Anyway, lots more cards.
More cards! Can I just say that the Val'kyr got some of the best artwork in the set? Hopefully these new Val'kyr would prove to be more useful and playable than their TGT predecessors. The Soulclaimer looks like a card that you can play with cards like Blood Razor and Animated Berserker, being a token-generator in vein of Grim Patron, albeit she can't go infinite. She's a 3-mana 1/4 that summons a 2/2 Ghoul every time she gets damaged, which... isn't terrible, but probably not good enough for constructed unless, again, we get more enrage effects. There's probably enough to properly make a deck in standard, though -- we have enough activators (Cruel Taskmaster, Whirlwind, Ravaging Ghoul, Blood Razor, Animated Berseker) and enough good enrage cards (Bloodhoof Brave, Val'kyr Soulclaimer, Frothing Berserker, Amani Berserker, Grommash Hellscream), it's just whether the cards are good enough on their own to be made into a deck. If she has more buddies to synergize with, the Val'kyr Soulclaimer has the potential to be good. Otherwise, she's going to be a pretty m'eh card. The biggest drawback to Val'kyr Soulclaimer right now is her shitty Silverback Patriarch statline. If she was 2 mana, or if she had like 5 health she would've been amazing. As it is, even if the card read "1/3 that summons a 2/2" for 3 mana, would you play it? And that's if you're assuming you have an Animated Berserker to trigger the first ping for free. I dunno. She seems m'eh. Stitched Tracker
Stitched Tracker tries to fix one of Hunter's problems -- which is its lack of draw. So he's a weird Frankenstein's monster thing going on, a 3-mana 2/2 that discovers a copy of a card in your deck. The discover effect is double-edged. On one hand, you don't actually thin your deck, and you can only pick minions. On the other hand, the Tracker means that you can replicate valuable minions like Savannah Highmane, or you can just play something that's suitable for your situation, as most discover effects tend to be. The thing about Stitched Tracker is that his statline is pretty bad, especially for a more agressive archetype like Hunters. Likewise, the Stitched Tracker faces the same problem that Bearshark faces in that it competes for the all-valuable three-mana spot that's so, so dang valuable in Hunters, fighting against Animal Companion, Rat Pack and Eaglehorn Bow. To top it off, the Tracker isn't a beast! I'm not sure whether Stitched Tracker or Bearshark will ever make it into ladder Hunter decks, but the presence of another card-draw ability for Hunter other than the crappy Buzzard is certainly welcome. Not the best card in the set, but a pretty decent filler card who might be teched in sometimes.
Sunborne Val'kyr
Sunborne Val'kyr is a minion that, at long last, cares for the positioning of the board. I don't really think that we've gotten many cards outside the Classic set that have effects that care about the position of the board, and Sunborne Val'kyr's pretty cool. She gives a permanent buff, so she isn't as transient as Flametongue Totem, but unfortunately this also does mean that the Sunborne Val'kyr requires wto minions already on the board to actually get maximum value, otherwise she's a 5-mana 5/4, which is pretty bad. Giving two +2 Health bonuses is definitely great, but the setup required might not be that easy, and in classes like Druid, Paladin or Shaman that can swarm the board quickly, I'm not sure if they want a +2 Health bonus as badly as more control-oriented classes like Priest or Warrior. If she gave +1/+1 it would be different, but as it is, she looks like a weaker version of Defender of Argus so despite the kickass-looking artwork she's probably not going to be super playable.
Archbishop Benedictus
I actually legitimately thought this card was an April Fool's Joke! So my reaction when I saw Benedictus was "OMG WHAT A CRAZY CARD" to "oh, an April Fool's Joke, you got me Blizzard!" to "OMG IT'S REAL?!" Now that I've calmed down somewhat, Benedictus is... well, he's a cool lore character, but the card itself isn't super-duper amazing as I initially thought. It definitely shits all over Dead Man's Hand, being a far, far superior anti-fatigue tool especially in a class that already has the inherent ability to heal itself. But 7-mana 4/6 is a steep, steep cost as far as the body is concerned. 4/6 is a familiar statline -- Reno Jackson -- but whereas Reno gives you a fuckton of tempo by healing you completely, Benedictus's effect is insanely long term and he costs a full mana more than Reno. He's going to require a deck that can properly support him to really shine. At a glance we can compare him to Malchezzar, who shuffles 5 random legendaries into your deck and ended up to be relative crap outside of arena... but Benedictus shuffles your opponent's deck. It's their deck at the time that Benedictus hits the field, mind you, so if it's a combo deck some combo pieces may be missing. But at the same time, shuffling your opponent's deck tends to mean that it's going to have synergy with the cards within the opponent's deck, and not just a random scattering of stuff that Malchezzar puts into your deck. Mind you, whether you're going to be able to use those cards is going to be a whole different story altogether. Adding 15-20 cards into your deck is going to dilute your deck significantly... but Benedictus can be treated as a more Elise kind of effect because unlike Malchezzar, you can control when Benedictus's effect hits the board. Especially against control decks, Benedictus is going to be insane. He's not going to do much against aggro or combo decks, or jade druids, though I could be proven wrong. Benedictus's effect is so insanely weird that he's definitely going to be a card that either sinks or swims -- either a Malchezzar or an Elise Starseeker. Either way, though, he looks to be insanely fun and I cannot wait to experiment with him, whether he's good or not.
Embrace DarknessEmbrace Darkness kind of feels bad, yeah? I mean, like, the old 6-mana standard was Sylvannas Windrunner, and she was kinda-sorta 'steal your opponent's minion later'. Embrace Darkness is a targetted spell, but happens like Corruption where it happens at the start of your next turn, allowing the enemy to trade the minion away or at least do a face trade. The only point where Embrace Darkness is great is when you don't have a board of your own for them to trade into, but chances are you're losing anyway. Embrace Darkness isn't a card like Entomb or Sylvannas, other 6-mana cards Priest liked in the past, where the former deals with a card immediately and the latter challenges the board. If nothing else, the biggest impact Embrace Darkness is going to cause is to fuck up Lyra chains because it's such a big fat expensive unplayable spell.
Phantom FreebooterAnd we thought we were free from pirates! The Phantom Freebooter works on the reverse of most recent weapon-buffing pirates, and rather receives buffs from the weapon itself. She's a not-inconsiderable 4-mana 3/3 that gains... your weapon's stats. Yeah. No Bloodsail Raider's "fixed-3-health" thing going on here. It looks pretty good! With a Fiery War Axe, Phantom Freebooter gets to become a 6/5 for 4 mana. Like, it's just stats, but Bloodsail Raider manages to be a huge pain in the ass with simple attack buffs. With Arcanite Reaper, she bethe comes a whooping 8/5 (or a 8/4 if you already swung once with the Reaper). And that's without counting the buffs you're pouring onto your weapons with Naga Corsairs, Upgrades and Bloodsail Cultists. The Freebooter's only fair saving grace is her relatively huge mana cost, which isn't something that aggro pirate decks like -- but honestly, the Freebooter may very well be their version of a late-game card. Even then, some people pointed out that this card would be amazing with Doomhammer and Jaraxxus's 3/8 weapon, turning her into a gigantic beatstick. The card honestly looks quite good in pirate decks, and I'm kinda hoping it doesn't work out that well? Looks good, though.
Mindbreaker
In TGT they printed a card called Saboteur, which was a 3-mana 4/3 that Loathebs your opponent's hero power. Mindbreaker is a far more favourable 3-mana 2/5 that... disables both hero powers. I'm not sure what deck he's going to hang out in. Traditionally cards that fuck up both sides of the board like Mana Wraith and Nerub'ar Web-lord (and the new Nerubian Unraveler, although you can play a deck without spells) tend to not be popular. But I guess they put in Mindbreaker into the set just to keep all those fancy Death Knight powers in check? I'm not quite sure if he'll actually see play, mind you -- 2/5 isn't the best statline out there. He shuts down hero powers hard, though, so maybe as a one-off to tech against late-game hero powers? I dunno -- he's kinda weird and to be honest I have no real idea how good Mindbreaker's going to be.Crypt Lord
Another Druid card, the Crypt Lord is a 3-mana 1/6 Taunt. Higher stats than Tar Creeper! Except there's no way to make it able to actually gain more attack, especially in Druid. The Crypt Lord's effect reads as it gaining +1 Health whenever you summon a minion, and while the expansion is pushing Druid towards a Taunt druid archetype, this doesn't seem like a card that you would ever want in that deck. You'd almost always rather run the Tar Creeper, right? Like, a 1/6 is a bit of an annoyance. In other classes like Priest or Shaman, Crypt Lord would've been a bit more powerful, but in Druid? Nah. It's kind of like Deathlord, except reducing the Deathlord's attack from 2 to 1 is probably not that good. The enemy might lose some one-health minions, sure, but I dunno. Again, you can buff it, but the question will always remain as to why don't you just play Tar Creeper as your 3-mana Taunt drop? The extra health might be annoying, but what makes Tar Creeper good is that it forces trades if your enemy has to trade into it. Crypt Lord doesn't. I don't think it's good, otherwise Mogu'shan Warden would've seen more play. Cool artwork, though.
Tomb Lurker
The Tomb Lurker is another five-mana neutral epic, and another geist in the expansion. The Tomb Lurker is a relatively weak five-mana 5/3. Tomb Lurker is a cheaper card than the identically-statted Necrotic Geist, so the downside isn't that bad, but on the other hand the Tomb Lurker's ability isn't continuous. He does give you a free card, but is it really worth it to add a random Deathrattle minion that died earlier to your hand? I don't honestly think that a 5/3 for 5 that draws a card, even a specific card, isn't all that good, even if you can reuse cards that died earlier. The deathrattle minion that you get isn't always to be the one that came from your deck, though I'm pretty sure your opponent won't be running crap like, say, Bomb Squad or Ticking Abomination just to counter Tomb Lurker. It does mean that you'll probably get some common deathrattle minions that you don't necessarily want like, say, a Mistress of Mixtures or some shit. I dunno. He feels pretty bad at the end of the day, and whether you're playing a N'Zoth-style deck or a quest priest or the like, I don't think that Tomb Lurker will ever make it into those lists.
Thrall, the Deathseer! Thrall's original class in Warcraft III was a Farseer, get it? Eh? Eh? Whatever the case, though, Thrall Deathseer costs 5 mana, a fair bit cheaper compared to Death Knight versions of Jaina or Rexxar, and as such adds a more piddly five armour. Thrall, Deathseer is very, very involved with the evolution mechanic, which isn't exactly what I would choose for a Death Knight Shaman, but I really enjoy the evolve mechanic so I just kind of love it. The battlecry does a gigantic double evolution, and Thrall's hero power allows you to evolve any minion for 2 mana. It does allow for a gigantic turn ten Doppelgangster - Thrall Deathseer combo play where you basically summon three seven-mana drops for ten mana, plus whatever value you get from evolving what you have on the board. The initial double evolution means that you actually don't have to be scared of turning your totems into Doomsayers, something that is irritating for the many, many times that I played with evolve shaman decks. Not that you'll be having totems for the rest of the game, mind you. Thrall Deathseer's ability doesn't look super amazing at first glance, but the fact that it's indefinite and not limited to four cards like how normal evolve shaman works... I dunno about you, but even if Thrall Deathseer doesn't get to be a meta-defining card he sure as hell looks fun!Also, RIP anyone who was expecting Freeze Shaman Death Knight. I may be proven wrong on that front, but pretty sure that the archetype's probably not going to live that well.
Righteous Defender
Righteous Defender is a tiny version of Annoy-o-tron, and she's... okay, I guess. If the set didn't come with Divine Shield synergies like the new Bolvar and the Light's Sorrow weapon, this card would've been kind of trash. I guess the biggest appeal that Righteous Defender has would be the fact that he's so freaking cheap, allowing for combos with Blood Knight or whatever. I dunno, though, because I don't think the new Bolvar or the weapon wouldn't be a great synergy. Another way to think about her is that she's a stronger Argent Squire, which is definitely fine for a class card -- the fact that Divine Shield Paladins are going to run both Argent Squire and Righteous Defender means that their early game's pretty much secure. She's okay for a common, I guess, but she won't break the game. Just kind of boring, is all.
Runeforge Haunter
The Runeforge Haunter is a new Rogue card, a 4-mana 5/3 that... causes your weapon to not lose durability. This is the type of card that's going to help make Rogue weapon synergies really viable, because so far a lot of the Rogue's weapon synergies are just kinda crap outside of arena. Weapons are just so hard to protect. If they don't run out of charges, the Ooze will destroy them, and so it's really hard for you to ask me to waste mana and card resources to buff a weapon -- especially when in rogues it doesn't necessarily help in ending the enemy quicker the way the Warriors' Upgrade cards work. Runeforge Haunter perhaps isn't going to be the card that makes weapon rogue work, and unless we get some more insane cards I don't think it'll work this expansion, but it's certainly a lot better-looking than something like Shadowblade or Leeching Poison. Keeping your weapon around indefinitely is pretty good. And at worst, the Haunter will keep your weapon from losing a durability for at least a turn -- the 5/3 statline's a bit too fragile, I'm afraid.
Corpse Raiser
So, for 5-mana, you get a 3/3 body and an Ancestral Spirit. Which is more or less fair, since Ancestral Spirit is valued at 2 mana. The Corpse Raiser is neutral, though, so other classes outside of Shaman can use this. Generally I kind of feel that it's a bit slow, although I don't think the card's super bad. The ability to recycle some of your best and most valuable minions -- your Tirions and Antonidases and Doomguards and Highmanes -- is always good. The thing is whether you're going to waste slots in your deck putting Corpse Raiser in instead of, say, a second Doomguard. Certainly not a bad card, in my opinion, and while probably won't be making huge constructed waves, I'd be surprised if some decks didn't at least try to tech this in as an extra greedy value play.
Corpse Widow
Oh, hey, a Ravager at least! The Corpse Widow has the effect of discounting your deathrattles by 2 mana, making her yet another great choice for a deathrattle hunter deck. The Widow is also a beast, which is great. The five slot in Hunter's always a bit awkward to fill in, and Widow might actually fill it in relatively well. Her 4/6 statline isn't horrible for a five-drop, especially a dfive-drop with discount. Discounting cards is always powerful, and discounting 2? This means that you could go into turn 5 with Corpse Widow, and then in turn 6 you play a 4-mana Savannah Highmane and either Hero Power or play a 2-cost card. That's pretty sick, and even if they remove Corpse Widow you'll still be able to play the Highmane as regular. Corpse Widow looks pretty decent, really. She would be amazing in Quest Priest (which is why I guessed they printed this effect for the Hunter class) but she feels pretty solid enough that I think she's going to see some play as well. Hunter's really weird in that they get lots of cards that are great on paper, but I'm not exactly sure how they'll fit into existing Hunter archetypes.
Devour Mind
Oh, hey, look, mega-Mind Vision! I guess it's okay? For 5 mana, you draw 3 cards and that tends to be good. You're definitely putting this into Randuin Priest decks and not, y'know, a less insane deck. Like, replicating stuff is great, and it's just another tool in Priest's arsenal that adds cards to your hand like Mind Vision, Crystalline Oracle, Curious Glimmerroot and Shifting Shade. Oh, and Archbishop Benedictus. Ultimately I'm not sure if this card will really play that much of a role in Randuin Wrynn lists, but stealing three cards is by the par for a decent 5-mana drop (RE: Nourish). And if your game plan does revolve around stealing cards from your opponent, then Devour Mind is a pretty decent mid-game spell. Definitely pretty great in arena, I think, because card draw and advantage is pretty great in arena.
Glacial Mysteries
Is this really the first Mage spell card we've gotten this expansion? I'm surprised at the sheer amount of minions that Mage is getting this time around. Well, Glacial Mysteries brings back flashbacks of the TGT era. "Who am I? None of your business." Glacial Mysteries does what Mysterious Challenger does for Paladin, but it doesn't seem to be that insane, actually. Sure, Mages have more expensive secrets, but Glacial Mysteries both comes in at turn 8, and doesn't come with a 6/6 body. Maeg secrets tend to be more or less passive anyway, with none of them actively disrupting the enemy turn other than Counterspell and maybe Vaporize. Plus, Mages have no trouble drawing into their most important secret, Ice Block, with Un'Goro's Arcanologist. I'm grossly underestimating this card, though, and it might very well turn to be as broken as Mysterious Challenger ever was. As a late-game to guarantee that Ice Block and Ice Barrier gets played for free is amazing. But to get this card after you've drawn all your secrets, or all-but-one of your secrets means that Glacial Mysteries ends up being a 8-mana spell that just whiffs, and that's just bad, right?Obsidian Statue
Hey, another Warcraft III unit! Soon we'll be moving to full WCIII unit completion and I'll be a very very happy Warcraft III fanboy. Obsidian Statue, in Warcraft III, is the 'sealed' version of the Obsidian Destroyer (who we saw being printed into a card in Warrior a couple of years ago). The Obsidian Destroyer back in Wacraft III was an insane thing that auto-heals your units' health and mana constantly, so it's appropriate that it's given to Priest. In Hearthstone the Obsidian Statue gets Taunt and Lifesteal, and a relatively respectable 4/8 statline for a 9-mana drop. 9-mana has been kind of a tenuous spot, because most cards there are combo pieces (Malygos, Alexstrasza) or just plain don't work. Ysera and Soggoth the Slitherer are the only two cards that I can feasibly see being played as a multi-purpose control card, but by and by Soggoth doesn't see much play due to being a simple beatstick, and Ysera doesn't fit in every deck. Obsidian Statue, though? I won't say that it fits in every Priest deck, but it certainly looks like it's a pretty great multi-purpose late game stalling card. It's a Deathrattle card so it comes back with N'Zoth and helps the Amara Quest. It's Taunt so it slows down things going to your face, and it has Lifesteal to get that extra healing Priest needs. Add to the gigantic, insane 'destroy a random enemy minion' deathrattle, and, god, even if this doesn't hit the most epic target, unlike Unwilling Sacrifice below, chances are the Statue has done a fair bit enough with its Taunt and Lifesteal keywords that the destruction is a bonus at worst and a game-winning RNG play at best.
Simulacrum
It's kind of like Duplicate or Sudden Genesis where you add a copy of a minion to your hand, but the Mages' new spell, Simulacrum, costs 3 mana and always copies the lowest-cost minion in your hand. So if Antonidas is the only minion in your hand, you get him. It helps to get more Sorcerer's Apprentices for your quest mage combo. But I can't help but feeling that this card, while potentially being insane in a deck crafted to maximize its use, will end up being dead most of the time, and dead cards in your hand isn't very effective. I mean, you're probably going to want to be copying the value minions like Antonidas, Alexstrasza, Sindragosa, or Arcane Giant right? It could be used to like gain copies of cheaper minions, sure, but other than Sorcerer's Apprentice I don't really see a great use for this. I dunno. Again, it's interesting enough and I may be very well be proven wrong.
Lilian Voss
Lilian's not going to be super-insane. A 4-mana 4/5 (a Yeti, basically) who switches the spells in your hand with other spells? That's not the kind of play you want in your normal Auctioneer Miracle Rogue deck, since Rogue spells are super-efficient and awesome. You want to put Lilian into a Burgle-style deck, as a backup plan in case your Shakus and Swashburglars get you unplayable spells like, oh, Explore Un'Goro or Glacial Mysteries or stuff like that. She helps to reshuffle your stuff, basically. And, well, you could have a hand full of both burgled and rogue spells, drop Lilian, then drop Ethereal Peddler for extra value, but I'm not sure if that's going to be good or just needlessly convoluted. Pretty cool to see Lilian, though -- I remembered playing through the Forsaken opening zones in World of Warcraft, and I remember Lilian Voss and her struggles with the Scarlet Crusade and her dickwad father from that. I'm not 100% sure what she has to do with the Frozen Throne/Icecrown area, but hey.
Unwilling Sacrifice
So, in Gadgetzan, Warlock got the Blastcrystal Potion, which sacrificed a mana crystal for a similar effect to this -- insant enemy minion destruction. That card saw some marginal play, I think, but proved pretty unpopular. Why have the chance of crippling yourself early in the game when you can pay two more mana and Siphon Soul? Well, the mana price, for one. Unwilling Sacrifice is a bit more interesting. It doesn't have the targetted ability that Blastcrystal or Siphon Soul have, which hurts it a fair bit, but it's a lot cheaper at 3 mana... as long as you sacrifice one of your minions. EDIT: Back when I first reviewed this card, I forgot Deadly Shot existed! Yeah, this card is basically similar to the Hunter's Deadly Shot, except that you have to destroy a friendly minion to do it. While there are cards in Warlock that seem to want to push the 'destroy a friendly minion to do a positive thing' like the Ravenous Pterrordax, Shadowflame or the Sanguine Reveler, Unwilling Sacrifice's status as a pretty much shittier Deadly Shot means that it's honestly probably not going to see much play. Yes, I'm comparing cross-class, but honestly at the same time I don't think even if Warlock's super-starved for removal they'll pick Unwilling Sacrifice over things like Siphon Soul or Doomsayer.
Brrrlock
Hahaha, the name! Well, we get our obligatory murloc, and it's a Shaman minion. It's... it's not a super-good minion. Sure, it's another freeze effect, but do you really want a 2-mana 2/2 to do that? If the Brrrloc saw play, I honestly think that it'll do so in Murloc Shaman decks -- be it the quest variant or the Anyfin variant in wild. Again, I'm super-unconvinced that with the tools available right now that Freeze Shaman will really emerge to be a powerful deck. It'll be interesting to try out, that's for sure, and Brrrloc is a cheap variant that still impacts the board, something that Frost Shock doesn't do... but honestly, Glacial Shard's never played solely for its Freeze effect -- it's played because it's a cheap minion that happens to be an elemental. So I dunno. I don't think Moorabi alone is going to be enough to gain value from Freeze, that's for sure, and we've made it clear that I have a pretty low opinion of Ice Breaker. In Murloc decks? It... might be a thing? Not sure, though.Treachery
Huh, you can give your Ticking Abomination to your opponent! All jokes aside, though, Treachery looks like it's a pretty bad card. For 3 mana, you give your opponent one of your friendly minions. Mostly because most of the bad-deathrattle minions like Zombie Chow or Deathlord have moved to wild. I suppose you can play Corrupted Healbot or Bomb Squad, cast Corruption on it and then and give that to your opponent, but that sounds insanely convoluted. I do love the pretty weird and unique effect that Treachery is promising us, though, and if nothing else it gets points for creativity. I'm not saying that Treachery is an unplayable card, but I do kind of want to see the rest of the expansion and the deathrattle cards in the set before I make my full judgment on Treachery.Valeera the Hollow
Rogue hero card! And what a strange card she is. Valeera the Hollow costs 9 whooping mana, gains 5 armour... and the hero gains Stealth until your next turn! So unless you have like a Ragnaros or Holy Nova effect or something that deals damage while ignoring targets, Valeera can essentially cheat death for a single turn, which is awesome. Her hero power, however, disappears and beccomes absoltuely passsive -- something I didn't expect because I thought Death Knight Valeera's going to get like a weapon-based hero power. Valeera the Hollow gets the first-ever playable passive hero power, however. At the start of your turn, she gets this no-mana card that'll transform into a copy of whatever card you first play that turn. Which, while initially sounding like a slower version of Duplicate or whatever... makes me realize that things like Shadowcaster copies, or Preparation, or Malygos, or honestly any kind of value card in your deck can be copied almost infinitely. Which is actually pretty fucking awesome. I honestly am a little baffled at the insanity of Death Knight Valeera's ability, and unlike the other three Death Knights we've already gotten before her, I genuinely have no idea what to think of her. She looks awesome, but difficult to use. We'll see. Definitely looks exciting.
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