Karazhan Review (Class) - Episode 78

Hello!

• Scott is on the show this week
• Topic: Karazhan Class Card reviews!
• Reasons to be happy this week
• News: Buy the Welcome Bundle, Big Arena Changes, Regional Championships starting, Read Josh’s articles on Red Bull Esports

Review Scoring Guide (NEW!)

• 0 = Awful, unplayable (Runic Egg, Poison Seeds)
• 1 = Underpowered, but it could work out (Dust Devil, Corruption)
• 2 = Acceptable backup plan or niche filler (Crazed Alchemist, Shadow Bolt)
• 3 = Solid value (Senjin Shieldmasta, Assassinate)
• 4 = Great, with lots of upside (Animal Companion, Fireball)
• 5 = So good you always have to play it (Tirion Fordring, Call of the Wild)

Druid Cards Enchanted Raven

• Scott says: I’m less excited about this card than most people. I don’t agree w/ the hype. But I can sit over on the side with my hipster glasses eschewing the zeitgeist.
• Josh says: Very good. Pre-emptively trumps every 3/2 and will keep them from playing them. Also gives a 1-cost Beast card that’s not bad, which combos great in druid Beast deck.
• Arena Score: 4
• Constructed Score: 3

Menagerie Warden

• Scott says: Hoo boy. Now we’re talking. I already liked Beast Druid, though it wasn’t Tier 1 or anything. This will be a nice addition. The cost premium is a bargain, but being attached to a big body gives it a big enough cost that it’ll only come out late-game and will be hard to combo. Compares well to Ram Wrangler — this has more control (good and bad) but also charges 1 mana less for ability.
• Josh says: Borderline Bonkers (BB?) when it happens. Blizz is determined to make Beast druid good and this card is blatant in its intentions. Only trouble is finding sticky beasts for the earlier turn, but is reasonable to expect that to happen.
• Arena Score: 2
• Constructed Score: 4

Moonglade Portal

• Scott says: I’m not a fan of most of these portals. The health is fine, and the minion is fine, I guess. But meh.
• Josh says: The “free” health is nice when you’re getting rushed down, but doesn’t usually help you win. That summoned minion is same-cost, randomized, and doesn’t trigger Battlecry effects. I’m not excited.
• Arena Score: 2
• Constructed Score: 2

Hunter Cards Cat Trick

• Josh says: Interesting to see all the classes slowly get all of the triggers. Seems like this will be more likely to proc in the upcoming spell-heavy meta.
• Scott says: Not sure how I feel about this, as it saves you a mana, but at the loss of control and determinism. It does have a ‘mind games’ factor though. I think I’d rather have a 3/3 taunt as a secret trigger in many cases than the 4/2 stealth, as the 3/3 taunt can more actively disrupt their plans. Seems like this most wants to be in an aggro deck.
• Arena Score: 2
• Constructed Score: 3

Cloaked Huntress

• Josh says: Secret Paladin’s baby sister isn’t going to win awards like her big bro. Dumping secrets out of your hand isn’t always a smart move. They don’t combo as well as Paladin or Mage secrets.
• Scott says: Sure it synergizes with secrets, but I’d usually rather have more oomph than cheaper secret cost. This really only buys you tempo, so it implies it wants to be in a faster-paced deck.
• Arena Score: 3
• Constructed Score: 3

Kindly Grandmother

• Josh says: I really doubt this card’s longterm appeal. Twilight Summoner gave you 5/5 for 4 to make up for the slowness. Here, you’re just waiting to get less than what you paid for in the first place.
• Scott says: Yeah, this isn’t great. Both forms are beasts, so that’s something. Seems like it wants to be in a horde and/or beast deck. Seems a bit better than a 3/2 on its own, plus it’s got synergy potential.
• Arena Score: 3
• Constructed Score: 3

Mage Cards Babbling Book

• Scott says: Josh has a good bead on this. It may be possible to leverage synergies somehow, but by default, you shouldn’t be sacrificing control of the cards in your deck just so you can cast a 1/1 for 1.
• Josh says: This seems like a trap. If you want mage spells, put one in your deck instead of this card. The 1/1 won’t do much and you’re likely to get a sub-optimal spell. Not much else for Mage to do on Turn 1 atm, but that doesn’t make this card good — it just means it’s likely to get replaced when good Turn-1 options exist.
• Arena Score: 2
• Constructed Score: 2

Medivh’s Valet

• Scott says: Again, I find myself agreeing with Josh. 3 targeted damage is very good, but it means you’ll need to wait until later in the game to cast this. You can always cast it early in a pinch, but how often will you know you’re in a pinch on turn 2?
• Josh says: Interesting. Obviously this guy wants to get played on Not-Turn-2. Insane value, but do cards like this typically win out over just a solid card that uses the full mana of the turn it’s meant to be played on? Seems like maybe it works well in spell Mage, who wants to have some mana leftover for a spell each turn?
• Arena Score: 3
• Constructed Score: 4

Firelands Portal

• Scott says: Probably my favorite of the portals, but that’s not saying much. Feels especially good in arena.
• Josh says: Tempo king. It’s slow, but it’s worth the wait. It counts as a spell in decks that want only spells, and provides a solid minion option to that deck. Unlike healing, this is almost a guaranteed 2-for-1 with the flexibility to go face if needed.
• Arena Score: 4
• Constructed Score: 4

Paladin Cards Nightbane Templar

• Scott says: If you’re in a dragon deck, it’s pretty good. Otherwise it’s not. Probably fine. Works in a menagerie deck.
• Josh says: Haha “Probably fine” is the perfect phrase for this. Standard risk-reward payoffs. Nothing special here. Could replace the Blackwing Technician (once it cycles out).
• Arena Score: 1
• Constructed Score: 3

Silvermoon Portal

• Scott says: I’d much rather have Blessing of Kings.
• Josh says: No thanks. You’re breaking even on vanilla stats. +2/2 gets “charge” BUT the summoned minion gets no battlecry — seems like a wash, leaving it as a randomized Chillwind Yeti. I want more nowadays.
• Arena Score: 2
• Constructed Score: 1

Ivory Knight

• Scott says: This one has found a home in control paladin decks. A very solid mana sink near the end of the game, where the player with the biggest punches left in their hand often take control of the game.
• Josh says: I was fairly confident this card is bad — just like a lot of Paladin spells, but I have to admit it’s looking good in practice. Discover is significantly better than a random card, and I underestimated how often you’ll get at least one good option offered to you.
• Arena Score: 3
• Constructed Score: 4

Priest Cards Purify

• Josh says: I don’t think this card is quite as bad as the ragers are saying, but I agree it’s weak. I would love to see this at 1-cost, but there are some fun synergies!
• Scott says: Agreed — cost should be 1. Does nothing on its own and has limited, very specific targets (who suffer if they don’t get this card comboed with them). Not sure why anyone would add this to a deck they want to win with.
• Arena Score: NOT DRAFTABLE
• Constructed Score: 2

Priest of the Feast

• Josh says: Sub-par vanilla stats and a lame effect. Pass!
• Scott says: Good vanilla stats and a decent effect for free! Take!
• Arena Score: 4
• Constructed Score: 3

Onyx Bishop

• Josh says: I think this effect is EXTREMELY underrated (second-most underrated in the game). This guy’s a little clunky because he actually works against his own effect (the strength of spell cards like this is that they don’t dilute the pool of targets when played). Still, very solid. Only needs to grab a vanilla 2/2 to break even on stats. Needs to only get a 2/3 to be “good” — in the right decks, should almost always get WAY more than that.
• Scott says: This effect generally gets better when cast later in the game, since you can get back more expensive minions. Isn’t great on minions w/ Battlecry. Seems solid.
• Arena Score: 4
• Constructed Score: 5

Rogue Cards Swashburglar

• Scott says: Great fun factor, but not great value. It’s nearly impossible to synergize w/ a random card, though class cards are above-average. Still, I think a random mage spell (in a mage deck) is better than a random class card in a rogue deck. Pirate synergy may help a little.
• Josh says: I inititally liked this card more than Babbling Book, because this at least lets you do something you can’t at deck-creation. But I think you’re right. Combo synergy helps some, especially in Arena.
• Arena Score: 2
• Constructed Score: 1

Deadly Fork

• Scott says: 2 overcosted cards in 1. Has some synergy potential, but not great.
• Josh says: The 3-cost on the weapon that goes into your hand killed my enthusiasm for this guy. Still cool idea, but demands both your Turns 3 and 4.
• Arena Score: 3
• Constructed Score: 2

Ethereal Peddler

• Scott says: I love the idea, and I hope it’s fleshed out more soon. But right there I just don’t think there’s enough synergy to warrant this, and that cards that give you random class cards just aren’t very good on their own. So this is really just a vanilla card with minor added value in a bad deck archetype.
• Josh says: I have many conflicting emotions. It looks bad, but Blizzard is pushing the Burgle archetype pretty heavily. Maybe they seem some potential that I’m missing?. At its worst, it at least has solid vanilla stats.
• Arena Score: 3
• Constructed Score: 3

Shaman Cards Spirit Claws

• Scott says: 3/3 weapon for 1 is seriously intense. But folks don’t generally play spell damage anymore. So this is pushed to encourage that. And Shaman is a place where spell damage is better than most anyway.
• Josh says: Heart attack. I’m in love.
• Arena Score: 2
• Constructed Score: 5

Maelstrom Portal

• Scott says: They just out-maged mages. Weird. A good value, but low impact. Gets much better in the spell damage deck they’re trying to promote.
• Josh says: I think this up for debate as the best portal in the set, with Firelands Portal. Shaman will have a kickass spell power deck, and this is a key part.
• Arena Score: 3
• Constructed Score: 4

Wicked Witchdoctor

• Scott says: Works well in totem or hoard decks, or any deck w/ Thing from Below. Might also be good in heavy spell (and spell damage?) decks, as you could get extra air totems. Basic totems generally aren’t very good, and these could clog your board for better or worse.
• Josh says: Plays well in the totem deck, for sure. Allowing duplicates of basic totems is a unique feature that does have some potential. Only needs one proc to pay for itself. Seems good.
• Arena Score: 2
• Constructed Score: 4

Warlock Cards Malchezaar’s Imp

• Josh says: I want to believe in this caryou can’t expect to get more than one turn with it. Seems like it could trick you into putting sub-optimal cards in your deck, so have to be smart when deckbuilding. That said, opens some cool Zoo variants and only asks for 1 mana.
• Scott says: Is this effect better than taunt? Maybe in a discard deck, if that’s actually a thing. And it seems it might be. Discard Warlock could always hit fast and hard, but ran out of juice quickly. Effects like this may dampen that. A turn 2 Darkshire Librarian or Succubus after a Turn 1 Malchezaar’s Imp seems pretty good. And if you discard a Silverware Golem, fuggetaboutit.
• Arena Score: 2
• Constructed Score: 4

Silverware Golem

• Josh says: I have a hard time coming up with reasons to need this in my discard deck that aren’t best-case scenarios relying on some good RNG. Discard deck has me nervous, and the payoff doesn’t seem that huge to me. Maybe in zoo?
• Scott says: Hard to say how often this will proc. Clearly it only wants to be in a discard deck, but even then, how often will it do what it’s trying to do?
• Arena Score: 2
• Constructed Score: 3

Kara Khazam

• Josh says: Sometimes I confused “bad” with “boring”. This card isn’t bad, right? It’s just sooo boring.
• Scott says: Seems pretty solid to me. 6/6 of stats for 5 mana across 3 bodies. If you’re playing Hordelock or maybe even zoo, this seems like a good addition.
• Arena Score: 3
• Constructed Score: 3

Warrior Cards Protect the King!

• Josh says: I’ve had a rollercoaster of emotions with this one. Seemed great at first. Lots of stats. But can never outpace the opponent, is constrained by board limit, and will likely give them great trade opportunities. I think it’s bad?
• Scott says: I want to live the Bolster dream! Outside of that, though, I’m not sure it does what Warrior is trying to do. You can’t put this in a deck w/ whirlwind effects. Has some good synergies w/ cards like Frothing Berserker, Cult Master, King’s Defender, etc. Maybe would go well in an aggro deck if you want to protect your charge guys for another turn?
• Arena Score: 3
• Constructed Score: 3

Fool’s Bane

• Josh says: Violet Illusionist’s BFF. That turn-8 combo is going to be SOOOO FUN. Outside of that synergy, This is a dangerous weapon in reckless hands. Perfect name!
• Scott says: I think I’d rather have an Arcanite Reaper? This is clearly good for control, but I’m not sure it’s great if you’re behind (unless you have Violet Illusionist.) Upgrade is pretty solid on this one!
• Arena Score: 5
• Constructed Score: 3

Ironforge Portal

• Josh says: I’m bored. This is boring. You’re boring, Zoidberg!
• Scott says: Boo this card!
• Arena Score: 2
• Constructed Score: 1

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