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Firenza

Joined 05/29/2019 Achieve Points 550 Posts 348

Firenza's Comments

  • Firenza's Avatar
    550 348 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 2 years, 11 months ago

    We need a better term for cards that vaguely follow the format, "if this works, it's too powerful for the game." Cards like Sword of the Fallen are just strong. The mechanics are easily understood, and even after a nerf, it'll still be a strong card even if it's more balanced. But something like the Watch Towers or Deck of Lunacy are way harder to evaluate, but if they work, it's broken. It's why Tickatus is so controversial. He's not that good, but if he becomes good, it's not just a matter of a strong card shining in a particular meta (a lot of aggro cards fit this bill - remember when Nightblade briefly became meta? Or recently Worgen Infiltrator in Rogue), but of a specialized mechanic that is unfair if it becomes too consistent.

  • Firenza's Avatar
    550 348 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 2 years, 11 months ago

    I hear you, but I think the data is overwhelming on First Day of School even if the card doesn't "feel bad" compared to others. Ditto for Aldor Attendant. Knight of Anointment is a fantastic turn-1 play. They don't need 3 excellent turn-1 choices. Right now their very early game is overwhelmingly consistent and powerful.

    As for No Minion Mage, it's very good right now, and I think it's still very good if Refreshing Spring Water refreshes (1) for each spell drawn. That makes it strictly better than Arcane Intellect in that archetype which is the real purpose of the card. 0-mana draw 2 is just stupid, let alone the cases when it's even better than that via Incanter's Flow.

  • Firenza's Avatar
    550 348 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 2 years, 11 months ago

    I would have put Lunacy at 5-mana. Just kill it for good. No Minion Mage is likely to still be very strong after this, and I think you'd still run Deck of Lunacy even if you hold off on playing it until the late-game. Refreshing Spring Water needs to be hit.

    Watchtower, Pen Flinger, and Jandice nerfs are very good and needed, but they need to hit Paladin harder. Sword of the Fallen is still an S-tier card with 2-durability. They need a bigger hit on their early game. First Day of School still has a 70%+ Mulligan WR in every kind of deck. Just make it a 1-mana card already, even if that probably kills it. Aldor Attendant should be reverted to a 2-drop, and Aldor Peacekeeper should probably be a 4/5. I wouldn't even mind seeing Libram of Justice go back to 6-mana. Right now the deck is simply too versatile at every stage of the game.

  • Firenza's Avatar
    550 348 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 2 years, 11 months ago

    Interesting stuff. I think there's an easy enough distinction to make between being provided real-time information at the start of the match and accessing deck information after the match. Not much of a distinction from a technical capability standpoint with the API so discussions like these need to be had. It sounds like Riot's working with the website, and their reasoning makes sense to me. I haven't played Runeterra since Beta, but I wonder if a feature like that could similarly be abused for Arena situations. It makes sense to have guidelines around it.

  • Firenza's Avatar
    550 348 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 2 years, 11 months ago

    Good. And thank you for reporting on it.

  • Firenza's Avatar
    550 348 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 2 years, 11 months ago

    So looking at class win-rate average and standard deviation all the classes are average except Mage is a full standard deviation from the mean and Paladin is more than two SDs. And Warrior, which is between 1 and 2 SDs below the mean. That Paladin win-rate is just disgusting.

    Aside from nerfing Deck of Lunacy into oblivion (I suggest a spell giving your charge minions +1 attack) they need to address Sword of the Fallen, Aldor Attendant, AND First Day of School. Those cards' mulligan win-rates are off the charts, and I still think they need to alter Pen Flinger.

  • Firenza's Avatar
    550 348 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 2 years, 11 months ago

    Lunacy Mage is definitely meta, and its prevalence, not just WR, is destroying Standard for me this weekend. At this point the effect needs a nerf, not just the card cost. Refreshing Spring Water is also busted, and I have no idea how to rebalance the card without making it strictly worse than Arcane Intellect.

  • Firenza's Avatar
    550 348 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 2 years, 11 months ago

    I think people are sleeping on Conviction, Flurry, and Thorngrowth Sentries. Other very strong cards that didn't slot into categories here are Sword of the Fallen, Wicked Stab, Kabal Outfitter, and Blademaster Samuro. Also, forget about his wife, where is Mankrik on this list?! I expect that card to be thrown into 90% of decks.

    In reply to Forged in the Barrens
  • Firenza's Avatar
    550 348 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 3 years ago

    There's so many cards from this set I'm happy to see go away. Dwarven Sharpshooter and Toxic Reinforcements are right there with Phase Stalker in my book. The three cards together were an insane opening package. Dragonbane was aptly named if I had a dragon on my FACE. And I really just didn't like all five classes Galakrond builds, playing them or against them.

    I assume Awakening will be its own article? Most folks will list Risky Skipper, but I did not like the reintroduction of Boom Bots with Bomb Wrangler, and Shotbot was also an overpowered little card. I'm mainly happy to be done with the Reborn mechanic entirely as it was too visually similar to Divine Shield and was really just an overly specialized Deathrattle. One of the least intuitive mechanics ever introduced.

  • Firenza's Avatar
    550 348 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 3 years ago

    Great list. I also hated playing against Expired Merchant (when it would duplicate Hand of Gul'dan or Flesh Giant) and Kobold Sandtrooper. Zeddy and others have pointed out that "summon minion at X cost" cards are getting a lot better with the rotation, but I still wish good riddance to low-rolling Desert Obelisk off of Jandice.

  • Firenza's Avatar
    550 348 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 3 years ago

    All good choices. I'd add Magic Trick and Chef Nomi. Magic Trick is self-explanatory, especially when it was generated off something else or used to buff Mozaki. I am decidedly sour on Neeru Fireblade and the entire concept of mill (not even limited to self-mill) Warlock, and I found Nomi horribly unfun to play with when it worked (probably not since Seance rotated). Drawing your entire deck simply isn't that difficult if that's your goal, and refilling the board 3 or 4 times was an enormous payoff. I never minded Archivist Elysiana, but I get the criticism and generally agree. The game breaks down when fatigue isn't a factor, or similarly, when drawing through your deck isn't punished. By that definition combo Demon Hunter and Stealth/Weapon Rogue are also problematic. If draw or generation has no cost, the game becomes unfun. Cards like Nomi incentivized a bad way to play.

  • Firenza's Avatar
    550 348 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 3 years ago

    This is logical and in line with what I was thinking. I'll probably stop playing after Friday to bank Sa-Tu daily quests and the weeklies on Monday. Unless there are launch quests? I know a lot of this will be answered after the patch drops tomorrow and can be datamined. Sort of funny how it's likely to incentivize me not to play right before launch with all the new Classic and Duels content.

  • Firenza's Avatar
    550 348 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 3 years ago

    A question not addressed by these guides that I'd like to see answered soon is how we should manage our quests in the days before Patch 20.0 (Thursday!) and March 30th. If I get my weekly quests on Monday, I should probably hold off on playing until launch or else all my XP will go towards the Darkmoon rewards track and not the Barrens rewards track. I might even want to bank four days of daily quests, no? Or will the weeklies refresh an extra time with the expansion launch? Also, I assume that if I'm between levels with ~1000XP that that will simply be lost with the track reset. None of this is a huge deal, but I'm sure there's a way to optimize our XP on expansion launch.

  • Firenza's Avatar
    550 348 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 3 years ago

    They kept this in the Core set.

    River Crocolisk Card Image

  • Firenza's Avatar
    550 348 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 3 years ago

    No guarantees it's Tier 1, but Secret Paladin will absolutely work cohesively as a deck with just one more decent secret revealed. I'm not sure the same could be said for Deathrattle Demon Hunter even if a couple decent deathrattle minions are revealed.

  • Firenza's Avatar
    550 348 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 3 years ago

    I really hate this, and don't feel cards like this should be in the game. What's intended as a counter to combo (Tickatus and this) also works as a counter to control decks BY A CONTROL DECK. It prevents other control decks from effectively being explored. Granted, running this card in Control Warlock takes a little more thought and some of the new cards, but they have Neeru Fireblade as a win condition (along with Y'Shaarj).

    Kibler joked that his favorite classic card buff was Tracking because he no longer had to explain to players that it was good. Even when this doesn't truly affect the game, I'd argue that players hate the feeling of their opponent burning cards even if it's equal to randomly not drawing them that game. And when it does burn a legendary or spell that was one of your outs, it's going to feel terrible. It's one of those cards that's really bad for the game if it ends up being good.

  • Firenza's Avatar
    550 348 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 3 years ago

    Wow, I appreciate everyone's optimism in the comments, but this card is pure garbage that will never see play. 4 stars for creativity.

  • Firenza's Avatar
    550 348 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 3 years ago

    I don't understand the point of revealing these support cards before some decent deathrattles, class specific or neutral. The pool is real sparse at the moment. Right now this card is terrible, but could easily become meta with the right draws.

  • Firenza's Avatar
    550 348 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 3 years ago

    This card is fun and interactive.

  • Firenza's Avatar
    550 348 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 3 years ago

    Altruis the Outcast has taught me to fear this effect no matter how seemingly conditional.

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