HSP reviews TGT: Spellslinger

View list of cards released so far in this dedicated post.

Introduction

This is the series where our contributors – high ranked ladder and Arena players – and players from Team HSP review the new revealed The Grand Tournament cards. We rate every card both in Constructed and Arena, then give you our thoughts about them. This post will be updated every time we’ll get a new review!

When it comes to the rating, we rate the cards from 1 to 5:

1 – Very Bad – The card will see no play in any kind of deck. It won’t be drafted in Arena unless you’re present with other terrible options. E.g. Magma Rager, Dalaran Mage.

2 – Bad – The card might see some occasional play in low tier or budget decks, but isn’t good enough to be played in top tier decks. It will rarely be drafted in Arena – either it needs to synergize with the deck or you need to be present with other bad options. E.g. Boulderfist Ogre, Frostwolf Warlord (Constructed), Ironforge Rifleman, Ancient Mage (Arena)

3 – Average – The card might fill some niche and see play in couple of decks. Not an especially strong card, but can be used to fill gaps in the deck after putting staple cards. In Arena, it’s the card you’re gonna draft pretty often – the card is good enough to not ruin the quality of your deck, but nothing impressive. E.g. Gnomish Inventor, Sen’jin Shieldmasta (Constructed), Bloodfen Raptor, Archmage (Arena)

4 – Good – You’re gonna see this card in a lot of decks. Either it fits into a certain archetype or is overall a good card. Your Constructed deck are mostly filled with cards of those quality. They’re strong and definitely serve their purpose. In Arena, those are the cards you actually want to see and draft – every great deck will have at least couple of those. E.g. Azure Drake, Defender of Argus, Haunted Creeper (Constructed), Harvest Golem, Mechanical Yeti, Stormwind Champion (Arena)

5 – Very Good – This is THE card that will be auto-include or at least a very strong contender. The card that is gonna be really strong and see a lot of play in many decks. Card that is often best in its role, the one that you can’t really pass. In Arena, this is the card you want to see most in the draft, the base of 12 wins Arena decks, one that you instantly pick when you see it. E.g. Dr. Boom, Mad Scientist, Piloted Shredder (Constructed), Flamestrike, Truesilver Champion, Fire Elemental (Arena)

This time we review the Mage Common minion – Spellslinger.

Sixis

Constructed: Average (3)

Arena: Good (4)

This card is a decent card but i don’t feel it is enough to be really used in Constructed, even though his synergy might be undervalued. In Arena 3/4’s are super strong for sure because of the typical stats of a 3 drops are normally weaker. Basically I have moderate expectations about his success in Constructed, but it will dominate Arena for sure, Mage needed a good Arena card badly

WindUpRabbit

Constructed: Average/Good (3.5)

Arena: Average/Good (3.5)

Constructed: I think this card is fun, Randuin Wrynn move aside, we have a new queen of random effects – Jaina. Otherwise, eh, I’m fairly sure this is a pretty good card just due to its stats, the effect is just too mediocre to be played in a very competitive deck since it’s just too random. Might win you the game, might lose you the game.

Arena: Again, this is a pretty decent card in Arena, just due to its stats. The effect might win you the game or lose you the game. Pretty solid pick I would say.

Lucky

Constructed: Bad/Average (2.5)

Arena: Good (4)

Standard 3/4 for 3 mana, its effect has some synergy with cards like Mana Wyrm, Sorcerer’s Apprentice and Flamewaker.

However, the main weakness with these kind of effects – Grove Tender comes to mind – is that opponent usually will be able to use the card/benefit first. Funny card, but not really competitive in my eyes.

In Arena, raw stats are usually the most important part, and this minion trades favorably with 3/3 minions and almost any 2-drop.

Smashthings

Constructed: 3-4 (most of the decks), 5 (perfect deck)

Arena: Average/Good (3.5)

A 3/4 that gives each player a random spell. Cards that do things for both players are some of the most complex cards to analyse and put into decks. The reason being that in order to justify putting it into you need to ensure you get more value from the random spell (on average) than your opponent does.

In mill decks, in Aggro decks, in spell synergy decks (e.g. Flamewaker) there might be enough value to justify playing this card.

For example, in an Aggro deck (where you having cards to play is more important than card advantage) this card might provide you all the draw you need without causing you any tempo loss. In such decks this might be the perfect replacement for Arcane Intellect.

In conclusion it’s an interesting card that is a bit hard to evaluate. I think might be one of those ‘sleeper’ cards that goes unnoticed for a while (kinda like how most people didn’t spot the power of Dr. Boom until they got to play with it)… In the right deck I think this could be super strong. The question is whether the rest of the set produces all the support cards something like this may need.

In Arena, I’m not convinced that this card is any better than Spider Tank, for the average deck.