Episodes
Sunday Sep 20, 2015
The Grand Tournament Review (Class) - Episode 56
Sunday Sep 20, 2015
Sunday Sep 20, 2015
Hello!
- Scott is on the show this week
- Topic: The Grand Tournament Review!
- Reasons to be happy this week
- News: The expansion is out!
The Review Format
- We want to give real, valuable insight into the cards we talk about, but there are too many cards in an expansion to do that for every one.
- So we picked the ones that we think are most important to talk about.
- This week, we’re reviewing class cards!
- For each class, we choose: The best card to CRAFT, DRAFT, and DUST
- We reviewed neutral cards last week
Druid
Best to Craft
- Scott says: This card’s a lot of fun, and leads to some interesting potential. If you silence it, polymorph it, or return it to your hand you get a free Wild Growth!
- Josh says: It blew my mind when someone described this as a Mechwarper that affects all of your cards. I’m sold!
Best to Draft
- Scott says: I think this is very strong card. Its cheap mana cost lets you do other things the turn you cast it. Cast it late in the game on a nasty big minion for best effect.
- Josh says: Yeah, I don’t worry too much about the downside, especially in Arena. Removing their one big threat is a huge play.
Best to Dust
- Scott says: A novelty that won’t pan out very often. Extremely inconsistent, but might be good in some Tavern Brawl someday?
- Josh says: Maybe there’s some discard synergy in the future, where you can draw cards when discard. But in the current game, yeah, I don’t see this ever working out.
Hunter
Best to Craft
- Josh says: Great stats, great scare tactics if they’re worried about Explosive Trap or Frozen Trap.
- Scott says: What’s not to like about a 3/3 taunt beast for 2 mana?
Best to Draft
- Josh says: We finally have a beast replacement for the boring ol’ Bloodfen Raptor! Even at 50% proc chance, this is solid value.
- Scott says: Hoo boy, this guy’s great! A 3/2 beast with tremendous upside.
Best to Dust
- Josh says: I don’t get it. I see some minor synergies and a ton of RNG. There are so many things to spend 6 mana on that don’t murder your tempo.
- Scott says: Only useful in the slowest of slow decks.
Mage
Best to Craft
- Josh says: He fits really well into Spell Power decks, but unlike Malygos has the inherent value to be solid in almost any Mage deck. Fun to play.
- Scott says: Arcane Missiles gets overlooked a lot as a spell, but getting 3 of them in hand is far better than an avenging wrath. It’s cheaper, does more damage, can be broken up over turns, gets additional spell damage boosts, and fires multiple spell triggers. And his stats aren’t bad to begin with.
Best to Draft
- Josh says: I love this card. Great on defense and offense, cheaper than Polymorph: Sheep! Fun fact: It resets the attack counter on your minion. I’ve won games by casting it twice on a single minion for immediate 8 damage.
- Scott says: Versatile? Yes. Efficient? No. Its costs are high no matter how you look at it. I am less a fan than most.
Best to Dust
- Josh says: Mages already have better, cheaper ways to kill minions, that aren’t so restrictive.
- Scott says: The ultimate giant-killer, but I’d much rather just have a Fireball. The inability to hit your opponent sets this card back a lot.
Paladin
Best to Craft
- Scott says: This little guy almost always pulls his weight. He’s a lightning rod, but that’s because he’s quite good. It’s especially fun when he makes another Murloc Knight. Fun Fact: Shaman can get this guy too from Neptulon.
- Josh says: Paladin is getting a lot of great tools to keep their board full, and this is the most interesting, fun one.
Best to Draft
- Scott says: Combines with a smaller minion to make a huge unexpected punch, and leaves a big-attack threat that your opponent still needs to clean up.
- Josh says: I’m less sold on this card due to its situational use, but it will definitely shine in some cases. Removal that leaves a threat behind the opponent has to deal with.
Best to Dust
- Scott says: I do actually use this in some situations, but it’s not a good card. You’re generally better off saving for a more powerful weapon.
- Josh says: Paladin already has plenty of good weapons. You don’t need to gamble on a bad one.
Priest
Best to Craft
- Scott says: As long as you’re willing to wait to cast him until you have a dragon, he’s a great deal.
- Josh says:You almost always have a dragon in starting hand in a real dragon deck. 20% more stats that vanilla, plus Taunt! This guy simply breaks the usual balance. This is Blizzard telling you to play Dragon Priest.
Best to Draft
- Scott says: Lightwarden and Light of the Naruu showed these effects can be quite powerful, and here it’s added to a cost-efficient body that can survive more easily. This is a scary, scary card.
- Josh says: Yeah, the trouble with heal-scaling cards like this previously has been that they all die to 1 or 2 cost removal. This card changes that and makes the archetype scary again!
Best to Dust
- Scott says: It’s at its best when combined with spells that trigger from healing effects, or with Auchenai Soulpriest.
- Josh says: Priest already has too many ways to heal, and not enough safe ways to benefit from it. This just isn’t worth a card spot by itself.
Rogue
Best to Craft
- Josh says: It’s slim pickins on the Rogue list this expansion. This guy at least has a lot of interesting potential for trigger Combo effects, but his 2/2 stats hold him back.
- Scott says: The trick is being able to attack with him at least once. If you can, you’ll get a coin as a reward, which in turn will help trigger other combo effects. Makes an especially good Turn 1 (w/ coin) play if your opponent didn’t cast a 2/1.
Best to Draft
- Josh says: I enjoy this effect. It’s worked well in Priest and should work well in control Rogue. On-paper card advantage and some fun surprise plays.
- Scott says: Class cards are generally pretty good, and you can’t get stuck w/ dead weapon-enhancing spells like other classes.
Best to Dust
- Josh says: I was super excited for this card until I learned about all the things NOT in the card text. If you mill the card, it doesn’t spawn a 4/4. They draw a new card when they draw this, so you aren’t preventing draw. So it’s meant for non-mill control rogue? No thanks.
- Scott says: Too many conditions!
Shaman
Best to Craft
- Scott says: This effect ranges from fine to great. There are currently 8 possibilities — half from the hero power and half that are from actual cards.
- Josh says:Yeah, and even the worst totem RNG still makes this card a great play. A lot of shaman decks just need bodies on the board.
Best to Draft
- Scott says: Insaaaane. So good.
- Josh says: He wants to fight any minion played in the first 3 turns. And he’ll win almost every time!
Best to Dust
- Scott says: Very expensive — basically makes you skip your next turn. And you kill your own stuff too. Not a fan.
- Josh says: Yeah, this card is confused. It takes the worst parts of Hellfire and Lightning Storm, combines them together, and then jacks up the mana cost.
Warlock
Best to Craft
- Josh says:Fun. Fun. Fun. I really wanted this card to be viable, and I’m so glad people have found a way to make it work. This will be relevant and fun to play with for years to come.
- Scott says: By himself, not great. Also susceptible to silence and polymorph effects. Needs to be in a combo of some sort to be worth much.
Best to Draft
- Josh says: He’s risky, and sometimes too dangerous to even play late-game. But strong board control early. Similar to a Flame Imp.
- Scott says: Too much of a liability IMO.
Best to Dust
- Josh says: How lucky are you feeling? You’d need to hit the jackpot on RNG every since time you played this for it to be worth running in a deck.
- Scott says: There may be times when this is the one card that would win you the game. But most of the time, it will be too expensive to justify.
Warrior
Best to Craft
- Scott says: Assuming it fires, this is quite good. Is Warrior Dragon a thing yet?
- Josh says:It’s not ready for primetime yet, but Blizzard obviously wants Dragon Warrior to be a thing. And with all the strong control cards Warrior already has, I can see it getting real big with a few more cards. Compare this to Wolf Rider!
Best to Draft
- Scott says: Amazing if it survives, but it’s a bit hard to kill. Can be a 3-for-1 if it lives a turn.
- Josh says: Hard to kill? This guy is as easy to kill as a Wrathguard, and he drops two turns later! Maybe in Arena he stands a chance of living to attack once.
Best to Dust
- Scott says: You’ve got to be pretty desperate for whirlwind effects to want one to happen outside of your control at some random point in the game.
- Josh says: Haha yeah, I see this effect accomplish nothing most of the time. In the right deck, it is more likely to help you than hurt you, but too out of control for the control deck that wants it.
Community
- Question: None this week!
- iTunes Reviews
Donations
- No donations this week
The Dust Bowl
We open card packs donated by listeners, and pick our favorites and least favorites on the show!
Thanks to our supporters:
- Jake Crawford: 7 Packs
Card of the Week
Farewell
- Contact Scott on Twitter
- What you want to see in future episodes
- What hosts you want to visit the show
Saturday Sep 05, 2015
The Grand Tournament Review (Neutral) - Episode 55
Saturday Sep 05, 2015
Saturday Sep 05, 2015
Hello!
- Scott is on the show this week
- Topic: The Grand Tournament Review!
- Reasons to be happy this week
- News: The expansion is out!
The Review Format
- We want to give real, valuable insight into the cards we talk about, but there are too many cards in an expansion to do that for every one.
- So we picked the ones that we think are most important to talk about.
- This week we’re covering all of the neutral cards
- Look at each rarity level separately: Common, Rare, Epic, Legendary
- For each tier, each host chooses: The best card to CRAFT, DRAFT, and DUST
- Next episode: Class cards!
Neutral Cards – Common
Best to Craft
- Josh says: 5 stats for 2 mana is right on Vanilla, but this gives you a lot of cool combo opportunities with tough, low-attack minions.
- Scott says: Lots of opportunity with the +2 attack. It has ‘haste’, and can go especially well on minions with other abilities like Divine Shield, Taunt, or Windfury.
- Scott says: Cool opportunity to flesh out a weenie token deck in any class, but the Paladin synergy is especially strong.
- Josh says: Not a Paladin class card! Tons of fun potential here. Eek, that armor art.
Best to Draft
- Josh says: Cheap removal that leaves a body behind, or a late-game Charge surprise. Love the versatility.
- Scott says: The little guy that could! 3 mana is a lot to pay for such puny stats, but he packs a surprisingly strong punch.
- Scott says: As long as you can target two other minions with him, he roughly breaks even. More than that, and you’re at a pretty clear profit. Can combine with other inspire minion-generators (like Silver Hand Regent) for good times!
- Josh says: He eats a banana while jousting? This guy is insane! Strong effect that forces your opponent to answer immediately.
Best to Dust
- Josh says: If you want those 2/3 stats on a 1-cost, there are already better, more reliable options.
- Scott says: Agreed. And you’d think he’d want to be in a joust deck. Except he makes joust decks worse. So his proper place, if it even exists, is rather limited.
- Scott says: Hey, look! They took Goldshire Footman (a card already made fun of for how bad it is) and they made it even more susceptible to hero-power removal. That doesn’t seem like a step up.
- Josh says: This card is named after someone not good enough to participate in the tournament! That should be a sign. Maybe in Warrior Taunt decks, but that’s it.
Neutral Cards – Rare
Best to Craft
- Josh says: I don’t love this card, but there aren’t many good rares in this set. Some cool potential for next-turn combos in Hero-Power decks, though.
- Scott says: Keep in mind this ability will wait until you want to use it. So it can allow you to cast an inspire minion on curve and activate its ability. For some minions, this can make a big difference.
- Scott says: He ranges from slightly overcosted to insaaaane. Make sure he’s in the right deck and he’ll fire more than 50% of the time.
- Josh says: Yeah, when he works, he will wrestle board control from anything at its cost level. When he doesn’t, he’s still an okay body. How much do you want to rely on RNG?
Best to Draft
- Josh says: Right after saying I’m not a fan of Joust, here’s one I’ll pick in draft! It’s slim pickings in Rares this set, but this guy is a great desperate play with huge upside when trying to close out the game or remove a big threat.
- Scott says: Yeah, his stats are pretty reasonable for his cost, especially if you can protect him with taunt or something. If you can manage to fire his charge, so much the better. 5 damage charge is something that would normally be very expensive.
- Scott says: The effect isn’t great, but it’ll matter sometimes, especially against some classes. Given that its stats are totally on curve, the bonus is pure upside. The fewer cards your opponent has in hand, the more likely this is to prevent them from using their hero ability, especially in arena.
- Josh says: Tiny little Loatheb. Weird card, but against some classes, preventing the hero power can be a big deal. Be willing to “throw away” the hero-power perk and play him on curve if it’s safe.
Best to Dust
- Josh says: Same amount of stats as Boulderfist Ogre (same cost), but with MUCH worse distribution. And a 50% chance to screw up your plans every turn. No thanks!
- Scott says: What Josh said. They took a vanilla creature, made it worse, then made it worse again.
- Scott says: In a world where it’s easy to get 2/3s with upside for 2 mana, it’s hard to understand why you’d want to have such a strong limitation on a card where that upside is one more health. This card is horrible.
- Josh says: You get 1 bonus stat for the huge downside here. Not even close to worth it.
Neutral Cards – Epic
Best to Craft
- Josh says: It’s not for every deck, but in Spell Damage mage, this is a 6/4 for 3 mana. Pretty insane. The bottom isn’t that low either – 4/2 for 3 isn’t that bad.
- Scott says: It’s worth noting this will only fire once at most, but in a deck that has a lot of spell damage, this is certainly a good deal.
- Scott says: Even without other hero power cards to synergize with, this can still be a strong card. Hunter, for example, wants to hit face however it can, and this allows another 2-point shot straight to the face. Rogue is really the only class where this is a total dud.
- Josh says: I haven’t gotten enough cards to build a real Hero Power deck, but he’s an absolute staple there.
Best to Draft
- Josh says: Let’s butt heads, Scott! I think this card is pretty strong, especially in a format with less instant removal on-hand. One activation puts you way ahead of Vanilla (assuming you get innate value from your hero power already).
- Scott says: Well, one activation is 8 mana for a 6/10 + hero power effect, which is arguable right on curve. Personally I’d rather have a Chromagnus or Kel’Thuzad. But if you can get multiple activations, he certainly gets out of control quickly.
- Scott says: The thing I find interesting about this guy is that he’s the only guy who can repeatedly put minions into your hand. This can let you trigger cards like Knife Juggler, or fill the board quickly in one turn if that’s of value to you.
- Josh says: You’re going to have to convince me on this one, Scott. 8 total mana for 7/6 stats and a Hero Power. Seems like a slow Silver Hand Knight. Although 5 Attack/Health does seem to be the magic number this set.
Best to Dust
- Josh says: I’ve never once said to myself, “Gee, I wish I had a crappy version of Questing Adventurer in my hand right now.” Trap card!
- Scott says: I feel the same way. Luckily he doesn’t start at as much of a stat disadvantage as QA, but he certainly won’t grow as quickly either.
- Scott says: You must really hate your own ability if at deckbuilding time you think that stealing another random class’s ability will be an upgrade. I could possibly see this ability on a vanilla creature, but you won’t catch me paying a 1-mana premium for it.
- Josh says: Pretty lame this doesn’t work against Adventure bosses. I would love to see more PVE-focused cards with effects like this. As-is, a fun trick that won’t ultimately do much.
Neutral Cards – Legendary
Best to Craft
- Josh says: I wrote this before I opened her in my packs! I was so happy! Spider Tank body with a super powerful perk. I’ll play this in almost every control deck, even if I can’t proc it a bunch. It’s a great body that can get low killing minions and still force out removal.
- Scott says: Spare parts are a pretty cheap and plentiful way of activating her, but Priest, Druid, and Paladin have lots of good choices too. All upside, no downside. Worst case, you have a non-mech Spider Tank.
- Scott says: Chaaaaarge! That alone is worth the price of admission. Not sure if pirate decks are truly competitive yet, but this certainly helps step it up a notch.
- Josh says: The cap’n is trying to make it happen. This card feels like it’s singlehandedly trying to drag all those crappy Pirate cards into the meta. Such a strong card, but only craft it if you want to craft ALL the other Pirates too.
Best to Draft
- Josh says: Solid body and a super fun Inspire effect. Save him until Turn 7 unless you’re super desperate.
- Scott says: Being able to repeatedly draw a spell is pretty good, especially in decks that reward spell-casting. Since all spells are class-specific and class-specific cards are better on average than neutral minions, these will tend to be above-average cards. But like all inspire effects, it’s a bit ‘win-more’.
- Scott says: Not only is he fun, but if the game drags out a bit, you’ll get significant mileage from him over time.
- Josh says: You’ll likely use your Hero power more in Arena. Should get lots of value out of it.
Best to Dust
- Josh says: You should have much better things to do with 6 mana than summon an overcosted minion who has a 50% chance of making you waste your next Turn casting him again.
- Scott says: I don’t hate this guy quite so much — I gave him a 4 in my own set review. Yes, he’s overpriced by 1 mana per summon, but in a top-deck scenario he can easily tilt the game in your favor. Try to keep him to decks where he’s likely to win the joust.
- Scott says: He’s good at helping you stay alive a little longer. But he’s bad at helping himself stay alive since your opponent can just attack your face instead of him, and take no retaliation damage. I’ve seen him used to good effect, but only in a priest deck that purposefully shored up his weaknesses through lots of healing and buffing.
- Josh says: Aww, now you’re just trying to make me feel bad, Scott. This was the first Legendary I opened!
Community
- Question: Gareth: Tavern Brawl cards
- iTunes Reviews
Donations
- Brett: $50
The Dust Bowl
We open card packs donated by listeners, and pick our favorites and least favorites on the show!
Thanks to supporters:
- Jake Crawford: 7 Packs
- Brett: 25 Packs
- Mike Burgess: 25 Packs
Card of the Week
Farewell
- Contact Scott on Twitter
- What you want to see in future episodes
- What hosts you want to visit the show
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