Hearthstone: Witchwood Card Reveal/Reviews, Part #4

A lot of cards this time around thanks to the drip-feed. This won't be all of the currently revealed cards, but it'll definitely include a fair bit of the cards revealed since the initial reveal stream. This will be done in a very rough order in which they were revealed in.

Scaleworm: Scaleworm is a neutral 4-mana 4/4 Beast that becomes a 5/4 with Rush if you're holding a dragon. And... and I'm not sure it'll work in Standard, honestly. The only dragon we're getting with this expansion, as far as we know, is the hunter legendary Emeriss, and we are losing a lot of the strongest dragons and dragon-synergy cards with the rotation. We still have Duskbreaker, Primordial Drake and Cobalt Scalebane... but at the same time, I'm not sure if a 4-mana 5/4 with Rush is strong enough. I guess it could be equated to a cheaper version of Blackwing Corrupter that comes out a turn earlier, but has to trade with a minion? It's fine, I think, and I guess it's a way for dragon decks to fight for prominence in the early-mid-game if they fall behind, but at the same time I don't really think dragon decks, from what we know thus far, have a leg to stand up to the strongest meta decks come the rotation. Card itself is good in theory.

Vex Crow: A 4-mana 3/3 beast for Mages that summons a random 2-cost minion every time you cast a spell. And... I dunno. Violet Teacher never saw play in Mages since all the way since Classic,  and yes, Violet Teacher merely summons 1/1's, whereas Vex Crow will probably summon a 2/2 on rough average... but at the same time, Vex Crow's also a far weaker 3/3 body that's susceptible to removal, and while there's the chance of highrolling a Sorcerer's Apprentice, there's also the chance of getting Doomsayers or 2/1's, and that just sucks. I dunno. I don't think this is a good card.


Blackwald Pixie: Some TGT-esque stuff going on here, with Blackwald Pixie being a 3-mana 3/4 that refreshs your hero power with her battlecry. It's a far, far weaker effect than, say, Garisson Commander, Auctionmaster Beardo and Coldarra Drake, all of which have either permanent or continuous effects, whereas Blackwald Pixie just does it as part of her battlecry. She could find a place in some weird Uther of the Ebon Blade combo, and maybe you run her in a Baku deck? 3-mana 3/4 is premium stats, but I'm genuinely not sure if her effects are good enough, and if her mana cost is flexible enough for wacky combos.

Clockwork Automaton: Likewise, Clockwork Automaton sees kind of a similar problem with Blackwald Pixie. Doubling the damage and healing of your hero power is insane -- especially since it works twice. So Bloodreaver Gul'dan's hero power ends up becoming "deal 6 damage, heal 12 health". Between Bloodreaver Gul'dan, Shadowreaper Anduin, Frost Lich Jaina, the regular Rexxar hero power, and the upgraded hero power Baku will give you, Clockwork Automaton has the potential for really insane boosts of damage, especially if you couple him with Prophet Velen. The problem with Clockwork Automaton is that, like Velen, he's a 5-mana card, which is somewhat difficult to combo with. He's definitely an interesting card, though, and while I doubt you'll be going out of your way to fit a 5-mana 4/4 just so Bloodreaver Gul'dan can hit for a fuckton of damage that one time, he's definitely an interesting enough design -- especially if you can cheat him out -- that I can definitely see him finding a deck. Maybe not in this expansion, but definitely one of the more interesting cards here.

Coffin Crasher: This dude's a Priest minion, a 6-mana 6/5 with the deathrattle of summoning another Deathrattle minion from your hand. 6-mana 6/5 isn't great, but it's not godawful either. Obviously the dream is to cheat out Obsidian Statue, probably as a slower, more conditional version of Barnes, but at the same time... I dunno. He just feels too slow, and without the aid of N'Zoth for a proper Deathrattle combo, and even if Coffin Crasher actually synergizes with Awaken the Makers (the quest wants you to summon deathrattle minions) I don't really see him finding a place in current decks. Card looks really decent, though.

Darius Crowley: If two months ago you told me that Darius Crowley, one of the more popular worgens in WoW, would be given Boogeymonster's effect, I'll laugh at you. And sadly, that's what Darius gets. He's a rather piddly 5-mana 4/4 with the Boogeymonster's horrible effect. Thankfully, he comes with one extra keyword, and that one extra keyword is what might make Darius somewhat playable -- Rush. Darius can actually trigger his effect in the first turn he comes in, and you dictate where the trade goes. Boogeymonster's biggest flaw is that if you waste 8 mana to summon him, he just stays stuck as a piddly 6/7 that your enemy can remove at their leisure. Theoretically, you summon Darius to remove like a 2/3, and then he becomes a 6/4. Instant removal and a threatening minion on the board, that may or may not synergize with things like Battle Rage or Rampage. I can see Darius being absolutely unplayable... but at the same time, I might see him seeing play as well.


Emeriss: Holy shit, the Emerald Dream dragon isn't actually a druid card! Emeriss is a HUNTER Legendary, and a gigantic-ass dragon. She's a 10-mana 8/8 that, as a battlecry, doubles the attack and health of all minions in your hand. Which means... 16/16 KING KRUSH! Or, more realistically, 14/4 charging Leeroy Jenkins that you can then Faceless Manipulate. It's a very interesting combo, and if Emeriss was given to any other class but Hunter I'd cry foul. The thing is, it's Hunter, whose entire game plan tends to just be aggro. Or currently, be a spell deck. And Emeriss is a card you play on turn 10 with minions or combo pieces in your hand, which feels like it's too much of an ask for Hunters. It's going to be super-awesome if you manage to pull it off, though, so I'm definitely intrigued -- more of a fun card than a game-breaking card, which might not be what hunter needs... but shit, it's cool. Somewhere in Wild, Don Han'Cho is weeping.

Ravencaller: Huh. This's a weird card. Ravencaller is a 3-mana 2/1 that, as a battlecry, adds two random 1-cost minions to your hand... and 1-cost minions, on the average, tend to be good. But at the same time, you tend to really only want 1-cost minions when you're playing like a swarm deck, either aggro decks or zoo decks, and neither of those can afford to run a 3-mana 2/1 which loses you a lot of tempo. It could be okay, I guess, in decks that care about your hand size? But I feel there are better ways to trigger Mountain Giants, and I'm still unconvinced hand-druid is still a thing.

Sound the Bells: A paladin spell, that is essentially Divine Strength (+1/+2) but it has Echo. And it costs 2 mana. Yeah, this is bad. Divine Strength is 1-mana, and never saw play... and if you play multiple Sound the Bells? Two uses of Sound the Bells is just +2/+4, way shittier than Blessing of Kings, and three uses is +3/+6, which is miles and miles shittier than Spikeridged Steed. Probably one of the worse cards in this set.

Cheap Shot: A Rogue spell, 2-mana, deal 2 damage to a minion. Oh, it also has Echo. Is there like a memo in Blizzard that says "all Echo cards must cost 2 or more?" Giving Rogue an Echo card that costs 0 or 1 is asking for trouble, I know, but it does mean that Cheap Shot is kinda shit -- Rogue can already deal 2 damage for zero mana with Backstab, and the standard for 2 mana is cards like Eviscerate (4 damage) or Shiv (draw a card, 1 damage). Cheap Shot isn't as bad as Sound the Bells, I think, because Rogue as a class can make use of spamming spells in a single turn for Auctioneer or Edwin, but at the same time I don't think Cheap Shot is the way to go.

Blackhowl Gunspire: A building legendary? That's hella unexpected, and I'm not sure I like that. Regardless, though, it's a bad legendary, I think. 7-mana 3/8 isn't spectacular stats, but Blackhowl Gunspire can't attack, and deals 3 damage to random enemies everytime it takes damage. It's like Axe Flinger and Demolishor had a baby, but that baby can't attack. Neither Axe Flinger nor Demolishor ever saw play, and Blackhowl Gunspire is just a combination of too fragile stats, too random of an effect, and honestly? 3 damage every time it's damaged isn't even that spectacular. It's a poor man's Ragnaros. Unless we get some unexpected synergy, probably the worst legendary I've seen since Boogeymonster.


Cursed Castaway: A Rogue Pirate, a 6-mana 5/3 with Rush, and it has a deathrattle of drawing a Combo card from your deck. It's comparable to Starfire, I think -- deal 5 damage, draw a card, except Cursed Castaway sometimes sticks around as a 5/2 or 5/1, and is also a Pirate (for what it's worth in this meta). It's also a deathrattle, which might be relevant with N'Zoth in Wild. Overall, unless the new cards bring in some sort of fancy synergy, I don't see her seeing a lot of play, but she's definitely an interesting design.

Lady in White: The first Priest legendary is a 6-mana 5/5 that, as a battlecry, casts Inner Fire on your entire deck. And that's... fine? It's comparable to Prince Keleseth and the Mistcaller, except the effect is potentially a lot more broken than a mere +1/+1. You play her in a deck with a lot of minions like, say, Ysera and Obsidian Statue, turning them into 12/12's and 8/8's... but at the same time, you still have to draw Lady in White and play her, and therein lies the problem of Keleseth versus Mistcaller. Lady in White's stats aren't that bad, but it's not spectacular either, and waiting until turn 6 to play an understatted minion isn't the best thing to do. Part of Keleseth's strength is how early he comes out, and yes, Lady's effect is Inner Fire instead of +1/+1, but still, I can't help but think Lady in White's slightly too slow for the game. I guess the trick is to perhaps not play her in a deck filled solely with, like, Mogushan Wardens and shit, but just put her in a deck with good big-health minions, and sometimes you just get an extra attack boost? Has potential for sure.


Chameleos: Oh man this card is cool as shit! Chameleos is a chameleon, a 1-mana 1/1 beast and that statline doesn't matter, because she changes into a random card your opponent is holding every turn. It's like Shifter Zerus, but it doesn't suck! Chameleos straight-up gives you information about the enemy's hand, and while it's just one card, it does two things -- one, tell you information about the enemy's hand, and two, it limits the pool of the cards you can get compared to Zerus, which is "all of them". Chameleos seems to be designed to just be an intelligence tool until the mid-game or late-game, when you presumably drop him as one of your opponent's late-game cards? I'm not sure if the information is important enough to sacrifice one card slot (and one hand slot, too, likely) and you still have to draw Chameleos, but god damn she's a very cool card. Whether she sees play or not I'm genuinely unsure, but I do love this card a whole lot!

Duskhaven Hunter: A hunter minion, she's a 2/5 with Stealth that displays the Pumpkin Peasant stats. So she's a slightly more powerful Jungle Panther, but without the beast tag... and sometimes she's a weird 2/5 Stealth? I dunno. It doesn't seem particularly practical, especially in hunter and without the beast tag. Probably neat in arena, though.


Toxmonger: Huh. Toxmonger's a 4-mana 2/4 that gives all 1-mana minions you play, not summon, Poisonous. So it doesn't work with Unleash the Hounds. They probably mean for you to use this with like Quest Hunter, or Ravencaller and stuff, to spam 1-mana minions... but at the same time, cards like Ravencaller and Toxmonger are all too low-statted and are a bit of a tempo loss. And there aren't enough Rush and Charge 1-mana minions (as of now, anyway) for Toxmonger to really work as a combo to clear the board. I mean, there's Stonetusk Boar and Haunting Mastiff, but then you'd have to run Toxmonger. And besides, even if the effect's admittedly very good, it only works with play, not summon, and the 2/4 body is kinda weak. I dunno. Don't see this working.

Witching Hour: BEAST DRUID? Oh man, they're not giving druid any Ultimate Infestation tier cards this time around, huh? Witching Hour is a 3-mana card that summons a random beast that died this game. So they kind of show off Witchwood Grizzly, which is definitely tempting -- a 3/12 taunt ain't bad -- but the Grizzly pops up at turn 5, and it's nowhere as dirty or unfair as the Big Priest or Possessed Lackey/Voidlord combos. Plus, it's even random, so... I dunno. We'll have to wait and see. Gut feeling says its bad, though.

Witchwood Grizzly: This is the card you apparently want to play with Witching Hour, and maybe Lady in White, too. It's a 5-mana beast with 3/12 stats and taunt. That's crazy! That's almost Ysera or Malygos level. But as a battlecry, the Witchwood Grizzly loses 1 health for each card in your opponent's hand, making Grizzly particularly great to stonewall aggro, but shit against Warlocks. So maybe you want to cheat him out? None of Druid's recruit cards can do it, though (Kathrena Winterwisp can!). The stats on this dude is pretty high so I guess he might be interesting enough to build a deck around. I do like this dude. The combo with Witching Hour looks pretty neat, although I think we'll have to see if a Beast Druid -- be it an odd-flavoured one or a more regular one -- will pan out. My gut says maybe yes?

Cathedral Gargoyle: Another Dragon-synergy card, this time for Paladin. A bit surprising, since the two Dragon Paladin cards, Dragon Consort and Nightbane Templar, are both in Wild. And that makes me really think if this set or the next will be adding more dragons. Cathedral Gargoyle is theoretically great if you can play it with dragons -- it's a stronger Annoy-o-Tron, or a Shielded Minibot with Taunt. And Shielded Minibot was great. But while the Cathedral Gargoyle's certainly a pretty powerful tool, I don't actually think the dragon paladin shell around it is necessarily there yet.