Rastakhan's Rumble Card Review #4 [Final Part!]

Yeah, this is actually probably the fastest and most rapid reveal season ever, with like five to ten cards per day! That was why the previous review segment ended up covering a pretty significant proportion of the cards. We only have a handful of class cards left, plus the whole bunch of not-quite-as-interesting neutrals at the end. As usual, with every 'final' card review/release deal, I'm going to do a five-point ranking prediction thing.

Without further ado, in order of the classes:

Pounce: Druid's final card is Pounce, which is a 0-mana spell that gives your hero +2 Attack this turn. In a vacuum, it isn't bad. It's just that Druid has so many more powerful cards under their belt, so many archetypes that are better, that I am genuinely unconvinced that this weird Gonk deck is going to work. If nothing else, all Gonk is seems to be just an elaborate and masochistic board clear that sometimes draws a bunch of cards. I tend to try to give cards a chance before they're out, but this weird hero-attack druid just seems pretty weak, isn't it?


Halazzi, the Lynx: The final Loa to be revealed is Hunter's Halazzi, which is a Beast-synergy card. Halazzi is a 5-mana 3/2 Beast that fills your hand with 1/1 Rushing beasts. And... and it's not bad, but compared to how exciting cards like Zul'jin, Master's Call and Revenge of the Wild have been, Halazzi just kind of feels... m'eh? Halazzi isn't unplayable, because 1/1 Rushing beasts in a beast synergy deck is still damn powerful, but the sheer tempo loss you'll get in playing a 5-mana 3/2 is going to hurt way, way more than just, say, playing a regular 5-mana Beast. I dunno. You could throw in some handbuff stuff or some shit, but I don't really see Halazzi working out all that well. Even in a Quest Hunter deck -- which would love a lot of 1-mana Rushers to control the board -- I'm not convinced that sacrificing the tempo is worth it.

Spirit of the Lynx: A 3-mana 0/3 Spirit that gives +1/+1 to any Beast you summon. Which... which isn't bad! It isn't great, because it's basically a shittier Addled Grizzly, and that worked on all minions. Still, it's the sort of neat card that would fit in well in a Beast synergy deck, although I personally don't think Spirit of the Lynx is cheap or powerful enough to really be a staple. It's a neat tech card in this hypothetical Beast Hunter deck, but I don't think it's super-powerful.

Headhunter's Hatchet: A neat weapon, for sure! A 2-mana 2/2 weapon that becomes a 2/3 if you control a Beast. It's kind of a solid weapon all around, honestly, and definitely a good card to put in a Beast deck. 2/2 weapons with a potential upside has tended to see play in most aggro or mid-range decks, so if Beast Hunter works, I can definitely see Headhunter's Hatchet be played -- perhaps instead of Eaglehorn Bow?

Flash of Light: A simple but very good Paladin card, I feel. I'm not 100% convinced that Heal Paladin is going to have enough tools to be a top-tier deck in Standard, but it definitely looks great. And Flash of Light is going to be one of the core cards in that deck if it works. Restoring 4 health for 2 mana, and drawing a card? It's two pretty powerful spells, with the health restoration having pretty powerful potential to synergize with many new cards in this expansion. It's not the most exciting card, but one that I think is going to be an integral part in making healadin work.

Bloodclaw: An interesting Paladin weapon, a 1-mana 2/2 weapon that deals 5 damage to the hero. Again, Paladins do kind of want to damage themselves to start gaining value with heals. I'm not 100% convinced that you'll put in all of the self-damage cards, but I do think that a 2/2 weapon is definitely fairly better than Crystallizer. Maybe you run both? It's perhaps a bit too masochistic for my liking, but weapons are definitely far better than just having a minion that damages you and nothing else.

Auchenai Phantasm: A 2-mana 3/2 Auchenai Soulpriest whose effect isn't continuous, but acts as a battlecry. I guess they realized how crappy Embrace the Shadows was, huh? Auchenai Phantasm is an interesting card -- she's not a badly-statted one, and the combo potential is definitely something that can potentially be powerful. Right now I don't really think that Priest has enough to make a proper Auchenai combo deck work, though.

Stolen Steel: A 2 mana Rogue card that discovers a card -- and it's a specific card, too, a weapon from another class. It's... it's interesting, I guess? Discover-a-card spells like Blazing Invocation and Journey Below have historically been 1-mana and not always played. Weapons are a far, far smaller pool of cards and one that is more likely to be good, though, especially with the large amount of legendary weapons available. Probably more likely to be played in a funny Tess Rogue deck, though.

Serrated Tooth: A 1-mana 1/3 weapon that gives your minions Rush as a Deathrattle? It's... it's interesting, I guess? I don't immediately see any obvious combos with this, but from a stat standpoint it's definitely a solid concept and solid bunch of stats. It's a 1/3 weapon that's only a durability lower than Light's Justice, and Rogue can theoretically destroy their weapon any time by hero powering, triggering the deathrattle. The big question is when Rogues want to give their minions Rush. Maybe it's the Sharkfin Fan huge pirate token board? Not 100% sure if it's going to see play, but an interesting effect.

Wartbringer: A 1-mana 2/1 that deals 2 damage as a battlecry if you played 2 spells this turn. It's... it's kinda shit, isn't it? 2 damage on a 2/1 body isn't going to matter much in the late game, and it's impractical to spend so much spells in the early game. While I am convinced that the spell synergy of Shaman's new cards are probably going to work in some fashion, I don't see Wartbringer as part of it.

Demonbolt: Assassinate for Zoo Warlock! It is 8 mana, and is discounted for each minion you control. Kind of an interesting card, probably a card that could replace the Siphon Soul that some Zoo Warlocks play. It's not going to be too hard for a Zoo deck to discount this to like 4 or 5, and at that point an Assassinate to get rid of the enemy's big threat is not a bad thing to have for Zoo decks.

Blood Troll Sapper: An... interesting card. A 7-mana 5/8 isn't the best set of stats, and she has the effect of dealing 2 damage to the enemy damage any time a friendly minion dies. Another one that seems like she could find a decent spot in a Zoo-centric list, but not one that I'm convinced Zoo needs. Warlock has a lot of better late-game cards that they can sneak in instead of Blood Troll Sapper, I think, although, again, I don't necessarily think this card is outright bad. Just kinda outclassed.

Devastate: A Warrior spell that costs 1 mana and deals 4 damage to a damaged minion. A shitty version of Execute, which costs 1 more! Basically an Execute alternate in Odd Warrior, and relatively useless anywhere else. I'm honestly not super convinced Odd Warrior even needs Devastate.

Dragon Roar: Another Warrior spell, adding 2 random dragons to your hand for 2 mana. Is it better than putting in another dragon? Sometimes, it kind of is. Dragons are a lot different than most 'random' effects in that they tended to be consistently high-end minions (only Faerie Dragon, Marsh Drake and Amalgam cost 3 or less), so you really do know what you're getting from playing this card. Plus, a significant amount of dragons also tend to have battlecries, which you tend to want. And looking briefly into Standard's dragon pool, the only ones that is outright bad is probably Ebon Dragonsmith and Carrion Drake, both of whom have pretty iffy stats. Not the BEST card ever, but one that's probably going to see a fair bit of usage in dragon warrior decks.

Ice Cream Peddler: Neutrals now, and I'm going to be fast here. 4-mana 3/5 that gives you 8 Armor if you control a Frozen minion. Other than Frozen Crusher from Un'Goro and Cryostasis in Shaman, there's no reliable way to control a Frozen minion -- and you're not going to run those two cards just to get 8 Armor from a 4-mana 3/5. Interesting effect, but never going to really see play.

Drakkari Trickster: A 3-mana 3/4! Premium stats, and interestingly, it gives each player a copy of a random card from each other's deck. The only real one among the neutrals on this page that seems borderline playable in constructed, because it's sort of a weird disruptive tool -- it's kind of like Griftah, but you have more of an idea of what you're going to get with Drakkari Trickster. Clogging up your opponent's hand with a potentially useless card is interesting, but at the same time... probably never going to see a lot of usage other than to be a weird counter against Mecha'thun or some shit.

Gurubashi Offering: A 1-mana 0/2 that dies at the start of the next turn and becomes 8 Armor. Too fragile and likely to be destroyed by your enemy. Even if it manages to pan out... it's not worth spending a slot in your deck just to run a 1-mana 0/2.

Arena Patron: Hey, what if Grim Patron is shit and horrendously impractical to activate? You get this. Seriously? Like, the only plausible usage is against a board full of totems or dudes, and even then there are way better cards to play.

Booty Bay Bookie: A 2-mana 3/3 that... gives your opponent a coin? Yeah, if you want to sabotage your chances of victory, especially against some classes. Easily the straight-up worst card in this expansion. I'd rather run a vanilla 3/2 or 2/3.

Serpent Ward: A 2-mana neutral Totem, which is kind of interesting. It's a 0/2 that at the end of your turn basically shoots the enemy hero in the face for 2 damage. Not the worst effect, but never a card you want to willingly put into your deck.

Shieldbreaker: A 2-mana 2/1 that Silences a Taunt minion as a battlecry. It's... it's probably not better than Ironbeak Owl or Spellbreaker, but it's kind of a decent effect, I guess. Most minions you silence tend to be Taunt minions anyway, and having a pretty cheap silence effect is not something I'm just going to discount out of hand. It's probably not going to see a lot of play, but I won't be surprised if some aggro decks or even decks get some mileage out of Shieldbreaker.

Mosh'Ogg Enforcer: An 8-mana 2/14 Taunt/Divine Shield, which... isn't horrible in arena, I guess? And a potential target for Inner Fire shenanigans? You'd basically almost always run Primordial Drake or Amani War Bear over this card, I think, for a generic late-game taunt. It's not necessarily bad. Just utterly outclassed.

Former Champ: Basically identical to Big-Time Racketeer, but with -1/-1 on the bigger body, and one mana less. Big-Time Racketeer basically only ever saw play in the arena, and that's how Former Champ will be.

Dragonmaw Scorcher: A smaller version of Primordial Drake, and probably going to be a card that most dragon decks will run. A 5-mana 3/6 that basically Whirlwinds the board is pretty great! I'm not sure if I'd run this over Cobalt Scalebane, but if your deck's purpose is to control the board and wipe out tokens instead of building up a board of your own -- something that I can see Dragon Warrior doing -- Dragonmaw Scorcher is honestly not a bad card to include in that deck.

Rumbletusk Shaker: A 4-mana 3/2 that dies, and then summons another 3/2. Decent in arena, and basically kind of a shittier Piloted Shredder in constructed. Won't see play.

Arena Treasure Chest: A 4-mana 0/4 that has the deathrattle of drawing 2 cards? There are a lot of better cards out there that can give you card draw without running a 4-mana 0-attack minion. It's not even a good body to buff -- run Mogu'shan Warden if you want high-health shenanigans.

Arena Fanatic: A 4-mana 2/3 that handbuffs your hand. She's neutral, so all classes can play her, but better handbuff cards don't see play, so I don't see a reason that Arena Fanatic sees play outside of Hir'eek decks. Which I still don't think will work.

Regeneratin' Thug: A 4-mana 3/5 that heals 2 health every turn. Interesting? Yes. Decent in arena? Likely. Playable in constructed? Not that likely.

Half-Time Scavenger: A 4-mana 3/5 Stealth that gives you 3 armor with Overkill. She's definitely better than Chillwind Yeti, and it's definitely an interesting combination of effects. Probably pretty great in Arena, but she's just simply not powerful enough to see play in constructed. After all, Coppertail Impostor sees no play.

Ornery Tortoise: A 3-mana 3/5 Beast that deals 5 damage to your hero, and this is... it's just a shit effect, yeah? Even in the more masochistic Warlock or Paladin decks, you don't want to just deal 5 damage without immediately restoring it (Crystalizer), getting a badass early-tempo weapon (Bloodclaw) or getting an overstatted minion (theoretically, like Pit Lord). Ornery Tortoise is none of those, and never going to see play.

Banana Buffoon: A 3-mana 2/2 that adds bananas to your hand. Similar to Razorpetal Lasher, I guess, but one mana more expensive and adds Banana spells instead of 1-damage spells. Ultimately I think he's a bit too weak to see play outside of arena, losing a pretty significant amount of tempo due to his stats.

Spellzerker: A 2-mana 2/3 that has Spell Damage +2 when enraged. She's definitely great in arena, and maybe a potential card to play in constructed? +2 Spell Damage isn't something to laugh at, but looking at Cosmic Anomaly and seeing how that doesn't really see play, I don't think Spellzerker would get a whole ton of traction. I think everyone'll play Bloodmage Thalnos instead.

Dozing Marksman: A 2-mana 0/4 that becomes a +4 Attack when enraged. Pretty interesting effect, but sometimes it is just a 2-mana card that, y'know, dies without your opponent doing much. Better than the Toothy Chest from K&C, but I don't see this card being particularly great in constructed.

Cheaty Anklebiter: A 2-mana 2/1 with Lifesteal, that deals 1 damage. So it's a 2/1 that deals 1 damage, and has the potential to heal up to 3 presuming it trades the next turn. Not the best card out there, but not horrible, I think.

Scarab Egg: A 2-mana 0/2 that summons three 1/1 Scarabs. Probably interesting for a deck similar to the old-school token egg druid, although I'm not 100% convinced it'll work.

Helpless Hatchling: A 1-mana 1/1 baby dragon... that is a beast, apparently? And reduces the cost of a beast in your hand by 1 as a Deathrattle? It's an interesting effect, but it's far worse compared to, say, Galvanizer due to the lack of any sort of huge combo cards involving beasts, and that it's a deathrattle effect instead of a battlecry.

Whew! That's... that's a lot of words. Now to go into my quick ratings!

Druid
I have absolutely no faith for the Gonk/Spirit of the Raptor/Pounce/Savage Striker package, because, as I mentioned above, all it amounts to if it works is giving your hero sort of a Windfury effect as long as he kills minions, and sometimes you get some extra card draw. I can maybe see Spirit of the Raptor be played without the rest of the package because it's cheap, but Druid doesn't really lack in card draw. I'm also unconvinced that Treespeaker is going to revitalize Treant decks -- Treespeaker itself is a decent card, but the Treant decks are just kind of weak.

Predatory Instincts is a decent, if overpriced, tutor card, that I really don't see a whole ton of hope for. Stampeding Roar is a very interesting card, especially when coupled with some of Druid's bigger beasts, although I'm not 100% sure that the deck will actually work. Will note that the insta-Rush given by Stampeding Roar is the only place I can see Ironhide Direhorn in. What else? Oh, Wardruid Loti is just a flat-out generically good card that can be teched in most druid decks. Mark of the Loa is just a flat-out bad card. Clearly, Druid is meant to be the 'loser' class of the set this time around. And that's okay, honestly.

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

Hunter
Hunter is... interesting. There are a whole lot of powerful cards -- the hero card Zul'jin being a particularly good one for a more spell-oriented deck, Springpaw possibly being the new quintessential 1-mana drop for Hunter, while both Revenge of the Wild and Master's Call being very exciting powerhouse cards for Hunter. None of them really obviously work in the same deck with all the cards jammed in, and none of them are really obvious slot-ins in any preexisting Hunter decks and I, for one, am definitely excited to start experimenting with them.

And even despite my pessimism with some of the Hunter Cards, they honestly still look like they would work relatively well. I didn't have the best things to say for Bloodscalp Strategist and Spirit of the Lynx, but those two in particular might honestly surprise me and be playable. Not a whole ton that jumps out as either super-game-breaking, but definitely none that are straight-up bad. Even Beast Within and Halazzi just look impractical more than unplayable.

• 5: Springpaw
• 4: Zul'jin, Master's Call, Revenge of the Wild
• 3: Bloodscalp Strategist, Spirit of the Lynx, Headhunter's Hatchet
• 2: Halazzi the Lynx, The Beast Within, Baited Arrow
• 1: N/A

Mage
Mage is an... interesting deck. I have been utterly negative about Elemental Mage throughout my review, and while I don't really have much hope in that particular archetype suddenly being top-tier because of the addition of these cards. Likewise, while the hero power synergy cards are interesting and Jan'alai is going to be pretty great in standard, I don't really think that they will be super powerful? I dunno. Mostly lukewarm about all of this. If Jan'alai works that deck seems to be a pretty great midrange/control deck, whereas I'm really not convinced that Elemental Mage will be particularly powerful with the addition of these three not-quite-as-impressive cards. I think I'll mostly rate a good chunk of the cards in this particular set 2.


Will note that I genuinely am not sure what to make of Hex Lord Malacrass -- he's one of those cards that seem to both be great and also impractical at the same time. Ditto for Splitting Image.

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

Paladin
Oh, man, Control/Heal Paladin really looks interesting, although I'm not sure if it'll work out in Standard. I'll definitely try the shit out of it in Wild, though -- Thekal and Molten Giants seem to be great buddies, and Paladin does have a fair amount of great cards in Wild that can help out the heal archetype, particularly Ragnaros Lightlord and Forbidden Healing. High Priest Thekal, Zandalari Templar and Flash of Light all look to be particularly powerful pieces of this puzzle, while Bloodclaw is... interesting? Not 100% convinced self-harm will work all that well.

Spirit of the Tiger, A New Challenger, Shirvallah and Immortal Prelate all raise very interesting questions for a more spell-heavy (and buff-heavy?) sort of Paladin, and it's another style of deck that I am pretty interested to try out. Particularly Spirit of the Tiger, which just seems pretty powerful coupled with buff spells.  Paladin did get a couple of pretty interesting cards this time around, and it might very well be the most interesting class of this expansion in my opinion.

• 5: N/A
• 4: Spirit of the Tiger, Flash of Light, High Priest Thekal
• 3: Shirvallah the Tiger, A New Challenger, Immortal Prelate, Zandalari Templar
• 2: Blodclaw
• 1: Time Out, Farraki Battleaxe

Priest
Priest seems... kind of wacky this time around! We've got a couple of very fun (even if I don't necessarily think they'll work super-well) archetypes, with both Bwonsamdi and Talanji building their own weird archetypes. Bwonsamdi and the Spirit dealing with wacky 1-mana minions, while Talanji being the big bomb finisher for a Thief Priest.... both sound fun! We also get a bunch of weird Spell Priest support cards (Grave Horror, Sand Drudge) which don't feel super powerful, in my opinion. Mass Hysteria is an interesting new removal for Priest that I do have high hopes for, Auchenai Phantasm is... interesting, if not going to be immediately obvious, whereas I'm unconvinced Surrender to Madness will work.

More than any other class in this set, Priest seems to just have cards that have the least obvious synergy with each other, I think. We'll see if any of these new archetypes actually end up working -- if nothing else, playing with Talanji and Bwonsamdi are going to be as fun as Tess, so...

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

Rogue
Rogues are really hammering it home with Pirates, huh? And I can really see a variation of the swarming, early/mid-game pirate deck that just fills up the board with cheap pirates, reloads with Raiding Party, make big Bloodsail Howlers and finishes off the enemy with Cannon Barrage. I just have trouble visualizing where Captain Hooktusk works in this early-game pirate deck. Hooktusk looks like it's powerful, for sure, but she just doesn't have a whole lot of big pirates to work with, particularly in standard. We'll see, though.

Gral and his Spirit look... interesting, but kind of standalone, I think? We do have a bunch of generic, weird utility cards like Stolen Steel, Serrated Tooth and Gurubashi Hypemon, all of which are decent but I'm not sure what deck they go into. And Walk the Plank is just sort of an obvious replacement for Vilespine Slayer in the future of Standard. I dunno. Rogue's kind of weird to me.

• 5: N/A
• 4: Cannon Barrage, Raiding Party, Walk the Plank
• 3: Gral the Shark, Spirit of the Shark, Captain Hooktusk, Serrated Tooth, Bloodsail Howler
• 2: Gurubashi Hypemon, Stolen Steel
• 1: N/A

Shaman
Shaman is another pretty interesting card! It has a distinctive spell theme, but, interestingly, just like control paladin, it's not a deck that's obvious from just looking at the cards. I'm not quite sure Spirit of the Frog or Big Bad Voodoo are that good anymore, and looks just a bit too unwieldy, but I'm definitely a huge fan of both Krag'wa and Zentimo. Throw in some really neat new spells that might genuinely work well, particularly with Krag'wa recycling them, and I'm quite excited just to dick around with Unstable Evolution and Krag'wa in the same deck.

Some other weird miscellaneous cards Shaman gets is Bog Slosher, which is a neat variation for Zola, overload-synergy card Likkim (which is actually pretty fun after I learned how it works -- it gets the bonus twice, on the turn you cast the spell and the turn you overload), and a bunch of spells that... that I'm just not 100% quite sure about, honestly. Pretty sure Wartbringer is bad, while Spirit of the Frog just seems kind of impractical. I'm mostly just excited for Krag'wa, though, and whether the other cards work out... we'll see.

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

Warlock
I'm not 100% convinced that the synergies for Warlock will really work out that well. Hir'eek and the hand-buff just seem like it is barely supported, I feel. Discard seems... kinda neat, but just like the Druid hero-power mechanic, I'm slightly confused what the eventual win condition is, unless the win condition is just to spam Jekliks and Doomguards until you overwhelm the enemy. Discard Warlock at least seems particularly interesting in Wild, though, where you have more Discard cards to dick around with. Shriek, though, is probably the stand-out card among the Discard cards where it is probably a card that you'll not be too sad to play in a non-Discard Warlock deck.

Void Contract is an interesting (if ultimately probably unusable) tech card, and I've warmed up significantly to Grim Rally -- it's definitely a good Zoolock card, particularly in Egg variants of the deck. Demonbolt also looks pretty neat for Zoolocks, and both Demonbolt and Grim Rally seem pretty neat cards that will see experimentation in Zoo decks, if nothing else. . Anyway, probably not the best expansion for Warlocks, but the wacky cards at least look weirdly fun to dick around with.

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

Warrior
OH BOY DRAGONS! I love dragons, and I'm pleasantly surprised that the dragon package ended up being explored and expanded upon in Rastakhan, and for Warrior to get it, too! I've been wanting for a different sort of Warrior deck, and the Dragon mechanic definitely looks interesting. Smolderthorn Lancer, Emberscale Drake and Warmaster Voone all look to be pretty decent cards.

I'm not super-convinced that the Rhino package will work, honestly. Akali is a decent card, and the Spirit of the Rhino is neat. And if there was a class where a Rush deck would work, it would definitely be in Warrior... but I'm not 100% sure if it'll work out. Akali just feels a bit too unwieldy for me, I think. The other miscellaneous cards... Overlord's Whip is a neat little alternative for Blood Razor, I think, and Sul'thraze is a fun enough value weapon, I feel. There's a bunch of pretty interesting things for Warrior to play around with, for sure! Pretty optimistic for the class.

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

Neutral

Out of the neutral cards... there are definitely a bunch of interesting cards. Oondasta is a pretty interesting combo neutral card that can work well in various different decks. I'm also excited for making weird deathrattle decks with Da Undatakah. Crowd Roaster, Firetree Witchdoctor and Dragonmaw Scorcher look like decent dragon options for that Dragon Warrior deck. Sharkfin Fan seems pretty dang powerful in Pirate decks. I can see Pirate Scalper being used, although that's probably going to be out of lack of choice instead of Ticket Scalper himself being good. While I'm unconvinced, Mojomaster Zihi will probably be an interesting counter against combo decks like Shudderwock and Mecha'thun. Hakkar's probably not going to be super-great, but I definitely look forward to a deck that uses him. There are some cards like Saronite Taskmaster, Masked Contender and Belligerent Gnome that I can actually see working out pretty well in some decks.

There are a lot of crappy neutrals (most of which are the ones covered on this page), but honestly at this point it's kind of par the course. A lot of them are obvious Arena cards as well, which is fine.

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

Movie Review: Dragon Ball Z - Bio-Broly

Dragon Ball Z: Bio-Broly

So I decided to watch this because we're getting that new Broly movie at the end of this year. Everyone's warned me about this movie and... Wow, yeah, this is pretty bad. The eleventh movie for Dragon Ball Z, and a direct sequel to Broly: Second Coming, this particular mess of a movie somehow manages to be worse. Well, I dunno... they're kind of on different planes of stupidity, really. Second Coming is just half-obnoxious and half-boring. This one is actually really dumb, and while the surprisingly decent amount of focus given to Android 18 and Mr Satan, the main plot ends up feeling dumber and so, so much less interesting. 

The opening of Bio-Broly is at least somewhat fun, with #18 trying to get that money back from Mr. Satan from that tournament at the beginning of the Buu Saga (so this takes place... during the Buu saga? Slightly after?), but is interrupted by Lord Jaguar, his old rival, who has built an army of mutant bio-warriors, which are just humanoids covered in goop, far, far less interesting than any of the many previous evil minion seen in DBZ movies. Because Satan is the champion of the world, Jaguar sends for Satan to fight the Biowarriors, but they get thrashed by 18, Goten and Trunks, who tagged along. 

And that's honestly the interactions of 18 trying to hustle money from Mr. Satan, and Satan's general pontificating, are the only real good parts of this movie. I guess Krillin gets to do a cool thing in swooping in and rescuing 18? And Goten and Trunks are less annoying than they were in Second Coming? 

The rest of the plot is dumb, though. Jaguar and his cronies are very flat characters, and the random jackass faux witch doctor from Second Coming shows up and provided Jaguar with a vial of Broly blood, leading to them cloning Broly. Who proceeds to break out of his test tube, get covered in goop and ends up looking like Swamp Thing waded through a septic tank. It's a very unimpressive villain, and most criminal of all -- it's a pretty horrid assassination of Broly. While I'm not the biggest fan of Broly, at least the character was kept somewhat consistent in Second Coming, as shoehorned as it is. This one? You could call the resulting Bio-Broly "Bob" and it wouldn't have changed a thing. Bio-Broly looks silly, and the main threat comes from the actual purple goop that dissolves a lot of Jaguar's minions (including fortuneteller man), while Bio-Broly once more fails to really do any damage to any of our main characters... and honestly fails to do anything but look dumb. It's the best example of a 'villain decay' in the most literal sense. Bio-Broly has nothing in common with the unstoppable legendary Saiyan juggernaut everyone is familiar with,  and the justification for his return and what they do with him are all pretty fucking dumb.

And then they beat him with sea-water, which is a plot point that comes out of nowhere and makes no real sense. Poor Broly. I'm not his biggest fan, but he deserved better than this. Overall, a horrifyingly messy and stupid film -- and since I've watched all of them -- definitely ranks lowest amongst the DBZ movies. Ugh. This entire movie is just so dumb.

DC's Legends of Tomorrow S04E05 Review: 怪獣王ゴジラ

DC's Legends of Tomorrow, Season 4, Episode 5: Tagumo Attacks!!!

We're back with semi-regular reviews of superhero shows, and here I am, playing catch-up! I'm not quite sure how regularly I'll be able to keep up, although I guess it's just as well that the winter break is coming. (I also have to figure out how to set up Netflix on my new laptop to watch Daredevil).

And it's always great to start off with an episode of DC's Legends of Tomorrow, for the simple fact that it's such an easy 45 minutes to sit through. It's just an utterly fun romp with minimal tension, and it's just... it's just fun to watch, y'know? Other shows require significantly more attention paid or are heavy with subplots and drama, and while those shows are great for that, sometimes you just kind of just want to sit back, relax and just watch some time-travelling hijinks.

"Tagumo Attacks", just like the previous horror-themed episode, isn't a particularly spectacular episode. In particular, I really do feel that it tries to do way too much, overstuffing some four different subplots into a single episode. And I get it, the CGI model for monster-of-the-week Tagumo isn't going to be cheap, but still, this episode jumps all over the place that I do feel that it ends up biting off a bit more than it should.

The main time-travel supernatural plot involves our heroes going to 1951 Tokyo, to find out that Japanese movie-maker Ishiro Honda (the director of the first Godzilla movie, as briefly alluded in his final scene) has caused the creation of the gigantic land-octopus kaiju called Tagumo when he came into contact with a tome of the Irish goddess Brigid, a book that makes whatever a creative mind thinks of real. And... and it's interesting, I suppose, to have our heroes fight a gigantic octopus monster, but at the same time I really do feel like they didn't do enough with it. We get a haunting speech from Ishiro Honda about giving a form to the horror and despair he felt after Hiroshima (reportedly the same sort of horror that inspired Godzilla's conception), but ultimately we really don't get much more beyond that.

It's Mick that ends up saving the day with a pretty obvious follow-up to the fact that he apparently writes sci-fi novels on a typewriter, and it turns a one-off joke from an earlier season into a fun little plot point where he has to deal with his embarrassment, and ends up writing the story of Garima, the three-boobed purple-skinned elf warrior that will kill Tagumo. And bang the brains out of Mick. It's... it's a simple storyline, but one that I think plays to the character's history well, giving the criminally under-utilized Dominic Purcell something to act around beyond general simmering anger.

The Charlie storyline, I'm afraid, is still not done well. Richardson-Sellers is a fantastic actress, but I still feel like Charlie feels really shoehorned into the story, and beyond a very blatant "you don't pay attention to the rights of the magical creatures!" speech (something that honestly feels silly considering that every demon they've faced this season has been hostile with the exception of Charlie herself) and conflict against Sara -- both of which get resolved without any real impetus when they team up against the octopus.

It's still enjoyable, because it's still a romp to 50's Japan where an octopus monster, film-making sets, a fun usage of Atom's shrinking tech and Mick's fanfic triple-boobed elf are involved, but it seems so... paper-thin, I guess.

And now let's tackle the three sub-plots that goes on! Four, if you consider Gary to be a separate sub-plot and not tied to the Nate/Ava one. Let's start with perhaps one of the more serious ones, which is the Nora/Ray/Constantine storyline. After Constantine wounds himself at the end of the previous episode, Ray goes around hunting for Nora, and after a wacky scene at a renaissance fair where Ray rips a phone in half (!!!), we get an, again, pretty brief scene between Nora and Ray talking about using magic for good and the like. Nora ends up helping Constantine do the life-energy infusion, Constantine turns out to be dying anyway (presumably from cancer, if it's inspired by the comics), and Nora ends up surrendering to the Time Bureau to 'face' her redemption and freedom. It's a simple, well-executed storyline with all three actors involved portraying their roles well, but it's also very bland, like it's the first draft and the bare bones of this subplot.

Meanwhile, Nate and Ava go off to deal with the Heywood's embarrassing family dinner in a subplot that ran for way longer than it should (and it already isn't the subplot that takes up the most time). Thank god it ties into the Gary one. There is some attempt at making Ava feel like a real human girl (tm) again because she never really experienced Thanksgiving, but that goes nowhere. Instead, Nate has to run to the Time Bureau to help Gary deal with a crisis.

And Gary's crisis is the fact that apparently three of the villains that the Time Bureau have captured off-screen and have no way to dispose -- Baba Yaga, a Chupacabra and a Kaupe -- have broken loose on the Bureau HQ. No real reason why they can't ask ARGUS to help out, it's not like these three seem to be anything beyond rampaging beasts, actually. Mona the delivery girl is caught up in it all, and, of course, in typical predictable fashion, ends up being the one to provide the solution by channeling her inner Newt Scamander and giving the three magical beasts the food they want.


Ava and Hank Heywood eventually catch up with Nate, Gary and Mona, and find out that they've dealt with the magical beasts. Nate and Hank bond over hating their obnoxious family and having to be called away for crises, Ava and Hank bond over military budgets, Gary and Mona just bond, and then we get the huge revelation that apparently Hank Heywood is still pretty damn sketchy, and is on the phone with some mysterious dude, noting about how the magical creatures can be controlled and that "Project Hades" is a-go.

That last bit, at least, is an interesting way to go with this season's big bad. I've always felt like last season's Mallus was pretty dang disappointing. Having a main villain that's perhaps a lot closer to home, has a personal relationship with one of our heroes, a fresh face to the CW universe, and someone with a different goal than generic destruction of the world is definitely fairly interesting. 

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure S03E11-12 Review: REDDO HOTTO CHILI PEPPAH

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable, Episodes 11-12: Red Hot Chili Pepper

Man, I just love how hammy everyone is when they say "Red Hot Chili Pepper" in katakana. Is it a bit racist? Probably is, but it's definitely pretty dang entertaining. Honestly I kind of want to get  an anime of Part VII just so I can hear everyone call out "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap".

Anyway, ever since Keicho Nijimura died, and the Bow and Arrow stolen by one of the Stand users he created, the unseen user of Red Hot Chili Pepper has been the driving main villain of this segment of the Part... although he hasn't really done much beyond reminding us that he exists every now and then. It's at this point when he finally decides to attack Josuke in the middle of playing his old-school Playstation, noting that he's biding time until he gains better control of Red Hot Chili Pepper. Chili Pepper's attempt to taunt Josuke ends up backfiring, though, because one Dorarararara barrage later, and it's sent to a retreat.

Josuke then gathers the other members of Team Morioh -- Okuyasu, Koichi and Josuke -- and we get some nice scenes of Okuyasu being utterly furious at the thought of coming up against the asshole who killed his brother. Jotaro also adds in a bit of a wrinkle -- they're going to bring in a Stand user that can help them detect the location of the Bow and Arrow, and that is the user of Hermit Purple... I'm not sure why Jotaro dragged out the revelation that Hermit Purple's user is actually Joseph Joestar, though. The audience certainly already knows, and it's a bit mean-spirited for him to do it to Josuke.

And then Red Hot Chili Pepper attacks, having hitched a ride on the battery within Okuyasu's motorcycle. And in a genuinely awesome usage of The Hand, Okuyasu just gets rid of the space in front of him to basically pull him forwards -- seems like he can control which way things are pulled towards, huh? The confrontation between Okuyasu and Red Hot Chili Pepper is genuinely pretty fun, once Okuyasu breaks the bike and makes use of his ability to move around at high speeds to get around the fact that he's far slower compared to Red Hot Chili Pepper.


But then, with Okuyasu holding Red Hot Chili Pepper at his mercy (they have to take him alive to interrogate him), it starts taunting Okuyasu and makes him doubt his victory, provoking Okuyasu to attack with The Hand to wipe out half of Red Hot Chili Pepper... but exposes electrical lines underground, which supercharges Red Hot Chili Pepper, who then drags Okuyasu into his doom into the power lines.

RIP Okuyasu, and Koichi is distraught... but Josuke just calmly knocks onto Okuyasu's arm with Crazy Diamond, which restores Okuyasu and 'pulls' him back. Yeah, just like The Hand, apparently Crazy Diamond can control which end the restored object reforms at, huh? Also very lucky that Okuyasu didn't die in the minute that Josuke and Jotaro are standing around and looking cool.

That's a bit unfortunate for poor Okuyasu, honestly, because while he did give a pretty good showing, he didn't quite manage to get his revenge against Chili Pepper.

The second episode deals with the fight on the harbour as Joseph's boat is approaching, and the team is split up -- Jotaro and Okuyasu goes off to the ferry to protect Joseph, while Koichi and Josuke are going to have to watch out for Red Hot Chili Pepper on the harbour -- they've established that Chili Pepper needs electrical appliances to actually move around, which means that he's likely to specifically use a remote-control plane to get to the boat. Not a speedboat, not anything else. Specifically a RC plane. Okay then.

We get brief bits of Josuke being conflicted about how he feels about old Joseph, his biological dad that's been missing all his life, but basically brushes it off as he's going to sort through it later, and he's not going to let an old man die.

And then Red Hot Chili Pepper's user shows up, and I genuinely forgot just how long Red Hot Chili Pepper lasted without showing the face of its user -- and Otoishi Akira is a metal guitarist followed around by his own glorious guitar solo soundtrack as he goes around saying OH YEAH and BABY and things like that because he's a goddamn rockstar, baby. We get a fun bit where he notes how he's going to beat them with only his pinkie finger... and then Josuke just calmly breaks said finger... but he ends up forcing that finger to bend back into shape and play a riff on his guitar which apparently strums out "I'm going to kill your mothers". And that's his entire goal -- just to spread his music and take over the world, somehow. Okay, Otoishi, you're... you're crazy.

The actual battle between Josuke and Otoishi isn't the most exciting, honestly, and feels a bit video game-y as Red Hot Chili Pepper just zips into drainage holes in the stage around Josuke, and just zips in and out and punches Josuke, while Koichi just... stands there and acts as a commentator. Dude, you have Echoes Act II! Do something with it! We get a fun bit as Josuke smashes the ground apart, and then uses Crazy Diamond to restore the concrete into asphalt to trap Chili Pepper as it attempts to come out of the hole... and then Otoishi gets serious and creates a gigantic electrical field and we get some genuinely fun Stand-on-Stand battles as Crazy Diamond and Red Hot Chili Pepper just zips around and punches each other with that electrical-distorted zmpppttttttt sound effect used for The World and The Hand.

Josuke ultimately traps Red Hot Chili Pepper inside a tire that he repairs, and when Chili Pepper punches out, the resulting outrush of air shoots Chili Pepper into the ocean, and it melts and breaks apart, leaving Otoishi seemingly catatonic.

Apparently Josuke and Koichi are utterly bad at making sure Otoishi's actually knocked out, though, because he isn't, and just disappears offscreen when Josuke and Koichi have their backs turned, and somehow gets abroad the Speedwagon ship? Eh. We get to see Joseph and he's kind of a shell of his former, boisterous self, being a quiet, borderline-senile old man who has a fun little conversation with Okuyasu. This ends up with Okuyasu having to choose between which of the two Speedwagon minions is the enemy when a half-broken Red Hot Chili Pepper shows up to kill Joseph... and just punches Otoishi in the face because, hey, when in doubt, punch both options! That's funny.

Also funny is Joseph mishearing Red Hot Chili Pepper as "Toppo Poppo Hato Poppoh?"

The meeting between Joseph and Josuke is pretty heartwarming as Josuke lends a hand to grab Joseph as he trips, and instead of repairing the walking stick, ends up allowing Joseph to hold his hand. Josuke might not quite like the situation that Joseph left his mother in, but he's not so much of an asshole to not give Joseph a chance. It's also nice to know that the next episode would actually have a bit more to develop these two's relationship.

And with Otoishi finally taken out, Jotaro notes that the next step is to find the Bow and hope no one else shows up to give them problem... and, of course, we cut away to the mysterious man holding a decapitated woman's hand. Yep, not ominous at all!

Overall, I kind of think that the back end of the Red Hot Chili Pepper fight ended up dragging on too long without too much of a variation on how Crazy Diamond beats things, but it's still a fun little two-parter that's honestly pretty dang kind to give Okuyasu a fair amount of screentime, even if not all of it is flattering. Otoishi himself is kind of a generic villain, but at least he's insanely hammy and pretty fun of a villain even if he doesn't really quite have much of a proper personality. 

One Piece 925 Review: Intermezzo

One Piece, Chapter 925: The Blank

Well, this chapter of One Piece is apparently the interlude of sorts to the first two acts of the Wano arc. Apparently Kabuki plays are divided into five acts, which... okay, sounds about right, I guess, if each act is going to be more or less the same amount of chapters as the first act. 925 here acts as a fun little interlude, though, before we cut away to the weird fox-masked lady dancer that marks the beginning and the end of each acts. Not sure if the dancer herself is going to be an important character (Lady Toki?) or if she's just fluff. 

A majority of this chapter surprisingly deals with a character I haven't really thought about for quite some time, though, which is former Shichibukai Gekko Moriah, who apparently mounts an attack on one of Blackbeard's bases. The first scene basically has Perona and Mihawk have a bit of an argument, with Perona eventually leaving Mihawk to go back to rejoin Moriah's crew... and Mihawk off-handedly notes that it might be best for Perona to leave at around that point, because "something interesting came up at the Reverie". Is it the abolishment of the Shichibukai, if it's something that's not going to be good for Mihawk and Perona? Interesting. I'm genuinely disappointed that apparently a chunk of the Reverie appears to have taken place off-screen, although, well, I'm sort of holding out hope that it's going to be explored eventually. 

Meanwhile, we cut over to Moriah himself, who is rampaging on the island called Beehive, one of Blackbeard's bases, and he's unleashing a zombie army in search for Absalom -- who's apparently missing while doing a recon mission into Beehive. 

And it's... it's interesting to see Moriah's reactions throughout this episode. He is genuinely delighted to apparently see Absalom stuck with a bunch of ladies and simply having forgotten to make contact, and seems genuinely remorseful for "doing a terrible thing to these people" under the assumption that Absalom would be under attack since Blackbeard's pirates are Ability Hunters. Of course, as it turns out... the Blackbeard Pirates have already apparently killed Absalom off-screen (!) and given his ability to Shiryu, who shows off said invisibility. We also get to see the ability of one of BLackbeard's other crew members, Catarina Devon, who apparently have the Dog Dog Fruit Model: Nine-Tailed Fox, allowing her to seemingly shapeshift. Or cast really convincing illusions, if we're not going to double up on similar powers with Mr. 2.

And then Blackbeard makes his first proper appearance post-timeskip, and he's grown significantly bigger and more stereotypically pirate-ier. He notes that the Revolutionaries have apparently clashed with Fujitora and Ryokugyu in the Reverie, and notes about the developments of Wano... and offers Moriah a chance to join him and enact revenge on Kaidou, who we know is one of Moriah's goals. I'm not sure if he's going to be happy joining up with someone who has (apparently) killed one of his new crew members, though... still, it's an interesting prospect. I do kinda wish Moriah would join, for the simple reason of having him die off-screen would be a bit of an odd choice. Unlike Absalom (who's memorable, but I'm not particularly sad that he died offscreen), Moriah's an actually somewhat interesting character with unique motivations, and having him join up with the Blackbeard Pirates would definitely be pretty interesting.

Regardless about all that, we return to Wano, and we get a brief montage of events that I'm actually quite happy was covered pretty quickly. I have no real emotional attachment to the character of Ashura Doji/Shutenmaru, and apparently we just get a quick montage of him fighting Inuarashi, and then condemning the Kozuki Clan for "abandoning the country for 20 years". He notes that he respects Oden Kozuki, and not the entire clan, so it's interesting, kinda? I still don't particularly find himself invested in these new characters, but at least we're building up their personalities while simultaneously not spending too much time with them. 

We then cut away to see Jack being sort of bullied in Onigashima by his two "big brothers", King the Wildfire and Queen the Plague, the other two members of the calamities. And... and apparently Kaidou's minions have a card theme going on? Hmm. It is interesting that King really seems to be wearing a uniform similar to those of the Impel Downs staff and is called a "torture-lover", while Queen apparently is tasked with "breaking the spirits" of a certain set of brats. And he (she?) apparently has Kid's metal arm in his hands? I dunno. 

Anyway, it's a pretty fun chapter -- always fun in One Piece when we get to break away and see the huge things in other parts of the world. I do kind of really want to see what's going on at the Reverie, or with Blackbeard and Moriah, and genuinely find a lot of these far, far more interesting than what's going on at Wano, but as a whole? As a whole the arc is still pretty dang fun. Overall, a chapter that's more of a hype-maker than anything, but eh, it's still neat. 

Overlord S03E03 Review: Enri's Big Adventure

Overlord, Season 3, Episode 3: Enri's Upheaval & Hectic Days

We continue with the Enri/Nfirea/Goblins arc, and it's a fun, light-hearted one which kind of actually makes me fear some sort of darker, downer ending.

Still, for the most part, up until the very end, this episode actually plays off pretty simply. We've got the information dump from Agu, who tells them of the Monument of Ruin, a place surrounded by undead that appeared in the great forest of Tob that caused the Giant and the Serpent to get riled up. Clearly, this is a reference to the fake Tomb of Nazarick that Aura is constructing, isn't it? We also get to see Lupusregina, one of the battle maids, as sort of a cheerful, energetic watchman over this village, popping up in between conversations to ask what's going on. I'm not the biggest fan of Lupusregina's dialogue (although that may be because of translation issues) but her voice actor's exaggerated mannerisms really sell the character's energy for sure. Enri and company make it clear that they don't want to trouble Lord Ainz Ooal Gown, so calling him for help is going to be their last resort... although Nfirea does give the purple potion he brewed last episode to Lupusregina.

We also have a bit role by Britta, which is a recurring character from season 1 I didn't expect to see return -- she's the lady that Momon gives a potion to in E-Rantel, as well as part of the adventuring team that Shalltear wiped out. Apparently she's retired from adventuring (a wise decision, really) and has ended up as one of the residents of the new and improved Carne Village.

We get a hilarious bit as everyone starts to sort of depend more and more on Enri -- the remnants of Agu's tribe, as well as a group of ogres, end up kowtowing to Enri, who is kinda forced to pretend to be this imposing leader of the goblins. "So scary, small boss!", to quote the ogre. And in one of the funniest moments in this series for me, we get Enri bemoaning why someone clearly unprepared with the burdens of leadership finds herself having to pretend to be an all-imposing ruler respected by everyone, cutting to Ainz on his desk going "mm?"

Enri then goes to E-Rantel to sell the herbs and post a request for help on the Adventurer's Guild, but she gets stopped in customs because she carries a super-powerful magical item -- the second goblin-summoning horn, which is apparently worth thousands of gold according to the random customs mage, whereas Ainz had treated it like a disposable fun trinket.

In a contrived coincidence, Momon/Ainz of all people show up and very nearly breaks his cover when he recognizes Enri (Momon isn't supposed to know Enri; Ainz is), and manages to pull strings to let her get into the city without the customs officers bothering her. That's nice! Also nice is the moment in the Adventurer's Guild, where the receptionist basically ignores Enri's poor-villager status, and after Enri takes a brief nap... the receptionist returns, beleaguered and panicked, asking for just the specifics of Enri's request. Poor receptionist lady!

We also get a fun bit when Narberal gets to interact with Enri, and while she initially acts dismissively against yet another "maggot", when Enri compares Narberal as being pretty "like Lupusregina", you can see Narberal suddenly warming up to her while keeping the same stern expression on her face.

Also a heartwarming moment? Enri showing up with new weapons for the goblins, who certainly don't expect this from her.

So it's no real surprise that when Enri returns home to Carne village, the older village chief basically asks her to take over the position of village chief officially, because of all the great things she's done recently, something that the entire village's population apparently supports. Her attempt to ask Big Sister Lupusregina for help ends with her shrugging it off with "eh, make your own decision, I only know 41 people who can't make mistakes." This leaves Enri to go off with Nfirea and the goblins to confirm that, yeah, she's going to take over.

A very fun, heartwarming and light-hearted story... up until the post-credits scene, where we see Lupusregina hovering over the village. Throughout the episode, Lupusregina is constantly portrayed as this supportive big sister style of a character that makes you think that, oh, maybe there are other people who can befriend humans. After all, Cocytus gained respect for the lizardmen, and Sebas made a lot of human friends...

But then Yuri shows up to talk to Lupusregina, and she says, without breaking her cheerful smile, how she is trembling with excitement at the thought of just what expressions the villagers will make if everything burns down and gets destroyed at this great turning point when a leader is born... apparently Lupusregina is an extreme sadist, and shares the rest of Nazarick's NPC's disdain for humanity. I'm curious to see just how badly this will end for poor Enri and her goblin buddies. 

Rastakhan's Rumble Card Review #3

Well, I didn't really have much of an opportunity to talk about these cards due to my laptop being in the repair shop and everything, so there's a significant amount of cards I have to talk about. Here's a significant portion of the older ones. Will be succinct with a lot of these, although at least I do find it neat that I'm able to talk about the cards with a wider perspective of the other cards in the set as they are released.

(Also: Yay, my laptop's back! Don't expect TV show reviews for a while, though)

Griftah: A lengendary 4-mana 4/5 that discovers two cards (apparently always neutral cards?) and you give one to your opponent at random. Kind of an interesting mechanic, but ultimately kind of pointless, isn't it? It's basically a more controlled version of Tanglefur Mystic from Witchwood (and you'll be forgiven for forgetting that card exists), in that you can guarantee a shit card for your opponent at the cost of getting one for yourself, or vice versa. I don't see this seeing any sort of constructed play.

Da Undertakah: Unlike Griftah, Da Undertakah is a far more interesting neutral card. An 8-mana 8/5 that gains the deathrattles of 3 friendly minions that died earlier? It's not the best card out there (Blizzard seems to be very wary at printing good neutral legendaries, it seems) but it does seem like a fun card to put in any Deathratle-themed deck. Maybe this is the sort of a finisher-value minion that a Deathrattle deck might want? There is a Necrium Blade rogue deck out there, as is Quest Priest. 8/5 is even a pretty good statline for a minion you do want to die. It's not the best legendary out there, but I actually can see an Undertakah deck working out well! Particularly great in Wild, I do think, with a lot more potent Deathrattle synergies there. Kind of excited for this one for sure.

Mojomaster Zihi: Yeah, let's get through all of the neutral legendaries. This last one is... interesting. He is a 6-mana 5/5 that sets each player's mana crystals back to 5, which is kind of a huge anti-combo tech card, basically forcing decks like, say, Mecha'thun or Shudderwock to have to build back up to turn 10, and in any given matchup against Druid you can basically annul their ramp. But at the same time, you yourself have to reach turn 6 to play this, and even then you get a pretty iffy 5/5 minion. It's sort of the same problem that a card like Gnomeferatu or Skulking Geist faces, I suppose -- pretty neat when you meet the exact archetype that this card is techning against, but against most other decks it's barely passable.

Arcanosaur: An interseting card. A 6-mana 3/3 Elemental that basically Hellfires the board if you played an elemental in the previous turn. Priest's Duskbreaker is basically the same thing, except with dragons... and Duskbreaker is 4-mana. And holding a dragon is far, far easier to do than to play a tribal card in the previous turn. Elemental Mage is admittedly one of the Elemental decks with the most support currently, but this isn't something that's going to make it suddenly insane, I think. Even if Elemental Mage suddenly becomes awesome in this meta, Arcanosaur isn't going to be part of it.

Elemental Evocation: A Mage spell that is essentially Preparation, but for Elementals. Significantly better than Arcanosaur for Mage decks, but I don't know... While I have faith that Elemental Evocation is a really powerful card, I don't really have faith for Elemental Mage as a whole in either Wild or Standard. I suppose the addition of helper cards can't hurt, but I don't see this particular package being super-relevant at the moment.

Scorch: Scorch is an interesting spell, again, another one that works alongside Elementals. 4 mana deal 4 damage, but if you played an elemental, the spell costs 1 instead. It's comparable to Wing Blast from Hunter, but at the same time Scorch can only target minions. My gut instinct is to say this card is actually not that good -- it's not really powerful enough to fit into the elemental mage deck list, I think, especially since that deck wants to keep non-elemental minion cards to a minimum (hence why Arcanosaur is an interesting card in that list).

Splitting Image: A new mage secret, and what a fun artwork this one has! It's... it's kind of an interesting card, though, sort of a combination of Snake Trap and Molten Reflection of sorts? Whenever your minion gets attacked, you summon a copy of it? I don't think it's ever going to be as ever-present as, say, Explosive Runes was. It's not a bad Secret, but it's not a hard secret to work around by using spell removal or simply running minions into another one of yours -- and besides, I'm not 100% sure what minion, exactly, Mage is so willing to copy. Ragnaros, I guess? Not bad, but not good, I think.

Grim Rally: An interesting card for Warlock. A 1-mana spell that gives all your minions +1/+1, but you have to destroy your own minion? It's like Mark of the Lotus, but both worse and better. Worse because, y'know, you have to destroy a friendly minion, and a wide-board zoo deck doesn't want to lose minions. But maybe you play a variant deck that plays, oh, Devilsaur Eggs or something that wants to be destroyed? Ultimately, though, while probably a pretty powerful card, Grim Rally is not likely to see play in Zoolock, I think, unless you're really trying to do something cute.

Seance: A 2-mana Priest spell that's basically support for Princes Talanji -- you add a copy of a minion to your hand. Could be one of your big bombs, could be one of your enemy's. It's definitely a card that you would want in this sort of 'steal' Priest, and Seance is essentially a more flexible Convert (remember Convert?). It's a neat support to a legendary card that seems fun to play, if not necessarily the most powerful card in the meta.

Wardruid Loti: Druid's legendary troll champion is... honestly a bit of a disappointment for me. She's a 3-mana card with a Choose One ability, and you choose one of four beasts -- 1/4 Spell Damage +1 (a sturdier Kobold Geomancer), 1/2 Poisonous and Stealth (essentially a Giant Wasp), a 1/6 Taunt (a slightly cheaper Mogu'shan) or a 4/2 Rush (one of the choices for Druid of the Scythe). None of these are particularly great to get for 3 mana except maybe the rusher and the poison-stealth, and while there's something to be said for the insane flexibility of Loti, I'm genuinely not sure if any of her forms are genuinely powerful enough. Maybe in some sort of a weird token druid list? I really don't see it, to be honest. She's a good card, but good cards don't really make it into high-tier constructed decks. Loti's a legendary that's sort of like Cenarius or Gruul or Toshley, cards that are great when you don't have a lot of options, but edged out by far better options eventually.

Spirit of the Raptor: An... interesting card. Spirit of the Raptor is a 1-mana Spirit that, after your hero attacks and kills a minion, gives you a card draw. We really haven't seen all of the druid cards, and while there are certainly some that synergize with "use your hero power to kill things", I do think that it doesn't really quite make a deck just yet, because I'm genuinely not sure what the finisher of this deck is -- you have all these cards that sort of gain value when you use your hero power to kill minions, but what's the big bomb?

Gonk, the Raptor: ...because it certainly isn't the loa, Gonk. Gonk is a 7-mana 4/9 beast with the passive effect of basically giving your hero the same effect as that one giant worm that Hunter had in Old Gods, which is allowing your hero to attack as long as it kills something. Sure, this means you can gain extra value with any card that increases your hero's attack (so long as you kill something), but... but that's basically only really ever useful against Token decks, and also if you have a lot of health/armour to spare when you're at turn 7 and can play Gonk. I dunno -- it's all an interesting package for sure, but I'm not sure if it's enough to make a deck. Gonk himself has a pretty poor statline, and even if you machinegun minions down with your hero (and that's assuming you use Gnash or Malfurion the Pestilent to buff up your hero's attack) it's still basically amounts to a board clear that really hurts your face. I do think that they purposefully gave druids a pretty underwhelming set of cards this expansion, just like how they kicked Warlock in the teeth for the past couple of expansions.

Stampeding Roar: Especially since some of the Druid cards don't really play with the Gonk package. Stampeding Roar joins Predatory Instincts in making a weird Beast-buff decks, and for 6 mana, Stampeding Roar instantly summons a random beast from your hand and adds Rush to it. It's... it's a decent effect, of course -- druids do have some powerful beasts that they would love to summon and buff for 6 mana. Tyrantus and Charged Devilsaurs are the obvious ones, as is Hadronox, but even cards like Witchwood Grizzly means that you bypass the health-penalty battlecry. And giving it Rush? That really should never be underestimated. I'm not 100% convinced that Beast Druid is suddenly going to be top-tier, but Stampeding Roar is probably going to be a good little tech tool for Hadronox Druids or something.

Mark of the Loa: Basically a buffed-up version of Mark of the Wild and Power of the Wild mixed together. you either get +2/+4 and Taunt for 4 mana, which is... honestly kind of bad -- you get +2 health more from Mark of the Wild for two entire mana. Or you summon two 3/2 Raptors, which is exactly double Power of the Wild, but without the benefit of buffing your whole board instead. Pretty sure this card won't see much play -- Druid's got way better buffs than this.

Treespeaker: An... interesting card. Treespeaker is the missing "end-game" card for the Treant package that was given to us during Boomsday Project, a 5-mana 4/4 that transforms all of your 2/2 Treant tokens into 5/5 tokens. It's a very fun and flavourful ability for sure, sort of like a Level Up, but I'm still unconvinced that the current Treant package is honestly powerful enough that even a card like Treespeaker isn't probably going to matter all that much. Again, druids are able to do a whole lot of powerful things without having to resort to a pretty iffy mechanic.

Farraki Battleaxe: A weird weapon for Paladin -- and the only paladin card on this page. 5-mana 3/3, with the effect of buffing a minion in your hand by +2/+2... but only if you Overkill. This is comparable to a Gadgetzan-era weapon for warrior, the Brass Knuckles, but Brass Knuckles's effect always procs. Sure, it's a 4-mana 2/3, and only buffs +1/+1, but Farraki Battleaxe honestly seems even more unwieldier -- it's basically an overpriced Fiery War Axe if you're against a more control-oriented deck. I dunno. It's not a horrible card, but one that probably is utterly outclassed by Val'anyr, Silver Sword and Vinecleaver.

Sightless Ranger: A Rushing 3/4 neutral minion with the Overkill effect of summoning two 1/1 Bats is neat enough... until you realize that she's 5 mana. And while you might be optimistic and say that the card is going to be a value-making token generator against token Shaman or Paladin decks, against most other matchups she's just going to be a shitty 5-mana 3/4 Rush... and you'd rather play actual, good Rush minions.

Captain Hooktusk: The Rogue legendary champion is a pirate! And she's... she's an interesting one all right. Hooktusk is an 8-mana 6/3 pirate that summons three Pirates from your deck, and grants them Rush. And is that impressive? I'm not really sure. A vast majority of pirates are low-cost minions, with the exception of the new Ticket Scalper (which is great with Rush), that crappy legendary from TGT and maybe Southsea Captain. It's certainly a great finisher, but it's also one with a pretty huge ask of having drawn none of the pirates you want by turn 8. As cool as it is to recruit out Ticket Scalper and get the Overkill effect, it's also pretty bad if you, y'know, draw Ticket Scalper. Captain Hooktusk is honestly a pretty great effect, even if it won't one-shot-kill your opponent it's going to control the board pretty well -- but she's going to need some bigger pirate buddies before she really shivers your timbers.

Bloodsail Howler: A new Rogue Pirate, and  Bloodsail Howler is... he's a decent card, a 2-mana 1/1 that gains +1/+1 for each other Pirate you control. Extremely vulnerable to silence, and probably not as stable as Bloodsail Corsair, but a bit of a greedier card. It's another one that plays to Pirate's old way of nice, cheap, early-game minions -- which probably would work in an old-school pirate deck somewhat well, but not on a Hooktusk deck where it's only ever going to be summoned in its un-buffed stage.

Bloodscalp Strategist: A 3-mana 2/4 minion that, if you have a weapon equipped, allows you to discover a spell. It's... it's kind of comparable to a conditional Stitched Tracker, I think. Stitched Tracker allows you to generate a copy of a card from your deck, though, which tends to be better than having a random spell... and Bloodscalp requires you to have a weapon equipped. Ultimately not the worst card generator out there, honestly, but not the best. I'm not even sure you run it with Zul'jin, even.

Master's Call: Now this is interesting! Master's Call is like a far weirder version of Tracking, a 3-mana spell that allows you to Discover a minion from your deck... and if all three of them are beasts, you draw all of them! Hunter has historically been a class that's pretty crappy with card draw, and a card that can potentially draw three cards in one go? And thin your deck, Tracking-s There are some questions due to the vague wording of the card, which is going to affect how good it is -- does it allow you to discover duplicates of the same minion (as with Dire Frenzied minions, for example)? What happens if you only have two minions in your deck? If you don't proc the "draw all three cards", do you draw the minion or is a copy generated by discover? Ultimately, a potentially very powerful card draw.


Zul'jin: Before you read any further, watch this. AmazingLP did that amazing Luna's Pocket Galaxy reveal last expansion, and I really, really love their work. Sure, that video goes give a pretty optimistic view of just how many huge minions you have in your deck, but Zul'jin is a pretty interesting hero! While Deathstalker Rexxar sacrifices the pressure-putting Hunter hero power in favour for one that endlessly creates value, Zul'jin just unleashes Spell hell for 10 mana, unleashing every single spell you've played this game. It's one that probably would require a fair bit more deckbuilding than Deathstalker Rexxar, but honestly there are a fair bit of powerful Hunter spells that will benefit you no matter the board state. Animal Companion, Master's Call, Unleash the Hounds, the Secrets, Emerald Spellstone, Revenge of the Wild,  Deadly Shot... I'm not convinced that Boomzooka is ever going to see play, but Zul'jin acting as a far more stable Yogg-Saron definitely feels like a card that might finally give Control Hunter its finisher. Interestingly, Zul'jin's hero power is basically like an upgraded version of the Mage hero power, dealing 2 damage anywhere, so you can still use it to push damage to face. A significant portion of Hero cards tended to focus more on the hero power as opposed to the battlecry (other than Gul'dan, every other hero card's battlecry seems to be a bonus tacked on), and Zul'jin is an interesting one where the upgraded hero power is the bonus, while the battlecry is the huge bomb you want. Very interesting card for sure. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go back and watch that reveal video.

The Beast Within: An interesting buff spell? 1-mana spell that buffs a minion by +1/+1, but forces the minion to attack a random enemy minion. Sometimes in the early stages of the game this doesn't matter when the enemies aren't that many, but do you really want to play a 1-mana spell that buffs a minion by +1/+1? See, the real interesting thing that this card does is allowing a minion to attack twice -- once granted by the card, and a second one being its natural attack, sort of giving it a restricted Windfury buff of sorts. Ultimately, though, I do think this will end up being a bit too impractical to use.

Crowd Roaster: A neutral minion this time around. A 7-mana 7/4 Dragon that, if you're holding a dragon, deals 7 damage to an enemy minion. It's comparable to Blazecaller, except, as I've noted above, 'holding a dragon' is way, way easier to accomplish than 'play an elemental the previous turn'. It's way more passive, so to speak, and far easier to accomplish. A 7/4 might be a less stable body than the Blazecaller's 6/6, but it does deal a huge amount of damage. I guess it's Blackwing Corruptor on steroids, except it, too, is a dragon. While not the best dragon card out there, it's definitely a fun card to consider for dragon decks.

Emberscale Drake: With War Master Voone, it seems that dragon warrior is an archetype they're pushing! Emberscale Drake is basically a cheaper version of Shieldmaiden -- a 5/5 that gives your hero 5 armor. Emberscale Drake is cheaper by 1 mana, but has the (again, relatively easy) ask of you holding a dragon. Not the best or most novel card out there, but one that's pretty solid for dragon packages, I think. I'm not 100% sure what sort of dragon warrior will be born from all the weird tools accessible to the, but I for one am excited to experiment.

Spirit of the Rhino: An... interesting Spirit card, honestly. It's a cheap, 1-mana Spirit with the same Stealth-for-1-turn deal, but its effect is arguably one of the more powerful ones -- your Rush minions are immune for the first turn that they're summoned, which is... pretty exciting! Obviously the most powerful cards with Rush are the likes of the new legendary, Akali, as well as some older ones like Darius Crowley. I'm curious if this actually stacks with Dr. Boom granting Rush to all mechs. It's a powerful card, as immunity for a card that wants to take damage for its first turn is going to be pretty powerful. Very neat card, I say.

Akali the Rhino: A card that made me go "what?" before seeing the Spirit, Akali is an 8-mana 5/5 Rushing minion with the Overkill of drawing another Rush minion and giving it +5/+5. The thing, though, is that for the turn that you play Akali, you are kind of spending 8 whole mana on summoning a 5/5 beast that kills a minion and draws a card. Is that good? Is that better than summoning, say, Darius Crowley, who is cheaper and grows on its own? Even if both cards are granted immune the turn that they pop into the game, I'm not quite sure if I'd rather have Darius or Akali. It's... it's interesting, really. Akali's value really depends on how many rush minions you have in your deck, and how many of them are good. Going head-on for a 5/5 removal, and then drawing a 6/8 Vicious Scalehide that immediately trades and heals you is a powerful swing turn, but on the flip-side if Akali just can't tutor any more Rush minion, then it's just an overpriced 5/5 Rusher. It's... it's a card that I'm genuinely curious about. My gut instinct says that it's bad, but it definitely has the potential to maybe be powerful.

Linecracker: A 7-mana 5/10 that doubles his attack any time he Overkills. Not a bad minion to get out of effects like evolution, Boomship or Free From Amber style spells, but not one that you'll put into your deck. He's way to slow, and comparable cards like Scaled Nightmare and Boogeymonster -- both of whom have easier activators -- never saw play.

Bog Slosher: A fucking weird one, here. Bog Slosher is a 3-mana 3/3 Elemental with the panda ability, returning a minion to your hand... and buffs it by +2/+2? It's... it's honestly kind of a weird card and while I'm not 100% sure what deck Bog Slosher is going to find itself in, it's a pretty interesting effect! The card itself is very, very solid, and I can totally see Bog Slosher fit into an elemental deck, or a battlecry-oriented deck. Most interestingly, it might work as an alternate Zola/Grumble requirement for the Shudderwock combo, although I'm not 100% sure what you take out to fit Slosher in. It's a neat, solid card. I'm just having a bit of a trouble thinking of what deck it's going to stick around in.

Totemic Smash: Not the most powerful spell out there. 1 mana deal 2 damage, with the Overkill effect of summoning a random basic totem. On the surface, it's basically a Holy Smite that sometimes gives you a benefit, because Overkilling with 2 damage isn't going to be available to you most of the time. It's mostly interesting due to its inclusion in Shaman spell pools, though, as it's another spell that can go face, and can be generated by cards like Hagatha or whatever. And maybe you play it in that weird Malygos Shaman list? Certainly you'd rather have Totemic Smash than Frost Shock, I'd wager.

Big Bad Voodoo: Another interesting card, a 2-mana spell that basically gives a friendly minion a Deathrattle that Evolves them. It's a neat, weird variation on Ancestral Spirit, and one that is both better and worse, due to the whole shebang with Evolve. It has the same "oooh, value!" interaction with Zentimo, but I don't really see Big Bad Voodoo working out all that well, honestly. Neither Evolve cards nor Ancestral Spirit see much play nowadays, and while Big Bad Voodoo seems to be a pretty fun card, I don't see it being meta-defining any time soon.

Spirit of the Frog: A 3-mana Spirit that's... quite interesting. You basically cycle through your deck, because any time you cast a spell, you draw a spell from your deck that costs 1 more. You can potentially just sling burn spells at your enemy's face or board, going from Lightning Bolt to Crackle to Lava Burst to Jade Lightning, of course, so long as you have mana to spend. And suddenly Haunting Visions doesn't look super-bad. It's meant to combo with Krag'wa, and... it's interesting -- you can quite literally cycle through a huge chunk of your deck's spells before you get to Krag'wa, and this genuinely opens up a whole ton of different deck-building questions. How do you survive to get to that huge turn before you play Spirit of the Frog followed by Krag'wa? Do you play Hagatha or Witch's Cauldron in that deck?

Krag'wa, the Frog: And the mighty Krag'wa is definitely an interesting loa. A 6-mana 4/6 that, as a battlecry, returns all spells you've played in the previous turn back to your hand. This can just straight-up double the burn spells in your deck! You don't have to play this alongside Spirit of the Frog to be good either (unlike Gonk or Bwonsamdi) -- the two just work particularly well in the same deck. I can definitely see Krag'wa being used independently just as a finisher in a more spell-oriented version of even Shaman, where you suddenly reload on cards like Jade Lightning, Lightning Bolt and (if you're a Wild player) Crackle. It's definitely a card that's going to take a fair bit of experimentation to make a proper deck that works well, but honestly I'm just pretty dang excited to experiment with this big fat frog.

Mass Hysteria: -insert Ghostbusters joke- Mass Hysteria is actually a pretty interesting card! It's really fun to see just the sheer amount of weird board clears that Priest has. Mass Hysteria is basically a Brawl, but played out in such a way that the minions actually fight, instead of "one minion wins the brawl". It's particularly powerful against boards filled with Giants or buffed-up Silver Hand Recruits, but in a lot of aspects it's not quite as good as, say, Psychic Scream. It's still a pretty fun and interesting board clear, though, and I can totally see this being teched into more control-oriented decks. Wild's Big Priest, in particular, is definitely going to want this card to clear turn-5 boards before they get around to summoning their own stuff.

Regenerate: Basically a smaller version of Flash Heal, Regenerate for Priests heals 3 health for 0 mana. I really don't think you do want to have this card around for its healing effect, but more for the fact that it triggers spells. The only real cards of note that need spell activators are probably just Lyra, Dragon Soul and Shadowreaper Anduin, though. It's neat to have this card in Priest's arsenal, but it's not going to really make waves on its own, I don't think.

Sand Drudge: A 3-mana 3/3 that summons a 1/1 Taunt token when you cast a spell? It's... it's probably not a bad card in Arena, but otherwise it's kind of never really going to see any serious play in any Priest decks. Unlike decks that play Violet Teacher, Priest has no way to reliably buff a wide board of low-health minions, so I don't think this card is ever going to see play.

Mosh'Ogg Announcter: A 5-mana 6/5 that... has a reversed version of the GvG Ogre effect. If it works the same way as Noggenfogger does (it still has to be a legal target) then it's still kinda m'eh, isn't it? I dunno. Misdirecting attack from a 6/5 minion doesn't really sound super-useful.

Snapjaw Shellfighter: Another 5-mana minion that misdirects attacks, but to itself. a 3/8 is notably pretty great stat spread for a defensive minion, and while Bolf Ramshield is kind of a shit card, a 3/8 minion that absorbs damage from adjacent minions can definitely be used to absorb damage, from, say, valuable minions like Flametongue Totem or something. Not likely to see a whole ton of play, though.


Overall, though, despite my skepticism about a fair amount of the cards... it's definitely shaping up to be a fun expansion! The Rastakhan's Rumble cards are clearly not very afraid of doing something different, and introducing a lot of wacky mechanics. I'm not sure if it's all going to work out by the end of this expansion, but I certainly am excited to play with the new cards.