Alright TGT day 1 review:
Will just review the cards I actually played with or played against. Most of the crap cards weren't used online as expected.
*Biggest surprise for me was Murloc Knight. This card was a considerable threat that needed to be dealt with or spiraled out of control. The stats are decent for what it can bring to the table. What really made my opinion change on was that he could spawn himself. Murloc Knight really shines in the later game when the AOEs/removals has been used up and the opponent is running dry then bam... this card starts to get out of control. More surprising was the fact that people were using this outside of Murloc Paladin deck, it's just a solid overall card.
*Competitive Spirit was about as good as I predicted to be. Really fucking annoying card.
*Justicar Trueheart did work in Paladin and Warrior decks. Not OP/broken like some people are claiming. Against aggressive decks, Justicar ended up being a dead card (happened to me against Mages) and I would've preferred Shield Maiden in that situation. But in longer games this card delivers the value. Meta dependent card, right now meta is wonky and slow which means Justicar gains more value than normal. In Paladin this ability is also very strong, maybe even stronger than Warriors. The card in other decks wasn't as impressive as most people expected. It was decent in the Inspire themed Mage deck.
*Polymorph Boar so far has been pretty damn good in Tempo Mage and some people are running it in the Mage Inspire deck as well. It's performing is about as well as I expected initially but we'll see if it sticks. This card will be part of a crazy Kripp highlight video either today or tomorrow guaranteed.
*Darnassus Aspirant has been alright thus far, nothing game breaking or OP. It usually just dies really fast but its very effective against aggro decks. Again, this is yet another card that was made to counter a specific meta but then the meta shifted so drastically that the card isn't seeing its just rewards.
*Healing Wave did work most of the time. I lost one game where the healing failed to heal me the full amount but I was really going to die anyway. This card is really more of a psychological buff to Shaman when they have it in hand. They can play riskier and then heal themselves up when they are ahead to deny the opponent any burst potential. Hunter's least favorite card that's for sure. Right now people are playing Midrange Shaman on Ladder with Totems and this card doesn't see extreme value because it can usually whiff.
*Thunderbuff Valiant has been doing a lot of work. It's the late game linchpin of the Shaman arsenal. You basically just play standard Midrange, fight for the board and once the game is starting to go into the attrition phase then Thunderbuff cleans the game up. While I don't think this card is as insane as Strifecro thinks it is, it's definitely a card that has been effective.
*Tuskarr Totemic has been mediocre for me personally. It's not all that great on curve but it's actually better late game when you just happen to need some extra Totems on board. Thing is that Shamans desperately needed a 3 drop and people use this card anyway just for the Totem Golem spawn. Speaking of which Totem Golem has been effective as well although it gets removed easier than I expected. I still expect it to remain a staple in Shaman Midrange decks.
*Elemental Destruction and Ancestral Knowledge both are performing much better than most people thought they would given the extreme overload costs. Elemental Destruction especially has been game winning in the games that it was successfully used in. People need to realize that Elemental Destruction gives you board initiative when playing from behind (3 mana to wipe board, play 7 mana worth of minions on that same turn then 5 mana next turn to control board) which is absolutely crucial for Shaman. Have even seen people use this twice which kinda took me for surprise. Ancestral Knowledge has been fine as a late game draw source for Shamans.
*While it may seem that Shaman got a lot of good cards working their way, out of the classes that seemed most buffed online was Paladin. Both aggressive and midrange Paladin were just piling on extra pressure with some of the Inspire based minions. Silverhand Regent saw a lot of play as did that Warhorse Trainer. Silverhand Recruits were all over the place and people were actually running double Quartermasters + Competitive Spirits. I only saw one Mysterious Challenger deck and it just crushed me when that card came into play with 3 secrets in play. Already talked about the Murloc Knight. Tuskar Jouster has been seeing a lot of play as well and the card is pretty annoying to deal with, like a Shield Maiden that comes out one turn earlier.
*Varian has been pretty damn good by most accounts but you really, really have to be careful about when to use it. An opponent used it on me and I just Brawled their big minions. Again the meta is a bit slow currently and people are trying different decks so Varian easily gets played for huge value differential.
*The Dragon decks really have slowed down the game. The 3 main dragon archetypes seen on Ladder are Mage, Priest and Warrior... all play really slow and grindy. Chillmaw is an great card but rarely gets to kill many creatures because the meta isn't as aggressive as it used to be. Twilight Guardian and Wyrmwrest agent have been good. Seeing a lot of Rend Blackhands which have been catching me off guard a lot of the time. The Mage one in particular is really grindy and very often go into fatigue.
*Still mixed bag on Paeltress. In one game she was easily dealt with and in another her one Legendary spawn was game winning (it got off a Prophet Velens). Haven't played against her enough to comment on it.
*Haven't seen too many Aviana dreams yet, leaning towards this card not being that good and too slow as initially expected.
*People have actually been trying out new Hunter decks. There's the Beast deck and the Lock no Load Control-ish deck. They are both basically different forms of the Midrange Hunter deck, not necessarily better. I hate Ram Wrangler still. Bear Trap is decent, Powershot is great as expected and so is Dreadscale. But really though... the Hybrid Hunter decks just are more efficient at getting the wins. Haven't seen many impressive Lock n Load plays yet.... I think Hunter decks are likely to remain the same. Lots of King's Elekks were used though.
*Outside of Pirate decks, Rogue hasn't shown much new stuff online. And the Pirate deck still feels lackluster. Right now Rogue is looking to be the least changed class from the previous expansion as was expected.
*I think some people have died to Holy Champion in spectacular fashion and basically have made that card a priority target to remove. I guess that is a good thing for the card but it has resulted in me not getting as many combos off with the card as I would like. The card is decent on curve but threatening late game. If the meta was more aggressive then there would be more reason to run Pyromancer for the Circle of Healing combos but right now that combo has no place against stuff like Control Warrios and Dragon decks. Aside from this card and Wyrmwest Agent, the new Priest cards haven't really done much. I have heard tales of a Shadowform Priest doing work but have no first hand experience on it yet.
*Savage Combatant has been amazing thus far. One of the few 4 drops that has been somewhat competitive with Shredder.
*Tempo Mages have been using Effigy in their decks and it has thrown me off a bit. It's been working out decent for them. Also seen Effigy used in Dragon decks. There hasn't been some blow out result of Effigy thus far, the card seems decent not ridiculous.
*I saw one Warlock deck yesterday and it was a Handlock that tried and failed to use Wilfred. Just like Rogue, Warlock doesn't seem all that changed for TGT.
*As far as neutral card goes, these cards have been outstanding:
Argent Horserider
Silverhand Regent (Paladin)
Garrison Commander (Paladin)
Justicar Trueheart
Twilight Guardian
Gadgetan Jouster has been used and has been fine but didn't really seem better than Zombie Chow (like there wasn't a situation where I went "OH BOY IF I HAD GOTTEN 5 HEALTH FROM THAT I WOULD BE IN THE GAME!"). Refreshment Vendor has been used, fine but not OP. Mukla's Champion blew me away in one game in a Beast Hunter deck.
Didn't see much play against Gormok and the twin sisters. I still feel those cards are good enough to see play and do some damage.
Overall I was entertained by the expansion yesterday and was happy that a lot of people tried out new stuff. It was definitely a fun experience. Curious to see which of these cards remain strong and usable.