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.