I really wonder how far has team5 thought about the design of The Azerite Scorpion.
Coupled with plenty of excavate options (Drilly the Kid basically fills 5/8 of it by itself with a simple shadowstep), its hard to see how an excavate rogue can ever be outvalued by anything. You'll end up just bouncing the scorpion over and over, and then play tess to test the limits of hearthstone's servers and your opponent's patience.
So, if ever team5 decides to nerf the scorpion, surely half of rogue's set would then be up for dust. Wouldnt it be better just to make the scorpion less value oriented and more stat based or plain burn?
Its a spell, it discovers specific tribal minions, and it discounts nagas.
Yes, it'll see play. If nothing more than the fact that its easy to play, and its easy to see how this card can be useful. Discounting cards like Lady S'theno, Felscale Evoker, or even Blindeye Sharpshooter is always grounds for something big to happen.
The quickdraw is a bonus. Its neither big enough to warrant just playing it when you draw it, and even if you triggered it its not gonna do more than annoy.
You'll never see this card outside of that. In a way, its a nerf to outcast discover cards. The card does give loads of stats and rush, but we're way past the time where such things are considered good. And besides, if you cant outcast this card its just total crap.
This card should by right share the same fate as cards like Saronite Shambler
And yet if you can build around enough cards that give you attack damage, there is a world where you can just jam them all together and make a deck out of it. Its not entirely impossible, especially given that ignis is always going to present you an option to just OTK your opponent from full.
I have high hopes for this card to make an archetype, we'll see.
3 mana to deal 2 damage, in hopes of discounting future turns. The card isnt bad I'll give it that.
At present moment, its best application is actually for big dhunter, where you can discount Felscale Evoker, and another activation spell. And being a spell itself, its at least making it easier to do versus Raging Felscreamer.
But of course, this card has the utility to get better. Such a big price for 2 damage, at least it pays for itself in someway.
Considering that similar cards like Full-Blown Evil costing 3 and does more or less what this card will be doing really is a kick in the teeth for this card. Even cards like Fel Barrage will do the same for 2 less mana.
The only good thing this card has to its name is that it can hit face. So played on an empty board its just a natural fireball. But I cant help feeling that this card would still only be decent even if its 3 mana. As it stands, it'll see play only in highlander and nowhere else.
It'll see play, and should actually be part of dhunter's set of core cards because what it does is what the class needed since its inception.
Being able to essentially guarantee outcast means for bigger decks you can actually play outcast cards like Skull of Gul'dan and expect to actually trigger the effect, whereas in the past even one big minion drawn early immediately ends all notion of such happening.
I personally dont think it'll be as successful as it would compared to stuff like Lady S'theno and Spitelash Siren.
As an OTK card, it'll require quite an astonishing amounts of discounts to do and it has absolutely no way to do more than 2 damage to face at a time, unlike s'theno, and unlike siren it doesnt refresh any mana for you, so what you can do is always going to be limited.
Its best function, at least to me, is actually as a draw engine and occasional board removal. That way, you can realistically draw somewhere around 2-4 cards with it and call it a good turn.
But after how s'theno virtually took over the class for over a year, enduring multiple nerfs across dhunter's set throughout, I simply cannot write this off. At some point team5 would make a mistake and print some disgusting card that will allow this to be OP. For that reason alone Im rating this a solid 5 stars for potential, even if I personally dont think it'll ever get there.
I have absolutely no idea why this card is a legendary card and why it needed to exist for dhunter.
Discover two cards, or three at the max. And all of these cards are on a dice roll as to what you get, and what impact they would have. In other words, this is a highlander card in all but name. Its never gonna get you anything useful consistently and playing it neither guarantees that you can actually play the card in the same turn, nor does it guarantee you'll get what you want suppose you rolled the dice correctly.
What it is is simply reload. Play on 3 and get two cards. Why not? Its never gonna do much more than that. This card should realistically be a 2 drop, or at least cheapen the cards you get if you somehow rolled a double.
Will it see play? Probably in highlander. I cant imagine any deck with an actual win con actually play this card.
This card will see play if nothing more than the fact that its a disruption card.
And true to disruption cards, the fine line between playable and crap starts with the question of how consistent this card can be in sniping out key targets. My verdict is that its really, really good against combo decks, and completely crap against non-combo decks. Because anything that's not combo will likely have at least 4 minions in their hand and sniping out 2 is not really what I would describe as great. Even a singular big minion in hand would easily absorb most of what this card is supposed to be doing, which is to prevent your opponent from playing it in the first place.
That said however, if it does what it does more consistently than Dirty Rat then its gonna see play. Besides, if youre running highlander you're never gonna drop this card, the one reason for playing highlander in the first place.
I just think its a shame, because if this wasnt a highlander card it'll not only see way more play, it'll also be a legit build around.
Sadly, when you look at the pool of big spells mage has in standard you'll likely be struggling to fill those positions, not to mention that building a mage deck with few spells is not exactly easy.
So on its own then? Well, its not good. 10 mana cards need to either end games, prevent your opponent from ending games, or presents an effect that gives you an advantage for the rest of the game. This card does neither of those well, and certainly not consistently. Might be better just playing astalor, its practically the same thing except more flexible.
Probably not that great. Its main application is to tutor out specific arcane spells, but in a collection filled with arcane spells, it'll have its work cut out for it.
Not to mention that most secrets tend to be arcane, plus the ubiquitous Arcane Intellect. I cant think of many arcane spells that you'd want to draw with this card to be honest. Arcane Intellect and Volume Up are not cards you want to double up on and yet both are usually found in most mage decks.
But Id concede that its fairly meta dependent whether it sees any play. Combustion saw play because it was one of the few cheap AoE cards available that does the job fine. This card isnt as good as that, but it'll do the cheap AoE bit at least.
Still, you'd get this off discovers 99% of the time. Id be surprised if it were placed purposefully into decks.
Its the sort of card that'll never realistically be placed into a deck.
As a secret its kinda shit, comparable to Mana Bind, a card that didnt see any play when it was introduced and is seeing only niche plays right now in wild, mostly meme. The main problem of this card is that it neither prevents nor does it consistently give you anything good. So its kinda like youve just played a 3 mana card to generate a random card from your opponent's deck, and your opponent gets to decide whether or not you get it.
Oh well, with so many OP secrets from mage, at least we get to see the occasional shitty one. So stand up Azerite Vein.
The biggest problem with this card is that it requires you to play elementals, and on curve no less.
Or in other words, team5 requires you to play about as anti-mage as it can get. Its like asking druid to play normal midrange cards, just not gonna happen. And lets be honest, the reload factor is somewhat redundant against anything beyond aggro. In most cases your opponent would either be ready for it, or they'd just ignore it because why not? This thing has no rush or taunt, and can easily clog your board making it harder to do anything else.
Bonkers card that is only buffered by the fact that its not exactly easy to play this on curve, since excavate cards tend to cost at least 2.
But its surely one of the worse cards you'll ever face against. Mage secrets are a pain in the arse to deal with, and this card casts two of them. Will see play, as long as excavate is relevant for mage, which isnt a given since both spooky and rainbow mage dont need it and elemental mage likely cant fit it in.
Its basically a combo enabler, but at present Ive no idea what this card can do consistently in the standard. Rainbow mage does generate loads of crap but none of them tend to win the game for you.
But of course, anything that mana cheats is bound to be broken one way or another. Fortunately team5 had the foresight of at very least not allowing those cards to be cheaper than 1, but Ive been in these tangos before. Wouldnt surprise me if this card eventually gets nerfed for something incredibly dumb.
There's really only one good thing of note here, and thats the fact that this buffs Flint Firearm substantially.
As for being a druid card, I can see this being either one of the most toxic cards you can ever give to druid, or alternatively one of the worse. if you cant trigger the quickdraw, this card can very often just do nothing, because druid is about gaining armor, not healing health. Alternatively however, healing for 7, for free, is about as insane as it gets, and since its a spell it can easily be cheapen to cheat even more mana.
I can see its applications, but most likely not as per what team5 intended. This is just an avenue for mana cheating, and will likely (though farcically) be nerfed if it goes too far.
I really wonder how far has team5 thought about the design of The Azerite Scorpion.
Coupled with plenty of excavate options (Drilly the Kid basically fills 5/8 of it by itself with a simple shadowstep), its hard to see how an excavate rogue can ever be outvalued by anything. You'll end up just bouncing the scorpion over and over, and then play tess to test the limits of hearthstone's servers and your opponent's patience.
So, if ever team5 decides to nerf the scorpion, surely half of rogue's set would then be up for dust. Wouldnt it be better just to make the scorpion less value oriented and more stat based or plain burn?
Its a spell, it discovers specific tribal minions, and it discounts nagas.
Yes, it'll see play. If nothing more than the fact that its easy to play, and its easy to see how this card can be useful. Discounting cards like Lady S'theno, Felscale Evoker, or even Blindeye Sharpshooter is always grounds for something big to happen.
2 mana deal 3 damage. Yes thats what it is.
The quickdraw is a bonus. Its neither big enough to warrant just playing it when you draw it, and even if you triggered it its not gonna do more than annoy.
More fuel for Flint Firearm
Filler for highlander, filler for arena.
You'll never see this card outside of that. In a way, its a nerf to outcast discover cards. The card does give loads of stats and rush, but we're way past the time where such things are considered good. And besides, if you cant outcast this card its just total crap.
This card should by right share the same fate as cards like Saronite Shambler
And yet if you can build around enough cards that give you attack damage, there is a world where you can just jam them all together and make a deck out of it. Its not entirely impossible, especially given that ignis is always going to present you an option to just OTK your opponent from full.
I have high hopes for this card to make an archetype, we'll see.
3 mana to deal 2 damage, in hopes of discounting future turns. The card isnt bad I'll give it that.
At present moment, its best application is actually for big dhunter, where you can discount Felscale Evoker, and another activation spell. And being a spell itself, its at least making it easier to do versus Raging Felscreamer.
But of course, this card has the utility to get better. Such a big price for 2 damage, at least it pays for itself in someway.
To me its way too expensive.
Considering that similar cards like Full-Blown Evil costing 3 and does more or less what this card will be doing really is a kick in the teeth for this card. Even cards like Fel Barrage will do the same for 2 less mana.
The only good thing this card has to its name is that it can hit face. So played on an empty board its just a natural fireball. But I cant help feeling that this card would still only be decent even if its 3 mana. As it stands, it'll see play only in highlander and nowhere else.
It'll see play, and should actually be part of dhunter's set of core cards because what it does is what the class needed since its inception.
Being able to essentially guarantee outcast means for bigger decks you can actually play outcast cards like Skull of Gul'dan and expect to actually trigger the effect, whereas in the past even one big minion drawn early immediately ends all notion of such happening.
Bartend-o-Bot, nice.
I personally dont think it'll be as successful as it would compared to stuff like Lady S'theno and Spitelash Siren.
As an OTK card, it'll require quite an astonishing amounts of discounts to do and it has absolutely no way to do more than 2 damage to face at a time, unlike s'theno, and unlike siren it doesnt refresh any mana for you, so what you can do is always going to be limited.
Its best function, at least to me, is actually as a draw engine and occasional board removal. That way, you can realistically draw somewhere around 2-4 cards with it and call it a good turn.
But after how s'theno virtually took over the class for over a year, enduring multiple nerfs across dhunter's set throughout, I simply cannot write this off. At some point team5 would make a mistake and print some disgusting card that will allow this to be OP. For that reason alone Im rating this a solid 5 stars for potential, even if I personally dont think it'll ever get there.
I have absolutely no idea why this card is a legendary card and why it needed to exist for dhunter.
Discover two cards, or three at the max. And all of these cards are on a dice roll as to what you get, and what impact they would have. In other words, this is a highlander card in all but name. Its never gonna get you anything useful consistently and playing it neither guarantees that you can actually play the card in the same turn, nor does it guarantee you'll get what you want suppose you rolled the dice correctly.
What it is is simply reload. Play on 3 and get two cards. Why not? Its never gonna do much more than that. This card should realistically be a 2 drop, or at least cheapen the cards you get if you somehow rolled a double.
Will it see play? Probably in highlander. I cant imagine any deck with an actual win con actually play this card.
This card will see play if nothing more than the fact that its a disruption card.
And true to disruption cards, the fine line between playable and crap starts with the question of how consistent this card can be in sniping out key targets. My verdict is that its really, really good against combo decks, and completely crap against non-combo decks. Because anything that's not combo will likely have at least 4 minions in their hand and sniping out 2 is not really what I would describe as great. Even a singular big minion in hand would easily absorb most of what this card is supposed to be doing, which is to prevent your opponent from playing it in the first place.
That said however, if it does what it does more consistently than Dirty Rat then its gonna see play. Besides, if youre running highlander you're never gonna drop this card, the one reason for playing highlander in the first place.
I just think its a shame, because if this wasnt a highlander card it'll not only see way more play, it'll also be a legit build around.
Barbaric Sorceress is still in standard.
Sadly, when you look at the pool of big spells mage has in standard you'll likely be struggling to fill those positions, not to mention that building a mage deck with few spells is not exactly easy.
So on its own then? Well, its not good. 10 mana cards need to either end games, prevent your opponent from ending games, or presents an effect that gives you an advantage for the rest of the game. This card does neither of those well, and certainly not consistently. Might be better just playing astalor, its practically the same thing except more flexible.
Probably not that great. Its main application is to tutor out specific arcane spells, but in a collection filled with arcane spells, it'll have its work cut out for it.
Not to mention that most secrets tend to be arcane, plus the ubiquitous Arcane Intellect. I cant think of many arcane spells that you'd want to draw with this card to be honest. Arcane Intellect and Volume Up are not cards you want to double up on and yet both are usually found in most mage decks.
Mage never need shit like these.
But Id concede that its fairly meta dependent whether it sees any play. Combustion saw play because it was one of the few cheap AoE cards available that does the job fine. This card isnt as good as that, but it'll do the cheap AoE bit at least.
Still, you'd get this off discovers 99% of the time. Id be surprised if it were placed purposefully into decks.
Its the sort of card that'll never realistically be placed into a deck.
As a secret its kinda shit, comparable to Mana Bind, a card that didnt see any play when it was introduced and is seeing only niche plays right now in wild, mostly meme. The main problem of this card is that it neither prevents nor does it consistently give you anything good. So its kinda like youve just played a 3 mana card to generate a random card from your opponent's deck, and your opponent gets to decide whether or not you get it.
Oh well, with so many OP secrets from mage, at least we get to see the occasional shitty one. So stand up Azerite Vein.
Its freezes it excavates.
What more do you want out of this card. Its gonna see play, because it does two things that mage wants.
The biggest problem with this card is that it requires you to play elementals, and on curve no less.
Or in other words, team5 requires you to play about as anti-mage as it can get. Its like asking druid to play normal midrange cards, just not gonna happen. And lets be honest, the reload factor is somewhat redundant against anything beyond aggro. In most cases your opponent would either be ready for it, or they'd just ignore it because why not? This thing has no rush or taunt, and can easily clog your board making it harder to do anything else.
Bonkers card that is only buffered by the fact that its not exactly easy to play this on curve, since excavate cards tend to cost at least 2.
But its surely one of the worse cards you'll ever face against. Mage secrets are a pain in the arse to deal with, and this card casts two of them. Will see play, as long as excavate is relevant for mage, which isnt a given since both spooky and rainbow mage dont need it and elemental mage likely cant fit it in.
Its basically a combo enabler, but at present Ive no idea what this card can do consistently in the standard. Rainbow mage does generate loads of crap but none of them tend to win the game for you.
But of course, anything that mana cheats is bound to be broken one way or another. Fortunately team5 had the foresight of at very least not allowing those cards to be cheaper than 1, but Ive been in these tangos before. Wouldnt surprise me if this card eventually gets nerfed for something incredibly dumb.
There's really only one good thing of note here, and thats the fact that this buffs Flint Firearm substantially.
As for being a druid card, I can see this being either one of the most toxic cards you can ever give to druid, or alternatively one of the worse. if you cant trigger the quickdraw, this card can very often just do nothing, because druid is about gaining armor, not healing health. Alternatively however, healing for 7, for free, is about as insane as it gets, and since its a spell it can easily be cheapen to cheat even more mana.
I can see its applications, but most likely not as per what team5 intended. This is just an avenue for mana cheating, and will likely (though farcically) be nerfed if it goes too far.