Polymorph | Hex | Hunter's Mark

[defskull]

I only know 3 of these Spell Card that could be the game-changer in only one turn (considering the mana cost - please don't add to suggestions that having Ragnaros-alike would change the game).
Or the word game-changer is not the word I was looking for.
It is... can fend off heavy-cost minion.
I don't know any other cards (does not explore other decks yet), so if you have a card like this, please mention.

And yeah, discuss.
Discuss about how relevant and not OP relative to Mana Cost and the effects it gives off.

EDIT:
Yeah... forgot about Equality combo...
Really.....

 

[saphiree]

Assassinate, but it's five mana Also execute, naturalize and priests power word: death

 

[Talavaj]

Assassinate is the best but also the most expensive, Shadow words are decent but have some variables similarly to Execute, Naturalize is cheap but gives too much advantage to the enemy.
As for Poly/Hex/Hunter's mark I'd say these are not that great as the others. Poly is expensive and leaves a 1/1 card on the board which can be buffed, attack etc, Hex is also considerably expensive and leaves a buffable taunt on the board moreover both Sheep and Frog are beasts and thus are eligible for buffs if the enemy is hunter and both will trigger the snowball effect of scavenging hyena if the enemy has it.
Polymorph can be paired with hero's power for a direct costly removal for 6 cost though.

Equality is way too situational, but can be really really good for a brutal board wipe when coupled with avenging wrath if the enemy has crushing board presence.
Humility is also a very good and cheap one.

Hunter's mark is a weird one, it can potentially be bad if you don't have a follow up spell card. Because other spells can gimp target freely bypassing taunts but you still need to finish off the marked target whose attack is still intact (and may trade badly with your minions if you don't have a weenie or a spell on hand).
However if you have an arcane shot it is by far the most effective removal.

 

[saphiree]

Polymorph and hex are very good imo. They work well against cards with death rattle.

 

[Chaosy]

twisting nether. Takes care of everything

seriously though, leeroy + buff card clears a giant minion just as good.

 

[Licheus]

Obviously it's always pretty much about situation, right? If you play against rushdown, these cards are next to worthless. If you play against some big late game stuff, they'll probably be amongst the most efficient to have.

These are, of course, the extreme cases. These cases are worth considering for the meta aspect of things if nothing else. If there are lots and lots of rushdown decks currently being played, these cards are less "relevant" so to speak (I guess this is sort of the approach you wanted us to take when you asked us to discuss relevance?). So the relevance of the card is dependent on what type of deck you face. Not surprisingly, the relevance of these cards and indeed the relevance of any card is dependent on the type of deck you put them in as well. If you're buiding a deck and have very few to no ways of dealing with heavy minions in that deck right now, you'll want to consider these cards if you shoot for a balanced deck.

Now, if we are to set a general value on these kind of removal cards we'll want to consider how likely they are to be efficient, right? In what cases do they pay off and when are they more of a burden to have in your hand instead of some other card? So we already know the extremes, but what about having them against a balanced deck that has minions as well as spells ranging from low to high cost? Turns out that generally speaking, you are likely to get a good tradeoff against these decks. This is why these types of cards are rated high overall and are in alot of decks: their purpose, to remove big minions, is pretty general and as such pretty good. There are big minions in alot of decks and even if you're unlikely to hit Ragnaros or Ysera, you are likely to hit something worthwhile. In some situations, polymorphing a Chillwind Yeti can be worth it. If someone uses Blessing of Kings on a minion these cards practically gets rid of both the minion and the Blessing of Kings, which means you've traded one of your cards for two of your opponents, leaving you with a card advantage.

This wide range of efficient usability is what makes these types of cards very relevant to consider in most decks.

 

[PurgeandFire]

seriously though, leeroy + buff card clears a giant minion just as good.

It does, but you lose awesome momentum that you could've had on the hero.
----

The nice thing about removal cards is that they are decently cheap, and you can still carry out your turn rather than investing all your mana in getting that minion down (unless it is still early game--then sometimes you have to use your entire turn for the removal).

IMO, I like sap the best. It isn't a legitimate "removal", but it is really useful to gain momentum since it is only 2 mana. And they'll usually end up playing him back again next turn, so you can always pull out an assassinate and basically ruin his last two turns.

I personally grab removals for all heroes (except the ones that don't have them). I even grab corruption on my lock (even though it isn't the greatest--it can save you from sacrificing a lot of units to kill a big guy). I pretty much agree with everything Licheus said.

 

[Meticulous]

Hunter's Mark is generally not very good, because it's always a 2 for 1 card trade situation (unless you have something like an eleven archer or a really high HP minion that got follow-the-rules'd.) 0 mana seems great until you realize card value > mana.

Hex/Poly IMO are the best because they silence as well as "remove".

 

[saphiree]

Hunter's Mark is generally not very good, because it's always a 2 for 1 card trade situation (unless you have something like an eleven archer or a really high HP minion that got follow-the-rules'd.) 0 mana seems great until you realize card value > mana.

Hex/Poly IMO are the best because they silence as well as "remove".

Pretty much spot on. Card draw is very powerful in this game.

 

[defskull]

0 mana seems great until you realize card value > mana.

But finishing off heavy Taunt unit or heavy stats Legendary + only 1 hound is needed to clear the remaining of the HP is more valuable for the late-game situation.

I used this technique once against Paladin's Legenadry: Fordring, although he has Divine Shield, my UTH count is 5, therefore only takes my 2 hound and luckily its a 0 mana cost card, enable me to summon Reckless Rocketeer from my hand and end the game with it.

That's why when considering value of a card, you should consider its mana cost too.

Pretty much spot on. Card draw is very powerful in this game.

Pretty much all TCG-games emphasize on card draw, don't you think ?

Hunter got Track, which is very double-edged card if the RNG is against you (gives you more than 1 important card in your current state), as for the remaining cards, they are in the drop zone/graveyard but this is getting out-of-topic-card lol

 

[Meticulous]

Fordring is a great example of a minion that hunter's mark is pretty terrible against compared to hex/poly, actually. Also Cairne, Sylvannas, Savannah Highmane, pretty much anything with divine shield, etc.

I usually run 1 hunter's mark because yes, there are situations where it's pretty much the only option. But it's definitely no hex/poly.

 

[Talavaj]

Yeah hunter's mark is bad, you may not always have the follow up needed and you will always be trading a card that could be used for something else.
Though personally, I do find the zero cost of the card to be really handy early game because I use it for cheap removal of early-mid tankers to grab board control often in combination with hounds and hyena/buzzards.
My hunter deck is very rush based so I don't really think of "saving it for big scary monsters", if the enemy has something like Tirion on board it is very likely I'm losing anyway.

 

[aZaZel]

Polymorph and Hex really pissed me off. I always save my Polymorphed minion to deliver the final blow on the enemy hero if I can. If there's game-changer Spell Card, that would be Holy Nova. Deals 4 damage on enemies and gives health to your minions. I don't know remember the whole details of this card, but I know that this thing can piss-off your opponent. There is another OP spell card, mass dispel. All the buffs of enemies will puff away when you use this thing. It's perfect against taunt, support, and that punk-ass questing adventurer.

 

[Paliouras]

Doesn't Holy Nova deal 2 damage?
I really like Pyromancer and equality but it can prove pretty damaging for you too(unless you have divine shielded mobs or no mobs at all or Stormwind Champion)

 

[aZaZel]

Doesn't Holy Nova deal 2 damage?
I really like Pyromancer and equality but it can prove pretty damaging for you too(unless you have divine shielded mobs or no mobs at all or Stormwind Champion)

If you want to talk about your favorite minion, mine is Guardian of Kings 5/6. It is what I need when my health is low. Then, support it with Blessing of Kings or Consecration and a Taunt minion if they're in my hands. And destroy my enemy's strategy.

 

[Paliouras]

If you want to talk about your favorite minion, mine is Guardian of Kings 5/6. It is what I need when my health is low. Then, support it with Blessing of Kings or Consecration and a Taunt minion if they're in my hands. And destroy my enemy's strategy.

It isn't a minion but a combo that destroys minions (much like holy nova you mentioned.)

 

[aZaZel]

It isn't a minion but a combo that destroys minions (much like holy nova you mentioned.)

Yeah, one card isn't enough to change the tide of battle.

 

[Paliouras]

Not really.When someones power comes from 1 minion or an army of minions and that power is taken you have an advantage

 

[aZaZel]

Yeah, just use Polymorph and the whole plan is screwed.

Anyway, have you ever used Hunter's Mark, I'm not using Hunter.

 

[Paliouras]

I only have a rush hunter that is only face(basic cards)
I think it is good but it can be silenced so hunter's mark wasted

 

[saphiree]

I don't know if it has been said before in this thread, but hunters mark is very much a 2 for 1 card, because you also have to kill the monster you reduce to one health. Sometimes the second card you use doesn't matter though. Like if it's a 1/1 argent squire or something similar.

 

[Licheus]

You can make it a sort of efficient 1 for 1.3̅3 or something combining hunter's mark with unleash the hounds. Assuming you get for instance three hounds with unleash, you just use one of them to kill off the hunter's marked target, and you're left with two more. Or if you use hunter's mark in combination with one of the snakes from snake trap or something... Efficient combinations like that can up the value, but I think that it's generally considered a pretty bad card.

 

[aZaZel]

I just read about Hunter's mark, it decreases the enemy minion's health to 1. This can be a good combo with Elven Archer, Wisp, and other low-level minions. This can be a counter against Ironbark Protector 8/8 or Guardian of Kings 5/6 that will annoy your Druid or Paladin opponent.