Hearthstone: Rise of Shadows - A Card Review Retrospective

This one came a bit late, honestly, because I wasn't sure how I was going to approach this. Do I talk about the Standard meta, despite being woefully under-qualified? Do I talk about the Wild meta, knowing that it's not something a lot of people really care about? Throw in the card nerf and card buff that happened within the Rise of Shadows expansion runtime, and there's yet another thing to consider. And honestly, considering a vast majority of my Hearthstone game time throughout the past expansion has been solo adventure and arena, I wasn't really sure how to tackle this. Which was why it took me a while to go through this, and why this is going to be a much shorter one than before. So I guess I'm just going to briefly look at the cards and sort of talk about them very, very quickly.

By the time of this article's publishing, Saviors of Uldum, the following expansion, is in the "community members can play with the cards but we have to wait" period... but I'm going to talk about the cards as they functioned during the time of Rise of Shadows. Also, as usual, I'm going to be comparing it with my own ratings during the build-up to the release of the expansions, which was done here.

Druid: 

• 5: The Forest's Aid (up from 1), Acornbearer (up from 2)
• 4: Keeper Stalladris, Blessing of the Ancients (up from 1)
• 3: Dreamway Guardians
• 2: Crystal Stag, Crystal Power (down from 4), Lucentbark (down from 3), Lifeweaver (down from 3)
• 1: Crystalsong Portal

I definitely under-estimated Druid a whole ton this expansion, but that's mostly because I was playing from a Wild-meta standpoint, and thus I genuinely considered so much of these Token Druid cards to be underwhelming and sub-par. Turns out, though, that Token Druid ended up being one of the better decks to come out of Rise of Shadows in Standard, in no small part due to the sheer powerhouse of the two Twinspell spells, with The Forest's Aid being a great board-reload tool, while Blessing of the Ancients, despite being pretty damn expensive, also being a pretty useful buff to help build up the board you make. In Wild, the Token Druid decks aren't quite as impressive, and Blessing of the Ancients is still not utilized a lot (we have Mark of the Lotus), but Stalladris, Acornbearer and The Forest's Aid definitely are powerful enough to challenge some old-school Wild card. If we're rating strictly on the Wild meta, I'd still rank most of the token stuff at 3/5, but they see enough play on Standard that I'll rank them in the 4/5-5/5 range. A good expansion for Druid. 

Heal druid ended up being mostly kind of a sub-par deck, though. I was right about that. It's definitely non-existent in Wild, and I can't find news of heal druid lists being great in Standard either. 

Hunter:

• 5: N/A
• 4: Shimmerfly (up from 2), Ursatron (up from 3), Unleash the Beast (up from 2)
• 3: Marked Shot
• 2: Nine Lives (down from 3)
• 1: Oblivitron, Arcane Fletcher, Rapid Fire, Hunting Party, Vereesa Windrunner (down from 2)

A lot of the better Hunter cards this time around ended up being, again, due to the rotation more than anything. Shimmerfly is not too impressive in Wild, but in Standard, simply because there aren't a whole lot of good 1-mana beasts to choose from, it ends up rocketing up into being one of the best Hunter cards out there. And honestly? Even in Wild, Shimmerfly's basically edging out a lot of other 1-mana hunter cards as well. Ursatron was always on the cusp of playability in Wild Mech Hunter, and when SN1P-SN4P entered the meta, Ursatron ended up being a respectable card in both Wild and Standard mech hunter. Unleash the Beast was a card I severely underrated, and could arguably go up to 4, but it's definitely a very, very powerful spell particularly in Standard. 

I mostly feel like I was right in how bad some of the other Hunter cards are -- I called out Oblivitron, Arcane Fletcher, Rapid Fire and Hunting Party to be bad and they basically never saw play, even with the Standard Rotation. I didn't really think Nine Lives or Vereesa were going to be especially good, but they turned out to basically see little to no play. Oops! 

Mage:

• 5: Mana Cyclone (up from 4), Conjurer's Calling (up from 3), Khadgar (up from 3)
• 4: Magic Trick (up from 2), Ray of Frost (up from 2)
• 3: Kalecgos (down from 5)
• 2: Messenger Raven
• 1: Magic Dart Frog (down from 3), Power of Creation (down from 3), Kirin Tor Tricaster (down from 2)

Hoooly shit what a huge upset on Mage's part! I basically called out that Mage was going to be one of the better classes in this expansion, but for all the wrong reasons. All the cards I thought was going to be great turned out to be sub-par (sorry, Kalecgos!) and other than Mana Cyclone, turns out that every other card ended up being the powerhouse to fuel the Mana Cyclone Mage deck. I'm not sure of just how powerful the Cyclone Mage deck is in Standard (I know it's powerful, at least), but in Wild, with or without the Un'goro Quest, Cyclone Mage is definitely one of the most powerful decks out there. 

And honestly, a good chunk of it is due to the sheer power of Elemental Evocation + Mana Cyclone, which is just a massive reload for Mage hands. And whether it's Mountain or Arcane Giants that you're discounting, the combination of Khadgar and Conjurer's Calling to just fill the board with even more giants is just utterly insane. Ray of Frost and Magic Trick, two cheap spells I scoffed at initially, ended up giving Ice Lance and Primordial Glyph a run for their money as they end up really funneling into combo-ing with the Mana Cyclone deck. Khadgar in particular is insanely powerful with anything that summons minions, and with Conjurer's Calling, it's the backbone of one of the more powerful decks in Standard meta right now. 

Honestly, a pretty great set for Mage all around, devastating in Wild, Standard and Arena. I'm not quite sure why I overrated Magic Dart Frog all that much, by the way -- it's a far, far shittier Flamewaker. Even in Standard, the poor frog's not that powerful. 

Paladin:

• 5: N/A
• 4: Never Surrender (up from 3)
• 3: N/A
• 2: Mysterious Blade (down from 3), Commander Rhyssa (down from 3)
• 1: Desperate Measures, Lightforged Blessing, Call to Adventure, Duel (down from 3), Bronze Herald (down from 2), Dragoncaller (down from 2), Nozari (down from 2)

Well, Paladin did a massive flop, didn't it? I'm actually proud that I called out that not even the Secret Paladin package's going to be especially powerful in either Wild or Standard... it's just not enough! In Wild, Paladin's basically still running the same Baku/Genn decks because the power level of Odd and Even Paladin are just insanely powerful, but even in Standard, none of the new cards have honestly even managed to crack it. Dragon paladin? Handbuff paladin? Secret paladin? Nozari? Duel? None of the Paladin archetypes have even seen any real play in either Standard or Wild. Poor Paladin. 

Never Surrender is the only card that I consider decent, and even then it's only decent in Wild as part of Odd Paladin because it's a surprisingly useful tool to make your little dudes survive against spells. But it's certainly far from being the most powerful card in that deck. 

Priest:

• 5: N/A
• 4: Forbidden Words (down from 5), Catrina Muerte (up from 3)
• 3: Madame Lazul, Mass Resurrection, Convincing Infiltrator (down from 4)
• 2: Lazul's Scheme, EVIL Conscriptor
• 1: Unsleeping Soul, Hench-Clan Shadowquill (down from 2), Shadowy Figure (down from 2)

Yeah, Silence Priest didn't quite work out, huh? This is probably where my ratings would differ significantly from someone who plays mainly Standard, because I know that none of the four cards I highlighted up there are really powerful cards in Standard except for Forbidden Words, but we've got a couple different variations of Big Priest over running amuck in Wild, and all of those cards see some play in some degree. Forbidden Words is just very useful as a removal tool, Catrina Muerte (and Archmage Vargoth!) has basically kicked Kel'Thuzad and Ragnaros away from Big Priest lists,  Mass Rez is a neat enough tech card, and while Convincing Infiltrator isn't as omni-present as I thought it would be, it's still a pretty powerful and annoying card when it does show up. 

The rest of the cards... are all right, but silence priest just really didn't have much in terms of support. EVIL Conscriptor and Madame Lazul perhaps deserve special mention for being honestly very solid cards on their own, but really not having a deck to fit in.

Rogue:

• 5: Waggle Pick (up from 2), EVIL Miscreant (up from 2)
• 4: Heistbaron Togwaggle
• 3: Vendetta (up from 2), Hench-Clan Burglar (down from 4), Underbelly Fence (down from 4)
• 2: Togwaggle's Scheme (down from 4)
• 1: Unidentified Contract (down from 3), Tak Nozwhisker (down from 2), Daring Escape (down from 2)

Oh Rogue oh Rogue. It's a class that I was absolutely wrong about in this expansion. For whatever reason, I didn't really see the power inherent in both EVIL Miscreant, the Lackey package, and Togwaggle, and especially in Waggle Pick. EVIL Miscreant was so powerful of a tempo tool that it had to be nerfed shortly after it was released, and Waggle Pick caused Raiding Party and Preparation to take massive hits! Apparently tempo lackey rogue was so dominant over in Standard that it caused a huge set of nerfs that targeted Rogue, which is honestly pretty damn impressive. Heistbaron Togwaggle ended up being actually pretty powerful too, and the Lackey package in Rogue ended up being pretty damn spectacular. 

The Burgle Rogue archetype... didn't end up working out the way I envisioned it to be, but turns out that I over-rated some of the Burgle cards and underrated Vendetta for some reason. It's definitely not playable in Wild. Also, I was absolutely and utterly wrong that Togwaggle's Scheme was going to set up an annoying mill rogue archetype in Wild. Turns out it's just too slow and impractical. At least I was right on Tak and Daring Escape being pretty boo cards, though. 

Shaman:

• 5: Sludge Slurper, Underbelly Angler (up from 3)
• 4: N/A
• 3: Scargil, Walking Fountain (up from 2), Soul of the Murloc (up from 2)
• 2: Muckmorpher, Swampqueen Hagatha (down from 3)
• 1: Witch's Brew, Mutate, Hagatha's Scheme (down from 2)

Holy shit, Murloc Shaman! Murloc Shaman ended up making huge, huge waves in both Standard and Wild, with the simple addition of the massive tempo tool that is Sludge Slurper as well as the endless-resource-generating Underbelly Angler, two cards that basically made this entire deck just go go go. I did call out Sludge Slurper as being great, but I genuinely was a bit wishy-washy about Underbelly Angler. Turns out that these two cards are just what the archetype needed to be powerful, because after a brief bit of experimentation, Scargil and Soul of the Murloc ended up being taken out. 

Everything else is honestly pretty underwhelming for Shaman. Muckmorpher is nowhere as powerful as people want it to be (although Muckmorpher decks are hilarious), Swampqueen Hagatha falls into the same category as Madame Lazul in that it's a very solid legendary but one that just isn't powerful enough to justify inclusion... although I guess we can give Walking Fountain a bit of a Wild shout-out, because it was an all-purpose inclusion in some battlecry Shaman decks featuring Shudderwock and Corpsetaker early on in the Rise of Shadows meta, although it was quickly overshadowed by the power of the murlocs. 

Warlock:

• 5: N/A
• 4: EVIL Genius (up from 3)
• 3: Arch-Villain Rafaam (down from 4), Darkest Hour (up from 1), Plot Twist (up from 2)
• 2: N/A
• 1: Jumbo Imp (down from 3), Impferno (down from 3), Eager Underling (down from 2), Aranasi Broomother (down from 2), Fel Lord Betrug (down from 2), Rafaam's Scheme (down from 2)

Warlock's another one that got hit a lot and didn't get any real powerful cards. Arch-Villain Rafaam is hilarious and a solid card to play, and EVIL Genius gives zoo decks a lot of tempo (and is projected to perform well in Saviors of Uldum, too), but basically everything else related to weird imp shenanigans and weird plot twist draw nonsense ended up not panning out. Betrug? Broodmother? Jumbo Imp? None of them really saw any serious play. 

And even the Plot Twist/Darkest Hour deck that made waves in Wild ended up petering out after under a week, and I never even thought that deck was particularly that powerful. Everyone in Wild runs removal of some sort, so taking out the horde of imps that they're planning to Darkest Hour with is trivial, as is, honestly, holding on to your Brawls, Psychic Screams and Twisting Nethers once you know you're up against a Plot Twist deck. It's just that it took people by surprise, is all. I respect that they made these bad cards work enough to bump them up to a 3-star rating, but honestly, they're probably 2. 

Warrior:

• 5: Omega Devastator (up from 4)
• 4: Wrenchcalibur (up from 2), Clockwork Goblin (up from 2)
• 3: Blastmaster Boom (up from 2)
• 2: The Boom Reaver (down from 3)
• 1: Sweeping Strikes, Dr. Boom's Scheme, Improve Morale (down from 2), Dimensional Ripper (down from 2), Vicious Scraphound (down from 2)

Well I'll eat my hat, because Bomb Warrior... turns out to be pretty damn decent in Standard! Turns out that three cards -- Clockwork Goblin, Wrenchcalibur, Blastmaster Boom and the older Seaforium Bomber -- is enough to be the backbone of a genuinely solid bomb shuffle warrior deck! The fact is that in Standard, the Dr. Boom hero card makes Warrior a uniquely powerful card to stay in power as a control deck, and that means that warrior does have the resources it needs to stay to the late game and continually spam bombs and shuffle them into the enemy deck. With or without mechs in the deck, the Dr. Boom hero card means that Omega Devastator is one of the most devastating cards you can play once Dr. Boom and the 10-mana requirement is active, and the fact that it's a class mech card means that you can discover him out of Dr. Boom's hero power, which is amazing. 

Everything else... sort of peters out, but I honestly expected that to be the case for the pretty underwhelming Improve Morale or Sweeping Strikes or the hilariously bad Dr. Boom's Scheme. Overall, a pretty good series of cards for Warrior!

Neutral

• 5: Archmage Vargoth (up from 3), Archivist Elysiana (up from 3)
• 4: Toxfin (up from 3), EVIL Cable Rat (up from 2), Hench-Clan Hogsteed
• 3: Hench-Clan Hag, Unseen Saboteur, Hecklebot (down from 5), Barista Lynchen (down from 4), Magic Carpet (up from 1), Chef Nomi (up from 1)
• 2: Jepetto Joybuzz, Safeguard (down from 4), Potion Vendor (down from 3), Sunreaver Spy (down from 3), Flight Master (up from 1), Batterhead (up from 1)
• 1: Arcane Servant, Dalaran Librarian, Mana Reservoir, Spellbook Binder, Hench-Clan Sneak, Spellward Jeweler, Proud Defender, Traveling Healer, Soldier of Fortune, Violet Spellsword, Dalaran Crusader, Recurring Villain, Eccentric Scribe, Violet Warden, Exotic Mountseller, Tunnel Blaster, Underbelly Ooze, Heroic Innkeeper, Whirlwind Tempest, Burly Shovelfist, Big Bad Archmage, Faceless Rager (down from 3), Portal Keeper (down from 3), Portal Overfiend (down from 3), Mad Summoner (down from 3), Arcane Watcher (down from 2), Azerite Elemental (down from 2), Sunreaver Warmage (down from 2)

Hoo boy. I did call out a lot of the more unplayable cards in the 2-to-1 star range relatively well, but there are a whole lot of cards that I really, really ended up being completely wrong about. Let's just talk about all of the more interesting cards in this neutral set, shall we?

Archivist Elysiana: I had doubts that she'll be useful outside of a self-recharging Shudderwock battlecry deck, but turns out that she was so powerful that Elysiana warrior decks in tournaments began to run her as well as things like Brewmasters and Baleful Bankers just to get extra Elysianas, getting so out of control that she had to be nerfed. That's intense power. Not much to say here that you probably didn't already realize. 

Hench-Clan Hogsteed & Toxfin: Murloc decks are powerful, and thus, these two are powerful. The Hogsteed is a rushing card that helps control the early game while still leaving behind a murloc token, while Toxfin is basically a cheap card to trigger Underbelly Angler while also basically being a removal tool. I didn't think that they were going to be bad, but boy oh boy I really underestimated how powerful they could be. I've seen Hench-Clan Hag be utilized in some murloc decks, and they have seen play here and there in other tribal decks, but she's not that powerful to jump out of the 3-star rating. 

Archmage Vargoth: I see Vargoth's power mostly in Wild, where Vargoth is basically an auto-include in most druid and big priest decks, and also show up every now and then. As the free legendary given to everyone, I'm genuinely surprised at the sheer staying power of Vargoth, and how he's a powerful legendary that doesn't even really feel all that oppressive. Unless you're facing one of those Vargoth/Catrina Wild Big Priest decks. Then Vargoth is oppressive. 

EVIL Cable Rat: I scoffed at the idea of such an understatted lackey generator. Surely lackeys can't be that powerful? Turns out that, yes, yes, lackeys are that powerful. 

Hecklebot & Unseen Saboteur: Unseen Saboteur doesn't really see all that much play now, but the two of them combined did end up really putting a kibosh on a lot of combo decks. Particularly Mecha'thun ones. Unseen Saboteur doesn't see a lot of play but man is it a great card to have as an option to tech in. Hecklebot mostly sees play in Wild not as a 'fuck your combo' tool, but as a cheap minion to trick out with Druid's Oaken Summons or in mech decks. 

A bunch of other cards I was a bit wrong about... I overestimated Barista Lynchen a fair bit, but she does see a whole ton of miscellaneous play here and there. Magic Carpet was a card I didn't give the time of day... and while not the most powerful card out there, a lot of token decks make great use of the good old carpet, and it's genuinely surprising to see it work. Chef Nomi isn't a powerhouse like Elysiana by any stretch, but still actually, y'know, worked, which is surprising. Nomi decks tend to not function as well in Wild, but still, the fact that this meme-tastic legendary ended up being actually a powerful inclusion in a deck is pretty impressive. I overrated Safeguard way too much, because in both Standard and Wild there are a lot of better options that doesn't involve a 0/5 taunt body. I'm not sure why I had Potion Vendor so high up either. Special little mentions to Flight Master and Batterhead, who still suck (I rank them 2*), but Flight Master saw some play in Wild Odd Rogue and Batterhead's used here and there. Not particularly powerful inclusions for sure, but their consideration is certainly something I didn't expect. 

And... and that's about it for now for Rise of Shadows! A good chunk of why it's received so well in Standard is partially due to the rotation, but honestly, there are a lot of great, well-designed cards in this set. It's just so refreshing to play with some of these cards, the Lackey mechanic's great, and it's probably got my favourite single-player content of all time. Good stuff!