by OtakuMZ - 7 years ago     show comments

Introduction

I already wrote the Karazhan Power Rankings and the Old Gods Power Rankings. I will continue this by evaluating the cards of the newest expansion as well. If you comment on twitter, please use the hashtag #GadgetzanPR. This is the last iteration of the power rankings for MSG, the pre-release version can be found here.

I apllied changes to the ranks of 38 cards but mostly ony one rank up and down. There were just a few cards that I under- or overrated by 2 ranks, almost half of them being Jade Golem associated cards. The cards are sorted by gang and class.

• Underrated by 2 or more ranks (7): Aya Blackpaw,  Jade Behemoth, Jade Blossom, Jade Claws, Sleep with the Fishes and Finja, the Flying Star.
• Overrated by 2 or more ranks (4): Mark of the Lotus, Bomb Squad Madam Goya and Hobart Grapplehammer.

It is debateble if there is a ☆☆☆☆☆☆ (6 stars) ranking needed for Patches 😉

Additional Link(s):
Gadgetzan Spoiler Card List by @Eldorian
Card Reviews – What I Learned from Card Reviews – What I Learned from WotOG and ONiK

Gadgetzan Power Rankings – 2 Weeks Post Release

☆☆☆☆☆: EXCELLENT / STAPLE

☆☆☆☆:  GOOD / COMPETITIVELY VIABLE

☆☆☆: DECENT / NICHE PICK

☆☆: POOR / TOO SITUATIONAL

☆: UNPLAYABLE

A/B: ARCHETYPE DEFINING / BUILD-AROUND

C/T: COUNTER / TECH  CHOICE

Annex I: About Power Rankings: My Take on Card Reviews Explained

I might evaluate cards differently to what you think because the evaluations reflect my personal opinions based on my knowledge of the game. If you disagree I am happy to hear your point in the comments below or @OtakuMZ1978. I will try to respond to all inquiries and take into consideration to change my rank of the card in question.

All evaluations will be made with Standard play mode and competitive play in mind. This is no ranking for neither Arena nor Wild, please remember this when reading. I will sort cards categories (see at bottom of the article). They will be sorted by mana cost from low to high. There is a changelog directly below the actual ranking above the category explanations at the bottom of this page.

Annex II: Ranking Categories

☆☆☆☆☆ (5 stars) Excellent: Cards that are top-notch or potentially overpowered. Most decks would like to run them, e.g. Dr. Boom.

☆☆☆☆ (4 stars) Good: Superior cards that will very likely be seen play frequently, e.g. Annoy-o-Tron, Harvest Golem.

☆☆☆ (3 stars) Decent: Cards that normally do not make the cut for competitive play but are overall well-designed and might fit into specific decks. These cards can be powerful in Arena though or really viable for newer players but you would not likely see them in tournaments.  Also, vanilla cards such as Chillwind Yeti fall into this category.

☆☆ (2 stars) Poor: Underwhelming and/or over-costed cards. These cards have inferior stats and/or underwhelming effects and will not see competitive play, e.g. Voodoo Doctor. Also grouped in this category are cards, that seem to be good at first glance. Yet, their effects are too situational so that most of the time, you will not be able to pull them off (e.g. Ghaz’rilla). The latter can arguably be fun and even powerful IF their effects go off. In any case, these cards I like to call “what-if cards” are so unreliable that they render themselves unusable in competitive play. Feel free to raise these cards to a “build-around” card or just have fun with!

☆ (1 star) Unplayable: Straight out bad stats, poor card design or simply useless cards that are even too bad for casual play? Do you have them in your deck? Delete Hearthstone! 😉 These cards you would not and should never put in your deck unless for fun or I missed something and the cards are sorted wrong, e.g. Magma Rager. If so, please leave me a comment! Okay, one exception here: you want to troll your opponent so that he thinks you are the worst Hearthstone player alive! 😆

A/B: Archetype Defining / Build-Around*: Cards that are only viable if you build your deck around them, e.g. Grim Patron.

C/T: Counter / Tech Choice*: Cards that mostly have underwhelming stats but are highly useful to counter specific Cards or to Play against a very uniform meta, e.g. Eater of Secrets

* The cards that appear under A/B and C/T will also be represented under 5* to 1* ratings according to their suspected power level when included or played in the right deck.