Guaranteed poisonous hmmm… Baron Geddon would be an odd choice in a Hunter deck but it could be lulzy – or maybe Dreadscale > Bestial Wrath > Toxic Arrow.

Either way it’s basically a board clear.

This is fairly similar to Warlock’s Unlicensed Apothecary – a 5/5 with a massive downside when *you* do something – play a card in this case rather than summon a minion.

As such, it probably should only cost 3 – putting it in the same bracket as the Apothecary and King Mukla – at 4 it’s just not worth it.

The thing that makes Thalnos is the Deathrattle – “draw a card” is definitely preferable to Divine Shield, especially in Miracle-type decks.

However… with Hellfire, Felfire or Dragonfire Potions – anything that damages all minions basically – you can get the SDI and keep a minion on the board, albeit a 1/1 minion but still. I can actually see this getting some use, perhaps with Priest or Warlock.

That’s exactly what I was thinking, and even with the “Beast” tag, which opened up synergy with Houndmaster, she still wasn’t played… though I did try it for a while.

Could be a significant buff to Lay on Hands…

Could also, if you’re going for a “big” package work with the Freeze abilities Shaman is getting – Moorabi, Cryostasis, Voodoo Hexxer, Icebreaker plus Glacial Shard and even Frozen Crusher (not sure about Frost Elemental – 6 mana for a 5/5 seems high when you’re largely playing it for the same effect you’d get from the shard) or possibly Frost Shock if you want to copy an opponent’s minion.

Should be able to lock down your opponent and get quite a few cheap 8/8s out… and it opens up Elemental synergy.

It’s not really any worse than the Malygos Miracle Rogue combo you need in Wild and unlike that it’s a guaranteed kill – and Pally has actually got a reasonable amount of card draw available so it might be viable.

Once you’ve played the Hero card…

> Draw/survive until you’ve got Beardo and 4x 1-cost spells in hand (Paladin has got a few to choose from).

> Play Thaurissan (Beardo now costs 2 and the spells are free).

> Drop Beardo then just alternate between your hero power and a free spell.

… biggest problem could actually be hand size; you’re going to need to hold 5 cards before dropping Thaurissan. Which leaves it tight for getting stuff on the board and surviving.

Drakkari Defender makes a little more sense now – 2 of them and 2 Earth Ellies and these guys are free. Combine that with Ancestral Spirit and Spirit Echo and there’s some value to be had there.

Whether there will be enough value to make a viable deck remains to be seen however.

Ye-es – but this is a Shaman card… and against aggro you’ve already got Maelstrom Portal, Feral Spirit and Lightning Storm… and the fact that this is a single minion makes it worse than any of those options – not to mention the neutrals Tar Creeper and Stonehill Defender – or Shaman’s ability to heal when it comes to surviving the aggro rush and turning the game around.

For instance – Shaman vs Hunter, turn 2, Shaman went first and the Hunter has dropped Alleycat. Shaman DOES want to Maelstrom Portal that… but has Drakkari Defender instead.

So they summon a Totem and pass – the Hunter summons Kindly Grandmother and kills the totem with the Alleycats. Playing the Drakkari Defender on this board state is absolutely worse than Maelstrom Portal, Feral Spirit or Lightning Storm.

The best the Shaman could realistically hope for would be to get the Hunter to waste a Kill Command and trade in their Alleycats and Kindly Grandmother leaving just the 3/2 Big Bad Wolf.

Worst possible outcome would be if the Hunter drops Crackling Razormaw and manages to Adapt an Alleycat to be poisonous (1/3 chance)… then uses the coin to play Scavenging Hyaena.

… and against anything other than aggro this could be a positive liability, especially against Priest.

Early game is Shadow Word: Pain and you’ve thrown away a turn… and you wouldn’t even want to play it from T6 onwards. Worst case scenario Potion of Madness > Divine Spirit > Divine Spirit > Inner Fire … 32 damage to your face from your own “defender”.

It’s not terribly exciting … but it’s a solid drop for Priest. Especially Buff Priest as you just can’t afford to leave it on the board.

The nightmare, “man I wish I had some hard removal in my hand”, scenario would be:

T2: Coin > Acolyte of Agony
T3: Kabal Talonpriest
T4: PWS > Divine Spirit > Inner Fire … 16/16 Lifesteal

… then again, Silence Buff Priest could get a 16/16 on the board on turn 3 with the coin… or an OTK monster on turn 4, so I can’t really see this getting a lot of play in constructed.

Value-wise this is about on a par with Earth Elemental – but whether you’d want to commit to overload(3) on turn 3 rather than 5 is questionable. That only leaves you with 1 mana on turn 4 which means you’re basically committing to 2 turns if you drop this on 3.

At least overload(3) on the Earth Elemental leaves you with enough mana to cast Ancestral Spirit next turn – and a 7/8 with “rise from your grave” is not to be sniffed at.

Having said that, it might see play in Wild where you can drop a Tunnel Trogg (or two) just before playing this.

Oh – nevermind … *EACH* time, I get it now 🙂

It says each time you play a *card* … so, in that case, wouldn’t your Shadow Reflection just copy the initial Preparation you cast?

^ correction: 2/7

Not sure on this – it’s going to be a high priority removal target I guess in something like a Buff Priest deck (would probably be less useful in Silence Buff Priest) with the way Priests can snowball their minions’ health.

This curves nicely into Kabal Talonpriest if it survives… which, on the coin, might not be inconceivable:

T2: Shadow Ascendant > Coin > PWS (2/4)
T3: Kabal Talonpriest – potentially a 2/6 and 4/5 on the board at the end of your turn, with the Talonpriest gaining +1/+1 each turn as long as the Ascendant is alive.

I can see it being experimented with – but it’s pretty niche.

Good point – well made 😉

… as an aside – I did a little testing with Shadowflame; the spell resolves before the Deathrattle triggers – nothing gets stolen that would die to the spells effect.

However since Deathrattles resolve in the order that the cards were dropped on the board she can steal minions spawned when the Deathrattle triggers – like the 2/2 Slime from Infested Tauren.

She’s an a***hole – so, yes, it is SylvANUS as far as I’m concerned; has been since WC3 😛

Quest/N’Zoth Synergy – with a good Deathrattle at that … and it’s available via Free From Amber. I can see this being played if the Meta slows down a bit.

Swashburglar, Hallucination, Shaku, Burgle (wild), Undercity Huckster (wild) and now Lilian Voss … could make for a very weird game vs Priest.