“You make too many subjective claims in an objective voice and I feel that weakens your writing. ”

First of all, thank your for that constructive feedback, highly appreciated.
The objective voice rises with depth of the matter, at least I would like to think that, and this is an editorial piece after all, so I don’t claim anything to be from an objective point of view really!

“The RNG effect behind spirit claws was hardly satisfying for a lot of players.”

Subjective claim, objective voice! 🙂 There are players who hated Spirit Claws, and there were players who loved Spirit Claws. Team 5 often mentions that especially casual players love the “feeling when playing certain cards”, and a card buffed by a certain effect has to be satisfying not only for casuals as well. The card came with many other problematic cards, and I feel like its nerf was more of a casualty than anything.

“With that said, I like the theme and crux of the post.”

That’s all I need to hear! But really, thanks for the feedback 🙂

You do something “different” because of a certain card effect in your hand or deck – that’s called strategy. 🙂

I’m pretty sure that we will see one or the other night elf card as they’ve played an integral role in the history of Gilneas – but blood elves? That’s a tough one!
Are you referring to Sylvos Windrunner? The lore around him is pure speculation. I’d love to see his story being told in Hearthstone though, so that’s not the worst idea at all!

Vereesa would be a great addition, just because her two older sisters are already in the game. I would have loved to see her in place of Kathrena as a legendary minion.

For anyone interested: It looks like this card is inspired by Bakunawa, a sea serpent in ancient Philippine mythology!

I’m glad to hear that and I hope that we can provide more lore-centric posts in the future!

Thanks for the feedback! The story of Gilneas is truly unique and, once you get into it, very fascinating!

I like your wording of “control tempo card”. Not many cardy behave like that, but Lynessa certainly fits that description!

That last one is very important: This deck can win games without getting to its ultimate win condition!

Thanks for the feedback, great to see other lists working out as well 🙂

Very interesting thought!

Thank you, great to hear you like the site!

First of all, thanks for the comprehensive feedback!

“Depending on Mage archetypes used in the given meta-game, Ice Block continued to represent a core idea for the class’ deckbuilding.”

“Yong Woo, Lead Game Producer for Hearthstone, explained in an invenglobal interview back in February ‘17 that he and his team would carefully monitor cards that form decks with similar cores and ideas.”

I was hoping that the fact that Ice Block represents a “core idea” in basically every Mage deck at the moment would lead the reader to understanding Yoo’s quote in which he explains what cards qualify for a rotation to the Hall of Fame, which in this case is a card that gets auto-included in every single archetype.

I hear you though, it is very important to make pieces like this one comprehensible on every level of skill and game knowledge!

I think it’s secondary whether or not Alex has been part of a “meta-defining deck”!
Multiple members of Team 5 have stated that it’s a card that has been limiting design space in the past, and that is why it was mentioned in regards to the Hall of Fame.

And yes, Arcanologist pushed Ice Block to new heights, but depending on the aggressiveness of the meta, Ice Block has always been a valid card choice in older iterations of Tempo Mage (i.e. Casino Mage).

That’s actually not entirely true. If you can _accept_ the fact that a modern card game like Hearthstone relies on luck, you will eventually find yourself in a spot where most of these losses won’t touch you.

It’s not only about “you win some, you lose some”. If you accept the numbers that build the foundation of every single card game, you will be affected much less! “Radical acceptance” is also one of the most common techniques to solve pyschologic imbalances that are not balancable in the heat of the moment.

Accept the numbers, and be aware that you have been on the other side of the fence, topdecking people into oblivion as well! 🙂

Well said. That is why it’s especially important to keep one’s sanity in check from time to time!