New Hunter Weapon - Desert Spear

This seems like the first whiff from hunter this set. I assume the locust is a beast (I can't find it for sure), (it is a beast) but I don't think it matters. This card costs 1 too many mana.

Wow that's........pretty weak.  

• competes with existing 3-drops
• competes with an existing 3-drop weapon that is arguably better
• weak stats for a weapon
• "summon a 1/1 with rush" is outvalued by Springpaw
• control hunter is not a thing

Going to need a ton of support to make this worth a card slot. 

Because the beast has rush, it's essentially a 3 mana 2/3 weapon with some beast synergy. Stormforged Axe is probably the closest comparison, which hasn't seen play, so... probably same with this?

Really solid arena card though.

I too enjoy spearing desserts.

In seriousness though, this seems overcosted. The effect has obvious synergies with Hyenas and Timber Wolves but that's not enough to warrant playing the spear over Headhunter's Hatchet, which effectively does the same amount of damage for 1 mana less.

Piranha Launcher 2.0: Slightly improved, still bad.

Quote From AliRadicali

I too enjoy spearing desserts.

 

In seriousness though, this seems overcosted. The effect has obvious synergies with Hyenas and Timber Wolves but that's not enough to warrant playing the spear over Headhunter's Hatchet, which effectively does the same amount of damage for 1 mana less.

Piranha Launcher 2.0: Slightly improved, still bad.

I guess ask yourself which is better, Scavenging Hyena + immediately buff it by +4/+2 or better?  OR, for the same mana cost, buff it by +2/+1 this turn, and then +2/+1 next turn (assuming both the Hyena and your weapon are still around)?

And then you answer, "Scavenging Hyena + Hounds is objectively better in every way."

Quote From kaladin

Quote From AliRadicali

I too enjoy spearing desserts.

 

In seriousness though, this seems overcosted. The effect has obvious synergies with Hyenas and Timber Wolves but that's not enough to warrant playing the spear over Headhunter's Hatchet, which effectively does the same amount of damage for 1 mana less.

Piranha Launcher 2.0: Slightly improved, still bad.

I guess ask yourself which is better, Scavenging Hyena + immediately buff it by +4/+2 or better?  OR, for the same mana cost, buff it by +2/+1 this turn, and then +2/+1 next turn (assuming both the Hyena and your weapon are still around)?

And then you answer, "Scavenging Hyena + Hounds is objectively better in every way."

That's a false dichotomy. You could include both in your deck. If it cost one less Beast hunters would instantly cut their hatchets for this so they could run it alongside 'hounds and springpaws.

Even if we set aside the false binary your analysis is still skewed. Hounds is situational: it requires enemy minions on board. The weapon can be played proactively, so you don't have to wait for the ideal Hyena turn to use it, and it comes down earlier. Does that make Desert Spear better than Unleash the Hounds? No, and if you'd left it at that it would have been fine, but instead you're fallaciously arguing that Hounds is objectively better in every way, and that's just silly and hyperbolic.

The weapon reminds me of Piranha Launcher in the sence of both being understatted and summon beasts to compensate for latter thing. Now, granted, the new weapon is better than the MSOG one, but I agree with Kaladin and everyone else, that the spear is very underwhelming in general and there are other, more attractive competitors for the 3-mana slot.

Right now I'm just thinking how this makes Hunter's Pack a bit worse.

I don't want to run a bad 3-drop weapon in Hunter.  Not alongside other really good 3-drops.  What are you going to cut in order to make space for this? 

Quote From Chimera

I think this will only be worth playing if you can get a lot of value from the best tokens.

Exactly, the tokens might have enough value for this to be good, pirahana launcher had a niche sometimes this is so much better but all the comments thrash it

This thing is bad statted, but it has the perk of shining against Reborn/Token, which is likely to be a thing in the incoming meta (sticky minions are always powerful).

Put it in a Beast Hunter, and what you get is a solid anti-meta card in an already solid archetype.