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The longest running Hearthstone podcast in the history of space and time and cards. Join GuyGrumpy and a rotating host of guests from The Happy Hearthstone community as they help you get better at the game and have a blast doing it.
Episodes
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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