Below I have written a guide detailing my predictions for the upcoming cards in the Scholomance Academy set. Similarly to Trump, I will be grading each card from 1 to 5 stars, meaning:
5 Stars: Staple in a Tier 1 deck or a staple in multiple Tier 2 decks.
4 Stars: Occasionally used in a Tier 1 deck, a staple in a Tier 2 deck, or a staple in multiple Tier 3 decks.
3 Stars: Occasionally used in a Tier 2 deck, a staple in a Tier 3 deck, or a staple in multiple Tier 4 decks
2 Stars: Sees at least 1% of play in a Tier 4 deck or has seen some amount of tournament success.
1 Star: Fails to maintain a 1% playrate in Diamond or above.
I have tried to avoid watching other people's card reviews beforehand, so you can be confident that the opinions below are my own and not tainted by anyone else's perception. Enjoy.
Demon Hunter
Double Jump: 5 Stars – This card is very similar to Tracking from Hunter in that it does nothing but cycle and yet still works because it can give you an extremely important card that you can play immediately. Using it well will take some skill since it requires you to know what Outcast cards are still in your deck and whether or not playing Double Jump is worth the risk. A powerful, yet well designed card.
Fel Guardians: 3 Stars – A welcome boost for Token Demon Hunter, albeit not one which makes or breaks the archetype. Tokens will probably be able to scrape into Tier 3 this expansion, which isn’t great but is certainly much better than where they were before Scholomance.
Marrowslicer: 5 Stars – A strong weapon which entices us to run a Soul Fragment deck. I think this package will fit in nicely with Aggro Demon Hunter, even if not all of the soul fragment cards are geared towards aggression.
Soulshard Lapidary: 5 Stars – That’s a lot of attack. You can think of this card like a cheaper Blazecaller that also synergizes with all the Demon Hunter cards which improve based on your hero’s attack. It is dependent on drawing those Soul Fragment generation cards, but you’ll have six of them in your deck, so the bonus should be fairly consistent.
Vilefiend Trainer: 2 Stars – A little bit too fair; even when outcasted, the benefit just isn’t very impressive. However, Token Demon Hunter may pick this up as a necessary evil, so all is not lost.
Cycle of Hatred: 1 Star – This goes into the pile of “strong board clears that won’t see play due to Control Demon Hunter lacking a good win condition”. Unless Malicia can provide that win condition (and IMO she’s better in aggro), this won’t be the powerhouse that it looks like at first glance.
Glide: 5 Stars – Functions extremely well in Aggro Demon Hunter, which is already a powerful deck which appreciates the ability to refill. Decks with more expensive cards might also want to try this, since the card is strong even without the ability to mess with your opponent’s hand. The word “auto-include” is wildly overused, but in this case it is completely warranted.
Magehunter: 1 Star – Very interesting tech card, but this meta is likely not going to be one where Magehunter is in demand. Sure, you’ll see some deathrattles and buffs on occasion, but not frequently enough for this to be relevant.
Shardshatter Mystic: 3 Stars – This is obviously a very strong card, but Aggro Demon Hunter isn’t looking for board clears. Rather, it tries to take control of the board early on and then build from there, which is the opposite of what Shardshatter Mystic does. Control Demon Hunter doesn’t look like it’s going to get much better, so this card will probably not make the cut (but it will see experimentation).
Ancient Void Hound: 1 Star – Big Demon Hunter is very far from playable, and on its own, this card is far too slow. It’s a step in the right direction, but the archetype needs more than this.
Star Student Stelina: 5 Stars – This card could be one of the most powerful in the set. It has the potential to immediately disrupt the opponent’s response to your turn, which means that if you are ahead when playing Stelina, you will likely stay ahead. That’s huge for aggressive decks like Aggro Demon Hunter which rely on solidifying the earlygame. Stelina’s going to be as annoying as she looks.
Druid
Gibberling: 4 Stars – If there’s one class which is well equipped to take advantage of this, it’s Druid. The class has tons of cheap spells which manipulate mana, so an early highroll with this card isn’t that hard to achieve. Token Druid is not the greatest deck in Standard right now, but I suspect this card will be an important tool in reviving it.
Nature Studies: 5 Stars – Even if every new Druid archetype turns out to be a bust, this card will still see play because the Exotic Mountseller decks will be interested in this. Beyond that, cards like Gibbering encourage Druid to run cheap spells in decks which otherwise might not be interested (such as Token Druid). The card only fails is if Druid is unplayable, and that looks pretty unlikely.
Partner Assignment: 1 Star – 1 mana to generate 2 cards is not a bad deal, and Beast Druid will need every earlygame card it can get its hands on. Unfortunately, such a deck is likely to be mediocre, but if it succeeds, this card will be a staple in the archetype.
Twilight Runner: 2 Stars – Absolutely insane when compared to Stranglethorn Tiger; this card is the definition of pushing an archetype. This gets a higher rating than most of the Beast Druid cards because there’s a good chance it will at least be tried out in other decks.
Survival of the Fittest: 3 Stars – The main problem with this card is the absurd cost, which combined with the lack of an immediate board impact makes it tricky to work with. This means we will have to find some way to cheat it out for it to ever work. Fortunately, the next card down should help us achieve that goal without too much trouble.
Forest Warden Omu: 5 Stars – The most obvious application of this card is pretty straightforward: pair it with a cheap spell to get a “free” 5/4 on the board. That’s pretty good on its own, but where I think this card starts to break the game is when paired with Germination. The ability to refresh your mana crystals twice will essentially give you up to 30 mana to work with in a single turn. Now, meme cards like Survival of the Fittest seem like viable options to put into your deck. It will be immensely heartbreaking if this card is ever nerfed to 7 mana, but to be honest, that might end up becoming necessary.
Hunter
Carrion Studies: 1 Star – A Deathrattle Hunter deck could work, but this card will not see play in it. There are too many undesirable deathrattles that can be discovered for this to be worth the card slot.
Wolpertinger: 4 Stars – Alleycat was easily the best card in the MSoG Hunter set, and this is a strictly better version of it. Hunter has strong handbuff synergies available to the class, but even if they don’t work out, this will probably at least end up as a filler card in Highlander Hunter.
Bloated Python: 4 Stars – One of the reasons Beast/Deathrattle Hunter failed in AoO was because there simply weren’t enough strong deathrattles for Mok'Nathal Lion to abuse. This, however, is the strongest deathrattle that Hunter has available to it, and it also curves very nicely into the lion. Perhaps it’s time to take a second look at the AoO beasts which didn’t see play before.
Overwhelm: 4 Stars – Strong removal card even if you only have one beast on the board. Will likely see play in most variants of Beast Hunter and might even make the cut in Highlander.
Krolusk Barkstripper: 1 Star – When I theorycrafted a Beast Hunter deck, this is one of the cards that didn’t make the cut. Deadly Shot has long since stopped seeing play, and I don’t think the extra cost along with the hassle of triggering Spellburst is made up for by the large body.
Professor Slate: 2 Stars – This card is absolutely insane with Rapid Fire, but unfortunately Hunter is not really a removal class and the Slate/Rapid Fire package will likely be overshadowed by the other things Hunter can do. This gets a 2-star rating because I believe it will see some experimentation in Highlander Hunter before eventually being cut.
Mage
Firebrand: 3 Stars – Nothing too exiting, but an all-around decent card which Highlander Mage can use. Due to its low cost (and the availability of cheap spells in Mage) the Spellburst should be relatively easy to activate.
Lab Partner: 3 Stars – When looking at all the spell damage cards, it is unlikely that a pure “Spell Damage Mage” deck will be good enough to see serious competitive play. Despite that, this is still a strong one-drop that should be included in Highlander Mage.
Cram Session: 1 Star – Whether or not a card succeeds in Highlander Mage is typically dependent on how well the card can stand on its own. Cram Session completely fails in this regard, and adding a large “spell-damage” package to the deck to justify running the card is sadly not going to be worth it.
Wyrm Weaver: 2 Stars – At a higher cost, Spellburst is more difficult to wield effectively as opposed to Firebrand. Highlander Mage is also not a deck known for repeatedly casting a large number of spells in one turn. I don’t predict this card making it past the experimentation phase.
Combustion: 4 Stars: – Strong card which can justify its inclusion into Highlander Mage with just a few spell-damage based cards. It won’t be in every variant of the deck, but it will see a fair amount of use.
Mozaki, Master Duelist: 1 Star – Pretty unimpressive. It requires several spells in order to get decent value from the effect, and even then, your opponent can just kill it the next turn. Too slow, too clunky, and too weak to ever be a serious consideration.
Paladin
First Day of School: 4 Stars – Pure Paladin suffers from a lack of good one-drops, but this should help solve that problem. There’s a good chance that at least one of the cards you get will be playable on Turn 1.
Judicious Junior: 1 Star – Good arena card, but outclassed by Amber Watcher which costs less and gives the health faster.
Blessing of Authority: 1 Star – Even though the buff is enormous, giving your opponent a whole turn to react to it severely limits this card’s utility. When Paladin has so many strong buffs available to it, it’s hard to see this one making it in.
Goody Two-Shields: 3 Stars – The main trouble with this card is that Spellburst cannot be activated the same turn this is played, which means frequently this is just a 4/2 with Divine Shield. However, for 3 mana, that’s not so bad. This should sometimes make it into Pure Paladin.
Argent Braggart: 5 Stars – The highest in the battlefield will typically have very high stats, especially with cheap buffs like Libram of Wisdom available. This card could be priced at 3 mana and it would still be fair. At 2 mana, it’s obscene.
Turalyon, the Tenured: 1 Star – One of the worst removal options Paladin has in its arsenal. This will usually only kill one minion, and in that case you’re better off using literally anything else. It’s unbelievable how bad this is.
Priest
Draconic Studies: 1 Star – Priest’s Dragon synergy is mediocre; it’s only ever worked in Highlander Priest, which is a deck deep into Tier 4 currently. This expansion will do very little to make a Dragon Priest deck workable.
Frazzled Freshman: 1 Star – When I first saw this card, I expected it to be extremely good. Upon closer inspection, Zoo Priest is not even close to viable and it is unlikely that Highlander Priest will make a comeback. This card is the definition of “stuck in the wrong class”.
Initiation: 2 Stars – Galakrond Priest likes removal, so it will probably experiment with this card a bit. However, 4 damage for 6 mana is so atrociously weak that it is unlikely to survive to the final draft. You can think of this as a 6 mana 4/4 that deals 4 damage, which is so bad it makes Aeon Reaver look good.
Power Word: Feast: 1 Star – So close, and yet so far. This curves very nicely into Frazzled Freshman and will make him difficult to deal with on Turn 2. The problem is that this card only works in Zoo Priest, a terrible archetype which has never seen any serious play.
Cabal Acolyte: 4 Stars – Galakrond Priest is starved for turn 4 plays, and this isn’t a bad one. The Spellburst effect is very strong, and when paired with Gift of Luminance, this could be very hard for your opponent to deal with. 6 health also means that it is likely it will survive as a tempo play, which means it is safe to use on curve.
Mindrender Illucia: 1 Star – The only reason Azalina saw play was because her effect was permanent. This card is only useful if your hand is close to empty, and if so, you’re probably losing the game and you’re going to need more than this to come back.
Rogue
Plagiarize: 1 Star – Rogue secrets have not recovered from the Hanar nerf and Plagiarize does very little to encourage us to bring them back. As a standalone, the card is far too weak, frequently giving us only one card that we don’t particularly want.
Vulpera Toxinblade: 1 Star – After considering a “weapon rogue” deck, it looks vastly inferior to Galakrond, and will probably not even work as a package inside Galakrond decks. The benefit this card provides is marginal, and comboing it with something like Steeldancer is tricky because of how easy this card is to remove.
Self-Sharpening Sword: 2 Stars – Could feasibly work as a decent standalone card despite its archetype being weak. The main problem, though, is that Rogue simply has better options available to it. It’s also horrendously weak to weapon removal (although it’s questionable how in-demand that will be).
Shifty Sophomore: 4 Stars – Stealth Galakrond Rogue conspicuously lacks a four-drop, and this is exactly what the deck is looking for. The Spellburst ability is relatively weak, but that’s fine because Stealth ensures we will trigger it more consistently.
Secret Passage: 4 Stars – An autoinclude in all forms of Galakrond Rogue, which I expect will be around Tier 2. Galakrond Rogue typically doesn’t run all of the possible invokes, so Secret Passage will be very helpful in finding the remaining ones before playing Galakrond. Future Rogue decks will also keep an eye on this card based on how useful it will be in aggro decks.
Infiltrator Lilian: 4 Stars – Another good 4-drop that Stealth Galakrond Rogue can fit right in. The value is good for the cost, and Rogue wants all the good Stealth minions that it can get its hands on (hell, even Worgen Infiltrator saw play in some builds).
Shaman
Rune Dagger: 4 Stars – There are two directions to take a “spell damage Shaman” deck in. You can either fill it with burn spells and aggressive cards (like Arcane Watcher), or you can make a control deck. The burn variant will probably end up stronger than the control variant, and it will be very interested in this card to consistently proc Arcane Watcher on Turn 3.
Tidal Wave: 1 Star – Control Shaman has powerful spells already, but it lacks a win condition, and this set hasn’t given Shaman an obvious one. This spell is good on its own (and even better with spell damage) but it does not fix the fundamental problem with Control Shaman, which is why it will fail.
Diligent Notetaker: 3 Stars – Burn Shaman may want to consider this. Getting back another spell which can hit face could be very scary for your opponent. I’m not 100% sold on whether it’s worth it or not, but it’s definitely a possibility.
Molten Blast: 4 Stars – This card fits into the Burn Shaman archetype well, and it can create a lot of small tokens for you to take advantage of via Storm's Wrath or Vessina. This is the main reason why a Spell Damage Shaman deck will be more interested in aggression than control.
Totem Goliath: 5 Stars – Totem Shaman is already a decent deck, but it can struggle if it loses the earlygame. This is a very strong card for the midgame which curves nicely into Splitting Axe on the very next turn.
Instructor Fireheart: 2 Stars – Not a terrible card, but it’s hard to imagine it fitting into any of the upcoming Shaman archetypes. The best I could imagine for Fireheart is for it to function as a refill option in the lategame, but that’s probably not worth a deck slot. This card could surprise me, though.
Warlock
Demonic Studies: 1 Star – Ultimately not worth a deck slot even if you are running a deck with some demon synergies. There are too many bad demons which can be discovered for this to be decent.
School Spirits: 4 Stars – A Volcanic Potion with an upside is never a bad thing, and 2-health minions have been extremely prevalent in the meta recently (mainly thanks to Demon Hunter). Warlock’s Soul Fragment package seems to be geared more towards control, and the class already has many decent tools to do just that.
Boneweb Egg: 3 Stars – The discard bonus doesn’t strike me as all that relevant, since most discard cards target the highest-cost card. However, this should still work out well in Zoolock, and I think that deck will be decent enough.
Shadowlight Scholar: 4 Stars – Good value for the cost as it’s essentially a 3-mana Flanking Strike. Does the job of encouraging us to run the Soul Fragment package, although in my opinion it’s not as ridiculous as something like Soulshard Lapidary.
Void Drinker: 4 Stars – A big body like this will be obnoxious for aggressive decks to punch through. Control Warlock decks may want to cut Abyssal Summoner for this (or run both).
Archwitch Willow: 1 Star – Here’s an idea: how about we make the set’s legendary synergize with big demons, and then print not a single supporting card to back it up? The limited support given to this archetype in previous sets is not enough for Willow to work out in the upcoming meta. At least she’s good in Wild.
Warrior
Athletic Studies: 4 Stars – The ability to discount your next Rush minion is extremely useful, as we’ll see in a minute. Not an amazing card on its own, but another card in this set makes this worth running.
In Formation!: 1 Star – The Taunt synergies that Warrior currently has are fairly weak and haven’t seen play since Uldum, and a mediocre “2 mana add 2 random cards” isn’t going to change that. There are too many weak Taunt minions in the game for this to be impactful enough.
Reaper's Scythe: 5 Stars – Warrior is always looking for powerful weapons, and this is one of the strongest that the class will have. Spellburst works very nicely on a weapon because it becomes easier to activate, and having this up will discourage your opponent from playing their minions wide. Add in some of Warrior’s powerful synergies like Corsair Cache, Steeldancer, and Doctor Krastinov, and this card will be played in almost every serious Warrior deck.
Troublemaker: 3 Star – Very scary card with the potential to snowball out of control if left alone. As soon as this is summoned, your opponent will need an immediate answer or they will be overwhelmed by all the minions this summons.
Playmaker: 5 Stars – Ridiculously good with cards which have already proven to be very strong on their own, such as Restless Mummy. Reminiscent of pre-nerf Bloodsworn Mercenary in that decks will likely be built around abusing its powerful effect.
Rattlegore: 1 Star – Fun meme card, but too slow by far to ever see play. It does nothing when played, it’s weak to silence, and it just isn’t strong enough to justify a deck slot.
Demon Hunter/Hunter
Blood Herald: 3 Stars – Despite its insane synergy with Swarm of Locusts, this will not bring Quest Hunter back from the dead. At least Token Demon Hunter can always use it.
Demon Companion: 5 Stars – Will likely see play in Aggro Demon Hunter and as a 1-of in Highlander Hunter. Both those decks are currently Tier 1 and will probably remain so in the Scholomance meta.
Trueaim Crescent: 3 Stars – Looks very strong, but Aggro Demon Hunter has weapons which are more in line with its game plan available to it. This will probably end up in Token Demon Hunter, a far weaker archetype. Hunter’s not really a token class, so I doubt it will see much play there either.
Ace Hunter Kreen: 4 Stars – Token Demon Hunter is the most obvious place for this card, but this is getting a higher rating than the rest of the token-based cards because it is likely that Hunter decks will be able to make good use of it. At the very least, Highlander Hunter should consider adding Kreen to its arsenal.
Druid/Shaman
Lightning Bloom: 3 Stars – Pre-nerf Innervate with a significant downside. However, mana manipulation is so strong, and Druid in particular has so many cards which encourage this (such as Gibberling) that this card will probably make its way into some decks.
Groundskeeper: 4 Stars – This card will probably see play in Druid purely based on its ability to provide survivability, which is something any deck looking to abuse Omu will want as much of as possible. Shaman, on the other hand, is too interested in aggression to seriously consider this.
Runic Carvings: 5 Stars – A key component in both Token Druid and Totem Shaman, two decks which look to be among the strongest of their respective classes. Also very nice from a design perspective as an expensive “Choose One” spell which isn’t broken in Quest Druid. We will certainly see a lot of this in a few days.
Speaker Gidra: 3 Stars – I can’t bring myself to rate such an economical removal card any lower, but it is a serious problem how clunky this card is. If you cast it with, say, a 4 cost spell, you’ve spent a two-card combo just to summon a cheaper Siamat. Druid will want some control tools so it will certainly consider this, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the final verdict is that Gidra just isn’t consistent enough.
Hunter/Druid
Adorable Infestation: 2 Stars – Not very impressive. 1-cost handbuffs have a history of not working out well, and ultimately I don’t think this card does enough to even make the cut in Beast Hunter.
Teacher's Pet: 3 Stars – Druid does not have the tools to make this work, but Hunter loves seeing beasts with strong deathrattles. Teron Gorefiend and Mok’nathal Lion will both be very interested in this one, although it might end up being too slow for the class.
Guardian Animals: 1 Star – This card is bait. Don’t fall for it. The deckbuilding restriction is so extreme (no beasts which are bad when summoned) that it’s unthinkable that this card could ever realistically work in either class.
Shan'do Wildclaw: 4 Stars – This card is one of the major reasons why I’m optimistic about Beast Hunter’s chances of success. Most of Hunter’s beasts benefit greatly from a deckbuff, and so do Hunter’s card generation options (like Ramkahen Wildtamer and Hunting Party). I don’t think the “transform into a friendly Beast” option is quite as good, but there are some scenarios where it may be preferable.
Mage/Rogue
Wand Thief: 4 Stars – Simple, yet elegant. This is both one of the strongest one-drops available to Rogue and also an easy choice for Highlander Mage. It is a shame you can’t play it on Turn 1, but that’s a small price to pay.
Brain Freeze: 1 Star – Whenever you intentionally damage a minion, you generally are doing so because you want to remove it that turn. This is why freezing and dealing damage have typically not worked out very well together. Despite this, the card can be viewed as a slightly worse Holy Smite, and those have seen play in the past, but there’s only so much space in Highlander Mage and I don’t think this makes the cut.
Potion of Illusion: 3 Stars – While there might be some crazy combo decks out there that want to use this, it is unlikely that any of them will get past the experimentation phase. Alternatively, this could be used in Highlander Mage to get extra copies of Reno, Zephrys or other desirable minions. Realistically, that’s probably the only application for this card that will work out.
Jandice Barov: 3 Stars – It’s always good to have a strong standalone card like this, but Highlander Mage is likely to be the only deck which uses it. Galakrond Rogue runs many minions which are synergistic and therefore will struggle to make space for this, but Mage should be able to fit it in without too much trouble.
Paladin/Priest
Wave of Apathy: 1 Star – Feeling pretty apathetic about this card myself. We’ve seen from history that cards which lower an enemy’s attack rarely see play, especially not when the effect isn’t permanent. Priest and Paladin both have better removal cards that they can use instead.
Gift of Luminance: 4 Stars – Fantastic with Cult Acolyte, but otherwise not worth the effort. Fortunately, the synergy with Cult Acolyte is so strong that this card should see play regardless.
Devout Pupil: 4 Stars – Will likely work out just fine in both classes. Paladin of course will add this to any deck which runs the Libram package, and Priest has a few cards like Renew and Apotheosis to make this worth considering.
High Abbess Alura: 5 Stars – Very interesting card in that it is complete garbage in Priest and simultaneously broken in Paladin. Most of Priest’s spells are removal based, and therefore are horrendous with Alura. Paladin, however, has a ton of great buffs which it would happily cast for free with Alura. Imagine cheating out a Libram of Hope with this; now that’s just insanity.
Priest/Warlock
Raise Dead: 4 Stars – Getting two cards for free is great value, and the “downside” can actually come in handy with all of Warlock’s self-damage cards. With this, now we can play Diseased Vulture and Darkglare on curve. This should end up as a staple in Zoolock as a great refill option.
Brittlebone Destroyer: 3 Stars – Unlike the other three cards, Priest can actually use this. The class has a lot of good, cheap healing spells (like Renew), and the value is great. I’m not sure if Warlock will be able to capitalize on it as much, but it depends on how good Control Warlock ends up.
Flesh Giant: 4 Stars – Another crucial component in Zoolock which encourages us to run the self-damage package. This is a powerful tempo play that can come down as early as Turn 5 which will be a massive headache for our opponent to remove.
Disciplinarian Gandling: 4 Stars – Atrocious in Priest, but in Warlock this could function as a capable replacement for Tekhan which functions well with non-lackey cards. This is the finisher that Zoolock needs to be great.
Rogue/Warrior
Cutting Class: 5 Stars – This card won’t see any play in Rogue, which has better card draw options, but in Warrior this is insane. Warrior has a lot of great weapons with 3 or more attack, like Wrenchcalibur or Reaper’s Scythe, and this can be easily discounted to 2 or less as a result.
Coerce: 4 Stars – Looks pretty good. The combo effect isn’t too hard to achieve since you don’t frequently play removal cards on curve anyway, so 3 mana to destroy a minion ends up being a pretty good deal.
Steeldancer: 4 Stars – This card is tricky to evaluate since you generally want to be summoning at least a 3-cost minon, which is tough to do on curve. However, I believe that Steeldancer still warrants inclusion even if you usually will have to wait until turn 5 or 6 to get a good effect. Still, it is a shame that Corsair Cache got nerfed; if it weren’t for that, this would get a 5-star rating.
Doctor Krastinov: 5 Stars – Captain Greenskin saw quite a bit of play in Enrage Warrior, and this card is even better. Losing one attack for Rush is a winning trade, and Warrior has a lot of good cards which synergize with high weapon attack.
Shaman/Mage
Primordial Studies: 3 Stars – There are some fairly weak options that this card may saddle you with, but because Spell Damage is a mechanic which works well when combined with spells, the cost reduction is a strong point in the card’s favor. This will at the very least be tried out in Burn Shaman and may even end up as a staple.
Trick Totem: 4 Stars – This set is adding a lot of spells to the “3-or-less” pool which are strong when randomly cast (such as the Studies cards), so the chances of getting a horrendous lowroll are not as high as one might expect. This will probably not see play in all variants of Totem Shaman, but will likely be used enough to warrant a 4.
Devolving Missiles: 1 Star – A vastly inferior and less consistent version of Devolve, a tech card which probably would not see play in Standard today. You’re better off using actual removal spells to deal with your opponent’s minions.
Ras Frostwhisper: 5 Stars – Remember how good Despicable Dreadlord was? Ras is an even better version of that. Burn Shaman will gladly run him because he can target face, and Highlander Mage will follow suit even if that deck doesn’t end up running many spell damage related cards.
Warlock/Demon Hunter
Spirit Jailer: 5 Stars – This is exactly the kind of card that Aggro Demon Hunter wants to run, and while it doesn’t quite follow the Control Warlock game plan, that deck will likely still run this. A must-have for all Soul Fragment decks.
Soul Shear: 5 Stars – The inverse of Spirit Jailer: this card is good in Control but not so much in Aggro. Still gets the 5 star treatment since I believe both decks will run it.
Felosophy: 2 Stars – The most likely scenario for this card is that Zoolock will test it out and subsequently be disappointed by it. There are so many better things both classes could be doing than giving a minor handbuff to their cards.
Soulciologist Malicia: 5 Stars – The buildaround card for Soul Fragment decks which can easily fill the board and overwhelm your opponent. Alternatively, you can use it as a powerful removal card (which Warlock will be interested in). Soul Fragment decks will likely be very strong next expansion, and all of them will obviously run Malicia.
Warrior/Paladin
Shield of Honor: 4 Stars – Comparable to Rampage, and in some instances even better. This should frequently be used in Enrage Warrior considering how easy it is to procure damaged minions to buff.
Commencement: 1 Star – Cool flavor, but Recruit decks are not even close to viable. There’s unfortunately no way something with this big of a deckbuilding restriction will ever work.
Ceremonial Maul: 4 Stars – Spellburst is a great effect to have on weapons, and if you cast a spell which costs 3 or more, you’re essentially getting a discounted Arathi Weaponsmith. That’s a pretty good deal, and it doesn’t even take into account the potential to summon very large minions with expensive spells.
Lord Barov: 5 Stars – Even if the effect is not as fast as you might like, this is still a 3 mana Twisting Nether. You can even damage your own Barov with cards like Sword and Board to get the effect immediately. Any deck which is even a little bit interested in board control will run this.
Neutrals
Animated Broomstick: 1 Star – Cute, but giving minions Rush just isn’t a very strong effect.
Crimson Hothead: 1 Star – Not the worst card in the 1-star category, but the spellburst effect isn’t strong enough to justify running it.
Desk Imp: 1 Star – Will join Snowflipper Penguin and Tinyfin Murloc in the “never saw play” menagerie.
Divine Rager: 1 Star – Has there ever been a good card with “Rager” in its name?
Fishy Flyer: 2 Stars – Playmaker might be interested in this, but otherwise not good enough.
Intrepid Initiate: 3 Stars – Decent earlygame card, but reliant on casting cheap spells. Will see some niche play here and there.
Lake Thresher: 1 Star – Did you get baited into building a deck around Guardian Animals? Well, here’s an even worse card which you might be interested in.
Manafeeder Panthara: 2 Stars – This is a difficult card to rate. The effect is clearly powerful since the stats and effect are great for their cost. Unfortunately, it’s hard to picture a deck where this belongs. I don’t know, maybe someone out there will come up with somewhere interesting to put this
Ogremancer: 4 Stars – Deceptively powerful card, especially in a meta where cheap spells are everywhere. Even if you only proc the effect once, the stats are still quite good for the cost.
Onyx Magescribe: 1 Star – Spells are cool, but this card is very slow. Not a huge fan.
Pen Flinger: 1 Star – Outclassed by Guardian Augmerchant.
Plagued Protodrake: 1 Star – If Rattlegore is too slow, then this card certainly is.
Smug Senior: 1 Star – Play a bad card to add another bad card to your hand. Sounds great.
Sneaky Delinquent: 2 Stars – Not quite good enough for Galakrond Rogue, but close.
Sorcerous Substitute: 4 Stars – A big bundle of stats is quite a nice cherry on top of Burn Shaman. I doubt Highlander Mage will pick it up since it's rather weak as a standalone.
Steward of Scrolls: 5 Stars – Azure Drake which discovers a spell instead of drawing a card is pretty good. This should be a consideration in any deck which cares about Spell Damage (including Highlander Mage).
Tour Guide: 1 Star – I always thought Water Boy would have seen play if it had been usable in Odd Paladin, and I guess Wild will show us if I was right. Too bad this review doesn’t take Wild into account.
Wandmaker: 4 Stars – A cheaper Cobalt Spellkin with a slightly weaker effect. Cheap spells are in high demand, so this will likely make the cut.
Wretched Tutor: 2 Stars – I could see some control decks picking this up since it is annoying for zoo/token decks to deal with. Still just a little bit too clunky in my opinion.
Cult Neophyte: 1 Star – Very minor effect which at best is a slight annoyance for your opponent. It’s no Loatheb.
Robes of Protection: 3 Stars – Now this could be extremely annoying. Zoo decks could make great use of protection for their minions, and while it doesn’t protect against AoE, most control decks run targeted spells and they will hate to see that they are useless against this.
Voracious Reader: 5 Stars – So, Jeeves still sees some play in Wild, and this is a version of him which costs 2 mana and doesn’t refill your opponent’s hand? If your aggressive deck cares about card draw, this is a must-include for it.
Educated Elekk: 1 Star – Shuffling cards into your deck is not a very strong effect, even if you get 2 or more good spells. In some cases, it can even be a negative if the spell does not synergize with your deck.
Enchanted Cauldron: 1 Star – Not a bad card, but too random for any deck to actively seek this out.
Transfer Student: 4 Stars – I’d rate this card 4 stars right now as it sees play in Highlander decks, but nothing else. I think it will be no better and no worse when the rest of the set arrives.
Headmaster Kel'Thuzad: 5 Stars – I’ve seen some people say this card is too clunky to fit properly into control decks. Are you guys crazy? There are so many great spells which cost 5 or less that can kill multiple minions (Hagatha's Scheme, Ramming Speed, Dark Skies, Starfall, Rolling Fireball, etc.) and any deck which runs these will consider Kel’Thuzad. The combo between this and Hagatha's Scheme in particular is so strong that this might give Control Shaman the win condition it so desperately needs.
Keymaster Alabaster: 1 Star – This could have worked if we had things like Research Project or Naturalize in Standard, but sadly, we do not. Even though this gets one star, keep an eye on it, as all it needs is one cheap card that lets your opponent draw to be worth consideration.
Lorekeeper Polkelt: 2 Stars – Cool effect, but I just don’t think it does quite enough to work out. Maybe some aggro decks could use this to stop themselves from drawing all their cheap cards in the endgame. I don’t really think so because aggro decks need cards which immediately fight for the board, and this card doesn’t do that.
Sphere of Sapience: 4 Stars – Won’t work well in decks which require heavy synergies, but Highlander decks should appreciate the effect, especially considering how this could help their consistency problems.
Vectus: 5 Stars – This should fit in very nicely in Beast Hunter, which uses a lot of deathrattles. Egg Warrior will also be very interested, considering how consistently the whelps will have the deathrattle of Serpent’s Egg.
1
Despite how awful the public reception of Gadgetzan was I LOVED playing the expansion. Every good deck had a unique angle, a clear motive and obvious strengths and weaknesses. Singleton decks were beyond fascinating; Reno and Kazakus made them incredibly robust and able to play out just about any curve decently well and every game they were in was different. The only win-con deck was Jades, which required a deck chock-full of Jade cards and showed them as early as turn 1.
My only gripe throughout the whole expansion was that Pirate Warrior was too luck-based; it could either draw the stone cold nuts or Patches and no curve. Other than that, Gadgetzan was one of my favorite expansions of all time. If Scholomance even lives up to THAT for me (not even WotOG) then I'll be happy, especially if any decks can be crafted on a budget.
2
To be fair to Slurper, it was a really consistently good class card in a class with traditionally wonky and bad class cards.
1
Blizzard took my money from Blitzchung.
Shoulda just banned him. No reason to withhold pay for the person who won the tournament fair and square.
1
Clearly the dev's favorite card of all time is Omega Devastator.
1
1
And they all still cost 1600 dust. Blizzard, please. I get that this set's commons helped make aggro decks good again but holy crud throw brand new players and everyone that has earned nothing but useless-in-comparison legendaries from previous expansions a bone.
From 55 packs so far I've only pulled Armagedillo and the Rogue quest. I would like to play with Zephrys the Great but cannot afford the 5+ additional legendaries any given Zephrys deck needs to work, despite having spent $30+ on each expansion up until this point. Worth noting that for each singleton deck 3 of said legendaries are Zephrys himself, Siamat and the respective class singleton card, all of which are from this expansion.
1
Galaxy is braindead
2
Floop's Glorious Gloop
1
Funny enough I got to legend with a ping brew as well last expansion! Security Rover was bonkers haha. Security Rover is now effectively replaced by Mercenary though, meaning the deck can afford to be a bit more assertive - note the Mad Genius in that decklist you posted carrying its lategame. My bet is that this expansion will be a bit faster than the Mad Genius can handle with all these quests running around, meaning more assertive cards are better than relying on the hero in non-control lists.
Bomb cards I think will remain relevant as there still isn't a lot of healing in Standard - they just won't be worth stuffing a deck full of anymore. Removing them definitely gives access to other good synergies however so feel free in y'all's own midrange lists! Maybe I just realy like bomb cards lol.
2
Fantastic in Wild with Fool's Bane.