Our Arena Highlights for Kobolds and Catacombs
For the past few weeks all of our Arena Moderators have been eagerly watching the reveals for Kobolds & Catacombs and rating each one according to how well we believe it will perform in the Arena environment. Here are some of our thoughts on what to expect from your drafts and which cards we’re really looking forward to in the new expansion!
Commons
It’s no surprise that Commons make up a bulk of the playable cards for Arena, and out of those 49 cards we only found one terrible card (Silver Vanguard), but we unanimously agreed that you should be on the lookout for Kobold Librarian and Flanking Strike.
Rares
Rare cards really suffered this time around and had a high amount of poor or terrible rated cards with 50% of them getting negative ratings! The new Spellstones for each class are hit or miss, but we felt that the Lesser Emerald Spellstone and Lesser Jasper Spellstone will stand above the rest.
Epics
Epic cards from Kobolds & Catacombs were a mixed bag, but there were a couple of standouts that were quite powerful. If you have an opportunity to draft either Unstable Evolution or Fal'dorei Strider you shouldn’t pass it up!
Legendaries
We had someone point out in the Arena Impact thread that there were a lot of bad Legendary cards and they couldn’t understand why. It’s a great question, and the biggest reason for negative ratings revolves around how well it will perform, specifically in Arena. Most Legendary cards, although powerful, don’t always fit in decks outside of a Constructed format. With that said, we all agree that Val'anyr will be an absolute bomb if you can grab it. On the flip side of that, while there were several terrible cards, we can pretty safely say that The Darkness is the absolute worst card you could draft for your Arena deck.
Quick Thoughts
Neonangel had this to say about the card he is most looking forward to:
“Although we didn’t have a Bonemare in this expansion I am excited to get to play Hoarding Dragon. I prefer it over its predecessor, Hungry Dragon, and I have no doubt it’s going to perform well for most classes.”
When talking about card impact boozor had this to say:
“The most impactful card will be Dragonslayer. It's presence as a Common with a set offering bonus will make people think twice about mid-range Dragons. It's a huge tempo card and its battlecry surely will result in a lot of salty moments!”
Caddage shared his thoughts on the new set:
“I fell in love with Carnivorous Cube the moment I saw it, and I think it's going to be a beast. I'm also looking forward to playing Warrior; even if I crash and burn, I'm going to try to make armor-synergy work.”
AbusingKel isn’t very hopeful about the state of the Shaman draft, commenting:
“As a Thrall main, I have to say that reviewing the Shaman cards has me a bit nervous. I'm really excited to try the few cards Thrall gets that I think will be incredible, but the totem synergy cards look like they'll be a massive anchor, effectively dragging Shaman arena farther down into the abyss.”
Sinti shared his excitement for the new set:
“The card I’m looking forward to most is Unidentified Elixir. What I expect from it is to be almost a Velen's Chosen with a 25% chance to be upgraded to a Seal of Champions. If a priest can slap this on his 2-drop ... GG.”
What Do You Think?
Only time will tell how these cards perform in actuality, but we hope you enjoyed our evaluations! Do you agree with our assessments? Did we get it all wrong? What are your favorite or worst picks from the new set? Share your thoughts with us below!
Be sure to also check out all out thoughts on this expansion's cards over in our Kobolds & Catacombs Arena Impact thread. You can find quick links to all the ratings or how each of our team members feel about the cards below.
Why do you think that The Darkness is the worst? It is 4 mana do nothing, but it can actually be the win condition since sometimes arena games can go to fatigue
Chance of seeing Fatigue in Arena = Very Rare
this is a pretty safe assessment
I'll chime in and say that Dragonslayer as a 3 drop might be played before the T4+ Dragons, so if you have no play on T3, you might be handcuffed into playing the Slayer on T3 for tempo instead of waiting for future tempo gains (IF ANY).
It's a nicely designed interaction between the 2 cards, but Hoarding Dragon is a powerful card in it's own right.
Zola the Gorgon and Master Oakheart also seem like very solid arena neutrals. Both can work wonders in the mid game either giving you extra value or thinning your deck removing low attack minions.
I agree with the Oakheart, not so much with Zola...
Zola is just a bit inconsistent if you topdeck her, but if you save in her in you hand and get an extra 4-6 drop it's very good value.
9-mana card. "Mid-game."
For arena that can easily be mid-game, late-game is when you're on topdeck mode.
Thing is, arena is all about tempo and fighting for board control, understated minions are the opposite of that
Question is : If you were to choose from Stoneskin Basilisk and Giant Wasp, which one would you pick ?
Warlock, warrior, shaman, and maybe even paladin and hunter will have an issue with that divine shield. Shame rogue and mage are the top tiers.
Easily the wasp because playing on turn 3 and keeping it stealthed is a great way to make your opponent play awkwardly while the the Basilisk has a possibility of being dealt with; still not horrible but clearly worse in comparrision
Wasp all the time
Wasp is so much better. Just think, Potion of Madness, Earth Shock, or many times plain old Hero power plus a token.