Hearthstone 22: Evening the Odds

[Zevox]

Well I already know that in wild, it synergizes well with feign death. They also work as anti-AoE because they're instant 8 damage to the face.

True about Feign Death, though I really tend not to care about Wild - only reason I'd venture into that is to play classic Handlock a bit. And as anti-AoE goes, they seem a tad counter-productive due to taking up so much space on your board that it becomes hard to have a board that demands AoE.

Play Dead. Terrorscale Stalker.

I could see a weird combo with Seeping Oozeling, one of those two, and something like Abomination or Primordial Drake. Spells like Grievous Bite and Explosive Shot can also target friendlies. The former also forces the opponent to look for a silence or eat 8+ damage to the face AND trade at least one minion or a spell into a 5/5 Taunt.

I don't think it will be a particularly GOOD combo, but I can see a meme deck built around it and the dream of nuking your opponent's face with a bunch of pseudo-Boom Bots.

Play Dead seems like a bad use of that card - you've basically turned it into an Arcane Shot that can only be aimed at the face. Terrorscale Stalker is a bit better since it comes attached to a 3/3, but still nothing overly impressive.

I suppose Seeping Oozeling to get more of them could be a thing, but that only helps if you have ways to activate them. And Abomination and Primordial Drake kind of fall under what I said about Geddon.

[Rynjin]

Kind of, but I think it could work in some kind of hypothetical Control Hunter where you stall them out, chip away at them, and then finish them off with a burst of damage at the end.

Might pair well with the 2 Mana Infest but Mechs card to give you a bit of refill at the last edge of the game.

[otakuryoga]

FYI - All the new cards are being added to the page I linked above in real time, including that one. Just to save you some typing

but..

People have gotten annoyed in the past when we haven't posted full stats for things, because some of them look at this thread from work or somewhere that the various reveal sites are blocked.

yeah..that

Anyway though, thoughts on today's cards:

Spoiler

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Neutral
7: Star Aligner - Well, the name's apt - the stars really need to align to ever use that ability. Pack filler, and even in arena he's just War Golem 99% of the time.

alternatively..shot in the arm to good ol cubelock
not hard for cubelock to get 3 or 4 of the charging 5/7's out..(and run one into something to go from 4 to 3)

[Psyren]

but..

yeah..that

It's your wrist, pal. *shrug*

alternatively..shot in the arm to good ol cubelock
not hard for cubelock to get 3 or 4 of the charging 5/7's out..(and run one into something to go from 4 to 3)

...Oh crap, I forgot about Dreadlord. 7 to the enemy's whole board and 17 to the face is actually not bad.

Well I already know that in wild, it synergizes well with feign death. They also work as anti-AoE because they're instant 8 damage to the face.

...But... why the heck would you AoE them? The hunter has willingly given up 4 board slots on crappy minions you never have to interact with. (5 if you consider that the 5/5 is woefully overcosted.)

Sure he might magnetize them next turn... but if he had 4 minions he could've dropped in one turn, he could've just done that last turn.

[Rynjin]

...But... why the heck would you AoE them? The hunter has willingly given up 4 board slots on crappy minions you never have to interact with. (5 if you consider that the 5/5 is woefully overcosted.)

Sure he might magnetize them next turn... but if he had 4 minions he could've dropped in one turn, he could've just done that last turn.

That's his point. You're disincentivized to use board clears while those are up, in a way.

In practice it essentially makes Blizzard like smacking a 4/2 Taunt with a weapon. Not a huge discouragement when put that way, but still some of one. The discouragement increases as the number of bots grows and become a potentially bigger threat, though so does available board real estate decrease.

Potential mind games, especially when enemy health is low. Sure they can Dragon's Fury their Flamestrike to clear the board, but eating a potential 8 damage when they only have 10 left is a gamble, and likely leaves the Hunter the board (if he doesn't outright win in that scenario via non-Deathstalker hero power).

Combined with a future Mark of the Lotus style board buff and it could be a pretty great combo. Hell, something like Dire Wolf alpha could force the issue. It's not like Magnetize is the ONLY Minion buff available, after all.

[Psyren]

That's his point. You're disincentivized to use board clears while those are up, in a way.

Not my point. I meant, why would you need to?

Board clears are for if your opponent has a board full of threats. A bunch of 0/2s are not threats, even if they can be "buffed later."

Compare this to casting Spellstone. You leave this alone, you might take 6-9 damage next turn, and even then most of that is from the 5/5 which you can deal with individually. You leave the wolves alone, you're definitely taking 12, maybe even 16 if the followup is Leokk, to say nothing of eating KC or hero power on top of that.

[Rynjin]

Not my point. I meant, why would you need to?

Board clears are for if your opponent has a board full of threats. A bunch of 0/2s are not threats, even if they can be "buffed later."

Compare this to casting Spellstone. You leave this alone, you might take 4-6 damage next turn. You leave the wolves alone, you're definitely taking 12, maybe even 16 if the followup is Leokk, to say nothing of eating KC or hero power on top of that.

If there's a 5/5, a 5/4 (the Oozeling), a 3/3 (the Stalker) and two 0/2's, you might consider dropping a Flamestrike/Ping, or a Dragon's Fury is my point. This makes you take 4 damage, and produces 4 more 0/2s, which can be easily buffed from hand the next turn, or played alongside other sticky minions like Savannah Highmane or that new mech that summons a pair of Annoy-o-Trons and a 4/4 or whatever. You're now again faced with the choice of clearing board (and taking 8 damage), trading 4 minion attacks to knock off the Annoy-o-Trons (or killing the Highmane, leaving the 2/2s to deal with), or doing nothing about it.

Edit: Forgot it summoned 4 by default, so you'd have 3 0/2s for 6 damage in the first case.

[Geno9999]

Void Ripper can be conveniently played after Boommaster at 10 Mana, turning the 0/2 minions into 2/0s and from there into 8 face damage. The legendary is still terrible, I don't think this is going to find itself in too many Mech or Deathrattle Hunters, if at all.

The 0/2 Goblin Bombs have also been confirmed as being collectible neutral commons. Woo.

[Mando Knight]

If there's a 5/5, a 5/4 (the Oozeling), a 3/3 (the Stalker) and two 0/2's, you might consider dropping a Flamestrike/Ping, or a Dragon's Fury is my point. This makes you take 4 damage, and produces 4 more 0/2s, which can be easily buffed from hand the next turn, or played alongside other sticky minions like Savannah Highmane or that new mech that summons a pair of Annoy-o-Trons and a 4/4 or whatever. You're now again faced with the choice of clearing board (and taking 8 damage), trading 4 minion attacks to knock off the Annoy-o-Trons (or killing the Highmane, leaving the 2/2s to deal with), or doing nothing about it.

Edit: Forgot it summoned 4 by default, so you'd have 3 0/2s for 6 damage in the first case.

Boommaster Flark summons the Goblin Bombs as a Battlecry, making Seeping Oozeling (which copies a Deathrattle at random from the deck with its Battlecry) irrelevant. You're not producing even more Goblin Bombs without a bounce effect.

[Rynjin]

Boommaster Flark summons the Goblin Bombs as a Battlecry, making Seeping Oozeling (which copies a Deathrattle at random from the deck with its Battlecry) irrelevant. You're not producing even more Goblin Bombs without a bounce effect.

Whoops. I misread the card as "Deathrattle: Summon 4 0/2 bots". Hm.

Not sure how to make that work then.

[Psyren]

Whoops. I misread the card as "Deathrattle: Summon 4 0/2 bots". Hm.

Not sure how to make that work then.

All good. I was sure I had misread it too. It just seems bad.

And knowing my luck, it's the one I'll get - just like I got Shaw when the only Hunter deck I play is Spellhunter

[Rynjin]

On the bright side, at least Shaw is a good card.

I got Splintergraft. A Golden Splintergraft, which takes the sting out, but absolute trash nonetheless.

And yeah, I'm disappointed. I like my misinformed headcanon version of the card way better, I was already planning a deck around it. =/

[Zevox]

alternatively..shot in the arm to good ol cubelock
not hard for cubelock to get 3 or 4 of the charging 5/7's out..(and run one into something to go from 4 to 3)

Hm... while that sounded like a fair point at first, I don't think that would be likely to work either. Simply because it's too much mana - Cube is 5, which means it can't be played the same turn as Star Aligner even before you add Pact or something to pop it, making the combo unreliable as heck, and sticking you with a War Golem in your deck whenever it doesn't work out. And if you get two Doomguards out via Cube and your opponent does nothing about them for a turn, odds are you've already won anyway.

[Psyren]

I just realized Crystology pulls both Lynessa and Primalfin Champion, so I'm expecting it to probably show up in some kind of buff paladin deck (e.g. Quest Paladin.)

[Seerow]

I just realized Crystology pulls both Lynessa and Primalfin Champion, so I'm expecting it to probably show up in some kind of buff paladin deck (e.g. Quest Paladin.)

Good call on that. It's probably one of the few situations where it'd be a better value than Call to Arms (which is mostly trash post-nerf). As someone who has tried to make buff paladin work every expansion since pulling a Golden Galvadon on day one of Ungoro, I look forward to trying this out.

[Psyren]

Yeah, CtA is what made me look at it; I was wondering if Crystology would be any good in Even Paladin. It's... not, but it's nice to think of it for this archetype instead, which I always liked better than the even/odd rushdown decks anyway.

BTW, as far as making Flarky and his 0/2 bombs work, one card I had overlooked completely was Void Ripper, which would be a cheap and easy way for a Hunter to set off all his bombs at once. Even more interestingly, Flark and VR are both odd cards, and you have the mana to drop both in one turn if you make it to endgame, need just a bit of damage to seal the deal, and they've already taken both of your Kill Commands to the face. So Odd Face Hunter could make a comeback.

Speaking of Kill Command, it strikes me that Nightmare Amalgam, on top of ALSO being Odd. is both a Beast and a Mech - so you could get some magnetize and other mech synergies going without giving up your 5 damage burst spell.

[Zevox]

Oh, that's right, today's new cards.

Spoiler

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Neutral
6: Mechanical Whelp - Reminds me of Skelemancer, which turned out not to be so good, but this one loses the "must die on your opponent's turn" restriction in exchange for +1 cost and -1/-1 to the minion it summons (and gaining the mech tag). Could succeed where Skelemancer failed, particularly in Doctor Boom Warrior decks, where it gets Rush after Boom is played.
6: Missile Launcher - So, it's a weaker, more expensive Despicable Dreadlord that also hits your stuff, and both faces. Eh, not seeing a lot of hope for this one, unless Odd Paladin overruns the meta or something. It is magnetic too I guess, but I don't see a ton of reason you'd want to magnetize it to something else either.

Hunter
2: Fireworks Tech - If a mech Hunter is a thing, this will be a part of it, and likely no small part of why it becomes a thing. Very competitive stats and effect.

Paladin
2: Crystology - Two mana draw two specific cards looks good. Granted, Small-Time Recruits never quite got that good despite seeming like it should be, but 1 attack minions can be better than 1-cost minions by far - Stonehill Defender, Tar Creeper, or the new 2-mana 1/5 mech, to name a few. Will likely see play in many Paladin decks, though perhaps as a one-of in some.

Rogue
4: Academic Espionage - This is either really good or totally worthless, with little chance of anything in between. A few of Trump's ideas for it seem feasible, like combining it with Myra's Unstable Element. It will just need testing to find out how good or bad a deck with/built around this truly is.

Shaman
6: Eureka! - Combo card waiting to happen, except that Shaman already has a combo deck that this doesn't work with and which will be hard to dethrone from that role. I'm not seeing it as good enough as a pure value card either, particularly since pure value has never quite worked for Shaman. My expectations for this are thus low.

Warrior
1: Eternium Rover - Solid anti-aggro 1-drop, and a body to slap magnetizes onto. Definitely a candidate for a Mech/Doctor Boom Warrior deck, though if the meta is more control-oriented it may not make the cut even if such a deck is good.
9: The Boomship - Speaking of control metas, holy moly, a Control Warrior would love to have this bad boy in a slow enough meta. The only question is whether Control Warrior will be a thing again, and whether the meta will be slow enough to run a 9-mana card just to summon a bunch of other big cards from your hand at once. I'm pretty skeptical of that myself, but if it happens, I might well want to play that deck.

[Mando Knight]

The meme play with Missile Launcher is in Wild: a turn 8 Snowchugger -> Magnetize Missile Launcher play freezes the entire rest of the board at the end of your turn, every turn, forcing your opponent to either find a way to remove the missile-chugger or sit around doing almost nothing until the Mage finishes building whatever combo they're stalling for.

[Spore]

The meme play with Missile Launcher is in Wild: a turn 8 Snowchugger -> Magnetize Missile Launcher play freezes the entire rest of the board at the end of your turn, every turn, forcing your opponent to either find a way to remove the missile-chugger or sit around doing almost nothing until the Mage finishes building whatever combo they're stalling for.

I can't even begin how many weak points this plan has. But I'll try: hard removal, card generators (LK, Ysera), damage removal (6/7 is not THAT hard), cards that benefit from being attacked (it's not like Acolyte of Pain is uncommon), weapons (though hampered), the combo requires two cards that are terrible individually if you don't have any other synergies. Also Mech Mage finishes up combat at turn 6-7 the latest. You'd more likely use Snow Chugger before. Honestly I can see a Snowchugger into Zilliax to remove two targets or one target and freeze the enemy hero (while leeching for 10 life) but not Missile Launcher.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

On the other hand, Control Mages run Frost Nova, which only ever freezes for one turn. I think having a pair of cards that says "deal with me or be permafrozen" is pretty good. Especially since it's almost entirely weapon immune (barring a hero swap).

[Psyren]

The meme play with Missile Launcher is in Wild: a turn 8 Snowchugger -> Magnetize Missile Launcher play freezes the entire rest of the board at the end of your turn, every turn, forcing your opponent to either find a way to remove the missile-chugger or sit around doing almost nothing until the Mage finishes building whatever combo they're stalling for.

Cute, but if you can't deal with one creature in Wild, you were probably dead anyway.

More likely, Missile Launcher will be a budget replacement for Baron Geddon in a couple of decks. Maybe there'll be a way to grant all mechs Lifesteal?

[Zevox]

Spoiler: Today's new cards from the gallery.

Show

Mage
1: Shooting Star - Well, that's efficient for what it is. Often it's a 1-mana Arcane Explosion. The question is, does any deck want a tiny AoE like this? Barring something like Odd Paladin overrunning the meta, I have a hard time seeing this being that desirable.
4: Cosmic Anomaly - Cool name, meh card. Granted, a lot better than any spell damage +2 card we've seen before, aside from perhaps the one-use battlecry one from this same set, but still, I don't know that spell damage on a 4-mana minion is desirable enough to make it see play.

Paladin
2: Crystalsmith Kangor - Eh... I don't know. Paladin has liked a few healing cards at various times in its history, but right now, they're not really a big thing. Maybe if one of the unrevealed cards goes well with it it can find a place?
5: Shrink Ray - Cool, but I can't help but think that the main thing you'd want to use this for is exactly the same as you would for Equality, which makes it not worth the +3 mana. Heck, if you have anything on the board, you'd prefer Equality to keep their attack scores up. So it only really beats Equality when used against a decently threatening enemy board but you lack the AoE to follow up and finish them off. Would you run it in addition to Equality in a Control Paladin then? ...maybe? I don't know, I'm not enthusiastic about this one, but I also don't want to write it off completely.

Priest
6: Zerek, Master Cloner - Interesting. But aside from Power Word: Shield, what's Priest got to activate this guy with? Because it's going to take more than that to make him feasible, and I'm blanking on other good options. I mean, there's Divine Spirit and Inner Fire, but you don't want those just to activate this guy's deathrattle, you want to combo them into a kill.

Rogue
5: Myra Rotspring - Why couldn't she have been printed back while Jade was still in standard? Ugh. At the moment, not really seeing this one. I mean, she's value, sure, but not insane value, and nothing that's simply value has ever made a deck in Rogue work.

I can't even begin how many weak points this plan has. But I'll try: hard removal, card generators (LK, Ysera), damage removal (6/7 is not THAT hard), cards that benefit from being attacked (it's not like Acolyte of Pain is uncommon), weapons (though hampered), the combo requires two cards that are terrible individually if you don't have any other synergies. Also Mech Mage finishes up combat at turn 6-7 the latest. You'd more likely use Snow Chugger before. Honestly I can see a Snowchugger into Zilliax to remove two targets or one target and freeze the enemy hero (while leeching for 10 life) but not Missile Launcher.

Weapons aren't a weakness - Missile Launcher hits face, so with Snowchugger's effect, no weapons are getting used. And Snowchugger isn't terrible individually, it was a Mech Mage staple.

I'll give it this much, it's the best idea I've seen for Missile Launcher. But even if it worked so well it was worth running Missile Launcher for, which I think is questionable, it's wild only, so meh, don't really care.

Cute, but if you can't deal with one creature in Wild, you were probably dead anyway.

More likely, Missile Launcher will be a budget replacement for Baron Geddon in a couple of decks. Maybe there'll be a way to grant all mechs Lifesteal?

What decks would want a budget replacement for Baron Geddon though? Most decks don't want Baron Geddon in the first place. The only one I think I've seen him run in anytime recently is Control Mage for his synergy with Frost Lich Jaina, and Missile Launcher sure can't replace him there.

[Seerow]

Cute, but if you can't deal with one creature in Wild, you were probably dead anyway.

More likely, Missile Launcher will be a budget replacement for Baron Geddon in a couple of decks. Maybe there'll be a way to grant all mechs Lifesteal?

Are there any poisonous mechs out there? If so watch out.

Also potential synergy with self damage warrior but I think they finally gave up on pushing that

[Geno9999]

I think Shrink Ray could find it's home in Odd Paladin. Right now, Odd Paladin doesn't have access to Equality or any AoE. Odd Paladin is already good at filling up the board, and this only makes it easier for the 1/1 Recruits to trade efficiently.

[Gluteus_Maximus]

I like this expansion so far. I've been playing around with deck builders, and I've found it's easier to figure out what's good in control, combo, and midrange decks than aggro.

I just know that when the expansion hits I'm going to craft Electra and Flobbidinous Floop if I don't open them or get them for free. Also Malygos. Here I come, Malygos Shaman and Flobbidinous Malygos Druid!

[Zevox]

I think Shrink Ray could find it's home in Odd Paladin. Right now, Odd Paladin doesn't have access to Equality or any AoE. Odd Paladin is already good at filling up the board, and this only makes it easier for the 1/1 Recruits to trade efficiently.

Eh, maybe? I don't know, Odd Paladin is very aggressive, and Shrink Ray is pretty blatantly a Control deck's card. It works if all they've got is 1/1s and they need to deal with some bigger things, but it's actively detrimental to Odd Paladin's board after they've dropped something like Fungalmancer, Level Up, or Scalebane. And it's a pretty big mana cost for an effect whose utility to their gameplan seems iffy.

[Psyren]

Now I wonder - does Zerek come back WITH the spells you put on it?

Are there any poisonous mechs out there? If so watch out.

Toxic Arrow?

Also potential synergy with self damage warrior but I think they finally gave up on pushing that

Now that you mention it - Sudden Genesis?

[Lord Raziere]

Me, I'm thinking of a Lab Recruiter + Fal'Dorei Strider combo. that and Pogo-Hopper. its a bit slow, but you can go infinite with it. or oooh! Lab recruiter into Star Aligner. now you have three Star aligners to fulfill the condition....now if only you could play them all on the same turn, then the three Star Aligners would all deal 7 damage, for a total of 21 to the enemy......but where would you get the way to cut the cost?

[Zevox]

Now I wonder - does Zerek come back WITH the spells you put on it?

I can't imagine it does. If it did, it would say so, like how that Paladin legendary spell specifies that the mechs it revives keep Magnetize buffs.

[Gluteus_Maximus]

Reckless Experimenter on 5 into Mecanical Whelp and Cube on 6 then trade one whelp is a turn 7 Star Aligner combo.