LOTI 263 : DoD – Shaman

Updates:

What did you do this week?

Quests?  Ranked play?  Fun Guaranteed with friends?

Espo:  

Vastidious: 40 Gold, 7835 Dust

News

* Masters Tour / Grandmaster Updates (source)* 6 events this year, up from 3* $250,000 in base prizes for each event* Will continue the crowdfunding initiative to bolster the prize pool beyond that* ESL/Dreamhack will be the trusted vendor for the events* #1 – Arlington, TX 1/31-2/2* #2 – Bali Indonesia – 3/20-3/22* #3 – Jönköping, Sweden – 6/12–6/14* #4 – TBD Asia-Pacific location – July/August* #5 – Montreal, Canada – 9/11-9/13* #6 – Spain – December* Grandmasters will be back for 2 seasons* First starts in April* Second in August* 8 weeks of play with some changes to the formats* Balance Update Incoming – As before once it’s live, adjusted cards available for full dust refunds for 2 weeks.* Standard Changes* Warlock* Fiendish Rites – Mana cost increased from 3 to 4* Warrior* Scion of Ruin – Mana cost increased from 3 to 4* Ancharrr – Durability reduced from 3 to 2* Shaman* Dragon’s Pack – Now reads, “…if you’ve invoked twice, give them +2/+2.” (reduced from +3/+3)* Invocation of Frost – Mana cost increased from 1 to 2* Rogue* Necrium Apothecary – Mana cost increased from 4 to 5* Neutral* Dragonqueen Alexstrasza – Battlecry effect can no longer generate Dragonqueen Alexstrasza* Battlegrounds Changes* This update includes several adjustments and more Heroes with more changes coming in the near future.  More details soon…..* Hero Changes* Shudderwock – Burbling: Cost reduced from 2 to 1* Queen Wagtoggle – Wax Warband: Give a random friendly Mech, Demon, Murloc and Beast +2 Attack. (instead of +1 Health)* Infinite Toki – Temporal Tavern: Cost reduced from 2 to 1. Now reads, “Refresh Bob’s Tavern. Include a Minion from a higher Tavern Tier.”* Patches the Pirate – Has returned to the Hero Pool. Fire the Cannons!: At the start of next combat, deal 4 damage to two random enemy minions. (increased from 3 damage)* Pyramad – Has returned to the Hero Pool. Brick by Brick: Give a random friendly minion +3 Health. (Increased from +2 Health)* Minions* Golden Soul Juggler – After a friendly Demon dies, deal 3 damage to a random enemy minion twice. (instead of 6 damage once)* Bug fix/Game Improvement* Battlegrounds – Selfless Hero’s Deathrattle, will now only affect minions that do not already have Divine Shield.* Arena – The appearance rate of cards in the draft have been updated to ensure class balance remains close to the ideal 50% win-rate.* Galakrond’s Awakening* Trailer – https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=10&v;=v52vjnf6nkg&feature;=emb_logo* Final solo adventure in the Year of the Dragon. Returns to the classic linear adventure format, progressing through the story by completing individual boss encounters in order. * Each story contains four chapters, each with three encounters for a total of 24 unique battles.* In each encounter you control one of the heroes or villains we’ve seen this year with a premade deck built for that encounter.* After you finish a chapter, you can try Heroic mode, where you can build your own deck to defeat it.* If you clear Heroic mode, you get 2 card backs, one for Explorers and one for E.V.I.L.* Rolls out on a weekly basis like before. When it launches you can play through both the League of Explorers and League of E.V.I.L. versions of the first chapter. The first E.V.I.L.