Curse of Naxxramas LP, Part 3: Smelly Scourge Minions

Curse of Naxxramas, Wing 2: The Plague Quarter

Firstly, an apology -- real life has been a bitch and I'm having trouble keeping my main blog up, so this one's probably going to have very intermittent updates when I do talk about Warcraft's characters and whatnot. Just kind of sorry about it, but real life really takes priority.

I have continued and completed the second wing of Curse of Naxxramas -- I've splurged and purchased all four wings, so let's just kind of talk about what this adventure mode has to offer.

Noth the Plaguebringer

The first challenge in the Plague Quater is Noth the Plaguebringer, in which Kel'Thuzad, bless his hamminess, claims that "NOTH-ing can defeat Noth!" Well, thank you for that, pun-master Kel'Thuzad. Noth is a human undead that backstory tells me is a Dalaran mage called into service by Kel'Thuzad (who himself used to be an archmage of Dalaran) but began second-guessing the Lich King and ends up being turned into a faithful servant instead.

Noth goes all "another soul for my collection!" and upon being taunted responds with "die, trespasser!" Quite generic, honestly. Noth's hero power is passive -- basically freely summoning a 1/1 Skeleton any time one of my minions die. It's something that really suits the whole Undead Scourge theme, though not one that's particularly dangerous since it's, y'know, a 1/1. Noth also has a special 'Skeletal Smith' minion, a 3-drop 4/3 that will destroy the enemy's minion. Shame I went in against Noth with my favourite deck, a Mage, and Mages generally don't use weapons. Like, at all.

In retrospect I really should've gone in with a control deck with larger minions instead of the many small Mech minions in my Mage deck, but on the other hand the Mage's Fireblast is really good to clear Noth's Skeletons. He goes all "Rise, my soldiers, rise and fight once more!" when he revives those Skeletons, but they honestly aren't even worth killing most times.

And Noth's deck is... extremely underwhelming, really. He's apparently got a special spell card 'Plague' that will destroy all non-Skeleton minions but he never drew it during my fight against him, and he plays an odd deck with lots of Mage Secrets and minions that don't exactly synergize well with each other, and falls without much affair since his Unstable Ghoul and Abominations' "deal 1 damage to all minions" is really bad when paired up with a board full of 1/1's on his side. Overall, as Kel'Thuzad claims -- "Poor Noth. This was just 'Noth' his day" -- Noth ends up being far, far easier than even Anub'Rekhan, who was intended to be the easiest boss.

Of course, Noth drops Stoneskin Gargoyle which is easily the worst card in the entirety of the Naxxramas expansion, so I can't exactly rejoice about that fact. The Gargoyle's honestly a cool concept, a minion that heals himself to full health at the end of every turn if not destroyed, but it's just such a shitty minion that you need really, really gimmicky decks to even make it work... and even then there are so many better options for gimmicky decks than the Gargoyle.

Heigan the Unclean

"Heigan sent me a message telling me that he promises not to kill you if you don't play any cards against him." Kel'Thuzad tells me. HE LIES.

The second boss in Plague Quater is the hilariously-named Heigan the Unclean, who uses the generic Necromaner model from Warcraft III that apparently made it into World of Warcraft. Heigan is the one who's responsible for concocting the plague that the Cult of the Damned spread all over Lordaeon. Heigan apparently had a unique boss fight in the WoW game that involved you 'dancing' around the battlefield, and this reflects in his one-mana-cost hero power that will deal two damage to the left-most minion. I went in with my Paladin deck, and being able to deal two damage to my minions for one mana is an absolutely cost-effective move. Coupled that with his one-mana 2/3-Charge Deathchargers, plus his many, many Voidcallers, makes him a really scary aggressive boss, and definitely a world harder than Noth. I'm just glad that like Noth, he didn't get to draw his special Mindpocalypse spell card.

Heigan plays a really nice Warlock deck with loads of cheap-but-powerful minions like the Deathcharger and Flame Imps, and likes to boost his Voidwalkers and Flame Imps with stuff like Demonfire and whatever. But the biggest threats are certainly the many Voidcallers he has in his deck -- definitely more than two -- which calls down powerful high-cost demons upon death which he seems to always have in his hand.

And he means business! He goes all "You think you're safe here?" and proceeds to spam his hero power whenever he can, telling my minions to "dance, fools!" while saying the most indifferent "I don't have time for this nonsense" when I try to threaten him.

In retrospect a deck with things like Nerubian Eggs or Haunted Creepers would be good since Heigan can help me trigger their beneficial deahrattles (Dreadsteed would be OP), but my Paladin deck has an abundance of minions with Divine Shield and a fair amount of burly 4-drops and 5-drops, so I had more problem with his Voidcaller swarms and Demonfire-buffed Voidwalkers more than anything. And a Warlock deck would be able to Sacrifical Pact his strongest demons with ease. 

Overall it took a second try to beat Heigan after unlucky draws had me face off a trio of burly Voidcallers, a Doomguard and a Dread Infernal with nothing but a Murloc Knight, but he wasn't really hard once I figure out how to deal with his Voidcallers... i.e. ignore them and go straight for face as fast as I can, delaying the potential of Doomguards going for mine.

But Heigan goes down with the absolutely hilarious "I... should've taken a shower." Yeah, Unclean, you do that. Jeez I bet you reek of stinking flesh. 

Kel'Thuzad is apparently "seething with anger. (Seething)" as I laugh at Heigan the Unclean's remarks, while I get Unstable Ghoul as a reward. Not terribly exciting -- it is definitely a great minion in some decks where it's favourable to damage your own minions, like Grim Patron/Frothing Berserker/Gurubashi Berserker decks, and is definitely a solid card... but not one that finds a niche in any of mine. Far better than the Gargoyle, though, and I'll take it.

Loatheb

"Just being near Loatheb causes your flesh to rot. So I recommend a melee class." No thanks, Kel'Thuzad, I'll go with Mage again.

The final boss in the Plague Quarter is Loatheb, the one-of-a-kind undead Bog Beast. Man, the Plague Quarter is really filled with gross things, yeah? There's Loatheb, the gross undead mushroom swamp monster, there's Heigan the freaking unclean, and Noth and his gross puns. "I. SEE. YOU." Loatheb declares as the fight begins... and he has seventy-five freaking health, more than twice of mine. His hero power is a buffed-up version of the Hunter's Steady Shot, dealing three damage. And he's got Sporeburst and Deathbloom, respectively an AoE spell and a 'damage a minion' spell that's obviosuly unfairly costed, and summons a Spore on his side of the field. These Spores will give all my minions +8 attack, the obvious way to get through his insane health without dying. 

Of course, naturally his deck is stacked with Taunt minions like the (hilariously appropriate) Fen Creeper and Unstable Ghoul, plus Deathchargers and Dancing Swords to have cheap-cost powerful minions to deal with mine before I can pop the Spores. And even then I have to wait until I have at least two or three minions on the side of my board while trying to withstand Loatheb's barrage of attacks to the face. He goes all "you waste your breath", "you are mine now" and "the end is close" and for an undead walking mushroom seaweed thing he's really talkative.

It's really just a matter of surviving and picking off his minions until he drops the Spores and then buffing my minions up. It was a close one, but with the help of a Goblin Blastmage popping two Spores at once, I reduced Loatheb's health from around 40 to zero within two turns. Definitely a fun boss fight, though!

"You keep killing my minions. Stop it! Stop it right this minute!" Shut up, Kel'Thuzad. I'm going to get all these Naxx cards.

Unlike the sub-par Unstable Ghoul and the outright crappy Gargoyle, Loatheb drops two awesome cards. Sludge Belcher is basically going to replace all the 4 and 5 drop Taunt minions in all my decks. It's an awesome card, a 3/5 for 5 mana that drops a 1/2 Taunt upon death. It's not particularly strong, but definitely a great body for delaying tactics and has been absolutely annoying non-stop ever since my first day in Hearthtone. The real prize here is Loatheb himself, a legendary 5-mana 5/5 that causes enemy spells to cost 5 next turn. Loatheb definitely will replace Maexxna, since he's definitely a superior minion with a superior effect and a superior statline. He's one card that arguably can be placed with any deck with no ramifications, and I certainly look forward to using him.

Hey, class challenges!

Plague Quarter: Hunter Challenge

The Hunter challenge is unexpectedly fun. You face off against Loatheb with a Hunter deck filled with nothing but Webspinners, which is actually pretty good. Flooding the board with one-mana drops ensures that short of his AoE, Loatheb can't kill my little spiders in one turn, and upon death the Webspinners give me beasts. And while it's hit-and-miss, I had the fortune of obtaining motherfucking King Krush and by that point it's just a matter of stalling Loatheb's minions enough for me to drop King Krush next to a boardful of Webspinners, pop two Spores and one-shot Loatheb to death with my giant dinosaur. 

Definitely a fun challenge, if a heavily RNG-dependent one. Obviously, I get the Webspinner which I'm pretty happy to own.

Plague Quarter: Mage Challenge

This pits me against Heigan with a Mage Secret deck... that's honestly pretty bad against Heigan since most of the lower-drops are susceptible of being one-shotted by Heigan's hero power, and Secret decks take quite some time to build up all the Secretkeepers and Ethereal Arcanists and whatnot, whereas Heigan himself plays pretty aggressively with his Voidcallers and whatnot. There is definitely some synergy with Mad Scientist and Baron Rivendare, the former summoning extra secrets and the Baron giving me the extra deathrattles needed with Sludge Belchers and Nerubian Eggs to help regain board control, but it's still an impractical deck to use against Heigan and I died twice before I manage to beat Heigan not with the Secret-combo cards but by stalling out with Ice Blocks while I build up a board full of Nerubians and Baine Bloodhoofs and whittle Heigan down.

Not a fun challenge, and the reward -- Duplicate -- isn't especially useful either. I mean, it's not bad, but I don't particularly like playing with secrets. Effigy and Mirror Entity is far funner than Duplicate anyway.

That's about it for the Plague Quarter. Next up, I'm gonna fight a bunch of Death Knights.

Grand Tournament's out!

So, yeah, I can't do anything as extravagant as open fifty packs or five hundred packs or whatever, but the Grand Tournament came out today and I spent... well, not all (I'm planning to do some arena runs for a bit of profit -- arena runs always guarantees a booster pack anyway) but a fair chunk of my in-game gold on booster packs. 

So the first pack I opened had Ice Rager as the first card I saw, which was hilarious if not a particularly good pull. The next card in it was Druid of the Saber, which is one of the more solid cards in the set. I've talked a bit about the viability of the cards in previous posts, so check them out if you're inclined to do so. I'm definitely happy to get this guy to buff up my admittedly iffy Druid deck. Then th Injured Kvaldir, who is the rare in this pack but is mostly kind of crap, Flame Juggler, who is okay but honestly a bit inferior compared to his cousin Knife Juggler, and the MURLOC KNIGHT, who, while not the most overpowered card in this expansion, is hands-down my favourite. So yeah, definitely happy to get this little mrglrglgrlgrlrgl dude. 

The second pack had Bash, which is a decent if unspectacular Warrior card, Spellslinger, which is pretty decent I guess but doesn't really fit in my Mech-Mage deck. Then Captured Jormungar, who is another okay but unspectacular card which I guess will be put into some of my control-y decks. Undercity Valiant is one of the cards I'm hoping to get, and it's definitely going to replace some of the weaker two-drops I'm forced to include in my Rogue deck. The rare for this pack is Competitive Spirit, which is another disappointing rare. 

The third pack has Fearsome Doomguard, which, like Captured Jormungar, is okay but unspectacular. I guess I can replace the larger minions in my Warlock deck? I dunno. Then Brave Archer, which is another poor draw, then the rare card Fist of Jaraxxus which isn't spectacular either. It's also got an epic, the Sea Reaver... who is not exactly the best epic in this expansion but not one I'm sad to get. The final card in this pack is the Refreshment Vendor, which is just decent but I'm pretty happy to get this but dude because I like how he looks. 

The fourth pack had a second Fearsome Doomguard, which I don't care to have a second copy of, a Flash Heal which is definitely going straight into my Priest deck, King's Elekk, a decent Hunter two-drop that's going to replace the Raptor in my Hunter deck, Mukla's Champion who is kind of m'eh but not utterly bad, and the rare is the Thunder Bluff Valiant, a Shaman card that definitely looks pretty decent as long as I have enough totems on the board. Would rather have the Totem Golem, which is far easier to use, but I'm not going to say no to the Valiant either.

The fifth pack starts off with Ancestral Knowledge, one of the worst cards in the expansion IMO. Then Frigid Snobold, which is unimpressive, Gadgeztan Jouster, which had a hilarious art but a pretty m'eh card. The rare is Spawn of Shadows, which is cool but not one I think I'll be using in my Priest deck, then Flame Lance, which is not going to see play in my deck either.

The sixth pack is like a repeat, because it not only had a second Flame Juggler and Brave Archer (which I don't need either one of them), but also a second Murloc Knight yay! Then the rare card Convert, which is another bullshit rare, and Orgrimmar Aspirant, which is decent I suppose.

The seventh pack had a second Orgrimmar Aspirant, which I don't mind as much as Juggler or Brave, then a North Sea Kraken which I guess can hang out as a large-drop minion, Shado-Pan Rider, who can join the Undercity Valiant in my Rogue deck, Bolster who I'm not really going to use, and the rare is the Tuskarr Jouster, another utterly hilarious-looking card in the game and another one that's going into my paladin deck.

So yeah, overall not a bad take, but there are a fair bit of a poor cards. No Legendaries, sadly... but I've only got seven packs so, well, I guess I'm going to go to the arena and make more moneys. So yeah. 

Hearthstone: TGT Tavern Brawl

Hearthstone: Grand Tournament Tavern Brawl

Well, might as well as talk about this for a bit. It’s been out for a couple of days, but this week’s Tavern Brawl is, pretty ingenuously, a little sneak peek at the cards that are going to be released for the Grand Tournament. A sneak update has already placed all the data and you can actually see the full set of the cards in the Crafting menu (though obviously you can’t craft them yet) so if you haven’t been following the news in all the fansites, well, there you go.

But we finally get to see and hear all the voices for two entire decks prepared just for this little Tavern Brawl sneak peek, which is awesome. In a completely controlled situation where only two decks exist, some relatively sub-par cards actually shine really well. And in addition to all the brand-new Grand Tournament cards, we’re also fighting with two out of three paid hero skins: Medivh and Alleria. And honestly a couple of matches are really all you need to fully appreciate the modified animations and all the new quotes… so save your money from buying the hero skins, if it isn’t obvious enough.

The Grand Tournament board is also snuck into the regular board pool, though honestly it’s a bit of a letdown IMO – nothing too fun to muck around with like the GvG and Blackrock Mountain boards. We kind of need more boards.

Anyway before I went on a tangent back there, the Tavern Brawl itself randomly gives you one of two decks – Medivh’s Mage deck, which is filled with cards correlating to the Inspire mechanic, and Alleria’s Hunter deck, which is filled with cards correlating to the Jousting mechanic. Obviously that’s not all the individual decks have to offer – Alleria’s got a fair amount of beast synergy cards thrown in for good measure as well.

It gets a bit predictable after a while, especially since I had to go through a daily quest which makes me win five Tavern Brawl matches, but it certainly is fun to experience so many new cards at once. There were a couple that I really liked – the Evil Heckler’s voice-overs are hilarious, Lock and Load is as fun as I’d hoped, Saraad is awesome in its random effects, the Skeleton Knight is hilariously hammy, the Refreshment Vendor is both funny and actually viable, the Ram Wrangler and the Bear Trap are both great cards to play around. Again, the decks there doesn’t have the best synergy for balance issues so both Mage and Hunter have equal chances to win, but it’s still pretty fun.

With three days to go before the big TGT release, thanks to some bad arena runs where I got dust instead of gold, plus my moment of weakness when I purchased the Naxxramas wing (I really need to get around completing all the Adventure Mode levels after this) I’ve collected around enough gold to buy 8 TGT packs, and I do hope I get some really good stuff from there. I mean, a couple of Legendaries would definitely be nice, but I really do want some really nice, solid cards to include in my decks. Oh, and of course, the freaking Murloc Knight. Can't wait to open those booster packs!

Hearthstone: Grand Tournament Card Reviews, Part 5

Now, for the remaining Class cards…

·       Mulch [Druid]: For three mana, destroy a minion and add a random minion to your opponent’s hand. It’s… kind of inefficient, actually. Yes, you might argue that it’s a more efficient Assassinate, but Druid already has a destroy-a-minion card in the one-mana Naturalize, which allows your opponent to draw two cards. And raising the cost by two while reducing the card they draw by one? I don’t think it’s particularly worth it. And while you can make an argument that Naturalize gives the opponent cards beneficial to them from their deck, and Mulch has the potential to give some horrid selections… it might also backfire and give your enemy really good minions. Don’t think this is going to be any good.

·       Knight of the Wild [Druid]: The remaining two cards revealed for Druid, again, push a Beast Druid deck, which was what other earlier-revealed Druid cards (Savage Combatant, Druid of the Saber, ) did. Knight of the Wild, which is a seven-mana with 6/6 whose cost is reduced by one whenever you summon a beast, is another card supported by beast cards… and it really depends on whether ‘summon a beast’ includes the alternate forms of the Druid of the X. I think it’s a bit too slow, especially since Druid has so many other choices in better minions in the Ancients. Yes, it would be nice to drop a 6/6 minion by paying two or three mana, but Knight of the Wild will have to stay in your hand for quite some time, and I don’t think it’s particularly worth it. Do like the fun little concept that the Knight of the Wild, being of the Dryad/Keeper of the Grove race, is all dressed up ready to joust with his own lower body as the mount.

·       Wildwalker [Druid]: A four-mana drop with 4/4, with a Battlecry of giving a friendly Beast 3 health. Another one for the Beast Druids, but one that, I’m afraid, is also underwhelming. It would be different if the Wildwalker gave 3 Attack, but adding three health isn’t really that spectacular of an effect. It is decent, I guess, since it’s only a health down from a Yeti and it adds three health to another minion, so I guess the Wildwalker is still playable in budget Druid decks.

·       Acidmaw/Dreadscale [Hunter]: For this expansion, the Hunter class is unique in that it gets not one, but two Class Legendaries, a previously unprecedented affair. Acidmaw and Dreadscale are twin Jormungars that serve as a joint boss fight in one of the Argent Tournament quests, and like the Val’kyr sisters revealed early on, Acidmaw and Dreadscale are both beasts who have identical stats, namely 4/2… but a wildly differing cost. Dreadscale costs three mana, which is fair for a 4/2, but Acidmaw costs… a whooping seven mana. Their effects? Acidmaw causes all minions on the board to be destroyed whenever they take damage, both yours and your opponents. Dreadscale, on the other hand, deals one damage to all other minions at the end of every turn. They are obviously meant to be played together for a gigantic board clear, but Dreadscale’s effect will hit Acidmaw… which will kill it? Even if Acidmaw’s effect doesn’t apply itself, Acidmaw will still die in two turns thanks to Dreadscale. It’s a really interesting concept for sure, but I don’t think Acidmaw’s effect is worth a seven-mana 4/2. Maybe if Acidmaw had slightly better stats (2/4? 2/5? It doesn’t need to attack, after all) or a lower cost, it might be playable – an Explosive Trap or a group of Hounds can effectively clear an entire board full of big minions. But as it is, I don’t think Acidmaw is going to find itself in many decks. Dreadscale? 4/2 for 3 mana is respectable, and it auto-whirlwinds every turn… which kind of pushes a Control Hunter deck. It definitely doesn’t fit in Face Hunters who loves its 2/1’s and 3/1’s, and even then without his big brother Dreadscale will absolutely suffer against Grim Patron decks. So great concept for the two of them, but I don’t think they’ll be as desirable as the other Hunter legendaries.

·       Stablemaster [Hunter]: Three-mana for 4/2, and a Battlecry of giving a Beast Immune for a turn. It’s a variant of Houndmaster, I guess, with one less health and giving a temporary Immune instead of a buff and Taunt… and while this is useful to protect, say, your fragile Acidmaw up there, or to save your Gahr’zilla or King Krush or whatever so they can make a free trade, I don’t think it’s worth it to spend a slot on this card. It could be useful, but I am of the opinion that the Houndmaster is still better for a control Hunter deck.

·       King’s Elekk [Hunter]: Oh, hey, an elephant! Well, Elekk. The Elekk is a two-mana 3/2 beast. And it has a battlecry of jousting, allowing you to draw a minion if it’s higher costed than the enemy. Yeah, if you get this guy from the booster packs, basically replace all the Bloodfen Raptors in your Hunter decks with this dude, and treat the Jousting as something that’s nice if you get it, but not particularly damning if you fail to do so – King’s Elekk is still a decent minion even without the Joust mechanic activated, which is not something that some of the earlier-revealed Joust creatures are.

·       Power Shot [Hunter]: More shots! Powershot, for three mana, deals two damage to a minion and the two minions next to it. It deals two damage to three minions, which is actually pretty decent – most boards don’t really have that many minions anyway, and it’ll serve as a decent herd-thinning to help your own creatures pick off the remaining enemies. Not sure if it’ll replace the rest of the Shots already in the Hunter’s arsenal, but it’s certainly an interesting card.

·       Bear Trap [Hunter]: Another excellent trap for Hunters. Hunters really do get good secrets, don’t they? Like all Hunter secrets, it’s two mana, and after your hero is attacked, the Bear Trap summons what’s basically an Ironfur Grizzly. Unlike Explosive Trap, where the damage hits the opponent’s field the moment attack is declared, your hero does receive the damage either way and the bear comes out later. But either way the Bear Trap is great value – Ironfur Grizzly normally costs three mana and is a really solid minion, and being able to summon it for two mana? Pretty great. Despite the image showing a bear trap (y’know, a trap for bears), I do like the little pun that its effects is actually a trap which is a bear. Oh, Blizzard, you and your puns.

·       Arcane Blast [Mage]: For one mana, deal two damage to a minion. This spell gets double bonus from Spell Damage. A decent spell, I suppose, arguably better than Arcane Missiles (which deals three damage at random) especially if your deck is already heavy in Spell Damage minions. I still think Spell Damage isn’t going to hit it off, but there are definitely enough cards out there to build a Spell Damage deck. Not sure if it’s going to be viable or not, but Arcane Blast itself is pretty decent whether you have a Spell Damage deck or not – one mana for two damage is the standard for many spell cards (Arcane Shot, Holy Smite) and this one gets a potential bonus to become four or six damage, which would be great value.

·       Polymorph: Boar [Mage]: Oh, this spell. It’s hilarious! Hail the Huffer! For three mana, you basically polymorph a minion into a Huffer. It can be used like the old classic Polymorph – to remove gigantic monstrous threats like your opponent’s eight-cost or nine-cost minions. For one less mana, you’re facing a Huffer instead of a 1/1, but sacrificing a minion to deal two damage is certainly preferable to dealing with Deathwing or Malygos or Antonidas. But it’s also got decent value compared to the standard Polymorph – you can use it on your own minions now and it’ll have value too! You can turn a wounded minion into a 4/2 with Charge, or simply just upgrade one of your early-game minions like the Mana Wyrm into an actual threat. Definitely a fun and useful little spell.

·       Dalaran Aspirant [Mage]: Four mana 3/5 with Inspire: gain Spell Damage +1. It’s a Yeti with one less attack, and the ability to stack Spell Damage as many times as you want so long as you keep pinging things in the field. The question is whether it’s worth it – to buff your Arcane Blast, Master of Ceremonies and other general spells – and I don’t think it is. It could find some use on a more spell-oriented deck, but I’d rather have a Yeti or a Shredder any time.

·       Enter the Coliseum [Paladin]: For six mana, destroy all minions except for each player’s highest attack minion. It’s an interesting card for sure, and I think it’s intended primarily for a board clear – you clear all but one of your opponent’s minion to face off against one of yours. If you had a relatively m’eh board, say, maybe only Silver Hand Recruits, then you can use Equality and pop the other dude. I dunno. It’s kind of a niche effect that’ll be a bit hard to pull off in my opinion, and it’s going to be something that we’ll actually have to see in action to see how good it is.

·       Competitive Spirit [Paladin]: Oh, hey, another Paladin secret. When your turn starts, give your minions +1/+1. It’s… not that great either. Yes, it’s better than most other non-Avenge Paladin secrets, but I still don’t think it’ll redeem Paladin Secrets enough that people will make Paladin decks with Mad Scientist and Mysterious Challenger and whatnot. It might see play… but on the other hand I don’t think it’ll be all that useful unless you already have a full board, and even then a Stormwind Champion or a Quartermaster would be far more useful.

·       Mysterious Challenger [Paladin]: Speaking of Paladin Secrets, this is a minion that’s trying to push Paladin Secrets. Like the Spell Damage mage I’ve ranted about above, I don’t think it’s going to happen. Paladin Secrets are iffy to mediocre at best, and while the Mysterious Challenger summons one of each Secret into the field and it would be insane if it were in a Hunter or Mage deck… for Paladins it’s going to be m’eh. The Mysterious Challenger is a six-drop for 6/6, which isn’t anything to write home about. I dunno, I don’t think this one card’s going to make a Paladin Secret deck suddenly viable.

·       Seal of Champions [Paladin]: For three mana, give a minion +3 Attack and Divine Shield. Relatively decent value, I suppose… I’d still rather use Blessing of Kings or Blessing of Might which is already included in the standard Paladin deck, since a three mana spell is a bit expensive for what it does. It’s pretty decent, though, and might see some use in a deck with Blood Knight or one that just wants to aggressively trade with enemies.

·       Murloc Knight [Paladin]: OH MY GOD THE ADORBS I CANNOT. The Murloc Knight is adorable. Like, super cute. The frog is suitably cute-looking, the Murloc itself is all dressed up in a fun little Argent Tournament armour and holy shit this is easily my favourite card in this expansion. It’s cute. It’s like really really cute. The Murloc Knight is a four-drop for 3/4, pretty respectable, and with Inspire you summon a random Murloc. Obviously the best value would be in a Murloc deck and the Murloc Knight can summon, well, Murloc Warleader or Slitfin Spiritwalker would be the most ideal ones, but it can also summon itself – which means the next turn you use your hero power you’ll get two Murlocs. Not to mention the Murloc Knight itself gains bonuses from Murloc Warleader and Grimscale Oracle and all those dudes. Definitely one that’ll make all those mrgrlglrglrgl decks even more powerful… shame it’s a Paladin-only card.

·       Confessor Paletress [Priest]: The Priest Legendary is a seven-mana 5/4, which is pretty shitty stats for a seven-drop… but with Inspire: Summon a random Legendary minion. Like what the fuck. A 5/4 isn’t a bad body to have on the battlefield, but if you inspire, you get a free Legendary, straight into the field. You can get freaking Aviana, and every card in your hand costs one. You can get classics like Ysera, or Deathwing, or Malygos, or Ragnaros, or Sylvanas, or Emperor Thaurissan. It’s definitely not going to survive its first turn because unless you have taunts on the field your enemy will want to kill Paletress with all haste, so you’ll need to play her on the ninth turn… or combo it with Fencing Coach in the sixth turn. Definitely one that’ll make Priests even more frustrating to fight against. So long as you get the Inspire effect off… the average legendary costs more than four mana, so for what is a net nine mana, you get a 5/4 and a random legendary. So long as you didn’t get, say, Millhouse Manastorm or Lorewalker Cho or the Murloc, it’s definitely value. And you’re more likely to get a great legendary than a bad one.

·       Shadowfiend [Priest]: A three-mana 3/3. Whenever you draw a card, reduce its cost by one. It’s a decent, if gimmicky card, giving you a small bonus to one or two cards while still being a slightly sub-par three-drop. It’s not that great, though, and while I appreciate the relative uniqueness of the card, I don’t think most existing Priest decks will want to put this dude in them.

·       Spawn of Shadows [Priest]: Four mana, 5/4, with Inspire: deal four damage to each hero. The Shadowbomber on steroids, I guess? Except it does damage every time you heal something. 5/4 is an okay-ish stat distribution for four mana, but it’s really only going to see use in an aggressive Priest deck… which isn’t what Priests are meant to be. Dunno. I don’t see this guy really being all that useful except in the lategame, and even then why take unnecessary risks by dealing four damage to your face every turn?

·       Wyrmrest Agent [Priest]: Oh hey, look, more dragon support! Wyrmrest Agent is a two-drop 1/4, and if you’re holding a dragon it becomes a 2/4 with Taunt. And for two mana, 2/4 with Taunt is absolutely great value. 1/4 not so much, but you damn better be playing this card in a dragon deck, otherwise what the hell are you doing? Certainly a great acrd in a Priest dragon deck, with the big question being whether a Priest dragon deck is all that viable. 

·       Convert [Priest]: For two mana, put a copy of an enemy minion in your hand. Thoughtsteal’s cousin, except you can choose which minion on the field you want to copy. Honestly not that useful in my opinion – you’ll need to spend more mana summoning said minion into the field, and really I’m not quite sure what’s the point, when Priest already has access to Mind Control which has the added bonus of removing the minion from your opponent’s control and kinda immediately summoning it to your side. Maybe it could be useful? I dunno. Never really played the card-stealing Priest all that much.

·       Power Word: Glory [Priest]: For one mana, choose a minion. Whenever it attacks, restore four health to your hero. Kinda like the Paladin spell ‘Blessing of Wisdom’, except this one heals instead of drawing a card… and I think it’s not all that. The Priest can already heal 2 health every turn, and has access to Flash Heal and all sorts of other fun healing mechanics, and I don’t think this is going to be especially useful.

·       Beneath the Grounds [Rogue]: For three mana, shuffle three ‘Ambush’ cards into your opponent’s deck. Every time your opponent draws an Ambush card, they draw another card and you get a 4/4 Nerubian (the dude from Nerubian Egg). It’s a long-term card, like Bear Trap above, and definitely is of great value. Three mana for a 4/4 minion is already great value, and you have the potential to get three 4/4’s for three mana. Granted it’s going to spend three mana, and maybe you can use it in a Mill deck with Coldlight Oracle/Gang Up/Shadowstep or something like that, but that’s going to be a bit too gimmicky. Still, an interesting card whether you have a deck tailor-made for it or not, and it’s kind of like the GvG legendary Iron Juggernaut – which sneaks a ‘deal 10 damage to your hero’ card into your opponent’s deck. Ultimately I think it’s a bit too slow for Rogue decks, but if executed well it can be devastating.

·       Shady Dealer [Rogue]: A three-mana 4/3 which becomes a 5/4 if you have a pirate. Nothing too fancy – it’s already decent (if fragile) value for three mana, and if you’re already playing a Rogue Pirate deck, a three-mana 5/4 is great value. Take note that the Shady Dealer is not a Pirate himself, though, which might hurt the Pirate synergy in the deck.

·       Undercity Valiant [Rogue]: A two-mana 3/2 with Combo: deal 1 damage. Sorta like the SI:7 Agent’s younger cousin, I guess. Pretty decent to include in a Rogue deck if you need a two-drop. And I definitely am a fan of the artwork for this particular card. Again, nothing too special – just a solid card. If you can’t activate the combo it’s basically a Bloodfen Raptor, if you can then you get a small little bonus. Solid little card.

·       Buccaneer [Rogue]: This one, unlike Shady Dealer, is actually a Pirate. A one mana 2/1 that’ll give your weapon +1 Attack whenever you equip it. The problem is, well, if it’ll survive until you do equip a weapon. I guess he can be useful in a Pirate Rogue deck, and might help out in a Rogue deck that depends on a weapon combo… and a 2/1 is pretty decent for a one-drop, but it’s nothing too exciting.

·       The Mistcaller [Shaman]: Or Mistcaller Yngvar, as he is really called in World of Warcraft. Apparently they cut out his actual name because it’s unpronounceable? Eh. The Mistcaller is a pretty awesome card – it’s a six-mana 4/4, which naturally is shitty value, but it immediately gives all the minions in your hand and deck +1/+1. And that’s pretty awesome, except he’s a Shaman legendary, so none of your totems get that bonus. And all those War Kodos summoned by the Thunder Bluff Valiant and Murlocs summoned by Neptulon don’t get the bonuses either. So… not quite as OP as he initially seems. And by turn six the game’s kind of already progressed enough that you either have the advantage or not, and I don’t think the Mistcaller’s good enough to turn the game around like some other legendaries will. 

·       Elemental Destruction [Shaman]: Three mana, deal 4-5 damage to all minions. Overload five. That is a ridiculous amount of damage for three mana. And, yes, overload five kind of basically shuts down your entire next turn, but it close to guarantees a full board wipe even if it deals four damage to everything. Of course it’s relatively situational and you’ll want to use it if the board is dominated by your opponent (bye Grim Patrons) but I dunno… overload five is a bit too much to handle, so we’ll see if the overload is acceptable or render this ridiculous board clear unplayable.

·       Dark Bargain [Warlock]: Destroy two random enemy minions, discard two random cards… for six mana. It’s comparable to the Siphon Soul spell, which for the same six mana cost, destroys a select enemy minion and restores three health. I guess this one can kind of play with Fist of Jaraxxus and Tiny Knight of Evil (below)? It’s like every card is getting a mechanic pushed. Beasts for Druids, totems for Shamans, control for Hunters, secrets for Paladins, Spell Damage for Mage… and card discarding for Warlock. And it’s not going to be all that great, honestly. Six mana is a bit too expensive and, yes, it will be useful if your opponent’s only got two or three minions and you don’t have much in your hand, but six mana! That’s expensive. Time will tell, I suppose, whether this card is actually useful.

·       Tiny Knight of Evil [Warlock]: The Teeny-Tiny Knight of Evil, which is another adorable jouster – an Imp in armour riding a Felhound – is a two-mana 3/2, again another Bloodfen Raptor clone, what gains +1/+1 any time you discard a card. And it’s a demon, of course. It’s decent value on its own, and I don’t think you have to push the card-discarding gimmick, but if you happen to do it, well, a two-mana 4/3 is pretty bomb. Fun enough to use, I guess, though I don’t think a Discard Warlock deck will really catch on.

·       Void Crusher [Warlock]: A six-mana 5/4 demon with Inspire: destroy a random minion for each player. Which sounds awesome… except you have a chance of destroying your own minions. Including the Void Crusher itself, a six-mana minion. Unless you’re desperate and your opponent has a single Malygos on the field and you have no reliable way to take it out, I don’t think Void Crusher is playable at all. Other minions fit the six-mana slot far better.

·       Fearsome Doomguard [Warlock]: A seven-mana 6/8 demon card with no other effects. Kind of m’eh, I think… it’s just solid, a War Golem with an attack switched to health… and nothing much to it. I suppose it’s refreshing to have a high-level Warlock minion that doesn’t nuke the field like the Infernal or discard cards or deal damage to your hero, but the Fearsome Doomguard isn’t too exciting… unless you summon it via Bane of Doom or Voidcaller. In which case, it’s absolutely great value. Pretty decent, I guess.

·       Magnataur Alpha [Warrior]: A four-mana 5/3 that also damages the minions next to whomever it attacks. Kinda like Foe Reaper, but with a stat distribution of 5/3. It’s going to probably attack once and deal 5 damage to three enemies, and most likely die next turn. And that is, if it survives the first turn that it’s summoned. Overall unless you have taunts at your disposal, the Magnataur’s not going to be anything special.

·       Sparring Partner [Warrior]: A two-mana 3/2 with Taunt, and Battlecry: give a minion Taunt. It kind of makes Bolster somewhat playable because now you’ve yet another card that guarantees even more taunts on the field. I guess the mini-mechanic they’re pushing for Warriors in this expansion is Taunt? Again, like all the other two-mana 3/2’s above, Sparring Partner is a decent two-drop slot that replaces the poor Bloodfen Raptor. It’s decent, again, in Control Warrior and might actually help out to support the Magnataur and keep it behind a wall of Taunters.

·       Orgrimmar Aspirant [Warrior]: Oh, another card with cool artwork! That wolf really looks furious. The Orgrimmar Aspirant is a three-mana 3/3 with Inspire: give your weapon +1 Attack… which is decent value, if nothing particularly special to write home about. Again, not really something too exciting, but still a relatively solid card on its own. Honestly don't have much to say about this card.

Overall I don’t think the Meta is going to change too much. It’s going to get shaken up a bit, probably, with the emergence of some Hero Power focused decks, and some cards will certainly worm their way into already-established decks that are dominating the metagame. It all looks to be relatively exciting, however, and I do like that while there’s a power creep against Basic cards (the one everyone gets at the beginning of the game) there’s not really much to displace the Classic cards (the original booster packs) so we’re not quite at that stage of a TCG’s life where the new expansion will render the older cards unplayable.

I do absolutely like the support for dragon decks, and they’re giving Control Hunter and Beast Druid some real support. There are a fair amount of decent cards and some poor cards in this expansion, but really they can’t all be good cards. There’s also a large amount of RNG-based mechanism here with ‘summon a random beast/legendary/spell’ and Jousting (which is basically a toss-up) being a overreaching theme in the set. I also did like that the Arena’s going to drop packs from all three available Booster Sets instead of just Grand Tournament sets – currently the arena only drops GvG packs. Loads of awesome artwork this expansion, and I for one can’t wait to waste all my money for some TGT packs, efficiency be damned. 

Hearthstone: Grand Tournament Card Reviews, Part 4

Well, fifty-freaking-two cards have been revealed with a recent Twitch stream thing, which is basically every single card left to reveal in the expansion. So yeah, we’re set for the full release of the Grand Tournament around a week after this, so save up your gold for those booster packs – try to get all your daily missions done and maybe invest some gold in the Arena if you’re confident enough. While the 150 gold entry fee might seem a bit steep, the Arena’s actually the best place to farm gold if you’re confident enough in your skills to at least get a winning streak of above seven. And even if you don’t, generally you still break even since you’re guaranteed a card pack (100 gold) and a reward in either gold or dust. I’m probably not going to talk about all fifty-four cards today, so we’ll just go through the neutral cards at the moment.

First up are a couple of common cards that actually serve as an unequivocally updated version of older cards from the Basic set, with the only difference really being that they’re available in booster packs and therefore not everyone has access to them. We’ve already had a couple of these kinds of ‘updated’ versions of basic cards in Goblins vs Gnomes, and it’s always nice to see some relatively basic cards.

·       Tournament Attendee: 1-mana drop with 2/1 and Taunt. Basically a Goldshire Footman with the stats swapped around. It’s basically a Footman that can trade with 3/2’s, but let’s be honest here. A 2/1 is not really going to live past the turn that it is summoned. It’s one of the more junk cards of this expansion.

·       Ice Rager: 3-mana drop with 5/2. It’s basically identical with the notoriously crap Magma Rager from the basic set, but with one additional health. This actually sort of makes Ice Rager somewhat playable, because it won’t die to just any Whirlwind or Fireblast or Arcane Explosion or Knife Juggler or Elven Archer or anything that deals a single point of damage. Granted the Ice Rager won’t be able to survive more than one trade, but at least it can definitely trade up and destroy a five-drop or six-drop if you guard it with a taunt or something. Still relatively bad, but at least somewhat playable. Really I like this card more because of the fun little reference to one of the easily worst cards in the game, so.

·       Frigid Snobold: 4-mana drop with 2/6 and Spell Damage +1. As its name implies, it’s a Northrend version of the Kobold Geomancer, buffed up with 2 extra cost and four extra health. I guess it’s somewhat similar to the Oasis Snapjaw, exchanging one health for Spell Damage, so it might be sort of playable as a tanky thing that provides Spell Damage? It is going to stick in the board for a very long time because it’s definitely not a threat, but on the other hand it’s a slot in your deck better filled by another minion. And even if you’re building a Spell Damage deck to complement Master of Ceremonies, it’s really not going to work.

·       Evil Heckler: 4-mana drop with 5/4 and Taunt. Basically identical to Booty Bay Bodyguard, but with one less cost. The BBB is notorious for being a crappy minion for its cost, and I guess the Evil Heckler rectifies it somewhat by making it cheaper. It’s not quite as good as Sen’jin or the Ironfur Grizzly for a taunter because of the stats, but I guess it’s at least way more playable than BBB ever was. It’s… decent, I guess. Nothing too spectacular.

·       Pit Fighter: 5-mana drop with 5/6, and is otherwise a vanilla card. A pretty good stat distribution, and basically tears through a lot of common five-health monsters like Sludge Belcher or Loatheb. I’m not quite sure if it’s going to ever be as great as the Chillwind Yeti or Boulderfist Ogre, but it’s definitely better than the other five-mana vanilla card, Salty Dog (7/4), which is way too fragile for its mana cost.

·       Captured Jormungar: 7-mana drop with 5/9 and no other effects, basically a reverse-Core Hound. It’s also even a beast! But swapping the stats around definitely makes it a ton more viable than the likewise notoriously-horrible Core Hound (which, despite being a 7-mana drop, can easily be checked by 4-drops and 5-drops without having a chance to attack). Five attack is pretty respectable since the nine health ensures that it’ll be able to make a couple of trades and survive. I also think that the tilt towards health makes it fairly better than the 7/7 War Golem that shares its drop slot – the Jormungar’s ability to trade a couple of times and assist-kill similarly-costed minions is pretty awesome. Probably not quite that exciting for more experienced players with completed Ranked Mode winning decks, but it’s still a pretty nice card nonetheless and one of the better drops that can come out of a Webspinner or Ram Wrangler.

And now for some all brand-new cards…

·       Boneguard Lieutenant: Two-mana drop, with 3/2 and Inspire: gain +1 Health. It’s basically a Bloodfen Raptor with an additional effect, which is something we’ve seen all the way from the very first Classic booster pack set (Fairy Dragon, Knife Juggler, Mad Bomber). Gaining one health isn’t honestly that exciting, but the Boneguard Lieutenant can nicely fill the two-drop niche for any Inspire deck.

·       Dragonhawk Rider: Three-mana drop, with 3/3 and Inspire: gain Windfury this turn. Comparable to Raging Worgen, and honestly I think it’s kind of worse because it depends on you doing a hero power and the Windfury effect only lasts for a turn. The Raging Worgen’s effect may be harder to trigger for non-Mage classes, but the Windfury is permanent and you get an attack bonus too. The Dragonhawk Rider is honestly pretty bad and even if you want a three-mana card for your Inspire deck there are a lot of better ones out there.

·       Refreshment Vendor: Four-mana drop with 3/5 and a Battlecry of restoring 4 health to each hero. The artwork for this is pretty hilarious – Tuskarrs in general are hilarious-looking – and the effect is pretty welcome. 3/5 and an effect is decent value for four mana, only losing a single attack point compared to the Yeti, and the effect restores health to both heroes. Definitely a card for the Control-type decks, because Control decks aren’t for rushing the enemy down – it’s to dominate the board with minions and deal face damage at your leisuere.

·       Kvaldir Raider: Five-mana drop with 4/4, and Inspire: gain +2/+2. A… decent card I guess? Nothing really too exciting. 4/4 is obviously bad for a five-drop, but with every inspire it gains two attack and two health, and it can potentially grow pretty large. I don’t think it’s a bad card, but it’s also not a particularly good card in my opinion. Comparable to Floating Watcher – basically the same thing, but it’s Warlock-exclusive and requires you to hurt yourself – and Floating Watcher is honestly kind of a middling card.

·       Fencing Coach: Three-mana drop with 2/2, and the next time you use your hero power, it costs 2 less. Basically the next time you use your hero power, it’s free! Absolutely great, and synergies well with practically every other Inspire minion out there, and especially with cards that allow you to multiply your hero power usage (Coldarra Drake, Garrison Commander), and actually makes Wilfred Fizzlebang playable because playing a Fencing Coach the turn before you play Wilfred allows you to hit the Warlock hero power for free, getting a free-cost card. It also allows some of the better Inspire effects to be activated for free, which is awesome.

·       Saboteur: Three-mana drop with 4/3, and a Battlecry of making your opponent’s hero power 5 the next turn. Basically the Fencing Coach’s nemesis, this is the Loatheb of hero powers. The effect is obviously nowhere as good as the Fencing Coach’s, because disabling your opponent’s hero power for a single turn isn’t honestly going to change much and maybe only delay their Inspire plans for a single turn… which is why the Saboteur has decent stats with 4/3. Honestly not a good card, because as much as the Grand Tournament is pushing Inspire, it’s not going to be as critical a mechanic as it’s made out to be.

·       Mogor’s Champion: Six-mana drop with 8/5 and the general Ogre effect of having a 50% chance to attack the wrong enemy. Not much better than the Boulderfist Ogre, honestly, and five health is a wee bit too fragile for a six-mana drop. It’s a downgraded Core Hound with one less attack and one less attack. Arguably better than a Core Hound because you’re spending one less mana, but being better than a Core Hound is hardly a praise worthy of a good card. Add that to the fact that you might actually miss the big enemy minion you’re trying to destroy, and you’re better off playing other better six-drops like Mogor himself (7/6 is a better stat distribution), y’know, the good old Boulderfist Ogre. It’s a fun-looking card, if nothing else, with the Ogre sitting on a Kodo Beast.

·       Twilight Guardian: We be hitting the epics! Twilight Guardian is a four-drop with 2/6 and a Battlecry of if you’re holding a dragon, it gains 1 Attack and Taunt. Definitely one for the Dragon decks, which is sorely lacking a decent four-drop. This expansion has added a lot of better dragon cards, which is awesome – the other four-drop dragons are Twilight Drake (easily countered by Silence), Hungry Dragon (decent but may backfire if it summons one-cost Taunts) and Dragonkin Sorcerer (too slow and rather difficult to get the bonus working) – so the Twilight Guardian is definitely welcome. We also don’t have any dragons with taunt, so this is pretty great. Dropping it when you have a dragon in hand (you better have dragons in hand if you’re running a dragon deck) makes it a superior version of Taz’dingo, so definitely a great card for dragon decks.

·       Recruiter: A five-drop with 5/4 and if you Inspire, you get a one-cost 2/2 Squire (the dude from Silver Hand Knight) into your hand. Honestly not very exciting, since it doesn’t summon the Squire to the field. While 2/2 for one mana is decent cost, around turn six or seven you’re better off playing something else. Again, it’s decent – great if you don’t have any better cards, but the Recruiter itself has relatively weak stats for its cost. It may be decent in Inspire decks, again, where you can potentially get an additional card and buff up a couple of other minions if you have a decent board, but I for one am not too excited about this dude.

·       Sideshow Spelleater: (Good lord, that troll looks insane as fuck) A six-drop with 6/5 and Battlecry: Copy your opponent’s hero power. The stat-line is on the poor side, sacrificing two health for the equally-insane card effect… and honestly while I love crazy cards like this, I don’t think it’s going to see play. Most hero powers are more or less equal, and while you may baffle your opponent by having a Mage that can summon Totems, it’s really not going to change the course of the battle too much. Unless you happen to be facing off against someone who’s transformed into Ragnaros or Jaraxxus, in which case, well, Sideshow Spelleater may potentially win you the game by stealing Ragnaros’ hero power and shooting the enemy Ragnaros hero in the face. And unless the game forbids you form using the Spelleater, it’s going to make running through Heroic Adventure Modes pretty easy.

·       Bolf Ramshield: Legendaries, now! Only two more Neutral Legendaries were revealed for this set, and the first is Bolf, a six-mana 3/9 creature… which has pretty m’eh stats, too far on the health side... but with the effect of taking damage whenever it’s dealt to the hero. So a Pyroblast to the face? Kill Command? Steady Shot? Bolf to the rescue! It’s definitely a nice little quasi-Taunt counter to Face-Hunters, and while I do like the relatively unique effect, I don’t think Bolf is that great to deserve a six-mana slot. Maybe in decks that can buff up Bolf – Priest springs to mind, since they can reliably double Bolf’s health and maybe make him an 18/18 juggernaut, but on the other hand your opponent can basically take Bolf out without damaging their minions. So while a decent minion, I don’t think this dude is going to see much play outside of Priest decks. Also a side-note, Bolf is a member of the ever-growing Hearthstone-original characters, as confirmed by the game creators when people are puzzled that there aren’t any corresponding Warcraft character to Bolf.

·       Chillmaw: A motherfucking Frost Wyrm! Chillmaw is no Sindragosa (which I think they’re still saving for a potential Death Knight class somewhere in the future) but he’s still based on a Frost Wyrm boss in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. He’s a seven-mana 6/6 with Taunt… which is bad stats, but the Deathrattle deals 3 damage to all minions if you’re holding a dragon. It’s a dragon, and definitely will only work in a dragon deck – Grand Tournament certainly is making dragons a lot more playable than before – but it’s a pretty fun buffed-up Abomination that serves as a pretty awesome counter against Grim Patron decks in particular. It also only damages minions, saving you from killing yourself by accidentally triggering Chillmaw. Shame that Silence counters it really hard, but still, I really hope it can be great – if anything, it'll waste one of the enemy's silences for other late-game dragons (Ysera, Onyxia) to drop in. Plus, y’know, holy shit that artwork! 

Hearthstone: Grand Tournament Card Reviews, Part 3

Well, I guess this blog’s going to remain relatively Hearthstone-centric for the forseeable future. Just can’t really find the chunk of free time required to just sit down and play Warcraft III, as much as I love that game. But the good news is, while it’s not going to update as much as my comic/TV review blog, it’s still going to receive periodical updates about Hearthstone and the Warcraft universe in general. One thing I’m probably going to do in the near future is to talk about the Legendary cards in the game and just talk about their lore in the Warcraft-verse and generally just kind of talk about their viability in-game. But for now, let’s talk about some new Grand Tournament cards that are revealed. The voting in the Hearthstone site has apparently finished, bringing with it the reveals of two legendary cards – Rhonin and Varian – and we’re not going to get a card every day. But as I am typing this there’s going to be a big Twitch stream about Hearthstone or something like that, so there may be even more new card reveals. With around ten days to the so-called predicted date of release, well, we’re probably going to basically see the rest of the expansion within the next week or so.

Neutral Minions:

·         Lance Bearer: Lance Bearer is a two-mana drop with 1/2 and a Battlecry of permanently giving a friendly minion 2 Attack. It’s relatively fair to compare it with Abusive Sergeant. For one extra mana cost, the buff is permanent. It’s definitely a solid addition to most decks, especially for beginners who need substitutions for the vanilla two-drops. And while 1/2 is relatively dead weight compared to the more versatile 2/1 stat distribution for a two-drop, I see this little dude getting some decent mileage. Except, y’know, despite being a ‘Lance Bearer’, the dude is shown with a sword and shield. What.

·         Light’s Champion: A three-drop rare card with 4/3 and the Battlecry of silencing a demon. It’s got identical stats to Spellbreaker, except it’s a three-drop instead of a four-drop… and far more specific in that it only silences demons. And to be fair, there’s a fair bit of demons out there that this dude’s effect can be good on – Voidcaller, Void Terror, Mal’Ganis, the brand new Dreadsteed – and unlike the Spellbreaker, it’s got decent value for its mana cost. The problem is that, well, its silence effect isn’t really going to go off… well, anytime you’re not fighting a Warlock, basically, so for 90% of the time Light’s Champion is going to be a three-mana 4/3. Ironbeak Owl is definitely a better silencer than Light’s Champion (or Spellbreaker for that matter) so this is really kind of situational. I think it’s especially bad in arena because it’s in the Rare slot and there are so many other better options for the rare slot.

·         Icehowl: Icehowl is a behemoth of a neutral Legendary minion. Icehowl is one of the bosses in the Argent Tournament quests in World of Warcraft, alongside the earlier-revealed Gormok the Impaler, and being a gigantic yeti, Icehowl stands at a nine-drop with a whooping 10/10 stat and Charge… but he can’t attack the face. And while at first it kind of seems stupid, Icehowl is definitely a force to be reckoned with. It comes in and just blasts a minion of your choice to death – basically like Ragnaros, except the effect isn’t random at the cost of not breaking the enemy’s face. And even then there are ways to get around it, like intentionally silencing Icehowl after the first turn he’s summoned. Yes, he takes damage, but on the other hand ten health isn’t anything to laugh at. Definitely great if you can get Icehowl at a discount with the likes of Unstable Portal, Thaurissan or Aviana. If I ever get this card, I’ll definitely use it, simply for the sheer fun effect of having this gigantic monster just mow down the entire board.

Class Cards:

·         Living Roots [Druid]: A one-mana spell card with one of two effects: deal two damage, or summon two 1/1 minions. It’s pretty decent, and is compared to Arcane Shot and Holy Smite – Hunter and Priest spells that cost one mana and deal two damage respectively – except with the added bonus of being able to summon two 1/1’s… sorta-kinda like the Mage’s Mirror Image, except instead of being two 0/2’s with taunt you get two 1/1’s that can attack, which is relatively good value for one mana – you get four stats worth of minions instead of the normal 3. It’s a pretty versatile card and definitely merits being used in more aggressive Druid decks and can replace things like Moonfire in beginner Druid decks, but I don’t see it finding a niche in any of the already-existing Druid decks.

·         Astral Communion [Druid]: For four mana, discard your hand and obtain ten mana crystals. This… is going to be an absolutely situational card, but if played right (or in a deck centered around it) it’s going to potentially win you entire games. It depends, of course, on getting Astral Communion within fourth turn (you can drop it earlier than the fourth turn provided you have access to Innervate or the Coin) and just get ten mana crystals while your opponent’s struggling with four and five… but since you’re going to be constantly topdecking throughout the rest of the match, you better draw eight-drops and nine-drops, or something that can increase your drawing abilities otherwise you’re not going to make much use of that ten mana. And if you do fill your deck with eight-drops and nine-drops like the Ancient of whatevers and drawing cards (Nourish and Ancient of Lore aside, any Druid card that draws cards only draws one – which is inefficient) it is a very possible situation that you won’t draw Astral Communion until a later turn and by then it would severely diminish the value of this card. Overall, it has a potential to be pretty awesome, if very situational and gimmicky.

·         Ram Wrangler [Hunter]: A five-drop with 3/3 stats, and a Battlecry that if you have a beast, summon a random beast. Which is awesome in a beast synergy deck – and Hunters really do have good beast synergy with cards like Houndmaster and Kill Command, so most Hunter decks are already good for this card already. Without a beast on the field it’s going to be a gigantic waste of five mana, but if you do? Well, it’s basically the Webspinner’s Deathrattle effect, but far more immediate because for five mana you get a 3/3 and a bonus beast. And, yes, you might get duds like the Stonetusk Boar or the Young Dragonhawk… but on the other hand, you might get King Krush, Malorne, Gahrzilla, middling-but-great-value stuff like Stampeding Kodo, Savannah Highmane, Lost Tallstrider, and all those. And even things like Scavenging Hyena, Ironfur Grizzly and Haunted Creeper are still relatively decent for the two mana ‘spent’ to freely summon it, so most of the time you’re going to get something of value or far better for your value… of course, with the risk of getting underwhelming things. Still, I think the Ram Wrangler will be a fun and decent card to add to your Hunter deck.

·         Rhonin [Mage]: The Mage Legendary card, Rhonin, is a relatively important character introduced in one of the earliest Warcraft novels, starring in Day of the Dragons which introduced important stuff like the dragon aspects and whatnot, before showing up in person in Worlds of Warcraft. I think Mists of Pandaria killed poor Rhonin off, which is a shame, but he shows up all awesome and shit in Hearthstone – as an eight-mana minion with 7/7 and the Deathrattle of adding three Arcane Missiles to your hand. And while 7/7 for eight mana isn’t that stellar, it’s still relatively good value considering his Deathrattle basically refreshes your hand with a bunch of cheap spells – which is going to be pretty depleted in turn eight onwards. It’s a shame that Arcane Missiles is random, but on the other hand it’s basically nine free points of damage launched at the board, enhanced by however many Spell Damage minions you managed to set up. With the dragon aspect of magic Malygos it’s going to be especially devastating… and far more deadly with fellow Mage Legendary Archmage Antonidas, because in addition to three Arcane Missiles, you get three Fireballs too. Rhonin is definitely an awesome card to include in most Mage decks, and unlike Anub’arak his stat distribution isn’t too crippling for his cost.

·         Warhorse Trainer [Paladin]: A three-mana minion with 2/4 that adds one attack to your Silver Hand Recruits… while this dude is around on the battlefield. It could potentially be pretty great, but we’ve already got the Quartermaster, which adds a permanent boost, and stat-wise and effect-wise this is definitely an inferior minion to the Quartermaster. Even with Muster for Battle it’s relatively hard to keep a board full of Silver Hand Recruits, and boosting them by one attack… only them, mind you. Stormwind Champion and Raid Leader do the same thing to all your minions, so you’re better off running them instead. Not objectively terrible, but nothing to write home about.

·         Flash Heal [Priest]: For one mana, restore five health. Because holy shit talk about mana cost efficiency. It’s not quite that useful to have a sudden healing bomb – but comparing it to the Paladin’s Holy Light spell (two mana, restore six health) it’s definitely great value. I don’t think it’s going to see much use, though… running things like Antique Healbot gets you a minion and healing, plus Priests can already heal on their own. Combined with Auchenai Soulpriest it’s a one-mana-five-damage nuke, which could be great. It could kind of be good, but I’m not too impressed. Then again, not that big of a fan of the Priest’s way of playing so I can’t say I’m too excited about Priest cards.

·         Cutpurse [Rogue]: A pretty solid minion. Two mana gets you 2/2, with the effect that whenever this minion hits your opponent’s face, you get a Coin. Which is awesome. Granted it’s probably not going to stay on the field for long, but a couple of coins can definitely help you get out combos pretty quickly while giving you extra manas to boot… and if you’re running Edwin Van Cleef, the many many coins you have are going to help you clean out your hand and summon a stupidly humongous Edwin.

·         Healing Wave [Shaman]: For three mana, restore 7 health. And then you joust – if you win the joust, you restore 14 health instead. Definitely one of the better jousts, because for three mana, even a seven-health healing is pretty decent – not especially good, but still decent – with the advantage of being able to restore even more if you win a joust. And Shaman can potentially be a good Joust-centric class thanks to being able to have less two-drops in the deck thanks to being able to summon totems. Shamans also don’t really have a reliable way of healing themselves, and this is pretty fun for that.

·         Charged Hammer [Shaman]: A four-mana weapon with 2/4, and a Deathrattle that changes your hero power to dealing two damage. It’s kind of weird. Four mana for 2/4 is definitely poor cost, so you’re going to want to whack things with the hammer as much as you can to trigger the deathrattle. But you’re going to basically miss out on Totems and instead have your Shaman power be a buffed Fireblast. Don’t really know how much that’s going to help out the Shaman especially with all the support Totem is getting this expansion, so I think it’s going to be one of those things we’ll have to wait and see.

·         Fist of Jaraxxus [Warlock]: This card costs four mana, and you deal four damage to a random enemy if you play or discard it. If you play it? Definitely a shitty usage of mana, since four mana can net you so much more. But if you discard it, and there are a fair amount of Warlock cards that can discard cards – Succubus, Doom Guard, Soulfire on top of my head– but how reliably you can get them to discard this card is kind of inconsistent and you’re going to spend most of your time with this card sitting in your hand when it could be a four-mana minion or something to help maintain board control, so as fun as it is to help counteract the Warlock’s discard-your-cards effect, it’s still pretty m’eh in my opinion.

·         Dreadsteed [Warlock]: The Dreadsteed is a four-drop minion… with the Deathrattle of summoning another Dreadsteed upon death, which has the same effect. For a four-drop and a potentially gamebreaking Deathrattle, the Dreadsteed has a measly stat distribution of 1/1, which is… unimpressive, to say the least. Sure, the Dreadsteed’s stats aren’t anywhere as holy shit inducing as fellow ‘regenerators’ Anub’arak or Malorne, but unlike things like Harvest Golem or Haunted Creeper or Piloted Shredder, the Dreadsteed doesn’t just summon a minion or two upon death – basically unless the Dreadsteed is silenced or hard-removed by the likes of Hex, there is no reliable way to remove this 1/1 thorn in your field. This makes Dreadsteed a perfect target for Warlock spells like Sacrifical Pact or Power Overwhelming, since you get all the benefits without really losing a minion. Buffing the Dreadsteed with all the Demon-buffing spells that Warlock has is also a great option. On its own it might be relatively underwhelming for a four-drop since it can’t reliable take out most things, but it’s definitely going to be a presence in the field. Coupled with Baron Rivendare, the Dreadsteed’s Deathrattle will activate twice. It’s a good thing that the Warsong Commander and Dreadsteed cannot meet (save for some insane Unstable Portal hijinks) otherwise, well, you can just infinite-loop a Charging Dreadsteed to victory.

·         Alexstrasza’s Champion [Warrior]: Finally we get some Warrior cards that are decent and not just dud spells. Though Alexstrasza’s Champion is still kind of… eh. Two mana for 2/3 isn’t really exciting considering the other options for the two-mana drop, but if you’re holding a dragon, Alexstrasza’s Champion becomes a 3/3 with Charge… which is insane value for two mana. I don’t really think there are many Dragon decks out there, and you’re really going to need to tailor your deck to be dragon-oriented to make good use of Alexstrasza’s Champion and considering how most Warrior decks center on things like Grim Patron and Frothing Berserker, I don’t see Warrior Dragon making a sudden return unless they add more Dragon support cards in this expansion.

·         Sea Reaver [Warrior]: It’s like Flame Leviathan… but without being shit. Sea Reaver is a six drop 6/7, which is basically Boulderfist Ogre. But when you draw Sea Reaver, it deals one damage to YOUR minions only, as the card reminds you in capital letters. It’s not as punishing as the Flame Leviathan’s “deal two damage to all characters when drawn” which has the potential to kill off your own minions. The Sea Reaver is basically a free whirlwind to trigger all your Grim Patrons and Enrage minions, while having the best stat distribution for his mana cost. Except, well, you don’t really want to trigger Whirlwind on your minions all the time, so it remains to be seen if Sea Reaver can find a spot in all those Patron decks. Not as bad and unpredictable as Flame Leviathan, since Warriors make use of damaging their own minions far more than Mages do, but it’s still situational.

·         Varian Wrynn [Warrior]: We close this post with Varian Wrynn, King of Stormwind and leader of the Alliance. It’ll take too much to talk about Varian’s history, so let’s just save it for a future post and get right on cracking down this card. Varian is a whooping ten-mana drop for 7/7… which is like Rhonin, and not really that impressive stat-wise. But Varian allows you to draw three cards, which is an awesome Battlecry even if Varian is just an eight-drop with 7/7, but he’s a ten drop so he gets even more effects. Which is, if you have minions in the cards you draw, it’s automatically summoned. So potentially you can get things like Grom Hellscream and Icehowls and Alexstrasza and all those big-cost Legendaries to the field… or you could just draw three spell cards. Which isn’t that bad, really, and even if you free-summon at least one four-mana drop minion you’re already getting great value out of Varian. Definitely a card that is a lot better than it seems on the surface, especially for Control Warrior decks.