Hearthpwn

Dust Stormer (HalfHalf)

• Playability: 2/10
• Artwork: 8/10
• Rule of Cool: 3/10
• Overall Rating: 4.3/10

Excellent artwork aside, this card is basically a worse Flying Machine with the slight upside of having Stealth. As a two-drop, the restrictive Overload cost of Dust Stormer is too much of a hamstring to consider using it, especially considering that it does not constitute a viable tempo play due to its low stats and lack of immediate board impact. In addition, this card would be competing with Totem Golem in Totem Shaman, which far outclasses it, and Whirling Zap-O-Matic in Mech Shaman, which, although similar in design, at least leaves turn three unrestricted and is likely to draw enemy removal. Overall, a disappointing effort.

 

Qiraji Scorpion (YoThats)

• Playability: 9/10
• Artwork: 8/10
• Rule of Cool: 9/10
• Overall Rating: 8.6/10

This card would likely see a lot of play in control decks, particularly Midrange and Beast Hunter due to the natural synergy there. Qiraji Scorpion efficiently contests all two and three-drops (aside from King Mukla) and will usually give a favourable trade as a result. The minion directly counters Spider Tank in Mech variants and also offsets the threat posed by Totem Golem, currently one of the most effective control minions in Constructed and in Arena. The manner in which Qiraji Scorpion is balanced is also excellent, as a straight-up 3-mana 4/4 would be far too powerful to justify without some form of drawback. As a side-note, this card would be a fun, if silly and inefficient, pick in Combo Priest: Divine Spirit + Divine Spirit + Inner Fire = Win the game if your opponent is undamaged.

 

High Inquisitor Whitemane (91Luna)

• Playability: 4/10
• Artwork: 7/10
• Rule of Cool: 3/10
• Overall Rating: 4.6/10

An interesting idea, but Inquisitor Whitemane feels far too slow to justify in a class that still suffers from a lack of convincing tempo plays and an effective aggro variant. As a 5-mana 3/4, Whitemane is liable to trade unfavourably against an opponent’s 4 and 5-drops- furthermore, as she has no immediate board impact, the opponent can engineer said trades as best suits them. This makes Whitemane’s Deathrattle of even more questionable value. On the outset, spawning a 4/3 with Charge seems reasonable, but this effectively translates to ‘Deal 4 Damage’ (with a possible, but unlikely, upside of being able to do it a second time) if Mograine spawns uncontested. Most of the time, this means removing the minion Whitemane traded unfavourably with. Admittedly, there are situations where Mograine will draw removal, and in these cases Whitemane does have some value, but there are better 5-drops out there. Also, ‘Inquisitor’ has an ‘n’ in it.

 

Varimathras (RobynSmily)

• Playability: 1/10
• Artwork: 5/10
• Rule of Cool: 4/10
• Overall Rating: 3.3/10

This card is unquestionably broken. For 5 mana, the player gets 7/10 worth of stats, 3/6 of which is present as an Spell and Hero Power-Immune Taunt minion, with the upside of being able to destroy an enemy minion outright on the side. The tempo swing this card provides, both for Demon-Zoo and Handlock, is insane. Considering the only cards that destroy minions with no form of drawback or restriction cost 5 and 6 mana respectively (Assassinate and Siphon Soul), the external balance of this card can be considered as almost criminal. Thankfully, Varimathras doesn’t actually summon the current in-game Doomguard, as a 5/7 with Charge and no drawback for free would be even more ridiculous in terms of favourable trades and swing. The artwork also isn’t great, being blurry and uninspiring. Needs some serious revisions.

 

Tyrande Whisperwind (Cornfalk3)

• Playability: 9/10
• Artwork: 7/10
• Rule of Cool: 7/10
• Overall Rating: 7.6/10

This card seems to be almost perfectly balanced. A 3-Mana Starfall on the subsequent turn is hardly game-breaking, being a slightly better Consecration and on par with Fireball (in terms of its ratio of damage to mana cost). Playing Tyrande on turn 9 for an immediate board clear or to deal with a large minion is also fair. The other choice, a 6-mana 4/8 that restores 4 Health, trades favourably and can establish board control, albeit slowly, which offsets it being effectively 4/12 worth of stats. Consider this variant a smaller Ancient of War which trades Taunt for potential trading efficiency. Certainly an interesting option for slower Control or Ramp Druids, and also provides another method of lethal for Combo: Force of Nature + Savage Roar + Innervate + 3-mana Starfall on turn 10.

 

Cracked Skull Soldier (FergardStratoavis)

• Playability: 5/10
• Artwork: 7/10
• Rule of Cool: 7/10
• Overall Rating: 6.3/10

Cracked Skull Soldier only seems to fit into one current deck archetype, that of the Oil Rogue. In Control and Patron Warrior, it has to compete with Death’s Bite, a weapon that has become pretty much mandatory in both decks, and is neither conducive to the latter’s combo nor reliable or immediate enough to supplement the former’s late-game plays effectively. In Face Hunter, Cracked Skull Soldier will at most deal 3 damage randomly, meaning that Arcane Golem constitutes a stronger, more consistent finisher for less mana- the same problem, albeit minus Arcane Golem, applies to other Hunter variants. In Shaman, the card competes with Piloted Shredder and Mechanical Yeti, both staple cards in Mech, and only deals meaningful damage in conjunction with a Rockbiter Weapon, making it inefficient. In Oil Rogue, however, this card has the potential to act as an alternative finisher in the stead of Blade Flurry. Even in this case, though, its unreliability is a significant downside. There are some situations where Cracked Skull Soldier into Blade Flurry could burst down an enemy from 30 to 0 in a single turn, but these are exceptions, not the rule. An inconsistent but interesting card.

 

Tyrande Whisperwind (TheKaldorei1)

• Playability: 5/10
• Artwork: 8/10
• Rule of Cool: 4/10
• Overall Rating: 5.6/10

A smaller Temple Enforcer with a significantly smaller body, this version of Tyrande would likely not see Constructed play. The card’s stats are poor, comparable to Druid of the Flame which, even at 3-mana, does not see play- this prevents it from having any significant board presence and from trading favourably in most cases. Unfortunately, the Battlecry does little to alleviate this shortcoming. Temple Enforcer, at 6-mana for 6/6 worth of stats and the same effect, does not see play in any Priest variants currently, for the reason that Power Word: Shield provides +2 Health and draws a card for a fraction of the cost. Tyrande suffers from a similar problem, as well as having to compete for the 4-mana slot with Twilight Guardian (in Dragon Priest) and Auchenai Soulpriest. A mediocre offering. Better artwork than the other Tyrande, though.

Obsidian Sentinel (Ziffle33)

• Playability: 2/10
• Artwork: 2/10
• Rule of Cool: 2/10
• Overall Rating: 2/10

A 3-mana 4/5 with Taunt is certainly an effective tempo play, essentially being a better Sen’Jin Shieldmasta- which sees fringe use in Constructed- for less mana. However, Obsidian Sentinel’s drawback is crippling. Setting its owner’s Mana to 3 for the next two turns essentially reads ‘Destroy two Mana Crystals’ if the card is played on turn 3, as it is intended to be, and results in a huge loss of tempo. In addition, this card is essentially a dead-draw in the late game, again due to this Battlecry. Another way to look at this card is imagining it read ‘Overload (1) next turn, and Overload (2) the turn after that’- the amount this slows you down offsets the amount of tempo Obsidian Sentinel generates, making it effectively unplayable. Also, in-game shots from WoW do not good artworks make. Just saying.

 

Prince Thunderaan (Hunterwolf21)

• Playability: 4/10
• Artwork: 8/10
• Rule of Cool: 4/10
• Overall Rating: 5.3/10

Effectively an miniature Al’Akir, Thunderaan has exactly the same stats and two of the same abilities (Charge and Windfury): however, he can considered significantly worse. The main problem Thunderaan has is his lack of Divine Shield, which is what allows Al’Akir to trade efficiently in conjunction with Rockbiter Weapon. Without it, the paucity of 3/5 worth of stats becomes readily apparent. Therefore, the Deathrattle has to be good enough to offset this drawback, which, unfortunately, it isn’t. A 2/3 weapon is bad at the best of times, as it does little to contest the board in the late game; the fact it adds ‘Lightning’ spells (viz. Lightning Bolt/Storm, Crackle and Forked Lightning) to your hand at the end of your turn also proves too slow to really matter.  Could be good if the meta becomes slow enough to allow Thunderfury to build up burst in your hand.

 

Tomb Horror (MorbidoSix)

• Playability: 4/10
• Artwork: 2/10
• Rule of Cool: 7/10
• Overall Rating: 4.3/10

There is certainly a lot of ingenuity behind this card in terms of how it attempts to address the problem of an overly aggressive meta. Tomb Horror could see play in Ramp Druid, in conjunction with Shade of Naxxramas, or even in Freeze Mage as another option for stalling out the early game. However, the card isn’t really good enough to justify Constructed play and is certainly garbage in Arena. First off, the penalty is symmetrical, meaning that although you have the freedom to develop your board, so does your opponent. Secondly, this card is incredibly vulnerable to silence and can be removed via spells or weapons, as it doesn’t prevent heroes from attacking. Thirdly, spending a turn casting this means you need to be sure of developing your board and controlling your opponent’s for a few turns in order to justify it- most of the time, this is not the case. A cool idea, but needs more work.

 

Kael’Thas Sunstrider (LucasPassado)

                This card is against competition rules currently and thus will not be reviewed until the moderators have decided exactly what to do with it.

 

Fishbot 5000 (SpacePower)

• Playability: 6/10
• Artwork: 2/10
• Rule of Cool: 5/10
• Overall Rating: 4.3/10

First off, Nat Pagle is a bad card. Since he was nerfed, it has been almost impossible to justify his inclusion in any deck due to nearly all classes having more efficient methods by which to draw cards. The question therefore is whether an extra three mana for an additional 4/4 body with Mech synergy is worthwhile. The answer: maybe. The two main Mech archetypes that currently exist are Mech Shaman and Mech Mage, neither of which play many 5-drops (aside from Loatheb and the occasional Azure Drake). Both decks do commonly run out of steam in the mid to late-game, Mech Shaman especially, due to their focus on rush tactics and lack of card draw. Fishbot 5000 could, therefore, be a reasonable, if slightly underwhelming, inclusion in either. The problem is then how best to get Nat Pagle to stick around and ensure consistent card draw.

 

Mr Smite (binza)

• Playability: 8/10
• Artwork: 8/10
• Rule of Cool: 8/10
• Overall Rating: 8/10

A six-mana 3/5 is obviously bad in terms of stats, but Mr Smite has the significant upside of allowing Rogues access to a pseudo-Death’s Bite in the form of a 4/2 weapon, Smite’s Reaver. This permits for efficient removal in conjunction with Deadly Poison, as well as another option for Oil Rogues to burst with in place of Assassin’s Blade. All in all, Mr Smite is a perfectly reasonable, if bland, Legendary that provides excellent mana efficiency and a reasonable board presence. The artwork is nice too.

 

General Colbatann (SWGolgoth)

• Playability: 8/10
• Artwork: 8/10
• Rule of Cool: 8/10
• Overall Rating: 8/10

General Colbatann seems to be custom-designed for inclusion in Freeze and Tempo Mage, having natural synergy with the former’s ‘stall and burst’ style of play and with the latter’s reliance on Flamewaker and selection of small spells. This minion acts as an effective counter to commonly played cards such as Sludge Belcher and Emperor Thaurissan, as well as providing a potential damage spike in the endgame post-Archmage Antonidas. In addition, Colbatann also has Dragon synergy, although, given that the card is balanced rather than leaning towards overpowered, this is unlikely to spark a Dragon Mage archetype any time soon. All in all, a perfectly reasonable effect on a perfectly reasonable body. Congratulations on also finding a WoW character I did not know existed.

 

Algernon (Slipgate)

• Playability: 6/10
• Artwork: 8/10
• Rule of Cool: 7/10
• Overall Rating: 7/10

An interesting option for Tempo decks and especially for Mill Rogue, Algernon’s symmetry is nonetheless his drawback. A 3/6 body for 4 mana is perfectly reasonable, as it avoids trading unfavourably into commonly played 5/4’s and 4/5’s. The Battlecry component of his effect is fine as it stands, running the same risks as Coldlight Oracle in that, although it mills your opponent, it may also mill you or enable an enemy combo. The Deathrattle, however, can be crippling. If Algernon is played in Mill Rogue, as is clearly the intention, discarding three random cards can rob the Rogue of its crucial combo pieces, such as Coldlights, Sap and Vanish, which can make milling the opponent far harder if not impossible. In addition, the opponent can potentially play around this effect by running a more-or-less empty hand, causing it to be more punitive to you than to them (admittedly, this works both ways). An intriguing, if unreliable, minion.

 

Patchwerk (Zkaletus)

This card is against competition rules currently and thus will not be reviewed until the moderators have decided exactly what to do with it.

 

Royal Dreadguard (arrumph)

• Playability: 5/10
• Artwork: 7/10
• Rule of Cool: 6/10
• Overall Rating: 6/10

Currently, there is no deck archetype in Rogue that justifies the inclusion of Royal Dreadguard. Therefore, in order to evaluate how good the card is, it must be judged on the basis of how likely it is to spawn a new type of Rogue deck, viz. ‘Control Rogue’. Unfortunately for Royal Dreadguard, this is very unlikely indeed. A 4-mana 3/6 is in itself not a bad card in terms of raw stats- it trades efficiently with most 2 and 3-mana creatures and doesn’t trade inefficiently with 4/5 and 5/4 4-drops either. However, its Deathrattle doesn’t do enough to compensate for it being merely slightly above average. Without Gang Up, Royal Dreadguard at most effectively copies itself, albeit for an additional 4 mana on the subsequent turn to its death. With Gang Up, it can do this seven times in total. However, this isn’t really good enough, as the value of Royal Dreadguard diminishes exponentially as the game goes on- what was mediocre becomes sub-par. As such, the card is too slow and lacks the immediate impact necessary for Control Rogue to yet become ‘a thing’. A good idea, though.

 

Defias Blackguard (The_Odinson)

• Playability: 3/10
• Artwork: 7/10
• Rule of Cool: 5/10
• Overall Rating: 5/10

This card has a similar problem to the Warlock minion Blood Imp in that it needs to survive for an extended period of time in order to it to achieve any sort of value. Given how vulnerable Defias Blackguard is to board clear and random damage, this seems unlikely. In addition, there is the problem of how valuable constant Combo-enabling actually is, given how easy it can be for Rogues to enable Combo when they need to, what with an abundance of 0-mana spells and Preparation. There is also the fact that actually playing cards to Combo with in itself has its own value, as you get the additional benefits from the cards played. As such, choosing between playing an additional card and then Combo’ing, as opposed to Combo’ing straight away, seems to be a Hobson’s choice. Could be good in niche situations, but otherwise is rather lacklustre.

 

Nathanos Blightcaller (RoofTopOctopus)

• Playability: 6/10
• Artwork: 9/10
• Rule of Cool: 7/10
• Overall Rating: 7.33/10

Nathanos Blightcaller essentially reads, in most situations, as the following spell: 5 mana, deal 3 damage to a minion, return this spell to your hand. This is certainly the case in Midrange and Beast Hunter, where the Blighthound is more likely to be used to trade rather than to go face. This effectively makes Nathanos a repeatable Cobra Shot in these two deck archetypes, minus the additional three damage to the face when used. This, of course, is exceptionally weak. In Face Hunter, Nathanos is essentially the same except minus the additional three damage to a minion. However, if the Blighthound is not used to trade, the opponent will likely kill Nathanos due to his low 3/4 worth of stats, meaning any value he could have achieved was wasted. There is potential here if Control Hunter ever evolves any further, but this seems unlikely. The artwork is fantastic.

 

 

Siege Golem (TEXACO_US)

• Playability: 5/10
• Artwork: 8/10
• Rule of Cool: 5/10
• Overall Rating: 6/10

First off, a 4/6 without Taunt for 6 mana with no additional abilities is poor- that goes without saying. As such, Siege Golem is only worth playing in situations where you can reliably steal either your opponent’s or your own Taunts in a favourable manner. This confines its use to either Handlock or Bolster Warrior, the latter of which is currently unseen in the meta. Of course, there are situations where you will steal your opponent’s Sludge Belcher Taunt, or break through a Molten Giant Taunt wall in order to secure lethal, but these will be rare occurrences. In addition, there remains the question of whether a 4/6 with Taunt is actually any good for 6 mana. A Sludge Belcher is essentially a 4/7 with Taunt for 5 mana, whereas the currently unplayed Sunwalker is a 4/5 with Divine Shield for 6 mana. It may just be the case that Siege Golem isn’t really good enough when its ability hits to justify its inclusion.