This is a beautiful card that just makes me smile. I have no idea how often this will work out the way I'd want it to - I get the sense the (rigged) matchmaker will set me up against Priests and Warriors every time, just hoarding their Plague of Death or their Brawl until she makes an appearance. That being said, it will be satisfying pulling a Varian Wrynn style grand entrance with a Dread Infernal and a Pit Lord or something. Even more amusing in wild, with Doomguard and Mal'Ganis and others.
I'm pretty sure that if you combine her with Buffy and Xander and Giles, nothing will be able to stop her, and the Hellmouth will be closed.
The endgame for a dedicated Fraggle Lock, this looks to be a very up and down play. While generating a bunch of Soul Fragments shouldn't be too hard, you have zero point zero control over when you will draw them, and if you're playing a Void Drinker or two, or a Soulshard Lapidary, you could end up pretty light on payoff. I get the sense that trying to make effective use of the Soul Prof will be frustrating and disappointing as often, or even more often, than it will be satisfying, but then, I've never been great at building decks that rely on powerful deckbuilding tricks, so this may work really well for those who have that skill.
Thank you sir, may I have another? Everyone needs a little discipline now and then, and with the [Hearthstone Card (Succubus) Not Found] and [Hearthstone Card (Mistress of Pain) Not Found] trapped in their respective dungeons, we've got Disciplinarian Gandling ready to step in. He feels like a swinger. . .um, swing turn. . . kind of guy to me, if you're building up some lackeys. He also can make some use out of late game 1 and 2 drop minions, especially those Galakrond enablers that the Priests always has 2 to 4 of every game - I'm assuming you get your battlecry off before the discipline is dispensed. Or is it a safe word?
So easy to reduce the cost, can make everyone forget the Mountain Giant ever existed. Folks will come to hate this thing, and will pack all their best removal tools in anticipation, because turn 4 8/8 should end up being a pretty common occurrence for Warlocks. When you're playing against a priest, I guess you can just hang back a bit, like when Activate the Obelisk is up, and try to build a board to overwhelm (and then get wrecked by Soul Mirror or Plague of Death, haha). Should see a lot of play, but I think in the end everyone will adjust to it, and it will only feel OP when the draw just doesn't go your way.
One of the new big guns, a reason to believe in brute force again, the key card for Fraggle Lock - gotta love this guy. I almost can't imagine not running him (or her, I suppose - do Voidthings have gender?) unless I'm just stubbornly opposed to all Soul Fragment hijinks, or just blindly loyal to the Chillwind Yeti. Another card we'll be seeing a lot of very soon.
Outcast is a mechanic that drives me crazy - whenever I play Demon Hunter, I spend too much energy trying to get that outcast bonus, and the RNG Draw gods just love to mess with me. I can just see my mulligan now. . . card one, Archwitch Willow, card two, Felosophy. That said, getting another Spirit Jailer to score more Soul Fragments seems to be the key use for this card, though later on you can double a big ugly Demon Hunter card or Kanrethad Prime for maximum entertainment value. It'll be a fun play around card that may end up being reliably strong.
This is going to be a favorite for me, I can sense it, especially in the late game. Tap-BOOM to literally anything standing in your path is going to feel really good. . . even the anticipation of it, savoring those moments, knowing that soon, soon your opponent is going to drop some big dumb thing in your path to block you, threaten you, trying to force concession. . . Tap-BOOM.
Realistically, this is a nice tool, but not a meta-breaker - someone earlier mentioned Siphon Soul and that's pretty legit. You'll be able to remove the Elusive guys as well with the Brittlebone Destroyer, which is niche nice (your days of ruling the meta are over Soggoth the Slitherer!), but both Warlock and Priest can generally handle threat removal. This is just a fun way to do it.
In a Fragmented Zoo, this is a big deal card, it will just be a matter of whether that particular build will be better than a control Fraggle or a classic Zoo. Without the "Deal 3", it's just a lesser Spider Tank, so you have to commit to it. For me, this is a bit less sexy than most of the new Scholo cards, we'll see how she flies.
A nice Darkbomb replacement in most cases for Wild - the lack of face damage is a drawback, but not a huge one to me, as I'm not usually counting on a 2-cost spell to secure my victories. In Standard this will probably only be a staple in dedicated Fragment decks (I suggest Fraggle Lock as the name, but I'm old, haha). 3 damage on 2 is always fine, but I think non Fraggle Warlocks will usually have other plans and needs.
A very old school type of card, reminiscent of Nerubian Egg and Haunted Creeper from the Naxx days. Warlocks generally have no trouble blowing up their own guys, so this will be easy to take advantage of when you want to get all Zoo-ey. The discard synergy is the cherry on top, for wild players especially - eggs and silverware and fists a'-flyin'!
Solid early AoE, can pop your spiders for you while clearing out the resistance, throws some shards into the deck - versatile, exactly the sort of thing I like to see in Warlock. Playable in anything, required in nothing.
A short while from now, when one of those data collection sites puts out a list of Most Played Cards, I fully expect to see this little guy right up near the top. The [Hearthstone Card (Soul Shard) Not Found] mechanic looks to be a reasonably versatile and fun one, usable as a splash for some healing even if you're not going for the full package, and a 1/3 body on a 1 cost minion is never bad. Could even bring right back with Raise Dead for some extra shards. I'm thinking of it entirely in terms of Warlock, because that's my "brand", but I would imagine Demon Hunter could make use of those shards as well (I should have checked the DH soul shard cards before I wrote this, haha), so I get the feeling that, about 20% of the time, we'll be seeing someone lead off with this. Let's all hope his entrance flourish isn't too annoying :)
Some day soon, for shits and giggles, I'll need to build a deck with this, Dark Possession, and Call of the Void, and just rollllll. This one seems to be the obvious best of the three, though kudos to that niche deck that wants to damage its own minions to pick up a demon - [Hearthstone Card (Gurubashi Berzerker) Not Found] Warlock incoming!
A really great card that hits the flavor note of both classes really well - I haven't seen any video of it in use, but I'm assuming it just randomly generates two dead cards in your hand, so you could end up with a lackey and a Frog if you don't build for it, or use it too late. Fun, definitely my kind of card, reminds me of all that graveyard recursion stuff in Magic.
I guess I'd gotten up to 10, I received one of those Champion wildcards - I'm finding the game pretty fun so far, shielding myself from knowing anything about the meta or even doing any research on the individual cards, just playing and exploring it. It's got just enough to differentiate it from Hearthstone and Magic to work, and right now is taking up the slack for Hearthstone, which has reached a point where i'm having trouble finding the fun.
It could be interesting, though they'd probably have to make up some special rules. Magic's EDH has certain deckbuilding restrictions built in due to the colored lands and commander's colors, which allows for a wild variety of EDH style decks, whereas I think that in HS, people would quickly whittle down the worthwhile commanders to a quick few and just about everyone would be playing the same deck. Also, subsequent plays of the commander cost two more each time, which would knock out a lot of commanders after one play, so you're either have to eliminate that aspect, or add mana bubbles beyond 10.
I would be interested to see how they could build it though, esp since commander games are often played in groups of 4 or more Maybe a rank of specially created Boss cards that have varying abilities and their own rules, or that can be played at 1,4, 7, and 10 mana with different effects each time. Could be pretty cool.
Glad you mentioned that non-exclusivity for the card sleeves - I was kinda disappointed when I saw the Year of the Rat sleeve in the store the other day.
Well, I've read your points, and I can understand perhaps while you feel the way you do, even if I cannot agree with them. I, too, have a full time job and other things in my life, and I'm likely older than you, and did not grow up playing these sorts of games. Having the time to practice and play is integral to being good at any sort of activity, and I'm sure if either of us had more time we could be better than we are. This, however, is no one's fault, and it is not unfair, in my opinion, that someone may have an advantage over me in a situation because I don't have time to learn everything current in the game.
To be honest, I'm actually not all that great at either HS or Magic, but I enjoy playing them, and I'd love to be able to earn the dumb Legend cardback and the nice rewards people get for finishing up at the top of the ranks. I've heard it takes a lot of time, a lot of grinding, and I'm sure some innate skills in probabilities helps as well. This probably means I won't have any of those rewards, but luckily, there are other reasons to play the game as well, including the fun of collecting the cards and cardbacks, the art, the links to Warcraft in HS case, storylines, what have you. To ignore the desires of portions of the player base because it might make it slightly harder for someone else to recognize a card for a few games at rank whatever seems a bit narrow-minded on the face of it, and maybe even a little selfish. I spend money on these things like everyone else, and I don't think it's "inconsiderate" of me to enjoy it in my own way.
Do I need alternate art in Hearthstone? No, not really - I also don't need animation or sound effects or glowy highlights on my cards. Truthfully, the game doesn't need art at all. But I would like it, because it would enhance my enjoyment of the game, and crazily enough, I feel like my enjoyment matters as much as anyone else's.
It's not that hard to learn a second piece of artwork. . . plus, there are words all over the cards. . . plus, you're the one putting the cards in your deck, I would imagine you know what it is. . .
I can't imagine why this would be a problem. . . hell, you have plenty of time each turn, especially in HS, i think maybe you'd have time to read the cards if you're actually engaged with the game, if for some reason you can't remember anything.
This is a beautiful card that just makes me smile. I have no idea how often this will work out the way I'd want it to - I get the sense the (rigged) matchmaker will set me up against Priests and Warriors every time, just hoarding their Plague of Death or their Brawl until she makes an appearance. That being said, it will be satisfying pulling a Varian Wrynn style grand entrance with a Dread Infernal and a Pit Lord or something. Even more amusing in wild, with Doomguard and Mal'Ganis and others.
I'm pretty sure that if you combine her with Buffy and Xander and Giles, nothing will be able to stop her, and the Hellmouth will be closed.
The endgame for a dedicated Fraggle Lock, this looks to be a very up and down play. While generating a bunch of Soul Fragments shouldn't be too hard, you have zero point zero control over when you will draw them, and if you're playing a Void Drinker or two, or a Soulshard Lapidary, you could end up pretty light on payoff. I get the sense that trying to make effective use of the Soul Prof will be frustrating and disappointing as often, or even more often, than it will be satisfying, but then, I've never been great at building decks that rely on powerful deckbuilding tricks, so this may work really well for those who have that skill.
Thank you sir, may I have another? Everyone needs a little discipline now and then, and with the [Hearthstone Card (Succubus) Not Found] and [Hearthstone Card (Mistress of Pain) Not Found] trapped in their respective dungeons, we've got Disciplinarian Gandling ready to step in. He feels like a swinger. . .um, swing turn. . . kind of guy to me, if you're building up some lackeys. He also can make some use out of late game 1 and 2 drop minions, especially those Galakrond enablers that the Priests always has 2 to 4 of every game - I'm assuming you get your battlecry off before the discipline is dispensed. Or is it a safe word?
So easy to reduce the cost, can make everyone forget the Mountain Giant ever existed. Folks will come to hate this thing, and will pack all their best removal tools in anticipation, because turn 4 8/8 should end up being a pretty common occurrence for Warlocks. When you're playing against a priest, I guess you can just hang back a bit, like when Activate the Obelisk is up, and try to build a board to overwhelm (and then get wrecked by Soul Mirror or Plague of Death, haha). Should see a lot of play, but I think in the end everyone will adjust to it, and it will only feel OP when the draw just doesn't go your way.
One of the new big guns, a reason to believe in brute force again, the key card for Fraggle Lock - gotta love this guy. I almost can't imagine not running him (or her, I suppose - do Voidthings have gender?) unless I'm just stubbornly opposed to all Soul Fragment hijinks, or just blindly loyal to the Chillwind Yeti. Another card we'll be seeing a lot of very soon.
Outcast is a mechanic that drives me crazy - whenever I play Demon Hunter, I spend too much energy trying to get that outcast bonus, and the RNG Draw gods just love to mess with me. I can just see my mulligan now. . . card one, Archwitch Willow, card two, Felosophy. That said, getting another Spirit Jailer to score more Soul Fragments seems to be the key use for this card, though later on you can double a big ugly Demon Hunter card or Kanrethad Prime for maximum entertainment value. It'll be a fun play around card that may end up being reliably strong.
This is going to be a favorite for me, I can sense it, especially in the late game. Tap-BOOM to literally anything standing in your path is going to feel really good. . . even the anticipation of it, savoring those moments, knowing that soon, soon your opponent is going to drop some big dumb thing in your path to block you, threaten you, trying to force concession. . . Tap-BOOM.
Realistically, this is a nice tool, but not a meta-breaker - someone earlier mentioned Siphon Soul and that's pretty legit. You'll be able to remove the Elusive guys as well with the Brittlebone Destroyer, which is niche nice (your days of ruling the meta are over Soggoth the Slitherer!), but both Warlock and Priest can generally handle threat removal. This is just a fun way to do it.
In a Fragmented Zoo, this is a big deal card, it will just be a matter of whether that particular build will be better than a control Fraggle or a classic Zoo. Without the "Deal 3", it's just a lesser Spider Tank, so you have to commit to it. For me, this is a bit less sexy than most of the new Scholo cards, we'll see how she flies.
A nice Darkbomb replacement in most cases for Wild - the lack of face damage is a drawback, but not a huge one to me, as I'm not usually counting on a 2-cost spell to secure my victories. In Standard this will probably only be a staple in dedicated Fragment decks (I suggest Fraggle Lock as the name, but I'm old, haha). 3 damage on 2 is always fine, but I think non Fraggle Warlocks will usually have other plans and needs.
A very old school type of card, reminiscent of Nerubian Egg and Haunted Creeper from the Naxx days. Warlocks generally have no trouble blowing up their own guys, so this will be easy to take advantage of when you want to get all Zoo-ey. The discard synergy is the cherry on top, for wild players especially - eggs and silverware and fists a'-flyin'!
Solid early AoE, can pop your spiders for you while clearing out the resistance, throws some shards into the deck - versatile, exactly the sort of thing I like to see in Warlock. Playable in anything, required in nothing.
A short while from now, when one of those data collection sites puts out a list of Most Played Cards, I fully expect to see this little guy right up near the top. The [Hearthstone Card (Soul Shard) Not Found] mechanic looks to be a reasonably versatile and fun one, usable as a splash for some healing even if you're not going for the full package, and a 1/3 body on a 1 cost minion is never bad. Could even bring right back with Raise Dead for some extra shards. I'm thinking of it entirely in terms of Warlock, because that's my "brand", but I would imagine Demon Hunter could make use of those shards as well (I should have checked the DH soul shard cards before I wrote this, haha), so I get the feeling that, about 20% of the time, we'll be seeing someone lead off with this. Let's all hope his entrance flourish isn't too annoying :)
Some day soon, for shits and giggles, I'll need to build a deck with this, Dark Possession, and Call of the Void, and just rollllll. This one seems to be the obvious best of the three, though kudos to that niche deck that wants to damage its own minions to pick up a demon - [Hearthstone Card (Gurubashi Berzerker) Not Found] Warlock incoming!
A really great card that hits the flavor note of both classes really well - I haven't seen any video of it in use, but I'm assuming it just randomly generates two dead cards in your hand, so you could end up with a lackey and a Frog if you don't build for it, or use it too late. Fun, definitely my kind of card, reminds me of all that graveyard recursion stuff in Magic.
I guess I'd gotten up to 10, I received one of those Champion wildcards - I'm finding the game pretty fun so far, shielding myself from knowing anything about the meta or even doing any research on the individual cards, just playing and exploring it. It's got just enough to differentiate it from Hearthstone and Magic to work, and right now is taking up the slack for Hearthstone, which has reached a point where i'm having trouble finding the fun.
I just started playing the game a few days ago - what's in there anyway?
It could be interesting, though they'd probably have to make up some special rules. Magic's EDH has certain deckbuilding restrictions built in due to the colored lands and commander's colors, which allows for a wild variety of EDH style decks, whereas I think that in HS, people would quickly whittle down the worthwhile commanders to a quick few and just about everyone would be playing the same deck. Also, subsequent plays of the commander cost two more each time, which would knock out a lot of commanders after one play, so you're either have to eliminate that aspect, or add mana bubbles beyond 10.
I would be interested to see how they could build it though, esp since commander games are often played in groups of 4 or more Maybe a rank of specially created Boss cards that have varying abilities and their own rules, or that can be played at 1,4, 7, and 10 mana with different effects each time. Could be pretty cool.
Glad you mentioned that non-exclusivity for the card sleeves - I was kinda disappointed when I saw the Year of the Rat sleeve in the store the other day.
Well, I've read your points, and I can understand perhaps while you feel the way you do, even if I cannot agree with them. I, too, have a full time job and other things in my life, and I'm likely older than you, and did not grow up playing these sorts of games. Having the time to practice and play is integral to being good at any sort of activity, and I'm sure if either of us had more time we could be better than we are. This, however, is no one's fault, and it is not unfair, in my opinion, that someone may have an advantage over me in a situation because I don't have time to learn everything current in the game.
To be honest, I'm actually not all that great at either HS or Magic, but I enjoy playing them, and I'd love to be able to earn the dumb Legend cardback and the nice rewards people get for finishing up at the top of the ranks. I've heard it takes a lot of time, a lot of grinding, and I'm sure some innate skills in probabilities helps as well. This probably means I won't have any of those rewards, but luckily, there are other reasons to play the game as well, including the fun of collecting the cards and cardbacks, the art, the links to Warcraft in HS case, storylines, what have you. To ignore the desires of portions of the player base because it might make it slightly harder for someone else to recognize a card for a few games at rank whatever seems a bit narrow-minded on the face of it, and maybe even a little selfish. I spend money on these things like everyone else, and I don't think it's "inconsiderate" of me to enjoy it in my own way.
Do I need alternate art in Hearthstone? No, not really - I also don't need animation or sound effects or glowy highlights on my cards. Truthfully, the game doesn't need art at all. But I would like it, because it would enhance my enjoyment of the game, and crazily enough, I feel like my enjoyment matters as much as anyone else's.
It's not that hard to learn a second piece of artwork. . . plus, there are words all over the cards. . . plus, you're the one putting the cards in your deck, I would imagine you know what it is. . .
I can't imagine why this would be a problem. . . hell, you have plenty of time each turn, especially in HS, i think maybe you'd have time to read the cards if you're actually engaged with the game, if for some reason you can't remember anything.