i just realized that starhorns BBS is the same as blaze hounds opening gambit. if starhorns BBS is worth 1 mana, then does that mean that the 3 mana blaze hound’s 4/3 body is worth 2 mana? and has anyone else noticed other discrepencies between the mana cost and value of equivalent effects (like bloodtear and cass BBS)?
Starhorn vs blaze hound
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Starhorn is just underpowered IMO. If I had my way It would be: “Draw two cards, Your opponent draws a card”. Im no balance expert but that feels more apt to me.
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One mana for 2 cards is way too good tho. Its like old scion’s second wish although it does have a notable drawback.
It its only available every two turns until the endgame, and I feel the other player still getting a card is enough of a drawback to justify it. Look at Kara. Her BBS is absurd for 1 mana and that has no drawback whatsoever.
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Yes, some efects are very similar, like Starhorn and blaze hound, Cass and bloodtear, etc. But, this isn’t necessarily bad. With many similar efects it makes easy to build a deck around it and with some “special” synergies. Like puting Vindicator and blaze hound in a Starhorn deck, or using Cass and bloodtear to shadow creep a minion with 2 health far away (witch pushes some creep synergy). About the balance aspect of blaze hound, it has a almost perfect mirror efect, ('couse of the 3 cost, you may or may not be able to play the card you drew before your oponent) so it is like the opening gambit did not influenciated in the cost of the card. While Starhorn BBS is much more easy to bend the balance at your will, sinse it costs only 1.
Sorry for the long post, btw
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The drawback is a tempo loss for that turn because she can’t play all her pumped minions in that one turn. It’s not a huge drawback, but then again, why are we comparing starhorn’s BBS to an arguably OP one?
Two cards is too many. One of the few things limiting aggro decks is the inability to play low-cost cards every turn because of hand size; this nullifies that, even having a cooldown of two turns. Aggro starhorn would be too strong, mech decks would be pretty consistent. Who cares about what the opponent draws when you can simply vomit your own action bar? It would shift the meta towards aggro because the other deck needs to be able to play its cards quickly enough to handle starhorn’s aggressive draw.
It’s true - Starhorn’s BBS is weak. Even when used smartly to make proactive plays, or to deny your opponent with a full action bar one card, or to force your opponent to play more cards than they’d like, it is underwhelming. But two cards isn’t the way to go. I’d rather see synergies build off his BBS and keep it as it is, like with the upcoming Visionar.
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Excellent points. I always forget about mechs.
Just a sugestion, do you think that giving a drawback to Starhorn and making only he to draw a card would be beter oe too strong? I know it kind of sounds like Hearthstones’ Warlock, but instead of damage he could get stunned? Or maybe onle draw in the end of the turn?
I have thought about it before, and it’s certainly possible. Warlock was my main class in Hearthstone so I see the appeal behind it 
It’d be hard to balance though, to find the right drawback. Card advantage is valued highly in both Duelyst and Hearthstone. Because of lifetap, zoo has always been one of the strongest decks in Hearthstone with their ability to consistently output low cost minions. (Of course, there are differences. Lifetap costs 2 but is also available every turn) I’d hate to see that happen in Duelyst especially with mech decks and all.
Being stunned is too far of a drawback; drawing at the end of the turn damages the theme of proactive plays (though, I’m actually a fan of this idea. It reinforces the idea of being a seeker, since he gets more at a later time. Something I’d suggest to go along with this is: Look at the next two cards you will draw. Draw an extra card at the end of this turn.).
Leaving the BBS as it is and building synergies around it is what CP seems to be doing though, which works fine.
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That’s such a faulty logic. You can’t just take a part of the card and compare it to something similar, but in an entirely different context for the sake of evaluation. Might as well compare Songweaver to Kara’s BBS, or Primus Fist to Argeon’s. Sure it’s super convenient but that doesn’t make it a good comparison. It’s just lazy and false.
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The cost of the card starhorn draws (for himself) should be reduced by 1
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There’s a bigger problem- Blaze Hound’s ability is exactly starhorn’s. Primus fist’s OG is temporary, worse than argeon’s, songweaver is 1 nearby minion, not all minons in your hand.
Because of that we can evaluate it. Let’s pretend ‘you and your opponent draw one’ is worth one mana. Then blaze hound’s body is 4/3 for 2? That’s pretty fantastic. Truth is 4/3 is the stat baseline at 3 mana from the 3 mana golem, and blaze hound pays 0 mana for its ability. There’s the extra advantage of Starhorn’s ability being available for certain, and being separate of a body, but those too can be evaluated.
Primus Fist also pays effectively nothing for its ability, having the same stat total as the golem at its mana cost, with more stats in health which is arguably better. Argeon pays 1 mana to make the buff permanent, and to have the separate/certain bonus. So just the separate/certain bonus isn’t worth a whole mana.
All the other generals get something extra for the cost. Cassy in comparison to bloodtear gets creep generation. Riva’s heartseeker is a spell, granting it much more synergy. All the other generals aren’t close enough to an existing minion/spell to be easily comparable, but the bbs’ are better than what is available- lilithe pays less than swarm for her lings (albeit with the drawback of randomness), Ziran heals one more than mystic (albeit not generals), Faie hits the entire column rather than one spot like CC (albeit only on the general and no dispell)-- eh these comparisons are getting worse. I think the point is clear- for being in the category of having a direct comparison to an existing card, Starhorn’s bbs is the only one that gets nothing more, and the only one that also benefits the opponent too, making it by design, permanently until it’s changed or everything else gets nerfed, the bottom of the barrel in bbs’s.
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By virtue of being 1 mana and available every two turns, it is far more flexible, so I’d argue it’s worth more than the effect when tied to a 3 mana 4/3 body. It allows starhorn to draw and make a move with ample mana left.