Hearthstone: Rastakhan's Rumble Re-Review

Normally I do these re-reviews at the beginning or end of the next expansion announcement, but since this year's first expansion is going to be released in like April or something, I figure we'll do this pretty quickly. Rastakhan's Rumble, I feel, have for the most part have been... disappointing? I don't really want to diss an entire expansion as disappointing, but I do know that I have enjoyed old-school decks, arena and the single-player mode way more than actually trying to craft anything with the new decks. Which is a shame, because I really love the theme of this set. Alas, it was not meant to be, and I feel that more than anything, I have vastly over-rated many of the cards from this set.

Druid
Yeah, I did basically call out that the entire Druid package for this expansion is honestly kinda shit. My lack of faith in the Gonk package is right -- basically nothing other than meme decks managed to work with Gonk or any of the weird hero-power synergies. Likewise, Treespeaker is unsuccessful at making Treant druid decks work. Druid hasn't been in a particularly good spot with huge nerfs to their basic/classic cards, but even surviving druid decks (mostly token and OTK) don't really make any sort of usage of the new cards. Wardruid Loti and Ironhide Direhorn only get special mention of being 2 instead of 1 because they are decent cards for budget decks. Everything else is honestly shit.

• 5: N/A
• 4: N/A
• 3: N/A
• 2: Wardruid Loti (down from 3), Ironhide Direhorn
• 1: Stampeding Roar (down from 3), Spirit of the Raptor (down from 2), Treespeaker (down from 2), Predatory Instincts (down from 2), Gonk the Raptor, Pounce, Savage Striker, Mark of the Loa

Hunter
Probably the class that benefited the most from this expansion as well as the set of nerfs is Hunter. While most powerful at the beginning of the expansion and slightly after the first set of nerfs, we get a vast infestation of Hunters. It's not so bad where I played in Wild, where Spell and Deathrattle Hunter were a bit more fair, but in Standard, all sorts of Hunter variations from Spell to Deathrattle to Recruit to Secret and any combination there of ends up being played... and a good reason to why that ended up working was the combination of Zul'jin as a Hero that basically unleashes a lot of hell in a single turn, while Deathrattle Rexxar synergizes well as a late-game value generator for later on. It's not just that Zul'jin is powerful, but that it has a lot of buddies to call on. Master's Call also ended up being pretty decent.

Perhaps the biggest surprise is that Baited Arrow, a card I rated 2, ended up being pretty damn useful. Not seen as much now that the decks are a bit more refined, but it is a legitimate tech card in Spell Hunter decks and I have seen genuine, decent success with it, which is neat! Springpaw isn't as great as I thought it was going to be, though, and the entire Halazzi package sort of falls apart. I also did overrate Revenge of the Wild severely. Still, overall a pretty good expansion for Hunter.

• 5: Zul'jin (up from 4)
• 4: Master's Call, Baited Arrow (up from 2)
• 3: Springpaw (down from 5)
• 2: Revenge of the Wild (down from 4), Bloodscalp Strategist (down from 3), Headhunter's Hatchet (down from 3)
• 1: Spirit of the lynx (down from 3), Halazzi the Lynx (down from 2), The Beast Within (down from 2)

Mage
Yeah, the elemental package being 2/5 for Mage is probably about right. Elemental Mage isn't completely unplayable, and you can enjoy some success with it, but it's definitely like a tier 4 or tier 5 deck at best. Mage, I think, remains mostly the same, although in Jan'alai did see a fair bit of usage in Odd Mage -- particularly in conjunction with Frost Lich Jaina. I suppose ranking Jan'alai as 4 is still fair? He's not the most powerful card in that deck, but he does help to give a potential win condition. I don't think it's the most powerful version of Mage at all, but it's still playable enough to be worth not calling an entire bust. There are a lot of cards that are just "m'eh" in my opinion, though maybe that's a side-effect from playing Wild. I will concede that I kinda didn't even think Pyromaniac or Daring Fire-Eater will work at all, and they are pretty neat support pieces for Jan'alai.

Malacrass is... he's an interesting card to play in that I've seen him as a weird tech card for OTK mage (to replicate combo pieces) or for a tech card in Reno Mage decks in Wild. I also overrated Blast Wave a little, but not by that much.

• 5: N/A
• 4: Jan'alai the Dragonhawk
• 3: Hex Lord Malacrass, Pyromaniac (up from 2), Daring Fire-Eater (up from 2)
• 2: Arcanosaur, Blast Wave (down from 3)
• 1: Scorch, Elemental Evocation (down from 2), Spirit of the Dragonhawk (down from 2)

Paladin
While Control/Heal Paladin didn't work out, Time Out ended up heralding the birth of a new series of OTK decks. So did Shirvallah, who ended up not being used for her intended purpose, but either to be a fun little card in weird Holy Wrath OTK decks, or as a weird Zilliax-style stopgap measure for Death Knight Uther control decks. The control and OTK archetypes ended up being born, it's just not the ones that Blizzard probably envisioned. None of the actual control cards ended up really working out.

High Priest Thekal gets a special mention in that he is part of a particularly bizarre combo involving Molten Giant in Wild, which is neat. Overall, I was absolutely wrong about which card was great in Paladin -- which is... yeah, I ranked Time Out 1 out of 5, which is probably the worst read I did in this set. And... I was right that Thekal and Shirvallah are at least decent, but I was wrong on all the reasons why. Immortal Prelate ends up seeing some use -- at least in Wild -- in conjunction with Call to Arms, but it's not a particularly good deck, I feel.

• 5: N/A
• 4: N/A
• 3: Shirvallah the Tiger, High Priest Thekal (down from 4)
• 2: Spirit of the Tiger (down from 4), Flash of Light (down from 4), Immortal Prelate (down from 3), Zandalari Templar (down from 3)
• 1: Farraki Battleaxe, Bloodclaw (down from 2), A New Challenger (down from 3)

Priest
Oh man, I was waffling on whether the Bwonsamdi package ended up being good. It's fun, kinda, but it also fell flat on its face. Talanji also fell flat on her face as a legendary, and I honestly don't really know why I ended up being so distracted by the lore characters to see that they really aren't that good. Instead, the cards that saw usage are cards like Auchenai Phantasm in OTK/Reno Priest in Wild, as well as Mass Hysteria as a generically good removal card. Oh, and Regenerate, which is more useful for the fact that it's a 0-mana spell than anything it actually does. The rest of the Priest decks basically just ended up honestly never seeing any play outside of weird experimental decks. I am, at least, right that Surrender to Madness is shit. And while it might be harsh to rate everything else ranked one, after two sets of nerfs I don't really see any successful deck using any of those cards.

• 5: N/A
• 4: N/A
• 3: Mass Hysteria (down from 4), Auchenai Phantasm (up from 2), Regenerate (up from 2)
• 2: Sand Drudge
• 1: Surrender to Madness, Grave Horror (down from 2), Seance (down from 2), Princess Talanji (down from 3), Bwonsamdi the Dead (down from 4), Spirit of the Dead (down from 3)

Rogue

Rogue is still damn successful in a post-Rastakhan meta... and use like, absolutely none of the new cards introduced in this set. None of the Shark/Gral stuff worked out. The Pirate package flourished, but, again, no thanks to the new cards introduced in this set. Hooktusk, Bloodsail Howler, Cannon Barrage? None of them got played, and the only real card that's successful from Rogue is Raiding Party, and that's mostly to tutor Kingsbane or Necrium Blade more than anything, while the Pirates they tutor and are used by this deck are just the same old ones from the Odd Rogue decks. I forsee Walk the Plank replacing Vilespine Slayer, but only in Standard. Special dishonourable mention for Stolen Steel, and I am genuinely not sure why I didn't rate that card 1 in the first place.

• 5: N/A
• 4: Raiding Party
• 3: N/A
• 2: Walk the Plank (down from 4, probably will be 3/5-4/5 later on)
• 1: Gurubashi Hypemon (down from 2), Stolen Steel (down from 2), Gral the Shark (down from 3), Spirit of the Shark (down from 3), Serrated Tooth (down from 3), Captain Hooktusk (down from 3), Bloodsail Howler (down from 3), Cannon Barrage (down from 3)

Shaman
I mean, I dicked around with Zentimo in my Unstable Evolution deck and I loved it, but it's still a pretty bad deck. I don't think any of the cards in Shaman are honestly especially good, and even Krag'wa's pretty decent effect ended up not working out in any deck. Shaman's just in a weird spot where the best decks are just heavily minion-based, and too many of the good Shaman spells are just Overload-centric. Krag'wa did see a fair bit of experimentation early on, which makes it a bit better than the Priest legendaries, but... eh. Likkim did see a brief bit of experimentation in Overload synergy decks, but in Wild, at least, everyone ended up using Spirit Claws or Jade Claws instead as a more reliable cheap weapon. Bog Slosher did see some experimentation in Shudderwock decks, but everyone basically ended up using Zola or the pandas... not that Shudderwock is in a decent place after the Saronite nerf, mind you.

I am kind of happy that I didn't fall into the trap of overrating either Haunting Visions or Big Bad Voodoo, but at the same time, I did overrate a lot of the other cards in this set, so it's not like I have anything to stand on.

• 5: N/A
• 4: N/A
• 3: Likkim
• 2: Rain of Toads (down from 3), Bog Slosher (down from 3), Krag'wa the Frog (down from 5), Zentimo (down from 3)
• 1: Big Bad Voodoo, Wartbringer, Spirit of the Frog (down from 2), Totemic Smash (down from 2), Haunting Visions (down from 2)

Warlock
Shit, I had some great fun piloting a Discard Warlock deck all the way to legend, but by no means is it a good deck. Shriek, Diretroll and Jeklik are some of the best Discard cards, but they are also like a 2/5 to 3/5 at best. I did correctly call out that the Hir'eek stuff and the Void Contract stuff are pretty bad, though, and Discard synergy -- again, in Wild, at least -- are still far more workable compared to something like the Bwonsamdi or Gonk packages. Warlock is another pretty damn successful deck in this expansion, but that's mostly due to other stuff from previous expansions, be it Mecha'thun, Even, Odd, Reno or Zoo, depending on whether you play Wild or Standard.

I am kinda surprised that Shriek doesn't get played more in non-Discard decks, but I guess Discarding a low-cost card really isn't something you want when you have access to Hellfire or Defile, huh.

• 5: N/A
• 4: N/A
• 3: Shriek (down from 4)
• 2: Soulwarden, Reckless Diretroll, High Priestess Jeklik (down from 3)
• 1: Hir'eek the Bat, Spirit of the Bat, Blood Troll Sapper, Void Contract (down from 2), Demonbolt (down from 3), Grim Rally (down from 3)

Warrior
OH BOY DRAGONS... and they kinda didn't work out. Really missed the mark on this one, I feel. Odd Warrior is a pretty great deck in this expansion, but no thanks to the new cards in this deck. I've seen some Dragon Warrior lists running around, but they're probably about as successful as Discard Warlock. Akali's entire package fell flat, and moving Voone out of the odd slot really ended up hurting him. Particular ones that I was cautiously optimistic about were Overlord's Whip and Sul'thraze, but none of those two ended up working out. Honestly, I'm still not very sure at putting the Drake and the Lancer at 3, but I do see them from time to time.

• 5: N/A
• 4: N/A
• 3: Emberscale Drake (down from 4), Smolderthorn Lancer
• 2: Devastate
• 1: Heavy Metal, Akali the Rhino (down from 2), Spirit of the Rhino (down from 3), Wawr Master Voone (down from 3), Sul'thraze (down from 3), Dragon Roar (down from 3), Overlord's Whip (down from 3)

Neutral

...and I was waaaay off the mark for neutrals. Most of the dragon package didn't end up working out, Da Undatakah didn't end up working out, a lot of the neutrals I ranked 3 ended up being shite in constructed and only playable in Wild... Oondasta did see some play, but only in Recurit hunter. Mojomaster Zihi, in contrast, was a legitimate tech card for combo decks that required 10 mana, and while not the best card in any deck, did actually see enough play that my 3/5 rating is decent. Hakkar the Soulflayer, surprisingly, ended up being the basis of a legitimate (if not particularly powerful) OTK deck. The most unexpected good card is probably Banana Buffoon, which saw great use in both OTK Quest Mage and OTK Death Knight Paladin in Wild. A special, honourable mention goes to the humble Amani War Bear, which saw a fair bit more play than I thought it was going to be due to the unique combination of Rush, Taunt and being a Beast. Ditto for Mosh'Ogg Enforcer, which recently saw some usage in Standard as part of the Inner Fire combo.  Masked Contender and Firetree Witchdoctor were also pretty decent as tech cards and alternate resource generators in Mage and dragon decks respectively.

A fair amount of these are actually decent in Arena, but honestly, basically the entire neutral chunk of the expansion ended up being pretty shit. I didn't expect the 0-point category to swell like it did.... but there are some genuinely crap cards in this expansion.

• 5: N/A
• 4: Hakkar the Soulflayer (up from 2)
• 3: Mojomaster Zihi, Masked Contender, Firetree Witchdoctor, Banana Buffon (up from 2), Oondasta (down from 4), Amani War Bear (up from 2), Mosh'Ogg Enforcer (up from 2_
• 2:  Crowd Roaster (down from 4), Dragonmaw Scorcher (down from 4), Sharkfin Fan (down from 4), Da Undatakah (down from 4), Untamed Beastmaster (down from 3)
• 1: Mosh'Ogg Announcer, Ice Cream Peddler, Murloc Tastyfin, Soup Vendor, Waterboy, Serpent Ward, Former Champ, Sightless Ranger, Halftime Scavenger, Orenery Tortoise, Cheaty Anklebiter, Shieldbreaker (down from 3), Belligerent Gnome (down from 3), Ticket Scalper (down from 3), Saronite Taskmaster (down from 3), Linecracker (down from 2), Snapjaw Shellfighter (down from 2), Drakkari Trickster (down from 2), Rabble Bouncer (down from 2), Arena Fanatic (down from 2), Rumbletusk Shaker (down from 2), Regenerating Thug (down from 2), Spellzerker (down from 2), Scarab Egg (down from 2), Helpless Hatchling (down from 2)
• 0: [Special garbage category] Booty Bay Bookie, Arena patron, Gurubashi Chicken (down from 1), Griftah (down from 1), Dozing Marksman (down from 2), Gurubashi Offering (down from 1), Arena Treasure Chest (down from 1)