Where is Maly? Evasion is a rotating card…

Lookin at it again. If some trash from this set surprise us, it’ll be this one.

Most likely will not see play, except if it finds a space in a specific deck similar to some trash cards that surprised us in Healock, Mecha’thun Warlock…

Lackeys, especially that anti-tempo one, can see play just because of this guy. But what kind of Rouge deck will run it?

Will they print a card which eats these bombs?

Interesting art. Not the worst card ever if you really want those lackeys, but as of now, the card is still bad.

I’m switching to WIld more and more . Thanks for sharing some interesting ideas which may see experimentation or even immediate play, especially in WIld. Unfortunately, Elek and Banker are not Odd to include this bomber archetype in Odd Warrior. We’ll see… Yeah, this deck is going to be a combo killer. Although I enjoy playing some of these, I can see Freeze and Exodia Mage to suffer (proper usage of Ice Block will be more important then ever). Myra’s Kingsbane Rouge… Bombs are 5 mana, which means Hemet can’t kill them.

Players have a control over upgrading Spellstones, but not over Schemes. It’s like you aren’t playing the card, rather opposite – the card is playing (with) you! Additionally, presented schemes, unlike Spellstones, start much, much weaker and you must prey to RNG just to bring them back to normal. They can see play mostly out of despair; but they are worse versions of Spellstones.

A balanced card. 12 mana across 2 turns for 10-10 of stats and hopefully useful spells. If we count 2nd 5-5 only as a spell cost (plus 2 Hagatha’s over-costed mana), you are paying 7 mana to cast 2 spells to do something. That being said, sometimes you cheat some mana. sometimes it’s just – equal, fair and balanced.

This, obviously a control, card trades tempo for value, versatile concentrated value the following turn or even later. The problem is, with those spells you are forced to get bodies, in exchange for playing it on turns 7 and 8, while Kazakus is played on 4 (conditioned deck and (strong) effects postponed, though). Another thing, Hagatha doesn’t have taunt.

Therefore, control Shaman needs more stalling and synergy stuff, and then 5-5 bodies will be good as Arcane Tyrant, UI Ghoul, Crowd Roaster… Or, Dragon Year HS will be slow and low power level – enough for this to see play regardless.

Last 2 or 3 expansions, HS designers are printing cards that resembles past ones. Quite nostalgic approach or a lack of creativity? This one is similar to Kazakus and I like it; already seen, but still looks fun and fresh, and that’s enough for me to like it.

Freeze Mage, without even looking.

I’m so looking forward to Aggro Shaman!

Alongside with Beast Midrange Hunter and some Warrior archetypes, Aggro Shaman seems like one of the few to survive the rotation (in a way, it already has visible contours (unlike Mech Hunter, or Mech, OTK, Control Paladins, Pirate Rouge…)).

Still, we are losing some important stuff: Firefly and Glacial Shard; Flametongue Totem got nerfed.

What we need? We -really- need a new 1-drop elemental! Without it, Earthen Might is useless. Furthermore, we need one more cheap spell for the spirit to cycle.

Totem nerf is really painful. Totem has helped sparks so much. Will totem be played even as 3-costed?

Hearthstone can be fun for players in various ways. Opening packs, wining, playing crazy synergies, single-player mode, discussing strategies to counter the meta, predicting cards during the reveal season… but the best thing is looking later how certain cards finally ended. Their fates. The focus is, of course, on discrepancy between value of cards in real practice and what community was thinking during the reveals. This always happens (sleeper and underrated, as well as overrated cards), and that’s what makes the whole thing that much fun.

Talking about Rastkhan expansion there was a lot of unexpected twists and I was never so wrong as during the Rasatkhan’s reveal period. Although, we must be honest and say strange and drastic nerfs helped it a lot. I believe that without Druid’s nerfs, even with Zul’jin, Hunterstone wouldn’t have happened.

One thing is sure; printing just one card (or a change) can make another card jump from garbage to a meta tier and vice versa. I expect more cards to shine later next year. It will be a joy to follow it.

– Mosh’ogg Enforcer – I must say it was very strange this card was downvoted so much. Taunt, DS and correct stats for the mana cost… Plus, annoyingly bizarre health bar. Even costing 8 mana, and looking worse than Witchwood Grizzly, I somehow believed people will find a way to break, cheat and exploit it. Why people underrated it? It’s because they thought Mossy Horror will deal with it, haha, and nobody really wanted this bizarre creature with such artwork to be part of the meta. But, it was screaming for Priest, Divine Inner Spirit Resurrect.

– Cheaty Anklebiter – That’s what I call a really underrated card! My guess was it’s the worst card of the set, alongside with Arena Patron. It looks like an absolute garbage. Yet, it reminds us we shouldn’t ever underestimate the Lifesteal keyword. The card in Mecha’thun Warlock is bonkers. Doing all the dirty work: setting up Defile, upgrading Spellstones (by pinging your own face!), activating Corpsetakers and just stealing some extra life by itself.

– Amani War Bear – Missed this one, too. It looked understated. Yes, there is taunt and rush, okay, but 5 attack tortured me for some reason. Wrong reason. Contrary to what I believed 7 mana card don’t need to have at least 7 attack health to kill something on 7. One can always arrange it; important is that the bear has enough health (even as 5/2) to remain on the board. In most cases, the opponent will need to do something with that. Another thing what bothered me is taunt-rush synergy. It seems like wooden stone, but it proved to be all right – able to kill a minion immediately, stay a live for another turn and still block the way! Of course, the best use of this bear is from Kathrena. It’s a nice implementation in Odd Quest Warrior, although in the beginning the bear was meant to be brought out with Oondasta which didn’t work that well (slow, anti-synergy with the Quest).

– Hakkar, the Soulflayer – This one looked worse than Togwaggle or Mecha’thun, but I was sure players will find the way. I believe it will get even better later this year. It will act as an OTK or as a tech card.

– Baited Arrow – I slammed this card the most. My argument was: 2 dmg is very low, 3 dmg to face for 5 mana bad, why target 2 hp minion and why would anyone be afraid of 5/5 on turn 5, when we are already used to 5/5 on turn 3 from the Egg. It has a lot with the nerfs… and it is used only in one Hunter deck (sometimes in others, too), but still… really a great surprise. There’s always 2 hp minion on the board to (arrange) kill (nobody cares if it’s only a Firefly) and it makes so much pressure -together- with Spellstone and To My Side, etc… The way Spell Hunter is pressuring you has a lot to do with why 5/5 on turn 5 or 6 is such a pain in the ***.

– Shirvallah, the Tiger – To be honest, I believed in Shivallah (they presented it on the first day). Yeah, 25 mana, who would play that, huh? 😉 …People wanted it on turn 5-6-7 and were arguing how it’s impossible to cast so many meaningful spells to reduce it to low cost. And Lifesteal… hero’s health bar is still (even with so many OTK combo decks around) the most important stat in the game.

– Springpaw – Everybody believed it will see play, but nobody thought the whole archetype’s power will be stationed on these little squishy beasts (okay, with Master’s Call). My thought was Springpaws will be “normal” 1 drops (worse than FIrefly, but with the beast tag) or used as a removal (e.g. with Toxmonger) in slower Hunters when they lose Candleshot. Sure, I was aware of Hyena snowball synergy, but couldn’t believe it will become this devastating. Springpaw is making a mark on HS; it will be quite impossible to get rid of it.

It misses – charge!

No Inner Fire or Topsy Turvy in Priest’s deck? If so, then everything is useless. Only once in 6 games I managed to generate one Inner Fire after casting dozens of spells. 😉

Forgot about Odd Rouge’s dagger, especially buffed one. Well, my score vs. (prenerf) Odd Rouge was 11-1.

I see a lot of Mecha’thun decks really want that Ooze. Previously, Voodoo Doll was cut, but Voodoo Doll is so good, so needed for big bois and Defile / Godfrey set up. Now, we have Ooze instead of 1 X Inventor, which is reasonable.

But, what Ooze really aims for? The most annoying thing is when Candleshot pops up Corpsetaker. You got 1 armor destroying it; similar with Skull, Supercollider… Necrium Blade? But Malygos Rouges aren’t that popular. Paladin’s weapons?

I’m telling you all this, because I played a lot of Mecha’thun matches (rank 5-1) and there was never a particular need for Ooze. To me, it looks like a tournament tech card. But, maybe I’m missing something?!?

They changed Jaina’s portrait.

You forgot to mention the Jaina nerf. 😉

Well, I think Cold Blood is the most important card in Odd Rouge (also, in all honesty, a very powerful overall). Capability to do a big swing and a burst is the core characteristic of many aggro decks when they lose steam. Plus going through big taunts. Right now, I don’t see any replacement. The only spell used in the Wild Odd Rouge is Cold Blood. The same harm would be e.g. taking Blessing of Might from Odd Paladin.

Of course you can use it for standard cards, because arcane dust is a universal resource. And purchasing this bundle you will get minimum of 4 legendaries because of the first 10 packs rule.