I love the design of Frozen Buckler - 10 armor if you're under a lot of pressure is great, and the drawback of losing 5 next turn makes it fair for the cost.
I see a few folks here saying "Heavy Plate is strictly better, and the fail state here is a worse Iron Hide." That's probably mostly true, but I think there are a couple of ways in which that's unfair. First, this is cheaper, stronger synergy for Shield Slam. Second (and less compelling), this offers a way to curve out armor generation into [Hearthstone Card (Iron Clad) Not Found]. (Yes, you technically have your hero power for that, but it's a lot harder to remove 5 armor on turn 2 than it is to remove 2 armor, so you're more likely to get the stat boost.) All that is to say, I don't think it takes a ton of armor synergy to make this an interesting card you might seriously think about running.
Even with all their various ways to gain attack, I doubt Demon Hunter can line up Honorable Kills easily enough with this weapon to make this good. That said, I think this is a hugely valuable turn 1 weapon, as you'll have a lot of chances to get perfect kills on minions with 1 or 2 (and sometimes maybe 3) health. Getting a functional six attacks out of a 3-Durability weapon is pretty great. Of course, you won't always have this in your hand on turn 1, and that makes it a lot less exciting.
This looks like an early nerf target*. Even if a full Token DH deck doesn't come together, this could easily find its way into a Deathrattle DH thanks to how sticky those deathrattle chains can make their boards. On their own, Renowned Performer is a three mana discount on this, and Devouring Ectoplasm is a two mana reduction, and both of those see tons of play in Deathrattle DH.
* Not literally calling for a nerf before it's even launched - I just think this looks like the kind of card that will get out of hand quickly and make for polarized match-ups.
This seems like a card that's best utilized in a deck that runs only a few beasts, all of which should be high impact. Imagine dropping two of these and getting a pair of King Krush's for 6 - that would be nuts.
The fail state here is fine, and if you can play it on curve and turn it into a 5/4 it's incredible, but to be a staple it would need to have a more meaningful impact in the midgame.
Lots of value here, and since the spells end up in your hand it's also potentially a reason to play Siphon Mana and Celestial Ink Set (and maybe move a little away from Incanter's Flow)
Field of Strife might be a solid card for a token DH, and even if it's not big enough as a finisher it's honestly pretty interesting so long as there's enough Illidari generation tools available.
Mill Rogue incoming? This will certainly be a boon for that archetype in Wild, and in Standard it's at least a solid tempo boost and value tool in a class whose hero power becomes pretty irrelevant after the early stages of the game.
Seems like an auto-include for any deck that wants to run Big Demons. Maybe we get enough critical mass of support for that deck that it starts to see real play, but so far it's been more meme that dream.
Seems like a really solid Elemental for N'Zoth, God of the Deep, and it offers a very imposing threat to your opponent if it's allowed to stick around.
It's odd to see a neutral that bundles a 2-mana class card (Defile) with a 3-mana neutral (Spider Tank) and have no cost penalty. I suppose the trick here is that Defile on 2 or 3 is way more impactful than Defile on 5, when the 1 damage breakpoints are harder to line up. So, the bundling is worse than it looks, but this is still a solid board clear for a class that has limited AOE but wants to dabbling in slower, controlling decks.
I love the design of Frozen Buckler - 10 armor if you're under a lot of pressure is great, and the drawback of losing 5 next turn makes it fair for the cost.
I see a few folks here saying "Heavy Plate is strictly better, and the fail state here is a worse Iron Hide." That's probably mostly true, but I think there are a couple of ways in which that's unfair. First, this is cheaper, stronger synergy for Shield Slam. Second (and less compelling), this offers a way to curve out armor generation into [Hearthstone Card (Iron Clad) Not Found]. (Yes, you technically have your hero power for that, but it's a lot harder to remove 5 armor on turn 2 than it is to remove 2 armor, so you're more likely to get the stat boost.) All that is to say, I don't think it takes a ton of armor synergy to make this an interesting card you might seriously think about running.
Even with all their various ways to gain attack, I doubt Demon Hunter can line up Honorable Kills easily enough with this weapon to make this good. That said, I think this is a hugely valuable turn 1 weapon, as you'll have a lot of chances to get perfect kills on minions with 1 or 2 (and sometimes maybe 3) health. Getting a functional six attacks out of a 3-Durability weapon is pretty great. Of course, you won't always have this in your hand on turn 1, and that makes it a lot less exciting.
This looks like an early nerf target*. Even if a full Token DH deck doesn't come together, this could easily find its way into a Deathrattle DH thanks to how sticky those deathrattle chains can make their boards. On their own, Renowned Performer is a three mana discount on this, and Devouring Ectoplasm is a two mana reduction, and both of those see tons of play in Deathrattle DH.
* Not literally calling for a nerf before it's even launched - I just think this looks like the kind of card that will get out of hand quickly and make for polarized match-ups.
Very cool, but probably too expensive to be impactful.
This seems like a card that's best utilized in a deck that runs only a few beasts, all of which should be high impact. Imagine dropping two of these and getting a pair of King Krush's for 6 - that would be nuts.
Definitely a cool weapon, and on curve it seems like something you could easily get to be a 4/2 before you start losing good honorable kill targets.
The fail state here is fine, and if you can play it on curve and turn it into a 5/4 it's incredible, but to be a staple it would need to have a more meaningful impact in the midgame.
2 mana draw three with some cost reduction. Seems incredible.
Lots of value here, and since the spells end up in your hand it's also potentially a reason to play Siphon Mana and Celestial Ink Set (and maybe move a little away from Incanter's Flow)
Rend Blackhand is crying in a corner somewhere. Perfectly reasonable tech card for very specific metas.
Field of Strife might be a solid card for a token DH, and even if it's not big enough as a finisher it's honestly pretty interesting so long as there's enough Illidari generation tools available.
Mill Rogue incoming? This will certainly be a boon for that archetype in Wild, and in Standard it's at least a solid tempo boost and value tool in a class whose hero power becomes pretty irrelevant after the early stages of the game.
Seems like an auto-include for any deck that wants to run Big Demons. Maybe we get enough critical mass of support for that deck that it starts to see real play, but so far it's been more meme that dream.
Warden of Chains is a Stegodon that sometimes buffs up to a Lakkari Felhound. Honestly a 3/8 taunt for 4 is pretty strong, but Demon Hunter has a lot of competition for 4-drops that would probably be more relevant in a Big Demon deck (e.g. Vanndar Stormpike and Raging Felscreamer).
Seems like a really solid Elemental for N'Zoth, God of the Deep, and it offers a very imposing threat to your opponent if it's allowed to stick around.
It's odd to see a neutral that bundles a 2-mana class card (Defile) with a 3-mana neutral (Spider Tank) and have no cost penalty. I suppose the trick here is that Defile on 2 or 3 is way more impactful than Defile on 5, when the 1 damage breakpoints are harder to line up. So, the bundling is worse than it looks, but this is still a solid board clear for a class that has limited AOE but wants to dabbling in slower, controlling decks.
It seems that in the mid to late game this will be consistently solid, but this might be too random to find a home.
Kind of a neutral Fire Elemental. A solid showcase for the honor kill mechanic, but probably won't see constructed play.
If you're building a hyper aggro deck, this is basically free tempo.
Not the better of the two free legendary cards, but certainly the sweeter of the two.