Nightfall's Comments
The Badlands Bandits
And in the same expansion Mage gets a card that demonstrates exactly why paying 6 mana for this is folly… Heat Wave for 2 mana deals with all but one of these minions. There are many more board clears that very easily deal with 3/2’s
2/5
Blast Tortoise
This card is interesting. You essentially throw down this Tortoise, and it destroys anything it would’ve been able to defend against well, but if you’re up against something big like a 7/7, this minion doesn’t deal effectively with that with either its battlecry or with its body.
Of course, given enough buffs, it’s likely to deal fairly well with most sizes of minions, at which point it’s just really good.
4/5
Detonation Juggernaut
Don’t know about this card. It really only finds a spot if your deck has a truly remarkable amount of taunts. Wouldn’t be surprised if not running that critical mass ends up making a better deck.
3/5
Unlucky Powderman
If Taunt Warrior fails, it’s not because of this card. It does a lot and it does it right.
5/5
Battlepickaxe
It’s gonna feel a bit icky to play this on turn 3 and not being able to swing immediately. Still, if your deck is all taunts, you’ll be able to recover from that…
I can see this being the damage you need to actually finish a game with Taunt warrior. Still, I wonder if Odyn Warrior isn’t simply better as as a long gameplan?
4/5
Blast Charge
Execute for 3 mana? Yikes, no please! This should’ve been 2 mana, regardless of what the Excavate reward ends up being.
Still, I’ll hold on with a rating BECAUSE that excavate reward is unknown so far…
Reinforced Plating
I basically equate excavating to drawing a card, so it feels far too much like the pre-buff Shield Block which basically didn’t see any play.
Will this be worth it? Don’t know, the Warrior excavate reward is not known yet, we’ll see…
Misfire
It’s a lot of damage for just 2 mana, but of course very random. The quickdraw is a nice bonus, but don’t ever expect that to be active. This is a control-style card and those tend to hold on to their removal instead of trying to topdeck them.
But it’s not bad, just nothing impressive. Might see play, but wouldn’t be surprised if there wasn’t enough space to slot this one in.
3/5
Boomboss Tho'grun
It feels so overkill to me because you’re already looking to find the time to play Odyn, and you would want to play him over this guy any day.
Once Odyn is down you really don’t want to bother with drawing these TNT. Rather, you’d just want to finish the game quicker with armor-generating cards.
So in the same Standard cycle, it’s just an easy…
1.5/5
Reno, Lone Ranger
I always liked the idea of a board-limiting card. I hope they explore that more, but perhaps more like 4 spaces instead of just 1…
Now, it’s totally fine on this card because it is just for 1 turn.
But of course it’s an amazing card. I’m not a 100% sure but the removal of the minions looks like a poof effect, so no deathrattles to worry about.
The hero power is very much random, but you can’t go wrong with any of them because they’re all worth around or more than 2 mana!
I believe this is enough to push Highlander decks in standard.
5/5
Spirit of the Badlands
Makes me wonder if you’re not just better off running the duplicates
Pile of Bones
Would you play a body that’s worth less than 1 mana (1 mana often gives 2/2’s these days) just because you’ll resummon it during the game?
Very maybe… I am still sceptical about the whole Excavate thing, but those might be fine without this very slow card.
2.5/5
Kobold Miner
Wow, this is bad bad. I don’t remember, did EVIL cable rat ever see play? If that did, this has a chance, but it seems so bad to me…
1.5/5
Flint Firearm
Seeing as some of the Quickdraw cards are either very expensive or very bad, I have to assume Flint Firearm will be bad…
2/5
Burrow Buster
All the Excavate cards seem to be clearly a bit worse than general, and the rewards seem VERY random and some not all that good. Is this gonna work? Playing inefficient cards, which makes your deck really weak against aggro, just for a payoff at your fourth excavation?
I am gonna guess that it’s a losing strategy. a 1/1 for 2 mana? 3 damage for 3? This card?
1/5
Snake Oil Seller
Only way I see this getting play is if the Highlander decks will do really well. Still, Plague Deathknight is simply better at that job.
2.5/5
Gattlesnake
Sadly it’s utter garbage. I love the style of card, but this should’ve been a 1/6.
1/5
Ogre-Gang Outlaw
Why does this guy not have Charge? C’mon, now you need an enemy minion on board to have a chance at charge…
2/5
So, how cheap does this need to be to be worth it?
6 mana? Absolute garbage
5 mana? Getting warmer, but still doesn’t feel like something I’d intentionally put in my deck
4 mana? If on curve, hell yeah. Later in the game it’s OK
Any cheaper feels great
So how many cards do you need in hand to make it 4 mana? 7 cards including Living Horizon himself. Possible, sure, but not easy… There might not be enough payoff for stuffing your hand full of cards beyond Living Horizon
3/5