Hearthstone: Frozen Throne Reviews, Part 3

 

I waited a little longer this time aroudn in order to try and get these articles to be less spammy in my blog -- less frequent and with more cards within.

Snowflipper Penguin
So, there's a bit of a reveal stream a couple of days ago, and we start off that particular reveal with this adorable but very underwhelming card. The Snowflipper Penguin is basically the beast vesrion of the Murloc Tinyfin, an adorable baby that's a 0-mana 1/1. But it's a beast. It's definitely not going to be played, no way no how, unless they release a Anyfin-esque card for beasts (and even then it's hard to see him being picked over something like Alley Cat). The Penguin's biggest importance is then to act as a mini-nerf to cards that generate beasts like Jeweled Macaw, as was what Murloc Tinyfin did to Murloc Knight back in the day. It's also a 0-mana buff to anything created by Deathstalker Rexxar's Build-a-Beast hero power, which is pretty cool but not super-duper-relevant. Still, better a cute penguin than yet another worgen greaser, right?

Shadowblade
The Shadowblade is the first proper Rogue weapon we've gotten in years. Like, yeah, Obsidian Shard was a thing but did anyone ever play that? The jury's still out on whether Shadowblade's going to be great. On paper it's decent. 3-mana for Fiery War Axe stats with an additional effect is pretty fair, I think, and being immune for a single turn is definitely a pretty significant effect. Suddenly Envenom Weapon and Leeching Poison isn't going to deal damage to your hero when you clear a minion. Envenoming this on the first turn allows you to basically have a free removal... but then is it what you really want, when Rogues already have access to Vinespine Slayer and Assassinate? The Leeching Poison application is decent enough, but there's not enough cards in Rogue to benefit from the single-turn immunity, I feel. My verdict is that the card's a wait-and-see deal

Defile
Defile is our first Warlock spell, based on the Lich King's iconic ability in the final battle atop the Icecrown Citadel. In Hearthstone, Defile's a very, very interesting card. For 2 mana, Defile deals 1 damage to all minions, and if any die you unleash Defile again. So it basically gets rid of an opposing Warlock's Possessed Villager. It's going to have some really interesting setups with Spell Damage minions such as Thalnos and the Kobold Geomancer because it's going to be dealing 2 damage and then 1 continually. In wild I can actually see the genesis of a Patron Warlock deck with this card. Is it going to be an auto include? Perhaps not, but it's certainly a very interesting effect that's going to have multiple interesting interactions with things like the eggs and other deathrattle minions. Like Fatespinner in the last batch, Defile's a card with a very interesting effect that actually requires you to think hard about how advantageous it is to unleash it upon the board at that time. I've never been bothered by the amount of RNG in Hearthstone, but I equally embrace the addition of these smarter cards, so to speak.

Cryostasis
Cryostasis is a card that, on first glance, looks bad. It either has a brief interaction with Moorabi, otherwise it's this weird combination of a mini-Blessing of Kings and a Freeze effect. Which is just weird. But it's not as bad as some of the other cards in this set, I believe? Certainly not as bad as poor Icebreaker. Cryostasis can be cast on either an enemy minion or a friendly one. Obviously at the moment the only real non-Moorabi advantage with freezing an enemy minion is using Ice Breaker on it, which is stupid for two reasons -- you're putting Ice Breaker in your deck, and you're allowing three extra damage to be dealt to your face. Why not just hex the fucker? Yes, Moorabi-ing an Antonidas or Ragnaros Lightlord is amazing, but also, do you really want to give them a free +3/+3 buff? And if you use it on your own minion, you're going to have it miss an attack. Unless, of course, you're going to buff like a Mana Tide Totem or something which won't attack anyway so you're not missing a ton, and a 2-mana +3/+3 buff over two turns isn't the most horrible thing ever. And also, the way Freeze works is that the minion will skip its next attack, so freezing a minion before it attacks means that it'll un-freeze by the next turn, which isn't as bad as what Cryostasis initially was in my mind. But at the same time, unless we get some more powerful Freeze synergies, I don't see Cryostasis working out particularly well. Woe betide you if you decide to play a Cryostasis-self-buff Shaman, and you're facing a Freeze Mage with Chillwraiths and shit.


Moorabi
More trolls yay! I do hope we get a troll-themed expansion some time down the line. Moorabi has the continuous effect of adding a copy of any frozen minion into your hand, so cards like Voodoo Hexxer, Cryostasis, Frost Elemental, Glacial Shard and Frost Shock's going to basically be turned into free versions of Convert. What's Convert? Do you even remember Convert? It's that 2-mana spell that Priest had in... GvG? TGT? One of those. It's an interesting effect, and, yes, you might be able to get free copies of Antonidases, Ragnaroses, C'Thuns or whatever, but at the same time Moorabi has the laughably weak 6-mana 4/4 statline. Remember another Shaman elemental with such a weak statline? The Mistcaller. Who saw nearly no play, despite a theoretically powerful effect. Mind you, I tried like hell to make Mistcaller work -- I got two of the fucker from packs! And while like, one game out of three the Mistcaller gets some awesome value, the negative tempo from playing a 4/4 at turn 6 is just so punishing. Moorabi's part of a combo piece and not a 'drop and have his awesome battlecry activate' like Mistcaller, so I kind of feel like he's worse than Mistcaller? He's not a horrible effect, and a pretty cool-designed card, and admittedly making him any stronger would make him way too insane. I like my unplayable cards to at least be interesting like Moorabi and Mistcaller and not just poopy like Ticking Abomination.


Eternal Servitude
Huh. This one actually looks great as a late-game card. It's Resurrect, basically, but you can discover the minion you want to resurrect, suddenly making it insanely more powerful. It also costs double. Is two extra mana worth it for the choice of which minion to instantly bring into the field? I'd argue yes. Eternal Servitude (which in itself is a pretty cool concept, by the way, and fits well to the nightmare-eternally-screaming-shadow-wraith Anduin theme) is not going to be played on curve, but I can definitely see a spot for the spell in Quest Priest decks. Shit, now I really, really feel the need to craft the Priest Quest. Eternal Servitude seems good, but not crazy-good. Not much else I think needs to be said about it.


Doomed Apprentice
Doomed Apprentice is, well, Sorcerer's Apprentice's evil twin. She's has the exactly same statline, costs one mana more, and gives a reverse-discount of spells to your opponent. It's comparable to Nerubian Unraveler, but whereas the Unraveler might have some value in shutting down Miracle-Rogue combos or Quest Mage combos due to the not-insignificant 5 health and 2-mana price increase, Doomed Apprentice is so much more fragile, and the 1 extra cost doesn't feel like it's going to impact as much. A lot of talk is made about how Nerubian Unraveler isn't going to have anywhere as much of an impact to Loatheb's insane 5-mana price jack (and also the effect still staying for the turn no matter what), but at least the Unraveler seems semi-decent. Doomed Apprentice just seems... doomed either way due to her shit stats and marginal effect.


Prince Valanar
Out of the three princes, Valanar might be my least favourite. I mean, Taldaram felt pretty bad, what with being a cheaper Faceless Manipulator with fixed stats, but Valanar basically becomes a 4/4 version of Wickerflame Burnbristle if you eliminate all 4-cost cards from your deck. Granted, a 4/4 Wickerflame for 4 mana is amazing, but is it worth the price that Valanar asks? I can kind of see Valanar working in weird janky decks like the Quest Hunter, Zoo Warlock or Quest Rogue, or even Miracle Rogue (although you'll have to take Sherazin out, Valanar's capacity to heal maaaaybe ofsets it?). The thing is that Valanar isn't super-strong in of himself even if his effect gets triggered, and I'm honestly just frowning at this card and going 'eh, moving on'. Like, it's a cool effort to make a 2-mana 2/2, 3-mana 3/3 and 4-mana 4/4 that gains an effect if the deck's build to eliminate their specific number, but at the same time, jeez, their effects are just so... m'eh that I'm not even sure how to react beyond slight apathy. Like, yeah, sure, you could put in all three in a Quest Hunter deck and try to make that work, but none of them other than Keleseth will actually make the deck stronger.


Dead Man's Hand
Dead  Man's Hand is interesting, but ultimately I think is either going to be super-amazing and meta-defining... or a complete flop.  For 2 mana, you shuffle a copy of your hand into your deck. If you shuffle your second Dead Man's Hand into your deck, you potentially chain into infinite cards to prevent fatigue and give those Jade Druids a huge bird flip. The concept of reusing cards like, say, getting extra Brawls, Shield Blocks and whatnot is pretty cool, and the anti-fatigue utility is definitely the card's strongest suit. Control Warrior hasn't really been the same since Elise Starseeker rotated into wild and Jade Druid took the spootlight as Hearthstone's premier fatigue-war deck, and this could actually work very well for a replacement for Elise. Again, though, it requires a fair bit more setup than Jade Idol's automatic self-recycling, and if Gang Up is anything to go by, sometimes you'll find it hard to spend 2 mana to basically do something that'll only give you value in the long long run. Not a bad card by any means, though, it just needs to find a proper home.

Spreading Plague
Remember Unleash the Taunts Protect the King from karazhan? Well, Druids get a version of it, because Druids are all about the Taunt in this expansion apparently. Spreading Plague, in addition to having an awesome artwork, is a 5-mana card that summons a 1/5 Scarab with Taunt, and repeats it until you have the same number of minions as your opponent. This is important because unlike Unleash the Hounds or Protect the King, you can't suddenly have a mega-advantage over your opponent by summoning an equal number of tokens. But Spreading Plague is just great, right? A 1/5 Scarab with Taunt is basically a better Silverback Patriarch (the scarab's presumably a beast, considering the scarab summoned by Obsidian Destroyer), and 5 health is the same amount of health that one of the most popular early-game taunts, Tar Creeper, has. It gives you a crap-ton of tokens to play with whether with Mark of the Lotus or Savage Roar, although I don't think this will fit in the current iteration of Token Druid considering Spreading Plague favours you having a more losing board. It's going to put a gigantic wall in front of any Pirate Warrior deck, though. And while I'm not sure if I want Hadronox to be summoning 1/5 Scarabs instead of Dark Arakkoas and Twin Emperors, Spreading Plague seems good enough that I think it'll see play nonetheless. 1/5 Taunts are far, far better than the 1/1 Taunts that Protect the King summons in that they'll actually resist a lot of removals (Shadow Word: Horror notwithstanding) and actually buy you a turn.


Frost Lich Jaina
Our second hero! Frost Lich Jaina's card has been leaked since like last week, but not her hero power. The hero power she gets? Basically the 2-mana deal 1 damage, but like Bane of Doom, if she kills a minion with the hero power, she's going to summon a Water Elemental. Frost Lich Jaina has one of the most awesome artworks in the set (though the Frost Lich Jaina art in both promotional key arts and the trailers are all pretty boss as well) and it's a shame that she doesn't look super-awesome. Though I might be proven wrong -- she's certainly a card that looks a little bit weird. She comes down at a whooping 9 mana, which is far, far more than Deathstalker Rexxar. And unlike Deathstalker Rexxar, Jaina doesn't actually clear the board. Sure, she gets 5 armour, but all she does is summon a free Water Elemental and swap hero powers. The combination of the new hero power and the fact that all her elementals will have lifesteal permanently throughout the game makes Frost Lich Jaina a pretty hard-to-kill hero, though. I'm not sure if she actually needs an Elemental deck to play though it's going to understandably be better. The Water Elementals Jaina can summon indefinitely doesn't activate your Blazecallers and Servants, sure, but those cards can still be played independently and they'll still have Lifesteal. It's a different type of unkillable mage,  where instead of relying on Ice Blocks and Reno turns, Jaina's survivability is going to be based mostly on having her unstoppable army of Water Elementals freeze, trade and heal her up. The thing is whether Jaina's going to be able to actually use her hero power effectively, because your opponent is sure as hell not going to leave 1-health minion hanging around for you to kill. Which is where Sindragosa suddenly looks better, because Jaina's hero power will still trigger upon killing your own minions. Suddenly if Frost Lich Jaina's already activated, summoning Sindragosa ends up being a 10-turn play where you summon an 8/8 Sindragosa, kill one of the Frozen champions to summon a 3/6 Frost Elemental with Lifesteal, draw a free random legendary out of thin air, and have another Frozen Champion for next turn's hero power ping. Again, though, it looks like a long, control game and I'm not quite sure if the Frost Lich Jaina deck is going to emerge, but it certainly looks fun. We'll see.

Ice Walker
Oh man, this card. The Ice Walker's got sub-par stats, a 2-mana 1/3, but he's an Elemental in Mage (and I just spent a paragraph talking about how Elemental Mage might be super awesome). 2 mana is easy enough to slot into turns before you drop your Servants of Kalimos or Blazecallers, and the Walker is a minion with a continuous effect -- Jaina's hero power now freezes the target! Historically in TGT cards that passively affect the hero power hasn't been played that much -- cards like Fallen Hero, Coldarra Drake and a majority of the Inspire minions don't see play outside of Arena, but the combination of the Elemental synergy and the fact that Ice Walker's going to help to slow down the enemy to reach that insane Frost Lich Jaina turn means that Ice Walker certainly has potential -- moreso than stuff like Doomed Apprentice. I'm not saying that this is the new Pyros or Arcanologist, but it certainly seems like a decent enough card to see constructed play.


Meat Wagon
(Warcraft III references makes me happy!) Holy shit, a Mech! I thought those things were extinct. The last one we got was, what, that crappy burgle-bot from Gadgetzan? Meat Wagon's statted identically to fellow Warcraft III siege engine Demolisher, with 1/4 stats. It costs 4 mana, though, and as a deathrattle, it summons a minion with less attack than this minion. Which... which sounds horrible, to be honest. Sure, you can buff Meat Wagon up with Abusive Sergeant or Grimy Goons hand-buffs, but at the same time the unpredictability and generally weird and inconsistent setup means that I don't really see Meat Wagon being played at all. It's cute, though, and maybe there's a way to ensure that the Meat Wagon always summons like a 0-attack minion? Shaman's Mana Tide, Primalfin and Flametongue Totems are the only things I can think up of that fit this role, and Shamans kind of aren't hurting for options in their 30-card pool. The awesome rap that the reveal came with by J4ckie Chan suggests eggs, Validated Doomsayer and Lightspawn as possibilities, but again, not particularly amazing -- you'll probably want cards that's going to synergize well with the eggs or the Elementals in the first place and not the inconsistency of Meat Wagon. So unless some particularly awesome Mech deck in Wild can think up of something, poor Meat Wagon's just going to be a pretty sub-par, rarely-used epic. It's an interesting card that makes you really think of the amount of stuff you could do with it, though -- and if nothing else, you get to listen to a fun rap.


Necrotic Geist
The Necrotic Geist would be awesome if only it had better stats. The effect is similar to cards like Cult Master or Flesheating Ghoul, arguably better because the Geist puts a 2/2 token into the field immediately. Except its stats are absolutely pitiful at 5/3. Like the only real proper use I can see Necrotic Geist in is in a combo with Unleash the Hounds, but that's like a 9-mana combo for, what, a 5/3 and a board full of 2/2's? I'd rather play Call of the Wild, thank you very much. That said, though, the Necrotic Geist might, might see play in some token decks, but I highly doubt it. I do like his very undead-themed effect, though, and I kind of feel that if you're going to print filler cards, at least have them be like Necrotic Geist or Meat Wagon where they have relatively weird and unique effects and not just... y'know, bad cards like Ticking Abomination or Ice Breaker.


Cobalt Scalebane
Oooh ooooh ooooh new dragon! I've been playing a lot of Dragon Priest in Wild lately, and while Dragon Priest do already have an insanely powerful five-mana dragon, the addition of Cobalt Scalebane into the pool of cards that Netherspite Historian can discover is certainly welcome. The Cobalt Scalebane is like the old Master Swordsmith on steroids, where it gives a random friendly minion the very unsignificant +3 attack at the end of each turn. And the Scalebane has the pretty awesome statline of 5/5 for 5 mana, and he's a dragon, which means dragon synergy and Curator synergy. The Scalebane is just amazing, especially in Arena. Like, I'm not sure if constructed decks can actually make a spot for him, but he's certainly an interesting option to be slotted into board-centric decks or decks that feature the Curator in general. Definitely liking this card. Definitely will be trying to put him into all my Wild dragon decks, although honestly the biggest problem is that it competes with Azure Drake and Drakonid Operative for the 5-mana spot, and with that in consideration Scalebane might find it hard to find a home.

Gnomeferatu

Holy hell, what the fuck is this card! She has 2/3 vanilla stats, which is awesome enough, but she... removes a card from your opponent's deck? Seems like they realize that discarding your own cards is annoying and self-destructive half the time, so Warlocks now decide to discard their opponent's cards! It's obviously not as powerful as it initially seems, but the fact that Blizzard is printing cards that are disruptive to the opponent's hand or deck is actually pretty surprising considering their staunch stance on not doing such a thing. In any case, Gnomeferatu's effect is pretty tame, discarding a single card -- that's like milling them a card, and it's an effect that'll only happen twice throughout the game. It's also not an effect that's great against all decks, with it not mattering that much against aggro decks, but if you burn a Brawl? A Shadow Word?  A Twisting Nether? An Elise? Fandral? Ragnaros? Lord Jaraxxus? Lyra? And we're not even talking about big deck-clinching cards like Alexstrasza, Ice Block, Gadgetzan Auctioneer, Archmage Antonidas, and stuff like that. Some decks can survive having a couple of their cards get burned, but combo decks? Moreso than Dirty Rat (which always felt more like a risky play) the Gnomeferatu seems like a properly awesome anti-combo card. She's not as game-breaking as many people think she is, because against non-combo decks her effect might as well as read 'put the topmost card onto the bottom of the deck', but against combo decks? It's going to have, like, a 1/20, or 4/20 chance of discarding a combo piece, otherwise she's just a River Crocolisk. That's not to say that she's bad, but Gnomeferatu isn't as ultra-OP or consistent as she initially seems to be. She's definitely okay, though.

Hearthstone: Frozen Throne Card Reviews, Part 2

 In addition to all these new cards, we also get the revelation that beating the Lich King Adventure/Mission single-player story mode thing once with every class is going to award you with a brand-new Paladin hero skin... young Prince Arthas! Well, shit, I love Uther and Liadrin, but man, the moment I get Arthas there's only going to be a single Paladin skin I ever use forever more. Soon we'll probably have enough alternate hero skins for a top ten Hearthstone hero skins list! (Meanwhile, Druid and Warlock really need some love)

So, anyway. Lots and lots of new cards. These are the reveals for the past... half-week, I think? Images will be edited in later 'cause I'm lazy.

Bring it On
When I first saw this card I laughed out loud. What a shit card! Ironhide was half of this card's effect, but with one less mana. Bring It On gives you 10 armour for 2 mana... and then gives a double-Thaurissan discount on all your opponent's minions? Is this an actual insult? Like, shit, I was actually pissed off when I first saw this card. Then I stopped and thought... putting double the armour gain into basically a half-Reno armour into a single card is convenient, if nothing else. But when is it worth it to do an effect comparable to Milhouse Manastorm, unarguably the worst legendary in the game? Obviously, when you're trying to set up the enemy for Brawl. Of course, if you're using Bring it On at all your opponent's probably going to guess that, 'hey, this dude's giving me free discounts to make me play into a Brawl' and withhold certain cards so... yeah. Probably fun to mind-game people with in lower ranks, but otherwise, a pretty shit card. Still, it got elevated in my mind from 'horrid insult to the playerbase' to 'shit but they're doing something interesting', which is... a bit more okay.

Coldwraith
Coldwraith is another freeze-synergy card, this time for Mages which will have a far easier of a time to freeze stuff than Shamans do. And unlike shitty ol' Shatter, or the sub-par-if-not-activated Cryomancer, Coldwraith has a very okay 3-mana 3/4 statline on a pinch. If an enemy happens to be frozen, you get a bonus card draw. It's a very decent card, it's just that decent probably doesn't quite cut it for constructed. It's definitely a cool card design, and I do like the concept behind it, I'm just sad that Mages have way, way too many multi-purpose cards for a card like Coldwraith to find a proper home in a high-ranking deck. Like, the card's okay. It's just not quite right for mages as they stand in Hearthstone.

Voodoo Hexxer
Everyone called for a freeze-synergy Shaman card to be revealed after the dire Ice Breaker was, and we got Voodoo Hexxer. Will it make Ice Breaker work? Hell no! But is Voodoo Hexxer a good card? Definitely. He's comparable to Alley Armorsmith, with the exact same stats (5-mana 2/7 Taunt) but instead of armouring up every time it attacks, Voodoo Hexxer simply just freezes the enemy. It's... a little underwhelming, to be honest, but it's still a decent card. As a 5-mana taunt it's okay in and of itself, although the ability to freeze probably only matters to hinder pirate warriors from hitting you the next turn. Unlike the Armorsmith it doesn't give you super-value, it just... freezes stuff, which, while a neat bonus, isn't super-impactful. It's a pretty balanced card all around, and a great freeze activator -- it just needs some extra oomph to get there, and Ice Breaker is definitely not it. In itself the Hexxer is a pretty great, solid card, it just needs to find a proper home, just like a good chunk of the cards reviewed here.

Bearshark
Hahahaha, this card! It's actually quite decent, too. I don't think it'll actually make its way into the already overcrowded three-mana slot for Hunters, what with Animal Companion, Eaglehorn Bow and Rat Pack having a bit of a monopoly on that mana slot, but it's actually different enough from them to be considered as an alternative. The Bearshark is a 4/3 for 3 mana with the Faerie Dragon effect (we really need to keyword that -- I've seen it be called spellproof or hexproof or untouchable or something along those lines), which renders it immune to a fair bit of early-game spell removal like Frostbolt... while the Hunters buff their beasts almost exclusively with minion battlecries (Houndmaster, Crackling Razormaw) so it doesn't matter for the Hunters themselves. Unfortunately, though, it's still a 4/3. If it was a 3/4 for 3 with the same ability, it would be insane. As it is, though, a 4/3 still dies to your Fiery War Axes, or to other 3/2 minions, and can't get rid of the ever-popular Tar Creeper. It's not a bad card, though -- if it survives to the next turn to get Houndmaster'd, it'd be a rampaging mountain of value. Historically minions with spellproof (or whatever you're calling it) have been relatively sparse, with only Faerie Dragon and Soggoth really seeing any kind of marginal play, and even then in first-tier decks they tend to be cut out for other chioces. Bearshark's a decent enough play, though probably not always better than Animal Companion's choices (though definitely more consistent). Definitely a card you want in arena, and a card you will be happy to make a zombeast out of. I actually hope this card's better than it looks the way Rat Pack was relatively underestimated, if only because the artwork's so, so damn silly and awesome and I want to see him everywhere.

Hadronox
Hadronox is the Druid legendary, and he's a big creepy demonic spider! He's like, the Nerubians' pet in Azjol-Nerub or something. I need to do a proper lore section for these cards. Perhaps I will. Hadronox is a huge Druid Beast, sitting at 9-mana... with the relatively piddly 3/7 statline. But it acts as a N'Zoth for taunts! Which I was super-excited for. Sure, Warriors have their Taunt Quest decks, but Druids actually have the best Taunt minions. Jade Behemoth, Druid of the Claw, Dark Arakkoa, Ancient of War (which doesn't get summoned by Hadronox, but still), Ironbark Protector... hell, he even works with Curator and vice versa! yet my heart sunk when I realized Hadronox's ability is a deathrattle instead of a battlecry. It does make Hadronox insanely scary if you don't have hex or polymorph, and in wild, with Sludge Belchers and shit he's going to be scarier. He also gets summoned by N'Zoth, allowing for infinite (well, if not infinite then a metric fuckton) amounts of Sludge Belchers. I'm not sure if Hadronox will actually see a lot of play because between his statline and his effect being a deathrattle instead of a battlecry, but he's certainly very exciting. You know what's great with Hadronox? C'Thun decks. Not sure if a Geomancer-taunted C'Thun is going to be summoned by Hadronox, but even then you can get Hadronox to summon both Twin Emperors and Dark Arakkoas, and that alone's going to be insane. I'm not sure if Hadronox will work, but a card that inspires me to make a deck is definitely great design in my books.

Abominable Bowman
Ha ha, get it, Abominable Snowman? I actually chuckled at this. The artwork's pretty dang cool-looking, too, with the Abomination's two smaller hands functioning together to hold the bowstring and to reload the arrows. That aside, though, it's actually a pretty underwhelming card. I won't say that it's bad, but I don't think this dude will see much play unless in very dedicated Deathrattle decks. He's a 7-mana 6/7 that summons a random beast that died this turn as a deathrattle. And therein lies the problem -- Hunters have a lot of weak beasts. Alleycat, and the cat it summons. The little 1/1 spiders, rats and 2/2 hyenas summoned by other common minions. If the Abominable Bowman actually rolls the actual Savannah Highmane or the Infested Wolf then it's actual insane value, but unless you dedicate a Deathrattle Hunter that does not feature weak beast tokens, the Bowman's going to find a hard place to fit in. Like, on paper a 6/7 that summons a 1/1 on Deathrattle gets vanilla stats... but vanilla statted minions aren't viable on the ladder. Mind you, it's not neccessarily a bad card. I can see a more Deathrattle oriented deck where you run N'Zoth, Terrorscale Stalker and Spiritsinger Umbra... but then you'd be sacrificing on so much of the mid-game and early game beast synergies hunters are good at. I don't necessarily see Abominable Bowman being great with the cards we have at the moment, but make no mistake, it's definitely an interesting card that might prove itself to be useful in the future.

Fatespinner
This is one of the more interesting cards of the expansion, and I really, really love it. A lot of the biggest complaints directed to Hearthstone as a game is how RNG it gets sometimes, a complaint that I think people hype out of proportion but definitely valid. Fatespinner is a card that isn't a simple bunch of stats and keywords, so it plays differently every time you play it, but it's dependent on you and not RNG. You pick a Deathrattle... secretly! It's a 5-mana 5/3 that either Hellfires the board (and Druids have been begging for AoE, by the way) or mass-buffs the board with +2/+2. And depending on the board state, either one can be great. Like, maybe your enemy is a simple spell mage with very few minions. Why not give your board a mini Savage-Roar? Most of the time the damage might be the right choice, but the addition of the guessing game and mind-games for your opponent is amazing card design, and the particularly popular Egg Druid archetype actually works well with either one of Fatespinner's abilities. It's probably not the most meta-defining card out there, but it's certainly one of the most interesting ones.

Bolvar,  Fireblood
Hey, new Bolvar! Bolvar Fordragon's greatest achievement in his life (well, in his death) was becoming the new Lich King after the fall of Arthas Menethil, the iconic second Lich King. He's cool, he's a fiery scary noble corpse. He did kind of have a shit card back in GvG, but since this is a Lich King expansion it's kind of appropriate for him to make an appearance, right? Sadly, though, he's not actually super-good. Which is fine. Unlike Lana'thel, New!Bolvar came out in a class that keeps getting great Legendaries for like four or five expansions straight. New!Bolvar isn't super-bad either, it's just that right now there's not many ways to properly play with Divine Shield synergy. We'll have to wait and see. Otherwise, a 5-mana 1/7 with Divine Shield that grows... isn't particularly good. Comparing him to Lana'thel, Lana'thel doesn't need to be on the board to gain buffs, but Bolvar Fireblood gains +2 instead of +1 per tic. He does require you to have a board set up, though, to either trade or Blood Knight up, so... I dunno. He doesn't seem too good, in my opinion. But that's okay. Arthas is the one true Lich King and we know that.

Light's Sorrow
Light's Sorrow has Bolvar's effect, but in weapon form. It's a 4-mana 1/4 weapon, pretty shit, that gains a single point of attack every time a Divine Shield is popped. It's not as bad as Ice Breaker, because it's easier for you to pop Divine Shields, but I really hope, again, that there are more ways to get Divine Shields onto the board otherwise this card's going to be really hard to even activate. Plus, just like most weapons, it dies to Oozes despite its powerful 4 durability. I'm more of a 'wait and see' mentality with Light's Sorrow, until we see all the Paladin cards, but as for now it seems bad.

Corpsetaker
What the hell. 'Winter is coming' indeed. The card honestly surprised me because I thought this was a legendary at first, before I realized I could put two of these into my deck. The Corpsetaker, other than being a cool Game of Thrones reference with her summoning quote, is herself an insane minion. She's a 4-mana 3/3... which honestly is insane for a card that can potentially become a life-stealing mini Al'Akir. Like, what the fuck! She copies the following four keywords if there's a card with them in your deck: Lifesteal, Taunt, Windfury and Divine Shield. So in paladins, all you need is Wickerflame Burnbristle in your deck and a single Windfury minion to get her full value. Even then, if it's only Wickerflame, you get a bigger Wickerflame himself! Shamans straight-up get a mini Al'Akir for the simple cost of putting an Al'Akir in your deck, which, chances are you're already doing anyway. If she gets her full value, if unanswered the Corpsetaker is going to just deal 6 damage while heal you for 6, and she has Divine Shield and Taunt to deal with! She's probably not going to be consistent all the time, but if you get three out of four of her keywords she's already pretty badass.

Bonemare
What the hell, this card! It's an insane heap of value. For the simple disadvantage of 'you need another minion in play' -- something that isn't that hard to actually do, especially for Paladins and Shamans -- you roll in together a 5/5 body, a Blessing of Kings and Taunt. It definitely costs a lot more than a total of 7 mana. And yes, if you're forced to play Bonemare alone you get a 7-mana 5/5 which is horrifyingly bad, but the upside is so good that I actually can see this thing run in an actual constructed deck. You basically get a 5/5 body, and a maximal of a charging 4/4 and a sudden taunt. Bonemare's going to be a nightmare (see what I did there) in Arena, and honestly I can see some Constructed lists fitting Bonemare in. Cool card, definitely.

Animated Berserker
This card's a bit weird. He's a Warrior one-drop with a 1/3 stat-line, with the continuous effect of dealing a damage to any minion you play while he's active. Which is insanely weak outside of a proper Enrage/Patron style deck. It's another Whirlwind-style activator similar to Whirlwing, Ravaging Ghoul, Death's Bite and Blood Razor, but at the same time there's not a lot of cards in Standard that really work well with the Enrage mechanic, what with Patron hanging out in wild (with no way to give them charge, too). Like, there's the obvious Bloodhoof Brave, Grommash Hellscream or Frothing Berserker synergies, but are those enough to justify putting the relatively weak Animated Berserker into your deck? It's a cool concept that I'm happy to be included as a card design, don't get me wrong, and I think it's cheap and harmless enough to be included in some lists. Has potential, I think? Certainly him + Grommash Hellscream's a pretty good play, and far more viable than, say, Grommash and then possibly wasting a Whirlwind to do nothing but enrage the Hellscream patriarch. Hey, Frozen Throne! Bring me more Enrage cards!

Sanguine Reveler
It's a pretty interesting card. A 1-mana 1/1 that becomes a 3/3 if you destroy a friendly minion? Obviously you want to play it in a Deathrattle deck. A zoo-y deathrattle deck. In wild I can easily see him being dropped next to Nerubian Eggs and Haunted Creepers and just getting value upon value, but in standard? Obviously we haven't seen all the Warlock cards yet, but for now he does kind of look unspectacular in standard. He could be an easy Devilsaur Egg activator, which is cool, but he's definitely going to need a fair bit more cheap early-game deathrattle minions to really work properly. The thing to probably watch out is that if you topdeck this while you don't have a target, you can't actually play him without sacrificing one of your minions, and if you drop him on an empty board he's just going to be a lowly 1/1... neither of which are very great at all. Still, in a proper deathrattle/zoo deck the Sanguine Reveler's definitely going to find a home. Is this time for Zoolock's return? We've been saying that since forever. Overall, a cool and interesting card. See, Blizzard, you don't actually have to lead with crap like Lana'thel and Ticking Abomination.

Howling Commander
FUS RO DAH! Come on, I'm not the only one thinking it, right? This little Dovahkiin cosplayer isn't the best card out there, but she's a tutor card and tutor cards have been historically played pretty well in other TCGs. In Hearthstone, the Curator is the most effective and honestly a bit of a sleeper hit. But is Howling Commander good? Obviously a 3-mana 2/2 is horrid, horrid stats, and drawing a Divine Shield card... isn't the best thing ever, especially since the Commander herself doesn't actually have Divine Shield himself so she doesn't actually try and work with the new Bolvar or whatever. She does allow you to draw Tirion Fordring (no, Wickerflame isn't good enough to warrant this, and definitely not New!Bolvar) on demand. Is that good enough to warrant a deck spot? Probably not. We'll need to see all the Divine Shield minions in this expansion, of course. Paladins do kind of need card draw, which is okay, so I guess?

Venomstrike Trap
Oh, hey, another new secret for Hunter! Putricide loves secrets, right? This one's actually great,  a combination of the Bear and Snake Traps. It gets activated similar to the Snake Trap, after a minion is attacked, but it summons a minion from the game itself, the 2/3 Emperor Cobra with Poisonous. Is it particularly good? Not really, since unlike the Ironfur Grizzly from the Bear Trap, Poisonous isn't super-relevant on your opponent's turn since they still control what trades into what, but at the same time it could completely screw up your opponent's turn. It looks okay, and certainly won't be bad if you get it free from a Putricide. The mere existence of Putricide means that this card's going to see play through him even if it's not in actual decks. Though honestly, why not? Free snakes!

Hearthstone: Frozen Throne Card Reveals, Part 1

 So we've finally reached the 24th of July, and we're starting the ticker-feed of Knights of the Frozen Throne card reveals. So bear with me for a little, because I'm going to try to review most of these cards strictly from a 'first impressions' standpoint. As usual, first impression reviews tend to be mistaken (whoever thought mr. Patches was going to be meta defining?) but hey, here goes!

[This got accidentally taken down yesterday. I've since updated it with the cards up to the Sindragosa reveal, so yep. Because I haven't reviewed the first five cards, I talk about them a little at the end of this.]

Ticking Abomination:
The first card revealed is this handsome dude, the Ticking Abomination. Pretty flavourful card, of course, lore-wise. Abominations are central to the undead armies ever since Warcraft III, and while World of Warcraft's Northrend content did add several upgraded vesions of the Abomination like the Flesh Giants, Flesh Titans and their kin, the abominations still are one of the more iconic designs of Warcraft's undead forces. Being a ticking time-bomb is also for the norm for abominations. The Ticking Abomination is cute, but probably not super-good. It's a 5/6 for 4 mana, a good one mana less than the statline deserves. But just like most highly-statted-for-its-cost fellows, its deathrattle deals 5 damage to all your minions. It's pretty damning because it Flamestrikes your own board (nay, even worse) so using this in aggro or midrange decks is definitely out. And I don't think even N'Zoth decks want this around because if it dies it kind of, y'know, nukes your own board. Like, there's obviously the ideal bit of you killing the Ticking Abomination and killing a Sylvannas Windrunner on your side, but then what about Standard? I don't think you want N'Zoth to bring this dude back, right? I dunno. Highly-statted minions will find a way to be used (look at Humongous Razorleaf!) so maybe some decks that don't use a lot of minions like Priest or Mage might use the Abomination? But then Priests and Mage have their share of minions and so I don't think a 4-mana 5/6 is going to make a huge difference. It's a cool-designed card, but I don't really think this dude's going to see a ton of play even in Arena. Not the best way to start your trickle-down reveal of cards, I'm afraid.


Plague Scientist:
Giving a friendly minion Poisonous is amazing. The thing with giving a friendly minion poisonous is that you essentially slap on a removal for free by, well, essentially giving the poisonous effect charge, if that makes sense. And it's got a kick-ass looking card art (as far as undead gnomes go) and it's in Rogue, so it's a neat flavour bit. And yeah, it's got a stat penalty, a 3-mana 2/3, but surely a 1-mana removal card is worth something? Well, in addition to requiring you to already have another minion on the field, Plague Scientist is also a Combo card. Which means that the setup you need for Plague Scientist to work -- a card to Combo with, plus a minion on the field that you then have to run to whatever you want to destroy -- is a bit too steep, perhaps. Out of the cards revealed on the first day Plague Scientist is certainly the best out of the bunch, but it's certainly not constructed-level viable, I don't think. Vilespine Slayer is a high-costed combo card, too, but it just straight-up murders a minion. Plague Scientist is perhaps comparable to Crackling Razormaw, who doesn't have a stat penalty but only works on beasts and only gives poisonous one out of three times. On the other hand, the Razormaw's flexibility and lack of setup or stat drops outweighs its unreliability for a poisonous effect. Plague Scientist is a very cool concept, don't get me wrong, but I just feel that he demands too much -- from the mana cost to the combo -- for something that's not that easy to deliver.


Ice Breaker
But that doesn't compare to Icce Breaker over here. It's a Shaman weapon, and, god, it's a shit weapon. It's a 3-mana 1/3, which is disastrous stats. A 1/3 weapon is barely decent for 1-mana, and even then 1/3 weapons usually come bundled with a body (N'Zoth's First Mate) or the possibility of raising its attack value (Spirit Claws) and costs far, far less than 3 mana. What does Ice Breaker's effect do? It destroys any minion. Cool, removal! Not really, because the minion in question has to be frozen to be destroyed by the weapon. Why in god's name would you rather use Ice Breaker rather than Hex to remove a minion, I can't say. Like, first, you have to freeze the minion in question, and Shaman's got, what, a grand total of one card, Frost Shock, to do it? Frost Elemental from the neutrals? And then you have to run your face towards that minion, and the whole point of removal is to avoid it killing your face. Sure, you can use, oh, Violet Illusionist to negate the damage to your face if you're that kind of super-convoluted player, but on the other hand that's one charge of the Ice Breaker used. How likely is it for the Ice Breaker's other two charges for removal to be triggered? How likely is it that you have both Frost Shocks and both Frost Elementals in your hand? Not very. And while this does mean that the expansion's probably going to feature a bunch of frost spells for Shaman, the Ice Breaker's still a pretty crap weapon. I mean, Envenom Weapon never saw play outside of Arena, and it's far, far easier to get the effect off compared to Ice Breaker. I dunno. Seems terrible, until proven otherwise.

Blood-Queen Lana'thel
Man, Warlocks can't catch a break, right? Unless the expansion gives us a hell lot of great discard synergy cards (and considering the pretty decent-on-paper Lakkari Felhound, Lakkari Sacrifice and Clutchmother Zavas turned out to be unplayable) Blood-Queen Lana'thel won't break Warlock's streak of crap legendaries since Wilfred Fizzlebang. It's not just me, right? Like, I took a look at the card, smiled when I saw the cool-looking vampire banshee blood elf that is Blood Queen Lana'thel, saw the effect and did a quick double-take. 5-mana with Lifesteal, okay, and she has... +1 Attack to her 1/6 statline for each card you've discarded this game? So assuming you wait until you discard, like, six cards -- the requirement for the Warlock quest -- Lana'thel is a mere 7/6 with lifesteal. Doesn't seem to be super exciting at all for the amount of work you put into her, especially considering that you might very well accidentally discard Lana'thel herself during the process of getting to the point of playing her. Yeah, you could play her earlier, but a 5-mana 3/6 or 4/6 Lifesteal doesn't seem to be super-insane at all. On top of that, Lana'thel isn't a demon, so she doesn't interact at all with any of the demon-buffing cards, leaving her entirely dependent on the discard mechanic (or the odd Abusive Sergeant) to make her work. Unlike Alley Armorsmith, it doesn't even have Taunt to force your enemies to trade into her. Like, sure, it maybe buys the Warlock a turn. Like... I dunno. I guess I'm just super-disillusioned with Warlock at this point? Especially with super-crap cards like Feeding Time and Bloodbloom in the last expansion? Here's hoping that if they do decide to go with Discard as a mechanic to promote this expansion, they'll introduce some cards to level the playing field. I mean, Mages get things like Primordial Glyphs and they're fine, right? Give Gul'dan some love! For now she's bad, but we haven't seen most of the expansion. So. Like Ice Breaker, Lana'thel is terrible until proven otherwise.

Blood Razor
What a cool card! Knights of the Frozen Throne is plagued with pretty underwhelming card reveals ever since its very first trailer, and Blood Razor is honestly the first card outside of Deathstalker Rexxar to make me go, 'huh, that's actually pretty cool and I can probably use it'. It's a 2/2 weapon lumped with two Whirlwind effects, and it costs 4 mana. In an ideal world it'd probably be a 3/2 weapon, but Warriors have enough 3/2's as it is already, and the relative convenience of having an effect be lumped in battlecry and deathrattle has long been proven by the likes of Aya Blackpaw and Toshley. And Warriors do like to deal 1 damage to all minions. I honestly just think of how this is Death's Bite on steroids, and how fun it would be to try and revive Grim Patron Warrior in Wild. In standard its applications thin a little, I think. Enrage Warrior isn't going to be a thing, but it certainly looks like it could be deccent paired with things like Bloodhoof Brave. Certainly a lot more usable than stuff like, oh, Ticking Abomination or Blood Queen Lana'thel.

Prince Taldaram
Taldaram is like, Keleseth's buddy, a fellow member of the darkfallen court or something. He's a neutral legendary, a 3-mana 3/3 that's another weird buildaround card. this time, Taldaram doesn't want you to play 3-cost cards, which I think is a lot more forgiving than Keleseth. But his effect isn't as game-breaking as Keleseth's Mistcaller-style deck-buffing effects,  but rather he simply... transforms into a copy of a minion? A 3/3 copy? Assuming it's a minion on the battlefield, it's honestly a fair bit impractical -- like a worse Faceless Manipulator, right? What do I want to turn him into? Like, sure, a 3/3 Tirion Fordring's cool, but I'd rather have the turtles that can produce more actual Tirion Fordrings. Or like a Malygos's cool, but Shadowcaster or Faceless Manipulator can make extra Malygoses without going through the hoops that Taldaram asks me to. Briefly mentally going through my heads, there are some classes that don't use a lot of 3-drops in standard, and honestly some others can have 3-drop cards wiggled out of them... but is it worth it? The condition might be easier to accomplish compared to Keleseth or the Reno gang, and some people are throwing out Blood of the Ancient One decks which sounds fun if nothing else, but at the same time... eh. Another disappointing legendary. Come on, Blizzard -- you're supposed to excite the customers early on to get them to pre-order!

Nerubian Unraveler
Nerubians! This one uses the artwork of Killix the Unraveler from the old WoW TCG, I believe. It's actually a pretty interesting card, and one that I'll probably experiment with. It's our first anti-spell card since... since motherfucking Loatheb, man. Such a great card, that Loatheb. The Nerubian Unraveler isn't as powerful as Loatheb in terms of spell-disabling, giving them a 2-mana mark-up compared to Loatheb's 5, but the Unraveler's effect is continuous as long as he's on the field. And unlike some of the other cards on this review, the downside... isn't that much of a downside. A 6-mana 5/5 is... fair-ish, I guess, for a non-legendary with this effect? Certainly could shut down some mages and priests that rely heavily on spells. Like, all classes could use spells, sure, but some less so than others. I've played some Hunter decks with only like two Kill Commands as spells, or Paladins with only Consecrations as spells. Unraveler does not look game-breaking, but it certainly looks playable. Just probably won't going to see as much as play as Loatheb did in the past.

Mountainfire Armor
Also definitely playable is Mountainfire Armor. He's a 3-mana 4/3, which is fine and dandy for a 3-mana card, and it's our next Deathrattle card. 4/3 with a deathrattle, gain 6 armour? Amazing value! Of course, there's the minor inconvenience that Mountainfire Armour has to die during your opponent's turn, which might cause you to lose value if you're forced to trade this away, but honestly it's a pretty neat card design and one that I can totally see being played. It's definitely great in arena, I can tell you that much, and in constructed... taunt and aggro warrior in their current forms don't need this card at all, but at the same time we haven't seen a lot of the Warrior kit, so whatever new deck is formed, Mountainfire Armor actually looks good enough to be put into a couple of them. N'Zoth Warrior perhaps? Like, I wouldn't mind having an extra 4/3 show up... It's a pretty cool card that's going to deter enemies from trading or removing it, and that allows for some extra flexibility on your part. Not a super-duper awesome card, I don't think, but another one that looks at least playable.

Professor Putricide
Huh, I wouldn't have pegged Putricide as a Hunter legendary. Like Lana'thel, Professor Putricide is one of the bosses of the Icecrown Citadel raid, which means that the rest of that bunch (Sindragosa, Marrowgar, Lady Deathwhisper, Deathbringer Saurfang) are going to be the other class legendaries. That's fine, I guess. And, I mean, can't think of a powerful Icecrown Citadel themed beast on the top of my head. Instead of adapting Putricide's WoW boss fight mechanics, though, Putricide copies his similar-looking minion Mad Scientist's effect. Except on steroids, becuase, y'know, Putricide's WoW model is the Mad Scientist model, but mutated horribly. Putricide's a 4-mana 5/4, again, fair stats, with the continuous effect of after you play a secret, Putricide puts one up for free. It suddenly makes Secret Hunter look so, so damn powerful. One of the biggest weakness back in Karazhan when I tried out Cloaked Huntress decks is that, sure, the Secrets are free, but then my hand's left with like one card for the next turn and that sucks. Putricide allows you to benefit from whether you'd like to put the secrets up one by one, or all at once -- whatever the case he simply doubles your value by summoning random secrets out of thin air and activating it. Is it going to be super-good? It's going to see play, is what I think, and honestly even without the other new Hunter cards (there gotta be a new secret in there, right?) Putricide looks pretty playable. Probably not OP, though.


Ghastly Conjurer
Awesome artwork! The Ghastly Conjurer is our first Mage card reveal, I think. She's a 4-mana 2/6... that adds a Mirror Image to your hand. It's not a bad card, just not quite constructed-level viable, I think. Like, a 2/6 for a 4-mana card that draws you a card from outside your deck isn't bad stats at all. Like, it's sort of comparable to Babbling Book... yet at the same time, instead of the versatility and randomness of Babbling Book (most of the time you kinda want burst damage) the Ghastly Conjurer only adds a mere mirror image. And do you really want that? It's thankfully not a Deathrattle like Rhonin was, which means the effect is immediate, but at the same time why would you want a Mirror Image? I guess it could be used to activate the Mage Quest reliably since it's a card that didn't start in your deck and also very cheap, or a card that can reliably trigger Archmage Antonidas without it having to start in your hand. It's kind of like a less conditional Steam Surger, except instead of the Flame Geyser it adds Mirror Image. Mind you, the Geyser deals actual damage, so I'm not sure how good this will be. My guess is that it's decent as an alternative card to put in quest-centric or control-centric mage decks, but probably won't see a lot of play outside arena unless there's some really cool shenanigans with upcoming cards.

Sindragosa
Another class legendary, another Icecrown Citadel raid. Sindragosa is the queen of the Frost Wyrms, former consort to Malygos, and that kickass giant Frost Wyrm that Arthas resurrected in the very awesome Wrath of the Lich King cinematic trailer released however many years ago (and still one of Blizzard's best cinematics IMO). Her Legendary card is given to Mage, and she's actually kind of like Mage's last Legendary card, Pyros, where it's just a general-utility great Legendary minion that doesn't actually need a specific deck like Putricide or Lana'thel or the two Darkfallen princes. Sindragosa is an 8-mana 8/8, a fair statline for a big minion, and as a battlecry she summons two 0/1 Frozen champions. Frozen champions are 0/1 that adds a random legendary to your hand as a deathrattle, which in mage is highly easy to do. Hero power's the obvious thing, of course, but also Volcanic Potion, a card that saw some marginal play for a cheap, smaller board-wipe. It also is a bit of a AoE deterrant in a sense, while still being fair because it doesn't just summon a random legendary minion but adds it to your hand. It's like a slower, less damage-spammy version of Dr. Boom in a sense. Before you ask, no, putting Ticking Abomination for the sole purpose of triggering the frozen champions is a stupid idea. Other full-board AoE cards like Primordial Drake, Wild Pyromaner or even regular Abomination is so, so much better. Also feel like I have to mention the N'Zoth interaction, even if it's not the best card to bring back with N'Zoth. Also Sindragosa is a dragon, which means it can be fetched by Curator -- though I personally don't really see Curator Mage decks happening. It's a slow card, that's for sure, which hurts her a fair bit. Overall probably not an auto-include card, but still actually a card I won't mind having or crafting. I dunno. I kinda have a soft spot for big, undead dragons, I guess? Chillmaw now has a buddy to hang out with.

Leeching Potion
2 mana, give your weapon lifesteal? For this, I'll be succinct and simple -- give us the strong weapons you promised when you nerfed Blade Flurry, Blizzard! What the hell am I supposed to lifesteal with, a 1/2 weapon? 2 mana deal restore 2 health over 2 turns? Yeah, I'd rather play that silly bartender tauren from Mean Streets of Gadgetzan, thank you very much. Sure, Rogue needs recovery because it's so damn fragile without Antique Healbot, but a lifesteal weapon? Come on. Warriors keep getting cool weapons, where's my cool super-speedy powerful rogue dagger? Plus, weapon-buff cards are kinda-sorta weak because an all-purpose anti-weapon counter card called the Acidic Swamp Ooze exists. Like, sure, you could make your Assassin's Blade have Lifesteal and Poisonous and be buffed to huge amounts -- doesn't matter, Ooze. Not a very impressive card, and also not very interseting to talk about.

Chillblade Champion
So I'm going to go through the first five cards revealed during the original reveal stream, which I felt were super-underwhelming, coupled with the first reviews in the 24th being relative crap like Ticking Abomination and Icebreaker.... Chillblade Champion isn't super bad, though. On paper, he's kind of like Truesilver Champion. 4-mana card that does immediate damage and heals. Except Chillblade Champion's a minion, so he doesn't acctually only have two charges, but can probably hit and heal for far more than that. As Wickerflame Burnbristle has proven, something that hits and heals is fully capable of healing your hero to full health if not removed, and Paladin has a crapton of healing effects at its fingertips in Standard at this point in time. Even as a card that trades immediately upon being summoned, Chillblade Champion still probably trades up and removes something while healing your hero for 3 health, which isn't that bad. Assuming it dies by direct trading in the following turn, you get an extra 3 health. If it survives, it can heal you for more. Chillblade Champion isn't the best card ever, but it's certainly a pretty cool common.


Deathstalker Rexxar
Deathstalker Rexxar is the first of our hero cards. Hero cards are cards that we play, and do like a Jaraxxus or Executus effect... except they aren't minions that can accidentally be pulled into the field. I think they're immune to crap like Counterspell as well? Regardless, though, Deathstalker Rexxar turns Rexxar into a zombie! It costs 6 mana to zombify Rexxar, and in addition to 5 extra armour, Deathstalker Rexxar deals 2 damage to all enemy minions as a battlecry. Which probably isn't super-great at turn 6, but at least that means you're doing something on turn 6 when you're just transforming -- you gain armour, and you deal damage. It's not a terrible battlecry considering one of Jaraxxus's biggest weakness is that the first turn that you turn into Jaraxxus you don't do anything but trade with the 3-attack weapon. You also get a brand-new hero power, the Build-a-Beast, where you make a new Zombeast card. It kinda works similarly to Kazakus, except you discover two beasts. I think the beasts you discover must be less than 5 mana, so no Savannah Highmanes here... and I think the pools are slightly different, with the first having more text and the second being filled with vanilla or single-keyword cards, but still... this means you can make things like a Vicious Fledgling with instant-charge by combining it with Stonetusk Boar. Hell, anything combined with Stonetusk Boar, or Young Dragonhawk, or Jungle Panther, simply just gets Charge, Windfury or Stealth for free and there are some pretty gross combinations out there. Of course, this hero power is absurdly slow, especially for a hunter, because you spend 2 mana to build the beast, and then you have to play the initial cost of summoning said beast (the theoretical Stonetusk Fledgling costs 4 mana, for example, which isn't bad, but that's if you strike gold). Ultimately I honestly don't think Deathstalker Rexxar is going to be the best hero card out there, but it does certainly look relatively fun.


Shallow Gravedigger
This card's... okay? It feels more like an arena card, and it's like a reverse-Netherspite Historian, but for deathrattles. It's a 3/1 for 3 mana, but it adds a card only upon dying. It's kind of like Journey Below slapped onto a body, except that a 3/1 isn't super-duper great. It's okay for a minion you're expecting to die, but at the same time you're just feeding 3 mana to get pinged down. It's not the worst thing ever becasue we've had cards like Shimmering Tempest whose function is only to die to add cards to your hand, but I honestly don't think this card is that good. It might see some play in like Quest/N'Zoth Priest thing, but outside of that I find it hard to think that this card's going to see much play. The fact that it's random makes it a lot less viable than other cards like, say, Netherspite Historian. Not a super-big fan, though certainly far better than crap like, well, Ice Breaker.

Spirit Lash
It's Arcane Explosion, but with Lifesteal! What makes the Lifesteal keyword different than, say, Holy Nova or Drain Life is that the life-stolen damage is boosted by Spell Damage. Which is pretty cool. Hallazeal-boosted spells are amazing if hard to pull off, and the reliability of that effect on a single card makes Spirit Lasha lot better than it initially seems. Maelstrom Portal, after all, sees a fair amount of play, but I'm just not sure if the lifesteal will matter all that much on the second turn. Boosted with Bloodmage Thalnos on a subsequent turn it might be decent, but I kind of think that the combination of Lifesteal and a low-cost, low-impact spell isn't the most exciting thing out there. Not a bad card to print, I must say, but not a very exciting one either.

Prince Keleseth
I actually think Prince Keleseth is better than his brother Taldaram, but not by a big margin. The thing is, though, instead of being a shittier Faceless Manipulator, Keleseth's effect of giving all minions in your deck +1/+1, basically Mistcaller's effect, is a lot more valuable than Taldaram. Keleseth himself isn't too badly undercosted like Mistcaller was, a 2-mana 2/2 that boosts cards in your deck isn't horrible, and hitting all minions gives so much more value compared to Hobart Grapplehammer's all weapons. The thing that makes me frown about Keleseth is that, well, what it asks for you is way, way too steep. The idea of not having a single card of a certain cost in your deck is interesting, but 2-mana is one of the most important costs in your deck, and there are some classes whose best cards are there. Druids cannot live without Wild Growth and Wrath. Warriors have Fiery War Axe and Execute. Shamans have Flametongue Totems, Maelstrom Portals, Jade Claws and Devolves. Mages have Primordial Glyphs, Pyros, Sorcerer's Apprentices and Frostbolts. Hunters have all their traps, plus some premium turn-2 beasts like Kindly Grandmother and Crackling Razormaw. Paladins have Hydrologists. Rogues have Eviscerate and Undercity Hucksters. Priests, despite its no-good-2-drop meme, have the all-essential Shadow Word: Pain and the new Radiant Elementals. Warlocks have Dark Peddlers. Admittedly, though, a lot of these are less essential than others. I cannot ever see Mages, Shamans or Druids play a keleseth deck, but you can kinda force Paladins, Rogues and Warlocks to try to live without their 2-mana cards. They're all pretty great with minion-based decks, too, though that does mean no Murlocs for Paladins, while Warlocks cannot run the traditional Zoolock style with Doomsayers and Dire Wolves. Some people suggested playing Keleseth in a Quest Hunter deck... which might actually work! Especially after Queen Carnassa gets dropped onto the field. A swarm of endless 4/3's is a lot scarier than 3/2's. If Blizzard wants to print a weird card, print more cards like Keleseth that gets my head thinking to build a deck, don't make things like Lana'thel or Taldaram where the effect isn't worth meeting the absurd requirements at all.

Hearthstone: Knights of the Frozen Throne!

 YES

Thank you, Blizzard.

(Here is the announcement trailer if you missed it)

TL;DR, Frozen Throne hype!

Just look at that artwork! Look at them Death Knights! Jaina with Frostmourne and that fancy staff and purple hair and decayed lips; screeching-wailing-shadow-demon Anduin; Gul'dan with demonic wings and a gigantic scythe; Valeera's Sylvannas cosplay; motherfuckin' Uther with his ice hammer and Death Knight armour; zombie Rexxar with glowing green stuff; Thrall with elemental lightning and ice swirling around him; icy-stag-horn Malfurion with that bad-ass ice Wolverine thing going on; Garrosh... gets an icified Gorehowl.

So yeah, a Frozen Throne themed expansion is something most people were excited for (especially when TGT didn't actually touch a lot on the whole undead Scourge deal and focused more on the tournament), and as a big Warcraft III fan I certainly count myself among them. Like, Dalaran or wherever's cool, but Arthas! Please and thank you. And one of the big questions is how are they going to incorporate the Death Knights -- a tenth class, or something else? Well, it appears 'something else' is right, because we're getting Hero Cards. It's going to represent our heroes being transformed into undead, somewhat similar to the likes of the effects of Lord Jaraxxus except you can't Dirty Rat these heroes. We get to see one, Deathstalker Rexxar. It costs 6 mana to cast and transform yourself into this zombie Rexxar, but you get 5 armour, and you have the battlecry of dealing 2 damage to all enemy minions... and Rexxar's hero power becomes 'Build a Beast', basically similar to Kazakus but you stitch two beasts together to literally combine them into a custom creature. It's pretty cool, that's for sure.

We don't have any confirmed Lich King cards just yet, but the game makers did hint at Arthas a lot, so I'm pretty sure if he's in the game in this new hero system, he'll be a neutral legendary hero. Maybe. Can't lie, I'm a little bummed we're not getting a proper Death Knight class, but this certainly looks like an awesome alternative.

Also people were begging for an undead tribe? Not yet, it seems, but eh, no big loss -- there are way, way more undead cards than elementals and trying to make the older cards balanced is definitely going to be tricky.

I'm also quite happy that they still treat the whole Lich King/Icecrown thing with a modicum of respect and not turn it into, say, disco Karazhan (which worked for that expansion, mind you, but not so much for Icecrown) and while it has its own spin on the whole Death Knight thing to make it uniquely Hearthstone-y, it's still stays relatively true to the original themes people were super-excited about.

Also, we're getting one of the heroes for free if you play through the single-mission content, basically an Adventure Mode that goes through WoW's Icecrown Citadel. Hopefully the bosses will show up on cards, too -- Sindragosa at least I hope gets turned into a card, but Brode did rattle off Blood Queen Lana'thel, Lord Marrowgar, Putricide and a bunch of others so I'm sure they'll show up in some form or other -- I'm pretty sure Marrowgar and Sindragosa showed up in the trailer too. And the fact that we have a story mode fills me with happiness!

We get four cards revealed, with more Deathrattle synergies promised (I'll do a proper card review post once we actually have more than five cards) with this Shallow Gravedigger fellow. Also, we get to see a neutral legendary, Prince Keleseth, a boss in WoW's Utgarde Keep who's got a weird deck-restriction effect -- at first glance he looks like a better-statted Mistcaller but I'm not sure if building a deck without 2-cost cards is worth putting him in.

We also get a new keyword! Everyone likes keywords, right? Lifesteal is our new keyword, and we kind of already have it in Wickerflame Burnbristle (when this minion deals damage, heal that much to your hero). Lifesteal also shows up in spells, which is similar to many other Priest cards (Holy Fire, etc) and Hallazeal the Ascended's effect (I reckon he's going to be rewritten into 'your spell cards have Lifesteal' or something). It's not that hard to tell how good this mechanic will be, I think -- the Priest spell Spirit Lash is cute but doesn't look to be super-good, while Chillblade Champion, a 4-mana 3/2 Lifesteal Charger, doesn't look to be amazing either -- though definitely a decent arena card. It's at first glance, mind you, so maybe I'm super wrong.

Regardless, Death Knights! Undead! Great artwork! I'm super excited ,that's for sure. Bring on the card reveals!

What else can we see in the ticker of cards at the beginning of the trailer? A Crypt Lord, maybe a new Anub'arak card? A golden-winged Val'kyr, a Blood Elf Death Knight (one of the three princes in Icecrown maybe) and the Dovahkiin using Fus Ro Dah a Death Knight with a horned helmet.... and a Furbolg with a shark's head strapped on as a mask. If any of you are too concerned that we're going to dark, there you go. Shark-headed Furbolg.

Also if you've been out from Hearthstone for a while, log in and do your quests. We're having a Ragnaros-themed double gold event thing going on.

I'm going back to my brand-new Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. If there's a decrease in the amoutn of articles in this month blame that thing.