by OtakuMZ - 8 years ago     show comments

Introduction

Last week we saw all the cards of the upcoming adventure “One Night in Karazhan” revealed. Danny and I already reviewed every card by itself in the Karazhan Card Evaluation #1 to #7. With this article, I want to evaluate which classes might be the winners and which could be the losers of this set. I will present you my totally subjective opinions of whether a class might profit from the Karazhan adventure, or not, as well as the reasoning behind it. Keep in mind that my view will be limited to Standard play mode and competitive play.

Despite all theorycrafting and research of reactions by pro players, there are two classes with still unknown outcomes, Rogue and Warlock, both of which can either end up in the winner or loser category. I will start with those two and then follow up with the remaining classes from worst to best.

Unknown

? – Rogue. Valeera did not get anything to support current archetypes (Miracle and N’Zoth). That said, with Ethereal Peddler, a whole new archetype seems possible. I am looking forward to it and I will definitely try the “steal-from-your opponents-class” mechanic. Blizzard seems eager to make “Burgle Rogue” a viable archetype by releasing more and more cards that fit this playstyle. In this set, Rogue got two cards that help this game plan: Swashburglar and Ethereal Peddler. Already existing cards that synergize with the peddler are Crowd Favorite, Nefarian, Burgle and Undercity Huckster. Outside of Huckster and some niche plays of Nefarian, the other cards do not see play at the moment. It still has to be seen, if this archetype will be viable or if we need another 3-4 sets until it will finally works as intended. Nevertheless, I like Swashburglar as I already explained in our card evaluation articles. Being 1-mana it is easily a combo activator and refills to your hand at the same time. All in all, I think Rogue gets at least more interesting if not better. Verdict: problematic at the end of Old Gods, hopefully  a winner but likely a loser.

? – Warlock. Gul’Dan gets cards for the “discard” mechanic almost every set. Equal to rogue, Warlock got two cards to enforce this style of play in the newest adventure: Malchezaar’s Imp and Silverware Golem. Similar to Burgle Rogue, Discard Warlock seems to be a deck that the developers want to see in the meta. Warlock already has a plethora cards fitting this play style: Soulfire, Succubus, Dark Bargain, Fist of Jaraxxus, Darkshire Librarian, Doomguard and Tiny Knight of Evil. Some of them are already very viable cards (Soulfire and Doomguard) and I hope the newest additions are the missing link that makes the discard deck happen. Verdict: A new archetype for a very competitive class is a good thing. :-). Warlock was in a strong place before and will be there after the adventure cards are released. If the new archetype is good it will be even stronger. Verdict: more likely a winner.

Losers

7 – Warrior. There is nothing too exciting here. We got some solid cards that will probably see play when last year’s sets rotate out of Standard. Fool’s Bane is an interesting tech card but overall not game-breaking. Keep in mind though that it (mostly) weakens Malkorok to some extent as does the new Shaman weapon (Spirit Claws). On the other hand, Warrior didn’t exactly need anything too crazy, with Garrosh already being on top of the food chain since last expansion. Nevertheless, there is a lot of sleeper potential in the overall interesting cards. Ironforge Portal may easily turn out to rock in non-C’Thun control warriors because it is a smaller Shieldmaiden. Protect the King will be mostly irrelevant but Fool’s Bane might turn out to be “Zoo’s Bane” if the meta is dominated by early game flood decks.

6 – Paladin. Paladin is kind of difficult. It did not get any flashy cards at all. I have big hopes for Ivory Knight and I love the card. Possibly, Nightbane Templar works in Dragon Paladin, which I still cannot believe but for sure Brian Kibler will try it and we will know soon. Also, The Curator and the other multi-tribe cards may be playable additions to dragon-based Paladin decks as well as Medivh, the Guardian, but I still have doubts they will be competitively viable. Anyway, Paladin is the the most likely class being able to play dragons, beasts and murlocs efficiently. All three archetypes already see play in paladin freuqently and maybe there is a way to make even Zoobot and Menagerie Magician viable in Paladin Zoo. My resulting verdict for Paladin is very hesitant but I can be totally off with that. The potential of paladin is surely determined by the neutral cards rather than the class cards in this set.

5 – Priest. What? Not rated worst class? Yes, I think so. You are right, despite all hopes, Priest seems to have drawn the short straw, but if Priest would have been in a tier 2 position before this adventure, I would have been totally fine with the cards. Yes, right, in the place Anduin is now, none of the new cards helps out of Priest’s flaws of being too slow and too reactive overall. The cards, besides Purify, aren’t necessarily bad, but they are not the powerhouses and consistent cards we would have liked to see to catapult Priest from bottom to top tier. I hope the community is missing something in the neutral cards or is totally underestimating the Priest cards. Medivh, the Guardian and the dragon synergy cards might be better for Priest than we can grasp without actually playing them. Please take the time to watch the video of Ben Brode for some “Designer Insights” about Priest in general and Purify in particular. Ben acknowledged that it was the wrong time to release Purify. It would have been totally fine being released in a bigger set, e.g. the next expansion. The developers underestimated the hopes previous comments about “fixing priest” incentivized. On the other hand, he made the valid point, that the card itself will see experimentation, which might be fun for non-competitive players. Anyway, they took the preemptive measure of banning the card from Arena.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot7nlHXPLqU

Intermediate

4 – Shaman. Shaman got buffs almost exclusively in the control section, which I personally love to see. Only recently, I wrote an article about Control Shaman and its different iterations – I just adore the decks. For me personally, Shaman got huge buffs which might not be so impactful in the bigger, competitive picture. Another archetype that Blizzard is trying to push seems to be “Spell Damage Shaman”. I remember once, I think it was Massan, a deck like that was played in a tournament and rocked, at least with the surprise factor going for it. It might be really interesting to see if such a deck is able to work but I am hesitant that it will without some cheap neutral or class spell power minion added in a future set.

3 – Mage. Mage got decent cards overall. All cards introduced aim towards control decks as it seems. Medivh’s Valet is the most powerful being a good addition to Freeze Mage. All other fit better in the Reno Mage or Grinder Mage archetypes rather than in classic freeze decks. Firelands Portal’s value in Standard remains unclear but surely you already heard the outrage about its likely impact on Arena. All in all, we will get a solid composition of cards without them being vastly overpowered. Kudos to Team 5!

Winners

2 – Hunter. Hunter got some potentially powerful cards and is a clear winner of this adventure besides Druid. In general, I think the slower hunter will profit more than the aggressive versions but Kindly Grandmother is a viable addition to almost any archetype. Yogg and Load Hunter got avery good additions on the neutral side too with Arcane Giant. I am very excited about Hunter and it will not remain my least played class any longer for sure.

1 – Druid. Druid got some serious treatment in the beast section. While the 1-mana 2/2 is not totally overpowered, 1-mana minions tend to have a huge impact. Menagerie Warden is an even better card than the 1-mana beast. The best aspect of this card is that it is not limited to the beast strategy alone but viable in almost every other druid deck. Moonglade Portal is a decent card on top which fits very well in the Ramp Druid decks or synergizes with Yogg-Saron. The additions to druid, despite looking OP, are understandable design-wise. The want to make Beast Druid a staple meta deck which, after many tries, seems finally possible. In the end, the thing that puts druid in the pole position is that the cards added, inside and outside class cards, do not help a single strategy of Malfurion but a lot of different ones. Beast are pushed in the aggro to midrange sector and ramp gets smoe treatment with Moonglade Portal  and The Curator. Yogg profits from both cards too in addition to Arcane Giant.

TLDR

Final Thoughts

The set is different from what I expected but mostly in a positive way. I think Team 5 has overall done a good job. I love them buffing underplayed archetypes even in already very competitive classes without pushing the powerful decks of this class over the top, e.g. buffing Control Shaman but not Aggro Shaman. Secrets, besides multi-tribes and spells, are a key mechanic in this set. I do not love secrets in particular but I think they are necessary to be around. Additionally, the focuses on archetype diversity, with an emphasis on control (outside of Druid), are according to my taste. I hope that after the outrage about priest being garbage has subsided, the upset part of the community will recognize the possibilities and the new diversity this set provides. We will probably see a whole bunch of new archetypes and hopefully a refreshing shift in the meta.

I wish you all a lot of fun trying out new shenanigans over the new few weeks with the subsequent releases of all four wings. Thanks for reading ‘till the end. As always, I encourage you to leave comments below or via twitter @OtakuMZ1978.

Magically yours,

OtakuMZ