Pirate Galaxy » cks. Is a random Demon really good enough to

MacARTHUR: BLUE JAYS AND ORIOLES A RIVALRY RENEWED? TORONTO - Fans old enough to possess a keen sense of Blue Jays history must have smiled upon seeing Jose Bautista jaw at Orioles reliever Darren ODay on Saturday. There was the thrill of the moment, absolutely, as Bautista had snapped a 2-2 tie with his full count, two out, two-run home run in the eighth inning, propelling Toronto to a 4-2 win over Baltimore and a 10th-consecutive victory. ODay received his comeuppance for his behaviour on Friday night when, after striking out Bautista to end a sixth inning rally, he turned toward the outfielder and began screaming what were assumed to be unpleasantries. After Saturdays game, Bautista wasnt eager to play the accelerant to ODays pack of matches. "I told him just to keep talking like he was (Friday,") said Bautista of his message as he trotted down the third base line. "He kind of ran his mouth a little bit after he struck me out. I dont know where that came from but I didnt appreciate it and I let him know that yesterday and thats a little reminder today that I didnt appreciate it." As for personal history between the two, through an Orioles media relations official ODay wouldnt comment. Bautista pleaded ignorance. "Not that I know of," said Bautista. "Thats why I was caught off guard. I dont have a problem when pitchers celebrate getting a big out in a big inning but when youre staring at me yelling stuff and I cant really hear what youre saying, it upset me a little bit." Could this little back and forth between a Blue Jays star player and a usually dominant Orioles reliever be the first sign of a rivalry renewed? Maybe. After all, in order for a rivalry to exist both teams must expect success. Such a scenario is made possible by Torontos recent winning stretch. For the reader too young to remember the good old days and for the reader eager to take a trip down memory lane, a history lesson: 1989: The Blue Jays got off to a dreadful 12-24 start and replaced manager Jimy Williams with Cito Gaston. Meantime the Orioles, under manager Frank Robinson, were in a period of renewal after some dreadful seasons that followed their 1983 world championship. Baltimore either was tied for the lead or held sole possession of the lead in the American League East every day from May 23 to August 31. Thanks to winning summer months, including a 20-victory August, Toronto steadily climbed back into the race. Baltimore had remained relatively consistent, save for an 11-16 July. By the time the Orioles came to the SkyDome for a season-ending three-game series, the Jays had a one-game lead. Toronto won 2-1 on the Friday night to clinch a play-in tie for the division and then, thanks to a three-run eighth, won Saturdays game 4-3 to punch a ticket to the playoffs. That game is remembered for Tom Henkes game-ending strikeout of Baltimores Larry Sheets, which he followed with a celebratory fist pump shown on Jays highlight reels to this day. 1993: In its second season of existence, Oriole Park at Camden Yards played host to the All-Star Game. Gaston, having managed the Jays to the 1992 World Series championship, skipped the American League squad. Baltimore had a young right-hander by the name of Mike Mussina. Mussina, just 24 and in his second full season in the big leagues, was named to the AL pitching staff. Gaston hadnt planned to use him unless the game went to extra innings. In the ninth, with the AL cruising to a 9-3 victory, Mussina began to warm up in the bullpen. The hometown crowd assumed hed be brought in to pitch. It didnt happen. Gaston was vilified in Baltimore and heard jeers at Camden Yards for the remainder of his days as Jays manager. 1996: Prior to the season, Pat Gillick, the only general manager the Blue Jays had known through to the end of 1994 and the man who had built the back-to-back world championship teams, was hired to the same post by the Orioles. Not long after taking the job, Gillick signed Roberto Alomar away from Toronto and the Orioles would make the playoffs in both the 1996 and 1997 seasons. 2013: The rivalry dissipated in the late 1990s and through the 2000s. The Blue Jays and Orioles had become afterthoughts in a division dominated by the Yankees and Red Sox and later the Rays. Last year, the Orioles made the playoffs and had a winning record for the first time since 1997. No recounting of the Blue Jays offseason moves and sluggish start is needed. But the clubs current surge has it a game above .500 for the first time this season. The atmosphere in Rogers Centre this weekend lends to the big game feel. Both teams expect to win. Mix in a little bad blood and youve got the recipe for a rivalry renewed.Brian Urlacher Jersey . The Brazilian goalkeeper signed a loan deal with the Major League Soccer club on Friday as he looks to get playing time ahead of this summers World Cup in his home country. Khalil Mack Womens Jersey . Speaking Thursday on TSN 1050 Thursday, the Leafs GM also touched on the questions surrounding the teams leadership and the struggles of his big-name free-agent signing. “Its not from lack of effort from the coaching staff. http://www.bearsrookiestore.com/Bears-Brian-Urlacher-Jersey/ .com) - Yankee Stadium is the home of the Bronx Bombers, but on Sunday afternoon it will open its gates to host the latest addition of the Hudson River Rivalry. Gale Sayers Bears Jersey . With their top three point guards and Kobe Bryant all sidelined by injury, the Lakers signed Marshall out of the D-League on Friday before their home game against Minnesota. Mike Ditka Youth Jersey . That gave fans outside Joe Louis Arena another chance to ask for autographs from the 19-year-old whose stardom in the NHL has arrived earlier than most expected.As Gadgetzan hits the (virtual) stores, weve nearly reached the end of our review of the 132 cards that make up Hearthstones latest expansion release. The major mechanics of the set have already been revealed, now we look at the last minute releases, more cards that fill holes in various archetypes in Constructed or Arena, rather than meta-defining cards.We start out with Hobart Grapplehammer, a card that Im glad can only be a one-of, given that its a legendary. A two-mana 2/2 needs to have a good effect to see any play outside of Arena, but I think this is a good one in decks that use a lot of weapons (if you dont, you obviously wouldnt use Hobart). When you get this card off on turn two -- sometimes you dont have a Fiery Win Axe in your hand -- youre making those two weapons into 4/2s, starting your Gorehowl with 8 attack, or making a 4/4 Fools Bane. A dead card late in the game, but most low-mana cards are, even some terrific ones like Zombie Chow. Main downside for Hobart is that hes not as good in Pirate decks, which will play a lot of Rusty Hooks and the Aggro Pirate Warrior may just be a better deck (its looking good so far) than a low-curve midrange that would get the most from Hobart. But hell be around until 2018.Priest got most of the Dragon love in this expansion, but Wrathion fits into Dragon decks of any class as a source of high-potential card draw. Even if you draw just one card, the worst-case scenario for this card, assuming a drawn card is worth 1.5 mana, a 4.5-mana, 4/5 with taunt is hardly a disaster. Draw two or three or even more cards and this card is a value god. And since youre playing it at six mana, you should be able to play most cards you play fairly quickly.Genzo, the Shark fits the role of Jeeves, which got you up to three cards at the end of your turn (and your opponent after their turn). Though with a better statline at 5/4, the conditions make this a much worse card. You could play Jeeves in a situation in which you would definitely get three cards. You could choose to play Jeeves in a situation in which your opponent never got the card draw. But you cant do that with Genzo. If you get cards, so does your opponent, and while you can run a specific, aggressive deck that needs your cards refilled, odds are youll also give your opponent the answer they need. Too often, this is just nothing more than a volatile generic 5/4, which isnt good enough.Naga Corsair is essentially a slightly worse Captain Greenskin (he gives you +1 durability as well) thats slightly less expensive (Greenskin is a five-mana card). While thats typically not-so-good, Aggro Pirate Warrior actually has enough tools these days to be a quality deck, at least until people cut some of the greed out of the new Gadgetzan archetypes to deal better with aggressive decks like that. Its a fine choice though right now.Like Naga Corsair, Public Defender needs a particular deck archetype to exist and be playable. Bolster Warrior kind of hangs just on the edge of competitiveness, but with so many good Warrior decks, its hard to see this card deserving much play. If you wanted a two-mana 0/7 that really stalls the game, you should be playing Doomsayer.Ancient of Blossoms has an interesting statline, the first card ever printed with a 3/8 line. But even with the taunt, its not as hardy as the Sunwalker for the same cost, the divine shield and additional health making the Sunwalker a more active simple stalling card. Arena only.Defias Cleaner gives a Silence, but its a conditional one that seems primarily targeted to dealing with Sylvanas Windrunner, a 5/5 with the Deathrattle of taking one of your minions. Thats a little too niche a use, 5/7 isnt a good statline for a six-mana card that doesnt do much otherwise, and if you want a silence minion, youll prefer Spellbreaker to this. Toshley was a 5/6 that gave you two spare parts, which had wider utility, but that card was barely on the edge of the meta. Maybe if we get a Ninja expansion and this gets some kind of Ninja synergy (ninergy?) this might see play outside Arena.Smugglers Crate wants to have a home in an aggressive, beast-focused handbuff hunter. While that deck is possible thanks to very powerful cards like Dispatch Kodo and Rat Pack, giving a random beast +2/+2 just isnt good enough. While one-mana cards are rarely good late game (there are a few exceptions) this one is just a dead draw far too often for a meh effect. Just not good enough for Hunter handbuff.Alleycat on the other hand, at least puts two tokens on the board that can either take out a two-mana 3/2 together, or go face. Sure, a Mage or Druid can ping these out with the hero power, but would you really be upset if they spent two mana to take out half of a one-mana card? SSlightly more utility than Fiery Bat and will see play in Hunter.ddddddddddddPlus, the internet loves cats.Hunters, even a deck built around the concept, can only fit so many secrets in before the deck collapses. How does a Hunter fill in Hidden Cache? Freezing Trap, Explosive Trap, Bear Trap, Snake Trap, and Cat Trick all are more impactful to the typical Hunter win condition, so which ones would you cut for Hidden Cache? Im not sure this card would even see play if it gave +3/+3 instead of +2/+2.Weasel Tunneler isnt a good card, but its a lot of fun for a very important reason. One of the things that Blizzard has generally shied away from is cards that actually mess up your opponents deck. Sure, you could place a Mine from an Iron Juggernaut or Ambushes from Beneath the Grounds, or give them an Excavated Evil that they may not have much use for. But in the case of the first two, they still drew a card anyway and Excavated Evil has some serious board uses, so you couldnt really cause serious disruption to your opponents plans other than an annoyance. Here, you give them a card that theyll actually hate to draw. We need more cards like this. This card isnt powerful enough to see play on its own, but I hope Blizzard prints more cards like these, which represent counterplay in a way few other cards can.Here we see Blizzards continual struggle to make Freeze synergy a thing, something we mostly only see in Freeze Mage, which can use combinations like Frost Nova/Doomsayer and Ice Bolt/Ice Lance to clear the board and burst down the opponent, respectively. Outside of that, there just havent been enough Freeze mechanics and they just havent been good enough to get much traction. Freezing Potion and Cryomancer dont change that.Freezing a single target is a niche kind of effect that you like to Discover more than you actually want to choose to put it in your deck and draw it. Even at zero mana, I cant see this being included in even a Reno-type Freeze Mage and even then its up-for-debate whether it can make that cut. The Cryomancer just isnt good enough when you get that Freeze Mage. Cards like that you want a really good dream scenario and +2/+2 isnt one of them.Greater Arcane Missiles is nine damage for seven mana, but really awkward damage. Generally speaking, when youre doing this much damage, you want to be doing it for a purpose and the random nature of this card makes it difficult to work as a board clear. And with the random damage going off in chunks of three, youll just end up wasting damage on token-filled boards by doing three damage to minions with just one or two health remaining. Yeah, you can set up a clear board and do nine damage to the face, but if a mage can set that up, theyve probably already won.There are a lot of tools to make a Demon Renolock-type deck, but Crystalweaver really wants a low-mana curved Demon deck, maybe a Demon Zoo to get maximum value. You can picture a dream in which you have a Flame Imp, a Malchezaars Imp, a Voidwalker, and an Imp Gang Boss on the board. Or a huge Forbidden Ritual. In those cases, you can see Crystalweaver being an insane Demon-based Power of the Wild. But as any Zoo player can tell you, if you already have all these things on the board unanswered, youre going to win anyway. So in a lot of cases it becomes a win-more card, but its an OK one thats worth exploring, at least. A solid Arena card, however.Kabal Trafficker probably comes too late and without enough instant board effect to really be playable in a Zoo deck, so youd have to look more at late-game Renolock-type decks. Is a random Demon really good enough to play a 6/6 with no immediate impact in Renolock? Id say no, the Warlock can already draw cards at will and a Renolock will typically not be top decking. A better card than Sense Demons, which draws two Demons from your deck one-time for three mana, but pretty much anything in the games better than Sense Demons.The problem with Krul the Unshackled is that you need a lot of Demons in your Renolock to make this card good. A typical Renolock is going to have a lot more than just Demons, so to make this card shine, youll have to remove many of the cards that make Renolock work and replace them with lesser Demons. Sure, you can drop your big Demons in a crazy turn, but why werent you playing them already? At best, this card is for Wild, when you get a few more demons like MalGanis that actually matter.This article is part of a series analyzing the cards in the Mean Streets of Gadgetzan Hearthstone expansion. For more, see part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8 and part 9. ' ' '