Yeah, I guess this is how we're doing things now, I guess, where we dump literally the entire expansion over the course of like... not even a week. Like, maybe four days? Okay, sure.
This is possibly the single biggest change to Hearthstone, by the way, and I'm saying that as a primarily Wild player -- I imagine the actual rotation would truly shake the world for everyone playing Standard. Rotating multiple sets! Rotating a huge chunk of the Basic/Classic set! 36 cards being unnerfed, which I think I talked about before! Shamans with their hero power being changed!
Also, five hundred and forty-five cards are getting spell schools added. That is so god-damn cool and I love this fact.
Oh, and a little nice news to Wild players, Bluegill Warrior and Stonetusk Boar keep their Charge (everyone in Wild, brace yourselves for Quest Rogue), and they're replaced with two new cards with Rush for core; Emerald Skytalon and Redgill Razorjaw. That's cool, and Razorjaw uses one of my favourite arts from the TCG with the gaping-mouthed zombie murloc. I really like that art. Oh, also Nitroboost Potion got nerfed by 1 mana -- that card got me to Legend, so, yeah, I can see why it's going to be nerfed.
But hey, here's my little commentary on the actual cards for the new expansion, which... honestly, felt so much like a huge moment of 'oh yeah, there are new cards I guess' with all the huge talk about card un-nerfs and spell schools and everything. But we have new cards and I'm going to briefly talk about all of them. Again, huge disclaimer -- primarily a Wild player, so keep that in mind. We're going by order, class by class, so yeah.
Demon Hunters get a new little duo of cards called Sigils, which function like Secrets, but your enemy can see them. It's... it's sort of like Doomsayer, I guess? These are pretty cool mechanically, actually, and I do like that Demon Hunters are just so aggro that they don't even care about covering up their Secret equivalents. Sigil of Flame deals 3 damage AoE for 2 mana, and Sigil of Silence is Mass Dispel, minus draw, for 0 mana. And... and they're pretty neat, I guess. Part of me really wants to say that the opponent knowing what you're going to do is going to make them easily counterplay you, but those Dormant cards actually saw a bunch of play. And if nothing else, Sigil of Silence feels particularly dangerous in aggro lists for the simple "your entire board of taunts will get fucked next turn". And it's like... sure, it's a full board silence, but it's a full board silence that your enemy can see coming.
So Demon Hunter's huge theme this expansion is... Quillboars. Which... okay, sure, why the fuck not. These three guys are more or less working off of the same thing. Razorboar is a 2-mana 2/2 that summons a 3-mana-or-less Deathrattle minion when it dies. Razorfen Beastmaster is more or less the same thing, but it's got the numbers dialed up a bit. And it's like... okay, the 2 mana pig summons the 3 mana pig, but... it's more or less just a vanilla minion, y'know? And Death Speaker Blackthorn is a legendary that, as a battlecry, Recruits three Deathrattle minions that cost 5 or less.
Blackthorn is pretty neat, I guess, once I take a while to appreciate it, because Call to Arms effects are pretty powerful, but... I'm not sure what Deathrattle minions that cost 5 (and 4, and 3) or less that you want to tutor out. Darkspear Berserker from this expansion, just for the sheer stats? Eggs? Do Demon Hunters even care about eggs? Deathlord in wild? Sludge Belcher? Again, I'm kind of struggling to see the combo here, and in Demon Hunter of all classes. My gut feeling is that it won't work, mostly because the cards are pretty specific on where the other Deathrattle cards have to be, and I don't know. I don't really see this synergy being particularly better than Battlefiends or Soul Shards. I guess it's just a way to reload the board with minions all the time? I don't know, I don't really see this working out as well.
We get a bunch of Deathrattle synergy cards, too. Tuskpiercer has a cool artwork, it's like, Demon Hunter glaives made up of quillboar tusks, but its effect is a deathrattle and it tutors a deathrattle minion. Vengeful Spirit has a very cool artwork, and it's an Outcast card that tutors two deathrattle minions. Neither one are particularly decent unless some sort of weird Deathrattle DH deck materializes? Again, it's cool if it does, but this feels like we're getting a lot of Deathrattle-cheating-uot and Deathrattle-draw, and it's like I genuinely don't see the deck being formed out of these tools.
Then there are these cards that really don't fit into the Deathrattle synergy. Fury (Rank 1) is the ranked spell, which means it gets upgraded on turn 5 and 10. In Wild, Twin Slice is still a thing so I don't think you'll ever run this -- Demon Hunters are already struggling to be relevant in Wild, that I'm frankly surprised none of the rotating DH cards got un-nerfed. Vile Call is a neat, balanced card, sort of like a more expensive, demon-themed Dreamway Guardians. DH can do something with lifesteal demons, I guess -- it's actually a neat card, but nothing too exciting.
The legendary mercenary Kurtrus Ashfallen is sort of like a conditional version of Illidari Felblade, but he attacks two minions automatically as his battlecry? Sort of like a conditional quasi Rush-Windfury? He's neat but, again, I don't think he's powerful enough. Which is a shame... I actually kinda wished that DH got a bit of a boost -- which is not true for the class in Standard, but I kind of feel sorry for it in wild for sure.
Speaking of new archetypes, Druids are getting a fair amount of Taunt support. The legendary, Plaguemaw the Rotting, might be probably the weakest? I mean, sure, you get to reload your board with extra minions, but Taunt minions are valuable... because they have Taunt. And they tend to be high-health minions too, so I don't see this to be an easy 'reload the board' style like Kel'Thuzad or Whitemane. The other Taunt-synergy cards, though, I think are pretty neat. Mark of the Spikeshell is like original Mark of the Wild, but it also adds an extra copy to your hand. Nifty! And Razormane Battleguard is a pretty simple discount card... again, pretty good support cards in general, nothing too exciting for me to talk about beyond 'yep, it's pretty good!'
And Thorngrowth Sentries is basically Dreamway Guardians, only swapping lifesteal for taunt. And hey, that sure is a spell that gets played, so I'm actually kind of positive that these two spells will see at least some play in Standard. Wild has a huge selection of Taunt minions to muck around with (in addition to Hadronox and Spreading Plague), but we get a new and pretty good one, Thickhide Kodo. It's a Sen'jin but with an extra deathrattle that adds armour, which is defintiely very, very solid. The Druid of the Plains (which we covered when reacting to the new expansion) is also technically a new taunt minion, too, so that's another one you might toss into the pool.
The rest of the new cards... they're all right. Pride's Fury is interesting, because it's a lot more defensive -- 4 mana for a +1/+3 buff. And in Wild board-buffs for Druid tend to be on the offensive side. But if we're going in full-tilt with this taunt Druid theme? I still think Arbor Up is better, but I like that this exists.
Surprisingly a lot of the new legendaries aren't super-duper impressive? Guff Runetotem synergizes with Nature spells (just looking at Barrens and Core, there's a lot of them) and he just adds +2/+2 buffs to your guys when you cast a spell. I mean... okay, he's a more specific but much more powerful Violet Teacher, I guess, except he hands out buffs instead of summoning tokens. I don't see him being particularly good. Living Seed is a beast tutor that discounts its cost (and it goes from 1 to 2 to 3 discounted mana as it ranks up). Tutor effects are always good. I don't think other than Guardian Animals we have any particularly strong Beast synergy, but in Standard, with a more limited pool and some menagerie cards coming back in, I can see this being played.
Celestial Alignment is such a fucking weird card! It's like, reverse Nozari or some shit, where all players return back to zero and all the cards in everyone's hands and decks return back to 1. The idea, of course, is that druids can ramp faster than the opponent and when all their Nourishes and Overgrowths cost 1, you can ramp yourself into a stupid combo. And make no mistake, this card will be the genesis of some stupid combo, and I'm all for it. Most people are thinking of something with Twig of the World Tree in Wild and... I can actually see that working out. I've never used Twig since K&C, it would be hilarious. It's actually a lot more scary and feels a lot more interesting than either Guff or Plaguemaw, honestly, and probably one of the most intriguing cards in this set for me personally.
Barak Kodobane is very interesting. It's a pretty simple card, a 5-mana 3/5 that tutors three cards of specific costs... but while Hunter isn't a class that tends to make a lot of combos, I also do think that the simple power of draw -- especially targeted draw -- cannot be underestimated. Barak here isn't a card that I think will really be the backbone of a deck, but it's definitely going to help the consistency of a lot of Hunter decks out there.
Between Warsong Wrangler and Prospector's Caravan, plus the already-revealed Sunscale Raptor, there's a bit of a hand-buff/beast-buff theme going on. The Caravan is pretty simple -- it's cheap and it's continuous, which is pretty good! It's also kind of slow, since it needs to survive for one turn to activate. Not the best card, honestly, and as a whole I think the Caravan cycle of cards are just short of being good enough. Warsong Wrangler, though? It not only discovers a beast in your deck, which adds a copy to your hand, but buffs all beasts with the same name with +2/+1. Whether it's Xizor or Sunscale Raptor or something else, the combination of this minion and Dire Frenzy might actually just make a deck. That's kind of cool, actually.
Tavish Stormpike is... interesting. He's a 3-mana card that, after a friendly beast attacks, will recruit a Beast from your deck that costs 1 mana less. Again, a nice way to cheat out cards from your deck, especially since the spells below all seem to be summoning rush cards. Granted, all but Tame Beast summon 1-mana tokens, but it's an interesting little mechanic. In Wild we have Tundra Rhino, so theoretically we could have a 5-mana Charge going down to 4, 3, 2 and 1-mana beasts... which is a bit of a niche combo in Wild. Again, trying to hit Xizor seems to be a pretty good thing, and that one spell that summons 5/5 rushing Wyverns might also work well with this one.
The remaining five cards... they all seem to be pretty... I don't want to say 'boring' or 'uncreative', but they just feel like very solid utility cards. Piercing Shot is just another pretty fun spell. 6 damage for 4 mana, but it 'tramples'? That's pretty good, again, comparable somewhat to Flanking Strike if you care more for pure damage. Pack Kodo is a 3/3 beast that discovers either a beast, secret or weapon. Neat flexibility, not sure if it's a bit too wide.
And these three cards are just sort of there. Kolkar Pack Runner is a 2-mana 2/3 that summons a 1/1 rushing hyena when you cast a spell. Neat, but probably won't see too much play. Wound Prey is like On the Hunt, but strictly better since the hyena rushes. A neat card, not much to say. Tame Beast (Rank 1) summons a 2/2 Rush and it gets bigger and bigger to a 4/4 and 6/6, and... and this one is a pretty solid one mostly because it's pretty cheap. Obviously the 10-mana option is the most economical -- probably not strong enough in Wild, but I do like the flexibility.
One of the more exciting things, I think, is the Mage stuff. A lot of hero power interaction, which is nice and kind of new -- Fallen Hero and Coldarra are being introduced back to Standard, and in Wild we've got... Jan'alai, Baku, Genn... lots of interesting interactions with hero power. But none as interesting as Wildfire, a 2-mana cost that just straight-up increases Mage's hero power by 1 for the rest of the game. Just straight-up a Raza style buff that the enemy can't take away from you. That is awesome. Probably not broken unless you actually cook up a lot of synergy, and honestly? This could easily be the one that pushes hero power synergies over the top.
Speaking of hero power interaction, Reckless Apprentice is a solidly-statted minion that just nukes the enemy side of the board with your hero power (which, as it turns out, can very easily be 2 or 3 damage), and a pretty interestingly powerful Jan'alai style pay-off is Mordresh Fire Eye, a 10-mana 10/10 who nukes the board for 10 if you've dealt 10 damage with your hero power this turn. Which is where Reckless Apprentice's "fire your hero power' thing ends up being to his benefit. Honestly, Jan'alai could be popped off relatively reliably back in the day, probably one of the few Rastakhan's Rumble cards that is actually good, and honestly, especially in Wild? I can easily see hero power Mage being a decent deck if the meta slows down enough. Mind you, Quest Rogue and Arcane Golem probably means that it's unlikely, but one can dream.
With Frost Nova gone, I guess Standard needs new frost spells! And... they're interesting. Flurry (Rank 1) just lobs freezing potions at random enemy minions and upgrades as you go up. It's a cheap spell, and it's at least going to screw with some random-mage-spell generation or discover spells. Rimetongue synergizes with frost spells and summons a mini Water Elemental... neat to see spell class synergy, but unimpressive.
Varden Dawngrasp, though? He's a Frost Nova mixed with Ice Lance in a single card, and I actually like him. I'm not sure if he's actually going to be practical enough, but he either Frost Novas the board or Ice Lances anything that's already frozen. It's a very cool design, actually, even if I'm not sure if he's going to be all that meta.
Refreshing Spring Water seems to play with the theme established with Mana Biscuits, but also combines it with card draw. It's like Arcane Intellect, but you refresh two mana crystals for each spell you draw. It's... it's actually very interesting. I don't think Pure-Spell mage actually really got off the ground, but honestly, this isn't too terrible as a slightly-more-expensive Arcane Intellect, and depending on your deck you might actually get this card casted off for free if you refresh the mana crystals. I can see this one seeing play.
Arcane Luminary is... it looks powerful on paper, but then I remember that Leyline Manipulator exists and it's a battlecry that didn't require you to need to protect the minion on board. Luminary is cheaper, yes, but I really don't see this minion being particularly super-powerful.
Two more utility spells. Runed Orb is sort of the replacement to Frostbolt, sort of? Deal 2 damage, discover a spell? Pretty nifty spell -- I think with the Core set replacement and the rotation a lot of cards here are just there to plug in the gaps and sometimes that's okay. Oasis Ally is sort of like Snake Trap, but since Mage secrets are more expensive you get a Water Elemental instead of three snakes. Underpowered for Wild Secret Mage, but maybe something you want in Standard?
One of the straight-up weirdest cards in terms of flavour, but the coolest in terms of game mechanics, is Cannonmaster Smythe. Your secrets turn into 3/3 tokens, and they transform back into secrets after they die. And only you can see which soldier correspond to which secret. That is so cool! It's comparable, somewhat, to that darkmoon strider card for Hunter, but this is such an interesting one just because of how weird it is. Now I'm not entirely convinced Secret Paladin is going to suddenly be a thing, but I really like the idea of this card's mechanics.
Galloping Savior is our new Secret; it's basically Rat Trap but with a 3/4 Taunt instead of a 6/6 doomrat. Nothing much to say here, if you're playing a Secret Paladin this seems to be an okay Secret to include into your deck. Sword of the Fallen is a way to get Secrets out, after you attack you cast a Secret from your deck. Comparable to Phase Stalker, except you don't have to keep shooting your hero power all the time. Actually feel pretty powerful, and, again, in Wild, you have all the toys of a Secret deck running around. My gut feeling says that Secret Paladin isn't going to be powerful this expansion, but between the sword and Smythe, these are certainly very interesting tools!
Oh, and there's Northwatch Commander. It's a Secret synergy card, and a very good one for its cost. Spider Tank stats, and you get to draw specifically a minion. Not entirely sure that there are enough Secret Paladin cards for this to work, but, hey, maybe in Standard you toss in the Secret package alongside Pure Paladin or something. That could work? Not as exciting as Smythe or the Sword of the Fallen, but still a very solid card.
Another card that seems to be supporting dude paladin (the other dude synergy cards come in Core) is Soldier's Caravan, which is a pretty solid 2-mana 1/3 that keeps churning out two 1/1 tokens. That's actually pretty powerful, and I'm frankly glad it's not able to be placed in Odd Paladin in Wild. Otherwise, the same 'Caravans are a bit too slow and does too little' argument works again.
One of the more blatant spell school pushes is Holy spells in Paladin. We've got a lot! Cariel Roame is the Paladin mercenary character lady and she's the huge push -- she has Rush/Divine Shield on a 4/3 body, pretty good for a 4-mana drop, but every time she attacks she discounts Holy spells by 1. Aren't Librams also Holy spells, too? And that's in addition to a massive slew of Paladin Holy spells in general.
Two new ones here are Conviction (Rank 1), which is a random Blessing of Kings. It's terrible! But at Rank 3 it's three random Blessings of Kings. Still kind of terrible if you're waiting for 10 mana, I think, but I do like the idea here. Invigorating Sermon is a 4-mana Keleseth effect, but also affects the battlefield and the hand. Which... is actually pretty powerful, come to think of it. It doesn't synergize perfectly with Dude Paladin, but with other decks? Libram or Pure Paladin? And with Cariel potentially discounting this card down? Again I thank the Wild gods that this doesn't work in Odd Paladin. Very neat little set of cards.
Two Holy-spell synergies include Veteran Warmedic, quite literally a Violet Teacher, but she only works with specifically Holy Spells, and she summons 2/2 lifesteal tokens instead of 1/1's. Actually pretty powerful on a more limited meta like Standard, I think, and if Holy Paladin works, the dream is to discount them with Tariel and then spam holy spells while building a board with Veteran Warmedic. Knight of Anointment is just a 1/1 that discovers a Holy spell. He's a'ight. I feel like he's the card you cut when we get a lot more Holy-synergy cards in the next expansion or so.
Hey, remember how we keep joking how every expansion Priest needs a new powerful AoE? Now the AoE is very cool! Xyrella is a 4-mana 4/4 that nukes the enemy board with the amount of health you've restored this turn. Which makes Desperate Prayer suddenly become an accompanying 10-mana bomb with Xyrella. Divine Hymn, Holy Nova, Greater Healing Potion, even things like Antique Healbot or Khratrut Defender works with her. Now she's just a board clear and she doesn't go face, but that's a pretty cool 'healing matters' card nonetheless.
The rest of the 'healing matters' cards... aren't super good. Devouring Plague deals 4 lifesteal damage randomly on enemy minions... but it costs 3 mana? That's a bit too expensive, I think. Though is Penance out from Standard? That might be why they printed this. Priest of An'she is pretty all right, a 5-mana 5/5 taunt that becomes an 8/8 if you've restored health this turn. A bit too slow, honestly, but just enough stats to become unfair.
Speaking of synergies, Priest has 'hold spells in your hand', Soothsayer's Caravan is basically a free Mind Vision every turn. Kinda crap, honestly. There's some synergy with Void Flayer, but ultimately I don't think burgle priest is going to be good enough. Void Flayer is just a 4-mana 3/4 that shoots random arcane missiles for each spell in your hand. It's neat, but I dunno, I feel like these two are just a bit too wonky to properly work in the real deck. Power Word: Fortitude is a +3/+5 for... 8 mana, and it costs less for each spell in your hand? A bit of a yikes there, Power Infusion is 4 mana and gives +2/+6 and it sees barely any play. Not sure if this package really is going to work at all -- these definitely won't in Wild, I'm pretty sure.
Lightshower Elemental is the sort of annoying sticky minion that Priest wants, a 6-mana 6/6 taunt that restores 8 health to everyone when it dies. Not sure if it's powerful enough for Big Priest decks or whatnot, but if nothing else it's a very solid minion. Not much to say here. A pretty solid card. Serena Bloodfeather is also a pretty interesting solid card with an fun effect. She steals stats from an enemy minion until it has more. I think everyone will run hard removal instead, but man, what a cool effect. And then there's Condemn (Rank 1). It's all right; Wild has much better removal than this. 2-mana Consecration is pretty cool, though honestly I really felt like they could've made this one stronger? Maybe jump from 1 damage to 2 to 4? I don't know.
They took Nitroboost Potion away from Rogue, but they gave Rogue not only the Caverns Below back, but also Scabbs Cutterbutter. The next two cards you play this turn cost 3 less. Yep! Rogue has been frankly pretty powerful with their instant-reload Secret Passage, and with Prep and Scabbs, honestly, Rogue will be really out-tempoing everyone out there. Not much to say here, Scabbs seems insanely powerful simply as a tempo tool.
Speaking of discount cards, Efficient Octo-Bot is a Frenzy card! A 1/4 mech for 2 mana, if it survives damage it discounts every card in your hand by 1. A bit too greedy, I think, but still quite decent enough to see play, I would say.
Yoink! is a fun card, I think. For one mana, you discover another hero power and get two uses of it at 0. It's kind of weird and I'm not entirely sure what it's for, but hey, obviously the Warlock one is pretty good, and either Mage or Hunter gets you free damage shots. You get to discover it, too, so it's a neat bit of choice there.
The other big theme in Rogue this expansion are poisons. Paralytic Poison gives your weapon +1 attack and immune while attacking. Self-Sharpening Sword and the new Swinetusk Shank seems to be the big 'durable weapon' in Standard... but Wild? Wild's got Spectral Cutlass, and, more importantly, Kingsbane. While Nitroboost Poison got nerfed, Wild Rogue has no shortage of weapon-boosting cards, and Paralytic Poison giving Kingsbane Rogue immune? Yeah, that's actually kind of scary especially in the late-game when Rogue can beat down huge threats. More of a tech card, I think, but a cool one.
Silverleaf Poison is kind of just there. On paper it's a pretty powerful card -- when you attack with the weapon, you draw a card. Pretty good, but Rogue also kind of has some of the best hand-reload cards with Cutting Class and Secret Passage. This one is pretty good, still, for a more weapon or poison-oriented deck.
Swinetusk Shank is just kind of a pretty fun solid weapon that keeps getting durability as long as you keep playing poison, basically the weapon of choice for Standard Poison Rogue. Apothecary Helbrim, meanwhile, is sort of like Xaril where on battlecry and deathrattle you add poisons to your hand. In addition to the two in this expansion and Nitroboost Poison, I think we only have Deadly Poison (which is good) and Leeching Poison in Wild. A very limited selection, and at least three (Deadly, Nitroboost, Paralytic) buffs your weapon with damage. Pretty cool weapon-buff package overall; not sure if it's strong enough in Standard, but definitely going to cause some experimentation over in Wild, I think.
Another bunch of solid cards that aren't super impressive. Field Contact just draws you a card when you play a battlecry or combo card, another way to reload your hand. Oil Rig Ambusher is decent but I'm not sure Rogue cares so much for a Fire Elemental style minion that deals damage. It can go face, so there's that? Wicked Stab (Rank 1) is just a simple damage spell, and it's 2 mana and cheap enough... but I dunno. It's all right but I don't think it's going to see major play.
We're resurrecting Elementals, maybe? We haven't seen Elemental synergy since Un'Goro! We've got a particularly useful cheap elemental in the neutral segment, but Shaman's three class elementals are pretty good. Earth Revenant is just utterly solid, a pretty decent taunt body with a mini-AoE. No Overload, too, it's just a very solid 4-mana drop in general. Arid Stormer is one of those cards that benefit if you played an elemental the previous turn, and it becomes a 2/5 Rush-Windfury. Crabrider and Siamat have proven that the combination of those two keywords work well, and... and we do have some cheap elementals. This one is all right if the elemental package works. Lilypad Lurker is Hex on a body. I love the artwork, and sure, it's huge value, but I'm not entirely sold that this one is useful. Pretty powerful Elemental cards, I'm just not quite sure it's enough to make a deck yet.
The rest of Shaman gets a murloc package! Okay, sure! Spawnpool Forager is just a very, very solid sticky 1-drop that's probably pretty good even without the Murloc tag. A 1/2 that sticks around after death as a 1/1? The fact that they're both Murlocs basically guarantees this as an auto-include in any Murloc deck. South Coast Chieftain is a pretty fun one, a 2-mana 3/2 that deals 2 damage but only if you have another Murloc. Again, pretty powerful early game tool.
Firemancer Flurgl, meanwhile, is like Altruis but with Murlocs. But he's a lot cheaper at 2-mana 2/3! Shaman has Underbelly Angler, both of which really allow you to reload with Murlocs. Between Anyfin Can Happen in Wild and the new Nofin Can Stop Us, yeah, Murloc Shaman might actually be pretty fun and legit with these three cards. But these are not the only Murloc synergy cards, no...
Gotta love the Matt Dixon artwork. Tinyfin's Caravan is Shaman's caravan card, and it's... it's all right. It's not a murloc but you draw a murloc every turn. It's slower than something like Primalfin Totem, because Primalfin adds at least a 1/1 mrgl on board immediately at the end of the turn. I dunno. Real cute card art, but I don't think it's that useful.
And Nofin Can Stop Us? I love the design of this card. It gives all murlocs +2/+2 for 3 mana, which is pretty damn powerful... but it also buffs any non-Murlocs by +1/+1. So if you happen to be forced to summon totems or whatever, or just get this out of a randomly generated spell in a non-Murloc deck, Nofin is still useful! Actually a very well-designed card, I must say. Overall, pretty surprised at the Murloc theme, but kind of pleased.
They took out Murloc Warleader from Standard, but good ol' deep-voice is still around in Wild. So are cards like Scargill, Underbelly Angler, Anyfin Can Happen and Rockpool Hunter... yeah, I really do think that Wild Murloc Shaman might be pretty awesome.
Warlock has an... interesting synergy? In that it benefits from the Warlock's deck being thinned out. Now Warlock tends to go into fatigue a lot faster thanks to drawing more with their hero power, but in addition to non-corrupted Tickatus or Jungle Hunter Hemet, we get two cards that explicitly burn cards from your deck. Altar of Fire is just straight up one mana, burn three cards from each deck. Which is just pretty powerful disruption! It's easily the cheapest and most mana-efficient deck-burn card, and... it's designed well, but I'm kind of afraid that the sheer backlash towards these sort of 'burn cards from the opponent' cards is going to get Altar of Fire nerfed sooner or later. I, personally, like it -- I really did want more decks to have a way to disrupt enemies. Soul Rend at least nukes the board for 5 damage before destroying cards, sort of like the Death Pact that the Lich King generated.
Neeru Fireblade is kind of the big payoff, and he basically summons a better version of the old Un'Goro discard warlock quest. Neeru's burning blade portal is better because it fills the board, but one thing I learned from playing Lakkari Sacrifice is that 3/2 Imps... really don't matter by the time you go through all the trouble of playing through the quest, and likewise I don't think it'll be much of an endgame once you burn through your deck.
And unless you're doing Mecha'thun shenanigans (like in Wild), these are the cards that benefit from having no deck. These and Nomi, I guess. Blood Shard Bristleback is a 3-mana 3/3 that deals 6 lifesteal damage. Barrens Scavenger is a 1-mana 6/6 Taunt. Both need 10 cards or less in your deck, which doesn't necessarily mean you have to burn your deck explicitly, honestly. I can see them being used in a more regular Warlock deck. I don't know. I just feel like the 'go into fatigue' Warlock deck is just too much to ask for. It's an interesting archetype for sure, but just like Discard Warlock, I think it'll take a fair bit more cards to make this archetype work.
Warlock's other legendary is Tamsin Roame which generates extra 0-mana copy for Shadow spells. Which... doesn't seem too impressive, but I haven't really looked at the full roster of Shadow spells for Warlock. Is Cataclysm a Shadow spell? That might lead to some Mecha'thun shenanigans. Is Power Overwhelming a Shadow spell? Is Bloodbloom? Tamsin seems pretty harmless, but she's just a huge combo waiting to happen.
More utility cards. Apothecary's Caravan just summons a 1-cost minion at the start of every turn. It's all right, Warlocks have better cheat/tutor cheap minion cards, I feel. Kabal Outfitter is a pretty fun and ideal zoo/board buffing card, giving +1/+1 buffs on both battlecry and deathrattle. Not much to say, she's pretty neat. Grimoire of Sacrifice is a lot more impractical compared to Shadowflame and Plague of Flames in Wild, I don't think this one is going to really work.
Warriors do two simple things this expansion: Rush and Frenzy. Rokara herself is a 3-mana 2/3 Rush, which isn't that good, but she also gives buffs to any minion that attacks and survives. Which doesn't sound too impressive until you realize this also applies to pre-existing minions from the previous turn, and minions that attack face. Now +1/+1 buffs aren't like, the best thing ever, but it's pretty neat, I feel. Someone pointed out a potential massive combo with multiple-attacking minions. Windfury, yes, but also Warmaul Challenger, who attacks potentially up to 10 times as part of her battlecry.
Overlord Saurfang is the big N'Zoth style card for Frenzy cards, and not only do you resurrect two Frenzy minions, Saurfang also nukes the board for 1 damage, which means that at the very minimum two of your Frenzy minions get their effects triggered, while you also deal a 1-damage AoE to the enemy. Very cool card for a very cool lore character. We've got a couple of decent frenzy options in the neutral side, like Taurajo Brave, Sunwell Initiate, or in this case, Stonemaul Anchorman for warrior.
Stonemaul Anchorman is an example of one of the better Frenzy cards because it's also got Rush! He's a simple one, the Frenzy effect gets him to draw a card, but between his all right stats, the Rush tag, the Pirate tag and drawing a card, he's probably one of the ones you want to resurrect with Saurfang. And, of course, there are a lot of other neutral Frenzy cards.
Two more Frenzy cards -- Warsong Envoy is a cheap 1-mana 1/3, and he gets +1 attack for each damaged character. Which most of the time also includes heroes. Anything beyond being dropped at the very first turn, and most likely the Envoy's going to be a 1-mana 2/3 or 3/3. That's not bad, right? Whirling Combatant is... interesting. A 4-mana 2/6 that Whirlwinds the board as both a battlecry and as a Frenzy trigger. Like Saurfang, if you have lots of Frenzy cards this one might be useful to trigger.
Handbuffs! Armagedillo rotates out from Standard, but in Wild I guess these cards might do something? Nah, Hand-buffs are too slow for wild. Bulk Up might be useful for the simple fact that it doesn't just hand-buff, it also adds a copy of the minion. It's also targeted, which could be an advantage or disadvantage. Conditioning (Rank 1) is pretty much an up-scaling hand-buff, but I really don't find it too impressive. Rancor's neat, an AoE that sometimes restores armour. Pretty good card in general, I like it as a removal that also helps you heal up, but is impractical most of the time if you're not dealing with tokens.
And then we have two random 'after your hero attacks' cards. I guess Warrior's trying to mimic Demon Hunter? Outrider's Axe is just solid all around, a 4-mana 3/3 weapon that draws a card every time you kill a minion. On the top end it draws you three card. Value! But even if you just draw once, it's not that terrible, y'know? Mor'shan Elite, meanwhile, is sort of like that Occult Conjurer card Secret Mage uses where it's two 4/4 bodies. It's 4/4 bodies with Taunt, though, which is more useful (and hey, Bulk Up has a target!) and it only replicates if your hero attacked earlier in the turn. Neat design, not sure if it's actually playable in ladder.
I do get the feeling that a lot of the class cards not part of a certain archetype feel like they are designerd to either be safe or to be a different replacement for the rotating Classic/Basic cards. Which is neat and all, but it does make me kind of lukewarm to a decent portion of the Barrens cards. Still, between the Huge Unnerf Project and the spell schools, I'm not compalaining; we're getting a huge change regardless.
Neutrals below the break!
Kindling Elemental is one that's pretty much going to drive any elemental synergy going forwards. She discounts elementals by 1 mana, and it's not just for the turn. I think we need a lot more elemental synergies that work like this -- not just for the Shaman package in this expansion, but also for Mage in the previous expansion. We need more elementals that cheat out other elementals, and more powerful rewards like Arid Stormer. If Murlocs and Dragons get to be OP, let elementals have their day!
Two Murlocs enter the neutral pool. Lushwater Murcenary is basically reverse Rockpool Hunter; you get the stats on the Murcenary (get the pun?) but both of them require you to have a pre-existing murloc. Lushwater Scout just buffs other Murlocs, giving them the dreaded +1 attack and Rush that Magic Carpet gives. This one is actually kind of scary.
Primordial Protector is... better Spiteful Summoner? A 8-mana 6/6 elemental that tutors your most expensive spell, and summons a random minion of the same cost? I don't know, I feel like there's a lot of decks out there that can play huge spells and benefit from getting a huge minion while drawing it. It's a bit too slow for Wild, but I definitely like the idea of the card and how it's definitely going to be experimented upon.
Legendaries now. Kazakus Golem Shaper is a bit of a surprise addition; I did not expect Kazakus to return. He makes golems now, which I think is a bit less flexible than his old potions? He's not a highlander card, though, but the requirements is for you to cut out 4-cost cards. If he's anything like old Kazakus, he's honestly going to be a pretty fun little flexible tool. In Wild he's competing not only against old Kazakus, but also against cards like Zephrys and stuff, and highlander decks are much easier to construct than 'get rid of one mana cost'... but I like the twist.
Kargal Battlescar is a 7-mana 5/5 that summons 5/5 tokens for each watch-post you've summoned this game. None of them have any tags, but sometimes you just need a board full of 5/5's? I don't really see this actually working out in wild, but I do like the little mini-set within the neutral side of things. We haven't seen a neutral set of cards that are meant to work together in a long while!
We've got three watch-posts, and all of them are cards that can't attack, and do something when your opponent does something. Far Watch Post is an interesting one that mini-Loathebs the cards that your opponent draws (though not beyond 10). Mor'shan Watch Post is perhaps the one that's the most board-building, replying against minion summons with 2/2 tokens. And Crossroads Watch Post gives a +1/+1 buff to your board when your opponent casts a spell. Troggzor teaches me that Crossroads Watch Post is probably not going to work, but Far and Mor'Shan? I kind of think that if you're going to do something with Kargal, these two might work. Then again, they are all buildings that can't attack, so unless you're really committed and play cards like Defender of Argus and stuff... it's cute, at least? I do like the usage of buildings as Hearthstone cards, at any rate.
Briefly going through the Frenzy minions, mostly for Saurfang purposes, right? Taurajo Brave is sort of a more elaborate assassinate. Not useful on its own since he's so expensive, but summoned off of Saurfang, you get a 4/7 and you randomly murder an enemy minion. Neat! Barrens Blacksmith is another pretty expensive one on its own, but the +2/+2 buff isn't anything to sneeze at. I also think that Sunwell Initiate is pretty good, being a Spider Tank body that gets Divine Shield with Frenzy. And the thing is, Frenzy doesn't have to mean whirlwind effects all the time. Just trading with enemy minions is enough, and the Divine Shield one I feel would be pretty annoying early in the game.
Gruntled Patron is a shittier Grim Patron. Now this one just has to survive damage, so it's not as terrible as Arena Patron, but eh. Oasis Thrasher is a bit simple, a 2/3 that sometimes deals 3 damage to the enemy hero as a frenzy effect. Might actually see play in aggro decks, actually? I like this one. Gold Road Grunt is another decent card on its own, a 5-mana 3/7 Taunt, but the Frenzy effect just gives armour equal to the damage taken. So sometimes you trade and get like, 2 or 3 armour. That's kind of lame, not going to lie, especially since Wild has so much better Taunt minions. But maybe there's some bizarre combination of the new warrior taunt-hand-buff and Saurfang summoning? I doubt it.
Most of the rest of the neutrals this time around aren't super exciting. Two of them deal with secrets! Crossroads Gossiper is a bit too slow for a 'gets buffed when a Secret is triggered' card. Horde Operative is a neat little tech card, but she doesn't actually deal with the secrets the way that SI:7 Infiltrator or Kezan Mystic or Eater of Secrets do, so while you might get value from essentially gaining secrets of your own, it's also secrets that your enemy know about. You do get information about the enemy secrets, but... I dunno. She just seems more impractical than not.
Ratchet Privateer is kind of a solid body? As far as weapon buffs go, though, a simple +1 attack on a vanilla 4/3 is kind of underwhelming in Wild, but she herself is honestly a very fair Pirate card. Southsea Scoundrel draws a copy of a card from your opponent's deck, but they draw theirs too. No thanks, that's actually kind of terrible.
Barrens Trapper is a solid 3-mana that discounts Deathrattle cards in your hand by 1. Not much to say, this one is actually just flat-out solid. I'm not sure if it's enough to play this on a Deathrattle-centric deck, but hey, mana discounts!
Speaking of Deathrattles, we've got a couple. Burning Blade Acolyte is sort of like Twilight Summoner back in the day, where the original body is a crappy 1/1 that's kind of terrible tempo, but the resulting minion is a huge 5/8 taunter. Not something you'll willingly put in your deck, I don't think. Darkspear Berserker is a 4-mana 5/7. Value! She also deals 5 damage to your hero. I guess the idea is that you cheat this out with one of the Demon Hunter pig boys, and you just don't care because you just go face anyway? Not bad, honestly, I kind of compare this sort of to Deathlord where sometimes the negative deathrattle doesn't matter in the long run. Death's Head Cultist is a pretty standard taunt that heals, but I don't think he's strong enough. He's a mini-Applebaum, which I think might actually be enough, perhaps?
Toad of the Wilds is cute. He's a 2/2 Taunt that becomes a 2/4 Taunt if you hold nature spells. He's also a beast. Not too much to say here, a solid little frog friend. I'm mostly happy that we get cards that benefit from holding certain spell schools. Injured Marauder is nothing special, it's bigger Injured Blademaster. He becomes a 5/4... no, wait, he actually has Taunt. Maybe Priest can make something out of it with their many heals? Sometimes the numbers are big enough and the Taunt good enough, y'know?
Talented Arcanist is... neat? You get a one-turn Spell Damage +2 for 2 mana? I feel like we've far better Spell Damage spell cards. Definitely so in Wild.
Hoo finally we reach the end. Hecklefang Hyena is kind of a terrible battlecry on surface, but some warlock decks, like Darkglare Warlock, would jump at the chance to deal damage to their face. 3 damage might be too much, though. Hog Rancher has the cutest iggy-wiggy-piggy ever. Otherwise it's just a better Razorfen Hunter, it's just her piggy rushes the enemy. Venomous Scorpid is just kinda weird, poisonous and discovering a spell aren't really particularly synergistic.
...and with that, yeah, I've talked about most of the Barrens cards. I think I might be particularly off because I haven't had time to think about these... but between the many new cards and the huge rotation and massive batch of card changes, both standard and wild aren't going to be the same! I'm excited for the huge change if nothing else!
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