Hearthpwn

[Written by my good friend and extremely talented writer, Ryan Mennen!]

Anar’alah belore.

The tales we have heard in our lives are often before our time. After all, how could they be of what occurs after? Even a paradox must come to instance before it can be observed as such.

But this is not such a tale. It is a tale of one who would defy the telling order of his deeds. A being so great that his legacy precedes his existence. His name, as we will come to learn, was… is—will be Aren’thal Sunwatcher. But as his introduction is only at the very end of this tale, we shall speak of him as the Chronomancer.

There will come a time when all children of the Kaldorei will pass and the forsaken bastards of the Vrykul will reign supreme. Even in these ages, the strength of Stormwind grows over Azeroth, reforming it into the forgotten Azotha. But even then, the seeds of the Kaldorei will persist, ensuring that the strength of the clan is never forgotten eras beyond the night in the valleys beyond Hyjal. The Chronomancer claimed himself to be one such being.

Bearing all the markers of the first Kaldorei, the Chronomancer could have been, in our age, thought to be one of the Quel’dorei. But in an era ruled by humans, his Highborne traits gained him vile repute and fear. Shunned and shamed, the Chronomancer sought to end his abomination of life. On the cusp of death, however, he was challenged by a voice from the shadows.

Often, Aren has referred to these shadows as the shadows from within his mind, but I suspect it to be far more.

For from the depths of the valley the Chronomancer saw a shadowed reflection of himself rise, older but greater. Somehow more malicious but wiser. A Shaldorei! This reflection of himself branded him the Sunwatcher. The one who sees what the sun sees… but greater. From watching the moon, the Chronomancer is said to be able to see all that the sunlight falls upon on the following day.

It was this careful foreknowledge which he used to understand the confounding element of Time. Understanding that time was neither linear nor cyclical, neither fluid nor solid, the Chronomancer—with aid from his wizened self—mastered the truth of his existence: to return to before the extinction of the Kaldorei and prevent the descendants of the Vrykul from stampeding across Azeroth.

• While Warping, minions are inactive and invulnerable -- they cannot be targeted by spells, hero powers, minion abilities unless it is otherwise stated. (e.g. A spell specifies that it specifically affects a Warping minion.)
• This means that random damage effects such as Arcane Missiles would not consider Warping minions as a possible target.
• They are, however, still vulnerable to non-targeted destroy effects such as Brawl or Deadly Shot.
• Warping minions count as filling up one of 7 slots on the board.
• Warp minions with Taunt have their Taunts temporarily disabled until they finish Warping.
• The maximum turn delay for a warping minion is 3.

The basic set introduces players to the Warp and Arrival mechanics as simply as possible, while aiming to offer a bit of diversity in deck building.

Kal'dorei Archer

The basic, bread & butter Warp minion. Offers Chronomancers a strong turn 1 card to play with little downside.

Hibernate

Hibernate's basic usage is to buff minions with Warp, offering value in place of speed. However, it can also be used to delay certain Arrival effects, which can work particularly well with minions such as the Arcane Shocktrooper.

Arcane Shocktrooper

The Chronomancer's basic board clear. It's great against Zoo and Aggro decks, forcing them to think twice before swarming their board with 1-2 health minions.

Prismatic Burst

A strong removal card for its cost with a rather situational side effect. With the right synergy, it can provide a great deal of value.

Enchantress

The first of the Chronomancer's minions that has a Warp manipulation effect, and it's a very versatile one. A 2-mana 3/2 body also assures that it's a strong body to play even if you can't find a way to gain value out of its ability. A must-include for basic value decks, and also versatile enough to find a slot in more specialized decks given how many of the Chronomancer's minions have Warp.

Mass Haste

Highly situational, but designed to at least replace itself in games where its usefulness are limited. Only recommended for decks that feature Warp minions heavily.

Enervate

Very similar to the Warrior's Charge. This forecasts to the opponent that you've got a high attack minion with Charge coming up soon, which can act as a deterrent if they're thinking of playing a high value minion, or force them to play defensively if they're low on health.

Guardian of Ages

A rather slow minion that works well with starter decks, but probably not much else. It does, however, put a bit of pressure on the opponent to clear the board to negate any value gained from this minion. Works wonderfully with Quicken, however, resulting in an instant minion with board-wide buffs and card draw.

Curse of Time

Curse of Time was designed to offer another board clear option for the Chronomancer, though it was tweaked to be a little less reliable than Consecration. This is because a central theme of the Chronomancer is forecasting strong effects, rather than instant but moderate effects.

Quicken

Quicken is the Chronomancer's bread and butter card draw engine that also doubles as a minor Warp manipulator. It favours control-type decks instead of aggro, given that one would need minions with high Warp delays to gain maximum value. Beyond that, it also has great synergy with spells like Hibernate, turning its inherent disadvantage into additional card draw.

The classic set greatly expands further on the Warp mechanic in the way of the spells offered to manipulate its delays, and introduces a range of powerful secrets that are particular useful for a control playstyle. Also, cards with abilities that affect what happens when a minion is returned to hand is introduced.

Succor

On first glance this seems like a worse version of Ancestral Healing, but its ability to give a minion Warp: (1) is actually has a few practical applications. For one, it can be used to place Warp minions with Arrival effects back into Warp, causing them to trigger their Arrival effects once again the next turn. Succor gains more usefulness later on with legendaries such as Emperor Thaurissan and Ragnaros, and it can be used to put them into Warp and allow their abilities to still activate while invulnerable.

Rewind

Provides value if used on minions with Warp, but otherwise rather useless given that it is merely a 1 mana cheaper version of the Chronomancer's hero power.

Formless Mageling

The Formless Mageling not only trades speed for value, but also reliability. Allows the Chronomancer to have a random 4-cost minion on the board as early as turn 3.

Stasis

Stasis is basically a two-way Frost Nova with the added effect of buffing affected minions. However, given that Stasis places minions with Arrival effects back into Warp, this spell has a greater chance of providing the Chronomancer with greater value, and allows for some surprising plays. Conversely, Stasis is a tricky spell to use in a Chronomancer vs Chronomancer match-up.

Reminisce

Reminisce serves as the Chronomancer's second sort-of card draw effect. Provides infinite value if you have two of it in your hand! (At the cost of actually doing anything else.)

Dimensional Steed

The Chronomancer's first Charge minion that has the potential to be incredibly irritating. However, with 2-health, its ability is really only useful if used to take down low attack minions or to harass the enemy hero. Along with a Falconess on the board however, it can slowly grow in power over the course of the game. Otherwise, it's a marginally better version of the Wolfrider.

Flashback

The first Chronomancer secret! Flashback is a great addition to a control style deck, allowing players to both counter zoo decks early on, to setting up powerful reversals late in control-heavy games.

Mana Hex

Mana Hex introduces the "mana burn" effect to the Chronomancer class. It is especially potent against archetypes with plenty of low cost spells (e.g. Miracle Rogue.) 

Gem of Eternity

This card bears a lot of similarity to the mage's Effigy in that it's best used when you suspect a high value minion of yours will perish soon. It's not as useful as the other secrets in most situations, but can be valuable if you're building a deck where your win conditions revolves around keeping certain minions on the board.

Chronoshock

Chronoshock sees the first "reliable" board clear for the Chronomancer. Given how slow Warp minions are, Chronoshock provides players with a tool of culling the opponent's board while waiting for theirs to fill up. However, without a deck that focuses on Warp minions, this is usually almost always worse than Consecration. 

Mind's Eye

Like Mage's Duplicate, Mind's Eye does not affect the state of the board, but more often than not provides the Chronomancer a substantial amount of value, even if the cards copied are rather weak.

Falconess

The first of the Chronomancer's minions that has direct synergies with his hero power. The +2/+2 buff is special in that it is retained when the minion is returned to hand, and stacks with itself.

Dwarvish Highguard

As far as 4-drops go, Dwarvish Highguard doesn't win games, but makes for a decent drop if you have nothing else to play. The Arrival effect serves as a soft deterrent to opponents, making them think twice before swarming the board with minions. Combined with Quicken, however, players can gain a lot of value against Zoo decks, pushing out a taunt minion with upwards of 10 health as early as turn 6.

King Chronax

The first class legendary for the Chronomancer is designed to be simple and reliable. King Chronax's is basically a minion with a Mass Haste for a Battlecry. For 5 mana, there are better minions to put out, but even if you aren't able to gain value off its ability, a 5/5 minion is nothing to sneeze at.

Dimensional Rift

So far, the Chronomancer lacks any recourse if the player suffers a devastating board clear. While this is somewhat intentional, given that Chronomancer's minions tend to be very strong, it still leaves the class too vulnerable against cards like Brawl where health totals mean nothing. Dimensional Rift is an answer to this problem, allowing players a way to create instant board presence with powerful minions, but with a reasonable drawback.

With the Naxxramas adventures came minions with powerful Deathrattle effects, and the Bloodwarper is no exception. Though highly specific, its Deathrattle can lead to a huge gain in tempo if played well. For example, trading it to trigger a Deathrattle after dropping a Kal'dorei Archer would result in a 4/5 minion on the board for only the cost of 1 Mana.

With the classic and basic sets having already covered the Warp mechanic to great effect, the GvG expansion goes a slightly different direction and introduces effects that aims to better connect the class with the newer Deathrattle cards.

Eldritch Hex

Eldritch Hex is best suited for control decks for long drawn-out games. As the Mana Burn effect is extremely powerful, all cards with this effect conversely offers the player a lesser degree of control on activating them. Like Beneath the Grounds, Eldritch Hex also serves as a counter to Reno Jackson.

Timeghoul

This minion alone is what allows Deathrattle-Chronomancer to be viable. Combined with Baron Rivendare, a great deal of value can be gained from small minions such as Haunted Creeper simply by using your hero power.

Chronospawn

I know what you're thinking... as if a 4 mana 7/7 wasn't already bad enough, and now we've got a 3-mana 7/7! Rest easy though: barring a few lucky card combinations, the Chronospawn will only pose a threat on turn 6 if played on turn 3, giving opponents ample time to plan how to deal with it.

Beyond its stats however, its transform effect brings forth certain unexpected benefits. For one, the transformed version of the Chronospawn retains its 3-mana cost, but loses its Warp ability — this makes the Horrormore particularly useful for trading minions and then returning it to hand, only to play it again at a highly efficient cost.

Temporal Fracture

Following in suit with Chronomancer's array of weak board clears, Temporal Fracture is a great deal more expensive than Explosive Trap... but its "return to hand" effect allows players to be better prepared for longer control games.

Damaged Mimicbot

Being able to copy and immediately trigger an Arrival effect is a powerful one. What's important to note, though, is that it first copies the effect and then triggers it. This allows direct synergy with Warp minions that have powerful transform effects (such as the Chronospawn) allowing the transformation to take effect on itself instead.

Paradox

So far, unconditional removal had been considered unnecessary due to the Chronomancer's range of above-the-curve minions and damaging spells. However, the introduction of extremely powerful legendaries in GvG has changed this. Paradox serves as a -possible- answer. It can be used to bypass Taunt minions to achieve lethal, or be used on a powerful friendly minion so as to cement board control.

The Master

The Master is similar to the Shaman's Mistcaller in that it results in a slight loss of tempo when played, but greatly improves a control-themed deck.

Memory of Glory

Memory of Glory adds variety in the way Chronomancer players can answer to playstyles that are able to repeatedly decimate the entire board. While definitely more powerful than Dimensional Rift, its 10-mana cost and Warp (1) condition causes it to be quite slow.

Unstable Voidling

Unstable Voidling is the Chronomancer's very own unique brand of Doomsayer, where though it takes an additional turn to take effect, it almost cannot be countered. Best used in a control deck, Unstable Voidling can help players get out of a sticky situation when being rushed down by aggro/zoo decks, or buy a player some time to get the cards requires to achieve their win condition.

Surge

Surge was designed with two things in mind:

• Up till now, while there have been a couple of direct damage spells, most are only useful for 4 health and below minions, and the rest serve as board clears. Surge fills in this gap as the first high direct damage spell.
• A great deal of Chronomancer cards have been designed for to aid long control-type games, but there also needed to be cards that supported a mid range style of play, which Chronomancer actually has the potential to excel in given its low cost slow-but-high-value minions that come in on turn 4 or 5 onwards. Surge further adds to the viability to mid range Chronomancer. Combined with many of the existing low cost spells, Surge has the potential to provide a huge tempo boost in mid game.

Echo

The Shifter Zerus of spells! Echo is the Chronomancer's ultimate wildcard. Though it has the potential to copy the opponent's spell, it's more likely going to be used to copy spells cast from the player's hand. Combined with Surge, it's possible to achieve a bursty 12 damage nuke in a single turn at very low costs.

Ignite Mana

With a great deal of unpredictability and RNG, Ignite Mana is likely only to be useful when going up against a Zoo heavy meta. If the game drags out to the point where both players are pushing out top deck minions turn after turn, Ignite Mana can be useful as a finisher.

Jormugan Rider

A classic Joust minion that doubles as a solid 2-drop for the Chronomancer.

Eldritch Ray

Eldritch Ray is a very powerful tool for gaining tempo advantage. At its best, it is a 2 damage nuke with a Sap for just 3 mana and one card, which would see the removal of two minions off the board.

Resonance

While it could be described as a one-use Kel'thuzad ability, Resonance has the benefit of being a secret, making it more difficult for opponents to anticipate. Along with its high cost and minion-reliant effects, Resonance really only works for control-type decks.

Similar to how Competitive Spirit works, Resonance will not proc if there are no minions to ressurect.

Sorceress of the Fade

There's been plenty of cards that reduce Warp delays, but quite little that increase them. As a 4-drop, Sorceress of the Fade has stats that aren't great for trading, but its ability is useful for pushing forward the Arrival effects of minions such as the Unstable Voidling or Arcane Shocktrooper. Combined with the Chronomancer's hero power, Sorceress of the Fade allows some Arrival effects to be extended indefinitely.

Mirage

Mirage offers the Chronomancer a way to put out high value minions earlier in the game, similar to Alarm Bot. It offers a little more reliability, but as a tradeoff it costs more, and requires the player have a minion to return to hand first.

Addled Chronomage

This minion's ability turns the Chronomancer's hero power effectively into Sap, which can be devastating in long, control-heavy games. Like the Steamwheedle Sniper, it has no effect on other Hero Powers.

Chrono-Lord Deja

Chrono-Lord Deja is the first of the Chronomancer's legendaries that doesn't require the player to have a Warp minion-heavy deck to be effective. Similar to The Master, it does not bring an immediate effect to the board. However, the minions it generates will almost always bring a great amount of value, given that their warp delays have been reduced. A solid choice for Arena or in mid-range decks.

Echo

A slower but more powerful version of Formless Mageling, this minion allows Chronomancers to have a 7-drop as early as turn 5. Given that this is also one of the most powerful Arrival effects so far, it also increases the viability of the Damaged Mimicbot, leading to a very strong turn 3 and 4 (play Entropic Apparition on turn 3, play Damaged Mimicbot on turn 4 to get a 7/7 on the board).

Spectral Werebear

Charge and "return to hand" effects works really well together, especially when preparing for lethal. This minion is a powerful tool for more aggressive Chronomancer decks. If used over and over, its costs can go down to 2 or 1, allowing for huge bursts of damage in a single turn when combined with spells like Rewind or the Chronomancer's hero power.

Curse of Eternity

Curse of Eternity is great for decks with win conditions revolving around keeping specific minions on the board, or simply with a lot of minions with powerful Deathrattle effects. Versus Ancestral Spirit, Curse of Eternity's greatest asset is its reusability -- its 4-mana cost becomes less of an issue as the game moves on to the later stages.

Whisper of the Old Gods brought with it loads of interesting new effects, but the most prominent of which were its Old God cards with insane, game changing, never-before-seen effects. This is no different from the Chronomancer; it has new cards with unique effects aimed at adding more tactical opportunities for the class, but also a Legendary that might just revolutionize the way the class is seen by players.

Champion of Time

A humble but powerful addition for a wide range of Chronomancer deck types. The Discover mechanic has always been quite versatile, and getting a Warp reduction makes it almost as useful as Unstable Portal's cost reduction, with the exception that the Warp reduction is almost always likely to provide value, whereas Unstable Portal has a chance to give minions that don't benefit fully from the cost reduction. Probably a great pick in the Arena setting too.

Flamehawk Caller

Many current Warp minions provide a decent amount of value in the way of a strong single body, but these are often a bit too vulnerable to single target removal. Minion 23 is aimed at providing a viable alternative: a turn 5 minion that leaves behind one 3/3 and two 2/2 tokens, giving it good synergy to cards like Frostwolf Warlord. However, spells like Consecration would make short work of it.

Forbidden Knowledge

Forbidden Knowledge replaces Sprint as potentially the best card draw effect in the game. When cast at 8 mana and above, it is most efficient. Its main strength come in its versatility: If, for example, you happen to have 5 mana to spare at a turn's end, you could use this as a more expensive version of Arcane Intellect. However, due the mechanics of the card, you can never play any card after using Forbidden Knowledge within the current turn.

Clone

At 3 mana, Clone actually isn't that useful in a vanilla setting, given that most Warp minions cost between 1-4 mana. But if combined with spells or minions that artificially give a Warp effect, Clone can be used to duplicate really powerful minions with recurring effects.

History Rewritten

With a growing number of options in terms of minions that benefit from being returned to hand, History Rewritten rounds off the mechanic by providing a versatile tool to trigger those effects, as well as doubling as a quick way to heal up damaged minions. Combos extremely well with the Falconess, given that all minions returned to hand will gain +2/+2 and cost (1).

Revenant of Time

The obvious benefit of this minion's Battlecry is to allow strong minions to be laid out earlier on. However, it could also be used to protect minions with ongoing card effects, such as Emperor Thaurissan. An example of a powerful combo is playing the Revenant of Time and Ragnaros on turn 10, resulting in a Ragnaros that is free to use its ability for 2 turns before being subject to removal.

Accursed Satyr

At 5 mana, it has subpar stats, but its ability allows players to ensure that there's always a Taunt minion for their opponent to deal with. Probably only useful as a defensive measure though - the Accursed Satyr might be sticky, but at 2 damage it's not going to burst down the enemy hero any time soon.

Ei'gas, Eternity's Spawn

Finally, we arrive at the Chronomancer's most ambitious card. Ei'gas mana cost makes it strictly useful only in long games. As for its ability, here's what it does:

1. Upon being summoned, all characters are sent back 2 rounds back in time. That means the state of the board, player healths, and deck states are reverted back to how it was 2 turns ago.

2. Now, the card text specifies that Ei'gas only sends all OTHER characters back in time. So what this means is that Ei'gas is the only surviving entity from the present (now future). So whatever the state of the board is, Ei'gas is added to the Chronomancer's side of the board.

In other words, the Chronomancer now is now given a second chance to redo the events of the last two turn, with a new 8/8 body on his side. Also, if Ei'gas was drawn by the Chronomancer during the 2 turns that had been rewound, it would now be the next card after it in the deck order that would be drawn instead, because remember: Ei'gas himself doesn't go back in time.

This is probably the card that I'm most excited to witness in Hearthstone (if it's even programmable!). Apart from giving losing Chronomancers a chance to change things up, it'll set up for interesting scenarios where players now know what cards they have on hand (based on what was played before the rewinding) and now have to play around them. Furthermore, if there were any lucky RNG effects that swung the game towards either player, they will now be reprocessed.