After having a man inside my mouth for a while this afternoon, I've come to the conclusion that anyfin combo is almost identical in concept to freeze mage. They both attempt to control the board while assembling their combo pieces, and they both take multiple turns to go off since it's very rare that your first anyfin will be lethal. The main difference is that paladin is better at controlling the board whereas mage is much better at cycling through the deck for combo pieces. In addition to cycling through the deck faster, freeze mage is much less particular about what combo pieces you draw. You just need a handful of burn and either alex or antonidas. Paladin requires either all 5 murlocs + 1 anyfin, or ~4 murlocs and 2 anyfins.
I really think the card/deck is balanced, especially when you compare it to shit like Leeroy Miracle, Undertaker, or Patron, but I think it's quite likely it gets nerfed anyway.
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Also, I can't stress enough how important Hearthstone Deck Tracker has become. Even if you don't bother plugging your own decks into it, knowing what has been played makes a huge difference in so many games.
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Holy shit the Liquid Hearth panelists are fucking retarded. I think that Tempostorm may have been going overboard calling aggro shaman #1, but #18? Get fucked. Savjz is the only one who isn't a total moron.
I would love a deck tracker on the iPad, since that's what I used for the vast majority of my games(95%+ easily).
But it's probably not possible, unless Blizzard decides at some point to include one...which I doubt since they can't even manage to add something as simply as more decks.
Are there a lot out there? I've used HDT for a while now, if its not the best then I don't know how. Its great and stays updated constantly, with regular improvements. Having the damage on board number icons was an awesome addition, and I think I've still missed lethal a couple times.
Only thing I wish is that it would properly accomodate stuff being shuffled into your deck like forgotten torch and entomb. I think it shows your entombs on your decklist, but I don't think it shows the second torch and it definitely pops up the 'warning X card isn't in your deck" warning when you draw something you entombed.
The entomb warning thing is just a bug/missing exception that will get fixed. I haven't played much with torch, but since it doesn't have an animation or anything it is possible that it's missing a log entry for HDT to go off too.
As for other deck trackers, I only know ofTrack-o-Botoffhand, but it's been ages since I used that - all the way back when it still used image recognition to track stuff - so I can't comment on how it compares to HDT.
With regards to Anyfin I don't think it's super overpowered, but compared to other combos (if you can even call Anyfin a combo) there's a big difference in that you are not wasting combo pieces by playing them to fight for board control. Despite paladins getting way too many great cards compared to classes I don't hate, I'll wait for a couple weeks to see how it shakes out before getting too upset, because I really can't believe none of the Blizzard high level testers would have tried a deck with just the 5-6 impact murlocs (some play one oracle).
The first anyfin isn't even that powerful either. Assuming you manage to get all 5 of your murlocs with it, it does like lower 20s damage. That's a 6 card combo, five of which you had to draw, hardcast, and have die (without getting sheeped/entombed) first. Now obviously the second anyfin hits like a freight train, but if you've stayed in charge of the game long enough to resolve 2 anyfins, you would have won with the threats regular midrange pally plays too.
That's what actually gives me a glimmer of hope that anyfin won't be nerfed. There are plenty of other high powered burst damage from hand combos in the meta, and as long as anyfin doesn't dominate the meta (which it wont) I think anyfin might skate by.
Except otk murloc isn't actually a murloc deck, It's a control deck that uses murlocs as removal as it works towards the combo. I really think it will get nerfed before MC does, if MC ever gets nerfed. Anyway, instead of snarky posts and funny pictures, this morning I thought I'd share some of my boundless wisdom article style.
Constructing/Deconstructing Control Priest.
Entomb has brought control priest back to the ladder. It remains to be seen if the deck is going to stick around or fade away, but I thought I'd post an analysis of the deck composition here for people interested in giving it a try. My comments are based on a mix of my own experience playing it on the ladder as well as watching Zetalot's stream and the changes he makes to his lists as he wins and loses matches. This is meant to be a quick primer rather than an in-depth analysis.
Core Cards
2x Circle of Healing - Can't play without circle in control priest. Combos with Auchenai as removal, Northshire for card draw, Blademaster for a sticky body, it's just too damn good.
2x Flash Heal - This is a rather abrupt meta choice due to the prevalence of Reno Lock and Aggro Shaman. While it doesn't put boots on the ground like Naaru, it heals for 2 more and is a better nuke when combined with Auchenai. Auchenai + flash heals is your win condition against Jaraxxus.
2x Power Word Shield - enable better trades for your creatures and dig through your deck
2x Northshire Cleric - Terrible against other slow decks but mandatory for midrange and aggro
2x Zombie Chow - Ordinarily a personal preference card, I think it's mandatory atm due to the need to contest the board starting at turn 1, and it potentially combos with Auchenai
1x Shrinkmeister - Mainly to combo with a Cabal, occasionally used as a tempo drop or a proactive 2 point heal when trading.
2x Wild Pyromancer - Ordinarily a personal preference card, in the current meta it potentially gets you way too much value not to run
2x Deathlord - Ordinarily a personal preference card, this has too fat of an ass not to run in this meta
1x Shadow Word Death - This core configuration assumes you're running 2x entomb, in which case you want 1x Death, 1x Nova, and 2x Lightbomb.
2x Auchenai Soul Priest - Doesn't need an explanation.
1x Holy Nova - See Shadow Word Death
2x Entomb - These may be too slow, but they're the ultimate silver bullet. They take care of troublesome deathrattles, things priest ordinarily can't deal with like Ysera, and plays around Avenge, Anyfin, Duplicate, etc.
2x Lightbomb - See Shadow Word Death
2x Cabal Shadow Priest - Too much value not to run. The Shrinkmeister may eventually be phased out, but Cabals are too good.
1x Justicar Trueheart - This makes your taunts much harder to bash through over multiple turns and keeps you ahead of topdecks if you manage to drag the game out against fast aggro. Also gives you more reach with Auchenai.
Preference Cards
Light of the Naaru - Mostly better than Flash Heal, but with so much Reno lock running around, Jaraxxus is an autoloss if you don't have the reach Flash Heal gives you. Don't run both.
Thoughtsteal - Too slow against aggro, potentially game winning against control.
Velen's Chosen - I wouldn't run more than 1 unless you sub in a second holy nova, but they give your taunts a much fatter ass.
Dark Cultist - Blademaster is strictly better in this style of priest.
Holy Champion - Too much fast aggro imo, but when combined with Light of the Naaru your board can snowball in a single turn. Definitely run 2x Nova if you run Holy Champions
Vol'jin - I think he's redundant with 2x entomb, but some people run him.
Injured Blademaster - Almost a core card for control priest, but you don't have to run him. Great synergy with circle of healing or an enhanced hero power. and just priest in general
Harrison Jones - Tricky. You don't want to draw against control warrior, he's a bit slow against paladin, and oil rogue is pretty damn rare atm.
Sludge Belcher - Valuable but not quite mandatory in this meta
Sylvanas - I'd cut something for a second death if you run Sylvanas
Dr. Boom - Despite not really fitting into the priest game plan, Boom is so much value in a single card that he's an option. It's nice having no BGH targets though.
Ysera - Probably the most absolute value in a single card, but holy balls is Ysera slow.
Tech Cards
Mass Dispel - Slow, limited use, but it cycles and it's never a completely dead card. Maybe if you were seeing a LOT of egg druid and raptor rogue, because Mass Dispel completely crushes them.
Kezan Mystic - Only worth it if you're seeing a lot of midrange hunter and freeze mage, too slow for face hunter and not enough impact against secret pally.
Loatheb - Best if you're seeing a lot of freeze mage and oil rogue, two uncommon decks on the ladder. Also good for protecting an over-extended board against other control decks, but you shouldn't be over-extending in the first place.
spiffy for newer players I guess. What's wrong with doing the 10 freebies for gvg or tgt? It's not like it's some earth shattering discount. Pretty sure they already did the same discount if you preordered a bundle of TGT packs.
I'll agree with you Gavinmad on Anyfin being a similar combo to Freeze.
However, there are not similar tools to deal with it. Since Classic, the Freeze AIDS has been mitigated significantly by the addition of heals and such. There is nothing similar to stop the revive 10 shits that died this game with charge. Until we get some kind of neutral SAP/Vanish type cards. Anyfin will be considerably stronger and more reliable. Paladin has zero issues stalling games long enough to play a few murlocs. A single Warleader + two chargers will probably kill you in the late game with the first or second anyfin.
Freeze is stronger than it has ever been atm, and after about 50ish games of anyfin, freeze is unquestionably a more consistent deck. As far as the meta is concerned, freeze is probably objectively better atm with the almost complete absence of control warrior.
I played against my first Anyfin deck and won easily. The guy had no clue what he was doing though. He just threw every Murloc in the game into his deck and threw it all at me. The first Anyfin got him one Warleader and one charger. The second got him zero chargers so his Murloc swarm stood there and watched me bash his face in.
