Pack Alpha

[The Card Fox]

So I'm looking at this card in the Merchant, 4 cc buff and buffs allies when killed, but everyone and thier mama says this card is shit. I figure it could make for a great combo with Bloodlust. Not to mention helping the Predator and Pack Wolf stop being so squishy.

So why is it considered bad? There's not many other buffs for Wulven

[QuantumNinja]

Pack Alpha was traditionally considered a poor card during the Call of the Crystals era for the same reason most ally-buffing attachments were considered poor choices... they can be easily countered with cards like Retreat!, Dagger of Unmaking, Crippling Blow, Captured Prey, Assassination, and Now You're Mine, all of which were extremely common cards to encounter (and many of these still remain commonly played cards in the now Dark Prophecies era, more or less). Thus, the general consensus in CotC era was that it was generally better tempo to play another ally instead of buffing a previously played ally with an attachment.

Pack Alpha was fairly unique in the CotC era in that it was (unless I'm forgetting something) the only ally-buffing attachment that granted a positive effect to the owner upon removal, but the effect was generally not usually strong enough to balance the tempo loss of playing a 4cc ally attachment. Now you have Treasured Heirloom (+2 cards upon removal), which can make for some pretty good tempo in a lot of cases, which is why it is commonly played. The only other two new ally-buffing attachments I've seen to any great extent are Bloodthirsty and A Legend Rises, the first of which, like TH, can provide some good tempo, and the second of which is harder to counter than Pack Alpha (although it provides no effect on removal).

I haven't really messed around with Pack Alpha since DP was released to re-evaluate it (on paper, it's attack bonus and casting cost are equivalent to A Legend Rises, so maybe it warrants investigation). Perhaps its relative strength has gone up now that they added several new Wulven allies in DP (Wulven Predator, Wulven Savage, Howlfang, Lightning Hunter, Tiger Wulf), but my concern would be that with all of the attachment removal floating around in the current meta it would be an easy target, and the +1 health to all Wulven allies still wouldn't be worth the tempo loss in most circumstances.

[Demnchi]

Its definitely better now than it was in CotC's because its far easier to create a deck with just Wulven allies. By easier, I mean you have more options and there are better cards to fit into those spaces too (heck they even got a 6cc ally, that's pretty boss). I doubt it will be a x4 or anything, but a x2 may make it worth while for those tribal decks.