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