Hearthstone: Year of the Phoenix Retrospective

So I haven't been the most active Hearthstone player throughout the Year of the Phoenix. Which isn't a diss on the game throughout this year or anything, but looking at the amount of games I played in 2020? Granted, a lot of real life stuff got in the way, I got sucked into other games, and I just went in, play my dailies and log out. It's not like I took a sabbatical from Hearthstone or anything, but the most interaction I actually had with Hearthstone last year was making Lore of Hearthstone articles and playing single-player modes. (Don't hate, I'm probably one of the four or five people out there who love Hearthstone's repeatable Dungeon Runs -- still trying to get to heroic Uldum down, though)

But, for the first time since forever, I also reached Legend in Wild. I did say that I'm primarily a Wild player, but I haven't actually reached Legend in a long, long while -- since the ladder change, the most I reached was Diamond 5. But in the past month, I reached Legend with Kingsbane Rogue. Which is cool, I actually really enjoyed my little mellow Legend push. 

Wild is also about to get a massive shakeup in the near future, not only with a new expansion coming up (they're basically releasing the entire expansion over 3 days, so no reaction from me until they release the entire expansion) but also with the un-nerfing of a bunch of cards... most significantly, I think, are Arcane Golem (it has Charge back!), The Caverns Below (which can actually legitimately break Wild, but in a good way), Undertaker (which I don't think is that significant), Dragonqueen Alexstrasza (yay!), Call to Arms (yay x2!) and all the Galakrond decks (Shaman may be playable in Wild again?).

But all the reviews, meta-speculation and whatnot isn't honestly what I find too much inspiration or pleasure in doing anymore -- at some point it just becomes me listing a bunch of nerf reversions... and they're rapid-firing the new cards so much that I can't really process them and will probably go 'that's cool!' for the most part. 

Which is why I'm trying something new... talking about the three-and-a-half expansions released in the Year of the Phoenix, as I take a trip down memory lane and look at every single card released over the three expansions. The way I'm going to do this is that I'm going to single out my favourite card from each class from each expansion, and the most forgettable card from each class from each expansion. Mind you, this is my favourite card, not the best or the ones that see the most play. And 'forgettable'... well, it's less of a 'this card sucks', but more of 'wow, I've never seen this card anywhere, I forgot this exists.' Each category will also have a little honourable mentions. I was just thinking of doing just legendaries, but why not just talk about all the cards? Without further ado...

DEMON HUNTER INITIATE

Before we start off with Ashes of Outland, remember that Year of the Phoenix started off with Demon Hunters, and they got cards added to the Basic set and everyone received a 'Demon Hunter Initiate' mini-set, which is the 'half expansion' I alluded to earlier. And... and so much of Demon Hunter's initial package is so memorable to everyone because of how over-tuned the class was in Standard particularly that it got nerfed like four or five times. Some cards even got nerfed on day one, I think! And... as a primarily Wild player, I think after the second or third batch of nerfs Demon Hunter really didn't rampage around all that much anymore. 

Favourite Card: Altruis the Outcast. Yeah, he's sort of frustrating when he's on the other side of the board, particularly in Standard pre-nerf, but I actually did really like just how interestingly he interacted with the Outcast mechanic. Demon Hunter had various flavours of 'attack a lot with your hero power' and Outcast mechanics going on, but Altruis, I think, is my favourite. It's a bit of a shame that he's a bit overpowered for what he can do and with what Demon Hunter itself can do as a class with its degenerate amounts of cheap spells and cards, but I really did like how Altruis worked with the class in general. After his nerf he was a lot less good, but still, I still really enjoyed how this legendary worked. 

Again, this is more of a 'cards I really like'. If we're talking about notoriety, DH's early cards had a lot of great cards. Battlefiend, Consume Magic, Twin Slice, Blade Dance, Eye Beam, Chaos Strike, Aldrachi Warblades, Satyr Overseer, Glaivebound Adept...

• Honourable Mentions: Sightless Watcher (such a fun effect and an elegant draw-interaction mechanic), Wrathscale Naga (I still really like him despite the fact that token-death DH never worked), Illidari Felblade (I really like how this one combines Rush and Immune in a fair way), Mana Burn (I just really like the disruption of this one)

Most Forgettable Card: Soul Split. Anything control or value related for Demon Hunter got tossed out of the window pretty quick, and any non-aggro Demon Hunter decks that were tried mostly revolved around Wrathscale Naga style tokens. This card, though? Soul Split? A much less flexible Faceless Manipulator that has only one mana discount? Yeah, I genuinely forgot this card existed.

• Honourable mentions: Shadowhoof Slayer (who only missed getting the prize for the simple fact that he stares at me every time I open the collection manager), Soul Cleave (a.k.a. shittier Blade Dance), Raging Felscreamer (lol value-demon Demon Hunter), Nethradamus (I usually love dragons but I completely forgot we all got this guy for free), Blur (otherwise known as terrible Relentless Pursuit)

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ASHES OF OUTLAND

And now, into the expansion proper! Again, we start off with Demon Hunter...

Favourite Card: In addition to many super-powerful cards in Demon Hunter from the expansion (memorable mentions: Crimson Sigil Runner, Kayn Sunfury, Warglaives of Azzinoth, Priestess of Fury, Spectral Sight, Metamorphosis, the dreaded Skull of Gul'dan), I think my favourite still has to be Imprisoned Antaen, because... well, I just really like huge minions doing huge things, but the Dormant drawback for Antaen actually makes it somewhat playable. And, sure, most decks ended up cutting out Anaten especially when Scholomance came around, but I really love building up the dread by dropping this slumbering big demon, which would then wake up and just machinegun the enemies for 10 damage. 

• Honourable Mentions: Priestess of Fury (What? I really like Ragnaros lite), Furious Felfin (I'm a sucker for Murloc Illidan!), Kayn Sunfury (actually really like this effect, though I don't think I've ever seen Kayn in Wild), Coilfang Warlord (amazing in Arena, don't let anyone tell you different. Would be great if only it was in another class), Metamorphosis (I had a lot of fun with this; this one was my day one legendary)

Most Forgettable Card: DH has a bunch of bad or unplayable cards, too, if you forget, but one that I think I want to point out is Pit Commander, mostly because I genuinely forgot that this guy exists. It's a giant taunt with decent stats that recruits a demon from your deck at the end of every turn. It can recruit Antaen, it can recruit Priestess of Fury... even less-useful demons that would be great to get for free would include the likes of Hulking Overfiend, Ancient Void Hound or Wrathspike Brute... but it just never saw play because Demon Hunter was so aggressive. So I was genuinely surprised when I took a look at the list of Ashes of Outland card and saw this guy. 

• Honourable Mentions: Netherwalker (I genuinely forgot this one exists), Fel Summoner (holy shit this one had really terrible stats, huh?), Immolation Aura (another wow, I forgot this card exists)

Favourite Card: I don't think I played too much of Druids this expansion, but I really liked Imprisoned Satyr -- not that I've played it a lot or anything, but because I was subject to a couple of pretty hilarious OTK's by this guy. And... and I don't know. I really feel like this is a pretty fair massive mana discount, and in Druid they can actually make great use by ramping this guy out a couple of turns earlier while they have some sort of Kun-Aviana or King Togwaggle shenanigans going on. 

• Honourable Mentions: Marsh Hydra (I just like huge value cards, and I like hydras), Overgrowth (the actual card everyone puts in their deck, but I just don't find it as cool as Satyr), Fungal Fortunes (also another card everyone uses in their deck, but it's just reversed Book of Spectres)

Most Forgettable Card: Ironbark. I think a lot of epics will show up here mostly because I don't own a lot of them, so when I see them I go 'huh'. I don't think I've ever seen this thing played against me anywhere, though. I'm pretty sure someone tried this card out, because I'm pretty sure every archetype got played at some point, but it's just a cheaper Mark of the Wild with some numbers swapped around, so I guess no one ever really tried it? 

• Honourable Mentions: Ysiel Windsinger (You'd think that 'spell Aviana' would see some play, but I genuinely have never seen this card in a single game since Ashes of Outland began), Germination (again, crappier Faceless Manipulator)... honestly, I don't remember either Glowfly Swarm or Bogbeam either.

Favourite Card:  Zixor, Apex Predator. I don't own this card, but I've seen this played against me and I really, really like the idea of the Primes in general. Not all of them saw play, but the idea of shuffling Zixor Primes into your deck and then buff-tutoring them up with Scavenger's Ingenuity (who gets the honourable mention here)? I really like that. Otherwise...

• Honourable Mentions: Scavenger's Ingenuity, Pack Tactics (such a fun and surprising Secret), Augmented Porcupine (a card that I thought was absolute garbage, but was at least decent in Reno Hunter)

Most Forgettable Card: Hunter's got a weird 'beast handbuff' theme going on here, and Scrap Shot is probably the most forgettable of the Ashes of Outland cards to me. Did anyone play this? No, seriously, did anyone actually play this in Standard? That's a genuine question because I want to see how that deck plays out. In Wild, I think Flanking Shot is always better, but even that doesn't ese much play. 

• Honourable Mentions: Helboar (another Beast-handbuff), Mok'nathal Lion, Beastmaster Leoroxx, Nagrand Slam.. honestly, I don't remember a lot of the Hunter cards from this set. 

Favourite Card: Evocation, full-stop. Such a degenerate card, especially when it was 1 mana, but man, back in the day Quest Mage got so much more consistent with this spell just filling your hand with a bunch of random Mage spells. The idea of a bunch of cards you get for cheap but you have to use at the end of the turn is such a fun concept and the subject of one of my all-time favourite cards, the Soularium. I just really like Evocation for that. 

• Honourable Mentions: Astromancer Solarian (who I went back and forth about on putting as my favourite. I decided to go with the card I actually owned and used in Wild, but Solarian Prime being essentially a targeted mini-Yogg with better RNG is actually pretty damn cool), Netherwind Portal (A surprisingly versatile Secret that ends up being pretty damn great in Wild), Deep Freeze (mostly a memorable surprise discovery from Evocation)

Most Forgettable Card: Secret Mage got a massive boost in the Year of the Phoenix in Wild thanks to Rigged Faire Game, Netherwind Portal and a bunch of others. Apexis Smuggler, though, was so slow and adds such little value despite being good on paper. I don't think anyone experimented with this one. 

• Honourable Mentions: Imprisoned Observer (missed out on being the most forgettable because I actually tried this one out), Apexis Blast (I don't think anyone makes a no-minion Mage deck really work)

Favourite Card: Libram Paladin is non-existent in Wild. As I understand it, it's actually quite good in Standard? I really like the concept, though, and the idea of an infinitely returning spell that goes back to your hand is always something I like, which is why Libram of Wisdom is my favourite one. It's also a mere +1/+1 buff, which makes it fair when Libram decks will inevitably discount this to 0 mana. 

• Honourable Mentions: Imprisoned Sungill (surprisingly useful and fun in Murloc decks), Murgur Murgurgle (I seem to see this guy a lot in discover effects and he's always surprisingly fun), Libram of Hope (I love this and hate to see this played against me. Most of the Aldor minions could count to as a whole package).

Most Forgettable Card: Underlight Angling Rod. You'd think that random Murlocs would be right up my alley, but I genuinely forgot this card exists, and my attempts at dicking around with Murloc decks really made me forget this card exists. 

• Honourable Mentions: Libram of Justice (I know I don't play or see a lot of Libram decks, but I genuinely forgot this card exists.)

Favourite Card:  Apotheosis, surprisingly. Such a simple buff spell, but one that I genuinely like a lot and remember very fondly. Priest gets a lot of powerful Spell-discovery effects recently, I think, and this one is surprisingly good on so many Priest decks when you discover it. Not much to say, it's simple but really elegant. 

• Honourable Mentions: Reliquary of Souls (such cool animations, and a pretty cool Prime card if not the most playable ones), Skeletal Dragon (oh hey a huge dragon! Not good at all, honestly, but I did love to see him in the battlefield), Renew (another simple but surprisingly effective spell)

Most Forgettable Card: Dragonmaw Sentinel, who's honestly the exact opposite of Apotheosis. Dragon Priest hasn't been good for a long time, but even then they've got much better options than Dragonmaw Sentinel here. 

• Honourable Mentions: Imprisoned Homunculus (I just forget he exists), Dragonmaw Overseer (I also don't remember this guy at all), Psyche Split (I genuinely forget this card exists), Soul Mirror (I don't think I've ever seen this card played, though that might just be because Wild Priest have so much better removal)

Favourite Card: Bamboozle. Come on, Bamboozle's funny as shit, the artwork's charming, the name's cute, and I just can't not put this here. 

• Honourable Mentions: Shadowmistress (very cool, simple minion that's surprisingly pretty great despite just being a slightly-better Worgen Infiltrator), Akama (mostly because I like Akama, but he's otherwise not good), Shadowjeweler Hanar (a primarily Standard card, but a card whose effect I really like)

Most Forgettable Card: Ashtongue Slayer... Stealth Rogue never really had much traction, but at least Greyheart Sage got use here and there as a draw engine. This guy, though? I genuinely forgot the Ashtongue Slayer exists.

• Honourable Mentions: Cursed Vagrant, though I actually remember him as the 'Ravenholdt Assassin with an extra body, but still unplayable'. He's more memorable than Ashtongue Slayer because I actually like the story with this card. 

Favourite Card: For Shaman, I have to go with Boggspine Knuckles. The name of the card is fun, but clearly the evolve effect is where it's at. I know Evolve Shaman hasn't seen play in a long, long while, but the selection in this expansion really are pretty forgettable that this is the only one I'd say that I actually like. 

• Honourable Mentions: Serpentshrine Portal and Lady Vashj, mostly because "I've actually seen them being played" and less because I actually remember them. Vashj specifically I think I've only seen played out of Rustwix.

Most Forgettable Card: Shattered Rumbler. Does anyone remember this card at all? I sure don't. It's a very conditional AoE, and while the condition isn't that hard, it's also not hard to trawl through Shaman's card pool and find a much easier and more reliable board clear. 

• Honourable Mentions: The Lurker Below (who would win 'most forgettable' if so many people didn't try to make it work in Wild. He's not terrible, and would just be a pretty decent sub-par Legendary, but I think it saw a bit more play than it deserves. Still, nice to see this big kraken monster get some love), Vivid Spores (genuinely don't remember this card at all), Bogstrok Clacker (the card art is actually cute), Torrent... yeah, Shaman this expansion wasn't memorable to me.

Favourite Card: Sharing the distinction of 'this is one of the few cards that Blizzard acknowledged broke Wild' alongside Naga Sea Witch. I never actually played Darkglare Warlock when it ran rampant in Wild, nor did I really find it that oppressive -- I've always thought that it's a powerful deck, but still very beatable. But Darkglare is such a fun little way to make masochist pain Warlock actually end up being so, so much powerful. It's like Warlock has got so many of these pieces to make a pain Molten/Flesh Giant deck work, but they're just missing this guy that allows them to refresh mana with damage to the face. 

• Honourable Mentions: Warlock's got a lot of notable ones this expansion. Kanrethad Ebonlocke is a legendary I own and is actually surprisingly more good instead of impractical; Nightshade Matron and Hand of Gul'dan essentially are the pieces of the puzzle that Discard Warlock needed to be a great deck in Wild (Hand of Gul'dan was almost the card that I put in 'favourite' due to how great it is) and Enhanced Dreadlord is an example of a simple-but-powerful card that ended up seeing a lot more play than I thought it would be, even if it's just to cheat her out with Voidcallers. Turns out that she basically becomes Voidlord number two in Wild!

Most Forgettable Card: The Dark Portal. I forgot this card exists, it's actually quite impractical, and Warlock has so much more better huge-minion-cheating resources.

• Honourable Mentions: Imprisoned Scrap Imp (who I gather is actually pretty good pre-nerf, but I've never actually seen him being played), Keli'dan the Breaker (I have him, and it's only me using him as a surprise tech in my Reno Warlock lists that saved him from being the most forgettable card here), Shadow Council (surprisingly, despite being a huge RNG card, not one I ever had the desire to play)

Favourite Card: Bulwark of Azzinoth isn't actually a super-great card, but I just really, really love how it's designed and how much it can catch your opponent off-guard. Control Warrior isn't some huge player in Wild or anything, but I just really like the design of this Bulwark card. 

• Honourable Mentions: Bladestorm and Warmaul Challenger just because I really like their mechanics. Kargath Bladefist (I really like him when I get it off of Rustwix)

Most Forgettable Card: Sword and Board isn't a bad card or anything, but I just genuinely forget that this card exists at all. It's mini-Bash, and when I saw it being played in one of the single-player story modes I was genuinely surprised it's actually a collectible card. 

• Honourable Mentions: Bonechewer Raider and Bloodboil Brute (I think they get played in Standard, probably, since brute got nerfed, but I don't remember either one of these existing at all), and I guess also Scrap Golem (He's just not that good for any mech Warrior list, I'm sorry)

Favourite Card: It's actually surprising that my favourite neutral card from this set is actually Mo'arg Artificer. It's actually pretty interesting just how powerful this card can be in the right decks with such a simple card text, and how devastating it can be with its double-spell-damage thing going on. The fact that it doesn't affect Fireballs going face is a neat little balancing act, too. 

• Honourable Mentions: Infectious Sporeling (what a cute 'mummify' effect), Guardian Augmerchant (mostly surprising because Augmerchants actually work in any useful fashion, but he also made me kick myself for not realizing how good he can be), Kael'thas Sunstrider (never actually played a meta deck with him, but I did enjoy seeing his effect), Frozen Shadoweaver (another 'wow, this simple card is actually decent' surprise), Scrapyard Colossus (-Big Priest PTSD intensifies-), Disguised Wanderer (I just really like this guy for some reason), Magtheridon (a very fun, if impractical, effect)

Most Forgettable Card: Neutrals tend to have the biggest batch of forgettable cards, but out of the cards here Rustsworn Cultist is the one that I forget the most. So many classes have better 'give your other minions a sticky deathrattle' spells and minions, so this guy just ends up being so, so forgettable. 

• Honourable Mentions: Soulbound Ashtongue, Rustsworn Initiate, Blistering Rot, Terrorguard Escapee, Waste Warden, Ruststeed Raider, Scavenging Shivarra are all the ones I forget. The other neutrals are memorable enough at least due to them being decent when you discover them, or, in the case of Maiev and A'lar, memorably overhyped and memorably bad respectively. 

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SCHOLOMANCE ACADEMY

The way this goes with dual-class cards is that I'll include them in their respective component classes.

Favourite Card: Demon Companion. Flavour-wise it's cute mostly because of how it's a twist on Rexxar's Animal Companion, but I associate this card more with Demon Hunter as a class, and I love how it's actually pretty damn balanced while also being pretty powerful. 

• Honourable Mentions: Most of the Soul Fragment package (Marrowslicer, Shardshatter Mystic, Soulshard Lapidary, Spirit Jailer, Soul Shear, Soulciologist Malicia) for being a surprisingly fun and actually powerful midrange Demon Hunter archetype. Magehunter (not too powerful but I like her effect), Ancient Void Hound (another one whose effect I really like), Glide (I also love how much people overhyped this one, and how it's actually a fun disruption tool when you can discover it)

Most Forgettable Card: Demon Hunter actually doesn't always get good cards, and there are a fair bit here that I forget the most. Fel Guardians has to be the most under-tuned 'benefits from minions dying' card ever, though. Three 1/2 Taunts aren't that good, but with how conditional this is? Yeah, no wonder I don't remember this card at all. 

• Honourable Mentions: Star Student Stelina (I don't even remember her effect, and was surprised that it's disruption), Vilefiend Trainer (such a simple and not-at-all broken minion, what is this?), Cycle of Hatred (this card exists? I genuinely have no idea), Blood Herald (I only remember this because it's memorably bad out of evolve effects), Ace Hunter Kreen (also another 'huh, this legendary sure exists' moment), Trueaim Crescent.

Favourite Card: Gibberling, mostly for making both Spellburst, the cute 'swarm the board' idea with Feral Gibberer effect, and a baord-swarm effect all work. And the art's just cute and bizarrely adorable. 

• Honourable Mentions: Adorable Infestation so much, and I debated on which one I like better. It's a great pastiche of Ultimate Infestation, works for both Druid and Hunter, and is generally such a fun, powerful but balanced card overall. Twilight Runner, Guardian Animals (both more of a Standard archetype, but still memorable and kinda cool), Lightning Bloom (one of the best 'merge the flavours of two classes' dual-class cards)

Most Forgettable Card: Partner Assignment. Not a terrible card, honestly, since it reloads your hand, but I genuinely have never seen this card played at all. 

• Honourable Mentions: Forest Warden Omu, Speaker Gidra (two spellburst legendaries I don't remember), Survival of the Fittest (I don't remember this card at all), Runic Carvings (I love the idea of Treant Totems, but this card is just kind of unusable. The artwork and flavour keeps it from being the most forgettable), Shan'do Wildclaw (I can't really say much, I don't remember this lady at all)
  

Favourite Card: ...I don't really remember much of Hunter's cards here, sorry. And I used Demon Companion for DH! Adorable Infestation wins by default, because it's the only one here that I genuinely like, and even then I associate it more with Druid! I almost put Wolpertinger here because it's cute. Sorry, Scholomance Hunter, you're just kind of unmemorable to me. 

• Honourable Mentions: Bloated Python, who I also remember for its funny story. Wolpertinger who I also remember having memorable artwork. And artwork's cool and all, but when that's the only memorable thing about a card... plus, I suppose Demon Companion, who I associate more with DH.

Most Forgettable Card: Professor Slate, who is so unmemorable and forgettable that I genuinely forgot I own him. I actually usually try to use bad legendaries I own and try to make them work, but I think I saw Slate, went 'yeah, this is never going to be useful' and somehow forgot to dust him. 

• Honourable Mentions: Carrion Studies (the Study cycle generally is kind of forgettable and identikit, but the Hunter one's easily the most impractical), Shan'do Wildclaw, Blood Herald, Ace Hunter Kreen, Trueaim Crescent (all same as above)

Favourite Card: Mage, on the other hand, actually have a lot of great honourable mentions. My favourite is probably still Jandice Barov, who's such an interesting way to get a massive influx of stats for 5 mana on board, but making it fair by making one of them an illusion. I love the flavour of this one, too, Jandice summons three 5-mana minions because she is a master of illusions, but two of them die to a single blast of damage. In an expansion where I actually find a lot of the legendaries forgettable, Jandice is easily my favourite. 

• Honourable Mentions: So many, actually. Wand Thief is great and devastating in Quest Mage as well as any self-respecting Rogue deck. Lab Partner and Primordial Studies are both pretty fun Spell Damage synergy. Firebrand is surprisingly decent despite me mocking it as a 'poor man's Flamewaker'. Devolving Missiles is just fun in general, so is Trick Totem, and Brain Freeze is another one that's a great combination of two classes' flavours. Devolving Missiles, Brain Freeze and Primordial Studies showing up from Wand Maker also helps make them a lot more memorable. 

Most Forgettable Card: Very reluctantly, Ras Frostwhisper. And it's a shame, because I do like his effect, but I actually forgot he existed as a card. I don't think I've seen people play him because he's probably just so slow and so dependent on Spell Damage staying on board. 

• Honourable Mentions: Mozaki, Master Duelist. I have her and while I don't think she's as forgettable as Slate, I also think she's a bit underwhelming. I understand she's decent in Standard, though. Cram Session and Combustion aren't terrible, but I only vaguely remember them. 

Favourite Card: I like Blessing of Authority, which is a fun variant of Dinosize but also balanced because it prevents going face. It's an overcosted spell that's designed for board control and later value, and... I don't know. I just really like it. 

• Honourable Mentions: Argent Braggart, for his ridiculous effect. Wave of Apathy, who I remember more as a Priest card but still a fun mini-Eadric spell. Devout Pupil; I just really like the style of Thing-From-Below cards where you discount a card potentially to zero by doing things. High Abbess Alura (not a huge Wild card, but pretty powerful in Standard and I thought she was pretty cool when I see her every now and then)

Most Forgettable Card: Sorry, Judicious Junior, vanilla-with-a-single-keyword minions just aren't memorable. 

• Honourable Mentions: Turalyon the Tenured (and I like Turalyon the character! Scholomance's legendaries just doesn't stick in my head, sorry), Commencement, Shield of Honor, Ceremonial Maul (all the Paladin/Warrior cards just feel alien to me other than Lord Barov).

Favourite Card: Mindrender Illucia. She's a card that's baffling if you don't know the meta, but rewards it so much when you understand the deck your opponent is playing, and when you are smart enough to manipulate your hand to give the opponent a situation that they can't discard your important cards (because they're too expensive to play) or you've used all your important pieces. I actually had to go 'well played' many times because an enemy Priest Illucia'd me to use up my combo pieces or my Ice Block or my Kingsbane or my Darkglare just to deny me from having them. 

• Honourable Mentions: Frazzled Freshman (thanks, AmazingLP cosplay trailer!), Wave of Apathy (pretty cool card in both Pally and Priest), Gift of Luminance (I think it's actually pretty devastating in Big Priest lists in Wild when they discover it randomly), Power Word: Feast (a fun twist on a buff spell that works so well on Priest), Raise Dead (more of a Warlock spell, but also a very cool one for Priest)

Most Forgettable Card: Initiation, in theory, is like a cool twist on Priest getting copies of enemy minions. It's better than Holy Water! It's also overcosted, and came in the same expansion as Cabal Acolyte, who I don't think is super-good but certainly better than this. 

• Honourable Mentions: Disciplinarian Gandling (another legendary card I forget about), Brittlebone Destroyer (a lot more impractical in Priest than I thought it would be). 

Favourite Card: Number one on "how is this card not nerfed yet" is Secret Passage. The idea of this card is pretty cool, you go through a shortcut to temporarily draw and use four cards from your deck. And the animation's neat, and the general concept is neat. But then when you sit down and consider it, this is essentially Sprint on one mana. And unlike Soularium or Evocation, you don't lose the cards you don't play, you just shuffle them into your deck. I used this card extensively in Kingsbane Rogue, and, well, it's easily one of the most powerful cards in that deck, one of the most versatile cards in that deck and easily one of the reasons I reached Legend. Simply drawing four cards and seeing if any of my Kingsbane or Kingsbane-tutor cards are there or not; getting one of my weapon buff spells; combining Preparation with some of my other draw spells... yeah. And it's a cool card concept, too!

• Honourable Mentions: Cutting Class (another very powerful draw tool and would win this category if not for Secret Passage), Vulpera Toxinblade (not super-useful in my Kingsbane deck, but it's actually surprising at how good this card is on Odd Rogue),  Plagiarize (not that useful but hilarious when it works), Self-Sharpening Sword (apparently pretty great in Standard, and I love the flavour of this one), Doctor Krastinov (unwieldy, but I found him cool) plus as I covered up in Mage: Jandice Barov, Brain Freeze and Wand Thief. 

Most Forgettable Card: Coerce -- because I play Wild so this is just a shittier Vilespine Slayer in Wild. It's a crappier Execute in Warrior, it's a crappier Walk the Plank/Vilespine Slayer in Rogue... the fact that it's so inflexible in addition to being pretty crappy makes this so forgettable.

• Honourable Mentions: Shifty Sophomore (Such an under-tuned Combo card generator. I flip-flopped between her and Coerce, but I at least remember this specific artwork), Infiltrator Lilian (I like the lore flavour, but when I like the flavour and I still forget the card exists...), Steeldancer (too impractical, though I do like the effect...)

Favourite Card: I remember almost none of the Shaman cards from this expansion. Totem Goliath is kind of cute, the deathrattle is neat and I do like that we're getting a big totem, but otherwise I don't remember any of the other Shaman cards. 

• Honourable Mentions: Diligent Notetaker (one of the low-key best Spellburst cards), Lightning Bloom (though it's more on the druid side), Trick Totem, Devolving Missiles, Primordial Studies (the latter two are mostly on the Mage side, though I've seen some Shamans use Devolving Missiles)

Most Forgettable Card: Probably the most forgettable among Scholomance's Shaman cards is Molten Blast. Any of the others could honestly take its place, but this one is just such a low impact spell that I am actually baffled to think of what archetype is suppoesd to make use of this. 

• Honourable Mentions: Instructor Fireheart (nope, I don't remember her at all), Tidal Wave, Rune Dagger, Totemic Carvings, Speaker Gidra, Groundspeaker, Ras Frostwhisper. No real hate against Shaman, I just genuinely go 'huh, you exist' when I scrolled through my collection. 

Favourite Card: Boneweb Egg. Warlock got a lot of great cards in this expansion (particularly Darkglare's best friend, Flesh Giant), but my actual favourite card is Boneweb Egg. I like egg cards, I like discard cards, and Boneweb Egg is such a bizarre card that combines both. I think Discard Warlock decks eventually cut Boneweb Egg as it got more refined, but I love the idea of this so much -- sure, it's not the best card, but it's also a spider. How can I not like this? 

• Honourable Mentions: Flesh Giant (it's one of the cards that made Darkglare Warlock work so well, and is honestly a pretty clever way to make the 'pain' mechanic work without needing the Warlock to go to single digits), the entire Soul Fragment package (though DH's Soul Fragments are more memorable)

Most Forgettable Card: Mmm, I guess Disciplinarian Gandling, out of process of elimination? I talked about him in Priest and how he's pretty forgettable. It's just surprising, somewhat, to see this guy not work as well in Warlock with its zoo mechanics... kind of a shame, I think the effect is cool but I genuinely forget this card exists.

• Honourable Mentions: Shadowlight Scholar (the only Soul Fragment card I legitimately forgot), Archwitch Willow (another legendary I forget; though mostly because Wild has better Demon-cheating cards. 

Favourite Card: As much as I want to put Cutting Class here, I have to give it to Rattlegore (or, sorry, RAAATTLEGOOOOOOOORE!!!) for being one of the coolest 'dies and summons a smaller version of itself' style legendaries that is so sticky and hard to remove without silencing. I really love the design of this one, no real other reason. 

• Honourable Mentions: Cutting Class (another card that's great in Warrior as it is in Rogue), Lord Barov (I don't own him, but I like the design of him in Warrior), Troublemaker (I kinda like the effect), Doctor Krastinov (again, not the best legendary but one I actually find memorable)

Most Forgettable Card: In Formation, it's just kind of boring, y'know? I really can't find anything to say here.

• Honourable Mentions: Coerce (again, though I try to find something else to fit the 'most forgettable' position), Reaper's Scythe (a forgettable spellburst weapon), and as I mention before, I don't remember most of the Paladin/Warrior cards (Ceremonial Maul, Shield of Honor, Commencement).

Favourite Card:  Ahhhh, fuck, okay, Pen Flinger has one of the most annoying voicelines ever, and I know it's an annoying card, but I think it's actually an example of how Spellburst can be so powerful (when you can repeat the effect over and over) and how a more skilled player can really work Pen Flinger into their turns with real planning and actually squeeze in a lot of extra damage. I have to give it to Flinger here for that.

• Honourable Mentions: Transfer Student was almost the winner for just how novel the idea that his effect changes with the board you're on. Such a hilariously fun little gimmick, shame he's too unpredictable to actually see play. Lorekeeper Polkelt is so cool from an effect standpoint, and I like him a lot more when he's nerfed and actually ends up being a pretty interesting deck-building challenge. I don't own this one, but Sphere of Sapience is another very, very cool effect. Wandmaker is an example of a less-random RNG card that manages to be more powerful due to how the pool of 1-cost spells. Tour Guide has a special place in my heart for actually being a TGT-style 'interact with hero power' card that's actually so good that multiple decks use him in Wild. We actually get a lot of good neutrals this set -- Animated Broomstick, Intrepid Initiate, Manafeeder Panthara, Voracious Reader... but they're just pretty solid minions that I remember and I fit into my deck, but not cards that I actually like in the way that I do the others I mentioned. 

Most Forgettable Card: Enchanted Cauldron. I just genuinely don't remember this card at all, and its spellburst is one of those pretty impractical ones. 

• Honourable Mentions: Ogremancer, Sorcerous Substitute, Headmaster Kel'Thuzad, Divine Rager (the rager has no real theme to Scholomance, I feel), Crimson Hothead, Wretched Tutor, Onyx Magescribe, (all rather underwhelming Spellburst cards) Desk Imp (sorry, you're nowhere as cute as Tinyfin, Wisp or the Penguin). I almost included the ghost-deathrattle trio here, but I actually remember two of them due to their art -- Smug Senior is the only real forgettable one. 

______________________

MADNESS AT THE DARKMOON FAIRE

This one includes the Darkmoon Races mini-set. 

Favourite Card: Il'gynoth, which is just such an interesting effect I never would've thought with Lifesteal. It's also kind of hilariously over-the-top when you combo Aldrachi Warblades with the gajillion of attack-buff spells that Demon Hunter has access to. I don't know. I just really like Il'gynoth's effect in general, though mostly because it allowed me to have some wacky fun with Demon Hunter that isn't just aggro-aggro-murder. Now I get to do slightly more convoluted aggro! 

• Honourable Mentions: Felsteel Executioner was almost the winner because of how much I really like the flavour of this one; it's a weird fel-infused elemental dude that morphs into a weapon for you to hold. Expendable Performers (terrible card, but the flavour is memorable), Insatiable Felhound (for the artwork, which I really like), Felsaber (mostly because I thought it's gonna be terrible but actually is pretty decent). Notable good cards include Luckysoul Hoarder, Illidari Studies, Dreadlord's Bite, Relentless Pursuit, Bladed Lady and Stiltstepper, but I wouldn't say there's my favourites. 

Most Forgettable Card: Darkmoon Faire tried to release some weaker DH cards, but there's balanced and there's 'so weak no one will play it'. That's Redeemed Pariah, who's just kinda there. He's not terrible enough to be memorable, but he's just so bland and boring. 

• Honourable Mentions: Line Hopper (I just don't remember him), Renowned Performer (also don't remember him), Acrobatics (I don't remember this one), Felscream Blast (ditto), Zai the Outcast (would actually win the 'most forgettable' bit except that I actually remember him, unlike most of the Scholomance legendaries)

Favourite Card: I like Arbor Up. Mostly for the pun. I think it's all right in Standard, but kind of weak in Wild? I do like that you can really high-roll with this one, and at the worst you get two 4/3 Treants that can work with other synergy cards. I like the design about this one, mostly. 

• Honourable Mentions: Dreaming Drake (for the very cool nightmare drake artwork), Greybough (not particularly good, but a cool effect), Guess the Weight (such a flavourful card in its effect), Fizzy Elemental (it's a big cutie)

Most Forgettable Card: Moontouched Armor, mostly out of process of elimination. Druid has way too many cards that just give attack or armour, and this is probably one of the more boring ones in terms of effect and flavour. 

• Honourable Mentions: Guidance, Resizing Pouch, Cenarion Ward. Not much to say here, Druid isn't the most interesting class this set. 

Favourite Card: It's a bit of a toss-up between this one and Open the Cages, honestly, but I picked Darkmoon Tonk mostly because it's fun to say 'TONK'. I don't think Hunter gets any particularly notable cards in this one -- again, especially for Wild -- but I did like the idea of a big deathrattle Hunter deck, and I like the artwork for this one. 

• Honourable Mentions: Open the Cages is fun for an interesting Hunter secret that triggers differently; Petting Zoo is a neat little Secret-synergy even if I'm not sure what setting traps has to do with summoning giant striders from a petting zoo; Trampling Rhino is cute for the M:TG reference; Maxima Blastenheimer is hilarious for the mental image of her shoving a tank into her cannon and shooting the tank to the enemy face and then the tank explodes and missiles the enemy in the face. 

Most Forgettable Card: Mystery Winner is one of many Secret Hunter synergy cards we've had in recent history, but she's easily the most boring and weakest one, I feel. 

• Honourable Mentions: I actually apparently don't remember a lot of the Hunter cards, huh. Guidance, Resizing Pouch, Sddlemaster, Rinling's Rifle, Jewel of N'Zoth, Bola Shot... I don't remember any of these, and I only remember Dancing Cobra and Don't Feed the Animals thanks to their memorable art.

Favourite Card: Unlike Hunter and Druid, Mage got a lot from Darkmoon Faire, particularly in Wild. And honestly, with how the cards seem to be shaping up in Standard, I wager the Secret Mage package might rampage in Standard, too. I had to flip a coin between Rigged Faire Game and Sayge, but I'm going to have to go with Sayge, Seer of Darkmoon. He basically replaced Aluneth as the hand reload for Wild's uber-powerful Secret Mage deck, and I actually really like just how powerful the effect is but how you must work to get to it. The idea of a fortune teller getting a clearer vision after more and more secrets are revealed to him is also pretty fun. 

• Honourable Mentions: Rigged Faire Game is admittedly pretty triggering if you're on the opposing end, but I really like this. It is a powerful secret for the aggressive Secret Mage deck in Wild, but it can lose steam pretty quickly if the enemy can predict what it is, or have a way to whack the Mage in the face with tokens. Not sure if it's good for the health of the game but I like it a lot. Occult Conjurer is a surprisingly interesting 'secrets benefit you' card, even if it's just two vanilla minions. Confection Cyclone (for the glorious artwork) and Ring Toss (for the turtle). I also really like Imprisoned Phoenix and Keywarden Ivory, too, even if they don't see play in Wild. 

Most Forgettable Card: Glacier Racer, sorry, I genuinely don't remember you exist. You need to combo her with Frost Nova or something, and have to trigger her effect with Spellburst, too? Yeah, no wonder I never saw her be played. 

• Honourable Mentions: Game Master (probably decent in Standard, but a travesty for Secret Mage in Wild), Grand Finale (I'm not sure why I forgot this one), Firework Elemental (not sure why I forgot this one, TBH)

Favourite Card: It can't be anything else other than Oh My Yogg!, can it? What an asshole Secret, and I honestly can't be mad when I walk into this one and get my spell turned into another spell. Nothing much to say here. 

• Honourable Mentions: Carnival Barker (as much as it can snowball with Odd Paladin), Lothraxion the Redeemed (not as good as I thought, but we're getting dude support next expansion), Day at the Faire (the art is funny), High exarch Yrel (the artwork's really badass though she also has a pretty fun effect), Balloon Merchant (because the fandom likes to call divine shields 'balloons', get it?)

Most Forgettable Card: I genuinely don't remember Imprisoned Celestial at all. And... I don't know. I guess combining two different mechanics from the two previous expansions ended up with a minion that's a bit too impractical?

• Honourable Mentions: I just don't remember a lot of the other cards, huh? Redscale Dragontamer, Rally, Barricade, Hammer of the Naaru and Libram of Judgement are cards that I genuinely forget exist. 

Favourite Card: Palm Reading is kind of a powerful card, huh? Just the discount alone is already powerful, particularly in Wild Big Priest decks, but you get a spell discovery bonus out of it. It's only 3 mana, too, and you get a whole ton of value from this one! Debated on this one versus Blood of G'Huun, and I realized I like this one more. 

• Honourable Mentions: Blood of G'huun, obviously. Pretty much made Big Priest decks now be built around it. Other than him, I like Lightsteed (for the effect), Fairground Fool (for the silly clown art), and... um... I guess Idol of Y'Shaarj? I dunno, this expansion is pretty underwhelming.   

Most Forgettable Card: A lot of Priest cards I forget about, but I kind of sort of remember their artwork or their effect. Like Auspicious Spirits, which I remember the effect vaguely, or Xanesh, who I never see in play but she rides a giant monster worm so that part is memorable. So Rally ends up being the most forgettable due to how weird it is for Priest to have this card. 

• Honourable Mentions: To be honest, post-nerf Hysteria, The Nameless One and Fortune Teller are pretty forgettable. If not for Blood of G'huun, I'd forget that G'huun is in the game, too. 

Favourite Card: On its own, Swindle is probably not the most memorable card, beyond 'it's in my Kingsbane Rogue deck'. But the artwork. Look at the artwork. Look at the artwork of that older blood elf holding a big-ass pile of tickets while the little blood elf girl is so happy to get a giant murloc doll and a pet fish. I just love that artwork, which I think captures the vibe of the Darkmoon Fair's fairground flavour so much. And the fact that it's an actually cool spell? Yeah. 

• Honourable Mentions: Shenanigans, because of the card name and the banana thing. Foxy Fraud, Nitroboost Poison and Prize Plunderer aren't super-duper creative, but I really like the artwork of Prize Plunderer being this huge burly tattooed pirate who's just so happy to get a pink teddy bear. Plus, y'know, "they were in a significant deck to me" thing. Ticket Master is cute mostly because of the memorable art for the plush bear. I have Tenwu of the Red Smoke, and while he's not that good, I do like his effect a fair bit. 

Most Forgettable Card: When you are a giant insect monster and I forget about you, you know you're forgettable. Sorry, Grand Empress Shek'zara, your effect is weird and I don't doubt someone will make a weird deck out of you eventually, but man, I don't remember you at all. 

• Honourable Mentions: Sweet Tooth, Sparkjoy Cheat, Shadow Clone, Cloak of Shadows and Malevolent Strike are all kind of forgettable. The last two have cool art, at least. 

Favourite Card: I'm sorry, I'm going for the meme here. Magicfin is a cute wacky random-RNG card, and I really love the adorable artwork of the Murloc holding a smiling green frog while Matt Dixon's recurring :c face blue frog is sad in the background. Murloc decks are honestly better served with so many other murloc cards, but I really like this one a lot. 

• Honourable Mentions: Grand Totem Eys'or (not really good in Wild, but I like the idea and the effect), Revolve (mostly for the dumb pun), Imprisoned Phoenix (mostly on the Mage end)

Most Forgettable Card: Poor Shaman has a lot of cards that I never see... mostly because I never see Shaman. Out of them, the card that I genuinely went 'huh, I don't remember you' is Dunk Tank.

• Honourable Mentions: Guidance, Pit Master, Mistrunner, Deathmatch Pavilion, Stormstrike, Landslide. Yeah, I don't remember a lot of these cards. 

Favourite Card: As if it could be anyone else? Tickatus. For so long Blizzard has been afraid of enemy deck disruption that we get kind of weak stuff like Star Student Stelina; single-card ones like Gnomeferatu or Bamboozle... the best we got was Rin, and she took potentially the whole game to go off. Tickatus, though? He also takes a while to come down, at the earliest on turn eight, but man, what a powerful disruption tool especially you Brann him. So much fun to use against combo decks, and honestly, I can't even be mad when I get Tickatus'd.

• Honourable Mentions: Envoy Rustwix very nearly made it as the winner here if not for Tickatus. I get to play with the Prime minions even if the classes with the Prime minions aren't good! Wicked Whispers is a pretty cool Discard Warlock card design-wise, Revenant Rascal has a fun little disruption effect, I really like the art for both Fire Breather and Man'ari Mosher (and they're pretty decent cards, too!) and I like the increasingly over-the-top art for Cascading Disaster. 

Most Forgettable Card: Free Admission is probably one of the more. underwhelming minion-draw-discount cards I've seen for Warlock. Not much to say here. 

• Honourable Mentions: Post-nerf Hysteria, Midway Maniac, Ring Matron and Deck of Chaos are all pretty forgettable. 

Favourite Card: Kind of a simple card, but it's got a bunch going on for it. It's a very solid and playable card, it's a Pirate that equips weapon and is also a Taunt etc etc etc. I just really like the artwork, okay? It's a dumb orc pirate that's literally chomping down on a sword, and it's a pun on the sword-eater carnies. 

• Honourable Mentions: Uh... I don't know. Tent Thrasher has a cool artwork, and I find Stage Hand cute? Spiked Wheel has a fun concept? I don't know. I don't hate or forget any of these cards, but it's like... Nitroboost Poison is a very powerful meta card and it's nice to see ETC get a new card, but otherwise there aren't any Warrior cards that I look at and go 'yeah, that's a card I like a lot'.

Most Forgettable Card: Stage Dive, though a lot of Warrior cards in this set are kind of bland to me. Not sure why Stage Dive stands out (or rather, doesn't stand out) compared to the others. It's not even a bad card per se, it's a better Town Crier without a body.

• Honourable Mentions: Bumper Car, Ironclad, Ringmaster Whatley, Ringmaster's Baton, Minefield and Feat of Strength are all honestly pretty forgettable. 

Favourite Card: Is it any surprise that my favourite card from this expansion is New Yogg? Yogg-Saron, Master of Fate isn't like, the most powerful meta-breaking card like Old Yogg (Old Yogg doesn't break the meta either) but I do really like how much more varied he is, even if most of the time New Yogg doesn't really spin the wheel all that well for you. I kind of like how it fits with Yogg's own randomness while also working within the theme of a carnival, for sure. 

• Honourable Mentions: C'Thun the Shattered is the only other Old God that I actually really like here, thanks to his 'shatter into four Exodia cards that do different things' gimmick. He's mostly unplayable in Wild because he's too slow, but I really appreciate his design. New-N'Zoth and New-Y'Shaarj are kind of bland to me. Darkmoon Rabbit is hilarious. Silas Darkmoon is actually pretty cool from a mechanics standpoint. I love the artworks for Crabrider, Circus Amalgam, Costumed Entertainer, Darkmoon Statue and Darkmoon Dirigible. I don't like him as much as most people, but I actually have to admit that Carnival Clown is pretty dang cool. 

Most Forgettable Card: Parade Leader is kind of the most boring one out of the neutral cards, mostly because the effect isn't that good, but also because she's just standing there and smiling... a lot of the other Darkmoon cards are being corrupted by the Old Gods or playing carnival games. Parade Leader is doing neither.

• Honourable Mentions: Safety Inspector, Showstopper, K'thir Ritualist, Knife Vendor, Fantastic Firebird and Runaway Coaster are pretty forgettable. The rest I remember their artwork or at least saw them in like, arena or something. The corrupt gimmick, I think, at least made a lot of the neutrals memorable. I think there's a lot more forgettable neutrals this time around compared to the previous two.