Reincarnate vs Feign Death

[Sarcon]

Hey, everyone. I don't often make threads but I had a Hearthstone game go horribly awry and it made me notice something.

Why does Feign Death cost the same as Reincarnate when it essentially has the same effect, yet it effects ALL of your minions rather than just one? I'm certainly not suggesting FD is too strong as it's very situational, and often if you play it you've probably already won anyway. But, how can this be considered balanced?

I don't have much else to say about it, just curious what other people think.

[Raiju]

2 sides of the argument:

Different classes are different. See Mortal Strike vs Fireball

Power creep

[Faltemer]

Well reincarnate can be used for a lot other stuff (charges, bring taunts to full health, etc). This would be the main reason.
While feign death is very limited. Plus they are two different classes so even remotely similar stuff can be wildly different.

[Drang]

One card against another card of course you're going to see weird stuff. You gotta look at the bigger picture! Reincarnate can combo with Ancestral Spirit to create some interesting situations. On top of that you've gotta look in to things like board wipes and other spells available to each class.

[Sarcon]

Yeah, I agree with the whole "different classes are different" thing. Other cards effect each others power and balance, which is why MS is outclassed by fireball, because warrior already has other strong removal. That's why no one uses mortal strike. It could use a redesign which it won't ever get.

I just feel like, despite reincarnates other situational uses that Faltemer pointed out, it's still way outclassed by FD and does not effect the balance of other cards.

[kaiadam]

Reincarnate actually kills the minion, then resummons it. Activating the deathrattle is a side effect. All feign death does is activate the deathrattle. There are many mechanics that interact with death itself, not just deathrattle. Things that reincarnate does that feign death can't:

1.) Effectively heals the minion.
2.) Reenables charge attacks.
3.) Reapplies divine shield.
4.) Activates on-death effects like cult master, kel thuzad, and ancestral spirit.
5.) Activates on-summon effects like knife juggler.
6.) "Unsilences" a minion
7.) Activates deathrattles on opposing minions (eg. deathlord)
8.) Forces the minion to reposition on the very right side of the board.
9.) "Silences" a buffed (or debuffed) minion (eg. Twilight drake -> 4/1, Van Cleef -> 2/2, removes follow da rules, etc.)

Probably more but those are the effects I can recall off the top of my head.

Shaman have class cards that interact with nearly every additional feature. Ancestral spirit, flametongue totem, al'akir, etc. Overall, both are weak cards but reincarnate is actually somewhat playable whereas feign death is just bad.

[Sarcon]

Reincarnate actually kills the minion, then resummons it. Activating the deathrattle is a side effect. All feign death does is activate the deathrattle. There are many mechanics that interact with death itself, not just deathrattle. Things that reincarnate does that feign death can't:

1.) Effectively heals the minion.
2.) Reenables charge attacks.
3.) Reapplies divine shield.
4.) Activates on-death effects like cult master, kel thuzad, and ancestral spirit.
5.) Activates on-summon effects like knife juggler.
6.) "Unsilences" a minion
7.) Activates deathrattles on opposing minions (eg. deathlord)
8.) Forces the minion to reposition on the very right side of the board.
9.) "Silences" a buffed (or debuffed) minion (eg. Twilight drake -> 4/1, Van Cleef -> 2/2, removes follow da rules, etc.)

Probably more but those are the effects I can recall off the top of my head.

Shaman have class cards that interact with nearly every additional feature. Ancestral spirit, flametongue totem, al'akir, etc.

Can't really argue with 9 solid examples of situational uses. I still feel like FD might be a little too cheap, but I don't really see it enough to consider it much of a problem. I guess people shy away from it because its not often you'll be able to really benefit from it.

[Faltemer]

Can't really argue with 9 solid examples of situational uses. I still feel like FD might be a little too cheap, but I don't really see it enough to consider it much of a problem. I guess people shy away from it because its not often you'll be able to really benefit from it.

I haven't seen it once, and with it costing two, it means you either have to have multiple (I would argue 3) low cost deathrattles out consistently, or a big one+one other. I mean 2 mana for sylv effect is great. But 2 mana for sludge and web spinner is probably under budget. Plus it takes up a card slot or two.

[Ham on Rye]

Can't really argue with 9 solid examples of situational uses. I still feel like FD might be a little too cheap, but I don't really see it enough to consider it much of a problem. I guess people shy away from it because its not often you'll be able to really benefit from it.

People shy away from it because Hunters have already won the game by turn 6 or 7 when the card might be useful in the first place, so they don't bother running it.

[cyberglum]

The cynic in me says its cheaper because its a Hunter card.


/sarcasm