hearthstone Kobolds & Catacombs Set Review: Shaman

[Aleco 252]

Shaman needed some help from K&C to diversify it's deck options on the ladder. It ended up getting a number of underwhelming Totem and Overload cards instead.

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Other Set Reviews

• Rogue 
• Priest
• Paladin
• Mage
• Hunter
• Druid

My Rating System

 

Each card is rated on a scale of 1 to 5 on two criteria: Power and Versatility.

The Power rating reflects how much I expect a card to impact the game when played. Cards which immediately represent multiple cards worth of value (Ultimate Infestation) or have a powerful effect on the board for their mana cost (Sunkeeper Tarim) will receive high Power ratings, while cards which have a low impact on the game (Ice Breaker) or cost too much for their effect (Furnacefire Colossus) will receive Power low ratings.

The Versatility rating is intended to communicate how dependent a card is on other cards for its success. Cards can be very powerful without being versatile at all (Clutchmother Zavas), which means that many exciting and powerful cards will end up seeing very little play once the metagame is established. A high Versatility rating means a card relies very little on other cards to be good, and the more comfortable I would feel crafting that card on day one. A lower Versatility rating doesn't necessarily reflect that I expect the card to be bad, but that I wouldn't feel comfortable crafting it until it has proven itself to be a part of a competitive deck.

Kobold Hermit

Fits into: Token Shaman, Totem Shaman

Power	Versatility
3	3

This card will make a nice compliment to Primalfin Totem in Token-based strategies that look to go wide and pump up their board with cards like Bloodlust, Evolve, and Flametongue Totem. Kobold Hermit's ability to discover the perfect totem for a variety of situations leads me to believe that it's much more powerful than it appears on first glance. A Wrath of Air Totem for Maelstrom Portal will give Shaman the ability to meaningfully interact with a wide number of threatening boards, while a surprise Stoneclaw Totem can be very useful for protecting important minions. Kobold Hermit may not be incredibly exciting, but I still expect it to see a fair amount of play.

Crushing Hand

Fits into: Overload Shaman

Power	Versatility
1	2

Overload 3 is a massive tempo loss to put on a two drop, which positions this card as more of a late game card than an early game one. I can see this setting up a Snowfury Giant in a dedicated Overload list, but am fairly confident that the average Midrange or Control Shaman can do far better than Crushing Hand.

Healing Rain

Fits into: Control Shaman

Power	Versatility
2	1

12 Health is quite a lot of healing from a single card. If Healing Rain is ever able to set up favorable trades it will pay for itself, but I think that's asking quite a lot. The random nature of Healing Rain leads me to believe that it's too inconsistent to ever see widespread play.

Sapphire Spellstone

Fits into: Overload Shaman

Power	Versatility
2	1

Seven mana is quite a lot to ask from a card which also requires you to overload your mana crystals and have a powerful minion in play to be worth your while. That said, I can envision some crazy Snowfury Giant turns with this card. The lesser version of this card isn't strong enough to earn its keep in non-overload Shaman decks, so I wouldn't be surprised if Sapphire Spellstone ends up collecting dust.

Primal Talismans

Fits into: Totem Shaman, Token Shaman

Power	Versatility
2	1

Along with Kobold Hermit, Primal Talismans is an obvious plant for the Totem Shaman deck that Blizzard is hinting at in K&C. Unfortunately, I think that deck is gonna be awful. Primal Talismans is far worse than Spirit Echo in a Midrange Shaman deck, but could potentially provide some Bloodlust insurance for Token decks.  It probably won't, but at least it's something to think about.

Murmuring Elemental

Fits into: Elemental Shaman, Jade Shaman

Power	Versatility
2	2

Brann Bronzebeard, this card is not. The 1/1 body on Murmuring Elemental is downright dreadful, and I expect that this card will have a nasty tendency to rot away in your hand as you wait for it to become useful. I'd love to use Murmuring Elemental to double down on Kalimos, Primal Lord , but I fear that the card will be too useless in too many situations to justify its inclusion in competitive decks.

Windshear Stormcaller

Fits into: Totem Shaman

Power	Versatility
3	1

Getting an Al'Akir and a 5/5 for 5 mana is one of the most exciting things you can do in all of Hearthstone. Unfortunately, the only way you can consistently set up Windshear Stormcaller is with cards like Primal Talismans and Wicked Witchdoctor, neither of which are cards I'm looking to put in my competitive decks. Unless its somehow far easier to get all four basic totems than I'm envisioning, I don't expect Windshear Stormcaller to make any major ripples in the upcoming metagame.

Unstable Evolution

Fits into: Midrange Shaman decks

Power	Versatility
4	4

I absolutely adore the design of this card, and look forward to the many difficult and compelling decisions which this card will lead to on the ladder. Do I cast this card now, or later? Do I risk evolving this minion into something even better, or do I leave it be and evolve something else? This card is incredibly skill testing, and I expect it to be devastating in the right hands.

A deadly topdeck in the late game, Unstable Evolution can create a 9 drop from an empty board in combination with Shaman's Hero Power. It's not nearly as efficient as Evolve is in the early game (nor is it as good with Doppelgangster), but I believe that the flexibility of this card will make it a powerhouse in the mid to late game, particularly in Elemental and Jade Shaman. Many Elementals and Jade cards get the majority of their value from their Battlecry trigger and leave behind a less-than-stellar body in the process, which should open the door up for Unstable Evolution to accrue some serious value on the leftovers.

The Runespear

Fits into: Control Shaman

Power	Versatility
3	1

The biggest reason to get excited about The Runespear is the high volume of powerful Shaman spells which don't require a target to be strong, such as Volcano, Spirit Echo, and Far Sight. I don't think it will be very difficult to Discover a spell off The Runespear which is strictly beneficial, but I'm having a hard time envisioning a Shaman deck that wants to play an 8 drop which takes 3 turns to fully pay off. This card will be good in any big, slow, controlling Shaman deck, but none of those decks exist right now.

Grumble, World Shaker

Fits into: Elemental Shaman, Jade Shaman

Power	Versatility
4	2

As an enormous fan of Elemental Shaman decks, I couldn't have been happier to see another Legendary Elemental. Grumble appears to have a similar power level to Kalimos, Primal Lord, which gives me reason to be optimistic about Elemental and Jade Shaman in K&C. If Grumble can consistently recycle the battlecry triggers of Jade Spirit (an Elemental and a Jade card), Blazecaller, and Servant of Kalimos, the 7/7 body it leave behind should provide more than an enough board presence to make up for the drawback of emptying your own board. There's a fair bit of play to setting up Grumble properly, and I see the card's Battlecry as more upside than downside. Unfortunately, I also foresee a number of situations on the ladder where you simply can't afford to bounce your entire board. Grumble won't always be a slam dunk, but he's yet another skill testing Shaman card which will reward intelligent players for good play.

Thoughts on the Class

Meh.

Speaking as a guy who loves me some Shaman, I'm a bit disappointed by the number of cards that are wasted on Totem and Overload Shaman. I don't see these two archetypes going anywhere, yet they represent half of all the new Shaman cards in K&C. Despite the number of lackluster Shaman cards in new set, I'll still emerge from it as a happy man if Elemental Shaman becomes a playable deck. Save me, Grumble, Worldshaker!

[Caldyrvan 377]

I only disagree with your rating of Healing Rain. The random nature might indeed make it bad but I see potential for this card being played after multiple of you minions got damaged after value trading and I will test this. But I might be wrong :)

And it looks like shaman got again not much good stuff, same as in KFT.

Edited December 6, 2017 by Caldyrvan

[Oxygen 446]

I really like Murmuring Elemental.

Blazecaller
Fire Elemental 
Fireguard Destroyer

etc

[Aleco 252]

8 minutes ago, Oxygen said:

I really like Murmuring Elemental.

Blazecaller
Fire Elemental 
Fireguard Destroyer

etc

I really want Murmuring Elemental to be good, but I'm concerned that it doesn't do anything until turn 6 or 7. It could definitely see it being powerful in a slower meta though.

[Caldyrvan 377]

I will try to use 2 Murmuring Elemental but even if it will have the potential to be great it might be better to include only one.

Edited December 6, 2017 by Caldyrvan

[positiv2 952]

Murmuring Elemental can be strong, but when I compare it to Brann Bronzebeard, who was more often left out from shaman decks than not, it probably won't see that much play.

I remember totem shaman being a thing for about 2 or 3 weeks at one point, so I'd say it is possible that the deck will make a returns. Perhaps not as a tier 1 deck, but somewhere around tier 3, sure.

[Oxygen 446]

Also: Would playing 2 Murmuring Elementals in a row make the following card's battlecry trigger 3 times? :)

[Caldyrvan 377]

8 minutes ago, Oxygen said:

Also: Would playing 2 Murmuring Elementals in a row make the following card's battlecry trigger 3 times? :)

It should, unless the devs are not clear again with their text :D

I mean the first Murmiring makes the 2nd to cast its battlecry twice, followed up by a Fire Elemental should cast the 3 damage 3 times, but at the same target I assume that can be good or not. But should be great on Servant of Kalimos :D But you are investing 3 cards for that so it might not be good in every situation.

Edited December 6, 2017 by Caldyrvan

[Keizoku 185]

47 minutes ago, positiv2 said:

I remember totem shaman being a thing for about 2 or 3 weeks at one point, so I'd say it is possible that the deck will make a returns. Perhaps not as a tier 1 deck, but somewhere around tier 3, sure.

Totem Shaman was a thing thanks to Thunder Bluff Valiant and Totemic Might (and to a lesser extent Wicked Witchdoctor and Tuskarr Totemic) that could turn a board of 0/2 into a force to be reckoned with without relying on a Bloodlust turn. Without the Valiant, a general Token strategy will be more efficient.

[Kuster 10]

I have a hard time believing that the legendary weapon would be good in any deck, even slow control. Quick rundown:

• Sometimes you'll have to attack into a (big) taunt just to proc it
• Sometimes (most times?) you don't get what you want
• Abysmal tempo
• Just look at it, it definitely belongs in a museum
• Oozes go "nom nom"
• You still get overloaded (right?)

Lastly, you might have to rely on luck wether to attack with your minions into your opponent board first or to proc the runespear before that. Volcano and bloodlust want you doing very different things... if you get the board clear and your minions are still on the board, or if you traded them away and got a bloodlust offer, that's not good at all. And those are the "no target spells", I'm not even delving into the ones that will randomly target something. 


Other than that I agree with Caldyrvan, I think healing rain is being slightly underrated. It is going to heal your average board to full health, so a midrange deck could benefit from good trades, it wouldn't be a completely dead card against midrange/control. On top of being pretty nice against aggro decks... not so much against tempo, but not completely dead either. Spreading Madness is very inconsistent because it can ping anything, but healing rain can be used much more consistently because you can control your board size, and 12 is a lot. 

Unstable evolution is probably the best of those anyway... unless somehow totem shaman becomes a thing, which imo is fairly unlikely.

[Caldyrvan 377]

Oh there might be another thing with Healing Rain, it will be much worse if it just targets anything friendly, no matter if it is damaged or not. I fear it will be like that, but even then with 12 points you need to have a very wide board and get very unlucky :)

Edited December 6, 2017 by Caldyrvan

[Starving 2]

20 minutes ago, Caldyrvan said:

Oh there might be another thing with Healing Rain, it will be much worse if it just targets anything friendly, no matter if it is damaged or not. I fear it will be like that, but even then with 12 points you need to have a very wide board and get very unlucky :)

you can't "restore health" if you're health is intact, makes no sense.

[Caldyrvan 377]

6 minutes ago, Starving said:

you can't "restore health" if you're health is intact, makes no sense.

If the devs and their card texts would be consistent and if you could be sure they follow a logic I would agree.

And I really hope it will not target undamaged characters, but other than effects like Backstab which simply can't hit a damaged target, you can always apply heal to a character. It might not trigger something (Northshire Cleric) because no actual healing was done, nevertheless you can apply healing.

Edited December 6, 2017 by Caldyrvan

[Bozonik 94]

Control Shaman is one of my favourite archetypes. I tend to only play it in Wild these days (it holds my all-time ladder record of rank 37 legend in wild!), partly because my list ran sylv and rag, and partly because healing wave was essential. Healing rain is good enough to replace that I’d say. I also think crushing hand is better than it looks, the low initial mana cost can be a lifesaver if you overloaded the previous turn and then need to respond to an unexpected threat. It also can just kill a big thing while saving your hexes for stuff that needs to be silenced. The spellstone is interesting too, though not sure it’d find its way in. Ancestral Spirit is so much more flexible, but in a silence heavy meta maybe the spellstone could be an alternative. Struggle to see a world where I want to play the runespear tbh.

[Caldyrvan 377]

I can't imagine why ppl play wild, you will have to face Razadin until the end of all days. Not a future I would like to face.

But I agree with your predictions for the K&C cards.

Edited December 6, 2017 by Caldyrvan

[Keizoku 185]

56 minutes ago, Caldyrvan said:

I can't imagine why people play wild.

Put bluntly, a lot more of garbage players and decks. It's way easier to get to rank 5 in Wild if that's all you want from ladder in a given month.

[Breadd 13]

5 hours ago, Caldyrvan said:

It should, unless the devs are not clear again with their text :D

I mean the first Murmiring makes the 2nd to cast its battlecry twice, followed up by a Fire Elemental should cast the 3 damage 3 times, but at the same target I assume that can be good or not. But should be great on Servant of Kalimos :D But you are investing 3 cards for that so it might not be good in every situation.

actually i think it doesn't. it says: your next BC triggers twice.

So if you cast this two times it still triggers only twice because it doesn't say anything like "doubled" or "one more time".

Imagine if it says "your next BC triggers a hundred times" so if u play two of them in a row the third BC should again just trigger 100 times and not 100x100 or 200 times...

[FanOfValeera 253]

19 minutes ago, Breadd said:

actually i think it doesn't. it says: your next BC triggers twice.

So if you cast this two times it still triggers only twice because it doesn't say anything like "doubled" or "one more time".

Imagine if it says "your next BC triggers a hundred times" so if u play two of them in a row the third BC should again just trigger 100 times and not 100x100 or 200 times...

It doesn't have to say doubled.

It says battlecry happens twice for the first ME, then for the second one that you play immediately, it will have the effect of 'triggering battlecry twice' two times. So if you play two ME, than hit Fire Elemental on the board, it will deal 12 damage, because its battlecry will trigger 4 times.

Check out the combo; Brann into 2 ME into Fire Elemental (needs one proc of Emperor or Fire Plume Harbinger)

According to the wording, this will activate the battlecry 32 times, which adds up to 96 damage.

First ME will trigger the next one four times, second ME will trigger the next battlecry 16 times (2×4×2) the Fire Ele will be triggered 32 times (16*2)

@Positiv2, first day we should give this a try. How about that? We can share what happens here.

[Caldyrvan 377]

I still think it's 3 times but @FanOfValeera your explanation sounds reasonable and if it's indeed 4 times I'm totally ok with that :)

[positiv2 952]

11 hours ago, Keizoku said:

Totem Shaman was a thing thanks to Thunder Bluff Valiant and Totemic Might (and to a lesser extent Wicked Witchdoctor and Tuskarr Totemic) that could turn a board of 0/2 into a force to be reckoned with without relying on a Bloodlust turn. Without the Valiant, a general Token strategy will be more efficient.

Thunder Bluff Valiant relied on a board full of totems to be really strong, just like Windshear Stormcaller. While Thunder Bluff Valiant is better without without having the necessary totems, Windshear Stormcaller has the support of the new cards. Is it good enough to make totem shaman a strong deck? Probably not. Is it good enough to make totem shaman a decent-ish deck, somewhere around tier 3 and 4? I'd say that it is, especially considering you can play token shaman and just add Windshear Stormcaller and Primal Talismans.

It is likely just wishful thinking, hoping to see totem shaman once again, though.

[Caldyrvan 377]

It sounds 

2 hours ago, positiv2 said:

s it good enough to make totem shaman a decent-ish deck, somewhere around tier 3 and 4?

It sounds nice but the problem is the majority of the players can afford one maybe two top tier decks, they put their resources into these and barely play/have anything else, if then some kind of budget deck

Those who can afford a tier 3/4 deck (in addition to their top decks) might do that to have fun for 5 minutes then they return to their tier 1/2 decks.

[Bozonik 94]

10 hours ago, Keizoku said:

Put bluntly, a lot more of garbage players and decks. It's way easier to get to rank 5 in Wild if that's all you want from ladder in a given month.

Haven’t played wild seriously in a while as I’ve been focusing on classes I don’t have good wild decks for yet, but from my experiences when I did, I’d agree with this assessment. The standard of play in wild was substantially weaker than in standard. 

[Bozonik 94]

10 hours ago, FanOfValeera said:

It doesn't have to say doubled.

It says battlecry happens twice for the first ME, then for the second one that you play immediately, it will have the effect of 'triggering battlecry twice' two times. So if you play two ME, than hit Fire Elemental on the board, it will deal 12 damage, because its battlecry will trigger 4 times.

Check out the combo; Brann into 2 ME into Fire Elemental (needs one proc of Emperor or Fire Plume Harbinger)

According to the wording, this will activate the battlecry 32 times, which adds up to 96 damage.

First ME will trigger the next one four times, second ME will trigger the next battlecry 16 times (2×4×2) the Fire Ele will be triggered 32 times (16*2)

 

Play first ME:

Battlecry 1: next battlecry triggers twice.

Play second ME:

Battlecry 2: next battlecry triggers twice.

Because of Battlecry 1, Battlecry 2 triggers again:

Battlecry 3: next battlecry triggers twice.

Because of Battlecry 2, Battlecry 3 triggers again:

Battlecry 4: next battlecry triggers twice.

Because of Battlecry 3, Battlecry 4 triggers again:

Battlecry 5: next battlecry triggers twice.

Because of Battlecry 4, Battlecry 5 triggers again:

Battlecry 6: next battlecry triggers twice.

Because of Battlecry 5, Battlecry 6 triggers again:

Battlecry 7: next battlecry triggers twice.

Because of Battlecry 6, Battlecry 7..... you get the picture.

I presume Blizzard have anticipated this issue and so playing two ME in sequence won’t actually cause an infinite loop of battlecries. But in any case, no Battlecry ever happens more than twice. For instance, if somehow Battlecry 7 was: deal 3 damage, the effect of Battlecry 6 would make Battlecry 7 happen again and deal another 3 damage at which point the chain is broken.

Long story short, I’d be very surprised if ME->ME->Fire Elemental doesn’t deal 6 damage.

Edited December 7, 2017 by Bozonik

[Caldyrvan 377]

5 hours ago, Bozonik said:

Long story short, I’d be very surprised if ME->ME->Fire Elemental doesn’t deal 6 damage.

This would not be logical but you never know with the devs they may word it one way but it works another way :D

I still stick to 3 times (maybe 4 times but I doubt it). If it would do only 6 damage this would mean the 2nd ME is wasted and there is no way for the "normal" player to know and understand this. But it's still possible with their beloved inconsistency and being unclear as much as possible :D

Edited December 7, 2017 by Caldyrvan

[FanOfValeera 253]

7 hours ago, Bozonik said:

 

Play first ME:

Battlecry 1: next battlecry triggers twice.

Play second ME:

Battlecry 2: next battlecry triggers twice.

Because of Battlecry 1, Battlecry 2 triggers again:

Battlecry 3: next battlecry triggers twice.

Because of Battlecry 2, Battlecry 3 triggers again:

Battlecry 4: next battlecry triggers twice.

Because of Battlecry 3, Battlecry 4 triggers again:

Battlecry 5: next battlecry triggers twice.

Because of Battlecry 4, Battlecry 5 triggers again:

Battlecry 6: next battlecry triggers twice.

Because of Battlecry 5, Battlecry 6 triggers again:

Battlecry 7: next battlecry triggers twice.

Because of Battlecry 6, Battlecry 7..... you get the picture.

I presume Blizzard have anticipated this issue and so playing two ME in sequence won’t actually cause an infinite loop of battlecries. But in any case, no Battlecry ever happens more than twice. For instance, if somehow Battlecry 7 was: deal 3 damage, the effect of Battlecry 6 would make Battlecry 7 happen again and deal another 3 damage at which point the chain is broken.

Long story short, I’d be very surprised if ME->ME->Fire Elemental doesn’t deal 6 damage.

There is no way we know what will happen without trying, I had a guess based on the wording and will definitely check this out once the expansion is on.