Stonekeep's Comments
16.0 Hearthstone Battlegrounds Patch - 3 New Heroes, Hero Rotation, 2 New Minions, Balance Changes (Lightfang Nerf), Statistics
Nope, I would also love to get ladder stats, but I don’t think they’re working on them right now. At least they haven’t shared anything that would indicate that.
They usually announce big plans for the entire year around Hall of Fame / Standard year announcements in March, so if anything, we’ll learn what they’re working on then ๐
Patch 16.0 is live! Descent of Dragons Cards in Client, SN1P-SN4P Warlock nerf, Tyrande & Sylvanas Hero Portraits, Wild Cards Rotating Out, Bug Fixes
We’ve just got information from Blizzard that it’s a bug – don’t worry, it will be available again soon!
Patch 16.0 is live! Descent of Dragons Cards in Client, SN1P-SN4P Warlock nerf, Tyrande & Sylvanas Hero Portraits, Wild Cards Rotating Out, Bug Fixes
Yep, you’re right, sorry!
Sylvanas Windrunner Hunter Hero Portrait Coming - Leaked on Rdu's Stream
https://i.imgur.com/QjJE9HT.png
Source: email sent by Blizzard a ~week ago.
Big Ol' Whelp
I took a screenshot from the stream right when it was revealed – it was discounted by 2 with Frizz. I did write that it costs 5 in the description and then put an actual correct image 5-10 minutes later. Don’t be so harsh.
No, you don’t need to spell it out, it’s obvious that when the mana cost is green then the card is discounted…
Descent of Dragons Card Review #6 - Stormhammer, Kaahrj, Chronobreaker, Platebreaker, Embiggen, Goru, Dragonmaw Poacher, Murozond and more!
I feel like people overestimate the impact of Platebreaker, just like I’ve mentioned in the review. Yes, the card is great in that one matchup… but useless in every other. Even if Control Warrior will be popular – e.g. 10% of the ladder – it means that the card will be just a vanilla 5/5 in 90% of your games. And that’s bad.
For the card to be impactful, Control Warrior would need to absolutely dominate the ladder… and that’s not likely going to happen. And in case it does – it’s good to have a card that can keep it in check.
Bronze Explorer
It would most likely be too strong with DS, even as a 3/1. Paladin has a lot of handbuff potential, and handbuffs combo very well with DS. Plus, as a 3/1, it would be a Scarlet Crusader… with a Dragon tag… that discovers another Dragon. Just too many things going in one card.
Buffs are also nice with Lifesteal, but again, only against Aggro – even if you have a 10/10 Lifesteal, the extra health you’re getting is pointless if you’re at full against Control ๐
Bronze Explorer
Probably class context – at the time Hunter’s explorer was revealed, people didn’t believe that Dragon Hunter will be playable. Hunter’s Breath was only okay compared to others, the class never played any Dragon synergies be fore. On the other hand, Paladin looks to be one of the “safest” Dragon classes going into Descent of Dragons.
Also, it heavily depends on the meta – Lifesteal can be more useful keyword in Aggro meta. However, I agree that on average, Poisonous is a better keyword than Lifesteal on a 3 mana 2/3 (since 2/3 on 3 trades poorly without it, and with it it can trade up easily).
Battlegrounds December 5 Patch Details - 3 New Heroes (Rafaam), 2 New Minions, Lightfang Nerf, 1st Version of Stats
Yep, it has a Murloc tag too! So I assume that you will be able to get him from Primalfin Lookout. Looks pretty strong tbh. Murlocs are already solid, just went #1 last night with Murloc composition (although using Brann as a Hero definitely helped too :p)
Scion of Ruin
The card has leaked earlier – it was now officially revealed, so I just updated it with official English version and moved back to the front page.
Stormhammer
Maybe they’ve initially designed it as a Shaman card (honestly, it would make more sense flavor-wise), but it’s definitely Hunter one right now.
Descent of Dragons Card Review #5 - Ancharr, Kobold Stickyfinger, Cumulo-Maximus, Zzeraku, Nithogg, Bandersmosh, Frizz Kindleroost and more!
Reveal season is usually ended with a reveal stream, where devs invite some famous HS player/personality (e.g. Brian Kibler is often a guest) and showcase a lot of cards. Then, after the stream, any card that wasn’t shown yet is added at once (they used to post them on Facebook and now we’re getting them on the official site). We usually have like ~40 cards left going into the reveal stream, so the final day is really wild.
Final reveal stream is scheduled at 10 am PT (7 PM CET) on Wednesday, so we should know all of the cards 2-3 hours after that. Then you will be able to theorycraft anything!
Descent of Dragons Card Review #5 - Ancharr, Kobold Stickyfinger, Cumulo-Maximus, Zzeraku, Nithogg, Bandersmosh, Frizz Kindleroost and more!
Those are not bad stats per se, because it’s maximum total amount of stats you can get for 4 mana without any downsides, but it’s not the best stats distribution. 5/4’s have seen much less play than 4/5’s or 3/6’s in the past, because they are easier to remove and trade into with smaller minions. When you drop a 4-drop on curve, it usually competes with 2-drops and 3-drops that area already on the board, so having slightly lower attack and higher health usually makes it better. Later in the game, while a higher attack minion gets better trades, it’s also easier to sweep with AoE. E.g. 5/4 dies to Flamestrike, while 4/5 wouldn’t and so on.
Descent of Dragons Card Review #5 - Ancharr, Kobold Stickyfinger, Cumulo-Maximus, Zzeraku, Nithogg, Bandersmosh, Frizz Kindleroost and more!
I didn’t imply that Dragons in hand are also discounted (that would be beyond busted), I meant drawing two 6 mana cost Dragons after playing Frizz. But it was just an example pairing – my main point was that it can fix a curve by adding a lot of tempo. It can be e.g. an 8-drop and 3-drop on Turn 7, where you can play them together just fine, but otherwise you would have a very awkward turn (can’t drop 8 mana Dragon yet and playing just the 3 mana one isn’t impactful enough).
I should have probably worded it better.
Descent of Dragons Card Review #5 - Ancharr, Kobold Stickyfinger, Cumulo-Maximus, Zzeraku, Nithogg, Bandersmosh, Frizz Kindleroost and more!
It was missing just a few words, I had to remove them by mistake. Added them back.
Descent of Dragons Card Review #5 - Ancharr, Kobold Stickyfinger, Cumulo-Maximus, Zzeraku, Nithogg, Bandersmosh, Frizz Kindleroost and more!
Dragon Consort was actually a much better card than it might seem by the amount of play it has seen. The thing is that Dragon Paladin was just a pretty bad deck, so the card could never show its true colors. I remember that it was played in Midrange Paladin just with a few Dragons simply because “free” 2 mana was pretty solid. Give it a dedicated Dragon deck and it would shine. If Dragon Consort was a Priest card, for example, it would be incredibly strong. Mana discounts in HS are powerful, but even great cards can’t do much in a poor deck. Frizz is Neutral, so any good Dragon deck can put it in.
While Consort had a bigger immediate power spike (because you were guaranteed to get one discount right away on a Dragon in your hand), Frizz is just so much better in the long run. Dropping her on curve won’t discount one, two or three Dragons – in a longer came it can discount 7+, and that’s a lot of free mana you’re getting.
Also, a part of my 10/10 rating is because of the mana cost and stats. 4 mana 5/4 ain’t really that bad. Decks get away with playing much worse stuff that don’t have any immediate advantage. Fal’dorei Strider, for example, was a bad 4-drop – it was just a 4/4. But the amount of tempo you got throughout the game made up for it. This is a bit similar – slow immediately (but not even THAT slow) and then gives you lots of tempo later. And in the worst case scenario, even if you get it really late, 4 mana 5/4 is not the worst thing ever, since you didn’t really have to make any sacrifices to put it into the deck (like you had with Keleseth, for example).
Of course, I might be wrong – I overrate or underrate some cards every expansion. Frizz, however, just seems like a sure hit to me. Really, at this point the only scenario in which the card doesn’t see play is when Dragon decks don’t see play at all (and that’s very, very unlikely).
Kobold Stickyfinger
You destroy your opponent’s weapon and immediately equip it yourself.
Not sure whether it triggers weapon’s Deathrattle for the opponent, though. I would assume yes.
Descent of Dragons Card List & Expansion Guide! Release Date, Card Reveals, Pre-Purchase Info, New Mechanics and More!
Well that’s exactly what it is. Every Dragon has his alternative, humanoid-form. Most of them transform into a Human or Elf, but we also have some other races too (e.g. Chromie transforms into a Gnome).
Here’s how humanoid forms of some more important Dragons look like: https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/wowpedia/b/b6/Dragon_Aspects_humanoid_forms.jpg
(from left to right – Nozdormu, Ysera, Alexstrasza, Malygos and Deathwing)
I thought that we will be getting one, but at this point I’m not sure. I guess that we’ll see in a few days.