It's been a hot while since I've done one of these, but I figured, hey, why not, right? We're knee-deep in the card reveal season, and we get a whole load of cards and if there's something that's common among these Descent of Dragons cards is the sheer power level they have. It's a bit shorter and more succinct compared to my usual reviews, mostly because I don't have a whole lot to say about a lot of them other then "yep seems great!" We're going to cover a chunk of cards here, although I'll leave some of the neutrals and classes that don't get a lot of new reveals after a break.
We'll start things off with Hunters first, and I think we've seen most of what Hunters have to offer in this expansion? It's kind of all over the place, but Clear the Way and Diving Gryphon are both building towards a Rush tempo hunter archetype. Diving Gryphon's a great rusher card, a 3-mana 4/1 rush that immediately tutors for another Rush minion. It's essentially a Shadow Bolt in minion form that draws another specific card, and you can combo this with Dire Frenzy for some neat combos by having the Gryphon chain into a larger Gryphon. Clear the Way is the sidequest, and while it certainly isn't a winning condition by any means, a 1-mana delayed 4/4 Rush is pretty neat value, and certainly one you could accomplish very easily with the aid of Diving Gryphon, Springpaw and a bunch of other cheap Rush minions. I'm not sure if the deck has enough to make up a 30-card deck, but it's certainly a neat one.
Veranus is a pretty awesome card! It's Hunter's Mark on all of your enemy's minions, or a one-sided Equality, bundled with a vanilla body. A 6-mana 7/6 with a powerful effect? And the Dragon tag? I'm not sure dragons are going to be super relevant in hunter, but Veranus does look like a pretty damn powerful legendary. Nerfing health is significantly more powerful than something like Eadric's attack nerf, and Hunters have a lot of ways to deal with single boards like Unleash the Hounds, Explosive Trap or Deathstalker Rexxar. A pretty interestingly powerful removal tool for sure!
We've got a lot of "cast many spells" cards over the past couple of expansions like Mana Cyclone, Raid the Sky Temple and the upcoming Learn Draconic, and the other new mage legendary, Chenvaala, is... a 3-mana 2/5 elemental that summons 5/5 elementals every time you cast 3 spells in a turn. It's basically Dragon Soul in a class that can only support it, and it's a body and an elemental. Ultimately I still don't think it's particularly super-overpowered -- it's a lot more clunky compared to something like the Flamewaker or Mana Cyclone, and a 5/5 elemental is neat value. It's good enough to probably find a home in a deck here or there, though.
Speaking of cheap spells mattering, Arcane Breath! One thing that always makes mages even more powerful is having cheap spells, and Arcane Breath is a neat one that's not only fair (it's basically Arcane Blast from TGT, but without the spell damage bonus), but with the added potential of cycling into another spell if you're holding a dragon. A spell you discover at that, meaning that you can chain this to more value-generating spells or removal if you need. I'm not sure about the viability of dragon mage specifically, but maybe you just run the new Malygos and Azure Explorer and call it a day just to activate Arcane Breath?
Dragoncaster is neat. It's like a reverse Arcane Tyrant, where you pay the 6-mana 4/4 body cost upfront to make a subsequent spell cost zero, a la Inkmsater Sonia. I'm not quite sure if it's that good, though. I guess you can, oh, I dunno, Puzzle Box or Pyroblast for essentially 6 mana and get a 4/4 alongside it. Which is neat and all, but I do have a feeling that this is just a mite too impractical and clunky. None of these cards that I don't like are bad, though, and even the ones that don't see play aren't inherently weak, they'll just be cards that don't really have enough support.
A trio of Shaman cards. Cumulomaximus is... it's a neat overload synergy card, sort of comparable to something like Blazecaller or Weaponized Wasp, dealing damage while it lands on the board... but the ask is that you have overloaded mana crystals, which isn't something that you might reliably have while also having 5 free mana. It's not a bad card, though, and I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up being the next Spirit Claws or whatever.
Nithogg is... weird? It's a 6-mana 5/5 dragon that summons a bunch of 0/3 eggs that hatch into 4/4 rushing drakes, and... and I dunno, it just allows your enemy to really fuck things up since the 0/3 eggs are just kinda there defenseless. Sure, the dream scenario of basically doubling Nithogg's power with the Shaman's hero power quest or with Shudderwock or something is neat, but ultimately the 0/3 eggs that take a turn to hatch probably ends up being a bit too impractical.
Bandersmosh is... there's a chance this ends up being good. There's a chance this ends up circumventing the cost problem some of the more powerful legendaries have. It's going to do some degenerate things in Wild -- a 5-mana 5/5 Aviana or Ragnaros or whatever is certainly powerful as all hell, but at the same time it might just end up being the next Shifter Zerus. I'm trying to be optimistic about this one, though, mostly because its card art just looks so happy.
Amber Watcher is a great card. Remember how Antique Healbot was good? And Healbot is still seeing some play even in wild! Well, Amber Watcher is basically the same thing, but she's a 4/6 instead of a 3/3, which is basically vanilla stats. And she's a dragon, which is a more valuable tag in this expansion, and also she can restore health anywhere. Control Paladin might be back, and I'm actually very, very optimistic about the chances of this one.
Sanctuary is... it's a neat side-quest. Taking no damage for a turn might be pretty damn valuable, and sometimes you just play this on turn 2 and you just get a 3/6 taunt for free, essentially a more powerful Sen'jin. But it's so easy for enemy heroes to deal damage. Half the classes have a way to deal damage with their hero power while they build up a board, and if you topdeck Sanctuary at any point other than turn two and your enemy doesn't have a good first turn, this one's just kind of a dead draw. A very interesting card design, not a particularly good one.
Dragonrider Talritha is... she's an interesting flavour. She's a 3-mana 3/3 that ends up jumping into a dragon onto your hand, Val'anyr style, and she's like this dragon rider that jumps from dragon to dragon after each of her mounts die. That's great value, but she's so vulnerable to silence, hand-buffing isn't the best thing out there, and I'm not sure if the base 3/3 stats is going to make her work. Talritha is a card that I wouldn't be too surprised by if she turns out to be strong, but I wouldn't be surprised if she ends up being another gimmick legendary either.
Rogue now! Dragon's Hoard isn't particularly exciting, but functional. It's a better Pilfer, in that you discover a card from another class, and it's a legendary... which is either going to be very good or end up with such a specific synergy you can't use it.
Flik Skyshiv is the non-dragon legendary and it's basically like the arena-only card Fatecleaver, a 6-mana 4/4 that acts like a Vilespine Slayer... it kills a minion, but also wipes it from the hand, deck and the battlefield. Presumably any new copies generated by other cards after Flik's battlecry won't be affected. Which means that Flik Skyshiv's going to wipe out your opponent's entire Pogo-Hopper deck by simply landing on the field, and those decks that spam Khartut Defender will suddenly have their entire board cleared with a single card. It's a powerful effect, I'm just not sure if decks will actually end up running Flik for the off-chance that they can use her against Pogohopper.
Necrium Apothecary is basically what Myra Rotspring wishes she could be. A 4-mana 2/5 is decent stats, and all it needs is a combo activator to both tutor a deathrattle minion from your deck and gain its deathrattle. You can actively filter what deathrattles you want, making it highly possible for you to, oh, I dunno, do the Stalagg/Feugen combo, or to just abuse Sylvannas's deathrattle. It's a pretty powerful effect, more powerful and reliable than Myra's, and I'm sure we'll figure out a powerful combo with this that's reliable.
And... Warlock! Valdris Felgorge made everyone excited in that he's a 7-mana 4/4 minion... that draws 4 cards. It's Sprint with a body! More importantly, it also increases your hand size to 12, which... it's pretty great for handlock! Free Mountain Giants, bigger Twilight Drakes... and... and is that kinda it? It's a neat little mechanic that breaks the formula of Hearthstone, but ultimately it's just kind of a Sprint that comes with a body. Which don't get me wrong, is still powerful, but I genuinely don't think that the hand size modification is particularly that powerful.
Abyssal Summoner sure helps with this, I guess. A 6-mana 2/2 that summons a taunting demon with stats equal to your hand size? With Valdris, this is insane, but even in regular Handlock you just vomit a lot of stats into the battlefield. Is it enough with the sheer power levels being lobbed around? I don't think so, but it's certainly something.
Nether Breath is just efficient. Without a dragon, it's a shitty 2-mana 2-damage ping, but if you're holding a dragon, it's a cheaper Shadow Bolt with lifesteal. A great card! Crazed Netherwing is a 5-mana 5/5 that unleashes Hellfire if you're holding a dragon. Like Duskbreaker and Abyssal Enforcer before it, a pretty neat card for sure! 5 mana might be a wee bit too late for the Hellfire effect, but eh, it's still pretty dang good.
