Hearthstone: Un'Goro Reveals, the Final Stream: Neutral Cards

Some 60+ cards were revealed last night in a huge stream with Ben Brode and Frodan, and even more cards are revealed thanks to the Facebook gallery (as well as a couple other cards revealed between my last post and this one). Due to the huge, huge length that the page would be if I lumped everything in one page, I'll do neutral cards first, and try to at least be somewhat concise. We'll go with legendaries, then the assorted neutral creatures, then the elementals will be lumped together at the end.

Spiritsinger Umbra
The leader of the Tortollans briefly foreshadowed in the Eddie journals, Umbra is a pretty cool card. He's a 4-mana 3/4, which is slightly understatted, but every time you summon a Deathrattle minion, its deathrattle is triggered immediately. Which is pretty damn powerful! In wild you can do some truly degenerate things with Sylvannas or Shredders or Belchers. In Standard, we still have some really strong Deathrattle minions. Savannah Highmane isn't going anywhere, Cairne Bloodhoof is still around, and both Priest and Hunter Deathrattle decks are going to lap this little turtle dude up. Between Huhuran, the Terrorscale 3-mana dude and Umbra, Hunters suddenly have so many ways to activate the Deathrattles without killing the minions. And Priests have some really good cheap Deathrattle minions that combos absolutely well with Spiritsinger Umbra. He's not going to be an essential card, but he's definitely a very cool neutral legendary.


The Voraxx
The Voraxx, I think, is going to be a card you'll want in your Buff Paladin deck. He's like a reverse Djinni of Zephyrs of sorts, where instead of copying the buff spell cast on another minion, the Voraxx instead creates little 1/1 tokens that get buffed by the same spell you cast on the Voraxx itself. He's also a pretty cool, weird monster-plant thing as well. And at a 4-mana 3/3, he might be a little slow, but he definitely snowballs pretty quickly if you can get like a Blessing of Kings or Spikeridged Steed spell on him. I'm not sure if the Voraxx is going to be good or not, but he definitely has potential, and it's definitely a pretty cool-looking card. Very much appreciate how much Un'Goro's effects have been relatively unique.

Charged Devilsaur
Charge is a powerful mechanic and one that easily snowballs, so Charged Devilsaur is a 8-mana 7/7 Charge... that can't attack heroes on the turn it hits the field. It's a Charge limitation that a lot of fan cards made, allowing the Charged Devilsaur to be an instant-control minion. I don't think the Charged Devilsaur is going to be a super-relevant card, but it is a cool looking art nonetheless! Some Reno (or Kazakus, I suppose) decks or control decks might want to sub this dude in, and it's certainly another minion to synergize with Hunter's Beast synergies or with the Curator (who suddenly became so good in this expansion, by the way, with the abundant number of new good beasts) but I don't see Devilsaur being a super-awesome core card anywhere.

Primordial Drake
The only dragon in this set, the Primordial Drake would've been amazing had it came out with Blackrock and TGT dragons still around. Still, he's going to be great in wild Dragon decks. An 8-mana 4/8 is a bit low in stats, but it has Taunt and deals a mini-Demonwrath as it hits the board. It's only 2 damage, and it hits your allied minions, but it doesn't hit your face and it's a lot easier to control when the AoE slams down on your field, which is one of the weaknesses that my dear Chillmaw has -- your opponent dictates when Chillmaw's effect goes off more than not. So yeah, while the dragons' day in the limelight might be over, the Primordial Drake's still a pretty dang good dragon. Being the only new dragon in a world where Azure Drake, Twilight Guardian and the whole dragon package from Blackrock Mountain is leaving is not super-good for Primordial Drake in standard, though.

Bittertide Hydra
Did we ever have a Hydra card in Hearthstone? I can't remember any. It's awesome to see one of my favourite monsters in Warcraft finally make its debut in Hearthstone! Gahz'rilla, duh. Nevermind that! The Bittertide Hydra has a bit of a unique effect, somewhat like the Warlock class's Wrathguard, as a penalty to its stats. A 5-mana 8/8 is far, far more obnoxious than the Wrathguard's 2-mana 4/3, I think, but it's effect is pretty... damaging. It reflects every damage dealt to it as 3 damage to your her. On one hand, a Fireball or Eviscerate doesn't translate its full 6 damage to your hero, but several Arcane Missiles? Or simple Knife Juggler lobs? Still, a 5-mana 8/8, in the neutral slot no less, isn't something to sneeze at. I'm not convinced that the Hydra will see widespread play, but it does have potential simply by being such a gigantic minion for its cost. The effect is a lot less appealing than the simple Overload from Flamewreathed, and you definitely can't use this dude to trade without it being risky, but it's definitely an interesting enough card that I'm excited to see something like this enter the game.

Stonehill Defender
Definitely a card you're going to see in the Warrior-Quest deck. The Stonehill Defender is a 3-mana 1/4 Taunt, so literally a Silverback Patriarch. But instead of just being a simple unplayable taunt minion, the Stonehill Defender allows you to discover a Taunt minion so it's a Silverback Patriarch and I Know A Guy combined into a single card, making both those pretty shitty cards useless. And it basically accounts for two of the seven minions you want for the Warriors' quest. I'm not sure if the Stonehill Defender's sub-par stats is going to make him ultimately unplayable, but Discover has historically been a very powerful effect so I'm pretty optimistic about the Stonehill Defender.

Bright-Eyed Scout
Kind of like the Naga Sea Witch, but on a single card, and permanently. The Bright-Eyed Scout draws a card as a battlecry, but its cost gets changed into 5. Now 4-mana 3/4 draw a card is decent enough, making her better than Gnomish Inventor, but the effect is a gamble, so you're going to definitely have to build a deck around her effect. Maybe a Y'Shaarj style deck? I dunno. My gut says she's more gimmicky than useful.

Emerald Hive Queen

Well, at least the filler cards in this set look cool! The Hive Queen is a 1-mana 2/3, with the Venture Co. Mercenary effect. A 1-mana 2/3 is obviously bonkers, but it does kind of stop you from summoning any minions for the next two turns or at least until the Hive Queen trades herself away. It's an interesting take on the Zombie Chow statline, where the Emerald Hive Queen's effect might not necessarily be a drawback in a class that doesn't play a lot of early-game minions. Ultimately I don't think she'll see much play, and her effect's actually bad for the Hunter Quest since you want to vomit out your minions as quickly as possible. She looks pretty, tho!

Emerald Reaver

A 1-mana 2/1 Beast that deals 1 damage to each hero as a battlecry. Okay? Not sure why you want that. Kinda similar to Shadowbomber, I guess? The Reaver is a 1-mana Beast, and its battlecry kinda plays to Hunter's need to hit face as many times as you can, so maybe the Reaver goes into your Quest Hunter deck. Otherwise, kind of a filler card. 

Giant Wasp

Lots of Silithid in this set, yeah? The Giant Wasp is a 3-mana 2/2 with Stealth and Poisonous. He's going to trade exactly once, but unlike Emperor Cobra the Stealth means that he's going to deal it's effect more often than not. He's comparable to Patient Assassin, who never saw play, but 2 Health is a lot more valuable and harder to get rid of compared to 2 health. Pretty cool card, especially for arena. 

Rockpool Hunter

A neutral Murloc, and another powerful dude that's definitely going to make it into Shaman Murloc decks. Blowgill Sniper this ain't! The Rockpool Hunter is a 2-mana 2/3 Murloc, which is already vanilla stats, but it buffs a friendly Murloc by +1/+1 permanently. So yeah, it's a Murloc-only Shattered Sun Cleric but without the stat penalty! It's just a great card for Murloc decks all around, and while it's simple and unassuming it's actually a lot better of a Murloc minion than the ones we've gotten for the past three or four expansions, which focused more on Murloc spells. Liking this card a lot. 

Stubborn Gastopod

A 2-mana 1/2 Beast with Taunt and Poisonous. It's going to simply tank a single minion if your opponent can't remove it with spells or tokens. Actually a pretty cool card that might actually see play in the Taunt Warrior -- it's literally not something you're going to trade against, but you have to deal with it because it's a Taunt minion and you're going to want to go for face or to kill other minions. I don't see Gastropod being a super-staple card, but it's definitely a 'filler' style card that I can see working absolutely well in some decks. Again, it's also a beast, so more Beast synergy?

Eggnapper

A 3-mana 3/1 that dies and summons two 1/1 Raptors. Basically a worse Haunted Creeper. Yeah, the statline's offensive, but I don't think I'll ever play this over things like Harvest Golem or Infested Wolf. And... yeah. Don't think I have much to say about this dude. I guess he summons Beasts, which is cool for hunters, but eh. Decent in Arena, I suppose, but Flametongue Totem shenanigans aside, I can't really think of a situation when you'd play this over Harvest Golem. 

Sated Threshadon
A 7-mana 5/7 Beast that summons three 1/1 Murlocs as a Deathrattle. This is actually a lot, lot better than the Eggnapper because 5/7 isn't actually a bad statline for a 7-mana with effect. The Threshadon might be the late-game drop for Murloc decks, maybe, and being a big minion just makes it a whole lot better than a 3/1. A 5-attack minion means he'll be considered in Quest Druids. He's a big Beast with a decent Deathrattle. Not going to be super-relevant in Constructed I think, but probably going to be a great Arena card.

Ultrasaur
Vanilla 10-mana 7/14. It's a Beast so it's Houndmaster-able, but shit, big vanilla minions never saw any play anywhere. I guess we have to be thankful that we only got very few of these boring vanilla or near-vanilla stuff in this expansion.

Giant Mastodon
9-mana 6/10 with Taunt. It's a beast. But there are many better options for both big taunt minions and big Beasts. Decent for Arena, at least, and unlike Ultrasaur it at least has Taunt. More or less pack filler, though.

Humongous Razorleaf
Ancient Watcher's big brother is the big-ass venus flytrap plant from the trailer. It's a 3-mana 4/8 that can't attack. Vasically filling in the niche that Eerie Statue left by being an overstatted minion that can't attack. You can Void Terror it too, I guess. More or less as good as Eerie Statue, which isn't very.

Sabretooth Stalker
Stranglethorn Tiger's bigger, more reckless cousin, the Sabretooth Stalker is a 6-mana 8/2 Stealth. Which... I don't think will see much play. Sabretooth Stalker is a lot better than fellow huge Stealth minion Ravenholdt Assassin, and I guess can be used to push lethal in Beast decks, but one of the strengths of Stranglethorn Tiger is that the 5 health that Stranglethorn has allows it to trade if you really need it too. Sabretooth Stalker's only good for whacking the enemy's face with 8 attack and not much else... which means that it's actually semi-decent, and has some potential, unlike the last three pack fillers.

Vicious Fledgling
A 3-mana 3/3 that Adapts every time this thing attacks the enemy hero. Holy shit, that's actually pretty good! It's probably not going to stick on the board a lot of times (otherwise Lotus Illusionist would see more play), but if it does, it can snowball pretty quickly. And even if you didn't, a 3/3 Beast for 3 isn't the worst thing out there. Historically minions that gain value whenever it attacks the hero hasn't been super-successful, but the Vicious Fledgling is a pretty cool card that might do some degenerate things every now and then. Shit, if it gets either Windfury or Stealth as its first Adaptation, it might just absolutely wreck house. I'm curious just how powerful the Vicious Fledgling will be, and if it'll be a breakout star of a deck the way Raging Worgen was.

Pterrordax Hatchling
Holy shit this dude is adorable. It's a simple 3-mana 2/2 with Adapt, which is actually kind of a crappy statline. Maybe if it's a 3-mana 3/2 or 2/3, getting a full 1/1 discount from the acceptable 3-mana standard the way Volcanosaur or Verdant Longneck were from their respective statlines... Oh well, sadly the Pterrordax Hatchling's a bit of a miss, I guess.

Ravasaur Runt
A 2-mana 2/2 that adapts! Hey, this baby dinosaur is better than the Pterrordax Hatchling by having the same stat and effect for 1 mana less. The catch? You need to have 2 other minions on the field. Which, depending on the deck, might be a little hard to pull off. Zoo Warlock decks or 1-mana Hunter decks might have an easier time pulling this off, I think, albeit not on curve. Still ultimately kinda poop, though.

Devilsaur Egg
More eggs! The Devilsaur Egg is Nerubian Egg's big brother, a 3-mana 0/3 that summons a 5/5. Basically everything's scaled up by 1. Egg decks are pretty fun to play in both Paladins and Druids, and you might even consider this thing in Deathrattle Priests. I really like Nerubian Egg, so I really like this card too. It's going to find a home in egg decks and nowhere else, but still, it's pretty cool.

Nesting Roc
Actually a freaking good card! This two-headed Roc is a 5-mana 4/7 that gains Taunt if you control two other minions. 5-mana 4/7 Taunt is actually quite awesome, and having 2 minions on turn 5 is a lot easier to pull off than the Ravasaur Runt's turn 2. It's just pure stats that scales up quite amazingly up from Sen'jin Shieldmasta, and to top it off? The Roc's a Beast. Lots of Beasts this expansion. Lots of good Beasts. And it actually fits in well in the Hunters' 5-mana slot, if you're playing a more mid-range-y style deck. And it's just absolutely better than Avian Watcher. Both end up being a 5-mana 4/7 Taunt, but Nesting Roc is a beast and has base stats of 4/7 even if the effect doesn't go off, whereas Avian Watcher is a shitty 3/6 if you can't get the effect to go off, plus having a Secret in play tends to be a bit harder to maintain than controlling two other minions. It's just an amazing card, I think, and as far as simple cards go, Nesting Roc might just be ne of the more powerful ones to come out of this set.

Frozen Crusher
Elementals now. Like the Hydra on the top of this article, the Frozen Crusher is a huge statted minion with a drawback. It's neutral too, so Shamans aren't the only class that gets to play with 4-mana 7/7's. The Frozen Crusher is an interesting dynamic, where it's a 6-mana 8/8 Elemental, thus fitting the 6-mana slot for Priests and Mages so they can unleash Blazecaller. It's a far better-statted minion than Frost Elemental, too, which makes it a lot more appealing. But it attacks every two turns, because it freezes itself after attacking. So kind of like Slaking from Pokemon. Still, it's still a 6-mana 8/8, and even if it's frozen every other turn it's still a pretty decent threat. Also Silenceable if you're running Priest. Also not a bad option for Quest Druids. For Shamans I think they'll still want Fire Elementals as the basic 6-drop, though.


Stormwatcher
7-mana 4/8 Elemental with Windfury... and historically, pure Windfury minions have been shit. Doomhammer and Al'akir are the only great Windfury cards, because Doomhammer's a weapon and Al'Akir has Charge, Taunt and Divine Shield in addition to Windfury. Stormwatcher's a lot better than Windfury Harpy or Grook-fu Master by virtue of having 8 mana, which is a lot... but that's not saying much. Again, it's a decent 7-mana slot-filler for the Elemental Curve-stone game plan, but despite the pretty cool-looking art I don't think Stormwatcher'll end up making it into a lot of Elemental decks.

Fire Plume Phoenix
A 4-mana 3/3 Elemental that deals 2 damage as a battlecry. In other words, a scaled-down Fire Elemental. 4 mana is a a slot with many decent Elementals (Mages do have Water Elemental and Steam Surger, Priests have Lightspawn), so maybe the Fire Plume Phoenix might get herself cut out of those decks. She's probably going to fit the Shaman's four-slot, though. Again, having so many variations and options for Elementals at each cost actually makes deck-building a lot more interesting so we don't just go "well, I suppose I'll just put Rumbling Elemental in because I need a 4-mana Elemental". No, now we have multiple options. Do I want a Tol'vir Stoneshaper on turn 4 to gun for a powerful Taunter and possibly fuck up my turn 5 Servant of Kalimos? Or do I want to play it save and put a 4-mana Elemental? And is Fire Plume Phoenix's damage battlecry more valuable than the sheer statline and passive effects that Lightspawn or Water Elemental has? Fire Plume Phoenix is very decent, too.

Igneous Elemental
Very cool artwork! I'm a sucker for fiery Elementals. And one that looks a lot more appealing than Fire Fly, actually. The Igneous Elemental is a 3-mana 2/3 with the deathrattle of adding two 1/2 Elemental tokens to your hand. The statline does make it possibly nowhere as good as some of the Elementals I've described, and the 3-mana Elemental slot does already have Tar Creeper and Hot Spring Guardian hanging around in it, but maybe you want to not play the mid-range Elementals, and just rely on token generators like Igneous Elemental and Fire Fly to get 1-mana tokens, and you just play the huge mid-game to end-game Elementals? Certainly a pretty interesting design. Ultimately I don't think Igneous Elemental will be as good as the other early-game Elementals we got this expansion, but still, I like it.


Volatile Elemental
God damn, the artwork on this dude is just phenomenal! And the Golden one they showed off in the stream looks amazing, too. Volatile Elemental is a 2-mana 1/1 that, as a Deathrattle, deals 3 damage to a random enemy minion. It's more of a delayed Flamecannon than an actual minion, in that respect. It's 2 mana so it's easy to hold on to this and throw it out any time, and while it's a bit of a tempo loss, it does guarantee one dead early-game minion in the next turn -- the fact that it only goes to minions and not face makes it a lot better, I think, in the trading game, and the fact that it's 3 damage means that anything short of a Dirty Rat at that stage of the game is going to die. It's also an Elemental with a Deathrattle, so maybe it's a card you want in your Quest-Priest deck, if your Quest-Priest actually runs Elementals alongside it. Liking this card very much, and the Elemental genre actually looks amazing simply due to the large amount of options you have -- which isn't something I can say about Gadgetzan's tri-class cards where the jade and hand-buff enablers were very samey.

So yeah, optimistic about the Elementals, and I'm actually surprised how little pack filler we have this time around compared to Gadgetzan and Old Gods, because even the 'filler' epics actually look that they can be used, if in janky decks. Going to do class card reviews in a day or two. This article is subject to slight edits over the next few days as maybe I get some different changes in opinions or whatever.