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Journey to Un’Goro Power Rankings

by - 7 years ago

Introduction

This is the fourth iteration of Power Rankings after MSoGONiK and WotOG. I will continue this tradition by evaluating the cards of the newest expansion as well. If you comment on twitter, please use the hashtag #UnGoroRankings.

This time, this article will not be just me, Martin “OtakuMZ“, but Nicholas “hsdecktech” will join me on this journey. Additionally, there will be a added category above the normal rankings: Q: Quest Rankings. Legendary spells just deserved their own category. In this category we will rank all Legendary Quest with their subsequent rewards from best to worst. They will also appear in the normal rankings.

The last thing we will add is a “Controversities” Chapter below the rankings. If Nicholas and OtakuMZ heavily disagree on a card, we will discuss it there.

To see all the tokens and Adapt upgrades please head to @Eldorian‘s Journey to Un’Goro Spoiler Card List. If you want some more insights on card analysis, we invite you to check out Card Reviews – What I Learned from Card Reviews – What I Learned from WotOG and ONiK.

A detailed explanation of how the ranks are defined is presented at the end of this post. Here are the rules in short:

  1. I will update this post constantly after every subsequent release
  2. The rank of each card can change in this process.
  3. Ranking is for Standard play mode and competitive play only. 

Journey to Un’Goro Power Rankings

(Last update: April 1st, 2017 – 135/135 revealed)

Q: QUEST RANKINGS (FROM BEST TO WORST)

 

QUEST REWARDS (Alphabetical)


☆☆☆☆☆: EXCELLENT / STAPLE

☆☆☆☆:  GOOD / COMPETITIVELY VIABLE

☆☆☆: DECENT / NICHE PICK

☆☆: POOR / TOO SITUATIONAL

☆: UNPLAYABLE


A/B: ARCHETYPE DEFINING / BUILD-AROUND

C/T: COUNTER / TECH  CHOICE


UNSORTED


Controversies

  • Still no major disagreements, but DeckTech did come in and convince OtakuMZ that a handful of cards needed to be downgraded a rank from “Excellent” to “Good,” at least until we see more (e.g. Tar Creeper and Tortollan Shellraiser).
  • OtakuMZ refused to knock Crystalline Oracle down a peg, though. Site-seniority rules.
  • Decktech votes for Explore Un’Goro being decent and not poor, with the premise that Control Warrior will be a thing. OtakuMZ says it is still a meme card 😉 and is competitive trash.
  • OtakuMZ likes Vilespine Slayer (“excellent”) whereas Decktech thinks it’s mediocre at best. The guys compromised and put it in “good” for now.
  • Conversely, Decktech likes Mirage Caller (“good”) whereas OtakuMZ pegs it as poor; the guys split the difference by putting it into decent.
  • Decktech puts the Warrior quest bootom tier whereas OtakuMZ thinks it is top 3-4.
  • Paladin quest would be rated lower by OtakuMZ

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

Q: Quest Rankings: This category will rank the new Legendary quest spells among each other. The list will start with the best first and will end with the last being the worst.

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


Martin "OtakuMZ" Z.

Real life physician and afterhour card battler. Martin "OtakuMZ" contributes to the Hearthstone team of BlizzPro since late 2015. Additionally, he contributes analytic articles for Hearthstone and Gwent as a member of Fade2Karma and in his collumn on the Gwentlemen site. He is best known for his infographics which can be accessed at a glance at https://www.facebook.com/hsinfographics and https://www.facebook.com/gwentinfographics


0 responses to “Journey to Un’Goro Power Rankings”

  1. MOHAN BELLAMKONDA says:

    Hello OtakuMZ! I’ve been reading your posts since just around when Whispers of the Old Gods came out. Just my point of view, verdant longneck should be atleast 3 stars. Adapt gives it a lot of versatility, making it ahead of curve depending on how well you choose your adapt bonus. Just curious as to why you only gave it 2 stars. Keep up the great posts!

    • OtakuMZ says:

      Hi Mohan! Thanks for geeting back to my rankings. I was indeed debating with hsdecktech and myself to put it in 2 or three stars. The 5-mana slot seems like such an important one that a 5/4 with a discovered ability seems still too weak. Compare it to the flexibility of Druid of the Claw and you might be able to follow our initial judgement. Anyway, it might be better than we/I think and it definetly could be in 3 also. Versatility is an important factor and the longer I think about it, you might be right.

    • rosvojaska says:

      How good the Longneck is depends on the bonus it gets. And most of them suck. With stealth for example it’s just a bad Stranglethorn tiger. With taunt it’s a Booty Bay bodyguard. Are either of those cards 3/5 stars? I dont think so.

      • OtakuMZ says:

        I am on your side and had a good discssion with hsdecktech about the card. He heavily voted in favor of longneck which I accepted in upgrading it from poor (2*) to decent (3*). Flexibility is the argument in favor of the card. We will see…

  2. MOHAN BELLAMKONDA says:

    Quick question, shouldn’t Ozrok be Archetype defining/build around with clutch mother zagas? Both require a very specific deck to be used in order to have their abilities activate at all.

    • OtakuMZ says:

      Despite all the hype, I think it is a trash card on the level of Boogeymonster or Gruul even though it looks good. It might be decent like Soggoth the Slitherer but is weak to Polymorph effects. Therefore, I do not think it will define an archetype.