Yeah, there have been... a fair amount of new cards revealed in a pretty rapid-fire speed. We've been generally skewing more towards a faster card-reveal season, which is great since wedo get to play with the cards a bit faster, but also a bit overwhelming to talk about sometimes. So I'm going to talk about the cards I feel are particularly interesting, and then talk about the rest of those I deem "filler" at the bottom with quick, one-sentence or two-sentence reviews. Would actually probably be a bigger introspective moment when I come back a couple of months later and realize which cards I dismissed and end up becoming the next Tar Creeper or whatever.
Keeper Stalladris: After a couple of expansions receiving mostly sub-par cards and basically kicked in the teeth, Druids finally are allowed to get a bunch more interesting cards. Stalladris is a card comparable to Fandral Staghelm from Old Gods, but instead of casting both Choose One options, Stalladris adds copies of both choices to your hand -- thereby being sorta-kinda similar to Twinspell, and acting more as a value generator as opposed to Fandral's extreme tempo. Some interesting combos with Stalladris, I think, would involve cards druid decks would play regardless, like Wrath, the new Crystal Power, or Jade Druid in wild. It's certainly better than Wardruid Loti, for sure. He'll probably see about as much play as Fandral did in his time.
Crystal Power: A 1-mana choose one spell that either deals 2 damage to a minion, or restores 5 health. Comparable to Living Roots, since the cost and one of the options is the same, but there's no option to just build a board, making it a far slower card. If not for the presence of Crystal Stag and Stalladris, I'd just brushed it off as "neat" and moved on... but there are definitely some obvious synergies among the new cards. While Crystal Power might very well just not see play at all, I've learned to never discount the amount of nonsense druids can get up to with Malygos and cheap spells.Crystal Stag: A 5-mana 4/4 beast with rush, but if you've restored 5 health in this entire game, you summon a copy of this. 5 mana to summon two 4/4 minions with Rush is clearly a powerful play, and the drawback of restoring health instead of gaining armour is certainly not one that's as trivial as it seems. Of course, with Crystal Power, you basically have it down... but I dunno. Is losing 5 health and subsequently restoring it easy enough for druids? We'll see. Clearly very powerful if we allow it to go off, but I do think that the ask -- especially for a druid deck -- might be a wee bit too impractical, since other than Crystal Power (which, again, need you to be damaged), the only real health-restoring card I can see Druid decks viably run is probably just Zilliax and Rotten Applebaum, but those come at turn 5, so the stag might be sitting in your hand for a while.
Marked Shot: 4-mana, deal 4 damage to a minion and discover a spell... spell hunter decks have taken a significant amount of hit with the nerf to Emerald Spellstone, and particularly with the massive rotation in standard... but in wild, I definitely could see Marked Shot basically being a more value-oriented version of Flanking Strike. Do feel like it's mostly interchangeable depending on your situation. Boring, but neat.Veressa Windrunner: The final Windrunner sister finally makes her Hearthstone debut and... she's... interesting? A 7-mana 5/6 is a massive tempo loss, even if she does come with a 2/3 weapon. The weapon grants +2 spell damage for the turn after you attack, which is definitely interesting in conjunction with Kill Command and Arcane Shot... but honestly, is it enough? My gut instinct says no, honestly, Very cool effect, but the tempo loss might be a wee bit too much. It's definitely an interesting card to think about, but not not that's going to define a deck or anything.
Mana Cyclone: An all-around good card! A 2-mana 2/2 that gives you a random Mage spell to your hand for each other spell you've cast the turn. Plus it's an elemental, for what it's worth in a post-Un'Goro standard. Considering Babbling Book was played for basically being half as cheap and generating one card, Mana Cyclone is definitely a fun, greedy little card that is definitely going to see play. Not really a whole ton to say here... it's sometimes a bigger Babbling book, sometimes a Cabalist Tome with a body, depending on the spells you cast.Ray of Frost: And Ray of Frost certainly helps Mana Cyclone! Possibly one of my favourite cards in the set, Ray of Frost is pretty simple. It's a weaker version of good old Ice Lance, but with Twinspell! And that basically means that Ray of Frost is two cheap spells bundled into one. Sometimes you just really need to freeze a big minion, sometimes you just want cheap spells to trigger your Mana Cyclones and Flamewakers, sometimes you just want cheap spells to set up extra damage... I like it. Definitely not particularly powerful, but it's definitely versatile and probably my favourite Twinspell card for sure.
Commander Rhyssa: 3-mana 4/3 paladin legendary card with the passive effect of having all your secrets trigger twice... which is mostly interesting for things like Noble Sacrifice, Redemption, the new Never Surrender, and both Avenge and Competitive Spirit in wild. I'm not 100% convinced she'll actually be that practical, considering she's essentially got a target on top of her head and particularly in Standard, the hall-of-faming of Divine Favor does limit aggro paladin decks. Neat effect, but I'm not convinced she'll be competitive-level.Nozari: Another 10-mana 4/12 dragon, Nozari has the simple battlecry of restoring both players to full health, something previously seen with Tree of Life... except, y'know, this one is attached to a big-ass dragon body. Works best in conjunction with High Priest Thekal, for sure, as well as various heal synergies, and maybe can be a Reno substitute for OTK decks? Mostly I see wild applications for Nozari considering the amount of Paladin tools moving to Wild. While probably mostly on the impractical side, I'm definitely interested to see if Nozari's going to find a home for herself.
Duel: A lot of the cards in this set seem to be a response to "there are no counterplay to combo decks", something that's actually a bit of a godsend for both Standard and Wild. Duel rips out a minion from each player's deck and have them fight, presumably damaging each other once in the process. For 5 mana, it can potentially either remove something from your opponent's deck, like a crucial card for their combo (their Togwaggles, their Mecha'thuns, their Kuns) or at least bring it into vulnerability. Pretty fun card, and definitely one that I can actually see being run by control paladins that are a bit greedy.
Catrina Muerte: Kinda like Kel'thuzad in a way, a 8-mana 6/8... but instead of needing to have your minions die at the turn Kel'thuzad is on the board, Catrina will just summon one at the end of each turn, making this somewhat similar to the "at the end of turn, summon a minion" play pattern of Y'Shaarj. It's... it's an interesting tech card for Big Priest, but I dunno... 8-mana 6/8 is hella expensive, and I'm not sure that Priest even has enough things to play with in Standard to make a proper Big Priest deck. Definitely interesting to experiment in Wild, especially with its pretty dominant Big Priest infestation. We'll see if she ends up being too slow or not, though.
Shadowy Figure: 2-mana 2/2 with a battlecry of transforming into a 2/2 copy of a friendly deathrattle minion... basically a less flexible version of Prince Taldaram, but without the restrictions that Taldaram has. Not sure how powerful this is, considering the fact that does need you to have whatever deathrattle minion you want already on the battlefield. And at this point, other than Quest Priest, I don't really see a whole ton of mileage out of this one. Neat design, I do think, if not especially powerful at the moment.
Sludge Slurper: 1-mana 2/1 Murloc that adds a lackey to your hand as a battlecry. Oh, and Overload 1. It's definitely the cheapest Lackey generator card for sure, and I really wonder if Lackeys are going to be worth it for Shaman since the only real Lackey interaction we've seen are in Rogue. I suppose both being a cheap minion and a battelcry means both the Slurper and the Lackey's going to be great with both Shudderwock and the Hagatha hero? It's also a Murloc, for what it's worth. And the dream of course is to go from Sludge Slurper to a turn 2 coined Likkim. Seems to have a lot of things going on for it despite its small size, probably able to set some disgusting tempo, and I actually see Sludge Slurper being the go-to one-drop for Shaman in the new expansion.
Walking Fountain: Sometimes, "kitchen sink" designs are simple and elegant. Walking Fountain is an 8-mana 4/8 elemental with Rush, Windfury and Lifesteal, essentially being a slightly less powerful Al'Akir (no taunt and divine shield, plus can't go face), but the ability to help heal your hero with its Lifesteal... albeit at the cost of probably taking some damage itself. In addition to Elemental synergy (again, for what it's worth in Standard), Walking Fountain also works great with Corpsetaker in Wild. Pretty great and simple card, I think, actually.Muckmorpher: Kinda cute, a minion version of Priest's Shadow Essence, only 5-mana 4/4 instead of a 6-mana 5/5. Also, in Shaman. I guess you can use it to cheat out things like, well, Malygos (always Malygos), Walking Fountain or Al'Akir for some powerful damage. It's admittedly hard to think of an actual Shaman deck that will use this, though -- Priest decks get away with doing it thanks to either being mainly spell-based Big Priest decks, or aiming towards a Maly/Velen combo. Still holding out for some new Shaman cards, but I personally think Muckmorpher's going to be a fun-to-experiment but ultimately fringe card.
Evil Genius: A 2-mana 2/2 that destroys a friendly minion, and add 2 random Lackeys to your hand. While in Standard I don't really see this card being particularly powerful with Cubes and Voidlords rotating out, it's still a pretty interesting card in... zoo decks? Egg decks? Egg decks will really only see play in wild, thogh. Maybe you can play him in a deck that runs Grim Rally? It's negative tempo on the turn it's played unless you're hitting a card with beneficial deathrattles, though. We all thought Ratcatcher was going to be good, but even in the glory days of cubelock it was cut out. Pretty interesting card, and I do love Lackeys, but I don't think it's that powerful.
Hench-Clan Hogsteed: A simple neutral that honestly does feel pretty powerful, like a 2-mana substitute of Argent Horserider from TGT. A 2/1 with rush that, upon death, summons a 1/1 is actually pretty great as a controlling 2-mana card. It's comparable to a Disciple of C'Thun that leaves behind a 1/1 body for 1 mana cheaper, I guess? It has beast and murloc synergie for what it's worth. I do think this'll see play. Do like the design.
Jepetto Joybuzz: Sorta like a weird version of Master Oakheart, an 8-mana 6/6 that draws two minions and sets their stats and cost to 1. Sort of comparable to the likes of Barnes or Master Oakheart, basically being cards that cheat out other cards in your deck, but instead of bringing them into the field, it's a cheap 1-mana cost in your hand. The quickest and most obvious way, of course, to have Jepetto cheat out Malygos and Velen, and then in your next turn, play both and double Mind Blast. Or simple Mecha'thun shenanigans. But that's such an impractical deck that relies on you not drawing your combo pieces and reaching to a spot that you can play Jepetto, and even withot the new anti-OTK decks like Hecklebot and Duel, that's impractical. I do like the design, though, and while I don't think it's going to be super-powerful, the chance of rolling high with silly combo decks probably means that Jepetto will find a home somewhere.
Hecklebot: a.k.a. the anti-combo card that Gotham needs right now. A 4-mana 3/8 mech with taunt, and a battlecry that's basically Deathlord's deathrattle effect. In standard, it's your answer towards combo and aggro decks, with it just stopping many aggro decks in its tracks, being a 4-mana 3/8 taunt. And with combo decks... yeah, it's going to rip out Mecha'thuns, Malygoses and Velens out to whack them in the head. In wild it's definitely going to be particularly nasty with Hecklebot and Dirty Rat being aroud and disrupting combo decks. They don't necessarily kill the 'solitaire' decks entirely, since even Mecha'thun warlocks and druids run other minions (and it's basically a never-play against Big Priests or Control Warriors), but it's definitely going to help curb OTK and combo decks. Love the design. It's even a mech, to warrior's delight!
Unseen Saboteur: But what of combos that rely on spells? Those nasty, nasty naturalize combos, or Antoidas/Sorcerer's Apprentice decks? Unseen Saboteur is a 6-mana 5/6 that just forces your opponent to cast a spell from their hand, losing their precious Vivid Nightmares and Molten Reflections and Bloodblooms... man, hitting wild Mecha'thun warlock's Cataclysm with this would be nothing short of amazing. It's not going to be an auto-include in every deck, but just like Eater of Secrets and Skulking Gheist in the past, both Unseen Saboteur and Hecklebot is definitely going to really control the rise of OTK decks. I do like both of them, since now we finally have a way for other non-Mage classes to deal with spell-centric combos. And just like Dirty Rat, those who blindly play this card can just screw themelves up by giving their opponent some stupid tempo.
Unleash the Beast: 6-mana Twinspell card that summons a 5/5 Wyvern with Rush. It's... m'eh, honestly. It's fair, but definitely no To My Side, and while it's definitely a fun value generator for Zul'jin, but ultimately more of a deck-filler for spell hunter decks while we wait for better cards to be printed.
Magic Trick: Mage 1-mana spell that discovers a cheap spell costing 3 or less. Pretty neat, nowhere as powerful as Glyph but more consistent. Great if you want cheap spells, or spells generated outside your deck. Could get you some pretty unexpected burst damage, I guess? Otherwise... eh.
Never Surrender: Paladin Secret, that buffs your minions' health by 2 if your opponent casts a spell. Always great to have secrets that trigger off of different things, and the effect is certainly considerable. Not convinced it'll see a whole ton of play, but it's a neat secret for sure.
Bronze Herald: Not convinced Dragon Paladin's going to be a thing. Wild's got a bunch of their cards, for sure, but an understatted 3-mana 3/2 that adds two 4/4's into your hand is... it's so slow. Maybe Standard's metagame will slow down that such a value card will see play, but this is honestly more of an arena card than anything.Dragonspeaker: 5-mana 3/5 that specifically handbuffs all dragons with +3/+3, which, of course, turns the Bronze Herald tokens into 4-mana 7/7's (oh meme), and there are certainly enough dragons particularly in wild to set up a dragon paladin deck... but the tempo loss of a 5-mana 3/5 is honestly pretty huge, something that handbuff cards have shown in the past. Won't be good unless there are more unfair dragon synergies.
Evil Conscripter: Priest 2-mana 2/2 minion with a deathrattle of giving you a Lackey. Simple Lackey generator, pretty solid all around, but not sure if a Priest Lackey deck's going to work out. Neat and good, though.
Mass Resurrection: 9-mana, resurrect 3 friendly minions that died this game. Sort of a replacement to Diamond Spellstone, being more expensive but guaranteed. Probably never going to substitute for Diamond Spellstone in Wild, maybe something you'll play around with in Standard.
Fel Lord Betrug: A more powerful version of Dollmaster Dorian, a 8-mana 5/7 demon that summons copies of minions you draw with Rush but dies this turn. It's... it's too small of a body, and doesn't really have anything to really draw in Standard with both Doomguard and Voidlord rotating out. Even then, there's really no way to guarantee you draw those minions. Sense Demons and Soularium seem too impractical with this. Cool effect, but won't see competitive play, I think.
Eager Underling: 4-mana 2/2 that buffs two random friendly minions with +2/+2 as a Deathrattle, making this comparable to a delayed, but cheaper, Fungalmancer. Yeah, probably a possible target for Evil Genius and Grim Rally, but honestly... zoo Warlock could do a lot better.
Batterhead: 8-mana 3/12 with rush, and the Giant Sand Worm effect. It can't go face, though, but can help clear out huge token boards... but shows up at 8 mana. Interesting card, but for small-minion removal I'm pretty sure Mossy Horror has it beat. Do like it, though!
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