aodhfyn

[aodhfyn]

On Madness of Darkmoon Faire:

After reviewing the cards yet released, I think Blizzard has a few problems on their hands. (Alert! High levels of subjective analysis upcoming!)

On release, Demon Hunter is going to Dominate the meta with a hyper-fast aggro deck with plenty of tools to ignore or invalidate taunts and clears. They will need to nerf DH very quickly, because I don't believe ANY other deck will be able to compete.

Once they do, however, I believe there will be two tier 1 decks. Presuming they nerf DH into the ground like last time, I believe Hunter (the original) will take their spot as top aggro deck. Unfortunately, I don't believe that will be enough to stop Rez Priest, and our nightmare will truly begin.

Blizzard has a long history of nerfing broken Priest decks only at the last minute, almost as if they can't believe Priest is any good. (Strange, that. Can't imagine why.) Also, I believe that Druid, Shaman, and Warrior will be unable to escape lower tier 2, leaving Paladin and DH as the only other semi-viable decks. This leaves Mage... somewhere - I can't tell if their deck looks upper or lower tier 2 just yet - and thus roughly half of all classes (and by extension, many players) without meta-viable decks.

I hope Blizzard takes a much more aggressive stance on shaking up the meta -perhaps including more buffs?

[aodhfyn]

Beautiful. 

"FAIRYTALES" 

Wouldn't life be great 

If it were a fairytale? 

No matter how broken 

Your ship 

Will always sail 

Yes, it will take time 

But it will pass 

With a beautiful melody

And a song full of rhymes 

Evil is always defeated 

A common ending 

That's never conceited 

Everything is resolved 

To all those involved

No wonder why people expect more

Despite not having wings 

They expect to soar 

They've become confused 

Because these stories 

Have been terribly misused 

Make these stories a reality

Set people's dreams free

By order of formal decree

Tear down your made up jails 

Otherwise, 

Please stop telling your

Fairytales

~QuintyA 

~AyaAyman 

Photo credit: moriahthemedium.com 

[aodhfyn]

Scramble

I’m scrambling 

For answers to the rest of my life

But I don’t know what the question is yet

There’s Millions

Millions of samples I could try

But none on which I’m sure I can bet

I’m tired

And I haven’t yet sorted through half

[aodhfyn]

Descent of Dragons Ratings

Pattern:

Card Name (Class)

Power Rating

Synergy Rating

Combined Rating

Abyssal Summoner (Warlock)

3.75

4

3.875

Aeroponics (Druid)

3.5

5

4.25

Amber Watcher (Paladin)

4.5

4.5

4.5

Ancharrr (Warrior)

5

5

5

Arcane Breath (Mage)

4.5

4.5

4.5

Awaken! (Warrior)

3.5

4.5

4

Azure Explorer (Mage)

3

5

4

Bad Luck Albatross (Neutral)

3

4

3.5

Bandersmosh (Shaman)

4

2

3

Big Ol’ Whelp (Neutral)

5

4.5

4.75

Blazing Battlemage (Neutral)

5

3

4

Bloodsail Flybooter (Rogue)

4.25

5

4.625

Blowtorch Saboteur (Neutral)

3.5

3

3.25

Breath of Dreams (Druid)

5

6

5.5

Breath of the Infinite (Priest)

3

3.5

3.25

Bronze Explorer (Paladin)

4.5

5

4.75

Camouflaged Dirigible (Neutral)

2.75

4.25

3.5

Candle Breath (Rogue)

4

5

4.5

Chenvaala (Mage)

4

5

4.5

Chromatic Egg (Neutral)

2

4

3

Chronobreaker (Priest)

3.5

3.5

3.5

Clear the Way (Hunter)

2

3

2.5

Cobalt Spellkin (Neutral) 4.5

4.5

4.5

Corrosive Breath (Hunter)

4

4

4

Corrupt Elementalist (Shaman)

3

6

4.5

Crazed Netherwing (Warlock)

4

5

4.5

Cumulo-Maximus (Shaman)

4

4

4

Dark Skies (Warlock)

4

4

4

Deathwing, Mad Aspect (Warrior)

4

5

4.5

Depth Charge (Neutral)

1

3

2

Devoted Maniac (Neutral) 3

4

3.5

Disciple of Galakrond (Priest)

4

5

4.5

Diving Gryphon (Hunter)

4.25

5

4.625

Dragon Breeder (Neutral)

4

5

4.5

Dragonbane (Hunter)

5

3

4

Dragonblight Cultist (Warlock)

3.25

4

3.625

Dragoncaster (Mage)

3

4

3.5

Dragonmaw Poacher (Neutral)

7

3

5

Dragonqueen Alexstrasza (Neutral)

5

5

5

Dragonrider Talritha (Paladin)

4

5

4.5

Dragon’s Hoard (Rogue) 4

5

4.5

Dragon’s Pack (Shaman)

3

4

3.5

Dread Raven (Neutral)

3

4

3.5

Dwarven Sharpshooter (Hunter)

4

3

3.5

Elemental Allies (Mage)

3

3

3

Embiggen (Druid) 4.25

3

3.625

Emerald Explorer (Druid) 4

4.5

4.25

Envoy of Lazul (Priest)

3

2

2.5

Evasive Chimaera (Neutral)

3.5

3.5 

3.5

Evasive Drakonid (Neutral) 3.5

3.5

3.5

Evasive Feywing (Neutral) 4

4

4

Evasive Wyrm (Neutral)

5

4

4.5

EVIL Quartermaster (Warrior)

5

3

4

Faceless Corruptor (Neutral) 4

4

4

Fate Weaver (Priest)

3.5

3.5

3.5

Fiendish Rites (Warlock)

4

5

4.5

Fire Hawk (Neutral)

3.5

3

3.25

Flik Skyshiv (Rogue) 5

4

4.5

Frizz Kindleroost (Neutral) 4

4

4

Galakrond, the Nightmare (Rogue)

5

5

5

Galakrond, the Tempest (Shaman) 5

5

5

Galakrond, the Unbreakable (Warrior) 5

5

5

Galakrond, the Unspeakable (Priest)

4

4

4

Galakrond, the Wretched (Warlock)

5

5

5

Goboglide Tech (Neutral)

3

5

4

Goru the Mightree (Druid) 4

5

4.5

Grave Rune (Priest)

4

5

4.5

Grizzled Wizard (Neutral) 2

2

2

Gyrocopter (Neutral) 3

4

3.5

Hippogryph  (Neutral)

2

4

3

Hoard Pillager (Neutral) 4

5

4.5

Hot Air Balloon (Neutral)

4

4

4

Invocation of Frost (Shaman)

5

5

5

Kobold Stickyfinger (Neutral) 3

3

3

Kronx Dragonhoof (Neutral) 5

6

5.5

Learn Draconic (Mage)

3

2

2.5

Lightforged Crusader (Paladin)

5

4

4.5

Lightforged Zealot (Paladin)

5

4

4.5

Lightning Breath (Shaman)

4

5

4.5

Living Dragonbreath (Neutral) 3

3.5

3.25

Malygos, Aspect of Magic (Mage) 4

4

4

Mana Giant (Mage)

4

4

4

Mindflayer Kaahrj (Priest)

3

3

3

Molten Breath (Warrior)

4

4

4

Murozond the Infinite (Priest)

5

3

4

Necrium Apothecary (Rogue) 4

5

4.5

Nether Breath (Warlock) 4

5

4.5

Nithogg (Shaman)

4

4

4

Nozdormu the Timeless (Paladin)

4

3

3.5

Parachute Brigand (Neutral) 3

5

4

Phase Stalker (Hunter)

4

4

4

Platebreaker (Neutral)

4

4

4

Praise Galakrond! (Rogue)

3

4.5

3.75

Primordial Explorer (Hunter)

4.5

4

4.25

Rain of Fire (Warlock) 2

2

2

Ramming Speed (Warrior)

3.5

3

3.25

Righteous Cause (Paladin)

3

4

3.5

Ritual Chopper (Warrior)

3

4

3.5

Rolling Fireball (Mage)

5

3

4

Sanctuary (Paladin) 4.5

2.5

3.5

Sand Breath (Paladin)

2

2

2

Sathrovarr (Neutral)

4

3

3.5

Scalerider (Neutral) 4

5

4.5

Scion of Ruin (Warrior) 5

5

5

Seal of Fate (Rogue) 3.5

3.5

3.5

Secure the Deck (Druid)

1

1

1

Shield of Galakrond (Neutral)

4

4

4

Shrubadier (Druid)

4

5

4.5

Shu’ma (Neutral)

4

4

4

Sky Claw (Paladin)

3.5

4.5

4

Sky Raider (Warrior)

3.5

4

3.75

Skybarge (Warrior)

4

4

4

Skyfin (Neutral) 4

4

4

Squallhunter (Shaman)

4

5

4.5

Stormhammer (Hunter) 3.5

4

3.75

Storm’s Wrath (Shaman)

3.5

3.5

3.5

Stowaway (Neutral)

4

4

4

Strength in Numbers (Druid)

1

1

1

Surging Tempest (Shaman)

3.5

3.5

3.5

Tasty Flyfish (Neutral)

3.5

4

3.75

Tentacled Menace (Neutral) 3.5

3

3.25

Time Rip (Priest) 4

4

4

Toxic Reinforcements (Hunter) 1

1

1

Transmogrifier (Neutral)

4

1

2.5

Treenforcements (Druid) 5

5

5

Troll Batrider (Neutral)

4

4

4

Twin Tyrant (Neutral)

4

4.5

4.25

Umbral Skulker (Rogue) 5

4.5

4.75

Utgarde Grapplesniper (Neutral)

3

5

4

Valdris Felgorge (Warlock) 5

5

5

Veiled Worshipper (Warlock)

5

5

5

Veranus (Hunter)

4

5

4.5

Violet Spellwing (Mage)

4.5

3.5

4

Waxadred (Rogue)

4.5

4.5

4.5

Whispers of EVIL (Priest) 4

4

4

Wing Commander (Neutral)

4

3.5

3.75

Wyrmrest Purifier (Neutral)

3

1

2

Ysera, Unleashed (Druid)

5

5

5

Zul’drak Ritualist (Neutral)

1

1

1

Zzeraku the Warped (Warlock)

5

5

5

[aodhfyn]

Belated Hearthstone Ratings

Saviors of Uldum

I originally wrote this before the expansion dropped, but I never posted it. I decided to release it now for... no particular reason I guess.

Pattern: Card Name (Class) Power Rating Synergy Rating Combined Rating (Power + Synergy)/2

Activate the Obelisk (Priest) 4.5 4 4.25

Ancestral Guardian (Paladin) 4 3 3.5

Ancient Mysteries (Mage) 3.5 5 4.25

Anka, the Buried (Rogue) 3 5 4

Anubisath Defender (Druid) 4.5 4.5 4.5

Anubisath Warbringer (Neutral) 2.75 3.5 3.125

Arcane Flakmage (Mage) 5 4.5 4.75

Armagedillo (Warrior) 3.25 4 3.625

Armored Goon (Warrior) 4 4 4

Bazaar Burglery (Rogue) 4.25 4.25 4.25

Bazaar Mugger (Rogue) 2.75 3.75 3.25

Beaming Sidekick (Neutral) 4.5 4 4.25

BEEEES!!! (Druid) 5 5 5

Blatant Decoy (Neutral) 2 3 2.5

Bloodsworn Mercenary (Warrior) 5 4.5 4.75

Body Wrapper (Neutral) 3.5 5 4.25

Bone Wraith (Neutral) 3.5 3.25 3.375

Brazen Zealot (Paladin) 3.5 3.5 3.5

Bug Collector (Neutral) 5 4 4.5

Candletaker (Neutral) 3.75 3.25 3.5

Clever Disguise (Rogue) 2 4 3

Cloud Prince (Mage) 5 4.5 4.75

Colossus of the Moon (Neutral) 4 3.25 3.625

Conjured Mirage (Neutral) 4 4 4

Corrupt the Waters (Shaman) 4 4 4

Crystal Merchant (Druid) 5 5 5

Dark Pharaoh Tekahn (Warlock) 4.5 3.5 4

Desert Hare (Neutral) 5 5 5

Desert Obelisk (Neutral) 4 -1 1.5

Desert Spear (Hunter) 4 4 4

Dinomater Brann (Hunter) 5 1 3

Diseased Vulture (Warlock) 4.5 4 4.25

Dune Sculptor (Mage) 4 3.5 3.75

Dwarven Archaeologist (Neutral) 5 3 4

Earthquake (Shaman) 7 4 5.5

Elise the Enlightened (Druid) 5 4 4.5

Embalming Ritual (Priest) 3 5 4

EVIL Recruiter (Warlock) 4.5 3.5 4

EVIL Totem (Shaman) 4 3 3.5

Expired Merchant (Warlock) 5 3.75 4.375

Faceless Lurker (Neutral) 3.5 4 3.75

Fishflinger (Neutral) 4 4 4

Flame Ward (Mage) 5 5 5

Frightened Flunky (Warrior) 4 4.5 4.25

Garden Gnome (Druid) 5 5 5

Generous Mummy (Neutral) 2 3 2.5

Golden Scarab (Neutral) 3.5 3.5 3.5

Grandmummy (Priest) 3.5 4 3.75

Hack the System (Warrior) 5 2 3.5

Hidden Oasis (Druid) 3 5 4

High Priest Amet (Priest) 3 5 4

History Buff (Neutral) 5 4 4.5

Holy Ripple (Priest) 4 4 4

Hooked Scimitar (Rogue) 4.75 4.25 4.5

Hunter's Pack (Hunter) 5 4 4.5

Hyena Alpha (Hunter) 5 5 5

Impbalming (Warlock) 3 3 3

Infested Goblin (Neutral) 4 5 4.5

Injured Tol'vir (Neutral) 3.75 5 4.375

Into the Fray (Warrior) 3.75 4 3.875

Jar Dealer (Neutral) 5 5 5

Khartut Defender (Neutral) 2 5 3.5

King Phaoris (Neutral) 5 3 4

Kobold Sandtrooper (Neutral) 3 4 3.5

Livewire Lance (Warrior) 5 5 5

Living Monument (Neutral) 3 3 3

Making Mummies (Paladin) 5 3 4

Micro Mummy (Paladin) 4.5 4.5 4.5

Mischief Maker (Neutral) 3 5 4

Mogu Cultist (Neutral) 5 0 2.5

Mogu Fleshshaper (Shaman) 5 3 4

Mortuary Machine (Neutral) 3 3 3

Murmy (Neutral) 5 5 5

Naga Sand Witch (Mage) 4.5 4.75 4.625

Neferset Ritualist (Neutral) 4 3.5 3.75

Neferset Thrasher (Warlock) 3.75 3.75 3.75

Oasis Surger (Druid) 3.75 4.5 4.125

Octosari (Neutral) 7 -1 3

Overflow (Druid) 5 5 5

Penance (Priest) 5 5 5

Phalanx Commander (Neutral) 4 3.5 3.75

Pharaoh Cat (Rogue) 5 5 5

Pharaoh's Blessing (Paladin) 3.5 3.5 3.5

Pit Crocolisk (Neutral) 4.75 3.25 4

Plague of Death (Priest) 6 3 4.5

Plague of Flames (Warlock) 4 3.75 3.875

Plague of Madness (Rogue) 3 3 3

Plague of Murlocs (Shaman) 5 4 4.5

Plague of Wrath (Warrior) 5 5 5

Pressure Plate (Hunter) 4 4 4

Psychopomp (Priest) 4 4 4

Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron (Mage) 4 4 4

Questing Explorer (Neutral) 5 4 4.5

Quicksand Elemental (Neutral) 4 4 4

Raid the Sky Temple (Mage) 3.5 4 3.75

Ramkahen Wildtamer (Hunter) 5 5 5

Reno the Relicologist (Mage) 5 2 3.5

Restless Mummy (Warrior) 5 3.75 4.375

Riftcleaver (Warlock) 4.25 4 4.125

Sahket Sapper (Rogue) 4.5 3 3.75

Salhet's Pride (Paladin) 5 5 5

Sandhoof Waterbearer (Priest) 4 5 4.5

Sandstorm Elemental (Shaman) 5 4.5 4.75

Sandwasp Queen (Paladin) 5 5 5

Scarlet Webweaver (Hunter) 4 4 4

Serpent Egg (Neutral) 3 3 3

Shadow of death (Rogue) 3 4 3.5

Siamat (Neutral) 4 5 4.5

Sinister Deal (Warlock) 1 5 3

Sir Finley of the Sands (Paladin) 5 0 2.5

Spitting Camel (Neutral) 3 4 3.5

Splitting Axe (Shaman) 1 1 1

Subdue (Paladin) 4 3 3.5

Sunstruck Henchman (Neutral) 4 3 3.5

Supreme Archaeology (Warlock) 5 2 3.5

Swarm of Locusts (Hunter) 4 3 3.5

Temple Berserker (Neutral) 3 3.75 3.375

Tip the Scales (Paladin) 5 3.5 4.25

Tomb Warden (Warrior) 2.75 4.25 3.5

Tortollan Pilgrim (Mage) 5 3 4

Totemic Surge (Shaman) 5 -1 2

Unseal the Vault (Hunter) 5 4 4.5

Untapped Potential (Druid) 1 6 3.5

Vessina (Shaman) 6 4 5

Vilefiend (Neutral) 2.5 2.5 2.5

Vulpera Scoundrel (Neutral) 6 4 5

Wasteland Assassin (Neutral) 3 2 2.5

Wasteland Scorpid (Neutral) 2 2 2

Weaponized Wasp (Shaman) 5 3 4

Whirlkick Master (Rogue) 4 4.5 4.25

Wild Bloodstinger (Hunter) 5 6 5.5

Worthy Expedition (Druid) 3 5 4

Wrapped Golem (Neutral) 4 4 4

Wretched Reclaimer (Priest) 5 5 5

Zephrys the Great (Neutral) 5 5 5

[aodhfyn]

Witchwood Thoughts: Shaman

Hagatha the Witch. That’s the first thing I think of when I think of the Shaman cards revealed. After all, too of the other cards are designed synergistically with her, and there’s only one left after that. (Murkspark Eel, I’ll cover it in the Even/Odd Section.) 

Hagatha the Witch has the simple battlecry of dealing 3 damage to all minions. It seems a lot like Hellfire, but it doesn’t damage the enemy hero. Thematically, that seems a little weird, but its power level is fine, a 3 damage AoE and gaining 5 armor is probably worth about 7-8 mana, so that’s numerically fine, even if not something Shaman typically likes to do, given they usually barf minions all over the place. The persistent hero power is a problem though. Because of the fact that so many Shaman spells have overload effects, decks that run Hagatha the Witch are likely to run into trouble trying to play their late-game while also making use of Hagatha’s hero power. It seems a bit inconsistent and rather complicated to do. (No idea whether or not it’ll be fun though.)

Notably, Bogshaper synergizes with Hagatha (poorly) and Unstable Evolution (beautifully), but is so expensive that both gameplans are hard to execute around him. Witch’s Apprentice, on the other hand, is a very hard guy to evaluate, given the randomness inherent in the card, and the peculiarity of the 0 attack coupled with taunt. It would seem given what we’ve seen before that a 0/1 taunt is likely to be more of a nuisance than an actual gamechanger, so the majority of the value is likely to come from the spell he generates.

For even decks: Having a 1 mana totem doesn’t seem particularly useful unless you’re trying to complete the Al’akir miniquest. Which you can’t do, since the summoner costs five. Murkspark Eel doesn’t really justify the deck on its own, so to it I say: meh.

For odd decks: choosing a totem is very powerful, but you could also just run Kobold Hermit. Maybe there’s room for a tempo or control Shaman deck that can make use of the different totems creatively, I can’t be sure. Certainly not opposed to it.

~Aodhfyn

[aodhfyn]

Witchwood Thoughts: Warrior

So far, Warrior cards have come in two general groupings: Rush cards, and whirlwind/’enrage’ themed cards--with some overlap. Unfortunately, neither grouping seems to be powerful enough to really form an archetype. So far, rush minions have either had too little health or too little attack. (The recently revealed neutral rush-worgen-styled cards are both, or either rather.) There is one primary exception to this: Militia Commander, although that’s only on her battlecry. Darius Crowley needs more health, and Redband Wasp is very close to being just right, but it’s hard to tell since a lot of its stats are locked behind the enrage mechanic.  In passing, I will note that Woodcutter’s Axe is very good for rush minions, but probably has trouble lining up well, and would have been better with a more health based buff.

The whirlwind/enrage mechanic also seems to be rather spotty. Warpath is an excellent card, but the other synergy cards are rather strange, since many of them seem to be very board oriented while Warpath will deal a lot of damage to your board as well. The two main synergy cards, eg Redband Wasp and Blackhowl Gunspire, both have a decent chunk of health to survive multiple whirlwind effects, but both require ‘whirlwinds’ to really pull off their full potential. Gunspire, though has another problem. Yes, Gunspire can hit face, but it can’t attack, and can’t target enemies, so it’s inconsistent enough that I don’t personally want to claim that it does anything particular. And it’s rather expensive, so it seems difficult to consistently make use of it. That said, I have my hopes.

One last note, on Deadly Arsenal: it’s a beautiful card, but the decks that want to run it probably want Bloodrazor more. As far as I can tell, there probably isn’t any kind of deck that would prefer to run Deadly Arsenal instead of Bloodrazor. That said, Deadly Arsenal isn’t doomed, if any deck comes into existence that wants to run heavy weapons and is fine giving up Bloodrazor, then one or two Deadly Arsenals are probably not unwelcome. The power level is good enough to compel some sacrifice.

For even decks: maybe a dead man’s hand control warrior with warpath for AoE and the Death Knight, and Unidentified Shield for armor. It would be fun. A lot of draw would be necessary though, and that would be tough without Acolyte of Pain or Shield Block.

For odd decks: There would be a LOT of armor gain available, given the upgraded hero power and Shield Block, though the overall cardpool is lower than the odd deck, it has a lot of powerful options. That said, it doesn’t really seem to have a win condition.

~Aodhfyn

[aodhfyn]

Witchwood Thoughts: Neutral

There seem to be a couple main themes for the neutral cards released so far: Baku vs Genn, and hero power modification. While many people may initially think these are the same theme, since Baku and Genn change the hero powers, I actually distinguish them separately, since I see Baku and Genn as working for the entire game, augmenting each turn differently by nature of the changes made to your basic hero power; the other cards, Blackwald Pixie and Clockwork Automaton, however, are swing cards that work better with entirely different hero powers, like DIE, INSECT, and the various Death Knight hero powers. I am personally rather excited for both of these since they promise to make the game a lot more interesting and unique. Some possibilities I haven’t heard yet include Paladin cheating out more Horsemen, 16, or (if miracles occur) even 32 damage in one turn from DIE, INSECT, Mage making multiple Water Elementals in one turn (And healing up for two times as much with Clockwork, though that’s unverified), and Priest having a go at cheaper “Prophet Velen” replacements. Possibly even multiple once the singleton cards cycle out.

Now, all of that is hype. None of it forms a cohesive, well-themed deck just yet, but it’s potential. I personally think it’s important to be constantly thinking about the potential of the cards if they are ever given support, especially since we have a year to find that support. 

Now, as for Baku and Genn... I personally haven’t found any sort of hype for these just yet. A number of cards have been revealed that augment certain classes’ Baku or Genn decks, but they just don’t seem very good. The best is the possibility of a Glitter Moth + Void Ripper combo priest, but I’ve tried that kind of deck already, and keeping a board til 8 mana is rather hard. There is the off chance that these decks will be rather good, simply in-and-of themselves, and in that case, I think it’ll be fun to see Baku/Genn decks running around the meta. But I don’t really think it’ll be OP--which is another reason I’m totally fine with it. (Note: I’ll probably revisit Baku and Genn in each classes’ analysis.)

~Aodhfyn

[aodhfyn]

Witchwood Thoughts

Alright. Since my last post, a number of cards have been revealed; I’ve been watching the stream of youtubers that try to analyze the cards, and determine whether they’re good, and I’ve realized that there are simply a number of things I’ve thought of that I haven’t heard yet. And so, here are my thoughts on the Witchwood expansion so far. 

I’ll be breaking the cards down into classes and critiquing them in regards to how I see them working in the class at large, AND I WILL BE MAKING A SEPARATE POST FOR EACH CLASS. Furthermore, I will only be mentioning cards that I specifically think are noteworthy. Primarily this means that Azalina Soulthief will NOT be discussed, since I don’t have any special opinions on her. 

[aodhfyn]

Witchwood Concepts

Given the keywords Blizzard already revealed, I have tried to conceive of cards for every class that utilize each keyword and concept (except the even/odd set). Simply put, I’m predicting cards that would be good in each class and further some theme of that class’.

NOTE: I purposely made each of these as strong as I reasonably could, since I want to explore good ideas, not mediocre ones.

 CLASS CARDS:

Warrior:

“Destined Warrior”: A 4 mana 5/4 Warrior Wargen-styled card with rush that reads “Every turn this is in your hand swap between a 5/4 with rush and a 4/5 with charge.”

“Stone Behemoth”: A 5 mana 5/7 Warrior Echo card with taunt that reads “Battlecry: remove 4 armor from your hero.”

“King Golem”: A 10 mana 10/10 Warrior card with rush that reads “Battlecry: has windfury this turn.”

“Battle Song”: A 2 mana Warrior Echo spell that reads “give your weapon +1 attack and gain 5 armor.”

-----------------------------

Shaman:

“Deepwater Avenger”: A 2 mana 3/2 Shaman Echo card tagged as a murloc with rush.

“Endless Guardian”: A 2 mana 1/8 Shaman Echo card with taunt and overload (2).

“Twisted Harbinger”: A 4 mana 3/6 Shaman Wargen-style card with rush that reads “Every turn this is in your hand swap its health and attack.”

“Heavy burdens”: A 1 mana Shaman Echo spell that reads “draw two cards and overload (3).”

-----------------------------

Rogue:

“Dirty Scavenger”: A 2 mana 1/1 Rogue Echo card that reads “Deathrattle: add a coin to your hand.”

“Cheap assassin”: A 1 mana 1/1 Rogue Echo card with stealth that reads “Combo: deal 1 damage.”

“Info Dealer”: A 3 mana 3/3 Rogue Wargen-style card that reads “Every turn this is in your hand swap between Deathrattle: put a secret from your deck into the battlefield and Battlecry: the next secret you play this turn costs 0.”

“Dangerous Play”: A 0 mana Rogue Echo spell that reads “draw a card and add a 3 mana ‘dead weight’ spell to your hand.” (It does nothing.)

-----------------------------

Paladin:

“Silverhand Scribe”: A 3 mana 2/4 Paladin Echo card with that reads “Battlecry: draw a card at the end of your turn.”

“Faithless Knight”: A 5 mana 5/6 Paladin Wargen-style card that reads “Every turn this is in your hand swap its attack and health and switch between divine shield and rush.”

“Faithful Squire”: A 2 mana 2/3 Paladin card with rush.

“Absolution”: A 4 mana Paladin Echo spell that reads “Deal 2 damage to all enemy minions, and heal your hero for 3.”

-----------------------------

Hunter:

“Backwoods Murder”: A 3 mana 2/1 Hunter Echo card tagged as a beast that reads “Battlecry: summon a copy of this minion with charge.” (NOTE: crows)

“Big Bro Brown Bear”: A 4 mana 3/5 Hunter card tagged as a beast with rush and taunt.

“Deepwoods Wolfman”: A 5 mana 5/5 Hunter Wargen-style card that reads “Every turn this is in your hand alternate between +1 health with taunt and rush.”

“Web of Traps”: A 2 mana Hunter Echo spell that reads “Put a random secret into play.”

-----------------------------

Druid:

“Benevolent Boar”: A 2 mana 5/3 Druid Echo card tagged as a beast that reads “At the end of your turn, lose 2 attack.”

“Daring Hare”: A 4 mana 4/5 Druid Echo card tagged as a beast with “Choose One, taunt or rush.”

“Herald of the Moon”: A 3 mana 3./4 Druid Wargen-style card with taunt that reads “Every turn this is in your hand alternate between taunt and rush.”

“Tooth and Maw”: A 2 mana Druid Echo spell that reads “Choose One, gain 2 attack and lifesteal this turn, or gain 1 attack and 3 armor.”

-----------------------------

Warlock:

“Hellish Recruiter”: A 3 mana 2/2 Warlock card that reads “Battlecry: recruit a demon with a cost 2 or less and give it rush.”

“Devious Destroyer”: A 3 mana 2/3 Warlock Wargen-style card that reads “Every turn this is in your hand swap it’s health and attack, Battlecry: deal damage equal to its attack to an enemy and to your hero.”

“Dark Spawnling”: A 1 mana 2/2 Warlock Echo card tagged as a demon that reads “Battlecry: deal 2 damage to your hero.”

“Fell Flare”: A 2 mana Warlock Echo spell that reads “When this card is played or discarded, deal 2 damage to a random enemy.” (Note that this can be discarded multiple times in one turn.)

----------------------------- 

Mage:

“Group Caster”: A 1 mana 1/1 Mage Echo card with spell damage +1.

“Pest Manager”: A 3 mana 2/3 Mage card with rush that reads “Battlecry: recruit a Pest Manager.”

“Witchy Speller”: A 4 mana 3./4 Mage Wargen-style card that reads “Every turn this is in your hand swap its attack and health and switch between untargetable and Battlecry: cast a spell from your deck with random targets.”

“Sparkswarm”: A 1 mana Mage Echo spell that reads “Deal 1 damage to 3 different enemies.”

-----------------------------

Priest:

“Duskwood Cleric”: A 3 mana 1/6 Priest Wargen-style card that reads “Every turn this is in your hand swap its health and attack.”

“Blackheart Healer”: A 2 mana 1/3 Priest Echo card that reads “Battlecry: restore 2 health.”

“Dragon Cleric”: A 3 mana 3/3 Priest card with rush that reads “Costs 1 less if you have 2 dragons in hand.”

“Wyrm Fodder”: A 3 mana Priest Echo spell that reads “Grant a dragon +1/+1. --Costs 2 less if you have a dragon in hand.”

-----------------------------

NEUTRALS

“Final Guardian”: A 6 mana neutral Echo card, requires coin/innervate to play twice. It’s a 6/7 with taunt that reads “Battlecry: if you already have a Final Guardian, become invulnerable until the start of your next turn.”

“Ghostly Wisp”: A 1 mana 1/1 neutral Echo card.

“Hungry Wargen”: A 3 mana 3./4 neutral Wargen-styled card with lifesteal that reads “Every turn this is in your hand swap its attack and health.” (Look what I did there--I added 1 attack. Pure genius.)

“Weird Treant”: A 4 mana 4/4 neutral Echo card with taunt and untargetable.

“Horrid Hybrid”: A 5 mana 5/5 neutral Echo card tagged as a beast with taunt and rush.

“Freshwater Oracle”: A 2 mana 1/1 neutral Echo card tagged as a murloc that reads “Battlecry: both players draw a card.”

~Aodhfin

[aodhfyn]

Hearthstone: Hero Powers Followup

So I enchanted Dinomancy, and tried it out.... and immediately regretted it. My free-to-play heart stopped, and I cried inside. Melodrama aside, Dinomancy is terrible for control decks. It’s good in a specific capacity, when you get it early, ~around turn 3-4, when you can use it and hero power immediately, and it’s good in a midrange/aggressive deck with lots of cheap or mid-cost beasts. It has negative synergy with Deathstalker Rexxar, because you will usually get it after you use him, and then you don’t want to transition. The dream of using it early, and then Deathstalking is really rare, and putting in two copies is only good in a deck that can afford that--eg, the early/midrange Dinomancy deck. While the power itself is really good on Hunter, if it goes to stall, the deck fails, because you need to have beasts alive to buff. So it ends up being an alternative aggressive Hero Power. A strictly weaker variation on classic aggressive Hunter. What is necessary to make a good early-game control oriented Hero Power variation for Hunter is something that is good both early and late, and has the ability to actually combat the board. Something to the effect of: “give target beast +2/+2 or non-beast minion -0/-2″ would be amazing. It could be used in a multitude of situations, and actually fight for the board when behind. That said, it just wouldn’t be as fun as ‘Build-a-Beast’. What would make this whole control-hunter situation better is a beast that draws Deathstalker Rexxar for you. The main problem with Hero Cards is that they are inconsistent. You build a deck specifically to play them, and then you never draw them. In any case, that’s my review of Dinomancy, and a few more opinions on top. 

Good day all,

~Aodhfyn

[aodhfyn]

Hearthstone: hero powers

While this blog has been all about league so far, that’s not indicative of the games I play--well, at the time of my other posts, it was mostly league. But I’ve been playing Hearthstone for more than two... three years now. Ever since a little before the league of explorers expansion, if I remember correctly. And before I played Hearthstone, I had played (1 game of) Magic the Gathering. Now I play Magic regularly. I’ve also played Shadow Verse and Eternal, as well as a number of inferior card games. 

Hero Powers, however, are unique to Hearthstone. While Shadow Verse has unique card interactions with its heroes, it doesn’t have a unique ability. However, what struck me about Hearthstone’s Hero Powers is how bland they are. Each power is a chance to be unique, and display some sort of character defining strength--and maybe even weakness. However, most of the abilities fall into two basic categories: deal damage, or heal. And their only weakness are usually their inflexibilities. I’ll demonstrate this by going through them and showing how they fall into those categories, and how they don’t. 

Warrior: heals himself. He gains armor, and since there isn’t a way to ignore armor in Hearthstone, this is essentially just a form of healing. I class this as A-tier healing, and F-grade utility, since it’s completely inflexible.

Shaman: More unique, however, loosely classed under healing. He produces a totem that usually has 0 attack and 2 health. Half of the totems are ‘aggressive’ but they are conditional. The other two either heal minions, or taunt, which is a damage protection ability. I class this as C-tier healing, C-tier damage, and B-tier utility.

Rogue: she gains a weapon. I class this as C-tier damage, C-tier utility.

Paladin: summons a minion. I class this as D-tier damage, and C-tier utility.

Hunter: he deals damage to the enemy hero. I class this as A-tier damage, and F-grade utility. 

Druid: he gains attack and armor. I class this as C-tier healing and C-tier damage.

Warlock: He’s quite unique, he deals damage to himself in order to draw a card. I class this as A-tier utility, A-tier theme, and F-grade healing.

Mage: she deals attack to a target. I class this as B-tier damage.

Priest: he heals a target. I class this as A-tier healing.

So, by my classification, the vast majority fall under the category of damage or healing, with only Warlock and Shaman branching out enough for me to mention. Furthermore, there’s a surprising amount of overlap between them, with Warrior essentially being a limited version of priest, Rogue of Druid, Paladin of Shaman, etc. This last expansion, they created the Hero card, which upgraded the Hero Power, and in some cases completely changed it. While this was a breath of fresh air, they were legendary--limited to one copy per deck, and very hard to get--limited to one class, and for the most part, functionally the same as the previous Hero Power. While some cards in the past changed hero powers, they were commonly considered joke cards, and exclusive to a single hero. (Excepting one that ‘upgraded’ your Hero Power--but it didn’t change its function.) However, in all this time, and despite some of their issues with Hero Powers--primarily Hunter and Warlock--they have never changed a Hero Power. While I don’t believe it’s necessary to change the default Hero Powers, I think easier access to more unique and interesting Hero Powers is (borderline) necessary, now that I’ve experienced just how absolutely amazing it can be to upgrade one. 

Specifically, I think it’s essential to allow some of the more restricted heroes access to some diversity of play--the Hero Power, in some ways more than class cards, defines the mobility of playstyle. Essentially: cards are at max two-per-deck. A Hero Power is once per turn. It has more impact than the cards in the long run. However, they’re all so bland, it almost doesn’t matter. In the state they’re in now, it’s almost as if no hero but Warlock and Shaman even have Hero Powers. (It’s not that bad, I’m exaggerating. It’s like there are two hero powers.) The Heroes I think need diversity in their Hero Power, and why, are as follows:

Warrior: he can’t do anything but ‘armor up’ meaning that all he can do when he has extra mana on a turn is use his hero power to survive a little more. However, the most successful playstyle on him is an aggressive one, in which he rarely needs to worry about his own health total. The difficulty this creates is that he then needs to have perfect mana every turn to maximize efficiency in an aggressive deck. This is fine, as a weakness to the character, but he is typically outclassed by Priest in this area. Or, more specifically, unlike Priest, who can heal his minions as well, or even the enemy for more pain, Warrior can only heal himself. Which makes him frustrating to play in situations wherein you want another hero power. An interesting solution could be to expand his power to ‘grant 2 maximum health to the target’. This would also have interesting synergies with other existing (most hall-of-famed) cards. (e.g. Reno Jackson and Hozen Healer.)

Paladin: summoning a 1/1 dude is very weak at two mana. And it’s often a bad play, being directly countered by most other Hero Powers and not easily exploitable for any sort of substantial advantage. However, because of how much more interesting it is compared to most of the other Hero Powers, I don’t think it needs to be changed directly. Instead, I think it would be cool if some card read: “for the rest of the game, your Silver Hand Recruits [the 1/1 dudes] have 1 extra attack” or “for the rest of the game, your Silver Hand Recruits have taunt.” The reason I make this distinction is because Paladin’s Hero Power doesn’t suffer from a lack of identity--it suffers from a lack of power and usefulness.

Hunter: I think that Hunter’s Hero Power forces him to either play aggressively or resign himself to trying to get more usefulness from his cards. Which massively limits the design potential on Hunter cards. If they are too powerful, Hunter becomes too powerful aggressively, and if they aren’t, control Hunters are terrible. I think an early switch to a more utility-based Hero Power is necessary for control Hunters to exist. (And I really want them to exist--Deathstalking is so much fun.) I’d like to note that Hunter does indeed have a card from the last expansion that changes his hero power to a higher utility and control option, which I think is perfect. I don’t have it yet, but I plan on trying it. When I have, I may, or may not, change my opinion on that option. If I do, I’ll make a post. (My current suspicion is that it’s a spell that doesn’t do anything else, so it’s probably too slow on average. But control decks are usually slow. Like I said, I need to check it out.)

Other than those three, I think Rogue and Druid are both problematic in how similar they are, and how useless they are in certain situations, both being generally outclassed by Mage, whose power is just about always useful, and does essentially the same thing. However, I wouldn’t classify them as ‘urgent cases.’ And even so, I’d suggest changes/options for every hero, since it’d be crazy fun.

~Aodhfyn

[aodhfyn]

Champion Releases: Phenomenon

I want to quickly address one of my statements in my first post: Champion Releases. The statement was that the minimum amount of time between releases was the time that it took for the community to assimilate the last champion. However, I have decided that this is not true. Well, it was a generality already, but on top of that I have realized that there is another force at play that can change the rules of the game entirely. I’m calling it the Phenomenon of Theme. Generally speaking, Riot follows certain ‘rules’ with respect to their releases, balancing, etc. However, the strongest rule of all is connection with the theme. Therefore, if a theme were to be introduced that contradicted one of these ‘rules’ such as my proposed champion minimum release frequency, (which, I believe, is now oscillating between 3 and 5 months), then that theme could possibly overrule Riot’s sensibilities. For instance, if Riot decided to release two or three champions (I just like the number 3) that were all thematically (and hence probably also gameplay) related, they might shorten the ‘minimum release frequency’ or entirely do away with it and release them all at once. The class updates are sort of an example of this. Except that they are being done for balance reasons, and not thematic ones. 

In any case. The point that I’m trying to make is that the phenomenon wins when it comes to reality. And it’s far more exciting than the rule. However, a point I should make is that the phenomenon is never phenomenal without the rule. Without a rule to break, there is no excitement in entering new territory.

~Aodhfyn

[aodhfyn]

Damage vs. Utility

League of Legends is a combat game, and for any combat game there is one thing you need: some way to fight your opponent. Counter to intuition, damage is not actually necessary. The combat could revolve around tossing people off of cliffs, or jumping on their heads, or knocking them out. There are a plethora of options for combat. However, for each of these forms, skill expression comes through one of two means: some way to deal more damage, or some form of utility. (Typically utility means ‘control’. E.G. defensive or lockdown tools.)

Out of the two options, damage is the simplest, and classically the focus of combat games. However, as games have evolved, I’ve seen a trend towards improving and pioneering new forms of utility, and not damage. The assumption is that utility is either more satisfying, or more ‘skill-expressive.’ I can’t say if that’s actually the case, but those are the main reasons I can come up with that explain the increased trend.

That said, most games, including League of Legends have a mixture of damage and utility, and in order to keep them balanced, the utility-damage ratio usually lies on a scale, wherein the more utility you gain the less damage you have. However, finding the correct balance seems to be a complex issue, given how often LoL messes it up. (Rek’sai, Ekko, Riven, Udyr, Xin Zhao, Rengar, Taliyah, Camille, etc.) The recent Assassin Class Update highlighted this issue, specifically with the changes to Rengar and lethality. Rengar has serious issues with having both too much utility and too much damage. Lethality on the other hand is a broad-scale damage adjuster for an entire damage class. (AD.) Because of its universality, it becomes very difficult to balance across the board, either oscillating towards too much damage for a selection of champions, or too little damage for those who rely on it for their damage.

Clearly damage is essential for most games, and for LoL especially. However, if too much damage is provided to utility champions, or champions have too much utility for the damage they deal, then you find some serious balance issues cropping up. This is further complicated by items, runes, and masteries, which can provide free damage to utility champions. For instance, occasionally, whenever I drop elo, I play Malphite. But I don’t just play tank Malphite, I take ad runes, a mixture of defensive and offensive masteries, and I build a Titanic Hydra first. (Occasionally TF as well.) Then I max W for surprising sustained (and mana-cheap) damage. This combination leaves me with insane utility and high damage. Now, I think that normally, it’s balanced. That’s why I only do it in low elo where they won’t punish my squishiness as much. However, it doesn’t take too much movement in either direction (free damage or free utility) for that balance to quickly tip out of scale. While there are solutions, (one of my favorites being changing items to give percent bonuses to base stats), each of them would massively change the game, or force it into a very slow growth pattern.

So I don’t think we’ll see changes in LoL anytime soon in terms of actually fixing this issue.

~Aodhfyn

[aodhfyn]

Trinity Force -- The Mutation

I’ve been around for two major changes to Trinity Force changes. One in which they removed AP, and one in which they removed Crit Chance. They stated that these changes were to channel it into an item more useful for the standard niche of champions that used it, but each change removed something from the item, and made it less useful to the majority of champions. What seems strange about this to me is the fact that this is in direct opposition to the original purpose of Trinity Force, which was to be an item that offered a little of everything. Now it offers a little health, a little AD, a little bit of other miscellaneous stats like movement speed, and a lot of attack speed and spell-focused auto damage. I think it’s a better item, but the name no longer sticks. Why is it called Trinity Force? What about it implies 3 forces? I just cannot tell anymore. This item has always been weird, I’ve never liked it except on a small selection of characters (Poppy, Renekton, Jax, and Gangplank in my case) and even then, it sometimes felt really bad to build because of the general lack of synergy among the component items. I often preferred to build one other item, farm up for a while, and straight up buy as much of it as I could in one go. Now it’s a lot cheaper, and more efficient, but the reasons for buying it have decreased. 

The strangest part of all, of course, is simply that Riot has never stated that they are changing Trinity Force’s purpose--rather they say they are refining it for the majority of champions that use it. I think Riot may have lost the original intent of the item.

~Aodhfyn

[aodhfyn]

Top ten League of Legends Splash art,

[aodhfyn]

Items: Balancing the Game

Items are crucial to the balance of any MOBA. Especially League of Legends. Just how does itemization work in League though? Why is it so crucial, and why does it affect so much of the game? One of the primary reasons is that itemization in League is not straight stats. Items lend passives and actives as well as statistical boosts. Furthermore, some champions can abuse certain resources, such as Yasuo gaining twice the crit chance from items, and Kog’maw doubling attack speed. This results in itemization issues that must either be balanced on the champion end or the item end. Furthermore, it is a requirement by definition for overpowered items to be broken only on a select group of champions. I’ve subdivided that into three categories:

Trait-based power, Class-based power, and Unique Power.

Trait-based power is power that comes from having a certain quality or trait that dominates the champion’s kit and play-style receive an unproportionally strong boost from the item. Good examples are attack speed and armor. Both are stats that can be abused by certain champions when a single item synergizes too well with these stats.

Class-based power is a bit trickier to define, because its scope is larger. Class-based power derived from items is actually not rare however. Mages, ADCs, and Junglers have empowering items, while tanks and supports have classically not had empowering items. This changed with the Juggernaut update however, and now tanks also have empowering items. For the most part this is intentional, although many League players have been upset at the damage tanks can deal now. It changed the meta, while you could say it broke the meta, Riot has shown no signs of going back, so it would be more accurate to say it changed the meta. Sometimes, however, a single item can change class-based power. A good example is Deadman’s Plate. One of the major weaknesses of a tank, damage or no damage, is supposed to be mobility--Deadman’s Plate counteracts that. While it’s not the largest boost, the effect is large enough to be noticed. 

Unique power is the last and most annoying kind of item-based power. This is power derived from unique character or item interactions. Champions aren’t the only ones to have abilities, items have abilities too, they have passives and actives that can be abused just as much as champion abilities. Usually this isn’t too much of a problem, as few item passives or actives are likely to synergize with any one champion to an extent they become overpowered, but every now and then it happens. 

That is all for now, I do apologize if my writing is a little rambling or incoherent, I try to make it comprehensible, but I don’t have time right now to truly proof-read it.

Thanks for reading,

Aodhfyn