I have always said this but this week for me has been the most clear, first I earned 700 gold playing this weekend and then Monday- Wednesday I been playing only warrior as often as I could and I am back almost were I started...I just to disprove that I do not suck with warrior I went and did a constructed deck and went from rank 20 to 12(yes I only play arena) yesterday, which is of course not hard I just wanted to test Axe Flinger more. And of course that deck do utilize the massive warsong commander + grim patron combo and other warrior stuff. Its just so clear that warrior needs to really have a deck, a combo stuff around their cards and they need weapon for removal. So its 2 things you need to get to make it work. Almost all of their class cards are really weak without other class cards(or a few neutral cards) supporting them.
I actually really like Axe Flinger for constructed. It does huge damage in my deck and while it do deals damage. In arena it just gives so little board when it comes out so its like a weird minor minion + some damage. And some damage for arena is often useless, maybe I should write this more under the card but I think its an overall bad thing for Hearthstone cards in arena to add some damage, or some extra w.e that does not give you board. Board/tempo and sometimes card advantage is what matters, 2 for 1 cards etc. So for example Cobra Shot, sucks as well, Quick Shoot is >>> way better then Cobra shot, essentially in Arena they do the exact same thing but Cobra cost 3 more mana.
In general I do not recommend any similar card.
I quite like this card, its a 5.2 for 3 or a 2.5 and a 5.2 for 3 is vastly better then Magma Rager.
Magma Rager is often seen as one of the worst cards in the game if not the worst with its 5.1 body for 3. So it can be removed so easily by class abilities and every aoe etc. But a 5.2 body is actually much. much harder to remove. That extra life so you aren't at 1 makes a huge difference. I have played with this card and getting it out turn 3 is great as an answer towards a turn 4 yeti drop. And thats kinda what Magma Rager can do but if you put it out like that to threaten a bigger more expensive card it will just get shot down by mages etc, here instead it works.
5.2 for 3 is really good as it 5 life turn 4 and 5 drops are so common.
And that is just one side of it, it can also be a 2.5 which is far more common that people place it in, which is a huge mistake if the board is empty. But when the board is not empty and the opponent has a like a 2.1 and a 3.2 out dropping this as a 2.5 will take up 2 cards most of the game either those 2 on the board or 1 of them + a cheap removal.
So this card is actually quite good, either it takes 2 cheap cards out going 2 for 1 or it takes out 1 bigger more expensive minion.
Magma Rager is often seen as one of the worst cards in the game if not the worst with its 5.1 body for 3. So it can be removed so easily by class abilities and every aoe etc. But a 5.2 body is actually much. much harder to remove. That extra life so you aren't at 1 makes a huge difference. I have played with this card and getting it out turn 3 is great as an answer towards a turn 4 yeti drop. And thats kinda what Magma Rager can do but if you put it out like that to threaten a bigger more expensive card it will just get shot down by mages etc, here instead it works.
5.2 for 3 is really good as it 5 life turn 4 and 5 drops are so common.
And that is just one side of it, it can also be a 2.5 which is far more common that people place it in, which is a huge mistake if the board is empty. But when the board is not empty and the opponent has a like a 2.1 and a 3.2 out dropping this as a 2.5 will take up 2 cards most of the game either those 2 on the board or 1 of them + a cheap removal.
So this card is actually quite good, either it takes 2 cheap cards out going 2 for 1 or it takes out 1 bigger more expensive minion.
While it been some other bad cards and this week has a lot of bad cards. This is actually probably the worst. Further down in this article I will cover on why Blackwing Technician and Majordomo sucks a lot more in general but this card is worse for arena actually.
Basically this card requires 10+ overload in your deck to be good, thats about it. Or else it effect wont be nearly useful for game. I managed to get that type of deck once so far in arena, I had 13 overload cards it had crazy amount of lighting spells (3 forked, 4 lighting bolts etc).
Bottom-line is that you cannot ever pick this card in arena unless almost your whole deck is drafted already
And actually its really not that fun of a card in constructed either as its so limited, I used to play Elemental shaman like a year ago or so, so I redid that deck with this card and its really good, its amazing but its pretty much only for that deck and nothing else.
Overload has always been better with the more you have in the same deck the better it gets as then even if you are locked you can still do a lot as you got more overload doing a lot with low mana, so you can keep playing with locked for several turns in row with no issue. This card is amazing in that deck and horrible in pretty much everything else that deck is also spell damage based further making this card better as its a gains extra damage from cards like Azure Drake, Bloodmage Thalnos etc.
Overload has always been better with the more you have in the same deck the better it gets as then even if you are locked you can still do a lot as you got more overload doing a lot with low mana, so you can keep playing with locked for several turns in row with no issue. This card is amazing in that deck and horrible in pretty much everything else that deck is also spell damage based further making this card better as its a gains extra damage from cards like Azure Drake, Bloodmage Thalnos etc.
Overall I do like to see more elemental shaman so I like the card but its actually don't open up so many gameplay as Blizzard claimed at first as its really limited to just 1 type of deck with some variation on that deck. And its then useless in arena.
As I mentioned the card is just a 2.5 + 4.3 damage. I think that is an accurate value of the axe flinger.
Because you rarely just throw 1 Axe, so that results in a 2 axes which is 4 and then you might throw a third one in arena. Its like a normal distribution that focus on the 4 but is skewed a bit to the right towards 5 first I had its value at 5 damage (4+6 )/ 2 but I think thats in accurate its a little lower then 5 but not as low as 4. With my data is roughly 4.3.
One way I look at this card is that is like a weaker fire ball but you get a minion as well. So its not horrible is just that in arena you want meat, you want meat that covers the area. In that sense a yeti that has only 2 extra attack power but no ability is still usually better in arena as it will lead ot board control in the end that leads to more damage done and also less damage to you. 2.5 is just hard to trade and kill stuff, coining him out turn 3 is a good play if its empty board or its a 3.2 out. If you can kill 2 smaller minions and fling 2 axes obviously that is great but it don't happen enough. And a Yeti would also kill those 2 smaller minions suer no extra 4 damage then but the Yeti can also instead kill 1 small 1 medium or maybe 1 big etc. I rather take that then the lower damage.
Its very clear that you really want to get 10 damage, so 5 damage but spread as 1 damage at a time. I love this card in constructed. its great with bouncing blade where it deals 10 damage on an empty board good finisher. Just in general good with the warrior cards like whirlwind cruel taskmaster, Death's Bite etc. If you get all those cards this cards value increases dramatically.
However, I do think people are gonna over value this card. So I picked it it every time I could for my runs. It really is not getting in enough value unless you draw the perfect hand in arena, it is just not enough support cards for it. In constructed the whole deck supports the enrage/damage taken mechanic so the chance of getting those cards is almost 100% if not 100%. But in arena you don't have the number of cards and you don't have the card draw. When I play this in my constructed deck one of the cards that is huge in that deck is really Battle Rage, Battle Rage is great with this card its great with the overall otehr cards that are good with this card like Death's bite and so on. It looks very simple get x cards of warrior combo and lets go. But the X is really high, other card that just builds this deck up is acolyte of pain more card draw more combo with this and otehr self damage etc. If you have all of that this card is very strong. But its impossible to get in arena.
Once this week I even manged to draft Grim Patron, Warsong Commander 2 of this, 3 Death's bite and some other good stuff, like 1 Cruel Taskmaster. Even then it was hard getting the combos off. That deck was decent, it was still hard to get all the value of the different cards. I still had to few of the synergy effects for most games to get something off on a regular basis.
Comparing it to Grim Patron, Grim Patron is a lot better, yes different rarity. But the effect is pretty much the same difficulty to happen, but if it does Grim gives you board, sometimes massive board presence. While this is just some more damage. So this is a card that is really hard to get the full value of and even if you manage it does not actually help the board control at all just pure damage, that is actually pretty bad. Especially as its much harder to finish someone off in Arena compared to constructed. You might ave run out of direct damage potential + turn 10. So its all about getting the board, so even if this card has done 10 damage and you need to draw like 1 big weapon to get the win your deck don have Gorehowl it don't have Grommash etc, thats general issue for arena and why going for face vs controlling the board is often a huge mistake.
This is such a value card and by far the best card this week for arena.
Its a 3.5 for 3 is what many veiw it as. And while I agree that sa 2.4 + 1.1 is not the same as a 3.5 while its 8 stats value on both sides of the equiance that is not the avarage stats I am getting froM Imp Gang Boss. Each of my warlock runs has gone great this week with only one run that ended as 6 with the rest at 8 or better in 10 runs. And I been picking Imp Gang Boss each time I had a chance and its always a great card.
Becasue first of all the value is 2.4 +1.1 at a minimum and for most games he will get out 2 imps so his value is at 2.4 +1.1 +1.1 a freaking 10 value for 3 mana. Thats just a ridicules amount of value for so little mana. Like a Yet is 9 in value for 4 mana so its value is at like 4,5 mana and its a Demon card so it can also synergi with all the different lock cards. And it being a demon its just an extra added bonus coining this out at turn 2 is always a massive tempo it does not at all requires the demon cards to be good, but if you have them its clearly even better.
Its 4 life make it kill 1-2 drops and survive, you can forcefully attack in to weaker stuff to get effects, buff it with different demon spells or other cards like defender of Argus, etc all of that gives it a huge boost and its a lot easier to buff then for example Grim Patron which I guess is the most similar card as it cost 2 mana less and the 1 more HP makes it harder to kill so it can surive more expecilyt then with extra life boost.
I also want to note that a lot of people look at it like Grim Patron but the cards effect are similar but not the same, Grim has to survive, this card can just take damage so that comes back to that it really always gives 2.4 + 1.1 at the worst. Only way it don't if is someone silence it or poly etc. Which is completely fine, to take a premium removal like Poly with a 3 drop is always good. And silence is often then the owl, which means u can just kill it and still have a 2.2. Left so thats also tempo advantage.
Overall a very strong card, its uncommon so expect to see it a lot in arena.
soooo I thought we where in the Molten Core?
Some of the cards for no reason, at least lore wise are in the wrong wings clearly. And this card even has the name Blackwing in it but is not in the Blackwing part of the dungeon.
But the worst part is really how utter crap this card is. Clearly it need the Dragon to be in the deck to be good and it really is no Dragon released yet. So its pretty shit even in constructed. The bulk of the dragons are released in the last wing and not only is it a lot of dragons for the last wing but they are also the neutral common ones so they are the cards you will likely get in arena, making this card having a chance of good.
So yeah, a hard card to actually review right now for the total arena value of it. However, I will say right away then that is utter useless right now so don't pick it. The only dragon that is can be picked are Fairy Dragon and Azure Drake. Rest are legendaries or bad picks like Twilight Drake. Right now horrible but even with more dragon is not a good card, I will say.
Because the effect is not that strong, sure its a big card at turn 3. Coining it at turn 2 is a gonna be a huge play in constructed and will also be massive even more massive if you can get it of in arena but obviously super unreliable.
And the thing is, its unreliable and gives you just a big minion. For example The coming card Blackwing Corrupter(which is in the Blackwing instance...) has a much more board tempo effect that really can swing a game in your favour so while it also has the same unreliable issue of needing a dragon. IF you have a dragon the impact is likely a lot bigger.
Looking at the Dragon synergy cards, they are all risk, so they better have a high reward for that risk. This card don't really offer a high reward, as a turn 2 play then its really good but otherwise is a medium(turn 3 play) or I would even call it a low reward if played later then turn 3. And that really is not what you want for arena, its total value is just not that good even when its effect happens.
Majordomo, horrible arena card but I actually think it sucks in constructed as well.
I have tried to put him into several different of my decks and I just cannot find any way where it actually does anything useful. My new elemental shaman deck that is based around Lava Shock seems to use this card the best for the face damage finish of with Ragnaros late game. But really its a bad card, it comes out late at super high cost 9 mana does nothing when it comes out. Has to freaking die to get the real effect and not die by e.g Hex or Poly but die. And even when it happens Ragnaros is a random effect..so unreliable and you get 8 life so you will end up dieing from like all combo decks making it be horrible in constructed and usually a suicidal move in arena as well.
This card is just bad in all ways. But especially then for arena as the games are often already over at turn 9. And it then has no impact when tis played and its really when ti dies you get that effect and then you likely lack the aoe to clear for a aimed Rag attack or the aoe to just not die with your 8 life. Or taunts etc. Its really, really bad in arena.
Otherwise I don't actually hate the card because I see it as a fun card, its a friendly match up card. I use it when I play around with deck concepts that I know wont work competitively but I just want to surprise my friends etc. For me I view it as a 100% non-serious card that is a just another weird card you play out to get some laughs.
I really don't think it will ever see any real play in ladder and people should not pick it in arena unless if the otehr cards are even worse which is pretty much only the RG gnomes etc. Because this is by far the worst Legendary of the high cost ones, by far.
Game design wise I do found it very interesting (and I guess lacking is what I found interesting as these week did nothing for the meta) last week we saw the release of absoutly in my opinion the best legendary by far for the overall game of this expansion, Emperor Thaurissan and this week instead we just get a super joke card. Overall these cards this week haven't really had any impact for the arena play as they are for the most part just crap, lava shock useless. Neutral horrible cards, Axe Flinger don't do so much but I suppose it can see more play then e.g Lava Shock which I have never seen anyone pick so far.
With Imp Gang boss being the exception its really solid and people do pick it a lot so it that has definitely seen a lot of play, I personally do think Druid of the flame is good as well(not on Imp level but still ok) but I have barely seen anyone ever play it and they almost always play as 2.5 and not 5.2 which I think is a huge mistake as its the 5.2 that actually gives a lot better board. I do not think that people really see the potential of that card, so its really only Imp Gang Boss of these cards that is being played in arena.
