What do you want?

I've received a few e-mails and comments here asking me to continue posting at this blog in addition to the blog I've started at TCGplayer. I realized that this blog is where it all started for me. I really developed my initial readership with the first Regionals preparation. This blog is what landed me the gig at TCGplayer. So my question is, how many of you would like to see me continue posting here as well as my other blog? Leave a comment here or email me at blyonsmagic@yahoo.com. A weekly feature article plus 2 blogs is a lot of content each week. I should be able to manage it, but I'm not going to bother if no one is going to read it. Let me know what you think.

FoO Review-Shaman

My Shaman review is up over at MyTCGplayer. You can find it here.

FoO Review-Rogue

Hey everyone. For those of you that have RSS, I'm going to post here when I update at MyTCGplayer until they get the RSS set up. Chedy is working on some more things to help make the blog better. I should be able to easily link to the card and deck databases soon. There are some other things they're working on too that should make it a better place to be. If anyone has any suggestions feel free to let me know and I can pass them along. Here's today's update.

http://my.tcgplayer.com/blog/view/id_154/

My Blog is Moving

Hey everyone,

I'm moving my blog over to the new my.tcgplayer.com. You can find it at my.tcgplayer.com/BLyons. There should be a link from the main page to it as well within the next week or two. Thanks for reading and all the support and be sure to check things out over there.

FoO Review-Paladin

Today, I'll keep the FoO-mania rolling as we move along to one of the less used but for some reason most despised of classes, the Paladin.

Avenger's Shield

This card would be a lot better as an instant making it an uber-Hammer of Justice. As is, it's solid, but I'm not quite sure it makes the cut in a Paladin deck. I've already talked about it though, so I won't spend more time talking about it here.

In limited, it's a very good card and can be a huge tempo swing. It's also very good against the popular aggro draft strategies.

Blessing of Divinity

Giving ATK and health bonuses aren't very good in this game because damage never goes away. This one's unplayable.

The same goes for limited.

Divine Illumination

One day Holy Paladins are going to make a broken combo deck that centers around readying your resources over and over and having your stuff cost less. They're not there yet though.

It's not terrible in limited because even worst case scenario, it's a card for 1 resources which is a bargain.

Guarded By the Light

Normally, I'm not a fan of this type of card, but I saw this thing do some crazy things at the Sneak Preview. I think if it has a place in Constructed it's probably in a Nimaasus deck, but I doubt it makes the cut there.

In limited, this card is actually a lot better than it initially looks. If you play it right, it will save an ally from death while taking out an opposing ally. It's basically a Paladin's Power Word: Shield which I have a lot more respect for now that I've seen it in action a few times.

Hammer of the Righteous

This is a solid card, but Hunters don't play Point Blank and it is the same thing. Hunters have more spot removal though, where Paladins don't have a whole lot. I don't think it's a great Paladin card, but it's certainly playable, especially in Paladin control decks.

In limited, it's a pretty good card if you're already in Paladin. Most people play Warrior and Paladin for the equipment, but this card will very often give you the chance to trade it for a higher drop on the resource curve.

Redemption

I think it's a borderline Constructed card. The fact that it's a cantrip is a plus and it's far better in Alliance decks than Horde where you can bring back Magnis, Jainas, etc. It's not an automatic inclusion, but I can see it having its uses.

In limited, it's a significantly better card. In an evironment where you're stuck with the cards you get, it's like a second copy of your best ally which is a very good thing to have. This is a very good limited card.

Righteous Defense

I'm not particularly thrilled by this card in Constructed, but Gary does have a Paladin list where it seems like it will have a place. For the most part though, I don't like this card very much.

Limited is another story. I think Paladins got a lot of good cards in Fires for limited that many people will overlook because they are not great Constructed cards. This effectively let's you take control of an attack on defense. Giving your hero protector is a very powerful play in limited, and this effectively does that for one attack. It's a little bit better than just granting protector though because you can use this with an exhausted hero and this will be a surprise most of the time you play it.

Seal of Blood

I'm not really a fan of cards like this that deal extra damage to the thing you hit with your weapon. Most of the time when you swing at allies, you hope to kill them with just one swing. Anything big enough to require two swings is going to take a significant chunk of your health with them. The ability gets a little better when hitting a hero, but even then, I don't think that just dealing 2 extra to the hero is really enough to warrant a card slot.

In limited, the weakness of the card is even more glaring to me. The weapons that a Paladin will be using will one-shot most allies, so you'll really only be doing 1 extra to yourself all the time. Controlling the board is almost always more important than just killing the other hero quickly. You can play it as a spot removal ability I guess, but even then it's pretty weak sauce.

Seal of Vengeance

This one is almost as bad. It would be a lot better is Paladins could dual wield, use ranged weapons, or had a way to deal combat damage other than actually attacking. The main ability on this one is slightly better than Seal of Blood because you're not hurting yourself every time you swing (and let's face it, swinging is probably the reason you're playing Paladin in the first place). However, the destroy effect of Seal of Blood probably makes it slightly better than Seal of Vengeance either way, they're both pretty bad.

For limited, read everything I just wrote.

As a class Paladins got a little bit of new stuff. Not much in their ability set really seems to jump out, but there are some solid allies that will work nicely with a Paladin and Horde Paladins can now play Holy Shield. I figure Paladins will probably remain a decent niche deck that probably won't crack the top tier of decks, but some people definitely have a good time playing them.

FoO Review-Mage

Today, I'll look at the next class in line in Fires of Outland. Mages have had a habit of being all hype and no substance. Well, the hype is back with both Talents expecting to see a lot of play and other cards also promising to finally bring Mages to the top tables. Or will we see them flame out like they have so often thus far.

Amplify Magic

This card's just not very good. It does nothing by itself and seems very out of place to me in the Mage class which isn't exactly known for its healing capabilities. Maybe it's good in 2-Headed Ogre where you can team up with a healing class, but it's not going to make it into any other constructed decks any time soon.

In limited, it's far too situational to see any play.

Arcane Blast

If there's one thing Mages do well, it's sling direct damage. This one's not bad, and a lot of classes would be happy with it, but Mage generally has better options than this even with the reduction in cost of each extra Blast.

In limited, it's a good removal ability and you really shouldn't argue against good removal. Since FoO will be the last pack in drafts, how highly you take this card will depend on your needs, but it's certainly playable. If you find yourself in a FoO only booster draft, these probably go up in value because there's a much higher likelihood of getting multiples.

Dragon's Breath

I've already talked about this card when it was previewed. Seeing the rest of the set, I still think that Shaman will be the best class for Blue Man Beatdown, but Fire Mages will certainly get a look from some people who are tired of Phadalus.

In limited, this card is equally amazing. Pick it high if you're playing Mage.

Fizzle

I'm generally one of the first to jump on how bad interrupting generally is in this game. But this card has a very intriguing effect. This and Counterspell are really the only two interrupts that you don't have to overpay for since they don't tack on any damage. If Fire Mages become popular, this has the nice litte bonus of stopping Shaman Totems. One of the biggest drawbacks to interrupts is the inability to stop allies. But when you consider that Shamans are likely to be packing anywhere from 6-12 Totems post-FoO and could be relying on as many as 8 in a deck to produce ally tokens, suddenly Fizzle can counter a 2/2 protector or a 2/1 Ferocity dude. Just something to keep in mind when checking out this card.

In limited, it's too narrow to see play I think.

Frost Funnel

A nice little targeted Frost Nova. I've got it in my early build of Exaura, but I'm not sure how effective it's going to be yet. I would like it a lot better if I had to the option of doubling up on a single ally.

In limited, it can be very effective board control simply by stopping two attacks. Also, in draft aggressive strategies are more popular than in sealed, so it is a very good card against the aggro draft decks since they won't have a full compliment of Merrys and Jeleanes.

Mana Jade

For anyone who doesn't know how I feel about abilities designed to draw cards, I really don't like them in this game. It's easy enough to draw cards other ways that I don't really like taking up precious ability slots with card drawing when I have plenty of quest slots that can do the same thing. Before I'll play a card drawing ability, it better be REALLY good. Evocation and Innervate are on the short list of card drawing abilities I will play. Right now, I don't think Mana Jade makes the cut, but it's a close decision. It has more to do with the fact that Mages can already play Evocation, which I think is ridiculous.

In limited, I think this card is a pretty easy inclusion. You don't always get a high quality quest selection, so card drawing is a little more of a premium. Just be careful because I have seen a lot of games in limited (more sealed than draft) end with one person running out of cards.

Megamorph

Umm....yeah. I have nothing left to say about this one.

Molten Armor

I personally think this card is probably right behind Dragon's Breath as Mage's best ability in the set. It obviously requires you to build your deck with it in mind, but recycling all of your abilities for at least one extra damage is a very good investment. It's much better vs. the Horde and their non-Untargetable allies, but it's still very solid against Alliance players as well.

In limited, it at first glance doesn't seem like you will play enough abilities to make great use of Molten Armor, but even 1 or 2 extra damage out of it can make a big difference.

Slow

Ill admit, I was originally fooled by this card. I thought it was going to come out and well Slow down Phadalus. We have already started playing with FoO decks, and I can tell you this card just isn't very good. Sure, it's nice against Phadalus, but there are just too many matchups where it's a huge waste of a card. I think this will end up being a sideboard card vs. Alliance rush decks and Horde sac all your resources for free stuff decks if they're actually any good. I think it's just too limited in scope to be worth a slot in the main deck.

It's not terrible against aggressive draft decks, but other than that, it just doesn't have a very big effect on a game in limited.

Overall, I think the Mage got some pretty solid cards, but I'm just not sure it's got enough punch to get up there with the Shamans and Warlocks of the world. We'll find out soon enough though.

FoO Review-Hunters

Edit: I am of course an idiot. Wraith Scythe is an axe (I've never bothered with checking types before, just seemed like it should be a sword to me, don't know why) which means it is of course not free when dual wielding Latro's Shifting Sword. Thanks to ghost for pointing that out.


The FoO Review rolls on today with the Hunter class. In addition to their abilities, Hunters also got 2 new pets and some very useful weapons to use. I think that Hunters have changed pretty drastically since the says of Elendril rush. Sen'Zir istill hanging around using one of Hunter's defining cards, Fury, but with Dark Portal we saw a new direction the Hunter could move in, solo control. I think we'll see more of a move in that direction with this set for Hunters.

Aspect of the Monkey

This card is pretty ridiculous. With this and Lightning Reflexes both running around at 1 cost, it seems Survival Hunters have added another way to combat the rush decks that are so popular. This one can't stack like the Reflexes, but it automatically shuts off almost all 1-drops and makes even most 2 and 3-drops not much more than a tiny nuisance. Should you choose the Alliance and Draenei, you can play Wisp as an ally and a re-usable card to discard.

In limited, teh card suffers from only affecting combat with your hero. If it affected all combat it would probably be too good though. It can still mess with some math in a race situation, but for the most poart, I think Hunters would rather play better cards in limited.

Freezing Trap

This is a really good card that might be rendered unplayable based on circumstances. It's basically a free Polymorph, but with the amount of ability removal running around these days, it's hard to imagine this sticking to an important ally for very long. If people start playing less ability hate though, this card definitely has a lot of potential.

In limited, Freezing Trap is nothing short of amazing. There is far less ability removal and people tend to play biger allies. I had the luxury of Freezing Chen Stormstout at my Sneak Preview. If you're playing Hunter this card is in your deck, and I would pick it relatively high in draft.

Kill Command

This card is borderline at the best for Constructed. The only deck that will still be runnign pets is Sen'Zir. If it could hit heroes as well, it would probably make it, but since it only targets allies, I just don't think it's quite good enough for a constructed deck.

In limited, it really all depends on how many pets you have. If you have less than 2 pets, I wouldn't play it at all. 2 pets you might be able to swing it if your card pool is shallow, but I think I would want 3 pets in my deck before I included Kill Command.

Misdirection

Sarmoth is good, so it stands to reason that infi-Sarmoths would be better. While that is true, using a very vulnerable in the current environment ability to gain them probably isn't worth it. This card's problem is compounded by the fact that most Hunter control decks will be of the solo or near solo variety. However, in the jank-tastic combo category is Misdirection/Brother Rhone on the Alliance side and the far more devastating Misdirection/Saurfang on the Horde side.

In limited, I think the card is probably playable. I haven'y had a chance to use it yet, but I can imagine several situations where it would be very good. Until I actually get a chance to see it in action, though I'm going to reserve judgement on this one.

Readiness

If this weren't a Survival Talent, I think Elendril might be pretty busted. As it is, I think a lot of people are overrating this card because it's the same as Yawgmoth's Will from Magic which was banned. I've already talked about this card when it came out in the FAQ, so I'm not going to rehash all that here. Nothing has changed my mind though that the card is solid but very far from broken.

In limited, it depends on your abilities, but it's rarely going to be better than Solanian's Belongings.

Silencing Shot

Again, I have already talked about this card. I still think it will be a sideboard card depending on how many game-breaking abilities see play that the Hunter has no other answer for.

In limited, it's a decent card, but Hunter generally has better removal than this. It's not a terrible play, but it's not something I want.

Take the Shot

This card actually has me pretty excited. Is Elendril the new Gorebelly? Elendril comes with his own built-in Heroic Strike. Throw in a Deathdealer Breastplate and this card has the potential to do a lot of damage much like Mortal Strike. Hunter Control looks like it could be a good deck in the new environment and Take the Shot could provide it with a solid win condition other than just chipping away with weapons or Rapid Fire.

In limted, it's another solid card that you won't mind playing, but not necessarily something you're looking to have in your deck. This is one of the reasons that I think Hunter is the best class in limted. In addition to the obvious fact that they get both pets and good weapons, their ability pool is deep enough that there are a lot of abilities that aren't great, but are still very easy to put in your deck.

As for the equipment in this set for Hunters, I think the dual wield weapons are the biggest additions. Getting to dual wield Shifting Sword with Wraith Scythe is very good for Hunters because it makes their Scythe swing for free. They can also dual wield Shiftig Swords to make each other swing for free which is very good for a control deck since it will mean no further resource investment but 2 allies killed per turn on defense most of the time. Overall, I think Hunters did very well for themselves in this set, and Hunter control looks to be a contender now.

FoO Review-Druids

The Sneak Previews are over and the cards are spoiled. As the rest of the country looks to Nationals and GenCon next weekend, I'm looking forward to the new FoO metagame. Before I start addressing that though, I'll do a card by card review here over the next two weeks to get everyone acclimated to the new set. Today, I'm going to start with the Druid abilities.

Call of the Wild

It's tough to say whether this card is good enough to replace Claw as the second form card in Cat Form decks, assuming of course anyone still plays Cat Form. It's almost like its own little pump like half a Predatory Strikes. It costs one less than Claw, but Claw has the ability to take out an ally. I would probably go with Claw, but Call of the Wild may take that spot.

In limited, giving yourself cat form is always good, and the extra ability to hit the hero can really add up over the course of a game.

Demoralizing Roar

Bear form decks aren't very popular and with the release of Mass Dispel and Tremor Totem, I don't really see them getting much better.

In limited, this effect can be huge. There's far less ability removal than in constructed and this can definitely break a game open. Just remember if you're drafting Druid that this is a Form card, so you can't play this and get into cat form.

Flight Form

The biggest initial use I can see for this card would be to stop one shot Warriors and Rogues (?). It's probably a decent sideboard card. You could probably also hide behind it for a while against an Affliction Warlock.

In limited, I would draft it very late and only consider it for my sideboard. Even then, it will probably never come in.

Force of Nature

This card is very good. It gives Balance Druids a very solid answer to Untargetables. It's not as good as Chain Lightning or Dragon's Breath, but it's not way behind. It actually has an advantage over Dragon's Breath because it can hit Untargetables. It also combos very nicely with Defias Brotherhood. I'm definitely going to look at the Boomkin Druid deck and this card is one of the reasons.

In limited, this is one of few Druid cards that is very, very good. You won't see one until pack 4, but if you're in Druid it's definitely a high pick.

Lifebloom

The only reason I see to run this card is if you're planning on using Faith Healer's Boots to try to recur allies. Other than that, while the card isn't terrible, there are generally better things you could be including in your deck.

In limited, it's probably playable. If you can spare two resources somewhere in the mid-game the extra health probably won't be insignificant. It's not a high pick, but one that you probably won't hate playing.

Moonfire

This is probably going to be one of the win conditions in my Balance Druid deck. Combined with Moonkin Form (and possibly Chromatic Cloak), it can deal a lot of damage in a hurry. It's also relatively impervious to removal if you manage it well. It's really versatile in that in can do just a little to bigger allies and then save itself before something else finishes them off. Then when it's not needed for that anymore, you can go back to spamming their hero.

In limited, this card can be a significant source of damage in the late game. A lot of games in limited come down to a battle of attrition and this helps both in eliminating allies and actually killing your opponent.

Prowl

I don't think this will help too much in bringing Telrander back to prominence. He's just got too much going against him now, especially with Mass Dispel running around. The one bright spot is that this is how they should have done Forms to start with.

In limited, I think it requires too much setup for not enough pay off. Stealth on your hero isn't that great. It's certainly not worth a precious card slot. If it comes as a benefit of something else, okay, but I'm not going to put a card into my deck just to gain stealth.

Tree of Life

This is a classic example of when to spot a weak card. This card on its own does absolutely nothing. So it requires other cards to make it useful. As a general rule, when a card requires other cards to make it useful, the effect you get out of the combo needs to be significantly better than the effect you would have gotten out 2 individually effective cards in the same situation. I'm sure there's some complex math problem to show exactly how much more powerful a 2-card combo has to be before it's worth including over two other individual cards, but I don't care that much to detail it here. Basically, I don't think this card does enough even with a card like Lifebloom to make it worth the slots in a deck. And the other effect of paying less for your abilities generally isn't worth the loss of tempo early to play this card and isn't needed late since you'll almost always have plenty of resources.

In limited, its umm...limited scope makes it even less playable. You're unlikely to get many healing abilities or Restoration abilities to take advantage of either effect.

Zephyr

The kid brother to Natural Selection and Nature's Majesty, this one is 1's all around. It kills a lot of stuff against a rush deck, but I don't quite think it's good enough to make the cut in Constructed. It gets better with Moonkin, but I still don't think that's enough. It's certainly not terrible, but I'm just not quite sure it's quite ready for the bigtime

In limited, you should have no bad feelings about playing it. Don't pick it high because it's not that good, but it's tough to imagine a Druid deck good enough that this doesn't make the cut.

Overall, I think Druids got a lot of solid cards with Force of Nature probably being the best. It will be interesting to see if the Balance Druids can come together enough to challenge the top dogs in the post-FoO environment. I'm not sure they've got enough to make it all the way to the top, but I could see a solid Tier 2 deck here that could be very dangerous in the hands of the right player.

Just the FAQ's

The Fires of Outland FAQ came out Wednesday night, and we've got a couple more preview cards to talk about, so here's my last card review before the set comes out and I can talk about the set as a whole and see some of these preview cards in the bigger picture. First up are the last previews.

One Draenei's Junk

Aside from the reference to Draenei genitalia, this card is pretty good. The only question is whether it's good enough to crack the quest lineup of decks we've already seen. An ironically, any non-Draenei rush deck will obviously be running these as it will almost always net you a card for the cost of two. Sadly, Draenei are the kings of beatdown. Horde decks tend to curve out and play a little higher, so they probably will pass over this card for better ones like Torek's. Draenei decks will still be running RtS and Defias as 4-of's obviously, which means this card has to squeek in somewhere in the remaining quests. Those spots generally will be going to some combination of Battle of Darrowshire, Missing Diplomat, and Chasing A-Me. I think that in these decks Corki's Ransom actually has a better chance of getting in as a 2-cost quest than ODJ. It's important to establish that this card is easily playable in non-Draenei beatdown such as Dizdemona aggro decks, which is one of the few Alliance aggro decks that can hang with the Blue Man Group. Draenei figure to get better at beatdown adding a Fire Mage (and Dragon's Breath) and aggro priest has a shot with the new Shadowfiend. We could be seeing more versions of Blue Man Beatdown, but I don't think this quest will get into them.

Mordotz

While I don't think Mordotz is really playable even in the Warlock DoT deck, I do like the flavor that he brings to the game. One of the unique aspects of this game is the many references to pop culture at large (the South Park cards, Leeroy) and its less subtle references to gaming culture in particular (Tim). This card continues in that vein that adds a wrinkle that makes WoW fun and unique.

Jubilee Arcspark

Jubilee is a very solid character at the three-drop slot. She's obviously a high pick in limited where 3/3's for 3 are all very solid. The question is, is she good enough to make the cut into Constructed decks. You have to look at where she would fit and what other drops are available there. Her main competition will be Parvink and the new ally Kulvo Jadefist (and possibly other allies in the set. In Warlock decks she'll also be competing with Sarmoth. Both of the other cards are Protectors and are highly likely to net you card advantage against aggro decks. Parvink will generally get you a card in hand while also trading with an ally on the board and at 4/4, Kulvo Jadefist is likely to either trade with 2 allies or 1 ally and a card from their hand (or Earth Shock, yay Shamans!). Since Jubilee has neither Ferocity or Protector she is likely to trade with 1 character generating a 1-for-1 trade of your opponent's choosing. So she's not likely to make the cut in control decks.

Let's look at the beatdown side of things. Here, her primary competition will be Parvink and Mya. We've already talked about Parvink and many aggro decks are willing to trade the extra stats for a card. With Mya, you essentially get the same stats so it comes down to their abilities. Mya helps you complete Defias easier and also works better with Heroic Presence and Ka'lai. Jubilee's ability is unlikely to get used in a Draenei deck since they probably won't play Kibler's or ODJ. In Warlock aggro, the new pet's ability is probably better and worthy of the slot. The one thing that brings Jubilee back into the discussion in Untargetable. She forces control decks to kill her with an ally and she survives Chain Lightnings. That alone probably pushes her into at least consideration for a spot in Alliance aggro decks.

Now on to the cards from the FAQ.

Chain Heal

Shamans have much better things to be doing than healing allies. Although healing 6 for 2 is a solid deal. It's unlikely to matter in an Alliance Shaman as most of their guys are going to get one-shotted, but on the Grennan side with cards like Moko and Rashun it might see some light play.

Death Coil

This card is really good. It's almost a strictly better version of Fire Blast. The 2 differences are it's not instant and it can't go to the dome. The added benefit is that is can remove big allies from the game for a full turn which can let an aggro deck get those last points of damage through a Magni, or allow a control Warlock a little more time to find an answer to a big problem. I think the card is probably better in an aggro build because the added versatilty will show up more often there, but it still kills a lot of aggro allies for only 1 resource so it should see quite a bit of play in both aggro and control Warlock builds.

Enfea Contha

I'm really unsure of this ability. At first, it doesn't seem that good because you need to have an ally with damage on it before you can even use her which in turn means having lots of allies that can withstand more than one attack. I can see her being useful in a Warlock control deck though with Sarmoth, Kulvo, Medoc, Magni, Infernal, all kinds of big butts running around. If her ability ever does become relevent in a game, it's going to be hard to lose.

Exodar Peacekeepers

Like most of the unlimited allies, these guys aren't there for anything other than some sort of kitchen table fun.

Explosions

If you really want to split up damage this badly, just play Fire Mage or Shaman.

Faith Healer's Boots

I actually like this card quite a bit. It's easier to keep in play than a Medoc despite the amount of Chipper's and Moira's running around. Combined with Benediction and Renew, Holy Priests may have something to say in the Fires metagame.

Fire Elemental Totem

Well, this card's just really good. I think every Shaman deck will probably be running 4. It makes Phadalus better. The biggest question will be what balance of Fire Elemental, Earth Elemental, and Searing Totems do you run? Fire Elemental Totem also happens to be really good against Searing Totem. There's not much more to say about this card.

Garrote

I think at this point, everyone knows what I think of Rogues. I'm not a huge fan of this card either. It does stop any combat tricks, but they can still remove your allies with instants before this effect resolves. Basically, it allows you to not have to worry about interrupts (which you shouldn't be worrying about anyway), and keeps your opponent from doing anything to your allies with ferocity. Unless they have some way to prevent one damage of course.

Great Sword of Forlorn Visions

Strictly from a Constructed vantage point this card is inferior to the other weapons currently available. In aggro deck, they would rather play a cheaper weapon or Lord Alexader's Battle Axe. Control decks will probably prefer to run a Wraith Scythe and Latro's Shifting Sword. In Limited it's obviously ridiculous, it's gray.

Life Arc

This one has a better chance of seeing some play in a Grennan deck than the Chain Heal because this one actually has the potential to affect the board. When you're playing several guys like Rashun and Moko this has the potential to be a virtual 4-for-2. I know that might sound crazy but let me give an example. Let's say you have a Stone Guard Rashun in play. Your opponent will generally be forced to trade 2 allies for him because getting 5 ATK out of 1 ally is a little rare. But let's see what happens when you have three resources available at any time during this trade. Your opponent attacks Rashun with the first ally. He's out one card and we'll say Rashun has 3 damage on him. Now he attacks into Rashun again, but you drop a Life Arc. This heals Rashun to full and we'll just say you take out the attacker. Now your opponent is out 2 cards to your one and Rashun is back at full health meaning he'll now have to trade two more allies for Rashun. He's out 4 cards to your 2. It might not go down like that in a live game because it will be hard to keep three resources open since Grennan like to use most of his resources every turn, but it's definitely something to think about.

Mana Etched Pantaloons

While the drawing a card for just an exhaust is great, I think card drawing in this game is cheap and plentiful enough to not need to be this situational. If it were cheaper (like Library of Alexandria for those who play Magic) so that you could bring it online earlier and keep a full hand it would be better. But on turn 5, you're far less likely to have a full grip meaning you'll have to do a lot of catching up to turn this thing on. I just think there better options available right now than this for your card drawing.

Mutilate

This is one of the Rogue cards that actually isn't that bad. But like most of the "good" Rogue cards it deals a ton of damage and requires Stealth. This is really just a different take on the one thing that Rogues do well which is deal way too much damage in a short amount of time. Unfortunately, that isn't really what Rogues need to get better.

One-Thousand-Battles

This guy is really solid. He's basically the new take on the Guardian theme, with the one possible drawback. Your opponent can force him to attack with the intention of dropping a Ferocity guy the next turn to kill you with if you're within range. His 5 butt on a three-drop is very impressive. He does have some competition at the three drop slot in Taz'dingo and Vesh'ral, but I think in control decks he will definitely find a home as a card advantage machine.

Pick Pocket

Rogues do have the ability to selectively pick apart an opponent's hand with this and Purloin. They could build a decent mid-range disruptive deck, but I'm just not sure it would be as good as what other classes have available. But this card is actually pretty decent.

Prophet Velen

You would have to have a lot of Draenei in your party before this guy is better than Magni. And if you have a lot of Draenei in your party, why haven't you won yet? This card obviously would work best with a Draenei hero. You can use Prophet the turn he comes in so with a Draenei hero you would be able to use his ability at least twice that first turn. He might be better than Magni then, but I think most Draenei decks will continue to focus on the beatdown.

Rampage

I'm not sure about this one. It's certainly not as good as the other Fury talent, Cruelty. It could be decent as a way to get an ATK bonus so you don't have to swing your weapons on offense and you can just build up counters on defense. I wouldn't be shocked to see some Fury Warriors going Shieldless this season in favor of Latro's Shifting Sword to effectively tri-wield (counting the Ranged weapon). I could see a situation where you play a shield early like Drillborer Disk and then once you stabilize, you swap it out for the second weapon once you don't need so much armor. I could also see Cruelty decks possibly forgoing shields completely. It will definitely be worth taking a look at.

Readiness

For anyone who has played Magic, you probably recognize this card. It's Yawgmoth's Will. For those of you unfamiliar with the power of Yawgmoth's Will, the card was banned for leading to degenerate combo decks. The difference is the cards you were allowed to bring back with YW were all really good and a lot of them allowed you to produce a lot of mana (resources) that you had no business producing at that point in the game. However, with no resoure acceleration and very few really good abilities to replay, this card will be in the solid but unspectacular category. It certainly has uses, but it's not Yawgmoth's Will.

Righteous Defense

This card is probably best in a Nimaasus rush deck as a way to maintain board presence. Especially useful keeping Leeroys alive.

Silvermoon Sentinels

They're not very good right now, but keep an eye on these guys in the future. The potential is there for a really bad combo deck to come around as a result of these guys.

Take the Shot

This is a solid card for control Hunters. I can see them swithing over to Blastershot Launcher which makes this 4 damage for 2 resources which is a very good deal. Solo Hunter seems like it got some good cards to help it become more viable and this is one of them. Not to much to say about it, it's good.

Totem of Coo

You have to be pretty lucky to get more than one card out of this. Or really wait for it. I can only see it even sniffing play in Alliance decks that don't have access to another quest that let's them draw two cards. There are better options for quests than this.

Tyler Falconbridge

There's no reason to play this guy in a non-Rogue deck unless you really hate getting your one-drops taken out by Taz'Dingo and Perdition's Blade. Even then, you should play Korthas instead. Maybe in a Rogue deck that wants to do a billion damage with Finishing Moves.

Ubel Sternbrow

????

Vorden the Shadowbringer

At first, I thought this guy was really good for control decks. Then I realied that he's just a mass 1-for-1 machine. If a control deck has enough allies to go mass 1-for-1 it's probably in a spot where it doesn't want to do that. Where I think this card may be alright is in a Horde aggro deck using it as a multi-shot Vanquish taking out opposing big protectors. Bringing it in out of the board against control decks may be a good call. It's not as good as Vanquish (except for the fact that it's uninterruptable and doesn't target) until you hit the second guy. I dunno, maybe I'm reaching here.

Well, that's all the cards we've seen so far. I hope everyone has fun this weekend. For anyone who plans on emailing me a list of their cards, could you please send two email. One with all your commons and the other with uncommons, rares, and epics. It shouldn't take too long to get all the commons put in and that way, I won't have to sift through such big lists of cards to find the ones that haven't been put in yet. Anyone who wants to send cards to help with the spoiler send them to blyonsmagic@yahoo.com

Blizzcon cards and 2 more previews

I'm going to be really honest today. I've been very disappointed with most of the preview cards so far. I know not everyone out there play VS. System, but previews are also running right now for that game. The Previews for Marvel Legends (the next set) have been really good and for the most part the WoW previews have been meh with a few exceptions. They claim the previews are there to build up excitement for the new set, but my honest assessment right now is that while there are several playable cards and the set looks solid as a whole, there has been very little that's really exciting. The card that really has me the most excited right now wasn't even previewed (Slow) and only a couple of the previewed cards are really good (Dragon's Breath and Shadowfiend). The rest range from probably playable (Earth Shock, Avenger's Shield) to decent picks in limited (The Succubus and today's axe) to downright junk (Megamorph and Filthy Tricks). When you look at the previews for other games, they have previewed big time cards. Damnation, Enemy of My Enemy, and Mobilize are all big-time cards, the chase rares of their respective sets that were all previewed. They always talk about new abilities and keywords the set is introducing or new mechanics and synergies we can expect to see. I realize that not every set can revolutionize the game and not every card is King Magni Bronzebeard, but come on. So far, this set looks like more of the same stuff we've seen with a probable lean towards slowing the game down a little. Nothing about new abilities, keywords, nothing. Just some cards that could very easily already be out that are mostly going to collect dust. Anyway, that's enough ranting, on to the cards.

I'm not going to write out all the cards, but I will link where you can find them if you haven't seen them already.

Berserker Rage

This card is going to go ahead and just fall into the junk category for me. Warriors have far better ways that this (and generally cheaper) to get more ATK. If it were like Cruelty and gave the bonus all the time it would be ridiculous. As is, you don't really want it giving more than three ATK because that means you're pretty close to dead. The real problem with this card is that you can't play it on turn 4 against a beatdown deck because it's such a loss of tempo and playing it early against control isn't so good because they're not really doing anything to you early on. By the time you could actually play it and start swinging with it being useful there are far better things you could be doing than this. Not to mention that most Warriors that want to go long will be packing Wraith Scythes which doesn't combo well with this card. I just don't think this thing is going to see much play.

Stellaris

I'm not really going to go into why this card is not good in Constructed. The situations where it would be better than Annihilator, Krol Blade, Perdition's Blade, or even Fel Iron Hatchet are so few and well situational, there just isn't room for this thing in a Constructed deck. Having said that, it's still a top pick in Draft.

The following cards can all be found here.

Sword of a Thousand Truths is actually not terrible. I can definitely see it getting played if control decks do indeed get a boost in this set. It doesn't end the game as fast as Sulfuras, but against control decks forcing them to discard their hand may seal the game up anyway.

He Who Has No Life

I think it's great that they put these two cards in the game as it adds a great flavor to the game which is important to keep people playing. His 3 health, sadly, will probably keep this guy relegated to the sidelines. He trades with too many low drops to rely on keeping him alive and even if he can survive the ally attacks there are a lot of abilities and weapons that can also finish him off. I'm just not big on paying 6 resources to play a guy who can't win a fight vs. a 2-drop or gets one-shotted by a Perdition's Blade.

Tinkmaster Overspark

This guy actually intrigues me a little. At first glance he doesn't seem to be better than Jaina Proudmoore or the one-more-costed Magni, but I could see a deck using this guy. I'm not going to say that he's great or even that he'll see play, but I will definitely build an equipment based deck looking to use this guy in the endgame to get all dressed up.

Archdruid Hamuul Runetotem

He's big. That's about it. Horde decks don't usually break out the big drops and this is part of the reason why. I don't see any reason to expect this guy to get off the bench.

Lost!

This is a slightly modified version of Tooga's Quest with a slightly different tension. In the case of Tooga's, the tension is generally Is the loss in tempo from removing Tooga worth denying my opponent 2 cards? With Lost, that tension becomes At what point do I remove the goblin? Since you can't let it sit there and draw them an extra card every turn, you will eventually have to take it out. I think most of the time it will be an immediate thing, but it will be interesting to see how the tempo of aggro decks balances being basically forced to kill a 0/1. It could also be good as a way to suck out a removal ability in control on control matchups.

Tomorrow's Preview is supposed to be To Serve Kum'isha which we've actually already seen, but hopefully the FAQ will also be released tomorrrow so we should get to see some new cards from it as well.

FoO Previews

Well there have been more cards previews since my last update, and some of them are very good. Let's take a look at what we've got.

Shadowfiend
Cost: 2
ATK/Health: 3/1
Priest Only

Ferocity. When Shadowfiend deals combat damage to a hero. Ready one of your resources. At the end of your turn, put Shadowfiend into its owner's hand.

This card is really good. It gives Priests what amount to a recurring three damage for 1 resource. Early on, it can act like a Vesh'ral a turn early. For aggro Priests, it gives them a solid answer to a turn 2 Steelhorn on the draw which usually puts a pretty big crimp in the plans of aggro decks. I suggest getting 4 of these as soon as possible because this card is really good.

Filthy Tricks
Cost: 6
Rogue Ability

Ongoing: Cards in your graveyard are Combo cards.

Based on the fact that we've already seen what Envenom does thanks to some nifty work with Photoshop, I'm going to go out on a limb and say this card isn't very good. Even if somehow making all your cards into Combo cards would give the Rogues a chance, this thing would still just get Purged, Dispelled etc. There's a more and more ability hate running around and paying six for a card you will be lucky to use isn't the safest path to victory.

Earth Shock
Cost: 4
Instant Ability-Shaman

Your hero deals 4 nature damage to target hero or ally. If you targeted a hero, you may interrupt an ability played by its controller.

In a shocking turn of events, the Shaman class gets the best interrupt so far in the game. This is really the only one at this point that I would consider running in my main deck because it's the only one that's a solid card on its own. 4 damage at instant speed for 4 isn't too shabby. Throw in the ability to interrupt an ability as gravy instead of the focus of the card and you've got my kind of interrupt. Having said that, it might still be a little slow for Phadalus, but I could see it in the board to stop blowout cards like Consecration and Chain Lightning. It seems like there might be room for two or so in a Grennan deck. It does take out opposing, Moko's, Kal'ai's, Caydiems, Jaina Proudmoores, etc, and it can also be a solid answer to problem abilities in Game 1 before Purges come in. Basically, I think this interrupt is playable not because it's an interrupt, but because it's a solid card in its own right, that may occasionally get to interrupt something.

Angrida
Warlock Pet
Cost: 3
ATK/Health: 3/3

Exhaust --> Angrida deals 2 Shadow damage to target ally.

This is a new little pet that will probably find a place in aggro Warlocks. It's tough to say right off hand whether it's better than Sarmoth or not. My initial reaction is no, even is aggressive Warlock decks. She does have good stats for a three-drop though at 3/3 and an ability tacked onto that makes her at least worth a look. If you can ever manage to bring the ability online, she will most likely wreck the board against an aggro deck or any deck with small allies for that matter. In the end though, I think Sarmoth will probably still be the default early pet for Warlocks although I could see a mix of say 4 Sarmoths and 2 Angridas to fight off the early beats.

Small update

Just wanted to get a small update in today.

First, a big thank you to Sheila Weissman and the judging staff from Event Horizons. Event Horizons is the Premiere TO for South Texas and Louisiana. As most of you probably know, there is no central location to go to for Regionals results so to compile all the decks for metagame madness I need help from people who have actually attended the events. Sheila and her staff have been gracious enough to take the time to email me the top 8's from all of their Regionals, so I wanted to say thank you to them.

Second, on Sneak Preview day for Dark Portal, several people set up a spreadsheet where everyone added their card pool to the list so we could get a full spoiler before UDE or any of the other sites could get one up. I've gone ahead and started the spreadsheet for Fires of Outland. There's a link in the sidebar here. If any of you are lucky enough to get to crack some packs email me at blyonsmagic@yahoo.com and let me know what cards you opened up. Otherwise, when you get back from your Sneak Previews next weekend, send me your card pool and I'll get it entered into the spreadsheet. Hopefully, we can have it finished by the end of the night Saturday.

FoO previews keep chugging along

Counting the new previews on UDE's site with a couple more leaks from some other sites, we've got 5 new cards to look at today. Well, maybe 4 1/2. First, let's take a look at the official previews from UDE.

Megamorph
Mage Ability
Cost: 8

Target any number of allies in one party.

Ongoing: Those allies can't attack or protect, lose all powers, and are Sheep.

Now, I'm sure everyone knows I've ripped apart some cards that I didn't think were very good in the past. And I'm sure there are a lot of people expecting me to hold nothing back when talking about how bad this card is. But bashing on this cards kinda feels to me like making fun of someone who is mentally challenged. It's just wrong. We can all see this card is bad. I'll just leave it at that and move on.

Avenger's Shield
Paladin Ability
Cost: 4

Protection Hero Required.
Exhaust up to three target heroes and/or allies, and each of them can't ready during its controllers next ready step. Your hero deals one damage to each of those characters.

This card is certainly better than Megamorph and it was really close to being incredibly powerful. If this card were an instant it would be absolutely nuts. As is, it's a Talent Spec'd ability that is probably slightly worse than Frost Nova. It's versatile enough to be used in either a rush or control deck. In a rush deck, it can shut off protectors for two turns, remove small allies, and tie up larger ones long enough for you to finish the game off. In a control deck, it can still kill those small allies, but now it can also stop three allies from attacking for a turn which can move you into the mid-game more reliably. If it were an instant it would be great for Paladin control decks. I can definitely see this card finding a home in Nimaasus rush, but my initial thought is that it doesn't quite do enough to make a control deck. It definitely deserves consideration though.

Immolate
Warlock Ability
Cost: 2

Attach to target hero or ally, and your hero deals 1 damage to it.
Ongoing: At the start of your turn, your hero deals 1 fire damage to attached character.

I'm not going to talk a whole lot about this card. I will say that it is almost Corruption. Corruption is an instant, but doesn't deal damage as soon as it attaches, but does force a discard when you use it on an ally. This card is also Moonfire without the spam ability. It's not great, but I'm sure someone is already working on their uber-Curse deck.

Misdirection
Hunter Ability
Cost: 4

Ongoing: At the start of each opponent's turn, choose an ally in your party. Opposing allies can attack only that ally this turn if able.

While there are a lot of really fun potential targets for this (Saurfang anyone?) and the whole Katsin Bloodoath soft lock, I just don't quite think an ability to give you Sarmoths is that good. Unlike some other bad cards, this card does have some nifty combo potential. In the end, though, I think Survival Hunters will probably look to better abilities to stay alive.

Slow
Mage Ability
Cost: 3

Arcane Hero Required
Attach to target hero.
Ongoing: Attached hero's controller can't play more than one card per turn.

Holy crap, this card is good. First thing to notice is that this card attaches to the hero so it isn't Purge-able. This card could singlehandedly put a major crimp on the plans of those nasty Draenei rush decks. When you only have to face off with a single Jeleane into the mid-game things aren't so bad. Even the Horde decks that like to "curve out" won't like seeing this card played against them. There are also very few answers being played to this right now. I think this card so far has the potential to have the biggest effect on the metagame. I absolutely love this card. Between this and Dragon's Breath, Mages may finally be movin' on up.