Rune of the Archmage was the first thing I thought of. 20 mana worth of spells.
For me looks a nice card for warlock play right after the massive 8 manas removal.
It’s worth noting that earliest would be turn 6 in combination with a spell that costs 5 or more and the other Naga Giant. I believe that’s what the youths would call a pretty poggy turn.
20 mana seems a bit much no?
Like this will be cheap but it will also be very late. Druid i guess can make use of this as they have pro-active spells like ramp that they can play regardless what enemy does.
Or very late to refill after you played a very expensive spell clearing the whole board. The refill after a clear seems good but i dont think this will be that great.
If you play such a type of deck with a lot of expensive clears then you dont really want a single 8/8 on the board to end your turn with. You want set up or some game winning combo or something.
To get a zero cost Arcane Giant, you need to play 12 spells. To get a zero cost Naga Giant with 12 spells, those spells need to have an average cost of 1.67. If one of those 12 is the Coin, the average of the rest would need to be 1.82. I’d reckon that’s about the average cost of spells that were used to make Arcane Giant cost 0.
So, no, it seems downright appropriate, and potentially OP.
If you’re playing nothing but spells until turn 6, chances are your opponent is gonna have a hand overloaded with removal he’s just dying to use
That said, for those of us who like long grindy control games, dropping two of these for free lategame possibly combined with a fancy shmancy Colossal minion would be stronk!
I’m only sad C’thun is rotating, would be a nice addition to meme C’thun decks 
Well that is true but arcane giant was pretty fringe card that did need specific decks. And if i remember correctly the giant alone was not enough. There was a follow up with the spell that destoys minion and summon two new ones of same cost or the otk potential it gave in wild with quest.
For a card that is supposed to be a buff to the naga+spell archetype that nagas seem to be pushing for various classes it feels a bit to much.
I have my doubt about the whole naga+spell combo tbh though i do find it a very nice idea. Pure naga decks i think will be rare though maybe there is 1-2 classes that can do it.
Overall i think it will be more about including one or two good nagas to complement other (spell) decks. For those decks i am not sure this card is good enough and i doubt it will be in pure naga decks either.
Its a soft finisher for a midrange pressure deck (maybe something hunter or demonhunter) unless the zero mana 8/8 gives further combo potential. And i do have bit trouble to see a midrange pressure deck working when you have to include a lot of spells. Spells dont really fit that midrange curvy playstyle but i havent looked at all spells that clearly so maybe there is something there.
I’m not sure what you mean. Turn 1-5 using full mana is 15 mana spent which then leaves 5 of your 6 for turn 6 to play the giant. That’s not exactly efficient and playing multiples after 6 just leaves them open to removal. Especially since Raise the Dead is almost surely not in the core set.
-Not a giant-
Naga Giant*
You forget that most decks that run Arcane Giant in the past were either Mages using Sorcerer’s Apprentice with really low cost spells or Gadgetzan Auctioneer decks that run plenty of 0-1 cost spells to rotate through their decks (mainly Druid and Rogue).
From my knowledge, no meta defining deck ran Arcane Giants outside of the aforementioned archetypes.
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if it was the total cost of spells you have played this game maybe, but the fact that it’s actual mana spent makes it so much worse. Anti synergy with cheat effects.
I think priest, paladin and druid can all use this card. Paladin has a lot of holy spell synergy and sustain right now and priest has the ability to play 3 of these in one turn for 4 mana and handmaiden is a pretty powerful way to draw 3 cards, with priest and serpent wig I think that is a fairly strong package.
i think that´s what makes it good, we certainly don´t need more rewards for manacheating in this game.
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But what also makes it really strong is that board clears and removal are really rare and quite expensive right now and it should be relatively easy to overwhelm the opponent with raw stats. An 8/8 in a slow enough deck even on turns 7/8 is quite a threat. It could be a 13/13 divine shield for free in paladin or 3 8/8’s in priest for 4 mana. If you don’t see that as potential then colossal minions will be really underwhelming for their respective mana costs.
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Turn 1: 1 Mana on Spells (1 mana total) Giant costs 19 mana
Turn 2: 2 Mana on Spells (3 mana total) Giant costs 17 mana
Turn 3: 3 Mana on Spells ( 6 mana total) Giant costs 14 mana
Turn 4: 4 Mana on Spells (10 mana total) Giant costs 10 mana
Turn 5: 5 Mana on Spells (15 mana total) Giant costs 5 mana, but you spent all your mana already.
Turn 6: 6 Mana on Spells (21 mana total) Giant costs 5 at the start of this turn and you can spend 5 more on spells this turn to make them cost 0.
So it’s basically coming down for 0-5 mana on turn 6 if you manage to just curve out with spells.
That seems too slow to be good on it’s own.
The Big Thing that will make the Naga Giant playable is Mana Storage Cards.
IE: Mana Biscuits, Coin Generating Cards
Haleh, Matron Protectorate makes me think Mage will get a few sources of Mana Storage. If you manage to curve out perfectly with spells by turn 5 and have restored 5 mana, you can play the Naga Giants for 0 mana.
Priestess Valishj for Priest along with Switcheroo, Serpent Wig, Handmaiden might make for some kind of Miracle Priest that could use giants too. Might or might not need a Lifesteal Buff card like Apotheosis for Priest to justify the Giants. WTB a version of the old Paladin spell Holy Wrath + a Spell that Sinks a Copy of a Minion.
5/5 Star Potential. Needs Mana Storage Cards so you can atleast sometimes dump them by turn 5 to see play imo.
It could also maybe work in Big paladin.
Most of its early game is spells, and it can have hilarious interactions like Drawing it and healing for 20.
I really don’t think it will see play cause giants are only relevant if they can be cheated out in the early game, at best this is playable maybe turn 5 while taking up your entire turn. And that’s with prefect draw.
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I suspect a round of nerfs targetting aggro that allow the golems/colossal to see play, in the event that these are unplayable because they are too slow then it means there is only about 6 playable legendaries, mostly not even auto includes, epic quality so far is not so bad but there are a lot of trash epics because a lot of them are clearly counter cards for a lot of cards that won’t see play if they are actually too slow.
I believe this is the type of card a control deck play for free after a high cost mass removal to set up a treat in a clear board, if control will be an option I don’t know.
Outside the control this card will see zero play.
just an 8/8 I feel like doesn’t really work in control decks. Like, control decks have a lot of focus on removal making up 90% of the deck list while the last 10% is the actual win condition be it insane value generation, an otk, or something that almost wins the game by itself if you last long enough.
If you are putting 8/8’s in your deck you need other pressure cards, something not really designed for control decks. The only time giants really work for ‘control’ decks is when the mana cheat is insanely disgusting like with handlock where you could play like 3 8/8’s on turn 4. Although its hard to call that deck a control deck tbh.