I waited a little longer this time aroudn in order to try and get these articles to be less spammy in my blog -- less frequent and with more cards within.
So, there's a bit of a reveal stream a couple of days ago, and we start off that particular reveal with this adorable but very underwhelming card. The Snowflipper Penguin is basically the beast vesrion of the Murloc Tinyfin, an adorable baby that's a 0-mana 1/1. But it's a beast. It's definitely not going to be played, no way no how, unless they release a Anyfin-esque card for beasts (and even then it's hard to see him being picked over something like Alley Cat). The Penguin's biggest importance is then to act as a mini-nerf to cards that generate beasts like Jeweled Macaw, as was what Murloc Tinyfin did to Murloc Knight back in the day. It's also a 0-mana buff to anything created by Deathstalker Rexxar's Build-a-Beast hero power, which is pretty cool but not super-duper-relevant. Still, better a cute penguin than yet another worgen greaser, right?Shadowblade
The Shadowblade is the first proper Rogue weapon we've gotten in years. Like, yeah, Obsidian Shard was a thing but did anyone ever play that? The jury's still out on whether Shadowblade's going to be great. On paper it's decent. 3-mana for Fiery War Axe stats with an additional effect is pretty fair, I think, and being immune for a single turn is definitely a pretty significant effect. Suddenly Envenom Weapon and Leeching Poison isn't going to deal damage to your hero when you clear a minion. Envenoming this on the first turn allows you to basically have a free removal... but then is it what you really want, when Rogues already have access to Vinespine Slayer and Assassinate? The Leeching Poison application is decent enough, but there's not enough cards in Rogue to benefit from the single-turn immunity, I feel. My verdict is that the card's a wait-and-see dealDefile
Defile is our first Warlock spell, based on the Lich King's iconic ability in the final battle atop the Icecrown Citadel. In Hearthstone, Defile's a very, very interesting card. For 2 mana, Defile deals 1 damage to all minions, and if any die you unleash Defile again. So it basically gets rid of an opposing Warlock's Possessed Villager. It's going to have some really interesting setups with Spell Damage minions such as Thalnos and the Kobold Geomancer because it's going to be dealing 2 damage and then 1 continually. In wild I can actually see the genesis of a Patron Warlock deck with this card. Is it going to be an auto include? Perhaps not, but it's certainly a very interesting effect that's going to have multiple interesting interactions with things like the eggs and other deathrattle minions. Like Fatespinner in the last batch, Defile's a card with a very interesting effect that actually requires you to think hard about how advantageous it is to unleash it upon the board at that time. I've never been bothered by the amount of RNG in Hearthstone, but I equally embrace the addition of these smarter cards, so to speak.
Cryostasis
Cryostasis is a card that, on first glance, looks bad. It either has a brief interaction with Moorabi, otherwise it's this weird combination of a mini-Blessing of Kings and a Freeze effect. Which is just weird. But it's not as bad as some of the other cards in this set, I believe? Certainly not as bad as poor Icebreaker. Cryostasis can be cast on either an enemy minion or a friendly one. Obviously at the moment the only real non-Moorabi advantage with freezing an enemy minion is using Ice Breaker on it, which is stupid for two reasons -- you're putting Ice Breaker in your deck, and you're allowing three extra damage to be dealt to your face. Why not just hex the fucker? Yes, Moorabi-ing an Antonidas or Ragnaros Lightlord is amazing, but also, do you really want to give them a free +3/+3 buff? And if you use it on your own minion, you're going to have it miss an attack. Unless, of course, you're going to buff like a Mana Tide Totem or something which won't attack anyway so you're not missing a ton, and a 2-mana +3/+3 buff over two turns isn't the most horrible thing ever. And also, the way Freeze works is that the minion will skip its next attack, so freezing a minion before it attacks means that it'll un-freeze by the next turn, which isn't as bad as what Cryostasis initially was in my mind. But at the same time, unless we get some more powerful Freeze synergies, I don't see Cryostasis working out particularly well. Woe betide you if you decide to play a Cryostasis-self-buff Shaman, and you're facing a Freeze Mage with Chillwraiths and shit.
Moorabi
More trolls yay! I do hope we get a troll-themed expansion some time down the line. Moorabi has the continuous effect of adding a copy of any frozen minion into your hand, so cards like Voodoo Hexxer, Cryostasis, Frost Elemental, Glacial Shard and Frost Shock's going to basically be turned into free versions of Convert. What's Convert? Do you even remember Convert? It's that 2-mana spell that Priest had in... GvG? TGT? One of those. It's an interesting effect, and, yes, you might be able to get free copies of Antonidases, Ragnaroses, C'Thuns or whatever, but at the same time Moorabi has the laughably weak 6-mana 4/4 statline. Remember another Shaman elemental with such a weak statline? The Mistcaller. Who saw nearly no play, despite a theoretically powerful effect. Mind you, I tried like hell to make Mistcaller work -- I got two of the fucker from packs! And while like, one game out of three the Mistcaller gets some awesome value, the negative tempo from playing a 4/4 at turn 6 is just so punishing. Moorabi's part of a combo piece and not a 'drop and have his awesome battlecry activate' like Mistcaller, so I kind of feel like he's worse than Mistcaller? He's not a horrible effect, and a pretty cool-designed card, and admittedly making him any stronger would make him way too insane. I like my unplayable cards to at least be interesting like Moorabi and Mistcaller and not just poopy like Ticking Abomination.
Eternal Servitude
Huh. This one actually looks great as a late-game card. It's Resurrect, basically, but you can discover the minion you want to resurrect, suddenly making it insanely more powerful. It also costs double. Is two extra mana worth it for the choice of which minion to instantly bring into the field? I'd argue yes. Eternal Servitude (which in itself is a pretty cool concept, by the way, and fits well to the nightmare-eternally-screaming-shadow-wraith Anduin theme) is not going to be played on curve, but I can definitely see a spot for the spell in Quest Priest decks. Shit, now I really, really feel the need to craft the Priest Quest. Eternal Servitude seems good, but not crazy-good. Not much else I think needs to be said about it.
Doomed Apprentice
Doomed Apprentice is, well, Sorcerer's Apprentice's evil twin. She's has the exactly same statline, costs one mana more, and gives a reverse-discount of spells to your opponent. It's comparable to Nerubian Unraveler, but whereas the Unraveler might have some value in shutting down Miracle-Rogue combos or Quest Mage combos due to the not-insignificant 5 health and 2-mana price increase, Doomed Apprentice is so much more fragile, and the 1 extra cost doesn't feel like it's going to impact as much. A lot of talk is made about how Nerubian Unraveler isn't going to have anywhere as much of an impact to Loatheb's insane 5-mana price jack (and also the effect still staying for the turn no matter what), but at least the Unraveler seems semi-decent. Doomed Apprentice just seems... doomed either way due to her shit stats and marginal effect.
Prince Valanar
Out of the three princes, Valanar might be my least favourite. I mean, Taldaram felt pretty bad, what with being a cheaper Faceless Manipulator with fixed stats, but Valanar basically becomes a 4/4 version of Wickerflame Burnbristle if you eliminate all 4-cost cards from your deck. Granted, a 4/4 Wickerflame for 4 mana is amazing, but is it worth the price that Valanar asks? I can kind of see Valanar working in weird janky decks like the Quest Hunter, Zoo Warlock or Quest Rogue, or even Miracle Rogue (although you'll have to take Sherazin out, Valanar's capacity to heal maaaaybe ofsets it?). The thing is that Valanar isn't super-strong in of himself even if his effect gets triggered, and I'm honestly just frowning at this card and going 'eh, moving on'. Like, it's a cool effort to make a 2-mana 2/2, 3-mana 3/3 and 4-mana 4/4 that gains an effect if the deck's build to eliminate their specific number, but at the same time, jeez, their effects are just so... m'eh that I'm not even sure how to react beyond slight apathy. Like, yeah, sure, you could put in all three in a Quest Hunter deck and try to make that work, but none of them other than Keleseth will actually make the deck stronger.
Dead Man's Hand
Dead Man's Hand is interesting, but ultimately I think is either going to be super-amazing and meta-defining... or a complete flop. For 2 mana, you shuffle a copy of your hand into your deck. If you shuffle your second Dead Man's Hand into your deck, you potentially chain into infinite cards to prevent fatigue and give those Jade Druids a huge bird flip. The concept of reusing cards like, say, getting extra Brawls, Shield Blocks and whatnot is pretty cool, and the anti-fatigue utility is definitely the card's strongest suit. Control Warrior hasn't really been the same since Elise Starseeker rotated into wild and Jade Druid took the spootlight as Hearthstone's premier fatigue-war deck, and this could actually work very well for a replacement for Elise. Again, though, it requires a fair bit more setup than Jade Idol's automatic self-recycling, and if Gang Up is anything to go by, sometimes you'll find it hard to spend 2 mana to basically do something that'll only give you value in the long long run. Not a bad card by any means, though, it just needs to find a proper home.
Spreading PlagueRemember
Frost Lich Jaina
Our second hero! Frost Lich Jaina's card has been leaked since like last week, but not her hero power. The hero power she gets? Basically the 2-mana deal 1 damage, but like Bane of Doom, if she kills a minion with the hero power, she's going to summon a Water Elemental. Frost Lich Jaina has one of the most awesome artworks in the set (though the Frost Lich Jaina art in both promotional key arts and the trailers are all pretty boss as well) and it's a shame that she doesn't look super-awesome. Though I might be proven wrong -- she's certainly a card that looks a little bit weird. She comes down at a whooping 9 mana, which is far, far more than Deathstalker Rexxar. And unlike Deathstalker Rexxar, Jaina doesn't actually clear the board. Sure, she gets 5 armour, but all she does is summon a free Water Elemental and swap hero powers. The combination of the new hero power and the fact that all her elementals will have lifesteal permanently throughout the game makes Frost Lich Jaina a pretty hard-to-kill hero, though. I'm not sure if she actually needs an Elemental deck to play though it's going to understandably be better. The Water Elementals Jaina can summon indefinitely doesn't activate your Blazecallers and Servants, sure, but those cards can still be played independently and they'll still have Lifesteal. It's a different type of unkillable mage, where instead of relying on Ice Blocks and Reno turns, Jaina's survivability is going to be based mostly on having her unstoppable army of Water Elementals freeze, trade and heal her up. The thing is whether Jaina's going to be able to actually use her hero power effectively, because your opponent is sure as hell not going to leave 1-health minion hanging around for you to kill. Which is where Sindragosa suddenly looks better, because Jaina's hero power will still trigger upon killing your own minions. Suddenly if Frost Lich Jaina's already activated, summoning Sindragosa ends up being a 10-turn play where you summon an 8/8 Sindragosa, kill one of the Frozen champions to summon a 3/6 Frost Elemental with Lifesteal, draw a free random legendary out of thin air, and have another Frozen Champion for next turn's hero power ping. Again, though, it looks like a long, control game and I'm not quite sure if the Frost Lich Jaina deck is going to emerge, but it certainly looks fun. We'll see.
Ice WalkerOh man, this card. The Ice Walker's got sub-par stats, a 2-mana 1/3, but he's an Elemental in Mage (and I just spent a paragraph talking about how Elemental Mage might be super awesome). 2 mana is easy enough to slot into turns before you drop your Servants of Kalimos or Blazecallers, and the Walker is a minion with a continuous effect -- Jaina's hero power now freezes the target! Historically in TGT cards that passively affect the hero power hasn't been played that much -- cards like Fallen Hero, Coldarra Drake and a majority of the Inspire minions don't see play outside of Arena, but the combination of the Elemental synergy and the fact that Ice Walker's going to help to slow down the enemy to reach that insane Frost Lich Jaina turn means that Ice Walker certainly has potential -- moreso than stuff like Doomed Apprentice. I'm not saying that this is the new Pyros or Arcanologist, but it certainly seems like a decent enough card to see constructed play.
Meat Wagon(Warcraft III references makes me happy!) Holy shit, a Mech! I thought those things were extinct. The last one we got was, what, that crappy burgle-bot from Gadgetzan? Meat Wagon's statted identically to fellow Warcraft III siege engine Demolisher, with 1/4 stats. It costs 4 mana, though, and as a deathrattle, it summons a minion with less attack than this minion. Which... which sounds horrible, to be honest. Sure, you can buff Meat Wagon up with Abusive Sergeant or Grimy Goons hand-buffs, but at the same time the unpredictability and generally weird and inconsistent setup means that I don't really see Meat Wagon being played at all. It's cute, though, and maybe there's a way to ensure that the Meat Wagon always summons like a 0-attack minion? Shaman's Mana Tide, Primalfin and Flametongue Totems are the only things I can think up of that fit this role, and Shamans kind of aren't hurting for options in their 30-card pool. The awesome rap that the reveal came with by J4ckie Chan suggests eggs, Validated Doomsayer and Lightspawn as possibilities, but again, not particularly amazing -- you'll probably want cards that's going to synergize well with the eggs or the Elementals in the first place and not the inconsistency of Meat Wagon. So unless some particularly awesome Mech deck in Wild can think up of something, poor Meat Wagon's just going to be a pretty sub-par, rarely-used epic. It's an interesting card that makes you really think of the amount of stuff you could do with it, though -- and if nothing else, you get to listen to a fun rap.
Necrotic Geist
The Necrotic Geist would be awesome if only it had better stats. The effect is similar to cards like Cult Master or Flesheating Ghoul, arguably better because the Geist puts a 2/2 token into the field immediately. Except its stats are absolutely pitiful at 5/3. Like the only real proper use I can see Necrotic Geist in is in a combo with Unleash the Hounds, but that's like a 9-mana combo for, what, a 5/3 and a board full of 2/2's? I'd rather play Call of the Wild, thank you very much. That said, though, the Necrotic Geist might, might see play in some token decks, but I highly doubt it. I do like his very undead-themed effect, though, and I kind of feel that if you're going to print filler cards, at least have them be like Necrotic Geist or Meat Wagon where they have relatively weird and unique effects and not just... y'know, bad cards like Ticking Abomination or Ice Breaker.
Cobalt Scalebane
Oooh ooooh ooooh new dragon! I've been playing a lot of Dragon Priest in Wild lately, and while Dragon Priest do already have an insanely powerful five-mana dragon, the addition of Cobalt Scalebane into the pool of cards that Netherspite Historian can discover is certainly welcome. The Cobalt Scalebane is like the old Master Swordsmith on steroids, where it gives a random friendly minion the very unsignificant +3 attack at the end of each turn. And the Scalebane has the pretty awesome statline of 5/5 for 5 mana, and he's a dragon, which means dragon synergy and Curator synergy. The Scalebane is just amazing, especially in Arena. Like, I'm not sure if constructed decks can actually make a spot for him, but he's certainly an interesting option to be slotted into board-centric decks or decks that feature the Curator in general. Definitely liking this card. Definitely will be trying to put him into all my Wild dragon decks, although honestly the biggest problem is that it competes with Azure Drake and Drakonid Operative for the 5-mana spot, and with that in consideration Scalebane might find it hard to find a home.
Gnomeferatu
Holy hell, what the fuck is this card! She has 2/3 vanilla stats, which is awesome enough, but she... removes a card from your opponent's deck? Seems like they realize that discarding your own cards is annoying and self-destructive half the time, so Warlocks now decide to discard their opponent's cards! It's obviously not as powerful as it initially seems, but the fact that Blizzard is printing cards that are disruptive to the opponent's hand or deck is actually pretty surprising considering their staunch stance on not doing such a thing. In any case, Gnomeferatu's effect is pretty tame, discarding a single card -- that's like milling them a card, and it's an effect that'll only happen twice throughout the game. It's also not an effect that's great against all decks, with it not mattering that much against aggro decks, but if you burn a Brawl? A Shadow Word? A Twisting Nether? An Elise? Fandral? Ragnaros? Lord Jaraxxus? Lyra? And we're not even talking about big deck-clinching cards like Alexstrasza, Ice Block, Gadgetzan Auctioneer, Archmage Antonidas, and stuff like that. Some decks can survive having a couple of their cards get burned, but combo decks? Moreso than Dirty Rat (which always felt more like a risky play) the Gnomeferatu seems like a properly awesome anti-combo card. She's not as game-breaking as many people think she is, because against non-combo decks her effect might as well as read 'put the topmost card onto the bottom of the deck', but against combo decks? It's going to have, like, a 1/20, or 4/20 chance of discarding a combo piece, otherwise she's just a River Crocolisk. That's not to say that she's bad, but Gnomeferatu isn't as ultra-OP or consistent as she initially seems to be. She's definitely okay, though.
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