Hello guys, Sigma here, Legend player, deck architect and guide writer here, on Hearthpwn! I will do a small series of analysis on the wings of the League of Explorers Adventure just to try to maybe give you a better insight into what you should expect from these cards, how OP some of these cards really are, and if there are maybe some hidden effects or tactics behind some of these cards. So here is the analysis of the fourth wing, enjoy!
Introduction
In order to present to you these 12 cards to its best, I will divide them into three tiers, first one being the God tier, second one being the Meh Tier and the third one, which is at the same time the worst one I will name, let’s say… Savagery Tier, as the card will most likely never see play. Most of the analysis will be directed at the Ladder play, but I will note Arena for some cards where note is due.
I will give it my best to analyse all of the cards thoroughly as I personally can, but as every other human, I might also be wrong, as some pros were for cards like Dr. Boom and Mysterious Challenger, so if you do disagree with me I would love to hear it in the comments below or if you agree, well, great minds thing alike! Also, even though the analysis will be thorough, I will also try to make it as compact as possible as it is in nobody’s interest for you to scroll for three hours through an analysis.
Firstly, I will try to illustrate what are the chances of these cards fitting some of the archtypes that are currently present in the meta, or what new decks could be made by including this card in them or completely revolving around them. You will also be able to see me discussing these cards live at www.twitch.tv/sigmasrb, www.facebook.com/sigmasrb or www.twitter.com/sigmasrb.
Secondly, please note that this is an analysis for the cards in the long term period, which means the while both the god tier cards and the savagery cards might see some play in the beginning while the decks with them are being refined and tried out, the god cards are the ones which will probably remain in the meta in some form or shape. Thirdly, the analysis is derived from my personal experience and opinion as a Deck Architect here on Hearthpwn, not from testing as when I started writing this the cards werent out yet, so mentioning that is just stating the obvious.
Besides that, as I am sure that some of you will argue that none of these cards belong in the Savagery Tier know that I some of these cards have to be on the 12th or 11th place. This choice is always pretty difficult to make as I, as a deck builder, always see some value in all cards, like I am sure most of you do as well.
Lastly, as most people love the sweet stuff at the end, like eating the hard chocolate in the end of the Chocomania ice cream, I will start off with the Savagery Tier and move up to God Tier. Also, when I mention in which decks the card can fit in the current meta, I will go from top being the worst fit to bottom being the best one.
Savagery Tier
12. Cursed Blade
1 mana warrior 2/3 weapon that doubles all damage done to you (warrior).
Will it fit current decks? Most likely not.
Face Warrior – The only deck I can see this card is the face warrior, which runs the Kor'kron Elites, a lot of weapons and all of these SMOrcy warrior things or as much as you can fit. Even here it doesn’t really that fit because the card itself is practically useless from turn 3 on, as the minions become stronger and stronger and the damage dealt to your face will be bigger and bigger. Of course, as face warriors one and only hitting goal is the face, it’s a good tempo weapon, but still if you don’t pay attention to the board and just completely go face the chances are high that it will knock back into your head and leave you with a full board to deal with. Hitting a 1 attack minion on turn one sounds alright, but anything over 3 damage is dreadful and absolutely unnecessary. There are much better weapons than this one.
Will there be any new decks made for it? Most likely not.
I honestly don’t think that this card will ever see play in constructed. The 2/3 for 1 mana is there to make our brains think that there might be some kind of a chance to put this in some kind of a deck because “it pays off stat wise” but the card text is much heavier than I think any of us can imagine. The only good think about this card is that if your opponent gets it from Blingtron 3000, you might refresh his weapon (which was undoubtedly better) and make him not attack but have to go face.
11. Fossilized Devilsaur
8 mana neutral 8/8 minion that gains taunt as a battlecry if you control a beast.
Will it fit current decks? Most likely not.
Beast Hunters & Druids – I see this minion as a worse version of the Ironbark Protector. In the Beast Druid, why on Earth would you play an unstable version of it when you can just play the original Ironbark Protector. This card is something the “control” hunters have been looking forward to, but the fact that it’s pretty easy to remove with all kinds of spells present in the meta right now, including Big Game Hunter, this card will never see play in a hunter deck.
Will new decks be made for it? Most likely not.
If we take a look from the side of Brann Bronzebeard, two taunts are pretty amazing /sarcasm, and the fact that it requires a beast to give it SOME value is very bad in my book. As a beast enthusiast myself, please don’t try this card at home, and if you do I am pretty sure it will disappoint you greatly. It’s just one of those common cards that blizzard introduces more for the sake of lol as it’s basically King Krush, but dead. Weird thing is is that it would work if King Krush was on board… hmm.. does that mean that a dead Krush is excited to see his previous version?
10. Elise Starseeker
4 mana neutral 3/5 that shuffles the Map to the Golden Monkey into your deck, which when drawn is a 2 mana card that shuffles the golden monkey into your deck and draws a card, and the Golden Monkey when drawn is a 4 mana 6/6 taunt that replaces your entire hand and deck with Legendary minions
Will it fit current decks? Most likely not.
Control decks – Unless we are talking about fatigue control, this card will probably never see the light of day in control cards. To get one card to shuffle another and then when you draw it finally to shuffle one more card into your deck that might completely destroy your hand and everything you held dear in it? I don’t think that any control deck would be willing to take that big of a risk, where you might not even get the cards themselves, yet alone take the risk of getting extremely bad legendaries, from which most you probably won’t even play as they will be too clunky and slow, especially if your opponent managed to get momentum and is starting to burn you down.
Ramp Druid – This is where I can maybe see the card fitting most. A druid getting an early Elise might prove to be good but in any way not even slightly enough to make this kind of control druid archtype better with it.
Will new decks be made for it? They might.
Don’t get me wrong, the card is super cool, but if I have to take a look at the competitive side of hearthstone, which is where the eyes of the analysis are strictly pointed, the card will not see light of day on high ladder, or if you do manage to see it, the doubts that the guy actually reached there with it will be thin to none. There will probably be people trying it out and making some kind of a slow fatigue deck where you want to get all of your cards and which might actually make some useless card draw or removal cards into something good and put you ahead of your fatigue opponent.
Meh Tier
9. Animated Armor
4 mana 4/4 mage minion that allows your hero to take one damage at a time.
Will it fit current decks? It doubt it.
Echo Mage – I just simply can’t see it in this deck no matter how much I try. In the best case it’s a very average minion stat-wise, a 4/4 for 4 mana, that allows your mage to potentially take less damage if the damage is expected to be taken like at the end of the game against a, let’s say, aggro shaman. But on the other hand, it will be killed by something that shaman has on the board most likely. The Knife Juggler, a 2 mana minion just needs one single minion to be able to remove this guy and have the space to the mage cleared for reaping.
Control/Grind Mage– I guess the card fits a bit more into the grinder mage mechanism as it might help you with the fatigue decks as you will be getting 1 damage for every fatigue turn… Oh forget it. The card is bad, has an interesting card text, but unless mages start swinging weapons all over the place, it will not see play. /rudenessoff
Will some new decks be made for it? They actually might.
I don’t know if Blizzard is trying to push Blingtron 3000 back into the game, where non-weapon classes get to have a swing at the good old Fiery War Axe like in the old times or what, but this card can be interesting, even though HIGHLY situational to be played with Blingtron. It’s always nice to dream, even though in reality these cards will never be played and if they do, they will be very hard to match in a combo (even though that might make some people very happy if they pull it off).
8. Eerie Statue
4 mana cost neutral 7/7 minion that can’t attack unless it’s the only minion in the battlefield.
Will it fit current decks? It might.
Handlock – I believe I’ve heard quite a bit of people compare this card to the Ancient Watcher, saying how there is even more potential behind it as it CAN attack. And to that I say yes and no. As the ancient watcher, the card itself can be silenced and used as much of a pride breaker whilst crushing your opponent’s face as a silenced Dr. Boom after a paladin uses Aldor Peacekeeper on it. It can reward you. But the question is, will it actually see play? I honestly don’t think so. It has this awkward 4 mana position which is normally pretty important in a handlock so for you to play something like Defender of Argus on it on the next turn and go off curve, just to make a taunt that can be easily removable by so many decks in the ladder..? I’ll pass.
Silence Decks – I can tell you that this is possibly the one card silence decks have been hoping for to put in the 4 mana slot and make truly shine. It can be silenced and if silenced it is a massive threat to your enemy so as most of them will go into overload mode and panic their butts off by going off curve and using all kinds of removals for it, one of them being the Big Game Hunter of course, can give you more than enough space to develop your board.
Will some new decks be made for it? I doubt it.
The card, besides its "silencable" glory, is pretty bad. And as not everyone wants to try to silence his minions in each deck from the base deck idea, and since the card probably won't be popular in any way, except for us Architects on Hearthpwn, it's deep down in the list.
7. Wobbling Runts
6 mana neutral 2/6 minion that summons three 2/2 runts as a Deathrattle.
Will it fit current decks? I believe so.
Rattle Rogue – I believe that this card will be a very hand fit in the rattle rogue of mine, simply because that’s how the rattle rogue wins games, just swarm the board completely with sticky minions, which is especially a problem for the warrior as the Brawl becomes useless more or less and you should be good to go. Hope your opponent is not an aggro shaman or something ridiculous that can burn you down before you say “Blitz”.
Token Druid – This will be a very peculiar fit. I would love to see how the druid would work in the terms of setting up combo with the little runts after using the Force of Nature + Savage Roar combo. A taunt on this guy would be heaven. It would also get it outside of this bland cuisine. But as tokens are always necessary and I can’t say for sure that this will be winning games easily for druids but it’s still a pretty cool minion that I would love to try.
Will some new decks be made for it? I believe so.
No matter how much this card might look, as it’s a 6 mana for 2/6, there is quite a bit of potential in this card. The power is not in the stats, but in the Deathrattle. Just imagine a hunter using Feign Death on him. That would be devastating. The only problem that I can see here is the Cabal Shadow Priest, which will munch on this minion and take him on her side in no time!
6. Desert Camel
3 mana cost hunter 2/4 beast that puts a 1-Cost minion from each deck into the battlefield.
Will it fit current decks? It might.
Face Hunter – So I’ve had some people asking me if the camel will see play in face hunter.. Even though it can get out something pretty cool like a Leper Gnome, the card will not see play as it’s very, very slow. The only minion it reminds me of stat wise is Leokk, and Leokk is usually something face hunters are looking least to, unless they play against paladins and other board flooding classes. But Leokk can be pretty good you say, as Unleash the Hounds is pretty OP with it? Exactly, at least Leokk has some kind of consecutive card text while the Desert Camel has nothing.
Will new decks be made for it? They might.
Midrange Hunter – This is pretty interesting. As the card itself is more on the defensive side of Hearthstone, with its 4 health, it sure has “some” potential of maintaining the board presence and reinforcing it with another 1 mana minion can be even better. But the main reason why this card is on place 6 and not higher is simply because it works against you as much as it works for you. That 1 mana minion can be sometimes “good” by getting sin finley mrrgglton out and denying your opponent his other hero power but sometimes it can be pretty bad where you will just slow yourself down and add more assignments on your head. Of course, your opponent might not have any 1 minions which is a win-win situation for you.
Besides the midrange hunter I don’t think there will be any beast hunters arising, even though the Houndmaster would make this beast into a solid wall of camel, I still don’t see it happening, after so many months of hoping and planning. It’s a defensive card, which might give you a hand with board control, but in the longer run, unless executed perfectly when needed, doesn’t mean a thing.
5. Curse of Rafaam
2 mana cost warlock spell that gives your opponent “Cursed!” which deals 2 damage at the beginning of every turn unless they play it.
Will it fit current decks? I believe so.
Reno Warlock – I don’t honestly believe that it can fit in this congested list of the things a reno warlock have, so I don’t think it will belong in here at all, or it might just as a bother to stop your opponent to play a Dr. Boom on turn 7, but he decides to play Loatheb instead for example, just to get rid of the Cursed! Card. The card is very anti-tempo, which is something what I believe Blizzard went for now.
Zoo Warlock – I can’t wait to try this one out. Zoo almost always has problems with the opponents removing everything. What if you can make your opponent just use his 2 mana up just to get rid of your information? What if the customers had to play this on turn 3 after you drop it after a 1 mana minion? That’s quite a bit of a loss for your opponent, and he or she will probably lose it if you just follow this momentum. Imagine if you give him 2 of them at the same time, how screwed can you actually get by that, I don’t even dare think about it.
Will new decks be made for it? I believe so.
As some of you who have played WoW before and maybe even had a affliction warlock have been dreaming about DoTs, or Damage over Time, and this might be it boys! We might be getting gall kinds of crazy curses that would make the whole idea behind a warlock a lot more interesting for people! This card is also pretty amazing against Freeze mages, because if they are on 1 HP and they get this from us, there is no coming back. The guy will die as he receives damage on his turn.
God Tier
4. Arch-Thief Rafaam
9 mana neutral 7/8 minion that discovers a powerful artefact (the Lantern of Power, the Mirror of doom, or the Timepiece of Horror)
Will it fit current decks? Undoubtedly.
Control decks – What is interesting about Arch-Thief Rafaam, is that, right now, you will always get a same set of artefacts. He is a very versatile person in general, you can basically choose at the end how do you want this game to finish? Do you want to buff your board with a +10/+10 spell which costs 10 mana, to fill out your board just to get that tempo back or the control so to say. It can be pretty amazing, and even if you need this extra pressure, you can have the Timepiece of Horror, which deals instant damage and has a much bigger impact on the dish.
Will new decks be made for it? I believe so.
I believe in the control meta guys. I really do, or I want to believe in it. I want people to find a way to do better trades and trade and not just rush face and if it doesn’t work it doesn’t but when it does then SMOrc. Comparing it to any other heavy minions like Ysera and maybe Nefarian. Nefarian gives you two random spells and rafaam doesn’t, you can actually choose them, which is a really good thing. A problem which might appear is that if the artefacts are always on the same spot the opponent might know which one you chose, which can prove to be a nuisance.
3. Tomb Pillager
4 mana rogue 5/4 minion that adds a coin to your hand when he dies.
Will it fit current decks? Undoubtedly.
Rattle Rogue- This is also one of the cards that I was hyped about ever since the new cards were announced. This last wing is like the last piece of the puzzle of a brand new rogue archtype, the rattle rogue. A coin in this deck would basically be something along the lines of getting that dr. Boom out on turn 6, or even turn 5??? Also, it would basically present like a mini version of the ramp druid, but with the touch of tempo in it, which, when you translate it into rogue raw power, sounds like something amazing can come out of it and as rogues are known to be able to get good momentum until turn 3, with having the coins to top it off with the late game minions sounds better than ever.
Will new decks be made for it? Undoubtedly.
I actually believe that miracle rogue might come back with this one! Imagine just having more than one coin in your hand and how much that speeds up the game can for you. With the proper use of the Gadgetzan Auctioneer and some other spells on the side miracle rogue could be very possible again! We might even see Cutpurse in action, even though the card is pretty slow and easy to kill, and gets value when it goes face, leaving spaces for really good trades from your opponent, the coins is what matters!
2. Raven Idol
1 mana druid spell that discovers either a minion OR a spell.
Will it fit current decks? Undoubtedly.
Aggro Druid – As I believe that the card might be a bit too much on the slow side, I don’t think that this card will ever see play here, unless the discoveries turn out to be pretty amazing. A Darnassus Aspirant wouldn’t be bad at all, and hell, even the Mounted Raptor would be awesome. If you were to get a neutral minion though, there are just so many that you can get some help out of them for sure, and even if you manage to stay on the curve it’s going to be fine.
Combo Druid- The early spells though is what combo druid usually struggles with, but if there is, e.g. a wild growth that you can get from the raven idol on turn 2, then you should good to go, and get that 4 drop much easier and faster. Not all spells are amazing of druids, but there should be a decent amount of them to be able to pick out the best one. Of course, that doesn’t mean that you will be getting a druid minion for sure, but the chances are much higher.
Will new decks be made for it? Undoubtedly.
Would I dare to say that we might be looking into the new and different eras of rogues and druids, which I feel very excited about? Versatility is druids middle name, so this adds perfectly to the equation, that you can do whatever nature says!
1. Museum Curator
2 mana priest 1/2 minion who discovers a Deathrattle card as a battlecry. What a sad story.
Will it fit current decks? Undoubtedly.
Dragon Priest- As the dragon priest, as tempo itself as it is, is very early game dependant, there might be some time when you don’t get those early drakes and the whole game goes to crap. The chances of this card getting something good, a “priesty” are 4 by 1. Dark Cultist after this game would be amazing and there are of course other amazing Deathrattle minions like the Piloted Shredder. It for sure has less space in the dragon priest than the classic control priest decks.
Control Priest- This card suits in control priest hands down. It will for sure help you organize your hand better and reply to your opponents’ attacks rather than just playing it by instinct. The Deathrattle apocalypse is starting and it’s going to get even more heated with time. The discovery mechanism is one of the best things that could’ve happened and is going stronger and stronger.
Will new decks be made for it? Undoubtedly.
#PRIESTREVOLUTION! There will be fatigue priests, control priests and I am happy to say, longer hearthstone games! Some of you might not like it, but this card can easily be a treasure for any control players out there. ANDUINS UNITE!
ANALYSIS ARENA NOTE: If I have realised one thing, it’s that all discovery mechanism based cards are pretty amazing in arena, just being able to finally choose something must’ve felt very good to everyone who is active in arena.
I tried to make it as short as possible for your enjoyment, so I am really sorry if some of the cards weren’t as detailed as you would like them to be or on the position that you wouldn’t agree with, but you can always ask me anything in the comments or if you have anything to add or to argue about, let me know, just please be constructive, as I won’t be replying to those comments which aren’t!
Oh wow, 4 wings analysed, card by card. It was all worth it, and I hope you guys truly enjoyed this read! What is the next what you guys would want me to do? What kind of an analysis, or would you like me to do a different kind of series? Let me know in the comments below! Also, to celebrate the last analysis of this adventure, I’ve made a giveaway for you all just in order to return the love given to me by you now regarding the analysis’ and in the last 8 months: https://gleam.io/ZK5XL/sigmas-merchcoach-giveaway- NOTE: Make sure you are at the stream on Sunday from 2 PM CET at twitch.tv/sigmasrb as the winner has to be present there!
If you would like to get in touch with me directly or come check out my stream where I practise for my tournaments, or where I try to reach legend with all kinds of interesting and new decks, stop by at www.twitch.tv/sigmasrb or come say hello, or you know, “man your guide is very wrong!” at www.facebook.com/sigmasrb or www.twitter.com/sigmasrb. I also do all kinds of events like Hearthstone Trivia, Viewer Tournaments that have awesome rewards and many more! Some of the videos of my crazy plays can be found at www.youtube.com/sigmasrb!
Cheers,
Sigma
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Whiners.
Please remove Whiners.
If you ask me that we can remove one thing from this game, I would pick whiners, everyday.
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The best cure for cancer..... hm.... surgery followed by chemical therapy?
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Forgot I still have Arena unfinished.
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mastur...won 500 games in ranked mode!! This is significant!!2
Undertaker hunter, bar none.
With Miracle Rogue a close second.
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Bad legendary cards are ruining the new players' experience only because us "veterans" put our expectation onto the new players. When the new players hear the cheers and the yellow fire effect and saw the card, they ARE going to be excited just because it is a VERY RARE CARD. It is their FIRST TIME. It is not as if everyday we are getting legendaries like our breakfast cereals.
Do we respect them and their experience? No. We pee on them. We take a peek and said, "Oh look, pagle, gratz on your 400 dust" or "Hey, Lorewalker, I get that stupid panda thrice!". Huh, suddenly their golden card turn into crap, because we LOOK DOWN UPON THEM. Does it sound all that different from "I felt sorry for your loss"?
Players will receive bad cards; players will play with Magma Rager. That's part of the experience. That's part of what makes the memories of the game fun. We look back and thought "how silly I was back then", and finally realize how far we have come.
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Ysera is good, but Nefarian is a plausible substitute. Crafting her is acceptable but not mandatory.
Baron Geddon should just be another Brawl. 2 damages over a board of 3-toughness minions is just sad, and the 5 Health doesn't help either. If you luckily pull one, great, keep it. Never craft.
There is no substitute for Sylvanas Windrunner. She forces your opponent to play around it, is beefy by herself, and creates awkward situation where your opponent simply has to pick a bad choice among other worse choices. Not to mention she is also viable in all sorts of decks such as tempo mage and control priest, etc. Must-Craft-Item.
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Care to share your decklist so that we may have a glimpse of how pathetic, as you have said, this game has become....?