Hearthpwn

Hey everyone! It's WhiskerWow, and I'm going to review all the cards! :)

My rating system goes like this ("A" means more cards needed to evaluate, while "T" means tech card.)

1. Bad - Objectively worse than other cards or just not good.
2. Weak - Although the card is weak, it may have some merits.
3. Usable - Fringe in constructed, or a one or two of in decks.
4. Good - Almost certainly used.
5. Amazing - Good enough to create a new archetype or a must-include in many decks.

DRUID

Taunt Druid - Tier 3 (Does well early game with taunts, and has crazy cards to end the game such as  Hadranox + N'Zoth and Malfurion the Pestilent).

Jade Druid gets nerfed with Skulking Geist but can tech against it with Ultimate Infestation.

Token Druid gets small but powerful Druid of the Swarm, plus the new zoo neutrals.

• Crypt Lord - 1/5 As of now, I can't see why this would be run over Tar Creeper. Requires too much to be good; and I'm talking about buffing its attack, not health.
• Gnash - 1/5 Claw + hero power does it better, and it still sucks.
• Webweave - 2/5 This card without facing board clears is actually very positive in value. Killing a 2-drop and a 3-drop is crazy! Underestimated, but still weak to cheap removal and AOE.
• Druid of the Swarm - 5/5 Insane card. Works so well with buff cards in taunt form, whilst having utility without buffs in poisonous form.
• Spreading Plague  - T3/5 This card is a good way to stall, and Druid has some ways to tempo back, such as aoe buffs. Hard to use though; only works against swarm decks, which leads me to believe it's not quite good enough.
• Strongshell Scavenger - 2/5 You need at least two taunts for this to be insane, but that's hard. Otherwise, it is not strong.
• Fatespinner - 2/5 Hard to evaluate with its unpredictability. I have a feeling its on the weaker side.
• Ultimate Infestation - 5/5 Versatile and strong, but I doubt it being as overbearing as it seems. I imagine this will be in every late game druid deck, similar to Lyra the Sunshard.
• Malfurion the Pestilent - 3/5 A generically powerful card, but it doesn't really synergize with anything that druid currently uses.
• Hadronox - 2/5 Too slow and stoppable. Crushes control decks w/o transform, especially with the use of N'Zoth, the Corruptor.

HUNTER

Exploding Bloatbat either saves midrange hunter (secret and non-secret) or flops.

Hero Hunter - Tier 2 (Control Hunter might be a thing! Except it still needs to curve out and relies on early aggression for defense, effectively making it a midrange deck. At least it has good AOE removal~ )

• Bearshark - 2/5 Reliably mediocre. I doubt this will beat the current threes in hunter.
• Play Dead - 4/5 Much easier to combo than Terrorscale Stalker, especially with the new Exploding Bloatbat.
• Stitched Tracker - 4/5 This is actually really good for a control deck, as Savannah Highmane combos well with this. However, it is slow, and thus, must be run with the new Exploding Bloatbat
• Corpse Widow - 3/5 It has okay stats and an effect that looks better than it is. Unless we see new stuff, this card is not good enough.
• Exploding Bloatbat - 5/5 Not sure whether to rate this card lower. It's not actually that powerful, except that it gives hunter something they desperately lack; AOE. It can be played around though, which makes it rather weak, which is why I think it'll be run with Play Dead.
• Venomstrike Trap - T3/5 An okay secret for secret hunter. This works best in a meta with large minions with <3 attack. If face decks or spell decks are prevalent, this won't see play.
• Abominable Bowman - 1/5 WAY too slow, especially for hunter.
• Toxic Arrow - 1/5 Too hard to use. Most minions that you do want to use this with have too low of health to do so.
• Deathstalker Rexxar - 4/5 Creates a new deck archetype, where instead of running your opponent down with low-cost, stat-efficient minions, you exhaust them with crazy late-game beasts. Its battlecry is great for what it aims to do.
• Professor Putricide - 3/5 Amazing in secret hunter. Most hunter secrets are nice to have for free.

MAGE

Tempo Freeze Mage - Tier 3 (Simple, effective, and probably a good deck on a budget!)

Hero Mage - Tier 2 (Once it stablilizes, it is hard to stop. Plus, it still has the crazy mage removal.)

Quest mage gets some help with the ghastly conjurer and simulacrum, but I don't think that helps enough.

Frozen clone helps secret mage some.

• Breath of Sindragosa - 4/5 Cheap but powerful. Very easy to control where it hits.
  
• Coldwraith - 5/5 Solid minion with solid effect. I'd use some slightly weaker freeze effects to get this effect.
  
• Frozen Clone - 4/5 A more proactive secret means a good one.
  
• Doomed Apprentice - 1/5 For this card to be good, you need to be ahead on board with other minions. This makes it somewhat of a win-more card, except that tempo mage is very good at getting ahead on board. Still, this doesn't help against the decks that do manage to out-tempo you. Thus, although this card might feel good when you use it, it will more often than not, be pointless.
• Ghastly Conjurer - 3/5 Okay body with okay effect. Doesn't really fit into the current mage decks; needs classic tempo mage or control mage.
• Ice Walker - T1/5 Works as late game lock-down. You will be using this to freeze one huge minion or an aggro warrior who lost their board and is relying on weapons to kill you. Sadly, these situations are uncommon.
• Glacial Mysteries - 1/5 Too hard to use. You must dedicate 12 of your deck slots to this card for it to be any good.
  
• Simulacrum - 1/5 Does quest giant mage really need to beat control even more?
  
• Frost Lich Jaina - 5/5 The hero power is somewhat difficult to pull off, but is very rewarding. Has real potential to close out the game with good support. A welcome edition to a less burn, and more grindy control mage. (Super excited to play this card by the way! :3)
  
• Sindragosa - 4/5 Good synergy with the new hero card. If killing minions with the hero power proves too difficult, this card might see play to boost the value of that deck. Otherwise, this is just a Nefarian for minions (okay but not really competitive).
  

PALADIN

Control Paladin with Hero - Tier 2 (Blackguard, Chillblade, and Uther of the Ebon Blade gives it removal and healing.)

Handbuff might become a serious deck. Saronite Chain Gang and the Divine Shield Minions really appreciate the buffs.

• Chillblade Champion - 3/5 Better than people give it credit for IMO. I view it more as a healing card, with an average heal of 6 health, plus 3 damage to face and somewhere else. Better than Antique Healbot, but I don't think paladin has trouble healing. However, it gives buffs to Corpsetaker, so it'll probably see play.
• Dark Conviction - 3/5 I wouldn't put it in my deck, but I would love to pull it from Ivory Knight. It seems hard to kill the enemy minion without a board.
• Righteous Defender - 5/5 Great card in aggro, and perhaps even midrange/hand buff. Taunt helps them come back against tougher aggro decks.
• Arrogant Crusader - 4/5 A very aggressive Piloted Shredder. I can easily see this in aggro paladin with buff cards.
• Desperate Stand - 3/5 Rather strong, as now you can hero power. Redemption is great when you can pick the target. However, its just a bit too excessive for an impact that isn't immediate.
• Howling Commander - 2/5 Worse than Stonehill Defender, but you could probably afford to run 3-4 3 mana draws just to guarantee the draw of Tirion Fordring and Wickerflame Burnbristle. Has anti-synergy with Corpsetaker.
• Blackguard - 4/5 Slow, but it has the stats that allow it to be slow. Lets all of your healing double as removal, which makes it great in control warrior.
• Light's Sorrow - 2/5 Paladin would gladly make use of an Assassin's Blade for 4 mana. However, it needs set-up, and I find it bad to waste your turn 4 not setting up anything that will do something immediately. I don't think that the divine shield deck will bother with this.
• Bolvar, Fireblood - 4/5 Almost playable by itself, as a 3/7 that deals one damage and is hard to remove. Fits well into decks that want to buff their minions, which coincides with well-stated divine shield minions. Curves super well into Spikeridged Steed.
• Uther of the Ebon Blade - 3/5 Very slow card, which can be outslowed by other decks. Really good against slow decks that are just slightly faster than it. You spend your entire turn healing and dealing 5 damage.

PRIEST

Resurrect Priest - Tier 3 (Hard to pull off, but can be funny when it does.)

Kazakus Priest - Tier 1 (Happy Ghoul, Obsidian Statue, Spirit Lash, and most grand of all, Shadowreaper Anduin will make this deck much more powerful).

• Acolyte of Agony - 3/5 I think people are undervaluing lifesteal. A 3 mana 3/3 heal 6 is insane, but a 3 mana 3/3 heal 3 is bad/mediocore. I think this will only appear in Reno lists as an extra source of healing.
• Shadow Ascendant - 3/5 Works well with Lightwarden and northschire cleric, but I don't think that this deck is strong enough. This card is really good though, even though it doesn't fit into priest too well. Might see fringe play in tempo-elemental priest.
• Spirit Lash - 4/5 A cheap board clear with healing, that also synergizes greatly with Northshire Cleric and Lightwarden (It looks like each heal is a separate proc).
• Devour Mind - 3/5 A teensy-tiny touch better thanThoughtsteal, but thoughtsteal currently sees little play, and then so will this.
• Eternal Servitude - 4/5 More expensive than Resurrect, but will high roll more often. Allows you to run 2-drops without feeling bad about it, and be more greedy with your legendaries such as Lyra the Sunshard. Fits super nicely with the 6-mana board clears Dragonfire Potion and Lightbomb in wild.
• Shadow Essence - 2/5 Just too hard to use consistently. Although its "okay" hitting a deathrattle draw minion, it's just that: okay. Resurrect priest doesn't need this to do well.
• Embrace Darkness - 1/5 Seems too slow. It is a way to deal with 4 attack minions, but you can't play minions or else the opponent will trade with it, meaning you might as well have played Mind Control. It does allow for big swing turns, as you get a minion for 0 mana the next turn, but most priest board clears are symmetrical, meaning you can't really have big swing turns. You might as well play Mind Control or Cabal Shadow Priest with Pint-Size Potion.
• Obsidian Statue - 4/5 Rather weak against classes that carry transform, but otherwise a great card. I have a feeling that Free From Amber will see more play than this card, because of this card. If you manage to get to turn 9 against aggro (an impressive feat) this will win the game on the spot. Even greater when you resurrect two of them next turn with two Eternal Servitudes.
• Shadowreaper Anduin - 5/5 ONLY IN RENO PRIEST. Without Raza the Chained, this card will have most of its power on its battlecry, which is okay, but not too impressive. However, 2 damage every time you cast a spell, along with the semi-board reset makes this card great.
• Archbishop Benedictus - 6/5 Gee priest, why does mom let you have two decks?

ROGUE

Weapon Rogue - Tier 1 (Doomerang, Shadowblade, and Runeforge Haunter are sick cards for tempo and will keep you ahead on the board.)

Miracle gets some help with Lilian Voss.

• Bone Baron - 2/5 It has stats.
• Leeching Poison - 1/5 I feel like Rogue would rather rely on less gimmicky heals; if rogue gets enough control tools, this rating can jump much more easily.
• Plague Scientist - 1/5 Not really usable in any new archetypes.
• Roll the Bones - 1/5 You need to run a LOT of deathrattles to get this to draw 2 reliably.
• Runeforge Haunter - 5/5 Good in the new tempo weapon deck that rogue is cooking up. Fits perfectly after a turn 3 weapon, either with Shadowblade or Deadly Poison.
• Shadowblade - 4/5 Fits well into tempo decks, and also control rogue, if it ever exists. Actually good with Blade Flurry; turn 3 deal 3 damage, turn 4 deal 3 damage to all enemy minions, but I doubt it will see play, especially with the new Doomerang.
• Doomerang - 4/5 Really good with Shadowblade, but not so much with Deadly Poison. Still, it can be viewed as heal your hero a bit, and then draw a card, which is very strong.
• Spectral Pillager - 3/5 Not good enough, but it has decent tempo. A good arena card, but not enough to justify it in constructed.
• Valeera the Hollow - 3/5 Seems to be really slow, espeicially for rogue. Synergizes nicely with Jade, but that's not to say the sheer valule you get with other cards.
• Lilian Voss - 4/5 Better than most people give it credit for. Its stats are good for the cost. Its effect can be quite an upside against slower decks. Who wants to keep Fan of Knives or Backstab once the early game is gone? Recycle them into cards that have some use!

SHAMAN

Freeze Shaman - Tier 4 (Has a lot of removal and stall for decks that only have a few minions; plus good ways to get value.)

Shaman doesn't get much this expansion. They'll probably just upgrade their zoo decks with efficient neutral minions. Voodoo Hexxer is great in control decks though, and Snowfury Giant is definently an interesting card for Crusher shaman.

• Brrrloc - 1/5 Worst than Glacial Shard.
• Drakkari Defender - 1/5 Way too slow, and doesn't stop aggro hard enough.
• Ice Fishing - 3/5 Great as a one-of with the water package, but otherwise doesn't have much use.
• Avalanche - 2/5 Much too hard to get your opponent to position into this. Will not see play outside of freeze, considering shaman's top-tier AOE.
• Ice Breaker - 2/5 A one-of in freeze decks, but its not that good otherwise.
• Voodoo Hexxer - 4/5 Strong anti-aggro card, nice to pull from Stonehill Defender, and synergizes with Moorabi. It is also really hard to kill. Must in freeze decks, tech in control decks.
• Cryostasis - 1/5 The buff isn't good enough, and freeze shaman will probably prefer Hyldnir Frostrider.
• Snowfury Giant - 2/5 LOVE the art, but it's much too slow. Earth Elemental usually does it quicker and has the vital taunt.
• Moorabi - 2/5 Looks fun! But too hard to use with the current freezes. You're looking to freeze at least two minions, which is very possible with the sticky Voodoo Hexxer and another freeze card. However, it is very limited to the freeze archetype, and doesn't do amazing things usually.
• Thrall, Deathseer - T3/5 Tempted to give this a 2. The effect is powerful, but Bloodlust makes me wonder if just ending the game will be better. Even then, this removes the basic totem hero power, which synergizes greatly with this one, which is a shame. I think this card will be fine as a tech inclusion in token shaman if you face too much control decks.

WARLOCK

Control Warlock - Tier 1 (They recieved a bunch of low mana removal spells, as well as great late-game bombs like Bloodreaver Gul'dan and the Despicable Dreadlord.)

Lakkari Sacrifice Warlock - Tier 4 (This may seem silly, but I feel like all of this removal helped this deck a lot. Howlfiend is good when you WANT to discard all of your cards, and Blood-Queen Lana'thel is a natural fit into this control style deck.)

• Drain Soul - 4/5 Decent removal with heal, which is what Warlock wants.
• Sanguine Reveler - 2/5 Very strong in wild, with Nerubian Egg and Power Overwhelming. But to be frank, this card, right now, is pretty weak in standard, as it only would want to eat Devilsaur Egg. I don't think eating a 1/1 is strong enough to justify this card.
• Howlfiend - 2/5 This card is very good if you want to discard your hand, but that usually won't be the case. (Of course, if you DO want to... (Lakkari Sacrifice))
• Defile - 5/5 Amazing anti-aggro card. This card will be very funny with Grim Patron and Spreading Madness in wild.
• Despicable Dreadlord - 4/5 Efficient minion that can accrue value. Will see play in tandem with the removal cards coming this expansion.
• Unwilling Sacrifice - 1/5 Meh~ Zoo doesn't really need this.
• Gnomeferatu - 1/5 It is only useful in mill-lock, which should alone tell you how this is a bad card.
• Treachery - 1/5 Very hard to pull off successfully, but has GREAT meme potential. Also amazing arena card.
• Blood-Queen Lana'thel - 3/5 Lifesteal is underestimated heavily. If you have discarded two cards, this card is strong. Any more, and it is a beast. Fits very well in current Lakkari Sacrifice builds, which did receive some support through Defile and Drain Soul.
• Boodreaver Gul'dan - 4/5 Good late-game bomb for control decks, as well as an alternate win condition for burn decks for control warlock.

WARRIOR

Classic Control Warrior - Tier 3 (Scourgelord Garrosh is great for clearing the board and he has new threats to play with such as Rotface and the Lich King himself!)

Control Decks around the class get help from forge of souls and blood razor.

• Animated Berserker - 1/5 I feel like there are better ways to ping your minions.
• Forge of Souls - 5/5 Will only be a one-of, but what an amazing one-of! Draw is useful, even in warrior. Only a one-of because warriors only run 4 weapons, and the second copy would lose value.
• Blood Razor - 5/5 Great against aggro, great for enrage, and might enable control warrior again.
• Mountainfire Armor - 3/5 Will only see play in aggressive N'zoth warrior, but that's weak.
• Death Revenant - 1/5 Way too hard to get value from. (~8/8 in stats needed)
• Val'kyr Soulclaimer - 2/5 Why not just play pirate warrior? Needs at least 2 procs to be worth it, which seems bad.
• Dead Man's Hand - 1/5 Cool card with C'Thun and N'Zoth, the Corruptor, but it is really greedy, hard to use (needs to have a hand with another Dead Man's Hand and one of the two aforementioned old gods in your hand, whilst not having too much else in your hand), and a dead card in most match-ups. Most-overrated card of the expansion.
• Bring It On! - T1/5 If aggro ever becomes too hard for warrior to beat, this card can help. Otherwise, it seems slightly wasteful; warrior already has enough tools to stabilize after regaining the board.
• Rotface - 4/5 Only playable in the spin-to-win warrior, as another win-con.
• Scourgelord Garrosh - 4/5 The weapon and hero power are phenomenal for removal, but don't really provide win conditions. Luckily, Grommash Hellscream and Rotface will serve nicely.

NEUTRAL

• Acherus Veteran - 5/5 Efficient card with good effect. Will see play in swarm decks, especially if they use eggs.
• Bloodworm - 4/5 Healing for classes without healing! <3
• Bonemare - 4/5 Ball of stats at turn 7. This means great for midrange decks.
• Cobalt Scalebane - 3/5 Provides some oomf! Especially for Shaman and Paladin. It is slow for a zoo deck though, but the value is definitely there.
• Deadscale Knight - 1/5 Lifesteal doesn't lend itself to small minions.
• Deathspeaker - 2/5 Great arena card, but I don't think trading will be that useful.
• Fallen Sun Cleric - 2/5 About as good as Shattered Sun Cleric, (strong in arena, weak in constructed).
• Grave Shambler - 1/5 You have to cleanly destroy your weapon twice for this to be "good", which means it is not.
• Grim Necromancer - 4/5 Creates a lot of bodies, which is good in decks that have synergies with that kind of stuff. Without those synergies, it's meh.
• Hyldnir Frostrider - 1/5 Has uses with Moorabi, but freeze shaman sucks. It's not a bad 3-drop in arena though!
• Necrotic Geist - 2/5 Fun and usable, but ultimately there are better choices for zoo.
• Night Howler - 1/5 Better than Gurubashi Berserker, but not much else is good for it.
• Skelemancer - 4/5 Very strong anti-AOE card, and synergizes greatly with taunts. Can be viewed somewhat as an egg. Will be strongly countered by priest though.
• Snowflipper Penguin - 1/5 Fun with Stampede, but not much else.
• Sunborne Val'kyr - 1/5 Not as good as Cobalt Scalebane, because it encourages trading down, does not promote aggressiveness, is worse when behind, and needs two minions to be useful.
• Spellweaver - 1/5 Small spell damage and expensive minion don't mix.
• Tainted Zealot - 1/5 Disparity between the two effects and stats. Spell damage doesn't care about its body.
• Tuskarr Fisherman - 1/5 Not that bad of a card to be completely honest, as worst case, it's a 2/3 for 2. If aggressive spell damage decks still existed, this would be great.
• Venomancer 1/5 Better than Maexxna!
• Vryghoul - 1/5 About as good as Eggnapper, but slightly worse.
• Wicked Skeleton - 1/5 Too hard to get use out of it.
• Wretched Tiller - 1/5 Too hard to get value of; needs to attack twice before its useful.
• Bone Drake - 3/5 Greedy card, but I don't see it getting put in a lot of decks. Rather pull it out.
• Corpse Raiser - 3/5 Might see some play in taunt druid.
• Happy Ghoul - 4/5 Gives a lot of tempo to priest and paladin, with their healing and lifesteal minions.
• Keening Banshee - 1/5 This card actually has zero downside, but a 4 mana 5/5 isn't good.
• Mindbreaker - T4/5 The effect can shut certain decks down hard, and it is difficult to kill without removal at 5 health. Plus, it has great stats at 2/5 for 3 and is cheap enough that you wouldn't mind running it against aggro. Just make sure that your own win condition doesn't rely on hero powering!
• Phantom Freebooter - 2/5 Might fit into more midrangey pirate builds, but is overall not worth running.
• Saronite Chain Gang - 4/5 Makes hand-buff very consistent in paladin. It's also fine in evolve, and anti-aggro swarm decks.
• Shallow Gravedigger - 1/5 This card can pull okay things, and its stats are bad, but not too horrible. It will be mediocre, and have no place in many decks.
• Ticking Abomination - 1/5 Will only see play in a deck that actively wants to kill its own minions.
• Corpsetaker - 4/5 For this card to be good, it needs divine shield, lifesteal, and taunt. Windfury is too hard to get unless you're playing shaman, but I doubt this fitting well into that class. I can see it in priest and paladin, with paladin using some Chillblade Champions to get this card's effect to go off reliably, whilst priest uses the plethora of taunt/divine shield neutrals.
• Deathaxe Punisher - 1/5 Hard to find enough lifesteal effects to support this. May get better over time.
• Drakkari Enchanter - 1/5 Fun card, but ultimately too greedy. Is a whole lot better in wild with Emperor Thaurrissan, whom it synergies with in two ways.
• Furnacefire Colossus - 1/5 Pure stats 6 mana minions usually don't see play, especially with an arguable downside.
• Meat Wagon - 1/5 Very fun, and can fit into funny OTK decks. However, to be good, you need to summon about 3 or more mana worth of stats, which can only be done with buffing, which should be done with spells, as minions that do it with battlecries will be diluting the pool. I feel that you need to get Meat Wagon to 5 attack before seeing results, as you can start pulling out stuff like Malygos or Ysera. All these conditions make the card fun, but too weak to be seriously viable.
• Nerubian Unraveler - T3/5 Will be fun in hand-buff decks. Also good in board dependent midrange decks that play past turn 6. Might be humorous in priest, as you can keep this alive by healing it; however priest is pretty spell dependent, this is just a funny scenario I thought of.
• Rattling Rascal - 1/5 Too hard to use. Silence priest doesn't usually want this.
• Skulking Geist - T4/5 Fits well into control decks, as it nullfies combo and Jade Idol at the cost of tempo lost. Will not see play anywhere else.
• Tomb Lurker - 2/5 Might as well be a bigger version of Shallow Gravedigger as it considers the opponent's minions, and it is low stated.
• Arfus - 2/5 Who's a good boy?!? Really though, the tempo this card brings is really low and the death knight cards can be very hit or miss.
• Prince Keleseth - 3/5 - Probably a sleeper card. Zoo decks use some 2 drops, usually favoring 1 drops, and this card synergizes greatly with the early non-2 drop pressure it tries to bring. Current zoo-lock lists run a ton of 1 drops, which can substitute for the lack of 2-drops.
• Prince Taldaram - 1/5 The effect isn't that powerful. Will be fun in gimmicky decks but for the most part, running other 3-drops will be better (but I think this is more of a late-game card, so you could run some 3-drops and still use this card).
• Prince Valanar - T2/5 Likely will be a miracle rogue aggro-tech card in place of Sherazin, Corpse Flower. Still, that is oddly specific: I don't think this card will see much play either, not because it's bad, but because it's boring and only has one purpose.
• The Lich King - 5/5 Likely a better Ysera. Has immediate impact on the board, gives great value, and is must remove. Rather nice control card.

4 Star Cards

• Play Dead, Stitched Tracker, Deathstalker Rexxar, Breath of Sindragosa, Frozen Clone, Sindragosa, Blackguard, Arrogant Crusader, Bolvar, Fireblood, Spirit Lash, Eternal Servitude, Obsidian Statue, Shadowblade, Doomerang, Lilian Voss, Voodoo Hexxer, Drain Soul, Despicable Dreadlord, Bloodreaver Gul'danRotface, Scourgelord Garrosh, Bloodworm, Bonemare, Grim Necromancer, Skelemancer, Happy Ghoul, Mindbreaker, Saronite Chain Gang, Corpsetaker, Skulking Geist - 29 Cards

5 Star Cards

• Druid of the Swarm, Ultimate Infestation, Exploding Bloatbat, Coldwraith, Frost Lich Jaina, Righteous Defender, Shadowreaper Anduin, Runeforge Haunter, Defile, Forge of Souls, Blood Razor, Acherus Veteran, The Lich King - 13 Cards

Well, that's all of the cards. No one else came to join me, but at least I had fun! :) See you all next expansion! <3