Hearthpwn

Ivory Knight

FUN FACTS:

• This is the sixth 6 mana 4/4 in the game, preceded by Gadgetzan Auctioneer, Hogger Wilfred Fizzlebang, The Mistcaller and Nerubian Prophet
• Paladin is the first class to have more than one discover card. Previously in WoTOG, Paladins got A Light in the Darkness. Every other class (at the time of this thread posting) as either one or none.
• This is the first Paladin card in the game to mention spells in its card text (Mysterious Challenger mentions Secret which are spells but doesn't mention spells in general).
• Ivory is a white material found from the tusks of animals such as elephants or walruses, which is what appears to give the Ivory Knight its color.

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Any mid to high cost discover minion such as Ethereal Conjurer.
• Mid to high cost card draw minions such as Azure Drake, Gnomish Inventor or Ancient of Lore.
• Healing minions such as Antique Healbot or Cult Apothecary
• Other 6 mana 4/4 minions (view fun facts).

REVIEW:

This card is rather interesting. You ideally want to get a large spell with this card to heal a lot of health to your hero (which picking one shouldn't be a concern since you're already at at least 6 mana). Though it is worth noting that you can predict what card your opponent chose by paying attention to how much health it restored. For example if 4 Health is restored, you can reasonably assume that your opponent picked up a Consecration or Hammer of Wrath, and if 8 Health is restored, you know that your opponent picked a Lay on Hands which will restore even more Health. Something interesting is that you can pick Anyfin Can Happen and restore 10 Health to your hero. You don't even need Murlocs to do that since you're restoring 10 Health to your hero. I would rather pick a Lay on Hands in that situation but the Anyfin will do fine if that is your best option.

How good this card will be is based on what spells you can choose from. Sometimes you'll get bad RNG and get Secrets which won't prove to be useful, and other times you can get expensive but effective high cost spells. It's unlikely that you will get three 1 or 2 cost spells, but regardless of what spell you choose, you are getting a 6 mana 4/4 that will draw a card and restore some health to your hero. That's not too bad. Do keep in mind that spells that heal more may not necessarily be better, you might want a Consecration over a Holy Wrath based on the situation. A post from Krypton136 mentions the cards you can get and mana cost of each (in Standard I assume) The average card you get will be worth about 3 mana which isn't too bad, and there is always the opportunity that you will get less or more expensive spells. But even with 11 1-cost spells for Paladin, most of the time you will be able to pick something that costs more.

Reasonably, this card may be tried out in a healing-based Paladin deck where this card will act as a way to restore a little bit of Health and (hopefully, pick up a useful spell).

Rating: Average

Kindly Grandmother

FUN FACTS:

• This card may be a reference to Little Red Hiding Hood. Similary, the Big Bad Wolf from its Deathrattle may be a reference to The Three Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf.
• This is the first card in the game to have the word "mother" in its name.
• One of the patches in the blanket has something that resembles the Hearthstone swirl.
• This card is a Beast, despite other Worgen cards (Raging Worgen, Worgen Infiltrator, Forlorn Stalker, etc.) not being Beasts since Worgens are not Beasts, they are humanoids (this the same reason cards like Gormok the Impaler and Icehowl aren't Beasts).

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Nerubian Egg
• Webspinner
• Haunted Creeper
• Loot Hoarder
• Piloted Shredder

REVIEW:

Well I certainly didn't expect something like this. The card starts out as a 1/1 minion that summons a 3/2 minion when it dies. There are many ways you can think of this card, such as a Nerubain Egg that doesn't need an activator, but in return, summons a 3/2 instead of a 4/4, a Webspinner that always gives you a Bloodfen Raptor, but for 1 extra mana, summons it immediately, a Piloted Shredder that always summons a 3/2 and has -3/-2 and costs 2 less, or a 4/3 minion with the drawback that it starts out as a 1/1. Those all sound pretty good, right? For that reason, I'd say this is a good card. It's also another minion that you can put in the Deathrattle Hunter deck. The 3/2 isn't bad to get from Princess Huhuran either.

Rating: Good

Barnes

FUN FACTS:

• This card is most likely another card that came from the 1/1 for 1 Tavern Brawl, along with Herald Volazj and Shadowcaster

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Herald Volazj
• Shadowcaster
• Piloted Shredder

REVIEW:

Right off the bat, we can compare this to Herald Volazj (an "eh" card) and Shadowcaster (a good card, but not an amazing card). It seems the Blizzard is really pushing a 1/1 copy theme, primarily for Priests (fitting the mind manipulation theme) and Rogue, but as a Neutral card everyone can use it. Worse case scenario, you get a 4 mana 4/5 split across two bodies which isn't bad at all (possibly with a slight drawback if you're running one of those cards but you probably wouldn't be running a lot of those if you're running this card). Best case scenario, you can pull a 1/1 copy of a Ragnaros the Firelord, which is amazing. However, most of the time, it won't be that. You'll probably get a 1/1 minion with a slight upside. You can also compare this to Piloted Shredder where you always summon a 1/1 minion, but you get it immediately and this has a better body. It is worth noting that it copies the card and doesn't summon the card so if it dies, you still have the full-stated copy in your deck. One of the main benefits this card has over Herald and Shadowcaster is that this card doesn't require board presence for it to work. The other cards did, so if you didn't have anything, it would kinda suck but not this. You can play it whenever you want to and it'll work fine.

There are a number of ways you can make this card work. Some control decks with big minions (Paladin would probably be the best choice for this because of Tirion) may run this card to summon a 1/1 copy of a minion with a great Deathrattle or passive effect. You could also run this in an Astral Communion deck to summon a 1/1 copy of a HUGE minion you have. You may also run this in a Shaman deck with Master of Evolution to evolve the copy into a big minion.

Overall, I think this is a good, pretty balanced card that has quite a bit of potential. I was originally going to give it an Average/Good rating but honestly, I think it can get away with a Good rating.

Rating: Good/Very Good

The Curator

FUN FACTS:

• This is the third 7 mana 4/6 minion in the game, preceded by Skycap'n Kragg and Twin Emperor Vek'lor. What's interesting is that two of these cards have Taunt. It's possible that this card or Vek'lor was the mystery card from The Grand Tournament that was cut.
• This is the second card in the game with the word "curator" in it, preceeded by Museum Curator.
• This is the first card in the game that mentions multiple Tribal tags. In this case, he mentions Dragon's, Beasts and Murlocs. Interestingly, he is also a Mech, covering four of the seven tribal tags in the game (the three he doesn't cover being Totem, Demon and Pirate).

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Twin Emperor Vek'lor
• 4/6 Taunt minion + Arcane Intellect or Nourish.

REVIEW:

At first I thought this card sucked because it required you to be running three different tribal tags to be worth running, but I thought about it more. A 4/6 Taunt minion is worth about 5 mana, and drawing 2 cards is worth 3 mana (Arcane Intellect), so even if you only get 2 out of 3, you still got good enough value to warrant playing this card. There may also be some Beasts and/or Dragons you would already play (such as Azure Drake or Ysera for Dragons and Stampeding Kodo or Huge Toad for Beasts). Sadly not so much Murlocs because there aren't many Murlocs you would put into a deck with this card, and Murloc Knight gets worse as time goes on unless we get better Murlocs to get from him. The Dragon aspect can be taken advantage of by any class because of the number of good dragons there are. Hunters will probably take the best advantage of the Beast aspect with beasts like Savannah Highmane. You could see this card played in some Midrange deck (Midrange decks already run Kodo). It's quite unlikely that you'll be able to make a deck that runs Beasts, Dragons and Murlocs work but even getting two out of three works fine enough and for that reason, I'd say he gets an Average rating. He's not an amazing card, but sometimes, you can settle with simple "good" or "average".

Rating: Average

Ethereal Peddler

FUN FACTS:

• This is the third 5 mana 5/6 in the game, preceded by Pit Fighter and Usher of Souls.
• This is the fifth Etheral minion in the game, preceeded by Ethereal Arcanist, Nexus-Champion Saraad, Ethereal Conjurer and Arch-Thief Rafaam.

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Other 5 mana 5/6's (see Fun Facts)
• Emperor Thaurissan

REVIEW:

This card has a very unique effect. There are a number of ways Rogue can get cards from different classes including Undercity Huckster, Burgle, Nexus-Champion Saraad, Nefarian, Grand Crusader and more. Although the downside is that you have to hold on to those cards to make this card good which can prove to be difficult, especially if you don't draw the necessary cards to do so before this. Most of the time when you activate this effect, it'll probably only happen on one or two cards (three if you're lucky). The good thing about this card though is that its a 5/6 for 5 so it has a perfect vanilla statline even if you don't get the effect off. Although you'd never put a vanilla 5/6 for 5 in your constructed deck, it's by no means bad. It's going to be a great card in Arena because Pit Fighter is pretty good in Arena, and this will once in a while give you an upside effect, and Rogue is already pretty good in Arena so this will push that even further. You might see this in constructed played in some gimmicky deck.

Rating: Average

Enchanted Raven

FUN FACTS:

• This is the third class card in the game without text, preceeded by Fearsome Doomguard and Carrion Grub. Interestingly, all three of these cards have a tribal tag and are all common.
• Many have theorized the possibility of a vanilla 1 mana 2/2 comparing it to 1 mana 1/3's with upsides ( such as Mana Wyrm, Tunnel Trogg and Northshire Cleric) and to other cards like Abusive Sergeant and Zombie Chow.

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Timber Wolf
• Zombie Chow
• Flame Imp
• 1 mana 1/3's with upsides.
• 1 mana 2/1's with upsides.

REVIEW:

Well, we got a 1 mana 2/2, and not only that, but its a Beast. Well, I think Beast Druid just got buffed quite a bit. Playing a 2/2 for 1 mana is pretty good, especially on turn 1. It does die to a 2/1, but it can take out a lot of 2-drops and even a few 3-drops. Playing with Mark of Y'Shaarj will work wonderfully. Not only does it have a lot of potential in Constructed but it also is going to be very good in Arena. There's not really much more to say about this card since it has no text, but despite that, there's potential here to make something really good work with this card, just like Carrion Grub.

Rating: Good

Firelands Portal

FUN FACTS:

• Every cost from 1-5 has a card that summons it (Mounted Raptor for 1-cost minions, Piloted Shredder for 2-cost minions, Faceless Summoner for 3-cost minions, Piloted Sky Golem for 4-cost minions and now this for 5-cost minions). Amongst those 5, this is the only spell in that group.
• This is the second "portal" card for Mages, preceded by Unstable Portal, making a small "portal" theme for Mages which we may see more of in the future.

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Lava Burst or Shadow Strike + summon a random 5-cost minion.

REVIEW:

"Behold, the rage of the Firelands!" - Fandral Staghelm.

And rage of the Firelands we got. Dealing 5 damage is worth about 3.33 mana (estimations, may be a bit inaccurate). Adding 3.66 mana to summon a random 5-cost minion in the same card is pretty big. On paper this is. On average, you'll probably get about a 4/4 or a 5/5. Then, you could also do stuff with Sorcerer's Apprentice allowing you to activate the effect earlier. It's also really good in Arena, buffing Mages even further in Arena. It will also probably see some constructed play. One bad thing about the card though is that it occupies the same mana slot as Flamestrike and Archmage Antonidas, and including all three of these cards in your deck might be a bit too heavy.

Notable outcomes include:

• Antique Healbot (wild only)/Faceless Manipulator
• Leeroy Jenkins
• Doomguard
• Fel Reaver (wild only)
• Earth Elemental
• Other Taunt minions such as Sludge Belcher or Fen Creeper
• Grim Patron
• Summoning Stone
• Hallazeal the Ascended

Plus probably some others. Overall I'd say this is a good card, but not completely broken. Good in Arena, will probably see at least a bit of play in Constructed.

Rating: Good

Malchezaar's Imp

FUN FACTS:

• This is the first Demon in the game since TGT
• This is the second 1 mana 1/3 for Warlocks, preceded by Voidwalker. This makes Warlock the only class with two 1 mana 1/3’s.
• This is the second card in the game with a discard-synergy (third if you count Fist of Jaraxxus), obviously preceded by Tiny Knight of Evil.
• This card was originally called "Imp of Malchezaar" when it was first revealed.

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Voidwalker
• Northshire Cleric

REVIEW:

Here we have Blizzard adding another tool to the discard-synergistic Warlock deck, along with Tiny Knight of Evil and Fist of Jaraxxus. Tiny Knight of Evil was not a good card, because the most amount of cards you’d realistically discard is one, and sometimes the card was just a 2 mana 3/2 without text. I personally think that card would’ve been better as a 2/3 because it would have more survivability. What is worth noting about this card is that unlike Tiny Knight of Evil, this card curves into both Darkshire Librarian and Succubus. Which of those 2 would you run in a discard deck? The Librarian because it draws another card, or the Succubus because it has better stats? Or do you run both? Although this would be a nice tool for a discard deck, what I think would be better is more cards like Fist of Jaraxxus, where you can either play it or discard it and it does an effect. One of the main problems in a discard deck is that you might discard a card you need to play and Fist of Jaraxxus was a way to get around that. An inherent flaw with discarding is that unlock other card games where you can choose what you discard, in Hearthstone, it’s completely random.

What is worth noting is the card draw is not as valuable in Warlock because they already have their Hero Power, and cards like Mortal Coil, and to some extent, Dark Peddler which draw cards. This card is VERY similar to Northshire Cleric, which did the same thing except off of heals instead of discards, which was better, not only because heals fit the Priest class, but you didn’t have to risk anything, and you could play Circle of Healing or Holy Nova to draw multiple cards. I think in a vacuum, this pales in comparison to Northshire Cleric, but the Cleric is a REALLY good card for every Priest deck. This card might turn out to be better than I’ve seen people say, but is it enough tools to make a discard deck work? No. For this reason, it gets an “Average” rating. However, I think some people will try to make it work when the adventure comes out, and who knows, it might actually be an alright deck.

And by the way, Demons are back finally. I like the diversity to the Warlock minion roster LoE and WoTOG added but it’s nice to see more Demons finally being printed.

Rating: Average

Babbling Book

FUN FACTS:

• This is the second "book card" for Mages preceded by Cabalist's Tome. Perhaps a "book" theme for Mages isn't too far away, which would make sense for the class.
• This is the first 1/1 Mage minion, making 5/9 classes to have a 1 mana 1/1 minion (the other four being Druid, Hunter, Warlock and Warrior).
• The book in this card's artwork is very similar to the book Darkshire Librarian is holding. It's however more likely she would be holding a Cabalist's Tome because those two cards were released in same card set.
• Harry Potter had flying book monsters in it. It's possible that this card's artwork is based on that in some way.
• This card was originally called "Raving Grimoire" when it was first revealed.

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Novice Engineer
• Jeweled Scarab
• Ethereal Conjurer
• N'Zoth's First Mate

REVIEW:

A rather unique card. It’s a 1/1 for 1 that adds a random Mage spell to your hand. In Mage, this is almost the equivalent of drawing a card, because Mage’s have some of the best spells in the game, and most of the Mage spells are pretty good, and most of the worst Mage spells aren’t that bad (I wouldn’t mind getting an Arcane Explosion from this). The only card I would hate to see from this is Shatter. We can also compare this is N’Zoth’s First Mate which was a weaponless-upgrade with a 1/1 body attached to it. The closest card we can compare this to is Novice Engineer, which is a 2 mana 1/1 that draws a card. Reducing the cost of a bad card by 1 can make it good, even OP (Silent Knight being reduced to 2 mana, strictly better Shielded Minibot) and this card is pretty much that. And as a Mage card that grants a spell, it’s also synergistic with other mage cards such as Mana Wyrm, Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Flamewaker and Archmage Antonidas. This card is even comparable to a cheaper Ethereal Conjurer. That’s already a pretty good card. The only downside here is that the card is random instead of discovered, but if it did discover, it would absolutely absurd how powerful it is. As it is now, it’s pretty good.

Rating: Good

Book Wyrm

FUN FACTS:

• The name of this card may be a pun of "Bookworm", an online game which involves finding hidden words within a plethora of letters.
• This is the first "If you're holding a Dragon" card since TGT.
• An opponent's Book Wyrm is an eligible target for this minion's Battlecry.
• This is the second 6 mana 3/6 in the game since Gazlowe.

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Gazlowe
• 4 mana 3/6 + Shadow Word: Pain
• Stampeding Kodo

REVIEW:

This is the first Dragon in the set so far (and will most likely not be the last) and for a Dragon, it has quite a unique effect. It’s basically a Shadow Word: Pain, fairly comparable to Stampeding Kodo’s effect, except kills enemy minions with 1 more attack, and is targetable. The difference between 2 and 3 attack may not sound like much, but it actually can be quite a significant difference, and its effect being targetable really helps make the card good. In addition to that, it has a 3/6 body, for about 4 mana if you get the effect off, and 3/6 for 4 is very good stats and distribution. It’s also a Dragon itself so it allows other Dragon-synergistic cards to work off of it. The only downside of this card is that if you don’t have another Dragon in your hand, it’s just a 3/6 for 6 which is pretty bad, however in Dragon decks, that shouldn’t be a problem (if you don’t a Dragon in your hand, Chillmaw is just a 6/6 Taunt for 7, but that’s still a very good card that sees play in Dragon decks because you can more reliably get the effect off).

Rating: Good

Moroes

FUN FACTS:

• This is the first 3 mana 1/1 in the game.
• This card has positive synergy with Knife Juggler but terribly weak against an enemy Knife Juggler.
• Despite having Stealth, this minion is ironically holding a candle lighting up the picture.

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Shade of Naxxramas
• Imp Gang Boss
• Imp Master

REVIEW:

So, Moroes starts out as a 1/1 Stealth for 3, which isn’t good. At the start of your opponent’s next turn, it will have also summoned another 1/1, effectively like a Shade of Naxxramas where the +1/+1 buffs are separate minions instead of being applied to the Shade itself. Sometimes that’s better but other times it’s worse. Note that even with Stealth, it has the same problem that One-eyed Cheat had. Theoretically, you could attack for 4 damage, then protect it by summoning another Pirate, but both this card and the cheat and vulnerable to any AoE damage, allowing you to kill it while still in Stealth (you would never attack with it unless you had lethal with it or you really needed to kill something).

So far, this minion looks and sounds quite underwhelming, doesn’t it? Well, the poll mostly agrees as well.

However, this card isn’t completely hopeless, there is potential to make it work. Perhaps it’s possible to make a Darkshire Councilman deck with him and Knife Juggler, pinging off stuff and at the same time, buffing the Councilman’s attack. Alternatively, you could run it in a Paladin deck with Steward of Darkshire, it grants Moroes himself the Divine Shield (and Stealth and Divine Shield is a nasty combination) as well as all of the Stewards he summons Divine Shield, which can potentially become a problem. Your opponent will not want to waste 2 AoE’s to kill everything you have this way. Not to mention, even with 1 Health, its still vulnerable to AoE but it Stealth still increases its survivability pretty greatly. Your opponent will not want to use an AoE spell simply just to kill this.

For these reasons, I would give it a “Somewhat Bad” rating but it does have potential to be good with Steward of Darkshire.

Rating: Somewhat Bad

Prince Malchezaar

FUN FACTS:

• This is the second Neutral Demon in the game (third if you count the Imps from Imp Master), preceded by Illidan Stormrage.
• This is the second Eradar in the game, preceded by Lord Jaraxxus.
• This is the fourth 5 mana 5/6 in the game, preceded by Pit Fighter, Usher of Souls and Ethereal Peddler. This card can almost be considered strictly better than Pit Fighter as it is a Demon. The only downside of this card compared to Pit Fighter is that it can be killed by a Sacrificial Pact or Silenced by Light’s Champion (which would require it to be buffed).
• This is the first card in the game with the "at the start of the game mechanic". It's interesting to see how this plays out.

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Other 5 mana 5/6's (see Fun Facts)
• Elise Starseeker

REVIEW:

This is probably the single most interesting card so far in the Karazhan adventure. Some people think that this card is good and other people don’t think so and think it will only see play in gimmick decks. I would like to mention that when Elise Starseeker was revealed, many people thought she would never see play and was just a gimmick card but that ended up not being the case. Is this card going to be part of the same fate or will it strictly be a card for fun decks?

Because the effect is at the start of the game, your opponent is going to know that you have it in your deck which will tell your opponent that you’re either playing a fun deck or an experimental deck, or maybe you’re playing an actual competitive deck and you just decided to toss Malchezaar in there. A unique downside is that you can have a bunch of bad Legendaries in your deck. Although it’s unlikely that all five of the Legendaries will be bad, you’ll probably get at least one not-so-great Legendary, that can sometimes clog your deck up and you won’t draw what you want to draw because of the Legendaries. Another problem with the card is that once the effect goes off, it’s just a Pit Fighter with a Demon tag, and Pit Fighter sees no play in Constructed, not because it’s a bad card but because there’s simply better options and vanilla minions without any effects don’t impact the board in any special way. The only vanilla minion that sees play is Carrion Grub, because of its synergy with Houndmaster and its Beast synergy, in which it wouldn’t see any play if it didn’t have those. The Demon tag is only meaningful in any capacity if you’re playing Warlock (which to be fair wouldn’t be a bad class for this card because of Life Tap).

So far this review sounds pretty negative, right? However there is an upside to this card and a way to use it great. This will be a great card in fatigue decks because it gives you extra cards in your deck, meaning that unless your opponent has Malchezaar as well, your opponent will enter fatigue first and you’ll win the game. Fatigue decks, anti-fatigue decks and gimmick decks will be the only types that think about using this card, so there’s an advantage where your opponent probably won’t put it in unless the meta is filled with them.

For this reason, I would rate it as an Average card, along with Other because of its fun factor. Perhaps this card will end up like Elise Starseeker. It was noted as bad upon first glance but was revealed to be good after LoE came out.

Rating: Average/Other

Protect the King

Protect the King

FUN FACTS:

• This is the fourth card in the game with the text "for each enemy minion", preceded by Unleash the Hounds, Cult Apothecary and Cyclopian Horror.
• This card is exactly the same as Unleash the Hounds, except with Charge instead of Taunt and the Pawns aren't Beasts.

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Unleash the Hounds
• Mirror Image
• Muster for Battle
• Stand Against Darkness
• Forbidden Ritual
• Imp-losion

REVIEW:

So here we have Blizzard yet again trying to push the Taunt Synergy for Warriors, which started in TGT. Although it has received some good cards, the deck is not fully competitive yet. This may be a card that helps that out. It’s exactly the same as Unleash the Hounds (which interestingly enough counters this card), except with Taunt instead of Charge, and no Beast synergy. Charge is a more aggressive or board control based mechanic, whereas Taunt is a more defensive and also a board control mechanic. Have you ever had a time where you wish the Hounds from Unleash the Hounds had Taunt instead of Charge? No matter how many pawns you summon, it will cost 3 mana having an edge or cards such as Stand Against Darkness and Forbidden Ritual. It also allows as an activator for cards such as King’s Defender and Bolster. Oh boy, Bolster has amazing synergy with this card. You can summon a bunch of small 1/1 Taunt minions and Bolster them up to summon a bunch of 3/3 Taunt minions for only 5 mana. Although a bit unrealistic, the dream would be for 7 mana, to summon several 5/5 Taunt minions. Even as just a 3/3 though, it makes the card no longer susceptible to low-damage AoE which is one of the main downsides of the card. This also notably has synergy with Knife Juggler.

However, the downside of low-damage AoE is probably the most prevalent in Warrior because Warrior has several two-sided AoE cards (Whirlwind, Revenge, Ravaging Ghoul) that it will make it difficult to play this card and clear the board effectively. If Warrior gets a really good AoE that only clears the enemy board, this card will become even better. That one damage however won’t kill everything so you might be able to play that, then this card. That’s just one downside to an otherwise pretty solid card. And that one damage problem will be mitigated when you use Bolster.

It’s not an amazing card but honestly, it might be able to make a Taunt Warrior deck good. In itself, it also might see play in other Warrior decks.

Rating: Good

Kara Kazham!

FUN FACTS:

• This card is most likely a reference to Beauty and the Beast.
• Though possibly a coincidence, a very similar card in Magic: The Gathering exists called “Bestial Menace”. Some Hearthstone cards that are copies of Magic cards include Lightning Bolt and Divine Strength.

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Force of Nature
• Stand Against Darkness
• Silver Hand Knight

REVIEW:

I don’t think anyone expected to see a card like this in the adventure. So far, it seems that anything can happen in this adventure. What’s next, Hunters getting a talking tree that shoots leaf rockets? Perhaps the most obvious card to compare this to is Force of Nature. We all know about the infamous Force of Nature + Savage Roar combo before it was nerfed in April. Since then, it’s seen pretty much no play. When compared to Force of Nature, one’s first instinct may be to just write the card off as “bad” and move on. Darkshire Councilman and Mysterious Challenger were both wrote off as “bad” when they were first revealed and look what happened to them. The current Force of Nature would admittedly be better in Warlock than Druid because it has synergy with Councilman and Knife Juggler, so this card most likely has a better shot at being decent in Constructed than FoN did. Another card to compare this to is Silver Hand Knight, where you summon a 4/4 and a 2/2 equaling 6/6 total stats for 5 mana. Although that’s not by any means bad, SHK doesn’t see play in Constructed. Does splitting the 4/4 into a 1/1 and a 3/3 make it that much better? Does the one extra knife or one extra Attack point really matter that much? It may be played in some Zoo decks with Councilman where it would be better than SHK, but I don’t expect it to cause smashing waves in Constructed. This however will be an excellent spell to use with Cho'gall, summoning a 7/7, 3/3, 2/2 and a 1/1 for 7 mana, and only the cost of 5 life. I swear Cho'gall is just a few spells from shining.

This will be a good card in Arena because SHK is a good card in Arena.

Rating: Average

Pompous Thespian 

FUN FACTS:

• Pompous is a synonym for “arrogant”, in which no synonym for that word has been previously used on any card. This is the first time the word “thespian” has also been used in the game, a word meaning a drama or theater actor or actress.
• This card is a strictly better Frostwolf Grunt having the same mana cost, Health and 1 more Attack. The only benefit Frostwolf Grunt has is that it’s a free card and you won’t have to buy any part of the adventure to get it.
• The thespian in the card art is holding the head of an Annoy-o-Tron. Advertising for this adventure featured the card art for Annoy-o-Tron holding a goblet filled with oil, instead of a bell. Annoy-o-Tron is comparable to this card, so perhaps the thespian holding the head of the Annoy-o-Tron is supposed to symbolize that he thinks he’s better than Annoy-o-Tron (Spoiler Alert: he isn’t) which would be fitting because he’s supposed to be a “pompous” thespian.

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Annoy-o-Tron
• Frostwolf Grunt
• Sparring Partner
• Anodized Robo Cub
• Ironfur Grizzly
• Bear Trap
• Bilefin Tidehunter

REVIEW:

This is a very simple card that was most likely designed for Arena rather than Contructed. This card notably is a strictly better Frostwolf Grunt, having everything exactly the same with 1 more Attack. Although the difference between 2 and 3 Attack is more significant than it might seem, that probably will not make it a good Constructed card, especially since Sparring Partner never saw very much play. Although who knows? In Hearthstone, the slightest difference can make a card that much better (Huge Toad doesn’t look much better than Bloodfen Raptor but the toad is seeing play in Midrange decks). I can’t help thinking this would’ve been better as a 2/3 as opposed to a 3/2 because Taunt is meant to be more defensive (Sen'jin Shieldmasta would be a LOT worse as a 5/3 than a 3/5), but even as a 3/2, it’s an okay card. Nothing very spectacular. Probably won’t see any play in Constructed. A pretty decent card in Arena.

Rating: Average

Zoobot

FUN FACTS:

• This is yet another card that mentions Beasts, Dragons, Murlocs and is a Mech, along with The Curator. Interestingly, both are Mechs and arcane golems whereas Arcane Golem isn't.
• Although it buffs Murlocs, there are no Murlocs in the card art, just Beasts and a Dragon.

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Soot Spewer
• Shattered Sun Cleric
• Spider Tank

REVIEW:

When I first read the card, I missed the word “friendly” in its card text and thought that it could buff enemy minions with this effect. Then I realized that this does in fact buff friendly minions. But even if it does only buff friendly minions, is this card really good enough?

The dream would be to have a Dragon, Beast and Murloc on board, then play this card. But realistically, that won’t ever happen in a real game. You’ll probably end up giving only one (maybe two if you’re building a weird deck and you’re lucky) minion +1/+1, or even none and if you do give no minions, it’s just a worse Spider Tank. If you give one minion +1/+1, it’s a Shattered Sun Cleric with more Health and a Mech, but it’s more conditional. This type of effect is more prevalent in Arena where you’re more likely to have a deck with two or more of these types. It’s an alright Arena card but I think it won’t be good in Constructed.

Rating: Average

Medivh, the Guardian

FUN FACTS:

• Atiesh is the first Neutral weapon in the game, albeit uncollectable.
• Atiesh is the second weapon in the game with an effect of "do X, lose 1 Durability", preceded by Sword of Justice.
• Mage staffs with effects based on spells have been a popular theme amongst fan created cards. Mainly with Spell Damage.
• Medivh is the first character with an alternate hero made then a card, albeit the character is changed somewhat. This means it is somewhat possible (although very unlikely) that we can alternate heroes that are already cards.
• Medivh refers to Atiesh in his text as “Atiesh, Greatstaff of the Guardian”, although the name of the weapon is just “Atiesh”. This is presumably because they didn’t have enough space to fill in the whole title.
• This card is what Mike Donais said when “My favourite legendary hasn’t been revealed, so I think that will get people excited too."

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Blingtron 3000
• Malkorok
• Summoning Stone
• Rhonin
• Tirion Fordring

REVIEW:

Here we have Medivh as a card in the adventure, and he’s quite an interesting one. He comes into play as a 7/7 for 8 so he doesn’t exactly fit the vanilla statline, but his effect is what makes him a really unique card. He equips a 1/3 weapon. That sounds boring until you read what the card’s effect is. Whenever you cast a spell, you summon a random minion of that cost and it loses 1 Durability, like a Summoning Stone in weapon form, and this is just for the loss of 2 stat points. The Summoning Stone doesn’t cost you 5 mana to play and doesn’t die to damage or minion combat. It also has the flexibility of either being able to attack with it or summoning a minion (although you most likely will summon the minion). Being able to summon 3 minions is a pretty powerful effect.

He does come with a disadvantage though. He costs 8 mana, so just playing him will take up a big chunk of your turn and you ideally want to play him, then play a low-cost spell to get immediate value out of him. If the staff works just like Summoning Stone, then cost modifications from Emperor Thaurissan will affect the minion it summons (if your opponent has a summoning Stone, then you play Loatheb, then your opponent casts Arcane Intellect for 8 mana, Summoning Stone will summon a random 8-cost minion), and the weapon is removed by Acidic Swamp Ooze and Harrison Jones meaning you might not get all of the value you want out of Medivh.

Although those downsides do matter, that doesn’t stop the card from having potential. This is a slow card, but I’m going to take a gamble and call this card “Good”. Maybe I’m right, maybe I’m terribly wrong, we will see. I think this card definitely has a chance though.

Rating: Good

Silverware Golem

FUN FACTS:

• This has been a very popular mechanic amongst fan-made cards. This however is the first time we've seen Blizzard use it.
• It’s questionable whether or not the Silverware Golem should be a Mech. On one hand, silverware and dishes are not mechanical parts, though on the other hand, it appears to be mechanically constructed to some degree, and Zoobot and The Curator are Mechs despite Arcane Golem not being a Mech.
• Videos of the fight against the Silverware Golem have been posted on YouTube: Karazhan - Silverware Golem Gameplay. This exact video has been posted by Hearthpwn's YouTube channel, Disguised Toast and LFP Gaming.
• Warlock is the first class to have all of its class cards revealed in the adventure.

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Any 3 mana 3/3
• Fist of Jaraxxus

REVIEW:

Here we can see Blizzard making another card to make a “discard” Warlock deck work, and an effect like is something the deck needs. We already have Malchezaar's Imp, Fist of Jaraxxus and minions with discard effects (it’s questionable whether or not you would put Tiny Knight of Evil in that deck). An effect like this is pretty good but is this going to be enough to make a discard-deck a somewhat viable thing? Not even a meta deck but just a viable, competitive deck in general. The dream would be to Soulfire on turn 1 and summon this, put that really isn’t going to happen because you would never Soulfire on turn 1, or turn 2 unless maybe your opponent has a Totem Golem, maybe. In the event that you can’t discard this card, it’s just a 3 mana 3/3 with no ability or tribal tag. While that isn’t majorly bad, you would never just play a vanilla 3 mana 3/3 in Constructed, and it’s a stretch whether or not you would in Arena. Of course there are also times where you will end up discarding the wrong card and slap yourself in the face. A natural fix to this would be being able to choose what cards you discard, although that would make this card OP. Perhaps the Warlock legendary in the next expansion will be something like that. This is something we’d have to ask the Hearthstone development team whether or not they would consider doing this.

What I don’t understand is why this is a Warlock card. Exactly what does this have to do with the Warlock class? Then again, I could say the same thing about Kara Kazham!. This card will probably be experimented with and it might actually be good, but we’ll just need to see.

Rating: Average

Netherspite Historian

FUN FACTS:

• This is the second Discover card of the adventure, with the first one being Ivory Knight. This however is the first Neutral one.
• This is the second conditional Discover card in the game, preceded by Gorillabot A-3.
• This is the first Discover card related to Dragons.

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Most Discover minions.

REVIEW:

It seems that Blizzard likes the Discover mechanic so much that they’ve decided to make it a permanent mechanic in the game (unlike Inspire and Joust which were centric to one card set). And most players really like Discover as well and for good reasons. The cards were just generally really good, but not over the top broken and although it had elements of RNG in it, it was controllable and you had a choice increasing the strategic factor of the card.

This is yet another card that belongs in the list of good Discover cards and will be a staple in Dragon decks except for maybe the aggressive Warrior one. There are many great Dragon cards. It allows you to get a Twilight Guardian or Azure Drake to fill out your curve, a Chillmaw for a Taunt and board clear, a Ysera or Alexstrasza for late game, a Deathwing for a “last resort” button, the list goes on and on. And because you’re already holding a Dragon when you play this card, you can easily pick other cards with that condition as if they didn’t have it.

In Dragon Priest, this will definitely serve as a replacement for Museum Curator, though just because both cards are so good, maybe you run both this and Museum Curator. This honestly is quite possibly one of the best cards in the set.

Rating: Good (though consider it on the higher side of Good)

Moonglade Portal

FUN FACTS:

• This is the second "portal" card in the set, preceded by the Mage's Firelands Portal.
• With the exception of Dark Arakkoa, all other 6-cost Druid cards are from GvG (Recycle, Mech-Bear-Cat and Dark Wispers).

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Holy Light + 4 mana "summon a random 6-cost minion".

REVIEW:

Well Blizzard said we would have 5 portals. After we had only seen Firelands Portal, which dealt damage and summoned a random 5-cost minion. Here we have the Moonglade Portal which restores Health and summons a random 6 cost minion. Health is arguable more important than damage which is why this restores more Health than Firelands Portal does damage (compare Holy Smite to Flash Heal). This cards looks really good on paper. Some 6-cost minions are pretty good to get. Others not so much. But to know how good this card is, what are the most notable outcomes.

Notable outcomes include:

• Savannah Highmane
• Coldarra Drake
• Trade Prince Gallywix (wild only)
• Void Crusher
• Wilfred Fizzlebang/The Mistcaller/Nerubian Prophet
• Anima Golem (wild only)
• Sea Reaver/Boulderfist Ogre
• Argent Commander
• Bolf Ramshield
• Cairne Bloodhoof
• Corrupted Seer
• Emperor Thaurissan
• Gadgetzan Auctioneer
• Hogger
• Maexxna (wild only)
• Mogor's Champion
• Piloted Sky Golem (wild only)
• Sunwalker
• Sylvanas Windrunner
• The Beast
• Any 6-cost Taunt minion (Sunwalker got a special mention because extra protection).

So sometimes you get Emperor or Sylvanas and you’re in a good spot. Other times, you get Corrupted Seer or Anima Golem and feel bad. This list however isn’t counting minions that you can return back to your hand then they become useful. If I did, cards like Reno Jackson and The Black Knight would be there as well, which notable, while useful when put into the hand, have sub-par stats for the mana cost, however that 6 Health may somewhat make up for that. Sometimes you get a good outcome, sometimes you get a bad outcome. I don’t feel entirely confident saying this, but I’m going to call this card “Good”.

Rating: Good

Fool's Bane

FUN FACTS:

• This is the first common Warrior weapon in the game since Ogre Warmaul.
• This is the second card in the game with the text "can't attack heroes", preceded by Icehowl.
• As of now, Blackrock Mountain is the only card set where Warrior's didn't get a weapon (in Blackrock Mountain, Warrior's got Axe Flinger and Revenge).
• This is the second card in the game that has an effect of attacking multiple times with Windfury, preceded by Giant Sand Worm.

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Tentacles for Arms
• Arcanite Reaper
• Assassin's Blade
• Giant Sand Worm

REVIEW:

Warrior’s in this adventure got quite possibly the coolest weapon I’ve seen in a long time anywhere (as well as Atiesh). It’s an Assassin's Blade (same cost, Attack and Durability) that can’t attack heroes but allows you attack up to four times per turn (even more if you buff the weapon’s Durability). A really heavy control weapon that fits best in Warrior because of how Health it can tank up. It allows you to control the board easily and it can easily avoid Harrison or Acidic Swamp Ooze because you could use all of your weapon charges in one turn. The “can’t attack heroes” text doesn’t even matter in a control match-up most of the time since most of the time you’ll be trying to clear the board. The only time you do attack a hero with a weapon is when you’re close to, or have lethal. Aggro Warriors also may not run it because they can’t attack the face with it. It’s also a nice buff for Malkorok.

Rating: Good

Spirit Claws

FUN FACTS:

• This is the first adventure where more than one class got a weapon (Warrior's got Fool's Bane and Shaman's got this)
• This is the first "claw" related weapon in the game, and the third weapon which doesn't involve an actual "weapon", the others being the uncollectable Blood Fury (from Lord Jaraxxus) and Tentacles for Arms.

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• N'Zoth's First Mate
• Upgrade!
• Cogmaster's Wrench
• Light's Justice

REVIEW:

This is the first Shaman card of the new adventure revealed. Out of every class, I’d say Priest and Shaman were the two classes everyone wanted to see the most. We got a 1 mana 1/3 weapon with an upside. Comparing that to N'Zoth's First Mate and Light's Justice, I think it’s reasonable to say that a 1 mana 1/3 with an upside is perfectly acceptable in terms of balance and possibly playability. Now, is this upside big enough? It appears that Blizzard is trying to push a spell theme with Shaman as all three cards Shaman got in the adventure are related to spells in some way, one of them actually is a spell, and in WoTOG, Shaman’s got Hallazeal the Ascended (which is a very good card but currently Control Shaman is not a thing in the meta). The problem with this card is that Shaman has no minions with Spell Damage besides the Wrath of Air Totem, and it’s not a good idea to rely on a certain totem coming out of your Hero Power (though Wicked Witchdoctor and Justicar Trueheart can help that out). This means that you’ll probably need to put some Spell Damage minions in your deck, of which not very many good Spell Damage minions Shaman’s can use (only Bloodmage Thalnos, Azure Drake and Malygos come to mind). This means that the card will only work in specific types of Shaman decks, but this card still has quite a bit of potential in my eyes. It won’t happen all the time but the opportunity to get a 1 mana 3/3 weapon is too irresistible to pass up.

Rating: Average/Good

Arcane Anomaly

FUN FACTS:

• This card represents a wording inconsistency (look at Mana Wyrm, then look at this card). For some reason, this card says "give this minion +1 Health" instead of "gain +1 Health".

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Mana Wyrm
• Any 1 mana 2/1

REVIEW:

When you cast your first spell after playing this, you get the effect of the spell, in addition to having a 1 mana 2/2 on board, not too bad. It certainly would be interesting to see how resilient you can make this thing, although it requires you to play 3 spells before it has 4 Health, giving you a 2/4 minion. Before that, it can die to a 2 mana damage spell. In Mage, I don’t see myself running this in conjunction with Mana Wyrm, it certainly wouldn’t replace it either. I mean, the 3 Health of Mana Wyrm is good and fine enough. It isn’t a bad card, it just pales compared to Mana Wyrm, though maybe some non-Mage spell heavy decks (which would most likely be Rogue, Shaman or Priest) can find a good use for this card.

Rating: Average

Avian Watcher

FUN FACTS:

• When activated, this becomes a 5 mana 4/7, which previously, we've only seen on Feugen.
• The word "avian" means of, or related to, or resembling a bird. This is not to be confused with "Evian", a water company.

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Feugen
• Fen Creeper/Crazed Worshipper

REVIEW:

This is quite the card we have right here. There’s the potential to make this a 4/7 Taunt for 5 mana if you have a Secret. That’s pretty good stats for a 5 mana minion (especially with Taunt), and sometimes, you’re secrets make last quite a while on the board, giving you quite a while to use this guy (is guy the right word? I mean, it’s just a statue, right? Oh well, whatever). There’s potential for Secret decks with this guy (that aren’t Secret Paladin). This could be used in a Hunter deck along with the new Hunter card, Cloaked Huntress. It could also be used in quite a few Mage decks which tend to run Secrets (it’s difficult to say whether or not in can be used in Freeze Mage). It’s not a card for everyone (only 3 of 9 classes to be precise), but overall I think this has potential to be a pretty good card.

Rating: Good

Maelstrom Portal

FUN FACTS:

• This is the first Shaman AoE spell without Overload or random amounts of damage.
• Minus the possibility of getting a Zombie Chow (wild only), this card is a strictly better Arcane Explosion, doing the exact same thing thing but also summoning a 1-cost minion. This however is a Rare and will require parts/a part of an adventure to acquire, whereas Arcane Explosion doesn't.

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Arcane Explosion
• Twilight Flamecaller

REVIEW:

So here is the fourth portal card in the adventure and it looks like a good one. Although Arcane Explosion isn’t by any mean a bad card, it was never one of the best Mage spells in the game. Giving it this buff is not necessarily OP for the card. It serves as a cheap source of AoE damage and summoning a minion to fight for you (granted, it may be a small minion, but that’s better than nothing). Perhaps you run this in that Spell Damage deck with Spirit Claws.

Notable outcomes include:

• Enchanted Raven (equivalent of a 2 mana Twilight Flamecaller)
• Pit Snake
• Mana Wyrm
• Tunnel Trogg
• Zombie Chow (wild only)
• Runic Egg
• Flame Imp (Frodan managed to do this on stream)
• Any 1 mana Taunt minion (Goldshire Footman, Shieldbearer, Voidwalker, etc)

There's almost certainly more to that list.

Rating: Good

Swashburglar

FUN FACTS:

• This is the first and only Pirate in the set.
• This card has the exact text ad Undercity Huckster, except with the effect as a Battlecry instead of a Deathrattle. This hints that there will be more Rogue cards with this text in the future.
• Rogue is the only class that got 3 minions in this adventure. Not a single spell or weapon. Curiously, Rogue also was the only class that got 3 minions in League of Explorer's.
• The swirl on the keg looks very similar to the Hearthstone swirl. It's not exactly the same though. The top of the swirl is larger.
• The name is a portmanteau of the words "Swashbuckler" and "Burglar".

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Undercity Huckster
• Novice Engineer
• Runic Egg

REVIEW:

This was the first Rogue card we saw, and it came out of a Maelstrom Portal during the stream. What are the odds of that? While people have said Rogue in this adventure has been disappointing overall, I think this card actually might be pretty good. It’s essentially half of an Undercity Huckster with Battlecry and not Deathrattle. This actually might be better than Undercity Huckster to be honest, because it costs less and gives the card to you immediately. 1 mana is also a very good Combo activator. It gets even better when you compare this to Novice Engineer. Yes, adding a random class card isn’t the same as drawing a card. Sometimes you get great cards, sometimes you get trash cards, but the Huckster is still being played despite this. But if Novice Engineer was 1 mana, let’s be honest, you’d probably play it. It’s also another card for the Ethereal Peddler deck.

Rating: Good

Wicked Witchdoctor

FUN FACTS:

• This is the first card in the game that depicts a witch in its card art.

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Tuskarr Totemic
• Violet Teacher

REVIEW:

Some people have said that this card is good, others think it’s not that good. What do I think of this card? I think this card is good. It can only summon basic Totems, yes (which means it may or may not be able to summon Flametongue Totems, we’ll need to wait for that be confirmed, but for this review, I’m going to assume it can’t), but Totems are like Silver Hand Recruits. Although weak on their own, if left alive, they can be a force to be reckoned with. The totems heal, give you Spell Damage (more stuff for the Spirit Claws decks), protect stuff and can fight. It’s another pretty good synergy card from Totem decks, and Totem synergy cards are always welcome to this game in my opinion. Not to mention, the possibility of it summoning duplicate totems. I don’t know if it will be able to but if it can, that will be a huge plus for this card. You can think of this as a Tuskarr Totemic that can’t summon one of the more advanced totems but in return, has the ability to summon multiple totems. Also, if it could summon Mana Tide Totem or Totem Golem, it would be too OP.

Most Shaman decks tend to run quite a few spells anyway so this naturally fits in with lots of Shaman decks.

Rating: Good

Medivh's Valet

FUN FACTS:

• A "valet" is a personal servant to someone, who might be responsible for one's appearance. In the United States, the terms commonly refers to a "parking valet", someone who is hired to park one's car. This is also the first time the word "valet" has been used on a card.
• The monkey is possibly a reference to Mr. Teeny, who is Krusty the Klown's monkey from The Simpson.
• This is the third card in the game with the text, "if you control a Secret", preceded by Ethereal Arcanist and Illuminator.

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• 2 mana 2/3's
• 2 mana 2/3 + conditional 0 mana Darkbomb

REVIEW:

If you saw Frodan’s reaction to this card during the stream, you would know how good this card is. It doesn’t work for every type of Mage deck, but the type of decks it does work for, this card will probably see play in those. It’s a 2 mana 2/3 which is a fine statline, but if you control a Secret, you get a 0 mana Darkbomb built into the card to kill or weaken anything your opponent has. That’s quite the swing for 2 mana. This card will be even better in Wild because of the existence of Duplicate and Mad Scientist. This card however does have the downside that you won’t be able to activate the effect on curve. Even with that though, the potential is definitely there for this to be a good card.

Rating: Good

Arcane Giant

FUN FACTS:

• This is the first Giant in the game since Frost Giant from TGT (almost a full year ago).
• This is the first Giant from an adventure. All other Giants have been from either expansions or the Classic Set.

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Mountain Giant
• Clockwork Giant
• Frost Giant

REVIEW:

Surprisingly, we received a Giant in this adventure and one with a lot of potential in spell heavy decks, which do exist. It’s probably one of the better Giants in the game so far, especially when compared to the Giants in the Fun Facts. The card doesn’t even need to be in your hand (like all of the other Giants), you can just spam a bunch of spells, and then you can play this guy when you draw it. You only need to cast 6 spells before it becomes a 6 mana 8/8 which is value. Playable in Mircale Rogue, many types of Mages and Yogg-Saron decks. Definitely a good card.

Rating: Good

Cloaked Huntress

FUN FACTS:

• This is the first Hunter card with Secret synergy since Eaglehorn Bow.
• This is the first Hunter card with only one line of text since King Krush (Carrion Grub has no lines of text).

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Other 3 mana 3/4's
• Kirin Tor Mage
• Mad Scientist
• Mysterious Challenger

REVIEW:

Did Hunter’s get a good card or what? Many Hunter secrets already see play (Explosive Trap, Freezing Trap, Bear Trap and the new Secret, Cat Trick looks pretty good), and this card will simply make them better. Hunter decks of every different type play some Secrets so it can fit in practically every Hunter deck, you could even make a Secret centric deck with her. This is also quite an upgrade to Lock and Load, as well as it being a 3 mana 3/4, it’s good enough on its own and is an excellent card in Arena even without Secrets.

Rating: Good (possibly a Very Good)

Cat Trick

FUN FACTS:

• This is the first Hunter Secret that triggers based on spells.
• This is the third Hunter secret that summons a minion (the other two being are Snake Trap and Bear Trap).
• This is the first time the Stealth keyword has been printed on a Secret.
• The name of the card is a pun on the phrase "hat trick".

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Bear Trap
• Jungle Panther

REVIEW:

Speaking of Secrets, here’s an exciting Hunter Secret. After your opponent casts a spell, you summon a 4/2 Panther with Stealth, effectively making this a 2 mana 4/2 Beast with Stealth and makes your opponent have to play around stuff. That’s pretty good (insert Kripp meme here).

What’s important to note is that if says “AFTER your opponent cast a spell”, meaning that the spell takes place, then the 4/2 Panther is summoned, meaning it won’t die to an AoE spell. I’ve seen quite a few people on the card page misinterpret this. This however is not just a 4/2 Stealthed Beast, but it also is a reliable target for Houndmaster and Ram Wrangler, because of the Stealth. It’s yet another good Secret in the arsenal of Hunter Secrets and “Yogg and Load” decks. With all of this new Secret stuff, perhaps Eater of Secrets will make a rise.

Rating: Good

Nightbane Templar

FUN FACTS:

• This is the first Paladin card synergistic with Dragons since Dragon Consort, a Dragon itself. It's also the first Paladin card the text "if you're holding a Dragon..."

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Blackwing Technician

REVIEW:

This is an exciting card for quite a few people, especially alongside Netherspite Historian, making Dragon Paladin a more prominent deck. Yeah, I can see where the hype is coming from. You play this while you have a Dragon in your hand to equal 4/5 of stats for 3 mana split into 3 bodies. The 1/1 Whelps are useful for additional pressure, to kill a 1-Health creature or to pop a Divine Shield. This overall makes it even better than the Blackwing Technician, and will probably replace it in Dragon Paladin. Could this and Netherspite Historian make Dragon Paladin rise in the ranks. I don’t know about that but it definitely will improve it and people are going to try it out. It’s a pretty solid and balanced card. It’s not an amazing card but it’s still pretty good and a rather nice card to have in the game.

Rating: Good

Pantry Spider

FUN FACTS:

• Carrion Grub
• Razorfen Hunter

REVIEW:

Uh, this card is weird. As we’ve seen, a 1/3 with an upside is worth 1 mana in classes and a Neutral 1 mana 1/3 with a varied effect (Sir Finley Mrrgglton) is fine. Here we have paying 2 additional mana for another 1/3 Beast. That really doesn’t seem right. Sure, it equals 2/6 worth of stats, but Carrion Grub would be worse if it was a 1/3 and a 1/2 instead of a 2/5. The 1/3’s are for the most part, easily taken care of. So far, this seems like a bad card. Because it is a bad card. It’s somewhat redeemable with Houndmaster synergy providing 2 potential targets on curve. But even with that, I doubt this card will see play.

Rating: Somewhat Bad

Silvermoon Portal

FUN FACTS:

• This is the second card in the game to reference SIlvermoon, the first one being Silvermoon Guardian.

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Blessing of Kings
• Mark of Y'Shaarj
• Piloted Shredder

REVIEW:

I’m probably going to get some flak for this, but I personally think this card is not as bad as people are saying it is. That doesn’t mean I’m calling the good though (because I’m not). The two most obvious cards to compare this to, I would say are Blessing of Kings and Piloted Shredder. This card is basically a more balanced Piloted Shredder. Would you play Piloted Shredder if it were a 2/2? Maybe, maybe not. It also summons the minion immediately so you lose the upside of it being a sticky minion, but you also get immediate value from the effect so it’s hard to determine which is overall better. When compared to Blessing of Kings, it trades the additional +2/+2 for a random 2-cost minion. Whether or not you get a good outcome or a bad outcome mostly is from RNG, though most of the time, what you’ll get is pretty good. Even just a 2/2 is fine because you’re splitting Blessing of Kings into two bodies doing that, and Blessing of Kings already sees play. This is why I think the card is better than people are giving it credit for. But it’s still not an amazing card. It’ll maybe be tried out a little bit.

Rating: Average

Menagerie Magician

FUN FACTS:

• This is the third card which pushes a theme with Beasts, Dragons and Murlocs, the other two being Zoobot and The Curator. Those other two however are Mechs whereas this card isn't.
• A "menagerie" is a synonym for "zoo".

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Zoobot
• Houndmaster

REVIEW:

Here we have Blizzard making another card to put into that weird Beast-Dragon-Murloc deck. Compared to Zoobot, this card has a worse mana cost:stats ratio, but has the potential to do more than Zoobot does. The dream is to buff a minion of all three types making effectively a 5 mana 10/10 (take that 4 mana 7/7!), but that probably won’t happen in a real game unless you’re really lucky. Most realistically, you’re probably going to only buff one minion with this effect (maybe two if you’re lucky), making a 5 mana 6/6. That’s not bad but it isn’t game-changing.

Rating: Average

Priest of the Feast

FUN FACTS:

• This is the third 4 mana 3/6 in the game, preceded by Water Elemental and Hooded Acolyte.

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Refreshment Vendor
• Water Elemental
• Hooded Acolyte

REVIEW:

Priest was probably the most anticipated class for card reveals in the adventure, and we didn’t see any of them until the stream. I was hoping for something good, something to make Priest viable in Standard. Here we have a 4 mana 3/6 with an upside, which is both good and bad for Priest. On one hand, that’s pretty good. On the other hand, the 4-drop slot is already crowded for Priests, they have Auchenai Soulpriest, Shifting Shade, Hooded Acolyte, Holy Champion, and if you’re in Wild, it’s probably also contesting with Piloted Shredder. Priests don’t need more 4-drops, they have enough already. In WoTOG, Priests were loaded with mostly 4 and 5 cost cards anyway.

Well, is the effect good? Whenever you cast a spell, you restore 3 Health to your hero. Since Priest decks tend to run quite a few spells anyway, yeah that’s a pretty good effect. In a world where Priest is in a better spot, I can see some Priests playing this card. Taking out Priest not being viable at the moment, I think this is a good card. The problem is, which 4-drop are you cutting to play this? Most Priest decks already run Auchenai Soulpriest, C’Thun Priest will probably run Hooden Acolyte, and N’Zoth Priest will probably run Shifting Shade. Perhaps where this card would fit best is in a Shadowform deck, because when you transform into Shadowform, you lose the ability to consistently heal and this card will take care of it. Casting a few spells will give you a fair amount of healing.

I’m going to rate this card as “Good” but that doesn’t mean it will see play because of how bad of a spot Priest is in right now. It’s also hard to see where this would fit in most Priest decks.

Rating: Good

Deadly Fork

FUN FACTS:

• In the Silverware Golem boss fight, the boss used Forks to give Plates Charge.
• This is obviously the first time a piece of silverware has been used as a minion (not counting the Silverware Golem itself as that isn't a piece of silverware, put a golem made with them.
• Despite being referred to as a "Deadly Fork", the prongs of the fork appear to not be very sharp, and some of them are even bent over.

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Arathi Weaponsmith

REVIEW:

This is the last of the three Rogue cards, and the most bizarre one as well. It’s literally a fork that fights for you. Well, let’s look at the card. It’s a 3 mana 3/2 minion that gives you a 3 mana 3/2 weapon when it dies, with no ability (Sharp Fork). So, you get an understated body for the cost, which is fine if the effect is good, but when it dies, you get an overcosted weapon. The weapon from the Deathrattle is comparable to King's Defender, Eaglehorn Bow or Rallying Blade, of which only the Eaglehorn Bow sees a lot of play out of these three. This weapon has no text. If it was a 2 mana weapon (equal to a Fiery War Axe), I would say this is an average card, but with an understated body and an overcosted weapon, this card is just not very good.

Rating: Somewhat Bad

Onyx Bishop

FUN FACTS:

• A card exactly like this in "Duelyst" called "Keeper of the Vale" exists.
• This card continues the chess theme seen on cards like Ivory Knight and Protect the King.
• Onyx is a black material and gemstone which appears to be what the Onyx Bishop is made out of.

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Resurrect
• 3 mana 3/4 + Resurrect

REVIEW:

Our second Priest card comes with a 3 mana 3/4 with a Resurrect attached to it, and baked into one card (and Brann synergy). Resurrect was never played a whole lot but does the 3/4 statline for the additional 3 mana make up for this? Possibly. Though a problem here is just like Priest of the Feast, the 5-drop slot in Priest already has a lot of options: Holy Nova, Excavated Evil, Darkshire Alchemist and Twilight Darkmender. Running 3 of those will most likely be a problem, so which do you use?

So, in my opinion, this is not a bad card, and some Priests may run this if the class was in a better spot (the dream is to be able to summon two things with Brann) but currently, this is not a good option for Priests because of the problems they currently have. I really like the artwork of this card though.

Rating: Average

Menagerie Warden

FUN FACTS:

I don't know.

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Piloted Sky Golem
• Faceless Summoner

REVIEW:

Here we have a pretty exciting Beast Druid card. You just summon a copy of any Beast you have, no matter how big it is. So if you pick a big beast, you summon another big beast. Druids already have a number of nice beast cards like Druid of the Claw, Druid of the Saber, Mounted Raptor, Savage Combatant and the new Enchanted Raven, plus Druid of the Flame has started seeing more play with Fandral Staghelm. Neutral Beasts such as Huge Toad, Stampeding Kodo and Stranglethorn Tiger can also be used. Although not very many Beast synergy cards for Druid exist, just Mark of Y’Shaarj, Wildwalker and this will be playable in Beast decks (Knight of the Wild is just too bad). Reason why I mention Stranglethorn Tiger: The dream, play the tiger on 5, then this on 6 and you’ve got a 6 mana 10/10 where 5/5 of that is Stealthed. Seems pretty good, and I suspect some Beast Druids will run the tiger just for that purpose (it’s also a 5/5 with Stealth, not too bad). Even just summoning a copy of a 2/2 Beast is fine since it makes it a 7/7 for 6, and you can even copy beasts buffed by Mark of Y’Shaarj.

The downside of this card is that it requires a Beast to be alive to get value out of this card, so if you don’t have a Beast, this card is just a 6 mana 5/5 that does nothing, which is obviously not very good. That doesn’t stop this from being an exciting card that hopes to make Beast Druid viable.

Rating: Good

Purify

FUN FACTS:

• This is the second conditional Silence card in the game (third if you count Wailing Soul), preceded by Light's Champion.
• Before the stream, a Priest spell called "Corrupted Scrolls" was posted on a Brazilian forum, then here onto Hearthpwn. "Corrupted Scrolls" was a 2 mana spell that read "Give control of a friendly minion to your opponent. Draw a card". Although that card was obviously fake, this card bears a resemblance to that.

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Silence
• Power Word: Shield
• Mass Dispel

REVIEW:

Here we have probably the most controversial card of the set, and yeah, I can agree with the crowd. When I first saw this card, I honestly thought it was a joke. I mean, do you think Blizzard would print a card like this? Especially at 2 mana. It could cost 1 mana and it would still be bad but it wouldn’t be catastrophically bad. Yet, it costs 2 mana. Why does it cost 2 mana? Why can it only Silence friendly minions? Well, according to Blizzard, there always has to be a ninth place and they’re taking turns at who’s ninth and they appear to want Priest there for at least another 3 or 4 months.

The thing is, although there’s a bunch of possible combos with this card, it requires you to run this piece of crap in it and draw it, and have the thing you want to Silence on the battlefield. Just why? Does it really need the word friendly in there? It could be just 2 mana “Silence a minion. Draw a card” and it would still be bad but nowhere near as bad as it is now.

This card just makes me sad. When Standard hit, I was starting to get into Priest. Actually the very first deck I ever played in WoTOG was a C'Thun Priest. Yeah, Blizzard will eventually make OP cards for Priest but they had a chance, as good as any time ever to do it now with this new adventure. Then they come out of with this? Priest really might as well have only gotten 2 cards. Actually, it would’ve been better if they did because they wouldn’t be able to draft this in Arena. It’s actually insulting how bad this card is. We just have to hope that Netherspite Historian and Book Wyrm are enough to make Dragon Priest viable.

The ONLY, and I repeat, ONLY good thing about this card is the artwork. I do quite like the artwork of this card. It looks like artwork that would be on a good card. It’s a shame that good artwork had to be used on Priest’s tombstone.

Rating: Very Bad

Ironforge Portal

FUN FACTS:

• This and Blood To Ichor are the only two Warrior spells which are actual magic spells. Most other Warrior spells are simply just actions (Slam, Shield Slam, Bash, etc.).
• This is the second card in the game which references Ironforge, preceded by Ironforge Rifleman.

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Shieldmaiden
• Piloted Sky Golem

REVIEW:

Our final portal belongs to Warrior, in which you gain 4 armor and summon a random 4-cost minion. Though 4 armor is small, it allows stuff like Shield Slam to activate better (which was part of why Shieldmaiden was good). If Piloted Sky Golem was any indicator of how good the effect was, summoning a random 4-cost minion may result in giving you on average roughly a 3/4 or a 4/4. Sometimes you get something really good and something really bad. Piloted Sky Golem didn’t see as much play as Shredder because there were more bad outcomes than Shredder. Although in the case of this portal, summoning a random 4-cost minion is better than a random 2-cost minion. This card is alright I would say. It might see some experimenting. Maybe it’ll work.

Rating: Average

Runic Egg

FUN FACTS:

• This is the third egg in the game, preceded by Nerubian Egg and Dragon Egg.

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Nerubian Egg
• Dragon Egg
• Loot Hoarder
• Swashburglar

REVIEW:

Here’s one of the more interesting cards in terms of design. It’s a 0/2 minion (as it’s an egg), that instead of summoning something, will draw you a card. Is drawing a card only worth one less mana than summoning a 4/4 Nerubian? Well, no, not really although I will admit that is a weird comparison to make. I compare this more so to Loot Hoarder. It costs one less but requires activators (or to be Taunted, or to force your opponent to use a board clear) to use. Nerubian Egg was run a lot even when it needed activators, so maybe this might see play as well. Although comparing it to Loot Hoarder makes it seem bad. I don’t think this is a bad card, I just don’t know why I would play this over Loot Hoarder.

Rating: Average

Moat Lurker

FUN FACTS:

• Not counting the "Poison" minion, this is the second minion in the game with an effect that can destroy any minion without restrictions, the first being Blade of C'Thun.
• Fullas Games has made a card called "Stitches" with a very similar effect: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN0va25mZMM (skip to 1:48)

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Any "destroy a minion" effect.

REVIEW:

Well this is certainly quite a card we’ve got here. For 6 mana, you get a 3/3 minion which is bad, but you destroy a creature, for roughly 3 mana when you count the stats, and the Deathrattle resummons it. What should be worth noting is that if you destroy an enemy minion and then it dies, it summons the minion for them, so when this dies, it’s basically just a 6 mana 3/3 that stalled a bit. That’s obviously pretty bad, but the combos this thing has is what gives it potential. You can play this minion, then Shadowstep it so the minion doesn’t come back and you have another Moat Lurker which only costs 4 mana. You can also Silence it so you the minion won’t come back and you have a 3/3 body on the board (and if you pay 2 mana, you can draw a card as well). Not only that but you can transform the minion with Recombobulator, Evolve or Master of Evolution. Notably, this is also a nerf to Moonglade Portal.

So, there is combo potential with this card that makes me want to rate it as “Good”. But there’s the possibility that this card is just not very good.

Rating: Good (though I have a feeling I might be very wrong about this)

Arcanosmith

FUN FACTS:

• This is the third 4 mana 3/2 in the game, preceded by Enhance-o-Mechano Xaril, Poisoned Mind.

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Sen'jin Shieldmasta
• Sludge Belcher
• Infested Tauren
• Xaril, Poisoned Mind

REVIEW:

This is a weird card. At first glance, it looks like it could be either a good card or a bad one, and requires quite some analysis to get the answer. Its closest comparison is to Sen'jin Shieldmasta, which is simply just a 3/5 Taunt for 4 mana. This is a 4 mana 3/2 that summons a 0/5 Taunt. It’s obvious that each card has their own advantages or disadvantages over each other. The 0/5 Taunt doesn’t fight back where Sen’jin does, however if the 0/5 Taunt dies, the 3/2 might stay alive whereas if the Sen’jin dies, it dies. This card has synergy with Brann Bronzebeard whereas it also can die to 2 damage simply leaving a 0/5 minion, in which the Sen’jin doesn’t.

There’s a bunch of different arguments you can make about this card. The card has advantages and disadvantages over Sen'jin Shieldmasta. The card may see some experimental play in Constructed. Pretty decent in Arena.

Rating: Average

Violet Illusionist

FUN FACTS:

• As of now, Immune has only appeared on six cards in the game (Bestial Wrath, Gladiator's Longbow, Ice Block, Stablemaster and Mal'Ganis and this card). Interesting, every other card with Immune is Epic except Mal'Ganis (Legendary). This is the first Common or Rare card with Immune. The only keyword rarer than this is Counter which has only appeared on Counterspell. It’s rather weird that Blizzard would do this seeing as how they believe rarely occurring keywords would make the cards harder to understand (Source). In the case of Immune and Counter however, the keywords seem obvious enough to make an exception to this rule. They could also not be keywords and are just bolded for visibility.
• This card couldn’t have existed with the Master of Disguise nerf. Master of Disguise originally have a minion permanent Stealth. Although the card wasn’t played in the meta, it was a design obstacle the limited design space which was why the card was nerfed. This card would be broken with Master of Disguise because, although your opponent can still damage you during their own turn, being Immune during each of your turns for the rest of the game would be allow a Rogue to destroy or damage a minion with their weapons without damaging themselves

COMPARABLE CARDS:

• Taunt minions
• Healing minions
• Animated Armor

REVIEW:

This is one of the more interesting cards Blizzard has made recently due to how rarely used the Immune mechanic is. During your turn, your hero is Immune. Note that it’s during your own turn, not your opponent’s turn. If it was during your opponents turn, this card would be a lot worse because it would be much like a 3 mana 4/3 Taunt except in fringe circumstances, much like how Animated Armor is much like a 4 mana 4/4 Taunt except in fringe circumstances. Now Animated Armor may not be very good in Mage, but it was available to weapon classes, the card would be much better and would actually probably see play because you could hit a giant minion with a weapon and take only one damage. This card does basically that except it’s a 3 mana 4/3 instead of a 4 mana 4/4 and you take no damage instead of one damage. It obviously has a lot of potential in weapon classes, mainly Warrior and Rogue. Warrior because of the new weapon Fool's Bane and they can gain even more life with this tool, and Rogue because Rogue doesn’t have anything like Armor and has to rely on Neutral cards to heal up from attack damage and this card will help that a lot, plus it works great in Mill. Not only that but this card also prevents fatigue damage so you can stay alive forever against fatigue decks and if they can’t take this out, you’re going to win the game. The only thing stopping you is the 45-turn limit.

This card however will prove to be a soft-Taunt for your opponent and ideally you’ll want to take this out as soon as you see it so it may not stay on the field for very long and may require some set-up to keep it alive for a few turns. There’s also a downside that this card is not playable in every class. In classes like Mage and Priest, the effect does practically nothing except in very fringe circumstances (such as attacking into an Explosive Trap), fatigue, or if you build your deck in a very strange way. That however doesn’t eliminate the potential this card has, which is a pretty high amount.

Rating: Good