Hearthstone Keyword Tierlist! 

For me invoke and galakron in general felt like when HS really committed to the idea of “we’re gonna print 6+ cards as a package and you either run all of them or none of them because they are useless individually” which really took a lot of expression out of deckbuilding

I know discard is not a keyword, but it feels like it should be here

I like corpse because it kinda forces you to fight for the board which many people complained about a lot, was missing from hearthstone. I'd give it an a

My only issue with videos like these is that there is a lack of consistency when judging the cards. For Questline you said that they could be good, that it was just some of the cards that were bad and the design behind them. However for Echo just "Yeah all the echo cards were bad so echo was bad" when in theory you COULD design could echo cards. It was the same when you were doing your 'best card ever in Hearthstone'. You were judging the card in their current iteration but when you got to Patches you just were all in on how he use to be and how he warped the meta then and he ended up winning.

For someone that has played magic for a long time, people HATE their stuff getting countered. It's a necessary evil against combos and degenerate gameplay, but man, people hate not being able to cast their cards.

The Druid colossal showed up in deathrattle Druid for a while. Was a nice target for reveler to pull that didnt screw up your death blossom turns. The armor also helped slow things enough to get your board clears up. Really, all the colossal cards were good. I hope they introduce more at some point

I have to hard disagree on Rush. I found the mechanic was one of the the things that drove me away from HS. It sped the game up tremendously and made having a board harder and less predictable. It feels too widely distributed and makes the game into "whoever can make their rush creature stick." I also dislike Discover when it's a large pool of things, making the game unpredictable and inconsistent. You can probably see why I don't play HS anymore.

What rarran said about inspire is what I have always said. Similar to forge, If it had better effects it would be a better mechanic, thus my hot take a while ago This was a fun video to listen to all the different keywords over the years

Overheal as mechanic is fine for minions, but for spells and the level of payout they put on it, it needs to only work on themselves. Or at least that it need to heal something as well. Overheal already full health minions of the opponent is what currently allows 10+ card draws or 20-mana turns.

I disagree that Discover is fine to play against, and it's exactly for what you stated at the start for it: there's too many good discover cards, which makes it so often the best result you can get from a Discovery is another Discover card. And getting your strategy destroyed because the opponent discovered a card that discovered another card that discovered yet another card that perfectly ruined your day, but you didn't play against because why would your opponent have access to a card from another class is even less fun than losing because the opponent top-decked their 1-of counter in their deck.

Rarran said magnetic was like a charge, but worse. Me personally, I believe it is actually better. It has a better risk vs reward aspect. It gives your opponent options to outplay it and has a better payoff if your opponent can't answer it imo.

it's not clear how the tier list was based on: strenght now/ strenght overall, design, personal preference etc...

Enjoyable video, but it grinds my gears when a tier list is made without the trait being graded is explained.

my only noteworthy take on this video is that my opinion on overload has risen drastically over the years. back in the day it was just a boring restriction that felt bad, but now we have a lot of fun ways to interact with it that make it feel a little bit more like a resource management minigame, which is just a lot more engaging. they go a bit overboard sometimes though

I really like the Cascade keyword in magic the gathering which is very similar to the Recruit mechanic in heathstone. But in heathstone it just felt like, okay I’m just mana cheating extra stats, where as if they had gone with more of the cascade style (where you can cascade into another cascade into another cascade) but the down side was you could cascade into something a lot weaker it would have been more fun. In heathstone you just recruit the exact mana card recruit says whereas cascade you ‘recruit’ a card that’s specifically weaker/less mana than the card you cast. However cascade also worked a lot better as there were colour restrictions that made it a lot harder to cast where as recruit, as soon as you hit the right mana total you always play it no matter what. Wish they had done more with it somehow

Seeing all the old keywords made me remember an idea i had the other day; What if, on hearthstone’s 10th anniversary (so for the first expansion of next year), we got a hearthstone world tour expansion which featured some (or all) of the past keywords/themes and include some good oldies as part of the core set. As someone who’s been here for years I’d love to take a walk down memory lane!

You should do a magic school tier list, like Frost, Fire, Fel, etc

Echo was in witchwood cause witches are about cycles and repeating and echoing the past.

They should replace the "get a random bonus effect" to Adapt

Man, I didn't realize how many keywords there were. And now tell new players this game is super easy to understand and then show them that (I realize there is a Standard rotation for a reason).

Rarran, you forgot about Enrage and Elusive.

from a design standpoint id totaly aggree on the b tier for charge but when it comes to strength charge AS A KEYWORD is its own tier. Charge was on so many cards that either had enormous drawbacks or were really expensive. even pirate smite wasnt good as a card it was just broken when it was summoned for free. Blizzard keeps cards with charge weak on purpose because of the destructive nature of the keyword

I member vicious fledgling being an arena menace, to the point they messed with the appearance rates because coining into it was usually gg

Take a shot every time Rarran says mini-game

Frenzy was a bit of a dud, but I had a lot of fun with it in Warrior. Warsong Envoy was a beast in the initial enrage package before he rotated out. Its main problem was it relied on your minion sutviving damage/surviving a turn, and most players just picked them off before the enrage could be a factor. And regarding Nathria, I loved it. My only real issue with it was Denathrius, specifically how effective he was in Druid decks. But I loved the theme and loved the keywords. A-tier set for me.

I think it would be interesting to have a card have like...Frenzy,Overkill,Honorable Kill cause they pretty much all do the same thing in different ways

Overload is all fun and games until you play duels and they just cant be overloaded

Charge belongs at the bottom IMO. If you print a mechanic intending it to be a core part of the game, find out it's a balance nightmare, almost immediately drastically reduce your usage of it, and then a few years later decide to make a new mechanic just to replace it, that's a failed mechanic. The problem with charge isn't that it's broken on the cards it appears on, it's that it was designed to be a fundamental game mechanic but it was hard to make charge minions that weren't broken. Charge is bad because it limits design space.

It would be good if Dredge was as good in heartstone as it is in MTG.

I will forever remember my opponent going coin innervate innervate flappy bird flappy bird. Fun times.

Should add description of keyword on screen for a moment so everyone would know what they do. For those who dont play anymore or just started

Choose one should never have been a Druid-exclusive keyword, it’s way too fundamental of a mechanic and I feel like this restriction really hurt its potential. Imagine having a keyword like discover locked behind a class, it just feels wrong.

I love overkill. Setting it up feels nice, and sometimes you are rewarded for it. The cards it was bolted to were pretty bad tho

Hot take, but I don't like Rush, in a way that it is in tyhe game currently. My problem is that rush cards rarely feature any stats down or downside for having rush. Basically, they add versatility and adaptability, without any cost to it.

I don’t hate counter effects especially in a game where you can be winning the entire game and then die from hand lmao

- Adapt is B, is basicaly weak but flexible battlecry, back when stronger minions were good enough to make a deck (most of them that was what they were). - Charge is D as a top 3 the most game breaking keyword, for the first like 4 sets, there was undertaker and things that had charge as most obnoxious decks to deal with. "Most of the times charge is fine" but they all got nerfed or removed out of the meta, and forces minions to be so weak they will never see play. - Choose one is boosted up because is basicaly class specific and has archtypes around it forcing good and cool cards out. - Collosal is really cool because we have Hero cards, but this were the first true "Boss" cards, even force spawning "limbs" when summoned unlike battlecry who only did when played from hand. - Combo is really cool, fair and thematic. - Corrupt and Infuse arent just a way to make the game slower and not less fun with it, but also make what would be dead cards past a certain point, be relevant in your hand for a longer period. - Counter doesnt as much suffer from Objection as it gains from Okani, is bad. Carried by Okani, the only counter that has a minigame that alows you to deal with it, instead of flatly invalidating a play. - On Dredge, people usually talk about "removing a card from the top is like removing a card from the bottom of your deck with a dopamine boost", but Dredge isnt because you were probably not going to play that card, and rescuing it gives you a chance at saving that card that is cool to play that you put on your deck. You risk missing and moving it one back or hitting and moving it to a top deck. - Echo, like Charge, was too strong to print real strong cards. - I think Finale with more support could be such an awesome kewword. It influences the way a turn is played, makes order matter without needing your opponent playing minions or secrets. Basically like a mini combo. - I think Forge is basically faster corrupt but with more fun cards and support cards around it. Still really cool though. - Freeze is either broken or an after thought. How many reviews people go like "Oh, is a card that also freezes". I think both glacial shard and cone were cool freeze cards. I'd say it's D overall. - Honorable kill is D for how boring and terrible it is, maybe it's not the keyword being terrible but with how many cards there are you would like a couple good ones... - I'd say Immune is really well managed, B. Outside Ice block and timeout, and makes for really cool weapon and warlock cards. - All Secrets are there for you to not play optimal in your turn. the problem with the ones shown is that they are basicaly throw away cards that you eventually proc, some have gotten to the point of "if your opponent plays the game you get a mediocre but cheap effect" with no real meaning to the disruption they were meant to create originaly. - Spellburst was cool but not that cool, i'd say A. Outcast, Secrets, Combo or Chose one were better. - Even spirte Baku, Start of Game is such a cool and interesting (and hard to make fun, design wise) effect that it has to be S tier. No one will be against more Start of Game effects, specially with how well they have done it lately.

I always really really hated Counterspell, but liked Okani. I still hate Counterspell. I also hate Objection. I would like both of them removed. Okani at least requires a bare modicum of decision making. (Also it should be a Choose One)

Deathrattle in itself is S-tier, but I had given it A-tier due to how they never learn to resist to add cheats to it. Colossus is a bit like Counter, the keyword is bad but because there only 12 cards and they managed to get about eight of those right it don't seem that bad. Dredge is fine but dumb right now, due to support cards. Right now it like a B but it would be A without other cards that put or buffs cards at the bottom.

Questlines shouldn't have been; "Step 1: Play 2 Pirates, Step 3: Play 2 Pirates, Step 3: Play 2 Pirates. They should've been ideas like: Step 1: Play 2 Pirates Step 2: Play 2 Beasts Step 3: Play 2 Dragons With questlines like that you actually form a unique deck with disadvantages that you're forced to build around for a great reward, rather than a deck with no disadvantages and all upside.

dormant also isn’t here, where would you put it?

Many of you dont know probably what is the biggest issue here, many classes dont get specific keywords. Every class has should have atleast 2-3 cards in each expansion plus some neutrals.

"Start of game" and "rest of game" is two of the main reasons I quit playing HS. Along with the linear quest it's the worst crap they ever put into the game. They also need to scale back on the discover mechanic as it (in it's current iteration) makes it impossible to play around ANYTHING and practically removes any skill in the game.

Adapt also had that stupid dinosaur for murlocs. It was a whole T1 deck.

Rarran complete a video that he has a disscussion without opening MS paint challenge impossible Love the content, Rarran, Never change

Titans: Good batch this first time. Yogg Unleashed already a sign of downhill from here. Tentacles more or less a form of Lackeys. Looking at Magic the Gatherings Planewalkers, the history there would also suggest it is best if it stays on this small amount.

why dont you post this on your main channel?

What happened to jade golems??

8:37 what are you even saying? Lmao the whole point of a counter is to completely deny your thing. It's not supposed to feel good on the receiving end. You got got and it is what it is.

"Corpses are fun to play with, for spice." - Rarran

“Corpses are fun to play with” - Rarran 2023

So not tiering on strength, but on design?

try this deck out sometime, hella fun, but you always match against unholy dk, thus the blademaster okani for that 5 mana spell that summons five 2/2 rushers. hold your turn the tides to finish the opponent off with your windfury weapons. this deck likes melomania but i dont maindeck it in this version. ### Victorious Shaman # Class: Shaman # Format: Standard # Year of the Wolf # # 2x (1) Piranha Swarmer # 2x (1) Schooling # 2x (1) Shock Hopper # 1x (1) Sir Finley, Sea Guide # 2x (1) Victorious Vrykul # 2x (2) Anchored Totem # 1x (2) Astalor Bloodsworn # 2x (2) Celestial Projectionist # 2x (3) Lightning Storm # 2x (3) Piranha Poacher # 2x (3) Reefwalker # 2x (3) Turn the Tides # 1x (4) Blademaster Okani # 2x (4) Grimtotem Buzzkill # 2x (5) Doomhammer # 1x (6) Golganneth, the Thunderer # 2x (6) Horn of the Windlord # AAECAZnDAwTlsATHsgTipAWN9QUN/Z8E/p8E+rQE4LUE4rUEvbYEircE9ugFjusFnfYFh/sF44AG7JUGAAA= # # To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone

You know rarran aint a wild player when he puts colossal in S-tier

As a hearthstone boomer that's come back to pkay about once a year, I think discover is both what makes hearthstone what it is, and also the reason I hate the game now. Back in ungoro, I liked it more, pools were typically fairly narrow and it felt like it gave midrange/control strategies a longer grind and more value, but at this point they print like, cards that would be good without discover and then it'll say some shit like "discover a card that your opponent would have to Google to see" and it feels like you're giga punished for not having complete knowledge of the card pool of the entire game and makes it basically impossible to play around your opponent's strategy.

I’m sad they didn’t give bunch of bananas and barrel of monkeys the correct text of “Twinspell Twinspell”

You missed "when this is summoned," cannot be targeted by spells or hero powers, end of turn, and beginning of turn.

Where is execute?

Cant be targeted by hero power or spells

Where was enrage?

A few things: Adapt is total trash. It never feels good to play, just because it's so unreliable to get the wanted buff. Same with Spare Parts. (And if Spare Parts is a keyword, what about Dream Card... Or Death Knight Cards... or Ungoro Pack?) Discover is cool, but I always hear that people does not like getting killed by "discovered by > discovered by > ..." So too much discover means total randomness, and then you feel like skill does not matter at all. Spell Damage is such a miss imo. It has always been used as a combo tool (Ilgynoth Demon Hunter or Maly Druid or Mozaki Mage). If it was a control tool I'd feel different, but the fact that I only see Spell Damage cards before my hero explodes... does not leave good memories.

Counter imo is just D tier. I dont care how fun the legendary minion is the mechanic is just D tier. And for me personally deathrattle is gotta be BY far the best mechanic in the game. I love death rattles. I play a dude, he dies but i get something, feels good. If my opponent doesnt like that they can silence it. Feels good for them too. Its just the perfect keyword.

Is it just me or did you miss dormant?

dude where are the locations

Am I the only one who is curious who Ryan is? Unless I'm missing out on some context here...

Hope Ryan was able to change his laundry ok. Edit: he got his sheets ok!

silence in S is pretty weird

Hot take excavate is just invoke but better.

Murloc Knight was good

quests = S tier sidequests = high A tier quest lines = easy D tier

Discover is super unfun to fight against especially in arena. Just having a random +1 ( without drawback ) for your opponent is a really bad game design for a card game where people should strategize and it is a big reason why Hearthstone is becoming worse and worse. Before you had a good idea what your opponent is going to play but now it feels like luck has a bigger impact on your games.

Thanks for the video, but not putting Inspire in D is unforgivable.

24:22 As a ql druid main, in current wild, it is very powerful, but not broken. It has weaknesses, but not so few. I feel that it is underrated both in terms of fun factor and power level.

LOCATION?!?!

How many adderalls did he take? Bro was zooming

Meanwhile, I loved Lackeys.

Questline rouge is still my favorite Rouge deck but the other Questline are just so stupid.

if they removed battlecries the game would probably be balanced

Rarran i love your videos dude but OUTCAST IS NOT BETTER THAN MANATHIRST MY GOD

Bro is a warlock player and forgot about discard 💀

Kind of stupid that you put Battlecry in S and TITAN in A considering titans are basically minions with multiple battlecries which you can choose from all while habing a slight chance to do it again next turn

Anyone else seeing ~40k views but ~250k likes?

hard disagree on discover btw literally just killed arena by itself. is an f tier keyword

Charge at b? Reported for spreading miss information

My biggest issue with Charge being a keyword is that it isn't used enough to warrant a keyword, and its other design issues of uninteractivity and OTK potential prevent it from being used regularly. On top of that, Rush is largely a "fixed" version of Charge, which makes Charge as a keyword seem largely redundant. My solution would be to just replace all instances of Charge with "Can attack immediately."

Colossal should be D tier. Or have it's own "not a keyword" tier. If knowing what the keyword does isn't enough to understand what the card does then you've failed your job as a keyword, no matter how good the mechanic end up playing.

Hate quest's the worst mechanic!

Discover ruined hearthstone. Random bullshit you cant play around

First?