I think these list are outdated. Some of the miniset cards actually work themselves into meta decks, like Sanitize and General Vezax but more crucially, the fact that miracle druid and miracle rogue isnt here is perhaps an oversight.
I have actually been noticing that the wikis are lately taking up loads of processing cpu for some reason. Unsurprising that its the ads causing so much havoc.
I find it funny how something that was created for the public, by the public, would eventually go corporate and get ruined. Then the process starts anew. Can it not be like wikipedia, and run itself on donations and public contributions. Imagine going to wikipedia, and your pc starts humming up like you're offhand farming bitcoins for them.
This is just one of those crackpot ideas from team5 that seriously can never work from a PR perspective, because its either going to be completely forgettable or make competitive play unbearable.
So which does the current set of anomalies lie? I would say that while it is fairly benign, theres really no need for it to exist in competitive mode. You'll either get something that wont really impact the game (like getting Gear Shift) or you get completely trolled out of it (hero power changes, coin for floating mana etc.)
Ive been losing a lot of my win streaks because of the anomalies and while I would say that only roughly 20% of my games have me in anger, it is by far more memorable than the majority of my games where the anomalies really dont matter. Is the anomalies fun? No, because I dont play standard competitive to experience a coin toss match. Does it make the experience different each time? Yes. Does it make me want to play Cho'gall, Twilight Chieftain ever in future? No, and I hope that card never ever sees any play after the week is over.
But I suppose the better question to ask is whether team5 would double down and commit themselves to tweaking the anomalies so its at least less egregious to suffer through. Well then, wouldn't it be better for the anomalies to just not exist?
I think team5 anticipated some trouble which is why the anomalies are only 100% for a week. They likely wanted to gauge player enjoyment and whether they gain more new players in because these 'tavern brawl' effects on competitive is what makes card games 'fun'.
Unfortunately, Im with you on the opinion that these anomalies are bad for competitive. No one wants to concede turn 1 and no one wants to see their well crafted and deserved wins be turned into losses because of bs mechanics. Stuff like driven to greed is easily way too tilting to suffer through if youre an aggro deck facing control. Whereas if youre playing hunter and you get either of the genn/baku effects your opponent might just auto concede because whats the point of even trying.
That said, no way team5 claw back the push until patch 28. If it proves wildly successful in increasing new player counts, they might even extend it assuming the anger dont reach levels where they start losing money.
Honestly I think Undead Priest is still meta even without this new addition. VS rates it at tier 2 and I've piloted it to Diamond 6 on a 6-star bonus this month.
That said, rating the new card is pretty hard. I can see your argument, but on the other hand you usually want to hold the upper hand on the board for the first 2-4 turns, so there is potential here imo. The most important use case would probably be the necessity of trading your stuff into taunts, that actually becomes an advantage with Varia in play. Too bad she probably won't trigger on her own death because of the "after" wording.
Of the few shadow priest Ive seen I havent lost to any of them, even when Ive clearly mulligan for control priest. I really feel that priest really suffers from losing Voidtouched Attendant and the nerf to basaleph.
But the worst problem with shadow priest is that its passe. No one is interested because the deck is weaker than it once was and uninteresting. Had team5 made this card 1 or 2 mana it might at least be exciting, but at 3 Im afraid its way too slow to gain value or burn.
Its practically printed to give unholy DK, or more specifically plague DK, something they cannot have and that is consistent and good removal. At present moment, you can park Imposing Anubisath in the field and plague DK just literally cant do anything to it.
This is the answer plague DK needs but sadly I dont think its enough. Its all well and good to have removal, but plague DK needs consistent removal options, preferably one thats standalone, which this isnt.
It'll see play, but any DK deck that's not triple rune is having such a hard time I cant see this card living up to its full potential.
Decent card, probably best out of a discover, or you just play this instead of Holy Smite for a more expensive but flexible removal option.
Nothing else to say really. Its gonna see play in priest, but its burn potential is nowhere near the level required for shadow priest to outdo control decks and the healing is negligible against aggro.
Its just an okay card. Not something I expect to bring shadow priest back into the meta, nor do I think its sufficiently interesting for people to even want to play shadow priest.
You'll very nearly never get a situation where you have a ton of undead on board and your opponent casually decides to do nothing to them, allowing you to get value. There's also no chance they dont just kill this thing first before your board. At very best you get value out of 2 minions. I cant see this being better than High Cultist Basaleph even at 5 mana.
Dont know what this can do but at some point in time it'll just break the game, because effect like these often do.
At the moment though, nothing in standard springs to mind. Its certainly never going to be played in wild because Embrace the Shadow is tons better, but that team5 decided to basically reprint that card into standard shows they have something cooking in mind.
Respectable, because even at its very worse its still a 6 mana fireball to the face.
That said, its basically just a more flexible Yelling Yodeler most of the time, because merely copying a minion is usually not enough, and at such a price tag it needs to really end the game or threaten to do so, and so far Im not seeing it.
Normally I'd dismiss crap cards like these but for DK this is exceptional because it grants you weapons outside your rune restrictions.
Unfortunately, this card is bogged down (as usual) by its bizarre rune restrictions which severely limits its usage. At best I can see BBU plague DK play this to get Staff of the Primus, a card that they would want but cannot get under normal circumstances.
I can see this card going both ways, but more likely its just an unplayable card not because its shit but because the rune system is shit.
I'll be honest I dont like cards like these that screw you based on dice rolls.
Imagine playing a combo deck or a burn deck and out comes an anomaly that discounts your cards by 1. That can easily just break the game from turn 1. I know hearthstone needs such cards to keep things interesting but you can easily just piss off players that only want to climb up ladder instead of memeing about.
At least team5 is fully aware that there is a possibility that upper levels just shit on this card completely so they made the first week inescapable so the anomalies actually get to see play. We'll see if it continues, but Im willing to bet we'll not be seeing this in decks much after that week is over.
A card that will be tons more powerful unforged than forged.
Handbuffing is nice and all, but these days if you're wasting two mana to do nothing while being an aggro/midrange deck you're likely going to lose that match, even against slow control decks. Facts are, the +1+1 buff is decent enough already, and with so few charge minions available for pally you cant even argue that youre investing for a later burn turn.
So team5 really, really wants you to play elemental mage, and therefore printed this monstrosity.
With Aqua Archivist, you can legit just play this on turn 3 and immediately pressure your opponent with both stats and direct damage. The problem? Well, then you'd be playing elemental mage in a shell that is nonexistent and will likely never get anywhere past the post because doing 7 damage nowadays is like getting hit by hunter's hp. You would need to consistently fill the board for any tempo deck to work, and thus far mage hasnt demonstrated they can do that with anything outside nagas.
Possibly one of the more dangerous card to be printed for mage, because its bad enough that the class basically just scam wins with cards like Solid Alibi etc + more mana cheating. Just print more, because why not. Imagine getting solid alibi from this card, that's practically two turns of free bs.
Of course, its suffers from consistency but boy it will feel bad losing because of this shit.
At first glance its Arcane Intellect with a 3/4 solid body but its nearly if not impossible for mage to play so many spells by 3 and in later stages of the game you'd probably rather just be playing arcane intellect anyway. Plus, mage can discount spells but not minions so it makes it even less incentivizing to play this card over arcane intellect.
Mind boggling that this isnt at least an elemental or a naga, where it might possibly serve a niche.
Its incredible AoE potential but its mostly unplayable even out of discovers.
The main problem is that its gonna destroy your side of the board too, and that's something you really dont want to ever happen as a board based class. Even in non-board archetypes, this card still demands that you have something on board before it does anything.
So its best use is actually in big pally, and since youre likely to be behind most of the time anyway, I guess this card has some uses. But as a whole, Im not optimistic.
Basically its support for big pally, or some kind of combo deck that relies on specific minions.
So far we've not seen much indication that such a deck exist, and paladin doesnt exactly have the best sustain tools available. Cant help but feel this card wouldn't see much play despite its potential.
The most normal card from druid this set, and even then this card is pretty good, being 6/6 in total stats for 3 mana, plus developing a sticky minion.
Would it see play? Well, probably not. Because why settle for normal cards when half your collection is just OP.
I think these list are outdated. Some of the miniset cards actually work themselves into meta decks, like Sanitize and General Vezax but more crucially, the fact that miracle druid and miracle rogue isnt here is perhaps an oversight.
I have actually been noticing that the wikis are lately taking up loads of processing cpu for some reason. Unsurprising that its the ads causing so much havoc.
I find it funny how something that was created for the public, by the public, would eventually go corporate and get ruined. Then the process starts anew. Can it not be like wikipedia, and run itself on donations and public contributions. Imagine going to wikipedia, and your pc starts humming up like you're offhand farming bitcoins for them.
This is just one of those crackpot ideas from team5 that seriously can never work from a PR perspective, because its either going to be completely forgettable or make competitive play unbearable.
So which does the current set of anomalies lie? I would say that while it is fairly benign, theres really no need for it to exist in competitive mode. You'll either get something that wont really impact the game (like getting Gear Shift) or you get completely trolled out of it (hero power changes, coin for floating mana etc.)
Ive been losing a lot of my win streaks because of the anomalies and while I would say that only roughly 20% of my games have me in anger, it is by far more memorable than the majority of my games where the anomalies really dont matter. Is the anomalies fun? No, because I dont play standard competitive to experience a coin toss match. Does it make the experience different each time? Yes. Does it make me want to play Cho'gall, Twilight Chieftain ever in future? No, and I hope that card never ever sees any play after the week is over.
But I suppose the better question to ask is whether team5 would double down and commit themselves to tweaking the anomalies so its at least less egregious to suffer through. Well then, wouldn't it be better for the anomalies to just not exist?
I think team5 anticipated some trouble which is why the anomalies are only 100% for a week. They likely wanted to gauge player enjoyment and whether they gain more new players in because these 'tavern brawl' effects on competitive is what makes card games 'fun'.
Unfortunately, Im with you on the opinion that these anomalies are bad for competitive. No one wants to concede turn 1 and no one wants to see their well crafted and deserved wins be turned into losses because of bs mechanics. Stuff like driven to greed is easily way too tilting to suffer through if youre an aggro deck facing control. Whereas if youre playing hunter and you get either of the genn/baku effects your opponent might just auto concede because whats the point of even trying.
That said, no way team5 claw back the push until patch 28. If it proves wildly successful in increasing new player counts, they might even extend it assuming the anger dont reach levels where they start losing money.
Of the few shadow priest Ive seen I havent lost to any of them, even when Ive clearly mulligan for control priest. I really feel that priest really suffers from losing Voidtouched Attendant and the nerf to basaleph.
But the worst problem with shadow priest is that its passe. No one is interested because the deck is weaker than it once was and uninteresting. Had team5 made this card 1 or 2 mana it might at least be exciting, but at 3 Im afraid its way too slow to gain value or burn.
Its practically printed to give unholy DK, or more specifically plague DK, something they cannot have and that is consistent and good removal. At present moment, you can park Imposing Anubisath in the field and plague DK just literally cant do anything to it.
This is the answer plague DK needs but sadly I dont think its enough. Its all well and good to have removal, but plague DK needs consistent removal options, preferably one thats standalone, which this isnt.
It'll see play, but any DK deck that's not triple rune is having such a hard time I cant see this card living up to its full potential.
Decent card, probably best out of a discover, or you just play this instead of Holy Smite for a more expensive but flexible removal option.
Nothing else to say really. Its gonna see play in priest, but its burn potential is nowhere near the level required for shadow priest to outdo control decks and the healing is negligible against aggro.
Its just an okay card. Not something I expect to bring shadow priest back into the meta, nor do I think its sufficiently interesting for people to even want to play shadow priest.
You'll very nearly never get a situation where you have a ton of undead on board and your opponent casually decides to do nothing to them, allowing you to get value. There's also no chance they dont just kill this thing first before your board. At very best you get value out of 2 minions. I cant see this being better than High Cultist Basaleph even at 5 mana.
Dont know what this can do but at some point in time it'll just break the game, because effect like these often do.
At the moment though, nothing in standard springs to mind. Its certainly never going to be played in wild because Embrace the Shadow is tons better, but that team5 decided to basically reprint that card into standard shows they have something cooking in mind.
Respectable, because even at its very worse its still a 6 mana fireball to the face.
That said, its basically just a more flexible Yelling Yodeler most of the time, because merely copying a minion is usually not enough, and at such a price tag it needs to really end the game or threaten to do so, and so far Im not seeing it.
Normally I'd dismiss crap cards like these but for DK this is exceptional because it grants you weapons outside your rune restrictions.
Unfortunately, this card is bogged down (as usual) by its bizarre rune restrictions which severely limits its usage. At best I can see BBU plague DK play this to get Staff of the Primus, a card that they would want but cannot get under normal circumstances.
I can see this card going both ways, but more likely its just an unplayable card not because its shit but because the rune system is shit.
I'll be honest I dont like cards like these that screw you based on dice rolls.
Imagine playing a combo deck or a burn deck and out comes an anomaly that discounts your cards by 1. That can easily just break the game from turn 1. I know hearthstone needs such cards to keep things interesting but you can easily just piss off players that only want to climb up ladder instead of memeing about.
At least team5 is fully aware that there is a possibility that upper levels just shit on this card completely so they made the first week inescapable so the anomalies actually get to see play. We'll see if it continues, but Im willing to bet we'll not be seeing this in decks much after that week is over.
Looking forward to seeing rogue abuse the shit out of yogg and its tendrils.
It may get to a point where the 10 mana spells are so broken that you can legit win through spamming enough tendrils.
A card that will be tons more powerful unforged than forged.
Handbuffing is nice and all, but these days if you're wasting two mana to do nothing while being an aggro/midrange deck you're likely going to lose that match, even against slow control decks. Facts are, the +1+1 buff is decent enough already, and with so few charge minions available for pally you cant even argue that youre investing for a later burn turn.
Probably see play in mech and nowhere else.
So team5 really, really wants you to play elemental mage, and therefore printed this monstrosity.
With Aqua Archivist, you can legit just play this on turn 3 and immediately pressure your opponent with both stats and direct damage. The problem? Well, then you'd be playing elemental mage in a shell that is nonexistent and will likely never get anywhere past the post because doing 7 damage nowadays is like getting hit by hunter's hp. You would need to consistently fill the board for any tempo deck to work, and thus far mage hasnt demonstrated they can do that with anything outside nagas.
Possibly one of the more dangerous card to be printed for mage, because its bad enough that the class basically just scam wins with cards like Solid Alibi etc + more mana cheating. Just print more, because why not. Imagine getting solid alibi from this card, that's practically two turns of free bs.
Of course, its suffers from consistency but boy it will feel bad losing because of this shit.
Honestly, this card is weak.
At first glance its Arcane Intellect with a 3/4 solid body but its nearly if not impossible for mage to play so many spells by 3 and in later stages of the game you'd probably rather just be playing arcane intellect anyway. Plus, mage can discount spells but not minions so it makes it even less incentivizing to play this card over arcane intellect.
Mind boggling that this isnt at least an elemental or a naga, where it might possibly serve a niche.
Its incredible AoE potential but its mostly unplayable even out of discovers.
The main problem is that its gonna destroy your side of the board too, and that's something you really dont want to ever happen as a board based class. Even in non-board archetypes, this card still demands that you have something on board before it does anything.
So its best use is actually in big pally, and since youre likely to be behind most of the time anyway, I guess this card has some uses. But as a whole, Im not optimistic.
Basically its support for big pally, or some kind of combo deck that relies on specific minions.
So far we've not seen much indication that such a deck exist, and paladin doesnt exactly have the best sustain tools available. Cant help but feel this card wouldn't see much play despite its potential.
The most normal card from druid this set, and even then this card is pretty good, being 6/6 in total stats for 3 mana, plus developing a sticky minion.
Would it see play? Well, probably not. Because why settle for normal cards when half your collection is just OP.