HSP reviews TGT: Flame Juggler

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 cards that was just revealed on the MardukTV stream – Flame Juggler.

Sixis

Constructed: Bad (2)

Arena: Average/Good (3.5)

Basically in terms of Constructed play this card has the average stats and an additional small random effect – fair, but not good. Unreliable and weak in constructed, where broken synergies and effecient creatures shine.

In Arena this card is pretty decent, it can result in a good swing if it snipes a 2/1 and the stats are solid for Arena.

Keyo

Constructed: Bad (2)

Arena: Average (3)

In Constructed: Mediocre body and a lackluster Battlecry. It seems ok as a counter to Face Hunter, but only if you go first and your opponent plays a 2/1, and even then its a strictly worse Zombie Chow. I dont expect this to see any play in high ranked Constructed.

In Arena: This is a less volatile Mad Bomber with a more durable body! It still has a random Battlecry but it’s much less swingy and in arena a 2/3 is much better than a 3/2. Not a great pick, but not awful.

Stonekeep

Constructed: Bad/Average (2.5)

Arena: Average/Good (3.5)

Well, nothing impressing to be honest. When it comes to the Constructed – you expect much stronger effects. This one is a Knife Juggler with reversed stats, but the problem is that Knife Juggler can get a lot of hits, unlike this one. The effect being random enemy is a huge letdown. If it was a random enemy minion, it could be used to counter enemy aggressive 1-drops like Leper Gnome. If it hits face on turn 2, you don’t care whether enemy is at 29 or 30, so in a lot of cases it’s just a 2/3 for 2 mana. It doesn’t even combo with anything in particular and really falls off in the late game, unlike the other Juggler which you can combine with a lot of cards like Muster for Battle or Unleash the Hounds. Not good enough – if the card is almost always a worse version of another card, why play it? I guess you can use it as an anti-Aggro tech and count on lucky hits into enemy 1-drops, but that’s not reliable.

In Arena however, the plain 2/3 for 2 mana (River Crocolisk) is average, so I guess this card is slightly above average. The 1 random damage usually won’t matter, but sometimes it might finish enemy minion off or ping a Divine Shield. I don’t see it being an insta-pick, but it’s not worst.

Smashthings

Constructed: Very Bad/Bad (1.5)

Arena: Average/Good (3.5)

The funny thing about this minion is that even the name makes you think of his more powerful cousin (Knife Juggler). And compared to that card, this little guy is pretty weak.

But with that said, dealing damage is a rather powerful effect in general (In arena, Elven Archer isn’t even that terrible).

In Arena I think the card is decent. But do take care to note that in this game mode the cards like Bloodfen Raptor are decent.

Mad Bomber is going to be the better pick in most cases.

Kabi

Constructed: Bad (2)

Arena: Average (3)

The card is pretty bland. I don’t see it having any use in Constructed.

The card can have a spot in Arena. Dealing 1 damage to random enemy (if it’s a minion) is useful. Usually not a big deal, but useful.

Camzeee

Constructed: Bad (2)

Arena: Average (3)

This card doesn’t stack up well compared to others. Mad Bomber does 3 spread damage but this only does 1. The good part about this is that it’s guaranteed damage on an enemy which means it lowers the odds of this backfiring. However, it does say enemy characters rather than minions which makes this still a frustrating card to use. On the surface it looks like a slightly improved Ironforge Rifleman which sadly just isn’t good enough overall to see play in constructed. It’d be interesting if this was an Inspire mechanic, but it’s just a Battlecry.

In Arena, this card is above average but only just. Mad Bomber I’d still pick higher than this because it has the potential for bigger plays. It is however a stable 2 mana 2/3, and the Battlecry is guaranteed to at least hurt your opponent in some way so it has that going for it.

modded

Constructed: Bad (2)

Arena: Average (3)

This card is a vanilla two-drop with an upside, barely. If it said random minion, it could be useful to snipe worgen-infiltrators or leper-gnomes but that’s sadly not the case. This is just a 2/3 that makes little impact.

In arena it’s quite average. Sure it’s got vanilla stats and an effect, but it’s still worse than other arena picks like mad-bomber and amani-berserker.

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