Solid points! I'm less a fan of the extra arms revert than mage, however. Priest doesn't have another solid deck right now and (at least IMO) didn't find priest that oppressive if you teched against it. Extra Arms gave Priest the early boost it needed for the deck to be viable. The real issue is you can't tech against Priest because War and Mage dominate the meta. The luna buff was a mistake from the start, but (as I've said on other posts on this site) I found giant to be a much bigger issue than CC.
I'm pretty ok with all these nerfs, especially pocket galaxy. That being said, if they truly view CC as the problem card for mage, increasing it to 4 mana IMO won't change very much. Potentially this change with the nerf to pocket galaxy will beat mage back a bit, but mage was top tier before the pocket galaxy buff and changing CC to cost one additional mana isn't enough. Mage will still be king, and its chief rival in Priest seems to have taken a step back.
Man you REALLY love you some mountain giant lol! Even coming from me--whose favorite deck has always been control warlock (RIP)--it seems crazy to say the punishment from a 4 mana (actual worth 12 mana) 8/8 is conjurers calling.
The punishment is the 4 mana 8/8. It definitely has some cool design implications and rewards a hand-loaded style of play, but CC is considerably weaker if used on a normal cost minion instead of a cheated out powerhouse that rewards you with a higher cost minion than what you paid for.
Where we do agree, however, is Luna is straight busted at 5 mana. What more, it makes mountain giant even more disgusting because--again--it makes the card 99% of the time a free 8/8 that rewards you with two 12-mana minions. No part of that equation is fair, CC or not.
I agree with your point that the cost reduction mechanic as a whole needs to be streamlined and fixed overall so it can't be abused, but CC isn't as big an issue on it's own. If you build an entire deck around CC, you should be rewarded, and control decks that cant clear a minion wave via AOE aren't worth a top rating anyways. It truly is the ability to cheat out Mountain Giant so early that gives it potency, because the optimal winning line for Big Mage is cheating out giant and then hitting it with CC so you're facing multiple big threats as early as turn 5. Khadgar is a solid card, but unless used in combo with a cheat giant or something along that line, it certainly isn't game-breaking to use it on a 4-drop. I don't always agree with Kripp, but this time I believe he's right.
Unlike Warrior and Mage, Priest doesn't have a ton of great decks and spirit/fire are two of the only combo cards that somewhat keep the class afloat. Sure priest has the quest now, but even that is fairly challenging to consistently pull off as evident by its deck tier. Additionally, that combo deck can be countered fairly easily if teched against. The issue is mage and warrior are so oppressive, you simply cannot tech much against priest and priest is taking full advantage. If warrior and mage are dealt with, I'm willing to bet priest still won't be the dominant meta deck in the same way mech paladin couldn't ever be a dominant meta deck.
Kripp posted a fantastic video on Conjurer's Calling and made the point that the issue isn't Conjurer's Calling as much as it's Mountain Giant, since the card can be cheated out for 3-4 mana but then when hit with Conjurer's Calling, gives you two minions in the 12-mana range. His nerf: if you conjurers calling a minion, it gives you two minions of the cost you paid, not the actual original cost of the card. So if you pay 4 mana for giant, you get two 4-mana minions. Conjurer's Calling is far less effective if you target minions hit with pocket galaxy or a cost decrease. I absolutely loved this idea.
Interesting take! I'm not sold yet on the Octosari, might want to consider replacing with a silence or even Solarium for cheaper card draw in a pinch? Plague of Flames is a particularly interesting include, is that tech primarily for big mage or are you finding other consistent applications for the card?
There's a 100% chance this card becomes an auto-include in control warlock if control warlock becomes a thing (which on the strength of classic cards alone it's almost there). 6 mana to destroy an opposing minion and put a 7/5 on the board?? They'll include healing in their deck the way classic control warlock did, living on the knife's edge. Unless more heavy aggro decks appear, control warlock might make a return.
Solid points! I'm less a fan of the extra arms revert than mage, however. Priest doesn't have another solid deck right now and (at least IMO) didn't find priest that oppressive if you teched against it. Extra Arms gave Priest the early boost it needed for the deck to be viable. The real issue is you can't tech against Priest because War and Mage dominate the meta. The luna buff was a mistake from the start, but (as I've said on other posts on this site) I found giant to be a much bigger issue than CC.
I'm pretty ok with all these nerfs, especially pocket galaxy. That being said, if they truly view CC as the problem card for mage, increasing it to 4 mana IMO won't change very much. Potentially this change with the nerf to pocket galaxy will beat mage back a bit, but mage was top tier before the pocket galaxy buff and changing CC to cost one additional mana isn't enough. Mage will still be king, and its chief rival in Priest seems to have taken a step back.
Man you REALLY love you some mountain giant lol! Even coming from me--whose favorite deck has always been control warlock (RIP)--it seems crazy to say the punishment from a 4 mana (actual worth 12 mana) 8/8 is conjurers calling.
The punishment is the 4 mana 8/8. It definitely has some cool design implications and rewards a hand-loaded style of play, but CC is considerably weaker if used on a normal cost minion instead of a cheated out powerhouse that rewards you with a higher cost minion than what you paid for.
Where we do agree, however, is Luna is straight busted at 5 mana. What more, it makes mountain giant even more disgusting because--again--it makes the card 99% of the time a free 8/8 that rewards you with two 12-mana minions. No part of that equation is fair, CC or not.
I agree with your point that the cost reduction mechanic as a whole needs to be streamlined and fixed overall so it can't be abused, but CC isn't as big an issue on it's own. If you build an entire deck around CC, you should be rewarded, and control decks that cant clear a minion wave via AOE aren't worth a top rating anyways. It truly is the ability to cheat out Mountain Giant so early that gives it potency, because the optimal winning line for Big Mage is cheating out giant and then hitting it with CC so you're facing multiple big threats as early as turn 5. Khadgar is a solid card, but unless used in combo with a cheat giant or something along that line, it certainly isn't game-breaking to use it on a 4-drop. I don't always agree with Kripp, but this time I believe he's right.
Unlike Warrior and Mage, Priest doesn't have a ton of great decks and spirit/fire are two of the only combo cards that somewhat keep the class afloat. Sure priest has the quest now, but even that is fairly challenging to consistently pull off as evident by its deck tier. Additionally, that combo deck can be countered fairly easily if teched against. The issue is mage and warrior are so oppressive, you simply cannot tech much against priest and priest is taking full advantage. If warrior and mage are dealt with, I'm willing to bet priest still won't be the dominant meta deck in the same way mech paladin couldn't ever be a dominant meta deck.
Kripp posted a fantastic video on Conjurer's Calling and made the point that the issue isn't Conjurer's Calling as much as it's Mountain Giant, since the card can be cheated out for 3-4 mana but then when hit with Conjurer's Calling, gives you two minions in the 12-mana range. His nerf: if you conjurers calling a minion, it gives you two minions of the cost you paid, not the actual original cost of the card. So if you pay 4 mana for giant, you get two 4-mana minions. Conjurer's Calling is far less effective if you target minions hit with pocket galaxy or a cost decrease. I absolutely loved this idea.
Interesting take! I'm not sold yet on the Octosari, might want to consider replacing with a silence or even Solarium for cheaper card draw in a pinch? Plague of Flames is a particularly interesting include, is that tech primarily for big mage or are you finding other consistent applications for the card?
There's a 100% chance this card becomes an auto-include in control warlock if control warlock becomes a thing (which on the strength of classic cards alone it's almost there). 6 mana to destroy an opposing minion and put a 7/5 on the board?? They'll include healing in their deck the way classic control warlock did, living on the knife's edge. Unless more heavy aggro decks appear, control warlock might make a return.