I decided to take EdTheMad‘s suggestion to create a tier list to replace at least my Draft Frequency rating. It isn’t a strict tier list:
- Always First Pick: Amensia and Heinous Feast make draw out wins all but impossible. If one player has at least one and the other doesn’t, the player without is at a significant disadvantage
- Always First Pickable: Always incredible cards
- Always Desirable: Always great, but not as generically powerful as the previous tier
- Usually Desirable: Similar in strength to the previous tier, but not as broadly applicable
- Situationally Desirable: Requires either a faction investment or a strategy investment; some of these cards are counters to certain deck types
- Always Acceptable: Cards that are always solid, but generally less powerful than the “Desirable” cards in the right circumstances
- Situationally Acceptable: Requires either a faction investment or a strategy investment to be solid; some of these cards can fulfill distributions deficiencies, just less ideally
- Rarely Playable: These cards are bad in Dark Draft, but can be useful in extreme circumstances
- Practically Unplayable: These cards are bad
++ : The most desirable cards in that tier (not strong enough and/or reliable enough to breach the next tier.)
+ : Generally a bit better and/or more reliable than other cards in the tier
– : Generally a bit weaker and/or less reliable than other cards in the tier
– – : The least desirable cards in that tier (not weak enough and/or unreliable enough to fall into the next tier.)
Noble Unicorn is included in both Situationally Deseriable and Always Acceptable on purpose.
Here is a link to my spreadsheet with all of the cards in tiers:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1L9cahBhgJkzUr0yr6vNfn80hhev-yvma7SIBq3O32Zk/edit?usp=sharing
I will update the detailed ratings soon.
Glad i could help =D
The list is a lot easier to follow and I guess easier to make, compared with the 0-10 grading system.
What do the multiple +/- mean?
Updated the article, basically the more +’s the better/more reliable the card is relative to the rest of the cards in the tier. The more -‘s the worse/less reliable the card is relative to the rest of the cards in the tier.
I’m surprise Raxxa isn’t ranked higher. Such a great turn 1 play. He can be a sweeper, and he and his minions can require a lot of opponent’s cards to be used to get rid of them. Also, I find Soul Hunter to be amazing. When there is so little discard pile manipulation, Soul Hunters are really hard to deal with and can single handily win you games. Mist Guide Herald seems very decent too, same with Great Horned Lizard as it is a blitzing breakthrough guy that HAS to be removed or it will wreck face. He doesn’t require anything else to be effective either. Really enjoying the list though. I look forward to seeing more analysis!
(promoted Guilt Demon to Usually Desirable + from Always Acceptable, Added a second ‘+’ to Mist Guide Herald in Situationally Acceptable)
Raxxa, Demon Tyrant is great (and it is in the second highest tier not including Amnesia/Heinous Feast tier), but I would rather have all of the cards in the Always First Pickable tier in most situations. If I were specifically going a demon or just Evil deck, the choice would be harder though. 3 6/6’s is great. 2 4/4s and forcing out a removal spell is great. 2 damage to all opposing champions is great (but requires loyalty). However, (unless it is Surprise Attacked in) only the 2 damage has immediate impact on the game and having Evil loyalty is not guaranteed.
Soul Hunter is significantly weaker in draft than it is in constructed because it can’t be cheated into play as easily. In draft, it is less likely that your opponent will run discard cards compared to constructed, and it is also less likely to overdraw and discard it that way. Since that is the case (unless Surprise Attack), it has to be played on your turn and has no immediate impact. This allows your opponent to have a window (unless you Lightning Strike it) to bounce, banish, or expend it before it can do anything. In any of these cases, the turn was largely wasted which is a big deal in Dark Draft which is largely tempo driven. Even breaking it and then banishing it with discard removal isn’t terrible for the opponent. This did, however, remind me that Guilt Demon should be promoted to Usually Desirable+ because discard hate is so valuable in so many situations.
You are right that Mist Guide is generally acceptable, and I gave it another +. Most decks playing it is fine, but hitting a champion beneficial to play with it isn’t guaranteed, and I would personally rather just have another threat, draw, or removal though. In low-champion control decks, it could whiff and not turn up any champions; that is terrible. It is much better in constructed if you pack your deck with strong your turn champions, and/or you can abuse it in other ways.
Great Horned Lizard is a solid card to play on your turn after your opponent spent their gold, and it can be pretty decent off-turn after your opponent spent their gold. But, I’m not a huge fan of it dropping to a 7/8 the turn after you play it, making it easier to remove. It also doesn’t draw a card or have any other meaningful effect when played (unlikely to have another meaningful dino in play, although Ankylosaurus is a dino). I don’t like Bellowing Minotaur for similar reasons, although this is better. Juggernaut is similar in that it is a 9 offense breakthough that dies to removal on the next turn, but it draws a card and is in Sage.