[This got accidentally taken down yesterday. I've since updated it with the cards up to the Sindragosa reveal, so yep. Because I haven't reviewed the first five cards, I talk about them a little at the end of this.]
The first card revealed is this handsome dude, the Ticking Abomination. Pretty flavourful card, of course, lore-wise. Abominations are central to the undead armies ever since Warcraft III, and while World of Warcraft's Northrend content did add several upgraded vesions of the Abomination like the Flesh Giants, Flesh Titans and their kin, the abominations still are one of the more iconic designs of Warcraft's undead forces. Being a ticking time-bomb is also for the norm for abominations. The Ticking Abomination is cute, but probably not super-good. It's a 5/6 for 4 mana, a good one mana less than the statline deserves. But just like most highly-statted-for-its-cost fellows, its deathrattle deals 5 damage to all your minions. It's pretty damning because it Flamestrikes your own board (nay, even worse) so using this in aggro or midrange decks is definitely out. And I don't think even N'Zoth decks want this around because if it dies it kind of, y'know, nukes your own board. Like, there's obviously the ideal bit of you killing the Ticking Abomination and killing a Sylvannas Windrunner on your side, but then what about Standard? I don't think you want N'Zoth to bring this dude back, right? I dunno. Highly-statted minions will find a way to be used (look at Humongous Razorleaf!) so maybe some decks that don't use a lot of minions like Priest or Mage might use the Abomination? But then Priests and Mage have their share of minions and so I don't think a 4-mana 5/6 is going to make a huge difference. It's a cool-designed card, but I don't really think this dude's going to see a ton of play even in Arena. Not the best way to start your trickle-down reveal of cards, I'm afraid. 
Plague Scientist:
Giving a friendly minion Poisonous is amazing. The thing with giving a friendly minion poisonous is that you essentially slap on a removal for free by, well, essentially giving the poisonous effect charge, if that makes sense. And it's got a kick-ass looking card art (as far as undead gnomes go) and it's in Rogue, so it's a neat flavour bit. And yeah, it's got a stat penalty, a 3-mana 2/3, but surely a 1-mana removal card is worth something? Well, in addition to requiring you to already have another minion on the field, Plague Scientist is also a Combo card. Which means that the setup you need for Plague Scientist to work -- a card to Combo with, plus a minion on the field that you then have to run to whatever you want to destroy -- is a bit too steep, perhaps. Out of the cards revealed on the first day Plague Scientist is certainly the best out of the bunch, but it's certainly not constructed-level viable, I don't think. Vilespine Slayer is a high-costed combo card, too, but it just straight-up murders a minion. Plague Scientist is perhaps comparable to Crackling Razormaw, who doesn't have a stat penalty but only works on beasts and only gives poisonous one out of three times. On the other hand, the Razormaw's flexibility and lack of setup or stat drops outweighs its unreliability for a poisonous effect. Plague Scientist is a very cool concept, don't get me wrong, but I just feel that he demands too much -- from the mana cost to the combo -- for something that's not that easy to deliver.
Ice Breaker
But that doesn't compare to Icce Breaker over here. It's a Shaman weapon, and, god, it's a shit weapon. It's a 3-mana 1/3, which is disastrous stats. A 1/3 weapon is barely decent for 1-mana, and even then 1/3 weapons usually come bundled with a body (N'Zoth's First Mate) or the possibility of raising its attack value (Spirit Claws) and costs far, far less than 3 mana. What does Ice Breaker's effect do? It destroys any minion. Cool, removal! Not really, because the minion in question has to be frozen to be destroyed by the weapon. Why in god's name would you rather use Ice Breaker rather than Hex to remove a minion, I can't say. Like, first, you have to freeze the minion in question, and Shaman's got, what, a grand total of one card, Frost Shock, to do it? Frost Elemental from the neutrals? And then you have to run your face towards that minion, and the whole point of removal is to avoid it killing your face. Sure, you can use, oh, Violet Illusionist to negate the damage to your face if you're that kind of super-convoluted player, but on the other hand that's one charge of the Ice Breaker used. How likely is it for the Ice Breaker's other two charges for removal to be triggered? How likely is it that you have both Frost Shocks and both Frost Elementals in your hand? Not very. And while this does mean that the expansion's probably going to feature a bunch of frost spells for Shaman, the Ice Breaker's still a pretty crap weapon. I mean, Envenom Weapon never saw play outside of Arena, and it's far, far easier to get the effect off compared to Ice Breaker. I dunno. Seems terrible, until proven otherwise.
Blood-Queen Lana'thelMan, Warlocks can't catch a break, right? Unless the expansion gives us a hell lot of great discard synergy cards (and considering the pretty decent-on-paper Lakkari Felhound, Lakkari Sacrifice and Clutchmother Zavas turned out to be unplayable) Blood-Queen Lana'thel won't break Warlock's streak of crap legendaries since Wilfred Fizzlebang. It's not just me, right? Like, I took a look at the card, smiled when I saw the cool-looking vampire banshee blood elf that is Blood Queen Lana'thel, saw the effect and did a quick double-take. 5-mana with Lifesteal, okay, and she has... +1 Attack to her 1/6 statline for each card you've discarded this game? So assuming you wait until you discard, like, six cards -- the requirement for the Warlock quest -- Lana'thel is a mere 7/6 with lifesteal. Doesn't seem to be super exciting at all for the amount of work you put into her, especially considering that you might very well accidentally discard Lana'thel herself during the process of getting to the point of playing her. Yeah, you could play her earlier, but a 5-mana 3/6 or 4/6 Lifesteal doesn't seem to be super-insane at all. On top of that, Lana'thel isn't a demon, so she doesn't interact at all with any of the demon-buffing cards, leaving her entirely dependent on the discard mechanic (or the odd Abusive Sergeant) to make her work. Unlike Alley Armorsmith, it doesn't even have Taunt to force your enemies to trade into her. Like, sure, it maybe buys the Warlock a turn. Like... I dunno. I guess I'm just super-disillusioned with Warlock at this point? Especially with super-crap cards like Feeding Time and Bloodbloom in the last expansion? Here's hoping that if they do decide to go with Discard as a mechanic to promote this expansion, they'll introduce some cards to level the playing field. I mean, Mages get things like Primordial Glyphs and they're fine, right? Give Gul'dan some love! For now she's bad, but we haven't seen most of the expansion. So. Like Ice Breaker, Lana'thel is terrible until proven otherwise.
Blood RazorWhat a cool card! Knights of the Frozen Throne is plagued with pretty underwhelming card reveals ever since its very first trailer, and Blood Razor is honestly the first card outside of Deathstalker Rexxar to make me go, 'huh, that's actually pretty cool and I can probably use it'. It's a 2/2 weapon lumped with two Whirlwind effects, and it costs 4 mana. In an ideal world it'd probably be a 3/2 weapon, but Warriors have enough 3/2's as it is already, and the relative convenience of having an effect be lumped in battlecry and deathrattle has long been proven by the likes of Aya Blackpaw and Toshley. And Warriors do like to deal 1 damage to all minions. I honestly just think of how this is Death's Bite on steroids, and how fun it would be to try and revive Grim Patron Warrior in Wild. In standard its applications thin a little, I think. Enrage Warrior isn't going to be a thing, but it certainly looks like it could be deccent paired with things like Bloodhoof Brave. Certainly a lot more usable than stuff like, oh, Ticking Abomination or Blood Queen Lana'thel.
Prince Taldaram
Taldaram is like, Keleseth's buddy, a fellow member of the darkfallen court or something. He's a neutral legendary, a 3-mana 3/3 that's another weird buildaround card. this time, Taldaram doesn't want you to play 3-cost cards, which I think is a lot more forgiving than Keleseth. But his effect isn't as game-breaking as Keleseth's Mistcaller-style deck-buffing effects, but rather he simply... transforms into a copy of a minion? A 3/3 copy? Assuming it's a minion on the battlefield, it's honestly a fair bit impractical -- like a worse Faceless Manipulator, right? What do I want to turn him into? Like, sure, a 3/3 Tirion Fordring's cool, but I'd rather have the turtles that can produce more actual Tirion Fordrings. Or like a Malygos's cool, but Shadowcaster or Faceless Manipulator can make extra Malygoses without going through the hoops that Taldaram asks me to. Briefly mentally going through my heads, there are some classes that don't use a lot of 3-drops in standard, and honestly some others can have 3-drop cards wiggled out of them... but is it worth it? The condition might be easier to accomplish compared to Keleseth or the Reno gang, and some people are throwing out Blood of the Ancient One decks which sounds fun if nothing else, but at the same time... eh. Another disappointing legendary. Come on, Blizzard -- you're supposed to excite the customers early on to get them to pre-order!
Nerubian Unraveler
Nerubians! This one uses the artwork of Killix the Unraveler from the old WoW TCG, I believe. It's actually a pretty interesting card, and one that I'll probably experiment with. It's our first anti-spell card since... since motherfucking Loatheb, man. Such a great card, that Loatheb. The Nerubian Unraveler isn't as powerful as Loatheb in terms of spell-disabling, giving them a 2-mana mark-up compared to Loatheb's 5, but the Unraveler's effect is continuous as long as he's on the field. And unlike some of the other cards on this review, the downside... isn't that much of a downside. A 6-mana 5/5 is... fair-ish, I guess, for a non-legendary with this effect? Certainly could shut down some mages and priests that rely heavily on spells. Like, all classes could use spells, sure, but some less so than others. I've played some Hunter decks with only like two Kill Commands as spells, or Paladins with only Consecrations as spells. Unraveler does not look game-breaking, but it certainly looks playable. Just probably won't going to see as much as play as Loatheb did in the past.
Mountainfire ArmorAlso definitely playable is Mountainfire Armor. He's a 3-mana 4/3, which is fine and dandy for a 3-mana card, and it's our next Deathrattle card. 4/3 with a deathrattle, gain 6 armour? Amazing value! Of course, there's the minor inconvenience that Mountainfire Armour has to die during your opponent's turn, which might cause you to lose value if you're forced to trade this away, but honestly it's a pretty neat card design and one that I can totally see being played. It's definitely great in arena, I can tell you that much, and in constructed... taunt and aggro warrior in their current forms don't need this card at all, but at the same time we haven't seen a lot of the Warrior kit, so whatever new deck is formed, Mountainfire Armor actually looks good enough to be put into a couple of them. N'Zoth Warrior perhaps? Like, I wouldn't mind having an extra 4/3 show up... It's a pretty cool card that's going to deter enemies from trading or removing it, and that allows for some extra flexibility on your part. Not a super-duper awesome card, I don't think, but another one that looks at least playable.
Professor Putricide
Huh, I wouldn't have pegged Putricide as a Hunter legendary. Like Lana'thel, Professor Putricide is one of the bosses of the Icecrown Citadel raid, which means that the rest of that bunch (Sindragosa, Marrowgar, Lady Deathwhisper, Deathbringer Saurfang) are going to be the other class legendaries. That's fine, I guess. And, I mean, can't think of a powerful Icecrown Citadel themed beast on the top of my head. Instead of adapting Putricide's WoW boss fight mechanics, though, Putricide copies his similar-looking minion Mad Scientist's effect. Except on steroids, becuase, y'know, Putricide's WoW model is the Mad Scientist model, but mutated horribly. Putricide's a 4-mana 5/4, again, fair stats, with the continuous effect of after you play a secret, Putricide puts one up for free. It suddenly makes Secret Hunter look so, so damn powerful. One of the biggest weakness back in Karazhan when I tried out Cloaked Huntress decks is that, sure, the Secrets are free, but then my hand's left with like one card for the next turn and that sucks. Putricide allows you to benefit from whether you'd like to put the secrets up one by one, or all at once -- whatever the case he simply doubles your value by summoning random secrets out of thin air and activating it. Is it going to be super-good? It's going to see play, is what I think, and honestly even without the other new Hunter cards (there gotta be a new secret in there, right?) Putricide looks pretty playable. Probably not OP, though.
Ghastly Conjurer
Awesome artwork! The Ghastly Conjurer is our first Mage card reveal, I think. She's a 4-mana 2/6... that adds a Mirror Image to your hand. It's not a bad card, just not quite constructed-level viable, I think. Like, a 2/6 for a 4-mana card that draws you a card from outside your deck isn't bad stats at all. Like, it's sort of comparable to Babbling Book... yet at the same time, instead of the versatility and randomness of Babbling Book (most of the time you kinda want burst damage) the Ghastly Conjurer only adds a mere mirror image. And do you really want that? It's thankfully not a Deathrattle like Rhonin was, which means the effect is immediate, but at the same time why would you want a Mirror Image? I guess it could be used to activate the Mage Quest reliably since it's a card that didn't start in your deck and also very cheap, or a card that can reliably trigger Archmage Antonidas without it having to start in your hand. It's kind of like a less conditional Steam Surger, except instead of the Flame Geyser it adds Mirror Image. Mind you, the Geyser deals actual damage, so I'm not sure how good this will be. My guess is that it's decent as an alternative card to put in quest-centric or control-centric mage decks, but probably won't see a lot of play outside arena unless there's some really cool shenanigans with upcoming cards.
SindragosaAnother class legendary, another Icecrown Citadel raid. Sindragosa is the queen of the Frost Wyrms, former consort to Malygos, and that kickass giant Frost Wyrm that Arthas resurrected in the very awesome Wrath of the Lich King cinematic trailer released however many years ago (and still one of Blizzard's best cinematics IMO). Her Legendary card is given to Mage, and she's actually kind of like Mage's last Legendary card, Pyros, where it's just a general-utility great Legendary minion that doesn't actually need a specific deck like Putricide or Lana'thel or the two Darkfallen princes. Sindragosa is an 8-mana 8/8, a fair statline for a big minion, and as a battlecry she summons two 0/1 Frozen champions. Frozen champions are 0/1 that adds a random legendary to your hand as a deathrattle, which in mage is highly easy to do. Hero power's the obvious thing, of course, but also Volcanic Potion, a card that saw some marginal play for a cheap, smaller board-wipe. It also is a bit of a AoE deterrant in a sense, while still being fair because it doesn't just summon a random legendary minion but adds it to your hand. It's like a slower, less damage-spammy version of Dr. Boom in a sense. Before you ask, no, putting Ticking Abomination for the sole purpose of triggering the frozen champions is a stupid idea. Other full-board AoE cards like Primordial Drake, Wild Pyromaner or even regular Abomination is so, so much better. Also feel like I have to mention the N'Zoth interaction, even if it's not the best card to bring back with N'Zoth. Also Sindragosa is a dragon, which means it can be fetched by Curator -- though I personally don't really see Curator Mage decks happening. It's a slow card, that's for sure, which hurts her a fair bit. Overall probably not an auto-include card, but still actually a card I won't mind having or crafting. I dunno. I kinda have a soft spot for big, undead dragons, I guess? Chillmaw now has a buddy to hang out with.
Leeching Potion
2 mana, give your weapon lifesteal? For this, I'll be succinct and simple -- give us the strong weapons you promised when you nerfed Blade Flurry, Blizzard! What the hell am I supposed to lifesteal with, a 1/2 weapon? 2 mana deal restore 2 health over 2 turns? Yeah, I'd rather play that silly bartender tauren from Mean Streets of Gadgetzan, thank you very much. Sure, Rogue needs recovery because it's so damn fragile without Antique Healbot, but a lifesteal weapon? Come on. Warriors keep getting cool weapons, where's my cool super-speedy powerful rogue dagger? Plus, weapon-buff cards are kinda-sorta weak because an all-purpose anti-weapon counter card called the Acidic Swamp Ooze exists. Like, sure, you could make your Assassin's Blade have Lifesteal and Poisonous and be buffed to huge amounts -- doesn't matter, Ooze. Not a very impressive card, and also not very interseting to talk about.
Chillblade ChampionSo I'm going to go through the first five cards revealed during the original reveal stream, which I felt were super-underwhelming, coupled with the first reviews in the 24th being relative crap like Ticking Abomination and Icebreaker.... Chillblade Champion isn't super bad, though. On paper, he's kind of like Truesilver Champion. 4-mana card that does immediate damage and heals. Except Chillblade Champion's a minion, so he doesn't acctually only have two charges, but can probably hit and heal for far more than that. As Wickerflame Burnbristle has proven, something that hits and heals is fully capable of healing your hero to full health if not removed, and Paladin has a crapton of healing effects at its fingertips in Standard at this point in time. Even as a card that trades immediately upon being summoned, Chillblade Champion still probably trades up and removes something while healing your hero for 3 health, which isn't that bad. Assuming it dies by direct trading in the following turn, you get an extra 3 health. If it survives, it can heal you for more. Chillblade Champion isn't the best card ever, but it's certainly a pretty cool common.
Deathstalker Rexxar
Deathstalker Rexxar is the first of our hero cards. Hero cards are cards that we play, and do like a Jaraxxus or Executus effect... except they aren't minions that can accidentally be pulled into the field. I think they're immune to crap like Counterspell as well? Regardless, though, Deathstalker Rexxar turns Rexxar into a zombie! It costs 6 mana to zombify Rexxar, and in addition to 5 extra armour, Deathstalker Rexxar deals 2 damage to all enemy minions as a battlecry. Which probably isn't super-great at turn 6, but at least that means you're doing something on turn 6 when you're just transforming -- you gain armour, and you deal damage. It's not a terrible battlecry considering one of Jaraxxus's biggest weakness is that the first turn that you turn into Jaraxxus you don't do anything but trade with the 3-attack weapon. You also get a brand-new hero power, the Build-a-Beast, where you make a new Zombeast card. It kinda works similarly to Kazakus, except you discover two beasts. I think the beasts you discover must be less than 5 mana, so no Savannah Highmanes here... and I think the pools are slightly different, with the first having more text and the second being filled with vanilla or single-keyword cards, but still... this means you can make things like a Vicious Fledgling with instant-charge by combining it with Stonetusk Boar. Hell, anything combined with Stonetusk Boar, or Young Dragonhawk, or Jungle Panther, simply just gets Charge, Windfury or Stealth for free and there are some pretty gross combinations out there. Of course, this hero power is absurdly slow, especially for a hunter, because you spend 2 mana to build the beast, and then you have to play the initial cost of summoning said beast (the theoretical Stonetusk Fledgling costs 4 mana, for example, which isn't bad, but that's if you strike gold). Ultimately I honestly don't think Deathstalker Rexxar is going to be the best hero card out there, but it does certainly look relatively fun.
Shallow Gravedigger
This card's... okay? It feels more like an arena card, and it's like a reverse-Netherspite Historian, but for deathrattles. It's a 3/1 for 3 mana, but it adds a card only upon dying. It's kind of like Journey Below slapped onto a body, except that a 3/1 isn't super-duper great. It's okay for a minion you're expecting to die, but at the same time you're just feeding 3 mana to get pinged down. It's not the worst thing ever becasue we've had cards like Shimmering Tempest whose function is only to die to add cards to your hand, but I honestly don't think this card is that good. It might see some play in like Quest/N'Zoth Priest thing, but outside of that I find it hard to think that this card's going to see much play. The fact that it's random makes it a lot less viable than other cards like, say, Netherspite Historian. Not a super-big fan, though certainly far better than crap like, well, Ice Breaker.
Spirit Lash
It's Arcane Explosion, but with Lifesteal! What makes the Lifesteal keyword different than, say, Holy Nova or Drain Life is that the life-stolen damage is boosted by Spell Damage. Which is pretty cool. Hallazeal-boosted spells are amazing if hard to pull off, and the reliability of that effect on a single card makes Spirit Lasha lot better than it initially seems. Maelstrom Portal, after all, sees a fair amount of play, but I'm just not sure if the lifesteal will matter all that much on the second turn. Boosted with Bloodmage Thalnos on a subsequent turn it might be decent, but I kind of think that the combination of Lifesteal and a low-cost, low-impact spell isn't the most exciting thing out there. Not a bad card to print, I must say, but not a very exciting one either.Prince Keleseth
I actually think Prince Keleseth is better than his brother Taldaram, but not by a big margin. The thing is, though, instead of being a shittier Faceless Manipulator, Keleseth's effect of giving all minions in your deck +1/+1, basically Mistcaller's effect, is a lot more valuable than Taldaram. Keleseth himself isn't too badly undercosted like Mistcaller was, a 2-mana 2/2 that boosts cards in your deck isn't horrible, and hitting all minions gives so much more value compared to Hobart Grapplehammer's all weapons. The thing that makes me frown about Keleseth is that, well, what it asks for you is way, way too steep. The idea of not having a single card of a certain cost in your deck is interesting, but 2-mana is one of the most important costs in your deck, and there are some classes whose best cards are there. Druids cannot live without Wild Growth and Wrath. Warriors have Fiery War Axe and Execute. Shamans have Flametongue Totems, Maelstrom Portals, Jade Claws and Devolves. Mages have Primordial Glyphs, Pyros, Sorcerer's Apprentices and Frostbolts. Hunters have all their traps, plus some premium turn-2 beasts like Kindly Grandmother and Crackling Razormaw. Paladins have Hydrologists. Rogues have Eviscerate and Undercity Hucksters. Priests, despite its no-good-2-drop meme, have the all-essential Shadow Word: Pain and the new Radiant Elementals. Warlocks have Dark Peddlers. Admittedly, though, a lot of these are less essential than others. I cannot ever see Mages, Shamans or Druids play a keleseth deck, but you can kinda force Paladins, Rogues and Warlocks to try to live without their 2-mana cards. They're all pretty great with minion-based decks, too, though that does mean no Murlocs for Paladins, while Warlocks cannot run the traditional Zoolock style with Doomsayers and Dire Wolves. Some people suggested playing Keleseth in a Quest Hunter deck... which might actually work! Especially after Queen Carnassa gets dropped onto the field. A swarm of endless 4/3's is a lot scarier than 3/2's. If Blizzard wants to print a weird card, print more cards like Keleseth that gets my head thinking to build a deck, don't make things like Lana'thel or Taldaram where the effect isn't worth meeting the absurd requirements at all.
At first glance noone thought druid cards gonna be so OP
ReplyDeletePretty sure everyone knew Ultimate Infestation was going to be awesome. THIS awesome, though, is a whole different story. Malfurion the Pestilent and Spreading Plague, though, were severely underrated. I was wary of Malfurion, but Spreading Plague... and ESPECIALLY Crypt Lord caught me by surprise.
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