Summary: Hello! Scott is on the show this week Topic: The Grand Tournament Review! Reasons to be happy this week News: The expansion is out! The Review Format We want to give real, valuable insight into the cards we talk about, but there are too many cards in an expansion to do that for every one. So we picked the ones that we think are most important to talk about. This week, we’re reviewing class cards! For each class, we choose: The best card to CRAFT, DRAFT, and DUST We reviewed neutral cards last week Druid Best to Craft Darnassus Aspirant Scott says: This card’s a lot of fun, and leads to some interesting potential. If you silence it, polymorph it, or return it to your hand you get a free Wild Growth! Josh says: It blew my mind when someone described this as a Mechwarper that affects all of your cards. I’m sold! Best to Draft Mulch Scott says: I think this is very strong card. Its cheap mana cost lets you do other things the turn you cast it. Cast it late in the game on a nasty big minion for best effect. Josh says: Yeah, I don’t worry too much about the downside, especially in Arena. Removing their one big threat is a huge play. Best to Dust Astral Communion Scott says: A novelty that won’t pan out very often. Extremely inconsistent, but might be good in some Tavern Brawl someday? Josh says: Maybe there’s some discard synergy in the future, where you can draw cards when discard. But in the current game, yeah, I don’t see this ever working out. Hunter Best to Craft Bear Trap Josh says: Great stats, great scare tactics if they’re worried about Explosive Trap or Frozen Trap. Scott says: What’s not to like about a 3/3 taunt beast for 2 mana? Best to Draft King’s Elekk Josh says: We finally have a beast replacement for the boring ol’ Bloodfen Raptor! Even at 50% proc chance, this is solid value. Scott says: Hoo boy, this guy’s great! A 3/2 beast with tremendous upside. Best to Dust Ball of Spiders Josh says: I don’t get it. I see some minor synergies and a ton of RNG. There are so many things to spend 6 mana on that don’t murder your tempo. Scott says: Only useful in the slowest of slow decks. Mage Best to Craft Rhonin Josh says: He fits really well into Spell Power decks, but unlike Malygos has the inherent value to be solid in almost any Mage deck. Fun to play. Scott says: Arcane Missiles gets overlooked a lot as a spell, but getting 3 of them in hand is far better than an avenging wrath. It’s cheaper, does more damage, can be broken up over turns, gets additional spell damage boosts, and fires multiple spell triggers. And his stats aren’t bad to begin with. Best to Draft Polymorph: Boar Josh says: I love this card. Great on defense and offense, cheaper than Polymorph: Sheep! Fun fact: It resets the attack counter on your minion. I’ve won games by casting it twice on a single minion for immediate 8 damage. Scott says: Versatile? Yes. Efficient? No. Its costs are high no matter how you look at it. I am less a fan than most. Best to Dust Flame Lance Josh says: Mages already have better, cheaper ways to kill minions, that aren’t so restrictive. Scott says: The ultimate giant-killer, but I’d much rather just have a Fireball. The inability to hit your opponent sets this card back a lot. Paladin Best to Craft Murloc Knight Scott says: This little guy almost always pulls his weight. He’s a lightning rod, but that’s because he’s quite good. It’s especially fun when he makes another Murloc Knight. Fun Fact: Shaman can get this guy too from Neptulon. Josh says: Paladin is getting a lot of great tools to keep their board full, and this is the most interesting, fun one. Best to Draft Seal of Champions Scott says: Combines with a smaller minion to make a huge unexpected punch, and leaves a big-attack threat that your opponent still needs to clean up. Josh says: I’m less sold on this card due to its situational use, but it will definitely shine in some cases. Removal that leaves a threat behind the opponent has to deal with. Best to Dust Argent Lance Scott says: I do actually use this in some situations, but it’s not a good card. You’re generally better off saving for a more powerful weapon. Josh says: Paladin already has plenty of good weapons. You don’t need to gamble on a bad one. Priest Best to Craft Wyrmrest Agent Scott says: As long as you’re willing to wait to cast him until you have a dragon, he’s a great deal. Josh says:You almost always have a dragon in starting hand in a real dragon deck. 20% more stats that vanilla, plus Taunt! This guy simply breaks the usual balance. This is Blizzard telling you to play Dragon Priest. Best to Draft Holy Champion Scott says: Lightwarden and Light of the Naruu showed these effects can be quite powerful, and here it’s added to a cost-efficient body that can survive more easily. This is a scary, scary card. Josh says: Yeah, the trouble with heal-scaling cards like this previously has been that they all die to 1 or 2 cost removal. This card changes that and makes the archetype scary again! Best to Dust Flash Heal Scott says: It’s at its best when combined with spells that trigger from healing effects, or with Auchenai Soulpriest. Josh says: Priest already has too many ways to heal, and not enough safe ways to benefit from it. This just isn’t worth a card spot by itself. Rogue Best to Craft Cutpurse Josh says: It’s slim pickins on the Rogue list this expansion. This guy at least has a lot of interesting potential for trigger Combo effects, but his 2/2 stats hold him back. Scott says: The trick is being able to attack with him at least once. If you can, you’ll get a coin as a reward, which in turn will help trigger other combo effects. Makes an especially good Turn 1 (w/ coin) play if your opponent didn’t cast a 2/1. Best to Draft Burgle Josh says: I enjoy this effect. It’s worked well in Priest and should work well in control Rogue. On-paper card advantage and some fun surprise plays. Scott says: Class cards are generally pretty good, and you can’t get stuck w/ dead weapon-enhancing spells like other classes. Best to Dust Beneath the Grounds Josh says: I was super excited for this card until I learned about all the things NOT in the card text. If you mill the card, it doesn’t spawn a 4/4. They draw a new card when they draw this, so you aren’t preventing draw. So it’s meant for non-mill control rogue? No thanks. Scott says: Too many conditions! Shaman Best to Craft Tuskarr Totemic Scott says: This effect ranges from fine to great. There are currently 8 possibilities — half from the hero power and half that are from actual cards. Josh says:Yeah, and even the worst totem RNG still makes this card a great play. A lot of shaman decks just need bodies on the board. Best to Draft Totem Golem Scott says: Insaaaane. So good. Josh says: He wants to fight any minion played in the first 3 turns. And he’ll win almost every time! Best to Dust Elemental Destruction Scott says: Very expensive — basically makes you skip your next turn. And you kill your own stuff too. Not a fan. Josh says: Yeah, this card is confused. It takes the worst parts of Hellfire and Lightning Storm, combines them together, and then jacks up the mana cost. Warlock Best to Craft Dreadsteed Josh says:Fun. Fun. Fun. I really wanted this card to be viable, and I’m so glad people have found a way to make it work. This will be relevant and fun to play with for years to come. Scott says: By himself, not great. Also susceptible to silence and polymorph effects. Needs to be in a combo of some sort to be worth much. Best to Draft Wrathguard Josh says: He’s risky, and sometimes too dangerous to even play late-game. But strong board control early. Similar to a Flame Imp. Scott says: Too much of a liability IMO. Best to Dust Dark Bargain Josh says: How lucky are you feeling? You’d need to hit the jackpot on RNG every since time you played this for it to be worth running in a deck. Scott says: There may be times when this is the one card that would win you the game. But most of the time, it will be too expensive to justify. Warrior Best to Craft Alexstrasza’s Champion Scott says: Assuming it fires, this is quite good. Is Warrior Dragon a thing yet? Josh says:It’s not ready for primetime yet, but Blizzard obviously wants Dragon Warrior to be a thing. And with all the strong control cards Warrior already has, I can see it getting real big with a few more cards. Compare this to Wolf Rider! Best to Draft Magnataur Alpha Scott says: Amazing if it survives, but it’s a bit hard to kill. Can be a 3-for-1 if it lives a turn. Josh says: Hard to kill? This guy is as easy to kill as a Wrathguard, and he drops two turns later! Maybe in Arena he stands a chance of living to attack once. Best to Dust Sea Reaver Scott says: You’ve got to be pretty desperate for whirlwind effects to want one to happen outside of your control at some random point in the game. Josh says: Haha yeah, I see this effect accomplish nothing most of the time. In the right deck, it is more likely to help you than hurt you, but too out of control for the control deck that wants it. Community Question: None this week! iTunes Reviews Donations No donations this week The Dust Bowl We open card packs donated by listeners, and pick our favorites and least favorites on the show! Thanks to our supporters: Jake Crawford: 7 Packs Card of the Week Farewell Contact Scott on Twitter What you want to see in future episodes What hosts you want to visit the show
