So, quite a few of the new cards have been revealed, and I figured we could have a little discussion thread to talk about them as they are announced.
I'm probably not going to do every card in this opening post, but only the really crazy interesting (and one or two bad) ones.
First up, we have the card that everyone who plays arena is gnashing their teeth about...
Firelands Portal
I see why they're freaking out! In arena tempo is king, and this card is powerful removal and a fairly beefy minion! It's tough to imagine a truly "bad" minion that you could get out of this card. No Doomsayer or Ancient Watcher ruining your day. In fact, there are a lot of great statline minions you could get. Earth Elemental, Twilight Darkmender, Doomguard, and Leeroy Jenkins to name just a few. You could even wind up with Validated Doomsayer and get a chance at a 7/7! Seems powerful! In constructed I think it's probably a little too expensive to be used in the crazy fast meta that's currently sweeping ranked play, but we'll see.
Next, we have what I think is one of the neatest and craziest cards Hearthstone has seen yet,
Prince Malchezaar
Here we have a good statline 5 cost minion with a totally new mechanic. If you have Malchezaar in your deck at the start of the game, 5 random legendary minions are added to your deck. This is kind of insane for a lot of reasons. Obviously, legendary minions are really powerful, and if you get a lot of good ones in the random bonus you could wind up with a pretty nice setup for the game. In addition to that, games occasionally still go to fatigue and you'll be in a better position than your opponent since you have a 35 card deck, if it comes to that. Miracle decks that draw through all their cards may like this card quite a bit.
The obvious drawback is that your deck is full of cards you want to play and draw when you need them, and there's a good reason a deck of all legendaries doesn't work. It'll be interesting to see if this becomes this expansion's Emperor Thaurissan or Dr. Boom.
Speaking of unique cards, here's
The Curator
Man, this is a neat one. This guy has the statline, taunt, and mana cost of a Twin Emperor, and a really powerful but situational battlecry. There are plenty of trios that people have theorycrafted as being optimal for this card's draw effect. The currently accepted wisdom is Ysera, Corrupted Seer, and Stampeding Kodo, but there may be many other options as well. This card immediately seems most at home in a Reno Jackson deck, where wild card diversity is welcomed. However, to get full use out of that battlecry you'll need to have the cards still in your deck, so the trade-off is certainty of what cards you'll draw versus certainty that you'll get the full 3 cards drawn from this battlecry. Like many other cards in this expansion that have been shown, I worry that this may just be too slow. He doesn't really have much of an effect on the board for a 7-cost minion, but I still love how neat he is.
If you thought Zoo Warlocks just didn't have enough great cards, check out
Kara Kahzam!
I love the art, name, and just about everything about this card. I'm scared to have it played against me, but I do love it. This card is a 6/6 statline for 5 mana, which is slightly above average! And as a bonus, it's split among 3 minions, which is even better! Darkshire Councilman loves this card, and in general this seems to be an easy way to get a fast presence going after a big AOE on your board like Consecrate, but which is more valuable than something like Forbidden Ritual and more immediate than Imp Gang Boss. It also provides a very flexible board of Power Overwhelming options, allowing you to perfectly kill a 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, or 7 health minion. This probably won't be an auto-include spell into every Warlock deck, but it's definitely solid.
Next I want to talk about a card I'd love to be great but have some reservations about,
Ivory Knight
Ivory Knight is a neat card that has what I think could be crippling issues. The 4/4 statline is below average for a 6-cost card, but Discover is a powerful ability. Paladin spells however are in general pretty situational and very low-cost. You could wind up with a big heal and great removal from Avenging Wrath, but of the 28 Paladin Spells currently in standard mode a whopping 12 of them are 1-cost or lower. Only Forbidden Healing is zero cost, but the 14-mana heal next turn may make up for that. In fact, 8 more of those 1-cost spells are 2 to 4-cost, leaving just eight 5+ mana spells available for a decent heal. But, it gets worse: the big mana spells are paladin's most situational. From Holy Wrath to Enter the Coliseum, Anyfin Can Happen to Solemn Vigil, the most expensive paladin spells tend to be the niche ones. So you'll be discovering a bad heal and good spell, or a situational spell and good heal. Adding what may end up being a kind of lackluster and confused battlecry to bad stats, we have a mid-game card that's supposed to keep you alive with a pretty small heal in a very fast meta. We'll have to wait and see on this one!
Finally, I just straight up think this card is bad. It's...
Moroes
I have to say I'm completely baffled here. I don't understand the point of this card. Maybe he's there to nerf random legendary summoning cards like Prince Malchezaar and Confessor Paletress, maybe he's supposed to provide you targets for buffs. For a 3 cost card you should be expecting around 6 stats or a damn good effect. Moroes seems to have neither. Arcane Missiles, Swipe, Arcane Explosion, Consecration, Hellfire, and more are all available at this point or the next turn to ruin Moroes and his buddy's day, and even if they survive I'm not sure they'll be some giant help. Low cost legendaries are pretty cool, but Bloodmage Thalnos has a great value effect and Milhouse Manastorm has great stats. Sir Finley Mrrgglton has good stats and a great effect. Maybe Moroes will be used, but I just can't see it.
edit: Turns out I somehow misread Moroes and thought he only summoned ONE 1/1 Steward. As it stands, he's actually a Wisp factory! Which makes him... still pretty bad. Sure you could Power of the Wild a board of Stewards or Savage Roar with them, but Moroes probably isn't going to stick around for more than a few turns and ultimately there are better ways to achieve this same effect, like Violet Teacher. As it stands, he still seems too slow and situational.
So, there you have it. That's definitely not all the cards in the expansion, or even all the cards that have been released at this point, but I hope this allows us to get some discussion going. What do you think is good or bad? Am I dumb and wrong? Do you just hate Firelands Portal? I'd love to see more Hearthstone chat on GB, so let's do it!
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