Hearthstone 19: Patches In All The Wrong Places

[Kish]

I'll be kind of surprised if you can choose, actually. I note that none of them can be player targeted.

[Temotei]

I'll be kind of surprised if you can choose, actually. I note that none of them can be player targeted.

You can choose, according to the forum post on it.

[Kish]

Definitely more effective, then.

[otakuryoga]

will someone please post the stats on the sham legendary minion
I cannot follow the link(and this goes for 90% of card reveal sites) at work
please please please don't just post links to game sites...include stats in your spoilers

[Temotei]

will someone please post the stats on the sham legendary minion
I cannot follow the link(and this goes for 90% of card reveal sites) at work
please please please don't just post links to game sites...include stats in your spoilers

It's an 8 mana 7/7. Battlecry: If you played an elemental last turn, cast an Elemental Invocation.

The Elemental Invocations are:

Air: Deal 3 damage to all enemy minions.
Earth: Fill your board with 1/1 elementals.
Water: Restore 12 health to your hero.
Fire: Deal 6 damage to the enemy hero.

You can choose the invocation you want upon playing.

[PsyBomb]

More card thoughts...

Spoiler: Primalfin Lookout

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3 mana Neutral Minion (Murloc). 3/2, Battlecry if you control a murloc to discover a murloc. Not the biggest fan of this one at the moment, it wants a more midrange concept than Murloc decks tend to currently be. In longer-game situations, though, it'll keep you going and possibly dial in a crucial Warleader or Bilefin Oracle. Also has the advantage of being ridiculously easy to activate, since there are so many solid cheap Murlocs

Spoiler: Unite the Murlocs

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1 mana Legendary Shaman Quest. Summon 10 murlocs. Reward: Megafin, a 5/5 Murloc for 5 that battlecries to fill your hand with random Murlocs. The quest is easier than it looks, people just think in terms of Anyfin these days. Even just noodling around in Wild on the Murloc quest, though, I've easily played (not summoned, PLAYED) 6-8 per game consistently. This quest is hurt by losing Everyfin is Awesome, but even just with current things it may see play. I suspect there will be more options coming up in the set, and Megafin is basically Neptulon 2.0 letting you get a sudden infusion of mid-to-late-game fuel to re-flood the board after exhausting your hand. I give this one about a 50-50 shot of seeing at least one competitive deck, and it oddly has a self-balancing tool that if it gets too overwhelming, people will start running Hungry Crabs.

Spoiler: Kalimos, Primal Lord

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8 mana Legendary Shaman Minion (Elemental). 7/7, battlecry if you played an Elemental last turn cast an Elemental Invocation. According to the post, you get to choose which of the following occurs: 3 damage to all enemy minions, fill your board with 1/1 Elementals, restore 12 health to your hero, or deal 6 damage to the enemy hero. This is... quite good, actually. I can pretty well guarantee at least one of the invocations will be useful, and this follows the midrange curve cleanly from Fire Elemental to Sentinel to this. You wouldn't follow with Ozumat, though, since you want to play that one differently. Anyway, don't underestimate having the ability to constantly threaten 6 bonus face damage (*coughfireballcough*) any time you've played an Elemental turn 7 or later. I agree with the thought that this will combo well with Jade, since there are a couple of early-play Elemental cards that may enable this (though they aren't as threatening as Trogg or Golem).

[Seerow]

I actually really like both the Primalfin Lookout and the Shaman Legendary Spell. Murloc's main problem is with so many cheap minions, you tend to run out of steam quickly. Lookout lets you keep the pressure going, and Megafin gives you a full reload at a point when you're most likely going to be running on fumes. I like them both a lot more than Anyfin is Awesome, personally.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

Hmm. Most of the Legendaries we've seen so far would be really sore to be hit by Dirty Rat. Even Clutchmother, who doesn't have a Battlecry, would rather sit in hand to be discard fuel.

[Destro_Yersul]

Another elemental synergy card just got revealed, a neutral this time:

Spoiler

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Tol'vir Stoneshaper: 4 mana 3/5, gains taunt and divine shield if you played an elemental last turn. Which basically makes it a better Sen'jin, and some decks have run him in the past. I think the divine shield is actually fairly relevant on turn 4/5, when it's harder to remove without sacrificing something. Expect to see this in elemental decks, for sure, provided that aggro is a thing in the meta. This has a lot of potential for slowing aggro down, and the midrangy elemental decks are going to need that.

[Temotei]

Another elemental synergy card just got revealed, a neutral this time:

Spoiler

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Tol'vir Stoneshaper: 4 mana 3/5, gains taunt and divine shield if you played an elemental last turn. Which basically makes it a better Sen'jin, and some decks have run him in the past. I think the divine shield is actually fairly relevant on turn 4/5, when it's harder to remove without sacrificing something. Expect to see this in elemental decks, for sure, provided that aggro is a thing in the meta. This has a lot of potential for slowing aggro down, and the midrangy elemental decks are going to need that.

This card actually looks pretty insane.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

This card actually looks pretty insane.

It does. Play this after Tar Creeper and you have a solid wall of Elementals for turns 3 and 4.

[Rodin]

It's basically 4 mana Sunwalker, and Sunwalker is bonkers in Arena where the game is slow enough for a 6 drop to matter. It'll really shaft the non-ping classes, although at least it isn't a 4-attack minion so it can be Pained.

[Destro_Yersul]

it even shafts the ping classes. Spending 2 mana on turn 4 or 5 is really not optimal.

[PsyBomb]

I'm starting to think that hard removal is going to be absurdly important in this expansion. That guy is going to stop aggro cold.

[boomwolf]

Only if elemental decks become a thing, and we already concluded that outclassing jade is unlikely.

[Destro_Yersul]

In Shaman, at least, elementals and jades are not mutually exclusive.

[PsyBomb]

In Shaman, at least, elementals and jades are not mutually exclusive.

Yeah. They have to solve turns 1-2, but from 3 onwards they're pretty well set going deep as hybrid Midrange

[Anarion]

There's an interesting potential Rock Paper Scissors being suggested here. Elementals will crush aggro, Jade could out value elementals, and aggro could beat Jade.

If that ends up happening, it's good as long as the matchups aren't too skewed.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

Savjz revealed a new card.

Spoiler

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Hydrologist. Common Paladin Minion. Murloc. 2 mana 2/2. Battlecry: Discover a Secret.

So you can play Secrets without putting them in your deck. That's cool I guess.

[Thialfi]

Savjz revealed a new card.

Spoiler

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Hydrologist. Common Paladin Minion. Murloc. 2 mana 2/2. Battlecry: Discover a Secret.

So you can play Secrets without putting them in your deck. That's cool I guess.

It seems to be dramatically outclassed by the mage common, Arcanologist, but then the decks are trying to do different things. If I was ever going to play murloc paladin (I'm not, I find murlocs annoying), this is probably a pretty good card.

[Anarion]

It seems to be dramatically outclassed by the mage common, Arcanologist, but then the decks are trying to do different things. If I was ever going to play murloc paladin (I'm not, I find murlocs annoying), this is probably a pretty good card.

They're really different. The Mage one requires you devote deck slots to support it. That means you might draw those cards when you don't want to. The paladin one is two cards worth of value without affecting other deckbuilding choices, but you're getting worse cards in exchange.

[boomwolf]

Well, paladin secrets are mostly freaking good for the cost, if it wasn't for the card cost. This way they don't quite cost a card, so I figure it will be pretty good.

[Rodin]

There's an interesting potential Rock Paper Scissors being suggested here. Elementals will crush aggro, Jade could out value elementals, and aggro could beat Jade.

If that ends up happening, it's good as long as the matchups aren't too skewed.

Well, if you don't mind playing 100% Shamans for 3 months, sure. Do you want Aggro Shaman, Elemental Shaman, or Jade Shaman?

[Gandariel]

Well, paladin secrets are mostly freaking good for the cost, if it wasn't for the card cost. This way they don't quite cost a card, so I figure it will be pretty good.

Paladin secrets are not freaking good for the cost.
They're pretty bad. I mean Avenge was great, but it rotated out.

Anyways, weird murloc tag aside, this is Dark Peddler, but worse (because Warlock 1 mana stuff is WAY more flexible and powerful than Paladin secrets)

And I don't see much secret-love coming into the set

[Fable Wright]

Well, if you don't mind playing 100% Shamans for 3 months, sure. Do you want Aggro Shaman, Elemental Shaman, or Jade Shaman?

I don't think aggro-shaman will be a thing. Without Totem Golem or Tunnel Trogg, it loses a lot of its bite.

[Anarion]

Well, if you don't mind playing 100% Shamans for 3 months, sure. Do you want Aggro Shaman, Elemental Shaman, or Jade Shaman?

I think that's a little unfair (unless that was tongue-in-cheek, in which case well done). It's not like aggro warrior is going away, and if people don't sacrifice the deck slots for pirate hate because they're too busy trying to out value each other, the deck can easily come back around and smash the meta until everyone corrects for it. There's also aggro rogue, which performs really well against Jade decks, and I think there's a reasonable chance that the new set brings enough stuff to make hunter viable again, which could function as a check on Jade and any other more controlling decks. There's also a potentially very good mage aggro archetype with a lot of damage spells and secrets.

Elementals also look to be aimed at least at Mage as well as Shaman, and maybe priest. I also suspect that priest might fit well into the midrange area offering a deck that can do really well defending against aggro while still probably losing to the most controlling warlock or jade decks out there.

Of course, there's a chance of a bad outcome where all the shaman cards are just better than other stuff and it's just variations of shaman all warring with each other. But I'm hopeful so far that the card balance won't be that far off.

Paladin secrets are not freaking good for the cost.
They're pretty bad. I mean Avenge was great, but it rotated out.

Anyways, weird murloc tag aside, this is Dark Peddler, but worse (because Warlock 1 mana stuff is WAY more flexible and powerful than Paladin secrets)

And I don't see much secret-love coming into the set

What Gandariel said on that topic.

[Divayth Fyr]

Spoiler: Rogue Quest

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The Caverns Below

Play four minions with the same name.

Reward: Crystal Core

Spoiler: Rogue Quest Reward

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Crystal Core - 5 mana

For the rest of the game, your minions are 5/5

Spoiler: Rogue Rare: Mimic Pod

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Mimic Pod - 3 mana

Draw a card, then add a copy of it to your hand.

[The Glyphstone]

Rogue quest revealed:

Spoiler

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The Caverns Below
Legendary Rogue Quest 1
Quest: Play four minions with the same name.
Reward: Crystal Core


Crystal Core
Legendary Rogue Spell 5
For the rest of the game, your minions are 5/5.

And a card I don't think we've seen yet:

Spoiler: Mimic Pod

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Mimic Pod
Rare Rogue Spell 3
Draw a card, then add a copy of it to your hand.

EDIT: The most appropriate time ever to be ninja'ed.

[moossabi]

Spoiler: Rogue Quest

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The Caverns Below

Play four minions with the same name.

Reward: Crystal Core

Spoiler: Rogue Quest Reward

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Crystal Core - 5 mana

For the rest of the game, your minions are 5/5

Spoiler: Rogue Rare: Mimic Pod

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Mimic Pod - 3 mana

Draw a card, than add a copy of it to your hand.

If there are more neutral 1/2 elemental givers, that rogue quest is going to be really easy to accomplish.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

Spoiler: Rogue Quest

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The Caverns Below

Play four minions with the same name.

Reward: Crystal Core

I wonder if the same minion multiple times counts. Because Ancient Brewmaster, Shadowstep, Youthful Brewmaster, and Gadgetzan Ferryman can all make this pretty easy.

I'm a bit sad we're getting this as Gang Up leaves rotation though.