He’s awesome mid-game, but he doesn’t get buffs in hand.

That’s what Tirion is usually for. The new 6/6 taunt guy is good in those matchups too, but he can be pretty dead early. I also like 1x Rallying Blade in place of 1x Earthen Ring Farseer. It’s just our bad War Axe in most cases, though.

Damn. They’re really pushing Pally Weenie in this set. The total opposite of the direction they’ve been going, so it’ll be interesting.

I kinda agree. The stats seem waaaay too low. Mage just kills it with ping and Mana Wyrm or Arcane blast. Every Shaman threat just tears through it. Dragon Priest is gonna be able to just take it, assuming their 1 mana 2/3, 2 mana 2/4 and 3 mana 3/8 (stat wise anyway) won’t handle it on their own. It wants to be anti-aggro, but 2/2 is way too weak, even with divine shield. The only way I can see it being useful is as a giant theat + heal if you can get buffs on it. But it’s still probably not gonna be safe from a fireball, or a Soulfire and a 1 drop, much less a Hex. At least Annoy-O-Tron had the Mech tag so you could abuse that synergy back in the Naxx+GVG era of AggroStone.

Maybe not by turn three, but it lets you get some cheap defense out against the totem brigade. It’s less of an early tempo play and more just a way to like, drop it and clear the board with another spell for a less significant amount of mana. Say your opponent has a Flame Imp, a Knife Juggler and a Dark Peddler on the board on turn 7. You’re a Paladin, you might just have a 1/1. You get to play this guy then Consecration, wiping their board and developing a pretty beefy taunt. Obviously it’s nothing absolutely insane, but I’d hardly say it’s bad. It’s a nicely sized taunt you can develop alongside other defenses. Also, against certain decks, you can totally play it on three. Cards like Mirror Image, which can often just get jammed into a play on turn 2 to buff and protect a Mana Wyrm and a Sorcerer’s Apprentice, can give it value super early.

I love the card, it seems really fun to play, especially with the new aggro Paladin stuff that’s being pushed in this set so far. But it’s not good enough to be an Epic. Maybe I’m wrong and Blizzard playtested it and it’s the best card in the set or something, but it seems to me like it’d be a waste of dust if you’re on the casual side of the game and don’t have a large amount of it.

Personally, I’d say it’s more just for the opportunity to play Paladin instead of those classes. Obviously “Midrange” Shaman and Zoolock are still gonna dominate aggro ladder play. This just adds a little bit of a surprise factor and it’s fun while not being absolutely unplayable.

I guess new Priest tech is to just play a bunch of bad cards? Seems awfully powerful considering Blizzard knows how everyone feels about Shaman getting their big kick in the pants and the fact that Dragon Priest is already almost viable as is, without all this other new stuff they’re getting. This is probably how they’re punishing the community for complaining about the class as-is.

Do we think it’ll see play at all before the rotation, or is the deck already too full? It seems to work with what we know so far for post-Kraken standard, but I don’t think I see a spot until then. Correct me if I’m wrong, though, I don’t play much Rogue.

I’m looking forward to the cycle for it to see even better play, personally. Dragon Priest is boring and it’s gonna be really annoying after this set comes out. 1 mana 2/3 into 2 mana 2/4 taunt into 3 mana give one of them more health and play a 3/4 is gonna be a pretty devastating start, especially considering this is supposed to be a control class, not zoo. But I guess Blizzard sees that dragons are the most consistent way for priest to win since Tempostone is so common right now. And if dragon priest does see a lot of play, that lowers this power level a lot since it can’t clear dragons. But once dragons are largely gone, this is just gonna be a pretty solid board clear against classes that aren’t Hunter.

You just want like, Argent Squire, Southsea Deckhand, 1 mana 2/1 DS deathrattle guy… stuff that you’re gonna jam in a Shockadin/DS/Aggro Paladin. It makes your hand easier to dump for Divine Favor if it’s all little dinky stuff, your 1 health guys can get buffs from Steward of Darkshire if you hold onto one to combo with them, and it’s just a good way to flood the board with little stinkers if you’re getting further into the game and you need some resources or you just got wiped and you need to refuel. Probably not “OP” or anything, but it’s a fun little thing to stick in an aggro variant of Paladin if that’s your thing. And it’s obligatory to mention Hobgoblin combos if you’re really willing to play Wild aggro Paladin and not just jam secrets.