4 out of 30 cards in highlander mage are targeted spells

“any murloc from neutral or any class even pulling the 4/4 from shaman”
averages out as a 2/2 murloc with no text

given that a random murloc is a 2/2 with no text, this is 1more mana than HCHag for 2/2 more stats, which is normally worth it. Also it’s a murloc itself.

because “play”
but well i guess if tess doesn’t do battlecries then it’s consistent

“it won’t trigger battlecries”
the card says it would

A 5mana 5/5 alakir or emeriss isn’t “just generally good”, it’s op

The average legandary is a 4.5atk 5.5health 6mana minion. So bandersmosh is a 1mana discount on average. And if you have the oportunity to wait a couple turns, you’ll easily get a 2+mana discount.

Even in the worst case scenario where they trade the eggs with minions, it’s still a 6mana 5/5 that soaked 6+ dmg. Which is basically shieldmaiden.
If they don’t have minions available for trading both eggs, they have to use removal on the eggs which is horrible for them. Hellfire, frost bolts, hysteria, brawl… there are no good answers.
And if they don’t have any answer then it’s 6mana 13/13.

a reason to not run it is when you’re highlander zoo and your curve stops at 5

you play it on 2, end turn
opponent faces, end turn
you’re on 3, don’t self dmg, end turn -> you took no dmg for a turn, quest complete, get the 3/6t
On 4 you can attack with it if it lived

If you needed to not take dmg during your opponent’s turn, it should say opponent’s turn. If you needed to not take dmg for both their turn and yours, it should say two turns.
It says one turn. Your turn is a turn. When you end your turn it should complete.

It may not do what it says it does, but it clearly says it completes on your turn as long as you don’t self dmg.

Dealing with this as a control deck looks like a nightmare. You have to clear the tentacles right away or you just die to bloodlust-like effects. But if you kill the tentacle you probably can’t deal with shu’ma, so you’re in for a new wave of tentacles.
Mage has no answer, priest only has plague of death but it comes 2 turns later. Warrior can spend a brawl for a single card, or go warpath/dynomatic + exec, which is expensive.

it’s weaker in tempo matchups, but well it’s still 7/13 stats.

“Quest Hunter, in my opinion, is a meme.”
a 53% winrate meme

“Why to bother using Shu’ma when you could use Onyxia instead?”
1) shuma comes 2 turn earlier, which is massive
2) if onyxia survives, she hits for 7 more dmg. Shuma summons 6 tentacles. In a token deck, 6 tentacles beat 7 face dmg.

yeah, shield block really sucks

bomb lobber was played in control warrior
and again, the ability to go face is not a downside
you’re playing hunter, face dmg = win

Except it’s not bad tempo because you get a lackey which is very high tempo and more than make up for it
shield of galakrond’s body would be played for 4mana, so you’re 1mana behind on tempo, and then you play a lackey that put you 2 mana ahead

6mana 3/5 that deals 5dmg to a random enemy and deals 2 face

bomb lobber was 5mana 3/3, similar to 6mana 3/5
except this also deals 2face
and you have the option to play it on 4
and it can deal the 5dmg every turn
and it can go face which you can see as an upside because 7face dmg in hunter is great

you can also compare it to ragnaros
ragna = deal 8dmg to a random enemy
this does 5dmg to a random enemy and 2dmg face, total 7dmg
ragna has 3 more health but this costs 2 less mana, and can attack for 3, and you can curve it on 4

Everything in the galakrond package is fast:
Galakrond gives health, cards that cost 0, and direct dmg
seal fate is removal
shield of galakrond has taunt
devoted maniac has rush (probably not played tho)
all those things create lackeys. You may see that as value and not tempo. But really, tempo rogues play a 2mana 1/1 that gives you a lackey.

paladin has 4mana deal 3 draw 1
this is 3mana deal 3* draw 1**
1mana discount on a card that does see occasional play, also enables your galakrond and the card that wants you to invoke twice

*worse than deal 3 because undamaged only
**better than draw 1 (evil cable rat > novice engineer)

tempo rogue 52% win rate
quest rogue 45% winrate
so no, I wouldn’t say that tempo rogues “clearly” prefer the quest over anything

it’s similar to sinister deal (trade 1atk for discover)
except it also enables galakrond and umbral skulker
sinister deal is played so this should be ok