EDIT: Fuck, there was a huge stream that happened like a couple of hours that revealed literally the rest of the expansion. Well, enjoy these slightly older cards while I scramble to review the new ones.
Malchezzar's Imp: It's a Warlock card, and the first Demon minion since, shit, the Grand Tournament? It's a one-mana 1/3 that has the effect of drawing a card whenever you discard a card. Which... honestly isn't that good. Drawing a card isn't a terribly big problem for Warlocks, and the discarding gimmick is kind of terrible if the only card that really makes you want to discard cards is Fist of Jaraxxus. Unless we get cards that go 'Discover a card you discarded earlier this game' or 'summon a random demon equal to the cost of the card you discard' or some big tempo swing like that, discard decks won't work. The reason why discarding and graveyard mechanics are so powerful in Yu-Gi-Oh and M:TG is because those games have cards that allow you to summon things from the graveyard, and without the ability to 'cheat' the mana cost of summoning large minions, Discard is just going to kind of be something that no one really will use, especially since Warlock has so many better tools. And Malchezzar's Imp just fall short of all the already-awesome one-mana drops that Warlock has, so he won't be making Zoo Warlock deck lists either. I dunno. You can make this work with Succubus and Darkshire Librarian, I suppose, but whether it's a good deck... nah.
Babbling Book: A one-mana 1/1 for Mages that adds a random Mage spell to your hand. It's not going to replace Mana Wyrm as the quintessential one-drop because Mana Wyrm is awesome, but the Babbling Book adds a card to your hand and doesn't thin your deck. It's quite useful, and a cheaper and weaker version of things like Cabalist's Tome and Nexus-Champion Saraad. It's got the cutest art ever, though. I like this, and I'm sure to try it out a little in my Yogg-Saron mage deck, but I am highly doubtful it'll actually be that good.Book Wyrm: A six-mana 3/6 isn't the best thing in the world, even if it's a Dragon. Twilight Guardian got the 3/6 stat line (admittedly with Taunt) and he costs only four mana. So Book Wyrm better have a good effect... and it basically casts Shadow Word: Pain if you're holding a dragon in your hand. I like Blackwing Corruptor better -- a 5-mana 5/4 that shoots three damage if you're holding a dragon -- because its stat line and damage flexibility works far better than Shadow Word: Pain. Even if you're considering that he's a 4-mana 3/6 because he's bundled with SW:P that costs 2 mana, it's still kinda bad because it's conditional. And for six mana, well, I dunno. I don't really like him, but maybe he can be a decent one-off removal tool? Best artwork of the expansion, probably, though. It's a card that a lot of people swear will be super-good and be super gamebreaking, but I dunno. As someone who really likes playing Dragon decks, I don't see adding more than one of these into my deck. It's a better six-drop than Scaled Nightmare and Volcano Drake, that's for sure, but whether it's a better fit than, say Draconic Crusher, which is also as conditional as the Book Wyrm... I dunno. We'll have to see. I'd say that it's mostly good, just with the potential with whiffing... though compared to Draconic Crusher, the potential of removing a threat instead of just adding a bunch of stats certainly can be more valuable.
Moroes: Moroes is weird, as is appropriate for Medivh's butler. He's a 3-mana 1/1 with Stealth that generates a free 1/1 token every turn. How valuable is it to have a free Paladin hero power every turn as long as you don't mind paying the initial 3-mana to do basically nothing? Hogger is basically better -- he summons a 2/2 with Taunt every turn -- and you don't see him played, like, ever. It's definitely going to be super valuable in token decks like Savage Roar/Mark of the Wild Druid decks, or in Paladin decks with Steward of Darkshire, but it's one of those cards that I think is honestly kind of shit.
Prince Malchezaar: Ah, I think we have my favourite card of the expansion right here. I love the Eredar, and to see our... third...? I think third. We've got Lord Jaraxxus and the Wrathguard. Yeah, third Eredar in the game is pretty damn boss. But Malchezaar is a neutral demon with Pit Fighter stats -- 5 mana for 5/6, but at the start of your game he'll lob five extra Legendary cards into your deck. Which is like whaaaat. That was the initial plan, apparently, for Y'Shaarj or N'Zoth or some of the old gods, the virtue of owning the card in your deck will allow you to do something crazy at the beginning of the game like immediately replacing your hero or be locked at 5-mana permanently or something. Prince Malchezaar doesn't do something so insanely game-breaking, but he shuffles five extra Legendaries into your deck, while being honestly kinda just average himself in the battlefield. But Malchezaar's effect is... awesome! I love it.
Aggro decks and Combo decks don't want this dude because it'll bloat their deck and prevent them from reaching the cards they want, but as someone who primarily plays Control decks at the moment I would definitely love a decently-statted Legendary that adds five extra cards into my deck. Hell, five extra cards would be decent, but for them to be Legendary? Yeah, there are a lot of shitty Legendaries out there (the two Pagles, Executus, Lorewalker Cho, Rend Blackhand and Moroes being the ones you'll dread to get) and a lot that you probably can't work with if you don't have synergies in your deck (C'Thun, Twin Emperor Vek'lor, Aviana, Kragg, Chillmaw, that goblin pirate)... but five legendaries, man! The advantage that you'll get for throwing in like, Ragnaros or Sylvanas or Tirion or Thaurissan or Ysera would be awesome, but even having things like Gruul, Eydis Darkbane, Cho'gall, Rhonin, the Muklas, the Deathwings or Dreadscale can help even out the battlefield and be, y'know, quite decent. Moreover it also gives you card advantage, which is great in a control game... but despite initially seeming like an easy auto-include in most decks, a lot of decks nowadays are very streamlined, so despite his pretty cool effect Malchezaar isn't probably going to see a lot of upper-ladder play.
Kara Kazham!: For five mana, you summon a 1/1, 2/2 and a 3/3. It's got a very fun Disney-esque feel to it, and, well, Warlocks do love vomiting out minions to the board. More Power Overwhelming targets, more Abusive Sergeant targets, yadda yadda. Whether it'll be too slow for Zoolock lists -- which I don't think it is -- or if it'll be Warlocks' new quintessential Call of the Wild style finisher, well, we'll have to see. Definitely better than Malchezaar's Imp, that's for sure. It's comparable to the new post-nerf Force of Nature, except one mana cheaper and splitting the stats apart... which actually means that it's miles better, because there's no single card except Flamestrike and the 'kill everything' super-expensive Warlock spells that can clear all three minions cleanly. Swipe leaves a 2/1 on the board, Consecration leaves a 1/1 on the board, Fan of Knives is just sad... and anyone who faces off against zoo Warlocks will know the amount of work that Warlocks can do with just even a single 1/1 token. Power Overwhelming, Defender of Argus, Dire Wolf Alpha... et cetera, et cetera. Ultimately I still think it's going to be way too slow for zoolock lists, but it's a cool card that I really kind of dismissed the first time I saw it.
Pompous Thespian: A neutral 2-mana 3/2 with Taunt. It's a better version of both the Frostwolf Grunt (one more attack) and comparable to the Ironfur Grizzly (one less mana, but one less health and not a beast). It's... it's a card, I guess? I don't mind simple, 'boring' cards like this. A lot of people give the Thespian a lot of flak for 'wasting' a slot that Blizzard could've used for a more interesting and meta-breaking card, but I've dabbled in other TCGs before, and, well, honestly having just one 'boring' filler card that's just, well, a bundle of stats honestly isn't the end of the world.
Zoobot: 3-mana 3/3 Mech that gives a Dragon, a Beast and a Murloc +1/+1. It's super-valuable if you can get it to work, I mean, some decks still run Shattered Sun Cleric and this is theoretically triple the value you get off of the Shattered Sun Cleric, but even with the Curator how often do you have all three on board the deck? Nah, this one I think will fall by the wayside, while the Curator at least has the card-fetching and taunt thing going. Zoobot is just... well, not that great. It's awesome if you get him to go off on at least two minions, but how likely that is, well... At the end of the day it's kinda-sorta decent in Arena if you can get its effect to pop off once or twice, but how often does that happen? I don't really think he's going to work at all that well. It's a decent little buffing tool, but while he looks fun I think he'll be cut out of more refined decks.
Medivh the Guardian: I've been waiting for the Heroes of Warcraft to be turned into card form. I mean, what's stopping the likes of Malfurion and Khadgar and Rexxar and Liadrin from being minions of their own? Jaina already sort of is a card with Mirror Image, Shadowcaster is technically Valeera('s shadow) and Liadrin and Gul'dan are technically the characters depicted in Shattered Sun Cleric and Blackwing Corruptor respectively. But none actually specifically depict the character until, well, we get Medivh, the Guardian. He's differentiated from the hero Medivh by being a hip, younger, non-demon-possessed, disco-ball version of the character. Medivh is... an eight-mana 7/7 that equips Atiesh, which is his staff. Eight-mana 7/7 have historically been iffy. We've got Gruul, Rhonin and Force-Tank Max as comparable ones, and Gruul technically ends up a 9/9 on your next turn if he survives. Force-Tank Max has an additional Divine Shield and the Mech tag, but it's a non-legendary minion. Rhonin has the Deathrattle of adding three copies of Arcane Missiles to your hand, but you almost never see him being played. Medivh better have some awesome effect... and he equips Atiesh, which is a 1/3 Weapon that has a passive effect that triggers and spends durability -- something that the fandom has been doing ever since I discovered fanmade cards with tomes, shields and staves and all sorts of non-aggressive equipment.Atiesh is slightly different in that you can clonk people with the raven staff if you really want to... 1-attack weapons have been used before, though it's probably going to have minimal effect on turn 8. But the flexibility (and the chance of being Upgraded or Bloodsail Cultist'd in Warrior) is cool. Its effect is basically a copy of the Summoning Stone, except that you don't have to spend 6-mana to get a crappy 0/6 minion. Blizzard really wants that effect to become a thing, don't they? It's a cool effect, though I don't think it's one that really justifies putting Medivh into your deck beyond seeing how cool it ends up being. It can find a decent home in any Yogg deck, I suppose, and the 7/7 body plus 1/3 weapon is considerable enough for eight mana (basically War Golem + a weaker Light's Justice) even without the effect. And you do get the effect. Time will tell if it's great like the initially-deceptively-simple Dr. Boom, or if it's a cool effect that doesn't work in most decks like Chromaggus.
Silverware Golem: Ah, finally, a card that benefits from being discarded! With only Fist of Jaraxxus as the only candidate as a card you'll be happy to discard, we have a dearth of cards for a discard deck. I mean, we have great cards that cause the discard effect (Succubus, Doomguard, Darkshire Librarian), we have cards that cause benefit if cards are discarded when they're on the field (Malchezaar's Imp, Tiny Knight of Evil) but this is only the second card that actually benefits from being discarded. That said, though, is summoning a 3/3 for free that big of a tempo swing? It's crap if you pay the full 3 mana, and it's going to be a dead card for the off chance that the Doomguard will discard this thing when you play it. I dunno. I don't think discard decks will really pan out that well if Silverware Golem is the type of card that supports the archetype. This is the last Warlock card to be revealed with Kara Kazham and Malchezaar's Imp, so... yeah, it's a good start to the discard mechanic, but I don't think it's enough to make it work.
Netherspite Historian: Netherspite Historian is an effect I have wanted since, like, forever. She's a 2-mana 1/3, which is kind of shitty stats (though better than Museum Curator, who has a comparable effect) because 1/3 is something you'd expect from a one-mana drop. But if you're holding a Dragon, the Netherspite Historian lets you discover a Dragon and guess what? Dragons are generally good, and the worst Dragon cards (Dragonkin Sorcerer, Hungry Dragon, Nozdormu, Scaled Nightmare, Fairy Dragon) are at least average or playable. The important distinction is that you discover the card, which means you decide what goes into your hand. The problem with discovering dragons is that, well, so much of them is in the late-game category of 6-mana and 9-mana, that discovering them at turn two is a bit... iffy. Though Dragon decks have historically been kinda struggling for a good early game. Priests have got Wyrmrest Agents, which are... okay-ish, and I play Fairy Dragon in my Dragon Paladin decks, and they're decent if easily swapped out for something like this. I dunno. We'll see. Maybe she'll be a one-off? Maybe you take out one of the Blackwing Techies for her? I like Dragon decks so all these new dragon synergy cards like Book Wyrm, Curator and this card really appeals to me. Hopefully Nightbane gets made into a really cool dragon legendary.
Moonglade Portal: The second of the five portal spells, Moonglade Portal is exclusive to Druids and, wow, it's a lot more efficient than Firelands Portal. Granted, Firelands Portal lets you do damage, and free damage is something Mages can definitely abuse, but Moonglade Portal is one mana cheaper than Firelands Portal, summons a six-drop instead of a five-drop... the catch? You heal for six instead of dealing five damage. It's a card that might be a great one-off recovery option... Healing Touch and the nerfed Ancient of Lore aren't great recovery options, so this is definitely a great one that helps out by doing two things at once -- summoning a six-drop and healing at the same time. I think there are less 'crappy-stat-but-great-battlecry' minions in the six-mana slot compared to the five-mana slot. The only really bad ones I can think of is Corrupted Seer, Nerubian Prophet, Justicar Trueheart and Book Wyrm (3/6 isn't the worst, but when you compare it to the 5/5's and 6/7's you can get...). But the thing is, Sylvannas Winrunner, Emperor Thaurissan and Cairne Bloodhoof, three of the best legendaries in the game, are in the six-mana slot. Who else is in the six-mana slot? Great stuff like the Dark Arakkoa, Hogger, Argent Commander, Gadgetzan Auctioneer, Sunwalker... and in the six-mana slot, most of the battlecry whiffs like Faceless Summoner or Reno Jackson or Sideshow Spell-eater have, like a 5/5 or 4/6 statline, when they're not being 6/7's and 7/6's. So I think it's a bit more valuable, board control wise, than Firelands Portal? On the other hand, the Firelands Portal probably helps clear a minion while Moonglade Portal just gives you healing. I dunno. It looks really good.
Fool's Bane: Warriors get a very cool and unique weapon. Five-mana 3/4 is basically the Rogues' Assassin's Blade, which is already a decent weapon, but you can attack as many times as you want... but not to the face. Which might be the deal-breaker here. Gorehowl has a bit of a similar restriction where the weapon will finally lose durability and break (unless you Upgraded it or Bloodsail Cultist'd it) when you attack the hero, but Fool's Bane outright can only clear minions. It's in Warrior, which, among the weapon-using classes, is the one who totally doesn't give a shit about their health total because of their insane armoring-up cards. So dealing 12 damage for five mana, and damage you can control too, is quite decent value. Whether it's good enough to be put in the established Warrior decks, though, remains to be seen. Warrior decks have a lot of really great cards that Fool's Bane will need to compete with (Fiery War Axe, for one), and whether this will be the new Death's Bite or just a dud weapon like Tentacles-for-Arms... I dunno. I'm leaning towards the former, really? It's such a cool and unique effect, though, and, man, it's definitely going to be a great murderer of zoo. Assuming, of course, the zoo deck hasn't crippled your Warrior by turn 5.Overall I don't think there's any card that will shake up the meta wildly the way League of Explorers introduced so many deck buildaround cards. We got a lot of great tools for existing archetypes, and some that might encourage the building of new ones, but other than maybe Barnes I don't think any of these cards are anything but 'cool card to slot in X deck' or 'cool card to try out'. I mean, like, the BeastMurGon and discard Warlock decks are the ones that seem to be entirely new, while others are like 'yeah, more support for Dragon decks' and 'look at this weird, cool legendary'. Though we haven't seen like, half of the cards in the set, especially the Class cards. So... we'll wait and see!
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