Rise of Shadows Set Review

Scale is 1-4:

4 – This card is meta defining. A top card in a top deck or a card that fits everywhere

Ex: Tar Creeper, Master’s Call, Spreading Plague

3 – This is a solid card.

Ex: Saronite Pain Gang, Sorcerer’s Apprentice,

2 – This is an ok card. It sees a bit of play but you’re fine cutting the card

Ex: Glass Knight, Scaleworm

1 – This won’t see any competitive play. Sometimes cards are on the fringe of play but it’s a 1.

Ex: Magma Rager, War Master Voone

Druid:

Acornbearer – 2

This is a card that will probably see some play in Token Druid. A 2/1 for 1 that gives you small minions in hand is reminiscent of firefly but much worse because you don’t get the extra tokens immediately and 2/1 dies to 1 springpaw.

Crystal Power – 3

If heal Druid becomes a deck Malfurion can thank Crystal Power. One of the more powerful healing cards that Druid has available. This card is also about as strong as Flash Heal was in Priest and Flash Heal was decent.

Blessing of the Ancients – 1

This would be very strong at 2 mana, but at 3 mana it’s just too slow to ever warrant wanting to play this. It will probably be experimented with because Druid loses some board buffs but will eventually get cut.

Dreamway Guardians – 2

This is an ok card in most Druid decks and really shines when played with Lifeweaver. Having two 1/2 bodies for 2 mana is good against aggro on turn 2 and becomes really annoying if they get buffed. Druid lacks good early 2 mana plays and this is good enough to see play.

Lifeweaver – 2

This card is one of the reasons why you would want to run heal Druid. There is no stat penalty and the nuts curve of dreamway guardians into Lifeweaver allowing you to get 2 random Druid spells in incredible. This card would require you to play multiple healing cards and there are few quality cards for Druid

The Forest’s Aid – 3

No deck is going to have enough aoe to deal with Whisper of the Woods, Soul of the Forest and The Forest’s Aid. If Token Druid can survive long enough and draw enough cards to get it’s combo’s enabled then this card is going to be very strong. Too bad these treants don’t have charge and die at the end of the turn haha.

Crystalsong Portal – 3

Druid decks now tend to run a low amount of minions and they have many different spells that summon minions. Crystalsong Portal is at its strongest when paired with one of those decks, Token Druid in particular. Druid has some very bad minions, Forest Guide and Keeper of the Grove come to mind, but overall you’re going to get some quality minions. This card feels very similar to Master’s Call.

Crystal Stag – 2

One of Druid’s weaknesses is coming back when behind. In the past they used to play bigger minions such as Ancient of War early to make up for ramping early (currently they play OP cards like UI and Spreading Plague). Crystal Stag helps Druid overcome this weakness. Having two 4/4 bodies with Rush is incredible tempo. Druid of the Claw is at it’s best when you’re playing it as a 4/4 charge minion for 5 mana. The only obstacle again is what cards you’re going to play to restore health. Perhaps a small package of Crystal Power, Zilliax, and maybe Lifedrinker is enough for this to see play.

Keeper Stalladris – 2

This card has incredible potential and looks incredibly strong. Then you look at the choose one spells… Wrath, Crystal Power and Power of the Wild are the only cheap spells worth running. Outside of those you’re going to be playing bad cards to try to make this card worth; bad cards like Mark of the Loa. Nourish is the other choose one spell you would want to play but the second mana ramp card is going to be a dead card and then you have a 6 mana draw 3 card in hand. This might see play in Token Druid to have additional board buffs.

Lucentbark – 1

Bad stats. You have to run and hold bad cards in your hand waiting for Lucentbark to die so you can bring him back just to die again the next turn :upside_down_smileyface:

Overall for Druid I think that Token Druid has the most potential and if you want to run a heal Druid deck it might just be best running a small healing package to enable Crystal Stag.

Hunter:

Rapid Fire – 1

The best place for this card is a Jepetto Malygos Meme deck. Why are we playing a bad version of Springpaw in our deck?

Ursatron – 1

You’re playing an understated minion for 3 mana to eventually draw a bad minion from your deck? Plus if you’re running Ursatron then you can’t run Master’s Call.

Marked Shot – 1

I really wish this was Deal 5 damage to a minion. Overkill: Discover a spell. At 4 damage it just doesn’t do enough to kill a good 4 drop on curve. Discover a spell is nice but this card is just too slow to see play. If you really want to deal 4 damage run Wing Blast.

Babbling Bug – 2

Not as good as babbling book since you don’t get the spell immediately but it is another body for Hunter to play early and it also fits into a Master’s Call deck. It is mostly a filler beast for a Master’s Call deck since there is limited beasts in year of the dragon.

Unleash the Beast – 3

This card is incredible when paired with Zuljin. It also helps Hunter get back onto the board when behind and fits into a Master’s Call deck.

Hunting Party – 1

Between this and Dr Boom’s Scheme it’s really tough to pick the worst card of the set.

Nine Lives – 2

With Spider Bomb this is a deadly shot that gives you another Spider bomb into your hand. This card suffers from the same issue that Da Undatakah has: you have to draw and have your deathrattle cards die before you can use Nine Lives. In a class with their best deathrattles rotating and limited card draw it’s hard to see this being a very strong card. It will be experimented in a mech deathrattle Hunter deck.

Arcane Fletcher – 1

If you want to see play as a 4 mana 3/3 you need to have a rather powerful effect. This effect isn’t strong enough to see play. It half synergizes with halazzi because you will still have 10 cards in hand after playing the 1/1 lynxes.

Oblivitron – 1

This is going to see as much play as the new 4 mana piloted shredder that summons a 2 mana minion from your hand. Such a narrow restriction on it’s effect. F in chat for whoever pull this as their free golden legendary from the Mega Bundle.

Vereesa Windrunner – 1

It’s a slow minion with poor stats to play on turn 7. The weapon that gives you +2 spell damage is nice with Rapid Fire and maybe Multi Shot? It’s just too slow to see play.

Overall Hunter is subpar but Master’s Call is so strong it will probably still carry the class.

Mage:

Ray of Frost – 2

It’s 2 cards in 1 for 0 mana if you have a sorcerer’s apprentice in play. This also has great synergy with Vex Crow and Mana Cyclone. This is definitely one of the spells that’s going to be competing for the final few spots in Tempo Mage.

Magic Dart Frog – 1

The effect is very similar to +1 Spell Damage. The stats are absolute garbage for the mana cost. It feels slightly weaker than the super oppressive card Spell Shifter.

Messenger Raven – 2

This card is rather similar to Stonehill Defender in Paladin; you get offered Legendary minions quite often. Being able to get another Janalai or Kelecgos is very powerful in a control deck. The biggest question mark with this card is whether or not Control Mage is going to be strong.

Magic Trick – 2

10/10 for the hand illusion. This is similar to ray of frost and it going to be one of the last spells you play in Tempo mage.

Conjurer’s Calling – 3

This card is incredible tempo and is very reminiscent of evolve. With Khadgar or strong battlecry minions you can create incredible tempo turns. This card is strong enough that you might want to experiment building a deck around it.

Kirin Tor Tricaster – 3

This is a finisher for Freeze Mage or even Tempo Mage someone similarly to when Evolved Kobold was played in Freeze Mage. This makes your frost bolts into 3 mana Fireballs, Arcane Missiles becomes 2 mana Cinderstorms. It’s potentially a very strong finisher for mage.

Mana Cyclone – 4

I can play all my spells in my hand and then refill my hand for 2 mana (0 with the elemental innervate card)? Sign me up! Another card that refilled your hand after casting your spells was Aluneth which was an insane card in Tempo Mage. This card is going to make you want to run more cheap spells so that you can go off and have some miracle turns. This is very similar to Lyras for a deck that plays lots of little spells.

Power of Creation – 1

6 mana cards are not very good.

Khadgar – 2

This card is incredibly good in Control Mage decks. He synergizes with Astromancer, Janalai, and Conjurer’s Calling. This has the same issue as Messenger Raven where Control Mage is probably not good enough.

Kalecgos – 2

As far as power in a vacuum goes this card is easily a 4. You get a free spell every single turn. Again this card comes down to how good Control Mage becomes (Spoiler: I don’t think it will be very good).

Overall a bunch of mage cards are very strong in a Tempo Mage deck and a bunch of cards really depend on how good Control Mage becomes in the upcoming meta.

Paladin:

Never Surrender! – 3

This is the strongest Secret that Paladin possesses. This card can also be read 1 mana Counterspell for Aoe spells. If you’re playing Secret Paladin this is one of the first cards you’re going to put into your deck.

Lightforged Blessing – 1

Bronze Herald – 1

Terrible tempo, decent value. Paladin just doesn’t have enough Dragon synergies for this to see play. The only reason why I could see this being played is because it enables Scaleworm on curve and Scaleworm with rush is the strongest 4 mana play in Year of the Dragon. I thought this was a Battlecry when I wrote the previous sentence. Geez this card is bad.

Desperate Measures – 3

My strategy is penalty kicks in soccer used to be “How is the goalie going to know where I’m kicking if I don’t even know where I’m kicking?” and this card is the same: “How is my opponent going to know what Secret I’m playing if I don’t even know what secret I’m playing?” This card allows you to run less secrets in your deck for a secret Paladin which means you get to run more good cards which is always good. Being able to play 2 secrets while only having to draw one low impactful card is very powerful.

Paladin Fiery War Axe – 3

Fiery War Axe was the best weapon in Hearthstone’s history, this becomes Fiery War Axe a lot of the time. This is one of the cards that enables Secret Paladin.

Call to Adventure – 1

You could get a 3/3 wisp for 0 mana! Think of the Value!

Dragon Speaker – 1

Remember when Handbuff was good? Yeah, me neither.

Duel! – 1

This is a Big Paladin card but Paladin doesn’t have enough threats to run a Big deck and they don’t have good enough spells to survive early game without minions. Just run hecklebot if you want anti combo tech.

Commander Rhyssa – 3

Very powerful effect and it curves into Bellringer Sentry. This card is nuts with the secret that gives your minions +2 health. This goes in one deck only but will be strong in that one deck.

Nozari – 1

Why would you run this over Shirvallah and bounce effects?

Overall Paladin got a bunch of Secret Paladin cards and then a bunch of slow bad Dragon cards.

Priest:

EVIL Conscripter – 1

Bad stats, effect is a deathrattle and not a battle cry and Priest doesn’t care about Lackeys. There really isn’t a reason to play this minion.

Unsleeping Soul – 3

This is one of the strongest cards that enables Silence Priest. Even getting an Ancient Watcher copy off of this is 4 mana yeti stats. This is a cheaper faceless manipulator in a deck that summons big minions early.

Hench-Clan Shadequill – 4

This just goes into every Priest deck. Priest in particular likes having big health minions and this is very overstated in the health department. This regularly 2 for 1 and potentially 3 for 1 minions and it has a fairly negligible deathrattle.

Forbidden Words – 3

Forbidden Words trades value for versatility. It is a better Shadow Word: Pain when the targeted minion has less than 3 health but is a worse Shadow Word: Death. Most played minions in hearthstone have attack equal or less than their mana cost so Forbidden Words is almost always going to evenly trade 1 for 1 and later in the game it’s going to gain mana on bigger minions.

Convincing Infiltrator – 2

This card has lots of potential in a Rez Priest, as we’ve seen with Obsidian Statue the ability to kill something after a trade is strong. The stats are not very strong for 5 mana and most minions on curve are going to be able to trade with Convincing Infiltrator without dying which weakens the deathrattle effect. It also has potential in a Divine Spirit/Inner fire deck.

Mass Resurrection – 1

Without the cheating cards in the mid game it’s hard to see a world where Rez priest as we know now is going to be able to exist. Additionally if you’re running a deck revolving around Mass Resurrection you’re not going to be able to run good early priest minions, needed to combat aggro, such as Northshire Cleric and Auchenai Soulpriest.

Lazul’s Scheme – 3

This card is going to be a staple in Divine Spirit Priest. This allows you to reduce an enemy minion attack to 2 or lower, allowing you to steal the minion with shadow madness and kill your opponent with a divine spirit/inner fire combo. If a Control Priest also exists then this card pairs very nicely with Cabal Shadow Priest.

Shadowy Figure – 1

With Cube gone there isn’t really any Deathrattle minions to copy that are worth running this card in your deck.

Madame Lazul – 1

The archetypes that Blizzard seems to be pushing with Priest (Rez and Silence Priest) both don’t want to have a 3 mana 3/2 in their deck. Discovering a copy of a card in your opponent’s hand means you’re probably not getting a low value card that your opponent would of already played early but the payoff of getting a card that may or may not work with your deck isn’t worth the terrible tempo play of a 3 mana 3/2. The whole “you get information” ability of this card is a moot point, in my opinion, since you should already be reading what is in your opponent’s hand.

Catrina Muerte – 2

The effect is extremely powerful and gives Catrina pseudo taunt since keeping this up multiple turns in a row is game winning. Unfortunately if the meta shifts towards aggro, which historically happens after rotation, then you’re going to want to be running smaller minions such as Northshire Cleric and Wild Pyromancer which are not good rez targets for Catrina. The effect being so powerful makes this a 2 instead of a 1.

Overall Priest isn’t the strongest class this expansion nor is it the weakest class. There are some high quality cards in Hench Clan Shadequill, Forbidden Words, and Lazul’s Scheme.

Rogue:

Daring Escape – 1

Shadowstep is strong because it doesn’t cost anything and it adds a discount to the minion you return back to your hand. Returning something back to your hand is a negative effect that usually needs a payoff to see any play. Also Pogo Hopper is still a meme.

EVIL Miscreant – 4

Lackeys are powerful. 1 mana minions are powerful in rogue because they enable combos. A card that gives you two powerful 1 mana minions is going to be powerful in rogue. The Lackeys fill a nice void that Fire Fly left after rotation. They also enable Togwaggle which is going to go in pretty much every Rogue archetype. Play this card in Rogue; it’s strong.

Hench-Clan Burglar – 2

4 mana 4/3 are not strong stats, especially in a class like Rogue that wants to make tempo plays almost every turn. The burglar being a pirate is relevant and the reason why it might see some play because of the power of Raiding Party. It is also a decent sized body for Captain Hooktusk which is a powerful card in it’s own right.

Togwaggle’s Scheme – 1

Gang up was a good card because Rogue had a powerful draw engine in Coldlight Oracle. Without a powerful draw engine shuffling cards into your deck is a rather weak effect. There aren’t really any cards worth shuffling multiple copies into your deck regardless. Pogo Hopper is still a meme.

Underbelly Fence – 1

Underbelly Fence is the most disappointing card in the whole set, and potentially the most disappointing card in all of year of the dragon. It is such an incredibly powerful card with a condition that isn’t hard to meet. A rushing Totem Golem for 2 mana is easily the strongest 2 mana play in the game at the moment. The issue with Underbelly Fence is that the cards that activate the effect are garbage. The list of cards in year of the dragon that give you other class cards are: Pilfer, Pick-Pocket, Stolen Steel, Blink Fox, Face Collector, Academic Espionage, and Hench-Clan Burglar. Only one of those cards (Pilfer) allows you to play Underbelly Fence on turn 2 if you don’t have the coin and with the coin you could play Pick-Pocket or Stolen Steel. Out of that list 2 maybe 3 of those cards are playable cards. There just isn’t enough support to enable this card.

Vendetta – 2

This card has a lot of potential and will probably see more play than Undercity Fence. Vendetta allows Blink Fox and Hench-Clan Burglar to also deal 4 damage to a minion when the battlecry goes off which is incredible tempo. However it is a draw dependent combo and I don’t think you want to be running any other burgle cards.

Waggle Pick – 3

Waggle Pick curves from Raiding Party and makes your Dread Corsairs cost 0 mana. This will probably go in every deck that runs Raiding Party since there are not many deathrattles for Necrium Blade. The effect is both a positive and a negative since there are a few cards that you want the effect to go off on like Leeroy or SI: Agent.

Unidentified Contract – 1

You may as well just play Sap in Rogue. 6 mana is a lot and the bonus effects are not worth spending the 2 extra mana over something like walk the plank.

Togwaggle – 4

The double legendary and the draw 3 cards, they cost 0 treasures are both absurdly strong tempo plays. In order to trigger Togwaggle’s effect you have to have a Lackey on the board which is a card you want to be running in Rogue regardless. This is an incredible card in Togwaggle that will warp every Rogue deck to run Lackeys.

Tak Nozwhisker – 1

This just costs too much to combo with anything.

Overall Rogue got some of the strongest cards in this set but the whole burgle package probably won’t work.

Shaman:

Mutate – 3

Mutate is an incredible tempo play. All 0 mana cards need to be considered for competitive play just from the mana cost alone. Mana is the premium currency in Hearthstone, so being able to have an effect for free is great. One of the themes of Shaman is battlecry and this card synergizes with battlecry minions since they usually have a weaker body. Most non murloc tempo decks should be running this card. Also has good synergy with Exotic Mountseller.

Soul of the Murloc – 4

Giving Shaman the ability to create a sticky wide board is a very risky and bold choice from Team 5. Soul of the Murloc being so cheap, at 2 mana, means that it fits flexibly in the mid game and allows you to have a board for a giant bloodlust turn. This may be the most powerful card of the set.

Walking Fountain – 3

Holy Big Zilliax Batman! Zilliax is the strongest lifesteal minion because divine shield allows it to usually hit multiple times and rush allows it to have priority when attacking. Walking Fountain has the same advantages as Zilliax and is very reasonably stated for 8 mana. This should be played in every non aggro Shaman deck.

Sludge Slurper – 4

It appears as though the theme of Shaman this set is powerful cards. A reasonably stated 1 drop that gives you a lackey is incredible. Overload is stronger on minions than on spells since you’re getting tempo when playing the minion and are generally being proactive. Being overloaded on turn 2 means you can just play the Lackey this turn. The only Shaman deck you don’t want this in is a Muckmorpher deck.

Underbelly Angler – 4

One of the major issues with murloc decks is that they run out of steam quickly and can’t get the final blow against control. To fix this weakness Blizzard decided to just give Shaman a lyras for murlocs that has vanilla stats. This card also has pseudo taunt because your opponent doesn’t want you to replace your murlocs you play with more murlocs.

Hagatha’s Scheme – 3

An Aoe clear without overload is something Shaman hasn’t had before and is a nice additional to control Shaman’s arsenal. While it is garbage as a top deck after it’s been in your hand for a few turns and it becomes 4 damage Hagatha’s Scheme becomes a very real threat for your opponent. Every control shaman is going to be running this card.

Witch’s Brew – 2

This is the healing rain replacement for Shaman. It is a nice card to have as a one of in the early game since there is no other good healing option, but it may be redundant with Zilliax and Walking Fountain available to Thrall.

Muckmorpher – 2

Muckmorpher is a 5 mana shadow essence for Shaman. With powerful minions it can copy such as Walking Fountain, Malygos or Zilliax this may spawn a new type of Shaman deck that revolves around cheating those minions out with Muckmorpher and Eureka. I am skeptical that that type of deck can exist in Shaman since their control spells are just decent, but if that deck does exist then Muckmorpher should be a 3.

Scargil – 2

Scargil is a good minion, but it’s also a very cuttable minion. The best use for this is paired with Coldlight Seer on turn 5. In the late game playing this with Underbelly Angler doesn’t really save you enough mana since murlocs are already cheap.

Swampqueen Hagatha – 3

First of all, having p and q next to each other in a word is very weird and doesn’t happen in English; writing out Swampqueen bugged me lol. Linguistics aside this card sacrifices tempo on the first turn for a huge swing the following turn. Hagatha reminds me a lot of Solar Power in Pokemon. This is a very strong late game card and should be played in non aggro Shaman decks.

Shaman is easily the best class of this set and should spawn multiple different archetypes. If you’re a fan of Thrall then you should be excited.

Warlock:

EVIL Genius – 1

Lackeys are strong cards but destroying a friendly minion is not a good effect. There are relatively few minions, even in zoo, that you want to destroy and the stats on the Genius are not strong either.

Rafaam’s Scheme – 1

This only becomes good if you’re summoning 4 or 5 imps but at that point you aren’t playing this on turn 3. This potentially combos with Knife Juggler and Sea Giant but the zoo deck you would want to play this in top decks cards very frequently.

Aransi Broodmother – 2

This is a decent healing option for Control Warlocks that run plot twist in them. It is a weird card though since you don’t really ever want to play it but you want to draw it. This has potential to be a 2 but it leans closer to the 1 section.

Plot Twist – 2

This card enables the stronger Mecha’thun combo (Dollmaster, Plot twist into Mecha’thun, spirit bomb your Dollmaster and then play Shriek) and also allows you to fish on turn 3 for your turn 4 Mountain Giant. It also has some synergy with the Warlock legendary Fel Lord Betrug.

Impferno – 1

Both the abilities suck on Impferno alone and the situations where you get both off don’t happen that often. There’s just better cards to play.

Eager Underling – 1

See the Paladin handbuff cards.

Darkest Hour – 1

I guess you can play the scheme and then Darkest Hour to summon a bunch of big minions from your deck on turn 9 except you don’t have the sustain to pull off this combo. Warlock decks that create wide boards don’t play big minions so you’re just going to summon small minions?

Jumbo Imp – 1

The Corridor Creeper comparisons to this card are just offensive. Don’t play this, it’s bad.

Arch-Villain Rafaam – 3

This allows zoo to go late game against control much like Deathstalker Rexxar allowed Midrange Hunter to do. Obviously it is not as strong as a death knight but in a lower power leveled meta, but having constant threats is powerful.

Fel Lord Betrug – 2

To be honest the main reason why I have faith that this card has any bit of potential is because Rage likes it with Plot Twist and he’s the master at finding these weird combos. This is such as weird card to evaluate.

This was a very meh set for Warlock which makes it the foil of Kobolds and Catacombs.

Warrior:

Improve Morale – 1

Similar to Priest, Warriors don’t really care for Lackeys. This card as some potential if a Blood Warriors like deck creeps up again with Wild Pyromancer and Acolyte of Pain.

Vicious Scraphound – 1

LMFAO Google Docs said “Scraphound” was spelt incorrectly and suggested Craphound which perfectly sums up this card.

This is a card.

Sweeping Strikes – 1

This is pretty cool with Akali, the Rhino I guess.

Clockwork Goblin – 2

The only reason to play this card is to enable the new Dr. Boom. This is the weaker of the two Warrior bomb cards and will only see play if running two Wrenchcalibur isn’t enough for Boom.

Dimensional Ripper – 1

This lets you summon the 🅱️ancient one.

Wrenchcalibur – 2

The stronger of the two bomb enablers for Dr. Boom. It is a weak card on it’s own and the impact of Dr. Boom will determine whether this sees play.

Omega Devastator – 1

Incredible pick off of the discover a mech hero power or from Omega Assembly but it’s just not good enough to run in your own deck. The tempo gain you get turn 10 on isn’t as relevant as in the early game since the late game is less about tempo and more about value/killing your opponent.

Blastmaster Boom – 3

Dr. Boom was meta warping and Blastmaster Boom is also as powerful. This is definitely a build around card in a warrior deck and it’s overall power level depends on how bad playing the bomb cards end up being.

The Boom Reaver – 2

This card is incredible after the Dr. Boom hero card comes into play and it is probably playable in a top heavy control warrior deck. Summon a copy instead of the actual minion is a big deal in fatigue matchups where card advantage is important.

Overall Warrior lives and dies on whether the Dr. Boom and bomb package works or not. I am quite optimistic for slower warrior decks this expansion.

Neutrals:

Toxfin – 4

Hunter’s mark with a 1/2 body for 1 mana. Sign me up!

Potion Vendor – 2

Potentially decent in Heal Druid and Silence Priest.

Arcane Servant – 1

There are better River Crocs to play

Hench-Clan Hogsteed – 3

Hench-Clan Hogsteed being a beast is nice for Hunter since they lack good 2 drops for Master’s Call decks plus this keeps something on the board after it trades.

Dalaran Librarian – 2

Will see play in Silence Priest.

Mana Reservoir – 1

Lowest possible attack = lowest possible score.

Sunreaver Spy – 2

Totem Golem for Paladin that depends how good secret decks ends up becoming.

Spellbook Binder – 1

The only deck that wants to play this would be Tempo Mage but there isn’t any room for it.

EVIL Cable Rat – 3

3 in Rogue because you really want Lackeys, 1 in almost everything else.

Faceless Rager – 1

This looks better than it actually is because it’s not a completely garbage rager, it just doesn’t really fit into any deck.

Flight Master – 1

Why would you ever let your opponent choose how trades are going to work?

Hench-Clan Sneak – 1

Has potential to see play in Paladin and might see play because 3 drops are very weak but it’s seems to be just not good enough.

Travelling Healer – 1

Cool pack filler because of the art.

Violet Spellsword – 1

This card is just boring.

Soldier of Fortune – 1

Giving your opponent mana is bad.

Proud Defender – 2

Please stop comparing this to Tar Creeper and compare it to Lone Champion instead which saw very fringe play. Probably sees play the most in Specialist.

Dalaran Crusader – 1

Boring and not quite good enough.

Violet Warden – 1

This feels like the card you get 9+ of from preorder packs.

Safeguard – 1

Are people missing the ZERO attack part of the second body???

Eccentric Scribe – 1

Now Hunter can play 2 Highmanes and 2 minions pretending to be Highmanes

Heroic Innkeeper – 1

This has to be like a 12/12 to see play.

Burly Shoverlfist – 1

I guess at least one card has to be designed for Arena.

Spellward Jeweler – 2

Decent tech choice for Specialist, probably never run it on ladder.

Arcane Watcher – 2

Decent in Spell Damage Mage and Silence Priest.

Portal Keeper – 1

This is really cool until you see the stat line.

Hecklebot – 2

It has 9 summon lines and 9 attack lines, BM game is INSANE. Decent tech choice for Specialist.

Recurring Villain – 1

Really cool design.

Sunreaver Warmage – 1

Really strong until you see what 5+ mana spells exist in year of the dragon.

Mad Summoner – 1

Ok?

Exotic Mountseller – 3

Nutty card in classes with cheap spells like Druid or Shaman. Better stats than Auctioneer and a better effect as well. This is my choice for underrated card of the set.

Underbelly Ooze – 1

Scuffed Patron.

Tunnel Blaster – 2

Reminds me of Chillmaw which was decent.

Magic Carpet – 1

They printed a carpet as a minion. Hearthstone in general doesn’t make much sense but this made me go WTF when I first saw it.

Hench-Clan Hag – 1

A 3/3 and two 1/1 does not equal a 5/5.

Azerite Elemental – 2

It becomes a must kill in Tempo mage and can be innervated.

Portal Overfiend – 1

This is actually Hoopa Unbound. I’m looking forward to the copyright case from Nintendo.

Unseen Saboteur – 2

Pretty much all combo decks have spells as part of the combo so this is a decent tech card.

Whirlwind Tempest – 1

I’m only the 900th person to make the mega bad joke haHAA.

Batterhead – 1

This is cool with Akali if you don’t run any other rush minion in Rush warrior.

Big Bad Archmage – 1

Hey look another Big Bad joke.

Archmage Vargoth – 3

I thought this was bad at first, but after playing with it for a couple days I can confidently say it’s nutty and will see a lot of play. Please don’t take that as a vote of no confidence for this review thanks 🙂