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Whispers of the Old Gods Card Review: Part Two

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Daisyx
Profile Joined May 2015
0 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-04-18 16:56:55
April 18 2016 16:13 GMT
#1
[image loading]

Whispers of the Old Gods Card Review: Part Two


You can find Part One here.

Hello everyone and welcome to the first part of the Whispers of the Old Gods card reviews. This will follow a similar format to the TGT and LOE card review where I host a call with some other high-level players to discuss the new cards. We will be using the same rating scale as we used in LOE.

  • 1=Unplayable
  • 2=Almost certainly unplayable
  • 3=Bad
  • 4=Meh
  • 5=Decent
  • 6=Playable
  • 7=Good
  • 8=Very Good
  • 9=Extremely Good
  • 10=Overpowered

While this scale is far from ideal it allows us to differentiate more between low-quality cards than the previous scale and it makes it more clear just what a certain rating means.

Today’s guests are:
  • Deathstar v3, creator of the Midrange Hunter with Deathlord [image loading] [image loading]
  • Ersee, Dreamhack Winter 2015 Runner-Up and player for eSports Hero [image loading] [image loading]
  • Boarcontrol, online circuit player and multiple time Top 100 finisher on ladder [image loading]
  • Cursed, professional player with eSports Hero [image loading]



Card Rankings


[image loading]

Playable In

Aggro Druid

Rating: 7


Mark of Ysarj



This card by itself is already pretty strong but its viability depends on potential beast synergies. Currently, the beast synergies are all very greedy. Mark of Ysarj fits right into that category -- and with Haunted Creeper rotating out -- one of the most sticky beasts in the game gone. This could work well with low-cost stealth or charge creatures, however, outside of Druid of the Saber there really aren’t any attractive cards to fill this roll. This card does provide some flexibility, and you don’t necessarily need it to draw a card, but it turns into a worse Mark of the Wild if it doesn't.




[image loading]

Playable In

Any Druid

Rating: 9


Mire Keeper



This card is a really great ramp effect. Not only is it relevant early and helps you scale safely but it also has the choice of getting a 2/2 slime if you don’t play it on curve. Another thing that makes this card really amazing is the fact that it easily fills the hole left by Shredder. Playing Mire Keeper on turn four is really good, but if you combo this card with Innervate, you can get some insane value. The only downside are the rather bland stats -- a 3/3 and a 2/2 -- which can be clunky. Even then, however, it still has a better stat budget than a yeti.

This card is hands down one of the best cards in the set so far.






[image loading]

Playable In



Rating: 3


Infest



Infest is as unplayable as Soul of the Forest. It is another value card for a deck archetype that really doesn’t want value cards. Random beasts are also just bad; especially now that Haunted Creeper is gone. Please Blizzard, stop trying to make value/control/combo Hunters work.






[image loading]

Playable In

Midrange Hunter

Rating: 7


Call of the Wild



Call of the Wild has been confirmed to summon one of each Animal Companions (Leokk, Huffer and Misha). Overall this card has very good stats for eight mana. With Rag seeing play in some Midrange Hunters, this might just be possible as a one-of replacement. Call of the Wild has an immediate impact on the board, which is always very important for a high-mana card, and the Misha to protect Leokk will make the buffer useful as opposed to just being instantly cleared.






[image loading]

Playable In

Reno Mage

Rating: 6


Cabalist’s Tome



This card is just simply too slow for Tempo Mage and that only leaves Reno as a potential fit. Since Reno Mage can only run one Arcane Intellect, and it is often looking for value, this card might just fit. On average, you will quite often get at least one decent card: how often do you get not a single good choice from Conjurer? It also allows you to piece together unexpected lethals with double Fireball or more removal then your opponent was playing around. Overall this card might be a decent fit in case the metagame slows down.






[image loading]

Playable In

Aggro Paladin

Rating: 5


Steward of Darkshire



This card works on the Paladin Hero Power, however, with Muster rotating out this card really has very few natural targets. To play this, therefore, you may have to add specific targets. If you don’t do that this card is very similar to Regent, a card that is nowhere near viable at the moment. This card also trades very poorly against the plethora of 3/4 creatures that are already in the game not to mention the two-mana deal-three spells.






[image loading]

Playable In

Midrange Paladin

Rating: 4


Ragnaros, Lightlord



Healing is only good if you have already stabilized and this card just takes up too much of your budget to do so. Keeping just one damage on targets greatly mitigates the heal's potential, and against both aggro and control decks Tirion is just simply better. The one spot where New Rag may find a home is over Lay on Hands.






[image loading]

Playable In

Murloc Paladin

Rating: 6


Vilefin Inquisitor



With Old Murk-Eye leaving, Anyfin Paladin is most likely dead. This card has the potential to be good, however, in a Standard deck with a lot of different murlocs. Most likely such a deck won’t be playable because of the normal issues that murloc-based decks face but if it is playable this card will most certainly earn a slot.






[image loading]

Playable In



Rating: 4


Shadow Word: Horror



Overall this card is very poor, it only shines against Zoo and the Priest already has enough removal options against that deck. The fact that this is a symmetrical effect also makes it clunky. In some ways, Shadow Word: Horror competes against the Shadow Madness spot because both have a fairly similar effect: this card is only better if the enemy has three or more two-health minions which almost never happens.






[image loading]

Playable In

Tempo Rogue

Rating: 5


Undercity Huckster



Overall this card is a better Loot Hoarder simply because class cards are often good -- excluding Warrior -- and it has an extra Health. In a way this card can easily help you cycle. On the other hand, it does very little for your board and -- even though there has been support for it in the past -- Tempo/Deathrattle Rogue probably won’t be viable with so many good Deathrattles leaving Standard.






[image loading]

Playable In

Tempo Rogue

Rating: 8


Xaril the Poisoned Mind



Xaril essentially draws you two cards. The Toxins are all quite potent and most of them are comparable to class spells. Besides that they can also serve as activators for Gadgetzan Auctioneer or Violet Teacher. Ideally you don’t want to be playing this card as a tempo card but rather as something mid-late game for the surprise factor that it gives.

[image loading]






[image loading]

Playable In

Midrange Shaman

Rating: 8


Thing from Below



Our opinions were a bit divided on this one. This card specifically says "summoned" so it works with Hero Powers and Tuskar Totemic. Besides those, Shaman currently has plenty of totems that they already want to be playing. This card needs one or two totems before turn six to be worth the tempo. This is quite easily attainable. Similarly, because of the taunt effect, it is another tool that prevents Shamans from being rushed down. Thing from Below also curves really well into Fire Elemental and there are many five-drops rotating out of that slot.






[image loading]

Playable In



Rating: 5


Hammer of Twilight



This card is a bit iffy at the moment. On one hand, Shaman already has a five-mana weapon in Doomhammer; on the other hand, the Deathrattle is quite good because a 4/2 is usually worth just over two mana while the weapon is worth three mana by itself.






[image loading]

Playable In

Midrange Shaman

Rating: 7


Hallazeal the Ascended



Hallazeal is a pretty cool design and somewhat hard to rate. The stat points are easy to assess and are really good. Normal five-drops are 5/6, and with the departure of Belcher and Loatheb, the difference between four and five attack is fairly small. This card also combos really well with sweepers and can give you a massive boost of health against aggro decks or combo decks. Having said that, most Shaman lists run relatively little damage spells at the moment. That in combination with the fact that the effect isn’t super useful against control decks makes this card hard to judge.






[image loading]

Playable In

Midrange Shaman

Rating: 7


Master of Evolution



This card is an upgraded version of Recombobulator that still has a very decent stat-line. This will probably be playable in Midrange Shaman because the four-mana slot opens up with the rotation of Shredder. In a way, Shaman is uniquely positioned for this card because of how big the upgrade is from a totem to a random two-drop. Having said that, once you get to upgrading midrange minions -- think three to six-drops -- you will often find that there are many poorly sized minions. It is likely best to just stick to upgrading totems or very high-value minions, especially if the latter is damaged.






[image loading]

Playable In



Rating: 4


Renounce Darkness



Renounce Darkness is really hard to rate because it is a very random card. Most likely this card won’t see any play at a high level because of this randomness. Another thing to keep in mind is that the only things that are being reduced in cost are class cards and most Warlock class cards are notoriously bad. Warlock decks choose the hero for the Hero Power and not for the class cards. As a result, you will be forced to put suboptimal cards into your deck to make a deck based of this card work. This has the potential to punish you quite hard if you don’t draw the card in the early game.






[image loading]

Playable In

Aggro Warrior

Rating: 5


N’Zoth’s First Mate



This card is a better version of Lights Justice for Paladin. Having said that, Warrior already has early game weapons and this card will just end up getting overlapped by another weapon a few turns later.






[image loading]

Playable In



Rating: 1


Tentacles for Arms



This card is so insanely bad it hurts to look at it, there is no way this card will ever see play.






[image loading]

Playable In



Rating: 6


Ravaging Ghoul



The new Ghoul combines Whirlwind and a three-drop with okay stats. This card is a better version of Unstable Ghoul because you can decide yourself when to trigger the effect. This card can easily be used to get an advantageous draw with an Acolyte or armor with an Armorsmith. Having said that, Warrior currently has a crowded three mana spot so it might be difficult to fit this card in.






[image loading]

Playable In



Rating: 5


Blood Warriors



There was much disagreement about how strong this card was going to be. It seems to be a slightly more expensive Battle Rage that generally draws one less card. Battle Rage is currently only seeing play in Patron Warrior: a deck that will take a big hit with Death's Bite rotating out.






[image loading]

Playable In



Rating: 4


Tentacle of N’Zoth



This card is a worse version of Explosive Sheep which is only being ran very rarely.






[image loading]

Playable In



Rating: 3


Spawn of N’zoth



Deathrattle effects that provide buffs are generally very hard to land on the correct target because your opponent usually dictates when they will be activated. As a result, in combination with the poor stat line, this card most likely wont see any play.






[image loading]

Playable In



Rating: 5


Cult Apothecary



While this card looks cool against Zoo or any kind of token deck, you usually want to be playing healing cards after you have stabilized the board. This card does the exact opposite where you play a healing card that only works if it is not in a position to contest the board.


Daisyx is the most prolific writer on Liquidhearth and you can follow him here:

[image loading]


Writer: Daisyx
Panelists: Boarcontrol Cursed Deathstarv3 Ersee
Graphics: Hayl
Editors: Hayl
Cricketer12
Profile Blog Joined May 2012
United States13994 Posts
April 18 2016 19:42 GMT
#2
The only card that scares me more than Master of Evo is that Mage 6 mana 5/5 and the hunter legendary
Engage, Zero target Engage, Engage, Kagari target Engage, Engage.
NewSunshine
Profile Joined July 2011
United States5938 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-04-18 20:00:46
April 18 2016 19:58 GMT
#3
Infest is as unplayable as Soul of the Forest.

Soul of the Forest sees play in Aggro Druids. Hunters also have Unleash the Hounds for combo potential. Hard for me to take a rating seriously when there are legitimate oversights in its justification.

Please Blizzard, stop trying to make value/control/combo Hunters work.

What else is there, make more cards for the aggressive Hunter decks that already exist? With all due respect, speak for yourselves on this one.

This card is so insanely bad it hurts to look at it, there is no way this card will ever see play.

I feel like someone got lazy right around here. If there happens to be a Fatigue Warrior build that actually runs Tentacles for Arms, I'm going to remember this and laugh. Even if it doesn't, I would expect a comment like this to get spammed by a pundit on the Battle.net forums, not someone posting a formal article on LiquidHearth. What the hell.
"If you find yourself feeling lost, take pride in the accuracy of your feelings." - Night Vale
Hayl_Storm
Profile Joined April 2011
The Shire633 Posts
April 18 2016 20:21 GMT
#4
On April 19 2016 04:58 NewSunshine wrote:
Show nested quote +
Infest is as unplayable as Soul of the Forest.

Soul of the Forest sees play in Aggro Druids. Hunters also have Unleash the Hounds for combo potential. Hard for me to take a rating seriously when there are legitimate oversights in its justification.

Show nested quote +
Please Blizzard, stop trying to make value/control/combo Hunters work.

What else is there, make more cards for the aggressive Hunter decks that already exist? With all due respect, speak for yourselves on this one.

Show nested quote +
This card is so insanely bad it hurts to look at it, there is no way this card will ever see play.

I feel like someone got lazy right around here. If there happens to be a Fatigue Warrior build that actually runs Tentacles for Arms, I'm going to remember this and laugh. Even if it doesn't, I would expect a comment like this to get spammed by a pundit on the Battle.net forums, not someone posting a formal article on LiquidHearth. What the hell.

I think in the context of preview season it's fine to take an aggressive/polar stance on cards. There will always be cases where a card could be good but to cautiously give everything a middling grade isn't super helpful.

Besides, aren't surprises the most fun anyways?
Editor@TL_Hayl // Return of the (Marine)King
Seuss
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
United States10536 Posts
April 18 2016 20:42 GMT
#5
On April 19 2016 05:21 Hayl_Storm wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 19 2016 04:58 NewSunshine wrote:
Infest is as unplayable as Soul of the Forest.

Soul of the Forest sees play in Aggro Druids. Hunters also have Unleash the Hounds for combo potential. Hard for me to take a rating seriously when there are legitimate oversights in its justification.

Please Blizzard, stop trying to make value/control/combo Hunters work.

What else is there, make more cards for the aggressive Hunter decks that already exist? With all due respect, speak for yourselves on this one.

This card is so insanely bad it hurts to look at it, there is no way this card will ever see play.

I feel like someone got lazy right around here. If there happens to be a Fatigue Warrior build that actually runs Tentacles for Arms, I'm going to remember this and laugh. Even if it doesn't, I would expect a comment like this to get spammed by a pundit on the Battle.net forums, not someone posting a formal article on LiquidHearth. What the hell.

I think in the context of preview season it's fine to take an aggressive/polar stance on cards. There will always be cases where a card could be good but to cautiously give everything a middling grade isn't super helpful.

Besides, aren't surprises the most fun anyways?


I think the point is that the Infest comment wasn't so much aggressive/polar as it was thoughtless and juvenile. It's one thing to call a card bad and explain it's bad because despite all of Blizzard's efforts Control Hunter still isn't a thing. It's another to petulantly imply Blizzard is dumb for even trying and should therefore stop trying.

For my part if I wanted over the top reactions to cards I'd just go to reddit or various Twitch streams. While I disagreed heavily with card reviews for previous expansions, they were at least thoughtful.

It honestly feels like the LiquidHearth is burnt out and/or doesn't really want to bother reviewing the cards so they're just getting it done/written up so they can get on with other stuff.
"I am not able to carry all this people alone, for they are too heavy for me." -Moses (Numbers 11:14)
NewSunshine
Profile Joined July 2011
United States5938 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-04-18 20:47:15
April 18 2016 20:46 GMT
#6
On April 19 2016 05:21 Hayl_Storm wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 19 2016 04:58 NewSunshine wrote:
Infest is as unplayable as Soul of the Forest.

Soul of the Forest sees play in Aggro Druids. Hunters also have Unleash the Hounds for combo potential. Hard for me to take a rating seriously when there are legitimate oversights in its justification.

Please Blizzard, stop trying to make value/control/combo Hunters work.

What else is there, make more cards for the aggressive Hunter decks that already exist? With all due respect, speak for yourselves on this one.

This card is so insanely bad it hurts to look at it, there is no way this card will ever see play.

I feel like someone got lazy right around here. If there happens to be a Fatigue Warrior build that actually runs Tentacles for Arms, I'm going to remember this and laugh. Even if it doesn't, I would expect a comment like this to get spammed by a pundit on the Battle.net forums, not someone posting a formal article on LiquidHearth. What the hell.

I think in the context of preview season it's fine to take an aggressive/polar stance on cards. There will always be cases where a card could be good but to cautiously give everything a middling grade isn't super helpful.

Besides, aren't surprises the most fun anyways?

I think it doesn't make much difference, the cards will see whatever level of play they truly deserve, but if you're writing an article about these cards, and expect it to have some level of credence lent to it, I expect a more reasonable point of view. I'm gonna say look at Brian Kibler as an example, he's a great card game player, unquestionably, but when he sees a new card he looks for what's cool about it, or what can be done to make it a good card, he has an open mind to this kind of thing. I see the exact opposite here, I see people talking about how half the cards in a set are unplayable, and how some even hurt to look at. That is not at all the attitude I expect from a formal review of cards nobody's had the chance to play with yet. I expect better.
"If you find yourself feeling lost, take pride in the accuracy of your feelings." - Night Vale
Hayl_Storm
Profile Joined April 2011
The Shire633 Posts
April 19 2016 02:13 GMT
#7
On April 19 2016 05:46 NewSunshine wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 19 2016 05:21 Hayl_Storm wrote:
On April 19 2016 04:58 NewSunshine wrote:
Infest is as unplayable as Soul of the Forest.

Soul of the Forest sees play in Aggro Druids. Hunters also have Unleash the Hounds for combo potential. Hard for me to take a rating seriously when there are legitimate oversights in its justification.

Please Blizzard, stop trying to make value/control/combo Hunters work.

What else is there, make more cards for the aggressive Hunter decks that already exist? With all due respect, speak for yourselves on this one.

This card is so insanely bad it hurts to look at it, there is no way this card will ever see play.

I feel like someone got lazy right around here. If there happens to be a Fatigue Warrior build that actually runs Tentacles for Arms, I'm going to remember this and laugh. Even if it doesn't, I would expect a comment like this to get spammed by a pundit on the Battle.net forums, not someone posting a formal article on LiquidHearth. What the hell.

I think in the context of preview season it's fine to take an aggressive/polar stance on cards. There will always be cases where a card could be good but to cautiously give everything a middling grade isn't super helpful.

Besides, aren't surprises the most fun anyways?

I think it doesn't make much difference, the cards will see whatever level of play they truly deserve, but if you're writing an article about these cards, and expect it to have some level of credence lent to it, I expect a more reasonable point of view. I'm gonna say look at Brian Kibler as an example, he's a great card game player, unquestionably, but when he sees a new card he looks for what's cool about it, or what can be done to make it a good card, he has an open mind to this kind of thing. I see the exact opposite here, I see people talking about how half the cards in a set are unplayable, and how some even hurt to look at. That is not at all the attitude I expect from a formal review of cards nobody's had the chance to play with yet. I expect better.

Rhere's a difference in review style between "can this card work in a cool deck" versus "will this card be in a top ladder deck". Daisyx and crew are going for the second option whereas other's may lean towards the first.

I'm not trying to argue which is better but just saying that there's room for different approaches.
Editor@TL_Hayl // Return of the (Marine)King
NewSunshine
Profile Joined July 2011
United States5938 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-04-19 02:53:58
April 19 2016 02:52 GMT
#8
On April 19 2016 11:13 Hayl_Storm wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 19 2016 05:46 NewSunshine wrote:
On April 19 2016 05:21 Hayl_Storm wrote:
On April 19 2016 04:58 NewSunshine wrote:
Infest is as unplayable as Soul of the Forest.

Soul of the Forest sees play in Aggro Druids. Hunters also have Unleash the Hounds for combo potential. Hard for me to take a rating seriously when there are legitimate oversights in its justification.

Please Blizzard, stop trying to make value/control/combo Hunters work.

What else is there, make more cards for the aggressive Hunter decks that already exist? With all due respect, speak for yourselves on this one.

This card is so insanely bad it hurts to look at it, there is no way this card will ever see play.

I feel like someone got lazy right around here. If there happens to be a Fatigue Warrior build that actually runs Tentacles for Arms, I'm going to remember this and laugh. Even if it doesn't, I would expect a comment like this to get spammed by a pundit on the Battle.net forums, not someone posting a formal article on LiquidHearth. What the hell.

I think in the context of preview season it's fine to take an aggressive/polar stance on cards. There will always be cases where a card could be good but to cautiously give everything a middling grade isn't super helpful.

Besides, aren't surprises the most fun anyways?

I think it doesn't make much difference, the cards will see whatever level of play they truly deserve, but if you're writing an article about these cards, and expect it to have some level of credence lent to it, I expect a more reasonable point of view. I'm gonna say look at Brian Kibler as an example, he's a great card game player, unquestionably, but when he sees a new card he looks for what's cool about it, or what can be done to make it a good card, he has an open mind to this kind of thing. I see the exact opposite here, I see people talking about how half the cards in a set are unplayable, and how some even hurt to look at. That is not at all the attitude I expect from a formal review of cards nobody's had the chance to play with yet. I expect better.

Rhere's a difference in review style between "can this card work in a cool deck" versus "will this card be in a top ladder deck". Daisyx and crew are going for the second option whereas other's may lean towards the first.

I'm not trying to argue which is better but just saying that there's room for different approaches.

I recognize that, but one approach is also more open to having fun than the other, and push comes to shove, I play this game for fun. I get put off in general when people take the game too seriously, and get legitimately upset by a bad card. Similarly, One of my biggest pet peeves is when people go out of their way to talk trash about perfectly reasonable-looking cards. If you write reviews as a panel of multiple people, would it not make sense to have people who hold differing points of view, and offer a more balanced opinion as a group?

If you boil down my comments, I'm really just offering feedback, because there's change I would like to see in these card reviews. I'd hate to think I've vilified myself or someone else in the midst of this.
"If you find yourself feeling lost, take pride in the accuracy of your feelings." - Night Vale
Hellonslaught
Profile Joined June 2014
Brazil0 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-04-19 09:05:59
April 19 2016 04:08 GMT
#9
The ones i disagee with:
-----------------------------------
Shadow Word: Horror 4 -> 2
Xaril: 8 -> 3
Cult Apothecary: 5 -> 3
Ragnaros, Lightlord 4 -> at least 6+
Hammer of Twilight: 5 -> 8
Vilefin Inquisitor: 6 -> 2
-----------------------------------

Shadow Word: Horror 4 (2-). Useless card. I won't give it 1 just because it may work in some adventure/tavern. LoL at the art since it can't kill more then 2 murlocs at the same time due synergies.

Cult Apothecary 5 (3-) Bad even when played against a full board of minions for the motives this article already stated. It can buy 1 turn sometimes but most often it won't.

Xaril 8 (3-) May fit in some other rogue decks but not Miracle. Its important to keep up in tempo to maintain the board under control rather then getting poor value for cycle later. 8 is far off reality.

Ragnaros The light Lord: 4 (6+) Heals 8 and its a threat that needs to get rid off right away or it keeps healing. It has at least the same value as Earthen Ring Farseer and potential to beat all agro decks in the same way Reno Jackson does. It requires more support cards to work thou but its at least a playable card. It has good synergy alongside Reno Jackson as well.

Hammer of Twilight: 5 (8) Really, REALLY good. A lot better then Doomhammer because it can't be effective destroyed and it doesn't overload for a potencial T6 Fire Elemental.
Dream: T5 hammer -> Turn 6 Fire Elemental.
T6 = 6/5 minion + 4/2 minion + 7 targetable damage. Good luck coming back from this.

Vilefin Inquisitor: 6 (2). Really sucks but stats are solid. It gives tokens a murloc tag and nothing else. Does not work with tokens generated by spells or minions. The last thing Murloc decks want to do is to hit the hero power button. I wonder if you guys ever though about this card at all...

The remaining card's rate looks ok i guess.
Priest
Acritter
Profile Joined August 2010
Syria7637 Posts
April 19 2016 04:38 GMT
#10
Kinda surprised about the Master of Evolution rating. I mean, hell, I'm not sure it'll ever even see play, and I still feel confident that the card in isolation is a 10/10. The only 4-mana minions in the game that come close to it are Piloted Shredder, Keeper of the Grove, and Tomb Pillager. Are those three only 7/10?
dont let your memes be dreams - konydora, motivational speaker | not actually living in syria
Hellonslaught
Profile Joined June 2014
Brazil0 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-04-19 04:47:15
April 19 2016 04:45 GMT
#11
On April 19 2016 13:38 Acritter wrote:
Kinda surprised about the Master of Evolution rating.

I agree it has a strong effect, but is it really better then Houndmaster?
It has a lot of potential value but shaman has difficulties to develop a board, i think it should be given an 8, maybe 9, but hardly 10.
Priest
Hellonslaught
Profile Joined June 2014
Brazil0 Posts
April 19 2016 09:39 GMT
#12
On April 19 2016 11:52 NewSunshine wrote:
I recognize that, but one approach is also more open to having fun than the other, and push comes to shove, I play this game for fun. I get put off in general when people take the game too seriously, and get legitimately upset by a bad card. Similarly, One of my biggest pet peeves is when people go out of their way to talk trash about perfectly reasonable-looking cards. If you write reviews as a panel of multiple people, would it not make sense to have people who hold differing points of view, and offer a more balanced opinion as a group?

If you boil down my comments, I'm really just offering feedback, because there's change I would like to see in these card reviews. I'd hate to think I've vilified myself or someone else in the midst of this.
But you did.
I hate - and i want to emphasize this - I REALLY HATE reading stupid comments from optimistic people about cards that has no way to work because they want to daydream about some miraculous scenario that can work once in a life time.
That's nothing wrong to do that in a discussion thread, but If a reviewer would do the same, i consider him to be an AMATEUR and all his articles would instantly lose credibility.
If you want to hype about new cards, i strongly suggest to watch streamers like Amaz, since his reviews are all about fucking hype joke and usually terrible from a competitive angle.

Last but not least, even when reviewers are wrong, they will accurately predict bad cards very often(that's not the same as spotting good ones)

On April 19 2016 11:13 Hayl_Storm wrote:
Rhere's a difference in review style between "can this card work in a cool deck" versus "will this card be in a top ladder deck". Daisyx and crew are going for the second option whereas other's may lean towards the first.

I'm not trying to argue which is better but just saying that there's room for different approaches.

Yes, please continue to do that.
Priest
Seuss
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
United States10536 Posts
April 19 2016 13:01 GMT
#13
On April 19 2016 18:39 Hellonslaught wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 19 2016 11:52 NewSunshine wrote:
I recognize that, but one approach is also more open to having fun than the other, and push comes to shove, I play this game for fun. I get put off in general when people take the game too seriously, and get legitimately upset by a bad card. Similarly, One of my biggest pet peeves is when people go out of their way to talk trash about perfectly reasonable-looking cards. If you write reviews as a panel of multiple people, would it not make sense to have people who hold differing points of view, and offer a more balanced opinion as a group?

If you boil down my comments, I'm really just offering feedback, because there's change I would like to see in these card reviews. I'd hate to think I've vilified myself or someone else in the midst of this.
But you did.
I hate - and i want to emphasize this - I REALLY HATE reading stupid comments from optimistic people about cards that has no way to work because they want to daydream about some miraculous scenario that can work once in a life time.
That's nothing wrong to do that in a discussion thread, but If a reviewer would do the same, i consider him to be an AMATEUR and all his articles would instantly lose credibility.
If you want to hype about new cards, i strongly suggest to watch streamers like Amaz, since his reviews are all about fucking hype joke and usually terrible from a competitive angle.

Last but not least, even when reviewers are wrong, they will accurately predict bad cards very often(that's not the same as spotting good ones)

Show nested quote +
On April 19 2016 11:13 Hayl_Storm wrote:
Rhere's a difference in review style between "can this card work in a cool deck" versus "will this card be in a top ladder deck". Daisyx and crew are going for the second option whereas other's may lean towards the first.

I'm not trying to argue which is better but just saying that there's room for different approaches.

Yes, please continue to do that.


My beef isn't that they're going for the latter option, but the manner in which they do it. "This card is awful and Blizzard is awful for making it" (paraphrase) isn't so much analysis as it is punditry. I expect more out Team Liquid than that.
"I am not able to carry all this people alone, for they are too heavy for me." -Moses (Numbers 11:14)
WindWolf
Profile Blog Joined July 2012
Sweden11767 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-04-19 14:55:03
April 19 2016 14:44 GMT
#14
On April 19 2016 05:21 Hayl_Storm wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 19 2016 04:58 NewSunshine wrote:
Infest is as unplayable as Soul of the Forest.

Soul of the Forest sees play in Aggro Druids. Hunters also have Unleash the Hounds for combo potential. Hard for me to take a rating seriously when there are legitimate oversights in its justification.

Please Blizzard, stop trying to make value/control/combo Hunters work.

What else is there, make more cards for the aggressive Hunter decks that already exist? With all due respect, speak for yourselves on this one.

This card is so insanely bad it hurts to look at it, there is no way this card will ever see play.

I feel like someone got lazy right around here. If there happens to be a Fatigue Warrior build that actually runs Tentacles for Arms, I'm going to remember this and laugh. Even if it doesn't, I would expect a comment like this to get spammed by a pundit on the Battle.net forums, not someone posting a formal article on LiquidHearth. What the hell.

I think in the context of preview season it's fine to take an aggressive/polar stance on cards. There will always be cases where a card could be good but to cautiously give everything a middling grade isn't super helpful.

Besides, aren't surprises the most fun anyways?

Sometimes, I feel that the "aggressive stances" can be more or less summarized as "Does it fit into a current T1 deck? If it does it is good, otherwise it is total garbage that will never ever see play"

I do however agree that surprises are fun. See Grim Patron
EZ4ENCE
Daisyx
Profile Joined May 2015
0 Posts
April 19 2016 15:42 GMT
#15
Hey guys, using this post to respond to some of the aggregate points

1. I have yet to see a viable competitive deck run Soul of the Forest and while I agree that Unleash has combo potential with Infest, at the end of the day the value just isn't worth it because the beasts you get are just such terrible quality that you lose way to much tempo for mediocre value

2. I think that making cards that are nowhere close to being viable isn't good game design, though obv everything I say here is either my opinion or that of the panelists

3. I agree it might be a bit lazy, but honestly there is not much to say about a card that is so obviously unplayable.

4. I am reviewing these cards because I enjoy doing it, so dw, I am not burned out, there is just very little to say about cards that are so obviously unplayable besides those comments, sorry

5. The thing is, while I am all for ''fun'' implications (I will certainly put most new cards into a deck at some point and fuck around with it just for the sake of having fun) that is not what we are here for: fun is incredibly subjective and what I think is a fun card (I am a really big fan of taunts and tempo mage for some reason) is very far from what other people enjoy, therefore we try to have a review that is atleast somewhat objective based on which decks are good at the high-end of the competitive meta.

6. The reason master of evolution is a bit iffy is that it suffers from the need of having to have a card live for 1+ turn, which will be hard because of the deathrattles that are being removed from shaman. We rated cards like this very highly in TGT and ended up getting burned because of the fact that it is just really hard for shamans to establish proper board control.

7. I think we go very much out of our way to accomodate cards being played in t2/3/4 decks atm, for example we refer to mill rogue, aggro paladin, murloc (non-combo) paladin, tempo rogue and aggro warrior, all decks that are nowhere near to being t1 atm.

8. I agree with you on shadow word being quite useless most likely, the only reason we rated it that highly is because it keeps zoo in check really well the other parts I disagree with, as stated in the review. Ragnaros while being cool is really weak to just tagging it for 1 health (or him hitting himself during his turn) making it a 50/50 chance to just heal himself and be useless. Also Tirion is better in almost every scenario. I think shaman often suffers from taking too much face damage, though I agree the optimal combo with fire ele is pretty good, though thats mostly due to fire elemental being a pretty broken card. I disagree with you on vilefin, one of the reasons that non-warlock murloc decks are bad is because you often run out of value once you have control of the board (if you ever get it) so giving your hero power a small upgrade would 100% see play in a murloc paladin deck. Though I agree that most likely this kind of deck will not be playable
RevenantSC2
Profile Joined September 2014
United States0 Posts
April 19 2016 15:51 GMT
#16
I'm gonna go ahead and agree with NewSunshine here. Some of the cards (especially Tentacles for Arms and Tentacle of N'zoth) were glossed over. They were called bad with little or no analysis/support, making the review feel unprofessional. I expect better from a Team Liquid forum. I'll give my shot at those two cards:

Tentacles for Arms-

This card is so slow that it is unlikely to see much play. However, Control and Fatigue Warrior might have the time needed to get value out of this card. In the ultra late game this card will allow you beat out other control decks by have a constant source of face damage. With Tentacles for Arms and the upgraded Warrior hero power you can create a 6 health differential each turn in the late game, allowing you to close out otherwise close games. Tentacles for Arms also provides a constant activator for execute. It will likely see only niche play since it competes with Gorehowl as a many-use weapon.

Tentacle of N'zoth-

This card is low impact due to being a 1 health 1 drop. It can be situationally good in the early game though. Against aggressive/token based decks, your opponent will have to stop to kill or silence it before playing more minions (similar to doomsayer). Also with the rotation of Death's Bite, Patron Warrior may use this card as an additional whirldwind effect. The card also has a similar effect as spell damage when used with symmetrical board clears like Hellfire and Elemental Destruction (but for 1 mana cheaper than Thalnos).
You either die as a control player, or live long enough to see yourself playing aggro.
Acritter
Profile Joined August 2010
Syria7637 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-04-19 16:22:00
April 19 2016 16:11 GMT
#17
On April 19 2016 13:45 Hellonslaught wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 19 2016 13:38 Acritter wrote:
Kinda surprised about the Master of Evolution rating.

I agree it has a strong effect, but is it really better then Houndmaster?
It has a lot of potential value but shaman has difficulties to develop a board, i think it should be given an 8, maybe 9, but hardly 10.

Okay, so Houndmaster is 6/5 of stats. With Haunted Creeper gone, I don't think the Taunt is all that important. Simple enough. Let's start calculating for Evo.

First scenario: you upgrade an average, uninteresting minion. It will, on average, go up by 2 stat points. That makes it 6/5 in stats.

Second scenario: you upgrade a damaged minion. It will, on average, go up by more than 2 stat points. You have greater than 6/5 in stats.

Third scenario: you upgrade a Battlecry minion like Novice Engineer. It goes up, once again, by more than 2 stat points. Still at more than 6/5 on stats.

What else is relevant? Well, for one, Master of Evolution is a perfectly good play on its own, reminiscent of Goblin Blastmage. Houndmaster is a terrible play on its own. Master of Evolution targets anything at all. Houndmaster can only target Beasts, which is a really weak effect in general and is even worse on curve. Can Shaman stick a board? We don't know, but aren't we supposed to be rating cards in isolation? Really, the only problem with Master is its anti-synergy with Overload cards, and the only good Overload minion is Totem Golem anyway.

On April 20 2016 00:42 Daisyx wrote:
6. The reason master of evolution is a bit iffy is that it suffers from the need of having to have a card live for 1+ turn, which will be hard because of the deathrattles that are being removed from shaman. We rated cards like this very highly in TGT and ended up getting burned because of the fact that it is just really hard for shamans to establish proper board control.

I can only assume you're talking about Thunder Bluff Valiant and Thunder Bluff Valiant exclusively? That's reasonable, but why do you think Shaman has so much trouble sticking a board now and had so little trouble back in pre-GvG? I'll give my answer: it's entirely because Naxx and GvG turned up the power and stickiness of early boards so much that Shaman couldn't muster the tools to answer any of it any longer. Lightning Storm stopped being a reasonable response, and Feral Spirit stopped being a board-choking opposition. Right now, all of those cards are going to be leaving Standard. Why do you expect the exact same restrictions as applied by those cards to limit Shaman after the change? Do we have good reason to expect a Harvest Golem opener to be too slow now?
dont let your memes be dreams - konydora, motivational speaker | not actually living in syria
NewSunshine
Profile Joined July 2011
United States5938 Posts
April 19 2016 16:48 GMT
#18
On April 20 2016 00:42 Daisyx wrote:
3. I agree it might be a bit lazy, but honestly there is not much to say about a card that is so obviously unplayable.

Well why not say something like you did for 1:
On April 20 2016 00:42 Daisyx wrote:
1. I have yet to see a viable competitive deck run Soul of the Forest and while I agree that Unleash has combo potential with Infest, at the end of the day the value just isn't worth it because the beasts you get are just such terrible quality that you lose way to much tempo for mediocre value

I'm not really disagreeing with the ratings here, I'm not really focusing on that, what bothered me is what you did or didn't say about the cards. Instead of talking about how you don't want Blizzard making value cards for Hunter, which I disagree with wholeheartedly, why not just say something like this? When you say nothing along those lines, I see you dismiss a card without even considering the possibility that has the best chance of making the card good. At that point I start to wonder why I'm reading. I lend your reviews more credence when you dismiss a card, but you explain why it won't see play, despite possible combos and scenarios. My problem is that didn't happen here. I agree that a competitive perspective is good, but when you tacitly dismiss a card as though its very existence is upsetting, that's not what I come here for.
"If you find yourself feeling lost, take pride in the accuracy of your feelings." - Night Vale
Wuster
Profile Joined May 2011
1974 Posts
April 19 2016 17:59 GMT
#19
On April 20 2016 00:51 RevenantSC2 wrote:
I'm gonna go ahead and agree with NewSunshine here. Some of the cards (especially Tentacles for Arms and Tentacle of N'zoth) were glossed over. They were called bad with little or no analysis/support, making the review feel unprofessional. I expect better from a Team Liquid forum. I'll give my shot at those two cards:

Tentacles for Arms-

This card is so slow that it is unlikely to see much play. However, Control and Fatigue Warrior might have the time needed to get value out of this card. In the ultra late game this card will allow you beat out other control decks by have a constant source of face damage. With Tentacles for Arms and the upgraded Warrior hero power you can create a 6 health differential each turn in the late game, allowing you to close out otherwise close games. Tentacles for Arms also provides a constant activator for execute. It will likely see only niche play since it competes with Gorehowl as a many-use weapon.

Tentacle of N'zoth-

This card is low impact due to being a 1 health 1 drop. It can be situationally good in the early game though. Against aggressive/token based decks, your opponent will have to stop to kill or silence it before playing more minions (similar to doomsayer). Also with the rotation of Death's Bite, Patron Warrior may use this card as an additional whirldwind effect. The card also has a similar effect as spell damage when used with symmetrical board clears like Hellfire and Elemental Destruction (but for 1 mana cheaper than Thalnos).


The thing with Tentacles is Ben Brode didn't even try to defend the card when people savaged it on Twitter. But he did say that it was tested at lower mana costs and turned out to be OP. So maybe there is a deck that can get value out of it at 5 mana where most other decks just can't. The effect would be great in Reno which can't stack weapons and likewise it can be used in Elise Starseeker decks to cheat out losing all your weapons. But I don't know how likely or viable that is.

Of course, the effect is quite unique for Warrior, which really should be enough to let it at least be experimented with.

BTW, I feel that Brood of N'Zoth is being overlooked too quickly for similar reasons. It's not a random effect like Dark Cultist or Anubisath Sentinel but a global effect. That's new and possible makes up for the downsides of deathrattle buffs (although the opponent still gets a chance to manipulate the results). I'm not saying the card is good, I'm just saying it's different enough to warrant a closer look.
WindWolf
Profile Blog Joined July 2012
Sweden11767 Posts
April 19 2016 19:13 GMT
#20
On April 20 2016 00:42 Daisyx wrote:
7. I think we go very much out of our way to accomodate cards being played in t2/3/4 decks atm, for example we refer to mill rogue, aggro paladin, murloc (non-combo) paladin, tempo rogue and aggro warrior, all decks that are nowhere near to being t1 atm.

I do not agree here. The general feeling I am getting from the liquidhearth reviews (at large, not by the judgement of individual cards) is that unless a card can fit into an existing T1 archetype it is automatically a bad card.
EZ4ENCE
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