote From YJHS2000

    I'm done. I'm playing arena for the rest of the month. I've never had less fun on ladder. The Shaman BS is too much, and when the rest of games are against Secret Pally or N'Zoth Priest... I miss minion trading and strategy.

    I feel you. Really makes you appreciate the rotation and demonstrates why Standard format was a necessary concept

    I tried having fun once.

    It was awful.

    0
  • Zwane's Avatar
    Wizard 320 423 Posts Joined 06/04/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago

    I am also done with certain matchups. So basically Priest and Paladin I auto conceide. My deck targets shaman so that one I am happy to try. Those other two "not so much".

    0
  • RandomGuy's Avatar
    430 614 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago
    Quote From Zwane

    I am also done with certain matchups. So basically Priest and Paladin I auto conceide. My deck targets shaman so that one I am happy to try. Those other two "not so much".

    What deck that targets shaman is autolose to Secret Paladin?

    0
  • Zwane's Avatar
    Wizard 320 423 Posts Joined 06/04/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago

    No the quest pally I hate. All those reborn minions...to then have an infinite amount of eggs...while the secret pally can be a difficult matchup since it is more aggro than shaman, but its not so bad matchup for my deck.

    0
  • RandomGuy's Avatar
    430 614 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago

    So you're playing Warrior?

    apropos of nothing, I have a suspicion that, once things settle down a bit, Control Warrior should find itself in a prety good spot in this metagame. It has the tools to beat Aggro Shaman and Combo Priest. And with Emperor, 2x Elysiana should beat all but the greediest of priests. There's also completely viable Mecha'Thun variants.

    There are Druid and Quest Shaman problems, but nothing is bullet proof right now.

    0
  • Zwane's Avatar
    Wizard 320 423 Posts Joined 06/04/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago

    Ah that's an interesting thought...to use Mecha'thun as an emergency exit against the control resurrecting screens of healing taunts. Will experiment soon.

    0
  • Zwane's Avatar
    Wizard 320 423 Posts Joined 06/04/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago

    LOL so I added Mecha'thun to my flamewaker/cyclone deck and went on a win-streak of 7-0 without needing to play Mecha'thun. Maybe the rest of my deck got inspired to get the job done before the end-Mech would do it? Anywayz, I went to rank 4 before I got my waterloo from a lucky shaman who could evolve on me a board with 5 desert hare's on it.

    0
  • PopeNeia's Avatar
    Darkmaster 640 841 Posts Joined 07/06/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago

    I would love to fight these Evolve Shamans and Secret Pallies over Quest Druid any day of the week. But sadly, they keep popping up in my queue for some reason. Unpopular opinion, but the deck is as degenerate as they come.

    This ain't no place for a hero

    1
  • Zwane's Avatar
    Wizard 320 423 Posts Joined 06/04/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago

    Maybe we should be able to have a ban option before we queue? Where you can ban one class for instance. Just like those tournaments...but maybe that would be too OP for some decks which only have one bad matchup.

    0
  • AliRadicali's Avatar
    465 713 Posts Joined 06/06/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago
    Quote From Zwane

    Maybe we should be able to have a ban option before we queue? Where you can ban one class for instance. Just like those tournaments...but maybe that would be too OP for some decks which only have one bad matchup.

    That sounds like a terrible idea. Imagine picking rock, banning scissors and then queuing into only paper players: would that be very exciting? Bad matchups are a part of the game. Without them you can't have a healthy meta.

    0
  • SaucyPup's Avatar
    170 57 Posts Joined 04/01/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago

    The deck should be built less around Flamewaker - a regular Burn/Tempo/Tempo mage with added Flamewaker is closer to what will settle imo.

    The deck is very weak to Aggro and making your opponent draw 2 for free is a death sentence. You've lost that game if they had 1 drop.

    Flamewaker is worth building around but due to what we have in terms of support we're better off simply adding him to our Cyclone Mage list or Highlander lists - where he fills the role of allowing you to draw him at least  if other core cards (Mountain Giant, Mana Cyclone, Zephrys) are at the bottom of your deck. 

    0
  • YJHS2000's Avatar
    Uther 315 119 Posts Joined 06/03/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago
    Quote From AliRadicali
    Quote From Zwane

    Maybe we should be able to have a ban option before we queue? Where you can ban one class for instance. Just like those tournaments...but maybe that would be too OP for some decks which only have one bad matchup.

    That sounds like a terrible idea. Imagine picking rock, banning scissors and then queuing into only paper players: would that be very exciting? Bad matchups are a part of the game. Without them you can't have a healthy meta.

    That and any Shaman trying to play would sit in queue for 5 minutes since the vast majority of all players will ban Shaman (being played at 40%!!!!! at rank 1 right now

    Communism is just a red herring

    0
  • Fedrion's Avatar
    Zombie 1675 733 Posts Joined 05/28/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago
    Quote From PopeNeia

    I would love to fight these Evolve Shamans and Secret Pallies over Quest Druid any day of the week. But sadly, they keep popping up in my queue for some reason. Unpopular opinion, but the deck is as degenerate as they come.

    Infinite Quest Druid or Maly Quest Druid?

    Kun the Forgotten King it's really unhealthy for the meta when you can copy it, infinitely... 

     

    But both of them suffer heavy early game disadvantage against aggro, but both of them can highroll lategame.

    I've been playing Infinite just for the sake of fun, you either die really early or you just make your opponent concede.

     

     

    Papa Nurgle wants to share his gifts.

    0
  • RandomGuy's Avatar
    430 614 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago

    Highlander Secret Paladin reminds me a lot of Even Paladin after the Call to Arms nerf. It's a bad deck. It doesn't do anything impressive. It should be relatively easy to beat...but it is surprisingly good at top decking into answers.

     

    1
  • PopeNeia's Avatar
    Darkmaster 640 841 Posts Joined 07/06/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago
    Quote From Fedrion
    Quote From PopeNeia

    I would love to fight these Evolve Shamans and Secret Pallies over Quest Druid any day of the week. But sadly, they keep popping up in my queue for some reason. Unpopular opinion, but the deck is as degenerate as they come.

    Infinite Quest Druid or Maly Quest Druid?

    Kun the Forgotten King it's really unhealthy for the meta when you can copy it, infinitely... 

     

    But both of them suffer heavy early game disadvantage against aggro, but both of them can highroll lategame.

    I've been playing Infinite just for the sake of fun, you either die really early or you just make your opponent concede.

     

     

    I suppose it is nice to see it from the other side of the coin. Personally, I have had very bad experiences with Quest Druids. 

    When playing aggro decks, they always complete their quest by turn 5, then I proceed to get outvalued by Oasis Surgers and Starfall into Anubisath Defender. All my damage also gets healed by Hidden Oasis into a massive taunt, and unless I can get a Siamat with Windfury going, it is almost always a complete loss.

    Same with control decks, the hordes of Oasis Surgers and things like Cenarius are just way too efficient at contesting the board for me to make any headway into their 30+ armour points. By the time I can get on board, I just get mowed down by Malygos or they fill the board with Kuns and gain 60+ armour in one turn.

    It feels kind of like nothing I do against the deck works. Even when playing combo, they can get their combo out faster and safer than any other combo decks, then out-armour the combo decks. They just destroy Control decks with their massive value and potential infinite value/burst from hand. Aggro seems to be the only option here. I have not had much success as they can even clear me when I am high-rolling and somehow defeat a fully evolved board with an 8 drop thrown in through some weird combination of Surgers, Taunts and Starfall.

    It was very demoralizing to play against Quest Druid most of the time, and I understand they may not be a problem in the meta at the moment, but it feels good to vent my frustrations against this particular deck.

    This ain't no place for a hero

    0
  • Fedrion's Avatar
    Zombie 1675 733 Posts Joined 05/28/2019
    Posted 4 years, 5 months ago
    Quote From PopeNeia
    Quote From Fedrion
    Quote From PopeNeia

    I would love to fight these Evolve Shamans and Secret Pallies over Quest Druid any day of the week. But sadly, they keep popping up in my queue for some reason. Unpopular opinion, but the deck is as degenerate as they come.

    Infinite Quest Druid or Maly Quest Druid?

    Kun the Forgotten King it's really unhealthy for the meta when you can copy it, infinitely... 

     

    But both of them suffer heavy early game disadvantage against aggro, but both of them can highroll lategame.

    I've been playing Infinite just for the sake of fun, you either die really early or you just make your opponent concede.

     

     

    I suppose it is nice to see it from the other side of the coin. Personally, I have had very bad experiences with Quest Druids. 

    When playing aggro decks, they always complete their quest by turn 5, then I proceed to get outvalued by Oasis Surgers and Starfall into Anubisath Defender. All my damage also gets healed by Hidden Oasis into a massive taunt, and unless I can get a Siamat with Windfury going, it is almost always a complete loss.

    Same with control decks, the hordes of Oasis Surgers and things like Cenarius are just way too efficient at contesting the board for me to make any headway into their 30+ armour points. By the time I can get on board, I just get mowed down by Malygos or they fill the board with Kuns and gain 60+ armour in one turn.

    It feels kind of like nothing I do against the deck works. Even when playing combo, they can get their combo out faster and safer than any other combo decks, then out-armour the combo decks. They just destroy Control decks with their massive value and potential infinite value/burst from hand. Aggro seems to be the only option here. I have not had much success as they can even clear me when I am high-rolling and somehow defeat a fully evolved board with an 8 drop thrown in through some weird combination of Surgers, Taunts and Starfall.

    It was very demoralizing to play against Quest Druid most of the time, and I understand they may not be a problem in the meta at the moment, but it feels good to vent my frustrations against this particular deck.

    I get what you mean, and totally agree, but still, aggro is the real winner against it, and maaaaaaaaaaaaybe Big decks like Quest Paladin with late game package.

    I faced two Carpet Warlocks today, and I got a really bad mulligan, one destroyed me by turn 6 and the other by turn 4, both games I went first, which is a real bummer as QD, (getting that Quest-Coin is really important), by the time I drew Swipe/Starfall, I was too low/behind to really do anything and my quest wasn't finished. The turn 3 8/8 in warlock is insane for a tempo play against a controlish deck like QD.

     

    And also faced a Big Pally which, once the quest was done, it obliterated me into oblivion... Like "Mmmph... If I Starfall, I got to deal with 2 7/7, if I don't, sonner or latter I'm gonna face an entire board of 2/2 deathrattle... 7/7... The sob even got to play and maintain a Colossus of the Moon...

     

    In the end... The deck is really strong against most archetypes and can snowball hard af in the late game (turns 15+) but if you think about it, it sacrifices too much of early tempo, (even more if not on the coin) and with bad card draw, it doesn't stand a chance against a zooish board.

     

     

    Edit: Today I played a Shaman... Look at turn 5... https://hsreplay.net/replay/Smwa2QLuNhq2kYPaaUt3g9 This is why Infinite druid is not that strong lol

    Papa Nurgle wants to share his gifts.

    0
  • Leave a Comment

    You must be signed in to leave a comment. Sign in here.

    ODYN
    0 Users Here