State Of The Magmar 3 (28/09): Revenge of the Mandrake

[misanthropovore]

Right, it’s been nearly a month and people have had time to experience the changes and non-changes Shim’Zar brought. How do we feel about Magmar now?

I’ll start off with some initial questions:

1. How do you feel the expansion has impacted Magmar as a faction (e.g.: Are they in a worse/better place now than before, Have you changed your decks a lot/not at all).

2. Which cards do you perceive as staple/must includes for Magmar decks and which ones do you feel are lackluster.

3. Do you believe Starhorn is a viable general after Shim’Zar?

Then we have some more specific cards we can go into:

4. Do you still see a lot of Sister Taygete? Has her nerf impacted her appearance in your decks?

5. Are Egg decks viable? Should this archetype be pursued? (this includes talking about the Silithar family of cards as well)

6. Wild interceptor, do you use it? is it viable?

7. Flaming Stampede, do you use it? Is it viable?

EDIT:
8) Moloki Huntress and the Grow Archetype? Viable?

DO NOT FEEL LIMITED BY THESE QUESTIONS, FEEL FREE TO TALK ABOUT ANYTHING MAGMAR RELATED.

For completeness sake I’ll also include the questions from the First State of the Magmar Thread:

2.How do you feel about the adjusted/nerf cards Taygete,Veteran Slithar ,Elder Silthar?

3.Are you happy with the direction of Magmar cards? Do you think Starhorn got enough support?

4.What is the most successful deck you have so far tried so far?What would recommend people try?

I’ll also include the standard Disclaimer:

This is not a complaint thread. This is a discussion thread about the state of the Magmar faction.
Yes your opinion can be negative but those opinions should be expressed in a constructive way. Be civil towards one another and assume good faith from other posters in the thread. We’re all passionate about the game and this discussion is for the benefit of the game in the long term.

Previous threads can be found here:
State of the Magmar
State of the Magmar: After Shimzar

[deekester]

1. I think it’s made them much more aggressive with mandrakes and thumping wave

2. Thumping wave, Makantor, mandrake, taygete, and young silithar (rip veteran QQ)

3. no

4. Yes, she’s still auto include status imo

I havn’t played eggmar at all but from what i’ve seen on the ladder and from posting on the forums, here are my opinions on the egg questions:

5. No, the nerf to veteran silithar was too much. if they maybe buffed it to 4 health or gave us another good midgame egg minion eggmar might be viable

6. i don’t own any, so i can’t say

7. same as inceptor

[baharoth]

1. They got a nice boost with Twave and Mandrake but i’d say compared to other factions they got weaker with shimzar simply because other factions powered up much more.

2. Pretty much the same cards that were a must before + Thumping wave and Mandrake. Gro is also a very good choice for most decks.

3. Yes i do, imo he is the better general for aggomar because he allows you to play without card draw in your deck, that opens up space for more aggressive cards. And when your goal is to win at 6 mana there isn’t much point to use Vaath as he can’t really capitalize on his BBS in such short games.

4. Still an autoinclude and still dispeleater number 1 in any Magmar deck. When playing her normaly the nerf doesn’t have much of an effect, there are a few key cards like Cryo und Falcius that can kill her now but outside of that the difference in health isn’t such a big deal. However, flashing her out has become a much weaker play than it used to because 2 health is alot easier to remove than 3 health was.

5. Unless they make a complete rework of pretty much all the Egg cards, no its not viable.

6 + 7) Clearly not. Stampede is crap and Inceptor would need a viable Egg based Deck, which doesn’t exist.

[oranos]

i think starhorn is more viable with the flood of low cost battle pets from shimzar, but eggmar is bad.

im basically running the same aggro deck with thumping wave and mandrake. thumping wave+sojourner = one very dead kron. thumping wave + makantor is monstrous.

taygete is still better than most of the other sisters
veteran is terrible, its just a young silithar + primus fist effect - the 2/3 body that comes with primus. it wasnt OP back when it had 5 health. to make it viable again, they need to either bump it up to 4-5 health or drop the cost to 3.

[jeezboozxd]

1. Magmar is generally weaker than the other factions due to Shimzar. Decks haven’t changed much except the inclusion of Gro, Thumping wave and/or Mandrake which encourages an aggressive playstyle.
   Personally, I dislike how CP is pushing Magmar to be more aggressive despite originally advertising them to be “…big, slow, and powerful…”; which they aren’t anymore due to many significant nerfs to Magmar’s late game and reactive potential over the course of this game.

2. Makantor Warbeast will always be a staple in any and all Magmar decks, it’s just proves how powerful Frenzy, together with Rush, is in many scenarios. Other staples I’ve seen include Young Silthar, Thumping wave and Mandrake.

3. He definitely better in an aggro or janky combo shell, but he’s still so much weaker than Vaath in most decks. Changing his BBS to make him draw a card would make him so much viable.

4. She used to be a staple, but with the nerf and the new power creep of other factions, I don’t see her used as much. She’s too easily removed now and her body left behind after dispel is weak.
   I personally think her nerf should be reverted, people just whined about her and looked at her in a vacuum.

5. No, their aren’t any good Egg support card. The only “good” support is Leviathan, but its so underwhelming because it’s overcosted and under-stated. His effect should just be moved on to a cheaper high health minion, while he should be turned into the late game power creep we all wanted.

6. Wild Interceptor is in the Magmar’s oversaturated 4 mana spot and doesn’t provide powerful enough effect and body to be considered.

7. Flaming Stampede sounds like a it should be like this card from MTG: http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=405334&type=card
   Big pump-spell for all your minions.
   But in its current form it’s garbage. And that’s an insult to garbage.

8. Moloki huntress should get a simply +1/+1 buff and it would make Grow Archetype more Viable. But more importantly, new cards should add effects to bolster/protect minion’s with grow.

Play KeeperMar its hella fun.

[excogitator]

1. Magmar got some amazing new tools, such as Thumping wave, Mandrake, and Grow. However, that was pretty much all they got from the expansion. So far, Magmar has been a very one-track faction, focusing on aggro and burst instead of control or eggs. The faction is far from weak and can hold its own against any other faction, but there is not much you can do with it outside of aggro.

2. Faction Staples: Young Silithar, Mandrake Thumping Wave, Makantor Warbeast. These are at the core of almost all Magmar decks.

Neutral Staples: Sunsteel Defender, Kron (of course)

3. Nope.

4. Taygete has changed from a versatile card to a face card. Of course, this doesn’t matter too much since most Magmar decks aim to go face nowadays.

5. Nature’s Confluence was a card that, when first revealed, stirred up a lot of hype. Now, it seems pretty mediocre since threats that want to take damage (forcefield, Nimbus, Walls, Lantern Fox,Taygete, Frostiva, Battle Panddo, etc.) are pretty common

[khuma]

1. Dissapointed, we remain viable but it feels like for every tiny buff we get, other stuff gets nerfed to the ground. Out of all the factions we got the worst legendaries in Shim´zar.

2. Staples: Mandrake and Thumping wave. Everything else feels lackluster except for GRO, Huntress and Morin Khur.

3. Fuck Starhorn, no one likes him for a reason. Counterplay should stop forcing the worst BBS and rework it. The rework to Vindicator, the only good 3 mana minion we had and my favorite card, was a low blow( I don’t even play MECHS).

4)Obviously still running it since its the only viable 3-4 mana minion we have, reduced it to x2 though. Taygete nerf was unnecessary, 4 hp made her too weak for flash reincarnation and much easier to get rid of(Cryogenesis) while leaving a weak body if dispelled.

5)Not likely with the Veteran nerf and the shit support Shim’zar brought apart from the remake.

6)No, it should be 3 mana, have better stats/rebirth or be reworked to help eggs survive.

7. Worst 8 mana card in the game, no need to explain further.

8. Moloki seems fine but having no real early game options (uncontrollable 2 mana, weak 3 mana) and no synergy with flash reincarnation makes the Archetype look unviable still.

Veteran was overkill, it wasn’t even that strong. Dies to lower mana creatures and dispels leave an underwhelming body.

Elder Silithar is fine I guess, easier to get rid of but more dangerous. Don’t think its worth the 7 mana though, 6 would be good.

I’m actually furious the way they keep pushing card draw effects just so the shittiest general could one day be somewhat viable, not to mention the low blow that was the Vindicator rework(my favorite card).

Being a Magmar main is suffering, we have recieved nothing but nerfs since I started playing on October 2015, the only meaningful buffs we got before Shimzar were 1 mana Frenzy(which was reverted back in the next patch) and Taygete(now nerfed). The change to 1 card draw hit us the hardest, a lot of old cards that were viable and balanced are basically useless now (Dampening wave, Fortitude, Fractal) while we sit on a collection of awkward cards that will never see play like Phalanxar, tremor and gazer. Counterplay refuses to give us a draw engine (dance of dreams is a joke) and remake old cards for the sake of money. It’s incredible how so many useless cards exist in a digital card game, while they vomit new cards every month that are a direct upgrade of other cards.

P.S. I’m salty as fuck, R.I.P. Vindicator.

[pyrotakun]

1. Expansion didn’t do too much imo. There’s a couple new cards that are nice, but the nerfs to the old staples really hurt. My decks have changed, but not too much.

2. Which cards do you perceive as staple/must includes for Magmar decks and which ones do you feel are lackluster.
   Makantor, Thumping Wave, Young Silithar, Mandrake, and Taygete are all staples
   Too many lackluster cards for me to list

3. Starhorn will never be viable until they rework him. His BBS is hurts the Starhorn player wayyy too much. Spend 1 mana to draw a card that your opponent gets for free. Oh, btw, by the time he gets to use it on his turn he gets +1 mana which is basically 2 more mana to work with than the turn you get the draw. They keep making minions to support Starhorn, but it’s a futile effort with all the removals and dispells.

4. Taygete’s nerf aren’t enough to take her out of my decks, and I don’t really see a decrease in usage, but it still blows.

5. Eggs aren’t very viable imo. They’re too weak to stay on board, and all the egg support cards cost lots of mana, so any decent egg combo shows up too late to do anything.

6. In the current state of Eggmar, Wild Inceptor isn’t good.

7. I don’t use it, so I can’t really say. It’s more situational than the other cards I play though, I’ll say that.

8. Moloki Huntress and the Grow Archetype is fun and has decent potential. I think it needs a little more support. It’s definitely fun though.

I think what would really be a godsend for Magmar would to be have a card that prevents a minion from being dispelled. I know that’s basically a weakness that every archtype has, but dispells just wreck Magmar a lot harder than the other factions. (Especially Moloki/ Grow archtype.)

[phayze]

dispells just wreck Magmar a lot harder than the other factions.

Not here to really comment, but I’d say Vet gets messed up pretty bad by dispells.

[oshigawa]

I need more Shim’Zar cards to properly comment on the topic but here are some thoughts.

Mandrake is auto-include, a staple card now, what else to say.

Starhorn is better then ever now that we have battle pets.

Flaming Stampede is a complete miss, it’s too expensive to be comboed.

I would like to, but i don’t thing egg decks will be viable anytime soon. I like the buff that the eggs now hatch sooner, but it didn’t help much. I liked to play a magmar which would pickup all the mana spring balls with planar scouts and bloodtear alchemists in the first turn, and while the enemy is having fun with 3-4 minion in his first/second turn, i unleash Chrysalis Burst. It is amazing how much luck do you need to get at least one egg hatched. But if it works, it’s an auto win. But that’s not a competitive deck and can’t be relied on.

I am working on a deck with Zukong, Moloki Huntress, Nature’s Confluence and lots of battle pets, i think there’s a good, competitive deck based on that principle somewhere out there.

[locoblutaxt]

If the Devs planned to make the factions more diversified with Shimzar they failed hard with Magmar. We now have exactly one archetype (Midrange) which is viable now. But, yeah, Midrange works good in Gold and Diamond (can’t talk of S-Rank).
With Thumping Wave and Mandrake we got two staples. Nerf of Taygete was unnecessary as hell and made her the first card I cut if I need space in my decks. Veteran was nerfed to the maybe worst 4-drop in the game. Wild Inceptor - WTF?!? Most probably I wouldn’t play him at 3 Mana.
All legendaries we got are pretty useless which makes me angry. The artifact (In the moment I don’t know the name - which is really a shame for a Magmar main but tells everything about it) has probably the most potential if Eggmar becomes something in future which I really hope.

While I see a lot of Starhorn in the S-Rank replay section I still don’t think he’s competitive. It’s my believe that CP wants to push him this way showing us “See: He’s played in S-Rank so he is good.” But I can be wrong. I don’t have hope they change his BBS. They care more about other factions so I’m pretty sure he’s not at the top of their to-do-list.

All in all: While Meta settled a bit this hasn’t changed something to the state of Magmar. As I said: Midrange is still pretty playable but Shimzar made Magmar the most one-sided faction in the game and so the expansion is a big disappointment to me.

[jeezboozxd]

Mandrake is auto-include, a staple card now, what else to say.

Except in Solo Vaath/ KeeperMar

[kirabi]

My thoughts

So day 1 new season only a couple games but the fun news is apparently flash reincarnation counts as general damage so quartermaster gajj doesn’t take damage from it.So I have been trying out a Ramp deck with him so far my theory has been working out what theory you ask

While Gajj is pretty weak you need a super specific answer to remove it and suprising amount people will not having it hand when they need it.

The worse scenario for gajj is someone uses a spell to remove it,If someone uses dispel or hard removal it is a kinda win because of sheer amount of things in my deck that needs to be dispelled between Kujuta, Sunsteel,Kron,Silthar Elder,and Kyhmera.Anyways I am not getting to attached to flash reincarnation gajj.

I tried out Dustwailer which felt pretty solid I think it going to be better than people think,I need to play around with some more but the fact it does 3 damage and Magmar has access to thumping wave gives it decent reach.

I played against one nightwatcher wasn’t really effective I just ignored it for the most part.It didn’t do anything special other than stop the rush token from Kron.

[misanthropovore]

Right I started the thread and sort of let it lapse a little, then I had to go to the hospital for a while so it’s been a few weeks since I’ve been able to actually sit down and think about this thread. I’m going to do my best to summarize what I’ve read here.

Overall the expansion was lackluster for Magmar, the general feeling from people seems to be that CounterPlay is trying to make Magmar the Aggressive faction with the Shim’Zar cards. The nerfs to former staples and mediocre Magmar cards drastically reduced the number of possible decks Magmar can have. Some even feel Magmar Themes aren’t hit well enough now.

Overall, Vaath is still the more powerful General but Starhorn has found some support, though not as much as was expected. Starhorn has become slightly more viable through ‘vomiting’ out your hand, he’s still not considered great though.

The Egg/Rebirth archetype is currently unviable, most of the cards are too expensive for too little gain. Nobody runs Wild Inceptor, Nobody runs Flaming Stampede, Nobody runs Dreadnaught and Morin-Khur is only run very rarely. The only rebirth/egg cards that are being run are Young Silithar, Elder and Chrysalis Burst (sometimes).

Grow is in a similar situation, nobody runs any grow minions, except Gro. Moloki Huntress is seldom seen on the ladder, same goes for Earthwalker and Grimrock. Koloss is sometimes seen but again rarely.

The Magmar staples have remained the same as before in spite of the nerfs. Taygete is still run, but less so. Makantor, Elucidator and young Silithar are pretty much staple as well. The two new staples out of the whole set seem to be Thumping Wave and Mandrake. Many kind words have been spoken about Gro as well. Nobody used Veteran Silithar before and his nerfs have only decreased his presence. Many feel it is often better to play a Sunsteel than a Veteran. Elder is still played but the speed of the game makes it so that he is seldom seen when run.

Overall the Magmar players in this thread feel that the faction is currently in a bad spot. The faction did not get as many new toys to play with as other factions, our second general is still seen as ‘the worst general’ and some even feel that the faction’s options have been reduced due to Shim’Zar.

If someone disagrees with this summary feel free to comment and correct me, I’ll leave the thread be for another few days before trying to ask additional questions.