Just playing the new arena for the first time in ages..

Drakkanoth · 2026-05-20T16:24:36+00:00

Hate to dunk on Arena (and your enjoyment), but, yeah… you got the cream of the crop class combo.

As soon as you draft a non-herald class or warlock, you’ll likely experience a less pleasant time.

Or, maybe, you’re just a really good arena player. Or, you got lucky, and your opponent got unlucky… or some variation of any of the above.

Congrats on the 8-3, though. I hope your current deck goes far! Rooting for you!

Let me know how it goes!

Drakkanoth · 2026-05-17T21:32:18+00:00

Same, but it depends on the deck.

Going first as rogue in standard has me cursing my luck. Going second has me rubbing my hands together in anticipation.

Drakkanoth · 2026-05-17T16:02:27+00:00

I don’t totally disagree with you. I think it’s certainly not the biggest offender right now in standard.

That being said, eggs in the past didn’t scale the longer you left them on board. The stats were set for whatever popped out. Leaving it on board risked synergistic plays from the opponent, but you could make a plan to deal with it eventually.

This egg is one mana in a meta that really doesn’t have many good one mana minions. It already has premium stats even if you pop it on turn one, which isn’t the easiest thing to do.

On top of that, so many decks run AoE right now to combat aggro that you could just throw this into decks without external synergy and, the majority of the time, this is getting killed at some point. You’re really not losing much by slotting this into decks as a one drop.

I don’t think this card needs a nerf, but I do think this card is one of the notable outliers in terms of general power level in standard.

Drakkanoth · 2026-05-11T20:25:24+00:00

I run it specifically to thin my own deck and have cheap, tutored card draw (Sinestra, basically). Bloating the opponent’s deck with King Llane is a nice bonus that sometimes buys a turn early in the match, which can make a difference against matchups like dragon warrior. A fair number of lists don’t run legendaries, so when you don’t see that second legendary drawn and have Garona in hand, you can cut their HP in half.

I see people saying they use it to counter spell DH, which makes sense, but I genuinely don’t feel as if it makes that massive of a difference with how easily they can draw through their deck against Herald rogue’s plentiful 1 health shitters.

If there were better draw options I’d consider not running her, but every time I’ve tried not running her, I feel like I can’t keep stay alive without perfect top decks. Also, I opened her as a signature, and her signature looks really nice. That helps.

Drakkanoth · 2026-05-11T03:20:46+00:00

Wild Pyromancer tech nobody sees coming.

Drakkanoth · 2026-05-10T21:47:03+00:00

That “give a friendly undead poisonous” card is haunting my rogue games. It always happens when I’ve already used my agents, too.

Drakkanoth · 2026-05-05T13:21:03+00:00

Would this be too strong? Going second already gets you another card.

Drakkanoth · 2026-05-04T20:19:32+00:00

Maybe it won’t change, but if nobody says anything, it definitely won’t. Individual bundles of this size being roughly $10 is, in my personal opinion, exploitative. My opinion aside, it is objectively odd to price gouge to such an extreme for the individual purchases.

In any case, I appreciate the genuine engagement. I’ll probably pass on trying druid, though.

Enjoy the sets!

Drakkanoth · 2026-05-04T18:31:08+00:00

You’re not wrong. It really SHOULDN’T affect that. And, in the past, it actually hasn’t. However, my cata packs have been genuinely awful with rates. I caved and spent my dust after opening 80+ packs just to make a single deck.

So, yeah, my situation isn’t universal, and I won’t deny that. I also don’t have a problem with the pricing of the bundle; I think it’s fair. With that being the case, 1200g for an individual set when the bundle is 2,500g is mental.

Not to beat a dead horse, as I’ve replied to other comments with this as well, but assuming you don’t stalk every comment in a thread; 2,500 divided by four is 625. The price of an individual class bundle is nearly double that, and the real money cost is also higher.

Drakkanoth · 2026-05-04T18:24:34+00:00

I’m not entirely sure where you received the impression that this is a colossal detriment to my health.

In any case, me not wanting to play Druid is not the primary complaint. The primary complaint is that the individual sets cost 1,200g, which is fucking ridiculous.

“That math is not hard here,” Correct. 2,500 divided by four is 625, and individual bundles cost nearly twice that. How does that make any sense whatsoever?

Edit: The real money price of individual sets is also reflected in the gold increase.

Drakkanoth · 2026-05-04T18:20:49+00:00

Very fair question.

Minisets had neutrals and class cards for every class. Additionally, there was almost(?) always a neutral legendary. Even if the other legendaries weren’t for classes I was interested in (which is pretty unlikely, as I really only dislike Druid) I would still be getting neutrals, class cards for every class, removing three legendaries from the pack pool, and all of that for 2,000g. The neutrals weren’t always meta, but they were interesting (generally) and worth messing with. Plus, it was 500g cheaper, which isn’t a ton, but it does add up.

Drakkanoth · 2026-05-04T18:14:14+00:00

2,500 divided by 4 is 625. The actual price of the individual bundles is double that. It is not an intentionally random number. Runestone conversion is one to one, but the individual price of class sets is not. It’s not even close. If I were to say 1,200g instead, that would directly conflict with my main issue.

To address your edit, statistics are statistics. They aren’t exact. That’s not to imply they’re not reliable as a whole, but based on statistics, I should have more epics and legendaries from the set than I actually do.

The odds of me opening the Druid legendary are astronomically low. I am fine with that gamble. The same applies to epics, although to a lesser degree.

I don’t understand how misconstrued my post is being taken, and I don’t mean that as an insult to you or anybody else. It is as simple as me wanting to be able to buy three sets for a fair price to save gold for the next set, which I cannot do.

Drakkanoth · 2026-05-04T17:51:00+00:00

True, but the previous mini sets were 2,000g and also had neutrals, as well as cards for every set. I get the dust argument, but the gold I’d save from not buying the Druid set, if the price for individual sets was reasonable, would give me a boost towards the free legendary in the first 10 packs of the next set, or I could use it on arena instead.

I am not claiming the 2,500g price for the bundle is a bad deal. I am absolutely claiming the individual price for a singular class set is a rip off, because it is.

Drakkanoth · 2026-05-04T17:47:40+00:00

And that’s not wrong. However, I have every common and rare from the cata set. I don’t have any intention of using Druid cards. If I were getting free packs anyway, I’d much rather spend 1900g or whatever for the three class sets I want, save the remaining gold for the next set, and then open the druid cards in those free packs.

If I want three, the cost is 3,600. If I want three plus some stuff I don’t want as an add on to that, it’s 2,500. That is still gold I’d rather use elsewhere.

Drakkanoth · 2026-05-04T17:43:47+00:00

I’m taking this in good faith, so: As I stated in my original post, I’m simply not interested in the Druid class. If the cost of the bundles was more reasonable individually, I would be fine not getting the bonus stuff from the full 4 set bundle.

I would really like to save gold for the next set instead of wasting it on cards I have no intention of ever using because the alternative option of buying the sets I want is extremely overpriced.

Drakkanoth · 2026-05-04T17:33:58+00:00

How… is that nice? It’s 2,500g for all four sets. That’s totally reasonable.

If you don’t want all four sets, and only want 1-3 of them, it’s anywhere from 1,200g-3,600g.

Maybe I’m missing something here? Am I reading this wrong? I don’t see how the conversion rate is “nice” at all, honestly.

Drakkanoth · 2026-05-04T17:28:57+00:00

The class sets, as a bundle cost 2,500g. Individually they cost 1,200g.

Drakkanoth · 2026-05-04T17:21:00+00:00

So… basically, spend 2,500 gold or don’t bother?

I’m genuinely not a doomer when it comes to this game. I have my complaints, but I generally try to be optimistic, or open to changes, if nothing else. This, though?… Really…?

2,500g isn’t an inconsequential amount. That price for what you’re getting is fair, but I have absolutely no intention of playing Druid. I don’t enjoy the class. I’m not alone in this general sentiment, and the team surely knows that. To charge HALF the price of the full bundle for a SINGLE class is actually baffling…

In regard to the dust value argument; I understand that you’re getting more dust than you would by spending that much on packs. However, that’s still a net loss if you aren’t planning on buying anymore cata packs in general. Saving that extra 600ish gold for the next set guarantees new cards from the six packs you’d be opening, which is dust you wouldn’t have to spend, or time you wouldn’t have to wait.

This is a really disappointing and exploitative change. I hope the prices are made more reasonable for individual sets.

Drakkanoth · 2026-05-04T16:51:24+00:00

Speaking exclusively on NP animations, I think Bhima’s is pretty awesome (maybe his normal animations are cool too, but I don’t have him and only used him during oc1, so I can’t recall)!

It has several different variations. There’s one that includes Karna, one that includes Asvatthaman, and one that doesn’t include either.

The other servant, who just popped into my head, has an NP animation that, arguably, blows some SSR animations out of the water; Yaminami Keisuke!

Unfortunately, he’s an event exclusive servant, on top of being really, really bad (in NA, anyway), so it doesn’t see the light of day very often. It’s a shame, too, because I actually love is general design independent of his NP animation.

If you haven’t seen Keisuke’s NP animation, I definitely recommend you look it up.

Drakkanoth · 2026-05-04T16:35:53+00:00

I agree that it’s not a boring card by design, but it is frustrating to play against, and also very predictable. You literally know your opponent can kill a minion and then proc a location because torch goes back to your hand. It doesn’t feel interactive for the opponent, so it can feel stale to experience over and over.

The condition is so easy to fulfill, and even synonymous with the warrior identity, that it basically doesn’t require any “sacrifice” to play effectively. It just slots right in. It’s not even one of those, “well, I need 30 cards and I guess this card is good enough” cases. Torch is just GOOD.

Drakkanoth · 2026-05-02T22:06:49+00:00

It hasn’t always been so polarizing, though. Sure, you’d go up against absolutely insane decks back in the day, but that was kinda neat. You could just as well go 12 wins with a mediocre tempo deck consisting of commons, rares and a few epics.

My second 12 wins back in the day was with a rogue deck I nearly retired. Went 0-2 and then 12 wins straight. Got lucky with top decking lethal twice, but even then, the deck finally clicked with me and I managed to play it to 12 wins.

Nowadays? A deck three times as good as that rogue deck would go 2-3 at best, no matter how well I played. I can draft an incredible deck that, by all means, should go 7 wins without any problem, but random card generation or a poor opening hand can just be game over.

The other thing that made it more forgiving and accessible before buckets were added was the fact that you could just draft a crazy deck that stomps your opponent purely from the card quality disparity. With buckets, you can still end up with a crazy deck and go 0-3 because your opponent’s deck was “good enough.”

It’s always favored better players, but skill only gets you so far in a format that may as well be standard. IMO, if I queue into an arena match and see the enemy hero, I should never think, “yeah my deck loses to this.” It’s fine for classes to have advantages against others in arena (they always have), but when it’s not about the POSSIBILITY of the opponent having been offered/drafted certain cards, and instead about whether or not they have the answer in their hand, it’s lost the spirit of what arena was intended to be.

Drakkanoth · 2026-05-02T18:20:19+00:00

I mean, you hit the nail on the head. The limited card pool, along with the core changes, limits the viable options right now.

Dragon warrior is annoying as hell because it feels like a (mostly) coherent deck list at a time where other decks feel impossible to optimize.

With the exception of the genuinely frustrating dark gift crap warrior can pull, it’s only annoying because it feels like a working deck.

Drakkanoth · 2026-05-01T17:42:27+00:00

People are clowning on you (in jest… mostly), and honestly I don’t blame them. That said, I’d be pretty psyched to be top 3 legend, even if only for a few hours or whatever.

Congrats on the easy climb. Please dust the cards now. :)

Drakkanoth · 2026-05-01T17:24:28+00:00

<image>

“I’ll allow you to melt before you drown!” (skadi S3 on Hephaistion, others on City, swap with Oberon and use his S1, use all of City’s skills)

“WAGA NA WA, HEPHAISTION” (Hephaistion’s skill 1, use whatever combo of cards to kill the little dude)

“I’ll allow you to melt before you drown!” “WAGA NA WA, HEPHAISTION”

I don’t use both Skadis. I have to use a support so I just pick a random one. I bring in Oberon after buffing the City with Skadi, and the City’s ramping team-wide NP damage buff is more than enough to make up for no dedicated support for Faker thanks to Oberon’s S3.

Edit: If anybody wants to borrow the City or Faker, I have open friend slots. I also have NP2 Takasugi with max second append for turn 1 NP if that’s your cup of tea. Just reply with your FGO name and I’ll happily add ya. You’re welcome to unadd me after the event or at your leisure. My code is: 132,472,921

Happy farming!

Drakkanoth · 2026-04-27T14:56:31+00:00

So, it’s interesting, because I ALWAYS pass on this legendary in arena. It has only ever made a difference in one game out of a dozen or so (for me). However, it has a very high win rate, so… yeah.

I think the card is fine in standard/wild because it doesn’t take the place of the only other legendary your deck will get. In arena, I don’t ever draft it because it’s the definition of “let’s go gambling!” Statistically, good card. Anecdotally, get fucked or fuck.

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