"We lived a good life in our former kingdom, in a village near Stratholme. We always had enough to eat and enough to share. I remember very well how the first rumours started. They told stories of this strange disease that had cropped up in the west lands. They said after a drawn out feverish bedtime the people were turning green and blue, going crazy in the end, even turning against their loved ones. We started to see more and more city guard passing through our small village on their fast, high horses. Sometimes they came back with captives. Strange, dark folk, grim looking mannes. Every journey to town made mother more worried. The offers on the market and in the bakeries went thinner and thinner. The bakers blamed the vendors, the vendors blamed the farmers, the farmers blamed the weather. A lot of corn had been spoiled this year. Others tried to sell their bad grain and got strongly punished for it. We heard more and more cities were quarantined. The rumours became stranger and stranger until a sane mind couldn't give them anymore attention. It was a unpleasant time but we managed to earn what we needed. Then the fateful night came. The animals were the first to notice. They were always the first. But this night the hounds' barking sounded different. Not the ferocious bawling when a wolf comes to close to the barns. More uncertain, like these beasts didn't know if their shout would bring more harm than good. Mother burst into our room. We had not even time to put on clothes. She told me to run outside and wait next to the mayor's house. I ran as fast as I could. Then I saw them. Tottering shapes, dark statures slowly appearing in the light of the few lanterns on the street. Rigid with fear I starred at them as their shapes became clearer.
I don't remember this feeling any more. Terrified in the face of death. This was so long ago. Still, I remember the face of the first of them who came into the shine. A grey beard, face wrinklier then a dried maggot, a long robe and a staff in his hand. I often wondered how long I was staring at them. It felt like an eternity. Then I just turned and ran into the pitch black field behind the village. Ran into our forest, where I cowered all night, cold and bare, under a big tree stump, pressing my hands onto my ears. I returned the next day. I had never heard this kind of silence in my life before. A remarkable abstinence of sound. No bird chirping, no barking, no human noise, nothing. Standing there, in my home that was no longer mine, I took the decision to eradicate the robe wearer and all of his kind.
Sometimes the most sincerest of intentions take the strangest of turns. I know that now. One has to understand what one seeks to destroy. My old master saw great potential in me. He didn't look so certain after I succeeded him. I still hear his whispers. It seems like he doesn't want to leave me."
The Class
Ghoul Token:
Resurrecting the dead, sacrificing servants at your own will and letting your opponent find an early grave. All that and more is the work of the Necromancer. The Necromancer is a class that focuses strongly on its minions to gain an early advantage in the game. Your Hero Power summons, like Paladin and Shaman, a small token that is also similar in power level. The rather weak 0/1 Unmarked Grave token can, if it survives, summon a 2/2 Ghoul. It can't attack on the turn it is summoned but the Grave might have already provided value by destroying itself. Many cards of this class have synergy with minions being destroyed. This is also what its new Keyword is all about. It is called Morbidity, an ability on minions that gets triggered whenever another friendly minion dies. So your Hero Power can already trigger this effect twice.
Furthermore, this class offers a variety of token generating cards, and a lot of ways to utilize them. Often your tokens are good targets for cards that benefit from destroying your own minions (by letting you do so). These also provide a way to trigger your Morbidity and Deathrattle effects on will. Deathrattle minions fit perfectly into the array of the Necromancer. You can resurrect or copy them to trigger a certain Deathrattle multiple times and even activate their abilities without having to trade, taking more use out of them by triggering Morbidity on other minions. So combining your Morbidity, Deathrattle, resummoning and sacrificing cards in the right order, to the right extent and on the right time is how you earn your daily bread with this class.
You are also offered a variety of good single target removal and potent card draw. However the class lacks strong direct AoE effects but makes up for that in other ways. Cards that let you trade your tokens efficiently and don't leave you with an empty board are an important substitute. How the Necromancer relies on its minions is also visible in other aspects. A good example for that is Health-gain. Instead of restoring Health directly like Priest or leeching Health from your enemies with spells like Warlock, this class is more dependent on its own minions, buffing or sacrificing them. Starting in the classic set and further through the expansions some utile survivability tools have been introduced. This also allows using the smaller side theme of cards that cost Health instead of Mana. The Death Knight Hero card revolves around this mechanic to go a more late game, control oriented route.
Its token synergies and ways to an early strong, persistent board presence, combined with cheap spells that let you pay in alternative ways, gives this class great tempo tools. Your ways to up your survivability and good single target removal make a more midrange and control oriented playstyle possible. In MSoG was a very value oriented effect in form of "Collecting Evidence" introduced, that can provide a strong late game and make sure you don't run out of cards.
Further down the single main themes are showcased and explained with example cards.
Quick summary:
Main themes: Morbidity Deathrattle Resurrect Sacrifice Tokens Strong single target removal (Synergistic cards)
Pros: Sticky Morbidity and Deathrattle minions Great tempo Strong board presence Cheap spells Utilising own and enemy minions multiple times (Decent Healing)
Side themes: Potent card draw Paying Health instead of Mana Neglecting fatigue Collecting Evidence (MSoG) (Stealth)
Cons: Weak or situational AoE Limited direct damage Vulnerable to AoE Requires board presence (Weak to Silence)
Some possible deck archetypes:
Summoner: Aggro playstyle utilizing cheap minions and summoning tokens to overrun the opponent.
Midrange: Using cheap to midrange minions and keep up pressure through resummon, removal and consistent card draw.
Bloodmancer: Control playstyle which stalls and heals through damage to use Health in the mid and lategame for big swing turns. (C’Thun decks can have a special advantage here)
Deathrattle Necro: Utilizing sticky Deathrattle minions that come back and back again. Multiplying your Deathrattles to make sure you always have something on the board. If the resummons of N’Zoth gets answered it’s very likely something will still stick.
Undead Quest: Resurrecting Beasts to eventually overwhelm your opponent with constantly Adapting minions.
Big Back Bringer: Pulling big minions early with the Legendary Weapon or Barnes and resurrecting them for the rest of the game.
Morbidity
Morbidity, the new Keyword, is a simple yet versatile implementable effect that triggers whenever a friendly minion dies. The Necromancer loves to use her minions for many different tasks and doesn't shy away from destroying them at her own. Many effects of this class have great synergy with each other. So you prepared a board of tokens for example to then play a Morbidity minion and trade your tokens away, gaining additional value. Or you just destroy them yourself and reap the extra benefits. The nature of this ability makes it so you have quite some minions who provide not only token minions but also put spell tokens into your hand. Morbidity allows well thought through turns in which you combine different components of spells and minions to gain tempo and swing the board state in your favour. The order of things you do can be very important. Therefore, synergistic plays need setup so you have to be attentive and often plan your turns ahead.
Morbidity on already existing cards:
Deathrattle
Deathrattle minions are often already indicators for Undead minions in Hearthstone and this class claims them all. The Necromancer includes a lot of Deathrattle minions and synergies since it is a main theme of the class. Cards that let you sacrifice your own creatures make you able to trigger these effects on will. Copying and resurrecting your Deathrattle minions can create a lot of value over the course of a game. Therefore, minions like N'Zoth, the Corruptor, Baron Rivendare and Spiritsinger Umbra are close friends that can be included in many decks.
Resurrect
What would be a Necromancer without the ability to resurrect the dead? Well, not a Necromancer. This is the class’ butter to the bread. Being able to resummon your minions opens up a lot of interesting deck building and lets you trigger the abilities of certain minions multiple times even if they were destroyed before. You want to cheat out big minions early and then resurrect them over the entire course of the game? No problem! You want to get early aggression going and bring back your minions that let you keep up the pressure? You can do that as well. Different from Priest, the Necromancer is also able to resummon enemy minions. Bring extra salt to your opponent when he gets beat down by his own former minions that serve you now. This mechanic lets you be constantly in contact with previous turns of the game. So to know what died before and in some instances even the order in that they did is crucial to the class.
Token Generation
Another main theme of the Necromancer is the ability to create tokens. As the hero power already suggests is the class capable of generating (normally small) token minions to swarm the board, trade efficiently, be sacrificed and used with other synergistic cards. Tokens are an essential tool to trigger your Morbidity effects. However this mechanic makes the Necromancer class vulnerable to AoE effects, so the timing of when and how many tokens to create is very important. Often it is beneficial to not dump everything on the board directly, but to hold back and let your opponent waste their spells until the right moment comes. By all means you have the tools to feed and bait him.
Sacrifice
The Necromancer has no problem sacrificing her own minions for a greater purpose. Her Hero Power makes sure that you have always a token to use for this effect. With your means to summon and resurrect minions, you will always have enough servants at your disposal, who will happily die for you. It is also a great means to trigger Morbidity and Deathrattle effects on your own turn especially when your opponent has no minions on the board. Minions with this ability are normally also playable when you are not able to consume another friendly minion, but miss the advantage that comes with it. The Legendary High Priestess Azil (WotOG) lets you even use these spells and abilities on enemy minions and the Necromancer’s Legendary Weapon also revolves around this mechanic.
Synergy Cards
What this class lacks in AoE and direct damage it makes up for in other ways. Your arsenal offers a variety of cards that seem weak on their own but combined with other cards, can have a strong impact on the course of a game. Dealing one damage or a token with 1-2 Attack is not very impressive. But combined with Big Bad Voodoo (JtU) for example it can hurt your opponent’s board a lot. Or you can destroy your tokens with Poisonous Fumes (Classic) and then destroy the spawning tokens with Necromerge (Classic) to let your opponent know how a bunch of Leper Gnomes smell like. Also your minions which put spell tokens into your hand that you can combine with other cards provide great options for synergistic plays. Undead Primate and Voodoo Master Ma'kuti (JtU) are good examples for that, giving you 1 damage Rotten Bananas and Shrunken Heads for spell cost reduction.
Expansions
Further down you find the different expansions of this class. A short fluff and gameplay explanation are located in a spoiler under the card sets. Special cards receive special attention. At the bottom you can find all cards ordered by type and Mana cost as well as some example decks.
Basic Set
Fluff and card explanation:
Waking Spirits:"Who would raise the dead at 3 am?." - Bob, the Grave Keeper. By giving your Graves +2 Attack you can increase the chance of them getting triggered or at least inflicting damage before they get cleared. Works also amazingly with Walk the Yard + Necromerge combo, giving your biggy higher damage output.
Time to Rise:"Oh boy! 3am!." Daiana Deathsorrow. Simple handy tool in many token decks. Great to spawn sacrifice targets for your spells.
Touch of Death:That's why you should never shake hands with a necromancer. Lets you snipe a minion and summon a Ghoul. Good in early stages of the game.
Starving Ghoul:You too would be starving if you didn't have a stomach. Can be a great tempo play on turn 2. A 3/3 body is nothing to be sneezed at.
Fresh Supplies:How fresh you ask? Well, preferably they should be talking. A way to copy minions that the class has not too many of.
Dust to Dust:Well, if they can be taken down by one damage they probably were made of dust. Small AoE that can be very useful in combination with other cards.
Void Burst:In reality Daiana stole this spell from Gul'dan, shhhh don't tell anyone! Standard removal.
Disassemble:It is so easy to disassemble your skeletons, the hard part is putting them back together. A very efficient way to draw a lot of cards. A staple card of the Necromancer.
Ashes to Ashes:In the end we all come back to the earth. Cheap strong single target removal with a small downside. What more to ask for?
Rattling Steel Defender:He will protect you, for a price, even a little one like a wisp. 4/6 Taunt for 4 Mana! Eating one of your tokens shouldn't be a problem.
Classic Set
Fluff and card explanation:
Soul Transfer: One hops into the other's vase. Its simple, just clear the way. The cheapest spell to resummon a minion. Can be a bit of a gamble. Elusive Specter: The reality is that he’s very shy. Simple little dude that like to stay hidden for a long time. Walk the Yard: There is nothing better than relaxing in the nearest graveyard. Great to create a sticky board state and pairs well with card that destroy your own minions. Ghoul Master: They obey him, not by fear, but by mutual trust. A staple card of the Necromancer. Simple happily seen minion of the classic set. Scroll of Dark Omens: Two Graves, what did he draw? Deathwing? An Angry Chicken? The anxiety is killing me. Consistent card draw that lets you spawn tokens by giving your opponent a clue of your draw. Soul Swallower: He doesn’t eat everything just the tastiest parts. Can give you a lot of Health back. Drop him before trading your tokens. Reanimate Dead: More like “Reanimate Skeletons”. Cheap way to summon a bunch of tokens. No Rest for the Wicked: When you sign up to work with a Necromancer you should expect a long work journey. Pairs well with the Legendary Weapon, especially in early game. You can also resummon your opponent's minions. Risen Sun Priest: He’s more of a night owl actually. Simple way to trigger a Morbidity effect. Probably more useful in a not so token oriented deck. Carrion Feeder: Carry on my feeder. That sticky fatty can stay alive for a long time and protect your other minions. Essence Draining: It will drain all of you, your fears, your happiness, your taste for funnel cakes, everything. Costly removal that gives you potentially a lot of Health back. Good for control type decks. Necromerge: The secret is to tie the corpses really, really tight. Best used in synergy with other cards and to trigger Deathrattles or to just clump up your tokens into a bigger minion. Plague Bringer: He said that it was only a cold. If you tune it right this fella will not leave the battlefield very soon. Copying him and having Deathrattle minions that spawn tokens makes sure he stays. Poisonous Fumes: Made from 100% radiation of Gnomeregan. One card that comes closest to a strong AoE effect similar to Poison Seeds. You can also use this on your own minions and then destroy them to inflict direct damage to your opponent. Pork, the First Mistake: We all make mistakes, the necromancer's just tend to be more... persistent. Ever seen a more persistent Legendary minion? Transforming one of your tokens into a 5/5 is very valuable. You can also copy his Deathrattle which gives you even more Pork!
Tokens:
You want to enter down into the dungeon, gather all the loot, slay all the monsters and find the riches of your lifetime? You even brought a party to do so? Be warned, some dusty fellas who are guarding their tombs and gold for a long time might not like that. So don’t make to much noise, else they may abandon their graves and come to stop you. Shadows seem to move on their own will down there sometimes. So take some light with you. A torch or a lantern might do. Not all candles are there to light up your way. And try to stay away from these glowing mushrooms. They don’t taste good and have other weird side effects as I had to learn the hard way.
The Legendary Weapon
The Hours of Shek’zeer is an hourglass infused with powerful dark magic. It was created by the corrupted ruler of the mantid Empress Shek’zeer. She used to bind her servants’ life to its invisible web of deadly enchantments to make sure no one would ever betray her. The ones that did found a fast end as their life was torn out of them - corn by corn. As the Empress fell from grace of her followers and was brutally succeeded the hourglass was forgotten. It first was rediscovered much later by Dar’Khan Drathir, a powerful necromancer and Master of the Scourge in Quel’Thalas. He quickly found other ways to utilize the hourglass’ power and held it in his possession for many years before it was stolen by a lesser Sorcerer. Though, this one was not able to hold onto it for long.
"Even in my sleep, I hear her terror. Fear grips her mind and body. The Empress is no longer fit to rule the empire." — Korven the Prime
In most other classes this weapon would be ridiculously bad. But considering the mechanics of the Necromancer, it can be a strong device early and late game. It can pull your Deathrattle minions and trigger them immediately. This expansion adds useful cards to be included together in a deck with this weapon. Blood Golem, Pork, the First Mistake (Classic) or Selfish Champion can leave you with immediate value. Headless Naga can dive into your deck again and pairs wonderfully with N'Zoth, the Corruptor. It also triggers your Morbidity effects without having to trade or use your self-inflicting spells. Furthermore, pulling big minions early to resurrect them directly after can be a very strong play if you design your deck accordingly. Be careful though. It thins out your deck and might waste minions you rather would have played from hand. Running Medivh to stop this effect could be a consideration. Hours of Shek'zeer's effect is exhaustible like Skull of the Man'ari and wears your deck down with an ongoing effect similar to Aluneth.
The Spellstone
This pretty little stone bears hidden unspeakable secrets. One might even think it has a will of its own and doesn't let you make many friends if you decide to keep it on you. Its iron shimmering core craves to leech the essence of living beings.
The Hematite Spellstone has two different utility options. It seeks to finish off an enemy minion, so it does not give your opponent Health back. Upgrade it and it becomes more attractive to play on one of your own minions. Giving a big friendly minion Lifesteal can up your survivability by a lot in the late game.
The Tale of the Lone Wanderer:
A crude man he was, shund by all folk in town. They said he wants to steal all good and even wear a crown.
One day he went, shout and whistles on his track. On the road to nowhere, he never turned his back.
In a deep dark forest he found his hearts desire. A stone so myst and magical, it made him feel much higher.
One day he went, back to his town, to show all folk what he had found.
They looked and laughed, not seeing who he was. He held his dear close to his heart and heard a gentle voice.
It was the stone, sure of his pride, who whispered in one tone.
"Get rid of them! I'll show you how! The might lies in your bones."
Full Set:
Fluff and card explanation:
Evil Waxling:Careful! Anger him too much and he melts faster than snow on Blackrock Mountain. Can be a useful tool to finish off your opponent when you are better off health wise. Two of these on the board and both players are the ones melting.
Azun’s Lucky Charm:He lost it one day, since then it has changed its owner every other week. Very strong in many decks with Deathrattle synergy. Great with Carnivorous Cube and also usable with Hours of Shek’zeer. Play it and let the Hourglass pull a Deathrattle minion for you.
Fungal Hexer:Give him a reason and he will spore all over the place. The same counts for this cute guy. While your Deathrattle minions disappear he replaces them with mushroom goodness. Great!
Headless Naga:Seems like not even Vashj’s minions can resist Daiana’s deathly grip. She can prevent you from dumping too many minions with Hours of Shek’zeer and is also pullable through Selfish Champion. Also great to resummon a bunch of these with N'Zoth, the Corruptor and stack up your deck again. The second card next to Pick Up A Case (MSoG)that allows you to cheat the fatigue reaper.
Selfish Champion:Having companions can be helpful. They also can steal your loot, stab you in the back or be better off headless. Makes sure you have something left after getting Recruited by the Hourglass and since there are many useful 3 drops in this class can be a good card in many deck types.
Lesser Hematite Spellstone: "Oh my dear friend, don't worry. I will show you all might you ever wanted. They are jealous! They also want it. It can all be yours. Just avoid them! They will just drag you down!" Has two very different effects un- and upgraded. Can be very useful in a deck that runs the Death Knight Hero card.
Crypt Chronicles:Ever wondered who this loot belonged to 378 years ago? Heh, me neither. If you set up correctly you can play your favourite spells again next turn! Now how about that?
Blood Golem: Its enemies see red… and that’s the last thing they see. The fatty of the expansion. Super strong Deathrattle with the option to merge back together. Very good with the Legendary Weapon and copying effects.
Dark Harvester Gritix:He met The Darkness only once, but I think he never really got over it. Gritix ability is similar to Medivh’s Atiesh. It comes on a minion though, so is more easy to remove. If he sticks he can be great in keeping up a strong board presence. Works very well with the Death Knight Hero card.
Tokens:
"Only darkness... there... I can sense my body... crushed and torn... encased in the icy elements. I don't feel the pain any more. I remember... the Lich drained my power... leeching my very essence. These flickering lines... they hold me, don't let me leave. A new clarity... I can see the shapes, shimmering mirrors of the physical. Others have arrived... they are pulling the strings. Pulling me back, my body bending under their strong magic. I see clearly now. The whispers are gone. Everything that happened... my whole life led to this moment. I will rise again. It is my fate... I will sit on the Frozen Throne. It is mine."
After many years wandering through the land once called Lordearon, strengthening her power and knowledge, the whispers engulfing Daiana became harsher and harsher. Stinging her, pushing her in a direction she was not able to grasp. Lost and without purpose her route took her to the barren northern coasts. On her ways she raised a force of servants, stumbling behind her, obeying her every command. Without mercy her minions took a coastal town, enslaving its citizens into undead service. Following the whispers Daiana set sail north-east to the frozen land of Northrend waiting for her fate to unfold. There her might grew over the years harnessing the dark magic that flows through this forsaken continent.
Daiana had formed a stronghold upon the ruins of the forgotten city Thor Modan. Raising an army of undead soldiers and frosty monsters of the tundra, she prepared her attack on Icecrown Citadel - the Lich King's seat of power. After the last winter storm had passed, Daiana decided it was time for the assault.
With eyes glowing of madness Daiana challenged the Lords of the Scourge, defeating them one by one, making her way to the throne room of the dark fortress. There he sat - the Lich King - silently observing her. The hour of reckoning had come.
After a long battle leading their servants against one another and shattering frozen flesh and bone, both opponents were worn down. Daiana was close to death, already slipping out of her damaged body. Using her last might, chanting, then screaming a powerful incantation Daiana was able to burst the room's roof and burrow the Dark Lord under the rubble of his own unholy domicile. Daiana had defeated the Lich King. However her body was crushed, barely hanging onto life and she fell into darkness...
Battle Against the Lich King
In the Lich King Daiana had found her master match. Vibrating with the true essence of undeath he is able to drain the undead forces of opposing necromancers and turn these against them.
Ruler of the Dead is the card the Lich King (boss) plays in the first turn of every game against the Necromancer class. It can make this match into a real hardship. The Necromancer relies heavily on her Deathrattle and Morbidity minions, so you will have to find another way to defeat him. However the card also implies that you can use normally negative effects to your advantage. Such cards as Boiling Madness (WotOG), Corrupted Healbot, Bomb Squad or the rarely seen The Beast can be useful tools in this matchup.
The Death Knight Hero
It was Lady Deathwhisper and her servants who, surrendering to Daiana's might, retrieved her body and brought her back to fulfill her unholy fate. Enclosed in the ice cold elements, under the influence of strong dark magic, her body first grew twisted and bent. Two horns of pure element started emerging from her head. Her body, now one with the ice grew in size and strength. Glowing of pure essence Daiana rose again, an aura of death surrounding her. The might of Ner'Zhul entered her being. Now stronger than ever before she reigns again as an perfect instrument of the Scourge.
The hero card Daiana, Risen Avatar with its powerful Battlecry can mark a change of playstyle in your late game. It lets you clear the board in preparation of your following turns, now playing cards using Daiana's very essence. You can use your new Hero Power already in the turn you play your Hero card. This expansion, along with the Hero card, introduces Armor-gain for the first time to the Necromancer class and provides other cards that support survivability. In exchange for Health the Hero Power Unholy Essence lets you play more cards and make more combo plays in a turn. New cards like Bone Shield or Cruel Frostmancer and cards from previous sets like Essence Draining or Soul Swallower (Classic) let you sustain enough Health to make good use of this ability. Start to play costly cards with your Health or prepare combo plays that were otherwise not possible. Other than some other hero cards this one doesn't provide you with a constant way to gain back Health, so you have to use your Hero Power wisely.
Hero Portrait:
Full Set:
Fluff and card explanation:
Bone Shield: Spooky scary skeletons,... make also great shields,... A new means of survivability in this expansion. Vile Gravedigger: Not only digging up the dead, also turning them into zombies. Absolute mad lad. Trigger your Graves at will. Great synergy with Walk the Yard (Classic) and Bloodthirsty Vrykul. Bloodthirsty Vrykul: One bloody ghoul jumps over the fence, two bloody ghouls jump over the fence,... A strong means to buff your Ghouls and to gain Health. Has synergy with the Hero Power and other Ghoul summoning cards. Played after your Vile Gravedigger triggers your Unmarked Graves can lead to a strong Health leeching board presence early on. Mark of the Lich: Possibleside effects: Loss of sanity, vomiting, hypothermia. If these symptoms occur, please visit the closest witch doctor. This card is either useable as removal of to give one of your big minions who can stand the damage lifesteal. Cruel Frostmancer: He claims they knew what they had signed up for. Need to get rid of some minions and need some juicy Armor? This minion is very handy for control matchups and works well with the Hero card. If you tune it right you can get a lot of value from this. Corpse Explosion: "Tik tik boom!"said the abomination. One of the Necromancer's rare AoE effects. Playable on friendly and enemy minions. Can also be combined with Touch of N'Zoth (WotOG) for a bigger board clear. Growing Infestation: Not the ultimate but can definitely be annoying. Very strong resummon card for aggro type decks. If you manage to play only small minions until you play it, it will bring you a lot of board presence back. Icecrown Connoisseur: He makes the best enchiladas! If you don't mind pulling bones from your teeth from time to time. Good for copying and buffing your minions. Lady Deathwisper: If she employs you, it will be for eternity.Lady Deathwhisper can start early transforming your small tokens into bigger minions that even protect her. Turning a 0/1 Unmarked Grave into a 3/3 body is prime value.
Tokens:
In preparation to explore Un'Goro's forgotten secrets Daiana made plans to visit the witch doctors and medicine men who live deeply hidden in the steamy jungles. In order to obtain their ways she trained countless hours to focus her spirit, mind and energies. Listening to tales about the black and white magic of these spellcasters make her the ever more curious. Voodoo, spirit walking, powerful visions, rotten flesh growing back together and giving your enemies horrible insights about the past life that awaits them, to count a few. She will make use of the terrible Beasts and Elements wandering this place. Sure enough Daiana already feels quite at home in the foggy marshes of the crater.
During her time in the Voodoo Hexers' huts, they told Daiana a story that sparked her interest massively. About an ancient beast, high as the craters edge and as sturdy as Fire Plumes baked skin. A Devilsaur so gigantic and terrible that until this day its spirit terrifies the ghosts and specters of the forest. The hexers claim one can feel his presence from time to time. Every moon cycle they offer meat and milk to calm the spirit. Once a white Devilsaur they call him King Albatum. Its body must still be out there. Conserved under the brack water of the Screaming Reaches.
"If the spirit is still so present and one can find the body... there might be an interesting quest ahead of us" Daiana was thinking.
The Quest
On the quest to retrieve the remains of this legendary Devilsaur, Daiana had to resurrect other monsters and dinosaurs to proceed through the dangerous swamps of the jungle. Keeping her party save was eventually not the most important aspect of her journey.
Yes you heard right: Beast Necromancer! With this and preceding sets you will have plenty of cards that help you finish this Quest and make sure you don’t fall behind in the early game. Playing cheap small Beasts at first to resurrect them and then drop King Albatum to make your following Beasts even stronger and eventually overwhelm your opponent. After you play King Albatum the power level of your Beasts increases massively. With your tools to summon tokens and resurrect minions this reward can get very scary for your opponent. Trade your tokens and see how your Beasts grow in size and strength. Resurrecting King Albatum is also a handy option. It will become very hard for your opponent keeping up with your constantly Adapting minions. With your cards that sacrifice your own minions, you can trigger Morbidity even without enemy minions on the battlefield. A high stated Beast can stick to the board for a long time, being eventually not targetable, hiding in Stealth or gaining more Health and Divine Shield . The Adaptation Living Spores is also every useful since it leaves you with two 1/1 tokens that you can trade to trigger your Morbidity effects. The "(at random)" is simply to clarify that the Adaptation is chosen randomly since Morbidity can trigger on your opponent's turn. Just like on Enhance-o Mechano .
Full Set:
Fluff and card explanation:
Undead Primate: A naughty Beast that throws stinky bananas on your opponents. Has great synergy with Big Bad Voodoo , helps you clear and get cheap spells that can be comboed with Gadgetzan Auctioneer. Also great withSpell Damage .
Earthy Witchdoctor: A very down to earth guy. Chill to hang out with. A good means to help finish your Quest and keep up early pressure. Similar to Onyx Bishop but Beast specific.
Rotting Macaw: I can assure you, he has seen better days. Can be useful in a lot of decks including Quest-Necro. Might even pull your Ma’kuti .
Decompose: Use the rotting bodies of your minions for your foul plans. Similar to Far Sight but more conditional with potential to a higher Cost reduction. Can be very useful in combo decks.
Necessary Sacrifice: Daiana is quite ruthless when it comes to achieving her goals. Essential in a Quest-deck. Has potential to swing a board state around.
Brack Wurm: His deadliest weapon is his smell. Very useful against aggro and also late game. Can bring a lot of pressure when resummoned early.
Big Bad Voodoo: When the Witchdoctors chant their incantations, the hole air might fill with a toxic, stinging vibration. Very strong when combined with Dust to Dust (from the Basic set). Also Poisonous Rotten Bananas might hurt a lot. Good card to trade your tokens with.
Decaying Devilsaur: Most of its food falls directly out through a hole in its belly. Maybe because of that it can’t stop eating. A sticky fatty that also works to complete the Quest. Note that it does not gain its Deathrattle when resummoned.
Voodoo Master Ma’kuti: How many he made of these already you ask? Don’t get me started. Cost reduction is useful in any case. Great synergy with Gadgetzan Auctioneer. You opponent will make big eyes when you play your 2 Mana Big Bad Voodoo and snipe his minions with poisonous Rotten Bananas while drawing half your deck. (Un-)deadly miracle it is called I think.
Tokens:
In this expansion the Necromancer finds its place together with the Apothecary and Worgen class in the obscure Nocturnal Noir. The fluff of this expansion is all about detective investigation. The Apothecary is the class of thepowrofcheese which got eliminated in this competition. Its members work mostly in the forensic department. The Worgen class of nurgling13 was the winner of the last competition and copes with the crude jobs of the agency. The Necromancer is normally busy raising new henchmen and collecting remains for "investigative purposes".
🌙 The Nocturnal Noir🌙
The Nocturnal Noir, also known as the Black Night or under the code name 6x0, is a cult-like underground organisation. Operating in the darkest of nights in between the gutters and shady corners of Gadgetzan, its success and fast rise is mostly due to a big, hard working detective department. It operates under the name Nox Atra just a little bit different than one might expect. The investigations are more often than not about thwarted plans of the Gang.
Chief detective Robert Ghislaine is famous for his nose, when it comes to detect, why a certain complot has not worked like it was intended to. The Noir offers its crime refreshing investigations to anybody who can pay a respectable price. Detect why the felonies did not work out and proposing a new approach is the department's daily routine. Finding evidence (and the remains of Gang members) leads to new evaluations and conspiracies (and resurrections).
Still, to assemble new henchman and advance into further actions against the enemy is always the Noir's highest priority. Their agents, investigators and specialists consist of all sort of folk. Darkfallen, Forsaken, Worgen, all kin who hides in the dark. One whispers the high ranks are all manned with Vampires, yet no one really knows who is the head of the Agency. The Nocturnal Noir is known and feared for its reputation. It is said some clients have found themselfs as a spineless, slavering zombie in their ranks after not paying the agreed on price.
Announcement found on the streets of Gadgetzan:
Nox Atra Agency
Detective Ghislaine: He is older than he looks! With years of experience in the Agency (and more than human instincts), Ghislaine is a master of his field. A key card for an deck that seeks to collect Evidence. Use your different tools to stack your deck and then draw them with the help of the Chief Detective.
Nox Arta Agent: In this buisness for a long time. Always knows how to get the information the Agency needs. Simple and effective way to get your Evidence collecting going.
Gutter Scamp: Knows every corner and dark alley of Gadgetzan and has a lot of 'friends'. The only card that lets you discover cards from the other classes. Can be very useful.
Evidence
"If you look at it from this angle, you can definitely see that the bullets came from here. That poor bastard didn't even see it coming. Let's load him up. Maybe he can tell us later what happened." - Chief Detective Robert Ghislaine
Evidence is a means to create a lot of value over the course of a game. It rewards you for being attentive by remembering which minions were destroyed by which cards. The way it works is you shuffle Evidences into your deck and then either draw them normally or let your detectives investigate faster for you. Note that you can only get cards that were already played this game. You can get own cards as well as enemy ones. (Its wording is similar to Curious Glimmerroot .)
Full Set:
Fluff and card explanation:
Contract ‘Atra’: Once you are out you will be in again soon. A resurrect effect that normally guarantees to get you a bigger minion.
Forensic Specialist: He finds all sorts of stuff in people. Sometimes he keeps them both. Collecting Evidence is the main theme of the Nox Atra department. This card is an effective way to shuffle Evidence into your deck. Most effective with a full board of tokens.
Devious Detective: The flyer said “professional” not trustworthy! The only way besides Ghislaine to draw your Evidence. Pretty essential in this kind of deck.
Pick Up A Case: The Agents are always ready to hop onto a new case of uncrime solving. A means to shuffle infinite value into your deck. The process is slow though and might get countered by future card.
Rickety Investigator: That his rattling bones didn't help him very much in his detective career. This card requieres you to play a little memory game. Might not be that easy depending on how far you are in the game. Guess right and draw in the benefit. Rewards an attentive mind.
The Perfect Crime: Nobody saw anything! Good hard removal with which you can make sure you don't have to face a second nuicance again. Very good against deck which Discover and copy minions such as Dragonpriest for example.
Interrogate: Ghislaine normally knows the fastest way how to gather information. Very useful to soften up the enemy board. If used right, can create a lot of value.
Early Bird: She takes good care of all witnesses. A way to get some aggression out of your Evidence shuffling.
Mr. Nox: Nobody really knows who Mr. Nox is. He appears as a shadow often during an opertation of the agency and vanishes as quickly. Some say he is immortal, some that he is already dead and only a specter. The only thing that is sure is his name is feared by his enemies. Mr. Nox can be very valuable to protect your minions and reap their benefits during more turns. Normally protecting your Morbidity minions lies in your highest interest and if you manage Mr. Nox to stick, it can get very nasty for your opponent.
Tokens:
Only few know that Prince Malchezaar actually had plans to order a Death Metal band for the night at his own expense. He was so disappointed he did not get invited to Medivh's party, that he completely forgot about it. The band ended up playing a gig in Raven Hill that night. Luckily there was a graveyard nearby. Their drummer had lost a collarbone again. Speaking of graveyards, Moroes was not amused when he discovered, during the cleaning aftermath of the night, that someone apparently had fun in digging out the bones of the nearby animal cemetery. "Who does something like that?" he was thinking. "Well when you throw such a party you have to expect some uninvited guests, I guess."
Fluff and card explanation:
Obsidian Pawn: What? White starts first? The Necromancer does not care about the puny rules of the living! This little guy alone can turn a game into a match of chess since it is possible that one player always has a Pawn in his hand. If you seek to have a strong early game and create cheap tokens you will happily accept the downside that comes with it.
Menagerie Sematary:Ever seen a dead Murloc? It smells even worse than it looks. A quite gimmicky tool for control decks. Pairs obviously well with The Curator.
Death Metal Mancer: His biggest idol is Bergrisst and his favourite song 'Raise Some Hell'. This guitar swinging necromancer and his band of skeletons can be a powerful tool to create sticky board presence and help to create value by putting spells in your hand. You have to keep in mind that the outcome is not super consistent since you summon a random band member.
Tokens:
As the power of the Old Ones grows many Spirits and Demons awaken. Beast and man get possessed all the same. Old forces bister themselfs. Best time for dubious folk to practise dark magic. Can you hear the whispers? The dead start to turn in their graves. Scratching at the lid of their coffins. Beware my friend not to stumble upon their remains. You might not be able to get up again. The four Prime Evils are rising. Their devotees are already swarming each part of the known world. Which one will you choose? Pledge yourself to augment their power and earn their favour. Shed this old mask of yours and taste the Ancient's blood!
Fluff and card explanation:
Innocuos Frog:What an unremar- OH GOD MY FACE!!!. This little Beast is a nice value 1 drop that gives you a token with more attack. Works also very well in a Quest deck. Touch of N'Zoth: For an Old God he has a surprisingly soft touch. Great to copy a strong Deathrattle effect. Spectral Pathfinder: One ask oneself what path he's looking for. Gives you the ability to protect two friendly minions. Boiling Madness: The whisper, those damn “everyone get in here” they don’t stop, they never stop. Versatile buff that you can play on your minions or on an enemy one to deal damage to the opponent by clearing his minions. Twilight Ritual: One pledges... let's say a lot. Consistent and cheap way to resurrect a minion. Faceless Animator: "Damn Bob, did you do something to your hair." - john the not very perceptive farmer. He lets you resurrect and "save up" a minion for a potential later turn. Forbidden Knowledge: Sometimes things are best left forgotten. Can open up a lot of possibilities if you get a card that synergises with your current card state. Echo of the Ancients: "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh C’Thun Ahn'Qiraj wgah'nagl fhtagn." Biggy that makes sure you maintain a strong live total even after dropping your C'Thun if the match will last longer. High Priestess Azil: Except for the ‘end of the world’ stuff working for the Twilight's Hammer is pretty fun. Very strong card to use your self inflicting spells with. Fits into many midrange to control decks.
Token:
Cards by Type
Here you can find all cards ordered by type, mana cost and rarity. Cards may appear multiple times if they fit into more than one category.
Minions:
Removal:
Card draw/card advantage:
AoE:
Summon:
Destroying own minions:
Others:
Special:
Tokens:
Example Decks
Aggro token:
Quest Necromancer:
Control:
Deathrattle Necro:
Big Resummoner:
Thanks
Thanks to all who participated in this competition. It was a lot of fun. Thanks for taking time to review our cards and give suggestions for improvement. Special thanks to the mods of course who made this all possible and were always responsive. We hope anyone reading this enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed making it.
"We lived a good life in our former kingdom, in a village near Stratholme. We always had enough to eat and enough to share. I remember very well how the first rumours started. They told stories of this strange disease that had cropped up in the west lands. They said after a drawn out feverish bedtime the people were turning green and blue, going crazy in the end, even turning against their loved ones. We started to see more and more city guard passing through our small village on their fast, high horses. Sometimes they came back with captives. Strange, dark folk, grim looking mannes. Every journey to town made mother more worried. The offers on the market and in the bakeries went thinner and thinner. The bakers blamed the vendors, the vendors blamed the farmers, the farmers blamed the weather. A lot of corn had been spoiled this year. Others tried to sell their bad grain and got strongly punished for it.
We heard more and more cities were quarantined. The rumours became stranger and stranger until a sane mind couldn't give them anymore attention. It was a unpleasant time but we managed to earn what we needed.
Then the fateful night came.
The animals were the first to notice. They were always the first. But this night the hounds' barking sounded different. Not the ferocious bawling when a wolf comes to close to the barns. More uncertain, like these beasts didn't know if their shout would bring more harm than good.
Mother burst into our room. We had not even time to put on clothes. She told me to run outside and wait next to the mayor's house. I ran as fast as I could.
Then I saw them. Tottering shapes, dark statures slowly appearing in the light of the few lanterns on the street.
Rigid with fear I starred at them as their shapes became clearer.
I don't remember this feeling any more. Terrified in the face of death. This was so long ago. Still, I remember the face of the first of them who came into the shine. A grey beard, face wrinklier then a dried maggot, a long robe and a staff in his hand. I often wondered how long I was staring at them. It felt like an eternity. Then I just turned and ran into the pitch black field behind the village. Ran into our forest, where I cowered all night, cold and bare, under a big tree stump, pressing my hands onto my ears.
I returned the next day. I had never heard this kind of silence in my life before. A remarkable abstinence of sound.
No bird chirping, no barking, no human noise, nothing.
Standing there, in my home that was no longer mine, I took the decision to eradicate the robe wearer and all of his kind.
Sometimes the most sincerest of intentions take the strangest of turns. I know that now. One has to understand what one seeks to destroy. My old master saw great potential in me. He didn't look so certain after I succeeded him.
I still hear his whispers. It seems like he doesn't want to leave me."
The Class
Ghoul Token:
Resurrecting the dead, sacrificing servants at your own will and letting your opponent find an early grave. All that and more is the work of the Necromancer. The Necromancer is a class that focuses strongly on its minions to gain an early advantage in the game. Your Hero Power summons, like Paladin and Shaman, a small token that is also similar in power level. The rather weak 0/1 Unmarked Grave token can, if it survives, summon a 2/2 Ghoul. It can't attack on the turn it is summoned but the Grave might have already provided value by destroying itself. Many cards of this class have synergy with minions being destroyed. This is also what its new Keyword is all about. It is called Morbidity, an ability on minions that gets triggered whenever another friendly minion dies. So your Hero Power can already trigger this effect twice.
Furthermore, this class offers a variety of token generating cards, and a lot of ways to utilize them. Often your tokens are good targets for cards that benefit from destroying your own minions (by letting you do so). These also provide a way to trigger your Morbidity and Deathrattle effects on will. Deathrattle minions fit perfectly into the array of the Necromancer. You can resurrect or copy them to trigger a certain Deathrattle multiple times and even activate their abilities without having to trade, taking more use out of them by triggering Morbidity on other minions. So combining your Morbidity, Deathrattle, resummoning and sacrificing cards in the right order, to the right extent and on the right time is how you earn your daily bread with this class.
You are also offered a variety of good single target removal and potent card draw. However the class lacks strong direct AoE effects but makes up for that in other ways. Cards that let you trade your tokens efficiently and don't leave you with an empty board are an important substitute. How the Necromancer relies on its minions is also visible in other aspects. A good example for that is Health-gain. Instead of restoring Health directly like Priest or leeching Health from your enemies with spells like Warlock, this class is more dependent on its own minions, buffing or sacrificing them. Starting in the classic set and further through the expansions some utile survivability tools have been introduced. This also allows using the smaller side theme of cards that cost Health instead of Mana. The Death Knight Hero card revolves around this mechanic to go a more late game, control oriented route.
Its token synergies and ways to an early strong, persistent board presence, combined with cheap spells that let you pay in alternative ways, gives this class great tempo tools. Your ways to up your survivability and good single target removal make a more midrange and control oriented playstyle possible. In MSoG was a very value oriented effect in form of "Collecting Evidence" introduced, that can provide a strong late game and make sure you don't run out of cards.
Further down the single main themes are showcased and explained with example cards.
Quick summary:
Main themes:
Morbidity
Deathrattle
Resurrect
Sacrifice
Tokens
Strong single target removal
(Synergistic cards)
Pros:
Sticky Morbidity and Deathrattle minions
Great tempo
Strong board presence
Cheap spells
Utilising own and enemy minions multiple times
(Decent Healing)
Side themes:
Potent card draw
Paying Health instead of Mana
Neglecting fatigue
Collecting Evidence (MSoG)
(Stealth)
Cons:
Weak or situational AoE
Limited direct damage
Vulnerable to AoE
Requires board presence
(Weak to Silence)
Some possible deck archetypes:
Summoner: Aggro playstyle utilizing cheap minions and summoning tokens to overrun the opponent.
Midrange: Using cheap to midrange minions and keep up pressure through resummon, removal and consistent card draw.
Bloodmancer: Control playstyle which stalls and heals through damage to use Health in the mid and lategame for big swing turns. (C’Thun decks can have a special advantage here)
Deathrattle Necro: Utilizing sticky Deathrattle minions that come back and back again. Multiplying your Deathrattles to make sure you always have something on the board. If the resummons of N’Zoth gets answered it’s very likely something will still stick.
Undead Quest: Resurrecting Beasts to eventually overwhelm your opponent with constantly Adapting minions.
Big Back Bringer: Pulling big minions early with the Legendary Weapon or Barnes and resurrecting them for the rest of the game.
Morbidity
Morbidity, the new Keyword, is a simple yet versatile implementable effect that triggers whenever a friendly minion dies. The Necromancer loves to use her minions for many different tasks and doesn't shy away from destroying them at her own. Many effects of this class have great synergy with each other. So you prepared a board of tokens for example to then play a Morbidity minion and trade your tokens away, gaining additional value. Or you just destroy them yourself and reap the extra benefits. The nature of this ability makes it so you have quite some minions who provide not only token minions but also put spell tokens into your hand. Morbidity allows well thought through turns in which you combine different components of spells and minions to gain tempo and swing the board state in your favour. The order of things you do can be very important. Therefore, synergistic plays need setup so you have to be attentive and often plan your turns ahead.
Morbidity on already existing cards:
Deathrattle
Deathrattle minions are often already indicators for Undead minions in Hearthstone and this class claims them all. The Necromancer includes a lot of Deathrattle minions and synergies since it is a main theme of the class. Cards that let you sacrifice your own creatures make you able to trigger these effects on will. Copying and resurrecting your Deathrattle minions can create a lot of value over the course of a game. Therefore, minions like N'Zoth, the Corruptor, Baron Rivendare and Spiritsinger Umbra are close friends that can be included in many decks.
Resurrect
What would be a Necromancer without the ability to resurrect the dead? Well, not a Necromancer. This is the class’ butter to the bread. Being able to resummon your minions opens up a lot of interesting deck building and lets you trigger the abilities of certain minions multiple times even if they were destroyed before. You want to cheat out big minions early and then resurrect them over the entire course of the game? No problem! You want to get early aggression going and bring back your minions that let you keep up the pressure? You can do that as well. Different from Priest, the Necromancer is also able to resummon enemy minions. Bring extra salt to your opponent when he gets beat down by his own former minions that serve you now. This mechanic lets you be constantly in contact with previous turns of the game. So to know what died before and in some instances even the order in that they did is crucial to the class.
Token Generation
Another main theme of the Necromancer is the ability to create tokens. As the hero power already suggests is the class capable of generating (normally small) token minions to swarm the board, trade efficiently, be sacrificed and used with other synergistic cards. Tokens are an essential tool to trigger your Morbidity effects. However this mechanic makes the Necromancer class vulnerable to AoE effects, so the timing of when and how many tokens to create is very important. Often it is beneficial to not dump everything on the board directly, but to hold back and let your opponent waste their spells until the right moment comes. By all means you have the tools to feed and bait him.
Sacrifice
The Necromancer has no problem sacrificing her own minions for a greater purpose. Her Hero Power makes sure that you have always a token to use for this effect. With your means to summon and resurrect minions, you will always have enough servants at your disposal, who will happily die for you. It is also a great means to trigger Morbidity and Deathrattle effects on your own turn especially when your opponent has no minions on the board. Minions with this ability are normally also playable when you are not able to consume another friendly minion, but miss the advantage that comes with it. The Legendary High Priestess Azil (WotOG) lets you even use these spells and abilities on enemy minions and the Necromancer’s Legendary Weapon also revolves around this mechanic.
Synergy Cards
What this class lacks in AoE and direct damage it makes up for in other ways. Your arsenal offers a variety of cards that seem weak on their own but combined with other cards, can have a strong impact on the course of a game. Dealing one damage or a token with 1-2 Attack is not very impressive. But combined with Big Bad Voodoo (JtU) for example it can hurt your opponent’s board a lot. Or you can destroy your tokens with Poisonous Fumes (Classic) and then destroy the spawning tokens with Necromerge (Classic) to let your opponent know how a bunch of Leper Gnomes smell like. Also your minions which put spell tokens into your hand that you can combine with other cards provide great options for synergistic plays. Undead Primate and Voodoo Master Ma'kuti (JtU) are good examples for that, giving you 1 damage Rotten Bananas and Shrunken Heads for spell cost reduction.
**By Ragnador and Schlauchneid**
Reserved if I ever make the wild set.
Very interesting! I would like to play this cards :)