Hearthstone: Rise of Shadows Card Review #3

[@purplereign2410]

I feel like you overlooked the flexibility in Ray of frost, it isn't just about freezing one minion and damaging it. It can also freeze a huge minion for 2 turns, or freeze 2 different minions for 1 turn. Edit: it also can obviously do what you mentioned in the video and act like a bad frostbolt on 1 minion, just thought that was its weakest use

[@SeventhSolar]

I have to agree with Penniless, the weakness of the card overwhelms its flexibility. Used on two different targets, it's an incredibly bad Frost Nova. Frost Nova is very niche, and even when it is played, it's only because it can hit the kind of full board which builds up against really slow decks. Also only in combo with Doomsayer. When Frostbolt doesn't see play, Frostbolt with 1 less damage is just as useless. And the two-turn freeze assumes your opponent has a single threatening minion. As combo decks have been deleted, the only assumption is that you can't deal with this minion now, but can in two turns. Arcane Intellect would be better in that case, but the situation is really niche anyway. In conclusion, all three forms are terrible. I don't think Ray of Frost is useless, but it has to be for a spell spamming combo.

[@Tike22]

I also think he's vastly underrating Vendetta, its not really deck-defining where you build your deck around it, rather it's more like corspetaker where you have it as a package in deck with an already established core and the pay off is insane.

[@matthewmazzatto8003]

It also has great synergy with Sorcerer's Apprentice as well, so there's a very realistic chance Ray of Frost fits into a Tempo Mage deck.

[@jouniosmala9921]

Ray of Frost, spell synergy card, you can either use it finish particular blizzarded minion or with spell synergy use as weak frostbolt that triggers synergies twice. Or freezing game winning minion for two turns. Or just cyclone it twice.

[@Mooseplatoon]

@@SeventhSolar I don't think anyone is arguing that the card is powerful enough to play on its own, but I don't think that matters. The point is that it surpasses the level of flexibility and synergy necessary to be included in a spell synergy deck. I believe that the way you're thinking about the card is very counterproductive. Comparing it to Frost Nova in particular seems purposeless to me. Frost Nova is a stall card that allows you to ignore board for a turn. Ray of Frost is a filler card used to facilitate synergies and round out your curve. You would never use Ray of Frost on its own unless you're absolutely desperate, so there's little point in analyzing its effects in a vacuum. I think your reference to Frost Bolt neatly demonstrates the folly of this approach. You simply cite the fact that it doesn't currently see play without putting any thought into why, or how that might change post-rotation. Frost Bolt doesn't see play right now because Odd Mage exists, not because it's weak. Once Baku rotates out it's likely to return as a staple of Tempo Mage, as it has been for most of the game's history. Lastly, the Arcane Intellect case. This comparison is lackluster because: -Arcane Intellect gives their big guy a turn to punch you in the face or kill your minions. -You can often play Ray of Frost and an appropriately costed minion on the same turn, while Arcane Intellect is a colossal tempo loss (particularly during early turns, when that matters most). -This example assumes you don't have the answer in hand, when sometimes you either lack the mana to cast it or can't fit it into the curve.

[@Authoity4576]

Call to Adventure could be really strong with immortal prelate, along with the new lifesteal twinspell card for paladin. Not saying that you mis-rated the card by a mile or anything, but it seems like something a lot of people are overlooking.

[@antarath517]

If a deck that runs immortal prelate becomes good (which I don't think it will anyways), people will just run silences

[@unkarsthug4429]

@@antarath517 if they do, there are ways to copy more(Such as Undataka, or the pally secret that summons a killed minion), and no deck is running more than 2 silences.

[@Bruh-el9js]

May I point out just how ridiculous Vargoth is in big priest without Barnes ? He simply makes every single ressurect card better by a mile and even if you summon him with shadow essence, there's no problem because he will cast it again and probably summon a better minion, giving you double stats

[@Ejpon]

Shhh, don't tell them that... Big Priest players are not smart enough to figure this by themselves

[@Bruh-el9js]

@@Ejpon oh shit, let me erase that real quick

[@frost7934]

@@Bruh-el9js Well, you were right about Vargoth...

[@Bruh-el9js]

@@frost7934 yeah and I hate it

[@dubspool]

Oh boy time for wild dragon paladin. The dragon synergies are gonna be fun

[@machupichu18]

I think the important thing to note about Dragon Speaker's handbuff is that Dragons as a tribe in Hearthstone want to be kept in your hand in order to trigger their synergistic effects. Using that logic doesn't Dragon Speaker's handbuff suddenly seem a lot better? If you're keeping your dragons in hand to trigger synergies, then you can buff them all while you do that.

[@yoavsigler4457]

There's another thing about Call to Adventure. The only card with a similar effect is Witchwood Piper, but it's not a minion. When you try to tutor for a card with Witchwood Piper, it has to cost less than 4 mana, so you don't draw the other Piper. You can have 2 copies of this card in your deck and have the lowest cost minion cost as much as you like. Archmage Vargoth can be used with Time Warp.

[@near3d945]

I think Dreamway Guardian is good enough for standard as long as token druid is good enough it almost like a t2 firefly with lifelink. it a 2 mana 2/4

[@byronvonedmund]

What lifelink? We are playing hearthstone, not magic the gathering!

[@blandersummer]

I remember when I first jumped into hearthstone handbuffing was one of the first decks I made in mean streets and I though it was amazing having 13/13 4 mana till I realized wait I have 4 health when I play it

[@bencemoskovits1928]

HANDBUFFING DOESN’T WORK mech handbuff paladin: Am I a joke to you?

[@BowserwithaShotgun]

On one hand I get where you are coming from with the handbuff problem, but on the other hand I think you may have a bit too strong of a bias towards it. While I do admit the specifications for Dragon Speaker are very strict it's way less clunky then Don Han'Cho was in the RNG of getting the +5/+5 on a minion that could use it. Honestly I run a very fun Handbuff Paladin in the wild that abuses duplicating minions like Echoing Ooze and Dopplegangster which copies the buffs (rip Saronite Chain Gang), getting Val'anyr on said duplicating minions to give multiple deathrattles of that weapon, Immortal Prelate just to keep add onto the infinte problems cause it goes back into the deck with ALL the handbuffs it got, and just for shits and giggles a Surprise C'thun. Add in some card drawing minion/spells as well as some control cards you got yourself some high tier shenenagains. Is it a perfect deck? No, but it is fun. Honestly I kinda lost track of the main point of this comment but my point is you really need to calm down with the handbuff hatred.

[@hunterchewning6725]

Man I wanna try that deck now lol. Sounds fun.

[@BowserwithaShotgun]

@@hunterchewning6725 It is fun, it's doesn't sponsor the best win rate, but once it starts snowballing it goes out of control.

[@hunterchewning6725]

Makes sense.

[@Uwhm]

I think handbuffing can work but it was just way too weak at first +3/+3 on multiple minions in your hand is a big enough buff to where i think it could work

[@whitaker_]

People are seriously overlooking the mechs from Boomsday. Call to Adventure sounds pretty good for mech paladin, since you can pull out your skaterbots, turning them into a +3/+3 Rush buff for 1 mana, and it keeps the enchantment for Kangor's Endless Army, while also drawing you a card. Since Divine Favor is rotating out the deck will need card draw. Magnetic mechs were already pretty great tempo cards but the decks were pushed out by all the odd aggro decks that will be leaving standard.

[@unkarsthug4429]

To your opinion on handbuffing, and past mechanics, I disagree. Something not working in the past is reason to try and improve it, not give up on it. I like that blizz is trying to make it better, which is a good thing. Don't discourage them from trying.

[@ChakraX2]

Soul infusion kinda worked mostly with doubling imp and chain gang. I think Dragon speaker can see play if Dragon Paladin works. High mana dragons that sit in your hand for a long time could make it work instead of tiny aggro minions

[@combat1710]

Duel is anti-combo so its gonna see play if there are a bunch of combo decks running around and if paladin is good xD

[@ladyxp1]

That's what I thought too...I think Dual is a card the community has been asking for; so even if doesn't see a lot of play people will experiment with it.

[@nerdbrain396]

to be fair hand buff paladin (in wild where I play) is the only class to ever actually have a working hand buff deck

[@sascher7461]

The best spell for Archmage Vargoth is Deck of Wonders...

[@literatemax]

You didn't mention that we all get Vargoth a little early.

[@thomas9208]

The dumbest thing I think I can do with Archmage Vargoth is Mass Resurection. If he is one of the resurrected minions then he will cast the spell again for 6 resurrections on a single turn.

[@HeresorLegacy]

Wait. Weren't Dragon decks ALWAYS Tempo Value Dragon decks? Or at least Board Value Dragon?

[@TzarNicco]

...I think dragonspeaker is gonna work

[@dandimit5104]

Great analysis. Thanks for your hard work :-)

[@Hongsta]

Small growing channel love your work

[@nerdbrain396]

Also crystal power is just definitively better for wild malygos druid than living roots because the heal would be better for a combo deck in a tough spot that two 1/1s

[@colinhobbs7265]

crystal power only hits minions

[@nerdbrain396]

god ray of frost would be good if it werent just to a minion (ice lance flashbacks)

[@BlueZombieBlood]

Penniless quick takes. Love it.

[@thecakecraft7724]

Can all card reviews from now on be at this speed? I always found the others to be kinda slow with you reading out each cards text and stuff. Plus this one was a certain breed of hilarious.

[@nesdenon4612]

hand buffing does work.... it does *sad noises of denial*

[@animeentranced1130]

Think you're sleeping on hench clan hag, also not sure if you forgot rogue already has a 1 drop burgle card for underbelly fence it was added to the classic set. It doesn't have a body but it will activate the 2 drop. Although I'm not sure if you specifically meant a 1 drop body would make it broken.

[@shenronsgoldfish]

anyone else wanna vargoth into rain of toads in shaman?

[@splatmaster1903]

Vargoth+omega assembly=hand full of synergizing minions

[@applepie3639]

Too fast :( sound gets messed up at 0.75x time

[@maxtiemann9903]

Best part of Archmage Vargoth is that Penniless can afford him- we all get him early on April 5th.

[@ArmorFrogEntertainment]

The dream is Dimensional Ripper into Archmage Vargoth. That's some N'zoth level BS.

[@autumngrace7742]

I get the feel that heal druid will fail... it has too little synergy except for the new 1 cost spell and the 3 mana heal 8 spell in classic is kinda lacking in the first place

[@ペア-c5b]

Tokenlock’s support is pretty scary tbh

[@firestone6105]

0:03 is impossible there's only 135 cards in the set 37! is more than 13 trillion trillion

[@jorgenand8]

As a long time rogue player i must say that im pretty disappointed with the recent expantions. To me it seems like blizzard is only trying to push the "Get a card from your oponent's class" mechanic only for it to be overshadowed by aggro decks. I hope that the rotation of baku and genn will make room for more interresting decks in the future instead of some other aggro deck taking over.

[@dubspool]

Honestly I loved tesspionage due to the massive clown fiesta that is Tess. I’m glad that we’re getting more burgle effect cards

[@luanpaixao4684]

Imagine rating cards before seeing the full set oh nonononono

[@EnerKaizer]

Handbuffing fails simply because it's way too slow. Every card with a handbuff-skill might as well say "Play this card and wait atleast 2+ turn until you actually get some use of it" which is why it doesn't even matter how big the stat-gain actually is. Hearthstone tends to have a big variety of hard target removal that can completly shutdown any big threat that can get thrown at you. This is one problem that I have with hex-/silence-style removal cards, they do way more then they should while beeing very low costed and counter any incentive to play bigger minions and handbuffing becomes pointless because of this as well. Not only do you have to wait for atleast 2 turns but it can also easily be countered without effort from your opponent as well thus leaving you with nothing but low-powered minions and wasted turns. The handbuff mechanic can only work with one of two options: 1: All handbuffed minions have charge. Not doable because that would break the game. 2: Every handbuffed minion becomes bullet-proof to silence/hex/ polymorph. Also not doable because that would create a arms-race/power creep that cannot be controlled down the line, even in a standard rotation-period. Long story short: handbuff is a nice idea that sadly doesn't work inside of hearthstones system.

[@brekiingibjargarson5626]

37 factorial?

[@frankyg821]

If you don't want to review the cards you don't have to Penniless!

[@wrathsosdovah1828]

11:14 Spell hunter, just Spell hunter

[@DarkNemesisHearthstoneNoob]

Second and Content. Keep up the good work! @Penniless!

[@mountingfailure2309]

Flamestrike is 7 mana and the minion is 4

[@voutetigre4]

I prefer a more detail review where you take your time, even for an hour. this is not for me

[@Dnd-Versatility]

Pore hance clan hag. I still believe in you. Murloc totem wild here I come

[@thedragonknight3600]

Can I just make an observation? Any card that is perfect fair or reasonably balanced always ends up as “probably not” because it isn’t exploitable. That kinda makes me sad. Just proves what I’ve always thought about the fact that the game is heavily skewed towards people who pay.

[@leobastian_]

Probably Not is Just a fact,when you have 30 good Cards you wont Play a balanced Card.

[@xelic1996]

Dreamway guardians is insane you dont understand lol

[@peshomighty5051]

Duel is a good card

[@c0l0rslayer31]

And the last one is free

[@davideden3720]

I prefer slower in depht reviews.

[@MrNoobomnenie]

7:05 Now everything is clear. You're basicaly a YandereDev 2.0. Everyone, please, stop following this person now, before he will disappoint you so much, that you will start hating your own life.

[@breeze0203]

card 👏 rewiew 👏

[@splatmaster1903]

Big oof

[@calvinball1]

Also first

[@ldSt3345]

10 mana SUPERHEAVY paladin dragon that does HEAL when the paladin has ENOUGH heal? Lol, that is unplayable (aggro deck = dead before turn 10, control deck = still doesn't give us the needed advantage) and completely, COMPLETELY USELESS. Remember my words.

[@Rishino.]

First

[@santachrist750]

how?

[@chronosindo1485]

damnit

[@Rishino.]

@@santachrist750 chrome youtube notifications :o

[@weabopjones6779]

early gang

[@KamenRiderGreed]

Why do you keep blinking into existence during the video? It's kind of disorienting.

[@hbattmancinsane1224]

Bad and late reviews, as always :)