On first glance it sounds really random, because one automatically think of picking one good card and one bad and hoping to give your opponent the bad. But I think it can be quite good in a few situations.

Lets talk about a Control Deck. Play it against Aggro, pick 2 Control Cards, your opponent won’t do much with that. In Control Matchups you can maybe mill your opponent. Or you could just pick cards which only synergyze with your deck. Steal Priest always had the problem when ending up with Shield Slam or more problematic a Deadly Poison, which was a dead card and you could never use. Also interrupting this pesky Mechathun combo for one turn is nice. Or picking 2 demons when having dark pact.

When using it in an Aggro Deck against a Control Deck, you could just pick 2 Aggro Cards. He won’t benefit from it, and the 4 mana 4/5 vanilla stats are actually not that bad for Aggro. Playing it in Control will be a bit harder, because it can be too slow against Aggro.

Nevertheless Discover was always a good mechanic, which needed a bit thoughtprocess in picking the best card. And this card just takes it to another level in finding a card, which you would benefit more than your opponent.

I really like that card designwise

If the Mine doesn’t draw anything afterwards, it could be OK for Control.

But I feel like this could even be better in Tempo Decks. 5/5 is a nice body for 5 mana, something Tempo Decks care about, Control not. Tempo Decks care about 5 Face Dmg, Control not.

If Big Spell Mage is a thing in this meta, this will be a nice Counter against Ravens and Dragons Fury. I could see this in Tempo / Odd Rogue.

Control Decks draw enough Cards (Druids, Warlocks, Mages) and also Mircale Rogue. So it should be easy to get the Bombs off.

5/5 with 5 face dmg for 5 with the possible Addon of denying your opponent a card, sounds OK. I would maybe prefer it to Lifedrinker

You won’t be able to target Non-Mechs

Bunnyhoppor getting his Card for winning Summer Championship? haha

Ofc skill matters, but these All-In decks are the best counter to a diverse meta, nothing wrong with diversity. Chances are higher that these highroll decks will work and therefore they are played.

Soft-Spoiler: HCT Summer Final 2018
Combo Priest vs Shudder Shaman (Shaman draws faster, thats the nature of the deck and wins) ~15 mins
Cube Warlock vs Big Spell Mage (nice game and pretty even, one that was also skillintense before the nerfs) ~20 mins
Combo Priest vs Big Spell Mage (nice game and pretty even, one that was also skillintense before the nerfs) ~20 mins

3 nice games, which didn’t include Odd Paladin, Odd Rogue, Odd Hunter, Recruit Hunter, Even Warlock. All of these All-In decks. But none of those 3 matchups are common for ladder.

And now the final game, a typical ladder game:
Taunt Druid vs Even Warlock (WL hits both 2 giants and its over Round 6)

There were always All-In decks, with Face Hunter, Pirate Warrior or Spiteful decks. But now it is the majority.

1 additional thought:
Because teching doesn’t help and you will have matches, where your opponent won’t draw a perfect hand, it is easier to win even with experimental decks like Murloc Priest or Odd Mage. Thats fun until you realize that you didn’t win because of your good deck, but because of their bad draws. Which is also a bad feeling.

But maybe thats just me, who likes the thoughtprocess behind every game more than just winning. Even losing can be fun, when it was a good thoughtfull game on both sides.

I think I would be such a player, who thinks the meta is a little bit too diverse right now. I was really hyped after the Nerf Patch hit place. But I didn’t play the last 2 weeks anymore, let me explain why:

I hit Legend 3 times in a row with Control Warlock and Control Mage. Both are decks which can easily tech in additional stuff depending on the meta. Tinkmaster was one of my favourite techs in Control Warlock in April, great against Cube Warlock and Taunt Druid. There was no real matchup, which I couldn’t beat except Quest Rogue. Every matchup was winable with enough thoughfullness.

The problem now is you can’t tech against everything, the meta is too diverse. And therefore the result is that decks live up, which are quite similar to a cointoss. Example: You need to push through Taunt Druid before they get too strong. Recruit Hunter and also Even Warlock are all or nothing decks, draw your 2 Deathrattle Cards and get fucked, because the whole deck doesn’t work anymore. Don’t draw your Giants and get below 15 and get fucked. Also Odd Paladin and Even Shaman are all or nothing decks. Hope your opponent won’t win the board once, or you never come back.

You can’t really play a normal deck like Warrior or Priest against a Recruit Hunter with a perfect hand. Or an Even Warlock which dumps his second Giant Round 4. And then there are games where exactly the opposite happens and they don’t have their cards and it suddently feels way too easy to win.

Thats also the reason, why Warrior doesn’t work right now, although Witchwood was a good expansion for him.
– You would need MCT, Acolytes and Pyromancer against Even Shaman and Odd Paladin
– You would need Silence against all Classes, but most important Rogue
– You would need Weapon Destruction against Druid, Rogue and Warlock
– You would need BGH and Dolls against Even Warlock.
– You would need Tinkmaster against Taunt Druid
– You would need Geist against Druid and Cube Warlock
You can’t play every tech card, although they are game winning in one specific matchup, but at the same time game losing in all the others.

To sum it up:
In this meta you don’t try to play against your opponent. You just try to have a deck which is strongest in whatever it does, ignoring the opponents deck and hoping for the right hand. And because of that I feel in most matches less fun and helplessness.

Yeah, absolutely. I really like this card.

There are 2 things Control Warriors lack at the moment. Flexible Removals and Threats / Finishers. This guy can remove something and has to be removed afterwards, otherwise he will grow and be a Threat on his own at Turn 5 already. Just kill that Paladin Board with Razor Blade and kill the last guy with this Legendary. Its hard to come back from that.
And a really flexible Removal comes with the 2 Mana Echo card, because you don’t have to have 5 different situational Removals anymore, you only need 1.

2-3 flexible Warrior cards have to be announced and a slower Midrange – controlish Style of Warrior should be possible.

I have mixed feelings about nerfing it. I don’t find it too strong, but it feels almost like a coin toss. And every game feels the same. And it is not important, if you play against the Pirate Warrior, Dragon Priest, Shit Druid or Face Hunter Variant.

1. Can you answer their early Shadow Ascendant?
Yes? Proceed to 2.
No? Sry you lost

2. Was it a Doomsayer Clear?
Yes? Grats you won
No? Proceed to 3.

3. Does he clear your board with Duskbreaker now?
Yes? Proceed to 4.
No? Proceed to 5.

4. You have no Board, are you facing a Scalebane also now?
Yes? Sry you lost
No? Proceed to 6.

5. You have a Board, are you facing a Scalebane now?
Yes? Proceed to 6.
No? Grats you won

6. Does he have a Spiteful now?
Yes? Proceed to 7.
No? Grats you won

7. Are you able to clear the Board?
Yes? Proceed to 8.
No? Sry you lost

8. Does he drop a Grand Archivist?
Yes? Sry you lost
No? Grats you won

There is no Thought Procedure behind the deck, and also no Thought Procedure playing against it. As a Control Deck you can’t think about saving a Removal. Leave Shadow Ascendant up and you die, leave Scalebane up and you die, run out of Removals and die to Deathwing from Spiteful. Have Removals and die to Big Immune Druid Dinosaur, which I don’t even know its name. Try to reload your Removals with Mage Ravens and recognize that you can’t win a Joust against Big Shit Summoner decks. Go back to Solitaire and try next Day.

I am so glad that it didn’t work out for Ant at the Word Championship. I don’t want to see Kolento or Purple getting depressed, because of losing to such shit Decks and turning into Solitaire Streamers.

Ich would have loved to see getting these Spiteful Summoner Decks addressed. Patches, Bonemare and Creeper are too less of a Nerf for these Decks.
The Priest Variant without Pirates does work and you get fucked up at Turn 6, without seeing Bonemare or Creeper.

For me all those Decks are bigger Cancer than every Deck before. It is plain stupid and boring from the fun perspective. Spells are fun, Spells are interactive.
From the gameplan perspective, it is hard to counter, you can just play aggressive enough to kill him at 6 or 7 and hope to Not getting dragoned. I mean how much fun is it, If they have their perfect starting hand with northshire, Shadow ascendant and you have a 100 percent boardclear with doomsayer. Every fucking Deck even Aggro Decks were able to deal with an early doomsayer somehow. Every Game feels the same.

If you want to win against warlock, tech some weapon destruction and silence or better hex. If you want to kill some priests, try it with dirty Rats and coldlights. What to tech against These Spiteful Summoner Decks?

I am not saying that they are too strong in the Long Run. But they are too strong for how stupid boring they are. They shouldn’t even exist and the Versions of Druid are even more fucked up to begin with … Just waiting for mage, who pyroblasts himself at 8 with Grand archivist, because He wants to have good Turn 6 Summoners.

One thing I am experiencing is that there are too many players, who never played Freeze Mage, Patron Warrior or even Control Warrior. These are decks where you need to see the big Gameplan.

Big Facepalm if you see how a Freeze Mage with 30 health, Ice Block and Ice Barrier up kills a big threat of you with Frost Bolt, Ice Lance, Ice Lance. GG wincondition

Yeah, one of the best Brawls ever. Its so much fun to play the original unnerfed Decks, which was never possible before.
And even Decks that are out for only 1 year now feel fresh again. Freeze Mage, Justicar Taunt Warrior, Midrange Shaman. Oil and Miracle Rogues with original Blade Flury. And the Undertaker Decks lol

That’s the first Brawl I play more often than once

The Card and all variations of it, is ok for Control Warrior

Lets take a look:
Gain 5 Armor + Arcanite Reaper: As Control Warrior you want to live and remove minions. We get both effects. Arcanite Reaper would cost 5, Iron Hide would cost 1. Price seems OK for this one.

Gain 5 Armor + 5/5 Body: Control Warrior played Shieldmaiden, that is exactly the same. Seems OK.

Gain 5 Armor + 5 Dmg: Bash was 3/3 at 3 mana and also was played in CW. A bigger Bash for 6 mana seems OK

Gain 15 Armor: In the old Meta, where no one would play Ressources and every minion was removed , this card would be good. But today, you are in real trouble at Turn 6. Gaining 15 Armor maybe only works against Priest I think?

Overall it seems quite good and CW loves to have different Options to stall, so it shouldn’t be a problem that the card is always random … but here comes the big BUT:
CW is in a weak position now, you can’t just let a guy live from Turn 5 to 7. You fight for removals and if you don’t have the answers to a Scalebane or a Cairne, you will get Bonemared. Because of this, even Brawl, which was one of the strongest removals in old CW, isn’t that strong anymore. Most of the time only 1 single copy is played today.

If the meta slows down, this card will be good. I can see good use against Mages, Priests and Jade Druids. But against every Bonemare, Pirate, Scalebane Deck this shit will be much too slow.

Stonehill was too strong in shaman

I don’t think that this is too strong, there are many situations where other Pirate cards would be better.

1. You don’t have a weapon equipped:
You are forced to play tempo based turns and you don’t draw a weapon. Even playing a Naga Corsair without receiving the Buff already feels awkward, not to mention playing a Dread Corsair for 4 mana. But both cards are much better than Phantom Freebooter in this situation.

2. You have a weapon equipped, but hold it with 1 durability, lets say War Axe:
Bloodsail Raider would be a 5/3 for 2
Dread Corsair would be a 3/3 for 1
Naga Corsair would be a 5/4 for 4 plus weapon buff
Phantom Freebooter would be 6/4 for 4
In this situation it is on par with Naga Corsair, the other 2 are hard to compare but are much cheaper

3. So there comes the last situation, where we have big durability, which is rare. Lets say we have Rusty Hook equipped buffed with Upgrade and Bloodsail Cultist … 3/3:
Bloodsail Corsair, Dread Corsair won’t change and are still good plays.
Naga Corsair gives a Buff on 3 swings, which is great in this scenario.
And Phantom Freebooter turns into a 6/6, which is great – but hey at Turn 5 there waits the 7/7 Hydra. Or in Shaman there is a 7/7 4 mana powerhouse waiting.

I would assume situation 2 happens 50 % of the time, situation 1 and 3 25 %. You will drop concistency for a Powerhouse which only works in 25 % of matches. Hydra, Naga Corsair and Korkrons are better and consistent.
The weapon buff is too important for this card, and it would only be good, if Warrior gets a card to disover Weapons or some stuff like that.

Barnes is in Standard

It doesn’t seem impressive first, because it maybe can be compared to a Tidal Surge, which also doesn’t find much play.

But at 4 mana with Charge you can combine any Paladin Buff Card. Spikeridged Steed or Blessing of Kings.
Actually it is the same as Wickerflame, as soon as you buff those guys and don’t get hexed they are hardcore.

Will Wickerflames text be changed maybe? I don’t see a difference between Lifesteal and Wickerflame

I don’t get the inclusion of Bloodsail Raider. Handbuff decks try to buff their hand for the first 2-3 rounds and then try to turn the board around by playing big taunts.

Bloodsail Raider only makes sense to be played after a weapon, and won’t help you getting tempo in the first 5 rounds, because … you won’t have a weapon in this deck?
For me it looks like Bloodsail Raider is a win more card in this deck, when you already have board presence + weapon equipped and your Bloodsail Raider is buffed. But does a Handbuff deck really need to have additional win more cards, which won’t help in any other scenario?

I didn’t test this deck right now, but I am just curious of the thoughts behind this?
I would maybe drop Acidic and both Bloodsails for 2 of those 1-drop-weapon-destruction pirates to get the pirate synergy and add a 2nd Acolyte

Finally a way to beat those Weasel-Tunneler Resurrect Priests! haha

Maybe this could also fit into a new Kaza-Lock deck, if it survives the Reno removal. Nzoth Paladin maybe?

The linked Mana Treant says Deathrattle and also this cards says “when they die”.
Devolve and Vanish won’t trigger Deathrattles, so it should absolutely destroy this card.